text:
Why it matters
The financial industry has thrown its support behind data breach notification legislation as well as passage of a law that would encourage businesses to share cyberthreat information. Data security issues have been a hot topic in Washington, D.C., following President Barack Obama’s introduction of multiple bills and discussion of cybersecurity during his 2015 State of the Union address. Banks and financial service companies – including the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) – joined the conversation, sending a letter to federal lawmakers urging the passage of a data breach bill, emphasizing the need for federal preemption of the current patchwork of 47 state laws. The groups also endorsed the idea that other entities – like retailers – be held to the same level of data security standards as financial institutions. A second letter followed from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, joined by the ABA and 33 other organizations from a host of industries, asking that legislators enact a cybersecurity information-sharing bill, which would create a safe harbor for companies that follow the standards set by the law. Although data security and privacy issues are top of mind in the nation’s capital these days, the successful passage of either law remains unclear.
On January 12, the President addressed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and presented three proposed pieces of legislation relating to data security and privacy: the Student Digital Privacy Act (which would prohibit the sale of sensitive student data for noneducation purposes), the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (which would set out “basic baseline protections across industries,” the President said), and the Personal Data Notification & Protection Act.
The data breach bill would beef up criminal penalties for hackers generally, require that companies notify consumers of a breach within 30 days, and importantly, establish nationwide, uniform consumer data breach notification rules that would preempt the various state laws currently in effect.
Although not referencing the President’s Personal Data Notification & Protection Act proposal by name, seven industry groups – the ABA, CUNA, the Consumer Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, and The Clearing House – sent a letter to federal lawmakers urging passage of a national data breach law.
“We share your concerns about protecting consumers and strongly believe that the following set of principles should serve as a guide,” the groups wrote. Strong national standards “with effective enforcement provisions” must be applicable to “any party with access to important consumer financial information,” according to the letter, along with recognition of the preexisting requirements already placed on banks and credit unions, such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).
Inconsistent state laws and regulations should be preempted by the federal legislation, according to the letter, and the public should be informed of a breach “where it occurred as soon as reasonably possible to allow consumers to protect themselves from fraud.”
“Too often, banks and credit unions bear a disproportionate burden in covering the costs of breaches occurring beyond the premises,” the groups explained. “All parties must share in protecting consumers. Therefore, the costs of a data breach should ultimately be borne by the entity that incurs the breach.”
Those in the financial industry are already required by law to develop and maintain data security protections, protect consumer financial information, and provide notice to consumers when a breach occurs that leaves them at risk. “The same cannot be said for other industries, like retailers, that routinely handle this same information and increasingly store it for their own purposes,” according to the letter.
After visiting the FTC, President Obama continued his focus on data security and privacy with a visit to the National Cybersecurity Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) at the Department of Homeland Security, where he spoke about a legislative proposal intended to encourage business to share cyberthreat information with the NCCIC.
Pursuant to the bill, companies that share such information and take “measures to protect any personal information that must be shared” would be granted “targeted liability protection,” the President promised.
Again, the ABA, this time joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and dozens of other organizations covering a wide variety of industries (ranging from the Agricultural Retailers Association to the National Association of Chemical Distributors), requested that lawmakers “quickly pass a cybersecurity information-sharing bill.”
“Recent cyber incidents underscore the need for legislation to help businesses improve their awareness of cyber threats and to enhance their protection and response capabilities,” the 35 groups wrote. “Above all, we need Congress to send a bill to the President that gives businesses legal certainty that they have safe harbor against frivolous lawsuits when voluntarily sharing and receiving threat indicators and countermeasures in real time and taking actions to mitigate cyberattacks.”
Any legislation must also “offer protections related to public disclosure, regulatory, and antitrust matters in order to increase the timely exchange of information among public and private entities,” the letter added.
“Congressional action cannot come soon enough,” the groups concluded.
To read the Personal Data Notification & Protection Act, click here.
To read the letter from the ABA, CBA, CUNA, FSR, ICBA, NAFCU, and The Clearing House, click here.
To read the proposal for sharing cyberthreats, click here.
To read the letter from the ABA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations, click here.


text:
NAFTA Devastated Mexico’s Rural Sector and Increased Poverty
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was sold to the people of all three countries with grand promises. Mexicans were promised NAFTA would raise their wages and bring Mexicans’ standards of living closer to the United States and Canada. Instead, after 24 years, real wages in Mexico are down from already low pre-NAFTA wages, two million Mexicans engaged in farming lost their livelihoods and lands, tens of thousands of small businesses have gone bankrupt as American big-box retailers moved in, and poverty remains widespread. And, Mexican taxpayers have paid foreign investors more than $204 million in compensation following Investor-State Dispute Settlement attacks.

domain: news


text:
The Walt Disney Company is a brand that matters. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reason to worry that Disney’s decision to halt production there after a sweatshop fire that killed 112 people last year will spur other big firms to do the same now that some 430 more have died in the collapse of a factory in a suburb of Dhaka.
As she told factory owners this week, “You will have to ensure workers’ fair wages, allowances and other rights. You must look after their workplace safety if you want to do business.” Bangladesh’s $20-billion garment industry is under siege, along with the 3.6 million jobs it provides.
Making cheap clothes for Canadians and other foreigners shouldn’t be a death sentence. While retailers know that pulling out will only hurt workers who make $38 a month, they must try harder to turn this tragedy to good by pressing corrupt sweatshop owners to upgrade working conditions and safety. Otherwise they will court a consumer backlash that may ravage their bottom line.
More should follow the example of Loblaw, owner of the Joe Fresh clothing brand. Loblaw is calling for reforms, compensating the victims, demanding that its suppliers’ factories meet local safety and building codes and sending in auditors to ensure compliance. It has encouraged other firms to do the same. Collectively, foreign purchasers can effect positive change by working with Bangladeshis to raise standards, and by bankrolling improvements.
The Canadian government should also press hard for reform, as the European Union is doing. Workers must be free to organize; safety laws must be enforced; and building codes observed. Otherwise Bangladesh may forfeit its preferential market access.
Sweatshops are bad enough. Allowing them to become killing fields is too much. It is time to stop looking the other way.


text:
So, HMD team responsible for pushing app updates has done it again. It again pushed the same buggy update that removed Pro and Bokeh modes but brought AI filters and stickers to Nokia 8 users today.
We again heard lots of complaints from Nokia 8 owners about this buggy app update and we reached to HMD team on Twitter.
@sarvikas @DhingraRisha There is one more camera update that has been pushed to Nokia 8 and it has similar issues like the last one. No Bokeh and Pro modes. Can you please confirm whether it is the right update this time?
— Nokiapoweruser (@Nokiapoweruser) September 6, 2018
So, now HMD has again pushed a new camera update that reverts the camera app back to its old self with Pro and Bokeh modes. The update may have brought some fixes too but nothing major.
HMD team has also told us that new camera app is in works for Nokia 8 and will be out with Android Pie update as confirmed by Juho, HMD CPO earlier.


text:
Tesco Corporation (NASDAQ:TESO) had its target price lowered by Seaport Global Securities from $9.00 to $6.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, May 10th. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.
Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Tesco Corporation from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $9.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. FBR & Co reissued a buy rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Tesco Corporation in a research report on Sunday, March 12th. Finally, Cowen and Company lowered shares of Tesco Corporation from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their price target for the company from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $7.00.
Tesco Corporation (TESO) traded down 7.78% on Wednesday, reaching $4.15. 477,356 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Tesco Corporation has a 52-week low of $4.10 and a 52-week high of $9.65. The company’s 50 day moving average is $5.25 and its 200-day moving average is $7.48. The stock’s market cap is $193.89 million.
Tesco Corporation (NASDAQ:TESO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.29). The business had revenue of $36.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.65 million. Tesco Corporation had a negative net margin of 55.00% and a negative return on equity of 18.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.46) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Tesco Corporation will post ($0.91) EPS for the current year.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: “Tesco Corporation (TESO) PT Lowered to $6.00 at Seaport Global Securities” was first posted by Community Financial News and is the sole property of of Community Financial News. If you are viewing this article on another site, it was copied illegally and reposted in violation of United States & international trademark and copyright law. The correct version of this article can be read at https://www.com-unik.info/2017/06/15/seaport-global-securities-lowers-tesco-co-teso-price-target-to-6-00-updated-updated-updated.html.
Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesco Corporation by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,904,121 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $56,959,000 after buying an additional 672,978 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Tesco Corporation by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,143,095 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $33,352,000 after buying an additional 72,918 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Fund Advisors boosted its position in shares of Tesco Corporation by 14.3% in the third quarter. BlackRock Fund Advisors now owns 3,579,459 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $29,208,000 after buying an additional 448,744 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Tesco Corporation by 4.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,729,879 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $21,975,000 after buying an additional 105,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Tesco Corporation by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 922,035 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,607,000 after buying an additional 139,320 shares in the last quarter. 95.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About Tesco Corporation
Tesco Corporation is a provider of technology-based solutions for drilling, servicing and completion of wells for the upstream energy industry. The Company’s operations consist of top drives and automated pipe handling equipment sales and rentals; aftermarket sales and services, and tubular services, including related products and accessories sales.
What are top analysts saying about Tesco Corporation? - Enter your email address in the form below to receive our free daily email newsletter that contains the latest headlines and analysts' recommendations for for Tesco Corporation and related companies.


text:
A Formula One car from the turn of the century is set to go under the hammer – and it could be bought for as little as £150,000.
The 2002 Jordan Honda EJ12 will be sold by classic car auction house, The Market, at the end of the month.
Its original 3.0-litre V10 engine has been hauled out and replaced with a motor from a Formula 3000. Why? So it will start at the push of a button and the new buyer can take it to trackday events without the need for a supporting crew of mechanics in tow.


