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Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.
First off today, Robert Levine at Billboard reports that Rep. Bob Goodlatte is expected to introduce the Music Modernization Act into the House of Representatives today.
The act is a combination of three previous acts including the (confusingly named) Music Modernization Act, the Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society (CLASSICS) Act and the Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act, all of which have been introduced in the Senate. The new Music Modernization Act would, among other things, create a new organization to collect mechanical royalties from streaming services, require digital services to pay for pre-1972 sound recordings and codify the process through with producers and engineers are paid royalties on recordings.
The act is expected to be marked up by the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow and enjoys broad support from both parties in Congress as well as from both rightsholders and tech companies (who are happy about safe harbors that the law provides for). Despite that support, some companies, including SiriusXM, have expressed concerns about the bill saying that it is “anti-competitive” and harmful to consumers.
Next up today, Brian Ashcraft reports that, in Japan, three video game bars have been shuttered over copyright concerns.
The bars, 1Up, Catena and Clan allowed their customers to access a library of video games for free so long as they paid for their drinks. However, the Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS) claimed that, since the bars did not get permission from the copyright holders, that they were infringing their work.
The owner of the three bars has decided to shutter them when their lease ends on July 29. However, many other similar bars are in operation across the country and have been an issue for the ACCS since at least 2011, when it called on them to follow copyright law.
3: Disney Tries Again To Block Redbox’s Sale Of Download Codes As It Prepares For Home Video Release of ‘Black Panther’
Finally today, Dawn Chmielewski at Deadline Hollywood reports that Disney is taking another shot at preventing Redbox from reselling its digital download codes, a move likely aimed at heading off resale of codes for Black Panther, due to be released on home video in May.
Redbox, best known for its automated DVD rental kiosks, has started a secondary business where it takes the digital download codes from the combo DVDs it buys and resells them online. Disney has an ongoing lawsuit over this issue but failed to secure an injunction with a judge deciding it wasn’t appropriate. According to Redbox, the right of first sale means that they are free to resell any legitimately-acquired copyrighted work, including the access codes.
Disney is now trying again to get that injunction by filing an amended complaint. In the amended complaint, Disney is arguing that a the code itself is not a copyright-protected work but that the work isn’t created until the user downloads the movie. As such, Disney argues that Redbox’s resale of the codes is a violation of the terms of service and an injunction is necessary. A hearing is set for June 4.
That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.


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The Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD.
After declaring the Chevy Volt as their Car of the year, and ruffling some feathers in the process, this winner isn’t quite as controversial. After all, if there’s one thing that American car companies do well, it’s pick up trucks. The imports just can’t compete in this segment.
Most of the big three’s heavy duty pick ups have been significantly re-worked for 2011, but with the Silverado HD, you wouldn’t know it by looking at it. GM decided to put more time and money into improving the engine among other things. The Duramax turbodiesel, reworked suspension, a better shifting six speed transmission and a fully boxed frame made the Silverado HD a clear winner over the Ford F-series Super Duty, Ram super duty and even the Silverado’s cousin, the Sierra HD.
Congrats to Chevrolet and GM for sweeping Motor Trend’s Car and Truck awards this year![Motor Trend]

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Dixons Carphone has teamed up with Three’s owner Hutchison Whampoa, to offer mobile phone contracts.
The retailer will allow its customers to tailor their own price plans, minutes and data.
Customers also buying laptops, tablets or TVs from Carphone Warehouse or Currys and PC World, will have the opportunity to take out a contract at the same time.
Bosses from Dixons Carphone have also revealed that becoming a service provider could be worth up to £5 billion.
The service is yet to be given a name, but reports suggest the service will launch in the summer.
This news comes after Dixons Carphone released its Christmas trading statement.
The company reported that its overall pro forma headline profit before tax will be in the range of £355 million to £375 million.
The company’s CEO, Sebastian James also revealed the company may be stocking the Apple Watch this Easter.


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Central banks and politics could cause turmoil, but no longer can spur growth. Growth is far worse than what the numbers show, recession at risk of materializing.
SPECIAL YEARLY FORECAST
The United States economy broke out of its decade-long slough in 2018 with its strongest growth since the financial crisis and recession.
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On the intraday level, BTC/USD is moving within a tight range limited by $3,880 on the upside and $3,840 on the downside. The price attempted to break the lower boundary on Wednesday, but the sell-off proved to be short-lived.
Xpring, Ripple’s grant network, announced that it is partnering up with Forte, a blockchain gaming platform startup, by providing $100 million for investment in blockchain gaming developers.
Tron dapps have completely dominated the space from March 3-9. These dapps experienced a 207% rise in weekly transaction volume with a total volume of $180 million USD. This far exceeded that ...
This year 2019 is going to be an essential one for Bitcoin without no doubt. After more than ten months of continuous falls, the next twelve months will be decisive for the long-term future of Bitcoin.
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ECB's monetary policy adjustments smashed the common currency
Tough week for the common currency, following a more than dovish surprise for the ECB. The central bank was expected to downgrade inflation and growth forecasts and to maintain rates on hold, which it did.


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In 2011, China's mass-market bakery Holiland responded to the growth in ostentatious consumer spending with a new upmarket brand, Black Swan. At the time, Black Swan and its signature US315,000 wedding cake smacked of gaudy over-extension. Today, Black Swan's opulence looks more like a signpost towards the emergence of a trendier, mainstream baked goods scene that has attracted upscale dessert bars like New York City's ChikaLicious to set up shop in Beijing and Shanghai. More recently, a surge in online oven and stand mixer sales suggest that the craze for high-end Western desserts is now translating to the Chinese home.
Ovens are not a staple in Chinese kitchens like they are in the West, but many of China's burgeoning middle class are seeking better appliances to help them achieve a more international lifestyle, according to a recent report by China's e-commerce giant JD.com. JD's sales of high-end embedded ovens soared in the last two years to more than 4 million sales. Sales of another premium tool for dessert-making, stand mixers, have increased almost five fold from 2014 to 2016, with millennial consumers the main drivers of the growth.
“People don't typically associate China with baking, but in the last three years we've seen a surge in its popularity," Ting Qi, general manager of JD Worldwide said in a statement. "JD.com's customers in urban areas are gaining more exposure to international products and experiences. Chinese consumers are changing from coffee drinkers to coffee brewers, and they're doing their own baking at home. The shift in Chinese consumption presents a tremendous opportunity for international brands."
In line with this trend, JD.com is welcoming two new cross-border stores from KitchenAid and high-end Italian espresso machine manufacturer De'Longhi, where they can offer a range of products never before available in the Chinese market. De'Longhi's offerings on JD.com currently range from US100 cappuccino makers to fully automatic models for around US2,000.
A Bloomberg report in February showed how quality appliance purchases are taking off among China's upper middle class families, especially ones that are “typically viewed as indulgences, such as espresso machines.” The article illustrated how China's appliance giant Haier's US5.4 billion acquisition of GE's appliance unit last year meant that Haier could start offering “fancier” products that featured internet connectivity, from air conditioners to wine storage.
When in comes to espresso machines in particular, China's own cafe scene may also be having an influence on the general consumer. While coffee has been popular in China for more than a few years, cafes in first-tier cities have only recently begun to promote the art behind the roasting and brewing of coffee.
This has paved the way for the emergence of a high-end coffee culture emphasizing artisanal techniques and appreciation of more nuanced flavors. Recognizing a demand in the China market, Starbucks chose Shanghai as the first international location for its premium Roastery and Reserve Tasting Room to “to allow customers in China to better understand the craft of roasting and brewing a range of Starbucks coffees." Local brewers have also been jumping on the trend, with brands like Beijing's Soloist recently expanding into Sanlitun's trendy Taikoo Li mall, touting 8 cups of specialty coffee.


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America may be the land of spacious skies and amber waves of grain, but what it doesn’t have is major retail stores selling PCs with Linux preloaded. To get those, you need to move to the “developing” world, as Canonical highlighted most recently with plans to sell Ubuntu computers built by Dell in India. Now, the question is: Will this trend ever take off elsewhere on the planet?
Of course, as attentive observers of the open source channel will note, the deal involving Ubuntu PCs in India isn’t totally novel. Canonical began pursuing retail outlets as a vector for Ubuntu PC sales in earnest last fall, with a similar partnership launched with Dell in China in October 2011. Around the same time, Asus Ubuntu machines became available at retail outlets in Portugal.


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Love almond milk? So do plenty of other people. And, while that’s great news for almond farmers, it’s apparently not so ideal for the honeybees that pollinate those almonds.
According to a new report from The Guardian, honeybees are struggling to support the rising demand on the almond industry in California. The issue is so huge, billions of honeybees are being wiped out in just a few months.
The paper spoke to commercial beekeeper Dennis Arp, who sends his hives to almond farms in California. He had a record number of bees get sick and die this year, and plenty of other beekeepers are having the same issue. “My yard is currently filled with stacks of empty bee boxes that used to contain healthy hives,” he said.
Apparently 50 billion bees were wiped out in just a few months last winter, and some environmentalists and organic beekeepers says it’s because almond pollination is rough on the bees. For starters, they need to wake up from their winter dormancy period a few months earlier than usual to start the pollination. Then, once they start working, they’re pollinating alongside huge numbers of other bees, which makes it easier for diseases to spread.
It’s not just the work that’s physically demanding, though: Some experts say the large amounts of pesticides used on almonds are also wiping out bees.
“The high mortality rate creates a sad business model for beekeepers,” Nate Donley, a senior scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Guardian. “It’s like sending the bees to war. Many don’t come back.”
Want to help out? You can support bee-friendly groups, like the nonprofit Bee Better, which has partnered with almond farmers to try to grow bee-friendly plants in their groves, like wildflowers and clover. You can also look for products that say they use bee-friendly methods of farming. Or, if you're flexible on your non-dairy milk choice, maybe check out coconut, pea protein, or oat milk for a change—it can't hurt.


