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"Foreign companies, including European ones, were part of the story of China's development, and we believe they will continue to be part of the successful story of China's development and win-win cooperation," he added.
Any idea for regional cooperation should be in line with the general trend, and conform to the people's will. Otherwise, it will not win the support of regional countries, the spokesperson added.
Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a routine press briefing after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivered a speech at the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday, saying that Australia welcomes China's rise, and expects China to play a role in regional and global stability. He also said Australia has found no evidence showing it should restrict the popular short-video app TikTok.
BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's Foreign Ministry on Monday slammed the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar's ongoing visit to Taiwan, urging Washington to stop official interactions and contact of all kinds, as well as the upgrading of substantive relations with the island.
Noting that China attaches great importance to developing relations with Sri Lanka, Li said that China is willing to consolidate its traditional friendship with Sri Lanka, deepen mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, and promote faster development of China-Sri Lanka relations to better benefit the two countries and peoples. Enditem
Wei Shangjin, professor of finance and economics at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business and School of International and Public Affairs, said forcing TikTok to be sold cheaply to a "very American" buyer will endanger many U.S. firms in the Chinese market, according to an opinion published by Project Syndicate on Thursday.
Over the past 40 years and more since the two countries entered into diplomatic ties, several generations of Chinese and Americans have worked together to advance China-U.S. relations, Wang said.
"China's role in opening up to global economy through many initiatives, including its BRI, contributes a lot to the trend of global trade flows given its very potential production and consumption hubs," Sorasak said.
Some 19 percent of respondents said they are unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the U.S. investment and business environment, according to a newly released survey report of 160 Chinese companies operating in the United States conducted by the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA (CGCC).
The China-Europe freight train service has played a crucial role in helping stabilize the international logistics supply chain, especially in transporting epidemic prevention supplies since the outbreak of COVID-19.
The Chinese lab sets a good example as Iraq expands labs in all provinces, Mahdi said. In the new lab, 82 percent of the samples posted results in 6 to 10 hours.


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The big app store litigation between Epic Games and Apple continues on another scene: The highest court in Australia has denied Apple’s motion to stay the competition lawsuit in the country, according to a statement from the Federal Court of Australia.
Apple’s application to the High Court was rejected with costs, is only noted there. Apple has again failed to stop the competition lawsuit in Australia early.
Competition authority intervenes
Apple insisted in the Australian case from the beginning that the developer agreement concluded with Epic stipulates that a lawsuit between the two companies must be heard in California. A first Australian judge followed this line of argument, but the proceedings were then continued.
The reason was apparently an intervention by the Australian competition authority, which is already demanding extensive app store changes – both from Apple and Google. The lawsuit deals with fundamental questions of public interest regarding the behavior of the Australian Apple subsidiary, the court said.
Epic’s US lawsuit failed in the first instance
Epic accuses Apple of abusing its market power with the app store rules. This involves both the general isolation of the platform from the free distribution of software and special requirements, such as the use of Apple’s own payment interface – and the associated commission. Ultimately, Epic’s goal is to be able to bring its own app store to iPhones and iPads and to sell apps there on its own terms.
In the US, Epic’s competition lawsuit failed in almost all counts in the first instance: Apple is “not a monopoly violating antitrust law” in the “market for transactions in mobile games,” ruled the judge. According to the court, certain app store rules have to be deleted, including the ban on apps from linking to external purchase offers – Apple is still fighting against this. The Australian competition watchdogs, who are likely to follow the legal dispute closely, have previously requested something similar. If Apple and Google do not make the changes voluntarily, regulation threatens.

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Signs of an increasingly cautious consumer and looming recession aren't helping America's dollar store chains.
While dollar stores have previously thrived in times of economic uncertainty due to their low prices, this time around is different.
On Thursday, Dollar General (DG) lowered its full-year forecast for both sales and earnings, with earnings per share now projected to decline as much as 8% on the year.
"The macroeconomic environment is more challenging than the company had previously anticipated, which the company believes is having a significant impact on customers’ spending levels and behaviors," Dollar General said in its release.
A week earlier, Dollar Tree (DLTR) cut its profit guidance with management noting their business is "not immune the external pressures affecting all of retail."
Shares of both dollar stores have now fallen double-digits in the past week.
The dollar store guidance cuts come as retail earnings have painted a mix picture of the consumer. BJ's (BJ) told investors comparable sales were tracking below comps in the current quarter. Target warned of a consumer discretionary slowdown. But Walmart (WMT) said it's business healthy as it benefits some consumers trading down.
"In the retail industry, I say it's pretty much always a stock picker's market," Loop Capital Markets Managing Director Anthony Chukumba recently told Yahoo Finance Live. "You just have to kind roll up your sleeves and do the work. Because while the rising tide does lift and lower all boats, a lot of it has to do with company specific situations and strategies and management teams."
Dollar stores are feeling pressure as consumers shift away from discretionary items into consumable goods, which are lower margin, according to Chukumba. Both stores missed Wall Streets adjusted earnings per share guidance for the previous quarter and forecasted weaker-than-expected full-year results.
At Dollar Tree, product cost increases, higher theft and higher distribution costs are leading to margin compression, and therefore lower profits.
The discount retailer is also cycling through a price increase from last year when it bumped up its standard $1 price for goods to $1.25. Management believes that's led to tough comparisons for same-store-sales from a year ago when prices for their products were cheaper.
"There's just a number of elements we believe that we still have to work to from a product offering basis as we look at the introduction of new price points and ability to capture a little more margin where previously, we weren't able to do so at some of the lower price points," Dollar Tree CFO Jeff Davis said on the company's earnings call last week.
Meanwhile, shoppers at Dollar General are showing a clear trend to lower priced goods, per Dollar General CEO Jeffery Owen.
"We're seeing her buy fewer items per basket," Owen said referring to the consumer. "We're seeing her really utilize that dollar price point, and we're very pleased that we still offer that. And then we're also seeing her buy closer to payday in the first of the month."
During Thursday's earnings call Dollar General also announced it plans to open 60 less stores this year than initially planned, a sign of the times for retailers per Citi retail analyst Paul Lejuez.
"(The store revisions) are the latest indication that discretionary focused retail concepts are facing pressure," Lejuez wrote in a note to clients on Thursday.
Josh is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance


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SINGAPORE - The durian season has come early, and some local fruit stalls will be selling the fruit from Monday (Nov 20), reported Lianhe Wanbao.
However, due to insufficient stock of some types of durian like Mao Shan Wang, the selling price of the king of fruits could be more than $20 per kg.
Ms Hong, the owner of Combat Durian Balestier, told Wanbao that her stall will be bringing in durians from Yong Peng in Malaysia but there will be limited stock of Mao Shan Wang and D13 durians.
"At the start of the season, the durian prices will be higher," she said.
The owner of Ah Seng Durian, Mr Xu Bao Sheng, said that they will be stocking durians of many varieties from Tuesday, including Mao Shan Wang and D81. He said that the usual durian season is in December, but it has arrived about a month earlier.
He added that the supply of durians might be unreliable and that he is unsure of their quality. However, because he has been receiving requests from regulars for durians, he will first gauge the reaction of customers.
As it is not the high season , sellers expect a short supply and higher prices.
Mr Xu said that the better quality types such as Mao Shan Wang will be selling for more than $20 per kg, while the normal kinds will be selling for at least $12 per kg.
The durian season is also dependent on the weather. Mr Xu said that due to the unpredictable nature of the weather, it is hard to estimate the durian supply. He said that with the current conditions, one can only tell three months in advance when the season will arrive.


