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Banking & Financial Services
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Jio new plans News
Jio new plans
Reliance Jio adds more subscribers in May than Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone combine
Mon, Jul 17, 2017
Mukesh Ambani backed Reliance Jio had garnered more subscribers in the month of May than its competition Airtel, BSNL and Vodafone combined.
Reliance Jio reworks its 4G data plans
Wed, Apr 26, 2017
Reliance Jio on Tuesday revealed new plans for its prepaid and postpaid subscriber base on its website.
Reliance Jio new plans explained Dhan Dhana Dhan
Wed, Apr 12, 2017
Reliance Jio on Tuesday announced the Dhan Dhana Dhan offer, introducing Rs 309 and Rs 509 plans. This piece is an explainer of the earlier plans of Jio and a comparison with the new one.


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Competitive internet deals at Nationwide
Nationwide has launched an internet-based account to run alongside its eSavings account, which has paid a consistently competitive rate.
Fair deal: the building society has been consistent on savings rates
The account pays 3% (3.75%) on £1 or more, but restricts you to a maximum of three withdrawals a year.
The rate, in line with all variable savings rates at Nationwide, is under review, so it could fall by 1% before tax. Fixed-rate deals continue to fall and Halifax pays just 2.8% (3.5%) fixed for a year on its internet-based Web Saver.
Building societies Cheshire, minimum £500, and Manchester, minimum £1,000, pay a more attractive 3.6% (4.5%) fixed for a year. Northern Rock pays 3.6% (4.5%) fixed for five years. Chelsea's top-paying bond was open for just a week. It pays 3.52% (4.4%) fixed for a year to new savers.
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FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The National Garlic Festival will be coming to the Fresno Fairgrounds in just a few months.
It will take place from May 13 through May 15.
Organizers call it a celebration of Fresno County's greatness.
You'll be able to find garlic-inspired foods and cooking demonstrations from Food Network celebrity chefs, vendors and several beer and wine gardens with entertainment.
The event is inspired by the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Organizers are looking forward to the boost it will bring to the community.
"Not only for our locals, that's going to increase the economic impact to this area with residents, but anyone that's coming out into the area it's a great way for us to shine a light on this area," said Lisa Oliveira with the Fresno/Clovis Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The 2020 crop report shows Fresno County produced 77% of the nation's garlic crop.
Garlic is the number seven crop in the county.


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Now that both Google and Amazon have released their fourth quarter results for 2017, it is becoming abundantly clear that investors favor Amazon's growth over Google's massive profitability. In fact, according to recent reports, Alphabet, Inc. – Google's parent company – saw shares a drop by 5-percent following the report's release compared to Amazon's gain of 3-percent. Google's dropping percentage effectively cancels out gains for the full year. That doesn't necessarily come down to profitability, either. Google saw its operating profits shoot up to $26.1 billion last year. Instead, it appears to come down to growth. While the search giant's advertising revenues saw a jump of 20-percent for the year, it's traffic acquisitions cost outpaced that by 9-percent. Meanwhile, Amazon's annual revenue growth also outpaces Alphabet's by around seven percent – falling in at 28-percent as compared to 21-percent, respectively. As shown in the chart below, Amazon's growth has outperformed Google's for the past seven years.
It's not all bad news for Google, however, as it remains the leader in terms of advertising revenues and holds onto its enormous lead in some markets – owing to its increasingly popular Android OS and holding 31-percent of the smart home assistant market. In combination with its widely used cloud platform, Google actually stands to come out far ahead of Amazon – whose own profits come nowhere near to what the search giant pulls in. Moreover, according to Alphabet's chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, the company fully expects growth of its acquisitions costs to begin to be addressed toward the earlier parts of this year. It those costs can be brought under control, generating a larger growth margin, there's no reason Google can't come out on top with investors since its profits in a single year actually outperform Amazon's lifetime revenues.
With that said, there's no guarantee that Google can catch up to Amazon's Alexa platform either – which is arguably a key area where Google is struggling to catch up. While Google's own digital Assistant platform is arguably a more natural experience to use, Alexa has a far greater integration with smart home products. Given that this is the year when smart home appears ready to really explode in the consumer market, Google is going to need to spend a great deal more to really catch up on that front. At the same time, Amazon's platform has been rapidly improving as well. So that's one area where the latter company has a definitive upper hand and it may not be possible for Google to simultaneously gain market share and improve its figures, at least for now.


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ASTON Martin Lagonda Global Holdings is negotiating with bankers to address a looming debt pile, according to executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, with the company’s near-term liabilities amounting to roughly US$1.4 billion.
The loss-making British luxury carmaker is seeking to refinance at a tumultuous time in debt markets following the surge in interest rates and uncertainty around rate cuts. Talks are set to focus on a US$1.1 billion bond that’s maturing in November next year, with a 10.5 per cent coupon that puts the company on the hook for payments of US$120 million annually.
“We are currently studying with our bankers the most appropriate actions of how to deal with it,” Stroll said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Obviously it will be addressed in the most appropriate manner possible and in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.”
The company has a revolving credit facility of £79 million (S$134 million) that’s due next year and a US$121 million note to be repaid in 2026, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.
The Canadian billionaire in 2020 rescued the manufacturer, whose sports cars have featured in the James Bond movie franchise. The turnaround of the business has seen Aston Martin repeatedly raise money and bring in new shareholders such as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and electric vehicle maker Lucid Group.
The company warned in November that it expects to ship fewer vehicles than previously forecast for the full year, after supply-chain issues hampered the rollout of its new DB12 sports car. It is set to report full-year earnings on Feb 28.
Asked about analyst comments that Aston Martin could be vulnerable to a takeover bid from its new holders, Stroll said the company was “not in any M&A territory”.
The textiles tycoon, who made his money investing in fashion labels including Pierre Cardin, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, said he planned to remain at the company for years to come. The turnaround job was only at the start, he said, a push he previously admitted was more challenging than expected.
“Lawrence intends to be here for many, many years,” Stroll said.
Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Aston Martin was sounding out potential candidates to become its fourth chief executive officer in as many years. The current chief, former Ferrari boss Amedeo Felisa, 77, has been in the role for less than two years. Stroll declined to comment on the report.
The Gaydon, England-based company earlier on Monday (Feb 12) revealed its new Vantage sports car, part of its effort to launch new models more frequently than the company has done in the past. Stroll is also hoping to capitalise on the growing interest in Formula One, having returned to the competition in 2021.
Late last year, he sold off a minority stake in the team that’s separate from the listed company to US private equity firm Arctos Partners at a valuation of around £1 billion. BLOOMBERG


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Every year, John Lewis, who has owned the handle @JohnLewis since 2007, receives thousands of tweets from people who incorrectly think they are contacting the department store. Last year alone, he received 50,000 tweets. Lewis’ witty responses, often containing the hashtag #NotARetailStore, have made him a cult hero.
Working with The Romans, Twitter UK is celebrating Lewis’ story in a Christmas campaign named after his signature hashtag.
The film is shot on location at his home in Blacksburg, Virginia, and shows him doing what he does this time of year – dealing with wayward tweets aimed at the retailer.
It pays homage to the tradition of the John Lewis Christmas ad, with references to previous years' campaigns for fans to spot, including a telescope, a miniature moon ornament, Monty the penguin and Buster the boxer.
The spot uses the tagline: "Join the conversation."
Lewis said: "I think it’s hilarious that people mistake me for the UK store and I do my best to direct them to the right place. I see a massive spike in tweets at this time of year and I always watch the John Lewis ad, especially as it becomes a huge part of my Twitter conversation. I find it absolutely fascinating that Twitter UK has chosen me to star in their Christmas film. Hopefully, people will be kind about my acting skills; I am no Elton John but, who knows, maybe I’ll get tweets about my own film this year."
Joe Mackay-Sinclair, founder and creative director of The Romans, said: "The perennial story of @JohnLewis patiently replying to tweets is one that has delighted the UK for years and truly captures the spirit of Christmas. We’re very pleased to have been able to finally let John be the star of his own campaign."
John Lewis the retailer was quick to join the conversation, not long after Twitter's ad went live:
Great to see the ever-patient @johnlewis finally get to star in his own Christmas ad! Loving the Monty cameo ?? https://t.co/HTiraLrjEJ— John Lewis & Partners (@jlandpartners) 19 November 2018
A version of this article was first published by PRWeek


