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Media reports say the European Union (EU), which has supported globalization and free trade for decades, has recently begun adopting an inward-looking approach, particularly affecting trade with Southeast Asia. His 2022 Southeast Asia National Survey, conducted annually by his ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, asked regional opinion his leaders who they thought were the main defenders of free trade, and the EU dropped to his fourth place by a few percentage points.
“Non-tariff barriers to trade in the European Union are often viewed by critics as a mercantilist and protectionist proxy,” said Rahul Mishra, senior lecturer at the Institute of Asia and Europe, University of Malaya. ‘ said. In mid-March, Brussels increased tariffs on stainless steel products from Indonesia after claiming it benefited from unfair subsidies, including some from China’s Belt and Road investment programme.
Her declining EU support for free trade has been an ongoing trend since his 2019, with analysts pointing to the decline in her ratings as a result of the EU’s own actions, the report said. says. In the 2021 Southeast Asian National Survey, about 29.5% of Indonesian respondents said the EU was the biggest supporter of global free trade, the highest percentage of any country. In the 2022 survey, confidence dropped to just 12.2%.
In addition to existing anti-dumping tariffs, Indonesia will face a total tariff of 30.7%, up from 21.4% previously. Jakarta denies its companies receive uncompetitive subsidies, including from China, and denounces an EU investigation that it did not heed arguments put forward by Indonesian diplomats. From early 2019 he imposed protective trade tariffs on imports of certain rice varieties from Cambodia and Myanmar in early 2019, following protests by Italian and Spanish farmers that lasted until January 2022.
Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur say they are trying to make their palm oil sectors more sustainable, challenging claims that this has a dramatic impact on deforestation, similar to Brussels’ claim. Both Southeast Asian countries have threatened to take the EU to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for a protectionist move to help European vegetable oil producers, the report said. It is not surprising that the EU’s image as a champion of free trade has suffered most in Southeast Asia as a result of recent protectionist measures.
It is said that The overall decline in imports from Cambodia and Myanmar is estimated to have fallen to around 41% from 2020 to 2021, the lowest level in marketing in the past eight years. But perhaps the biggest disruption in free trade has come from the EU’s plans to phase out palm oil imports, and Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of palm oil, commonly used as a biofuel. and Malaysia are of particular concern. The EU claims palm oil production is unsustainable and a major contributor to deforestation.
- South-east Asian trade is being undermined by the European Union
- Check all news and articles from the latest Business news updates.


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McDonald’s is celebrating turning 50 years old in Australia by flogging 50 cent Big Macs across the whole country today.
Not going to lie, I’m more of a McChicken lover, but honestly who is going to knock back a Big Mac for 50 cents?
The iconic burgers are on sale at all Macca’s stores across the country for one day only and are available for purchase via the MyMaccas’s app.
ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
However, you better be quick as stocks are limited to the first 500,000 orders.
“The Big Mac is an Aussie icon, customer favourite and one of our most popular menu items, universally loved for its 100% Aussie beef patties and signature Big Mac sauce,” McDonald’s Australia Marketing Manager Amanda Nakad said.
“As a way to thank our customers for their continued support over the last 50 years, we are excited to launch one of our best-value deals to date with this 50 cent Big Mac offer.”
More than 1.1 billion Big Macs have been sold in Australia since the doors opened to the first restaurant in 1971.

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With Cinco De Mayo just around the corner, we caught up with local entrepreneur Juan Banda to discuss his new business.
Juan recently opened Taqueria Fresnillo, located at 211 W Cloud Street. The restaurant is an authentic taqueria, and the name comes from Juan’s family’s hometown of Fresnillo, in the Zacatecas state of Mexico.
Juan started his first business, a retail shop called Rodeo at 1501 S 9th Street, four years ago after being inspired by his parents. When Juan was 10, his mother ran a restaurant and his father had his own retail shop, but they closed up shop when he was around 15.
Juan wanted to continue the businesses, and when he was 21 he opened up Rodeo, and recently opened Taqueria Fresnillo in February. His mother helps with the recipes at the new restaurant, handing down recipes from generations and using authentic spices.
We spoke to Juan last week and he told us business is going well, and he has been meeting other local business owners.
“There’s a lot of opportunity here in Salina,” said Juan. “There’s not a lot here, but we’re part of the community, and each of us have to really make a difference. They say you have to love what you do, and I’m just doing what I love. I’ve had the best teachers in the world, my parents, they taught me how to make decisions.”
Juan would love to expand the restaurant in the future and is always looking for ways to improve both Taqueria Fresnillo and Rodeo. He currently runs both businesses, and you can see him running back and forth on a daily basis!
“Right now I’m everything! I have to wear different hats, so I’ll either be the dishwasher, or the cook or the cashier,” said Juan. “I’ll even be doing the books! Then I’ll go to the retail store and sell bus tickets, phone activations or clothes. Whatever needs done.”
Taqueria Fresnillo is having a grand opening event this Friday, Cinco De Mayo. There will be free drinks (Horchata or Melon Water) offered for every order of red or green enchiladas or flautas, and 99KG will be live on air from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. There is also a raffle every Friday for prizes, and customers can register in store to win free food and more.


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Wisconsin Lawmakers Introduce Cannabis Decriminalization Bill
Marijuana Industry News October 31, 2019 MJ Shareholders
Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson has called for the suspension of the city’s cannabis licensing process, alleging that it has been “compromised” by some applicants gaining early access to the online application system, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Wesson penned a letter to the Department of Cannabis Regulation that urges the agency to stop processing applications for new cannabis retail licenses, the news outlet reported. He asked that the department refund the latest round of applicants and pursue an independent audit of the licensing process.
The department is only reviewing a limited number of applications this round, not every one that was submitted, and Wesson is also urging the agency to process every application as another avenue to ensure fairness, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Michelle Garakian, a spokeswoman for the Department of Cannabis Regulation, told the news outlet that the agency will meet with Wesson’s office soon to discuss his recommendations.
To date, Los Angeles has granted 300 licenses for cannabis retailers and their suppliers, according to The Los Angeles Times. This latest licensing round was a first-come, first-serve process for businesses to apply for up to 100 more retail licenses, the news outlet reported.
When the latest round of applications launched in September, Los Angeles received more than 300 applications within three minutes, The Los Angeles Times reported, and some stakeholders claim that some applicants got early access to the application system while others were locked out due to slow internet speeds, according to the news outlet.
Department of Cannabis Regulation Executive Director Cat Packer has indicated that while two applicants did gain early access to the system due to a staff error the occurred while resetting their passwords, those applications were pushed back in line to where they would have been otherwise, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Los Angeles received roughly 800 total applications during this licensing round, according to the news outlet, and the city still has one more upcoming round where it plans to issue 150 more retail licenses.
MJShareholders.com is the largest dedicated financial network and leading corporate communications firm serving the legal cannabis industry. Our network aims to connect public marijuana companies with these focused cannabis audiences across the US and Canada that are critical for growth: Short and long term cannabis investors Active funding sources Mainstream media Business leaders Cannabis consumers


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Infinite Cycle is Australia’s only virtual cycle studios with responsive, leaning bikes teamed with state-of-the-art technology.
Using the highest quality, most innovative products and expertise from around the globe, Infinite Cycle offers the most immersive cycle experience on the market and one of the most exciting fitness franchise options on the market.
The group is set to launch 15 new cycle studios over the next 12 months, largely due to the introduction and future contribution of two new team members; Damien Bain and Matt Nissen join the brand’s Executive Team, led by Co-Founders Alan Sacharowitz and Dani Carr.
Mr Carr said:
“We are very excited to welcome our two new executives and see our team grow. The specific expertise that these two highly skilled and extensively experienced professionals will bring to Infinite Cycle, will ensure new levels of support to current franchisees and deliver strong growth for the brand in the future.”
Infinite Cycle has engaged Damien Bain from LEBC as Head of Franchising, to head up their franchising division and Matt Nissen as Chief Revenue Officer, focussing on overall growth and management of the top line.
Mr Bain, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Leading Edge Business Consulting, commenced his fitness career 20+ years ago, as a health club owner in Melbourne. He then managed the opening of more than 47 clubs for various brands across Australia. He has worked in a variety of roles including an extensive period as Fitness First’s NSW State Manager and National Site Acquisitions Manager, Genesis Fitness Clubs’ National Operations Manager and General Manager of some smaller Franchised Functional Studios including Premium Lifestyle Clubs and EMSStudios.
Mr Nissen, Chief Operating Officer of Natuzzi Italia (Victoria), a world-renowned furniture company, has strengths in overseeing marketing, strategy, business development, customer success and overall operations. Nissen completed a double degree at university in Commerce/ Exercise and Sport Science and is a former representative football player (AFL), triathlete and Ironman. During his time as owner of his own personal training business, Nissen realised his passion for helping people achieve happiness through exercise. He is also a former State Manager, Sales and Marketing for ISC Sport.
Mr Sacharowitz said:
“We are extremely excited to bring both of these professionals in as part of the expanded Infinite Cycle International team, to participate in the accelerated implementation of the Infinite Cycle brand across Australia.”
“Although COVID has had a catastrophic impact on the fitness industry, it has forced us to accelerate one of our medium-term plans to bring Infinite Cycle into the homes of our members. We had no option but to prioritise this idea and develop Infinite Cycle @Home, a project that we were able to develop and implemented in record time. This has been an exciting challenge and the initial acceptance of trials of our @Home online live streaming sessions over the past month, coupled with the hiring out of our unused bikes, has been exceptionally strong. We are pleased to have officially launch this division on 7 September.”