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Wichita travel and tourism having nearly a $1 billion impact, Go Wichita says
Visitors to the Wichita metro area spent about $712 million in 2011. Add that to the $245.9 million in local, state and payroll taxes generated, and it’s an industry with an impact approaching $1 billion, said Susie Santo, president and CEO of the Go Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau, at the organization’s annual meeting on Friday.
As in most communities, a destination marketing organization — in this case, Go Wichita — played a big role in generating those numbers, according to Michael Gehrisch, president and CEO of Destination Marketing Association International. Gehrisch was the keynote speaker at Friday’s luncheon, which was held at the Crown Uptown Dinner Theatre.
Gehrisch said that according to his organization’s research, destination marketing organizations influence about one in every five group hotel rooms booked.
More and more often, organizations are getting the word out through social media, he said, with Facebook as the most popular channel. About 98 percent of destination marketing organizations are using Facebook, he said, and about 91 percent are using Twitter.
Boosting social media efforts is one of the initiatives on Go Wichita’s table for 2013, Santo says. Go Wichita, which tweets from the handle of @GoWichita, will start pushing the hashtag #ICTevents as a way to centralize conversation about events happening in Wichita, she says. Users can include the tag in their tweets, and others can search for the hashtag to find the discussion.
“It’s gaining momentum,” she said.
Also in 2013, Go Wichita plans a website redesign and more research. Santo says the organization wants to create a “visitor profile” so local businesses understand the people that are visiting Wichita, where they’re coming from and why they’re here.
Emily Behlmann oversees the website and other digital projects. She covers technology.
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News - latest article
Customer satisfaction the key to Ford’s transformation
Ford rolls out new consumer experience plan to improve aftersales service
5 May 2015
FORD Australia has implemented a plan to improve its customer service levels, with Australia acting as the pilot market for the strategy in the Asia Pacific region.
The plan was initially developed for the Canadian and the United States markets, but it has since been adapted for Australia as Ford hones its resources into improving its customer experience, which slipped to below the industry average in last year’s JD Power Customer Service Index study.
Ford Australia president and CEO Graeme Whickman told media at last week’s Focus ST launch that the strategy focuses on three main areas – culture, process and technology.
“If you put those together in the right way, you come up with a much better outcome for consumers,” he said. “What we are doing here… we have a cultural program going on, so we have a business coach for our management in each of the dealerships who are participating with us.
“It comes at a cost, but it’s a very good investment because it helps them with their management ability and it opens their eyes, as it does us.
“Then there is some process what do consumers expect when they walk into a dealership either to purchase or service a car? There is a lot of work there.”
Mr Whickman said that while Ford was looking to improve technology in its dealerships for its customers, it is important to ensure it does not detract from interaction with dealer staff.
“There is a technology overlay – how can technology enable the cultural, procedural change in a way that it doesn’t get in the way – that’s kind of important,” he noted.
“Nobody wants to walk into a dealership and be met by an unmanned kiosk or iPad of which they try to work out how to get their car serviced and they never see a person. What they want is efficiency within the technology.” Without detailing specifics of the plan, Mr Whickman said the idea is to integrate three elements of culture, process and technology into an experience that is easy and engaging for the consumer.
“It’s a bit of surprise and delight, but at the end of the day it’s about efficiency. It might be a bit more about knowing the customer a little bit better, might be a bit more about knowing their past history. That helps tailor an experience as such so it’s relevant, it’s efficient and it’s rewarding.”
Other initiatives that Ford has recently undertaken to improve customer satisfaction include the introduction of a free loan car with every scheduled service, and a capped-price service program.
Mr Whickman said Ford is looking to Australia to see the results of the customer service plan, adding that this puts some pressure on him to perform.
“This market here, we are like a global pioneer,” he said. “We are pulling together the best of breed on culture stuff, process and technology and putting it together in a way that’s not been done anywhere else.
“The eyes of Ford are looking now on us. It’s kind of cool, and there’s a little bit of pressure.” Without identifying the study, Mr Whickman said Ford’s ranking in another customer service survey had risen recently, but added there was more to do to ensure the Blue Oval maintained its new status.
“We were low in terms of customer satisfaction competitive rankings – forget about internal metrics – and now we have gone from below average to number two.
“It’s a great effort by the dealerships. We helped with some culture, some process, and got this technology overlay coming in. But they are at the pointy end, and they have done an awesome job and we have been able to move that (score).
“So now we are there, what else are we going to do? How are we going to keep ourselves there, how are we going to continue to refine?”
The Road to Recovery podcast series
4th of May 2015
New Ford boss aims to change perception
Whickman looks to fill Ford’s ‘perception gap’ in Australia, recommits to 2016 exit
19th of March 2015
Whickman to lead Ford Australia into new era
Bob Graziano hands over reins of Ford in Australia, New Zealand to Graeme Whickman
12th of February 2015
Ford offers free service loan cars in Aussie first
Massive loan car investment by Ford and its dealers to boost customer rating
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The social network Facebook announced on Monday it reached an agreement to purchase the photo sharing application Instagram for $1,000 million in cash and shares of the company. Both can be access via internet connection.
“I am very happy to announce that we have agreed to buy Instagram, and his talented team is joining Facebook,” said the chief executive of social network, Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.
“For years, we have focused on creating the best experience to share photos with friends and family,” said the founder of Facebook. “Now, we will be working even more closely with the team Instagram to offer the best alternatives great pictures to share with others according to their own interests,”said the chief executive of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg.
“We believe that these 2 systems will complement each other, but at the same time we will keep in mind the maintenance and development advantages of Instagram rather than integrate it to Facebook, Instagram will maintain its independence,” said Zuckerberg
What is Instagram?
Instagram is a social network app which allows you to share pictures taken from any mobile device with internet access . One of the main advantages of the app is its ability to apply different filters that can be applied to the pics and then have the option to share the pic across various social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.
The company was started in San Francisco California by Kevin Storm and Mike Krieguer , its focuses on HTML5 features to Photography. The app was launched officially on October 6, 2010.
By August of 2011, there were 150 million photos uploaded and April 2012 were 30 million active accounts; plenty of them with a Comcast internet connection.
Instagrams was mainly created for iphone OS for Apple, but just last week it was launched for Android last Apirl 3rd, at the release it was announced that the Android version will have the same filter features as the IOS version for Apple.
Facebook compro Instagram por un billon de dolares segun reportes, Las redes sociales son de lo mas usado por medio de una conexion de internet que ofrecen companias de internet como Time Warner o Comcast. Puedes leer mas sobre la internet y la tecnologia en nuestra pagina.


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Direct Tire site collects customer feedback
Watertown, Mass.-based Direct Tire & Auto Service´s new Web site, www.directtire.com, links to a questionnaire that lets customers send direct feedback to Barry Steinberg, the dealership´s owner.
"It has improved the quality of work going out of our stores," says Steinberg. Direct Tire has three other locations.
"Our customers appreciate the fact they can respond directly to me."
Steinberg, a Modern Tire Dealer Tire Dealer of the Year award winner, says he receives about 20 e-mails per day via the site.


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SendAFriend: How a 21 year old from Jackson, Missouri formed a $7.5 million care package business
By Monica Obradovic
Many 21-year-olds spend their time studying for college and working a part-time job between classes and enjoying their carefree early adult years. Not Tyler Macke.
Instead of going to college, Tyler created his e-commerce brand centered on love, smiles and giving back.
Through SendAFriend, customers can send care packages of cute stuffed animals with a personalized message to anywhere in the world.
SendAFriend first began in 2018 when Tyler was 18 years old. He found a supplier in the U.S. that wholesale stuffed animals with a consistent look. Tyler's mom, Darla Macke, helped fill orders and get packages out the door.
What began as a small startup in his childhood bedroom quickly turned into something much bigger. Once the pandemic hit, Tyler's business ramped up exponentially.
By March 2020, Tyler and his family were taking up to four SUVs to the post office everyday. Business got so busy that working out Tyler's family's house no longer seemed feasible.
SendAFriend now occupies a 9,300-square-foot warehouse in Jackson and has a staff of more than 20 employees.
Since 2018, the business has delivered more than 225,000 care packages to customers around the world.
"When the pandemic hit, it was kind of bizarre," Tyler said. "We had the perfect care package product for people who couldn't see each other anymore."
How does SendAFriend work? Customers go to SendAFriend's website — www.sendafriend.co — and pick from a selection of stuffed animals, each labeled with cutesy, alliterated names such as "Louie the Lobster" and "Pokey the Panda." There's then an option to add a personalized note or other items such as silk roses or stickers.
The care packages will ship anywhere in the world. They arrive in sky-blue boxes designed by Tyler with the words "Someone loves you" printed on the sides.
One thing that was important to him at the beginning of the business was to make sure it gave back to the community in some way.
Since the business first began, Tyler pledged 10% of each sale to children's hospitals.
SendAFriend recently launched GiveAFriend, a donation program bringing stuffed animals to patients in pediatric hospitals across the Midwest
"I thought having a charitable aspect to my brand was important," Tyler said. "In this day and age, I feel like the conversation of CEOs not giving back can get really, like, muddy. I just wanted to establish ourselves to be a little different from other businesses that don't do anything."
So far, SendAFriend has donated more than $600,000 to children's hospitals around the country, according to Tyler.
"I thought this business had potential, but I didn't think we'd get to this point in the third year of operating," Tyler said.
Tyler's mom, Darla, now works full-time as SendAFriend's director of operations.
Tyler's passion for business budded early, she said. Darla and her husband run Black Forest Haunted Ghost Town in Cape Girardeau. Tyler grew up helping with the attraction's operation, marketing and web design.
In the sixth grade, Tyler fashioned wallets out of duct tape and sold them to friends at school.
"There was always something he was either making or selling," Darla said. "He always had some kind of idea."
Tyler said he never had the "aha! moment" many business owners speak of when talking about how they developed the idea for their business.
"SendAFriend actually started as just the name itself before I even had a concept of what the product or service was," Tyler said. "I just knew what I wanted the website to be."
Tyler first burgeoned into the world of business through graphic design. He started playing on Photoshop during his early teens. While he was a junior at Jackson High School, Tyler created StickerGrub, an online sticker printing business.
At 15-years-old, he freelanced graphic design work in between classes (and, sometimes, during) for businesses online. He created a network of clients using Twitter. Influencers on other social media sites had him create marketing and merchandise items for them.
"By senior year, I was basically working full time on top of going to school," Tyler said.
But after a few years of working for other people, Tyler decided to do something for himself, so he started SendAFriend.
To boost business, Tyler utilized social media. He said marketing was always his biggest struggle, so he hired a media buyer to handle Facebook and Instagram advertising. Afterward, business took off.
SendAFriend garnered more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and 22,000 likes on Facebook, he said.
Now, about 25% of SendAFriend's orders come through TikTok, a social media platform where users can post short videos they shoot and edit themselves.
Social media helped perpetuate SendAFriend's brand of positivity, lightness and love -- which is ultimately at the core of why Tyler said he started the business, why he donates a percentage of sales to children's hospitals.
"It's about spreading love to people and surprising someone when they least expect it," Tyler said. "We really try to take our mission and take it a step further by spreading love as much as we can."