text:
Enter a search term such as “mobile analytics” or browse our content using the filters above.
That’s not only a poor Scrabble score but we also couldn’t find any results matching
Check your spelling or try broadening your search.
Sorry about this, there is a problem with our search at the moment.
Please try again later.
With the DMA announcing their new one million dollar PR campaign “Data-Driven Marketing Institute,” the question of privacy and rules around customer data has become a greater focus of some of the panels this morning. Jordon Cohen of Moveable Ink, brought up the headline "Target knows a teenage girl is pregnant before her own father does" and posed the question: have we finally gone too far?
For those of you who didn't read this headline in February, an irate father charged into a Target store demanding they stop targeting his teenage daughter with emails full of baby products because she wasn't pregnant. It turns out Target was right, and the father was wrong. She was pregnant and her shift in product purchase at Target made the marketers behind the brand know of her news before any of the world may have known.
Jason Scoggins of Freshpair stressed that targeting has to go through a "creep" filter and in the case of the Target example, they went too far.
For more than a decade, companies in the United States operating websites that collect data from children have been required to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
At the time COPPA was implemented, the internet ecosystem was far less mature, and the law didn't cover all of the parties that today frequently collect data from children. So yesterday, the FTC published a proposal (PDF) with the intent of modifying COPPA to ensure that parties not currently governed by COPPA's rules are covered.
For large organizations like the BBC, ignoring the recently-enacted EU cookie law probably isn't a viable option. Despite the headaches associated with implementing a solution, the threat of legal actions and fines probably outweighs the costs of compliance.
It's a different story for entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses, some of whom indicated a willingness to flout the law until given a reason to reconsider.
If ibuprofen sales are up in the EU this year, it might have something to do with the nightmare known as the EU cookie law.
For major companies operating in affected countries, the solution to the problem has been, well, to find a solution to the problem. And for good reason: with the possibility of enforcement action, few businesses can afford not to address the law.
But apparently the EU itself can't be bothered with complying with its own rules.
Yesterday, United States President Barack Obama signed into law the JOBS Act, which may be the most significant update to securities regulations since Sarbanes–Oxley was passed in 2002.
One portion of the new law, the CROWDFUND Act, has been creating a lot of buzz in Silicon Valley for months, as it will make it legal for startups the ability to raise money in small chunks from large numbers of non-accredited investors.
If you were to download a copy of a copyrighted book through BitTorrent, you might be accused of stealing. And as piracy becomes a larger problem for publishers, you might even find yourself in court facing a lawsuit.
But there's good news: if you're the government, you don't have anything to worry about.
Parts of the internet will go black tomorrow. From Wikipedia and Reddit to the Cheezburger network and Major League Gaming, numerous highly-trafficked web properties say they'll shut down to protest the SOPA legislation that would make the internet far less free in the name of fighting piracy.
Even Google is going to be making a statement using its homepage.
The blackouts are going on despite the fact that SOPA is effectively dead -- for the time being.
In the age of the internet, every individual may have their own personal printing press, but that doesn't mean that the same legal protections afforded to journalists are always available to bloggers.
Something that Crystal Cox, an Oregon-based blogger who is facing a $2.5m judgment for publishing information an investment firm alleged was defamatory, knows all too well.
The internet has changed the lives of billions of individuals and many of those individuals are children.
From services that provide educational tools to services that make it easier for children to interact with relatives far away, it's no surprise that the internet and internet-connected devices are used prolifically by younger and younger children today.
At the same time, the internet can be a dangerous place for kids. So it's no surprise that there are laws designed to protect children on the internet. But do some of those laws actually do the opposite?
Wondering how your business will address the new law that requires users to opt in to cookies? There's good news: you can procrastinate.
That's because the ICO, perhaps facing the reality that the new law is fatally flawed, has decided to give everyone amnesty (as the Telegraph calls it) for violating the law over the course of the next year.
Enforcing copyright online has proven to be quite difficult. More than a decade after Napster brought the subject of digital piracy into the mainstream, content owners are still struggling to protect their rights on the internet. They have finally learned one thing though: suing grandmothers (and dead grandmothers) doesn't work.
So what are content owners doing? It appears they are turning their attention to a more receptive audience: politicians.
On Wednesday, an Italian court convicted three Google executives. Their crime? Google failed, in the eyes of the prosecutor, to pull down a video uploaded to Google Video.
The video, which showed several students in Turin bullying a classmate with Autism, resulted in 10 months of community service for the uploader. But because Google 'allowed' the video to be uploaded in the first place, an Italian prosecutor chose to charge four Google executives for criminal defamation and the violation of Italian privacy laws.


text:
Fresco y Más opens first Central Florida location
ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 WOFL) - Hispanic grocery chain Fresco y Más opened its first store in central Florida Wednesday morning at 7382 E. Curry Ford Road in Orlando.
Parent company Southeastern Grocers has converted 25 Winn-Dixie stores to Fresco y Más since June 2016.
The renovated stores feature a produce selection with a selection of tropical fruits, a “Cocina” with prepared foods, a full-service Latin butcher shop, and a renovated bakery featuring Hispanic pastries and local baked good.
The company claims that since the first store opened in the Miami area, the brand has become the fastest growing Hispanic grocery store in Florida.
At this time, Southeaster Grocers President and CEO Anthony Hucker says there are no immediate plans for another location in central Florida, but “The customers, at least on the first day, seem to like it. If they continue to like it then maybe we’ll do more.”
Fox 35 reporter Dana Jay went to the store's opening and many festivities were underway.


text:
New Orleans to auction off 3,000 tax-adjudicated properties
NEW ORLEANS - In an effort to tackle blight and spur development, city officials say they will put about 3,000 tax-adjudicated properties up for sale this summer in online auctions.
This will be the first time the city is selling properties where the owners have not paid property taxes through online auctions. Winning bidders will gain full ownership of the properties, complete with guaranteed title insurance.
The city has not set a final date for the auction, but the properties for sale will be listed online March 6. The properties will be listed at http://www.CivicSource.com.
The city has not sold off adjudicated property in many years, according to city officials.
Image: thepipe26 (Flickr: new orleans skyline) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons


text:
New $2.5B waterfront villas, hotel for Soesdyke/Linden highway
Approximately 300 private residences and a beach front hotel will be constructed at the Soesdyke/Linden highway as the Ashmins Group of Companies plans to invest another $2.5 billion for accommodation options locally.
This new development will be called the Madewini Waterfront villas. A press release from the group of companies noted that the development is the second phase of the existing Madewini villas, located within the Splashmins Resort compound.
That housing community, the release said, will expand by 150 acres.
It was noted that Madewini villas owner Lennox John has a vision to create “a waterfront luxury community destination” in Guyana, that is just 10 minutes from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
The development will house approximately 300 private opulent residences, a beach front hotel and an array of modern vital amenities in an eco-friendly environment and will be secured by armed lake and land patrols.
It is also expected to feature five artificial lakes, a public shopping centre and other attractions.
“The ($2.5 billion) development is a prime indication of the magnitude of investor’s confidence that prevails in the current Guyanese economy and government’s developmental drive as a whole,” the release noted.


text:
Kenny Huang, the Chinese investor who owns 15% of the Cavaliers:
By the end of the year, Huang will likely finish another deal, completing the purchase of a 15 percent stake in the Cavs, representing the first major investment by the Chinese in American pro sports. That ownership deal, signed in May during the Eastern Conference Finals, will sell former Cavs Vice Chairman David Katzman’s 15 percent to a group led by Huang.
The NBA Board of Governors is expected to approve the purchase soon. Though no figures have been disclosed, Katzman’s stake was worth around $56 million when he partnered with Dan Gilbert to buy the Cavs in 2005. Based on the team’s current estimated value, which is $476 million according to Forbes magazine, the share could now be worth as much as $70 million.”[Gilbert] is a very smart guy, I like smart businessmen,” Huang said in his first American interview since forming the agreement to purchase a stake in the Cavs. “I think we’ll be good partners.
For instance, he is so smart that he got you to buy a stake in a franchise that could very well be LeBron-less in 8 months? That $476 million franchise could take quite a hit pretty soon.
Huang has big plans for LeBron and the Cavs:
Huang said interest in the Cavs has exploded in China and they have surpassed the Houston Rockets, who have Chinese national hero Yao Ming, in popularity. The Cavs are second to only the Los Angeles Lakers in overall profile. This year there will be 34 games broadcast on Chinese television and there are Chinese media members based in Cleveland who cover the team.
Tsingtao is buying into that, spending to appeal to Chinese fans watching the games in addition to the American fans. For the last month there has been a Tsingtao billboard on one of the basket standards at The Q and fans will notice more signage soon. The beer is being sold at the arena.
“There’s going to be more similar-sized deals to come,” said Huang, whose has also arranged sponsor deals with the Rockets and New York Yankees in the past.
“This is a very small piece of all the business activities going on China right now and investment in foreign teams are part of the many possibilities that are happening. It isn’t a must-do deal, but it is a trend of businesses investing outside of China.”
Perhaps soon, if things fall into place as Huang believes, they’ll be investing in James as well. At least in China’s eyes, James could have more fans playing in Cleveland with a high-profile team, than about anywhere else.
“He can be a superstar in China with the Cavs,” Huang said. “He’s got the potential to have more Chinese fans and become more popular in China.”
Why is that exactly? Any team that LeBron James suits up for will be “high-profile”. It doesn’t matter if it’s in Cleveland, New York City or Sacramento.
Now, I don’t want to dismiss this new ownership group. I’m sure having a foothold in China could really benefit both the Cavs and LeBron. If James wants to be a ‘global icon’ then having ownership with a base in China would certainly help.
However, it’s not like having a Chinese part-owner is the only way for LeBron to expand his brand in the Chinese market. I’m sure Nike could hook him with a few people over there.
Will the new ownership help the Cavs’ chances of keeping James? Who knows, but it couldn’t hurt. It really all depends on what LeBron wants. If he wants the lights of NYC, then the Cavs can’t really do all that much. But if he wants to win (in his hometown) with an owner that is willing to go the extra mile (and a part owner that could boost his Chinese profile) then the Cavs are in good shape.