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Movie memorabilia collectors are having quite the weekend. Hot off the news that Judy Garland’s original “Wizard of Oz” dress was found in a shoebox and is set to be auctioned off next month, Lana and Lilly Wachowski have announced plans to auction off a sizable portion of their personal archives to raise money for at-risk trans children.
Lana Wachowski came out as a trans woman in 2012, and her sister Lilly did the same in 2016. Since then, they have been outspoken advocates for LGBT rights in Hollywood and beyond, particularly focusing on the unique problems faced by trans people. Now, the filmmakers are opening up their personal collections to help raise money for the cause.
On Saturday, Lilly Wachowski tweeted “hi youse! So me and Lana have been doing some spring cleaning at our Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse and have happily decided to pass on some of the best treasures we’ve been collecting over the years!! No Ark of the Covenants but some pretty major and magical artifacts!”
The major artifacts up for auction consist of memorabilia from the Wachowski Sisters’ 25 year filmmaking career. Dubbed “Enter the Matrix: The Wachowski Collection,” the online auction contains props, concept art, and collectible merchandise from films and television shows including “Cloud Atlas,” “Jupiter Ascending,” “Sense8,” and “The Matrix” franchise. The Wachowskis are also selling some of their personal collectibles from films they did not make, including vintage “The Evil Dead” and “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” posters.
Notable items include an original lightning rifle from “The Matrix,” a Neo-Seoul Police Speeder from “Cloud Atlas,” and the MTV Movie Awards for Best Director that the Wachowski Sisters received for “The Matrix,” as well as a set of original production blueprints from the film.
All proceeds from the auction will go to the Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund, which distributes money to a variety of state-specific charities aimed at helping trans children in states where they lack substantial legislative protection. The initiative was founded by Ariana Grande earlier this year, and has already raised close to $800,000 for charity. Beneficiaries include the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, Equality Florida, and the Zebra Coalition.
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Nvidia just took the wraps off the newest edition to the Titan family, the Volta-powered Titan V. The new GPU is explicitly targeting AI and deep learning workloads, and while it’s anything but cheap, it’s also a heck of a lot less expensive than buying an HPC installation.
Nvidia’s upcoming GPU may be built on TSMC’s 12nm node, if rumors are true — but that doesn’t mean quite what it sounds like.
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Buckle Up, It’s Going to Get Bumpy
A few days ago I wrote about rumored changes to Walmart’s policy regarding prepaid pin enabled debit (gift) cards used for purchasing money orders. The memo from Walmart corporate that I was given at a store to read through, and that I subsequently wrote about, was not the correct memo. I don’t know if the store that I was in hadn’t received the new policy guidelines yet or if they just hadn’t noticed the new memorandum from Walmart Corporate. Unfortunately the rumors that have been circulating about larger, more negative changes coming to Walmart are true, and the new policies going forward are a clear shot at reigning in manufactured spend inside Walmart.
Per the new memo from Walmart corporate, the changes around money orders are set to take place this Tuesday, October 16th. Black Tuesday is coming, and I hope that you’re ready.
A somewhat positive change is the language allowing $8,000 per transaction. There’s plenty of downside after that though. After $1,000 has been transacted, the computer will prompt the employee to capture a customer’s information. Before this memo, customer’s information was captured electronically or on paper at $3,000. Many people preferred avoiding giving up their social security number and other personal information, and intentionally stayed under that $3,000 amount. Now customer information will be captured after just $1,000 transacted, I assume into a SAR (Suspicious Activity Report), which is something most customers don’t want any part of. Until I see the new information capture protocols I can’t say for sure, but that’s my guess.
There’s also interesting bill pay language in the new memo that says customers will be limited to $8,000 per transaction per 30 days. No idea how Walmart will actually track that, but I’m assuming that some sort of information capture will take place and hard code the system at $8k. $8k as a bill pay max is in line with information that’s been circulating at some stores well in advance of this memo, but hasn’t seemed to be enforced until now.
I assume these changes will be filtered down to all stores via a software update, but this update would have to touch both money orders and bill pay. If you’ve been inside Walmart stores and participated bill pay or purchased money orders, hardware and software don’t always aline perfectly to say the least.
The good news is that the points you have just became much more valuable, as earning them in masse is about to get much harder. Manufactured spend just took a major body blow for most casual manufactured spenders, and for the big hitters this is possibly much more severe news. There are still a lot of unanswered questions though, like how widespread these policies will be enforced and to what extent? Will customer information capture take place at exactly $1k, and will that be in the form of an electronic SAR? Will stores that aren’t currently allowing money orders from debit (gift) cards be forced to do so to be in line with corporate policy?


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- Telecommunications Giant Vodafone Leaves the Libra Association
- Group of Central Banks Assesses Developing Central Bank Digital Currencies
- South Korea Might Impose 20 Percent Tax on Cryptocurrency Profits
- Report: Terrorists Increasingly Use Crypto to Raise Funds Anonymously
- Canadian Securities Administrators Subject Crypto Exchanges to Securities Laws
IBM, one of the largest computer companies in the world, has announced its plan to launch a new blockchain project called Trust Your Supplier (TYS), in association with a blockchain specialist firm Chainyard.
The other founding members of this project include brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, Telecommunications Company Vodafone, and tech companies such as Cisco, Lenovo, Nokia, and Schneider Electric.
Supply chain management includes managing and keeping track of production, storage and mobility of goods. TYS is designed to replace the inconvenient manual ways of supply chain management as it runs a high risk of errors and frauds and also makes it very hard to verify the suppliers and track important documents. TYS aims to replace the manual process with a decentralized and an immutable blockchain network.
The Trust Your Supplier project gives a digital passport for the suppliers on a blockchain network. This provides the suppliers with a shared database on dedicated blockchain network which they can share with the selected buyers. The database on this network also includes the supplier information which is required for trading such as bank account data, certificates of ISO, tax and insurance. There will be 70% to 80% reduction in the time it takes to validate and manage new suppliers, and a potential 50% reduction in the costs through this blockchain network.
Chainyard is providing its technology to help IBM in building of TYS network and other companies are helping in expansion of the network by providing their supplier data. The chief supply chain officer for Lenovo’s data center group, Renee Ure stated:
“Through Trust Your Supplier, both buyers and suppliers will see the procurement benefits of blockchain through reductions in cost, complexity and speed.”
IBM has launched many other blockchain projects in the past and continues to expand them. The Trust Your Supplier initiative is just one of its other blockchain-based projects. According to Gartner, which is a Global IT research firm, blockchain will manage to track the mobility of $2 trillion of goods annually by 2023. IBM, it seems, wants to be a big part of it.
IBM has 18,500 suppliers all over the world. At first, it will work with 4,000 of its North American suppliers on this new blockchain project. Though it is confined to North America in its early stages, it aims to become an international network very soon. The Trust Your Supplier network will be launched commercially by the third quarter of this year.


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Cyber Monday is supposed to be the biggest online shopping day of the year (at least, that’s what the retailers want us to believe). This clip was unearthed from MFNN (Mahalo Fake News Network) yesterday, and it shows the massive effect that Cyber Monday had on the Internet economy. Or… not.
Cyber Monday Deals
Online Shopping Deals
How to Play Guitar for Newbies
After months of playing Guitar Hero (II and III), we assumed that graduating to an actual guitar wouldn’t be too difficult, right? Unfortunately, it’s harder than video games make it look. While learning the chords and basics isn’t too difficult for even the least musically inclined of students, creating a decent sounding song can take years. But hey… that’s why we call it “For Newbies!”
How to Play Guitar
Best Guitar Solos of All Times
And belive it or Not it all because of Guitar Hero


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Britain's exporters finally seem to be getting into gear, with the relatively weak pound boosting trade.
Official figures for June showed that the trade deficit with the rest of the world narrowed far more than expected as exports rose over four times faster than imports.
That led the so-called "trade gap" to shrink from £8.02 billion in May to £7.4 billion in June.
Although the pound has rallied strongly in recent months, it still remains relatively weak, particularly against the dollar after a long-term decline since 2007.
But until today, there had been few signs of that extra competitiveness helping businesses sell to foreign buyers.
Paddy Earnshaw, customer director at Travelex global business payments, said: "This is great news. Importers and exporters are increasingly confident as encouraging data continues to fuel positive sentiment."
While the figures were a positive early sign, economists warned that talk of an export-led recovery could prove premature, particularly given the recent gains in sterling.
Export volumes rose by 3.9% on the previous month while import volumes were roughly unchanged.
On a quarterly basis, cars were a big factor, with quarterly exports up 13.5% and imports down 5.2%. The drop in imports was largely put down to the ending of the car scrappage scheme.
Sterling slipped today as investors focused instead on weak house price and retail sales data overnight.
Despite its improvement since the spring, the pound is currently trading at a level about 18% lower than its dollar value in 2008.
But exporters have still found it hard to boost sales as their key markets, particularly in Europe and the US, have themselves been suffering serious economic crises and weak consumer confidence.Reuse content


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17 Apr Academia and Microsoft – A nominated partnership
Academia is delighted to share the news that the hard-working marketing support team in the group have been nominated for an award as part of the Microsoft Surface Go launch campaign last year.
Nominated by our peers at the CRN, the full list of those on the shortlist for the Sales & Marketing awards can be viewed here.
By working with Microsoft, Academia was able to provide the Surface Go family of devices to the education market in the UK, helping profile the laptop, tablet and desktop solution to a whole new audience via a variety of our marketing channels. This included a new direct shopping store for immediate purchases here, a series of podcasts featuring Steve Beswick and Tom Able-Green here and a fantastic video case study feature the staff and pupils of Sparsholt College.
The CRN Sales & Marketing Awards was created to help recognise and reward the achievements of those individuals and teams that are responsible for making the UK IT channel truly great. Part of the Incisive Media Group, the CRN is the leading publisher for the computer reseller industry, supporting vendors and partners like Academia in delivering the latest news and insight into the technology landscape in the UK.
To learn more about what we do with Microsoft, talk to your Academia account manager today or call 01992 703 900 or email email@example.com


