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Changing picture of hacks and attacks
No one is immune regarding cybersecurity
Early in 2013, international criminals remotely hacked into Hacienda Mexican Restaurants' systems at two locations and stole clients' credit card numbers.
The company was working with an outside firm to ensure its compliance with security regulations for credit card processing and had layers of passwords, firewalls, spyware and encryption in place. But that didn't stop the bad guys.
Hacienda was quick to react, alerting customers of the breach through social media and traditional news outlets. It also took its credit card system offline at all 20 of its locations until the system was secure. And it hired an international cybersecurity analyst to investigate the data breach.
"It totally amazed us that out of all the U.S. companies, these guys — apparently out of Russia — landed on us," said Jeff Leslie, vice president of sales and marketing at Hacienda, with home offices in South Bend.
Since that time, an increasing number of high-profile data breaches at companies such as Anthem, Target, Home Depot, Jimmy John's, Sony and many more has illustrated that no one is immune to cyber attacks.
"We invest a lot of time and energy into cybersecurity research and development in this country," said Von Welch, director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University. "But I think it's very unlikely that we will come up with a silver bullet. It's not a problem that is going to go away."
Because of this, it's important for companies to report breaches so we can learn from them, he said.
Currently, laws about reporting a breach vary from state to state. In Indiana and Michigan, companies are required to report whenever personal information is compromised. Last year, the Indiana Attorney General's Office received 395 separate data breach notifications. Of that number, 61 were of Indiana companies, 36 were of government agencies in Indiana and the rest were companies based out of state.
New federal and state legislation is being considered this year, which would tighten laws governing data collection and storage and require more prompt notification of breaches.
But lawmakers have to walk a fine line, Welch said. "You don't want to punish companies for being breached, but you want to encourage them not to get breached."
And that's difficult, because cybersecurity — an industry only a few decades old — is changing.
"In the beginning, it was all about prevention," Welch said. "Now, it is much more about managing risk. It's not just about keeping the bad guys out, but about detecting them when they get in and knowing how to respond."
About 260 people work in information technology at the University of Notre Dame — seven of whom are dedicated to cybersecurity.
And they have a lot to protect — the personal information of staff and students, credit card information for customers of on-campus businesses and research data.
"We face threats every day from something as low-risk as students playing around to general things like spam and viruses to bad things like hackers," said Jason Williams, the university's director of information security and compliance. "It feels like every year the risk is becoming greater."
Williams works with IT teams to build controls and security features into the university system. His crew also responds to incidents and assesses policies to make sure things remain secure. And part of his job includes educating people on risk management.
"You can never not think these threats are out there," he said, explaining that hacking used to be an inquisitive act, then it became malicious, then criminal and now nations sometimes use it to fight each other.
A few years ago, the university had an exposure. It wasn't bad, but the university considered what might have happened and reacted accordingly. Now, staff voluntarily cleanse the system of unnecessary sensitive data. For instance, Social Security numbers are purged from student files when they are no longer needed.
This year, the university is updating all of its credit card terminals to accept the new credit card chip technology. Williams' team also is working to enable point-to-point encryption for all credit card transactions. This means when a credit card is swiped on campus, it will be encrypted immediately and sent to the bank; no credit card information would be exposed in case of a hack.
As network speeds and computer storage capacity have increased, more equipment is needed to secure the system.
There are also more security regulations than in the past. Williams used to have one part-time employee who focused on compliance. Now he has two full-time workers and says he could use a third. They ensure the university complies with HIPAA for health care information, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act for education records, data breach laws and PIN card industry regulations.
And with the explosion of the cloud, companies often hire outside vendors — like Gmail — that can do a job better and more inexpensively than the business can, Williams said. Corporate networks used to be like castles securely protected by a wall, but now they are more porous and difficult to protect.
These changes all mean Williams' team has to have more expertise than in the past.
Impact of emerging technology
New technologies and the increased need for security have led to the rise of third party service providers offering experts with specialized certifications, explained Christopher Poulsen, chief information security officer at 1st Source Bank. And large businesses are just as likely to use those services as a small business.
It also means that new tools are being developed to help combat cyber attacks. For example, e-wallets like Apple Pay and PayPal make financial transactions through one-time codes not authorized for reuse. A hacker who accessed these would get little from the information.
But new technologies and systems also must be monitored for potential risks."Patch management" — regular updates for software, hardware and apps that keep them secure and works out bugs — has become a big overhead for business.
1st Source has hundreds of system updates to manage each week, Poulsen said, but those updates cannot be automated because the various systems the bank uses are integrated. An update to one system could cause a break with another system and so updates have to be tested and problems worked out before they are implemented.
Employees' interactions with business has also changed. Today, people use their smartphones for both personal and business use. Sites like LinkedIn and Facebook link personal and professional accounts. Companies' cyber policies have to take all of these changes into account.
It all increases the controls, monitoring, regulation and training that companies have to do and adds a layer of cost and inefficiency to business, Poulsen said. Information technology typically runs about 3 to 5 percent of all costs for a company, and about 5 percent of that total is usually dedicated to security, he said. Though those numbers might be a a bit dated, security costs are much higher in financial services.
Health care is another sector that is increasingly experiencing attacks. Last week's breach of Indianapolis-based Anthem's database, which contains personal information of about 80 million current and former customers and employees, might be among the largest of the recent attacks. The insurance company discovered the breach last week, promptly reported it to the FBI and announced it to the public Wednesday. Experts are praising the company's speedy handling of the issue.
Anthem has hired a company to determine how the breach occurred and the extent of the damage, but experts say the attack was sophisticated and did not use common tools.
Because of instances like this, Poulsen expects the cybersecurity industry growth to continue as information technology becomes even more consumerized.
"When problems arise, solutions arise with them," he said.
Reporting a breach
Indiana and Michigan laws require businesses to inform their customers, credit reporting agencies and the Indiana attorney general about security breaches that have placed anyone’s personal information in jeopardy. If a company fails to report a breach, the Indiana attorney general can seek up to $150,000 and the Michigan attorney general can seek up to $750,000 in penalties.
Personal information means a Social Security number or an individual’s name in combination with any one of the following data elements: driver’s license number, account number, a state identification card number or a credit card, debit card or financial account number in combination with any required security code.
For more information on reporting a breach, visit www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/3037.htm.
For those concerned about the Anthem data breach, a special website, AnthemFacts.com, and toll-free number, 877-263-7995, have been set up.
Anthem has added about 1,000 customer service representatives to answer questions about the breach and is offering free credit monitoring and identity protection services to affected individuals. Details will be posted on the website when they are available. Also, letters will be mailed to those affected.


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Given the downward path the market has been on since mid-September, companies that meet or beat expectations can't count on a pop in the stock.
The overall market is pulling good and bad stocks down.
Rentech Nitrogen Partners (RNF) illustrates the current reality. The company reported quarterly results before the opening bell on Thursday.
The Street expected revenue to grow 22% for Q3. Rentech reported 56% revenue growth.
The Street expected earnings to jump 688%. Rentech reported a 900% leap.
Strong sales in almost all its products, lower natural gas prices, favorable pricing and a timing factor boosted results. That involves some sales in the year-ago Q3 being pushed into Q4. That gave this year's Q3 an easy comparison.
In the first two minutes of trade Thursday, Rentech rose 4% in strong volume. With the bullish two minutes out of the way, the stock stepped down, giving back most of the gain. Volume was below average.
This is why buying during a market correction is a bad idea. Even stocks with strong fundamentals will have trouble getting traction.
Rentech has a couple of new factors working for it.
First, the master limited partnership itself is new. Incorporated in 2011, Rentech launched its initial public offering a year ago.
Second, the company recently announced an acquisition. On Nov. 1, Rentech bought Agrifos LLC, the third-largest producer of ammonium sulfate.
Ammonium sulfate has many uses. It's used as a fertilizer. It also is used in insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, flour, bread, printed circuit boards, flame retardants and in the production of vaccines.
Agrifos has customers in the U.S. and Brazil.
The MLP pays a quarterly distribution. The November distribution to holders of record Nov. 7 is 85 cents a share, which represents an annualized rate of 8.9%. Distributions in August and May were $1.17 and $1.06 a share, respectively.
The stock is somewhat thinly traded, moving about 385,000 shares daily on average.

domain: news


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By Jay Heflin - 09/14/10 03:02 PM EDT
"Parent operations of U.S. multinational companies buy nearly a quarter of all goods and services they use as inputs in their production from U.S. small businesses — more than an estimated $1.5 trillion annually," a release on the report states. "Every $1 billion in new exports by large U.S. companies would result in approximately $174 million in new purchases of goods and services from America's small businesses."
President Obama has signaled that he is open to increasing trade with other nations.
The report points out that, collectively, U.S. multinational companies account for about 12.3 percent of total sales of U.S. small businesses. If trade were to increase, sales would likely improve for small businesses.
"This study underscores that supplier-buyer relationship between American small businesses and large U.S. multinationals is a fundamental and entrenched aspect of our economy," said Roundtable Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications Ivan Seidenberg in prepared remarks. "Large companies are major customers of small businesses and play a critical role in their growth and success. American business — small and large together — drives economic growth and job creation."