text:
The newest item to go on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu is the 1977 Cadillac Seville that was driven by Elvis Presley himself. The King of Rock & Roll purchased this car in October 1976 and he opted for the burgundy and silver colour scheme. The car is in original condition and even has the CB radio that Elvis used to communicate with the kitchen at Graceland.
Talking about Elvis Presley’s Cadillac, Lady Fiona Montagu, wife of the museum’s founder, said: “I am a huge fan and had the costume made to wear at an Elvis themed fund raising evening we held in the museum last year in support of our Beaulieu education charity, the Countryside Education Trust.” This Seville V8 Automatic was manufactured by GM and its body was custom made by Fisher for Cadillac. It even has features like electric windows and mirrors.
Previously auctioned in Las Vegas in 1994 and sold for $101,500 to a private collector, it again came up for sale in August when Graceland held its first ever auction. The car was purchased for $81,250 by Steve Horn. Steve and his wife, who are fans of Elvis, run Europe’s Tribute to Elvis, an annual Europe tribute artist contest held in Blackpool with the winner taking part in the contest finals in Memphis. Talking about their willingness to display the car at Beaulieu, Steve said: “We wanted to give all of Elvis’s UK fans an opportunity to see his car and Beaulieu is the perfect location. We are delighted they could find a space for it.”
This Cadillac is the last car that he bought for personal use. After his death, this car was gifted by his father, Vernon, to Elvis’s girlfriend, Ginger Alden. The car is presently on display in the National Motor Museum.
In Images – Elvis Presley’s Cadillac Seville


text:
One of KCCI anchor Stacey Horst's favorite places is on Des Moines's southside.
Graziano Brothers grocery has operated out of the same building at 1601 South Union Street in Des Moines for more than a hundred years. It was started in 1912 by Frank and Louie Graziano, who emigrated from Italy.
Frank's granddaughter, Frances, runs the business and took Stacey for a tour.
"The first thing that you do -- you stop, take a moment and breathe in and enjoy the seasoning," said Frances Graziano.
That's the first step to enjoying the only Italian specialty food store in the state.
The mix of Italian spices is so popular, Graziano's is frequently shipping pounds of it all across the country. But there's more you need to check out at the business.
"We do have some seasoned olives," said Frances Graziano. "You have to have the salami and the cheeses and the crackers. And if you come at the right time of the year, I make a delicious pesto that people die for."
That time of year, by the way, is from May to October.
"Don't forget the pastas, you have to have the pastas," said Frances Graziano.
"I always serve Graziano's olives and cheeses to my guests, and they are very popular with customers. But Graziano's signature product is their sausage," said Stacey Horst.


text:
(Ecofin Agency) - Users of telecom services in South Africa can now access the “V by Vodacom” range of Internet of Things products launched by mobile operator Vodacom.
According to Saloshni Muthal, Head of Consumer IOT at Vodacom, the new range reflects Vodacom’s capacity to empower customers to keep track of the things they love. “In this way, Vodacom remains committed to transforming the lives of all citizens via the application of new and innovative technologies,” she said.
The launch of IoT products is the result of strategic investments engaged in since 2016. Last 21 July, Vodacom acquired 100% stake in IoT product player XLink Communications to “execute across the full IoT value chain by developing new IoT verticals, whilst using XLink as managed services provide.”
Back in April 2017, it entered a partnership with tech solution provider PTC to set a platform for connected objects. Vodacom wanted to strengthen the network on which the new service will be offered. On May 13, 2019, Vodacom engaged talks to get majority stake in IoT innovative solution provider IoT.nxt, to guarantee the deployment of cutting-edge tools.
“Vodacom intends to use IoT as a purposeful tool to address locally relevant consumer needs. V by Vodacom, as a product suite is expected to drive up the use of IoT in the country, enabling Vodacom to connect millions of South Africans for a better future,” Saloshni Muthal said.


text:
To begin with, Samsung would be competing for a narrow slice of a small market. While 4K Blu-ray disc sales have been growing rapidly, they're part of a declining industry. Overall disc sales fell 11.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018. It's a tough space to be in, and even brands like Oppo Digital have backed out. It didn't help that Samsung's players didn't support Dolby Vision (just HDR10 and HDR10+), ruling them out for home theater enthusiasts who either don't have HDR10 TVs or simply prefer Dolby's approach to HDR video.
There's also an elephant in the room: streaming. While many will tout Blu-ray's higher quality compared to streaming services, there's no doubt that there's a larger audience of people who would rather subscribe to Netflix or Amazon than buy physical movies. The Digital Entertainment Group noted that 2.3 million 4K Blu-ray devices sold in US during the first nine months of 2018, but those included game consoles that might never play a disc-based movie. Netflix, meanwhile, had over 148 million global subscribers by the end of 2018. Samsung might not want to pour money into disc players when they have an uncertain future, especially not when its TVs now have access to movie purchase and rental services like iTunes.


text:
Auto industry body SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) has said that manufacturers may have to cut FY20 auto sales estimates if the current slowdown continues. This after sales data for July reflected that passenger car sales were down 36 percent year-on-year (YoY).
While commercial vehicle (CV) sales are down 26 percent compared annually, there is no respite for the two-wheeler segment as well. The sales are down 17 percent when compared to the same period a year ago. According to sectoral experts, the lack of liquidity from NBFCs (Non Banking Financial Company) is one of the key reasons behind the auto slowdown. On top of it, banks demanding 25 percent collateral for inventory financing has also impacted dealers majorly.
On the back of this slowdown, CNBC-TV18’s Parikshit Luthra spoke with industry veteran RC Bhargava, Chairman of Maruti Suzuki, on his reading of the situation and what steps are need to be taken to overcome the slump.
Bhargava has said that the trigger for the slowdown changed in the first quarter of this fiscal with regulatory changes increasing the price of cars.


text:
Dar es Salaam. After experiencing a two-year downfall, beekeepers will now have a reason to smile following a fast recovery of the sub sector that has seen export earnings from honey and beeswax growing seven times and threefold respectively within a year.
Data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism shows that both honey and beeswax have started recovering from historic decline in export revenue in 2014/1, which was triggered by fall in prices.
In this financial year, beeswax export earnings dropped to Sh1.1 billion from Sh8.5 billion in 2013/14 while honey revenue slid to Sh46 million from Sh380.9 million in the same period.
But in what seems to be a strong comeback, in the third quarter of 2016/17 financial year, beeswax had generated Sh4.57 billion of exports from Sh1.57 billion in 2015/16, which was boosted by increase in volume and price. Honey, a premium bee product, recorded a historic growth of exports revenue by more than 650 per cent from Sh161 million in 2015/16 to Sh1.22 billion in the third quarter of 2016/17.
Experts say the sector has more potential than what it offers now and if invested well it would boost President John Magufuli’s industrialisation agenda.
A further analysis by The Citizen has discovered that despite its popularity compared to other bee’s crops, honey has recorded the lowest export earnings, about six times less than that of beeswax in the past six years, a sign that the later has more potential to boost beekeepers and national economy.
For the period between 2011/12 and March 2017, official data in 2017/18 ministry’s budget speech shows the government collected over Sh19 billion from wax exports compared to Sh3.4 billion, which was generated from honey.
Beeswax is a natural wax produced by honey bees of genus Apes and is used to manufacture health, beauty products and candles. Beekeeping is one of the sub sectors that has not been given priority despite its contribution to government revenue as well as providing employment.
However, only 26 per cent of the potential has been harnessed, according to the ministry. Currently, it is estimated that 34,000 tonnes of honey are produced per annum against the potential of 138,000 tones.
Beeswax potential is 9,200 tonnes, but so far only a quarter of it is produced. Tanzania is the second largest producer of bee products in Africa after Ethiopia, which is estimated to produce around 50,000 tonnes yearly.
Government view on the sector
The Tanzania Forest Service (TFS) Beekeeping Officer, Ms Mwanahamisi Mapolu said beeswax was more expensive in international market compared to honey that is why it has high revenue. Ms Mapolu told The Citizen that a kilogramme of beeswax in foreign market ranges between $9 and $10, which is equivalent to Sh22, 000 while honey price stands between $4 to $5 (Sh11, 000).
“Businessmen opt for products that pay them handsomely,” said Ms Mapolu, adding that processing beeswax is easier and cheap because it is consumed by human beings.
“However, the businessmen must reach the standards required in order to get customers. Both products have a huge demand in and outside the country.” She added the sub sector is growing fast for a big number of youth are involved in the production of both honey and beeswax using modern techniques.
The government estimates that the sub sector employs up to 2 million youth annually, adding that the largest markets of beeswax are Germany, Japan and US.
What experts say
Mr Nicholas Tutuba, a lecturer at Mzumbe University, Morogoro campus said the demand of wax and honey is very large in and outside the country and it’s growing everyday but citizens have been not sensitised enough to see beekeeping as a commercial activity. He added that there is one government Beekeeping College only so far, which offers a certificate and diploma education.
This, according to her, prevents the sub sector from growing to its full potential because there are a few officers to provide education to the community.
He said although the industry has a great chance of alleviating poverty, there is no research agenda like in China where they are researching on cure by using bees and its products while in Europe and US, they are exploring on bee glue, royal jell, bee pollen and bee venom.
“There are two important things I see and that are; we have failed to establish our brand and we do not have enough data to show that we can be reliable suppliers,” he said.
Failure in collecting data on beekeeping business is likely to hamper the government efforts to boost the sub sector whose products mainly come from Tabora, Singida, Dodoma and Tanga.
Singida contribute to produces about 21 per cent of all Tanzania honey annually.
Head of Tabora Beekeeping Training, Semu Daudi said most of businessmen are selling their products in free market, which hinders the authority to get correct data. Mr Daudi also said there was a problem in policy and regulations supervision as everyone is speaking about the sector.
“The sector is very potential and people can benefit from it like here in Tabora where beekeepers earn a lot of money for selling honey,” he said.
Even as beekeepers celebrate what they earn, some of them are still using poor methods that hinders bumper production. The Singida Youth Entrepreneurs and Consultants Cooperative Society (SYECCOS) president, Mr Philemon Kiemi said over 90 per cent of beekeepers are using log hives, which are characterised with low productivity less than 7kg.
He said the number of beekeepers in a country is unknown, but it is only estimated to be 1-2 million, tonnes despite that the lack of placement of the sector to forest conservation instead of beekeepers.
“Lack of initial capital for smallholder beekeepers and lack of private beekeeping reserves in the country are things that affects the sector,” he said.
Mr Kiemi said SYECCO are planning to invest Sh300 million to increase beehives in the region to 14,000 by January 2018 and increase honey production to 450 tonnes annually.
Currently, they own a total of 6,000 beehives with capacity of producing 25 tons per year, adding there are about 1,000 beekeepers in Singida, and about 90 per cent of the hives are traditional hives and approximately 10 per cent is improved hives in subsistence apiaries.