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Grocery empire brothers sentenced to federal prison
Rassem and Ishaq Kaloti came to the U.S. from the Middle East and started into business with a corner store on Milwaukee's south side that grew into a small empire with a pair of wholesale grocery operations and two hotels.
But the brothers also were spending a good deal of their time cheating the government out of taxes, funneling millions into secret bank accounts.
They also paid illegal immigrants in cash to sort and relabel stolen baby formula - and to iron the brothers' clothes, wash their cars and clean their Brookfield homes.
The brothers were each sentenced Thursday to 22 months in federal prison after they pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes and conspiracy to defraud the government.
Ishaq "Isaac" Kaloti also admitted to knowingly buying stolen baby formula.
The sentence from U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller was below the 37 to 46 months in prison provided under federal sentencing guidelines and also less than the government's recommendation of 30 months. The defense asked for a year and a day behind bars.
Stadtmueller also took the highly unusual step of allowing the brothers to serve staggered sentences. Isaac Kaloti, 45, will be sent to prison first. Once he gets out, Rassem "Russ" Kaloti, 51, will start his term.
The arrangement was recommended by the prosecution and defense in hopes of continuing operation of the business, Kaloti Wholesale, which employs about 125 people. Before the case, it was generating $100 million a year in sales.
Defense attorney Frank Gimbel said he could only recall one other similarly structured sentence in his 52 years of law in Milwaukee.
The judge ordered the Kalotis to pay $1.26 million in back taxes and interest and $50,000 in fines. The Kalotis got a break on restitution because of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which cut some business taxes retroactively.
Between 2000 and 2006, the Kalotis failed to pay about $1.5 million in taxes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Campbell said. Even though the Kalotis paid none of the tax in the first place, the amount they owed in restitution was cut to $870,000 because of the law. The balance of the restitution amount was interest.
A growing business
The Kaloti brothers came to the U.S. from humble beginnings in their native Jerusalem, becoming citizens, starting their business with a small store in the late 1980s. They later formed Kaloti Wholesale, which operated in what is known as a "secondary market," where they buy unopened goods that top-level grocery stores want to dump. They repackage them and sell them to wholesale-type stores like Sam's Club.
The brothers opened secret bank accounts they used to conceal income, including more than $1 million in rebate checks they received as part of a grocery wholesale cooperative, from 2000 to 2006, according to prosecutors.
In a separate scheme, the brothers transferred money for so-called business expenses when, in fact, they were for personal expenses, such as property, personal taxes and their children's tuition.
The brothers diverted about $2.1 million to themselves and $100,000 to family members.
Every Friday, Russ Kaloti had an employee retrieve $5,500 in cash from the bank. He used the cash, in part, to pay illegal immigrants who had the dirty and often dangerous job of cleaning and relabeling cans of baby formula. These illegal residents also were used to clean the Kalotis' houses, wash and vacuum their cars and to iron their clothing.
The Kalotis were not charged with immigration offenses.
Besides the grocery wholesale business, the Kalotis are in the hotel business.
In 2006, Rassem Kaloti bought a vacant parcel at the southeast corner of N. Mayfair and W. Watertown Plank roads in Wauwatosa and developed a 198-room Crowne Plaza Hotel. That $32 million hotel, which is adjacent to the Milwaukee County Research Park, opened in March 2008.
Kaloti also owned a Howard Johnson Inn & Suites in downtown Milwaukee that was used to house, feed and transport new military recruits under a $2.8 million contract.
From 2001 to 2004, the brothers failed to report hundreds of thousands in income generated at that Howard Johnson's. They did this by using a credit card terminal that supposedly was only for purchases in the hotel convenience store to pay for 40 of the hotel rooms, keeping those sales off the books.
In total, the brothers failed to report $4.4 million in income.
"This is not something that happened by accident," Campbell said. "This was a long-running, multifaceted scheme to cheat the treasury."
The government's investigation against the brothers went public in 2007 when FBI and IRS agents raided the Kaloti warehouse in New Berlin and seized, among other things, more than 81,000 cans of suspected stolen formula.
A battle followed in court between the Kalotis and the government over the formula. The formula, which experts said may have been mislabeled or damaged in the relabeling process, was ultimately destroyed.
The seizure highlighted a lucrative and sometimes illegal trade in formula, sometimes called "liquid gold" because of its value. Thieves will steal the formula and deliver it to wholesalers like the Kalotis who strip the cans of price tags and other markings and then sell the formula to other stores that often sell it in exchange for government food aid vouchers.
Between 1999 and 2005, Ishaq Kaloti received more than $9.8 million in formula and admitted he knew that at least 60% of that formula was stolen, according to his plea agreement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Wall said the Kaloti case revealed to prosecutors the work of organized theft crews.
Wall said a member of the Latin Kings described to agents how the rip-offs worked: three members of the gang would go to a store, outside Milwaukee. Two would stand watch while one emptied out a box of 30 paper towel rolls. They would take the empty box to the baby formula aisle, loaded it up with 80 cans and retape the box. Carrying a single paper towel roll, they told a gullible clerk they were buying 31 rolls of paper towel and walked out with $1,000 in formula.
Other items that are easily resold are diabetic strips, razors and cosmetics, Wall said.
Wall said he had no evidence the Kalotis knew it was the Latin Kings who were committing the theft but the goods ended up in their warehouse.
"This is not ordinary shoplifting," Wall said. "These are boasters working in an organized ring stealing targeted items."
In a separate civil case in 2008, the Kalotis admitted to buying and selling a shipment of counterfeit Trojan condoms as well as a load of fake Duracell batteries in New York. The brothers said they didn't know the products were counterfeit.
As the sentences were announced Thursday, several members of the Kalotis' family wept in the courtroom.
Afterward, Russ Kaloti declined to comment.
Gimbel said he had hoped for a lighter prison term but was pleased the business will continue.
"I like to think there is a lesson here and they paid a steep price for that lesson," Gimbel said.


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Causing big smiles for tourists who regularly book tickets on India flights, Caesars Entertainment is making its debut into the country, bringing along non-gaming businesses with it, like hotels and event management.
Leisure and business travellers who are planning to book flights tickets to the beautiful country of India, in the coming future, would be delighted to know that one of the world’s biggest casino companies, Caesars Entertainment is planning a foray into the country through non-gaming businesses.
The firm is set to make its presence felt in the country with businesses like luxury hotels, and entertainment segments including management of Bollywood-centric events, concerts, musicals, drama and stand-up comedy.
This Las Vegas-based major enterprise owns 50 hotels and casinos as well as a number of golf resorts throughout the globe. The firm will now establish approximately 15 hotels in India, allowing tourists taking flights tickets to the nation to enjoy the reliable services of the brand.
Media reports reveal that the company is already in talks with several real estate developers for setting up the properties.
“We have spent the last one year in exploring the Indian market and there is a lot to offers,” a top executive of the firm was quoted in TOI, top English daily in India.
“In the non-gaming space we will focus on hotels and convention centres and building entertainment destinations within or adjacent to them,” she continued.
The $9-billion firm has plans to bring the hugely popular hotel brand, Caesars to the country and seeks to offer its luxurious offerings to vacationers booking tickets on flights bound for India and opting to stay here. Of course, a stay at the luxury hotel won’t come cheap and is unlikely to feature in the plans of budget tourists taking cheap flights tickets to the nation.
Caesars’ ingress in the Indian market could also mean locals and tourists disembarking off from flights would be able to enjoy performances by top stars who are conventionally connected to properties of the corporation.
The company is targeting big cities in India like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, allowing tourists taking flights tickets to these destinations to enjoy the services and shows.


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Two new superyacht shows are scheduled to be held during the Palm Beach International Boat Show (PIBS), which runs from March 25 to 29, 2020. Both events, which are vying for the upper echelon of the yacht market, are invitation-only, promising a much more intimate, personalized experience than a traditional boat show, with better access to the yachts. They also have disarmingly similar names.
The first, Superyacht Show Palm Beach, is managed by Informa Markets, organizer and operator of the Palm Beach International Boat Show, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Miami Yacht Show and Superyacht Miami. That event will be held on the Intracoastal Waterway behind the Flagler Museum in the heart of Palm Beach.
Organizers said it took two years to gain the necessary permits and plans. “The show will have superyachts ranging from 180 to 300 feet long,” said Andrew Doole, president of US Boat Shows at Informa Markets. The event will target buyers from both the US and those flying in to look at the brokerage yachts.
Between Informa’s new superyacht event and the Palm Beach show, more than a half-dozen superyachts will be on display. They include the 242-foot Amels Plvs Vltra, 235-foot Tankoa Solo, 238-foot Turquoise Quantum of Solace, 210-foot Sanlorenzo Attila, and 180-foot Laurentia.
In West Palm Beach, the rival Superyacht Experience Palm Beach is being organized by members of LYBRA (Large Yacht Brokers Association) in partnership with SYBAss (Superyacht Builders Association) and The Superyacht Life Foundation. This event is the US debut of the annual Superyacht Show that has taken place in Barcelona since 2018.
It will be held at the Rybovich Marina in West Palm Beach, promising a “customer-centric experience” that allows buyers, charterers and brokers to visit the superyachts in an “exclusive and private” setting.
The event will also offer a more relaxed environment than a typical yacht show, says Toby Maclaurin, sales and marketing director at Ocean Independence. “The Superyacht Experience is a show run by the yachting industry,” he said. “It has evolved from the idea to simply provide a focused platform to bring buyers and sellers together, and not for the pure profit of being in the show business.”
Eight brokerage firms will display superyachts for sale and charter. Burgess, which attributes more than a third of its global sales to the US market, will have up to 10 yachts, including the 239.5-foot Royal Van Lent Hasna. The yacht features a 26-foot glass-backed infinity pool on the main deck aft, a spiral staircase leading down to a beach club with sea-level terraces, and 10-seat cinema.
“We feel it is the right time to bring the experience stateside,” said Nicci Perides, head of global PR and communications at Burgess. “Bringing the world’s top brokerage houses together in one show that is purely dedicated to superyachts allows for an intimate and highly targeted event.”
Ocean Independence, a founding member of LYBRA, will display the 151-foot Vantage as part of its line-up. The trans-ocean explorer, 251-foot Yersin, will also be at the show. That expedition yacht recently joined Fraser’s charter fleet, and depending on the charterers’ itineraries, will travel to Kamchatka, Japan, Antarctica, and other remote destinations.
Triton Submarines, the event’s official sponsor, will showcase two product launches. These include the Triton 3300/6, which features the largest acrylic pressure hull produced to date. It is the first six-person submersible capable of achieving depths of up to 3,280 feet. The Triton DeepView 24, by contrast, can carry 24 passengers and two crew to depths of up to 328 feet. The company said it will deliver both of those models, plus the second of its 1650/3 LP “superyacht sub” series, this quarter.
While the rivalry between the two superyacht shows will force both events to play at the top of their games, it will also benefit superyacht owners and potential buyers who now have two exclusive venues for comparison shopping, while also viewing the smaller yachts and boats at the Palm Beach show.