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One of Europe's Most Prestigious Cosmetics Brands Selects Darktrace
Darktrace, the leader in Enterprise Immune System technology, announces today that one of Europe’s most prestigious cosmetics brands is using cutting-edge Enterprise Immune System technology in order to enhance its cyber security.
Based in Europe, the company distributes its prestigious beauty products worldwide and draws the majority of its revenue from export. Using unique recipes, the company considers the protection of its intellectual property as a priority, and was looking for a technology that would help reduce the risk to its critical information, and protect the brand reputation in the long term.
Following a four-week trial, it decided to deploy Darktrace’s Enterprise Immune System, due to this technology’s unique ability to detect new and emerging threats, which have not previously been encountered, from inside the network. Unlike perimeter defences, Darktrace’s self-learning technology provides the company’s security team with a 24/7 visual overview of its networks and is capable of uncovering anomalous behaviors that are unseen by conventional security tools.
“This global leader has a strong heritage as a visionary company and its commitment to cyber security reflects this forward-thinking mentality. It is dedicated to protecting its critical information, not only by trying to block threats, but also protecting against unpredictable activities inside the organization that may cause damage,” said Nick Trim, Managing Director EMEA, Darktrace. “Darktrace’s machine learning and mathematics mean that we can address this difficult challenge, by highlighting anomalous behaviors in real time, without making assumptions about what ‘bad’ looks like.”
Named ‘Technology Pioneer’ by the World Economic Forum, Darktrace is one of the world’s leading cyber threat defense companies. Its Enterprise Immune System technology detects previously unidentified threats in real time, powered by machine learning and mathematics developed at the University of Cambridge, which analyze the behavior of every device, user and network within an organization. Some of the world’s largest corporations rely on Darktrace’s self-learning appliance in sectors including energy and utilities, financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and transportation. The company was founded in 2013 by leading machine learning specialists and government intelligence experts, and is headquartered in Cambridge, UK and San Francisco, including offices in Auckland, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington D.C.


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Dell is expanding its range of laptops and has launched the latest Inspiron-15 3000 Series of laptops. It allows you to get your hands on a versatile laptop that is packed with full of entertainment features and delivers an outstanding multimedia experience at an affordable price. The laptop is priced at Rs. 25,490 only.
The Government of India has recently launched the Digital Locker in Beta Version – called ‘DigiLocker’ - which can be used for storing as also certifying and appending your Aadhaar-linked digital signature for sending documents through the electronic means. The DigiLocker is essentially a dedicated personal storage space that is linked to an individual Aadhaar Card number. The application can be used to store not only your e-documents but also the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).
Nikon has again come up with its high-quality camera called the D810A. According to the company the camera is capable of capturing astronomical subjects that emit the H-alpha wavelengths of light such as nebulae and other distant galaxies in red. In the same way the company also claims that this DSLR is the first one ever to do this job.
Bates Stamping software for Adobe PDF files is designed by a paralegal for paralegals. The company by name Bates Blaster Software has developed software for use of law firms and businesses in the legal industry. Bates stamping and numbering software from Adobe PDF, allows you to add page numbering in PDF documents in different ways.
Nokia Network’s MBit Index study reveals that mobile internet traffic in India has grown by as much as 74 per cent in 2014 as compared to that of 2013. The 3G traffic has basically been the moving force as the traffic on this score has increased to more than double – 114 per cent. The 2G growth has however not been as spectacular - it is around 41 per cent.
Micromax has launched its new Canvas-branded Smartphone the Canvas Pep yesterday. The gadget is priced at Rs. 5,999. According to the company the Smartphone is available on both online and offline stores. The handset is yet to be listed on the company website.
Hello friends, today we have come up with a beautiful service called iCloud. What is cloud service? The term cloud is used to describe information that is not stored on your personal computer but it is stored on a remote computer or server connected to Internet. It is the next step in computers having all your files, photos, music backed up and available over the Internet, whenever you need them.
Sony’s Smart Glasses, called SmartEyeglass, is back in news. It is now known that that Sony has begun taking orders for its Smart Glasses in UK and Germany. In the process Sony has pushed off Google’s Glass from out of the race, which had earlier priced its gadget at USD 1,500. Incidentally, Google has shut down commercial sale of its wearable display last month itself. Sony’s device will be costing virtually half (USD 850 or around INR 52,300) of what Google had priced its product.
Canonical and BQ both in partnership have launched its first Ubuntu-based Smartphone and has recently completed its first flash sale. BQ is the company which is well known for making ebook readers, Smartphone and tablets in Europe. The Smartphone named 'Aquaris E4.5' was released in a new version running Ubuntu OS.
A company by name VascoGames created a beautiful game called Crime City Real Police Driver which has been a craze with game-lovers. One can have the Crime City Real Police Driver app for free on Google Play Store. The game is really interesting especially when you possess tremendous inclination for car racing games.
While updating the Facebook app with new updates, you find yourself confronted with a peculiar problem. When you try to refresh your feed or leave a comment, it produces sounds that are far from pleasant – these are irritating, annoying and unwelcome. Incidentally, these sounds are the new elements noticed by those who updated the app in the last few days. Now, the questions are: Can you disable the sounds, and how can that be done? Here are the simple steps to do the changes without any fuss.
Ace-cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has launched a real-time app. The app is created and hosted by leading tyre-making company MRF. It is built for the fans to cheer the Indian team at the World Cup that started last Saturday. It is made available on both the platforms - Android and iOS.
India's First Smartphone To Come Up With 5.0 Lollipop - Intex Aqua Star LIntex has launched its Android 5.0 Lollipop-based Aqua Star L Smartphone in India. The gadget is priced at Rs. 6,990. According to the company the Intex Aqua Star L is the first Android 5.0 Lollipop Smartphone by an Indian brand. It is available in Black and White colours and it is on exclusive Snapdeal sale. The sale would start from Monday that is (16-feb-2015).
The American multinational company, Apple Inc., well-known for its consumer electronics like Computers and iPhones, etc. is reportedly entering automobile sector as well. The rumours are that the company is secretly working on an electric car. Reports from the Wall Street Journal and other sources indicate that hundreds of hands, including those working in Tesla, are being offered employment by Apple for an electric car design that has been kept out of public domain and is held as a top secret matter.
Samsung has recently launched the Ativ One 5 Style all-in-one PC. The immense, full HD -1920 x 1080 screen is perhaps the perfect way to experience everything from photos to videos. Along with the crystalline display, the Quad Core CPU and powerful graphic performance with ATI Radeon chip enhances the immersive multi-media experience.
Honda has launched this week a CNG variant of its compact petrol sedan Honda Amaze, called 1.2 S MT Plus (i-VTEC) that has been made compatible for CNG fuel option. Interestingly Honda Amaze has been fairly successful in India as it claims to have sold around 1.3 lakh units since its launch in 2013. The company states that this CNG ready variant of Amaze “has been specially tuned during production for CNG compatibility by way of optimising the suspension, application of CNG specific engine components and specially prepared wiring harnesses to ensure high level of quality,"
Sony has recently launched a new DSLT camera called Sony Alpha 58. The Alpha 58 is entry-level D-SLR in the company's catalog today. The camera is priced at $599.99 with 18-55mm lens. The Sony A58 offers advanced photographic features and picture-taking skills at a price that can be termed consumer-friendly . The Sony A58 is a new interchangeable lens camera, which uses Sonyâs unique Translucent Mirror technology.
If you are a windows 8 users then you may know what is Metro App? Metro app is nothing but the apps you find in the Windows 8 Store like games, skype, mail, calender, etc. If you re-install your windows or open it for the first time, then you would notice Internet Explorer 10 to be opened in Windows 8 Mode rather than in Desktop mode.
In the earlier days a simple passwords would keep your accounts secure but today it not possible. Hackers around the world try thousands of passwords using software's. Today experts advise us to use passwords with more than 12 characters. As you all know we do not use the same password for more than one account.
The market now seems to have been flooded with 4G phones, as one after another several companies have launched several 4G enabled devices over the last few months. The list includes well-known and not-so-well known companies like Apple iPhone6. Yu Yureka, Xiaomi Redme Note G, HTC Desire 820, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and so on. Now, we have another entrant – Oppo 3000 – which is launched today in China.
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The Google Pixel 7 is expected to debut toward the end of 2022, but a new tidbit in the first few days of January may have given us a glimpse into one of the big upgrades.
According to a new patent, Google is working on technology that would allow for it to include an under-display camera on its upcoming phones. That may mean the tech will be ready for the Google Pixel 7 or Google Pixel Fold.
The patent was published with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in mid-December, but it was originally submitted by Google back in August 2021. LetsGoDigital then spotted the patent in the last few days and were first to report on it.
Google has also reportedly hired an ex-Samsung display engineer who lists on their LinkedIn profile that they helped work on "transparent displays" at the company. This person is specifically listed as part of the project on the Google patent.
Why now, Google?
This new patent isn't the time Google has filed documentation for an under-display camera technology, but this is notably more cost efficient than its previously patented tech.
However, as it the case with all patents, there's no guarantee this technology will be used on a future smartphone. It may be ready for the Google Pixel 7, but we can't say for certain whether this technology will be ready for Google's 2022 Pixel.
We've seen a couple of companies include this tech on particular handsets since late 2020, and we're expecting to see under-display cameras on other future flagship phones from different manufacturers.
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The first phone to feature the technology was the ZTE Axon 20, and we've since seen it on further ZTE phones as well as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 and the Moto Edge X30 Special Edition. Current leaks and rumors suggest Samsung won't be including it on its highly anticipated Galaxy S22 range.
Analysis: it needs to be good for the Pixel 7
The truth is that under-display camera technology is still in its infancy, and we've yet to truly see a great selfie camera that is hiding under a screen.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 improved upon the ZTE technology before it, but it still provided images that were murkier than what you'd get with a phone that sports a punch-hole camera or a notch.
The under-display camera was also quite visible on the Z Fold 3, too.
For Google to be ready to include this technology, we'd hope it has had a breakthrough with its own technologies. This patent could mean that Google has the best option for an under-display selfie camera.
We won't know for certain until we see a Google Pixel phone that features an under-display camera.
Via Phone Arena
James is Managing Editor for Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.