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Research from Beahurst shows that 1,751 equity investments were made into high-growth UK companies in 2019. This was more than 3 times the number of ...
Genesis has secured a trial of their enterprise solutions with UK-based network provider, Vodafone. The trial will be held at Vodafone’s campus in Newbury, UK commencing the 30 March 2020.
Deliveroo, Just Eat, Uber Eats and all the other major competitors in this market offer no incentive for consumers to use their services. Supermeal, on the other hand, saves you money through cash-back rewards when you ...Read More
Biotech LIfT BioSciences has announced a further major investment into the company in its mission to develop the first curative and affordable cell therapy for all solid tumours. Investors in this latest round included ...Read More


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According to a survey by Deloitte India, an agency that offers a range of Risk Advisory, Tax, Consulting, and Financial Advisory services, more than 20% of Companies are going to double the Salary in 2021. as per the report, increments are likely to go up from 4.4% in 2020 to 7.3% in 2021. The survey further found out that only 60% of the companies gave an increment in the previous year to their employees, of which a third of them did so through off-cycle increments.
Deloitte India’s report has foretold that the maximum increment may be given in the Information Technology and life science sectors. The hospitality, real estate, infrastructure, and renewable energy companies are expected to give the least increment in 2021.
This survey was based on responses from 400 organizations across seven different sectors and 25 sub-sectors.
Only 20% of the surveyed companies said they were exploring the potential of giving double-digit increments to their workforce. As far as sectors are concerned, life science is expected to get the highest projected average increment payout of 9.2%, followed by 8.6% in the IT sector and 7.6% in the consumer products sector.
55% of the surveyed companies said that they will not compensate employees who faced a salary cut last year. Only 12% of companies are willing to pay a higher increment and 13% are looking to offer a one-time retention bonus.1 ☆ The Creator:


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Churchill Downs goes live with BetAmerica in New Jersey
Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) has launched its SBTech-powered BetAmerica brand in New Jersey through a partnership with Atlantic City’s Golden Nugget Casino.
BetAmerica offers both online real-money sports betting and casino gaming to consumers in the US state.
Punters can wager on a wide range of professional and collegiate sports, with the option to place pre-game or in-play bets. Players also have access to additional features such as early cash-out and bonus offers.
The online casino platform will offer both slot and table games from developers including IGT, NetEnt, Spin Games and Everi.
“We look forward to delivering innovative, state-of-the-art products that we believe will exceed our customers’ expectations by leveraging our deep experience as the leader in online horse race wagering through our TwinSpires platform,” CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen said.
CDI had planned to launch in New Jersey during the fourth quarter of last year, subject to licence approval for both itself and partner SBTech. An agreement to operate as a skin on Golden Nugget's online licence has been in place for some time.
In May of last year, CDI agreed a deal with SBTech to jointly work on its sports betting offering in the US. The partnership initially focused on the New Jersey and Pennsylvania markets.
CDI is already active with its BetAmerica brand in Mississippi, having launched the brand last August in partnership with Harlow’s Casino Resort & Spa in Greenville and the Riverwalk Casino Hotel in Vicksburg.
Elsewhere, CDI has also positioned itself to also launch online gambling services in both New York and Colorado via a deal with Saratoga Casino Holdings, subject to a change in laws in both states.
Saratoga Casino Holdings is the parent company of both the Saratoga Casino Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Saratoga Casino Black Hawk in Black Hawk, Colorado.


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Like all American children not raised by wolves, I was taught this at an early age. The French were not taught the same thing. And so it was during a trip to Normandy four years ago that I first laid eyes on what appeared to be a toy for cheese—a sort of spinning knife with a big wheel of dairy beneath it. The French call it a girolle; the rest of us call it a cheese curler.
Read it in full at Bonappetit.com
The discovery of alleged counterfeit buffalo mozzarella cheese at a factory in Italy has led to the arrests of 13 people, including two public health service veterinarians who allegedly warned the factory of future inspections, reported the Associated Press.
Read the full article on LATimes.com
Tim and Jill Pedrozo normally begin forming wheels of their Black Butte Reserve, a gouda-like cheese made from spring milk, in February. But the Pedrozo’s 20-acre farm in Orland, which they’ve been farming for 15 years, didn’t turn green with lush rye grasses until the late spring rains began that month.
Read the full article on SFGate.com
L.A.’s oldest open air market, the iconic Grand Central market downtown has been undergoing a revamp over the past 12 months. Four of the newer restaurants joined us with some of their specialties. This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News on April 7, 2014.
Watch the video online.
The Comté Cheese Association has announced that an updated Comté Wheel of Aromas is now available. The Comté Wheel of Aromas illustrates the 83 terms or descriptors that correspond to the most frequently found natural aromas in Comté, grouped within six families: Lactic, Fruity, Roasted, Vegetal, Animal and Spicy. Made exclusively in the Jura Mountain region of France, Comté is an artisanal, PDO cheese. Each wheel of Comté reflects a unique terroir, a season of production, and centuries of cheesemaking and affinage traditions. Download your copy here.


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The Cupertino tech giant Apple has lost its copyright infringement claims against U.S. security startup Corellium, as federal judge Rodney Smith has dismissed the claim on lack of legal basis. The judge said that Apple failed to show a legal standing for protecting its entire iOS from security researchers.
Judge Rodney Smith called Apple’s argument on those claims “Puzzling, if not disingenuous.” Smith found that Corellium used a vetting process before selling its products to customers.
Corellium allows security researchers to spin up a virtualized ARM device (including iOS devices) in a browser and take a deep look under the hood to discover potential security bugs.
Back in January 2018, Apple was in talks with Corellium for an acquisition. However, those talks did not amount to anything, and were stopped in summer. Later, on August 15, 2019 Apple filed a lawsuit alleging that Corellium infringed its copyright iOS and circumvented its security measures in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The startup denied the allegations, claiming that its action came under “fair use,” which is legally permissible.
“From the infancy of copyright protection, courts have recognized that some opportunity for fair use of copyrighted materials is necessary to fulfill copyright’s purpose of promoting ‘the progress of science and useful arts,'” Judge Smith wrote. The judge further stated that Corellium’s position for security research and vulnerabilities is evident and supported with record.
Crucially, the court didn’t dismiss all of Apple’s case. The judge said that Corellium might still be in violation of DMCA, which prohibits tools to circumvent security measures and that aspect of the suit still stands.
This result is part of a string of conflicts that tech giants are suffering for the past year as they face tougher scrutiny. Chief executives of Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon are all being question on anti-competitive behavior before Congress and EU lawmakers.


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MILAN — A pioneer in developing the eyewear category from a functional to fashionable accessory, Giorgio Armani on Saturday marked the launch of the signature and Emporio Armani eyewear collections for spring under a new licensing agreement with Luxottica Group with an event here. To illustrate the value of the collections, which are handcrafted in Italy, Armani set up work stations at his Tadao Ando-designed theater with Luxottica artisans working on different stages of production.
Speaking after his Emporio show Sunday, Armani emphasized his personal relationship with Luxottica founder and chairman Leonardo Del Vecchio. “We both regretted we hadn’t continued growing together,” Armani told WWD. A first licensing agreement between the two Italian entrepreneurs dates back to 1988. Luxottica then lost the license to Safilo SpA, whose initial Armani collections came out in 2003. In June of last year, Armani and Luxottica, which owns the Oakley and Ray-Ban labels and holds eyewear licenses for brands such as Bulgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Tiffany and Versace, revealed they had inked a new 10-year licensing agreement for the production and worldwide distribution of eyewear collections under the Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and A|X Armani Exchange brands to begin in January.
Hermès is launching a Laundromat pop-up shop in NYC - dubbed Hermèsmatic - where customers can bring their old scarves to be dip-dyed by an expert. Get all the details on WWD.com. #wwdnews (📷: @donstahl)


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Eating late at night has become a habit for many during the past few months. Habits like this can result in weight gain, sleep interruption, reflux, and blood sugar disturbance just to name a few.
Healthy By Choice Blog
“Six out of ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease, like heart disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes.” What does stress have to do
Most people would agree that sleep is important and can impact our health, however more studies have yielded some insight onto what areas are affected
Diet fads have fluctuated over the years, but a recent trend is a shift from purely weight loss-oriented diet plans to ones that address key
When it comes to breakfast, many health experts agree that it is the most important meal of the day. Unfortunately, many people don’t exercise their
“Season” in Florida is a time filled with a busy social calendar, more sporting events, and, for most, a revolving door of visitors who would
With all the food choices out there is plant-based meat an option for you? Food manufacturers are shifting hoping to capitalize on a growing number


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Energy shares offset the declines in consumer names, with the S&P energy index.SPNY rising 1.7 percent and oil prices ending higher on the day.
Whole Foods operates approximately 30 stores in MA.
"Supermarkets will now have to contend with not only competition with each other and non-traditional grocers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp TGT.N , but with a retailer like Amazon which has the financial capacity to price aggressively", said Mickey Chadha, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service.
Amazon has already put a toe in the water of the $675 billion US retail grocery sector with food delivery services like Amazon Fresh and Amazon Prime Now.
But Jana sure had good timing, and now they're poised to make about $300 million on a stake in Whole Foods (wfm) they had only disclosed in April, Reuters reports. Her daughter Bethany Capels agrees and says she likes Whole Foods for the organic fruits she can serve her kids. The grocery store operator was also under pressure from activist investor Jana Partners.
GROCERY SHOPPING: Online juggernaut Amazon said it will buy organic grocery company Whole Foods for more than $13 billion, or $42 a share.
"I think that this takes all of the pressure off Whole Foods and gives Whole Foods the opportunity to revitalise that business and, of course, it stems the criticism from all of these activist investors", said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail in NY.
"Amazon could bring technology to all Whole Foods locations, or it could absorb Whole Foods into AmazonFresh".
Spagna: media,Real non pagherà multa CR7
Ronaldo sarebbe furioso, ma qui il Real non c'entra nulla: a farlo imbufalire le accuse di frode fiscale piovutegli addosso. L'indiscrezione, che se fosse vera avrebbe del clamoroso, arriva dalla prima pagina del quotidiano portoghese A Bola .
GOING ORGANIC: Many big retailers have started trying to sell more groceries in the last few years to try to capitalize on shoppers' yen for fresher, more natural food.
"They (Amazon) always try to offer the best price, which is good for the customer, but not good for the brand", Motkin said.
The company also has been testing sensors at a convenience store in Seattle to track items as shoppers put them into baskets or return them to the shelf. Pachter said Amazon might get customers over those fears if they know the delivered items are the same as those they would find at the local store.
With Whole Foods, Amazon gets an established business that it can transform through its technology and supply network expertise. "It's probably like the flawless match right", Whitney Winchester said.
While the transaction is subject to approval by Whole Foods' shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, the two parties expect to close the deal during the second half of 2017. That could change if Amazon not only cuts operational costs but passes those savings onto customers. "I think this will open a whole new set of challenges for Amazon, as the inventory control, and associated distribution, will require an additional set of capabilities", Smith said.
"This store has become a money-making machine", said Tony Castro, a 40-year-old private chef, who shops daily in Whole Foods' sprawling downtown Los Angeles store. I am not convinced Amazon is using Whole Foods to conquer the world. "Now supermarkets and grocers will have to compete not only with each other and with nontraditional rivals like Wal-Mart and Target, but with Amazon", Carmeli said.
Online delivery of groceries so far has been tough for any company to pull off because of customers' concerns about the quality of meat and produce, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said. It has a total of 460 stores, most of which are in the... "Either way, it's good for consumers like myself", said Di Wu, a NY resident in her early 30s who is a member of Amazon's Prime fast-shipping club and who shops at Whole Foods at least twice a week. He added that these are likely the higher-income households who tend to buy more expensive brands and cuts of meat. Walmart, which has the largest share of the US grocery market, is ramping up its grocery services as a way to fuel online sales.


