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Entrepreneur and inventor from Moscow Artashes Ikonomov defended the right for the patented device “Mobile phone emergency”. To invalidate the registration of a patent null and void, demanded the Russian representation Apple, but patent office and the intellectual property rights Court sided Ikonomova. In addition, the patent on it (or on its full namesake) was more than 30 patents.
Capital businessman with Armenian roots Artashes Ikonomov won a lawsuit to preserve his patent on the device “Mobile phone with emergency contact” (patent number 141791, the application number – 2013155551). In this case it was made by a third party and the plaintiff was the Russian “daughter” Apple – LLC “Apple Rus”.
According to the record of the Court for intellectual property rights (SIP), Apple filed a lawsuit against Ikonomova 8 Nov 2019, the court took the side of the businessman 10 Jun 2020 case Number – SIP-931/2019. According to the record of the court, direct the defendant in this case has not been appointed.
The Apple of discord
Device “Mobile phone emergency” developed by Ikonomova, is a literally mobile phone. It allows you to contact the emergency services and other subscribers even if there is no SIM card or mobile account has a negative balance.
Ikonomov received a patent for this invention in 2013, the description says that the mobile phone using the communication module sends a SMS message or email to a pre-specified number or address, which specifies the coordinates of the current location of the device. With this module, the gadget makes a call to the required emergency services. The image of the device in the patent application no.
What’s not to like Apple
Russian representation Apple is confident that Ikonomovo issued seven years ago, the patent should be declared invalid. She has addressed in Rospatent with the objections, noting that patented by Ikonomovi device can’t meet the criterion of “novelty.”
As evidence of his point of view “eppl Rus” gave the Rospatent information from three patents registered in the USA and describes a device with the same, according to the company, features of what has “Mobile phone with an emergency contact.” All three patents were registered in 2012.
Image from Ikonomova patent that describes a mobile phone with emergency
According to “RIA Novosti”, Rospatent rejected the objection of the Russian “daughter” of Apple. The argument of Department was that each of the granted U.S. patents did not contain the elements proposed and described by the Russian inventor.
To request CNews about further details relating to the patent dispute, Artashes Ikonomov at the time of publication of the material could not answer.
How was the case
The claim “eppl Rus” was transferred to CIP November 8, 2019, and five days later it was accepted for production. He Ikonomov was involved as a third party on 3 December 2019.
Subsequently, the proceedings in court had been postponed three times – January 23, February 20 and may 14, 2020 a Verdict in favor Ikonomova was delivered on 10 June 2020
Apple attempted to challenge the registration of a patent, a Moscow businessman and before applying to CIP. In particular, in July 2019, the company had lost a lawsuit on the maintenance of the patent in Chamber on patent disputes of Rospatent. About this on its website said legal Agency “Your patent”, which in this case represented the defendant.
Business Ikonomova in Russia
Artashes V. Ikonomov is a Russian businessman, born, according to his personal page in Facebook, in Yerevan (Armenia) and currently residing in London (UK). According to the “Circuit-focus”, in the period from 2003 to 2009 he or his namesake was registered in Moscow and the Amur region, a total of six LTD with registered Fund of 10 thousand rubles to 16.7 thousand RUB Only one of them (“Media Brock”) in varying degrees had to do it (kind of activity – retail trade through TV shops and computer networks (e-trade including Internet). All six companies at the time of publication of the material was eliminated.
As stated in the “Contour focus”, Ikonomov three registered IP in 2004 and 2009 (liquidated, the main activity is letting of own real estate and trade), and January 25, 2019 (there was in Moscow).
The current UI Ikonomova six activities: leasing intellectual property and similar products, except copyright; the development of computer software; activities related to using of computers and information technology; rental and management of own or leased real estate; Agency activities of real estate on a fee or contract basis, as well as activities in the field of artistic creativity. As of June 10, 2020, the net loss of its IP amounted to 331 thousand.
In addition to the patent on “a Mobile phone with emergency contact” at the full namesake of Artashes V. Ikonomova is, according to the Google patents “Yandex”, more than 30 patents issued in the period from 2010 to 2017. Most of them he received in 2013 and 2014, and among them are, for example, “a Method for authentication of goods or services” (patent number 2643503) and the “Device identification” (139246).
© 2020, paradox. All rights reserved.


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Popular torrents website, Extratorrent.cc has shut down permanently, here are top three alternatives
Updated (17th May) : Today’s news confirmed our worst fears! ExtraTorrent has shut down permanently.
The second most popular torrent website, Extratorrent is down since past four hours. Visitors opening Extratorrent.cc get a CloudFlare 504 error message which means that there is hosting related error at the Extratorrent end.
Extratorrent going down with hosting related issues is rare. Its main rival and the number one torrent website in the world, The Pirate Bay suffers such hosting related issues almost every month. This is the first time in 2017 that we are reporting a hosting related issue with Extratorrent and we hope that it is not serious considering the fact that torrent and movie streaming websites are shutting down like nine pins. Only last week, another popular movie streaming website, Coke & Popcorn decided to shut shop presumably under pressure from the anti-piracy media groups.
The website tracking website, It Is Currently Down shows that Extratorrent is down for nearly six hours.
We are reaching out to Extratorrent admin to know the real issue behind the outage and the probable time by which Extratorrent will be up and running again. Torrent downloader who do not wish to wait until such time can use the following three torrent website alternatives in the meantime.
ThePirateBay: The first in our list is perhaps the most popular torrent download website right now. The Pirate Bay with its powerful search of torrents content giving it more reason to be chosen as an alternative to Extratorrent.cc.
YTS aka YIFY.ag : YTS.ag is not the original YTS or YIFY website but a good clone. After the demise of original YIFY/YTS this website took its place and since it has gained lots of popularity with its unique style website look.
RARBG : RarBG gained quick popularity and provides torrent files and magnet links to facilitate p2p file sharing. The site has been blocked by UK, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Portugal and several other countries.

domain: news


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Mario and friends are teaming with Ubisoft’s Rabbids for a new game coming to the Switch.
The long-gestating sequel will follow up the 2003 original.
This epic Mario platformer will be coming October 27, 2017.
Check out our live coverage of Nintendo’s E3 2017 Press Conference starting Tuesday, June 13, at 9AM PT/12PM ET.
The PS4 Pro may get a lot cheaper after Sony’s E3 2017 presentation.
Ubisoft’s “The Crew 2” promises rally cars, dirt bikes, monster trucks, speedboats and even planes.


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BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s marketplace regulator on Tuesday posted draft policies aimed at avoiding monopolistic actions by world-wide-web platforms, in a go that will boost scrutiny on the country’s e-commerce marketplaces and payment companies.
China’s Point out Administration for Industry Regulation (SAMR), which issued the draft, mentioned it preferred to protect against platforms from dominating the sector or from adopting strategies aimed at blocking fair level of competition.
The definitions it supplied for world-wide-web platforms mean the new guidelines could utilize to e-commerce internet sites, these as Alibaba Group’s Taobao and Tmall marketplaces or JD.com <9618.HK>
The draft guidelines would also take into consideration whether a transaction treats distinct clients in distinct techniques primarily based on major info, payment potential, consumption preferences, and use behavior, according to the assertion from SAMR.
They appear after China’s Monetary Balance and Progress Committee, a cabinet-degree system headed by Vice Premier Liu He, very last month flagged the require to increase mechanisms to guarantee fair competitiveness and referred to as for the strengthening of anti-monopoly law enforcement.
The shift also comes soon after the shock suspension final week of the planned $37 billion share market place listing of Ant Group, not prolonged following regulators warned the firm its worthwhile online lending small business confronted tighter federal government scrutiny.
The draft principles issued on Tuesday would search to avert e-commerce procedures these as “decide on a single among two”, underneath which a market restricts models from advertising on many platforms.
A range of rivals and retailers have accused tech huge Alibaba Corp
SAMR is looking for testimonials and feedback from the community towards the draft regulations right until Nov. 30.
(Reporting by Sophie Yu, Cheng Leng and Brenda Goh editing by Richard Pullin)


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Kolkat: Craft Coffee recently opened one more café and experience centre in Kolkata, this time in Salt Lake, in the eastern neighbourhood of the city.
Kolkata/NITN: Restaurants in Kolkata are vying with each other to bring out the most spooky menus this Halloween and we have put them together for you.
Kolkata/NITN: Here’s a round-up of how restaurants in Kolkata are rolling out a mix of music, fun and food themed on Halloween, the popular festival which is said to have began a ...
This is one of those places where one can walk in dressed in casuals; tousled hair and overflowing shopping bags. It welcomes you with its warmth, and makes you feel comfortable as soo ...
Kolkata/NITN: In this second part of our series on where to eat out in Kolkata during Durga Puja, we bring you another long list of cafes, bars and restaurants to choose from. We have ...
Dubai: Tomorrowland, one of the most iconic music festivals in the world, is set to open Terra Solis Dubai, a brand-new unique desert destination.
Supriyo Hazra takes you on a merry-go-round of some of Sri Lanka's luxury properties spanning across its iconic beaches, hills, rocks, tea plantations and plains
- Hanuwantiya Jal Mahotsav of Madhya Pradesh to begin on November 28
- Kerala: Soothing Invasion
- Craft Coffee Experience Centre opens in Kolkata's Salt Lake area, introduces vegan handcrafted chocolates
- Four Instagram-worthy holiday options in the USA
- Go solo, woman, see the world
- A taste of Delhi street cuisine for Kolkatans as Kasan- Flavours of India hosts food festival
Qantas, the national airline of Australia, created history on Sep 14 when QF 67 took off from Sydney’s Kingsford International Airport to touch Bengaluru, the southern Indian city famously known as ‘The Silicon Valley of The East’, completing the non-stop flight in less than twelve hours.
Bengaluru: Hong Kong’s home airline will start twice-a-week direct flights from Bengaluru to Hong Kong and beyond from Oct. 11.
New Delhi: Indian Hospitality enterprise OYO on Monday announced reduced prices on stays with tariffs which now begin at Rs 399 for the period between Aug. 8 and Aug. 21.


