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A container truck pulls through the Pacific international container terminal at the Tianjin Port of north China's Tianjin Municipality, Jan. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)
China emerged from the global economic and trade challenges in 2020 as the world's only major economy to have registered positive growth in foreign trade in goods: spokesperson
by Xinhua writers Zheng Xin and You Zhixin
BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's total goods imports and exports expanded 1.9 percent year on year to 32.16 trillion yuan (about 5 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2020, hitting a record high despite a worldwide slump in shipments, official data showed Thursday.
Exports rose 4 percent, while imports went down 0.7 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC). In December alone, exports surged by 10.9 percent year on year in yuan terms.
China emerged from the global economic and trade challenges in 2020 as the world's only major economy to have registered positive growth in foreign trade in goods, GAC spokesperson Li Kuiwen told a news conference.
During the first 10 months of last year, the country's foreign trade and exports accounted for 12.8 percent and 14.2 percent of the world's total, respectively, both reaching historic highs, Li said, citing data from the World Trade Organization and available national statistics.
"China's exports are gaining global market share for two reasons," said Alicia Garcia Herrero, the chief economist for the Asia-Pacific zone of the French investment bank Natixis. "First, it has successfully contained the spread of the virus and reopened its manufacturing capacity, while most other major economies are still grappling with production problems."
Staff members load the commodities onto a cargo airplane at the Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
"Second, the sectoral specialization seems to have played a very resilient role despite the overall uncertain global environment," she said, adding that China saw a pronounced recovery in major commodities, including the textile sector which is supported by the demand for medical equipment such as face masks.
"China's foreign trade has achieved a rapid return to stability and continued to improve, displaying strong resilience and comprehensive competitiveness," the GAC spokesman said, noting that China's foreign trade has achieved positive growth for seven consecutive months as of June 2020.
In the first five months of 2020, foreign trade in goods dropped by 4.9 percent year on year to 11.54 trillion yuan, matching the decrease from the January-April period.
The rebound in trade mirrored the Chinese economy's V-shaped recovery. GDP expanded 4.9 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2020, up from a 3.2-percent rise in the second quarter and a 6.8-percent plunge in the first quarter.
The Chinese economy would grow at a rate of 2 percent in 2020, the World Bank Group said in its latest Global Economic Prospects. The reading is low given China's stellar record, but will still make the country the only major economy to emerge with positive growth.
"China's recovery maintained the global supply chain. The resilience of China not only benefited itself, but also benefited the global economy," J.P. Morgan's Chief China Economist Zhu Haibin told Xinhua.
"Despite the pandemic and the shutdown of international travel, China is still increasing its focus on further openness," Zhu said.
China has made notable achievements in promoting multilateral trade in 2020, including the signing of the landmark Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that launched the world's largest free trade bloc, and the conclusion of negotiations for the China-EU investment treaty.
"These institutional factors are very important, because China will be able to radiate its positive influence on international trade and investment more effectively than before," said Chris Leung, chief China economist of Singapore-based DBS Bank.
Meanwhile, a stronger renminbi, China's currency, has raised concerns over China's export competitiveness. Hong Kong-based Hang Seng Bank expects the renminbi to strengthen markedly this year. Reasons include the market's exceptionally optimistic expectations for China's growth in 2021 and a weaker dollar.
Still, the bank expects China's exports to accelerate this year.
"The global reliance on China's industrial supply chain has greatly increased rather than weakened. Global companies will continue to diversify their production lines to reduce the risk of overreliance on China, but this will have a limited impact on trade," said Wang Dan, chief economist of Hang Seng Bank China.
Photo taken on April 16, 2020 shows face masks on the production line at a workshop in a medical equipment company in Anshan, northeast China's Liaoning Province. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)
Shedding light on China's trade growth momentum, Leung said trade growth in Chinese exports was initially driven by demand for pandemic-related products such as face masks and computing equipment for home working. "Yet the recovery has since broadened out, with other shipments now up year on year too."
The recovery in non-pandemic-related demand will also help, Leung said. "For instance, retail sales have gone from strength to strength lately in the United States. China's exports of furniture and household appliances have been particularly strong."
The customs administration expects China to maintain positive trade growth this year, as the world economy is expected to recover and the world's second-largest economy is projected to return to steady growth. ■


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Last week we met with the guys from Owlchemy Labs who are responsible for the highly controversial physics game Smuggle Truck. We've already posted about the controversy as well as the playable web demo, but this was the first time we actually saw it running on an iOS device.
Check out the game running on an iPad:
Owlchemy Labs plans on submitting Smuggle Truck to Apple for approval sometime around the 15th. They're using Unity for the game engine, which is allowing them to have a surprising amount of cross-platform compatibility. Once its all said and done, levels created in the level editor seen in the video will be playable across all platforms. What platforms are those? Well, Owlchemy is planning a release on the iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC, and potentially even distributing the game via Steam.
I can't wait.

domain: news


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Despite recent reports that Apple is likely to announce partnerships for mass production of the “Apple Car” in 2025, Ming-Chi Kuo says the timing is questionable. doubt. Because according to the analyst, Apple currently does not really have a project development team.
According to his latest share on Twitter, the Apple Car project team has been disbanded for a while. And reorganization over the next three to six months is needed to be able to achieve the target of mass production by 2025.
Kuo did not provide further details, so it is unclear how long the group has been disbanded, nor at what stage work is halted. However, in December 2021, it was reported that 3 engineers of “Apple Car” had left to other companies.
Earlier in September 2021, Apple Watch chief executive Kevin Lynch was reportedly reassigned to manage the “Apple Car” team. In 2020, it is reported that Apple’s head of AI and Siri, John Giannandrea, is overseeing the development of this project.
Many people predict that Apple’s design and planning work may even have been completed. However, if that’s the case, at least some of the team members will have to stay on to continue production.
In the past, the team behind this in-house electric vehicle project was known as “Titan Project”, has been said to have been disbanded or reorganized. That was in 2016, Apple placed a hiring freeze on the team, after several executives were unhappy with the progress of development.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: genk.vn – Read the original article here


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Music Gear News
Customs seize Japanese musician's violin
A report from the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper states that Yuzuko Horigome was transiting through Frankfurt Airport last week following a concert in Japan when she was told that she needed to pay duty on her 1741 Guarnerius violin.
She was asked to pay 190,000 euros, plus fines, taking the total to 380,000 euros. The music instrument was confiscated when she could not produce the documents proving she had purchased the violin in 1986.
"The instrument is a tool for my work. For musicians, instruments are like parts of your bodies," she told the newspaper.
"I have used Frankfurt Airport many times and never had problems like this before. I don't know why this happened."
A spokesman for the German authorities told the news provider that the instrument might be returned if it is regarded as necessary for Horigome's job.
Published by A.W
Posted on 23 Aug 2012 15:05 to category : Instruments News
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Billie Eilish and 24kGoldn are among the young musicians included on the 2020 edition of Billboard‘s 21 Under 21 list.
Along with 18-year-old “bad guy” star and the 19-year-old “Mood” artist, 20-year-old beabadoobee and the 19-year-old Travis Barker collaborator jxdn also made the cut.
According to Billboard‘s methodology, the 21 Under 21 selections are made based on factors including “impact on consumer behavior, as measured by such metrics as album and track sales, streaming volume, social media impressions, and radio and TV audiences reached; career trajectory; reputation among peers; and overall impact in the industry, specifically during the past 12 months.”
For the full list, visit Billboard.com.
By Josh Johnson
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


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Honor 9X and 9X Pro smartphones were announced in China in July this year. The same month, Honor India President Charles Peng confirmed that company will soon be launching its smart TV and Honor 9X in India soon. While the Honor Vision Smart TV has been recently unveiled in India, the Honor 9X is now also said to launch in the country soon.
As per a report of Gizmochina, Honor 9X will be launched in India by the end of this month. However, the exact launch date of the smartphone is not known at the moment. Further, the report also reveals that Honor 9X Pro may not debut in the country.
Honor 9X will first launch in Russia on October 17, after which it is said to launch in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Octobober 24.
In China, the Honor 9X comes in three variants – 4GB RAM + 64GB, 6GB RAM + 64GB, and 6GB RAM + 128GB storage priced at 1399 yuan (approx. Rs 14,0175), 1599 yuan (approx. Rs 16,020), 1899 yuan (approx. 19,025) respectively. It comes in Midnight Black, Blue and Red colours.
The Honor 9X features a 6.59-inch full-HD+ display with 1080 X 2340 pixel resolution. The phone is powered by a 7nm octa-core Kirin 810 SoC with ARM Mali-G52 MP6 GPU with upto 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The phone has an expandable memory up to 512GB with microSD
The Honor 9X runs Android 9.0 Pie with EMUI 9.1.1 on top. The 4,000mAh battery of the smartphone is equipped with support for 10W charging. The phone measures 163.1 x 77.2 x 8.8mm and it weighs 206 grams.
For the camera, the Honor 9X features a dual-camera setup which consists of a 48MP f/1.8 main camera and a secondary 2MP shooter for depth effects. For selfies, there is a 16MP f/2.2 front camera that uses a motorised pop-up module.
The phone has various connectivity features such as dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, GPS + GLONASS, USB-C, and 3.5mm audio jack. It also has a side-mounted fingerprint reader which also doubles up as a power button. ―The Mobile Indian