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India's leading news channel "India TV" refresh today new logo and brand. India TVs, one of the best known presenters in Indian television industry, Mr. Rajat Sharma is reviving his popular show "Aaj Ki Baat- Rajat Sharma ke Saath" at prime time.
|India TV News|
On the total revamp, India TV Managing Director & CEO, Ritu Dhawan said, “It is the result of months of seamless planning & execution by all involved with the refresh".
"The channel will soon launch a 360 degree marketing campaign to promote and reinforce the rejuvenated look and feel, programming and packaging.
"The campaign will elaborate & capture the thought and philosophy behind the revamp across mediums.” Dhawan added.
Source: India TV official


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On a balmy day in March, a container ship called the One Munchen docked in Savannah, Georgia. On board was a shipment of button-down shirts made of “peached cotton,” a fuzzy fabric meant to feel as soft as the skin of the fruit. Embroidered on their pockets was the Hugo Boss logo.
Now on sale for $82, the shirts feature a slim fit, an embroidered placket, and a promise: Hugo Boss had not sourced its cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, where forced labor is rampant. But these button-downs — along with dozens of other clothing shipments brought into the United States within the last year by Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, and other clothing brands — were produced by a large Chinese company called Esquel Group. And that’s a red flag.
Forced labor is so pervasive in China’s far west region of Xinjiang — and government control over information is so absolute — that it is nearly impossible to establish if forced labor is being used in supply chains there. But here’s what is known:
- Esquel Group gins and spins cotton in Xinjiang.
- In July 2020, the US government placed trade restrictions on one of its Xinjiang subsidiaries, Changji Esquel Textile Co., citing concerns over forced labor.
- In January 2021, US regulators banned all Xinjiang cotton from entering the US, again citing forced labor.
Since the cotton ban, a different Esquel subsidiary located in Guangdong — hundreds of miles away from Xinjiang — has continued exporting its clothes to brands in the US. But procurement records and company statements reviewed by BuzzFeed News show that Esquel’s Guangdong branch works together with its Xinjiang-based cotton spinning factories. When asked repeatedly, neither Hugo Boss nor Tommy Hilfiger nor Ralph Lauren would say where the cotton in their Esquel shipments comes from.
Esquel’s own public statements make clear that its Xinjiang cotton production is deeply intertwined with its worldwide clothing operation. The company describes itself as “vertically integrated,” meaning that it owns factories for each stage of the cotton supply chain: Esquel’s gins separate cotton fibers from seeds, and those fibers are later spun into yarn in Esquel’s spinning mills. Esquel’s Guangdong factories knit and weave cotton yarn to make cloth, then use this to manufacture clothing that can be exported to the rest of the world via the Hong Kong–based Esquel Enterprises. The company owns at least two cotton ginning companies in Xinjiang, where the bulk of China’s cotton is grown — but makes no public reference to owning any cotton ginning facilities outside the region.
Since the US ban against all Xinjiang cotton began last January, at least 16 Esquel shipments have arrived in the US for Hugo Boss, trade records show, the latest one in mid-December. One shipment has arrived addressed to PVH, the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger, containing Tommy Hilfiger–branded goods; four for Ralph Lauren; and one for Polo, a Ralph Lauren subsidiary. Guangdong Esquel, along with other Esquel companies, is still listed as a supplier in Hugo Boss’s most recently published supplier list. PVH had included Guangdong Esquel on its supplier list, as well as Esquel subsidiaries in Vietnam and Sri Lanka, but in late December — after BuzzFeed News reached out for comment — PVH released an updated version of its list, and no Esquel subsidiaries were on it. No Esquel companies appear in Ralph Lauren’s latest list, which was published in November.
Hugo Boss said in a statement that it had contacted Esquel, and the company had replied that “all our specifications and standards, including the observance of human rights and fair working conditions, have been and are being complied with.” Hugo Boss also said its own audits at Esquel production facilities revealed no evidence of the use of forced labor.
PVH and Ralph Lauren did not respond to requests for comment.
In response to a list of questions, Esquel said it had never used and would never use coerced or forced labor. It added that it follows all national import and export laws, and that it does not sell products banned in specific jurisdictions…Read more>>


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Volkswagen AG officially opened its $1-billion assembly plant in Chattanooga, TN today, returning to U.S. manufacturing after a hiatus of 23 years.
The Chattanooga facility has hired 2,000 workers to build a car designed specifically for U.S. consumers, a VW Passat midsize sedan that will compete with Toyota’s Camry and Ford’s Fusion.
The German automaker’s new facility, built on the site of a former armaments plant, is the focal point of Volkswagen’s plans for the U.S. market, where it has invested $4 billion. Counting recent investments in Mexico, where Volkswagen builds the Jetta compact, the figure rises to $5 billion.
“Volkswagen’s Chattanooga Operations LLC is the linchpin in the company’s plot to triple U.S. sales to 800,000 vehicles in 2018,” Bill Visnic, senior analyst at online auto research firm Edmunds.com, told Detroit News. “If VW intends to shoulder past Toyota to sit atop the automotive heap, that grand plan probably isn’t going to work if Chattanooga doesn’t work.”
Volkswagen, Europe’s largest automaker, closed its New Stanton, PA plant in 1988, after only 10 years of operation. Since then, VW has strengthened its position in Europe, where it sells cars under the VW, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Bentley and other brands, and has become a major player in China. In 2010, Volkswagen earned $9.42 billion. During the first quarter of 2011, VW sold 1.99 million vehicles. VW has said it wants to be No. 1 in 2018, selling 1 million vehicles by then in the United States, 800,000 VWs and 200,000 Audis.


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In the fourth most read science story of 2015, FoodNavigator's Science Editor Nathan Gray reported on a novel cooking and cooling process for rice that could help slash the number of calories absorbed by the body by more than half by increasing levels of resistant starch. The relatively simple cooking method could help families and food manufacturers increase resistant starch (RS) in staple food products – meaning that less of the rice is digested and fewer calories are absorbed.
"Because obesity is a growing health problem, especially in many developing countries, we wanted to find food-based solutions," said Sudhair A. James from the College of Chemical Sciences in Colombo, Sri Lanka. "We discovered that increasing rice resistant starch (RS) concentrations was a novel way to approach the problem."
James explained that the simple cooking method can make a big difference because oil enters the starch granules during cooking, changing its architecture so that it becomes resistant to the action of digestive enzymes. This means that fewer calories ultimately get absorbed into the body.


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Money transfer company MoneyGram has bought a 4% stake in Coinme
The popular ATM operator has now wrapped up its Series A funding round.
As reported by U.Today, MoneyGram announced a partnership with Coinme back in May in order to allow buying Bitcoin with cash and withdrawing it in 20,000 brick-and-mortar locations throughout the U.S.
The new service is expected to become available in other countries this year.
In its press release, MoneyGram claims that it has additional joint initiatives with Coinme.
In 2019, Coinme partnered with supermarket kiosk company Coinstar to make it possible to sell Bitcoin. In late 2020, the functionality was expanded to 5,000 change-sorting machines throughout the U.S.
Coinme, the first licensed ATM company in the U.S., is currently allowed to operate in 48 U.S. states.
The company also offers concierge trading and other services for deep-pocketed individuals on top of operating cryptocurrency kiosks.
MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes says that the investment highlights its vision to broaden access to cryptocurrencies:
At MoneyGram, we continue to be bullish on the vast opportunities that exist in the ever-growing world of cryptocurrency and our ability to operate as a compliant bridge to connect digital assets to local fiat currency.
Notably, Coinme raised $1.5 million from Xpring, Ripple’s investment and open development arm, during its Series A-1 financing round.
MoneyGram officially severed ties with Ripple last March due to the ongoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against the San Francisco-based distributed ledger tech provider.
In October, MoneyGram also announced a tie-up with the Stellar Development Foundation in order to use USD Coin, the second most popular stablecoin, as a bridge currency.