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Talents and Skills Africa has been recognized as a Top Outsourcing Company in Africa in 2021 by DesignRush.
In what can be described as a reward for commitment to quality, customer satisfaction, and dedication to professionalism in service delivery in the industry, Talents and Skills Africa, a leading outsourcing and workforce management company in Nigeria has just been recognized by DesignRush, for its efforts with the recent milestone recognition of ranking among the top Outsourcing agencies in Africa.
DesignRush is a B2B marketplace that connects brands with professional full-service outsourcing agencies, web design companies, digital marketing firms, and top technology companies. Their platform lists over 9,300 agencies from over 50 different countries and is consulted by thousands of decision-makers looking to start a project.
“It’s genuinely a great honor for our agency to be acknowledged for our outsourcing and recruiting/staffing skills. This is especially notable since we are in such a competitive market in a major Africa city that serves clients across the Western Africa coast,” said Tayo Oluwole, Founder and Team Lead at Talents and Skills Africa Consulting LLC.
Talents and Skills Africa has continued to steadily expand its offerings, mainly due to the growth of local SMEs and multinational businesses entering/expanding into Africa Markets and major cities and we are increasingly pivoting to digital channels due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, the Talents and Skills Africa team has grown and increased staff to accommodate the additional clients’ workload while maintaining a stellar 5.0 out of five stars on Google My Business’ review network.
Talents and Skills Africa Consulting LLC is a premier, full-service outsourcing, recruitment/staffing, and HR consulting agency that generates explosive growth and revenue in businesses through creative strategy and digital optimization.


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The Delta Faucet Company has launched a new, cross-platform marketing campaign called HappiMess.
In addition to airing on network television and cable programming, and appearing in Southern Living, HGTV, and Real Simple magazines, HappiMess' campaign will have a heavy digital presence. Placements—handled by Spark, Delta's media strategy and buying agency—will appear on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and also within online communities that encourage user engagement and sharing, such as Buzzfeed and Mode Media.
According to Catherine Roper, Delta’s brand marketing director, the goal of the campaign marks a significant shift towards digital for the faucet and fixture company. "We want to help consumers embrace 'HappiMess' with confidence, knowing our kitchen and bath innovations will be there to help with the cleanup," she said.
Rather than focusing on products and technology, #HappiMess takes a lighter, lifestyle-oriented approach, encouraging actual consumers to share their brand interactions, per a statement from the brand.
Delta will launch a social media sweepstakes on Aug. 11 where consumers submit photos, videos and written comments tagged with #HappiMess, with the chance to win Delta products. This user-generated content will be displayed at DeltaFaucet.com/Happimess.
Dave Morse, digital marketing strategist at Delta, commented about the prevalence of social media during a podcast for SocialPros in May. "It’s about providing good information that people find valuable, adding value to people's lives. And there is also the conversation piece: Keeping people engaged and talking about the brand."


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Some of Uber’s secrets are secrets no longer.
A California administrative law judge ordered the ride-hail app company to file answers to regulatory questions Sept. 17 — and Thursday afternoon the CPUC posted those answers online.
The questions are part of the California Public Utilities Commission’s efforts to draft new regulations for the fledgling Transportation Network Company industry, which includes Uber and Lyft.
Previously, while CPUC Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason could read filings detailing the inner workings of Uber’s business practices, the public was treated to rows of black boxes which redacted text.
Mason ruled Uber failed to prove the information, if made public, would damage its competitive edge. He ordered Uber to re-file its answers in a manner open to the public.
Experts told the San Francisco Examiner that Lyft and other competitors may be able to reverse-engineer the information to gain proprietary knowledge, despite the revelations’ seemingly benign nature.
The news comes on the heels of reports from Reuters that Uber may have been hacked, revealing 50,000 driver names and drivers license plate numbers to Lyft.
All told, revelations in Uber’s new filings may be difficult for the general public to parse, but may have big impacts, said Dave Sutton, a spokesman for the taxi-led anti-Uber campaign “Who’s Driving You?”
Uber, he said, “won’t even give out the names of their drivers, saying they’re trade secrets. Absolutely this is a trade secret they’d be concerned with.”
Though the company did not immediately respond with comment, Uber seemingly agrees with the sentiment.
“The conclusions reached in the Ruling have cross-industry implications,” Uber’s attorneys wrote to Mason, in the filings, which can be read here.
The revelations were many. One of the unearthed redactions said an Uber driver has only 15 seconds to accept a ride request. Also revealed was that some Uber drivers have the ability to request their fares be lower than Uber’s recommended fare.
Transportation Charter Party drivers, who may be towncar or limousine drivers for UberBlack and UberX, “may contact support to request a modification to fare charged on a particular ride,” Uber attorneys wrote in the filings.
Susan Shaheen, a UC Berkeley researcher who has studied companies like Uber and Lyft, said “anything related to the pricing and wait times as it relates to their algorithms could be sensitive information.”
Much of this information, she said, “I don’t think is widely known.”
Uber attorneys also wrote “Neither (Uber Technologies Inc.) nor Uber USA” require TCP drivers, who may be towncar drivers, to use “trade dress,” in the filings.
Generally, Uber’s “trade dress” describes stickers in car windows with Uber’s logo.
This may have significant legal implications. Cabbies have accused Uber drivers of removing the Uber stickers from their windows when they get into accidents, to avoid reporting commercial driver status to insurance companies, which may subsequently deny them insurance coverage.
The filings also discuss Uber’s future plans to restructure its subsidiary, Raiser LLC as a subsidiary of Uber USA, LLC. That corporate shell is in turn owned by Uber Technologies Inc. (UTI).


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Washington Gas Named 2017 Customer Champion in Study of Top Utilities
Among 49 companies recognized for the industry’s strongest customer engagement through superior service, brand and product experience
Public Company Information:
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Washington Gas, a WGL Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: WGL) company, has been named as a 2017 Customer Champion utility company, according to a new Cogent Reports study conducted by Market Strategies International. The results, which recognized the top 49 utilities throughout the country that accomplished the industry’s strongest customer engagement through customer service, brand and product experiences, can be found in a published study called Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential.
Washington Gas earned high marks for several achievements, including rating better than its industry peers for being a well-managed company, maintaining a strong brand, demonstrating superior management of customer operations, leading the industry in innovation, and building the new energy economy. With more than 1.1 million customers in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia, Washington Gas has provided safe, affordable and reliable natural gas for more than 169 years. Earlier this year, the company ranked as a Most Trusted Brand in 2017 among residential utility customers by Cogent Reports.
“Washington Gas has always been a champion of customers, and strives to deliver an exceptional customer experience for the communities in the D.C. region that we have been honored to serve for nearly 170 years,” said Adrian Chapman, President and Chief Operating Officer, Washington Gas. “We are proud to earn industry recognition for service excellence, and commend the hard work and dedication of our employees and leadership. Washington Gas will continue to adhere to high standards of safety and service quality as a trusted energy partner to our valued customers.”
Now in its fourth year of the study, Cogent Reports conducts surveys among 59,847 residential electric, natural gas and combination utility customers of the 130 largest utilities in the U.S. (based on residential customer counts). The 2017 Customer Champions, selected from a benchmark set of 128 electric, natural gas, and combination utilities, were based on a customer management metric that measures the entire customer experience spanning brand trust, product experience, and service satisfaction performance ratings compiled from each company.
About Washington Gas
Washington Gas Light Company is a regulated natural gas utility providing safe, reliable natural gas service to more than 1.1 million customers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. A subsidiary of WGL Holdings, Inc. (WGL), the company has been providing energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers for 169 years.
WGL (NYSE: WGL), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a leading source for clean, efficient and diverse energy solutions. With activities and assets across the U.S., WGL consists of Washington Gas, WGL Energy, WGL Midstream and Hampshire Gas. WGL provides options for natural gas, electricity, green power and energy services, including generation, storage, transportation, distribution, supply and efficiency. Our calling as a company is to make energy surprisingly easy for our employees, our community and all our customers. Whether you are a homeowner or renter, small business or multinational corporation, state and local or federal agency, WGL is here to provide Energy Answers. Ask Us. For more information, visit us at wgl.com.


