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Bob Backlund has been removed from the roster page of TNAwrestling.com.
ShopTNA.com has put up a new Rhino shirt as well as the new Motorcity Machine Guns shirt. You can save 10% off all orders of $40.00 or more at ShopTNA.com from now until the end of October.
The TNA Meltdown CD is now available for pre-order at ROHwrestling.com for just $13.99.
Got a news tip or correction? Send it to us by clicking here.


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In-Depth | The Semiconductor Shortage: What caused the supply crunch and how long will it last?
Production of laptops, tablets, smartphones and other electronic devices has been impacted by the shortage of semiconductors.
During a post-earnings call with analysts, Apple CEO Tim Cook had said that “supply constraints will hurt sales of iPads and iPhones. Cook said the shortage is not in high-powered processors, but “legacy nodes,” or chips that perform functions like driving displays or decoding audio, which can be manufactured using older equipment.
Cisco’s new President for India and SAARC, Daisy Chittilapilly recently told Moneycontrol that the issue of chips shortage is “very real”.
“We were one of the early companies which started putting out warnings, as early as the beginning of the year, saying that the semiconductor issue is very real and it will be a while before we come out of it,” Chittilapilly said.
“We tell our partners and customers very transparently that we are heading into trouble. So the industry is in trouble because of this issue,” she said.
South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group had in August said it would invest 240 trillion won ($ 206 billion) in the next three years to expand its footprint in biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics.
The company also addressed the significance of the chip industry in the South Korean economy.
“The chip industry is the safety plate of the Korean economy…Our aggressive investment is a survival strategy in a sense that once we lose our competitiveness, it is almost impossible to make a comeback,” Samsung Electronics said in a statement.
Many tech companies have begun developing their own chips, a move that will not only alleviate the current supply concerns but will likely help the industry in the long-run.
Apple is using its own M1 chip in its new iPads and Macs. A report by Nikkei Asia suggests that Google is developing its own central processors that will be used in CPUs of its Chromebook laptop from 2023.

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ORGANISATIONS of PPMA Show 2021 have described the event as a ‘great success’ after businesses welcomed the opportunity to return to face-to-face exhibitions after the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the events calendar over the past 18 months.
The processing and packaging machinery event returned to the NEC, Birmingham for the first time in two years, featuring over 250 exhibitors and 1,250 brands.
Organisers revealed the show attracted a ‘solid audience’ despite the fuel crisis and pandemic-related challenges.
Show director Richard Little said, “Notwithstanding the impact of the pandemic on all live events, the PPMA Show has once again proved to be a successful event for both visitors and exhibitors. We’re thrilled to have delivered our first live show since 2019 and evidence is that buyers have visited our event with active projects in mind.
“Improving line speeds, efficiency and automation of lines has been of primary interest with manufacturing companies having the joint challenge of labour restrictions and increased demand for packaged goods from retailers. It’s great that the PPMA Show will help make a contribution to building back business.”
David Harrison, chief operating officer of PPMA Group of Associations, added, “There is evidence that, despite the challenges posed post-Covid and the unforeseen fuel crisis, the packaging and processing industry continues to thrive. The footfall has been fantastic and quality of visitors exceptionally high. It’s just what all our members deserve after pulling together as an industry over the last 18 months.”
Steve Bradley, sales director at exhibitor AVE UK, said the business came away from the event with some ‘strong leads’. “Our stand attracted a good number of visitors; most importantly, the quality was excellent too, with key decision makers such as heads of engineering and engineering managers all coming by to speak to us,” he revealed.
Stuart Coulton, market development manager at Omron UK, described the show as ‘livelier’ than expected. “Our stand was consistently busy from the moment the doors opened, with labour proving a major issue for manufacturers,” he explained. “Overall, it was a very successful show for us, attracting senior representatives from both SMEs and large corporations alike.”
Phil Brown, MD at Fortress Technology Europe, said the company was ‘extremely happy’ with the turnout. “Our stand was constantly busy, with visitors spending longer than usual talking to our team,” he added. “Most were looking to fulfil live projects taking place in the next 3-6 months, so they were ready to talk details. We met with a number of decision makers from key food manufacturers across the confectionery and dairy sectors, among others. I can honestly say it was one of the most successful PPMA Shows that we’ve ever exhibited at.”
Akeel Ahmed, business development manager for Kemtile, commented, “We were really happy to be back in front of prospective customers and get a taste of pre-pandemic life.”
Brillopak director David Jahn revealed the manufacturer picked up ‘promising leads’, primarily in the fresh produce and ready meals sectors. He added, “I was pleased to note that the quality of visitors seemed higher than usual, with less junior team members and more project managers, directors and company owners.”
Craig Burgess, MD of Lechler, commented, “Another well organised show – the quality of people attending has been excellent. Visitors really know what they wanted, and this has led to some very interesting conversations.”
Tony McDonald, sales and marketing director at IMA Ilapak, revealed he was ‘delighted’ after seeing a ‘constant stream’ of visitors on the stand. “Sustainability was a key driver for many of the people we spoke to,” he explained. “The impending Plastic Packaging Tax is prompting manufacturers to look towards recyclable films. Nothing beats being able to engage with customers and prospects face to face. It was great to sit down and grab a coffee with our customers who we had been previously unable to visit due to the pandemic. It was a pleasure to be able to showcase solutions to visitors in person again.”
A full report of PPMA Show 2021 will appear in the October issue of Packaging Scotland.


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For the past three years, Numi & Company Salon on Harney Road has been cutting, smoothing and styling the manes of many Westchester residents.
Since co-founders Gabriel Abrams and Nuriel Abramov decided to leave New York City for Scarsdale, and bring that city glam to Westchester County, women and men from around the area have been getting primped, styled and pampered at the Harney Road shop.
Abrams, the creative director of the Scarsdale location, said over 4,000 clients enjoy the services of Numi & Company, staffed with 10 stylists and two receptionists.
Many of the clients were clients of both Abrams and Abramov's while they worked in NYC. Now, those Westchester clients no longer have to travel into NYC for a great cut, color or blowdry.
"We were working in the city and saw a big demand out in Westchester County," Abrams said. "We decided to open up a small, boutique salon."
The Russia native and Queens resident brings over a decade of hair dressing experience, including John Freida in NYC, to his customers.
"Clients get excited to hear we came from New York City," he said.
The boutique salon offers high-end products, a blowdry bar and focuses on cuts and styling, the creative director said.
"We are known for our haircuts," Abrams said. "That's what we stand for. A great haircut and a great style."
His clients can enjoy that one-on-one treatment, along with a beverage or glass of wine, while getting coiffed.
Numi & Company is open six days a week, and the co-owner said he works all six days, despite being the married father of a six-month-old son.
"I had always wanted to be an architect, but I had a cousin that was a hair stylist," Abrams said.
The lifestyle his cousin led was appealing to the then 17-year-old, and Abrams ended up pursuing hair.
"I learned and grew to love it more and more," he said. "Now, I can't picture myself doing anything but hair."
Numi & Company Salon is open six days a week, including Sunday, and closed on Saturday. For a pricing list, or more information, visit http://www.numihair.com


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It can be hard now, from the outside, to really picture the time in video games when Nintendo wasn't one of the top names in the business. For Masayuki Uemura, the engineer who designed the Famicom and NES, it's just a matter of remembering his years at Nintendo in the seventies.
In a new interview by Matt Alt published at Kotaku, Uemura shares some enlightening stories and anecdotes about those years in the late seventies and early eighties where Nintendo made the leap to making video games and game hardware. Uemura's tales are all a delight to read. Now the director for Kyoto's Center for Game Studies at Ritsumeikan University, he recalls those heady days at Nintendo with clarity and detail, including the time that Space Invaders brought productivity to a screeching halt.
Asked about Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's President for over 50 years, Uemura mentions that Yamauchi bought 10 tabletop Space Invaders machines from Taito in 1978. "The idea was that we'd playtest them as a form of research," he explains. "But what ended up happening was the entire company got so obsessed playing it that we couldn't get a turn in. It was like a fever. Everyone abandoned their posts and stopped working. I was just bummed out that we hadn't made it ourselves."
That Space Invaders moment seems like it was a wake-up call for the company (though maybe it also led to the flop that was Radar Scope). Uemura says that since Nintendo wasn't in Tokyo near Taito and other seventies game giants, "none of that filtered down" to its headquarters in Kyoto as easily.
Uemura also shares how the Yamauchi kicked off development of the Famicom. In 1981, with Game and Watch on the market and Donkey Kong machines in production, Uemura got a phone call from Yamauchi asking him to start making a cartridge based console. Initially, he dismissed it: "He always liked to call me after he'd had a few drinks, so I didn't think much of it. I just said, 'Sure thing, boss,' and hung up." The next morning a sober Yamauchi asked Uemura about the console idea again, and the rest is history. Today, in 2020, you can even find a Space Invaders collection for the Switch.