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WORLD trade slowed last year, as major countries like Japan and Germany shipped exports that were worth less than those in 2011. The United States bucked the trend to some extent, but the 4.5 percent increase in exports was far smaller than the 15.8 percent jump in 2011.
The accompanying charts show the change in exports and imports of goods in 12 large countries — the industrialized countries in the Group of 7, in addition to Australia and four emerging economies, China, Brazil, India and South Korea. All figures are in United States dollars.
Of the 12, only China, with an 8 percent gain, posted faster growth in exports than the United States. Canada reported a small gain, but the others showed declines. In their local currencies, South Korea and India had gains, but they were erased by the decline of those currencies against the dollar.
Import totals can provide an indication of economic woes, as declining incomes cause consumers to buy less, including fewer items from abroad. Imports fell in Germany, France and particularly Italy. This week, the European Union reported that the euro zone economy declined in the fourth quarter — the third consecutive fall. Germany’s economy, which had been growing slowly, also shrank.
In the United States, imports of goods rose just 3 percent in 2012. It was the second consecutive year, and the sixth year in the last seven, that exports grew more — or, in 2009, shrank less — than imports. Before that, imports rose faster than exports for eight consecutive years, from 1998 through 2005.
The United States runs a trade surplus in services, not shown in the chart, but the trade deficit in goods widened slightly in 2012 to $727.9 billion. That figure is still well below the deficits from 2004 through 2008, before the credit crisis and recession caused international trade to decline rapidly in 2009. The strong gains many countries experienced in 2010 and 2011 reflected a return to more normal levels.
Exports plunged in all countries during the crisis, but the trends since then have varied. German exports in 2012 were 3 percent lower than in 2008, while French exports were off almost 8 percent. Japanese and British exports were about 2 percent higher. The United States, by contrast, reported exports of goods in 2012 that were up 20 percent from 2008, and Brazilian exports were 23 percent higher.
Those gains pale next to those of developing Asian economies. South Korean exports in 2012 were 30 percent higher than in 2008, while China bolstered its shipments by 43 percent. Indian exports were 50 percent higher.
The charts also show changes in American trade with the other 11 countries listed. Exports to most of the European countries fell in 2012, but exports to France rose sharply. France has resisted austerity more than most of its neighbors, something that may have contributed to the rise.


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Who Needs Wi-Fi to Surf the Web?
Surf’s up--even without the Wi-Fi
A new app plans to deliver channel surfers their own personal “Endless Summer” of video. Like the seminal surfing movie, the Endless TV app offers the promise of perfect conditions that always allow you to surf. Instead of chasing the sun, or in this case an internet connection, Endless TV claims it is the first company to bring the solution to surfers: allowing users to seemlessly watch personalized, downloaded content without connectivity.
“We offer two things that no one else does,” asserts Endless TV co-founder and CEO Mike Weiksner, “Offline downloads--that’s never been possible before. And the second is a demo that skews towards the younger generation, the “cable nevers”. It’s a way for advertisers to build up reach beyond people who watch TV.”
The app had a soft launch in May, but the offline video option went live on Wednesday evening. The early returns have been positive. Analysts say they like the ability to watch video on Endless TV without any data reception bars. “I love the idea of turning on-demand (video) into a near-linear experience,” says Rich Greenfield, a media and tech analyst with BTIG Research. “Endless TV is quite early stage, but definitely interesting to watch.”
Endless TV is itself a spinoff from Tip or Skip, a social shopping app Weiksner and co-founder Nathaniel McNamara launched in 2012. While that idea didn’t take off, the entrepreneurs had created useful technology and learned some valuable lessons along the way.
“First, everything in mobile revolves around taps and swipes,” Weiksner notes, adding, “Second, you can dramatically improve engagement through personalization, hence our emphasis on the video genome. Third, swipeable video is very compelling—much more than shopping. And fourth, most people want to consume content—much more than curating.”
Here’s how it works. The app is free and currently available for iOS and Android devices, with plans for other platforms as well. It has a clean interface and the intuitive app requires few instructions. Simply touch Subscribe and select up to eight different “channels” from a wide array of content providers including BuzzFeed, CNN, Food Network, Fox Sports, Mashable, and Wired with many others already available and more expected soon.
Next go to settings and turn on the Offline Mode and sync the app (which will begin downloading videos for playback later). You can manage the size of downloads up to 200 MB (Weiksner estimates that could hold up to 20 minutes of videos depending on compression, quality and length of the clips). You can also turn off the download feature, which otherwise adds new content every four hours, although company officials say it will not download if the device’s battery level is below 20% full.
A word of warning while downloading, however: make sure you turn off the download feature when you leave your Wi-Fi hot spot, as Endless TV proved to have a boundless appetite for the data plan in tests using 4G.
Return to the main menu and select a channel (there is also a Trending channel to discover viral videos and a favorites to find your top choices). Simply tap on a channel and start watching clips.
The first thing you’ll notice is the lack of clutter or controls, video is chromeless or truly full-screen on your device. In a demo of the beta version, the video played instantly with Wi-Fi and in airplane mode, which many travelers may enjoy between take off and inflight connectivity. The only hiccup occurred when skipping ahead 5 or more clips while connected to LTE and Wi-Fi, which led to some delays and occasionally necessitated a restart. Playback of downloads was glitch-free.
Touch the screen to pause, it will tell you the name of the clip and source and allow you options to “favorite”, share via social media, or start the clip over. The genome works similar to music service Pandora’s technology and Endless TV will eventually learn your favorite channels and preferences down to your favorite sports team and serve up highlights for a specific player. The video rights are global, which Weiksner says will help boost the bottom line and has already drawn followings abroad.
Pause mode is also key for the company as that’s where the ads are placed, which can be less disruptive than other video services that make you sit through an ad to watch or take up valuable screen real estate with a banner.
Endless TV has already brought on AdMob to help with advertising and the company is talking to sponsors as well. Weiksner says the company is already generating “meaningful revenue”, adding, “Our revenue per hour rivals broadcast TV—and we don’t have any video advertising yet…We think the global market for free, personalized TV is enormous.”
As the eight-person Endless TV cast prepared for the offline video premier, Weiksner says they are well-funded but are beginning to explore funding partners “to accelerate growth”. No announcements are imminent he said, but they are in early discussions with potential investors.
Endless TV may need a bigger war chest to remain independent or to compete against tech industry giants. “This is an interesting app, though it feels like a feature for something bigger (Google TV or Chromecast for instance),” says tech analyst Rob Enderle, principal analyst for Enderle Group. “It works off-line which is critical if you are traveling, often this is where most streaming video apps let you down. But it feels like this should be a part of something bigger, which loops in other types of videos—paid content for instance—so I think their risk is that they become redundant if they aren’t purchased and integrated by a larger player.”
Weiksner insists Endless TV wants to remain independent and that the disruption in video consumption makes it possible for “new, large entrants”. The startup CEO adds, “Endless TV can lead both consumers and video publishers to make the transition to the era of taps and swipes.”


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Yesterday, Microsoft and Dropbox announced a new partnership, which is good news for Dropbox users. The parternship means there will be more features offered on the file-sharing site.
Soon, Dropbox users will be able to do more than just preview documents, as they can do now. The partnership means Microsoft Office will be available to use, so they can edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents shared via Dropbox as needed, therefore updating the files for other people they are sharing the documents with. This service will be available across all platforms: desktop, tablet and phone.
Both brands are prepping for a big mobile and tablet push. Users with the Dropbox app will benefit greatly because they’ll be able to edit documents using Microsoft office programs without having Microsoft Office installed on their phone or tablet.
“We think this is a huge win for our users,” Ilya Fushman, head of product for Dropbox and Dropbox for Business told The Verge. “We think this will result in the best possible experience for people trying to get work done, and trying to get work done on the go.”
Microsoft currently has its own Dropbox-esque service, OneDrive, which will continued to be offered.
Follow Emily on Twitter: @EmLaurence


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Amazon’s annual Prime Day sale has begun, offering great deals to Amazon Prime subscribers.
Prime Day, which began at 09:00 on 15 July, will run for 48 hours and offer great savings on a variety of products – including some awesome tech deals.
“For the first time ever, Prime members will enjoy a full 48 hours of epic fun on more than a million deals worldwide – giving them the best in shopping and savings,” Amazon said when announcing the event.
Over the course of the sale, Amazon will also be offering “lightning deals” which offer even bigger discounts but are only available for a limited period of time.
“These deals could sell out fast, so we encourage Prime members to come back frequently to view new deals launching throughout the 48-hour event,” said Amazon.
It must be noted that sale is exclusively available to Amazon Prime members and certain products may not ship to South Africa directly.
MyBroadband listed some of the best Prime Day tech deals below. Prices include shipping costs.


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Buy all the water-efficient appliances you want; a household’s indirect water usage, embodied in the consumption of goods and services, is far more significant, according to a paper published in the latest issue of Building Resources and Information. Agua is involved in everything we use or wear, from that state-of-the-art toaster to your favorite Rolling Stones T-shirt. “Water is required to obtain raw materials, in the manufacturing process, in transportation and to sell the item,” says Robert H. Crawford, a lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne and the study’s primary author. “Every item or service purchased by a household has a long line of resources and water usage.”
Take a pair of jeans, for example. Its water usage isn’t limited to the number of times you throw it in the wash. The wet stuff also played an indispensable role in growing and harvesting the cotton, milling the fibers, dyeing them a lovely shade of indigo, and imbuing them with one of many possible finishes, not to mention creating the electricity that powered the equipment at every stage.
A household’s indirect water use could easily fill 54 Olympic-size swimming pools over 50 years, the study says.
For a planet on the brink of a global water crisis, Crawford’s findings cannot be overstated. The direct water consumed by a single family for drinking, washing, showering, and cooking amounts to four Olympic-size swimming pools over 50 years. Compare that, however, to its indirect or “embodied” water usage for home maintenance, food, clothing and other consumables, financial services, cars, and holiday travel. By Crawford’s estimations, the final tally could easily fill 54 Olympic-size swimming pools, accounting for a whopping 94 percent of the household’s water footprint.
“We don’t tend to think about the resources that have gone into making the products that we purchase on an everyday basis,” he says. “The more clothes we buy, the more food we eat, the more water we consume.”
Not that taking shorter showers and turning off faucets won’t make a difference, but upgrading your dishwasher to save water isn’t all you can do. Opting for secondhand clothing and furniture, minimizing food waste, and cutting down on electricity use will have a much greater impact on reducing your water footprint, says Crawford. “Another important aspect in reducing a household’s water footprint, is building smaller and longer-lasting housing, he adds. “This means we need less furniture to fill them and less energy to run them.”