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It's nearly that time again. After last year's empty halls, no-shows and waggle-centric press conferences, gamers are once more being given reason to get excited about E3. With the event's return to LA, the long list of expected titles and, if the buzz is to be believed, quite a few surprises in store for us gamers, E3 may well reclaim its position as gaming's best annual event.
From the pre-E3 press conferences to the behind closed doors presentations and the show floor itself, since the event started in 1995 some of gaming's biggest announcements and reveals have been at E3. Services and systems have been announced that have changed the face of gaming; footage of hugely influential and important games have been unveiled, and there's a general rise in jaw injuries as more and more of them hit the floor at the technology unveiled. In preparation for E3 '09, we're looking back on the E3 announcements that have shaped the event – and gaming as a whole – into what they are today.
A Near-Complete Super Mario 64 Demo Shown
The first E3 in 1995 may have impressed crowds with the Ultra 64 specs and the PSX Ridge Racer demo, but 1996's playable demo of Super Mario 64 showed everyone the ace up Nintendo's sleeve. While the likes of Shadows of the Empire, Wave Race and Pilotwings were also playable, it was Super Mario 64 that best exemplified what the analogue stick was all about. Of course on reflection the 64's analogue stick was particularly awful, but its application was, from the very beginning, a huge step forward for 3-D gaming.
Metal Gear Solid Unveiled
The stated objective of Kojima's team, in the making of Metal Gear Solid, was to create the best Playstation game ever. A lofty goal, but one that many people would argue that they went on to achieve. In any case, the first showing of MGS was a revelation. Years before stealth became fashionable, MGS displayed how you could feasibly build a whole game around avoiding combat – although killing everyone was still an option. Even now any potential new MGS games on the horizon rise right to the top of a lot of gamer's E3 wishlists, including this year – what is that teaser site all about, Kojima?
Soulcalibur Shown on Dreamcast
Soulcalibur on Dreamcast had already been announced in March of 1999, shown off as a 30% complete beta. While a superior experience to the arcade version was promised with this initial announcement, the E3 showing still managed to catch everyone by surprise. Seeing this level of graphical quality on a console was unheard of at the time, and it served as a major sign of the direction arcades would need to go in to compete. Read any of the many eulogies published by the still-grieving Dreamcast fans and you're unlikely to find any that don't recall their first glimpse of Soulcalibur fondly.
First Footage of Doom 3
Alright – so in the end, Doom 3 wasn't all that amazing, aside from the graphics. And although a few years later it remains merely impressive, at the time so many minds were blown that they had to call in special cleaning crews to mop up the brain matter sprayed all over the convention center. It was the most graphically impressive game anyone had ever seen at the time, filled with levels that felt alive and creatures guaranteed to stain your underpants a permanent shade of brown. Equally exciting was the rumoured Xbox port- how could a game this good looking ever work on a console? It absolutely blitzed IGN's E3 awards that year, and had us all very excited about what the future held for videogames.
Xbox Live Revealed
We couldn't have known it at time, but the hyperbole was right- Xbox Live really would go on to change the face of console gaming. Although Sony had also announced online plans and introduced the SOCOM franchise, Xbox Live would ultimately be the service that would make online console gaming an industry standard. General manager of Xbox at the time, J. Allard, somewhat prophetically stated that "within five years every important game will be online". With all three major consoles set up to be permanently online, and the likes of Call of Duty 4 moving millions thanks to strong online multiplayer, it's fair to say that the E3 hype was warranted.


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Western Digital's Caviar Black 1TB is the first two-platter, 7,200-RPM drive to use the company's latest 500GB platters. The new Black is also WD's first step into 6Gbps SATA territory, so let's see how it performs in a battery of performance, noise, and power consumption tests.
|Fractal Design's Define S is a leaner, meaner R5||28|
|Android Wear gets always-on apps, Wi-Fi support||4|
|Tiny MIT touchpad fits on your fingernail||16|
|OnePlus One sales now open to everyone||22|
|AMD says Windows 10 will be released in late July||29|
|Happy 50th birthday, Moore's Law||43|
|This week produced a bumper crop of security holes, patches||17|


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The wait has seemed interminable at times, but your patience is finally paying off. The Air Jordan 11 Low Bred release date is finally upon us.
The Nike Kobe 10 Black/Bright Crimson releases June 18, a shoe that’s rife with potential based purely on the quintessential Nike colorway, and we haven’t even seen it yet. Well,[…]
The Air Jordan 1 Low is the latest shoe to take a swim through hot lava.
Nike Skateboarding is set to unleash another wonder of fashion-meets-function design, and in a bold palette that seems to honor a classic predecessor.
Next month, Nike Running unveils the striking new “Photosynthesis” collection, fusing fashion-forward good looks to elite performance models. That includes the Zoom Pegasus 32, a model that hasn’t even hit[…]
The Hyperdunk 2015 hasn’t even hit shelves yet, but it’s already impressing with a long line of dope colorways. Today, take a look at the forthcoming first special release —[…]
The Nike MetCon 1 — that’s short for metabolic conditioning, btw — has quickly gained fans thanks to an innovative, all-encompassing design that perfectly suits it for high-intensity interval training[…]
The Air Max 95 is a true sneaker icon. Its influence on the industry cannot be overstated, an idea that’s reinforced once again with the Swoosh’s latest runner (or, more[…]
June fast approaches, bringing with it the Air Jordan 5 Poison Green and its distinctly retro style. This thing’s colors are directly out of the early-90s era that spawned the[…]
The Swoosh is at it again, rolling out another women’s-exclusive shoe that’ll make you strongly consider taking those superfluous three or four inches off the ends of your feet. I[…]


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22 September 2011
For three months, the employees of the German clothing discounter Kik will explain, in commercials on TV and in theaters, why they feel good in their company. This campaign, launched by the discounter this week, is part of a series of measures the group took to try and restore its image, stained by a few scandals. Lidl, Schlecker, Netto… many discount firms, like Kik, are currently undergoing a social metamorphosis to get rid of their image of unscrupulous employer. (Ref. 110565)
9 December 2010
Recruitment picks up. For this study, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) interviewed the human resources managers of 1,100 businesses in Europe and in the US. Recruitment forecasts in 2011 are twice as high as for 2010: 28% of surveyed by the consultant firm said they would recruit, as opposed to 13% last year. Meanwhile, the amount of planned layoffs went from 43% last year down to 16%. These are encouraging for the labor market and suggest that the private sector may be able to absorb workers from the public...


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*Central beats rival TCC to win Vietnam business. *Vietnam deal takes Casino asset sales to 4.2 bln euros. Casino, facing weak markets in Brazil and fierce competition in France, has said it aimed to raise around 4 billion euros this year by selling off businesses in Thailand and Vietnam plus the sale of real estate assets in Latin America. » Read More
HANOI, Nov 5- Apple Inc has opened a subsidiary company in Vietnam, allowing the maker of iPhones to import and distribute cellphones directly in one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the Asia-Pacific. The number of mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam grew 26 percent from 2009 to 2013 to 124 million, while the number of internet users surpassed a third...
TEL AVIV, Nov 5- Israel's Cellcom agreed on Thursday to buy smaller low-cost mobile phone rival Golan Telecom for 1.17 billion shekels but political opposition swiftly threatened the deal. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon voiced strong opposition to the takeover of French-owned Golan in a letter to the country's acting anti-trust regulator.
TEL AVIV, Nov 5- Cellcom agreed on Thursday to buy rival Golan Telecom for 1.17 billion shekels, as Israel's largest mobile phone provider seeks to add a low-cost brand to its portfolio. Golan, owned by French businessmen Michael Golan and Xavier Niel, is one of the four other mobile network operators in Israel besides Cellcom. Israel's mobile phone market has been...
*Toshiba to announce first-half results on Saturday. TOKYO, Nov 5- Japan's Toshiba Corp signaled on Thursday that it expects to book a large first-half operating loss as it struggles to recover from a $1.3 billion accounting scandal, fueling concerns that it may need a more drastic restructuring. Toshiba said its operating loss would be roughly in line with the...
Nov 4- Qualcomm Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, helped by lower costs and strong demand for the new version of its Snapdragon mobile chips. Qualcomm, which has been facing fierce competition from Taiwanese and Chinese rivals, said in July that it planned to slash costs by about $1.4 billion and lay off about 4,500 full-time...
With one press of a button on the remote, TiVo's new digital video recorder will skip the entire commercial break.
GameStop reported better-than-expected profit, helped by sales of new releases such as "Mortal Kombat X" and "Evolve" and an increase in downloads.
Mike Sheldon, president and CEO of Curvature, speaks to CNBC about the business of buying, refurbishing and reselling high-end IT equipment.
Take-Two said it now expects adjusted revenue of $1.65 billion to $1.70 billion, up from its previous forecast of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion.
Panasonic Corp has stopped making TVs in China and plans to liquidate its joint venture in Shandong due to strong pricing pressure, a company source said on Saturday.
Xerox reported a slightly better-than-expected quarterly profit as expenses declined 4 percent.
CommScope said it would buy nearly all of Swiss electronics firm TE Connectivity's network gear business for about $3 billion.
ASML Holding reported forecast-beating results on the back of stronger-than-expected demand from memory chip makers, sending its shares to a new high.
SanDisk said it expects revenue to be lower than it had forecast, citing weaker-than-expected sales of retail products and NAND storage chips.
An agency of the U.S. Justice Department is gathering data from thousands of cell phones by using fake communications towers on airplanes, the WSJ reported.
BlackBerry launched a low-cost touchscreen device in Jakarta to revive sales in emerging markets where its once-fervent following has shriveled.
Nintendo is apologizing after being criticized for not recognizing same-sex relationships in English editions of a life-simulator video game.
BlackBerry said it would not renew a deal allowing T-Mobile US Inc to sell its products.
Sony is counting on the boom in smartphones and the market's voracious appetite for megapixels to drive growth in its image sensor business.
Boeing has begun offering a specialized phone aimed at government agencies and contractors who need to keep communication and data secure.


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Data has taken on a life of its own in the online advertising world. It has its own value as a currency and commodity and its own ecosystem in the cloud. Consumers are gaining control over "their data" with technologies like disconnect.me that allow them to control and eradicate their data footprints today — and likely monetize them tomorrow. Brands are becoming more savvy and protective about ownership and access to their customer and transactional data.
"Expect marketers to take more control of their data management infrastructure through trusted partnerships and draw clear boundaries and manage risk in a complicated ecosystem," said Andrew Bloom, SVP of Strategic Business Development, DG. "Targeting across screens is the new black – expect to see more comfort around programmatic (RTB) and [a new focus on] dynamic targeting and messaging across screens. In particular, expect to see more interest in sequencing of messages across screens, as the consumer becomes more and more nomadic, more irritated than ever about a bad user experience and more demanding about the value exchange between free content and targeted advertising."
Bloom also expects to see growth in open platforms as brands look to solve the problem of the increasingly fragmented online space.
Meanwhile, MediaMath COO Ari Buchalter believes ad modeling will have a great impact on 2014. Ad modeling helps brands better predict customer behaviors; modeling, Ari believes, will improve in 2014, giving brands even more controls.
"We're going to see an increase in the power of models leveraging big data. The signal-to-noise ratio will improve as data quantity and quality grows, and models will become better at de-averaging aggregate consumer populations…to resolve important differences among target populations with unprecedented accuracy," said Buchalter.
Buchalter also believes that while data collection and analysis will remain on top of brands' must-haves, data activation will become a great compliment to those features.
"Whether in-store, online, over the phone, etc., the ability to extract from massive data stores the exact relevant and actionable details that will enhance a single customer interaction – and help deliver the desired outcome – will become a differentiating capability. That will involve not just the data itself, but technological infrastructure as well as business processes built around data to enable its extraction, delivery, and packaging, just in time," said Buchalter.