text:
ADDIS ABABA – Addis Ababa Culture, Art and Tourism Bureau said that it has partnered with Tourism Ethiopia to launch Addis Ababa’s first-ever tourism brand in the coming three months in a view to enhancing the promotion of tourism opportunities in the metropolis.
Bureau Deputy Head Wachamo Peteros stated that the limited promotion of Addis Ababa’s tourism opportunities has remained a factor for the unsatisfactory revenue that is obtained from the sector.
“Tourism is a complex sector and it requires skilled human power and intensive promotion of tourism potentials and the new brand is expected to raise the status of Addis Ababa among global visitors.” To this end, religious institutions, meter taxi associations, tour operators, hotel owners and other tourism stakeholders need to play a pivotal role in promoting the city’s tourist attraction sites.
Meanwhile, brand is learning and holding the past history, knowing the present and driving the next activities that what the sector is expected to achieve or aspired, Wachamo added.
Woldgebriel Bereh, Tourism Marketing Director at Tourism Ethiopia (TE) said on his part said that the main aims of the new brand are increasing numbers of tourist flow, penetrating to world tourism market, enhancing competitiveness, and ensure holistic advantages of city’s resident.
He admitted challenges lack of tourism brand has created in follow of tourist has created to the metropolis despite the fact that Addis Ababa is the home of the AU, UNECA and other international continental, regional institutions.
According to the Director, lack of serious attention towards for brand, is a main factor the city has remained too long with a unique tourism brand. However, this it does not mean that the country has no history of tourism brand and it used the brand at national level since the late 1960s.
He indicated that creating brand could by generate the expected result by itself, rather effective communication, promotion, improvement of the tourism value chain and integrating local communities in the tourism sector development are crucial.
“TE also working with state culture, art and tourism bureaus so as to create tourism brands for each towns and cities across the nation, it was learnt.


text:
Brown spent three years at Procter & Gamble after graduating before moving to Nestlé Waters North America, where he steadily moved up the ranks until he became president in 2013.
“Tim and I clicked the moment we met,” said Ulukaya.
“He's an amazing leader with views and values I really respect and believe in. With his deep experience in consistently delivering quality growth, he's the perfect person to partner with me in continuing to lead the new wave of better food for more people. Chobani’s in a very strong position with greater potential than ever before and now with Tim joining we'll grab it.”
In the wake of press reports that the company had been looking for a new boss, Chobani told reporters in early 2015 that it was looking for an "operationally oriented" CEO to complement the skill-set of its more "brand and innovation oriented" founder, but later stressed that Ulukaya (founder, chairman and CEO) was remaining in charge.
Brown - who starts work at Chobani on March 20 - will oversee Chobani’s operations, sales, marketing, legal and finance teams, and will report directly to Ulukaya.
"Joining a company like Chobani to partner with someone like Hamdi and this great team is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ve been following Chobani for years as they have changed the food landscape in this country. I’m thrilled and honored to be coming aboard at a time of such momentum and incredible potential.”
While growth in the US yogurt category fell into negative territory in 2016, Chobani's US operation notched up double-digit sales and volume growth last year, driven by a strong performances from Flip and the core cups range and a successful move into yogurt drinks, chief marketing and brand officer Peter McGuinness told FoodNavigator-USA in January.
Speaking to us as Nielsen revealed that US retail yogurt category dollar sales dipped 0.9% to $7.679bn, and unit sales slumped 5.4% in the 52 weeks to December 31 (all outlets combined, plus c-stores), McGuinness said 2016 was “a huge year for us; we beat all of our targets, and have a lot of steam and momentum going into 2017. Last year, we hit our highest share; and we're still the #1 Greek yogurt brand with a distance."
Flip continued to go from strength to strength, with four new flavors (Peppermint Perfection, Carrot Cake Creation, Cinnabun Fun, and S'More S'mores) hitting stores this month, and a marketing campaign launching in three weeks spanning TV, digital, social media and point of sale, he added.
“Flip continues to go gangbusters with sales up close to 70% year on year [although rival Dannon pointed out that such rapid growth was “not surprising” given that Flip is still a relatively new product]. Flip is on fire and my vision of it being our next billion dollar platform for us has not changed.
“We’ve just launched four new nostalgic flavors and we’ll have new innovations in July.”
According to Nielsen data, dollar sales in the US yogurt market dipped 0.9% to $7.679bn, and unit sales slumped 5.4% in the 52 weeks to December 31 (grocery, drug, mass, select dollar, warehouse, military outlets combined, plus c-stores).
Dollar sales of Greek-style yogurt were down 1% to $3.559bn (units -3.1%), while non-Greek was down 0.8% to $4.119bn (units down 7.1%).
By format, dollar sales of spoonable yogurt were down 2.2% to $6.843bn (units -6.3%), while yogurt shakes and drinks were up 12% to $741,220,234 (units +13%).
Drink Chobani exceeded all of our estimates
Drink Chobani - a new protein-packed yogurt beverage featuring fruit and probiotics that hit shelves in July 2016 – had also been a hit, he claimed.
“They have exceeded all of our estimates in terms of volume and the feedback has been phenomenal. We’re just launching four new flavors (vanilla, peach, lemon lime, pina colada) going into retailers’ January resets, so we’ll have eight SKUs in national distribution, and more innovation on the way in July in non-traditional yogurt flavors. We want to do for yogurt drinks what Chobani did for Greek yogurt 10 years ago.”
The product, which is offering “portable protein with far less sugar than smoothies,” is smooth and not chalky-tasting and has strong potential to generate incremental sales growth for Chobani in an underdeveloped category, he claimed.
“There might be a bit of cannibalization [of the yogurt business] but it’s mostly incremental growth, as you’ve got people that buy juices, smoothies and protein shakes buying them. We think that yogurt drinks could ultimately account for 30-40% of the yogurt category.”
Meze dips a tougher sell
However, Chobani’s first move outside the dairy case with meze dips (now available at grocery deli counters next to hummus), has been a tougher sell, he acknowledged.
“Deli is very different to dairy, but we're not known in deli yet. We’re kind of where we expected to be with the dips, but we love them and we’re sticking with them; the products are phenomenal and the flavors are great.”


text:
MSME NATIONAL SUMMIT and AWARDS 2021: ‘SMEs are being provided opportunities to grow as well as expand their product portfolio’
The MSME NATIONAL SUMMIT AND AWARDS 2021 rolls out on 3 August 2021 and will be focusing on important sectors and their challenges to combat the COVID crisis
•Updated: August 2, 2021 21:13 pm
The COVID Pandemic has impacted majorly on the economies around the world. In India, it not only hindered many lives but also had a major effect on businesses. The Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector was one of them, which is considered to be the backbone of the economy.
After the unlocking of the first wave of COVID, business activities started resolving, but then the second wave again increased the difficulties of the MSME sector.
See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:
In such a situation, we are starting MSME NATIONAL SUMMIT and AWARDS 2021 to brainstorm on the challenges of the MSME sector and to explore new growth opportunities. During the series, we will take stock of different sectors. At the same time, the Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector, which has done excellent work during the COVID, will also be honoured.
Eminent personalities like Deepak Jain, President, ACMA & CMD Lumax Industries; Sunjay Kapur, Chairman, Sona Comstar; Shradha Suri Marwah; Chairperson & MD, Subros took part in the webinar summit. And the event was moderated by Saurabh Manchanda, SME Editor, Zee Business.
Taking about the challenges faced by SMEs on the liquidity, cash flow front, Deepak Jain, President, ACMA & CMD, Lumax Industries, said that the ACMA has around 850 members. Out of this, 65 per cent are actually MSMEs. He added that after the excellent performance in the auto component sector in the financial year 2018-19, the pace slowed down in the financial year 2019-20.
And a negative growth was also registered. He said that the industry was affected by the COVID lockdown. During this, SMEs were affected the most. However, the situation has improved a bit now as compared to the past. Some recovery is also being seen in the sector.
Looking at the outperformance of the aftermarket segment in the challenging environment, Sunjay Kapur, Chairman, Sona Comstar, said that there has been a growth in this segment. The aftermarket segment is huge. The aftermarket contributes about $10 billion in terms of revenue. There is a stir on both the domestic and export fronts.
Responding to the question related to boosting demand during COVID, Shradha Suri Marwah, Chairperson and MD, Subros, mentioned that the central government has increased many schemes to give relief to SMEs. In which emergency credit funding was prominent.
The government has also changed the definition of MSMEs. She added that on the other hand, ACMA is also doing skilling through the Center of Excellence, through which people have got new opportunities and new jobs. Apart from this, the handholding of SMEs is also being done on digitization and other aspects. They are being provided opportunities to grow as well as expand their product portfolio.
While discussing the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, Jain said that the Union Government has identified 12 different sectors, which have the potential to go global. He clarified that there is a need to give special focus on skill, quality, and competitiveness when it comes to the global level.
Talking about the current situation, Jain said that within the global value chain, the auto components sector contributes only 1.5 per cent. At the same time, if this stake in the global value chain is achieved by doubling to about 3 per cent or 5 per cent in 5 years through the PLI scheme, then it will be a big deal.