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Malaysia takes its push for more arrivals from the Middle East a notch higher. S Puvaneswary looks at the plans in store
Whether it’s the launch of a new campaign, hiring dedicated market representative or investment in better systems to attract last-minute bookings, it’s clear that Malaysia’s all out to win over Middle Eastern travellers.
The attention given to the Middle Eastern market is deemed critical, as key markets from the region to Malaysia had tumbled in 2017.
Arrivals from Saudi Arabia declined 16.6 per cent to 92,789 tourists in the first 10 months of 2017, whereas arrivals from the UAE dropped 38.9 per cent to 7,255 visitors during the same period.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture and its promotional arm, Tourism Malaysia, are understandably concerned as Middle Eastern travellers are top spenders in Malaysia and stay between seven to 10 nights in the country.
The average daily expenditure of visitors from the Middle East, which varies from RM1,185 (US$303) for Kuwait to RM1,046 for the UAE and RM943 for Saudi Arabia, is notably higher than RM720 for Singaporeans, who contribute close to half of total arrivals to Malaysia and stay an average of four nights.
The decline was in part due to Tourism Malaysia’s reduced promotional budgets in 2016 and 2017, which resulted in a lack of presence in the UAE, TTG Asia understands.
A source at Tourism Malaysia said: “There is also increased competition from other countries to attract the Middle Eastern traveller. Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan have become ‘hot’ destinations for Middle Eastern travellers due to affordable airfares from LCCs and short flight time of between three to four hours.
“Also, the decline in tourist arrivals from Saudi Arabia was partly due to the austerity measures taken by the Saudi Arabian government to save money after tumbling oil prices.”
This included cutting minister’ salaries by 20 per cent and scaling back perks for public sector employees from September 2016 until March 2017. The uncertainty in the economy led some travellers to hold back on their longhaul holiday plans,” the source noted.
From this year, Tourism Malaysia is ramping up international promotions to all major markets, including the GCC countries as a lead-up to Visit Malaysia Year 2020, where it hopes to attract some 36 million tourists and RM168 billion in tourist receipts. At the annual Arabian Travel Mart this year, Tourism Malaysia will be promoting its Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign.
Malaysia’s mid-year mega sales period has been specially timed to coincide with the summer holidays, which is also the peak arrival period for Middle Eastern travellers to Malaysia. Carnival Mega Sale will run from June 15 to August 31 as part of the government’s efforts to promote Malaysia as a shopping paradise to the Middle East market.
As well, the Malaysian government is working on improving the arrival experience for foreign visitors flying into the country. According to Malaysia Airports Holdings’ managing director Badlisham Ghazali, Kuala Lumpur International Airport has been working closely with the Immigration Department since early 2017 to open more counters during peak periods to reduce queueing time.
Improving the airport experience is especially timely and necessary amid fierce competition from South-east Asian destinations, remarked Ally Bhoonee, executive director, World Avenues.
He said: “The arrival experience is the first impression tourists get of Malaysia and if it is not pleasant, it could deter repeat visits to Malaysia. Tourists may opt to go elsewhere.
“Europe and Turkey are also aggressively wooing Middle Eastern visitors. Political instability in the Middle East has also resulted in more demand for short- and medium-haul holidays. Malaysia has to put in much more effort today to compete.”
According to Ally, his company had seen a decline of 30 per cent from the Middle East last year, the bulk of which is from Saudi Arabia. To arrest the decline, the company had employed a full-time Arabic-speaking marketing manager from Egypt to be based in its Kuala Lumpur office to be in regular communication with outbound agents from the Middle East and support the efforts of the company’s sales offices in Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt, which generates business leads and provides marketing support to agents on the ground.
To compete with OTAs, the company leverages its Arabic-speaking personnel to provide assistance and itineraries in Arabic.
Meanwhile, Within Earth Holidays has recently invested in a B2B system that allowed dynamic packaging with instant confirmation and the flexibility to make changes in hotel room categories and duration of stay, an initiative executive director Saini Vermeulen believes will give the inbound agency an edge to obtain last-minute bookings from the Middle East.
This year, the company also plans to work with partner hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Penang to invite several social media influencers from the Middle East on a fam trip to Malaysia so that they can share their experiences and attract more tourists to Malaysia.
Jai Kishan, general manager, New World Petaling Jaya Hotel, said the newly opened property will be exhibiting at the upcoming Arabian Travel Mart, and has also established connections with the Middle East market through sister properties, Rosewood Jeddah and Rosewood Abu Dhabi.
He added: “We have also identified social media channels, influencers, bloggers and socialites that resonate well with the Middle Eastern travellers and we will invite them on fam trips to stay in our property.”


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Debt collectors are knocking on the doors of more working households than before, a leading charity has claimed.
Requests for help dealing with bailiffs chasing payments from working parents now make up a fifth of inquires about debt collectors put to the Citizens Advice charity.
They dealt with 60,000 "bailiff problems" between April 2012 and March this year.
Out of these requests, half were parents were with dependent children.
On Sunday it was revealed that the value of UK workers' wages has suffered one of the sharpest falls in the European Union, when adjusted for inflation.
More top news
Rape suspects will need to prove to police that a woman consented to sex under fresh new guidance in sex offence cases.
Dippy the Diplodocus is to forced into retirement and moved out of the Natural History Museum's main hall.
Alice Biggar has managed to survive on cheap tins, heavily-reduced supermarket goods and even chicken bones from butchers.


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Mobile version of Assassin's Creed and final trailer of Aquaman: week’s news23 November 2018
When will the official announcement of Sony PS5 take place? Who have joined Na’Vi’ PUBG team? How impressive is the final trailer of Aquaman? Find details in our week’s digest.
Gamer smashes shop because of Fallout 76
A guy disappointed in Fallout 76 made a mess in the Gamestop shop. The customer wanted to return a version he bought and got his money back. When a shop assistant refused a refund, the gamer defiantly overthrew several storage shelves and went away.
Some people really don't want their copy of Fallout 76 pic.twitter.com/a0yQBA3UYT— Geoff @ Holiday Matsuri (@GeoffLife) 19 ноября 2018 г.
Fallout 76, a game hitting the shelves on November 14, has dissatisfied the majority of series fans. They are berating Bethesda’s experimental product for the gameplay, graphics, and optimization.
Sony PS5 to be announced in 2019
According to Reddit’s insiders, Sony PS5 details will be revealed at the PlayStation Experience event in mid-2019. A new console will be released either in spring or in autumn of 2019. It will cost $500.
It is expected that the console will be equipped with octa-core CPU Ryzen and GPU Navi. Besides, Sony will issue a new PS VR headset. Perhaps, this version will feature a camera and special gloves.
Na’Vi introduces new players
Natus Vincere’s new PUBG squad is joined by BatulinS, Sadovnik, and Recrent. By the way, Alexander ‘BatulinS’ Batulin is a former player of M19, while Artyom ‘Sadovnik’ Danilyuk has sacrificed his contract with Se7en Esports. The third player, Dmitry ‘Recrent’ Osintsev, previously represented Tornado Energy Storm.
Na’Vi PUBG team is the following: captain Vadim ‘POKAMOLODOY’ Ulshin, Alexander ‘BatulinS’ Batulin, Artyom ‘Sadovnik’ Danilyuk, and Dmitry ‘Recrent’ Osintsev.
Firaxis Games to launch Civilization VI update
Now, gamers will have to overcome various natural calamities in Civilization VI. The update was announced earlier on the Twitch channel by Firaxis Games: it showed hurricanes, storms and tornados in the gaming world. The addition called Gathering Storm will have new leaders, civilizations, and bonuses. The release of DLC Civilization VI: Gathering Storm on PCs is scheduled for February 14, 2019.
Mobile version of Assassin's Creed Rebellion
Fans of Ubisoft’s historical actions are now able to play Assassin's Creed Rebellion on their smartphones. The role-playing game is already available on Google Play and App Store. The game has some technical gaps but critics stress an exciting plot. Gamers will enter the world of adventures in the dark side, accept strategic decisions, and collect resources. Developers have prepared additional characters and bonuses for those registering on the website in advance.
Warner Bros. presents final trailer of Aquaman
Universe fans can enjoy a final trailer of Aquaman. Unlike the previous version, this one shows a lot Willem Dafoe acting as Vulko, Aquaman’s mentor. Jason Momoa will play a leading role in the movie. Besides, the film will involve such celebrities as Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, and Dolph Lundgren. The world premiere of Aquaman is scheduled for December 7. It will be screened in the CIS countries from December 13.


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Investigations are ongoing after equipment was stolen from the Midlothian Snowsports Centre.
Midlothian Council, which runs the cash-strapped ski centre at Hillend, has launched its own investigation and has since beefed up the security surrounding its hiring arrangements.
While visitor numbers at the centre doubled during the recent snowfall, thieves made off with some of the inflatable tubes, which are used for children’s ski parties.
Full story in this week’s paper. On sale now.


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BTS’ RM has announced the release of his debut solo studio album ‘Indigo’ on vinyl later this year. Pre-orders for the vinyl edition of the album are now available, with copies expected to start shipping in May.
As well as the vinyl, the package will come with booklet, lyric poster, instant photo, photo card and more.
RM’s ‘Indigo’ was released on CD and streaming platforms back in December, and features 10 tracks with guest appearances from artists like Erykah Badu and Anderson .Paak.
To celebrate the release of ‘Indigo’, RM performed an intimate concert at Rolling Hall in Seoul. The performance was later released as an hour-long concert film. RM also shared a live video of himself performing several tracks at the Dia Beacon museum in New York City.


text: Imagine calling the police to help a family member who's having a mental health crisis, and then the police show up and kill him. That’s what happened to California resident David Phillips, whose son was fatally shot by police. How on earth could this call have gone so wrong? Tonight, Mic correspondent Aaron Morrison talks to the family, and we look into how law enforcement often mishandles people with mental illnesses. Then, Mic correspondent Chantel Simpson stops by a fashion show by Rebirth Garments, a clothing line that caters to all genders, all sizes and all abilities. Chantel chats with Sky Cubacub, the head designer of Rebirth Garments, at Hollywood Beach in Chicago to learn more about pushing the boundaries of inclusive fashion even further.