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Everyone is feeling the pressure. According to the latest global cost of living survey, prices in major cities around the world have risen by an average of 8.1% in local currency over the past year. One reason is Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Energy prices have soared by an average of 29% in Western Europe and 11% globally since last year, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Food prices have also risen. Both countries are major producers of cereals, oilseeds and fertilisers, and world food prices are now rising at their fastest rate this century. Another factor is the impact of China’s metal-19 restrictions on global supply chains, although popular frustration is growing. Overall, the survey, which compares the prices of more than 200 products and services in more than 170 cities, shows that the cost of living is rising at its fastest rate in at least 20 years.
How is it possible that the two most important commodities — wheat and oil — are globally dependent on Russia not attacking anyone?
Societal implication: small regions and cities need to learn fast. Only then will they be able to respond to the impact of global crises, which small regions feel the most. Cities will start to introduce their own cryptocurrencies to protect them from deglobalising fluctuations.
Marketing implication: brands will be more local and national. Megabrands need to embrace glocalisation both in marketing content and product development. Climate change causing transport disruption will place increasing demands on logistics and supply chains, and moving production to the point of sale will no longer just be a friendly gesture towards consumers and nature, but often an economic necessity.
Deglobalisation is defined by the European Parliament as moving towards a less interconnected world characterised by strong nation states, local solutions and border controls instead of global institutions, treaties and free movement. The recent rise of protectionism, problems with supply chains, the diminishing role of global institutions, geopolitical changes, technological competition and a decline in foreign investment, as well as energy and food crises, have been accompanied by events such as the Russian war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, authoritarianism in China and populism in the US and elsewhere. On the other hand, phenomena such as the coronavirus pandemic, international crime and climate change show that global cooperation is still relevant.
The persistent slowdown in world trade after the great financial crisis of 2008–2009 is evidence number one for the deglobalisation hypothesis. Between 1985 and 2008, the period of hyperglobalisation, the share of trade (exports plus imports) in goods and services in world GDP rose from 38% to 61%. However, in a sudden break, this share slowed down, reaching 56 per cent in 2019, before the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Figure 1 shows the evolution of the world trade-to-GDP ratio and the differences between the three largest trading powers. Many attribute deglobalization, or what they perceive as deglobalization, to protectionism. Since 2017, the world has witnessed events such as Brexit, the withdrawal of the United States under President Trump from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade war between China and the United States, the disabling of the World Trade Organization dispute settlement system, the disruption of global supply chains by pandemics, and many challenges to self-sufficiency. Trade sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine have added further evidence that global economic integration is stalling or even reversing.
Opportunity for services, swan song for products
Increased protectionism was not the main cause of the sharp slowdown in world trade in goods after the financial crisis, as the prestigious think-tank Bruegel writes. This view was reached by analysts during and immediately after the 2008 crisis and remains true a decade later. Despite notable examples of protectionism, trade in goods remains largely free, perhaps freer than before the crisis. Yet uncertainty in trade policy has increased significantly in recent years.
In trade in services, barriers to globalisation remain high but are no higher than before; trade in services continues to grow, facilitated by technology. Deglobalisation has occurred in international capital flows; the cause has been the financial and macroeconomic consequences of the crisis, not protectionism. International migration is the biggest obstacle to globalisation and conditions are becoming more difficult. Despite frequent efforts to prevent the flow of technology across borders, it is almost certainly happening more easily than before the crisis, thanks to the spread of the internet.
The peak of globalisation is behind us. We have entered the era of “slowbalisation”
The volume of international trade has multiplied sixfold since the Industrial Revolution, as PII writes. And now it’s stagnating for the third year. Judging by trade flows, the fourth era of globalisation seems to have peaked in 2008. As the figure above shows, the ratio of world trade to GDP has declined since the Great Recession. In 2010, world trade rebounded from the 2009 surge, but has been weakening since then. We are now in the fifth historical period of what is sometimes called “slow mobilisation”.
While in previous decades trade tended to grow faster than world production, this is no longer the case. Instead, trade growth has been abnormally weak in recent years. In fact, the volume of world trade actually declined in 2019, even though the world economy grew relatively steadily.
A number of factors were at work here. The growth of global value chains — the proliferation of supply networks across countries — has flattened. 5 The reform agenda has stalled around the world. Under President Xi Jinping, China has begun to turn inward through policies to promote the domestic development of leading industries (the Made in China 2025 initiative). China remains an export power, but the share of exports in its GDP has fallen from 31% in 2008 to just 17% in 2019, as Nicholas Lardy has noted. The United States under President Donald Trump has adopted an “America First” policy, moving away from trade liberalisation (withdrawal from the Transpacific Partnership) and towards protectionism. The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports ostensibly on national security grounds, prompting retaliation and the extension of trade barriers elsewhere.
As international regional ties expanded and deepened, three main production and supply hubs stood out: Europe, Asia and North America. Together, they now produce 90% of the world’s goods. However, these regions are not equal. Europe and Asia have become much more integrated as regions than North America. Two thirds of EU trade and more than half of Asian trade remains within their regions, while in North America only 40% of trade takes place between the three countries. The rest of the world is even further behind, with trade with its neighbours not even reaching 15 per cent.
Because regionalization has given nations a competitive boost, it helps to partially explain the winners and losers from trade. And it has given Europe and Asia a head start over the US and North America.
Critics and advocates of globalisation are right that these trends are changing again. COVID-19 has accelerated a whole set of forces that are reshaping global trade linkages. Robots, automation and 3D printing increasingly mean that many businesses can do more with fewer workers, making cheap labour relatively less important.
Demographic changes are driving up costs in once low-wage countries, notably China, where more workers are now leaving the labour market than entering it. The value of time is also rising. As consumers expect faster deliveries, factories thousands of miles away can mean lost sales. Add to this the headaches caused by supply chain problems and increasingly frequent and extreme weather events, and long-distance manufacturing becomes relatively less profitable in many industries.
The Great Resignation
In its 2023 outlook, investment group BlackRock cited three long-term causes of production curtailment. One is an ageing population. Its effects have long been evident, but are now becoming more binding. Why? An ageing population means a shrinking workforce. A growing share of the U.S. population is age 65 and older, when most are leaving the workforce. This is one of the key reasons why the U.S. labor supply is currently unable to keep up with the demand for labor. Like students and stay-at-home parents, retirees are “out of the labor market.” This is largely why the proportion of the adult population that is inside the labor force — that is, working or looking for work — is still significantly lower than when the pandemic began. This proportion is also referred to as the participation rate (see orange line in the graph). The initial sharp decline was due to lock-in: many people who lost their jobs did not immediately look for another one because of concerns about health care or caregiving responsibilities. Some of this decline in the workforce has now subsided. But the yellow line shows that the portion that has not leveled off is almost entirely the result of aging — a growing proportion of the population of retirement age — and not the effect of a pandemic. Hence, we do not expect an improvement in the participation rate from here, and hence no substantial alleviation of the shortage of workers that contributes to inflation. Ageing is also bad news for future economic growth. The available labour force will expand much more slowly in the coming years than in the past. Economies will not be able to produce as much. And we don’t think an aging population will consume much less either, especially when we factor in the demand for health care. That means continued inflationary pressure as reduced productive capacity struggles to keep up with demand. We also see that rising government spending on care for the elderly is increasing the debt burden. Therefore, within equities, BlackRock recommends healthcare as a sector developing drugs and devices to help meet the needs of an aging population. Workforce participation rates have dropped dramatically in the pandemic as the economy has stalled.