text:
Walmart will rely on own workforce for the holiday rush, the retailer said. » Read More
By: Uptin Saiidi
The battle between Alibaba and Amazon escalates in markets from India to the U.S. » Read More
Walmart said on Friday it was testing a service in the Silicon Valley to deliver groceries straight to customers' refrigerators as it looks to gain an edge over Amazon. » Read More
By: Sarah Whitten
Toys R Us may have filed for bankruptcy, but that doesn't mean the toy industry is going to suffer this holiday season. » Read More
Seventy-one percent of millennials are visiting multiple stores in search of bargains, according to First Insight.
Amazon already has a variety of "how-to" videos on its platform, but most are not "live" or "interactive" as a job posting suggests.
Despite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Toys R Us plans to hire more than 12,500 for the top six markets during the holiday season.
French businesswoman and heiress of cosmetics giant L'Oreal Liliane Bettencourt, 94, has died, her daughter said on Thursday.
Albertsons said it would acquire meal-kit company Plated and offer Plated meal kits at its store locations.
In 2016, total Halloween spending hit $8.4 billion, another record at the time.
Amazon will take 360,000 square feet of space at one of buildings within New York City's Hudson Yards development.
TGI Fridays is testing alcohol delivery alongside its food delivery in Texas this holiday season.
Jim Cramer says an Apple Watch glitch and earnings from General Mills and Bed Bath & Beyond all sent related stocks tumbling.
The deal is Albertsons' first big strategic move since Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods Market earlier this year.
Retail consignment shops are using social media to compete with e-commerce sites, USA Today reports.
Best, a supply chain technology company, was listed under the symbol "BSTI" on the New York Stock Exchange.
"E-commerce is not going to eliminate the retailing sector of the country," FedEx CEO Fred Smith says.
Insurance and repair fraud are common after natural disasters like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
The New York Times reports the company is responding to a British news investigation that found the faulty algorithm.
Get the best of CNBC in your inbox


text:
Mastercard Inc. beat quarterly profit estimates on Thursday as an uptick in international travel powered card spending and said a recent drag on cross-border travel from the Omicron variant was unlikely to persist.
Increased vaccinations and easing pandemic-related curbs had backed a recovery in spending, but rising COVID-19 infections from the Omicron variant pressured cross-border travel in the tail end of the fourth quarter and into January.
Chief Executive Officer Michael Miebach, however, said cross-border travel will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year.
“There are early signs that the Omicron will be relatively short-lived.”
Shares of the company rose 4.3 percent to $359.22 as cross-border volumes—a key metric that tracks card spending beyond the country of issue—surged 53 percent during the quarter.
Mastercard’s gross dollar volumes jumped 23 percent to $2.1 trillion from a year earlier. The metric represents the dollar value of the transactions processed.
Mastercard’s net revenue rose 27 percent to $5.2 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, above estimates of $5.16 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
But its operating expenses, excluding acquisition costs, rose 12 percent on the back of higher spending on personnel, marketing, and data processing.
Profit rose to $2.4 billion, or $2.41 per share, from $1.8 billion, or $1.78 per share, a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Mastercard earned $2.35 per share, above estimates of $2.21.


text:
White hackers and Black hackers will forever be embroiled in a never ending racing game. Sometimes the good team is winning, and unfortunately, the evil team is sometimes winning. You only need to look at how much casualties the WannaCry Ransomware had in its short stint.
Nonetheless, if you are using an iOS device and love getting online via a Wi-Fi network, you could be a sitting duck waiting for hackers to take over and ‘brick’ your iDevice. It has emerged that iDevices running iOS 10.3.3 have an exploit on Contacts, Safari, Messages, and Notification among other areas.
Perhaps the most damaging exploit on iOS 10.3.3 is on the phone’s Wi-Fi chipset, which can allow a would-be attacker to take over your phone remotely when it is searching for a Wi-Fi network.
Apple, after learning of this exploit, has since moved swiftly to issue out a security patch released yesterday to fix the zero-day vulnerability. So before you get online using a Wi-Fi connection, ensure you download and install the security patch available at this link.
Like stated earlier, the white hack and …read more


text:
At the beginning of the month, European Commission antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia gave a speech providing an update on where the lengthy Google antitrust probe stood. He said the Commission had been negotiating with the company, and Google had offered up “improvements” to the commitments it had released earlier.
He did not go into too many details, but indicated that they would make links to competitors in vertical search “significantly more visible” with a “larger space of the Google search result page” dedicated to them, and would include rival logos appearing next to the links, where dynamic text would also be displayed. Also included is an “auction mechanism” with the option to bid for each specific query and “improvements to granularity” of the opt-out feature that is offered to third-party sites. It’s said to ensure that Google can’t retaliate against sites that use it.
Additionally, Google committed to no longer include in its agreements with publishers “any provisions or impose any unwritten obligations that would require publishers to source their requirements for online search advertisements exclusively from Google in relation to queries from EEA users.” The new proposal, Almunia said, “improves the safeguards against possible circumventions.”
The changes are also said to provide guarantees against circumvention with regards to Google’s offer to cease to impose any obligations that prevent advertisers from porting and managing search ad campaigns across its services and competing services.
Finally, Google would be required to have a third party monitor its practices.
Reports have now come out that the Commission has asked Google’s competitors and other third-parties to review the revised proposal. According to Reuters, it has asked 125 companies to provide feedback.
By offering the proposals, Google is hoping to avoid a $5 billion fine. We’ll see where it goes from here.
Image: European Commission Vice President Joaquin Almunia (nuevaeconomiaforum via YouTube)


text:
On March 28, Facebook launched the feature Facebook Stories, which allows users to post temporary collections of photos and videos. It mimics a capability that was originally created for Snapchat and came to Instagram last August. So, how long do Facebook stories stay up? They're pretty much just like Instagram stories: They stay up for 24 hours before disappearing into the ether, or wherever stories go when they die.
Through Facebook Stories, which is currently available worldwide on iOS and Android, you can share bits and pieces of your life as a slide show, which your friends can react to and comment on. Their reactions and comments will also disappear after 24 hours. If you don't want to share it with all your friends, you can just select a subset.
One fun thing about the new addition is that it lets you add stickers, doodles, and text and use filters designed by artists Hattie Stewart and Douglas Coupland. For the first time on Facebook, you can use animated face filters and scribble on your photos with a chalk tool. Another difference from the Instagram feature is that you swipe up and down instead of left and right.
"We want to make it fast, fun and easy for people to share creative photos and videos with whomever they choose, for however long they choose — and the more we share with each other, the more open and connected our community can be," Facebook product manager Connor Hayes said in a blog post announcing the news.
Instagram recently launched a feature that lets you save Instagram stories to your phone after you share them. You can't save Facebook Stories in their entirety, so the stories truly are temporary, which could encourage people to share tidbits of their lives less self-consciously. But you can save individual photos and videos within them to your camera roll. And for less fleeting videos, you can use Facebook Live, which lets you save videos to your camera roll.
To try out the new Stories feature, log onto Facebook on your phone and touch the picture of a camera in the upper left corner or go to the newsfeed and swipe right. Then, it'll prompt you to create your story and select who you share it with. If you share it with everyone, they'll see it in a new top portion of their screens called "Stories." If you share it with just a few people, they'll see it in a more private section labeled "Direct." Happy broadcasting!