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Chefs express surprise after ouster from Milktooth
Head chef Josh Klein and pastry chef Zoe Taylor are no longer working at Milktooth, the celebrated Fletcher Place restaurant owned by Jonathan Brooks.Read More
Scotty’s Brewhouse founder Wise joins CBRE as retail broker
Scott Wise, who founded the once-flourishing Scotty’s Brewhouse restaurant chain, starts Tuesday at CBRE’s Indianapolis office, joining a team of 12 brokers in the office’s retail division.Read More
Wisconsin-based sub sandwich chain targets Indianapolis market
Cousins Subs, which recently opened its first Indiana location in Crown Point, is hoping to open eight to 10 stores in the central Indiana market. Also this week: News on Ellison Brewing and Massage Heights.Read More
Steak n Shake slows closures, continues to lose money
Indianapolis-based Steak n Shake drastically slowed the pace of “temporary” restaurant closures in the third quarter, but showed little progress in its plan to turn company-owned eateries into franchises.Read More
Noblesville’s Livery will open in the Hamilton Town Center between Books & Brews and the shopping center’s new green space, across from the recently opened Ford’s Garage.
It’s part of a multi-state expansion that comes just more than a year after the original Thrillz opened. Also this week, the reopening of Cinemark 8, Kilroy’s Bar and Grill and The Boiling.
The chain’s 11th gym here will be an upscale version of what local members are used to. Also this week: Chuy’s restaurant and Vinny’s Drive Bar.
The fast food giant said former president and CEO Steve Easterbrook demonstrated poor judgment, and that McDonald’s forbids managers from having romantic relationships with subordinates.
The International Marketplace Coalition has purchased a former Value City Furniture location on Lafayette Road to serve as a focal point for the district, which includes more than 100 restaurants.
Florida-based Metro Diner closed its Butler location in March. Butler says the lease is still in effect and it’s suing for unpaid rent. Metro has four other Indianapolis-area locations that remain open.
Grand Junction Brewing Co.’s tap room and production facility, which opened about a mile away in 2017, will remain open.
Bub’s Cafe owner Matt Frey said the eatery will close Wednesday. He and his wife, Rachel, own the restaurant and the building that houses it.
IBJ real estate reporter Mickey Shuey describes the downtown restaurant scene, with details about what’s closing, what’s opening and what’s coming in the future. Plus, find out where you’re likely to spy some IBJ reporters the next time you’re out for lunch.
The 2020 World Food Championships Final Table event is the culmination of annual competition involving more than 1,500 home cooks, chefs and professional cooking teams from more than 40 states and 15 countries. The World Food Champion will be crowned at the event.
The Garage Food Hall is part of the much larger, 12-acre, $300 million Bottleworks development at 850 Massachusetts Ave. that will include retail, residential, office and restaurants, as well as a hotel.
The area around the old Lafayette Square Mall will have almost 110 ethnic eateries by the end of the year. Also this week: Sun King, Chick-fil-A and Boot Barn.
Former Scotty’s Brewhouse owner Scott Wise and his wife, Amy, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
St. Elmo Whiskey, which is used to make the famous steakhouse’s top-selling cocktail, is the latest product offered by the restaurant’s retail affiliate.


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President Goodluck Jonathan has formally launched a national electronic identity card, which all Nigerians will have to have by 2019 if they want to vote. He received the first biometric card, which can also be used to make electronic payments. MasterCard is providing the prepaid payment element and it hopes millions of Nigerians without bank accounts will now gain access to financial services.
An attempt to introduce national ID cards in Nigeria 10 years ago failed. Analysts blame corruption for its failure, and say the same problems may stymie the new e-ID scheme.
“The card is not only a means of certifying your identity, but also a personal database repository and payment card, all in your pocket,” President Jonathan said at the launch in the capital, Abuja. I have taken keen interest in this project, primarily because of the pervasive impact it can have on every facet of the socio-economic fabric of our dear nation,” he said.
The new cards show a person’s photograph, name, age and unique ID number – and 10 fingerprints and an iris are scanned during enrollment. These details are intended to ensure that there are no duplicates on the system.


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Richard Dahl, currently president and chief operating officer, will be leaving the company to pursue personal business interests.
David H. Murdock, the owner of Dole, previously acted as chief executive officer and will remain chairman of the board. Murdock commented, "We are pleased to have David undertake this expanded leadership role in the company. His knowledge and experience in the industry are unprecedented."
From the June 18, 2007, Prepared Foods e-Flash


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| May 29, 2014
| 10:05 AM
The Service Employees International Union spent at least $2 million last year supporting the effort to organize low-wage fast-food workers and staging strikes in Chicago, according to filings with the Labor Department.
It was known that the SEIU has...
| Apr 22, 2014
| 11:43 AM
McDonald's Corp. is trying to prove that it has the right recipe for growth after another disappointing quarterly performance.
The world's largest restaurant company reported first-quarter sales and profit on Tuesday that missed Wall Street's...
| Apr 20, 2014
— The rules of business in Bogota in the 1990s reached far beyond balance sheets and profit margins.
If you could afford an armored car, you bought one. If you had the means to move your family to Miami, you did. On weekend trips, you either...
| Apr 23, 2014
| 5:06 PM
Same clown, new clothes: Is that the main takeaway of McDonald’s newest makeover of its brand ambassador Ronald McDonald?
On Wednesday, the Oak Brook, Ill., fast-food giant unveiled a new look for the redheaded clown and announced he'd be featured...
| May 8, 2014
| 5:21 AM
McDonald’s sales at existing U.S. locations were flat in April, slightly better than Wall Street anticipated and an improvement after five consecutive months of declines.
The world’s largest restaurant company ran a free coffee promotion...
| Apr 25, 2014
| 7:35 AM
A pint-sized dish of cevichocho, served on the street in Otavalo, sparked one of those ah-hah moments so unexpected it caught me unawares.
By the time we the three of us parked near the town's famous craft market, lunch time had come and gone. Heading...
| Apr 19, 2014
BERLIN — The process started two years ago by Thomas J. May was bound to be unsettling.
May, who became chief executive of Northeast Utilities when it merged with Massachusetts utility NStar in April 2012, has spent the intervening months...
| May 25, 2014
McDonald's Corp. for years has been in the cross hairs of a national campaign to raise the minimum wage, a movement that intensified last week as demonstrators marched on its Oak Brook headquarters.
The fast-food behemoth has rejected protesters' call...
| Apr 27, 2014
| 3:03 PM
Baltimore City Councilman Robert W. Curran is tired of hearing about motorists whose cars were towed for reasons he finds ridiculous — for being parked outside the white lines in a supermarket lot, for instance, or at a fast food restaurant when the...
| May 1, 2014
| 3:00 AM
Dear Mr. John "Big John" Paterakis: Congratulations on a life of success in bread. Your H&S Bakery Inc. cornered the market on fast-food hamburger rolls. Your company holdings include Automatic Rolls of North Carolina, Automatic Rolls of New England,...
| May 9, 2014
| 6:12 AM
McDonald's Corp. plans to begin market testing seasoned french fries, to be called Shakin' Flavor Fries, today in three California markets and in St. Louis, Mo.
Customers will start with regular french fries, then add one of three seasonings -- garlic...


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A new report from Grand View Research predicts that the market for speech and voice recognition tech will hit $31.82 billion by 2025. The rising demand for voice-activated virtual AI assistants is expected to drive much of that growth, leading to a CAGR of 17.2 percent.
The banking, automotive, and healthcare sectors are expected to be particularly important in that regard. Healthcare was the largest of the three in 2017, deploying voice recognition to assist with the creation of electronic medical records. Meanwhile, a growing number of banks are integrating voice authentication for an extra layer of security, especially for transactions that take place over the phone.
The use of voice recognition in the automotive industry is indicative of the increasing interest in voice-activated consumer products. Nuance Automotive has found numerous partners for its Dragon Drive voice assistant in the past few months, and similar technology is popping up in smart speakers and other IoT devices.
North America is currently the largest market for voice recognition, although Asia and Europe are also expected to see major growth. Tellingly, some of the world’s largest corporations – including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Google – see tremendous potential in voice recognition and remain at the forefront of the field.
If accurate, the $31.82 billion figure would make speech and voice recognition one of the largest segments of the biometric marketplace. A previous Grand View report predicted that the total biometrics market would hit $59.31 billion in the same time frame, although it’s worth noting that some speech recognition tech might not fall under the official biometrics umbrella.
(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)


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General Motors today announced the winners of its five-year service contract. EDS, until now GM’s only outsourcing partner will have to part with some of the business it provides to the car maker today.
According to GM CIO Ralph Szygenda, GM awarded “approximately” 50% of the contract package, valued at $15 billion, today. EDS received business worth about $3.8 billion, Hewlett-Packard can count on $700 million, IBM and Capgemini $500 million each and Compuware Covisint and Wipro around $300 million. While the figures do not quite add up to Szygenda’s claim, EDS appears to be the winner of the bidding race, which lasted for about 18 months.
As EDS provides and manages most of GM’s infrastructure today, the car maker had to find a compromise between the introduction of new thinking, saving cost and avoiding disruption of existing workflow.
GM plans to award further contracts as soon as the firm’s current telecommunications contracts will have expired. The remaining balance “will be awarded throughout the five years as a part of the natural business process used by information systems and services,” GM said.