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Today, I spent my afternoon in an amphitheater next to Tokyo Disneyland to watch Line’s annual conference. Line is one of the most prominent tech companies in Japan, with a chat app that virtually everyone here uses and which offers various adjacent services, from gaming to ride-hailing to personal finance.
Line’s international push didn’t really work out beyond high-profile stores selling merchandise of its cute mascot characters — another one just opened on Hollywood Blvd — and now the company is focusing on its core markets of Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Thailand. As you’ll see from today’s announcements, the advantage of that approach is that the services can be far more meaningful in their potential for actual real-world usage,…
from The Verge – All Posts https://ift.tt/2ZOpyU4


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A Harrogate leadership business is on course for its best financial year to date, thanks to the growing demand for better business leaders.
Quarterdeck, providers of high level, effective leadership training has secured contracts with the likes of ASDA, B.Braun, Co-op and JCT600 over the past year. The boost in big name brands has seen the company record an incredible 414 per cent growth in the last three years.
With a recent survey from the EEF revealing leadership and management skills need major improvement to tackle the UK’s ongoing productivity challenge, Quarterdeck’s ongoing increase in delegate bookings makes for continued optimism.
Laura Bouttell, MD at Quarterdeck, said: “There’s long been a link between improved leadership and effectiveness in business so it’s great to see businesses are tackling productivity issues by investing in their people.
“We have had a great year in 2017 and 2018 looks to be significantly better. We’re creating fantastic working partnerships with some amazing people from forward looking businesses: Co-op, Beijer Ref, Hermes to name just a few.”
Recently rebranded, Quarterdeck provides high level, effective leadership training with clients including Pendragon, NHS and Investec as well as many SMEs and smaller partnerships.
The Harrogate company has bold plans for 2018 including the launch of a brand-new way of delivering leadership training and a leadership programme that includes health and fitness.
The Masterclass Series has a unique approach – unlike other training programmes, once a company buys a seat anyone can attend, rather than being restricted to a single person.


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Apple has issued a press release to announce the fact that it has sold two million iPads since the US launch of its new tablet computer back in early April.
So much for a 'niche' product!
TechRadar was on hand to witness the scenes of consumers queuing up overnight for the UK launch at Apple's flagship Regent Street store late last month.
Healthy launch sales
Healthy first weekend sales of the iPad in the UK and elsewhere across the world in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland has now nudged the sales total over the two million mark.
Apple has given no geographical breakdown of the two million sold to date. The company had previously announced that it had sold one million iPads in the US in the first month since launch on April 3.
Apple's next international launch of the iPad in July will see the tablet device go on sale in nine more countries including Mexico, Austria and Ireland.


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New Delhi: The anticipated trend for digital payments seems to be setting in with records showing 300 million monthly transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Finance Ministry officials on Monday said that the country will very soon see digital payment as a norm for money transactions.
“Digitalisation of payments in India is marching ahead with gusto. With a base of 100 million Indians connected with digital payment ecosystem rising at a fast clip, India will soon be a digital payment society,” Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Monday said in a tweet.
UPI was launched in 2016 as a real-time bank-to-bank payment system on the mobile platform with registrations of 312.02 million transactions in August which is 235.65 million transactions in July, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said on Saturday.
Talking about the value of money transferred through India’s flagship payments platform went upward to 18 percent of about Rs. 54,212.26 crore in August from Rs. 45.845.64 crore in July, said the NPCI, which played a vital role in the development of the platform, in its monthly update briefing on UPI.
The data is not at all related to the transactions done through debit or credit card with the same account for the month of August, it said. The agency has issued a directive with regard to the stoppage of transactions from different UPI applications with debit and credit being done with the same account from August 1 onwards to prevent artificial transactions by fintech companies to increase UPI numbers.
According to Financial Services Secretary Rajeev Kumar, the increase in digital transactions reflects the changing trends among consumers and also wider adoption of the technology in society.
“Digital India making deep inroads into consumer behavior. BHIM UPI txns show increasing user adoption month on month. Aug ’18 txn count/value up by 32.7% & 18% over July ’18. Building a less-cash and financially-inclusive economy,” Mr. Kumar tweeted.
Within a year, the total number of banks related to UPI has gone up from 55 in August 2017 to 114 in August 2018. Year after year, the total volume of transactions rose up to 19 times from 16.6 million in August 2017 to 312 million last month, the NPCI data revealed.
To make UPI more appealing for its users, NPCI, which is actually owned by a consortium of major banks, launched UPI 2.0 last month that permits banks to introduce more facilities like the linking of customer’s overdraft account with UPI and the facility of checking invoice before payment.


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Blockchain startup XDC Network secures $50M from LDA Capital
XDC Network will use the funds to accelerate the expansion and development of Layer 2 projects across the ecosystem and to facilitate network adoption and real-world utility.
Enterprise-grade blockchain startupon Monday announced that it has secured $50 million from LDA Capital.
The founders of the XDC Network have leveraged a portion of their personal token allocations to secure the $50 million to accelerate the expansion and development of Layer 2 projects across the ecosystem and to facilitate network adoption and real-world utility.
The enterprise grade startup was launched in 2019 by Atul Khekade and Ritesh Kakdad.
It offers services like DEXs, Metaverses, NFT marketplaces, oracles, decentralised email providers and cloud storage, payment dApps, legal document repositories, and tokenised real-world assets. The also offers decentralised network products to global financial institutions, retail users, and entrepreneurs.
XDC Network intends to accelerate growth with LDA’s support.
Atul Khekade, Co-founder, XDC Network, said: “Though there have been many institutional funds eager to participate in the XDC Network over the years, we’ve always looked for genuine strategic partners, not just funders. We looked for those who can actively and strategically advance the ecosystem, while bringing utility to the network, and make XDC the preferred Layer 1 for institutions the world over–in LDA, we’ve found such a partner.”
Edited by Teja Lele


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apan’s Sumitomo Group will participate in the e-commerce business in Vietnam, according to the daily Nikkei.
The group has already bought a 30 percent of stake of a Ho Chi Minh City-based company specialising in online stationery and garment trading services as a start for its penetration into the Vietnamese market.
In the initial stage, Sumitomo will provide food, cosmetics and household utensils to serve the demand of young customers who love Japanese products.
At present, its Vietnamese associate is capable of supply about 40,000 items and the figure is expected to increase to 100,000 items by 2015.
As a leading Japanese group on online business, Sumitomo expanded its operation to China in 2011 and Indonesia one year later. It has set up an affiliate in Malaysia, which is scheduled to become operational in December this year.-VNA


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December update and insights about new startups:
India became second last month as the country with the highest count of new Startups, right below the United States. India’s average position for the year has been fourth, it came up to third in February and between June to August, but only reached second for the first time this past month.
Top 5 Us states remained steady this month and were consistent with their yearly averages.
New startups creation stages remained steady and in line with the rest of the year, with 13.1% in Concept Stage, 43.2% in Development Stage, 34.5% in Product Ready Stage and 9.2% in Revenue Stage. The trend noticed last month of Product Ready companies declining appears to have dissipated as all stages regained their balance.
Industry wise, interesting things are happening, the percentage of total Internet Web Service companies (the biggest industry for new startups) appears to be on the decline, with a market share loss of 1.8% in December when compared with November (from 15% to 12.2% respectively).


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ISLAMABAD: The federal government has placed an embargo on the import of over 470 second-hand electronic products, parts and accessories. However, the import of used computers and related accessories has been permitted. A formal notification has already been issued in this regard and has come into effect from December 24, 2018. The government has imposed customs duty between 3% and 20% on the import of products placed in the restricted list. As per the notification released by the Ministry of Commerce, an amendment has been made in the import policy 2016 upon which a new serial has been included in the Annexure C by amending the SRO. All used machinery and products with the PCT codes included in the new serial will be banned from imports, including novice frequency telegraphy, base stations, microphones, VCR, laser video disc players, CDs, DVDs and single loudspeakers among other items.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2019.


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Redmond rumoured to be considering a bid for the up for sale cloud services vendor.
This ARN Roundtable explained how the channel can capitalise on increased end-user agitation.
After the latest incident of improper certificate issuance, search giant loses confidence in the world's largest certificate authority.
Redmond delays release of its tools for connecting other services to the Cortana virtual assistant, a decision that could cause it to lose ground.
IoT decision makers are putting a high priority on open standards for data and connectivity and on open source software standards.
- Broadband connections get timely turnaround treatment
- Accenture launches Liquid Studio in Sydney for innovation push
- Leaked iCloud credentials obtained from third parties, Apple says
- Dimension Data wins $4.8M IT deal from the Department of Social Services
- Intel merges AI operations into a new unit
- Melbourne cloud migration specialist to acquire WA's Cirralto Business Services
- Major Govt IT panels get passed over to the DTA
- Microsoft is playing Windows hardball
- Hutchison sees 2016 revenues dip
- HPE unveils a new SimpliVity appliance
- Is hybrid IT the new normal in the enterprise?
- Qld Health hails IT contractors for middleware replacement
- Hackers threaten to wipe millions of Apple devices, demand ransom
- IT firms ‘exploiting 457 visa system’ to displace local workers: ITPA
Andrew Thomas returns to tap into a surge in big data analytics spending across Australia.
Automation and templates allow staff to build apps not manage firewalls
Admiring cognitive capabilities from afar is one thing, but building tangible business strategies to maximise an emerging market is another.
How one AWS ISV partner built a customer base by going against the grain.
If you're looking for smartphone basics without busting the budget, this one may be just right
Beware the “exploit kit infection chain,” Cisco researcher warns at SecureWorld Boston
How we got from punch cards to flash storage, the internet and smartphones
With the next version of Windows almost here, it's time to look at what may be in store for operating systems in the future
WInnForum CBRS workshop taking place at International Wireless Communications Expo
CraftWorks Restaurants and Breweries uses ArrowStream’s OnDemand software to monitor all aspects of the supply chain for its restaurants, helping it reduce food costs
Not just purview of big telcos, 3.5 GHz shared spectrum also will enable cable providers, industrial companies to roll out LTE services, CBRS Alliance chairman ...
Microsoft is about to release a major update to Windows 10. We have a preview of what you can expect.
Explainer on the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) shared spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band