Glocalisation hits small towns fastest
Global problems usually require international solutions. But we are not getting enough of that — whether we look at the failure of the covid-19 pandemic or the ever-increasing climate change. Yet it is clear that it is small regions and communities that are most rapidly affected by these changes. And this is confirmed by the findings of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Over the past year, Economy Disrupted has invited a diverse group of elected officials from cities, states, and territories across the United States. Although the ten mayors, governors, and lieutenant governors they spoke with came from different parties and areas, they all shared a deep commitment to addressing the local impacts of global change. Unlike the frequent partisan gridlock in Washington, the solutions these local, state, and territorial leaders proposed are pragmatic, innovative, and consensus-oriented.
Here are some of the key lessons learned from the second season of Economy Disrupted in the three thematic areas we discussed on the show:Technology, climate change and labour market changes.
Mayors and governors see technology as key to the future economic growth of their communities. From the new innovation district described by Mayor David Holt of Oklahoma City to the new university technology centers highlighted by Mayor Paige Cognetti of Scranton, Pennsylvania, leaders in suburbs are investing in innovation as the future drivers of their economies. But barriers to regional technology transformation remain. As California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis said, “We have whole areas in our state that are ready for economic development, but they need to have access to Internet connectivity.” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego noted that “the first thing I hear about when companies are looking to hire here is the ability to hire the right technology talent.”
The adverse impacts of climate change are already being felt by local, state and territorial leaders. Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero shared, “The greatest evidence of climate change is our coral reefs. We are trying to protect our coral reefs as much as we can.” Leaders at the subnational level see the impacts of climate change on the front lines in their communities, but they also see opportunities to leverage the ecological transition for economic growth. As Mayor Nan Whaley of Dayton, Ohio, explained, “Climate change leads to job creation. We need to make solar panels, wind turbines and electric cars.”
For mayors and governors, jobs remain an ongoing challenge and opportunity. As described by New Hampshire Governor Christopher T. Sununu, mayors and governors have focused primarily on addressing job loss and displacement during the pandemic. An important intervention that helped mitigate overall job losses was the use of federal funds under the Paycheck Protection Program, supplemented by other state and local assistance. As the United States emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, changes in the way and place of work are poised to affect local communities. Fort Worth, Texas, Mayor Mattie Parker captured the spirit that is shaping local leaders across the country when she said that small and mid-sized cities in the heartland can offer a new home to telecommuters and businesses moving from high-priced big cities and coastal areas.
Local Cryptocurrencies and Radical Localism
In the bucolic Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, a new experiment is taking place that has implications for where and how cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technology could make their way into everyday life. At the Berkshire Food Co-Op in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, you can see which local farm grew your produce, pick up an organic cup made from bioplastic, and pay for everything from this year’s harvest with cryptocurrency.
That currency is not the carbon-intensive Bitcoin or many private cryptocurrencies backed by venture capitalists. Instead, the cooperative is partnering with a pioneer of the farm-to-table movement to use a technology often associated with unfettered global capitalism for a different goal: radical localism.
The launch of the Digital Berkshares cryptocurrency this spring marks the latest step in a decades-long effort to foster a self-sustaining economy in the Berkshire Mountains, a favorite haven for the wealthy and educated residents of the Northeast.
As globalisation progressed, this independence remained elusive. Now, however, as the rise of blockchain spurs a broad rethinking of money and a broad push for deglobalization gathers momentum, proponents of this effort have found a new opportunity.
To exploit it, they enlisted the help of early pioneers such as a ukulele factory, a travelling clown and a prominent local scientist. But proponents of the currency insist it is more than a quirky pet project. They argue that the same technology that has launched thousands of get-rich-quick schemes can also help rural America slowly get richer.
“We’re not in a three-year or five-year project,” Susan Witt told Politico in an interview, overseeing Berkshares, which as co-founder of the Schumacher Center for the New Economy has been trying to break the dollar’s monopoly on U.S. money since the 1980s. “It’s more of a 50-year project.”
How can global brands be more national?
In the last five years we have seen a trend of nationalism that is still evolving, and we need to rethink how this will affect not only the work we produce, but also our industry and its future.
The basic principles of branding, consistency, frequency and emotional attachment play well with globalisation. Multinational brands and their creative teams can create a one-size-fits-all solution that can be easily distributed for maximum frequency and accessibility. There are common global insights that are used to emotionally connect consumers to brands; however, like global supply chains, nationalism is starting to disrupt this system, making things much more difficult for global brands to manage.
Add to this the ever-evolving ecosystem of communication channels and the shift towards an experiential way of communicating with consumers, and brands are faced with some complex challenges that present their creative partners with a problem — how best to solve these dilemmas? The answer is glocalisation, writes The Drum.
Glocalisation is the adaptation of global and international products to the local conditions in which they are used and sold. The term was coined in 1980 by sociologist Roland Robertson in the Harvard Business Review, who wrote that glocalisation means “the simultaneity — the presence — of both universalising and particularising tendencies”.
In the context of a specific product or service, this means adapting globally sold products and services to local markets. A global product or service, i.e. something that everyone needs and can use, can be adapted to fit local laws, customs or consumer preferences.
When I heard that Ikea was expanding and setting up branches in India, I wondered how Ikea would “adapt” to the economic and psychological situation of growing economies like India, writes Sinduja Ramanujam in his report. For instance, Ikea boasts of the ease of furniture assembly that works in countries like the United States because labour is expensive there. But India is a country of about 1.5 billion people and labour is cheap. The situation is not much different when you take Ikea’s fantastic food offerings. How would it “adapt” to a country like India?
It worked and it works really well. All this can be attributed to glocalization. Glocalisation is about thinking about the changes in the company both globally and locally and making sure you take into account the amount of each that should be used in the strategy. It’s about how you can leverage both the universal phenomenon that’s happening around the world and local trends to create a unique offering just for that market. It takes into account the social, political and economic condition before devising a strategy.
How did Ikea take the concept and put it into practice? Ikea didn’t just take Billy bookcases and Hemnes chests of drawers to attract the masses. It has perfectly combined the belan, pressure cookers and Idli makers that are a staple in all Indian homes to show how they can all be kept side by side in one home. It was an excellent display of Indo-Western culture.
Using teak, mahogany or mindi. Teak and mahogany are generally associated with luxury and quality material in India. Ikea has extensively studied households that have come up with the use of teak and mahogany in their furniture to make it more “Indian”. Not only that, by offering this material in addition to other types of wood, it has also introduced a range of products that is appealing to people with different tastes.
Furniture for everyday living with various uses. Indians as a whole are well known for entertaining and family gatherings. We prefer to invite people to our homes for meetings rather than meeting them for dinner out at a restaurant. Ikea has combined two amazing ideas here — they have designed folding furniture for when guests come over, but at the same time you can fold it back to fit into a small space (I’m talking about sofa beds here). Ikea has also invested in locally sourced materials for cushions, wood and also textiles. This has not only created employment opportunities for many artisans, but also a trusted network in which the multinational conglomerate wants to establish long-term relationships with local people.
Assembly and delivery possible. Indians are not very DIY oriented when it comes to assembling furniture. This is mainly due to the availability of cheap labour. Ikea has invested even more space in its warehouses to offer assembly services directly at the point of purchase. It offers assembly and delivery of furniture within a day for a small extra charge, and that’s a huge win considering they can choose the furniture they like and also have it assembled. One of the reasons why they don’t pre-assemble furniture is so that they can have more inventory in unassembled form, but another angle is to also give the end user the choice of whether they want to make the furniture themselves, which is usually the more cost-effective option, or they can always choose to have it assembled in-house.