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A Brand-New Exit – What Comes Next?
The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020 and has entered an 11-month transition period. To be fair, this was not the first time, as they Brexit-ed even before it was cool. Around 6100 BC, during the Mesolithic period, Britain broke free of mainland Europe.
Throughout this transition period, the UK remains in the EU’s customs union and single market, paying into its budget and continuing to obey EU rules. Nevertheless, it is no longer part of the political institutions, will play no part in the EU law-making process, nor will they be EU citizens anymore. However, British citizens can continue to live, work, study and retire in the EU, while EU27 nationals enjoy those reciprocal rights in the UK.
There is a set timetable for the year with negotiations expected to formally kick off in a few days. By July 1, there must be a UK decision on whether to ask for an extension to the transition period, as it can be extended one time, for up to two years. Boris Johnson, though, has repeatedly vowed to complete the departure by the end of the year. If he sticks to his word, they will have to strike a deal with the EU at an unusually fast pace. For example, it took “only” seven years for the EU and Canada to negotiate their 2016 trade deal, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement or CETA. Moreover, these talks will be unprecedented, as, beyond trade and security, there is…everything else. Foreign affairs, data, fisheries, cultural-educational ties, aviation, carbon pricing, anti-money laundering, illegal migration, sanctions on rogue states, and much more.
The First Steps
The first priority will be to negotiate a trade deal. The UK wants as much access as possible for its goods and services to the EU. Mr. Johnson said that he wanted a comprehensive free trade deal with Europe, similar to CETA. Both sides want to work out a trade agreement, ideally with no tariffs and no quotas, and keep trade barriers low.
The question of the Irish border remains the single most contentious part of the Brexit deal because of the checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea. It will become the only land border between the UK and the EU. Deal, or no-deal the Northern Ireland protocol aims to avoid the introduction of a hard border. That was a crucial part of the draft Withdrawal Agreement.
If no trade deal has been agreed and ratified by the end of the year, then the UK faces the prospect of tariffs on exports to the EU. If countries do not have free-trade agreements, they usually trade with each other under rules set by the World Trade Organization. In that case, if the UK chooses to put no tariffs on goods from the EU, it must also have no tariffs on goods from every WTO member. This outcome would be more damaging for the UK, but talks would roll on.
Although Brexit will certainly affect the UK more than the EU in almost every respect, it will weaken the EU economically and politically as well. Britain was the EU’s second-biggest economy, one of the bloc’s two nuclear powers and permanent UN Security Council members.
The more space Britain puts between its rules and Europe’s, the bloc’s leaders have said, the more they will hamper Britain’s access to the European market. It would have huge domestic consequences. However, with representatives of the car industry, hospitals, agriculture, and directors already expressing alarm over the declaration that the UK will not follow EU rules. This would cause hold-ups in Dover and Calais and possibly lead to businesses quitting the country. Checks and controls could create massive gridlocks at the aforementioned ports of entry, which could lead to food and medicine shortages.
Without a doubt, the British New Year’s Eve (31 January) was a milestone, but a much more significant moment could be 1 January 2021, the UK’s first day outside the EU’s nest…with or without a deal.
The author of this article was Szebasztián Simic, an undergraduate student at the University of Szeged studying for an International Relations and a Political Sciences degree.
This article was originally published at timesinternational.net.


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Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS) Given New $41.00 Price Target at Bank of America Corporation
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS) had its price target hoisted by Bank of America Corporation from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning. They currently have a buy rating on the software maker’s stock.
CDNS has been the topic of several other reports. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Cadence Design Systems from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $36.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Cadence Design Systems in a report on Friday, July 7th. DA Davidson cut shares of Cadence Design Systems from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. Finally, BidaskClub cut shares of Cadence Design Systems from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Cadence Design Systems currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $33.67.
Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ CDNS) traded up 0.08% during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,183,510 shares. The firm has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.03 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $34.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.95. Cadence Design Systems has a 52 week low of $23.88 and a 52 week high of $37.51.
Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 24th. The software maker reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Cadence Design Systems had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 27.81%. The company had revenue of $479 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $476.21 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Cadence Design Systems will post $1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
In related news, insider Aneel Zaman sold 29,406 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.62, for a total transaction of $959,223.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 247,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,073,286.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Thomas P. Beckley sold 56,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $1,968,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 322,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,295,690. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 434,656 shares of company stock worth $14,786,334 in the last quarter. 2.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning raised its stake in Cadence Design Systems by 242.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,282 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in Cadence Design Systems by 0.5% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 6,370 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Quantitative Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Cadence Design Systems during the first quarter valued at about $205,000. Janney Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cadence Design Systems during the first quarter valued at about $225,000. Finally, Atria Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Cadence Design Systems during the second quarter valued at about $231,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.35% of the company’s stock.
Cadence Design Systems Company Profile
Cadence Design Systems, Inc provides solutions that enable its customers to design electronic products. The Company’s product categories include Functional Verification, Digital integrated circuits (IC) Design and Signoff, Custom IC Design and Verification, System Interconnect and Analysis, and intellectual property (IP).
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Industry Research : Poor Customer Service Hits Telcos
#contactcenterworld GO FOR GOLD AND REPRESENT YOUR NATION!
Almost one quarter of mobile subscribers are planning to change their provider in the next 12 months with poor customer care among the most common reasons for doing so according to a new report.
A global survey for Tektronix Communications, the telecoms intelligence business, polled 3,500 mobile subscribers across Australia, India, Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa, the UK and USA for the report, Who Cares, Wins – Customer Service Perceptions and Churn. This found that 24% of respondents intended to switch supplier in the coming year.
In addition, another quarter of respondents said they had changed their provider in the last 18 months, while another 42% said stating that they were at best undecided on changing providers.
Fully 30% of consumers cited poor quality customer care as the most important reason for changing their mobile service provider, with over half stating it as one of the key reasons for switching. Other factors included poor value for money (38%) and network quality (34%).
Lyn Cantor, president of Tektronix Communications noted that poor customer care was affecting KPIs and increasing the risk of churn. "The greatest threat to superior customer care and customer experience lies in the siloed organizational structures and fragmented intelligence that exists within most operator businesses," he said.
Speed of response was a particular issue for consumers, with 69% expecting to reach a customer care agent quickly and 64% placing an emphasis on how quickly their query was resolved.
It is an area being addressed by EE, the UK's 4G network. A report by regulator Ofcom at the end of 2013 found that EE was the most complained about mobile provider, as it focused on building its network ahead of customer satisfaction.
But it has said that "delivering great service" will be a priority for 2014 and, to that end, is bringing 1,000 call centre jobs back to the UK.
An EE spokesman told Marketing Week that having UK customer service agents speaking to UK customers delivered better productivity and results which should lead to an improvement in customer satisfaction levels.
Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
GO FOR GOLD AND REPRESENT YOUR NATION!
Today's Tip of the Day - Everyone Can Make A Difference
Published: Monday, January 6, 2014
Genesys® powers 25 billion of the world’s best customer experiences each year. Our success comes from connecting employee and customer conversations on any channel, every day. Over 10,000 companies in...
Zendesk is inspiring the help desk 2.0 movement through a focus on enlightened customer support. As the first organization in the industry to leverage SaaS and the benefits of web-based communication ...
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|Bright Pattern Inc|
Bright Pattern is an effective cloud contact center software which helps businesses to simplify multichannel service. Bright Pattern’s solution features enterprise-grade architecture that offers n...