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On 11th of January a woman made a call to Cape Coral Police for filing a report of her rented house burglary. She said to the police that “I was sleeping when unidentified persons burglarized my home and took away computer, credit card and kindle fire table”.
On the other hand, on 16th of January Cape Coral Police responded to 4928 Viceroy Court and arrested both criminal who shot an occupant. It further said that we have recovered a kindle fire table, notebook and a credit card from the shooters. These leads were matched with the 11th January burglary and victim recovered all the items that had been stolen from her home. She said to the police that “her credit card had been misused by the culprits and it was supposed to be used to CVS, Hess and 7Eleven stores.
Upon hearing this, police had contacted the stores and collected all surveillance videos from the store owners. Besides, it was confirmed from the collected videos that the culprit had used her credit card for shopping purpose and his identity was unknown to the police. When the pictures of arrested person were shown to people, they identified him with his pet name as “Paesan”.
To get his identity, police had released his photos to media, SWFL Crime stoppers and CapeCops.com to receive some tips. Later an anonymous tip was received that identified “Paesan” the 26 years old as Robert John Neglio of Cape Coral. And on March 27th 2012, Detective Nick Jones interrogated him about the crimes which Robert John Neglio subsequently confessed.
He was booked under the charge of Credit Card Fraud, Criminal Use of Personal Information and Grand theft. He is imprisoned now in the Lee County Jail.
Last but not the least, Lieutenant Tony Sizemore said that “we solved this serious case with the help of our community members and we are really lucky that whenever we demand for identification of any culprit, people come forward to help us”.


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Snap Surges as Earnings Beat Expectations, Users Continue to Climb
Tami Abdollah is dot.LA's senior technology reporter. She was previously a national security and cybersecurity reporter for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. She's been a reporter for the AP in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times and for L.A.'s NPR affiliate KPCC. Abdollah spent nearly a year in Iraq as a U.S. government contractor. A native Angeleno, she's traveled the world on $5 a day, taught trad climbing safety classes and is an avid mountaineer. Follow her on Twitter.
Snap Inc. beat analyst expectations Tuesday when it reported earnings for the first quarter of 2020, seeing its stock surge 17% in after-hours trading.
The social media and self-described camera company saw its revenue increase 44% year-over-year to $462 million amid the economic recession caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Santa Monica-based company also saw daily active user growth increase by 20% year-over-year, or by 39 million, with 229 million users.
"We are seeing sustained communication volumes on our service that eclipse the peaks we see during major holidays," said CEO and cofounder Evan Spiegel during Tuesday's earnings call. "For example, communication with friends increased by over 30 percent in the last week of March compared to the last week of January, with more than a 50 percent increase in some of our larger markets. Snapchat has always been focused on helping people build and maintain their friendships, which is especially critical as people practice physical distancing and shelter in their homes."
Snap's last reported earnings and forward-looking estimates were in February before most countries outside of China had been hit by COVID-19. The move into economic recession has been especially challenging for Snap's advertising partners, which has impacted the company's growth rate, the company said. While year-over-year growth was roughly 58% in January and February, it declined to about 25% in March. In North America, revenue grew 40% year-over-year in Q1, a small drop from 42% in the prior quarter.
Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO of Socialbakers, a social media marketing platform, said Snap's strong Q1 earnings are a pleasant surprise but warned that because COVID-19 hit late in Q1, "Snap is likely not to have seen such a great impact on its ad revenue. It will be Q2 when they feel the true impact on their business."
Ben-Itzhak noted that because Snap is not the primary method for brands with big ad budgets and is more experimental, the platform is more vulnerable to budget cuts than other social media platforms.
Because of the rapidly changing environment caused by the pandemic, the company's Chief Financial Officer Derek Andersen said it wouldn't share financial guidance for Q2 such as revenue or adjusted EBITDA guidance.
As people have turned to videoconferencing and live streaming, the company said it's seen 30 times the increase in daily downloads of their Snap Camera, a desktop app that allows people to add Lenses -- Snap's augmented reality additions -- to video services they are using.
Snap has launched new products and features specifically in response to COVID-19, including what it says is its first-ever fundraising AR Lens to drive donations from 33 countries to the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The effort uses its Scan camera search technology to recognize 23 currency notes and to trigger different lenses per currency to visually show money being "raised" and transformed into the three pillars of the fund, namely, the image of a hospital for patient care; a mask for medical supplies; and beakers that represent research and development.
Snap also added a new feature called "Here For You" that provides proactive in-app support to users who may be experiencing a mental health or emotional crisis, or want to learn more to help friends, Spiegel said. The company has also published more than 700 Discover editions with coverage on COVID-19 developments from content partners, in-house news teams and agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO.
Snap benefited from users engaging more with its "Discover" content, which includes various Hollywood content partners and brand marketers -- as overall ad revenue has dropped elsewhere. Users watching Discover content increased more than 35% year over year. It has also added new original content like the docuseries Nikita Unfiltered.
Spiegel said the company has seen a "sharp increase" in group-related activities like chat and games. The company launched five new games in Q1, and saw average daily time spent playing games more than double in March -- as the pandemic forced people to stay in their homes.
The company still has a negative free cash flow of $5 million, though it improved by $73 million.
Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.
The Los Angeles City Council capped service charges third-party delivery services like Postmates, Grubhub, Uber Eats can pass on to restaurants at 15% of the purchase price during the pandemic following similar moves in San Francisco, Seattle and other major cities.
Restaurants have long complained about charges from the popular apps as high as 30% are eating away at their business, and those worries have grown during the pandemic, as owners find themselves relying more heavily on the services.
- Countywide, Bars, Gyms and Theaters Close, Restaurants Move to ... ›
- COVID-19 crisis sparks 'inflection point' for online grocery — and ... ›
RealNetworks is releasing a browser extension that automatically identifies celebrities and other public figures in YouTube and Netflix videos, using the same facial recognition technology that the company originally developed for use with live surveillance video at schools, casinos and airports."StarSearch by Real" doubles as a video navigation tool, pinpointing the places the celebs appear in the videos, and letting users quickly jump to those spots.
Venture capital has fueled billions of dollars in wealth but it has largely excluded black Americans. Only 1% of venture-funded startup founders are black and more than 80% of venture firms don't have a single black investor.
Blck VC, a group of young black investors and entrepreneurs are calling on the venture capitalist community to diversify their ranks and support the black community. Declaring Thursday, June 4th, a day of action, the group launched a campaign called "We Won't Wait."


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ARLINGTON, Va. — The NACDS Retail Advisory Board’s Market Immersion series resembles a microcosm of the NACDS Total Store Expo, in that the topics discussed emphasize the interrelationships of virtually every aspect of the business. The NACDS Retail Advisory Board, which includes NACDS associate and chain members, advises the NACDS board of directors primarily on
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — As it marks 85 years of representing traditional drug stores, supermarkets and mass merchants with pharmacies and supplier partners, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores is looking forward — as it demonstrated during its 2018 NACDS Regional Chain Conference here earlier this month. One of the keynote speakers during the
When it comes to addressing front-end topics beyond the pharmacy, I could argue that many other words prove more effective than “conference” in describing the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Total Store Expo (TSE). For example, the word “conversation” comes to mind — conversation of the high-caliber, high-quality, highly collaborative and highly constructive kind.
A successful trade association reflects the membership. That is certainly the case with National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ programming related to innovation and technology utilization at retail. The NACDS Total Store Expo highlights the state of the industry as well as the direction of the industry — because the industry itself is NACDS’ guide.


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According to European market sources, the EU is expected to lower import tariffs on brown rice in March. This comes after the lower rate of imports due to the finalization of Brexit, UK’s departure from the European Union, at the end of 2020.
The EU Commission reviews brown rice imports twice a year, during March and September, under the current system. Import tariffs are set at either EUR 30/mt., EUR 42.50/mt., or at EUR 65/mt., depending on the import rate.
As an example, if brown rice imports are lower than 191.113 mt., the tariff will be positioned at the lowest rate. On the other hand, if imports go as high as 258.565 mt., the Commission will set the tariff at the highest rate. If the imports are around the middle, the tariff will be set at EUR 42.50/mt.
According to the EU Commission data, brown rice imports (excluding Basmati rice) from September 1 to February 9 only amounted to 136.448 mt, far below the 191.113 mt. threshold. The UK had been EU’s largest rice importer, accounting for about 23% of the Customs Union imports during the fire four months of 2020-2021.
As a result of Brexit, the EU will only include UK brown rice imports up until December 21, and will only include EU27 imports in January to February when discussing the brown rice tariff calculation.
Amid this, speculations regarding the Commission’s reduction of the threshold by using a historical average of UK brown rice imports began to rise. In response, a spokesperson from the Federation of European Rice Millers (FERM) assured that it would not be the case and the thresholds will remain unchanged for the tariff review.
The FERM spokesperson stated, “We will be heading for a change and most probably… EUR 30/mt.” Several European participants also share the same view and had expected tariff to be lowered at around EUR 42.50/mt.
From the Commission’s data during the September review, EU imports at the beginning of 2020-21 kept up with the data during 2019-20, however, the pace slowed down by December due to the impact of the global container shortage.
Up until February 7, brown rice imports (including Basmati), was as low as 13% year on year. Reductions were also recorder for broken rice, milled, and semi-milled rice. It’s been noted that the divergence from the previous year’s totals are due to importers struggling to acquire containers to ship cargo from Asia.
Container freight costs from Myanmar, Thailand, and other Asian origins have quadrupled in the last six months, as reported by European participants. The fees have gone from USD 1,000/TEU USD 4,000/TEU as a result of shipping lines withdrawing ships from their roster.
Major EU buyers are steadily considering breakbulk shipments to make up for the loss. Recently, a bulk shipment trade of 12,000 mt of Argentine 5% broken brown rice has been reported. Additionally, another EU buyer has stated that it was going to source a 10,000 mt breakbulk shipment of Myanmar rice for Europe.
Sources have mentioned that the last-minute bulk shipments at EU ports could change the course of tariff import rates to a higher one. However, it is highly likely that the EU will reduce its import tariff beginning March.