text:
How Protectivity Grew New Business 172% with Aira
Improving SERP rankings and increasing revenue
In an intensely competitive financial services sector, Protectivity looks for every advantage to eclipse the competition.
Back in 2017, the company’s big objective was to bolster its organic presence online. While they’d already gained a good foothold in organic search, with more visibility and better search rankings they could rapidly scale their sales and revenue.
“Until 2017, we’d relied mainly on our in-house expertise with regards to SEO," explains Sean. "We had a fairly strong handle on on-page SEO and, to a certain extent, technical. But there were a couple of areas that we wanted to improve on.”
Protectivity wanted to move the SEO needle in a few different ways. Top priority was improving their SERP rankings across the board. More specifically, they wanted to improve the search performance of underperforming products—and lay strong SEO foundations for new products they believed had huge sales potential.
They knew that building more inbound links from high-quality sources would be key in getting Google—and ultimately more customers—to notice them.
But turning this vision for organic dominance into reality wasn’t going to be easy. Sean’s busy team was already juggling multiple priorities. They lacked both the bandwidth and granular knowledge on the very latest SEO tactics to step up their digital game as quickly as they needed.
It was a pivotal moment for Protectivity.
“We wanted to find an agency partner with a proven track record for improving clients’ organic presence, and who could help us drive more direct sales through organic search,” says Sean.
If the business made the right choice, they could accelerate opportunities to grow traffic and revenue.
'We had a fairly strong handle on on-page SEO and, to a certain extent, technical. But there were a couple of areas that we wanted to improve on.'
An SEO partner focused on growing customers, not just traffic
Protectivity selected Aira as their agency partner, based on the company’s strong SEO reputation and team of ego-free specialists.
“Aira has won numerous SEO awards, plus their CEO Paddy Moogan has worked with Moz (one of the world’s most trusted SEO companies), which carries some kudos. Aira delivered a really strong pitch and we felt they’d be great to work with because they were a super-friendly and approachable team,” says Sean.
Unlike some agencies that rush into making recommendations, Aira took time to understand Protectivity’s goals, research their industry and establish a concrete plan to maximise opportunities.
At the outset, they carried out a variety of SEO consultancy and technical audits. Using SEO competitor analysis, they figured out who Protectivity’s competitors were, what they were doing well and less well, and helped them spot the best strategies to invest in for the best ROI.
A technical SEO audit ensured Protectivity’s website was healthy, secure and working as it should. Meanwhile, link audits and ranking investigations all delivered deep insights to inform campaign work moving forward.
Off the back of Aira’s research, Protectivity made changes to its website to improve design and usability. They also optimised on-page content for search engines and users to improve rankings and achieve more traffic.
Sean explains, “Aira helped us with on-page and technical-related SEO matters. And they carried it out at a level we probably wouldn’t have been able to do on our own.”
Because Aira has multi-channel digital acumen, they provided consultancy on broader activities, including paid campaigns. This helped Protectivity generate more traffic, increase the number of audiences they reached, and improve return on ad spend.
The team at Aira added further value in the difficult and time-consuming area of link building. It was critical that Protectivity got this right, because links are one of the major ranking factors of search engines.
Aira focused on building the right kind of high quality backlinks that Protectivity needed. They compiled a consumer trends analysis to uncover what was being covered in the press across each niche, so they could ensure their content was relevant. They also ideated around niche products to ensure campaigns covered a variety of topics.
Sean says, “Aira were excellent at bringing different ideas to the table that we had not thought about before. They drilled into our topic areas and developed content with a wider subject matter than just insurance, which improves our organic presence in key spaces.”
Aira’s approach to link building helped Protectivity get coverage in globally recognised daily media and relevant niche publications. This brought them links that boosted their organic rankings on SERPs and drove high-quality traffic to their website. In total, Aira generated over 1,400 pieces of coverage!
Sean says, “Aira enabled us to have our brand mentioned in globally recognized tabloids that have a huge domain authority. These are achievements that we wouldn't have been able to achieve in-house if Aira wasn’t doing it for us.”
'Aira drilled into our topic areas and developed content with a wider subject matter than just insurance, which improves our organic presence in key spaces.'
172% increase in new business revenue and five years of trusted partnership
With Aira, Protectivity has succeeded in making its brand and products more visible online, driving more organic traffic and scaling its revenue.
Since 2017, when the partnership began, they’ve increased revenue from new online sales by 172%. In 2022 alone, revenue from new online business grew a massive 47% on the previous Covid-influenced year.
Sean attributes much of this success to the hard work of Aira.
He says, “Our growth has been significantly aided by Aira’s SEO activity. First and foremost, they’ve delivered upon their KPIs year after year—and in most years exceeded them.”
In a world where average client-agency relationships last just 3 years, Aira’s trusted partnership with Protectivity has already exceeded 5!
“We view Aira as being one of the experts within the SEO agency market. So why would we choose to go elsewhere?” says Sean.
As well as supporting Protectivity’s financial growth, Aira saves the business time—and injects high levels of creativity and expertise.
“Aira saves us a lot of time, particularly on the link-building side of things. If we’d employed people to do that internally, it would’ve taken us two or three times longer than Aira, because they’ve got a whole team of PR pros working on it,” he says.
Sean recommends Aira to anyone looking to acquire more customers and grow revenue through a stronger organic presence.
He says, “With Aira, you get an extremely professional outfit that knows SEO like the back of their hand. Whatever your KPIs—achieving organic traffic, revenue or lead growth—I would say with confidence that Aira would be able to deliver upon the challenges you face as a business.”
'Our growth has been significantly aided by Aira’s SEO activity. First and foremost, they’ve delivered upon their KPIs year after year—and in most years exceeded them.'


text:
With much fanfare, Research in Motion (RIM) today announced the launch of its BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone, running the company's new BlackBerry 6 operating system. The launches are a key milestone in RIM's effort to reverse sagging inte. Read More...
Read the complete post at http://www.macrumors.com/2010/08/03/research-in-motion-launches-torch-smartphone-and-blackberry-6-os/
08-03-2010 6:28 AM
MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors


text:
A report from Smithers Pira expects global bioplastics for packaging industry to be worth $7.2bn, at an average rate of 17% per year between 2017 and 2022.
According to the report – The Future of Bioplastics for Packaging to 2022, bioplastids for packaging markets presently has a small share of global plastic packaging market value, but it is expected to grow strongly – increasing more than twice in value across the forecast period.
The report says that those organisations which can offer solutions to key challenges facing commercial adaptation of bioplastics in packaging will be the ones that can succeed.
This involves identifying opportunities where premium can be expected for naturally sourced products that overcome biopolymers negative cost competitiveness versus petro-polymers caused by the falls in world crude oil prices since mid-2014.
Apart from this, in packaging applications where it is technically possible to replace oil-based polymers with bioplastics, suppliers will also have to manage the problems of high production costs, capital availability and limited availability of bio-based feedstock over the coming years.
Report author Vlad Savinov said: “While the potential market for bioplastics is huge, consumption rates will depend on whether producers can grow their production capabilities fast enough and at acceptable cost/performance levels to meet demand. Decades ago, the oil refinery and petrochemical industry successfully implemented the use of added-value business models.
“These business models generated high levels of profit by integrating the supply chain from the oil well head all the way through chemicals and polymer production. This allowed producers to operate an integrated raw material and polymer complex with very few middle-men and therefore captured profit at each level of the supply chain.
“It is expected that the biopolymer sector will adapt an added-value business model in a similar way. Unlike oil refineries, a bio-refinery will be capable of processing many different types of biomass, including sugars, cellulose and various plant oils.”
The report stated that emergence of new technologies in the near future can ensure in developing new types of polymers and improved ways of producing biopolymes for various end-use applications.
As per the report, Europe is expected to be the largest market with 31% share of the global bioplastic packaging consumption. Though it is now at the forefront of R&D, but it could produce only 10% with a diminishing share of consumption by 2022.
Most of the currently planned volume production facilities are being implemented in Thailand, India and China, and over three-quarters of bioplastics will be produced in Asia by 2022.
In terms of end-use categories, non-food is the largest area of application for bioplastics packaging in 2017, which accounts for about 46% of global consumption. The result is that bioplastics will be increasingly used in producing garbage bags and carry-out bags.
Food is the second-largest end-use sector, followed by beverage bottles. Bioplastic beverage bottle consumption has grown dramatically since 2012, following the introduction of bio-derived PET for soft drinks bottles, and will account for almost 22% of bioplastics for packaging consumption in 2017.


text:
Ford EcoSport gets DRLs as option in India
Ford offers the EcoSport with a huge feature list which has played a key role in the success of the compact SUV, especially in India. But still certain features like Daytime Running Lamps (DRLs) were missing from even the top-end variants, even as an option, in India. Ford India has corrected that omission and the DRLs are now being sold as an option. The headlamps, called Signature Headlamps, with DRLs can now be installed for Rs 14,000.
The DRLs are a popular accessory in the aftermarket space but they require the installers to tamper with the wiring thus violating the warranty. While the DRL will come at a slightly steeper price that the aftermarket options, the customers now won't have to worry about warranty just because they want DRLs.
Ford has received an overwhelming response for the EcoSport in India with customers having to wait six-eight months to get delivery. EcoSport comes in petrol, turbo petrol and turbo diesel variants with the majority of the sales being accounted for by the diesel version.
OVERDRIVE first broke the news of Ford contemplating the sunroof option for the Indian version. Read full report here.
Starts Rs 7.67 Lakhs
- ReviewSuzuki V-Strom 650 XT ABS first ride review
- NewsMG Motor India's first launch: Everything we know
- NewsVolkswagen Passat with Connect app launched at Rs 25.99 lakh
- News2019 Hyundai Santro spotted in top-spec Asta trim
- NewsHero Destini 125cc scooter to launch on October 22
- NewsChinese carmaker Great Wall Motors to enter India by 2021-22
- NewsImage gallery: New BMW X7 SUV
- NewsSkoda Kodiaq GT coupe-SUV unveiled for China
- News2019 BMW X7 SUV unveiled internationally
- FeaturesReady to race: Volkswagen Vento TC4-A Racecar first drive review