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Tencent games has finally started rolling out a gameplay management system which will notify users below the age of 18 years while playing the game.
Players who register themselves as under the age of 18 years will be sent a notification when they start the game. There will be frequent pop-up notifications which will keep reminding players to take periodic breaks as well.
The game’s developer had been testing this feature for the past few months and now has finally decided to roll it out.
This gameplay management system is currently up and running in India, Indonesia, Nepal, UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The update will be rolled out into other markets in stages.
Other titles by Tencent that have a gameplay management system are "Arena of Valor," modeled after "League of Legends," which was introduced as a response to the concerns over gaming addiction.


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Microsoft will end support for Windows 10 in 2025
The confirmation adds weight to the rumours that Windows 11 is coming
In a notice on its website, spotted by Thurrott, the tech giant has officially stated that the end of support date for Windows 10 Home and Pro is October 14, 2025. This means that, from this date, Microsoft will not be providing technical support, software updates or security updates or fixes for Windows 10.
While the notice suggests that this end of life date applies to Windows 10 Home and Pro, a clarification on the page states that it will also apply to Windows 10 Pro Education and Pro for Workstations too.
This confirmation from Microsoft could suggest that Windows 11 will be rolled out soon, especially since the company is holding a virtual event next week on the future of the operating system, called “What’s next for Windows”. In a teaser for the event, which takes place on 24 June, light shining through the Windows logo is displaying a number “11” in the shadow on the floor.
Moreover, last week, Microsoft published an 11 minute video on its Windows YouTube account titled “Windows | Startup Sounds – Slo-fi Remix”, which included a mix of the sounds from its previous operating systems as an advertisement for the event next week.
“Soon we will share one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade to unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators. I’ve been self-hosting it over the past several months, and I’m incredibly excited about the next generation of Windows,” Nadella had said in his keynote at the Microsoft Build 2021 event.
Although Windows 11 is expected imminently, Microsoft continues to roll out updates for Windows 10. In April, Microsoft introduced a new Windows 10 taskbar which brought a new variety of ways to personalise users’ devices. The taskbar allows users to navigate through personalised information, collated from news, weather, and stock reports. The company opted to introduce it to customers over several weeks in a phased approach.
Furthermore, in May, businesses were able to update their Windows 10 systems with version 21H1, also called the May 2021 Update, which allowed them to experience features such as improved security, remote access and quality of experience.
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CEO Jeffrey Seaman says all jobs will be retained when it converts the Avenues or Regency store into an outlet and closes the other.
Rooms To Go bought the former Toys R Us building at The Markets at Town Center on Oct. 30 and intends to renovate it as its new concept.
In addition to its current furniture line, Rooms To Go is adding an expanded children’s section and a 9,000-square-foot area for outdoor patio furniture.
At 74,000 square feet with a 55,000-square-foot showroom, the 4875 Town Center Parkway location will be the company’s largest new concept store.
“We love Jacksonville. It’s a very good market for Rooms To Go. We were just waiting for the right location to do it,” said CEO Jeffrey Seaman on Oct. 30.
He hopes to start construction in late winter and complete it about six months later.
Seaman said Jacksonville shoppers will be happy with the selection.
“I think people are entertaining at home more because of COVID and just being careful,” he said.
The structure was available for lease, but Seaman said Rooms To Go prefers to own it considering the investment in the project.
He declined to provide the purchase price or the investment estimate. The deed was not recorded with the Duval County Clerk of Courts as of 2:30 p.m. Oct. 30.
Seffner-based Rooms To Go bought the property from Hines Global REIT, which owns The Markets at Town Center.
Rooms To Go operates three Northeast Florida stores in Orange Park, Regency and The Avenues area.
The Markets at Town Center location is nearly a midpoint between the Regency and Avenues stores.
Seaman said one of those two will be converted into an outlet and the other will close. He said all jobs will be retained.
In addition to the relocated jobs, the new store will add about 30, totaling 50-60 employees.
Property records show that Rooms To Go affiliates own the 30,000-square-foot Regency area store built in 1998, and the 41,000-square-foot Avenues area store built in 1995.
The decision about which store to convert and which to close will be made in the summer. The company also will decide whether to put the closed store on the market for sale or lease.
Another entity owns the 30,000-square-foot Orange Park store, built in 1994.
The Markets at Town Center space is more than the combined space of the two closest Rooms To Go stores.
The city is reviewing plans and a permit application for the $3.7 million renovation of the former Toys R Us space for Rooms To Go.
The space has been marketed as 74,018 square feet. The renovation cost also could change as the project proceeds.
Seaman said Rooms To Go has not chosen a contractor for the renovations.
The application describes the project as “renovation of retail space previously utilized as Toys R Us to be converted to Rooms to Go retail furniture sales.”
It says there also will be minor exterior facade upgrades with complete interior tenant improvement and a minor civil and landscape scope.
A similar store is in development in Daytona.
News-journalonline.com reported in September 2019 that Rooms To Go would build a prototype store in Daytona by 2021 that comprises separate storefronts for its Rooms To Go, Rooms To Go Kids and Rooms To Go Patio stores.
That store will be 55,400 square feet, the news service reported.
Rooms to Go announced then it will build its prototype in five locations – two stores in Orlando and one each in Daytona Beach, Tampa and Atlanta.
The Markets at Town Center Toys R Us and Babies R Us store closed in 2018. It is next to the Sprouts Farmers Market that moved into a former Best Buy that relocated.
The Shopping Center Group partner and Senior Vice President Stephanie McCullough and Vice President Kelly Pulignano represented Hines Global REIT in the sale.
McCullough said David Gabbai at Colliers International in Orlando represented Rooms To Go.
“It’s at the entrance of the Town Center area,” McCullough said Oct. 30 of the location’s advantage.
McCullough said her group has seen the furniture sector thrive through the pandemic. “It seems to be a pandemic-proof concept,” she said.
Seaman said business is doing “extremely well now.”
Stores closed at the start of the pandemic. Seaman said that after shelter-in-place orders were lifted in May, “business took off. People spent a lot of time at home and wanted to redecorate.”
The Town Center area is a growth market for retail and residential development. Baer’s Furniture recently opened along Gate Parkway, south of the Town Center, and RH, previously known as Restoration Hardware, is building a store at St. Johns Town Center.
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Local tour operators will attend the annual Spanish FITUR International Tourism Trade Fair in Madrid from January 30 to February 3. FITUR is a global meeting point for tourism professionals and the leading trade fair for inbound and outbound markets. It ranks as one of the chief tourism sector trade events in Spain. Inbound Tour Operators Association of Zimbabwe president Mr Tichaona Mudzonga said local participants would use the opportunity to regain their European market share.
"We are going to Madrid to try and get the most of the European market because we have realised there is a lot of interest in Zimbabwean facilities," he said.
Last year, at least 9 506 exhibiting companies from 167 countries, 119 322 trade participants and 91 555 people attended the FITUR. Also about 6 313 journalists from 54 countries turned up to cover the event, demonstrating the importance of FITUR on the international circuit of tourism sector events.
Organised at the Feria de Madrid, the show draws in more than 209 260 visitors at each of its editions. The latest trends and patterns from the tourism and hospitality industry are closely deliberated at the show and participating companies have ample scope of expanding their business networks during the meetings.
Tour and travel agency services, hotels and resorts, coach facilities and a host of other tourist destinations are showcased during the FITUR Show.


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Michael Jordan has changed the world with his huge legacy and beautiful change in the world of shoes. His Jordan shoes over the past 13 years have revolutionized the development in basketball shoes and street wear in general. With the original Air Jordans being sold back in 2001, their development of nearly 30 of the Air Jordan shoes have shown their creation process and how well they have changed and grown over the years.
In the year of 2015, Michael made the decision to remaster the original Air Jordans that were first sold back in 2014. It allows for people to get the original design but in premium materials and in quality design to give it maximum potential on the court. Michael went back with his team and actually paid close attention to his oldest models, and they looked at how they broke down quicker and lacked stability when compared to the shoes the manufacturers are designing today.
Continue reading Jordan 2015 New Remastered Shoes
Brand new Jordans come out every so often, most of which are limited edition. If you are a sneaker fan, then staying up to date on all the Jordan release dates is a must. One of the main reasons why Jordan sneakers have become so increasingly popular is not only because the great Michael Jordan has a lot to do with the design himself, but because they are made with state of the art material that no other sneaker brand can compare to. The November releases of 2014 has definitely gained a ton of interest from sneaker fans, as they are really uniquely designed and look nothing like any other sneaker on the market.
Continue reading Latest Jordan Sneaker News
Several new Jordans have created a lot of buzz as of lately and considering that Black Friday just went by, the Air Jordan 6 “Black/Infrared” was obviously under the spotlight. However, now the Air Jordan 11 “Legend Blue” is apparently taking center stage. One of the recent Jordan release dates that were confirmed by Jordan Brand will mark the retail debut of this “Legend Blue” colorway of the Air Jordan 11, but that is not the only thing that has been confirmed.
One of the latest sneaker news from Jordan Brand is that the retail price of the Air Jordan 11 “Legend Blue” will indeed be $200, as it was initially rumored to be. No doubt, sneaker heads shocked by the relatively high price of this Jordan 11; they are probably still going to want to cop this pair once it hits the selves before the year comes to an end. For those who do not recall, this “Legend Blue” colorway of the Air Jordan 11 was the one worn by Michael Jordan when he returned from his first retirement and played his first NBA All-Star Game. Continue reading The Air Jordan 11 “Legend Blue” Is Amongst New Jordans Debuting In December


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India’s chemical exports logged a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 13 per cent between 2015 and 2019, compared with about 7 per cent for China
manufacturers have been left bleeding, as demand from most end-user industries has dried up in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which make up as much as 30-35 per cent of the industry, have been hit particularly hard.
Many SMEs have reduced capacity utilisation as downstream demand fell, and are expected to see realisation decline amid lower crude oil prices. Additionally, SMEs are having difficulties in accessing working capital, and may face a liquidity crunch. While the world is slowly opening up, there has been no major recovery in demand from key end-user industries such as automobiles, electronics and textiles. We expect demand from the food-packaging and health care segments to sustain, though.
In this milieu, exports offer a ray of hope. India’s chemical exports logged a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 13 per cent between 2015 and 2019, compared with about 7 per cent for China. The key sub-segments likely to benefit from higher exports would be colourants and agrochemicals, with export shares of 45-50 per cent and 50-55 per cent, respectively.
Furthermore, significant capacity addition in other sub-segments, such as polymer additives, would help reduce the country’s import dependence.
Other key demand opportunities for India’s specialty chemicals
players, including SMEs, could arise from the deteriorating relations between the United States and China, and closure of manufacturing units in China on environmental concerns.
Besides, global players are trying to diversify their supply chains and reduce their dependence on China. India, with its competitive labour cost, can emerge as a viable alternative.


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Citing bugs, The Last Guardian was again delayed this morning. It will now release in December.
Shuhei Yoshida announced this morning via PlayStation.Blog that the game 10 years in the making would receive its final delay. The release date has been shifted now from October 25 to December 6 to give the development team more time to fix bugs. Development for The Last Guardian first started on Playstation 2 before being delayed an entire generation till Playstation 4. Informants who played the game behind closed doors at E3 stated that the graphics looked very last gen and showed worry that the game wouldn’t ship on time. Here is the entire blog post from Sony:
Fumito Ueda, gen DESIGN and JAPAN Studio have a wonderful vision for The Last Guardian’s touching, emotional journey of friendship and trust, and we want to deliver the most polished experience possible for our fans who have supported us for so long. A delay is a difficult decision, particularly with this game, but we have encountered more bugs than anticipated while in the final stages of development. To ensure that The Last Guardian delivers on the experience that the game’s creators have envisioned, we need to take the extra time to work on those issues.
Our development continues to push itself to the fullest and we look forward to revealing new content toward launch.
We appreciate your continued support.” Shuhei Yoshida


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just the Round-Up - The week in drinks
The week in drinks
The top ten stories published on just-drinks this week:
Sales of Drambuie, the Scotch whisky liqueur, have struggled to regain ground lost during the height of the global economic crisis.
Australia's wine industry has taken a fresh dip on the currency rollercoaster ride following predictions that the Australian dollar will hit parity with its US counterpart.
Ireland's Alcohol Beverage Federation has strongly criticised a report by members of the country's Parliament that calls for a ban on drinks firms sponsoring sporting events.
C&C Group plans to invest heavily to continue growing its core cider business outside of the UK and Ireland.
International spirits brands upped their dominance of the travel retail channel last, according to recent research.
Diageo has declined to comment on reports that its East African Breweries unit is close to selling a stake in SABMiller subsidiary Tanzania Breweries.
The head of Foster's Group's wine arm, Treasury Wine Estates, has said the firm needs to up its premium focus in the US in order to improve earnings, according to a report.
Heineken's CEO, Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, has said that the brewer still has room to increase sales in Europe, despite beer consumption declines in many countries.
Diageo could raise its profits guidance if the Johnnie Walker distiller's trading momentum from the first quarter continues over the key Christmas period, analysts believe.
- Comment - The Appeal and Perils of Craft
- Review of the Year 2014 - Part IV: Spirits
- Time is Right for Refresco Gerber Exit
- Sustainability in Wine - Part I
- just the Ten - Top News Stories of 2014
- Belvédère to sell assets, streamline portfolio
- Belvedere vodka tie-up over new James Bond film
- Diageo ups focus on China with Mortlach roll-out
- Diageo rolls out Beckham's Haig Club to US
- Brown-Forman eyeing Scotch, Irish whisk(e)y entry?
- Global vodka insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends research
- Global Scotch whisky insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends research
- The IWSR Forecast Report - 2014-2019 Global Review
- Global Tequila Market 2014-2018
- Global market review of non-Scotch whiskies – forecasts to 2018