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Budweiser’s new TV spot promoting the return of its “America” cans makes use of fan-generated content, as well as an appearance by country music star Thomas Rhett.
Bud has been offering various “patriotic” packaging themes each summer since 2011; this is the second year for the “America” can, which features the word “America” in place of the brand’s name.
Most of the 30-second “This Bud’s for the Dream” spot (below), from Vanyer Media, consists of selfies of fans toasting with “America” cans during fun summer activities.
The UGC content is “authentic” — the shots were taken by fans and posted spontaneously on their own social media channels when the “America” cans were first introduced last summer, without prompting by a contest or submission process, according to a brand rep. (Influencers did receive a nominal fee for reuse of their previously-posted photos in the TV spot.) Contributing fans’ Twitter handles are superimposed over their content on the screen.
The voiceover messaging announces that “This Bud’s for the dream, and the people bold enough to pursue it…”
Rhett appears at the end of the spot, in concert footage. His Twitter handle (@thomasrhettakins) also appears on screen.
Budweiser is also marketing the cans and its Rhett tie-ins with online, social media, print, TV and on-premise advertising.
Rhett’s sponsorship deal with Bud began last summer, with a digital content series offering a behind-the-scenes look at his 2016 tour.
This year, the brand — which has made country music a core part of its marketing strategy — will follow Rhett on his nationwide “Home Team Tour.”
Rhett will also make appearances at several country music festivals this summer that will feature the Budweiser Country Club. That program offers festival attendees outdoor bars, games and other activities.


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Callaway Golf has partnered with creative design company Groove Jones to showcase its new line of Mavrik golf clubs in augmented reality. The experience was launched in more than 1,200 physical store locations where Callaway clubs are sold.
In-store promotional signage placed near Mavrik golf products contained QR codes that customers can scan via their smartphone camera, or they can visit AR.CallawayGolf.com to activate the mobile web AR experience (no app required). The web page presents a 360-degree view of Mavrik drivers and irons.
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY: Don’t Miss the World’s Premier Sports Tech Event (March 26–27 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn)
Customers can tap the clubs on their phone screen to learn about the club’s design features, watch Mavrik golf club video promotions, and participate in a questionnaire to be told which type of Callaway club is right for them. Customers have the ability to rotate, flip, and take photos of the Mavrik clubs inside the augmented reality experience.
Dallas-based Groove Jones has previously created a virtual reality fighting game for UFC and made a mural of former Dallas Mavericks guard Dennis Smith Jr. come to life for a dunk through augmented reality. Callaway’s Mavrik golf clubs were engineered using an AI-powered supercomputer.
“What the A.I. and this investment in super-computing allows us to do is so many more iterations of the club and the face versus where we were before. Previously, we would do maybe five to seven iterations of a face and whatever was the best one, we went with it. Now, with the supercomputer, we can do 15, 20, 30 thousand iterations of the face in less time,” Dave Deville, Callaway Golf’s senior director of brand and product management, told CBS Sports last week.


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Can AI-driven tech help bring back tourism travel?
- Artificial intelligence (AI) will rapidly spread to almost every aspect of the travel and the hospitality industry post-pandemic
- AI can be used for a plethora of uses, including fleet and operations management, disruption management, customer service and retention, autonomous machines and services, recommendation engines, price forecasting, and many more.
The global restrictions imposed since March this year due to Covid-19 has brought international travel to a screeching halt. It has caused a 22% fall in international tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2020 and could further decline by 60-80% over the whole year.
Travel will be back — inevitably. But the way we travel will undergo a dramatic transformation.
Although technology may have already changed how travelers plan, book, and embark on their journeys drastically over the past decade, at this juncture, data science and artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to play a major role in helping the industry resuming back to the new normal. Before the pandemic, AI and other forms of machine learning were just beginning to infiltrate the travel sector. Their biggest advantage is the ability to personalize experiences and streamline services based on customer data.
Singapore, for example, is hoping that AI — through local start-ups — can help the city-state’s tourism sector bring back visitors safely, as ongoing border restrictions and lower consumer appetite for international flights have changed travel as an industry.
So what could traveling look like in the wake of the pandemic?
Naturally, companies would explore solutions that allow travelers to maintain social distancing norms as much as possible.
Industry experts believe data science and AI technology will be a key tool in the revival of travel, with electronic passports and IDs, boarding passes, medical screening, and robot cleaners being deployed widely to limit physical contact between people and surfaces.
If AI is utilized to its full capability, the travel industry could be completely revolutionized, as it would be able to change aspects of customer service, assist in passenger identification while traveling, and personalize a traveler’s experience through curated recommendations.
One great example is the adoption of AI concierge by numerous hotel chains including Hilton Worldwide’s Connie — the first true AI-powered concierge bot since 2016.
Standing at two feet high and interacting with guests during check-in — Connie can provide succinct information to guests on local attractions and places to visit. Being AI-driven with self-learning ability, it can also learn and adapt and respond to each guest on a personalized basis.
Chatbot technology is another big strand of AI, and not surprisingly many travel brands have already launched their own versions in the past year or so. Skyscanner is just one example, creating an intelligent bot to help consumers find flights in Facebook Messenger.
Another immediate and visible change in the travel industry will be a shift to touchless travel from airport curbside to hotel check-in. Automation across the entire travel industry will become the new norm. From a visa application center, an airplane, to sightseeing at a destination, people would look for an assurance that all touchpoints during a journey have adopted the health and hygiene aspect.
With physical fingerprint and hand scanners phased out, its use will become more widespread and m0re touchless options will come into play including contactless fingerprint, as well as iris and face recognition.
All in all, the travel and hospitality industry transformation will morph into an experience-driven and asset-light business, as wide adoption of AI will usher a new-age customer experience and set a benchmark for other industries to emulate.