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Stellenbosch American Express Wine Routes is boosting its global profile by making its debut at the world’s largest tourism convention, the 2014 International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin from March 5th to the 9th.
Stellenbosch offers visitors the granddaddy of South Africa’s wine routes, a coordinated network with the largest concentration of diverse wine farms in the country, more than 140, and it’s currently expanding to cater to a growing global demand for its product.
Now the route is combining its efforts with South African Tourism, Wesgro, Tripadvisor, and Stellenbosch 360 (the cultural tourism route for the region) to launch the Stellenbosch Wine Experience Campaign at ITB. The collaboration will include a chance for convention visitors to take part in an exclusive ‘Ultimate Wine Bucket List’ competition, where participants can win a trip to South Africa to experience one of the assorted wine routes firsthand.
The venture will also include an innovative wine tourism blogger campaign using top travel, lifestyle and food bloggers from around the world to promote the route between April and September.
Serusha Govender is The Daily Meal's Travel Editor. Follow her on Twitter @SerushaGovender


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NYU takes admitted engineering students on a virtual tour of Mars
For the Class of 2020 at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, not even the sky is the limit.
The school is taking its latest crop of newly admitted students on a virtual tour of Mars. All 2,000 admitted students in the U.S. will receive a VR cardboard device, called Tandon Vision, along with their admission packets, accompanied by instructions for downloading a smartphone app that the school has specifically created to enable the experience.
This is not only NYU’s nod to the growing popularity of both virtual and augmented reality, but also lets it use the technology as a powerful tool for engaging with with both admitted and prospective students in the years ahead.
“It’s really important for us to engage with both students and their parents when they are trying to make a decision,” Elizabeth Ensweiler, Tandon’s director of enrollment management, told Digiday. “It lets us not only showcase what’s available here and the work of our students, but also demonstrate what the school and its faculty can do for them, as well as the skillsets they are likely to gain by attending NYU.”
The virtual tour was developed by Mark Skwarek, a professor in the university’s Integrated Digital Media Program who also heads the research the school’s Mobile Augmented Reality Lab, and his student Matthew Conto, a senior at Tandon. It is led by a mining robot named “Lunabot,” which itself has been designed by NYU students while the images and visuals have been sourced from NASA.
When users wear their devices and download the app, they can pilot their virtual “Lunabot” across Martian terrain and also out into the galaxy. The 360 degree visual experience is accompanied by a soundtrack by Luke DuBois, who co-directs Tandon’s IDM Program.
“I’ve been making small VR vignettes, but this was the first time I did VR on such a scale,” said Conto. “The hardest part was trying to make Mars look like Mars, and I relied on pictures from the Curiosity rover and did a lot of color matching.”
NYU isn’t alone in using VR as a recruitment tool. At SXSW last month, media agency MEC launched its own 360 VR Recruitment Experience, producing a range of 360 degree films that used Google cardboard to provide potential candidates an immersive experience of what it’s like to work at its New York office. From getting out of the subway to speaking with executives, candidates got a true feel for what it’s like to work for the agency.
“This enabled us to highlight our strengths across the different fields of mechanical, electrical and aeronautical engineering as well as robotics and augmented reality,” said NYU’s Ensweiler, adding that the school already had 13 percent more deposits for the class of 2020 than the previous class. It is also tracking app downloads, and will monitor how many applications the engineering school gets in the next few years.
NYU will also continue to develop more apps in the future for use with Tandon Vision, and is currently considering virtual tours for prospective students who can’t get to New York, for example, as well as apps featuring the work of students in its newly constructed Maker Space.
“The opportunities in augmented reality in the upcoming future are going to be immense,” said Skwarek. “It’s accessible to everybody, and you’re able to have this incredibly immersive experience.”
Image via Shutterstock.
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DraftLine, Anheuser Busch InBev's in-house agency, has never been busier. This is because the role of the in-house agency has never been more crucial.


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If someone wants to eat at McDonalds and eat unhealthy food every week, what is wrong with letting that person eat that and have that person deal with the pros and cons that are associated with that lifestyle? Excess weight increases the risk of deadly diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. According to the Center of Disease Control, the total cost of obesity in the U. Compared to Europe, America is relatively new to nanny measures. Similarly, the drug peddler lurking near the schoolyard offers a classic twentieth-century icon of malice. Are bad foods the next tobacco? Yet, those who attempt a healthy lifestyle are forced to pay very high prices for these types of foods while fast food and other processed and unhealthy foods remain cheap and easily accessible. Given this type of information, the government is starting to regulate what we eat.
We are learning all day, and many kids are just eating vast amounts of junk food. . It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions. Once the government intervention is removed, there are no health care costs to third parties. Instead of government controlling the fast food food industry and dictating what consumers can and cannot eat, why does the government not take a backseat and let people control their own destiny? Of course, parents have an important and critical role to play in teaching their children good eating habits and in modeling that behavior. We as citizens do have to right to choose what we eat, but when we do choose we should have to capability and knowledge to be able to choose beneficial meals that will only increase of well being. A lot of kids get it because they have to, but end up throwing it away.
In fact, in many ways, government control today is already far too expansive. The cost effectiveness of a government initiating policies that regulate the intake of foods and include taxation is not supported by any political party. In reference to the Bloomberg soda ban, I don't believe it's a realistic change. The first trigger for political regulation of private behavior—social disapproval—has long been tripped in the case of obesity. We cannot blame these people for taking advantage of the system, but we can stop it. What the hell do they think has been happening? Then frequent soda drinkers bought lower-priced soda, engaged in bulk discounted purchases, and brewed more sweetened iced tea. By Ryan Schwertfeger While the fast food companies may say otherwise, it is known without a shadow of a doubt that fast food is not very healthy or nutritious to eat- just ask Morgan Spurlock.
This causes parents to fret and cajole their children into eating too much. Taxes would reduce consumption of unhealthful foods and generate billions of dollars annually. In all four of our comparative cases, activists attack the producers or suppliers. The question is whether the perceived pro of having the government take a role in deciding healthy eating choices is really a pro at all, and to me, it would be a complete and utter con. It is nevertheless shocking to learn precisely how food companies lobby officials, co-opt experts, and expand sales by marketing to children, members of minority groups, and people in developing countries. Taxes on pizza and soda have actually been a success, r esearcher s have found a 10 percent increase in price of soda was associated with a 7. We eat fast, but fast does not always mean useful.
Nutrition might have been a health concern and a discussion in classrooms, but it did not stir political and ethical interest within the broader society. Is that not what the Founding Fathers wanted for America and its people? Sometimes people get nervous talking about government policy and food choices, as the very idea is an affront to personal freedom and the American way. For years, people consumed raw milk — and then the government regulated the milk industry and required milk companies to pasteurize the product. It has guided the advancement of society and it has led to incredible discoveries. Of course the government wants control.
This is a known fact, but we Americans have no voice to the government since there is no viable party yet for the Truth. What kinds of food policy reforms do we need? They charge corporate villains with seeking profits by peddling poison. There is simply too much tO know these days that people can't know it all. Sustained pressure from these advocates has not shifted national politics toward regulatory control, in part owing to strong and savvy lobbying by the food industry and its supporters. However, these costs exist because of government intervention.
I know others that have seen the calories the usually would eat at those restaurants and order more, so the purpose become obsolete. This medical consensus about the dangers of being overweight had little political effect. Now they must rewrite those policies before having something detestable legally…. Walter Willett, who is chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and a strong ban advocate, claims that cause tens of thousands of premature deaths each year. Recently, with obesity on the rise, the new hot topic is whether or not the government should have control over what foods are sold in schools. Not only that, but doctors in America no longer have the freedom to treat patients however they see fit. Musto , The American Disease: Origins of Narcotics Control, 3d ed.
However, if a citizen is receiving food assistance such as food stamps, free school lunches, et cetera , the government should only allow its funds to be used for healthy alternatives. With a rising number of people with poor diets, the number of people suffering from obesity rises also. The American way of eating has become the elephant in the room in the debate over health care. You could no more recommend that today and stay credible in your field than anything else you could do, and this is 1961. Also shouldn't we be allowed to choose weather we want to eat healthy or not? The total calories for lunches had to be cut to 750 to 850 calories.
In part this may be because more than half of U. The measure is expected to go to a vote in December. I can just see it now, go the a pizza place. First, although trans fats may very well pose the health dangers claimed, medical studies in general are notoriously unreliable. Which kinda negates the healthy food objective. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
I called to ask if that was not a bit repressive, why level penalize someone for what was obvisouly a didminimus error? I support eating healthy, but the government shouldn't have so much say over what we do. Americans did eat foods with less fat content, but because they were eating healthier foods, they ate more and the actual amount of fat calories increased because of an increase in overall calories. I believe that the government should have certain power over what food is sold in schools all over the nation. We have to have Washington control and reform the food industry, agribusiness. This could benefit some people who might not get these food options at home and it supports a healthy diet which benefits everyone. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.