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Tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris International has suspended the use of influencers to promote its products.
This comes after news that one of their ambassadors was below the age of 25. An investigation published by Reuters found that Russian social media influencer Alina Tapilina was only 21 and paid to promote the company's IQOS product via her social channels.
"Upon learning of these allegations, PMI immediately initiated and concluded an internal investigation and took swift action to address an instance of influencer engagement in breach of our digital influencer guidance," the company told PR Week.
"We were deeply disappointed to discover this breach and are grateful that it was brought to our attention in order that we could take swift and comprehensive steps to address our mistake.
"We immediately suspended our product-related digital influencer actions to avoid the risk of similar incidents occurring in the future. We are not proud that a mistake was made, but what really matters is outcomes.”
Up in smoke
Philip Morris recently told PR Week that it doesn't work with influencers under the age of 25, which is the minimum for tobacco influencers in the UK. However, there is no age restriction anywhere else in the world.
While the company has not broken any laws, it has actively showed dishonesty within its influencer marketing strategy, something that the space is working hard to eradicate.
Tapilina's post was published on Instagram and asked her fans if they had “switched to iQOS yet” to promote the product.
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president Matthew Myers also released a statement to PRWeek commenting on the issue and suggesting that Philip Morris has only taken these steps because it was caught.
“For months, Philip Morris has marketed IQOS on social media to millions of young people, and they didn’t stop until they were caught," Myers said.
"While Philip Morris tried to spin the issue as an isolated mistake of paying a 21-year-old social media influencer in Russia, Reuters documented multiple examples of how they have marketed IQOS on Instagram, often using young, attractive influencers.”


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In Monopoly, if not real life, women now earn more than men.
The popular board game has released a new edition that swaps its traditional mascot—real estate mogul “Rich Uncle Pennybags”—for his niece, who invests in female entrepreneurs.
The rules have been rewritten in “Ms Monopoly” so that female players start out with more cash than their male counterparts, and earn more money each time they pass “go,” according to Agence France-Presse.
“Hasbro, Inc. is introducing the first-ever game in the Monopoly franchise that celebrates women trailblazers with Ms Monopoly,” a company press release published Tuesday read.
Instead of purchasing property, in the new, socially-conscious game, players will invest in inventions created by women, including WiFi, solar heating and chocolate chip cookies.
“We want to recognize and celebrate the many contributions women have made to our society and continue to make on a daily basis,” said Jen Boswinkel, Senior Director of Global Brand Strategy and Marketing.
The reworking of the classic game casts a spotlight on the gender pay gap. Most estimates say that women earn somewhere between 79% and 85% compared to men working comparable jobs. While the gap has gotten smaller, progress has stalled in recent years, according to the Department of Labor.
Ms Monopoly’s debut follows Hasbro’s release of the lighthearted Monopoly for Millennials last year, which featured experiences such as eating at a vegan bistro and doing a meditation retreat. The parody version Monopoly Socialism put a satirical spin on the capitalist board game, but garnered mixed reactions.
- Extreme Heat Makes It Hard for Kids to Be Active. But Exercise Is Crucial In a Warming World
- Pelosi's Visit to Taiwan Has Badly Damaged U.S.-China Relations, But Not Irreversibly
- Reality TV Has Reshaped Our World, Whether We Like It or Not
- Progress Is Not A Given. It is Won: The Connection Between James Baldwin and Toni Morrison
- The Inflation Reduction Act's Name Says A Lot About The Climate Fight
- How Reservation Dogs Became More than Just Must-See Television in Its Second Season
- The U.S Will Soon Have Space Force Ambassadors Around the World


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Retail Sales Plunge a Historic 8.7% After Pandemic Takes Hold
WASHINGTON — Despite the widespread hoarding of toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other items that continue to leave many store shelves bare, U.S. retail sales plunged 8.7% in March, an unprecedented decline, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
The deceleration of sales far outpaces the previous record decline of 3.9% that took place during the depths of the Great Recession in November 2008, the department said.
Overall, clothing store sales took the biggest hit, declining 50.5%, while restaurants and bars saw a decline in sales of 27% and auto sales dropped 25.6%.
Meanwhile, grocery store sales jumped by nearly 26% as Americans stocked up on food and consumer goods to ride out the pandemic.
Consumer spending drives two-thirds of the U.S. economy, and the record drop in retail sales is a symptom of the sharp recession that most economists believe the U.S. has already entered.
The pandemic is seen as being particularly tough on brick and mortar retailers, who were already taking it on the chin from online retailers.
With a nationwide shutdown of malls and most stores, the coronavirus outbreak and government orders to stay at home and practice social distancing is putting many clothing retailers in peril.
More than 250,000 stores, including Macy’s, Nordstrom and Nike, which sell non-essential merchandise have been shuttered since mid-March and have furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers.
Some retailers, notably The Gap and Ralph Lauren, have also announced they have temporarily stopped ordering products for the fall.
According to Sourcing Journal, a trade publication, the Gap sent an email to vendors that said in part,”stores are the lifeblood of our business and while we are still operating our e-commerce channels, they simply cannot make up for having our stores closed.”
“As much as we want to minimize the impacts to our supply chain, the situation is fluid and we need to remain responsive,” the email reportedly said.
Wednesday’s report wasn’t all bad news for brick and mortar stores, however, big box retailers that sell essentials like food and household goods actually saw their sales rise.
But no one appears to be doing as well presently as Amazon and Walmart, who have both ramped up hiring to meet demand for home delivery of products.
Last week, Fitch Ratings said it expects discretionary spending by shoppers to decline by as much as 40%-50% in the first half of 2020.
In addition the ratings company downgraded a number of department store and specialty retailers last week with ratings on four retailers, Macy’s, Tapestry, Capri, and Dillard’s, being lowered to non-investment grade.
“We project retail discretionary spending will decline 40%-50% in the first half of 2020, with a slow rate of improvement expected through the summer from a current 80%-90% decline in sales if stores start to open mid-May or early June,” Fitch ratings said.
“Given an increased likelihood of a consumer downturn, we are forecasting sales to be down mid-to-high single digits in the second half of 2020 and sales in 2021 to decline 8%-10% from 2019 levels,” it said. “Sales declines for the secularly challenged department stores are expected to be more material on a relative basis. Revenue trends could improve exiting 2021, given the typical four to six quarter duration of a consumer downturn, resulting in 2022 being a growth year.”
In The News
AUSTIN, Texas – It was a dire situation that Lloyd Armbrust can almost laugh about now. A global pandemic had swept across the United States, a baby was on the way, and Armbrust, hard as he tried, could not find a supply of a critical element... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Democrats agreed to tighten eligibility limits for stimulus checks, bowing to party moderates as leaders prepared to move their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill through the Senate. At the same time, the White House and top Democrats stood by... Read More
WASHINGTON -- Airline industry officials made a plea Tuesday for additional federal assistance to help their deeply wounded businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. They asked a congressional committee for another round of Payroll Support Program funds, not only to keep their workers employed, but in... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden urged Senate Democrats to rally behind a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill and stood by his proposed $1,400 payments to individuals, even as some party moderates sought to dial back parts of the package."He said we need to pass this... Read More
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rescinded the state’s face mask mandate Tuesday afternoon, declaring that it’s time for Texans to get back to business. “Under no circumstance can someone be punished for not wearing a mask,” Abbott said as he was surrounded by local... Read More
WASHINGTON - The Department of Labor’s apprenticeship programs benefit individuals seeking to master skills while gainfully employed, and provides employers with the talent needed to fill the current workforce shortage, according to two Congressmen yesterday. Apprenticeships differ from paid internships in that they are not temporary,... Read More


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The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has noted news that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has adopted ATSC 3.0 as a recommended digital broadcast standard, paving the way for countries around the world to evaluate and use the IP-based digital broadcast standard, the first of its kind in the world, the company said.
Developed by hundreds of industry experts who sought to create a state-of-the-art broadcast system based on the same Internet Protocol language used by over-the-top services, ATSC 3.0 greatly expands flexibility and adaptability for broadcasters, allowing them to transmit data that will both enhance TV broadcasts and provide new revenue opportunities. ATSC 3.0 is designed to deliver everything from 4K Ultra HD to robust mobile signals, enabling new business models and giving consumers a better experience.
The next step is to update the ITU Digital Handbook with best practices for implementation of ATSC 3.0. And ATSC members are poised to continue supporting international standards efforts, including through the new ATSC Planning Team 6 on Global Recognition of ATSC 3.0.
The Advanced Television Systems Committee is defining the future of television with the ATSC 3.0 next-generation broadcast standard. ATSC is an international, non-profit organization developing voluntary standards for digital television. ATSC´s 130-plus member organizations represent the broadcast, broadcast equipment, motion picture, consumer electronics, computer, cable, satellite, and semiconductor industries. For more information visit www.atsc.org.