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On September 22nd, the season transitions to the Southward Equinox. Spelling the end of summer in the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere residents enter (often with reluctance) into autumn or otherwise known as fall. Having created nearly 10 months of memories in 2012, the good as well as bad moves made this year is now weighed down by a season that will turn the air colder and the shortening span of sunlight will leave us finding warm solace in positives.
In the United States automobile industry, this year has presented a field of experiences that are likewise as diverse as the feelings we have felt. With many successes with domestic and import automotive brands all seeming to have some highlight in their lineup, 2012 has also been a rough year for certain once-popular products. The present automotive landscape offers a brilliant assortment of cars, trucks and crossover vehicles that seemingly cater to every motoring appetite. The past several pasts have seen automakers getting very clever in the experimentation of size and capabilities. In case of several vehicles that have so far flopped in 2012 sales, there is a price to be paid for being too clever. Whether affected by changing American driving tastes of this year, increased competition or through other means, the first 8 months of auto sales have unveiled several vehicles experiencing a considerable drop in United States demand.
The following four vehicles are some of the more extreme examples of vehicles that have apparently lost favour in the United States:
US Sales Drop in August 2012 Compared to Previous Year Term: 36.3%
Buick survived the 2009 consolidation of General Motors firmly positioning itself between Chevrolet and Cadillac in the car brand lineup. With Buick’s popularity in the highly important China market helping to leverage promise for the 109-year old carmaker, General Motors has been making every attempt to assist regaining similar fame in North America. Released in 2011, the famous Buick moniker Regal returned in order to promote a new way of looking at the United States upscale vehicle market.
Based on the Opel Insignia sedan, Buick touted the European inspiration as a primary selling point for what would become their mid-sized car offering when the Verano was introduced this year. Connecting well with customers, 40,144 Buick Regal sedans were sold during the 2011 calendar year. Presenting eAssist technology and a GS model equipped with a 270-horsepower Ecotec engine, the 2012 model year was fall of promise for the mid-sized sedan. However, as of the end of August 2012, sales of the Buick Regal have taken a drop of almost 11,000 vehicles compared to the same time a year ago. Some of the loss in Regal sales could be the results of the slight smaller Buick Verano’s launch that has currently amounted to over 25,000 vehicles produced.
Seeking to curb sales charts back into an upward direction, General Motors has recently indicated the Regal will be one of 9 Buick or GMC models that will undergo a redesign in the next 12 months.
US Sales Drop in August 2012 Compared to Previous Year Term: 59.9%
For many years, North American buyers had been begging Japanese automaker Nissan to send the unique utility vehicle called the Cube across the Pacific Ocean. In late 2009, the wish was granted as the funky looking small Nissan Cube arrived for sale attracting a niche market status in retail and commercial arenas. However, 3 years since its arrival in North America, it appears that the Nissan Cube is now out of shape.
While the overall sales volume of Nissan North America has taken a 7.6 percent uptick, sales volume of the Cube has tanked in the first 8 months of 2012. Down 59.9 percent over the previous year, only 5,797 examples of the Nissan Cube left dealerships up to the end of August. The downward trail in sales is considered even more alarming since, like most Japanese-built vehicles, the Nissan Cube’s production was affected by the Earthquake and Tsunami.
Usually a sure-fire sign that either a major change or discontinuation awaits a vehicle, Nissan has slashed choices for the Cube in the 2013 model year. The base and Indigo Limited Edition have been removed from the 2013 lineup alongside the Cargo Version Package.
US Sales Drop in August 2012 Compared to Previous Year Term: 67.6%
The first major automaker to bring a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle to the United States, Honda gave motorists in the Americas their first taste of high fuel efficiency driving with the three-door Insight. Abandoning the dedicated hybrid car line in 2006, Honda would reintroduce the Insight in 2009 as a five-door hatchback against arch competition Toyota began to gain traction with the Prius. One year later, an attempt to excite the image of their gasoline-electric hybrid with a three-door was revealed by Honda borrowing inspiration from the classic CR-X sport compact.
In the Honda CR-Z, the tribute to the CR-X radiates heavily in its design. However, while the CR-Z looks the part of a performance car, the 122-horsepower output from the combined efforts of electric motor and gasoline engine leaves much to be desired for meaningful speed. Despite the sport hybrid theme playing as somewhat lame for some performance car fans, the Honda CR-Z Initial global demand two years ago was three times higher than anticipated. Selling 9,635 examples in the United States for the first 8 months of 2011, the 2012 sales year has seen the hybrid sport compact take a huge 67.6 percent plunge in sales. With just 3,126 Honda CR-Zs sold up to the end of August of this year in the United States, the magnitude of the sales drop is equal to its sister vehicle the Insight.
The CR-Z could be a casualty of Honda’s new hybrid and electrified vehicle strategy that will include a plug-in hybrid Accord in the near future.
US Sales Drop in August 2012 Compared to Previous Year Term: 25.7%
Part of Ford Motor Company’s global brand lineup since 1976, the subcompact Fiesta has been a source of great pride for the Blue Oval badge in Europe. In the aftermath of 2008’s sudden gas price surge and a major economic slowdown, Ford decided the time has come to bring the B-segment Fiesta to North America. The Ford Fiesta was previously sold in the late 1970s but lasted a short three-year run. The early 2010 arrival of the Ford Fiesta was to counter the Honda Fit and Nissan Versa as well as provide some room for the then-upcoming 2012 Focus to achieve higher strata in the compact car arena.
Upon introduction, Ford made sure the subcompact car would provide buyers with an experience that lived up to the vehicle’s name. Presenting a large assortment of optional equipment as well as many factory-authorized custom accessories, the new Ford Fiesta sedan and hatchback launched with a party-like reception in mid-2010. Two years passing since the arrival of the Fiesta, the celebration has taken a more subtle tone in the United States. Selling 53,258 units by the end of August in 2011, the Ford Fiesta sales after the first 8 months of 2012 is down near 13,700 vehicles. In the past year, the subcompact market had become a place saturated with several all-new products including the Chevrolet Sonic as well as refreshed versions of the Kia Rio and Nissan Versa.
Changes slated in the 2013 model year for the Fiesta will simplify the trim levels ahead of Ford’s 2014 redesign of the vehicle.
Information source: American Honda Motor Company, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Nissan North America
Photo source: Chris Nagy, Ford Motor Company, General Motors


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Drones are revolutionizing the construction industry, helping building firms cut costs, save time, minimize risks, ensure accuracy, improve communication, and work more efficiently. In fact, drones can improve construction at every phase of the project lifecycle, from preconstruction mapping to worksite inspections to promotional photography1. The rapid growth of drones in construction – a spike of 239% from 2017 to 20182 – means that building companies and equipment managers need to know what to consider when making a drone purchase. That’s why we’re breaking down 9 things to look for when buying a construction drone: Continue reading “9 Things to Look for When Buying a Construction Drone”
It’s very likely that you’ve noticed that drones, once a hobby for a few enthusiasts, have become major tools across a number of industries. Today, construction drones survey and map job sites, military drones spy on enemy combatants, and delivery and cargo drones transport goods across increasing distances. And now drones are even found on our agricultural farms!
Ag drones not only capture photographs, but can also use sensors to track factors like crop health, the presence of insects, and irrigation levels. Some ag pros even use drones to engage in “precision farming,” where the drones accurately and efficiently plant seeds and spray crops, saving time and money, and reducing waste. The global market for drone-powered solutions in agriculture is already estimated to be at $32.4 billion, with 74% of U.S. farmers currently using or considering adopting drone technology to assess, monitor, and manage their farms.
The growing popularity of ag drones is why Equipment Trader has now opened up our online marketplace to include drones as an option for buying and selling. We’re so excited that today on our blog, we’re reviewing 8 things to consider when buying an ag drone!! Continue reading “8 Things to Consider When Buying an Ag Drone”


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I love that there’s an entire Nexus family of devices now. It’s making the Nexus line more and more prominent and I think that it’s actually going to push the manufacturers into speeding up their update process. Because as the common consumer becomes more familiar with Android and what each new iteration of Android has to offer, there will be more pressure on the manufacturers to bring those features to their phones.
But I digress…Now to the news. Google has released the factory images for the Neuxs 4, Nexus 7, and Galaxy Nexus. While this isn’t big news for most people, it’s great news for those who like to fiddle and dabble with rooting and flashing and all that fun stuff. In essence, if you’re device ever gets caught in a bad spot you can return it to the factory settings with these images.
By the way, how is everyone liking their 4.2 so far? I just got it on my Galaxy Nexus but haven’t had much chance to play around with it yet. What have you guys liked about it?


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27 April 2016
Re-Match completed its 86,000ft2 facility late last year and will enter full three-shift production at the end of April.
Once up and running at full capacity, the facility will be capable of processing some 800 tonnes/week of rolled up turf; equal to almost four full-sized football pitches.
The worldwide patented process takes complete, rolled-up turf through a process of shredding, cutting, drying and sieving, which delivers four products into big bags: sand, granulated/crumbed rubber infill, plastic fibres, and backing fractions.
Third party test institutions have verified the purity of the end products delivered by the facility. The sand has been tested to have 99.6% purity and the rubber infill 99.95%.
The artificial turf industry may not require such high purity levels, however, Re-Match has purposefully targeted a purity level that makes the products attractive to alternative industries, either as a replacement or as a supplement for virgin products.
Re-Match will conduct regular tests on its end products, internally and externally, thereby assuring quality consistency.
100% of the rolled up pitch will be processed. After processing the materials are mostly used for maintenance of existing turf pitches. 90% represents the infill material, sand and rubber granulate.
The actual turf fibres alongside the backing material, some 9% of the total volume, will be prepared for recycling, whereas the remaining <1% will end up as filtered dust and general waste, separated during the process.
End of Life certificates are issued to the owners of the pitch once the last roll of turf in the pitch has been processed. This certificate confirms that what was shipped has actually been received and processed.
To further verify its process, Re-Match A/S is pursuing an ETV Certification, Environmental Technology Verification, and current expectation is that a certificate will be issued over the summer of 2016.
Re-Match offers recycling of complete rolled up turf at prices that are some 10-20% below the cost of landfilling. Landfilling is a costly option, not only from a cost point of view but also from an environmental perspective.
One option chosen by some operators within the industry is to incinerate the waste turf. This is not an environmentally friendly solution. Actually, when choosing the Re-Match option, the owner of one standard size pitch (220 tonnes and 7,200m2) will save the environment close to 400 tonnes of CO2, as compared to incineration.
Considering that the industry expects some 30 million m2 – or 4,160 full size pitches – will need to be disposed of in 2017, within EMEA alone, the CO2 savings are substantial, if not incredible. This volume will continue to grow, exponentially, so the challenge will not reduce over years to come.
On the contrary, the 30 million m2 of waste represents a huge challenge for the industry, as there are very few environmentally sustainable solutions available to owners of old worn out turf. Although the Re-Match process is a viable and a very welcome option, the facility in Herning can only process some 160-170 pitches annually. Furthermore, the cost of transport can be expensive.
However, the good news is that the facility constructed by Re-Match can be replicated anywhere in the world and fairly fast; a facility can be up and running in less than 12 months after an order has been placed.
There are plans to establish additional facilities in Europe as well as overseas. Facilities will be established as subsidiaries of Re-Match A/S Denmark, however, in some countries, the plan is for local partners operating under the Re-Match licence. Example given, Russia and South America.
The ambition of Re-Match is to continue building the value of its end products through up-cycling, particularly as it pertains to the turf fibres. This will allow Re-Match to be even more competitive on its gate fees.
The official opening of the Re-Match facility in Herning, Denmark, is on Tuesday 21 June. During this event Re-Match will announce the location of its next two facilities.
Re-Match is Up and Running!