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The Market Snapshot: Asia Pacific 2021 highlights an overview of transaction activity in the region and presents 26 cities’ current hospitality landscape; each covering demand and supply dynamics, hotel performances, and key transactions.
The global Travel & Tourism sector is gradually coming back to life as several countries across the globe ease their lock down and travel restrictions. Governments across the globe are taking steps to revive the sector, some of which have been highlighted in this article.
As the COVID-19 emergency continues to spread across nations, everyone is experiencing some level of uncertainty and disruption. On a more positive note, not all news is bad news. The hospitality and food & beverage (F&B) industry in India, along with the government, are constantly working to alleviate the impact of COVID-19. Our hotel and restaurant heroes are working tirelessly during these unprecedented times to help the country tide over the current crisis. Find out how!
The Market Snapshot: Asia Pacific 2019 highlights an overview of transaction activity in the region and presents 12 countries’ current hospitality landscape; each covering demand and supply dynamics, hotel performances, and key transactions.
What can change leaders do to overcome the resistance to change? Sheetal Singh, Ph.D. and Court Williams, CEO at HVS Executive Search address this question in their latest article in Hotel Business Review.
2009 has been a difficult year for the Indian hotel industry; hurt by the worst-ever economic crisis and the unfortunate terror strike on Mumbai, the industry was brought to a grinding halt. This article seeks to ‘look back’ at the year gone by.
Tourism is a unique industry. It can effectively create its own demand through the creation of attractions and provision of supporting infrastructure, following the "build it and they will come" approach.


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The United States Postal Service (USPS) will not deliver mail on Presidents' Day 2018 (January 19), according to their official website. President's Day is a federal holiday, so all federal offices are closed. However, the USPS will still deliver Amazon packages on Sunday, before the holiday. All Post Offices will reopen on Tuesday, February 20, 2018.
The good news: UPS and FedEx will still deliver on Presidents' Day. This means you should still receive packages from UPS and FedEx on time. You can find the complete list of holidays for 2018 on the UPS and FedEx websites.
Here are the upcoming postal holidays, according to USPS: Memorial Day (May 28), Independence Day (July 4), Labor Day (Sept. 3), Columbus Day (Oct 3), Veterans' Day (Nov. 12), Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22), and Christmas Day (Dec. 25).
Banks, schools, and courts will also close tomorrow for President's Day, according to USA Today. (Some banks will stay open, like select TD Banks).
There are perks to the holiday, like seeing Get Out for free at select AMC theaters. And, of course, massive sales. Forbes put together a list of the best Presidents' Day 2018 sales to look out for. The New York Times also put together a Presidents' Day themed crossword puzzle for you to enjoy.
Presidents' Day always falls on the third Monday of February each year. It marks the birthday of George Washington -- the first president of the United States -- who was born on Feb. 22, 1732. The holiday also honors Abraham Lincoln, the country's 16th president, who was born on Feb. 12, 1809. The first celebration of Presidents' Day happened in 1897 by an Act of Congress, according to history.com. President Rutherford B. Hayes signed it into law. The holiday initially only applied to the District of Columbia, but in 1885 it was expanded to the whole country.
If you're not sure what to do with all of your free time tomorrow, you can always watch the new Queer Eye reboot on Netflix.


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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia wineries enjoyed record-breaking sales in fiscal 2012.
Gov. Bob McDonnell said Monday that nearly 485,000 cases were sold during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2012. The previous record was about 477,000 cases sold in fiscal 2011.
Export sales more than tripled, from 700 cases to more than 3,300.
McDonnell says new sales to China and the United Kingdom accounted for a significant portion of export sales.
Sales of Virginia wine in other states rose by more than 24 percent to 14,033 cases.
Virginia reaped more than $1.7 million in wine liter tax revenue.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Which big cat had some trouble coughing this up? (Photos)
Top music stars are battling for your summer concert tour dollars.
"Jenny from the Block" wants you to buy Verizon phones from her.
Two brown bears rescued after 10 years in captivity.


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Electronic payments firm Pesapal has announced the commercial rollout of Openfloat, a software solution to manage expense payments across multiple channels, recipients, and currencies.
According to Pesapal, the rollout follows extensive market testing with Kenyan merchants in retail, hospitality, and transport. The company says tests showed that these businesses could half the amount of time taken each month to process their expense payments. The research also established that not tracking and analysing expenses and paying for too many separate services, are common pain points for Kenyan businesses.
“Openfloat offers faster settlement to Pesapal merchants. For most Openfloat users, this is the first time they can access a single-digit account to manage salaries, supplier payments, travel expenses, and other bills. Plus, they can disburse payments via pay bills, tills, mobile numbers, and bank transfers, all from the same account,” the company said in a press release
Pesapal CEO Agosta Liko said: “Paper-based expense processes are a minefield for errors and fraud. With Openfloat, businesses can track their spending 24/7 and remotely if they want to. Our design ethos on this, and all our products, is simplicity, accessibility, and affordability.”
Openfloat, Pesapal says allows approved business managers to customize expense processes with automatic payments, recurring transactions, and alerts for unusual activity. This automation helps drive greater productivity among managers and staff.
The company stated that it identified that failure to automate is a massive brake on productivity in Africa. The OECD has acknowledged that low productivity reduces inclusiveness and, “labour productivity levels in emerging and developing countries continue to be well below those in advanced countries”.
“We don’t see why any business in Africa should be excluded from improving productivity through better decision-making and automation. We believe Openfloat is a game-changer for African businesses and are excited to include it in our suite of business tools,” Liko added.


text: Oct 9, 2013 21:21 Over $1,000 charged on stolen credit card in Zachary Over $1,000 charged on stolen credit card in Zachary Photo provided by Zachary Police Department -- Zachary police are trying to identify the woman in the striped pants, who is accused of charging more than a $1,000 on a stolen credit card at a Winn-Dixie store in Zachary. Baker-Zachary bureau Oct. 09, 2013 Comments ZACHARY — Zachary police are trying to identify a woman accused of charging more than $1,000 on a credit card stolen from another woman’s wallet at a Home Depot store last month. The victim told police on Sept. 11 that her wallet had been stolen from her purse two days earlier, Zachary Police Chief David McDavid said. He said $1,019.25 was charged at the Winn-Dixie store in Zachary on the stolen credit card. Anyone with information can call (225) 654-1921 or Crimestoppers at (225) 344-STOP.