text:
A judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York this week sided with a debt collection agency in dismissing a case, with prejudice, that alleged violations of the FDCPA in collection letter language. The judge offered interesting commentary on the “least sophisticated consumer” standard in her opinion.
Archive by Most CommentsArchive by Date
The CFPB and FTC this week said in a court brief that “actual or threatened litigation is not a necessary predicate for an FDCPA violation in the context of time-barred debt.” The brief argues that under certain circumstances, a settlement offer — and other collection activity — on an out-of-statute account can mislead the consumer and could be a violation of the FDCPA.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against a group of affiliated collection agencies and their owners over the use of words like “Federal” in their names and collectors directly stating or implying that the company had the power to arrest consumers.
Mobile computing has not only arrived, but in just a few short years has now matured to the point that tablet and smartphone sales are beginning to outpace PC’s and laptops. Yet, many collection software vendors have not kept up with the pace of these advances.
Most sellers anticipate being on the receiving end of a due diligence process. While this is accurate, I strongly encourage owners and executives to reverse the diligence process on the buyer and find out as much as possible, as early as possible.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley Monday asked state regulators to prevent casinos from placing liens on the homes of people with unpaid gambling debts. The request was made after a weekend article exposing the practice.
Those in the collection business know that industry professionals and their agencies constantly seek ways to improve processes and be successful. With the constant demand to find the right solutions to our business objectives, it’s easy to forget the more basic components of success.
A jurist praised by The New York Times for his administration of credit card debt collection cases was recently the subject of a harsh rebuke from a New York appellate court for the same judicial practices.
Debt buyer Asta Funding, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASFI) Monday reported financial results for its first fiscal quarter of 2014, ended December 31, 2013. The company also announced an acquisition which closed on the last day of the year.
The Federal Trade Commission Wednesday issued its annual report on enforcement of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The letter noted that the FTC has stepped up its law enforcement actions under the FDCPA as the CFPB takes over most other responsibilities.
Following a week of staring deep into TDX Group’s crystal ball, we can now provide our view on the key themes for 2014.
The U.S. House of Representatives late Thursday passed a bill that would dramatically change the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and limit the powers the agency was given to regulate the consumer finance industry, including rulemaking authority.
One of the highlights of the DBA International conference was a conversation with the CFPB. Incoming DBA President Bryan Faliero moderated an informal panel discussion with three key division leaders: Tom Pahl, managing counsel for Regulations; Scott Pluta, assistant director for the Office of Consumer Response; and Larry DeMille-Wagman, acting director of Collection Supervision.
According to a variety of sources, Capital One is preparing to launch a team of suited collectors to visit people’s homes and offices in pursuit of missed credit card payments. The LA Times put it this way: “Credit card issuer Capital One isn’t shy about getting into customers’ faces. The company recently sent a contract update to cardholders that makes clear it can drop by any time it pleases.” Only this is not a recent update, and the credit card company claims its only using this clause in repossession efforts.
In one of the largest acquisitions in accounts receivable management industry history, Norfolk, Va.-based Portfolio Recovery Associates (NASDAQ: PRAA) announced late Wednesday that it will buy Oslo, Norway-based debt buyer Aktiv Kapital, a company that specializes in accounts from Europe and Canada.
Market changes since the FDCPA’s passage in 1977 and the postcrisis shift toward regulation have opened the door to significantly enhanced consumer protections. The CFPB’s rulemaking has the potential to alter dynamics in every corner of the industry, from reducing recovery rates and limiting post-charge-off sale options and pricing to driving further consolidation by firms with sophisticated processes, systems, and controls.
The social media revolution has given consumers a powerful voice in dealing with companies. And we’ve seen the same trend recently across the debt collection industry where the customer’s voice is now being heard, loud and clear.
One of the key outputs of the US debt industry focus on compliance and regulatory adherence is the increased rigor around policy and process audits conducted on suppliers such as collection agencies and debt buyers.
A newly-proposed Senate bill would restrict data brokers from collecting or soliciting consumer information in deceptive ways. The Data Broker Accountability and Transparency Act, introduced by Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), would also let consumers access and correct their information, and opt out of having it sold for marketing purposes. “Consumers deserve to know […]
Most consumer advocates and collectors agree that the validation language required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is stilted and obscure. Two recent cases in different Federal Courts of Appeal examined questions about the wording of specific validation notices and have caused concern for collectors about the language used.
U.S. debt buyer Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECPG) announced today that it will acquire UK-based debt buyer Marlin Financial Services for £295 million (approximately $481 million) through Cabot Credit Management, a UK subsidiary of Encore acquired last year.
Today, insideARM.com is announcing the launch of a new section of the site focused on state licensing and bonding requirements for debt collection agencies and ARM firms. The State Licensing Resources page is the latest in our push to cover all of the compliance topics in the ARM industry.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Friday issued a public notice and request for comment over a plan to mail surveys to consumers “to learn about their experiences interacting with the debt collection industry.” The CFPB plans to use the survey data to inform its rulemaking process for debt collection, but the timeframe of the survey may push back any new rules.
“As a species, we’re vulnerable to hype – whether it’s diet fads or celebrity news or late night advertisements for juicers or exercise equipment. I’m sure we don’t mean to be so credulous; and yet it’s easy to be swayed, often, by the loudest voice in the room.” Maria Wacker, Vice President of New Business Development […]
An article appearing earlier this week in American Banker focused on the use of resolution conferences in certain court jurisdictions to handle debt collection cases was largely incorrect and based on a fundamental fallacy, according to ARM attorneys with experience in the counties profiled.
In the latest exchange in an increasing arms race among public U.S. debt buyers, Encore Capital Group said it acquired a controlling stake in a debt purchaser in Latin America and a UK-based firm that handles bankruptcies in that country.
Veldos, a leading business process management provider, announced recently the completion of three important acquisitions which will grow its market position significantly and diversify the business verticals it serves.
The Federal Trade Commission last week released the 2013 annual report on its Consumer Sentinel complaints collection system. The highlights: identity theft complaints once again topped the list and debt collection complaints increased very slightly to 204,644. But an analysis of CFPB debt collection complaint data shows only a fraction of the FTC’s number.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray Wednesday gave an update on the Bureau’s activities to a group of state attorneys general. The address covered a wide range of topics, including cooperation with AGs in debt collection regulation and rulemaking.
TECH LOCK, Inc. announces Tennessee-based collection company Automated Collection Services, Inc. (ACSI) has achieved the industry gold standard for ensuring federal and state security compliance with its TECH LOCK® Certified audit.


text:
Gionee signs up Virat Kohli as brand ambassador
Kohli will soon be seen in the upcoming campaign of Gionee, and will also be actively involved in a host of innovative marketing and customer experience initiatives of the brand.
IG International appoints Bollywood actor Sonu Sood as brand ambassador
The company has also launched the Belgian Conference Pears in India i...
Equitas SFB ropes in R Ashwin as brand ambassador
R Ashwin will endorse Equitas’ products and services through advertising campaigns and othe...
Valvoline ropes in Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador
As part of the association, Kohli will be the face of Valvoline engine oils and lubricants range.
Tata Motors signs up Akshay Kumar as brand ambassador for commercial vehicles
"Indian cinema's 'original Khiladi' will make his blockbuster entry in this new role at the launch of Tata Motors' latest offering in commercial vehicles, slated in January 2017."
Mahesh Bhupathi-owned Zeven ropes in Ravindra Jadeja as brand ambassadors
The 28-year old left-hand all-rounder will join a team of world class and upcoming athletes who wear and promote Zeven.
APIS India ropes in badminton sensation PV Sindhu as its brand ambassador
As part of focusing on the domestic market, the company has recently introduced two honey variants – APIS Himalaya and APIS Himalaya Gold – in the retail market.
Priyanka Chopra appointed brand ambassador, will promote 'Awesome Assam'
The Assam government had previously been in talks with Sachin Tendulkar, and Deepika Padukone.
Salman Khan is BMC's Open Defecation Free drive brand ambassador
The 50-year-old actor will extend support to BMC in keeping the megapolis clean, in tune with the Centre's Swachh Bharat campaign.
Footballer Prasun Banerjee recommends Dipa Karmakar as brand ambassador for gymnastic
India football great Prasun Banerjee, who is also a Lok Sabha MP, has requested Sports Minister Vijay Goel to make gymnast Rio Olympian Dipa Karmakar the brand ambassador of Indian gymnastics.
CRPF ropes in PV Sindhu as its brand ambassador
A news which is expected to bring cheer to country's largest paramilitary force CRPF. Not just a cheerleader but CRPF has convinced the Champion, country's latest sports star - Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu to be its Brand Ambassador. The entire Monday was spent by CRPF to formalise the proposal.
Vistara appoints Deepika Padukone as brand ambassador
Deepika will kick-start a new campaign to elaborate on the core interpretation of the brand promise of feeling of looking forward to flying again.
Sunil Gavaskar named brand ambassador for projects by Pune builder
Paranjape Schemes (Construction) Ltd (PSCL) today announced that they have signed up the "Little Master" for their 'Athashri' projects.
Manyavar appoints Virat Kohli as its official brand ambassador
Virat will be seen in the new ad campaign ‘Aadha-Aadha’, which highlights that the essence of marriage all is about sharing, and should start right from expense of the wedding function.
Coca Cola drops Salman Khan as brand ambassador for Thums Up
Beverages major Coca Cola India has dropped Bollywood superstar Salman Khan as brand ambassador for its soft drink 'Thums Up' after four years of association and the company is in talks with young star Ranveer Singh to replace him.