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At this year’s IBC Show in Amsterdam, the general consensus among broadcast equipment suppliers was that while sales have been modestly increasing, the majority of that growth is coming from regions outside Western Europe and North America. This is the result of U.S. broadcasters’ continued struggle with how to generate new revenue by distributing content across multiple screens, and Europe’s current economic uncertainty. Broadcasters in the UK and surrounding countries, in particular, have spent the past year producing two major television events (the Queen’s Coronation and the Summer Olympic games), not shopping for equipment, so spending was put on hold.
This muddled scenario is being felt across all equipment categories, relegating newer technologies on display at the IBC Show — like advanced compression (HEVC), 3-D TV and Ultra High-definition television (UHDTV) — to mere curiosity. Clearly, international broadcasters have more pressing issues to address.
“It’s tough out there right now,” said Roger Thornton, head of publicity for Quantel. The company demonstrated its latest software-only version of its Pablo Rio color correction and image compositing system, complete with features that address 3-D TV and UHDTV. “We seem to be doing well in China and Latin America, but the rest of the world appears marred in a funk when it comes to buying new equipment and deploying it quickly.”
Indeed, many companies exhibiting in Amsterdam this week were equally apprehensive about what the market would bring in the coming months.
“This is an industry with six or seven competitors in every equipment category,” said Harris Morris, President of Harris Broadcast. “It’s not easy to sustain a high profit margin in this type of environment. We anticipate a lot more consolidation among suppliers, even as we sit here looking to be acquired ourselves.”
In April, Harris announced it would divest its broadcast division, and, according to Morris, several parties (venture capital firms and other vendors) are looking at buying the business. The company expects a deal to be done by the end of the year.
At the show, it was also announced that Belden had completed its purchase of Miranda Technologies, which is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. One reason for the purchase, given by Denis Suggs, executive vice president for the Belden Americas Group, is the potential for increased business in the emerging regions of Brazil, China and Russia, countries where the transition to HD is not yet complete.
Patrick Harshman, president and CEO of Harmonic, said the company is currently operating at $550 million in revenue globally, but admits most of that is coming from previously underserved markets.
“We have to go where the business is and be ready to support those markets with the right solutions,” he said. “Customers are trying to solve difficult technical and business model challenges. It’s not just about the technology.”
Other business news from the show included audio equipment suppliers TSL Professional Products buying Soundfield microphones and T-VIPS merging operations with Nevion — both IP distribution technology developers and both located in Norway. Again, for all parties involved, the goal is to grow bigger in order to gain entry into markets they perhaps didn’t address before.
“We share a similar vision for the future, so this merger makes complete sense and is right for both companies financially,” said Geir Bryn-Jensen, CEO of Nevion. He added that many of the orders they are now seeing are for larger systems installation, not single product sales, so a company with larger resources is better equipped to handle this. “We’re building a larger company that can do more things and bring products to market faster."
Equipment vendors must reach into a variety of markets to find sales success.
“We’re fortunate that 60 percent of our business is outside the U.S. because currently that’s clearly where the growth for most companies in this industry is,” said Alain Andreoli, president and CEO of Grass Valley. The company has spent the last year reorganizing (and reducing) its staff in order to make it more competitive.
“You have to establish local resources in the various emerging countries in order to serve them correctly, and that’s what we are doing now,” he said. “Sometimes you have to buy a company in order to do that, and sometimes, like with Grass Valley, you can expand into new markets organically. The more markets your organization supports, the better off your financial results will be. I would say it’s a very complicated selling environment right now, but Grass Valley and its competitors will figure it out. We all have to do this in order to stay in business, right?”
Many expect more industry consolidation and the continued building of new strategic relationships between previously fierce competitors to occur in the coming months.
Of Note: Attendance at this year’s IBC Show was stated to be 49,433, or “slightly higher” than last year. However, the various exhibit halls appeared less than crowded most of the time.
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Amazon Onboards 12 SMBs Under Delivery Service Partner Programme
Amazon India on Wednesday said it has onboarded 12 more small and medium businesses (SMBs) under its Delivery Service Partner (DSP) programme across key states in North India, including Delhi-NCR.
This initiative is aimed at supporting budding entrepreneurs by creating employment opportunities for various delivery associates.
With the DSP programme, Amazon India has partnered with nearly 300 SMBs to deliver packages to Amazon customers and provide them with growth avenues, a company statement said.
Over the last two years, Amazon India has already onboarded nearly 100 DSPs and will open more opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs in the future, according to the statement.
Overall, the company's network has close to 2,000 delivery stations, owned by Amazon India or their partners, in more than 750 cities.
"With the right guidance, these entrepreneurs not only build a successful logistics business and a strong foundation for their entrepreneurial journey but they also create an ecosystem of opportunities for people at large,” said Karuna Shankar Pande, Director, Amazon Logistics, India.


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Lexus is rolling out the hybrids, so why not Lincoln? Expect an announcement this week at the New York Auto Show that there will be a 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.
Not that big a stretch, really...given that the MKZ is a derivative of the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan, both of which have hybrid models. We loved the Milan Hybrid...but will the MKZ be different enough to justify the Lincoln price tag?
The Detroit News talked to at least one analyst who isn't so sure. Story here.


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7 September 2016
An interesting article about Canada's food processing sector and its contribution to the Canadian economy - written by Craig Klemmer, Senior Agricultural Economist with Farm Credit Canada and first published here:
Canada’s manufacturing sector has been faced with a number of challenges over the past 10 years: A super-cycle in commodity prices which caused fluctuations in the value of the Canadian dollar and impacted competitiveness. Slowing labour productivity and aging infrastructure has resulted in tough decisions on plant investment. All of this is occurring at a time when foreign competition is emerging. Despite these challenges, food and beverage manufacturing continues to shine in this difficult economic environment.
Continued growth during economic volatility
In between the commodity booms, the world economy went through a financial crisis that has hampered world growth and created volatility in currency values. Interest rates have also declined and remained near historic lows.
In the midst of this volatile economic environment, Canada’s manufacturing sector slowed. Economic activity reached a low in mid-2009. It has rebounded somewhat, but the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in overall manufacturing remains 10% below the 2004 level. The economic weight of Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing sector has followed a different path: It has weathered the macro challenges significantly better, with GDP being nearly 23% higher in 2016 compared to January 2004 levels.
Based on growth through May, the food and beverage manufacturing sector is expected to grow 2.6% in 2016 while manufacturing is only expected to expand 0.5% in 2016. According to the Bank of Canada, Canada’s overall economy is expected to grow 1.3% in 2016, more than 1% slower than the food and beverage manufacturing sector.
Largest employer of all Canadian manufacturing
Between 2004 and 2016, average monthly manufacturing employment has decreased 22%, partly because of mechanization, but also due to the decline in economic activity. In comparison, the decline in employment has only been 7% in the food and beverage manufacturing sector.
Consequently, employment in food and beverage manufacturing as a per cent of total manufacturing has increased to from 14% in 2004 to 17% in 2015. The food and beverage manufacturing sector is a bigger employer than the auto manufacturing sector and any other sector of manufacturing.
Food and beverage exports outpacing other manufactured exports
The value of Canada’s food and beverage manufactured exports continues to increase, having grown an average of 4.5% per year from 2004 to 2015, while total manufacturing exports increased an average of 1.5% per year.
Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing sector continues to shine. And that’s despite global disturbances that put a dent in overall Canadian economic performance. Growing food demand abroad and evolving food preferences at home will bring many opportunities for Canadian manufacturing to grow more in the future. And the entire agri-food supply chain will benefit.


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EU presses ahead with retaliation to US steel tariffs
11 june 2018
The EU has confirmed plans to target €2.8bn of US products with extra tariffs as it prepares its retaliation against Donald Trump’s move to hit European steel and aluminium with punitive duties.
The European Commission said on Wednesday that it would apply the tariffs to a list of US goods ranging from whiskey to pleasure boats. The list was drawn up by EU trade officials this year. Brussels hopes to have the measures in place by July.
The move means the EU has in effect ignored warnings from Mr Trump that any countermeasures against his steel and aluminium tariffs would be met by further retaliation, with Brussels choosing to activate its full plan for responding to the US decision.
Under the EU retaliation plan, almost all of the dozens of US products on its hit list would face 25 per cent levies, with one — playing cards — to face a 10 per cent tariff.
Liam Fox, the UK’s trade minister, said on Monday that it was “right to seek to defend our domestic industries from both the direct and indirect impacts of these US tariffs”.
“The response must be measured and proportionate and it is important that the UK and the EU works within the boundaries of the rules-based international trading system,” he added.
Washington has applied 25 per cent tariffs to European steel exports and 10 per cent tariffs to aluminium from June 1.
The commission’s step was taken after preliminary discussions this week between senior EU government officials over how to react. EU diplomats said the talks showed broad support from capitals including Paris and Berlin, although some governments said there would need to be further studying of the details. Italy’s representative said there had not yet been time for the new government in Rome to agree its position.
Jyrki Katainen, the commission’s vice-president overseeing trade policy, said Brussels had received “full support” for pressing ahead with countermeasures. “We want to defend our industries and our legitimate interests,” he said.
The commission will send its detailed plans for review by governments, a process that is expected to take several weeks. Under EU rules, the measures will take effect unless a weighted majority of member states oppose them.
While Mr Trump has sought to justify the tariffs as a national security measure, Brussels has attacked them as “unilateral and illegal” restrictions that break World Trade Organization rules.
In parallel on Wednesday, the EU and Canada formally started dispute settlement procedures at the WTO to contest the US steel and aluminium tariffs.
EU officials on Wednesday said Brussels’ decision to target €2.8bn of annual US imports into the EU was calculated to stay firmly within retaliation rules set by the WTO. Brussels estimates that Mr Trump’s tariffs will hit more than €6bn of EU exports of steel and aluminium.
Still, Mr Katainen emphasised that Brussels wanted to avoid any further escalation or widening of the trade war, saying “there are no winners”.
“We try to convince our American partners that there is no reason to behave like this,” he said. “If you listen to congressmen from both parties or American business, they are still in the same traditional line as the United States has always been. So the problem is quite concentrated on the administration.”
EU officials said the US decision to apply tariffs meant that Europe’s offer to discuss a trade deal on industrial goods, made before Washington imposed the duties, was now off the table.
But they said that co-operation could still be pursued on other trade issues such as joint work to tackle Chinese overproduction of steel, and talks on regulatory co-operation.
Source: FINANCIAL TIMES