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High school students become business owners for a day through UD program
Delaware high school students got a chance to be real entrepreneurs for a day with the University of Delaware’s EntrePrep Summer Institute program, which was held on UD’s campus in July.
Through the EntrePrep program, run by the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and financially supported by Barclays, TD Bank and the New Castle County Vo-Tech School District, students received intense instruction all week that culminated in running their own business on Main Street on the last day of the program, called “Business for a Day.”
Students teamed up to create and manufacture products, develop business plans and sell products on Main Street. They learned about marketing strategies and balancing a budget so they could make the most out of their one-day sales.
Many of this year’s students decided to donate their profits to local charities, and all were able to get firsthand experience in running their own small business.
These students included Jayda Garcia and Shawdae Ledgister, seniors at Delcastle Technical High School who decided to make a fashion statement with their business AmericanCap. The team sold distressed baseball hats in red, blue or black, and attached patriotic emblems to the front of the hats like stars and flags.
Garcia and Ledgister said that they wanted to donate their profits to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) in Newark, which is what inspired them to make a patriotic product. At the end of the day, they donated $60 in profits to the VFW.
Garcia added that she was hesitant to join the program at first, but realized how much she could gain from being a part of EntrePrep.
“The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a good idea,” Garcia said. “Not just from the learning experiences of entrepreneurship, but to meet new people and make new connections… I learned a lot about myself and about business.”
Another business making an affordable fashion statement was student Aicha Pierce’s Couture Sunnies. Pierce, also a student at Delcastle Technical High School, sold trendy and colorful sunglasses at $10 each. During that time, she said she learned what went into making her business successful.
“This week we learned how to write a business plan and a financial statement. We learned about how to keep up with money,” Pierce said. “We learned how to manage everything and not get sidetracked.”
Pierce started Couture Sunnies in April and felt as if EntrePrep would be a great platform to continue to grow her business. You can follow the Couture Sunnies brand on Instagram at @ShopCoutureSunnies.
Neighboring Couture Sunnies was student Tatyana Daley’s Love Skin, a natural skincare brand. Daley is a rising sophomore at Howard High School and had thought about launching an organic skin care line for a while.
Through the process of EntrePrep, Daley said she researched healthcare regulations, laws, permits and licensing, and learned about all the research that goes into launching a skincare company. She stressed the importance of managing her time and being as thorough as possible when packaging her product.
Rising Howard High School sophomore Jeremyah Combs set up a raffle next to Love Skin, raffling off gift cards and products from Chick-fil-A and Wawa. Combs reached out to the marketing coordinators of Wawa and Chick-fil-A, and the companies donated gift cards and merchandise to be raffled off.
Down the block from Daley and Combs was Devin Saienni and Alexa Archer’s business, Project Rad. Archer and Saienni were excited to use the opportunity of EntrePrep to showcase their musical talents by writing and recording their first CD, with Archer the lead singer and Saienni playing acoustic guitar.
The team recorded a three-song EP focused on LGBTQ+ equality and sold the album for $4, as well as various stickers for $1. They donated their profits to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT civil rights advocacy group in the country.
Another business Newark residents might have seen during Business for a Day was Kandy Kabob, created by Korryn Braxton-Young and Curryn Henry from Hodgson Vo-Tech High School and Amil Gibbs from Howard High School. The idea was inspired by Braxton-Young’s interest in the culinary arts. The team created “kabobs” including various candies with the idea of giving customers a variety of candy on the go.
Tyler Rouwhorst from MOT Charter High School and George Grimes from Delcastle Technical High School took a different route than their peers by not setting up a table with a product to sell. Instead, the team decided to sell a service.
“A lot of people from the program wanted to create a product, we took a different approach and wanted to provide a service,” said Rouwhorst.
Rouwhorst and Grimes reached out to businesses to share with them the importance of advertising and marketing through social media, while offering to manage their accounts. Their net profit totaled $340.
While the students ran their businesses, student mentor and program alumna Kimberly Kelly offered pointers and moral support. She said that she believes all of the students have the potential to achieve anything they set their minds on.
“I love the way [EntrePrep] shows students literally there is no limit to what you can do,” Kelly said. “You just have to put your mind to it and just work at it. You can accomplish anything, and it shows [them] even at [their] age, there’s no limit.”


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This has turned out to be another game-changing year for the legal marijuana industry. According to cannabis research firm ArcView, sales of legal pot in North America surged by 33% to $9.7 billion in 2017, and they're on pace to grow by an average of 28% per year through 2021. That'd put North American sales on track for almost $25 billion in annual sales by the end of 2021.
But it's not just the sales figures that have enthusiasts and investors in awe. It's the progress being made at the legal level. On June 19, Canada's Parliament, after months of debate in the Senate, and just shy of two weeks of back-and-forth between the House of Commons and the Senate over bill C-45, passed the Cannabis Act. This marked the first time an industrialized country passed legislation to give recreational marijuana a green light. Per Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, sales are expected to begin on Oct. 17, 2018.
Legalizing adult-use cannabis has its perks
Giving the thumbs-up to adult-use pot comes with a number of possible perks. For example, the sale of recreational marijuana will carry an excise tax rate of roughly 10% of the per-gram price. Three-quarters of this collected tax will go toward provinces, with the remaining 25% headed to the federal government, according to a two-year tax-sharing agreement forged in December. In other words, the sale of recreational cannabis will be a tax boon for provinces and the federal government.
Legalizing marijuana also means an influx of jobs in Canada. Not only will direct players benefit, such as growers, processors, distributors, and retailers, but the ancillary market could see its own job boom. Think about the role marketing and packaging companies will play in developing cannabis brands, or how financing companies will aid in providing capital for capacity expansion and hiring. More jobs might mean more income, which leads to a healthier economy.
And, of course, there are the investors who hope to take advantage of the $5 billion in added sales that'll likely be generated by legalizing recreational marijuana in Canada.
Here's who's worried about legalizing adult-use marijuana
According to a recently released survey of more than 2,600 people by the National Post, a conservative publication, Canadians have serious concerns about the expediency with which legalization has been proceeding. The survey asked Canadian residents to agree or disagree with three statements:
- "We should delay the introduction of marijuana for up to a year because we're not ready for it to happen."
- "Our province has plans in place to deal with automobile drivers who have used marijuana."
- "I'm concerned that despite best efforts, there will be a large black market for lower priced marijuana."
In total, 55% agreed that marijuana's legalization should be delayed by up to a year, with 60% of female respondents and 68% of seniors aged 55 and older agreeing with this statement. Comparatively, just 49% of males and 44% of those aged 18 to 34 agreed with the first statement.
Overall, only 45% of respondents agreed that their province had regulations in place to deal with drivers who are under the influence of cannabis. Persons aged 18 to 34 were the only group where a majority of respondents (57%) believed driving under the influence plans are in place in their respective province.
Lastly, 69% of all respondents are in agreement that the black market will be difficult to expel. This included 57% of young adults aged 18 to 34, as well as 85% of seniors aged 55 and over.
As is consistent with most surveys on marijuana, seniors had a decidedly negative take on pot relative to younger adults.
A lack of regulation and the black market are serious concerns
While this poll isn't going to change Canada's recent vote to legalize marijuana, it does raise two very valid concerns about the legal pot industry.
First, despite the passage of the Cannabis Act, legalization designed to broaden the authority of peace officers with regard to screening drivers for cannabis use and impairment has yet to be passed. This could put the public's safety at risk.
Building on this point, measuring impairment is a lot harder to do with marijuana use compared to alcohol consumption. Alcohol stays in a person's system for less than a day, and a breathalyzer device can be used in determining a level of impairment via a blood alcohol content reading. The guidelines for alcohol impairment behind the wheel are pretty clear.
But with marijuana use, there are no line-in-the-sand guidelines, and no approved breathalyzers, even though multiple companies have these products under development. Additionally, since tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can stay in a person's system for days or weeks, recency of use, and therefore impairment behind the wheel, becomes difficult to decipher.
The second major concern here is that the black market may not relinquish sales as expected. Even though the excise tax rate is a mere 10%, black market providers aren't paying this tax, and don't have licensing fees or store rent to contend with. The gap in pricing between legal marijuana and black market pot might be wide enough to keep consumers in illicit channels. That'd be terrible news for the federal government, provinces, and investors.
The big takeaway for investors
So, what's the big point here? Namely, that with all of the unknowns associated with the rollout of recreational cannabis in Canada, we could very well see some choppiness in sales and demand after the Oct. 17 launch date.
In many ways, marijuana stocks have been priced as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Canopy Growth Corporation (NYSE:CGC), the largest marijuana stock by market cap, and the first pot company to uplist to the prestigious New York Stock Exchange, has seen its share price rise nearly 1,000% (on Canadian exchanges) over the trailing two-year period. Yet in spite of its $5.6 billion market cap, and 5.6 million square feet in eventual growing capacity, Canopy Growth Corp. might lose money in fiscal 2019. Since Canopy has been reinvesting every cent of operating cash flow, as well as diluting investors via bought-deal offerings in order to raise cash, any chance at meaningful profits are still a few years away.
Canopy Growth's profit expectations could become even more strained if consumers don't move into legal channels as expected, or if Canada doesn't move quickly to pass resolutions to protect drivers.
It's concerns like these, raised by Canadian citizens, that'll be paramount to monitor in the months and years that lie ahead.


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Big name brands and high street giants such as Mothercare, Mamas & Papas, Argos and Toys R Us have now opened their own stores on the eBay UK platform.
It’s probably no surprise that the baby market in the United Kingdom is booming. In fact, according to the consumer trends company Mintel, this sector is currently worth £3.6bn in the UK alone.
We’ve already seen many large high street retailers and brands open stores on the eBay platform, and now companies catering to babies and toddlers are hot on their heels. Names include Argos, Toys R Us, Mamas & Papas and Mothercare.
These high profile retailers are joining in excess of 100 trusted high street shops and brands and entering into eBay’s omni-channel strategy. This means that parents can pick up everything they need from their favourite brands, whether it’s cots, pushchairs, toys, clothing, nappies or any other nursing essentials.
eBay UK’s Vice president, Tanya Lawler, is “delighted” with the new extended baby and toddler category. It’s a case of listening to customers and then catering to their needs. So, the category contains everything from pre-loved items, independent retailers offering bespoke items and parents’ favourite branded goods. There is something for everyone – which has always been one of eBay’s main strengths. So, the extended baby and toddler category is already a huge success.
eBay places great importance on monitoring their shoppers. The depth of knowledge about the various consumer demographics means that they can track trends and keep up with consumer demands. Offering high profile brands and retailers is one of their latest responses to its customers. This is why eBay UK alone has 18 million unique visitors each month! So far, at the very least, one pushchair/pram is sold on eBay UK per minute.