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As blockchain emerges, financial institutions are coming to grips with fundamental changes in how they do business. I heard the story first-hand from experts during a recent panel discussion at the SAP Financial Services Innovation Summit held at the SAP Leonardo Center in New York, which was moderated by Spiros Margaris, VC and Founder of Margaris Advisory.
L to R: Spiros Margaris, VC and Founder of Margaris Advisory; Dan O'Prey, Chief Marketing Officer at Digital Asset ; Todd McDonald, Co-Founder and Head of Partnerships at R3, Ron Quaranta, Founder and Chairman of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance.
Education on value is priority
Ron Quaranta, Founder and Chairman of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, a New York-based non-profit institution, called for more market education to spark blockchain understanding and eventual adoption.
“When I hear about people criticizing what blockchain represents, it tells me they don’t understand what the value proposition is to their organization and global financial markets,” said Quaranta. “As a trade association, we spend a lot of time with our members to understand how these capabilities are impacting the global ecosystem.”
Even so, Quaranta was encouraged by the tone and tempo of conversations across the financial industry. “Ten years ago, it would be get out of my office. Now many of our members across the global industry understand they have to bring a more collaborative feel to conversations.”
Todd McDonald, Co-Founder and Head of Partnerships at R3, which is best-known for its blockchain platform called Corda, likened blockchain’s colossal popularity to a child actor who grew up too fast.
“We’re all working hard to catch up to the hype, and conversations are changing,” he said. “First it was, what is this thing and why should I care. Now companies want to know how they can implement blockchain and when it will be ready to go live. Having companies like SAP pay attention to blockchain, and put it into their strategy is a massive step forward. To get past the hype, we must talk about how to use it. Financial organizations want help to start a culture change in their institution. It now has to be driven from the bottom up, as well as top down.”
Why banks must change
For all the hype about blockchain, Dan O'Prey, Chief Marketing Officer at Digital Asset, a 3-year old blockchain startup based in New York, saw the financial industry past the tipping point.
“There’s been far too much capital and time invested [in blockchain] by some of the smartest people on the planet that something major will come out,” he said. “We don’t believe financial institutions will be totally displaced, but they will need to change.”
Blockchain’s decentralized model upends the time-honored banking business model, challenging institutions to think and operate differently. “Anytime you have this kind of peer-to-peer technology, companies lose out, especially those in the middle of transactions because the value chain is rearranged,” said McDonald.
When blockchain becomes real
McDonald, who also serves on the governing board for the Hyperledger Foundation, said three concepts had to be in place to make blockchain real and impactful.
“You need to have a representation of the digital asset, a way to identify all the participants on the network, and have a true digital identity operating in a less centralized way,” he said. “You can’t just have POCs exploring one part of the life cycle.”
O’Prey, who is also Chair of Marketing Committee at Hyperledger, said that these business connections are beginning to happen. “An example is how the SAP Innovation Center is working with business units to help identify a clear business driver with understood benefits, rather than technology for technology’s sake. One of the big stories next year will be how the technology giants harness blockchain – whether they partner, build their own or use open source.”
What to expect in 2018
While cost-savings is the primary driver of blockchain for banks, the real excitement is in the potential revenue opportunities. “The next big phase is what new business models and products are enabled that weren’t possible before,” said O'Prey. “Blockchain can make it easier to add new products faster. With systems that span multiple organizations, institutions can provide new services on top.”
McDonald saw opportunities for banks in using blockchain to extend credit. He said that his company was working with banks in Europe and a startup to build an open account invoice and financing platform to get closer to customers and extend credit based on updated risk scoring. “With the distributed ledger, what I see is what you see, and we agree on a set of shared facts,” he said. “Corda was built to be enterprise-ready, plugging into legacy infrastructures. The last mile into the enterprise will most likely come through firms like SAP.”


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Bimbo Bakeries USA is proud to announce that it has received the 2019 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in recognition of its commitment to energy management in the baking industry.
FoodChain ID, a food safety, testing and sustainability organization, will host a free webinar titled “Solving the Challenges of Complex Supply Chains” to address supplier management, ingredient hazards, FSMA and GFSI compliance, and foreign supplier verification.
According to the latest publication from Meticulous Research®, the global bakery processing equipment market is expected to grow by 6.6 per cent from 2018 to reach $19,555.1 million by 2024.
The Canada Grains Council (CGC) commends the Government of Canada for commitments in Budget 2019 to build a regulatory framework that supports new agriculture technologies.
To remain competitive and attract more customers, bakeries should offer uniquely flavoured products that cater to the latest consumer tastes and food trends. Whether it’s creating classic loaves reinvented with a twist, far-out flavours in unusual combinations, or perhaps making the most of local and seasonal ingredients, many Canadian bread makers both big and small are offering products that are anything but run-of-the-mill.
Le salon de la boulangerie le 5 et 6 mai 2019 promet de fournir aux boulangers de nombreux sujets intéressants; c'est le plus grand salon professionnel de la boulangerie au Canada.
Puratos finds key food trends from 3-year studyPuratos Canada, the Canadian arm of global Belgium-based brand Puratos…
Canadian Pizza Summit announces new eventToronto – This October, the Canadian Pizza Summit adds a…
Bundy Baking Solutions launches new businessBundy Baking Solutions announced the launch of a new business,…
Ruby chocolate finally available in CanadaThe wait is over: Ruby chocolate is now broadly available…


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December 14- Average retail gasoline prices in Arizona have fallen 2.9 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $1.97/g yesterday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 2,269 gas outlets in Arizona. This compares with the national average that has fallen 1.7 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.01/g, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.
Areas nearby Arizona and their current gas price climate:
Las Vegas- $2.52/g, down 2.6 cents per gallon from last week's $2.54/g.
Phoenix- $1.95/g, down 2.5 cents per gallon from last week's $1.97/g.
Tucson- $1.83/g, down 3.2 cents per gallon from last week's $1.86/g.
Including the change in gas prices in Arizona during the past week, prices yesterday were 49.7 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 15.2 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 15.8 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 53.3 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.
"We are going to end this year with the lowest gas prices since 2008, and people want to know can it get even lower? Yes, it can," says Jeff Pelton, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. "There is simply too much crude oil out there for gas prices not to decline. The national price decline has stalled and recently nudged up a hair based on localized spikes in the Great Lakes region. But, the good news is this too shall pass. Expect refineries to do their part to get through the glut of crude on hand and that will put pressure on gas prices to fall the next month or so. Unfortunately, not only does Spring bring with it more accommodating weather, it also brings higher gas prices based upon the 1-2 punch of Spring maintenance and the switch-over to more expensive summer blends."
For a complete listing of current averages and other fuel price data, visit http://media.gasbuddy.com. For fuel news and alerts, follow @GasBuddyNews on Twitter.
GasBuddy is the premiere source for real-time local gas prices. Founded in 2000, GasBuddy.com developed as an initiative to provide consumers access to local, current gas prices. Through the GasBuddy.com website and the free GasBuddy mobile app, users can find and share gas prices with fellow drivers, saving big money at the pump.


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The Geological Society Of America (also known as the Geosociety) completed the installation of a solar power generating rooftop at their Boulder, Colorado headquarters yesterday. The project was funded by Xcel Energy and the City of Boulder, and installed by Bella Energy.
Good thing they bought into renewables already. The price of solar photovoltaic panels could rise steeply if the Geosociety’s predictions about mineral trade wars come true.
The group of 17 minerals in the rare earth category go into everything from missile guidance systems and mobile phones, to flat screen TVs, lasers and new energy technology. Pending scarcity— driven by increases in global demand, and China’s near-monopoly on the minerals market— could lead to prices that eat into industry margins, a slow down for clean tech projects worldwide, and diplomatic clashes between supplier nations (China) and buyer nations (U.S., Germany and Japan).
Rare earth minerals are essential to build photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, fuel cells and vehicle batteries. As widely reported, including by the Geosociety, BBC and the New York Times, some 97% of the global supply of rare earth minerals now comes from China.
Canada, Australia and the U.S. used to have more global market share, and rare earth minerals mines but the relative value of the currency, and relaxed-to-poor environmental regulation of mines in China made sourcing there favorable for buyers.
A trade war is imminent, James Burnell of the Colorado Geological Survey explained in the Geosociety report:
“China is preparing to build 330 giga-watts worth of wind generators. That will require about 59,000 tons of neodymium to make high-strength magnets — more than that country’s annual output of neodymium. China supplies the world with a lot of those rare earth elements, like neodymium, and will have little or none to export if it moves ahead with its wind power plans…So the source for the West is problematical.”
Earlier this month, during the East Asia Summit, Chinese officials told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Beijing aims to be a reliable minerals supplier and would not impose bans on exports of industrial minerals for political purposes. Sec. Clinton reportedly expressed gratitude, but requested further details on China’s export policies and new assurances.
Today, Reuters reported, 35 global business and trade associations— including the Consumer Electronics Association and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and other major consumers of rare earth minerals— called on the Group of 20 (G-20) summit of the world’s 20 largest economies to address scarcity and trade war concerns at their forthcoming meeting, Nov. 11-12 in Seoul.
Officials from Japan and Germany have already complained that their automotive, and clean tech industries have been adversely impacted by China’s tightening of mineral exports. China has denied the implications of market manipulation and political motivations to reign in mineral exports. The country’s officials said China was trying to control some of the negative environmental impacts of mining, instead.