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Our earlier speculation has been confirmed: iPhone Atlas has learned that there will be no iTunes-based activation for the iPhone 3G. Activation will take place at the time of purchase, either at AT&T or Apple retail stores. This apparently means that there will be no online ordering of the new model, which is due to ship on July 11th.
The in-store activation method is the one traditionally used for most wireless phones, though Apple bucked the trend with its first-generation iPhone, offering an in-home activation scheme that allowed users to purchase the devices boxed then activate them later through iTunes.
The shift in purchase policy will likely further mitigate the market for unlocked iPhones, which has already become less important in the wake of worldwide, authorized carrier announcements.


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Susan Scafidi was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article about the copyright infringement case between the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Coogi.
In the 12 years since the rapper known as Notorious B.I.G. and Biggie Smalls was murdered, fans and entertainers from Drake to Lamar Odom have sported the multicolored Coogi sweaters he wore and rapped about.
The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets pays homage with its ‘Brooklyn Camo,’ a Biggie-inspired pattern on team garb and jerseys—a move that has landed the team in litigation.
In taking on the NBA, Nike Inc. and others, Coogi is making a case beyond copyright infringement. It’s claiming its designs are so identified with B.I.G. and celebrity culture that they deserve a broad legal protection for product appearance and packaging that’s typically reserved for things like Coca-Cola bottles and McDonald’s uniforms.
“Coogi claims a signature in threads. And that’s what’s unusual about this case. Because they’ve developed a portfolio of patterns that are different but similar to one another enough in the consumer mind to create an emanation of identity,” said Susan Scafidi, founder and academic director of Fordham University School of Law’s Fashion Law institute in New York.
If the court rules that Coogi’s whole catalog deserves trade dress protection, it “could make certain manufacturers within the fashion industry a little more cautious about some of their fabrics for fear of liability,” Scafidi said.
A win for Coogi also could cause fashion companies to produce more monochrome or solid patterns, while high-volume brands like H&M and Zara “might be a little less likely to create Coogi lookalikes knowing that Coogi is out there paying attention,” Scafidi said.


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He said Holden's decision to call for voluntary redundancies at the Elizabeth car assembly factory in Adelaide's northern suburbs did not diminish the company's commitment to Australia.
"It doesn't mean the end of motor manufacturing in this country and it doesn't mean that there should be an overturning of industry policy and it certainly doesn't mean that we should reverse our low tariffs approach," he said yesterday.
Last week South Australian Premier Mike Rann asked Mr Howard to freeze tariffs on imported vehicles at current levels until 2015 because of increasing competitive pressures.
Under existing policy, tariffs on imported cars will be reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent from the start of 2010. In return, the Government is providing the local vehicle manufacturing industry with $4.2 billion in assistance from 2006 to 2015 under the Automotive Competitiveness and Investment Scheme.
But the Opposition industry spokesman Kim Carr said the higher dollar and stronger global competition meant the assumptions behind the scheme were no longer valid and it should be reviewed urgently.
Announcing the job cuts this week, Holden's executive director, Rod Keane, said they reflected increased efficiency and plans to phase out production of VZ Commodore models at the Elizabeth plant.
The decision is electorally sensitive because the plant is located in one of the Coalition's most marginal electorates, Wakefield, while many Holden workers live in the neighbouring highly marginal seat of Makin.
But the Liberal Party's candidate for Makin, Bob Day, rejected freezing tariffs, saying the 600 workers would be "snapped up" by small businesses in the region who were suffering from severe labour shortages. "Tariffs are taxes. They mean people are paying more for cars than they need to and that extra money that they pay could be going towards spending on products in new emerging industries," he said. "No-one wishes a plant closure on anybody but there is a natural movement of labour between industries which has been happening for decades."


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K-Pop group SEVENTEEN landed an endorsement deal with online shopping brand Lazada.
On Wednesday, October 13, Lazada officially announced that SEVENTEEN, a 13-member boy group under Pledis Entertainment, is now part of its roster of brand ambassadors.
The announcement comes as Lazada kicks off its biggest one day sale set to happen on November 11.
Known for having a versatile musicality that inspires thousands of individuals from the younger generation, Lazada chose to tap the group to be the first-ever Happiness Ambassador of the online shopping platform.
“With their talent and lively personalities, I hope SEVENTEEN can inspire our consumers across Southeast Asia to stay bold and passionate in experimenting new ideas, and to continue pursuing goals and dreams with the trust that challenges along the way can be overcome,” the Chief Operating Officer of Lazada Group, Raymond Yang, said.
Meanwhile, SEVENTEEN is set to take over the main stage of the 11.11. Super Show to perform hits such as “Left & Right” and “Ready to love.” Various other celebrities across Southeast Asia are also expected to appear on the show.
Just recently, SEVENTEEN appeared in a campaign where they can be seen dancing to a special rendition of Flo Rida's "Low." This "transports the Lazada Happiness Ambassadors into Lazada World, a dynamic and fantastical realm filled with larger-than-life everyday objects and exclusive 11.11 rewards.”
SEVENTEEN is the newest addition in Lazada's list of Korean celebrities, following Lee Min-ho and Hyun Bin.
Having debuted in 2015, SEVENTEEN is also known for their songs “Don’t Wanna Cry,” “Pretty U,” and “VERY NICE,” among others. The group is gearing up for the release of their ninth mini album called Attaca set to be released on October 22.


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South Korean security experts say that North Korea is training "cyber warriors" to launch attacks, The Associated Press reports.
The resignation of Federal Communication Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski could prevent Rupert Murdoch from buying The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times writes.
Apple bought indoor GPS company WifiSLAM to help it take on Google's map service, The Wall Street Journal writes.
Dell is now considering bids from Blackstone Group and Carl Icahn in addition to its founder Michael Dell, according to The New York Times.
Ars Technica interviews outgoing Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell.


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OpenSea has adopted OpenRarity – a shortage monitoring instrument that permits consumers to examine the rarity of a particular non-fungible token (NFT).
Following the adoption, OpenRarity will assist OpenSea to take away opacity as to how uncommon sure options in an NFT are. It may also additional eradicate the usage of third-party NFT shortage monitoring instruments.
Other standard NFT tasks which have used OpenRarity are Pudgy Penguins, Cool Cats and Moonbirds.
All of those NFT collections have between 8,888 to 10,000 NFTs inside their assortment made out of algorithmically generated photos, in keeping with The Block, and “some of the features in these NFTs are found within less than 1% of the collection, such as a pillowcase on its head in the case of Pudgy Penguins or a robot face for Cool Cats.”
Rarity performs a significant function within the NFT sector as it might dictate the worth of the merchandise. A possible purchaser nowadays often seeks to know the rarity of an NFT even earlier than the NFT’s buy historical past or who it’s presently owned by.
Prior to incorporating OpenRarity, OpenSea – the world’s greatest venue for buying and selling NFTs – had displayed some uncommon traits of an NFT, to make certain. For occasion, within the case of Moonbirds #520, customers can see that 3% of owls within the 10,000 NFT assortment even have Lincoln hats.
However, solely via OpenRarity was it potential for customers to now know that Moonbirds #520 is the 7,073 rarest of the gathering.
Additionally, OpenSea has additionally made modifications to its platform, apart from adopting OpenRarity.
The NFT market has made modifications to augmenting the way it does airdrops, corresponding to including a extra distinguished description of how a lot a creator’s price is following a debate on NFT royalties. It has additionally vowed to solely assist proof-of-stake NFTs on Ethereum following The Merge.
According to Blockchain.News, OpenSea has additionally revealed its new coverage governing the dealing with of stolen digital arts and common theft on its platform.
OpenSea mentioned its earlier allowance to use police reviews solely on escalated reviews on stolen NFTs will now not be the case, however quite, the police reviews might be handled equally for all reviews of NFT thefts respectively.
“Based on your input, we’ve already called to adjust elements of how we implement our policy. First, we’re expanding the ways we use police reports: we’ve always used them for escalated disputes, but they’ll now be used to confirm all theft reports,” the NFT market mentioned.
Image supply: Shutterstock


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You are making an international purchase
If you decide to book a last-minute deal to Europe, you need to make sure your credit company is in on the plans, too. If not, any international purchases could suspend your card.
"We recommend that customers alert us of their plans to travel internationally, and we will take that into account when monitoring for potential fraud," says Betty Riess, a spokeswoman for Bank of America.
Even an online purchase to a foreign country could raise an alert and stall your credit card, says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities at Consumer Action, a San Francisco-based consumer advocacy group. Let's say you're sitting in your own home office, browsing the internet for a gift.
You find the perfect item -- a designer scarf. But if that online merchant is based in a foreign country, your activity will be registered as a purchase abroad, and once again, your credit card may not work.
Credit card companies track their customers' card activity. A quick call to your issuer, alerting it to international purchases or travel, can clear the air.