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New CADENZA K9 led the Auto Show, KIA lineup released
KIA has announced the new car lineup at 2013 Shanghai auto show, which the new CADENZA(K7) and the flagship model K9 starting debut in the domestic. According to the message before, the KIA K9 is expected to officially enter into China in the second half of this year.
Configuration, KIA K9 will be equipped with blind spot monitoring, lane prompt panoramic camera, intelligent cruise, rear entertainment system, the configuration is more abundant. Power, the new car will be powered by a 3.8-liter V6 MPI engine, the engine’s maximum power is 290 horsepower. In addition, there is a power more powerful with 3.8-liter V6 GDI engine options, a maximum power is 334 horsepower. Transmission system, matching 8-speed automatic transmission.
Fuzik products GPS Tracker with Android/IOS Iphone App is compatible with Kia K9.
Smart Start Master Android/IOS iPhone Apps are also compatible with Kia K9. It supply SMS/GSM smart phone control and management, Smart Start Master is integrated with GPS Tracker and Push Start System.


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There has been a bit of a tussle this year between the PR men at Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.
All three manufacturers have new panel vans being launched this year – Transit, Sprinter and Crafter – and the press officers have been falling over themselves trying to be first to get the collective bums of Britain’s LCV press on to the seats of their new contenders.
Although the Volkswagen Crafter won’t be launched in the UK until September, it was the VW boys who won the battle as a party of van hacks was flown out to Hamburg to test out the new vehicle in February.
First drives of the Sprinter and Transit won’t take place until March and April respectively.
The Crafter is set to replace the aging LT panel van, which has been around for some 30 years now.
It was developed in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz and will be built at its factory in Dusseldorf.
But while many of the components are shared, the Crafter will have its own VW engines, modified suspension and an outrageously styled front end.
While the Sprinter’s bonnet is understated and stylish, the Volkswagen designers set out to shock – and they have certainly achieved their goal.
At the launch, DrBernd Weidemann, Volkswagen chief executive officer for commercial vehicles, said: ‘We wanted to make our van brawny, reliable and flexible. It has a strikingly chiselled look that makes it stand out as a tough performer.’ More on this subject later.
To strike up a strategic partnership with its arch rival may at first seem strange but Weidemann said: ‘Partnerships like this are necessary now to achieve competitive cost-effectiveness.
'To be cost-effectve we need to build at least 100,000 vans a year and we could not do that on our own. This is a win-win situation for both Mercedes-Benz and ourselves.’
Volkswagen sold 36,000 LTs last year and aims to raise this figure by 10% next year.
Weidmann said VW would be chasing fleet business but admitted that the firm had a tough task ahead with the launch of the new Sprinter and Transit in the same year.
One way he aims to gave extra market share is by keeping prices at the same level as the existing LT.
So how did the Crafter name come about? According to Harald Schonberg, VW’s head of sales and marketing, it stands for:
C = cost of ownership
R = roominess
A = appearance
F = flexibility
T TDI ecology
E = ergonomics
R = Rewarding
One for the next pub quiz maybe?
The new model is certainly a quantum leap forward over the old one.
It will be available at 3.0-tonnes, 3.5-tonnes and 5.0-tonnes gross vehicle weight and in three wheelbases, with the addition of an extra-long overhang.
There will be three roof eights – normal, high and super high.
There will also be chassis cabs and crew cabs.
Load volumes will range from 7.5 cubic metres to 17 cubic metres and payloads range from 1.4 tonnes to 3.0 tonnes.
The rear side loading doors are massive – 1,300mm of width to be precise. This means that Europallets can be loaded sideways on.
Standard remote central locking can be controlled separately for cab and rear, meaning a driver can be loading the back end while not having to worry about the local low-life nicking his sandwiches from the cab.
In the front, VW says it has given functionality the highest priority.
It’s a lot larger for a start, meaning even tall drivers will be comfortable.
The seats are all new and seat height adjustment will be standard.
Lumbar support and armrests will be available as options.
Meanwhile, the steering wheel is adjustable and its angle has been changed from 47 degrees to 32 degrees, giving a more car-like feel.
The general trim of the cab is more car-like too, offering a friendlier feel.
Noise levels have been reduced too with noise deadening foam elements in the A an B pillars.
Cubby holes and cup holders abound, while the middle section of the middle seats pulls out to reveal a handy desk.
There are also extra storage spaces under the passenger seats which can be accessed by lifting the seat squabs.
Under the bonnet goes a brand new set of TDI engines which feature common rail technology for the first time.
There are four to choose from – all 2.5-litre five cylinder units offering 89bhp, 109bhp, 136bhp and 164bhp.
Torque is 162lb-ft at 1,750-2,500rpm, 206lb-ft at 2,000rpm, 221lb-ft at 2,000rpm and 258lb-ft at 2,000rpm. All are Euro IV compliant and come with particulate filters.
Transmission is via a six-speed manual gearbox but there will also be a ‘Shiftmatic’ option for the 109bhp and 136bhp versions, based on VW’s DSG system. It can either be used as a full automatic or put in manual mode and ‘nudged’ up and down.
Maintenance levels are extended. The Crafter requires a service inspection every
50,000 miles and an oil change at 30,000 miles or two years.
An onboard indicator will light up if it is felt a change is needed earlier.


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WeedLife Steps Up To Fill Marijuana Advertising Gap
The marijuana industry has grown exponentially over the past decade as more and more states legalize the drug for both medicinal and recreational use. However, cannabis-based firms are extremely limited when it comes to getting their names out there as state and federal laws prohibit most forms of advertising.
Companies like Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) are reluctant to engage with marijuana-related firms, leaving very few options for a pot company trying to get noticed. Advertising regulations for marijuana firms are stricter than that of tobacco and alcohol, making it difficult for dispensaries to reach their target audiences.
Related Link: Surprised? Marijuana Use On The Rise At College Campuses
The WeedLife Network is hoping to fill that gap by opening its network to allow legal marijuana advertising. WeedLife Network is a collection of over 40 different websites and apps for marijuana businesses and consumers that generates over 4.5 million page views each month.
The company hopes that by expanding its network to include marijuana-based advertisers, it will help propel the industry further by giving cannabis startups the tools they need to reach their customers.
The Google Of Marijuana
WeedLife Network co-founder Shawn Tapp said he hopes this new offering will draw in new businesses who are struggling to gain exposure. Tapp said that WeedLife will "aim to be the industry's replacement for Google's AdWords." The network will give businesses an easy way to reach their target audience as it already encompasses businesses and consumers interested in the marijuana industry.
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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VR partnership to purchase six stores
Specialty Sports Ventures, a partnership between Vail Resorts and Gart Companies of Denver, has announced it will purchase six Any Mountain stores in Northern California. The six stores are in bankruptcy and any sale must be approved by a judge. They’re in Corte Madera, San Jose, Dublin, Berkeley, Concord and Redwood City.Specialty Sports Ventures owns 120 ski, golf and flyfishing stores in Colorado and California resort towns.Gart Brothers sporting goods stores, formerly owned by the Gart family, are now part of Sports Authority of Englewood, Colo.Staff Writer Cliff Thompson can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 450, or email@example.com.Vail, Colo.


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Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has announced Gravity Rush 2 and Gravity Rush Remaster during the pre-Tokyo Game Show 2015 PlayStation conference.
Gravity Rush Remaster is launching December 10 on PlayStation 4 in Japan. The remaster will come out in the west 10th February 2016. Bluepoint Games will be the team behind the remaster.
Gravity Rush 2 will come out in 2016.


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DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - Ford Motor Co. has tidied up North America, sweeping out old products and excess costs. But the rest of the world keeps making a mess.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google CEO Larry Page recently wrote that he hopes to show the company is "deserving of great love." But the Internet search leader may need to win more trust, based on the suspicions swirling around Google Drive, a new online storage service for personal documents, photos and other content.
PLEASANTON (AP) - Grocery chain Safeway Inc. reported a sharp jump in net income for the first quarter, helped in part by strong cost controls.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest consumer electronics firm by revenues, on Friday reported a record-high profit as strong smartphone sales helped mask a drop in semiconductor and TV profit.
DETROIT (AP) - Chrysler had its best quarterly profit in 13 years. Not bad for a company that almost died three years ago.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate offered a lifeline to the nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday, voting to give the struggling agency an $11 billion cash infusion while delaying controversial decisions on closing post offices and ending Saturday delivery.
PROVO, Utah (AP) - Ancestry.com Inc. will acquire rival family history website Archives.com for about $100 million in cash and assumed liabilities, the companies announced Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) - The Nasdaq composite index shot 2 percent higher Wednesday, powered by a surge in Apple. The iPhone maker's stock climbed $50 after the company once again blew past Wall Street's profit forecasts.
WASHINGTON (AP) - In an escalating election-year clash, the House will vote Friday on a $5.9 billion Republican bill preventing interest rates on federal student loans from doubling this summer, paid for by cutting money from President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law.
NEW YORK (AP) - In a boost to animal welfare activists looking to get livestock out of cramped cages, Burger King will be the first major U.S. fast-food chain to give all of its chickens and pigs some room to roam.
SAN JOSE (AP) - Google is hoping to build the world's largest digital filing cabinet in the latest attempt to deepen people's dependence on its services.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The first new case of mad cow disease in the U.S. since 2006 has been discovered in a dairy cow in California, but health authorities said Tuesday the animal never was a threat to the nation's food supply.
U.S. officials announced a case of mad cow disease in a dairy cow in California. It is only the fourth such case detected in the U.S. since the first case was identified in 2003.
CUPERTINO (AP) - Apple Inc., the world's most valuable company, trumped skeptics once again by reporting blowout iPhone sales.
NEW YORK (AP) - Hidden in AT&T Inc.'s financial statements is a story that runs counter to its optimistic profit projections: The company is generating less revenue from each new smartphone subscriber.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Wall Street banker nominated by President Barack Obama to be the third-ranking official at the Treasury Department has pulled out of contention for the post in the face of Democratic opposition, a blow to the White House and a victory for the party's liberal wing.
WASHINGTON (AP) - People who owe old debts to the Social Security Administration are getting a reprieve this tax season: The federal government won't be seizing their tax refunds.
WASHINGTON (AP) - If you're among the millions of consumers who got financial help for health insurance last year under President Barack Obama's law, better keep an eye on your mailbox.
NEW YORK (AP) - New York's turf war on wheels reached fever pitch Monday as City Council members grilled representatives of the app-based Uber service - a fierce competitor of the city's 13,000 yellow cabs hailed with a flailing hand.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - One of the biggest changes in television this year will be more channels being available online with no separate cable or satellite subscription. But for would-be cord-cutters, watching live sports online has been elusive - until now. Dish Network Corp. on Monday unveiled an Internet-only subscription offering that includes ESPN.
DALLAS (AP) - If you've been putting off a trip abroad because it's too expensive, start packing your bags.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Imagine a world in which your garage door opens automatically as you pull into the driveway. The living room lights and heater turn on - perhaps the oven starts warming up, too. In the so-called "smart home," cars, appliances and other devices all have sensors and Internet connectivity to think and act for themselves, and make your life easier.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Petco said Monday it has removed all remaining Chinese-made dog and cat treats from its website and stores nationwide because of concerns they have sickened thousands of pets and killed 1,000 dogs in the U.S. since 2007.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The first 50-state report on the latest sign-up season under President Barack Obama's health care law shows that more than 4 million people selected plans for the first time or re-enrolled in what the administration called "an encouraging start."
WASHINGTON (AP) - Impressed with an improving economy, American consumers are feeling more confident, a private survey showed.
RICHMOND (AP) - Chevron has allowed a California county agency to oversee its investigation into a refinery flare that brought large flames and steam visible for miles in the San Francisco Bay Area.
NEW YORK (AP) - White Castle is offering a vegetarian version of its famous sliders, but they're not necessarily for dieters.
PASADENA (AP) - A federal appeals court has sided with juice maker POM Wonderful in a lawsuit over another beverage company's use of the term "pom."
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. home prices rose in October at a slightly slower pace, as real estate sales have fallen and affordability has increasingly become a challenge for potential buyers.
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese access to Google Inc.'s email service has been blocked amid government efforts to limit or possibly ban access to the U.S. company's services, which are popular among Chinese seeking to avoid government monitoring.