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In the Dominican Republic, pineapple producers and exporters have issued a statement asking the authorities to come to the aid of the sector on which 1,000 families depend (Fresh Plaza, 11 May). The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the sector, which is no longer selling 400,000 fruits a week due to the drop in orders from hotels, restaurants, and markets (which are partially closed), as well as from supermarkets, exports, and the processing industry. The situation was so dire that producers were taking to the streets to try to market their fruits directly, exposing themselves to the virus, for a price that does not offset production costs. They also stated that without assistance more than 100 million pesos of investment will be lost, which will imply the bankruptcy of the sector and unemployment, leaving hundreds of families without sustenance and the impossibility of supplying national and international demand. The joint statement was made by Cevicos Pineapple Producers Association; Agro Piñas del Caribe SRL; Bayanas Gold SAS; Caralinda Agroindustrial SRL; Cooperativa de producers de Piñas de Cevicos; Frutas Chiara SRL; Frudep SRL; Frutas y Vegetales Acevedo SRL; Piñas de Cevicos SRL; and Rancho Carlo SRL.
Quiminha Farms in Angola reports that its plan to export 8,000 tonnes of bananas and potatoes yearly is now likely to be postponed (TechInAfrica, 11 May), with no new date in sight, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Work has already been carried out to tackle the bureaucratic issues to enable smooth exports, so as soon as the global pandemic recedes, potato and banana exports may likely start. Quiminha Farms, the biggest agricultural project in Angola, was created by the Angolan Government in 2012.
The African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) has produced a COVID-19 impact assessment on the agri-SMEs and farming communities of Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. Impacts on agri-SMEs are summarised as:
- Effects on business operations and performance: more than 50% of agri-SMEs are reporting significant negative impact on their business operations and performance
- Impact on ability to source agricultural inputs for sale to farmers: over 40% of agri-SMEs reported significant negative impact on their ability to source agricultural inputs for sale
- Effect on ability to reach farmers with all services: over 45% of agri-SMEs reported significant negative impact on their ability to reach farmers with all services
- Anticipated impacts if ability to reach farmers has been affected: the major anticipated impacts were – farmers not able to travel to retail stores; lack of transport services for supply of stores or delivery to farmers – restricted movement and lockdowns; seeds and inputs (fertilizer, pesticides, etc.) not available from main suppliers
- Effects on access to distribution points: the major effects indicated were: retail traders not coming to buy locally, transport disruptions affecting farmers’ ability to access shops; transport disruptions affecting ability to get inputs to distribution points
- Changed access and cost of money/credit: reduced access to trade credit due to uncertainties; bank credit less available; suppliers’ unwillingness to extend credit; shorter repayment period imposed.
AFAP has also reported on Tanzania’s measures to tackle the virus and the impacts on the rural population. The president has stated that no borders to Tanzania’s neighbours will be closed and he does not expect to lockdown any cities as the maintenance of social-economic prosperity overrides the risks of COVID-19. Despite the measures the government has taken, Tanzania has still witnessed the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector, especially in Zanzibar whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism. A number of hotels on the island and mainland have been closed. This not only affects the workforce who are laid off, but also has a far-reaching impact on families who were supplying vegetables and poultry products to the hotels. This filters down through the value chains, affecting other industries such as those that produce raw materials for animal feeds and other food stuff, which initially originate from smallholder farmers. It is predicted that the above scenario will bring hardship to a big rural population, which will not have enough income to feed everybody, let alone save for the purchase of future inputs. AFAP is planning to collect relevant data, parallel to the official data being given by the government, to guide planning for relief food.
Guinea’s potato production is being hit hard by the coronavirus epidemic (Africaguinee.com, 23 April). In Timbi-Madina, the capital of the potato industry, more than 5,000 tonnes of potatoes are harvested and stored on the spot without any buyers. Mamadou Diallo, sales manager at the storage and marketing platform of the Fouta Djallon peasants’ federation, says “We have cold rooms to store potatoes, one contains 1,500 tons and the other 2,500 tons. In the relay warehouses there are 1,000 tons minimum, that is to say 5,000 tons in stock, not to mention the quantities that are still in the hands of the producers. Other mature fields are not harvested. We are consuming a lot of fuel for conservation, which is increasing. So of course the cost goes up. There are producers who are still not getting paid because there is no market. Conakry is closed, we also evacuated to Liberia and Sierra Leone, but with the closing of the borders, we are blocked in all directions. This is worrying for the sector because it is a perishable product; we are even really worried about the future of the next agricultural season. We are expecting some things from the state and partners to save the sector.”
Rwanda has announced a comprehensive economic recovery plan from May up to the end of December in the first phase (2020) (HortiDaily, 12 May). The plan includes two parts: (1) monetary policy, fiscal policy and interventions in specific sectors such as agriculture, support to private sector, infrastructure projects for growth and jobs, technology and innovation plus mining; (2) the Social Protection Relief and Recovery Plan for COVID19 (SP-RRP). It aims at fixing the negative effects on the vulnerability of rural and urban households by providing a packaged approach addressing different needs related to the #COVID-19 crisis.
In Zimbabwe, the horticulture sector took the hardest hits, as most of the produce is supposed to be marketed fresh and at a particular stage of maturity (HortiDaily, 12 May). The lockdown announced by government effectively meant that no transport was available to ferry produce to the markets, hence producers found themselves stuck with produce. While markets were the first to visibly suffer from the effects of the lockdown, there are agro-dealer shops that were also shut down and may not be operational, or not operating to capacity, causing uncertainty about the availability of their products when the country finally starts to operate effectively. However, it is encouraging to note that in terms of labour, the majority of farmers were not affected, as extra labour was actually made available by the disaster.


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Virgin Media Business has launched an accelerator fund of £1m for 2015, and is offering up to £250,000 to entrepreneurs who impress Branson and a panel of start-up judges. It will also provide internet and mobile services to the winning businesses.
'Pitch to Rich' is the latest scheme by a big business trying to tap into the innovation and energy offered by the UK's growing start-up economy.
Branson will pick winners and runners-up across three categories. They will receive funding for marketing support, plus mentoring from Virgin advisers.
The three categories comprise: start-ups, for early-stage businesses; "new things", for disruptive ideas; and "grow", for established, growing businesses.
The funding prize varies for each category, with £150,000 available to the winning start-up, £50,000 for disruptive ideas and £250,000 for a growing business.
A further £50,000 will be available to one business with the most public votes at the end of the competition.
Virgin Media Business has partnered with LinkedIn for the initiative, which will run until 26 June, when Branson will choose the winners.
The 'Pitch to Rich' campaign launched with a 60-second spot during the evening news on ITV and Channel 4 last week, and is supported by the #VOOM hashtag and an outdoor campaign. Businesses can register their interest via a dedicated site, pitchtorich.co.uk.
Branson said: "Launching a business can be challenging and, at times, overwhelming. But entrepreneurs shouldn’t let this hold them back from achieving their full potential.
"Pitch to Rich is a brilliant opportunity for UK businesses to make their mark on a global stage."


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Segments Sponsored by
Mintel shared a blog post on fragrance’s place in the beauty industry, and how new markets are urging its global growth.
in-cosmetics 2014 displays how creative innovation is alive and well within the beauty and new beauty product development industry—and within cosmetics R&D, in particular.
Avon Products, Inc. announced its decision to cease operations in Bolivia by the end of July 2014, after several years of underperformance.
P&G delivered organic sales growth of 3% for the quarter January–March 2014. Net sales were $20.6 billion, unchanged versus the prior year period.
According to The NPD Group, the direct-to-consumer prestige fragrance market in the U.S. ended the 12 months ending February 2014 with $285 million in sales.
Kline & Company tracks the beauty trends of spring 2014, with a look at the noted colors and scents bringing the next few months to life, cosmetically speaking.
The Estée Lauder Companies-owned brand is now available at the Mitsukoshi store in Beijing, with plans to expand more widely as 2014 goes on.
Euromonitor is tracking how fragrance is having an impact on beauty products in the hair care and deodorants categories in Latin America.
L'Oréal's like-for-like sales are up 3.5% overall for the first quarter of 2013, but the consumer products division slowed a bit, as expected.
Get the latest on packaging news and launches from Bert-Co, Avery Dennison, Qosmedix, TricorBraun, Albéa, Aptar Beauty + Home and many more.


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iMore previously learned that Apple was targeting an August time frame for the next-generation iPhone 5s, and while that may or may not include more recently rumored software scheduling issues, it does sound like the general time frame is still accurate enough for Foxconn to start ramping up for production. Lorraine Luk of the Wall Street Journal writes:
[Foxconn] said Monday it has added about 10,000 assembly-line workers per week in Zhengzhou, its major production facility for iPhones, since the last week of March.
"We have been very busy recently as we will start mass-producing the new iPhone soon," said a Zhengzhou-based executive who has direct knowledge of production plans.
If Apple sticks to its 2009 and 2011 pattern of keeping the same casing two years in a row and releasing an S-class update, then presumably it'll be an easier ramp up than last year where the manufacturing technology needed to produce the insanely redesigned iPhone 5 led to the usual transitional hiccups and supply constraints.
To date, every new iPhone has shipped with a new version of iOS, and the iPhone 4S shipped with iCloud. That coupling makes for greater product impact, but also greater dependency.
Hopefully, if hardware is ramping up, that's a sign everything else is also starting to line back up.
Source: Wall Street Journal,


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Week in GamingOn a totally unrelated note, does anyone want to buy some old socks?
E3 2014 AnalysisThe games shown at E3 2014 painted a picture of how the future of gaming will take shape.
In DepthLike it or not, QHD displays are landing on our smartphones, but this could just be the beginning.
InterviewThe LG G3 is going to have a QHD display, but Huawei CEO Richard Yu thinks it's a stupid thing to have on a phone.
Samsung's first 2K phone could be on the way and with impressive benchmark results too - you might want to hold off on buying the Galaxy S5.
Acer has unveiled its newest displays, including 27- and 29-inch models for video tasks, multitasking and gaming.