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Despite all the hype about high levels of vehicle autonomy, drivers always need to keep their hands on the wheel. Audi had planned to be the first automaker to introduce so-called Level 3 autonomy, where you could take your eyes off the road and let the car drive. But the combination of legislative uncertainty and a patchwork approach to the technology led the German automaker to give up self-driving plans for the next A8 due next year.
When Audi launched its redesigned A8 sedan in 2017, the company said it would be the auto industry’s first Level 3 car. But a recent teardown of the A8, and an associated cost analysis, shows that its patchwork of four processors became a costly and unwieldy approach.
System Plus, which did the teardown, indicated that 60% of the cost for the A8’s Traffic Jam Pilot system was the cost of semiconductors.
Tesla, in 2019 invested in home-grown chips for its self-driving computer. EE Times reported, “This approach enables them to control their own destiny in terms of hardware and software development.” Yet, the publication said it’s not clear if automakers are better off incurring the high cost of chip designs.
Romain Fraux, chief executive at System Plus, pointed to the A8’s use of four different processors. The Nvidia Tegra K1 is used for traffic signal recognition, pedestrian detection, collision warning, light detection, and lane recognition. Intel/Mobileye’s EyeQ3 is responsible for image processing. Altera Cyclone and Infineon Aurix Tricore units perform other processing duties.
Audi said it wouldn’t have enough time to make its Level 3 system compliant in the refreshed A8 due next year. Hans Joachim Rothenpieler, Audi’s chief of technical development, told Automotive News:
We will not see the Traffic Jam Pilot on the road with its originally planned Level 3 functionality in the current model generation of the Audi A8 because our luxury sedan has already gone through a substantial part of its model life cycle.
Technology aside, the central challenge is the human-machine challenge of handing control back to an inattentive driver when the automated system can’t handle a specific roadway situation.
Meanwhile, BMW continues to pursue Level 3 or higher autonomy for the iNEXT due next year. In February, it released this video showing a driver applying makeup and not paying to the road. It makes passing controls back to the driver seem as simple as pressing a button:
Tesla also continues to pursue a robotaxi service while warning in an SEC filing that “a patchwork of complex or conflicting regulations” could delay or limit the system.
Volvo, a leader in vehicle safety, consider Level 3 to be unsafe. Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said the company will “skip this level of autonomous driving.”
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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American Dialogue: Marketing Strategy and Workshop
Hosted by the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo in collaboration with KIF Japan (Koyamada International Foundation), Douglas Montgomery, VP of Global Category Management at Warner Bros., was invited to provide a workshop in English before approximately 100 youth students about marketing strategy in global society as well as digital vs traditional marketing strategy at the American Center Japan in Tokyo.
Mr. Montgomery works as a strategic partner with Global Retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, Comcast, and others to enhance the sales of Entertainment products. Mr. Montgomery has been in the position for 10 years, previously working at Walmart and Newell Rubbermaid. He has an MBA – IBEAR – from the University of Southern California, and an Undergraduate degree Business from the University of Alberta. Together with his family, Mr. Montgomery has lived in the US, Canada, Japan and the UK, presently settled down in Torrance California.
US Embassy Tokyo official site: https://americancenterjapan.com/event/201601063618/


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Japanese beverage maker Otsuka is sending a 1 kilogram titanium can filled with powdered sports drink and children's dreams to the moon. The specially designed canister, which contains a shipment of Otsuka's Pocari Sweat powder, will mark a disturbing new frontier for humanity: the first commercial product delivered to another world for marketing purposes.
The canister will be carried to the lunar surface aboard the first planned private moon-landing mission, set to take place in October 2015. Otsuka says it hopes that the stunt will inspire young people to become astronauts, so they can travel the 380,000 kilometers (236,121 miles) to our closest celestial neighbor, crack open the can, and consume the powder inside.
The capsule will be conveyed to the moon by the Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon 9, designed to be a potentially reusable means of space travel by Elon Musk's SpaceX, has already made three successful supply runs to the International Space Station, but the planned mission in October 2015 would be the first time one of its rockets has successfully provided propulsion to the moon. After the Falcon 9 rocket has ignited its second-stage boosters and completed a four-and-a-half day journey to the moon, the Pocari Sweat-branded canister will be deposited on the surface by private company Astrobotic Technology's "Griffin" lander.
Otsuka hopes someone will eventually be able to drink the moon powder
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology has more important reasons to be up on the moon than to leave a beverage can on its face. The company is angling to win Google's Lunar X prize, a $20-million bounty for the first company to land a device on the moon that can both travel 500 meters on the surface and transmit high-definition pictures back to Earth. Astrobotic's deal with Otsuka will provide them with funds to achieve this goal — the company reportedly charges upwards of half a million dollars for lunar delivery — but the mission to drop a can is somewhat ironic: Astrobotic is a company that develops technologies for clearing space trash.
In addition to Pocari Sweat, the titanium capsule will contain the wishes of children from across Asia, obtained from letters sent to the company and etched onto silver disks. The company says that when the project succeeds, Pocari Sweat, with its ambiguous citrus taste, will become the first beverage to reach the surface of the moon. The American makers of another powdered beverage, orange-flavored breakfast drink Tang, may take issue with that claim. NASA chose Tang to fly with its astronauts on a number of missions, but it's unclear if the powder ever actually made its way onto the lunar surface during the Apollo missions.


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Thursday, March 29, 2018 9:56 am
Images from the fallen and buried of Gosa market.
Gosa, a popular market for the rich and the poor, located along Airport road, Abuja, was finally demolished on Saturday, 24th of March by the bulldozers of authorities of Federal Capital Territory, accompanied by scores of well-armed security operatives. Before its destruction, the market, which usually holds every Friday, was a popular shopping arena for hotels, aides of top government officials and those who buys in bulk for resale in retail because of the cheap price of commodities, especially foodstuff.
The market was relocated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, from Gosa pai pai, a distance of about 500 meters to the location where it was demolished last week. Authorities of FCDA claim that the market was demolished because it was too close to the Airport road, the six-lane expressway that led to the Abuja city from the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport and the Southern part of the country.
But sellers at the market who are mostly Gbagyi, the indigenous people of Abuja disagree. They showed their disapproval with a massive protest which resulted in gridlock at the Airport road for two days before they were driven off by soldiers. These images by Femi Ipaye depicted the agony and ruins of the market after the exit of FCDA bulldozers.


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Over Canada Day weekend, 250 workers at the Agropur dairy in Granby went on strike due to a disagreement over shift scheduling. Truckers who had transported raw milk to the plant, which usually makes cheese, suddenly had nowhere to put it. An estimated two million litres of milk had to be thrown away.
The plant normally processes about 10 per cent of the milk produced in Quebec. As the labour dispute grinds on, no further milk has gone to waste, according to Yannick Grégoire, deputy director of public affairs, communications and union affairs for Les Producteurs du Lait du Québec, the association which represents the province’s 12,000 milk producers. The excess milk has been sent to other processing plants in Quebec and Ontario, to food banks as pasteurized milk, and to animal feed producers. However, the dumping incident, the second in three years, has raised concerns about the way the milk supply chain functions.
“The situation is precarious and no one wants to see waste…but everything is always very tense,” said Grégoire. In the event of a labour dispute or an equipment or transportation failure, Gregoire said, “farmers can keep the milk for two days on the farm, but then it will expire. The system is very fragile.” If other plants are at capacity and there’s nowhere else for the milk to go, he said, waste becomes inevitable.
In the short term, Grégoire hopes the union representing the workers, the CSD-Construction, and Agropur can come to an agreement to allow the plant to process a minimal quantity of milk. In the long term, he said he thinks it may be necessary to use federal and provincial funding to build an “emergency plant” to compensate for disruptions at other plants.
Bernard Cournoyer is a union representative at the CSD- Construction, which represents the 250 striking workers. He called the dumping incident “shameful.”
“The employer stops the plant for six days at a time for scheduled maintenance, and they redirect the milk – they don’t throw it away,” he said. “This time, they got stuck at the last minute because they didn’t take us seriously.”
Cournoyer said that getting the plant back online in the short term would necessarily involve Agropur walking back plans to change workers’ schedules, plans he said would “ruin [the employees’] family lives” by imposing 12-hour shifts and start times that could change from one day to the next. “As soon as they walk back the scheduling changes, we’ll vote right away [on a new collective agreement] and go back to making cheese,” he said.
As for a long-term solution to prevent waste, Cournoyer said he believed the idea of a backup plant was too costly, and did not incentivize Agropur to “improve their working relationship” with unionized staff. He floated the idea of a strategic stockpile along the lines of the federal maple syrup reserve. “When there’s a surplus of syrup, they don’t throw it on the ground,” he said.
Mylène Dupéré, vice president of corporate communications for Agropur, said scaling up the capacity of existing plants was part of the company’s plan to prevent waste. She would not comment on the ongoing negotiations with the union.
In the days after the dumping incident, nearly 50,000 litres of milk that would otherwise have been made into cheese at the Granby plant were sent to Les Banques alimentaires du Québec, the provincewide food bank network. “Demand for milk is higher than ever, and we definitely have the capacity [to store and distribute] the milk,” said Martin Munger, director general of the food bank network. Munger said demand for food aid was more than double what it was in 2019, in light of inflation and the ripple effects of the pandemic.
“Nobody likes food waste in a context of food insecurity…but food systems are complex and sometimes there are bugs,” he conceded.
Milk production is an area of provincial jurisdiction. Quebec’s ministry of agriculture did not respond to a request for comment on the strike and associated supply chain issues at press time. A spokesperson for federal agriculture and agri-food minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the situation was being “closely monitored” by the federal government.


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After five years of existence, Facebook is bigger than ever.
But as it continues to grow like the insatiable “blob,” users are finding less and less efficiency with their social engagement.
As the user count reaches the 1 billion person mark, it is clear that usability is not the issue. Reach is not the page’s weak spot either. In fact, Socialbakers estimates that users can reach and “like” an estimated 1.5 billion Facebook pages.
However, Facebook apps and pages currently have the ability to access their users and “likers” accounts as portals to infiltrate their friends’ news feeds. Therefore, individual users on the receiving end are left with news feed clutter and unwanted information.
Understandably, readers will probably not absorb the information in these untidy news feeds. Thus, companies are battling with the current issue of improving the proficiency of their advertising statements.
The new smartphone app called Wallit is one innovative example of an alternate media that is able to advertise free of clutter—at least for the time being. Wallit allows users to write on the “walls” of places where that user is currently located. They can chat with other users at that location, which may be helpful at, say, a Braves game while teasing an opposing fan across the stadium!
You are allowed to read the wall of any place you choose, but to write on the wall you must be at that location. This would be helpful for business owners and employees to advertise sales or specials at a restaurant, for example.
Facebook may satisfy the basic social networking needs of high schoolers, collegians, and now people of all ages.
However, with its infinite sharing capabilities being its very curse, alternative groundbreaking portals are becoming more desirable.
Know of any other interactive social media ideas that increase user engagement? Share them below!