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Mohammed Bin Rashid City, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Land, Green Community and Town Square top top areas of interest for villas and townhouses
The value of sales is the highest since 2012, which is the base year for Dubai’s official sales price index Mo’asher
DUBAI: Real estate sales worth AED 14.79 billion ($4.02 billion) were recorded in Dubai in June 2021, the highest in terms of the value of sales in the past eight years.
A total of 6,388 sales in June 2021 were 44.33 percent higher, in terms of volume, and 33.2 percent higher in value, compared to May 2021, local media reports said citing Dubai’s official sales price index, Mo’asher.
The base year for Mo’asher is 2012, the base quarter for the quarterly index is Q1 2012 and the base month for the monthly index is January 2012.
In June 2021 the overall monthly index recorded 1.07 and an index price of AED 1,009,593.
While the apartments’ monthly Index recorded 1.088 and an index price of AED 904,920, the villas and townhouses monthly Index recorded 1.013 and an index price of AED 1,822,343.
In Q2 2021, the overall quarterly index recorded 1.108 and an index price of AED 1,023,552, the apartments quarterly index recorded 1.118 and an index price of AED 927,442, and the villas and townhouses quarterly index recorded 1.076 and an index price of AED 1,880,153.
The results achieved in June 2021, in addition to the number of sales transactions reached in 4,824 April and 4,426 in May, made for a profitable Q2, which had the highest quarterly volume of sales transactions since Q4 2013, with 15,638 sales transactions worth AED 36.86 billion, 33.26 percent more than Q1 2021, in terms of volume, and 46.76 percent more in terms of value.
This brings the year-to-date total to 27,373 sales transactions worth AED 61.97 billion. For comparison, 2020 had a total number of 35,041 sales transactions worth AED 71.87 billion, leading officials to confirm the sustainability of the high growth rate in the performance of the real estate sector in 2021.
Comparing real estate sales transactions in both June 2021 and Q2 2021 with similar periods in 2020 and 2019, the market has had significant growth, and COVID-19 was a growth accelerator for the real estate sector.
The top areas of interest in terms of sales transactions for villas and townhouses in Q2 2021 were Mohammed Bin Rashid City, Dubai Hills Estate, Dubai Land, Green Community and Town Square, the reports said.
As for apartments for the same period, the greatest areas of interest were Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai Marina, Meydan, Jumeirah Village Circle and Downtown Dubai.


text: Newly published U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) research in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that even after one application, several sunscreen active ingredients are absorbed into the body’s bloodstream. The clinical trial tested six ingredients commonly found in chemical sunscreens—avobenzone, homosalate, octinoxate, octisalate, octocrylene, and oxybenzone—and found that all six ingredients were systematically absorbed, whether administered in a lotion, an aerosol spray, a non-aerosol spray, or a pump spray. The study also found that the active ingredients can stay in the body long after absorption. Although the FDA did acknowledge the need for further research on these ingredients, the organization underscored that the findings of the study do not necessarily indicate that any of the six ingredients are unsafe. Moreover, according to the FDA, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which are used in mineral sunscreens, are recognized to be both safe and effective, and additional data on those ingredients is not needed at this time.


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GBS Enterprises to offer electronics, appliance warranties
December 17, 2014,
SUTTON, Neb. — GBS Enterprises, a supplier of mattress and furniture warranty services, announced it is expanding its business into consumer electronics and major appliances.
CEO Jeff McWey said in a press release that because many furniture dealers also sell electronics and appliances, this was seen as a logical fit.
GBS said that although some of the largest retailers may private label their electronics and appliance protection programs with GBS, the company will look to leverage the Protect All Brands approach it takes in furniture and bedding. It said it aims to “identify high quality dealer partners with the need for excellent customer service and additional profit growth through our program capabilities, training and service expertise.”
The company said it also sees an opportunity to cross sell its current furniture protection programs with dealers who sell furniture as well as appliances and electronics.
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Almost anyone engaged in the battle of the bulging midsection knows that French fries are not their friends. But the real shocker in the study of long-term weight gain that came out of Harvard this week was that eating too many spuds of any kind — even plain old baked potatoes — could make you heavier. Every additional serving of potatoes that people added to a regular diet each day was connected to an average weight gain of about a one pound over four years. That is not a ton of weight gain, but as the study published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine points out, it adds up over time.
The goal of this study, which looked at the diets of 120,000 men and women in their 30s, 40s and 50s over 20 years, was to detail how much weight individual foods make them put on or take off. One theory of why eating an extra daily helping of potatoes could make people plumper was that it produces a surge of blood sugar levels in the body. As your body reacts to the surge, you feel hungry and eat more. That effect is certainly familiar to anyone who has polished off a serving of Baltimore's famous deep-fried potato skins. However, it's hard to believe that boiled potatoes have the same allure.
As with most solid scientific research — and these studies, which rely on self-reported data from nurses and health professionals, are highly respected — there were plenty of caveats. This type of study can't definitively say that certain foods cause weight changes; rather it points out correlations. Researchers stress that you can't lose weight simply by avoiding French fries. Moreover, friends of the potato point out that the tuber remains a good source of vitamin C, several B vitamins, and minerals including iron, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium.
Yet it is helpful to have the type of scorecard produced by the study indicating which foods are more likely to encourage overeating and which ones are associated with weight loss. Scanning that scorecard yields some surprises — for instance, that munching on an extra daily serving of nuts helped prevent about a half a pound of weight gain. Eating an extra serving of yogurt kept off about a pound of weight gain. The researchers aren't sure why but speculate it might have something to do with yogurt's bacteria, or with the fact that big yogurt eaters tend to eat healthfully and exercise anyway.
The bottom line seems to be that weight gain still boils down to how many calories you take in and how many you burn, but that eating some foods makes it easier to go off the rails and distort that crucial equation. Anyone who has polished off a whole bag of potato chips in one sitting knows what the scientists are talking about.


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Hupac constructs its first intermodal terminal in Poland
Swiss intermodal operator Hupac has commenced a construction project of its reloading facility in Brwinów, close to Warsaw. It will be the first company’s intermodal terminal in Poland. The launch of operations is scheduled for the third quarter of 2022.
The works have been started in Brwinów, near Warsaw, in late March. Polish contractor Anna-Bud will construct a storage yard of 42,000 square metres, four transhipment tracks with a minimum length of 750 metres, and administrative buildings. The entire project covers an area of nearly 14 hectares.
Hupac will start the rail/road and rail/rail reloading operations at the terminal in the third quarter of 2022. Initially, the containers will be transhipped by reach stackers. For the future, the Swiss operator plans to deploy three more tracks and to install gantry cranes at the facility if the container traffic will significantly increase. According to the current technical documents, the maximum capacity of the Brwinów terminal is limited to 180,000 TEU per year.
Location and potential
Brwinów was chosen as the location for the future terminal due to several reasons: a good location near Warsaw, an excellent railway connection with a special industrial spur and direct access to the A2 motorway without the need to drive via cities and towns.
“The project aims to ensure the efficient movement of goods in Central and Eastern Europe, which in turn will facilitate intermodal rail transport between China/Russia and Europe. We see huge potential in the new terminal for the Polish market and as a new hub for long-haul routes between the Benelux and the Far East,” Irmtraut Tonndorf, Director Communications & Marketing at Hupac, commented to IntermodalNews.
Currently, Hupac does not possess its own terminals in Poland. To reload and deliver containers to the customers, the Swiss company uses several existing terminals owned by other operators: in Gądki near Poznań and Pruszków near Warsaw (Metrans), Kąty Wrocławskie (Schavemaker) and in Sławków near Katowice (CZH, PKP LHS, PKP Cargo).


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By Sarah Seeley
Feb. 6, 2014
Paul Lawson stared at the phone number in the window of the vacant building in the Bunbury Mall where the Stratford Greco once stood.
He recently sold his restaurant Brit’s Fish and Chips on University Avenue and wanted a new challenge.
Lawson remembered his trips to Carolina and Texas and his excursions to various BBQ restaurants.
He looked at the empty building again.
“Man, this is something that needs to be done in P.E.I.”
Today, Lawson’s dream has become a reality. Pit Stop recently opened in January and people flock there to get a taste of their slow-cooked meat.
Lawson has plenty of experience in the restaurant business. He was born in England and attended three years of culinary school in Aberdeen, Scotland before moving to Edmonton.
He owned several restaurants in Edmonton, including a Brit’s Fish and Chips. But Lawson said he wanted a change of scenery.
“I missed the ocean.”
He moved to P.E.I., an area he was familiar with.
“What a great place to raise a family.”
Lawson opened a Brit’s Fish and Chips in Charlottetown and ran it for around seven years before he sold it.
Pit Stop is his ninth eating establishment.
Lawson contacted the owner of the empty building and explained his credentials, then started working on the recipes for the menu. He bought a Texas smoker from the U.S. and was trained in the art of smoking meat.
He experimented with cooking ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket and a signature BBQ sauce before adding them to the menu.
“Everyone loves meat.”
He said he made a smooth transition into the BBQ business.
“Business is the same. You make what people want and sell it.”
Lawson planned to serve pizza to compensate for the loss of Greco.
“I tried different recipes until I found the one I liked.”
He also wanted to add a dish he was familiar with.
“Fish and chips were a no-brainer.”
Lawson named his restaurant Pit Stop because the name was already associated with speed and the word ‘pit’ is also used in many popular BBQ restaurants. He wanted his customers to know he had quick service.
“We wanted the idea of speed.”
Riki Sulis is one of many happy Pit Stop customers. She ate at the restaurant on several occasions and each time she is more impressed.
“I liked that they put the coleslaw in the pulled pork sandwich and the meat is very tender.”
Sulis praised the service at the Pit Stop. She said Lawson came out to her in the middle of a busy supper rush to ask her if she liked the food.
“He was very conscientious.”
She also said the Island needed a BBQ place.
“I think it filled a niche in P.E.I. It’s a great little spot.”
Sulis has already recommended Pit Stop to many people.
“I hope it sticks around.”