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By FLORO MERCENE
WHEN plastic degrades, it breaks down into smaller pieces. The bulk of the plastic will seem to disappear when it degrades. However, what’s really happening is that the plastic is breaking into smaller pieces, invisible to the naked eye, that will always remain on the Earth.
As of early 2018, data from Ocean Conservancy shows that plastic straws/stirrers are the 11th most commonly found ocean trash in cleanups, making up about 3% of recovered trash. Plastic straws take up to 200 years to degrade, but will never be fully off the Earth. To make matters worse, the degrading of plastic releases chemicals that are toxic to wildlife and people. In the USA alone, 500 million straws are consumed every day. All these straws and plastic polluting our oceans have a highly negative impact on marine life. Take for example the video that went viral where researchers off the coast of Costa Rica remove a plastic straw that had been embedded in the nostril of an Olive ridley sea turtle. It’s likely that the sea turtle accidentally swallowed the straw, and then had it stuck up its nostril while trying to cough the straw out.
Straws are especially dangerous to seabirds as they can be easily picked up and swallowed, suffocating and choking the bird. In fact, over 1 million seabirds die each year from ingesting plastic.
People have started using paper straws in England. In parts of the United States, straws made out of pasta are also being used. By 2020, Starbucks branches all around the world will be using non plastic straws. McDonald’s announced that it would phase out plastic straws from its 1,300 U.K. restaurants and begin a trial run of paper straws in some of its locations.
We can start doing our part now by politely declining plastic straws and stirrers whenever we don’t need them.
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Eurostar, the high-speed rail service linking the UK and mainland Europe, announces the launch its new loyalty programme, Club Eurostar. Available to leisure and business travellers, the new programme offers more flexibility, additional benefits, and is accessible to all passengers across the world without any fees or qualifying fares.
Travellers will receive £15 off gifts in store and online Eurostar, the high-speed rail service connecting the UK and mainland Europe, has partnered with iconic British retailer, Liberty London, to offer travellers a special Christmas gift, just in time for the festive season.
Heathrow Express and Network Rail collaborate on new gap initiative Blue lights which flash when the train doors of Heathrow Express open on Platform 6 at Paddington are being switched during Friday 8 December 2017, as part of a new measure to help passengers mind the gap and improve train and platform safety.
Eurostar, the high-speed rail service linking the UK and mainland Europe, is dishing up a new range of healthy salads for Business Premier passengers to enjoy, as they travel across the Channel. Designed by Michelin star chef and Eurostar Business Premier Culinary Director, Raymond Blanc OBE, the eight vegetarian salads are a welcome addition to the menu for those desiring a lighter option, whilst they relax or work on board.
SNAP up tickets from £19 one-way Eurostar, the high-speed rail service connecting the UK and mainland Europe, is having a flash sale offering customers tickets from £19 one-way*, available on Eurostar Snap – the digital platform where passengers with flexibility on their travel time can access the best available Eurostar fares.


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Jonathan Ohayon, animal rights activist and co-founder of the Parisian brand Arsayo, has created the FAKE movement, a platform where vegan and ethical designers can promote proudly their clothes and accessories. The acronym FAKE stands for Fashion for Animal Kingdom & Environment.
FAKE says, “It is our responsibility to change our way of consuming. This is why the F.A.K.E movement gives you options and helps you to make that change! […] The more FAKERS we are, the more designers would want to create cruelty free products ethically made.”
The project started with “F.A.K.E. popups” on Melrose Ave in the city of Los Angeles this May. The events were so successful that Jonathan decided to create a museum where people could learn more about new alternatives to animal products in fashion and how to preserve our planet and respect human rights.
“Leather is not a material, it is a skin that belongs to an animal […] It has a huge negative impact on the environment and is responsible for a lot of disease due to all the chemical use in the process,” said Jonathan.
In line with this way of thinking, several designers from around the globe will be part of this first exposition, exhibiting alternatives to silk, leather, wool and even makeup, with many different products made out of pineapple fibre, cork, apple skin or even mango skin.
The F.A.K.E. Museum will open its door to the public from June 26th to August 31st – to book a free tour by appointment only go to www.fakemovement.com/museum.


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NewsBlizzard in the past has been open with its willingness to cancel ambitious development projects that were not meeting internal standards. Now, the World of Warcraft developer has shown a new level of willingness to cut its losses, as Blizzard confirmed the cancellation of the seven-year MMO project Titan. Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime told Polygon that the developer simply “didn’t find the fun.” The studio said last year it would reevaluate Titan and its viability as a major new MMO. “We talked about how we put it through a reevaluation period, and actually, what we reevaluated is whether that's the game we really wanted to be making,” Morhaime told Polygon. “The answer is no." Past notable, public Blizzard cancellations include Warcraft Adventures and StarCraft Ghost. Morhaime noted that Titan was never “officially” announced, but Blizzard has been relatively open with talking about what would’ve been Blizzard’s second MMO, after the industry-changing World of Warcraft. Blizzard SVP of story and franchise development Chris Metzen said canceling games that were deep in development, yet on the wrong track, results in “letter-quality work.” Metzen added, "We took a step back and realized that it had some cool hooks. It definitely had some merit as a big, broad idea, but it didn't come together. It did not distill.”
Blizzard cans development of ambitious Titan MMO
with the cancellation of the seven-year MMO project Titan, the World of Warcraft developer has shown a new level of willingness to cut its losses.


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During this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Sega showed off more of Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice during a recent livestream event. A couple of stages from the 3DS game were showcased, as well as a boss fight with a totem pole-like enemy. [Thanks, Nintendo Everything.]
You can watch it all in the video below.
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice will release for the Nintendo 3DS on September 27th in North America, September 30th in Europe, and October 27th in Japan.


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Dunelm like-for-likes surged 10.4% in the 13 weeks to June 30 as wet weather boosted footfall in Dunelm’s stores.
The retailer said the wet weather led to a total revenue advance of about £8m in the quarter.
Total sales rocketed 21.2% to £149.7m in the period.
In the 52 weeks to June 30 like-for-likes were up 3.1%.
Dunelm now expects pretax profit for the year to be about £96m, which is ahead of current consensus expectations.
The retailer estimated that about £2.5m of this “outperformance” is attributable to the “exceptional weather benefit over the second half of the financial year”.
For the full financial year gross margin is expected to increase by about 20-30 basis points.
Dunelm chief executive Nick Wharton said: “The final quarter has seen further strong progress throughout the business, with robust like-for-like sales trends. In addition, we have continued to drive growth through new stores and our multi-channel offering, which now represents around 3% of revenue.
“Our continued focus on developing our ‘Simply Value for Money’ proposition has seen further market share gains.
“Looking ahead, we anticipate that consumer spending will remain under pressure.
“Nevertheless, with ten further store openings committed, a strengthening multi-channel offering and with our unique proposition resonating with a wide range of customers, we remain confident in the future growth prospects for the business.”
The retailer opened one new superstore in the quarter bringing its store count to 115.
Dunelm said the pipeline for new stores looks strong, with a total of 10 stores committed.
The retailer said it remains “highly cash generative”. It invested £38m in the business in the year, across new and refitted stores and core infrastructure including the online platform.


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Open Shoot TV
Further strengthening itself as a multimedia brand, Topman has announced its first crowd-sourced TV project, entitled ‘Open Shoot’.
The initiative allows budding directors, set designers, stylists and producers to put their ideas forward for upcoming music videos and films from specially selected artists.
Its first team-up for the ongoing creative project is with British artist Ghostpoet, who will be calling on fans to showcase their ideas for his ‘X Marks the Spot’ video using the hashtag #OPENSHOOT via twitter or Instagram, or by uploading them at Topman.com/OPENSHOOT.
As a result, the video will combine a mixture of crowd-sourced concepts to create an original piece of film, which will premier on Topman TV on March 13.
Topman follows in the footsteps of other fashion brands who have embraced the power of the online generation, including Burberry’s ‘Acoustic’ initiative, which gives a digital platform to budding musicians, and Net-A-Porter’s online interactive magazine, The Edit.
Get involved in the Ghostpoet Open Shoot project from February 6-22 and see more details at Topman.com/OPENSHOOT.