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8 T-Shirts You Can Buy Right Now to Benefit Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts
Meanwhile, quite a few graphic designers and t-shirt makers have sprung to action to produce special NYC/Jersey Shore-inspired Hurricane Sandy shirts with proceeds benefiting relief efforts in the superstorm's wake. To be frank, you're buying a shirt to benefit a great cause. Just one note airing on the side of caution before we proceed: We're running on faith here and haven't verified what percent of the purchase is going to Sandy relief efforts; We're simply taking the shirt producer for their word that the money you spend on these shirts will be donated to the cause. Let's be very clear here: We have zero sympathy for scumbags who try to profiteer off a natural disaster.
Cool Material's “Rebuild” Hurricane Sandy Relief T-shirt
Our friends over at Cool Material call New Jersey home. On Friday afternoon they dropped us a note about their Hurricane Sandy relief notebooks. The design has now made it's way to a T-shirt and 100% of the profits will go directly to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Cost: $25. Check it out here.
“Manhattan Blackout” Hurricane Sandy Relief T-Shirts By Sebastian Errazuriz
Via Grey Area: Chilean born, New York-based artist Sebastian Errazuriz’s studio was paralyzed after the hurricane. Unable to work and tired of watching the horrible disaster unfold on the news, Errazuriz decided to design something to help raise much-needed relief funds. This idea occurred to him after seeing the water line marked on the walls of the flooded galleries in New York’s Chelsea art district.” 100% of the profit goes to Hurricane Sandy relief programs. The shirts are being made at the artist's studio using a 70's dip dying style. Cost: $40. Check it out here.
“I Still Love NY” Hurricane Sandy Relief T-Shirts By Sebastian Errazuriz
Another design by Sebastian Errazuriz. Cost: $40. Check it out here.
Jetty Life's Hurricane Sandy Relief T-Shirt
We posted about this as an item in our 10 Things We Want This Week, but figure it needs as much press as it can get. Via the guys at Jetty Life, who call the Jersey Shore home: “In an effort to aid those suffering from Hurricane Sandy, we’ve designed a relief t-shirt which will allow us to UNITE & REBUILD! Profits from the sales of this custom, Jetty T-shirt will go to victims of the storm who are in direct need of assistance as well as the emergency response units who risked their lives to save others. We will be accepting pre-orders through Friday, November 16th and at that time we will screen print & deliver the first wave of orders. This relief effort will be focused within New Jersey which was most heavily impacted by the storm.” Cost: $20. Check it out here.
Blink-182's “East Coast Pride” Hurricane Sandy Relief T-Shirt
The good guys from Blink-182 lend a hand to those in need from Sandy with this East Coast Pride shirt. Here's the note via their official shop: “with the absolute devastation of on the east coast from hurricane sandy, we are doing our crappy punk rock part and have created a t-shirt with the help of blink-182 artist, acorn. this shirt was created to directly benefit affected areas, all proceeds from sales go direct to the relief efforts of the red cross. so please help us contribute the only way we know how to, by selling some t-shirts!!! and lets help the eastern seaboard get back on its feet!” Cost: $19.95. Check it out here.
Selfless Tees “SoPo (South of Power)” T-Shirt
Inspired by Manhattan's hottest new not-so-bright neighborhood, SoPo (South of Power), Selfless Tees has this design to benefit Sandy relief efforts. Cost: $20. Check it out here.
Restore the Shore Sandy Relief Gear
“A Crowdfunded Benefit for Hurricane Sandy Relief at the Jersey Shore” Cost: $30. Check it out here.
Young Whales Hurricane Sandy Relief T-Shirt
Young Whales is Victor Cruz's clothing line that he shares with Nate Collins. The message on the site: “We all know folks who were affected by Hurricane Sandy and have all done what we can to help. This T-shirt will hopefully add to those efforts.. All proceeds will be donated to a relief fund that is dedicated solely to aiding the victims of this disaster (we are still researching this – pls email email@example.com w/ suggestions). All shirts will be signed by the owners of Young Whales – Giants Wide Receiver Victor Cruz and Bears Lineman Nate Collins (Pls note signature on mockups are for reference only).” Cost: $50. Check it out here.
Admittedly, this is a short list. Plenty of other awesome threads out there from people who want to help out. If you know of any other t-shirts or gear benefiting Hurricane Sandy victims, please bring it to our attention in the comments or drop us an e-mail. We'll try to post as many as we can.


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Thailand has imported rice from Vietnam to export.This information has been revealed by Thailand businesspeople in a talk with Reuters Group plc on August 08, 2012. On the same day, Thaland white rice with 25 percent broken rice hit the price of $545/tonne, compared with recent price of $520 – $530/tonne. Meanwhile the standard rice price level 100 percent B maintained the price of $580/tonne.
Thailand government has recently extended the programme of buying rice for temporary storage until the end of September and expects to extend it to October when new harvest begins. In this programme, Thai government will buy rice from farmers at a price of 15,000 baht, equivalent to $480/tonne.
This policy of buying rice for stockpile raised Thailand’s paddy storage volume to a record high of 17 million tonnes, or about 10 million tonns of rice, equaling to Thailand’s yearly exported rice volume.
Due to less rice in the market, some Thailand exporters have imported a certain number of rice from Cambodia, even from Vietnam through Cambodia to meet the orders.
According to businesspeople, demand from Thailand and potential orders from countries recently suffering bad weather raised Vietnam rice’s price. A businessperson in HCM City said that drought affecting US corn season, low rainfall in India rainy season, flood in China and The Philippines have pushed up the prices of raw feeding materials leading to an increase in rice prices.
On August 08, 2012, 5 percent broken rice price in Vietnam (FOB Saigon port) increased up to $425 – $430/tonne from $415 – $420/tonne last week.
The price of 25 percent broken rice also rose from $375 – $380 to $395 – $405/tonne.


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Tills quit ringing at retail stores
Christmas shoppers planning to push trollies loaded with essential needs and other items will on Friday return home empty-handed as tills at one the major retail stores countrywide jam.
More than 30 000 workers at Shoprite Checkers and its subsidiaries including OK Furniture and Shoprite Liquor are expected to embark on one day protected strike in protest against poor working conditions.
Irate employees are members of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU), affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).
COSATU said in a statement on Thursday it completely bolster the arranged one day protected strike by more than 30 000 SACCAWU members working for Shoprite Checkers country-wide.
COSATU National Spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the workers request a prompt end and inversion of the one-sided changes to working hours; including the reinstatement of Sandton Checker’s employees in Johannesburg who were in this manner expelled for challenging the progressions. The workers also demand provision and payment of safe transport for workers who work night shifts, an immediate end to the reduction of working hours for part-time workers and guaranteed number of minimum working hours for part-time.
“The union will be holding various marches and protests in various towns all across the country on the same day,” said Pamla.
He said federation calls for solidarity action from other workers and shoppers on the day of the strike.
“Shoprite customers should vote with their feet and rebuke the retailer for treating workers like glorified slaves,” added Pamla


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[PRESS RELEASE – Please Read Disclaimer]
Recently, projectors from the Limited Digital Collection Guangming Art – 10,000 Mystery Boxes were put on sale and sold out rapidly.
This smooth launch marks the beginning of WayKeychain’s NFT efforts.
Thanks to the influence of WayKeychain in the community, the introduction of this NFT has aroused the interest of collectors and concerned parties. With WaykiChain, new options and possibilities will emerge for NFTs.
With advanced public-chain technology and a developed DeFi infrastructure under its belt, VeeChain will open up more possibilities for communication between creators of artistic content and their fans, increasing NFT artwork liquidity, and adding new use cases. NFT products launched on its public chain will be heavily supported by WayKeychain’s large user base and traffic flow.
Ahead of the much-anticipated FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, VeeChain has launched NFT development and design collaborations with global stars. The company believes that these efforts will increase the attractiveness of blockchain to World Cup events.
Since its launch in 2018, WaykiChain has carved a niche for itself at the helm of technology among popular public chains. In 2020, it added the pBFT algorithm, finalized transactions in 3 to 6 seconds, increased average throughput to 4,500 TPS, and offered decentralized cross-chain functionality, providing a complete infrastructure for NFT development .
WaykiChain will collaborate with designers and copyright owners to create an NFT marketplace, discover valuable NFT works, and build the NFT ecosystem together.
NFTs are an area with great potential where traffic and money effects play an important role. With its mature technology, resources and popularity in the industry, VeeChain will have a lot of exciting things ahead. Follow WaykiChain to stay in the loop.
about the company
WaykiChain is a blockchain public chain focused on blockchain technology development and related work. WayKeychain has positioned itself as an infrastructure based on both Ethereum and Blockchain, which intends to accelerate the collective growth of various industries by offering an enterprise solution.
PrimeXBT Special Offer: Use this link to register and enter code POTATO50 to get up to $7,000 on your deposit.


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Industry veteran Kees van Kempen has joined UK distributor Distology to lead its first overseas expansion by launching a new business in Benelux. Van Kempen was last week appointed as Benelux managing...
Execs of Swiss €10bn giant SoftwareONE open up on the rationale behind their recent blockbuster acquisition
The comms giant public cloud solution has launched in Europe for the first time
Crayon tells Channelnomics Europe it's actively seeking a merger, following the news its rival and investor SoftwareONE snapped up Comparex last week
UK-based consultancy lands in Europe through acquisition of Dutch machine learning firm