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The European commission has revealed that the levels of confidence among consumers and the business community showed an upturn in December, for the first time in one year. This would indicate that the four base rates cuts carried out by the European Central Bank had a positive effect on the economy.
The consumer confidence index rose from 98.6 to 98.8 points, despite a slight decrease in confidence rates from retailers, traditionally nervous in the run-up to Christmas and the New Year.
John ASHTEAD PRAVDA.Ru LONDON UNITED KINGDOM
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation put the head of the contractor company of Russia's space corporation Roskosmos, Sergei Slastikhin, on international wanted list
"Washington operators of the sanctions machine ought to get acquainted with the history of Russia, to stop the unnecessary fussing," spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said


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The merger and acquisition (M&A) environment provides reason for continued optimism in the global transportation and logistics sector, as the number of deals and pace of deal value in Q2 2010 indicate an ongoing recovery in the industry, according to a recent study from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
In the second quarter of 2010, overall deal activity in the transportation and logistics sector was strong, and the pace of quarterly deal activity generally remained above the post-bubble lows of 2009. In Q2 2010 there were 29 announced deals, a quarterly total that far exceeds the pace of 2009. However, the total announced deal value of $13.1 billion in Q2 2010 somewhat lags 2009, which was skewed upward by a major rail transaction.
"The M&A market for U.S. transport and logistics companies demonstrated relative improvement in the second quarter, and as the proportions of total deal volume continue to trend upward, the sector is showing positive signs of recovery," says Kenneth Evans, U.S. transportation and logistics leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "However, we look ahead with guarded optimism, as the potential for a double-dip recession remains a risk to future activity."
Additionally, the relative level of minority stake purchases increased during the second quarter compared with the first half of the year. While this may suggest that a sense of risk aversion remains in the transportation and logistics deal market, it is important to note that this trend coincides with an increased level of deal activity by acquirers and targets in Asia. Specifically, companies in China and India were targeted in 34% of deals announced in Q2 2010 compared with 25% of deals announced in 2009.
From a regional perspective, relative interest in Asia and Oceania targets has grown significantly compared with deals targeting entities in other regions. In the second quarter of 2010, Asia and Oceania targets accounted for 69% of deal volume, compared with 49% of deal volume announced in 2009. For targets in all other regions, there was a decline in the proportion of deal volume during this time period, with the exception of North America, which also accounted for significant deal value by acquirer region based on its involvement in two mega deals announced during Q2 2010.
"We're seeing greater involvement from targets in Asia and Oceania, a trend that's primarily being driven by an increase in local-market transactions within China and India. This is further supported by higher economic and traffic growth rates in many nations within the Asia and Oceania region," says Klaus-Dieter Ruske, global transportation and logistics leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers. "As we look ahead, this relatively high level of economic activity should continue to encourage deal making by parties in this region."


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If there's one thing Hollywood does well, it has to be its ability to turn other industries on their head. Now, the film Blood Diamond is forcing the diamond industry to put in extra efforts to police itself and crack down on diamonds that fund civil wars
In recent news coming out of South Africa, the The World Diamond Council (WDC) now fears that the precious gems from Zimbabwe might be leaking onto the black market.
Reports now show that diamonds are being smuggled from Zimbabwe into South Africa where they are certified and exported. This is a clear violation of international rules designed to stop conflict diamonds that fund civil wars from making it to market.
In an email to Reuters, WDC Chairman Eli Izhakoff said the industry is trying to police itself and prevent conflict diamonds from being sold around the world.
The news also comes at a convenient time, as the Hollywood film Blood Diamond recently hit theaters. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly and follows the story of a farmer, diamond smuggler and a syndicate of businessmen. In incredibly powerful scenes of raw violence, the film depicts the bloodshed, child soldiers and civil war common in areas of Africa where diamond smuggling fuels civil wars. The movie is set during Sierra Leone's civil war, "notorious for drug-crazed rebels who hacked limbs off women and children," as Reuters describes.
"Such illegal exportation presents a clear threat to the integrity of the legitimate export process as a whole," Izhakoff said to Reuters in the letter dated December 15. Izhakoff says diamonds found in Zimbabwe's River Ranch mine and a district called Marange where being smuggled to be sold in international markets.
The legal consultant of River Ranch denies that diamonds are being smuggled. The mine began operating in the summer of 2006 under new ownership, after it was voluntarily liquidated in 1999.
"I am a bit distressed at the World Diamond Council," retired judge George Smith told Reuters. "We have not sold any diamonds yet and Ministry of Mines officials are in the process of checking our security systems."
Zimbabwe has seen inflation rise more than 1,000 per cent (the highest in the world), as the country struggles to control poverty and nation-wide economic problems.
According to Reuters, Zimbabwe is only a small player in the world of diamonds, but the company that owns 78 per cent of the country's diamond mines says 148,000 carats were sold between January and September, 2006.
With such a lucrative business on the line, the industry now seriously worries the release of Blood Diamond will kill sales of diamonds. The industry says illegal diamonds have been reduced to less than one per cent of the global total for diamond sales.
For more info about the movie, check out the trailer:


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Shrimp, as the most common aquatic product in the Chinese market, consumption is increasing year by year. But the red-hot shrimp products have recently been in a state of quiet embarrassment. China's shrimp industry, why is the end of the year business bad?
The reason is likely to be the high price of stock, very unfortunate to encounter the decline of the market, can only fall into the hands.
1. Buy or not? That's the question
According to one industry source, many clients in shrimp imports before they order futures prices fell, made deposit, but now the price of shrimp imports falling, they don't want to refund the deposit already, also don't want to take goods copulation, basic on the sidelines. But prices will surely continue to fall in the years to come, so now importers are caught in a dilemma.
In the global seafood market seminar ended shortly (GSMC) - prawns on the BBS, some experts say China's importers in order to reserve a large amount of supply during the Spring Festival, but most of the product price is on the high side, causing chaos market time. Although the dealers wanted to buy, they were deterred by the high price.
Some friends will say, imported shrimp is not good to sell, we sell domestic shrimp. But I'm sorry, the domestic shrimp life is more difficult.
2. Domestic shrimp, "rising" sound.
In 2017, domestic shrimp production "hit bottom", only 525,000 tons, and the booming market demand caused the price of live shrimp to rise sharply. Recently, as south China, east China and other places are affected by the cold wave, further aggravate the shrimp price soaring.
Last week, the price of shrimp ponds in xuwen district of zhanjiang was up to 78 yuan per kilogram, and soon after that, local farmers told them that the prawn would soon reach 80 yuan/kg.
Jiangsu rudong small and medium-sized shrimp prices are basically up 8-10 yuan/kg. At present, the storage capacity can basically maintain supply and demand. In low temperature, the price of prawn shrimp with good health will continue to run high.
The price of shrimp in north China, where shandong and hebei are located, continues to rise. Among them, tangshan was attacked this week, and the price of shrimp with 30 tails shot up 14 yuan/kg in a week, and the price was basically stable. The supply is short supply, and there is still room for improvement. Shandong shrimp prices continued to rise above 5 yuan per jin this week, the standard 20 tail of the large shrimp basic storage ponds, the prawn basic high prices out of the pond.
Because shrimp constitution is poor in the northeast, the price of shrimp this week is stable, even the price will be reduced slightly. Yingkou farmed out now only 1-2 farmed shrimp, on the market supply of fresh shrimp what comes from guangdong, fujian and other coastal areas, because of high transport costs, the south, and hebei, shandong and other places of prawn has decreased, causing the fresh shrimp market has shrunk, market circulation there were signs of rising price.


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The Central American country El Salvador has become the first nation in the world to officially classify Bitcoin as a legal currency after Congress approved President Nayib Bukele’s proposal to accept cryptocurrency, with 62 out of 84 possible votes.
The president said the government had made history, and the move would make it easier for the people of El Salvador living abroad to send money home. Bitcoin’s use as a legal tender, alongside the US dollar, will become law within three months.
Under the new law, every business in the country will be mandated to accept Bitcoin as legal tender for goods or services, unless it is unable to provide the technology needed to do the transaction.
Lawmakers in the country voted by a “supermajority” in favor of the Bitcoin Law. “It will bring financial inclusion, investment, tourism, innovation and economic development for our country,” President Bukele tweeted shortly before the vote.
El Salvador’s dollarized economy relies heavily on remittances, or money sent home from abroad. In 2019, it made up nearly $6 billion or around a fifth of the GDP, one of the highest ratios in the world, as per the data from the World Bank.
The use of bitcoin will be optional and will not bring risks to users. “The government will guarantee the convertibility to the exact value in dollars at the moment of each transaction,” Mr. Bukele said.
“This is a historic moment. Bitcoin is the soundest asset and one of the biggest technological innovations the world has ever seen. We are looking forward to how El Salvador incorporates Bitcoin into its economy,” Avinash Shekhar, Co-CEO of ZebPay said.
El Salvador intends to use cheap and clear volcano energy to mine the digital coin. The country struggles with trust in the monetary system. Since 2001, it hasn’t had its own monetary policy and over 70 percent of its total population has no bank account and this law is expected to open up financial services to these people.
The law was approved despite the concerns about the potential impact on El Salvador’s program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The country is seeking more than $1 billion with the IMF and experts say that the move could complicate the talks.
Currently, most of the world’s central banks are looking into the possibility of creating their own digital currencies. In April, the Bank of England announced it was planning to create digital money that would exist alongside cash and bank deposits.
Related: Crypto Miner & Wallet in a Antivirus! Norton joins the cryptocurrency brigade