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DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) is developing the picture of its future store base after turning the page on a nearly two-year process triggered by its proposed merger with Rite Aid Corp.
Beginning next spring, WBA plans to shut 600 stores under an 18-month program to rationalize its U.S. drug store network following its $4.375 billion purchase of 1,932 Rite Aid stores, three distribution centers and related assets. The deal, announced in June, gained Federal Trade Commission approval in September.
“We’re delighted to be completing this transaction, which will extend our network, particularly in the Northeastern and Southern states,” WBA executive vice president and global chief financial officer George Fairweather said late last month in a conference call on WBA’s fiscal 2017 results. “In the past week, we’ve acquired the first stores to confirm the operational readiness of the key Rite Aid transitional IT systems. We will then begin acquiring stores in phases, with completion anticipated in spring 2018.”
Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and chief executive officer, noted in the call that although the transaction changed from a planned Walgreens-Rite Aid merger to a smaller asset acquisition, the deal brings WBA significant value in greater scale and efficiency.
“In September, we saw in the U.S. our acquisition of assets from Rite Aid move from review to execution, a process that I will not deny took us far longer and was far more complicated than I had expected,” Pessina told analysts.
“We were always optimistic that a deal could be structured in a way that would be acceptable to all parties,” he said. “While the deal we ended up doing was very different from what we originally announced, it was not so very different from what I had originally envisioned.”
Integration of the Rite Aid stores — including rebranding to the Walgreens banner — will cost an estimated $750 million, WBA said. The company also is earmarking about $500 million for store conversions and related activities.
“To deliver the full benefit of the acquisition, we must of course fully integrate and rebrand the retained stores into the Walgreens network. This is a relatively complex, time-consuming and costly process. Initially, Rite Aid is providing transitional services for all acquired stores,” Fairweather said. “Over time, we will transfer these stores onto Walgreens’ existing IT systems prior to rebranding as Walgreens with our full retail offer. We expect to complete the integration of the acquired stores and related assets within the next three years.”
WBA said it expects the Rite Aid asset sale to yield $300 million in annual synergies, fully realized within four years of the initial closing of the transaction and coming mainly from procurement, cost savings and other operational issues.
WBA’s store optimization initiative stems from a sweeping review of its U.S. store network after the FTC green-lighted the Rite Aid asset purchase. “Following regulatory clearance, we have been able to complete a comprehensive review of the combined store portfolio to determine the scope for optimizing locations,” Fairweather said. “This has resulted in our decision to close approximately 600 stores and related assets over an 18-month period beginning in spring 2018.”
Alex Gourlay, co-chief operating officer of WBA, said in the call that stores earmarked for closure are mainly Rite Aid locations near Walgreens stores. “The vast majority of these closures will be Rite Aid and are actually within one mile of another drug store that we own,” he explained.
Pretax charges from the store optimization plan, on a GAAP basis, will total about $450 million, mostly in cash, WBA stated. Cost savings from the program are forecast at roughly $300 million annually and are expected to be fully realized by the end of fiscal 2020.
“I am pleased we are finally able to get on with the process of bringing these stores into our group,” Pessina said, “and undertaking the next phase of review and transformation work within our U.S. network.”


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STRATFORD — State lawmakers recently eliminated the cap on the number of adult-use cannabis stores that can operate in a single city or town.
But in Stratford, where local officials earlier this year opened the door to the recreational marijuana industry, residents are unlikely to encounter more than a couple dispensaries anytime soon.
Instead, the town Zoning Commission is considering a change to the local code that would retain the state’s original population-based limit, which restricted dispensaries to just one store for every 25,000 residents.
If approved, the proposed tweak would mean the town, which boasts a population of about 52,000 residents, could allow only two cannabis retail shops, according to Stratford Planning and Zoning Administrator Jay Habansky.
“The idea is to honor the commission’s original decision to approve adult-use cannabis with the understanding that — at the beginning, at least — we would only be having two stores at the most,” Habansky said, noting the commission can change the cap at a later date.
After briefly considering a six-month moratorium, the Zoning


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Should she ever leave Congress, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton might have a future as a celebrity spokeswoman.
The Democrat took to the House floor last week to salute the grocery store chain Giant Food, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Noting that the grocer “has been known for its high-quality food and customer service,” Norton says Washington, D.C., has embraced the chain for its “convenient neighborhood locations, bargain prices and quality customer service.” She saluted Giant’s pharmacies, bonus card programs and Peapod, the chain’s home-delivery service.
“Giant has become such a focal point and meeting place for residents that my office frequents Giants in the District for my Government to Go program, which offers casework services in the community ... saving them from having to visit my offices,” Norton says.
James Jones, communications director for DC Vote, tapes a "DC Constituents Service Day" sign on the wall as he stands with other DC residents outside of Rep. Andy Harris's office on Capitol Hill to protest Harris' actions against D.C.'s marijuana laws on Thursday, July 24, 2014. DC Vote encouraged DC residents to bring their complaints about city services to the Maryland congressman.


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PALMETTO — There’s a battle brewing on Tampa Bay.
No warships are involved, but billions of dollars in maritime commerce are at stake.
Port Manatee, the state’s fourth largest port, eventually could challenge or divert some business from Florida’s largest port at Tampa. Central Florida and the rest of the state could be big winners as importers, exporters and other logistics and manufacturing interests seek new opportunities in a growing market.
“I don’t feel we need to compete with Tampa to grow our port,” said Carlos Buqueras, who became Port Manatee’s executive director at the beginning of the year. He was previously director of business development at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.
“We grew Port Everglades without doing it at Miami’s expense,” Buqueras said. “We can capture volume for central Florida instead of other ports like Savannah. I think we have a right to go after our own market, and that’s what we are doing.”
Terminal yard project under way
More than 8 million people live within 100 miles of Tampa Bay, making it the ninth largest economy in the United States. Economists have projected that Florida soon will overtake New York as the nation’s third largest state.
Work is well under way on the first 10 acres of a proposed 52-acre container terminal at Port Manatee. The project also includes a 584-foot extension of the port’s Berth 12.
Pittsburgh-headquartered American Bridge Co., which has a marine services division in Tampa, won a $13 million contract for both projects in April. The work is on scheduled for June completion, said Paul Michalak, project manager.
About 40 American Bridge employees are currently on the site, along with a dozen workers from Palm Harbor-based David Nelson Construction. By December up to 80 people will be employed on the site through the spring, Michalak said.
American Bridge was involved in a similar container project at Tampa’s port in 2009.
Buqueras is working to secure regular container service for Port Manatee.
He hopes to convince a shipping company to “turn right” to his docks by the middle of next year.
“These companies have multiyear contracts at other ports that can last up to 15 years,” he said. “We are looking for windows of opportunity without them taking a huge penalty. We are looking at operations in Georgia, Alabama and other states.”
Drivers of economic development
Tampa has a 40-acre container terminal expandable to 160 acres. The port received 311,268 net tons of containerized cargo in fiscal year 2011.
So far, Tampa officials don’t appear overly concerned about the Manatee project.
“Just because they build it doesn’t mean [new business] will come,” said Tampa Port Authority board member Lawrence R. Shipp.
Richard Wainio stepped down earlier this month as Tampa’s port director. His replacement probably will not be named until later this year at the earliest.
Gov. Rick Scott has showed renewed interest in the state’s 15 deepwater seaports as drivers of economic development. But he has said the state will not invest or promote activity that simply shifts business from one port to another.
Buqueras is busy working to expand all aspects of Port Manatee’s operations. His efforts this year have included trips to Spain, Chile and twice to Brazil.
“We need a big spark,” he said. “We are pursuing all categories. We want to have significant diversification of business. We want more bulk and break bulk activity; cruise ferries either to Mexico or Cuba.”
Such pursuits are right out of Tampa’s playbook, too.
The bigger port is leveraging other advantages, such as new CSX rail link opening this month and the mile-long road connecting the port to Interstate 4, due to open late next year.
A similar road connection project between Port Manatee and Interstate 75 is still years from being started.
Nearly 5,000 acres of mostly undeveloped adjoining real estate gives Port Manatee a huge long-term advantage. The designated economic encouragement zone stretches from the gates of the port eastward across U.S. 41 and out past Interstate 75.
“No other port has that much available land,” Buqueras said. “We are not constrained by a surrounding city, or need to build a tunnel like in Miami. It’s just a matter of building a tipping point to really grow that hinterland.”
That effort received a big boost in July, when Pennsylvania-based Air Products (NYSE: APD) announced that it would build a liquefied natural gas heat exchanger plant at the site. The 300,000-square foot building is expected to begin operations by late 2013, employing 250 people.
The company is not releasing the cost of the project. By being close to the port, however, Air Products expects to save moving costs when it ships the 180-foot long, 500-ton pieces of equipment around the world.
“Port Manatee wasn’t even on our radar when we began our site search,” Sandy McLauchlin, general manager of Air Products LNG engineering and manufacturing, told an August meeting of port and economic development officials. “This turned out to be a little jewel.”


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Electronic Arts Profit Outlook Cut as Time Warner Delays "Potter"
Behold the Power of Potter. Time Warner (TWX) yesterday disclosed it won’t put out the new Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” this November as originally planned, and instead will make it a Summer 2009, release–specifically, for July 17 of next year. That’s going to hurt Electronic Arts (ERTS), which will lose a 2008 holiday game title that represents about $150 million in revenue this year, according to analysts. The revenue and profit should come back the following year, though.