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Shortly after PM Narendra Modi called for a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, he advised people against panic buying. But those words fell on deaf ears as people rushed to stock groceries, gathered in crowds in supermarkets and grocery shops, defeating the whole purpose of social distancing. But those who thought e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and others could come in handy during the lockdown, they were met with a bigger shock.
Amazon, Flipkart, BigBasket, Grofers, Reliance Digital, Tata Cliq, Doodhwala and other e-commerce platforms have also taken a hit due to the coronavirus lockdown. At a time when people are more likely to order from online services, this isn't a good sign to keep people indoors. People might be forced to step out if e-commerce services are not resumed. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has urged various state governments to allow e-commerce deliveries.
On Tuesday, Amazon.in said it discontinued accepting orders for lower-priority" products in India so it can focus on delivering essential items such as household staples, health care items and personal safety products (even though masks and sanitizers are still out of stock).
To serve our customers' most urgent needs while also ensuring safety of our employees, we are temporarily prioritizing our available fulfilment and logistics capacity to serve products that are currently critical for our customers such as household staples, packaged food, health care, hygiene, personal safety and other high priority products," Amazon said in a statement.
Flipkart suspends deliveries
Unlike Amazon's considerate move, Flipkart suspended all new orders. The nationwide lockdown has raised concerns over the safety of its delivery execs and the e-commerce giant is seeking local authorities support to resume operations.
Flipkart has temporarily suspended orders as we assess the possibilities of operating in the lockdown. We are prioritising the safety of our delivery executives and seeking the support of the local governments and police authorities to meet the needs of our customers as they stay home during this lockdown," Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Flipkart, said in a statement, according to TechCrunch.
Other key players on lockdown
The Indian e-commerce industry is not limited to Amazon and Flipkart as there are several smaller players who play an important role in the industry. With a complete lockdown in effect till April 21, police officials are taking extreme measures to ensure people are following the curfew. In doing so, the cops are also sending back those who are delivering online orders of essential items.
Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder and chief executive of Grofers, said that its warehouses in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR have been forcefully shut down and delivery partners from local stores are being turned back.
BigBasket also shared similar concern over the deliveries amid lockdown. "We regret the inconvenience caused, we are not operational due to restrictions imposed by local authorities on movement of goods in spite of clear guidelines provided by central authorities to enable essential services. We are working with the authorities to be back soon," BigBasket said in a tweet.
Other e-commerce players Reliance Digital, Tata Cliq and Doodhwala have also suspended services amid the lockdown.
Delhi police finds a way
While the e-commerce players are struggling to find a way out of this to resume operations for essential items, Delhi Police already paved a path. The city police is handing out passes to delivery agents of e-commerce sites that can be used to ply on roads during the 21-day lockdown.
In Bengaluru, city police commissioner Bhaskar Rao, IPS, called for a meeting with stakeholders and aggregators of essential commodities in order to issue duty pass for them to move about. This is likely to be applied in other cities soon enough, helping e-commerce sites resume operations in limited capacity during the lockdown.


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Gone are the days of Brown Sugar Kitchen’s crispy fried chicken with golden cornmeal waffles and tangy apple cider syrup. Tanya Holland’s famous soul food restaurant, one of Oakland’s most famous restaurants, has closed its doors for good after nearly 15 years in business.
Holland told Berkeleyside, who reported the news, that the pandemic has made it difficult for the restaurant to balance, especially after it closed the outpost of Brown Sugar Kitchen’s Ferry Building in early 2020. Last year, she filed the Chapter 11 toll in an effort to keep his Oakland restaurant open. Holland confirmed the closure with The Chronicle but declined an interview.


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After a brief recovery, UK supermarket sales fell for the first time in five months due to a combination of Black Friday impacting non-food purchases, and falling prices as the Christmas offers kicked in.
Retail players have long believed that large-format stores will eventually take over the landscape, but today’s reality disproves the “bigger is always better” myth. Although large stores still account for 51% of global sales, smaller channels are growing sales up to eight times as fast their larger counterparts.
Tesco experienced its best year-on-year sales figures for over three year. In the 12 weeks ending 8 October 2016, the amount of money Tesco took at the tills increased 1.4% versus the same period last year.
Notching a one-point increase from the first quarter, European consumer confidence was largely stable in the second quarter of 2016, at 79. Notably, consumer confidence improved from the first quarter in 22 of the 34 measured markets in the European region.
The wet and cool weather from the end of June until early July contributed to the worst year-on-year figures at the UK’s leading supermarkets for two years, according to Nielsen retail performance data released today.
Product availability and a convenient location are the two most highly influential factors when it comes to where British shoppers choose to buy their groceries from – according to Nielsen’s new Global Retail-Growth Strategies Survey.
Consumer confidence declined four points in the U.K. (97) and one point in Germany (97) in the first quarter of 2016, as a favorable outlook for jobs worsened. Job prospect sentiment and immediate spending intentions also fell in in both countries.


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Autonomous vehicles aren’t perfect, so to help upgrade their intelligence and prevent fatal accidents, Nvidia created the DGX SuperPod, an AI-optimized supercomputer that will help design a better self-driving car.
Renault has EV technology FCA covets, and so does Renault partner Nissan. Fiat Chrysler has the money to spend because Jeep and Ram trucks are selling so well. Confused? You’re not alone. Just don’t get us started on the Ford-GM merger rumors.
Incredible fun to drive it you don’t mind stiff suspensions and 12 miles on battery power. But it’s also a turbocharger-like booster for the three-cylinder engine. A full-on electric Mini arrives later this year.
Tesla has called for “hardcore” cost-cutting across every facet of the company, despite its massive capital infusion just a few weeks ago. According to Elon Musk, at present burn rates, the company has less than a year of cash reserves.
Several Tesla crashes have resulted in fatalities, and another deadly crash occurred in March. According to a newly released report, the driver in that accident had Autopilot activated at the time.
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Keller Williams Realty Becomes Largest Real Estate Franchise in North America
Company reports record growth, productivity and profitability gains;
announces expansion into the United Kingdom.
AUSTIN, TX (September 16, 2013) – With a net gain of 12,000 associates in the past year, Keller Williams Realty is now the largest real estate franchise in North America. The announcement, based on publicly available agent count data as of September 9, 2013, was made during Keller Williams Realty’s Midyear State of the Company presentation. Keller Williams is now home to more than 90,000 associates around the world.
“We are not a company of complacency,” CEO Mark Willis said. “We have the best business model in the industry and it’s leading to increased productivity, profitability and profit sharing that are at all-time highs for our company and unrivaled in our industry.”
In recent months, Keller Williams Realty has shattered its monthly records for listings taken, contracts written, commissions earned, owner profit and profit share:
- Year over year, units are up 8 percent, closed volume is up 17 percent and gross commission income is up 18 percent.
- Ninety-five percent of the company’s offices are profitable year to date – a figure that far outpaces the standard for franchise businesses.
- In the past 12 months, the company has distributed $58 million in profit share to associates, a 33 percent increase over the previous year.
Features for consumers include:
- The ability to search for homes based on criteria or by custom drawing on an interactive map;
- GPS localized data displays homes in a given area that match the consumer’s price range;
- The ability to easily swipe through galleries of photos to decide whether a home fits one’s needs and then add it to saved searches for convenient reference on the app or via the agent’s website, where the saved searches are synced;
- The ability to save notes on properties for future reference; and
- Faster communication between agents and consumers via call, text or email.
The strong growth, productivity and profitability gains follow a year of milestones for the company:
- The release of the Keller Williams mobile app – personally branded for each of the company’s 90,000 associates. In the past 30 days, more than 58,000 consumers have downloaded the app to their Apple and Android devices.
- Publication of co-founder Gary Keller’s new book, The ONE Thing, which has appeared on 117 bestseller lists, including The New York Times, where it has been on the business bestseller list for 5 months, and The Wall Street Journal, where it earned the #1 spot.
Willis used concepts from The ONE Thing to illustrate his presentation, which took place at Mega Camp, the real estate industry’s premier educational and networking event for top producers. “Keller Williams leaders, what you’re doing is lining up a perfect domino run,” he said. “Being #1 in agent count in the United States was our first domino. We’re on our way to knocking over bigger and bigger dominos until we’re #1 in agent count, transactions and volume all across the world.”
Keller Williams Worldwide President Chris Heller also announced the company’s expansion into the United Kingdom. In recent years, the company’s global division has announced franchise agreements in Austria, Germany, Indonesia, Southern Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and Vietnam. Heller touted the achievements of the company’s regions outside of North America and welcomed more than 100 international guests from countries including Brazil, China, Colombia, Ghana, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Poland and Russia.
“Around the globe, entrepreneurs, brokers and agents are looking for and asking for what we offer,” Heller said. “They crave our models, systems, training and technology. And because Keller Williams can offer all of those at a level they have never seen before, we are attracting tremendous talent and gaining momentum.”
“Success leaves clues,” Keller Williams President Mary Tennant said during her State of the Culture update. “And your unprecedented achievements this year all flow from the culture of success, caring and opportunity you created and are enhancing every day.”