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July 6, 2010 |
NEW DELHI: Italian home appliance brand Elica, the world's largest chimney manufacturer, is all set for an India launch. The 350 million Euro brand will be spending 5 million euros in the next three years on establishing an India footprint that includes setting up a manufacturing plant in Pune. "India is a very important emerging market of the future for us. We will set up a plant in Pune and will look at getting a 20% market share in the next one year," Francesco Casoli , chairman, Elica spa told ET. "This country has a population of 1.2 billion where 3,50,000 chimneys sell every year.
March 26, 2012 |
FARIDABAD: Faridabad is witnessing a steep growth in the industry owing to the presence of - some of the biggest players - Escorts, ACE, JCB, and OME. These companies form a part of the select 13 companies that manufacture cranes in the country. Adoption of the latest technologies has helped the industry post impressive growth rate. According to SK Goel, president, Faridabad Industrial Association (FIA), growth of these companies has added to the growth of the whole industry and motivated smaller players like Indo farm, Terex in the city.
October 12, 2006 |
MUMBAI: A number of manufacturing sectors like auto components, steel and even engineering companies claim that they can compete well with China and Chinese companies. However, there is still one sector where India is unable to get its manufacturing act together. In hi-tech electronic manufacturing, India is lagging behind not only China, but even smaller countries like Malaysia and Singapore. While Taiwanese electronic manufacturing services companies have greater interest in India, they are still daunted by the challenges in the country.
January 11, 2006 |
NEW DELHI: GKN Driveline, an arm of UK-based auto component company GKN, plans to open a new manufacturing facility in India. The new facility will cater to the demand in the southern markets of India. Paul Dinwiddy, communication director, GKN, said: "While most OEMs in India are based in southern states, our facilities are mainly based in northern states and hence we might expand our manufacturing facility in the south. " He said the company aims to meet local demand through local manufacturing facilities.
November 17, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: Homegrown PC maker HCL Infosystems, which competes with multinational giants like HP and Dell , will phase-off its manufacturing business in the next few years to improve margins and increase organisational efficiency. The company will instead focus on strengthening the services and distribution verticals. "We will be stopping manufacturing. My distribution today does lot of distribution of PCs of multiple brands... We will be in PC distribution and in after sales services but will not manufacture HCL branded products some time in the future," HCL Infosystems CEO and Managing Director Harsh Chitale told PTI. On specific timeline, Chitale said the plan is underway but "manufacturing is not something that is keeping me awake , its not part of HCL story now".
February 9, 2011
MUMBAI: NIIT Technologies is looking to acquire assets in verticals such as healthcare, insurance and manufacturing, its Chief Executive Officer said on Wednesday. "Our priority is the fit... the size is not important," Arvind Thakur said on the sidelines of a NASSCOM summit here. The company has a cash balance of about 1.2 billion rupees, he said.
March 25, 2011 |
LONDON: Citing rush of western leaders to visit India , Lord Swaraj Paul has hit out at them for paying "obeisance" to manufacturing abroad while neglecting it at home. Lamenting decline of manufacturing in Britain, the NRI industrialist told the House of Lords yesterday that in the 30 years, its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has declined from 30 per cent to 11 per cent. Despite 400 per cent increase in the UK economy, Lord Paul said, "we have fewer than 2,000 factories employing more than 200 workers each".
January 30, 2002 |
new delhi: cosmetics company modi revlon said on wednesday that it will start manufacturing most of its products in india early next month via a wholly-owned subsidiary kamakhya cosmetics & pharmaceuticals. a 74:26 joint venture betweem modi mundi pharma and us major revlon, modi revlon has been outsourcing its range of products including skin care, hair care and colour cosmetics over the last six years and has decided to begin manufacturing these products after it achieved economies of scale.
April 24, 2004 |
HYDERABAD :Offshoring enterprise applications company Sierra Atlantic has announced the launch of a manufacturing centre of excellence (CoE) at its global development centre here, set up at an investment of $1.5 million. The centre will specialise in offshoring enterprise application management for discrete and process manufacturing companies and will have a strength of around 350, company officials said. "Our Manufacturing Centre of Excellence combines experts in manufacturing and enterprise application management, enabling us to provide complete life-cycle support", Mr Sanjay Khendri, Vice President of Sierra Atlantic, said in a press release, adding that manufacturing companies have unique business processes that can only be easily understood by professionals with direct experience in the field.
July 9, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: With an aim of boosting manufacturing and exports amid sharp fall in the rupee, the government today decided to take a slew of steps, including enhancing steel production capacity to 300 million tonnes and raising textile exports by 30 per cent this year. At a meeting of high level committee here, it was decided that push should be given to creation of domestic manufacturing capabilities, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying sustained growth in manufacturing is critical if the country has to grow at 8-9 per cent.


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Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University surveyed male Tinder users in the UK to find out about men's dating habits on the app
It's not all smartphone keys and in-room streaming services - these places have plenty of style too
'I would love one of them to be a painter or a poet and like wear scarves and walk around Paris like angsty,' says Fox
The controversial book describes itself as a 'textbook for picking up girls and getting laid'
Vehicles will travel 180 miles on a single charge
Companies will not be allowed to tell customers if their messages are being shared with police
South Korean grandmaster Lee Sedol is battling computer programme AlphaGo to test whether robots have advanced enough to out-smart humans at the board game
Children also wanted their parents to be more engaged during conversations
While EDF Energy's 'Pretty Curious' campaign is aimed at girls, the UK competition was later opened up to all 11 to 16-year-olds
'She came running downstairs grabbing her neck. She was in so much pain she was screaming hysterically'
Developments in robotics and artificial intelligence will create a workplace revolution unlike any other seen since the start of the industrial age, it is believed
Researchers exploring techniques which will allow viewers to sense 'raindrops' on their hands or wind on their face
Don't write off the tech giant yet. The company's 'Other Products' range, including its electric car, could step in to fill the iPhone sales gap
The top scoring cities offer an environment that “nurtures talent and an innovation-orientated economy”
Technologies created and sold by big business will be rolled out by Davos in place of real solutions to global inequality
Electronic piano, synthesiser, monitor and keyboard all pictured at man's table in coffee shop


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Thousands of people queued up in front of H&M on the opening day in Hanoi. Some young women said they waited half a day to become the first people to buy H&M products.
Long queues at the counters are often seen at Zara and H&M shops in Hanoi and HCMC. Vietnam is now among Zara’s top 5 global markets with the highest revenue.
After three years in HCMC, McDonald’s decided to enter the northern market. Again, on opening day, Hanoians stood in long queues.
Local newspapers reported that many young people queued from 6-7 am on the day 7-Eleven debuted in Vietnam so as to be recognized as the first customers checking in the shop.
In the entertainment industry, CJ CGV Vietnam, encouraged by the prosperity in large cities, has been expanding provincial markets. The Republic of Korea's investor plans to build 12-15 cinema complexes each year.
The most recent report shows that 148 international brands have been successfully franchised in Vietnam.
These include many food & beverage brands such as KFC, Lotteria, Jollibee, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, Popeye’s Chicken, Texas Chicken and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
Other well-known brands are about to come to Vietnam. Walmart is surveying the market before it officially opens supermarkets. And IKEA has confirmed its plan to come to Vietnam.
Vietnamese favor foreign goods
A representative of H&M said Vietnam is an important market for the fashion brand, ranking 68th globally and the fourth in South East Asia.
Statistics Portal, a German market analysis firm, predicted revenue in the Vietnam fashion industry in 2017 at US$358 million and CAGR at 22.5% in 2017-2022.
A survey by Nielsen showed that Vietnamese spending on clothes is the third priority after food and savings. Vietnam ranks third in the world in the number of people fond of branded goods, just after China and India.
According to VN Franchising, the Vietnamese franchise market will see 20-25% growth rate in 2017. Foreign franchisers can see great opportunities in Vietnam reflected in Vietnamese increased spending, especially on food and beverages.
Meanwhile, a media company commented that the cinema industry also has great potential in Vietnam. In developed countries, one person may see a film four times a year, while the figure is 0.2 in Vietnam.