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At £38bn, the UK’s ethical goods market is now worth twice that of tobacco, new research suggests
From electric cars to sustainably sourced fish, 2015 saw an average 8.5 per cent increase in sales of ethical goods, according to a new report.
The 2016 Ethical Consumer markets report, compiled by ethical rating body Ethical Consumer in partnership with Triodos Bank, shows that investment in the UK’s ethical goods and services sector entered its thirteenth year of growth in 2015 and, at £38bn, is now estimated to be worth almost double the UK tobacco market.
“This report shows that people are increasingly choosing to spend their money in ways that line up with their values,” says Huw Davies, head of retail banking at Triodos Bank.
“The growth of ethical and sustainable markets is an important reminder of the relevance of our financial decisions; where we spend, save and invest. Our money really can work for positive social, environmental and cultural change.”
Our money really can work for positive social, environmental and cultural change
The report, released on 28 December, pinpointed three major trends: the ‘green car revolution’ has continued to boom and is now worth £8.4bn due in part to improvements to electric charging infrastructure; and shopping locally for ethical reasons grew by 11.7 per cent in 2015. It also revealed that an estimated 53 per cent of people in the UK are choosing to avoid buying products or services over concerns about companies’ ethics.
Rob Harrison, editor of Ethical Consumer magazine, believes these trends can be explained in part by an increased range of ethical products from which people can now choose.
“More companies, from small entrepreneurs to large multinationals, are bringing more ethical choices than ever before to modern consumer markets,” Harrison says. “The increasing availability of positive alternative products in many markets means that consumers are finding it easier to make more ethical choices.”
The survey, which calculates the value of UK sales from a range of ethical products and services, has been published each year since 1999.
Harrison said the findings provided “encouraging news for many people in these otherwise troubled political times”.
Photo: Julian Fong
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Entries in 'Ginx TV' (4)
GameSpot has announced that Lucy James has joined the site as a video producer.
Gaming social network GamesGrabr is offering a new service designed to help sell video games.
This week's issue of MCV is a bumper edition, featuring interviews with Ginx TV, Bethesda and the men behind E3 1995.
Ginx TV has launched in the UK.


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Global consumer confidence increases 1 point in Q4 2011
NEW YORK, US: Global consumer confidence increased one index point last quarter to 89, while Europe led confidence declines in 24 of the region's 27 measured markets, according to fourth quarter 2011 global consumer confidence findings from Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy.
In the latest round of the survey, conducted between November 23 and December 9, 2011, overall confidence levels fell in 60% of global markets measured with confidence declines in 35 out of 56 markets. Confidence rose in 12 markets and remained flat in nine.
"While Europe's challenging economic conditions in the second half of 2011 bought renewed vulnerability and fragility to consumers and financial markets globally, some of the most positive news last quarter came from the world's two largest economies - the US and China - where confidence rebounded to Q1 2011 levels," said Dr. Venkatesh Bala, chief economist at The Cambridge Group, a part of Nielsen. "Buoyant domestic consumption also maintained confidence levels in the large emerging economies of India, Indonesia and Brazil. However, slowing GDP growth within emerging economies and inflationary pressures would suggest some degree of caution for the year ahead."
The US consumer confidence index rose 6 points from 77 to 83 and China gained 4 points to 108, making it the 6th most optimistic country globally, up from 8th place in the previous quarter. Confidence in Germany, the world's fourth largest economy, remained flat at 87 index points with a 4 point year-on-year increase.
Tracking consumer, confidence, concerns
The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions, established in 2005, tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions among more than 28 000 Internet consumers in 56 countries. Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism.
More than half (52%) of global online consumers described their personal finances for 2012 as excellent/good, up from 50% in Q3 2011, but 65% indicated it is not a good time to buy, up 1% from the previous quarter.
"Overall, consumer discretionary spending will remain restrained and cautious in the first half of 2012," said Dr. Bala.
"Despite consumers becoming more confident about their personal finances for the year ahead, there is still a reluctance to spend, especially in the West; rising tensions in the Middle East and their impact on gasoline prices could further compound global consumer concerns and spending plans," he added.
Consumer concern for the economy increased as a top fear among 18% of global respondents - an increase of 6 points from last quarter, which resulted in nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers around the world indicating they believe they are in a recession, up from 62% last quarter. A growing number of online respondents in Asia Pacific (53%), Europe (74%), Middle East/Africa (74%) and Latin America (47%) indicated they believe they are in a recession. And while 86% of North Americans feel they are in a recession, it was the only region to report an improvement from 88% in third quarter.
Boosted largely by an improved outlook in personal finances for the year ahead, North America posted the biggest regional quarterly gain among global regions (+5 points) to 84, while Asia Pacific (99) and Latin American (98) were the world's most confident regions with quarterly increases of 2 and 1 point(s), respectively. Confidence fell by 1 point in the Middle East/Africa (95), and Europe recorded its lowest regional confidence reading since Q1 2009 at 71 points, a quarterly decline of 3 points.
India remained the world's most optimistic market for the 8th consecutive quarter with a 1 point consumer confidence index increase to 122, followed by Indonesia and the Philippines at 117. Hungary was the world's most pessimistic market at 30 index points, followed by Portugal (36) and Greece (41), where quarterly confidence levels fell 7, four and 10 points, respectively. European markets accounted for nine of the 10 most depressed markets last quarter.
"The stabilisation of India's consumer confidence metric is encouraging and the retention of the top spot globally reminds us of the inherent strength of the Indian economy, the savings mindset of the Indian consumer, and the positivity of consumer sentiment which has likely been helped by the recent cooling of inflationary pressure," said Justin Sargent, managing director, Nielsen India.
"In Hungary, a perfect storm of factors is contributing to low and declining consumer confidence," said Judit SzalokyToth, managing director, Nielsen Hungary. "Rising taxes and unpredictable government regulations coupled with declining disposable income has fuelled insecurity and pessimism among consumers."
The biggest quarterly confidence gains last quarter came from Romania (+10), the United States and Australia (+6), Venezuela, Philippines and Columbia (+5) and China (+4), while the steepest quarterly declines came from Taiwan (-16), Czech Republic (-12), Greece (-10) and Belgium (-9).
Growing concerns in Europe
"Consumer confidence fell in 24 out of 27 European markets measured by Nielsen last quarter as the impact of the region's debt crisis, currency woes and Italy's political and economic uncertainty sent shockwaves throughout the region and into international financial markets," said Dr. Bala. "With the Eurozone already slipping into recession and the introduction of new or further austerity measures due to take effect in major European economies at the start of this year, the region's outlook for job prospects and personal finances remains fragile and vulnerable for the year ahead," added Dr. Bala.
In Q4 2011, less than one in four (23%) Europeans rated job prospects as good/excellent, down from 26% in Q3, and 28% from a year ago. And while job prospects are looking more upbeat among Germans, where more than half (52%) rated employment opportunities as good/excellent (up 11% year-on-year), job prospects continue to be bleak for recession-hit Southern European markets of Italy, Greece and Spain.
"Germany's economic situation is stable on a relatively high level," said Ivar Michaelsen, group managing director, Nielsen Germany. "German consumers feel concerned regarding the economic situation in general because of the ongoing Euro crisis, but they do not expect direct effects on their personal situation for the moment. As a consequence, German consumers are at this stage relatively confident about their personal perspectives with regard to their jobs, personal finances and buying intentions for the year ahead."
In Spain, a favourable outlook for job prospects fell to 10% in Q4 - down from 25% the prior year. In Italy, good/excellent employment sentiment fell 10 points year-on-year to 8% last quarter. And in Greece, a positive job outlook declined to 4% from 11% last year.
Consumer confidence rises in US and China
Americans saw an improvement in their personal finances for the year ahead with nearly half (49%) saying their personal financial prospects looked good/excellent, up from 43% compared to the previous quarter, which spurred a 6-point consumer confidence index jump to 83 in Q4.
"While there are headwinds impacting the consumer such as weak housing, elevated commodity prices and uneven growth, recent gains in the US labour market are positively impacting sentiment, although we are still well below pre-recession highs," said James Russo, VP Global Consumer Insights. "Elevated levels of long-term unemployment along with a stubbornly high percentage of consumers reporting they have no spare cash (32%), raises a caution flag for 2012 spending. Additionally, over the past year consumers have been drawing down savings to spend in the absence of real income and wage growth, a situation which will have to change in order for them to boost or even sustain their spending."
"In China, the easing of food inflation over the past five months has significantly driven food prices down and adjustments to macro-economic policies have re-energised growth, particularly through more loans, which partly resulted in the 4-point confidence climb to an index of 108," said Yan Xuan, president, Nielsen Greater China. "Continued government and non-government investment in developing the country's western and northeastern regions plus less dependence on manufacturing export in these regions is also fuelling optimism among Chinese consumers."
Mixed results in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East
Asia Pacific continues as the most optimistic region, boasting 7 of the top 10 highest index scores. Confidence rose in nearly half (6 of 14) of the Asia Pacific markets in the Nielsen survey, fell in 5 and remained flat in 3 - Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. Taiwan's decline of 16 points to an index of 71, the lowest point in 24 months and approaching levels following the 2008 global financial crisis, was most notable.
"The sharp drop in Taiwanese consumer confidence is mainly driven by a strong decline in job prospects and a rise in concern for the current economic environment," said Emilie Darolles, managing director, Nielsen Taiwan. "In the short term, we expect consumers' willingness to spend to slow down and the propensity to save to increase. The upcoming Chinese New Year Festival will likely help boost some of the domestic consumption in Q1, but Taiwanese consumers will continue to be conservative in 2012."
In Latin America, Brazil recorded the highest consumer confidence in the region with an index of 112 - the 5th highest score of 56 countries measured. Confidence rose 5 points in Colombia and Venezuela, fell in Peru (-4), Mexico (-2), and Argentina (-1) and remained flat in Chile. Latin Americans are the most confident in regards to personal finances in 2012 with 66% describing their outlook as good/excellent for the coming year.
"Brazil continues to experience gradual economic growth with a dip in unemployment, inflation control, an expansion of credit and political stability," said Eduardo Ragasol, managing director, Nielsen Brazil. "More Brazilians today have the opportunity to buy products that were previously only accessible to the higher social classes, which is contributing to the optimism in the country."
"Positive economic results are driving Colombia's increased consumer confidence," said Felipe Urdaneta, country manager, Nielsen Colombia. "Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is up 7.7% in third quarter - the highest in last five years, unemployment is going down for the third consecutive month and Nielsen fast-moving consumer goods unit sales increased 5% last quarter."
In the six Middle East/African markets covered by the Nielsen survey, confidence rose in Pakistan (+3), fell in Saudi Arabia (-7), Egypt (-5), Israel (-1), and remained flat in United Arab Emirates and South Africa. The top concern for 1 in 5 consumers in the Middle East/Africa is job security - 5 points higher than the global average. Worries over political stability and the economy are 2 other top concerns among 12% of respondents each.
"Political turmoil in the Middle East and doubts towards future oil demand, which is indispensable for the Saudi economy, and subsequent austerity measures has led to depressed consumer sentiments in Saudi Arabia," said Arslan Ashraf, managing director, Nielsen Saudi Arabia. "However, through hefty stimulus packages, the Saudi government is making efforts to insulate the economy from these global and regional developments."
"Egypt's turbulent political year in 2011, led to rising food prices and a slide in foreign reserves as tourism and export businesses suffered from the dramatic current events," said Ram Mohan Rao, managing Director, Nielsen Egypt. "Hopes and fears among Egyptians will prevail in 2012 as elections for a new civilian president will be in June 2012."
About the Nielsen Global Survey
The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions was conducted between November 23 and December 9, 2011 and polled more than 28 000 online consumers in 56 countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America. The sample has quotas based on age and sex for each country based on their Internet users, and is weighted to be representative of Internet consumers and has a maximum margin of error of ±0.6%. This Nielsen survey is based on the behaviour of respondents with online access only. Internet penetration rates vary by country. Nielsen uses a minimum reporting standard of 60% Internet penetration or 10M online population for survey inclusion. The Nielsen Global Survey was established in 2005.