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New gBETA Madison Class Includes Solar Electricity Startup NovoMoto
[Updated 8/14/17 11:39 p.m. See below.] Despite having a population of 77 million-plus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo only has access to only 1.3 gigawatts of electricity, says Aaron Olson, a graduate research fellow at the University of Wisconsin Fusion Technology Institute. To understand how miniscule that figure is, Olson says, consider that Madison, WI, and the surrounding area—home to about 600,000 people—are powered by 1.5 gigawatts of electricity.
“The average Congolese household spends $22 a month on kerosene lamps inside their home and charging their cell phones,” Olson says, adding that this sum represents about one-quarter of a typical D.R.C. resident’s monthly income.
Olson is the co-founder of NovoMoto, a Madison-based startup that sells packages of solar panels, lamps, batteries, and other equipment to Congolese villages. The company uses a pay-as-you-go model, so that customers receive the equipment upfront and make relatively small weekly payments over a five-year period, says Mehrdad Arjmand, NovoMoto’s other co-founder. After five years, clients own the equipment, he says.
Launched in 2016, NovoMoto has already gained a fair amount of traction: the startup says it currently has a group of beta customers across three D.R.C. villages and expects to serve about 150 clients by the end of 2017. Arjmand says that to date, his company has received more than $147,000 in awards, grant funding, and outside investment. [Updated with information on NovoMoto’s current-year growth projections.]
Still, NovoMoto’s ambitions are lofty, and the startup will of course need to bring in and spend more money if it is to continue growing.
Given NovoMoto’s growth projections, the company earlier this year applied for and received an invitation to participate in gBETA, a free accelerator that helps entrepreneurs with things like pitching their products, adding users and customers, and raising money from investors.
The gBETA accelerator is managed by Gener8tor, a Wisconsin-based organization that holds training programs for early-stage companies, and invests in them. Since 2015, Gener8tor has held a total of 11 gBETA programs in Wisconsin and Minnesota, says Maggie Brickerman, managing director of gBETA. Two of them have been taking place this summer—one in Madison, and one in Milwaukee.
The two programs kicked off in late June, and will officially wrap up later this week. Previous gBETA programs have lasted six weeks, but Gener8tor decided to have this summer’s cohorts run slightly longer, says Nhi Le, director of gBETA Madison
With Gener8tor’s core program, the accelerator and its investment partners put up to $140,000 (in cash and convertible debt) into each of the five participating startups, in exchange for a 6 to 7 percent equity stake in them. Meanwhile, gBETA and gALPHA—Gener8tor’s newest program, a hackathon-accelerator hybrid launched earlier this year—are both equity-free, but provide participants with mentorship and other perks.
Arjmand says that NovoMoto has plans to raise a $500,000 funding round. That would allow the startup to grow its customer count to 2,000 in the D.R.C. by the end of 2018, he says. With future revenue and additional investment or grant funding factored in, NovoMoto projects it will serve 1 million customers by 2027, Arjmand says.
NovoMoto works with companies in Germany and Thailand that supply the solar panels, appliances, and other power equipment, Olson says. The startup also coordinates with organizations based in the D.R.C. that receive shipments and distribute items to NovoMoto’s clients.
One of the other companies that is competing with NovoMoto in the developing world is San Francisco-based d.light. Olson says d.light is currently expanding its operations in the D.R.C., but he believes NovoMoto’s pay-as-you-go fee structure will help differentiate the startup from its more entrenched competitor.
He adds that there’s been less of a push to expand access to electricity in the D.R.C. and some of the surrounding countries than there has been in other parts of the continent.
“In Sub-Saharan Africa in general, there have been a number of companies that have gained a lot of traction and have attracted a lot of investment,” Olson says. However, he adds that “most of that action has been in east Africa—Tanzania and Kenya, to be specific. In Congo, we are one of the first movers in this pay-as-you-go electricity space.”
Here are descriptions from Gener8tor of the other four participants in gBETA’s current Madison program:
—Clock’d: software allowing bars, restaurants, and retailers to hire employees and communicate with job candidates.
—Geladen: charged ultrafiltration membranes that can be used to perform tasks like separating proteins from cow’s milk to make baby formula. Dairy processors currently use uncharged ultrafiltration membranes, which are slow and cannot separate different types of proteins, the company says. Geladen co-founder and UW-Madison food science professor Mark Etzel co-authored a 2009 paper in which he and other researchers found that adding a positive charge to ultrafiltration membranes made it possible to “permeate proteins having little or no charge … and retain proteins having a positive charge.”
—Pyran: renewable chemicals from wood and crop waste. One of the chemicals the startup is developing is a primary ingredient in nylon, spandex, and other common plastics, Pyran says. One of Pyran’s co-founders is George Huber, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at UW-Madison.
—Stimmi: software allowing parents and caregivers to document and share information on non-verbal autistic people. The company says its digital tools allow users to create profiles for individuals with autism containing personal information and videos documenting how they communicate feelings and ideas.


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Michael Kors just gave PETA and animal lovers all over the world the best holiday gift ever. On Friday, the American luxury brand announced that the entire company plans to be fur-free by the end of December 2018, according to a press release. The commitment to replacing animal fur with other alternatives will apply across the entire 36-year-old company, which includes both the Michael Kors brand and Jimmy Choo, which was acquired in a $1.2 billion deal in July 2017. "Due to technological advances in fabrications, we now have the ability to create a luxe aesthetic using non-animal fur," Kors said in the statement. "We will showcase these new techniques in our upcoming runway show in February."
The announcement comes just a few months after Kors' June talk with journalist Alina Cho at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art was interrupted by animal rights activists. According to Women's Wear Daily, around 20 protestors stormed the stage, formed a circle around Kors and Cho, made "animal-like sounds," and shouted at the designer for continuing to use fur in his designs. Prior to that, in February, a handful of PETA supporters protested outside the Michael Kors store in NYC's SoHo with anti-fur signs and a costume meant to look like Kors's head on the Grim Reaper's body. "Although PETA has contacted the Michael Kors company numerous times in recent years to let him know that minks, foxes, crocodiles, and other animals are electrocuted, bludgeoned, and skinned alive, he continues to use fur and exotic skins in his designs," a PETA spokesperson told WWD at the time.
Kors's decision to go fur-free follows that of Gucci. In October, the luxury brand's president and CEO Marco Bizzarri announced that their designs would no longer incorporate animal fur, beginning with the Spring 2018 collection, which was presented at Milan Fashion Week in late September. Michael Kors and Gucci join brands like the Net-a-Porter Group, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Armani, all of which have pledged to go fur-free over the course of the past few decades.


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"We sold out the first phase of 13 homes in our first two weekends of preconstruction sales," said Judith Gardner, senior vice president of sales.
Twelve ranch, split-level and two-story home styles range from 1,235 to 2,420 square feet and are priced from $104,900 to $136,900, including lots averaging a quarter-acre.
The three- or four-bedroom homes have one to three baths, laundry rooms and eat-in kitchens. Some plans offer family rooms, formal dining rooms, full basements and attached two-car garages.
Gardner said qualified first-time buyers can purchase a home with no money down when they agree to paint the interior and exterior, stain the trim and interior doors and seed the lawn.
To visit the sales center, take the Stevenson Expressway (Interstate Highway 55) to U.S. Highway 30, turn left to Hennepin Street (fourth stoplight) and right to Essington Road (first stop sign). Turn left on Essington to entrance.
- Airhart Construction Co. has begun construction of a Nordic III model at Hobson Gate, a development of 21 semi-custom homes in west suburban Woodridge.
The five-level home has 3,000 square feet of living space with four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a three-car attached garage. Base price is $218,300, not including homesite; sites are $70,000 to $91,000. The model is scheduled to open in June.
"This new generation of homes will affect considerable savings in heating and cooling costs compared to most other homes in the marketplace," said president Mac Airhart, adding that the new model utilizes passive solar home technology and state-of-the-art windows and insulation.
To reach the current sales model at Seven Bridges and be directed to nearby Hobson Gate, take Interstate Highway 355 to the Hobson Road exit. Turn west about two miles to the Seven Bridges sign on the right. Turn right on Green Road and then an immediate right at Didrikson.
Until the Nordic III is finished, sales are being conducted out of the sales office at 6841 Didrikson.
- Lexington Homes has opened its Premier models of three-car garage homes at English Meadows in north suburban Grayslake.
Also being offered at three other Lexington communities, the Premier Series has proven popular among home buyers, posting more than 100 sales in five months, according to Roger Mankedick, executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Now available for inspection for the first time, four furnished models with three and four bedrooms, priced from $l68,490 to $l85,490, offer up to 2,500 square feet of living space.
Mankedick said the homes also are available with an extra room instead of a third garage space. The multipurpose character of the room allows it to be transformed into a media center or exercise room.
The 877-home site includes 45 acres for new park facilities and 11 acres for a future grade school.
To visit English Meadows, take Illinois Highway 83, three miles north of Illinois Highway 120.
- Preconstruction sales are under way for Phases 1 and 3 at the townhouse subdivision of Columbine Glen in Lombard.
The 64-unit project is being developed by Wheeling-based J.P. O'Connor and Co. The four designs, ranging from 1,486 to 1,832 square feet in size, are base-priced from $157,000 to $182,000.
Lynn Fisher, sales manager, said the first phase will be ready for delivery between June and September. Phase 2 homes are being offered with a delivery date between October and December, while Phase 3 homes will be readu from January to June of 1994.
Four floor plans, designed by Bloom and Fiorino Architects Inc. of Oakbrook Terrace, offer a ranch and three two-story designs. The townhouses include two or three bedrooms, two to 2 1/2 baths, two-car garages and basements. Standard features include vaulted ceilings, designer windows, central air conditioning, wall-to-wall carpeting, master baths with separate oversize soaking tubs, separate showers and double-bowl vanities.
The buildings will have brick fronts and vary size from three to five units each. For variety, some of the garages will be side-loading.
- A new series of maintenance-free townhouses is being offered by Kimball Hill Inc. at its Cobblers Crossing development in northwest suburban Elgin.
Since the first models opened in 1989, more than 900 homes have been sold at the subdivision planned for more than 1,100 single- and multifamily homes.
Lisa Harry-Porter, senior vice president of sales and marketing, said the Country Homes Series is being offered as the Lake Homes East townhouses sell out.
The series, geared to first-time buyers, offers six floor plans ranging from 1,002 to 1,418 square feet, including four two-story plans and first and second-floor ranch plans. They are priced from $91,900 to $120,900.
Base prices include private entries, private attached garages and patios or decks. Central air conditioning, fireplaces, additional baths and skylights are options.
Two series of single-family homes also are offered at Cobblers Crossing. The Gateway Series of single-family homes features six designs ranging from 1,275 to 2,060 square feet. The Heartland Series has floor plans with 1,842 to 2,625 square feet.
Cobblers Crossing is on Shoe Factory Road, three miles west of Illinois Highway 59.
Meanwhile, Harry-Porter said preconstruction sales have begun at Wildspring in west suburban Itasca, where 138 townhouses are planned. Preconstruction prices range from $110,900 to $137,900 for five floor plans, including two ranch and three two-story designs.