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This article was first published on OntologyNetwork - Medium
Ontology Monthly Report — December 2020
As we reach the end of 2020, it has been another exciting month for Ontology . We released ONTO v3.6.5, and launched the Wing Inclusive Pool for credit-based lending. We are also happy to share that we are integrating the Ontology decentralized identity (DeID) solution into the blockchain-based e-voting system launched by Waves Enterprise. Our DeID can ensure that the identities and data of people who vote are not only protected, but verified. We also announced a partnership with Litentry, aiming to onboard 10,000 users to the DeID and OScore solutions.
Some of the highlights from December 2020 include:
- The signing of our MOU with Waves and Litentry
- The launch of Wing’s Inclusive Pool
- The launch of ONTO v3.6.5
- ONTO’s Special NFT Medal Campaign
- The “Gas Fee Airdrop” campaign with Binance Smart Chain
You can find more detailed updates below.
- Completed the update of governance contract port
- Optimized JSON-RPC performance in high concurrency scenarios...
To keep reading, please go to the original article at:
OntologyNetwork - Medium


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RICHMOND, Texas — It has been a rocky road for a lot of local businesses paralyzed by the pandemic. However, the community in Richmond has been serving up scoops of support to help a local ice cream shop stay afloat.
Back in March, business owner Kari Young wrote a post in the Katy/Fort Bend Foodies Facebook group, reading, in part, “As a new business owner I am terrified. We haven’t really seen a busy season as of yet. We are clearly going into uncharted waters here.”
In November 2019, Young and her family opened Over the Top Waffle Shoppe in Richmond. It’s located on Harlem Road just off 99.
“We are kind of sandwiched in between a lot of great communities here,” Young said.
Between the busy location and Texas’ hot summers, she figured her unique ice cream shop would be a success.
“As soon as spring break hits things are going to heat up around here and we are going to be slammed!” she told her employees.
But then COVID-19 hit, the schools closed, and her business stopped cold.
“After spring break, it was basically a ghost town here. That was probably the scariest," Young said.
It was a Monday when she made that Facebook post, “just in sheer panic of not knowing what to do.”
Young admits although she didn’t expect much, she was blown away.
“The following day we were so slammed. We had a line around both buildings. They would get up to the window and tell us that they waited an hour, sometimes an hour and a half!” she said.
A community dripping with support from people like John Wisbrock and his three young kids.
“We didn’t mind waiting about 20 minutes,” Wisbrock said. “We want local businesses to succeed, especially ones that we want to frequent, and I have a few people who like ice cream around me!”
Hundreds of others posted on Facebook, sharing pictures of the Young’s delicious looking creations. The support hasn’t stopped since.
“I don’t think the excitement, the gratitude, kicked in until we left that night, and I got in the truck and I realized, ‘Oh, my goodness...these people showed up for us,'" Young said.
For more information about Over the Top Waffle Shoppe, click here.


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Dixie Southern Vodka has come to South Florida. As the largest premium craft vodka produced in the Southeast and South Carolina’s biggest spirit brand, Charleston-based Dixie Vodka has added the Sunshine State as one of its biggest markets.
Until recently, sales were focused primarily on the northern part of the state. Due to popular demand from South Florida retailers, bars and restaurants, the brand is now prominent throughout the territory. Currently almost a third of brand sales within Florida are from the southern portion of the state, versus a mere 5% last year.
The 9th fastest-growing spirit brand in the U.S., Dixie’s core product, Southern Vodka is six-times distilled from All-American corn, 80-proof and is naturally gluten-free. Partnering with local farmers throughout the Southern region to highlight the best flavors around, Dixie Vodka comes in Wildflower Honey, Black Pepper, Peach, Mint, and Citrus.
A key component in the decision to expand in Florida is the brand’s recent and exciting citrus partnership with Lykes Bros. Inc., one of Florida’s most iconic growers. The Lykes family has been growing high-quality citrus in Florida since the late 1800s and began planting their current groves in the 1940s. The award-winning Dixie Citrus uses a special blend of all-natural citrus flavors and Valencia oranges grown on the Lykes Ranch.
Another connection to Florida is Dixie Vodka’s parent company, West Palm Beach-based Grain & Barrel Spirits. They are members of 1% For the Planet and have supported Charleston, South Carolina-based The Bee Cause Project since 2018. This initiative provides observation hives to educate the public on the importance of pollinators. This year, one of the hives funded by Grain & Barrel was set up in Green Cove Springs, Florida.
The move to South Florida has been incredible exposure for Dixie, as repeat sales and distribution have grown quickly. Retail outlets carrying the vodka include Big Daddy’s, Total Beverage and ABC. Key restaurant partnerships have emerged as well, including Bokamper’s Sports Bar & Grill, Grove Bay Group, Rocco‘s Tacos & Tequila Bar and a month-long takeover of the pop-up bar at Miami’s Time Out Market.
Expect to see more from this rapidly expanding spirit. Dixie Southern Vodka is making big moves and their parent company is pleased. As are fans of authentically-American, responsibly sourced, craft vodka across the Sunshine State.


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Although Samsung had announced bada 2.0 back in February during MWC 2011, it took them quite a long time to release it. But it seems Samsung has not forgotten about its little pet project as today we got news of Samsung making bada 2.0 live and also releasing the SDK to anyone willing to visit their website, register and download the 368KB file.
Among the list of changes in bada 2.0 include a new user interface, improved multi-tasking, support for OpenAL, NFC, speech-to-text and text-to-speech, Wi-Fi Direct, in-app ads, push notifications and HTML5. But then again, we already knew all that.
You can find out more about bada 2.0 by watching the video below or by clicking here. You can download the SDK here.


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AAFES bracing for post-Christmas rush
December 24, 2003
Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials are preparing for the rush of U.S. military base residents expected to flock to Pacific stores Friday for after-Christmas deals or holiday gift returns.
Base exchanges in Japan and South Korea are expected to offer individualized sales and expedited refund and exchange areas.
“We’re going to be setting up some rapid-refund desks so folks won’t have to stand in line so long,” AAFES regional spokeswoman Sgt. 1st Class Amanda Glenn said Monday from Okinawa.
Customers anticipating returns should have tags and receipts whenever possible, she said.
“We can do refunds without a receipt, but don’t cut the tags off,” she said.
Customers with receipts and tags still on returns will be able to exchange items or get refunds faster, she said.
Those with receipts will either receive a cash refund or credit-card credit.
Customers without receipts will generally receive “merchandise cards” equal in value to the sale price of returned items, acting general manager Ken Limtiaco of the Yokota Air Base, Japan, exchange said Monday.
The Yokota store will have “extra stations” for refunds and exchanges, but he expects most patrons will be looking for after-Christmas deals, he said.
Friday’s sales will “depend on what’s left over,” he said, adding holiday items likely will be on sale from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the store’s regular Friday business hours.
Other stores also will have “a large after-Christmas sale,” Glenn said.
Yongsan Garrison, South Korea, exchange acting store manager Gloria Cho said she expects her store will be very busy Friday.
“It’s always busy on the 26th,” she said. “All managers will be on stand-by to help move people as smoothly as possible.”
Like other stores, Yongsan will have additional refund and exchange areas set up as the store returns to its normal Friday hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., she said.
While sales are planned for Friday, AAFES officials were quick Monday to point out there’s still time to buy Christmas gifts.
Limtiaco said he hopes to entice patrons Christmas eve with unannounced specials throughout the day. His store will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
At Yongsan’s exchange, managers are planning their “Last Minute Santa Sale” from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and a Christmas Eve sale Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“Christmas Eve, we’ll have free gifts for the first 100 customers,” Cho said.


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After a tumultuous year at McDonald's, CEO Don Thompson is retiring. Chief Brand Officer Steve Easterbrook will take the helm.» Read More
Common mistakes people make with estate plans are easy to fix, but it's key to review or update documents regularly, say financial advisors.
There are several ways and reasons to tap retirement funds before age 59½, but advisors say loss of future gains might not be worth the cash today.
Retailers are more primed this year to capture Black Friday dollars than in shopping seasons past, Dana Telsey said.
Many remained without electricity Thursday night after a nor'easter dumped snow across the region.
It appears Twitter's social communications company’s CFO may have done it again, with a cryptic message: "No just limited.”
Rethink the airline beverage cart. Bartenders say it's easy for travelers to make a classier cocktail with mixers you can carry onto the plane.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level since September, while durable goods unexpectedly rose.
The pace of business activity in the U.S. Midwest slowed in November, a report showed on Wednesday.
Less than a month into Obamacare's second open-enrollment season, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell says "we're off to a solid start."
Airline stocks traded higher prior to the opening bell, benefiting from a sharp drop in oil prices.
GoPro is developing its own line of consumer drones with high-definition cameras for launch next year, the Wall Street Journal said.
Packing for the holidays will be stress-free with this bundle-packing trick, reports the Today Show.
Wal-Mart, Target, Macy's and Kohl's are among the stores leading the pack in terms of audience size across three big social media platforms.
Still figuring out your Black Friday battle plan? This road map of store openings can help.
SideChef, an app designed for amateur cooks, helps teach step-by-step recipe basics to would-be chefs.
More than 3.5 million people were supposed to fly this weekend, assuming their planes actually go anywhere.
You might need two carts to walk away with what may be this year's biggest Black Friday bargain: a 65-inch Vizio TV at Walmart for $648.
Bloomberg News said Uber would raise at least $1 billion in the new round from a variety of top-shelf investment firms.
The head of OPEC has denied that group’s members are playing a game of chicken with oil U.S. producers.
Get the best of CNBC in your inbox
A megamouth shark washed up on a beach in the Pacific, providing a rare glimpse of a mysterious animal. NBC News reports.
From zero to 60 miles per hour in just over three seconds. What could possibly go wrong?
The Web hosting giant, known for its risque ads, announced it would pull its Super Bowl puppy ad following backlash over it. NBC's TODAY reports.


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Tata Motors is planning to localise AMT kits for the Nano. The company is taking this step due to good response that has led to two months waiting period of the Nano AMT.
Currently, Tata Motors imports the automated manual transmission (AMT) from Magneti Marelli. The company claims that almost 40 per cent of the Nano’s overall sales come from the AMT version, leading to a high waiting period. While Tata Motors refused to give more information on this, one of the top honchos mentioned that this should happen during the next calendar year.
Localising the AMTs won’t just help the Nano but will also help the company in future, as they are planning to launch more models with this technology. AMT cars have been in demand since its introduction in the Indian car market. The Maruti Suzuki Celerio was the first one to get this and then the industry followed. Currently, the Alto K10, WagonR gets it along with the Tata Zest diesel. In fact, Mahindra recently launched the TUV300 with the AMT kit and plans to do the same with the facelifted Quanto. Renault is expected to launch the Kwid AMT at the 2016 Auto Expo.
Check out the on road price of the Tata Nano AMT here.