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Though Californians voted to legalize adult use marijuana in 2016, it remains largely unavailable in some of the biggest cities in the state.
Out of the 482 cities in California, 174 of them allow some form of licensed cannabis business, says Hirsh Jain of Ananda Strategy.
Many of those cities allow only non-retail cannabis operations, such as manufacturing or distribution, "and so are arguably missing the most important part of the legal supply chain," Jain said.
That's because Proposition 64, the ballot initiative that legalized adult-use marijuana in the state, contained a provision that gave local jurisdictions the power to decide for themselves whether to allow retail cannabis activity in their boundaries.
Of the 10 largest cities in the state where there are no marijuana dispensaries, two are in the San Joaquin Valley, one is in the Bay Area, and the rest are located in Southern California, according to the website WeedMaps. Together, they account for more than 2.8 million people without immediate access to cannabis retail, outside of delivery.
Even cannabis delivery could be subject to local jurisdiction requirements, said Moorea Warren of the California Department of Cannabis Control, though a state license authorizes a cannabis delivery company to deliver to any jurisdiction in the state.
"Access to legal cannabis and cannabis products throughout the state is important for public safety and to combat the illegal market," Warren said in a statement.
California cannabis industry advocates oppose the local control provision, with some asking Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature to get rid of it.
But Elisa Arcidiacono of the League of California Cities said that local control "was a central promise in Proposition 64."
"In fact, to win additional support for the measure, the authors amended the original language to include the explicit right of cities and counties to ban marijuana-related businesses entirely if they chose to. So, if a city or county refuses to license cannabis companies in their jurisdiction, this is entirely in line with what voters approved when they legalized adult-use cannabis in 2016," Arcidiacono said in a statement.


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The annual U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study of the J.D. Power and Associates found that automakers built much improved cars three years ago, during the worst period of the global financial crisis. The study found that the improvement in dependability of three-year-old 2009 vehicles from the previous year was one of the biggest ever measured. J.D. Power's vice president of global vehicle research, David Sargent, said that throughout the industry, owners posted an average of 132 problems per 100 in vehicles they had owned for three years. This figure is 13% lower than the previous year.
He acknowledged that cars improve each year but the improvement for that year was “even greater” as the automakers focused on making better vehicles. J.D. Power measured 32 brands. Of this number, 25 brands improved vehicle dependability from the previous year. One stayed even while six experienced a drop. The top three spots were taken by luxury brands. After three years, Lexus owners reported the fewest problems with 86 per 100.
Porsche was second and Cadillac came in at third. Toyota is No. 4 and Scion is ranked fifth. Also seen at the top 10 are Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, Ford and Buick, and Hyundai. The only other companies that posted above the industry average of 132 were Acura and Honda.
Meanwhile, Chevrolet, Volvo, Audi, Smart and Subaru finished with fewer problems than last year's industry average of 151. Chrysler Group's four brands ended up at the bottom of the list, with between 174 and 192 problems for each 100. However, Sargent describes them as a reflection of the industry's continuous quality improvement over the last 20 years.


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The Maruti Eeco has replaced the Omni on the Indian auto market. Recently, the CNG variant of the model, which is compliant with the upcoming BS-VI emission standards, has been spotted testing on Indian roads.
After an over-three-decade presence on the market, the legendary Omni has been finally discontinued. The 2019 Eeco was launched in India at the beginning of April at INR 3.35 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The Eeco’s sales compensate for the loss of sales caused by the Omni with a sales number of 10,452 units in April 2019, recording a 37% increase in comparison with that in the same period last year.
As some new safety features have been added, the new-gen Eeco is more expensive than the outgoing model by INR 23,000. The safety equipment offered on the 2019 Maruti Eeco includes driver side airbag, ABS, high-speed alert, driver and co-driver seatbelt reminder as standard, which helps it fully comply with the upcoming safety crash test norms.
Thanks to the added safety features, the 2019 Maruti Eeco conforms to the upcoming crash test norms.
Substituting the Versa since 2010, the Eeco borrows the platform from the Versa. It currently keeps under its hood a 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol motor which is good for a maximum power of 73 bhp at 6,000 rpm and a peak torque of 101 Nm at 3,000 rpm. It is also offered with a CNG kit fitted by the factory, which has a claimed fuel mileage of 16.2 kmpl in the five-seat version. A seven-seater version is also available but with only one variant.
Currently, the Eeco has managed to adhere to BNVSAP crash test standards, but to conform to the stricter BS-VI emission norms which will take effect next year, Maruti needs to upgrade the 1.2-litre petrol motor. The test mule of the CNG version, which is in compliance with this more stringent emission standards implies that the process is underway to prepare for the vehicle's official launch in the coming time. Maruti Suzuki has been upgrading the engine lineup since the beginning of this year. Up to now, the 1.2-litre Dualjet petrol in the Baleno and the 0.8-litre three-cylinder petrol in Alto 800 have gone through a considerable upgrade to become BS-VI compliant. The 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol motor which powers the Eeco is expected to be the next.
The CNG BS6 variant of the Maruti Eeco has been spied on Indian roads recently.


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Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Capita PLC (LON:CPI), Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS), Rio Tinto plc (LON:RIO), Antofagasta plc (LON:ANTO), BHP Billiton plc (LON:BLT)
Capita Plc PT Raised to GBX 1,175 (CPI) (DailyPolitical)
Goldman Sachs raised their price target on shares of Capita PLC (LON:CPI) from GBX 1,140 ($17.52) to GBX 1,175 ($18.06) in a research note issued on Tuesday, AnalystRatingsNetwork reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Analysts at Shore Capital Stockbrokers downgraded shares of Capita PLC (LON:CPI) from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note to investors on Monday.
Capita in line for 1.2 billion pound O2 contract (MarketWatch)
Outsourcing company Capita PLC (LON:CPI) announced Tuesday that it was selected by O2, the U.K. unit of Telefonica SA (TEF.MC), as preferred bidder for a 10 year customer management services contract expected to be worth 1.2 billion pounds, and added that it now expects to achieve greater than anticipated organic growth for fiscal 2013. …Currently has visibility of at least 8% organic revenue growth. -After this deal with Telefonica U.K. Ltd., Capita PLC (LON:CPI) has secured over GBP2.0 billion of major new and extended contracts to date in 2013
Capita PLC : Capita selected by O2 to form 10 year partnership (4-Traders)
Capita PLC (LON:CPI) today announces that it has been selected by leading communications company Telefónica UK (O2) as their preferred bidder to form a 10 year strategic partnership for customer management services. The deal, which builds on Capita PLC (LON:CPI)’s existing long-term partnership with O2, will see Capita PLC (LON:CPI) run and manage O2’s customer service centres and support O2 as it enhances and expands its digital service offering to customers. Final negotiations are now taking place, with the 10 year contract expected to be worth approximately £1.2 billion and due to commence on 1 July 2013.
Marks And Spencer: Lowest Profits Since 2009 (KLFM967)
High street retailer Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS) has announced a fall in profits after a slump in clothing sales. The company made a pre-tax annual profit of £665.2m for 2012/13, down six per cent on a reported profit for 2011/12 of £705.9m. Chief Executive Marc Bolland said: “In a challenging market, M&S sales grew by 1.3%. Three of the four parts of the business made strong progress. “We are working hard to get the general merchandise performance back on track.
Marks And Spencer Group Plc Still Struggling To Compete (Fool)
Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS), the United Kingdom’s clothing and home product retailer with 731 stores across the country, saw profits before tax fall 14% to £564.3m for the year to 30 March 2013. Group sales were slightly up 1.3% to £10bn with international and multi-channel sales, up 4.5% and 16.6% respectively. The Group’s owned businesses in India and China provided a solid performance during the year, with good like-for-like growth and the opening of new space. The more significant UK sales were up 0.9% to £8,951m, although like-for-like sales actually fell by 1%.
Marks & Spencer announces slump in profits after clothing falls out of fashion (Express)
Pre-tax profits fell to £564.3m, down from £658m last year, despite group sales rising 1.3 per cent to £10bn for the year to 30 March. While underlying sales of food rose 1.7 per cent, sales of general merchandise – including clothing – fell by a massive 4.1 per cent in the year. The results leave chief executive Marc Bolland under intense pressure to turn around the high street stalwart, particularly in the wake of an executive reshuffle and the launch of a new clothing range last week.
Rio Tinto mines three rare red diamonds at Argyle mine in Western Australia (EBR)
Global mining giant Rio Tinto plc (LON:RIO) has mined three rare red diamonds from its Argyle Diamond mine in Western Australia. The company is planning to sell the stones at its annual tender of rare colored stones later during 2013. It is said to be the first sale in which red diamonds are being offered at the tender in 30-year history of the Argyle diamond mine.
Rio Tinto scales BYOD to 4000 users (ITNews)
Rio Tinto plc (LON:RIO) is the latest big company to allow employees to use their own mobile devices on the corporate network, scaling up a BYO Device environment after a successful pilot. The mine giant kicked off a proof-of-concept in December 2012 with 200 users, which it ran until March of this year. A Rio Tinto plc (LON:RIO) spokeswoman told iTnews the company put a “BYOD solution” into production last month. “We support Apple iOS and a limited range of secure Android devices only,” the spokeswoman said.