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VinFast, which is the automotive division of Vingroup, has announced the appointment of Michael Lohscheller as its new CEO. According to an official release, Lohscheller will be based in Vietnam, although it wasn’t stated when he will begin his duties.
Prior to assuming his new role, Lohscheller worked at Stellantis’ Opel for nine years, with four them as the CEO. During his tenure, he returned the German brand to profitability in 2018 after two decades of losses under the company’s former owner, General Motors.
He also oversaw the company’s electrification push that will see the brand go fully electric in Europe by 2028. Before Opel, Lohscheller also held positions in Volkswagen Group of America, Volkswagen Group as well as Mitsubishi Motors Europe. At Opel, Lohscheller will be succeeded by Uwe Hochgeschurtz, previously CEO of Renault Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Taking over from James B. DeLuca, who is now deputy CEO of Vingroup, Lohscheller will be responsible for leading the automaker’s operations in its current markets, namely Vietnam, the United States, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands. He will also be responsible for scaling up VinFast’s operations and presence around the globe, focusing on North America and Europe.
In recent times, VinFast has prioritised electric vehicles and currently has three models announced, including the VFe34, VFe35 and VFe36. The company also has internal combustion engine cars with the Fadil, LUX A2.0, LUX SA2.0 and President, along with a range of electric scooters.
“Vingroup warmly welcomes Michael Lohscheller to our leadership team. We strongly believe that his appearance will accelerate VinFast’s up and running global expansion. Michael Lohscheller’s participation in VinFast’s senior management team reaffirms Vingroup’s long-term plan in attracting outstanding talents and acquiring management expertise from elite circles of the global automotive industry,” said Thuy Le, vice chairwoman of Vingroup.
“During my career, I have always been attracted by new challenges. When the opportunity came to join VinFast, I was immediately attracted because of the growth opportunities. I look forward to working with the leadership team to grow the company and establish it as a global smart electric car company,” commented Lohscheller.
Source: Read Full Article


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With the implementation of GST, the prices of SUVs, sedans and smaller cars are going to fall. Yet the companies haven't announced the prices.
BMW launches the 5 Series in India at ₹49.9 lakh. The new series is available in both diesel and petrol variants.
BMW Group India had announced a strong growth in 2016 after facing decline from two years, the company stated 8% growth until May.
Bajaj Auto has announced discounts of upto ₹4500 for the two-wheeler buyers ahead of the implementation of GST.
Competition Commission of India(CCI) has charged Hyundai India with Rs. 87 crore for selling the cars at discounted rates.
The launching of Brezza and Ertiga MPV have helped Maruti Suzuki to overtake the position of Mahindra & Mahindra in the list.
The Mercedes Benz E 220 d will be priced at 57.14 Lakh (Ex-showroom Pune). This model contains new four-cylinder diesel engine, OM 654
Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Ford has become the most desired brand and got great response in the Domestic market with the hike in sales.
Volvo will start assembling cars in India by the year end. In a facility located near Bengaluru, the company will work on modular vehicle architecture based models.
Maruti has launched the latest variant of its most popular car, Dzire. The 2017 model has a starting price of ₹5.45lakhs, Ex-showroom Delhi.


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South Korea is mulling over a potential antitrust investigation into chip maker Qualcomm, days after China slammed the company with a $975 million fine.
Local news agency Yonhap reports that South Korean antitrust regulators are considering launching an investigation into "possible abuse of its market dominant position," according to unnamed officials and market sources.
The publication says that South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is scrutinising Qualcomm's patent business practices. Qualcomm's "reverse patent license" business model, at the heart of the matter, enforces a compulsory requirement for companies using Qualcomm chips in devices to "authorise their patent rights to Qualcomm" and forbids them from collecting royalty payments from other Qualcomm clients.
An unnamed official at the FTC said:
"The FTC as a rule maintains a 'neither confirm nor deny' policy on any prospective probe, but we are weighing all the options available."
However, the antitrust official did say the FTC is "carefully examining actions taken by China" to decide if similar activities have taken place in South Korea -- and whether the country should follow suit.
"If a probe is started, it will be a long, drawn-out affair that could take two to three years," he said.
This week, Qualcomm confirmed the ruling of Chinese antitrust regulators, which resulted in a fine of $975 million over the firm's patent and royalty practices -- a decision Qualcomm says it will not appeal.
Qualcomm also agreed to tweak its business practices in China, starting with offering licenses to its current 3G and 4G Chinese patents separately from licenses to its other patents, but most importantly, the US chip maker has agreed to provide existing licensees in China with the choice to accept or decline the new terms on sales of devices from 1 January, 2015.
Following the end of the 14-month antitrust probe, Qualcomm altered its outlook for the fiscal year, projecting revenue to fall between $26.3 billion and $28.0 billion -- a slight increase on estimates.


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TRAVERSE CITY -- A proposed Meijer store in Acme Township will sport a smaller design, possibly similar to a remodeled store in metro Detroit.
Developers for the proposed Village at Grand Traverse project cited the poor economy when they told township officials in recent meetings of plans to reduce the overall density of commercial development on the 182-acre Village site on M-72 east of Lautner Road.
The anchor tenant, Meijer Inc., will use a different store prototype that is about 10,000 feet smaller than a 207,364-square-foot store proposed in 2004.
A Meijer store near Waterford in Oakland County is the example most often discussed by developers from Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate Inc. of Cincinnati, said Sharon Vreeland, Acme Township manager.
"It's a little more of a downtown feel with not just a flat, expansive wall," Vreeland said. "Even though it's still a big place you get a feeling of a smaller place, and that's what we're looking for and what they are looking for, according to their own design guidelines."
Anderson Real Estate officials did not return messages left over two days both at their office and on their cell phones. Meijer officials and Steve Smith, managing partner for The Village at Grand Traverse LLC, also did not return messages.
In a Feb. 24 letter to the township, JR Anderson, vice president of Anderson Real Estate, asked Acme officials to start an informal process to work on a "less dense Village at Grand Traverse project."
Developers restarted a project initially approved in 2004 following five years of lawsuits, an unsuccessful recall effort that involved illegal campaign activity funded by Meijer, and plenty of political acrimony over previous development plans for The Village property and another nearby Meijer-owned site.
Denny Rohn, president of Concerned Citizens of Acme Township, a group that filed the initial lawsuit against the project in 2004, said she's not surprised developers want to go smaller.