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Many consumers in the United States — especially younger ones — are relying more than ever on technology to help with their personal finance needs, including bill payment. And with the rising popularity of mobile devices, people expect to be able to conduct transactions wherever they are.
To serve their increasingly mobile base of customers and remain competitive, insurers are putting technology in place to support mobile billing and ensure that clients receive consistently high-quality customer service through the entire process — from quote to claim — regardless of what channels they use to interact with their carriers.
Insurance industry research shows how much the landscape is changing; 60 percent of respondents said they use technology to simplify and automate financial tasks such as banking and bill payment, according to a survey conducted by TheMint.com, Northwestern Mutual's financial literacy website, earlier this year. Using technology for daily finances is particularly popular among younger people. Among those using technology for daily finances, millennials lead the way, with 62 percent using online banking or automated bill payment, versus 60 percent of generation X and 37 percent of those aged 60 or older, according to the report.
P&C and life insurance firms are tasked with the challenge of supporting this rapidly growing mobile environment, but they must address some key challenges, such as the need to offer multiple payment channels including iPhone and Android smartphones, iPad tablets, texting, mobile browsers on other Web-based platforms; as well as dealing with security and compliance issues.
"This is certainly the direction" the P&C and life insurance markets are going, says Chad Hersh, a partner in the insurance practice at Novarica, an insurance and banking research firm. "Carriers want to make paying premiums as little hassle as possible, because the less the customer has to deal with paying the bill, the less likely [he or she is] to think about switching carriers."
Billing is the most frequent touch point with customers, Hersh says, and making or missing a payment causes a customer to give thought to how much they are paying, what kind of customer service they are getting, etc.
"Carriers also like to be the easiest to do business with, especially when there's a nice ROI [return on investment] involved, such as reducing call center volume, reducing paper check processing volume, and reducing print and mail for bills," Hersh says.
USAA, which provides insurance, banking, investment and retirement products and services to 9.4 million members of the U.S. military and their families, has made support for mobile devices and platforms a key part of its business strategy.
For example, the company in 2012 was among the first insurers to offer members the opportunity to quote and buy life insurance from a smartphone, and its members had downloaded the USAA Mobile App for iPhone, Android and iPad devices more than 5.2 million times by the end of 2012, up from 3.3 million downloads at the end of 2011.
USAA members made 13.3 million check deposits via the firm's Deposit@Mobile program, totaling $7.4 billion in 2012, both up more than 70 percent compared with 2011. Since the program's inception in 2009, members have made more than 28.4 million deposits, totaling more than $16 billion.
USAA offers products such as auto insurance, auto loans, renters insurance, valuable personal property insurance and credit cards through its mobile platforms, and its members can leverage mobile devices for a range of activities, from using accident animation — which enables members to explain and add narration of their accident using animation and voice capture technology during the claims process — to helping with the claims reporting process by interacting with their claims representative on the USAA mobile app, says Neff Hudson, AVP of emerging channels at USAA.
Supporting mobile billing on multiple platforms, including iPhone, Android, iPad, text and mobile browsers, is a key part of the mobility strategy, Hudson says. "We look at mobile bill payment as a core functionality," he says.
USAA's push to support mobile billing began about five years ago. He says 80 percent of all bills are now handled through self-service processes, including mobile and Web-based apps, and the firm expects this eventually to climb to more than 90 percent.
"The bulk of the [billing] volume is shifting to mobile," Hudson says.
To maintain consistency and control while offering these various billing channels, USAA supports mobile and Web apps through a backbone of Web services that the firm created in-house.
"There are some differences in presentation. For example, if [a customer pays] a bill on our iPad app or iPhone app it's a touch experience," Hudson says. "We try to follow the same design standards as Apple. But in general, the process itself remains the same regardless of the device."
Support of mobile billing has brought challenges, not the least of which is ensuring compliance with a growing number of government regulations, mostly at the state level. Making sure all data is secure is another concern.
"Staying compliant is a big IT investment for us every year, mainly around reporting," Hudson says. "Security is table stakes; you have to have anti-fraud measures and security systems in place."
While it's difficult to draw any correlations between the support of mobile billing and gaining new business, there are clearly benefits in terms of improved customer service, Hudson says.
"The reason we're investing so heavily in mobile is we want to be with our members wherever they are," Hudson says. "We want them to have apps in the palm of their hand and make their lives a little bit easier." The long-term payoff for USAA, he says, is customer retention and member satisfaction.
There are also cost benefits. "The more people pay their bills electronically the cheaper it is for us," Hudson says. "There's no mail involved and we're driving paper out of the system. The more efficient we can get, the more we can keep costs down for our members."
USAA will continue to roll out new mobile tools that make transactions easier for members, Hudson says.
The Motorists Insurance Group also supports mobile billing. "We are adding the option for customers to make payments to our mobile app, in addition to being able to do so through our website, at an agent's office, over the telephone via an interactive voice system or through traditional means," says Ralph Smithers, VP, MAX Service Division, at Motorists Insurance Group.
The firm has partnered with Fiserv Inc. to build electronic billing capabilities using Fiserv's Biller Solutions offering for Web, mobile and phone-based - via interactive voice response - payments. Using the same service provider for all the billing channels provides consistency and control for each, Smithers says.
"The mobile payment capabilities accessible via our mobile app share the same foundation as our website payment capabilities," therefore they do not require additional infrastructure, Smithers says. "Because the mobile payment solution is an Internet-based system at its core, there are no unique issues with security, consistency or control compared to the tried-and-true website-based payment options."
In fact, Smithers says, the mobile platform provides more security because payments are time and date stamped the moment the payment is made, and are significantly less susceptible to being lost or misdirected as is possible with traditional mail.
Regarding protection against hackers, other security threats and compliance issues, the company is relying on Fiserv, and expects that these concerns are handled within its services. "For example, we don't collect any credit card information; that is handled within Fiserv," Smithers says.
With as much as 65 percent of the population expected to have smartphones by 2014, Smithers says, a mobile payment solution is essential for today's consumer.
"Customers want to be able to make payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of where they are, in a simple, easy-to-use interface," Smithers says. "Our customers are accustomed to being able to do transactions with other financial service organizations while on the go, and we are no different. These solutions provide peace of mind, which is our core purpose as an insurance organization."
Future plans call for adding more mobile policyholder services, including access to policy documents; access to billing information such as invoices, past payments, balances and payment schedule; the ability to view basic claims information such as adjuster name and contact information, date of loss, claim status and payment amounts/dates; and the ability to submit policy revision requests.
Many companies are building and deploying applications for iPhone and Android devices that feature a variety of capabilities, including billing and payment, says Eric Leiserson, senior research analyst at Fiserv.
"Other technology companies are offering to facilitate customer control over payments are text and e-mail bill alerts and reminders," Leiserson says. "These communications technologies alert customers when a new bill is available and can remind customers when a bill is due and a payment has not be scheduled."
The loss of the physical reminder to pay — the paper bill — is the top barrier to paperless e-bill adoption, Leiserson says. "Smart, contextual and timely alerts and reminders can effectively neutralize that obstacle, thereby facilitating higher levels of e-bill adoption," he adds.
As the use of mobile technology for billing and other transactions grows, IT vendors are developing products and services that can help insurers build better environments to support these new channels.
"There are services and software vendors that offer solutions for cross-platform app development that help ensure consistency and control by allowing mobile solutions to be developed once and deployed across platforms," Hersh says.
One example is Verivo (formerly Pyxis Mobile), which provides a platform for developing applications. It enables companies to deploy apps as a HTML5 mobile browser or native Android, iOS and BlackBerry apps, Hersh says. Another vendor, Kony, offers similar functionality, he says, and both vendors have a "decent insurance focus."
But Hersh cautions that developing mobile solutions once and deploying them across platforms can lead to a false sense of security around compliance and security. "As these write-once-use-anywhere solutions are not optimized for any one platform [they] are not a substitute for in-house mobile expertise, compliance and security reviews," he says.
Certainly expertise in all things mobile will be a sought-after commodity for insurers going forward, as offerings such as mobile billing become ever more important.
"It is a retention tool, and a customer satisfaction tool," Hersh says. "A significant percentage of younger drivers find it hard to believe that they can't pay their bills via a mobile device, and are absolutely astounded when they can't pay their bill online."
Bob Violino is a business editor and writer who covers a variety of technology and business topics.
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LOS ANGELES— Visitors to the music pirate website Grooveshark.com won't be finding their favorite songs for free anymore. The website has shut down completely after reaching a settlement with major record companies Universal, Sony and Warner on Thursday. Founders Josh Greenberg and Sam Tarantino admitted to creating and operating an infringing music...» Read More
Media conglomerate Viacom sued Google and its Internet video-sharing site YouTube for more than $1 billion on Tuesday in the biggest challenge yet to the Web search leader's strategy to dominate the online video market.
Norway topped a global index of intellectual and physical property rights released on Tuesday while Bangladesh came last, highlighting that the weakest economies have the weakest property rights laws.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Sony BMG agreed to settle charges that it secretly embedded potentially damaging anti-piracy software in some of its CDs.
Cisco Systems lawsuit against Apple over the use of the name iPhone is a "minor skirmish" that could have been avoided if Apple had been willing to negotiate, the International Herald Tribune reported.


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/PRNewswire/ -- In its latest analysis on the streaming media adapter market, ABI Research, the leader in transformative technology innovation... ...http://www.itnewsonline.com/prnewswire/Streaming-Media-Adapter-Market-Faces-Mounting-Pressure-on-Pricing-and-Product-Differentiation/432452
After a few delays, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is finally out on May 10. According to developer Naughty Dog, it marks the end of a series that... ...http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/games/features/uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end-7-things-you-need-to-know-833771
You have a PS4 . You have a TV. It may seem like your gaming setup is just about complete. However, there are loads of neat accessories that can... ...http://www.in.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/The-10-best-PS4-accessories-2016/articleshow/46705095.cms
BENGALURU: Sony Corporation (Sony) reported 1.3 percent drop in sales for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY-16, current year). Sony's revenue for... ...http://www.indiantelevision.com/technology/software/applications/fy-16-games-music-dampen-mobiles-drop-in-sony-revenue-reports-profit-160503
How hard could it be to guide a red, square-ish character called Meat Boy (who's looking for his girlfriend, hmmm) around some 300 soul-crushing... ...http://www.gqindia.com/get-smart/gadgets/call-of-duty-infinite-warfare-is-here/
Even though Disgaea games are usually...