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BETHESDA, Md. (May 19, 2014) — The Auto Care Association and its Car Care Council have received a 2014 Communicator Award of Distinction and a Gold 2014 Hermes Creative Award for their “Independence Drives Us” rebranding video and “Explore an Auto Parts Store” video, respectively.
The rebranding video was released at the AAPEX show last November in Las Vegas to announce the rebranding of the
Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) into the Auto Care Association. The video also appeared on the association’s website. The Car Care Council’s virtual tour of an auto parts store appears on its consumer website.
The Communicator Award is sanctioned and judged by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, consisting of professionals from media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms.
The Hermes Creative Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals, consisting of marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, media production, Web and freelance professionals.
With the threat of more tariffs looming, how concerned are you about a trade war?
|Very. It could lead to another recession.||
37% (53 votes)
|It will be good for the U.S.||
19% (27 votes)
|It’s too early to tell.||
31% (44 votes)
|We have bigger problems than this.||
13% (19 votes)
|Total votes: 143|


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Abbott's diagnostic sales dampened by dollar in 1997
This article was originally published in Clinica
Sales in Abbott's hospital and laboratory sector rose 5% to just under $5 billion, with international sales hit by the strong dollar. US sales rose 6% to $1.9 billion, while international sales rose only 2% to $1.2 billion with the effects of the strong dollar driving sales down 9%.
You may also be interested in...
Under EU rules, once a medicinal product has been placed on the market in a country of the EEA – the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
Trademarks are registered and published for opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office and are published weekly in the agency's Official Gazette.
The national regulator is to undergo a review in 2021 as the UK begins life as a former EU member, presenting opportunities to be seized.


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While The Game Awards is set to deliver some huge announcements and reveals, one that many fans had hoped to see will apparently be skipping the show. Naughty Dog has confirmed that The Last of Us Part 2 will not be featured during the show. Sadly this means we won’t be getting any updates on the game for awhile, though they do seem to be looking to the future for when more will be shared.
“We’re looking forward to celebrating a year of incredible games at The Game Awards this Thursday, however, we won’t have anything new to share from The Last of Us Part II,” said the famed Uncharted developer. “We’re hard at work and looking forward to revealing more when the time is right!”
When will the time be right? That’s the big question now. Sony has said they are skipping E3 2019, a huge shift for the entire industry. Things could come together in 2019 for another PlayStation Experience, though that convention has had an odd schedule over the last two years. The Last of Us Part 2 doesn’t yet have a firm release date, so really the wait could be longer or shorter than anyone is thinking at this time.


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If you were asked, “What are the earth’s most ubiquitous environmental contaminants?” what would you answer? Unless you have a very specific set of knowledge, you would like not choose triclosan and triclocarban. However, according to a piece recently published in The New York Times, these two chemicals are indeed the correct answer to the question posed above.
According to the Times, the Food and Drug Administration has been struggling to properly regulate these chemicals for nearly four decades. Despite widespread and longstanding concerns that these chemicals negatively impact both humans and the environment in disturbing ways, these chemicals remain present in a host of consumer products, including cosmetics and antibacterial soaps.


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Yuga Labs is taking over the Metaverse
Yuga Labs is a well-known NFT company that continues to dominate the non-fungible token space due to projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC).
The $4 billion-worth company made history in 2022 when it acquired Cryptopunks and Meebits from Larva Labs, cementing its position as the leading brand in the NFT space. It now has its eyes set on dominating the Metarverse.
Yuga Labs first ventured into the Metaverse in March 2022 by launching Otherside, a 3D virtual world developed as an online multiplayer game.
The Otherside, like many other Metaverse platforms, offers an immersive experience of a virtual world where users can build different experiences and interact with other users.
The game features plots of land called Otherdeeds. They are dynamic NFTs that can change according to the activities of users. Users also interact with Kodas, unique beings that serve as the game's foundation. Their energy helps keep the universe from collapsing. Kodas are also non-fungible tokens.
Users got to first experience the Otherside universe in July 2021. 4,500 players were ushered into the game and could interact with their characters, speak to each other using 3D audio, and hear all other players at once.
In March 2023, 10,000 players again got a first-hand experience with the Otherside universe. According to players who participated in the first and second trips, the experience was the same.
It is worth noting that when the company first tested its Metarverse ambitions in March 2022, it generated $320 million from selling 55,000 Otherdeeds NFTs. The secondary sale of the NFTs has so far generated more than $800 million.
As of writing, the floor price of an Otherdeed NFT is 1.2849 ETH on OpenSea. They are available for purchase on the marketplace.
About the company
It was founded in February 2021 by two friends who, for a while, were known by their pseudonyms of Gordon Goner and Gargamel. They were later revealed to be Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow.
The two, together with other friends, worked to launch the BAYC NFT collection in April 2021. The non-fungible tokens entered the market with an initial floor price of 0.08ETH (about $240 at the time). As of writing, their current floor price is 52.3 ETH (more than $90k).
On June 2021, they launched Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC). They then launched MAYC in August 2021. In 2022 they acquired the rights to Cryptopunks and Meebits, growing their NFT projects.
In February, the company announced the launch of its first-ever Bitcoin-based NFT project, TwelveFold. The NFT collection, comprising 300 generative art pieces, went live in March and garnered $16.5 million.
Considering the milestone Yuga Labs has made in the Metaverse realm, it might have the chance to dominate the space. However, it faces stiff competition from Facebook, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, companies working hard to build their own Metaverse.
Author: Jay Jackson
Jay Jackson is a crypto trader, researcher and freelance writer. He works closely with people and businesses in the crypto sphere, writing blog posts, guides, press releases, reviews and ebooks.


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If you closely followed all the CES 2024 news last week, there were plenty of awesome announcements to hype up tech-savvy consumers for the whole year and beyond. As always, we’ve already covered some of the cool stuff, but there is more to sift through in the coming days. For example, there’s the Ballie by Samsung.
Judging by the company’s tagline for its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event, artificial intelligence will be at the forefront of their latest hardware and more. Therefore, we can safely assume the companion robot in question will play a huge part in its smart home ecosystem. After its initial debut at CES 2020, the product underwent a design revamp and more.
As much as we are all thrilled to have a little robot buddy to interact with and order around at home, it’s still not clear when Samsung will make the Ballie commercially available. Hence, set your expectations properly for now and try to see if this concept’s proposed features are worth the cost of early adoption.
When robot vacuums first came out, most of us saw it as a niche platform. However, almost every modern dwelling has one. You can think of Ballie as a motorized smart speaker that executes any command within its protocols. It can interact with pets and dispense treats as needed. An integrated projector allows it to output large-format images or videos for entertainment and more.
“Ballie acts as a personal home assistant, autonomously driving around the home to complete various tasks. By connecting to and managing home appliances, Ballie can provide a helping hand to users in many situations — continually learning from users’ patterns and habits to provide smarter, more personalized services.” writes Samsung.Learn More
Images courtesy of Samsung


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Wren opens 94th showroom in Wakefield
The brand aims to open its hundredth showroom this September
Wren Kitchens has today opened its 94th showroom in Wakefield, Westgate Retail Park.
The showroom has 74 full size kitchen displays, an appliance studio and an interior design studio, and is set to create 20 jobs in retail, design and surveying.
Alongside VR software, the Wakefield showroom will host dual screen 3D software and panoramas, which will allow customers to visualise their kitchen with the help of an expert designer.
The showroom opening comes as part of Wren’s continued UK expansion, which aims to see the hundredth Wren showroom opened this September.
‘We’re excited to open our doors in Wakefield’ said Wren Kitchens’, says Wakefield Showroom Manager, Bradley Cousins.
‘Wakefield is a thriving and vibrant city, and we’re delighted to open our doors to local customers and help them in designing their dream kitchens.’


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Due to the rise in compensation claims in the last few years, lenders have warned that this could lead to an increase in payday loan companies going into administration.
This was the case for Wonga.com, which recently collapsed after being swamped with compensation claims from consumers claiming they were mis-sold loans.
Now, WageDay Advance is the latest firm to go into administration. However, it’s still unclear how this will affect consumers who have paid off their loans, but should still be entitled to compensation from the lender.
This means that these customers have become unsecured creditors, and, therefore, are expected to only be paid a fraction of the compensation they are entitled to.
This was detailed in emails sent out to WageDay Advance customers following its administration earlier this year.
WageDay Advance is a brand name of CURO Transatlantic, and has been operating as a short-term, high-risk loan provider. But recently it’s been accused of mis-selling loans to people who couldn’t afford to pay them back.
There have been thousands of complaints from customers about the company’s practices, including many made through claims management firms.
It’s estimated that over 300,000 people in the UK are eligible for compensation, to a total of up to £223 million, including interest. The average pay-out is around £850 per customer.
This highlights a wider problem with the levels of personal debt individuals are taking out. There has, according to debt charity StepChange, been a “small, but worrying” increase in the uptake of payday loans, especially among young people.
As noted by Phil Andrew, chief executive of StepChange: “While debt can strike at any age, on average our clients are getting younger. It is important that policymakers work to help turn the tide and prevent debt becoming an inevitable rite of passage for young adults.”
With the increase in consumers taking out loans they will struggle to pay back, comes an inevitable increase in the number of compensation claims. And any experts believe that this could result in more cases like Wonga and WageDay Advance, in which consumers are unable to get the compensation they are entitled to.