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Today’s topics include Microsoft’s rapid response to a hacker group’s recent exploits, HTC cutting the price of some smartphones through April 23, Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquiring storage maker Nimble earlier than planned and Instagram’s latest feature release.
On April 14 a hacker group called the Shadow Brokers sparked fears of a new group of previously unknown zero-day exploits that potentially could have exposed millions of users to risk.
However, hours after the Shadow Brokers released the trove of exploits, Microsoft issued a comprehensive overview of how it has already protected Windows against the newly disclosed Shadow Brokers exploits.
The company explained that nine of the 13 exploits had been patched, and that the remaining are not “reproducible” on supported Windows operating systems. Microsoft added that several of the exploits that the hacker group just released were patched years ago.
Through April 23 HTC is offering special spring pricing for a number of its latest smartphones. The price cuts are for U.S. consumers.
The new HTC U Ultra handset is now priced at $599, a $150 discount from its regular $749 price tag. The U Ultra is a 4G LTE unlocked phablet with a 5.7-inch quad HD curved-edge touch-screen display with 2,560-by-1,440-pixel resolution.
The company also cut $150 off its Bolt smartphone, which is now priced at $450, and $300 off the HTC One A9 phone, whose sale price is $199.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise on April 17 completed its $1 billion acquisition of new-gen flash storage maker Nimble, several months earlier than planned. The deal, which ended up being worth $12.50 per stock share, was set for completion sometime in the third quarter.
Now HPE ostensibly has the all-flash storage intellectual property it requires to improve its position against storage market competitors, which include Dell EMC, IBM, Pure Storage and NetApp.
The deal will bring the company’s standing in the high-growth flash storage market up by a few percentage points. The overall flash storage market, worth about $15 billion in 2016, will grow to nearly $20 billion by 2020 and is evolving at a nearly 17 percent compound annual growth rate, according to industry analysts. HPE is now positioned to reap a good portion of that growth.
Instagram is asserting its position in the social media landscape by frequently rolling out new features. The latest new feature is users’ ability to group saved posts into private collections, the social network announced on April 17.
Users can save a post to add to a new or existing private collection, and only they can see them. When someone’s post is saved into a private collection, that person is not informed. Instagram introduced post-saving capability in December 2016, and the feature has taken off as nearly half of users have saved at least one post.


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Packer Olymel bids C$65 million for No. 2 Canada hog farm
By Rod Nickel
(Reuters) - Privately held Olymel LP, one of the largest Canadian hog processors, has offered to buy Canada's second-largest hog producer out of receivership for C$65.25 million ($66.58 million).
Big Sky, which produces about 1 million pigs per year and is based near Humboldt, Saskatchewan, entered receivership in early September after piling up C$69 million in debt to secured creditors. Soaring feed costs left the company unable to pay its bills.
"It's a strategic possible acquisition for us," said Richard Vigneault, spokesman for Montreal-based Olymel, which currently does not raise hogs, on Thursday. "Big Sky is already one of our suppliers and we want to secure our supplies."
Other bidders can make offers for Big Sky until November 9, followed by due diligence, an auction process that can include raised bids, and the receiver approving a winning offer in mid-January, according to court documents. The sale process goes before a Saskatchewan court on Friday for approval.
If there are no other offers by November 9, the sale with Olymel will close, said the receiver, Ernst & Young senior vice-president Kevin Brennan.
But Brennan expects more offers, with Canadian packer Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO: Quote) and some U.S. meat companies expressing interest.
"I think we'll get fairly robust interest, given the scale and how efficient an operator Big Sky is," Brennan said.
A Maple Leaf spokesman could not be immediately reached. Continued...


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Bitcoin is Near $10,000
Bitcoin is poised to move beyond $10,000. At the time of writing, it currently sits at $9,922, and has already surpassed $10,000 on Chinese exchanges. Its record high is $19,666. Bitcoin is currently at its highest price since May 2018.
Bitcoin has tested the technical resistance set in April 2018 of $9,949, and the psychological resistance of $10,000 is next. Since April 1, Bitcoin is up 140 percent.
Rob Viglione, Horizen Co-founder and President, says the $10,000 price point is particularly important psychologically due to the recent bear market, referred to by many crypto enthusiasts as the ‘crypto winter’.
“While the price surge could be related to the question of supply (the bitcoin ‘halvening’ event in which the mining reward will permanently reduce by 50% is less than a year away), the impact of recent announcements, like Apple’s CryptoKit launch and the release of Facebook’s Libra White Paper, have undoubtedly also had an encouraging effect on consumer confidence around cryptocurrencies,” said Vigilone.
The first time Bitcoin crossed the $10,000 threshold was in November 2017. At the time, Ethereum had increased from 10 bucks early that year to $480. Ethereum is nearing $300. According to Yonatan Sela, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Props, the recent price moves north are not a surprise to people in the crypto space.
“At this point, most people have heard of Bitcoin, and there are millions who ‘get it’ and believe it will soar to become the equivalent of gold in the digital age,” said Sela. “There are many who bought bitcoin in 2017 and sold it at a loss only to see it bottoming at a higher price than last time around and coming back stronger. They’re not selling again. Some of these people are institutions who have now established crypto-custody solutions and far more knowledge than before.”
He says that news like Libra, Facebook’s recently announced cryptocurrency, will only spark more interest in blockchain and bitcoin. Experts also mention the maturation that has taken place in the Bitcoin ecosystem since it last crossed $10,000.
“This run is far more justified given the current level of adoption — the bitcoin blockchain has remained consistently above 3.5 transactions per second since January,” said Mati Greenspan, Senior Market Analyst, eToro. “With Facebook making a grand entrance into crypto this week as well, it’s likely that the market is anticipating greater institutional participation in the coming weeks and months.”
Mike Alfred, Cofounder and CEO of Digital Assets Data, chalks the recent price increase to supply and demand pressure, making $10,000 bitcoin inevitable.
“All the data compiled by the Digital Assets Data platform shows that citizens of countries with high inflation are adopting BTC independently of price movements,” said Mr. Alfred. “Now that BTC has reached the $10k mark, we could see all-time highs in short order, as attention in developed economies focuses back on BTC as an alternative to the Modern Monetary Theory approach taken by most central banks and policymakers.”
He adds: “Personally, I’m looking for $50-60k this cycle and think we could see prices that high sooner rather than later.”
With a more sophisticated ecosystem, more mature market, and increased adoptions, we are seeing some trendssome believe that increased adoption will underpin the next price increases.
“Those without a historical understanding of bitcoin will likely chalk up its recent resurgence to a perfect storm of bullish news – and they might be right,” said Adam Badrawi, Senior Analyst at Wachsman, a professional services firm in the blockchain space.
“The oft-repeated mantra that ‘institutions are coming’ seems to be coming true, with powerhouses like Facebook, Fidelity, Baakt, and more outlining increasingly definable product entry points into the crypto markets,” said Badrawi. “As many traders and investors see it, even if Facebook’s Libra project does not provide a clear path to onboard new money into bitcoin via direct trading pairs, the fact that millions (perhaps billions) of people will suddenly be exposed to cryptocurrency wallets could result in a spillover effect into the bitcoin markets.”


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The opportunity to transform banking by relying more on digital processes is starting to attract some new players. Kony, Inc., a provider of web and mobile application development tools, has launched Kony DBX, a platform for both building applications and deploying a suite of retail banking applications.
Jeffery Kendall, senior vice president for banking at Kony, says Kony DBX provides an alternative to packaged applications that are widely used by retail banks and credit unions that have failed to keep pace with innovations such as mobile deposits. As a result, banks that have developed their own applications have a decided edge over banks that continue to depend solely on outdated packaged applications, says Kendall.
“They have not been able to keep up in terms of the customer experience provided,” says Kendall.
The core Kony DBX platform comes with 200 built-in compliance and security features, including white-box cryptography, advanced authentication, and one-click binary protection. Other features include transfers, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, and mobile deposits as well as integration with emerging technologies such as chatbots, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR), says Kendall.
The Kony DBX Retail Banking application, meanwhile, offers a more turnkey approach to over 125 features and functions.
Regardless of the approach taken, it’s clear that customers are losing patience with banks that are unable to fully exploit mobile computing devices, which in turn is creating opportunities for potential rivals that include PayPal and Apple. The issue now is to what degree providers of legacy banking applications will be able to respond before the banks they serve are forced by their customers to move into the digital age without them.