text:
After regulators slammed the doors on bitcoin ETFs for the time being, some bitcoin fans are pinning their hopes on another possible way forward: a U.S.
SegWit Ushers In The Future Of Bitcoin - ibtimes.comBilled as the future of democratized, digital money, the currency is now at the center of a conflict over how to develop technologies behind the system.
The Future of the Web Looks a Lot Like the BitcoinThe argument for voter ID is to crack down on voter fraud while others argue this will exclude the poor from this democratic process.Bitcoin is being treated as a serious currency by investors, entrepreneurs and the government.Both contain messages that hold value and meaning to the reader and are both bidirectional.
This article compiles views of different industry experts and entrepreneurs and puts forth a prediction for the bitcoin price in 2016.The Future of Money: Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrency Technologies Are a Way of Life in This Small Swiss Town.
What Bitcoin Cash Reveals About The Future - ibtimes.comPhones have progressed similarly with texting and apps like SnapChat and WhatsApp.We pay our bills, do our taxes, make reservations, buy groceries, and anything else you can think of, and we do it all online.
Bitcoin is the currency of the Internet: a distributed, worldwide, decentralized digital money.Since it was introduced eight years ago, the digital currency Bitcoin has drawn attention for its rise in value.
Assign every individual their own address which they then use to cast their vote.A UNC Chapel Hill graduate, blockchain enthusiast and analyst.
Bitcoin mining has a bright future if you have loads of money to spend on.Remember when you got your first AOL account when you had to dial-in.
Future Bitcoin, Nov 20 2013 | Video | C-SPAN.org
Bitcoin is at risk as being seen as a radical community full of conspiracy theorist that wants only to irradiate the Federal Reserve and destroy banking.For sure that Bitcoin is giving hopes to many people and it will keep doing that.
21 Inc. and the Future of Bitcoin – Stratechery by BenWhat about your first email address, which was more than likely a combination of your name and the year you were born.Consumer Protection Act, and its efforts have met with fierce.
As the world is learning to accept Bitcoin as a Global Currency, people realize it is here to stay and changing the world as we know it.When the digital currency Bitcoin came to life in January 2009, it was noticed by almost no one apart from the handful of programmers who followed cryptography.A major bitcoin exchange has decided to stop selling the digital currency that was supposed to transform money on the internet.


text:
Regardless of a crypto ban in China, residents are nonetheless hungry for digital property and firms all over the world are in search of methods to facilitate buying and selling for the burgeoning inhabitants. One of many world’s largest exchanges has simply confirmed new fiat on-ramps for 2 of China’s largest ecommerce and social media funds platforms.
Purchase Crypto With WeChat Pay and Alipay on Binance
For the previous two years shopping for Bitcoin in China has been a tough enterprise. With the Beijing blockade, merchants have resorted to OTC platforms and peer to look buying and selling utilizing discussion groups. The regime even went to the intense of making an attempt to ban these, however that has not quashed the starvation for crypto in China.
The world’s high change simply confirmed that’s now accepting fiat with Alipay and WeChat Pay, two of China’s largest on-line funds platforms.
“Is #Binance now accepting fiat on-ramp with #Alipay and #Wechat pay? Thrilling information… would love for somebody to substantiate. @cz_binance”
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 9, 2019
the AliPay and WeChat Pay integration might have an even bigger impact on the cryptocurrency sector than Bakkt which had no actual impression on crypto markets.
Alipay has a billion customers worldwide in keeping with the official international website. It wants little greater than that to reiterate how massive this might be. WeChat Pay isn’t far behind with an estimated 900 million customers so Binance has simply offered a fiat on-ramp for nearly a 3rd of the planet.
Since most individuals in China use not less than certainly one of these platforms they’ll all have full entry to cryptocurrencies now. Now not will crypto should be traded behind clandestine curtains although there has but to be an official response from the federal government.
Crypto Market Response
At the moment has seen additional positive aspects for many altcoins whereas Bitcoin once more has stalled at resistance. A 3rd day of inexperienced coated crypto markets is sweet information for many nevertheless BTC dominance has dropped one other proportion level.
But once more, resistance has proved to be too robust for BTC. In response to Tradingview.com Bitcoin has been oscillating between $8,100 and $8,200 for the previous 24 hours. It’s at the moment on the high of that vary however has not been capable of push increased.
The loss of life cross on the each day chart remains to be on track to kind if the present down pattern can’t be reversed. Crypto twitter seems to be break up fairly evenly as each bulls and bears reply to Josh Rager’s little survey. On the time of writing 53 % of the over 1,500 respondents have been bearish.
Bitcoin dominance has dropped again to 68.5 % in keeping with Tradingview.com.
Altcoins are having one other constructive day with Ethereum holding above $180 whereas XRP pushes in direction of $0.28. Binance Coin spiked 8% on the information and has reached $17.50 on the time of writing. Whole crypto market capitalization has added an extra $three billion however in the present day is prone to be a powerful one for Binance.
Picture from Shutterstock


text:
June 2010 management briefing: Latin America special report
There are signs around the world that the textile market is beginning to recover from the global economic crisis, and that developing markets will be leading the recovery. Here, just-style looks at how countries in Latin America have weathered the storm, with their dynamic textile and apparel industries now well positioned for future expansion.
There are signs around the world that the textile market is beginning to recover from the global economic crisis, and developing markets will be leading that recovery. Asia is, of course, at the forefront, but many countries in Latin America have also weathered the storm and have come out in a surprisingly decent position, with their dynamic textile and apparel industries well positioned for future expansion.
"Colombia's clothing and textile industry is one of the largest and most experienced in Latin America, especially with the application of technology in production processes," according to Camila Toledo, Latin America trend director for Stylesight, the online provider of trends, tools and technology for creative professionals in the fashion and style industries.
Mexico has experienced a tremendous boom and bust cycle in its textile and apparel industry over the last two decades.
Brazil seems to be the driving force of Latin American economic growth at the moment. Despite the economic crisis, its GDP grew 5.1% in 2008, dipped slightly in 2009, and is forecast to almost completely recover in 2010.
- Supply chain takeaways from Sourcing at MAGIC
- Cotton supply chain transparency an ongoing issue
- Why voters don’t want more global supply chains
- No simple way to be sustainable, says SAC CEO
- Denim and athleisure top picks for back-to-school
- H&M takes action over Myanmar child labour breach
- Vietnam garment industry calls for strategy update
- US Q2 in brief - Sears, Burlington, Tilly's
- Zara USA faces US$5m deceptive pricing lawsuit
- Li & Fung eyes supply chain speed in 3-year plan
- Too Many Standards
- Southeast Asia strategic sourcing review – a focus on Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar
- Under Armour, Inc. (UA) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review
- Myanmar's Garment Sector in 2015 - now with updated members' directory
- Central America strategic sourcing review - a focus on Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras


text:
The federal government announced Thursday an investment of $2 million to support Niagara’s tourism industry.
At an event in Port Colborne, Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey highlighted the funding and how it will be dispersed as part of the FedDev Ontario program.
The funding is in the hands of the regional government, which will dole out amounts to businesses, said a news release.
Niagara Region will provide tourism-dependent businesses with up to $20,000 in non-repayable contributions to support costs associated with adapting and reopening, such as space renovations and retrofits; purchase of equipment, fixtures and personal protective equipment; as well as support for technology and digitization.
The funding is being delivered in partnership municipalities that form part of Niagara’s Economic Rapid Response Team.
The project is expected to support more than 150 businesses and maintain about 325 jobs, the government said.
The announcement was made on behalf of Mélanie Joly, minister of economic development and official languages, and minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for southern Ontario.
Funding is supporting local businesses including White Meadows Farms in Pelham, a family-owned farm which has for generations produced maple syrup and other products, and was able to adapt its sugar bush into an outdoor dining experience.
Another example is Thorold Community Theatre, which is using funds to acquire equipment that allowed it to expand its offerings to include radio drama.
“So many individuals work in this sector that need a helping hand right now,” Badawey said. “Our government is here for you. With today’s investment, we are providing targeted support to the local businesses that depend on tourism, and helping this sector stay resilient while preparing for a strong future.”
In a separate release, the Region said the funding supports cost to help businesses meet public health guidelines and protocols, including purchase of PPE and cleaning supplies for workers, and accommodation of social distancing such as patio expansions and pick-up windows.
The money will also support implementation of technology and digital tools to allow tourism operators to enable processes such as virtual queues and timed entry ticketing.
Region Chair Jim Bradley said tourism operators are “critical contributors” to the local economy, and while they have been hit especially hard by the pandemic, they have also “shown remarkable resiliency and innovation.”


text:
Amazon starts hiring for new Jeffersonville facility | Business
Amazon is looking to hire as the company prepares to bring a new distribution center to Jeffersonville.
Right now the company has posted a few open positions, but more will be coming. The jobs include several management positions. Amazon will hire more than 1,000 people for the new facility by fall.
Click here to check out the jobs.
Copyright 2012 WAVE News. All rights reserved.
Top Clark County Stories
Most popular stories from nearby communities
- Dalai Lama to visit Louisville, speak at Festival of Faiths
- Kentucky Reggae Festival returns to the Louisville Water Tower
- Innovative concept in fitness hits Louisville
- First Hack-a-Thon nets apps for healthy living, crime prevention, help for the disabled
- Vote in online contest to help Americana Community Center get up to $10,000


text:
In this photo made Tuesday, March 11, 2014, a 1910 painting of Cy Young in a Boston Red Sox uniform is on display at the Saco River Auction House in Biddeford, Maine. The auction house is getting a reputation for selling some of the nation’s oldest baseball memorabilia. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — A piece of sports history dating back to the 1867 meeting that institutionalized racial segregation in professional baseball is heading to the auction block.
Among the items up for sale by Saco River Auction Co. is a ticket to the Philadelphia baseball convention, which marked the drawing of a color line that wasn’t eradicated for good until 80 years later by Jackie Robinson.
During the convention, the National Association of Base-Ball Players’ nominating committee responded to a black team’s request for membership by banning Login to read more