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The challenges of the changing media, marketing and communication landscape came under some intense scrutiny when some of the brightest minds in the advertising and media industry sat together to discuss the scenario at the 10th edition of exchange4media Conclave, presented by NewsX.
The Conclave was held in New Delhi on September 11, 2013.
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP shared views on one of the biggest mergers in the advertising industry. He also threw light on the criticality of social responsibility and its role in effective brand building.
Commenting on the recent merger of Publicis and Omnicom, the WPP Chief called it a merger of ‘unequals’, According to him, such mergers don’t work in the long-term.
Elaborating further, he said that an organisational structure, where there is a co-chairman or rotating chairman, won’t last.
Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World also pointed out that there is a wide difference in profitability between Publicis and Omnicom.
Speaking on the publishing side of the business, R Sukumar, Editor, Mint wondered whether large legacy media companies are growing fast enough.
Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief, India Today remarked that legacy business is the cash cow, but the challenge is how to keep the current business going. He said, “We believe in synergy and convergence. People who produce valuable content will thrive.” According to Purie, in today’s media landscape, multi-tasking and development of multiple skill-sets has become crucial for the work force. He said, “Journalists today have to be prepared to work across platforms – be it television, print or the web.”
When Sukumar raised the point of paid content, Purie remarked, “My ideal situation is that it should be like iTunes, a platform where all the information and news is available and people pay to access only what they like.” He further said that in India, media is a very fragmented lot and hence, consolidation is the need of the hour.
Meanwhile, Sukumar remarked that given the digital prognosis for India, the medium is surprisingly still an insignificant part of the spends.
Balsara had a different point of view on the growth of digital in the country. He said, “This year, we expect digital to grow at around 30 per cent. It is growing very aggressively as compared to print and television media. In fact, today digital is larger than outdoor and cinema.”
Agreeing with him, Purie said that digital will grow at a much faster rate. Increasing access to the internet and people consuming more and more content on the web will bolster the growth of digital, he said.
Sorrell mentioned that a discussion on media, marketing and communication cannot be complete without emphasising the critical need for Corporate Social Responsibility. He said he was glad with the growing acceptance of CSR amongst companies. “CSR is not just an added function of an organisation; it is an indispensible part that plays a significant role in brand building,” he concluded.
Our typical marketing budget is usually 10 per cent of the topline spend
There are some forces impacting the way our business works. The IT/ITeS sector has changed tremendously. Platforms like Twitter have made everyone journalists. Smartphones have made everyone a photographer. The trend that we are seeing is one of hyperdigitalization, which is causing the lines between product and services to blur. For example, <a href=http://www.exchange4media.com/company/news/amaz...
The OOH sector is among the fastest growing, globally. Brands and marketers have realized its potential and impact and begun to craft medium-specific adverts. Self-regulation is not only necessary but also essential to growth of the sector. The industry needs to exercise a certain level of this self-restraint to prove its commitment to maintaining the best standards in advertising.
Clients are looking for experiential solutions beyond radio or print: Abraham Thomas, Radio City 91.1 FM

 From entering new markets to launching large format events, Radio City 91.1FM has been on a roll. The radio channel recently announced the launch of India’s biggest singing talent hunt-Radio City Super Singer Season 8. Earlier this year, the channel set up its own creative-cum...
The interesting animated rap music video encapsulates Droom’s ecosystem tools and their role in facilitating second-hand automobile transactions
Perfumes are invisible and these new ads from Skinn create a story out of this
New campaign aims at first-time users by providing ‘first-night free’ – a first-ever offering by the brand on online hotels booking


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The picture-sharing platform, most of whose users are now based outside its native US market, has brokered a deal with Channel 4 to launch contextual ads.
The brand’s in-house team will create up to 50 versions of a ten-second spot that will be tailored to 20 different programmes over a seven-month campaign.
With the campaign, Pinterest wants to provide people in the UK with a deeper understanding of how the platform can be used in their everyday life.
Elie Donahue, the head of marketing at Pinterest, told Campaign: "The way you can showcase media in the UK is pushing the boundaries into a fresh space. The advertising landscape is really innovative and moulds nicely to what we are trying to do."
She added: "We are able to form 50 different iterations of 10 second ads and map things to what the character has just said or theme of what they are talking about."
It would take as little as two days, Donahue said, to turnaround a creative idea into an execution.
Pinterest appointed MediaCom last month after a pitch and Stinkdigital, which will help develop the creative.
The campaign will also include contextual digital outdoor ads, which will be responsible to factors such as the time of day, location, cultural and seasonal moments, and the weather.


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'Wild West Online' Has Some Similarities To 'Red Dead Redemption'; New PC MMO Gets Funding From Investors
A mysterious western-themed game image was circulating online recently. Some people speculated that it is a leaked gameplay screenshot of the most anticipated "Red Dead Redemption 2." But it turns out that the image is a different game. The game is called "Wild West Online" and it has some similarities to "Red Dead Redemption."
The "Wild West Online" is an open-world action online multiplayer game. Players will be allowed to explore Wild West's western setting and make their own moral decisions whether or not the player will play as a lawman or outlaw.
According to Gamespot, the game "Wild West Online" was officially announced last week. A lot of gamers are talking about the game because it looks like the upcoming "Red Dead Redemption 2." Because of its popularity, the "Wild West Online" investors have increased their investment in the project. This means that the game would not come to Kickstarter as previously planned.
612 Games, the developer of "Wild West Online," recently announced that there will no longer be a Steam Early Access version of the game. "Wild West Online" is also scheduled to launch later this year, and a closed beta version of the game will be held this summer. The developer is also planning to launch new content and gameplay features for the game. Fans can expect that there will be several game expansions after its official launch.
As per PC Gamer, with the "Wild West Online," Kickstarter would ask for $250,000 with stretch goals tied to additional funding. The game's initial investors also gave 612 Games additional funding, which means that it will no longer pursue crowdfunding.
The game "Wild West Online" received an overwhelming response after its official reveal. The game had thousands of emails and over 200,000 site visits. This amazing treatment convinced the developers to launch "Wild West Online" with some features previously tied to somewhat questionable stretch goals. Fans can expect that there will also be playable female characters in the game.


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Easter distortions aside, the three-month average figures paint a positive picture and show the highest like-for-like sales increases since December 2009.
On the back of strong January and February results, this may be the beginning of a positive trend and will be welcomed by many retailers.
With Easter falling early this year, the April sales comparatives will be negatively affected but it is hoped that the positive bounce of the first quarter of 2013 can continue to be felt across the country, buoyed by the opening of new shopping centres in cities such as Leeds.
More top news
Staying blustery for the next 24 hours with strong winds driving some rain, sleet and snow from west to east tonight.
The mother of murdered Boris Nemstov's girlfriend is worried her daughter is being treated as if she had something to do with the killing.
Student Charlie Mann was jailed for 16 months for the attack on his mother at their family home while high on Meow Meow.


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Brain Swaggle is an interactive game that combines Scrabble and chess, making for an online game thatâ€™s strategic and stimulating, said Downing, the gameâ€™s creator, who is from Cortland.
â€œI thought that it would be cool if somehow a game could be created combining the strategy of chess with the vocabulary skills needed for Scrabble,â€ Downing said. â€œItâ€™s kind of like sparring with letters.â€
Downing said the game is played online. Currently the only option is to play against a computer challenger.
Each player takes turns picking a letter to spell a word, Downing said.
â€œYou can choose how long you have on each turn â€” 15, 30 or 60 seconds,â€ he said. â€œItâ€™s really tough to plan ahead because as soon as the computer makes its move you might have to rethink your word.â€


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Apple's new iCloud+ big data plans start at $30 per month for 6TB
Apple has at long last increased the maximum storage available on iCloud+ with new tiers at 6TB and 12TB -- and it comes at a steep but proportionate cost.
Starting with the release of iOS 17, iCloud+ will add a 6TB tier for $30 per month, and a 12TB tier for $60 per month. There's no detail yet of any discount for paying annually.
Nor has there been any confirmation about how this affects users on the Apple One bundle. Each tier of that includes some iCloud storage space, but the maximum is 2TB.
Currently Apple One costs $32.95 per month for the Premier tier which is the one with 2TB of iCloud storage.
At present, buying iCloud storage on its own per month costs $0.99 for 50GB, $2.99 for 200GB, and $9.99 for 2TB.
Apple's new pricing tiers, then, are simply multiples of the current 2TB cost.
Read on AppleInsider


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Game News PS5: two years later, the console still not found and the players still taken aback
We are in 2022: the PlayStation 5 has therefore been out for almost two years now (November 20, 2020) and it is recognized. It’s still hard to come by, but there are reasons to be optimistic.
- PS5: the console still absent from the shelves
- How to be optimistic?
PS5: the console still absent from the shelves
It was two years ago almost to the day: Sony unveiled the price and release date of the PlayStation 5, a new generation console with promises of ultra-fast loading and very high definition graphics. Two years later, we will let everyone respond to their feelings about the promises, but one thing is certain: the console is rarely there. Literally. It was in the wake of a press release from Amazon indicating the wave of next invitations to buy the console (or the Xbox Series) that the gaming community was outraged:
It’s crazy how in 2 months the PS5 will be 2 years old and you still can’t walk into a store and buy it normally.
It must be recognized that the observation is surprising and legitimate: normally in two years of existence, the consoles benefit from reductions often linked to the publication of new models by the manufacturers. There, it is the opposite path that Sony took with the PlayStation 5. No new model (officially planned at least) and a console price hike in some markets.
On the Reddit social network, some users go there with their own story to testify to the scarcity of consoles. Some are faced with surreal scenes where the PS5 is being sold under the counter like it’s drugs while other sellers are just happy to keep up with the demand. A demand much higher than production: the latter has been subject since the end of 2020 to the health crisis which is placing greater strain on the microprocessor market. In addition, Sony and Xbox are pulling each other a little in the paws since they have the same supplier with AMD. The principle of communicating vessels is therefore applied: at any request from one, the other finds himself in an embarrassing situation.
Nevertheless, we must try to see the glass half full. While it is still difficult to obtain new generation consoles in our usual stores, the situation seems to be calming down on the scalpers : these individuals had the habit, with special software, of buying consoles en masse when they were available to resell them at exorbitant prices. Don’t get us wrong: some are still taking advantage of the situation to make money by reselling the more expensive console, but distributors have found a way today to maximize the chances of making someone happy. It’s already that.