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Taking a leaf out of Apple’s book, a firm which employs a heavy hand when it comes to adult material entering its app ecosystem, Microsoft has decided it needs to take a more stringent approach to censorship.
The firm’s existing app policy is that it doesn’t allow “sexually suggestive or provocative” material, but does permit imagery along the lines of swimsuit shots.
Microsoft wrote in a blog post that it will be paying more attention to the titles and content of these sort of apps, expecting them to be more “subtle and modest” in both imagery and terms used.
Microsoft noted: “Apps that don’t fit our standard will need to be updated to remain in the store. This is about presenting the right content to the right customer and ensuring that apps meet our standards.”
The firm further noted that it was intending to monitor customer reaction to apps, and that any which were deemed offensive could potentially be removed by Microsoft.
Microsoft argues that the change isn’t likely to impact many developers, and won’t require much work to get around in cases where it does. The company gives the example of showing male or female models in silhouette, rather than full pictures.
It certainly sounds like the Windows Phone Marketplace is set to get substantially more Apple-like, going forward. Now if Microsoft can replicate the number of apps in the Cupertino firm’s massive library, its mobile OS will really be getting somewhere…


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Earlier this year the multiplayer mystery game The Ship was released in the US, and IGN found it to be a refreshing diversion from the doldrums of convention. Good news for fans of the title: developer Outerlight has declared on its Website that work began last month on a sequel.
Outerlight didn't divulge any details about The Ship 2, other than it definitely won't be called "The Ship 2." The developer did mention it is working with a "major international publisher." The first Ship was published by Merscom in the US.
The sequel is currently in pre-production.


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By Katy Stech Ferek: For More Info, Go Here…
Congress passed a bill that would extend a lifeline to financially struggling injured veterans, enabling them to spend disability payments instead of using them to pay down debt in bankruptcy protection.
The Senate on Thursday passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) that consumer advocates say fixes a mistake written into a 2005 overhaul of the country’s bankruptcy rules. The House passed the bill last week. It now goes to the White House for President Trump’s signature.
The president is expected to sign the bill.
“Our current and retired military heroes sacrifice so much to defend our freedom, but they may face disproportionate challenges when they fall on hard times,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), who supported the measure. “This bill updates the bankruptcy law to ensure that veterans are not penalized for receiving military or veterans’ disability benefits when filing for bankruptcy.”
Under the 2005 law, debtors who receive disability payments from the Social Security Administration are allowed to keep that money during bankruptcy. But disabled veterans who receive checks from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense have had to classify those payments as disposable income, which requires that that income be used to pay off credit-card bills, auto loans and other consumer debt.
The law’s classification of veterans’ disability payments as disposable income has also made them less likely to qualify for chapter 7 protection, the more popular type of bankruptcy that is quicker and cheaper than other forms, under federal bankruptcy law.


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Clinton’s book reveals her experiences during the 2016 presidential election and how the results affected not only her, but America.
Tickets for the event sold out quickly.
“We’re very excited to be hosting Hillary Clinton for a book signing,” said Allison K. Hill, Vroman’s Bookstore and Book Soup president and CEO (and Southern California News Group monthly book columnist). “And apparently others were equally excited; we sold out in 90 minutes. The fastest we’ve ever sold out for an event.”
For more information, call 626-449-5320 or go to www.vromansbookstore.com online.


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Not Made in China
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Because as China slows down garment production, the slack will get picked up in developing countries worldwide, for better or worse.
By Nathan Siegel
China thinks manufacturing clothes is so last decade.
As labor costs in the “world’s factory” continue to rise dramatically, global fashion brands are looking elsewhere to source apparel. In addition to established hubs like Bangladesh and Vietnam, the garment game is ripe for new players: Myanmar (Burma), Haiti and Ethiopia, among others, are looking to rejuvenate a once-thriving trade or even build one entirely from scratch.
China will shed approximately 85 million manufacturing jobs in the coming years, which, some development experts say, could be a golden opportunity for economic development à la South Korea. The standard narrative: Start at the bottom with low-skill, basic textile manufacturing (like T-shirts) and work your way up to more complex garments (like suits), then to more complex goods like electronics. Improved quality of life and a rising consumer class will naturally follow, creating sustainable and natural growth.
As in China, garment assembly will then be seen as low-brow. “You don’t make tanks out of textiles,” says Derek Scissors, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
There’s a great deal of bullshit in the world of corporate social responsibility.
Scott Nova, director of the Workers Rights Consortium
But whether China’s successors can actually follow the “textile to tank” model is a point of serious contention. Some argue that new entrants can survive only by offering the lowest costs — read: unlivable wages and minimal, if any, rights. Footloose garment brands, apt to flee to wherever labor costs are lowest, make nurturing an industry with highly skilled workers, robust infrastructure and effective legislation extremely difficult.
It’s harder to unlearn bad habits, so the best shot at a sustainable industry may be Ethiopia, which is essentially a blank slate. Despite dire infrastructure shortcomings, Ethiopia’s access to a continental market with six of the 10 fastest-growing economies and one of the world’s largest cattle (leather) stocks makes “China 30 years ago” an attractive long-term investment. The Chinese and Turkish certainly seem to think so. Huajian Shoes and Akya Tekstil, two of the world’s largest apparel makers, are planning multibillion-dollar “apparel-cities” fit for up to 60,000 workers and 50 different manufacturers each.
H&M, the Swedish apparel giant, has staked an early claim in Ethiopia as well. By partnering with nonprofit Swedfund, they’re championing a “responsible” way forward with three new sustainable factories, and growing. The move to set an ethical foundation in a new entrant mirrors that of Gap in Myanmar this past June. Once called an “outpost of tyranny” because of its brutal military dictatorship, Myanmar underwent vast democratic reforms in 2011; stifling economic sanctions from the West were eased a year later. Now the country’s garment industry is on track to bring in $1.7 billion of export revenue in 2014 — compared with $900 million in 2012.
And companies are doing it, supposedly, with a conscience. By partnering with USAID and local NGOs, Gap is trying to avoid the plunder-and-bail reputation of the garment industry. “We want to lend resources in such an important time for the country,” to set a precedence of humane working conditions and work with the government to build institutions to protect best practices, Debbie Mesloh, Gap’s senior director of government and public affairs, told OZY.
If job seekers voluntarily choose to work for low wages in a factory, that means it’s the best of a series of bad options.
Benjamin Powell, director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University
But some are calling BS … literally. “There’s a great deal of bullshit in the world of corporate social responsibility,” says Scott Nova, director of the Worker Rights Consortium. “The idea that a brand would move into a country to make the world a better place is absurd. They do it because it’s cheaper,” he says.
Indeed, according to the country’s own manufacturers association, Burmese workers make as little as $30 per month, below the World Bank’s $1.25/day poverty threshold. And early reports show Ethiopian garment workers earn between $37 and $53 per month, making them the world’s two lowest paid (Bangladeshi workers earn approximately $68).
Few can ignore the data, but some experts argue that low wages — once a characteristic of all now-developed economies, most recently Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong — are a necessary initial sacrifice to attract investors. If job seekers voluntarily choose to work for low wages in a factory, that means it’s the best of a series of bad options, says Benjamin Powell, director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University. “If we were to impose laws on these countries mandating higher pay and working conditions, it would take away the very reason companies chose to come there, thus leaving them trapped in an even worse poverty,” he told OZY.
In Haiti, where 80 to 90 percent of its exports come from apparel, there’s some hope for development with labor standards. Conditions in Haiti have improved significantly, argues Arianna Rossi, research and policy officer at Better Work, an arm of the International Labour Organization that specializes in the garment industry. The minimum wage was raised in May of this year to $5 a day and Better Work’s most recent report shows factories are complying almost across the board — 37 percent are even receiving at least $6.75.
To be sure, garment hasn’t proven the jobs creator it was touted to be. A 2-year-old industrial park in northern Haiti, Caracol, financed to the tune of $124 million by the U.S., has led to only 3,000 jobs, instead of the projected 60,000. That’s despite duty-free access to the United States via the HOPE II trade agreement and serious promotion from the State Department, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton.
Still, companies are coming to the realization that “treating workers better is good for business,” Rossi says, citing a Better Work research project as proof of concept.
Experts like Nova aren’t sold. For one, if the garment industry was a way out of poverty, wages shouldn’t have declined over the past decade across the world and, on average, constitute about a third of a “living wage.”
Whether the garment industry is good for national and individual economic development or not, countries like Haiti, Myanmar and Ethiopia are rolling out the red carpet for fashion’s name brands. If they’ll have buyers’ remorse remains to be seen.


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Not all puffers are made equal, but all of these puffers are made by Canadian companies.
The key to these styles is versatility and durability.
On January 18, Vancouver’s Holt Renfrew launched an early release of the collection—among the first in the world, and the only Canadian location, to do so.
This fall, Timberlake is flexing his style prowess for his most recent clothing collaboration with Levi’s.
A combination of patterns, colours, and textures, the suit is suitable for much more than office wear.
The men’s fashion label unveils its new flagship location on the strip of Calgary’s trendy, historic Eighth Avenue,
West Edmonton Mall welcomes Canada’s first Michael Kors Mens store.
For much of mechanical horology’s history, slimness in a watch was not only aesthetically preferable, it was a clear sign of superior talent in watchmaking.
The fashion consultant reflects on his career and personal style, offering insight into how all men can navigate their wardrobes with deftness and grace.