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Q1 of 2018 is rapidly coming to an end and we have seen the release of numerous Apollo Lake Chromebooks geared toward the education market and there are even more coming down the pipeline.
On top of that, Chromeboxes have made a comeback worthy of an ESPN highlight reel.
Exciting stuff, indeed.
As encouraging as it is to see the continued expansion of low and mid-level devices, we’re growing increasingly anxious to see tablets, detachables and more flagship Chromebooks come to market.
New form-factors will be arriving some time this year but I wouldn’t hold my breath anticipating their arrival before the end of summer, if not later. That doesn’t mean we won’t see new high-end convertibles sooner than later.
Kaby Lake devices are growing in numbers and thanks to the poster child Pixelbook, manufacturers now have a bar to aim for if they are looking to enter that space.
One such device appears to be taking its cues directly from Google’s flagship Chromebook.
The latest Kaby Lake Chromebook to turn up in the repository is barely a week old but what little we do know reveals that its code is being cloned directly from ‘Eve’ a.k.a. the Pixelbook.
WIP: atlas: add board support, posing as an eve
this takes the atlas EC code and drops it on top of
the eve code so we can boot up atlas with an eve build.
Apart from being a duplicate of the Pixelbook, little else can be divined about this device at the moment which leads me to question, who’s making ‘Atlas’?
At this point, it’s anyone’s guess who the OEM behind this new Chromebook could be. We have yet to discover any of the tell-tale signs that point to any one manufacturer. Honestly, I wouldn’t be too surprised if it is HP. They’re long overdue for a high-end device and despite the lack-luster reception of the HP Chromebook 13 G1, it is a beautiful machine that delivers performance that can rival any model released around the same time.
Love them or hate them, HP makes beautiful hardware and seeing a new Chromebook along the lines of the HP Spectre gets my blood flowing. Likely, this new device won’t trump the Pixelbook in the area of functionality but a little competition in the market is a good thing.
I’m looking forward to digging up some more details on ‘Atlas’ and hopefully we’ll see some new flagships in the very near future.
Source: Chromium Repository


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Andrew Feinblatt of OnSite Retail Group, LLC recently represented General Nutrition Corporation, better known to most as GNC, in a recent relocation of GNC’s store in West Chester, OH on the north side of Cincinnati. The new 1,530 square foot store at 7688 VOA Centre Drive in the Voice of America Centre opened in the first full week of January. The store moved from its previous location on Tylersville Road in the Kroger-anchored shopping center.
GNC currently operates 26 stores in the Greater Cincinnati area. GNC Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, is a leading global specialty retailer of health and wellness products – including vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplement products, sports nutrition products and diet products – and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “GNC.” As of September 30, 2014, GNC has more than 8,800 locations, of which more than 6,500 retail locations are in the United States.


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Vogue India’s August issue presented a 16-page vision of supple handbags, bejeweled clutches and status-symbol umbrellas, modeled not by runway stars or the wealthiest fraction of Indian society who can actually afford these accessories, but by average Indian people.
Vogue India editor Priya Tanna’s message to critics of the August shoot: “Lighten up,” she said in a telephone interview. Vogue is about realizing the “power of fashion” she said, and the shoot was saying that “fashion is no longer a rich man’s privilege. Anyone can carry it off and make it look beautiful,” she said.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Labels: crimes of fashion


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It’s been a long wait for Angela Ahrendts to finally join Apple, but as the new VP of Retail just took office last week, Apple decided to make her move from fashion to tech much sweeter by granting her stock options worth a whopping $68 million.
All items tagged with "stock"
Google stock has risen 13% today, surpassing $1,000 for the first time ever. It comes a day after the search giant announced its earnings for last quarter, which beat Wall Street expectations thanks to a surge in mobile and video advertising that helped increase quarterly revenue by 23%.
Carl Icahn finally got his dinner date wish with Tim Cook last night, after the famous billionaire investor took to Twitter a few weeks ago to preach how Wall Street has seriously undervalued AAPL stock. Along with parading his optimism for Apple’s stock, Icahn purchased a major stake in AAPL stock and has been dying for Cupertino to issue more buybacks.
Apple may not be snapping up big companies all over the place like Yahoo!, but it is buying lots of shares in one major corporation — itself. Last quarter, the Cupertino company spent $16 billion on 36 million of its own shares, which cost, on average, just over $444 apiece.
Apple finally allows us to put the Newsstand icon in a folder in iOS 7, but wouldn’t it be great if we could completely hide all the built-in apps we don’t use? Thanks to a glitch in the latest iOS 7 beta, you can. After following a few simple steps, you can remove stock icons from your home screen so that they’re nowhere to be seen.
Despite increasing competition from the likes of Samsung and Google, Apple continues to be the world’s most valuable brand, according to the latest annual BrandZ report from Millward Brown.
The Cupertino company was one of three technology firms in the top five, with Google and IBM placed in second and third respectively.
Despite having a mountain of cash overseas, Apple has decided it’d be cheaper for the company to go into debt for its stock buyback program, rather than bring the money back to the U.S. to be taxed.
After taking the initial steps yesterday toward offering bonds to investors, Apple opened up its order book today and plans to sell $17 billion worth of bonds. The six-part all dollar offering has already attracted more than $50 billion of orders within the first few hours, in what has become the largest non-bank bond deal in history.
According to a report from Reuters, Apple is offering $17 billion worth of bonds in the following six bond types to investors:
Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has revealed that he recently spent $100 million on Apple shares in anticipation that they will rebound. The 59-year-old believes that Apple is a “very promising” investment, despite the current share price being almost 40% off its peak last September.
Last week, Apple announced its plans to return $100 billion in stock to investors over the next few years. The increase more than doubled Apple’s original capital return program of $45 billion. Quarterly dividend payments also increased 15%, or $3.05 per common share.
Apple may have a huge cash pile, but even the world’s most valuable company will have to go into debt to finance a return program of this size. It’s the first time Apple has borrowed since 1996.
Apple just released its Q2 2013 Financial results, and even though Apple beat its own estimates, Tim Cook started the Quarterly Financial Call on the defensive.
Cook started the call by explaining how exceptional Apple’s 2012 financial results were for Apple, so it’s hard for the company to improve sales this quarter. Then Cook commented on Apple’s struggling stock price by saying he’s “very frustrated” with the stock’s declining value the last few quarters, but they’re staying focused on the future.
Hoping to appease investors, Apple announced today that it will payback $100 billion to investors by 2015. Apple has yet to release a major product in 2013, but Cook reassured investors that Apple can’t wait to release new hardware and software this Fall and throughout 2014.