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Following on from warnings to business last week, The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is warning online shoppers to be wary of scammers masquerading as legitimate online retailers, often selling well-known brands at too-good-to-be-true prices.
ACCC’S ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard says it’s younger people in the 18 to 24 age bracket who made up the biggest group of people who reported losing money to online shopping scammers.
Worryingly, Scamwatch’s statistics also show nearly one in every two-people reporting the scam lost money.
“Australians love shopping online and scammers take advantage of this by setting up fake websites that look like genuine online stores, including professional-looking design, stolen logos, and even a ‘.com.au’ domain name and/or stolen ABNs.”
“The only thing these websites are selling is false hope. The scammers running these sites will advertise goods, often well-known and trusted brands, at unbelievably low prices to lure in unsuspecting consumers shopping around for a good deal. If something looks too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.”
The biggest tip-off ACCC says is the method of payment.
‘Scammers will often ask you to pay using a money order, pre-loaded money card, or wire transfer, even gift cards from well-known retailers. If you make a payment this way to a scammer, you’re highly unlikely to see that money again.”


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Iger quits Apple board as D2C war begins
September 16, 2019
Disney CEO Bob Iger has quit Apple’s board, with a filing revealing he did so last week on the same day that the company unveiled the launch date and pricing for Apple TV+.
Iger told The Hollywood Reporter: “I have the utmost respect for Tim Cook, his team at Apple and for my fellow board members. Apple is one of the world’s most admired companies, known for the quality and integrity of its products and its people, and I am forever grateful to have served as a member of the company’s board.”
Iger’s seat was part of a long relationship between the companies, with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs heavily investing in Pixar – when Disney bought the company in 2006, Jobs became Disney’s largest single shareholder.
Apple said: “While we will greatly miss his contributions as a board member, we respect his decision, and we have every expectation that our relationship with both Bob and Disney will continue far into the future.”


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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is under house arrest in Canada and facing extradition to America, is not a bargaining chip in the trade...Technologyread more
Boris Johnson will be meeting President Donald Trump to discuss a potential post-Brexit trade deal just as he tries to court EU leaders for a new withdrawal agreement.World Politicsread more
Arturo Estrella has a message for recession naysayers: It could hit sooner than you think.Marketsread more
Accountants in Hong Kong took to the streets on Friday to call for the government to accept five demands of the people, including the complete withdrawal of a now-suspended...China Politicsread more
Recent trade friction between the two Asian powerhouses has morphed into a dispute with political implications that go far beyond the region.Asia Politicsread more
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell faces the tough challenge of presenting a unified voice on Fed policy from the most divided Fed in years.Market Insiderread more
Local governments commonly share single service providers, making many vulnerable at once. On top of this, ransomware has often been used to mask more targeted, malicious...Technologyread more
Bank Indonesia on Thursday cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.5% to support growth amid an increasingly fragile global economy.Central Banksread more
Meanwhile, investors look ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at a yearly central banking symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.Asia Marketsread more
The office has long been a breeding ground for budding romances. But actively going into business with your other half is another thing entirely.Successread more
Salesforce released its first earnings report since its $15.3 billion acquisition of Tableau Software, the company's largest deal ever.Technologyread more
"A couple of perennial winners, Apple and Alphabet, have been transformed into what can only be called underdogs — maybe even losers — overnight, both stocks more than 4 percent today, while Amazon's become like the Patriots, with Jeff Bezos acting as the stock market version of Tom Brady, " the "Mad Money " host said.
However, Super Bowl analogies aside, Cramer knew that investors were worried about what Friday's staggering decline meant for the technology names.
But even with Friday's weakness, Cramer said most of the negative action stemmed from their quarterly earnings results.
In the last few months, Apple, which just reported its best quarter ever, fell victim to negative forward-looking estimates from analysts.
When management acknowledged that its estimates were too high, Apple's stock got slammed, sinking even more on Friday.
"I still say own it, don't trade it, but I've also been saying, and I reiterate, it hasn't bottomed yet," Cramer said.
Despite the fact that Alphabet delivered a strong fourth-quarter report, the Google parent's numbers evidently weren't enough for Wall Street.
"[Management] then gave you a kind of rest-on-their-laurels forecast that brought the stock back to earth and then some," Cramer said. "Wait for more downside."
Cramer was most bullish on e-commerce giant Amazon after its latest quarter, which he said showed "a trifecta of goodness:" healthy retail sales numbers, a growing advertising business and a seemingly unbeatable web services segment.
"I know it was up nearly 40 points today. Guess what? It's a buy," Cramer argued. "Amazon would've been up 100 if the tape weren't so ugly."
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Apple and Alphabet.


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Blueberry growers protest low prices in Saint-Isidore
Growers feel forgotten since Oxford Foods opened a processing plant on the Acadian Peninsula
Two hundred independent blueberry growers from across the Acadian Peninsula held a protest outside MLA Denis Landry's office in St Isidore Monday morning, voicing complaints over what they call a "monopoly" by a large Nova Scotia-owned company, and pouring bins of blueberry out onto a tarp covering the office's parking lot.
"The province has invested $40 million in that new plant, and the new plant will accommodate berries from Maine and other provinces, but won't take berries from other new buyers in the Peninsula," said Landry.
"The situation is made worse since Jasper Wyman, which has been buying berries here for decades, has decided to close all its buying stations in the area."
Landry believes there is a link between the closure and the growers' request for a marketing board to even the playing field.
I see no immediate people willing to go into that venture.They see what's going on in the industry and they hate like hell to get involved - Vernon Losier, blueberry grower
Growers want marketing board
The association's members voted in a plebiscite in April. They are still waiting for the results from the Farm Product commission, now in the hands of the provincial government.
"They want to form a marketing board in the area," said Landry
"It's a complex file and from what I heard this morning, the outcome from the farm commission would be sometime next fall. We're not that far."
Landry also made clear to the protesters that while Oxford Frozen Foods and its new plant will bring some positive changes to the area, his government did not make the deal to trade Crown land to the company.
Since the deal, in which the New Brunswick government exchanged 6,285 hectares of Crown land for an equal amount of private land to allow construction of the new facility, Oxford Foods has established a $184-million blueberry processing plant on the Acadian Peninsula.
The plant can process more than 680,000 kilograms of fresh blueberries per day during the harvest.
"It was a done deal when we got there as a new government. The land that was transferred to this company, the new blueberry plant, this was one of the big issues. The plant was not strongly connected to the transfer of the land," said Landry.
"The big problem isn't that the plant was built, it's the fact that Jasper Wyman won't buy blueberries from the Acadian Peninsula, and Mr Bragg [the owner of Oxford] won't take any new clients. It's hard for me to tell him who to accept as a client"
"I'm on the verge of letting that go. I'm getting close to retirement, and I see no immediate people willing to go into that venture. They see what's going on in the industry and they hate like hell to get involved in this schmozzle that's been going on for three years," said Vernon Losier, a blueberry grower with land near Tracadie.
"We have too many big players involved. 25,000 acres is a lot of land and people are worried it's not worth it to keep their land, because the manufacturers will be self-sufficient."
Growers are also worried that prices are stagnating. Losier receives 50 cents per pound of blueberries, which he says isn't enough, and hasn't changed in the past three years.
The Northeast Wild Blueberry Growers Association vowed Monday to continue to push for a marketing board, and to take their concerns to Fredericton
With files from Bridget Yard


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US Vice President Mike Pence at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference, Papua New Guinea, November 17, 2018 (AFP)
US and Chinese leaders clash over Donald Trump’s trade war at an international conference in Papua New Guinea.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Vice President Mike Pence gave sharply contrasting addresses to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Saturday.
Xi said to applause that there was no issue that countries couldn’t work out “through consultation”: “History has shown that confrontation, whether in the form of a cold war, a hot war or a trade war, will produce no winners.”
But Pence immediately followed with a firm defense of the Trump Administration’s imposition of sweeping tariffs on Beijing and other countries: “China has taken advantage of the United States for many, many years and those days are over.”
Trump has imposed duties on $250 billion of Chinese goods and threatened to slap tariffs on the remaining half of Beijing’s annual imports to the US. The latest tariffs, announced in late September, will rise from 10% to 25% on January 1.
China has responded with tariffs on $110 billion of American products, about 80% of US imports.
With Xi and Trump scheduled to meet at the end of November, Beijing has offered the reopening of trade talks. Trump said the proposal was “very complete” but his advisors have played down the approach. They said that it does not meet US demands over technology transfers and intellectual property theft.
“What they are offering is not new,” an Administration official said. “I think the two sides remain at an impasse. The channels are now open again, but there’s a lot of work to get to — whether it’s a modest de-escalation or ceasefire.”
Xi said on Saturday that the world needs to “draw upon each other’s strengths and pursue coexistence”: “We should reject arrogance and prejudice, be respectful and inclusive toward others, and embrace the diversity of our world.”
But, in a sign of military tension between Beijing and Washington, Pence announced the construction of a base in Papua New Guinea, in cooperation with Australia.