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More of us are dreaming of a hot Christmas than a white one, and the same goes for our northern hemisphere counterparts.
Research conducted on behalf of ALDI in the UK, the US and Australia rated the land Down Under as the most desirable destination for Christmas Day.
The supermarket giant surveyed 2000 people online throughout UK, America and Australia and the top reason for wanting an Aussie celebration was our casual, relaxed approach.
Americans and Brits also rated the warm weather a major drawcard, followed by the opportunity to spend the day outdoors.
For sisters Tamsin, 23, and Tiffany Bowers, 25, of Staffordshire in the UK, Christmas in Australia is all about escaping the confines of four walls.
“In the UK, it’s so cold and everyone sits around and drinks a lot and it’s just like you’re forcing all the food down, whereas in Australia everyone’s having a nice time and it’s chilled,” said Tamsin, who will spend her third Christmas down under this year.
For Tiffany, Christmas 2016 will be the first time she has spent the occasion away from the UK.
“It will be my first warm Christmas and the first away from home,” she said.
“In the UK Christmas is associated with how cold it is, so when it goes from that autumnal wetness and goes frosty, people say “oh it feels Christmassy” but really we’re just saying it feels cold.”
The appeal of being able to get outdoors was the most attractive part of an Australian Christmas, Tiffany said. “I came here to be outside and we will spend much of the day at the beach, Bondi and Coogee,” she said.
The ALDI Christmas Index found most revellers aimed to reduce their spend on festive groceries to a total of $2.2 billion Australia-wide, down 11 per cent on last year.
Shoppers in the UK and the US were also hoping to slash their food bill but still hoped to serve up a traditional roast turkey and pudding.
An ALDI spokeswoman said Australians were more likely to dish up seafood, salad and fruit, while ham had made a big comeback in all countries.
The other major difference between the three countries was time spent in the kitchen on Christmas Day.
While most of the Aussies surveyed said they would spend less than two hours preparing their Christmas meal, those in the UK and US expected to slave away for four hours or more.
A big Christmas dinner remained on the itinerary for Tamsin and her boyfriend, who will host Tiffany and other UK expats without family in Australia.
“We will kind of keep it traditional in terms of sitting down at the dinner table but we’re going to do a full blown Aussie menu, so barbecuing, fish, seafood and salads,” said Tamsin.
“But we will squeeze in a Christmas pudding.”
Online Source: News.com.au.


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Guenter Butschek to restructure Tata Motors as part of 3-year plan3 min read . Updated: 16 Jun 2016, 04:24 AM IST
Tata Motors' new CEO and MD Guenter Butschek aims to realign verticals such as R&D, production and supply in bid to remove bottlenecks
New Delhi: Four months after taking charge of Tata Motors Ltd, Guenter Butschek is preparing to introduce several changes at India’s largest auto maker that will realign verticals such as production, supply, research and development and human resources, in an attempt to remove operational bottlenecks. Currently, these verticals function independently and report directly to the managing director, resulting in a lack of coordination at Tata Motors. The company has often been found wanting at processing demand for its vehicles in the market.
For instance, when Tata Motors launched its sub-four-metre sedan Zest in 2014, the waiting period for its automated manual transmission (AMT) variant was as high as six months. Consequently, many potential customers wandered off to the only other available option with AMT technology—the Celerio hatchback from market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
“The idea is to break the silos..." said a person aware of the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “... to get rid of habits such as not launching products on time and not having enought inventory in the market to meet demand."
Butschek, Tata Motors’ new chief executive officer and managing director, has also hired the services of Santosh Desai, managing director and chief executive officer, Future Brands for a transformation and articulation of the Tata Motors brand. Desai declined to comment.
These changes are part of a so-called three-year “2019 plan" that Butschek has framed to put the company’s business on track. The plan details Tata Motors’ targets for financial profitability, market share and rankings in both passenger and commercial vehicle business.
Tata Motors wants to get back to more than 50% market share in the commercial vehicle business and a double-digit share in the passenger vehicle industry, said a second person familiar with the matter, who also declined to be named.
In 2015-16, Tata Motors’ market share in the passenger vehicle segment declined to 5.35% from 6.22% a year earlier. In the commercial vehicle segment, its share declined to 44.37% from 47.22% in the same period.
During the year ended 31 March, the company’s consolidated net profit rose to ₹ 5,177 crore, up 201% from ₹ 1,716.5 crore a year ago. On a stand-alone basis, the company posted a net profit of ₹ 464.99 crore, an improvement over the ₹ 1,164.25 crore net loss a year earlier.
According to Deepesh Rathore, co-founder of Emerging Markets Automotive Advisors, the plan looks “motivating" to employees and the company does require a serious overhaul.
“What we have noticed is that you have a building on a crumbling foundation. Every year, you just whitewash your building. It needs a serious overhaul of production and supply. That does not start with the CEO but at the bottom level," Rathore said.
In 2013, then newly appointed Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym had also initiated a makeover plan, but his sudden death in 2014 left it in limbo.
Rathore said it will be easier for Tata Motors to gain market share in the passenger vehicle business, but to do so in the commercial vehicle segment will be difficult due to intense competition from Ashok Leyland Ltd and Eicher Motors Ltd.
On the HR front, Tata Motors has created a new appraisal system defining key performance indicators for every employee, in an attempt to bring more accountability in the system and align everyone’s target with company’s growth objectives.
Butschek will share some of these details with his employees in a town hall meeting on 20 June at its Pune plant, when he will also unveil the company’s new vision and mission statement.
“Since last year, we have followed the practice of a quarterly leadership town hall to update the employees on quarterly results as well as challenges and plans. The town hall on 20 June is a similar prescheduled one for this quarter. As mentioned in previous media interactions, we will look to clearly define the Tata Motors brand position but do not presently have any specific announcements. We interact with numerous agencies for various tactical and strategic projects across our business that remain internal to the company," a Tata Motors spokesperson said in response to a detailed questionnaire sent on Monday.


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It was a year which began for pharmacy in discussion of the fate of codeine, staff pay issues and a review which threatened to destabilise the community pharmacy model
And it ended with pretty much the same issues paramount—well the King Review was delivered and presumably filed away in the Department of Health, ready to be brought out in time for negotiations for the 7CPA.
We’ll look in more detail at some key topics, but other notable events were:
A new player
One development in the second half of the year has been the arrival of a major new player in the form of Ramsay Health.
The private hospital giant announced that it planned to open “hundreds” of community pharmacies. The rollout began in August with the announcement it had exchanged contracts with the Queensland-based Malouf Pharmacy Group.
Regulatory approval was recently granted for Ramsay franchisees to acquire Malouf Pharmacies, and we could see Ramsay on track to operate 55 retail pharmacies once current contracts are completed.
The biggest name
From one potential new pharmacy superpower to the existing head of the pack. Anything Chemist Warehouse does is big news in pharmacy and 2017 was no exception, with five of our 20 most-clicked stories for the year being about CWH.
Seven Chemist Warehouse stores across Victoria became Supercare Pharmacies, as part of an agreement with the Victorian Government, joining CWH Traralgon as 24/7 Supercare Pharmacies.
Documents also emerged through the year that revealed the My Chemist and Chemist Warehouse group has a total worth of about $1.43 billion. Who says there is no money in pharmacy any more?
The biggest story of the year (at least in terms of clicks on our website) was the announcement of the 2017 flu strains.
Vaccination is at the forefront of pharmacy’s professional service role, and it seems an area in which the profession is prepared to lead the way. This can only be a positive.
Established and rising stars
2017 could be called the year of Capital Chemist Waniassa, co-owned by Honor Penprase and Elise Apolloni.
Their store won the Pharmacy of the Year award for Professional Innovation, and was the Guild Care Pharmacy of the Year. Elise was also the PSA Young Pharmacist of the Year (Irvine Newton was deservedly awarded Pharmacist of the Year).
Elise was also voted by AJP readers as the number one Rising Star of Pharmacy. One prize that eluded this team was the Pharmacy of the Year award—for which congratulations go to Lucy Walker and her
team from Chemmart Goondiwindi.
Change at the top
The well-respected Dr Shane Jackson succeeded Joe Demarte as national president of the PSA during the year.
Three new state Guild presidents were elected: Trent Twomey suceeding Tim Logan, who retired after four terms as Queensland president, David Heffernan elected in NSW, and Simon Blacker succeeding Amanda Galbraith in the ACT.