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Music streaming platform Spotify has announced its integration with French photo-sharing app BeReal, which will allow users to share music and podcasts in their BeReal posts.
“We are proud of this integration within the BeReal platform. We’re constantly looking for new ways to bring Spotify to more people, and help fans, artists and communities connect through audio around the world,” Spotify said in a blogpost.
BeReal and Spotify users on Android and iOS in select markets (including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and the US) can access this experience as it is rolling out – with more markets to follow.
To get started, users can connect their Spotify and BeReal accounts by tapping the music icon that appears before BeReal posts, or they can navigate to their Settings in the BeReal app and tap “Music” and follow the prompts to connect to the Spotify app.
When customers capture BeReal after connecting their accounts, the app will automatically bring up the song or podcast they’re listening to on Spotify.
At the bottom of their camera lens, users will see the cover art of the audio they are listening to.
If their post includes audio, they’ll be able to hear a preview of what their friends posted.
The post Spotify Says Users Can Now Share Music, Podcasts on BeReal appeared first on Techlusive.


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They say you can tell next season's hottest trend by looking at the colour of China and Mexico's rivers. That's because global fashion brands like Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Victoria's Secret are using hazardous chemicals and dyes to make our clothes. These chemicals poison our rivers, and traces of these same chemicals also end up remaining in many of the garments people buy.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Around the world, hundreds of thousands of people are calling on brands to make fashion without pollution. Just this week, the world's largest retailer ZARA committed to clean-up their supply chain after over 300,000 people joined the campaign calling on the brand to Detox. True People Power in action.
Join fashion-lovers, activists, models and designers in exposing fashion's toxic addiction and demanding fashion that doesn't cost the earth.


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Today Apple announced its earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2014. The company posted a revenue of $57.6 billion and a net quarterly profit of $13.1 billion.
Gross margin was 37.9 percent compared to 38.6 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 63 percent of revenue. Analysts had estimated Apple would ship around 55 million iPhones in the holiday quarter, but they came up short at 51 million.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook said:
“We are really happy with our record iPhone and iPad sales, the strong performance of our Mac products and the continued growth of iTunes, Software and Services. We love having the most satisfied, loyal and engaged customers, and are continuing to invest heavily in our future to make their experiences with our products and services even better.”
iPhone sales are up from 47.8 million year-over-year and the company announced it has sold 472.3 million smartphones in total.


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iBeta recently attended The Mobile Dev + Test Conference in San Diego, CA. The Expo covered a wide variety of topics around mobile including development, performance, design, smart technology, mobile testing, user experience, and security for iOS and Android. The applications that run on our smart devices will continue to play a crucial part in our everyday lives.
We had a chance to hear from industry experts about where the future of smart and mobile technology is headed. There was also technical presentations and demonstrations conducted throughout the Expo floor. Our team learned a lot about the future of our business.


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SME Times News Bureau | 12 Jul, 2018
The Madhya Pradesh Leg of Startup
India Yatra will begin on July 16, said an officia release on
Startup India Yatra van will travel to 10 cities of Madhya Pradesh,
starting from the capital Bhopal, to spread awareness about Startup
India and Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy.
to Madhya Pradesh, the Yatra had travelled to the States of
Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Uttarakhand.
the programme, a vehicle, with experts on board, will provide an
opportunity for entrepreneurial talents to pitch an idea and get
incubated, scaling it from idea to enterprise.
van is expected to travel to nearly 25 colleges, and one-day boot
camps will be conducted in all the destinations.
will cover 10 districts and 15 institutions over a span of 30 days.
India Yatra aims to scout grass root level entrepreneurs in the
smaller towns of India, providing a platform for budding
entrepreneurs to realize their Startup dream.
India Yatra’s technology partner, Shrofile, a video-based
personality evaluation platform headquartered in Gurugram, will
record ideas of entrepreneurs from Madhya Pradesh via the Startup
India mobile van.
will record their ideas on the Startup India App screens, which will
be shared with the Startup India team for evaluation and selection.


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The company says the new Acer Chromebook 15 is the "industry's first Chromebook with a 15.6-inch display."
The Acer Chromebook 15 range (CB5-571) will be available in variants offering either a 16GB or 32GB SSD drive and either 2GB or 4GB or RAM. The company notes that the "exact specifications, prices and availability will vary by region". The Chromebook 15 will be available at a starting price of $249.99 (Rs. 15,810 approximately) in the US.
The company adds that the new Chromebook 15 featuring a 15.6-inch display offers "27 percent larger than 13.3-inch Chromebooks available in the market."
The new Acer Chromebook 15 will be available in two display versions - one offering a full-HD (1920x1080 pixels) screen resolution and another offering a HD (1366x768 pixels) resolution.
"Both options are Acer ComfyView displays, so they have anti-glare properties to minimise the amount of reflecting light for less eye strain," notes the company in a statement. The Acer Chromebook 15 packs two upward facing speakers and also sports a HD webcam.
The Chromebook 15 will be available in two processor variants - fifth generation Intel Core i3 or next generation Intel Celeron processor. Notably, the company claims that the Chromebook 15 can handle bumps and drops. It notes, "The case can withstand up to 60kg of force, while the corners can tolerate up to 45cm drops without damage. Also, the new Chromebook can endure more twisting and stress on the case and hinges." The Acer Chromebook 15 is also said to sport the largest touchpad of any Chromebook today.
The Chromebook 15 weighs around 2.2 kilograms and measures 393mm (width), 256mm (diameter), and 24.2mm (height).
On the connectivity front, the laptop includes MIMO 2x2Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0 port, USB 2.0 port and HDMI port alongside a SD card reader. Much like other Chromebooks, it also features a suite of Google apps and services.
Additionally, Acer expanded its Chromebook 13 range that is powered by an Nvidia Tegra K1 SoC. The company has introduced new touchscreen models of the Chromebook 13. It will be available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) starting January at EUR 329 (Rs. 24,938 approximately).


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Update on July 25 at 4:00pm: A representative from The Jim Henson Company told The Huffington Post that the company no longer has any affiliation with "The Muppets," as they were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2004, but does maintain ownership of the "Fraggle Rock" franchise. The "Sesame Street" characters are owned by Sesame Workshop.
Last Friday, the company behind beloved shows such as "Fraggle Rock," "Labyrinth," and "The Muppets," severed ties with Chick-Fil-A due to the fast food chain's CEO's opposition to same sex marriage.
According to "Muppets" fan site ToughPigs.com, The Jim Henson Company had partnered with Chick-Fil-A to feature Jim Henson's Creature Shop toys -- "essentially a plastic tube with cut-out features for customizing your own puppet" -- in their kid's meals from mid-July until August 18th.
However, on Friday, the Jim Henson Company posted the following statement to their Facebook page:
The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over fifty years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors. Lisa Henson, our CEO is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD. (http://www.glaad.org/)
With this, The Jim Henson Company joins the ranks of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who has vowed to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city, office star Ed Helms who tweeted that the chain had "lost a loyal fan," and the countless individuals who have taken to social media to voice disapproval, including those planning a National Same Sex Kiss Day on August 3, in condemning the Chick-Fil-A's CEO's opposition to same sex marriage.
Let us know what you think of the growing opposition to Chick-Fil-A, and check out the slideshow below to see companies and products that, unlike the fast food chain, have been supportive of gay rights.


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When the financial crisis hit August 17, many depositors lost their savings after some Russian banks ceased operations and froze deposits.
Although Russian consumers are generally wary of the banking system and prefer to keep their savings at home, Alfa Bank Press Secretary Andrei Nasonovsky is upbeat on the campaign's prospects. Alfa Bank has experienced and survived the crisis, he says. "We are hoping ... that the opinion of the bank as a place where you can keep your savings will be strengthened."
"In the time after [and during] the crisis, when other banks stopped their work, many corporate and private clients came to us," Mr. Nasonovsky says. More than 3,000 consumer and corporate accounts have opened since August.
A 30-second spot advertising the Moscow based bank began appearing on NTV television at the beginning of November. The Alfa Bank clip will also air on central television stations ORT and RTR toward the end of November.
Alfa Bank is also using print for its ad campaign, including a fullpage, English language ad that appeared in the November 10 issue of The Moscow Times. The ad is aimed at financial directors and promotes such services as payroll and highlights the fact that a number of Western companies are clients.
Alfa Bank's ad campaign will run to the end of the year and will be followed with a new campaign in early 1999.
Copyright November 1998, Crain Communications Inc.


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Microsoft has poached Ask CEO Steve Berkowitz from InterActiveCorp (IAC) to head up its online business group, which encompasses Live Platforms, Windows Live and MSN. Berkowitz takes over for David Cole, who in February announced he was taking a sabbatical.
“The opportunity to work in the online space for a company like Microsoft, with its vision, capabilities and global reach, is truly exciting,” Berkowitz said in a statement.
Ask elevated Jim Lanzone, who had been senior vice president and general manager of Ask U.S., to take Berkowitz’ place.
The Berkowitz appointment comes at a time when Microsoft is retooling its online operations to take advantage of the search and display advertising boom. The Online Business Group itself is a recent invention, having been established just last month in a reorganization. That shakeup, which saw Yusuf Mehdi promoted to chief advertising strategist, followed the promotion of Joanne Bradford to oversee global ad sales and trade marketing.
On the product side, Microsoft has been developing the Windows Live portal, an initiative at the center of a plan to make more of its products ad-supported. The company has also been working on its adCenter ad management and tracking platform, currently in beta in the U.S. AdCenter will eventually serve ads across those ad-supported properties.
Despite the fact that it faces growing competition from Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, Google-owned YouTube is still one of the most popular ... read more
Amazon prides itself on being the most “customer-centric” company in the world, but according to investigative journalism non-profit ProPublica, Amazon’s algorithms are often anything but ... read more