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new York – The return of the world to near normal has slowed Amazon’s pandemic sales surge.
Thursday’s online giant posted higher-than-expected second-quarter profits. However, the outlook for the quarter was disappointing, with lower-than-expected sales results.
Amazon said third-quarter revenues ranged from $ 106 billion to $ 112 billion. Analysts were looking for $ 119.3 billion.
Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. Stocks fell more than 7% in subsequent aftermarket trading.
Amazon is one of the few retailers that thrived during the pandemic. When physical stores selling non-essential items such as clothing were temporarily or permanently closed, people stuck at home turned to Amazon for everything from groceries to cleaning supplies.
Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said the slowdown in sales growth was the result of countering the huge COVID-19 shopping bing caused by last year’s pandemic. He added that the slowdown also reflects that people in Europe and the United States in particular are more mobile and do more than online shopping.
When the pandemic hits and blockades began in March 2020, it took some time for Amazon to add more workers and expand its capabilities to accommodate the surge in shopping. By May 2020, the company’s revenue growth jumped from 20% to 21% before the pandemic to 35% to 40%. It maintained this level until the first quarter of this year, when revenue growth reached 41%.
With the exception of the annual Prime Day event in June of this year, Amazon’s year-over-year growth fell in its mid-teens. Earnings guidance for the quarter forecasts growth in the range of 10% to 16%. Amazon executives say a more accurate way to assess its growth rate is a two-year compound annual rate, which remains high at 25% to 30%.
Orsavsky told reporters that the increase in coronavirus infections associated with the delta mutation has encouraged the company to vaccinate more workers. We also cooperate with local governments on safety measures. He said that even if vaccinated, it might mean requiring workers to wear masks in some areas.
“The bigger goal is to counteract this, vaccinate people and bring them back to life successfully,” Orsavsky said.
For the three months ending June 30, the company reported a profit of $ 7.78 billion, or $ 15.12 per share, compared to $ 5.24 billion, or $ 10.30 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue increased 27% to $ 113.08 billion.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect quarterly earnings to average $ 115.42 billion and earnings per share of $ 12.28.
In addition to online shopping, Amazon’s other businesses have expanded. Sales in the cloud computing business, which enhances online operations for Netflix, McDonald’s and other companies, increased 37% in the quarter. Also, in units that include an advertising business, sales increased 87%, while the brand paid to display the product first when shoppers searched the site.
Amazon didn’t want to get in the way of the Tokyo Olympics, so it held Prime Day from June 21st to June 22nd. Last year, Amazon postponed Prime Day to October for a pandemic and used it to start holiday shopping early.
The quarter ending June 30 was the last quarter when founder Jeff Bezos became CEO. He resigned in early July and became chairman. Andrew Jassie, who headed Amazon Web Services, a cloud computing unit, succeeded him.
Amazon continues to add more businesses to the empire, despite regulators around the world scrutinizing Amazon’s business practices.
In May, Amazon announced that it would acquire MGM, Legally Blonde and Shark Tank, the movie and television studios behind James Bond, with the goal of filling video streaming services with more viewing material.
Follow Anne D’Innocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio
Copyright 2021 AP communication. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
Amazon’s sales growth slows as pandemic shopping surges ease
Source link Amazon’s sales growth slows as pandemic shopping surges ease


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With an increasing disposable income, Indians took greater than 182 crore home and global trips in 2018, spending upwards of $94 billion ( Rs 6.Five lakh crore), that is equivalent to approximately 3.Five% of gross domestic product.
Expenditure of Indian travelers grew at a compounded charge of nine.Three% over the last 3 years and could develop up to $136 billion (Rs nine.5 lakh crore) by way of 2021, consistent with a joint document via Google and control consulting firm Bain and Company.
Domestic trips accounted for the general public of the journey at close to a hundred and eighty crore domestic trips final 12 months and an expenditure of approximately $ seventy-two billion. Meanwhile, 2.6 crore worldwide journeys were undertaken through Indians at some stage in the yr, walking up a bill of $22 billion.
Indians spent near eleven% in their common disposable income on travel and tourism, which is comparable to evolved economies which include the United States, UK, Japan, and Australia, the report stated. Airways is speedy gaining reputation with Indian travelers.
Expenditure on air travel grew at a compounded fee of 24% over the past three years. More than 1/2 of the $36 billion spent through Indians on delivery in 2018 was on airfare as they more and more favored planes over trains for long distance trips, stated the report. However, price-effective transportation by using railways still remained dominant, with close to half of the trips in India being on railways.
India has approximately 39 crore energetic internet customers, and it hardly ever comes as a wonder that about $23.Five billion, or 25% of the expenditure on tour, was spent online. The penetration of online booking is high for air and rail tour, at extra than 50%, at the same time as for accommodations it stays moderate at 26%, as in step with the Google and Bain file.
While the document predicts the expenditure on travel by using Indians to grow to $136 billion within the next three years, online bookings ought to grow with the aid of $24 billion in the course of the same duration, it said. That throws up the enormous possibility for online tour aggregators.
The tourism enterprise, which includes local tourism in addition to inbound tourism from other international locations, is one of the important turbines of employment. It accounted for nine.4% of India’s GDP in 2018.


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A good few months ago, we learnt the news that Puma had teamed up with Sagem to design a fashion logo branded phone which would not only be simply baring a brand on the surface but in fact have unique, useful and practical functionality within.
Many brands, most notable Prada (the first brand that comes to my mind) and D&G have been successful at picking gadget fans’ pockets by labelling existing phones with their badge yet underneath the expensive pricetag, the glamorous phone bares nothing more than what you would see in any old phone.
Phonemaker Sagem has partnered with Puma to unveil the Puma Phone at the MWC 2010. Let’s face it, both these brands aren’t new but neither are they the most popular in the field that they both respectfully belong to. Over the past few days, Puma has been unveiling more and more video ads of the Puma Phone’s idea and now the device has finally been unveiled.


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SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite stiff competition and declining profits, more and more convenience stores in South Korea are opening, with the number of convenience stores per head surpassing that of Japan, a country thought to be the Asian capital of the industry.
According to industry sources on Tuesday, there were an estimated 34,376 convenience stores operated under the top six major chains including CU, GS25, and 7-Eleven as of last year, meaning one convenience store for every 1,491 people.
The figure is nearly one and a half times higher than Japan, where there is a convenience store for every 2,226 people.
After the first branch of 7-Eleven opened in Seoul back in 1989, the number of convenience stores in South Korea enjoyed a rapid and steady growth for the next few decades, even in recent years while the growth of other retail stores such as department stores and supermarkets slowed down, thanks to the growing number of small-sized households and an aging population.
When broken down by brand, CU was the most popular with 11,949 stores, followed closely by GS25, which also has over 11,900 stores across the country.
7-Eleven and Ministop followed next, accounting for 8,944 and 2,401, respectively.
From January to July, the five major convenience store chains opened more than 3,000 stores in new locations.
Given market performance from earlier this year, industry experts believe the upward trend is set to continue for the remainder of this year.
Despite the growing number of convenience stores, however, average sales and working conditions have been declining.
According to a report released by GS Retail last week, the business profits of the company that owns GS 25 stores dropped a whopping 21.7 percent during the second quarter, compared to the year before, amounting to 53.1 billion won.
Against this backdrop, industry giants like GS Retail and BGF Retail, which owns the country’s largest convenience store chain, CU, have been ramping up efforts to venture into international markets.
Earlier this week, GS Retail announced it will open the very first GS25 store in Ho Chi Minh City this year as part of a joint venture with a Vietnamese company.
Last month, BGF Retail signed a franchise deal with an Iranian firm, making it the first South Korean company to venture into an overseas market.
“There is a lot to be debated, but average sales at Japanese convenience stores are still four times higher,” an industry expert said.
“Given that shopping patterns are shifting towards small portions at easily accessible stores, the market growth will continue for some time.”
Hyunsu Yim (email@example.com)


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June 22, 2016
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Omnipay is a PHP processing library that supports 26 reputable payment gateways, including PayPal and Stripe. This article shows you Omnipay's capabilities by verifying a customer's credit card information and then uses the SDK for making a payment through a Stripe payment gateway.
Back in May 2011 Canadian YPG launched their developer ecosystem, which Programmableweb covered at the time, "to support and stimulate startup innovation in the local search and location based services market, including a certified developer program and four ways to monetize applications." Fast forward 20 months and the ecosystem now has 2,300 API-related partners, according to Mashery's Devon Biondi.


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Dish delivery solution Blue Apron looks to raise $450m in IPO
Do-it-yourself meal distribution solution Blue Apron is looking to raise almost $450m in its future preliminary general public offering, it announced on Monday.
The business is targeting a preliminary cost of between $15 and $17 per share. Assuming it achieves at the very least the mid-point of the budget, the supplying would generate web proceeds of at least $448.6m.
Blue Apron’s core business is built around giving customers a box of components and recipes to produce a number of meals each week, permitting customers to prepare on their own and never having to get a hold of recipes or do grocery shopping. It has additionally launched a wine-delivery business and an online go shopping for cooking utensils.
Web revenues in 2016 had been $795.4m, up a lot more than 100 percent on the year. However, income development slowed down in the first 3 months for this 12 months, with incomes of $244.8m representing 12 months on 12 months growth of 42 percent.
The company can also be however which will make a profit, with net losings increasing from $47m to $54.9m just last year.
In its IPO prospectus, the organization said it “may incure significant losses for foreseeable future” as a result of cost of technology, infrastructure and advertising and marketing assets.
It acknowledged it expects competitors when you look at the wider food sales and specially the meals delivery industry “to continue steadily to increase”.
Still, the business argues it offers a “broad” marketplace opportunity, as it seems to take share of the market from restaurants and takeaway providers also supermarkets.
The profits associated with the flotation will undoubtedly be always repay about $125m of present financial obligation and investment future operations.
Co-founder and chief executive Matthew Zalzberg will hold around 29.7 % of total voting rights after the offering. The organization highlighted the truth that – unlike in other high-profile current technology IPOs such as for instance Snapchat – Blue Apron’s outside shareholders “will are able to control the results of matters …including the election of your administrators in addition to approval of every improvement in control transaction”.