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According to a Zillow survey, the supply of homes available for sale is increasing nationwide this summer, and Metro Denver is seeing the biggest growth anywhere.
Nationally, the list of homes available for sale jumped 3.1% from May to June, Zillow found. But in Denver, inventory rose 10.3%, tied for the second biggest increase with Buffalo, NY, the biggest gainer coming in Milwaukee, which saw its inventory spike 24.2% in June.
“Another month of rising housing inventory gives buyers some additional options and a little more bargaining power,” said Jeff Tucker, Zillow’s senior economist in the report. “While inventory levels remain incredibly low by historical norms, it is now on a trajectory that should give buyers reason to expect prices to drop this winter, in line with general seasonal trends.”
According to the Zillow Home Price Index, demand still exceeds supply and excess inventory has yet to turn the skyrocketing trajectory in home prices, growing at a 17.9% annual rate in Denver in June and 15% nationally in June. was.
Denver’s rise above average partly reflects how tight supply had become. According to Zillow, the list of homes for sale has dropped to almost half of June 2020 levels.
With COVID-19 vaccines becoming more common and cases decreasing significantly, vendors have become more comfortable listing their homes and opening them up for open houses and tours.
In addition, the share of US mortgages in a forbearance agreement, which allowed borrowers to skip payments because of the pandemic, fell from 3.75% on July 5 to 3.5% on July 11. This is down from 7.7% a year ago. Mortgage Bankers Association.
According to MBA, one way some people try to catch up on missed payments, about 7.5% of the total, is by selling their homes or refinancing their mortgages. But that’s not likely what is moving the supply needle.
“From what we have seen, the inventory gains are mainly coming from more people who are comfortable putting their home on the market (post-COVID restrictions), more homeowners wanting to take advantage of the hot market. are, and/or homeowners moving to a larger home/area,’ said MBA spokesman Adam DeSanctis in an email.


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443 federal data breaches in 5 years, and not all by hackers
August 14, 2019 8:09 am
< a min read
Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drive’s daily audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.
In a five-year period, the federal government had 443 data breaches. That’s according to Comparitech, a British cybersecurity testing company. The breaches weren’t all committed by online hackers — some got information the old fashioned way. For more details, Federal News Radio’s Eric White spoke to Comparitech’s Paul Bischoff on Federal Drive with Tom Temin starting with how they put together the breach database.


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The business announced earlier this year that it was going to introduce meat alternatives as part of a strategy of “building food chains based on the market demand”.
It said that the market for meat alternatives has been growing over the past few years and it is expected to continue to grow. Vion believes that next to its home markets in the Netherlands and Germany, other parts of Europe like the UK, Italy and France are also growing markets for meat alternatives, mainly as a result of eating habits of flexitarians.
The plant-based processing facility will be on the Vion site in Leeuwarden that was constructed in 2017 and is currently operating as a beef facility. According to Vion, it was built according to the latest standards, which means it can be easily adjusted to become suitable for plant-based production. The business said the site can be scaled up to add more production lines, freezing facilities and a larger storage capacity.
Current employees are not expected to be affected by the change.
CEO Ronald Lotgerink said: “The capacity for livestock processing in the Netherlands has grown significantly in the past two years, and has proven to be more than sufficient to meet the demand. Given the knowledge we gained from our investment a few years ago, we are now making the strategic choice to invest in a dedicated plant-based site in Leeuwarden. We look forward to continue our relationships with our livestock suppliers at other Vion sites and welcome arable farmers as new suppliers in our plant-based chain.”
Vion launched its plant-based ME-AT range at Anuga earlier this year. The range comprises of five meat-like, 100% vegan products, aimed at international retail and food service parties that will be available to consumers in Q1 2020.


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tech2 News StaffJun 09, 2017 22:41:12 IST
Amazon has ended its unlimited cloud storage offering for Amazon Drive users, offering two new paid options of 100 GB for 11.99 dollars and 1 TB for 59.99 dollars. Users can continue to add storage up to a cap set at 30 TB, with an additional 59.99 dollars per TB.
Until now, users could store as much data as they liked on Amazon’s servers paying 60 dollars a year for data and 12 dollars a year for just unlimited photos. Amazon has clarified though that Amazon Prime users will continue to enjoy their unlimited photos subscription. The changes will set in today for all users apart from those already subscribed to the unlimited storage plan until the end of the subscription.
Adding on the changes, Amazon also confirmed that users taking advantage of the unlimited storage deal who do not want to start paying for the new plans will have a total of 180 days to download and save a backup of their data or delete it, using Amazon's Drive Desktop application. Following the grace period, Amazon will start deleting content starting with most recent uploads until the account falls within the new parameters.
New users who sign up for Amazon Drive will be given up to 5 GB of storage, similar to that offered on Apple's iCloud. The move by Amazon was expected sooner or later as was the case with rival cloud storage providers in Dropbox and Google Drive, as well as Microsoft's OneDrive.
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.


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- P.F. Chang’s is adding a subscription level to its loyalty program, offering customers benefits like free delivery, for $6.99 a month, the company announced Wednesday.
- The chain developed P.F. Chang’s Platinum Rewards over the last 18 months, surveying customers about what kinds of rewards they would want included in the program, P.F. Chang’s CEO Damola Adamolekun told Restaurant Dive.
- P.F. Chang’s is offering subscribers several rewards, including priority reservations and a dedicated concierge phone line to answer customer questions.
The company’s existing free loyalty program, which will be rebranded as P.F. Chang’s Gold Rewards, has about 5 million customers. Though Adamolekun said the company does not have a specific estimate for how many customers would join the Platinum program, he said the brand is confident in customer interest based on surveys.
“Every loyalty program’s a little different,” Adamolekun said. “But for the most part, they're not going to be offering this sort of value with with membership. You're paying $6.99 a month, but the fees from one delivery would basically offset that. If you order multiple times a month, that's tremendous value without even getting to the rest of the perks.”
P.F. Chang’s new premium tier differs from services like Panera’s drinks subscription or Taco Bell’s Taco Lover’s Pass by offering loyalty perks for subscription, rather than discrete product categories. The Platinum program would, among other things, raise the base accumulation rate from 10 rewards points per dollar to 15 points, lowering the amount consumers have to spend to earn traditional rewards, Adamolekun said.
One particular challenge, Adamolekun told Restaurant Dive, was integrating the subscription service into all of the company’s ordering channels and technology systems. Those integrations proved a heavy lift for the company, he said, as it required integrating orders on the app with aggregator systems and restaurant POS systems to ensure the restaurant can recognize a Platinum member no matter how they interact with the brand. P.F. Chang’s designed its own loyalty system, but the system is managed by Paytronix.
P.F. Chang’s program would make it one of the first brands in the casual dining segment to offer subscription loyalty, Adamolekun said. The subscription services follows successful trials by QSR and fast casual brands. Taco Bell, for instance, has offered a taco subscription service, and Panera recently added a subscription option for its self-serve drinks.
“It's a model that we didn't come up with, but one that hasn't been used in our industry,” Adamolekun said. “We believe we have the brand to use it.”
A wide number of restaurant brands have revamped or added to their loyalty programs in recent months. Smaller fast casual brands, like Rubio’s Coastal Grill, have rolled out loyalty programs, as have casual dining brands, like those owned by Xperience Restaurant Group.
With major brands like CKE and McDonald’s launching their own loyalty programs in the last two years, companies with more established rewards systems have sought to stay ahead of competitors by a variety of additions. Panera added choices to the rewards doled out by its system, which is not based on a straight points-for-dollars scheme. Chipotle began gamifying its loyalty offerings last year, and Starbucks added a marketplace for NFTs this month.


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Mandinaring to host Black & White in West Coast Region 3rd Qualifiers Opener
Nov 18, 2011, 10:11 AM
Rice is the staple food not only in The Gambia but also in many parts of the African continent.
Even though the majority of Gambian farmers, mostly women, are involved in rice cultivation; the country produces less than 15 per cent of her rice requirement.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, The Gambia’s annual rice requirement is 175,500 metric tonnes, while local production stands at 24,895 metric tonnes.
It costs the nation US$50 million, annually, to import the balance to make up for the total rice need of The Gambia.
Now, since the world price of rice has declined, the Gambian authorities particularly the ministries of Finance, and Trade as well as the Gambia Revenue Authority should convene a meeting with the rice importers to see how best the reduction can reflect in the local market.
The current price of rice in the market is a nightmare for many households, making others to resort to buying cups of rice daily instead of the usual buying of a bag of rice.
Therefore, any effort to see to it that the reduction in the world market is reflected in the domestic market would be welcomed.
The sad fact in The Gambia is that any price that increases because of increment in the world market will hardly come down, when prices go down in the global market.
This issue should be looked into meticulously.
However, one of the surest ways to insulate us from issues in the world market with regard to rice is to be self-sufficient, that is, to produce enough locally.
It is great that the Gambia government is on that path, and we hope we reach there for it is for the good of all.
Meanwhile, we hope the good news from Asia reaches us in The Gambia.
“Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.”


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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The American Medical Association says more Americans than ever are taking precautions against sun damage, but it’s not enough.
“People are not using enough sunscreen and they are not reapplying it often enough,” Dr. Doris Day, a dermatologist, said.
Sunscreen can be confusing. A recent report in JAMA Dermatology — a monthly publication from the American Medical Association — says that only 51 percent of Americans understand what “SPF” means. The term generally appears on sunscreen tubes and bottles.
“SPF” stands for sun protection factor. An SPF of 15 blocks about 95 percent of UV rays. An SPF of 30 will block about 97 percent and an SPF of 50 will block 98 percent, Day said.
She said people often forget to apply sunscreen to their ears and the areas where their cheeks meet their necks.
“We see skin cancer mostly in sun-exposed areas … What happens is, you apply sunscreen [around the nose], you feather it out, you run out by the time you get the periphery, and then you let it go,” Day said.
People are also urged to remember to apply sunscreen to their hands.
Parents may be vigilant about keeping their children’s skin protected, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says only 34 percent of women and 18 percent of men use sunscreen on their faces every day.
“Make sure you apply your sunscreen before leaving the house, then apply it to your kids,” Day said. “My experience is when you apply it on your children first, life calls and you get busy.”
Skin cancer is the most common kind of cancer, with about 3.5 million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancers diagnosed every year throughout the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.
Melanoma, a far more dangerous kind of skin cancer, is expected to account for more than 73,000 cases of skin cancer in 2015, also according to the ACS.
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