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Outside of Stadia this week, there were some notable announcements in cloud gaming. That includes a big wave of Final Fantasy titles launching on PlayStation Now and more new games on Xbox Game Pass.
Bandwidth is 9to5Google’s weekly look at the cloud gaming market beyond Google’s own Stadia platform. Every Friday, we take a look at the biggest news regarding services such as Nvidia GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, PlayStation Now, and Xbox Game Pass, among others. Come back weekly, and don’t forget to check out Stadia Changelog, our weekly roundup of everything new on Stadia.
PlayStation Now gets Final Fantasy
Over the coming months, Sony has a treat for PlayStation Now subscribers. Each month through January, a new Final Fantasy game will come to PlayStation Now. That starts with Final Fantasy VII, which is coming to PlayStation Now on September 7. All five games will be available to stream or download on PS4/PS5.
PlayStation Now will add Final Fantasy VII, VIII Remastered, X/X-2 HD Remaster, and XII The Zodiac Age.
Xbox Game Pass adding Craftopia and more
Earlier this week Xbox Game Pass announced its latest batch of games for subscribers, notably including Craftopia. The “Game Preview” title lets players gather resources, harvest crops, fight bosses, capture enemies, and more.
- Signs of the Sojourner
- Surgeon Simulator 2
- Breathedge (Sept 9)
Leaving Xbox Game Pass this month is Red Dead Online, Forza Motorspot 7, Hotshot Racing, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics, and Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.
New GeForce Now games
13 more games joined GeForce Now this week including a few day-and-date releases. Nvidia also confirmed that Life is Strange: True Colors will be available on GFN from launch day on September 10.
- Song of Iron (Steam)
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (Steam and coming soon to Epic Games Store)
- WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship (Steam and coming soon to Epic Games Store)
- Golf Club: Wasteland (Steam)
- Yoku’s Island Express (free on Epic Games Store)
- Deepest Chamber (Epic Games Store)
- Devil Slayer – Raksasi (Steam)
- Dorfromantik (Steam)
- The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut (Steam)
- Ironsight (Steam)
- Nine to Five (Steam)
- Paint the Town Red (Steam)
- Shadow Man Remastered (Epic Games Store)
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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As virtual reality (VR) technology becomes increasingly commonplace, the travel industry too hopes to leverage on the exciting potential it affords. Dannon Har goes on a virtual trip to Japan, Vietnam and Australia in a span of 10 minutes, and tells us what his experience was like.
Flight Centre Singapore is boosting its storefront retail experience with VR headsets equipped with 360-degree video content that showcases destinations around the world.
The headset was made available on November 25. While it is currently available only at its headquarters at 137 Cecil Street, there are plans to roll out the headsets to its other two stores in Singapore in the coming weeks.
This is the first time a travel agency in South-east Asia is employing the use of VR as a mainstay sales and marketing tool, and probably one of the few in the world to do so.
As of now, customers can be transported to three destinations – Tokyo, Hoi An and Cairns – upon donning the Samsung Gear VR headsets, which uses the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone as the video storage and playback device. This is the same technology used by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts which launched its own major VR initiative just last month.
The experience of putting on one of these VR headsets is novel and exciting as it is a reactive system which portrays real-life vision, in a sense that as you swerve your head, your entire vision sways with you to capture different parts of the panorama. This also means that videos have to be watched multiple times in order to see everything completely.
It is cool to see yourself looking out at the landscape from a hot air balloon in Cairns, hear food sizzling as it is being wok-fried in Hoi An, and watch as Tokyoites wave affectionately at you wherever you look.
But novelty is a resource that wears off fast. This is only my second time using a VR headset to experience travel destinations, the first being the aforementioned Shangri-La’s VR tool, and already the fun-factor has markedly subsided.
Luckily, these devices weren’t designed merely to entertain, but to flaunt and highlight travel locales. To that end, it is a highly successful apparatus of content marketing. It is the second-best thing to actually travelling to these featured destinations.
As Suyin Lee, managing director of Flight Centre Travel Group, puts it: “It enhances the discovery process and provides a try-before-you-buy option for customers. It never really replaces the real thing of course, but it does give people inspiration to try a new destination. It evokes emotion, stimulates interest and provides assurance as to what one might expect.”
Employing VR in an accessible manner for Flight Centre’s brick and mortar customers is a definite boon and goes in line with the agency’s expansion strategy to erect a greater number of physical stores islandwide.
Not only do walk-ins have an inventive option to find out more about a destination, the mere creation of 360-degree video content also opens up avenues for monetisation such as content sales.
Name: Flight Centre Singapore
Tel: (65) 6692-9778


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Mild recovery forecast for U.S. ag exports after a trade war tumble
U.S. farm exports plunged by an abrupt 6 percent this year due to the Sino-U.S. trade war and a worldwide slowdown in economic growth, but they will rebound mildly in the year ahead, said the USDA on Thursday. However, the agency’s first forecast of exports in fiscal 2020 excluded the impact of a promised mutual escalation this fall of the trade war between China and the United States.
As dairy industry reels, new film details one family’s struggle to make it work
In “Farmsteaders,” filmmaker Shaena Mallett tells the story of Celeste and Nick Nolan, who run Laurel Valley Creamery, a 110-acre dairy farm in southeastern Ohio that once belonged to Nick’s grandfather. As agriculture has moved away from small operations like the Nolans’ to the sprawling industrial farms that dominate today, the dairy industry, in particular, has been decimated by consolidation. In 2001, Celeste and Nick moved to the farm to raise their kids. They hobby-farmed for a few years, but when Nick lost his job they began farming full-time, turning to cheesemaking to sustain the operation.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Historic heat in Burgundy (Bloomberg): Grapes are ripening faster in France’s vineyards than they have since the 14th century, disrupting traditional harvesting schedules.
Monsanto faces wave of lawsuits in Hawaii (Honolulu Civil Beat): Dozens of lawsuits, potentially worth tens of millions of dollars in damages, are in the works in Hawaii targeting Monsanto Co. and its weedkiller Roundup.
Lobbying for cell-based meat (Politico): Five companies working on growing meat, poultry, and seafood products from animal cells have formed a coalition — the Alliance for Meat, Poultry & Seafood Innovation — to represent the industry’s interests.


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Maybe Its not as earthshaking as people think It is.
"It" the unknown invention thats the subject of a proposed book from Harvard Business School Press in 2002 has spurred wild speculation, from the Net to national talk shows, in recent days.
Inspired by sound-bite-sized endorsements from such forward-thinking folk as Apples Steve Jobs and Amazons Jeff Bezos its "so revolutionary youll have no problem selling it," Bezos is quoted as saying pundits have imagined everything from personal flying machines to superfast scooters.
The inventor, millionaire Dean Kamen, 49, of Manchester, N.H., had avoided public comment. But in a statement posted Friday on the Web site of his firm, DEKA Research (www.dekaresearch.com), Kamen asked the world to cool its metaphoric jets, decrying the "unfortunate, unapproved leak" of his book proposal.
Whether Kamens protestations will quiet the buzz remains to be seen.
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What if your farm could capture carbon with little or no change in your practices? That’s the goal of Andes, a California startup that has created a package of microorganisms designed to capture and hold carbon in the soil.
“We call it the Andes Carbon Program to make it easy,” said Gonzalo Fuenzalida, co-founder and CEO. “The actual product we’re selling is carbon removals.”
The company has developed a package of microorganisms that can be used as a seed treatment for soybeans, for example, or it can be placed in the planting furrow of other crops. This one-time application is all that is needed to increase the carbon capture of the farm. Microorganisms do the work, taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and holding it in the soil.
The simple act of treating a seed or using an in-furrow application is what distinguishes the Andes Carbon Program – that, and the fact that the company pays farmers upfront for carbon capture.
Fuenzalida says that the company has developed accredited methods to measure the impact of its product use, measure the carbon obtained and sell the carbon removals to willing buyers. And, he said, many well-known brands are on the market looking for proven carbon removal.
By 2022, the company has contracted 25 farmers on about 25,000 hectares for the program. Farmers are paid for the acres enrolled but must allow the company to take real soil samples. By 2023, the program expands to 50,000 acres in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Challenge and opportunity
Kaitlyn Baab, vice president of operations, says the 50,000 acres contracted for 2023 means the company has met its goal. “We are oversubscribed,” he said. “We use word of mouth and referrals to sign up farmers.” While there is an incentive for farmers to provide valid referrals to the company for several hectares, there is no chance to sign up for 2023.
And why the interest? That’s an important upfront payment. “The impact on farmers’ net income and, basically, a farmer’s growing season is significant,” Fuenzalida said. “For example, in North Dakota, the average soybean income is $60 per acre. If we add a minimum of $10 per acre, that means an increase of 16% in net income. For a technology service or program that has effect in the same year is remarkable.”
That per-acre fee is paid up front, and all the farmer has to do is use the company’s free microorganism package — no need to add practices to capture carbon.
Another difference is the product offered by Andes. “The product we offer is different from what’s out there because of the high permanent component,” Fuenzalida said.
That permanence comes because microorganisms capture the carbon in mineral form, locking it in for years. In the carbon market, two main factors are incrementality and permanence. Fuenzalida explained that the permanence of the mineral form of carbon is becoming more popular with large customers who buy carbon-credits.
“It is difficult to predict how long carbon captured in organic form will last in the soil,” he added.
Permanent and price
Fuenzalida says that high-permanence carbon removals are now mostly focused on direct carbon capture using intensive technology to remove CO.2 from the air. Those carbon removals cost buyers up to $1,000 per carbon removal.
“We are targeting that, within 18 months, we will be below $100 per carbon removal, and that will be amazing for buyers. For the first time they will see high permanence at a lower price point,” he added. . “What we’re doing is opening up this opportunity for farmers to use this carbon opportunity.”
The most suitable soils are those with a relatively neutral pH and good rainfall. “And those are the ideal conditions for it [carbon] mineral that will remain in that form for thousands of years,” he said.
In addition, the company’s goal is to make the opportunity available for farmers of all sizes, instead of concentrating on only a few large farmers.
“One of the challenges we are working on is how we are fair in the process of selecting farmers,” Fuenzalida said. “We don’t want to work only with the largest number of farmers because that would give an unfair advantage to the community of that particular farmer.”
Baab said the program can be used with corn, soybeans and wheat, and they are working on adding canola in 2023. You can learn more at andes.bio.