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Metropolitan Egypt for financial consultancy is negotiating with Suez Canal Bank to reschedule an EGP 23m debt owed by Home Care Company, which owns the Flit insecticide factory, according to Khalid Nagati, chairperson of Metropolitan Egypt.
The consultant also seeks to find an investor to acquire 49% stake of Home Care, to inject new capital, part of which will be used to pay a part of the dues and operate the factory with a larger capacity.
The factory currently works with a production capacity of only 25%, due to the current economic situation, though the company aims to increase its production capacity to 70%.
Hassan El-Sharif, the legal adviser to Metropolitan Egypt, said that the company will begin negotiations with Suez Canal Bank to reschedule the debts of Home Care, after the verdict of the Economic Court, which ordered the company to pay EGP 23m.
He added that the company failed to pay its dues, because of the recent economic conditions and the operation of the factory with a very low production capacity.
According to Mohamed Abou El Nile, vice chairperson for the financial, administrative, and operations sector at Metropolitan Egypt, the company also seeks to market the Home Care brand in more than 40 countries.


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Bangladesh Safety Accord: Tell Walmart to Join the Agreement to Protect Workers
From the Jewish Labor Committee (National):
Sign Petition to Tell Walmart to Sign on to the Bangladesh Safety Accord
The world watched in horror as over 1,100 garment workers were killed in April when a substandard factory in Bangladesh collapsed while they were at their jobs. Similar tragedies are killing and injuring men and women in many places around the globe where labor costs are low and working conditions are unconscionable.
It took this building’s collapse, following a disastrous fire in Bangladesh earlier this year, as it took the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York over a century ago, to focus the attention of the world on addressing the need for better safety standards for those who make the clothes the world wears.
One important first step is an international agreement of major international retailers designed to stop such disasters from happening again. Already such well-known firms as H&M Hennes & Mauritz, Carrefour, Marks & Spencer, Inditex, PVH (which owns the Tommy Hilfiger brand), Loblaw (owner of Joe Fresh brand) have signed on to this accord, that provides for a binding, independent inspection program, mandatory improvements in workplace safety, and binding arbitration enforceable in the courts of the country where a company is based. Yet, Walmart is opting to do its own unenforceable audit of factory conditions, a type of self-auditing that has proved to be ineffective.
We’re calling on the management of Walmart to join the international agreement of major retailers to commit to collectively stop such disasters from happening again. And we want you to join us.
Because so many of the world’s garments are made by contractors and subcontractors, and retailers often do not track where and how products sold under their name are being made, it is imperative that there is a unified, enforceable agreement of all of the major retailers-including Walmart-to improve fire and building safety in such countries as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan and other countries where so much of our clothes are made.
Join us in calling on the management of Walmart to put basic principles of responsibility and decency to work by joining this international agreement-now.
Sign our online petition here.
Stuart Appelbaum, President
Rita Freedman, Acting Executive Director
Arieh Lebowitz, Associate Director
Marya Axner, New England Regional Director


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NCPDP, the not-for-profit pharmacy standards development organization, on Wednesday announced the availability of a patient safety white paper that provides specific industry guidance for standardizing the dosing designations and labeling of oral liquid medications.
The New York State legislature recently wrapped up its 2015 budget negotiations with a favorable outcome for community pharmacy as it rejected an executive branch proposal to change how New York’s Medicaid program reimburses pharmacies for prescription medications.
Prescription drug trend grew 3.8% in 2013, driven by significant price inflation for traditional brand drugs, specialty drugs and generics, as well as an increase in utilization as members filled more prescriptions in the slowly improving economy, according to the findings of CVS Caremark’s annual "Insights" report released on Thursday.
Emphasizing implementation challenges that could impact patient access to pharmacy services, a coalition is urging Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to allow a one-year transition period for states to fully implement the Medicaid average manufacturer’s price-based federal upper limits for prescription medications.
Herb Pharm recently debuted a new logo and label design across its entire product line in conjunction with the launch of three new herbal supplements — Inflamma Response capsules, Passionflower capsules and Turmeric softgels.
As the cost for specialty medications continues to rise, implementing an effective "channel transition" approach — the process of moving prescriptions from the medical benefit to the pharmacy benefit — can produce significant savings for healthcare payers by improving management of these complex and costly drugs, according to a new report commissioned by CVS Caremark.
The Consumer Healthcare Products Association on Tuesday applauded Tennessee state Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport, after his legislation — H.B. 1257 — passed out of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Diplomat on Monday announced that it is one of a select group of specialty pharmacies contracted by Celgene to distribute Otezla (apremilast), a new medication for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis.
Healthcare Distribution Management Association president and CEO John Gray on Monday testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health at a hearing on “Improving Predictability and Transparency in DEA and FDA Regulation.”
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced that it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its generic form of Lovaza (omega-3-acid ethyl esters capsules, USP) in the United States.
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals announced that the Food and Drug Administration has approved Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate mesylate), which is used to treat deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.
Mallinckrodt and Questcor Pharmaceuticals on Monday announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Mallinckrodt will acquire Questcor in a transaction valued at approximately $5.6 billion.
OncologyRx Care Advantage, McKesson Specialty Health’s oral oncology products specialty pharmacy, on Monday announced that they have assisted under-insured patients in obtaining $40 million in financial assistance by helping them access financial assistance programs.
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores submitted a written statement in lead-up to Monday’s hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health urging transparency in how federal agencies conduct enforcement activities to help curb prescription drug diversion and abuse.
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy recommended that pharmacies no longer dispense combination drugs containing more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dosage unit in light of recent regulatory action.
Medication nonadherence is common, but it may be reduced by lower drug costs and co-payments, as well as increased follow-up care, according to a study published earlier this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine.


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The Chinese government takes the threat of unfettered Internet access seriously. China's "Great Firewall"
to reports about the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tianamen Square massacre last week. Although some users bypassed the blocks by using proxy servers, China's upped the ante:
that China is requiring that all new PCs sold in China starting July 1st must include website blocking software developed in China.
The software's Chinese name is "Green Dam-Youth Escort". The word "green" in Chinese is used to describe web-surfing free from pornography and other illicit content.
The software was developed by Jinhui Computer System Engineering, with input from Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy. Both companies have ties to China's military and its security ministry. Jinhui says Green Dam operates similarly to software in other countries designed to let parents block access to web content inappropriate for children.
Foreign industry officials who have examined Green Dam say that personal information could be transmitted through the software and that it will be difficult for users to tell what exactly is being blocked.Green Dam-Youth Escort can be preinstalled on systems sold in China, or be bundled with systems sold there. Although the developer states that the software contains a password-based parental bypass feature and can be uninstalled, one wonders if China will allow web access if the software is not active. Will the biggest PC vendors in the Chinese market (second only to the US market in sales last year) push back against this requirement, or will July 1st see the "Great Firewall" become even harder to crack? Hit Comment to post your feedback.


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Goodwill Menasha store offering 50% off sale
MENASHA – All merchandise at Goodwill NCW's Menasha Retail Store and Training Center will be offered at 50 percent off the ticketed price during the week of April 6-11, in preparation for the store's remodeling.
On April 17, the Menasha store will be closed for 90 days for remodeling, as the organization takes advantage of road construction on Appleton Road that will impede access to the facility. Goodwill NCW anticipates a grand re-opening of the store in mid-July.
The 50 percent discount applies to all donated and new merchandise at the Menasha store only, and will be applied at checkout. No other discounts will be applied to purchases.
Goodwill uses revenue from the sale of its merchandise to support its human-services mission across the state. A full list of programs is online at www.goodwillncw.org/programs.
During the 90-day closure of the Menasha store, the Goodwill Community Center — behind the store — will remain open, accessible from Valley Road. Donation bins will be placed on site during the store closure.
Goodwill's other Fox Cities locations — Darboy, Grand Chute, Neenah and the Outlet Store in Appleton — will remain open for shopping and donating during the 90-day closure of the Menasha store. All eight Donation Express locations in the greater Fox Valley will be open to accept donations of used clothing, appliances, furniture and housewares.


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HP Inc. is scheduled to report fiscal first-quarter results Thursday. Investors will watch for news on the company’s share of the personal-computer market, its printer business and effects of the new tax law.
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE PROJECTING New moms and dads are worried that high-tech gadgets are coming between them and their newborns—if not as obtrusively as the virtual reality goggles in this speculative scenario.
Government mandates requiring utilities to procure renewable energy should keep U.S. solar power growing, despite new Trump administration tariffs on imported solar panels that are poised to raise prices.86
Publishers are greeting the launch of Google’s ad blocker with a mixture of relief and unease, pleased that it is purging intrusive ads but worried over the internet giant’s power to quickly overhaul the industry.


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A news report from FoodNavigator.com asks, “What do you get when you cross a tomato with a lemon basil plant?” No, it’s not a joke. Researchers from Israel’s Newe Ya-ar research Centre were quite serious when they set out to genetically modify the flavour and aroma of tomatoes by expressing the ocimum basilicum geraniol synthase gene.
“The result, they report in Nature Biotechnology, is a fruit that smells a little like roses and lemons and was preferred by most of the untrained taste panelists to ordinary tomatoes,” says the article. “The finding could result in the development of new tomato-based flavours, and could also have implications for shelf-life. The transgetic tomatoes were found to have higher levels of volatile terpenoids that some say have antimicrobial and antifungal qualities.”
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