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Apple will launch its new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus phones in a few days time.
It's a tense time for the company: While new iPhones will bring new sales, those sales have not historically been as strong for the "S" update models. Customers prefer the all-new phones that carry new numbers, like the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 7 (expected in 2016).
Back in 2013-2014, when Apple launched its last S-model (the iPhone 5s), sales growth went through a "trough," as seen in this chart (click to enlarge). While sales still went up, the growth wasn't as strong as it had been before.
Just like last time, analysts and investors fear that Apple's sales growth may be hurt by the new S model. Partly because so many people have already bought the iPhone 6 (meaning there are fewer people who need a new phone right now). And partly because those who do need a new phone may be tempted to wait until next year for the even better models (Apple's phones are robust and last a long time).
Nonetheless, as we predicted back in February, iPhone 6 has put a huge dent in Android's dominance of the market (except in the US where, oddly, Android is stronger than ever). The challenge for iPhone 6S now is whether it can build on those gains or whether Android will simply recapture share while users wait for iPhone 7.
The following charts show historic market share trends for Apple v. Android, as tracked by Kantar.
The iPhone 6 launch literally reversed the market in Japan, with iOS overtaking Android briefly. But the short-term trend shows Android growing strongly against Apple again. It's unclear what the long-term trend is here — it appears that Apple may have made gains against Android but is losing them just as rapidly.


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Samsung And Verizon Announces First 4G LTE-Enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab
From the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced that a 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab™ will be available on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network.
The 4G LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab features a 7-inch enhanced TFT display with 1024 x 600 WSVGA resolution, full support of Android™ 2.2 with access to Adobe® Flash® 10.1, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird application processor and access to more than 100,000 applications available on Android Market™.
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Designed with a rear-facing 5 megapixel camera, the 4G LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab is also outfitted with a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera and camcorder, enabling video chat capabilities. The 4G LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab includes access to Samsung’s Social Hub service, built around messaging, contacts and calendar sync, it allows users to send and receive information, whether it is e-mail, social network updates or text messages. It also features Samsung’s Media Hub content service available on the 4G LTE network, which offers a robust collection of premium movies and TV episodes for purchase or rental from some of the biggest entertainment companies in the United States. Additionally, the 4G LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab will come preloaded with popular LTE-specific applications.
The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network, launched in December 2010, is the fastest, most advanced 4G network in the United States, providing speeds up to 10 times faster than Verizon Wireless’ 3G network.
“The 4G LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab takes full advantage of Android 2.2 to deliver a blazingly fast experience for customers,” said Marni Walden, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “The 4G LTE-Samsung Galaxy Tab pairs Samsung’s advanced technology with the power of Verizon Wireless 4G LTE, so that customers can leap into the future of the mobile multimedia experience.”
The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network, launched in December 2010, is the fastest, most advanced 4G network in the United States, providing speeds up to 10 times faster than Verizon Wireless’ 3G network. Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network currently reaches one-third of all Americans, with plans to expand the network to the company’s entire 3G coverage area over the next three years.
- Dec 18, 2013
Samsung Introduces GamePad For Android SmaprtphonesSamsung today introduced the GamePad and Mobile Console app to enhance the gaming experience on Samsung’s popular line of Galaxy devices. Samsung enables users to enjoy advanced console-quality games with their mobile devices at home and on-the-go..
- Apr 18, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S 4 To Be Available In The U.S. In Coming WeeksBuilding on the success and innovation of its predecessor, the Galaxy S 4 provides a suite of industry-leading innovations that will change how consumers interact with a smartphone and delivers a greater level of security for regulated industries. With the launch of the Galaxy S 4, Samsung is also introducing Samsung Smart Switch, a PC application that lets new owners transfer contacts, messages, photos, music, calendar notifications and more from another phone to the Galaxy S 4. Smart Switch can identify favorite applications and recommend the same or similar applications within Google Play...
- Feb 25, 2013
Virgin Mobile Now Offers Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTEGiven the ongoing demand from consumers for speed, power and value in wireless, Virgin Mobile USA is now offering 4G LTE service to its No-Contract customers. “With the phones customers want, unlimited data and messaging included on all plans, and now 4G LTE capable devices, we continue to provoke customers to ask themselves why they haven’t switched from postpaid to a better deal with Virgin Mobile,” said Mark Lederman, director, Virgin Mobile USA...
- Nov 30, 2012
At&t To Launch Samsung Rugby IIIBeginning Dec. 14, AT&T customers looking for a tough phone that stands up to the elements will have one more choice with the Samsung Rugby® III for $99. “Fifth in our line of rugged devices from Samsung, the Rugby III joins the Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro™ in AT&T’s current portfolio,” said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president- Devices and Developer Services, AT&T...
- Oct 14, 2012
Samsung M400 Cell Phone Offers Advanced Accessibility FeaturesSprint and Samsung Mobile offer Samsung M400 with accessibility features designed specifically to meet the needs of senior citizens and people with disabilities. “Samsung M400 is designed to be easy to use and offers a variety of features that make it an extremely attractive phone for customers who primarily use their phone for voice calls, text messaging and pictures,” said David Owens, vice president – Product Development, Sprint...


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Obesity in recent years has Vert Shock become a real hot topic in the USA and indeed Britain and what was being blamed? Yes, that's right the time being spent in front of the small screen playing video games, so personally I find it very difficult to imagine these obese gamers who apparently spend nothing short of 'all' their time in front of the television causing mayhem and dysfunction on the streets of this nation.The video game rating system ensures titles intended for adults are not sold to minors however it does not ensure that they will not be played by such minors at some point. A similar rating system is in place in the USA however it is not nearly as tight as that in the UK and mature titles have been sold to underage US kids.
Grand Theft Auto although a favourite for the prosecution is not the only franchise to be blamed, the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 which saw the worst shootings of its kind in modern history, Jack Thompson was quick to lay the blame firmly at the door of this exciting entertainment form after he stated, killer Seung-Hui Cho was a fan of first person shooter counterstrike however it was later revealed by Cho's roommates that they had never even seen him playing the game.
Never the less the claim had great resonance here in the UK leading to many retailers refusing to stock certain titles one of which is another of Rockstar's titles 'Canis Canem Edit' originally known as bully which underwent a name change for the UK market due to pressure on the publisher, despite the game completely advocating bullying. The massacre also contributed to the banning of the sequal to controversial Manhunt in the UK market.As with mobile phones and their apparent links to cancer much research has been done in to the link between violence and video games, and it is not just violence that has been researched, oh no, it is also video games apparent glamorization of sex, drugs and maybe even rock and roll'.


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- Energy & Power
- Construction & Mining
- Buyers' Guide
The Southern African Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC) is in the process of convening a working committee to discuss and implement strategies for keeping the manufacture of power pylons local after its successful application for import protection
“Protection is only the beginning of the story. We still have much to do to ensure that this important sector is kept local,” says SAISC industry development manager Kobus de Beer.
De Beer says the volume of steel required for power pylons in this decade is significant. “A total of some 420,000 tons of power pylon steelwork is required up to 2020, peaking at 80 000 tons in 2012 followed by 50,000 tons per annum in 2013 and 2014. A further peak of 85,000 tons is predicted for 2017,” he says.
He adds that it is crucial to ensure that both the steel and labour are locally sourced. “South African companies have been manufacturing these power pylons for at least eighty years. During the past few years, however, cheaper power pylons of acceptable quality have been imported from the Far East, which has damaged the local industry,” de Beer says.
The main reason for this is that the fabricated products produced in Asian countries are being subsidised thereby enabling them to offer highly competitive prices delivered in South Africa. The proof is that steel sections such as angles and channels cannot be imported from the same sources at better prices than locally produced steel in spite of the fact that South Africa, during the 1990’s, agreed that practically all basic steel products as well as raw steel could be imported free of duty into South Africa. In recent years some 30 000 tons of fabricated and galvanised steel components were imported for ESKOM’s and neighbouring countries’ pylon requirements. “This is enough steel to keep at least two medium sized companies - employing 500 people going for a year,” de Beer says.
In fact, what transpired was that Babcock Ntukutuku, a power pylon specialist for decades, was eventually forced to close its doors and retrench long-standing employees due to lack of work and several other companies had to reduce staff while others simply did not enter the market. “The real concern,” de Beer says, “is that this establishes a pattern which is difficult to escape.”
The way forward is now being mapped out. A working committee of all affected parties is being convened by the SAISC and information on annual requirements for new pylons supplemented by the extensive requirements for refurbishment and upgrading of existing lines is being compiled.
“South African cost structures must be challenged,” says de Beer. “We will analyse in detail steel prices, pricing of galvanizing and productivity issues in workshops and improvements will be implemented.
“The objective is to help develop the South African power pylon industry to its full international competitive potential starting with the building of all our own and then most of Africa’s power lines in the face of relentless pressure from foreign competitors,” de Beer concluded.


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Apple's much-anticipated TV service may offer a unique take on skipping commercials. Instead of just allowing folks to fast-forward through advertising, the service will reportedly "compensate television networks for the lost revenue." The rumor comes from Wall Street Journal alum Jessica Lessin, who cites people (presumably more than one) who have been briefed on the matter. She adds that commercial skipping would be part of a "premium" service, suggesting Apple is pursuing a multi-tiered system.
As Lessin points out, DVRs have conditioned consumers to skipping. Any TV service that lacks commercial skipping will probably be a tough sell. But content providers have to be sold on the idea, too. Offering them monetary compensation is an interesting approach. Rumors suggest Apple's TV service is being held up by content negotiations, and skipping compensation may be a bid to push those deals over the top.
People seem to have embraced paying for commercial-free content through services like Netflix, so they may be open to shelling out a little extra for the ability to skip commercials. Even DVR users with cable or satellite service have to pay the piper every month. It will be interesting to see how the "premium" service is priced—and whether the standard service will be free.
One thing is certain: I'm never going back to watching commercials. Thanks to a long string of home-theater PCs, it's been years since I've had to sit through a full commercial break. I'd rather pay for commercial-free content than the ability to skip ahead, though. Perhaps Apple's service will be capable of skipping commercials intelligently rather than relying on user input.