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Orlando International Airport to Stay Open During Hurricane Dorian
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For the latest update on Hurricane Dorian, check thepointsguy.com/hurricane.
As Hurricane Dorian makes its way toward the US with wind speeds of about 150 miles per hour, the category 4 storm has caused major disruptions to the busy Labor Day travel weekend and perplexed forecasters with its ever changing path.
On Friday afternoon, Orlando International Airport (MCO) announced its closure ahead of Dorian making landfall, but as the storm’s predicted path has shifted farther north, MCO has lifted its planned closure and decided to continue operations on Monday, September 2.
This decision was made in consultation with the National Weather Service, as new projections show Dorian heading up the coast of Florida toward Georgia and the Carolinas.
Two other south Florida airports had announced closures as well. Orlando Melbourne Airport (MLB) has pushed its closure back to 6 p.m. on Monday, September 2, while Daytona Beach Airport (DAB) will close after the last departure on Sunday night.
Even with these adjustments to airport operations, anyone traveling to south Florida this week should be prepared for lengthy flight delays. FlightAware’s cancellation tracker is showing over 200 flights canceled for Sunday, mostly in/out of Orlando. Many airlines have capped fares for flights out of Florida, and some have even added extra capacity over the weekend to help people trying to evacuate.
In addition, most US airlines have issued weather advisories for Florida and the Bahamas ahead of Hurricane Dorian, allowing flexible travelers the chance to rebook away from the storm. Here are the latest waivers:
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The New York Times will begin charging readers to view content on its Web site beginning in 2011, the paper said Wednesday.
Through its new "metered model," readers will be able to freely view a set number of articles per month, but after reaching that monthly limit, they will have to pay a fee. Print subscribers will continue to have free access to NYTimes.com.
"This will enable NYTimes.com to create a second revenue stream and preserve its robust advertising business," according to the company's statement.
The publisher plans to spend 2010 building a new infrastructure for implementing the payment structure.
"This is really interesting because it's unusual for companies to announce things like this so far in advance," said Ken Doctor, a news industry analyst for research consultancy firm Outsell. "My sense is that they wanted to put a stake in the ground and say 'these are our intentions.'"
And while the infrastructure will take time to build, Doctor said he thinks the company will use the year as a buffer in case the company decides to reverse course.
"If you're the Times, you can show leadership and nudge other news providers toward a paid model," he said. "But let's say the market changes, this gives them the chance to react to those changes and pull back."
Whether to charge readers for content has been an ongoing debate among online journalism sites, and Doctor said the switch to a paid model is a step many other companies are considering as well.
"You've got Newscorp announcing that intention, now the New York Times announcing that intention, Hearst moving toward a pay wall and many others looking at variations on the theme of charging," said Doctor. "These companies don't just get together and decide when to start charging for content, but if one does it, the hope is that others will follow."
The question is whether this metered model makes as much sense for a general news publication as it does for specialized sites like the Financial Time's Web site, FT.com. Because with the exception of financial news, people have been largely unwilling to pay for content, said Doctor.
"If you are in the money business, you need breaking news to make decisions that are going to make or lose you money," he said. "So paying for an online subscription to the Wall Street Journal is peanuts."
But because of the New York Time's broad coverage, the company will have to find a way to target its most loyal readers who are willing to pay for its content.
Did General Motors and industry regulators fail to detect safety problems that may have led to 13 traffic deaths? A House panel has now opened an investigation, and will hold a hearing in coming weeks. More
In March 1989, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee published a paper proposing an "information management" system for his laboratory. His supervisor, Mike Sendall, scrawled some brief comments on the cover: "Vague, but exciting." More
Sanjiv Patel has invested over $1 million in his peanut company under a program that grants green cards to investors, but he may get kicked out of the country if he doesn't hire eight more people. More
3,000 Americans around the world renounced their citizenship last year. Meet five U.S. citizens who have given up their passports -- or are thinking about it -- to escape an overly complicated tax code. More


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Coronavirus: How Bucks police are responding to business shutdown
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For weeks now, nonessential businesses have been ordered to shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak in Pennsylvania.
The possibility of these now unoccupied buildings being burglarized is something several local police chiefs are aware of, and are taking steps to thwart.
“We are stepping up our surveillance efforts when it comes to building checks,” Montgomery Township police Chief Scott Bendig said.
Montgomery Township police is one of multiple departments increasing patrols during the outbreak. The township is home to the Montgomery Mall as well as several other shopping centers.
“We are really proactively monitoring,” Bendig said.
He also noted that most of the businesses in the township have alarms systems.
“We’re fortunate in that respect,” he said.
Officers also are making their presence known in shopping centers that have essential businesses, like Costco, Wegmans, Giant and Redner’s.
The department’s biggest focus, he said, is to be seen. “The community needs to feel a sense of security,” he said.
Those same efforts are being made in other areas, such as Bensalem, Middletown and Richland.
In Bensalem, officers are taking preventive measures, according to Deputy Public Safety Director William McVey.
“We’re just trying to increase our visibility,” he said.
On Thursday, McVey said the department has seen a decrease in call volume since the start of the outbreak.
“With that they’re doing more active patrol checks of properties,” he said.
McVey said he anticipates property crime in general to increase the longer the nonessential business order lasts.
In Upper Bucks, Richland police have also seen call volume decrease since the stay-at-home order, according to Chief Richard Ficco Sr. He estimated calls have been down between 25% and 40%.
Since officers are not responding to as many calls, patrols have been increased, the chief said.
He noted that most of the closed businesses in the township are in shopping centers with essential businesses that are open.
“So it pretty much keeps everything being watched,” he said. “There’s somebody there.”
In Montgomery Township there have been fewer calls as well. Bendig said since businesses are closed, there have been less business-related crimes, like fraud.
Additionally, he said with less people driving the department has not had to go out to as many crashes lately.
Now that officers are responding to fewer calls, the chief said officers are doing online training.
In Middletown, home to the Oxford Valley Mall, officers also are focusing on increasing visibility in shopping centers, specifically ones that have businesses providing essential services.
“Evening and overnight hours we have concentrated patrols in our residential areas, and make frequent patrol checks of closed businesses since they are more susceptible to break-ins and vandalism,” Chief Joseph Bartorilla said.
Warminster police Chief James Donnelly III said officers in his department are taking special note for business checks, but said they have no special details as of Thursday.


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Update (10/05/2020, 08:35 AM):
The Apple PowerBeats Pro have now been certified through China’s MIIT platform. They left earbud (A2453) and the right earbud (A2454) of the PowerBeats Pro have been certified separately. All that these certifications reveal is that the PowerBeats Pro have Bluetooth connectivity but that isn’t a surprise. Below are the screenshots of the certifications of the PowerBeats Pro.
The original story follows…
Apple is working on the successor to the PowerBeats Pro and the upcoming truly wireless earphones from the brand have been certified through multiple platforms so far (SIRIM, Korean NRRA). While these certifications have revealed that the model number of the upcoming TWS earphones are A2453 (for left earbud) and A2454 (for right earbud), none of them had revealed anything about the retail name of the product and that is about to change today.
Successor to the PowerBeats Pro will be called PowerBeats Pro
We have now spotted the successor to the PowerBeats Pro – codenamed A2453 and A2454 — on the Indonesian Telecom certification platform. The big news here is that the certification reveals the name of the product. According to the certification, Apple’s upcoming truly wireless earphones, and the successor to the PowerBeats Pro will simply be called the ‘PowerBeats Pro.’ There is no ‘2’ or ‘2020’ tag attached to the name like everyone was expecting.
The naming convention of Apple’s upcoming PowerBeats Pro (A2453 and A2454) is in line with that of the recent product launches from the brand. Take the iPhone SE that was launched a month ago, for example. It comes as a successor to the iPhone SE that was launched in 2016 but it is still called the iPhone SE. Well, people will just have to address the upcoming the PowerBeats Pro as PowerBeats Pro (2020), I think. With the PowerBeats Pro (2020) having bagged so many certifications, its launch seems imminent.


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Apple opened a new store in Dubai
Apple yesterday opened a new store in United Arab Emirates. The company has released a few photos and a short video of the store that it opened in Dubai Mall.
The company announced in the press release that it had previously published symbolic events such as the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountain in order to announce the opening of the store and also stated that there is a big gathering area in front of it. Indeed, it appears in the published photographs that on the opening day, thousands of people had accumulated in the gathering area. It is also clear from the photographs that the Apple Dubai Mall store is built to handle thousands of customers.
It has a structure consisting of split floors inside and reflects the aesthetics of “Apple Store 2.0”. It houses trees, specially manufactured wooden furniture, symbolic wooden display benches and more.
Like other existing iconic stores, the Dubai Mall has “Genius Grove”. There is also a special section for lectures, performance demonstrations, accessory areas and commercial sales. A special feature of the Dubai store is the solar wing, made of large carbon fiber; They are placed on the face overlooking the Dubai Fountain and an area opens in that section. The wings automatically open and close according to the weather in Dubai, allowing customers to enter the store’s air in the evenings while sunshine protects customers from the sun.
The opening of Thursday was the first “Today at Apple” program in the Middle East. This week’s workshop workshop, “Today at Apple,” is being conducted by team members who have been trained and by artists, photographers and musicians around the world in selected cities. Workshops are offered at different levels, from basic information and how-to courses to professional-level programs. For example, an iPhone user interested in photography can start with six How-To workshops to work on shooting, editing, editing and other topics. Advanced photographers can gain experience by participating in Photo Walking workshops organized outside the store to learn techniques such as light and shadow, portraits and storytelling. At a more advanced level, Photo Lab can get information from famous photographers about capturing natural pose, branding in social media or sharing their own viewpoints with workshop work.
Today at Apple also includes music performances by local musicians. This kind of performance was also performed in the Dubai Mall store.


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Acturis has been announced the winner of the 2017 Cloudex awards. Today it provides its platform to many of the UK’s largest general insurers and brokers.
Now in its fifth year, Clearwater International launched its Cloudex awards to profile the most innovative and emerging companies in the UK cloud industry. Since then cloud technologies have transformed the way companies do business, both internally and externally, across virtually every sector of the economy.
Following the success of previous awards, this year’s distinguished panel of judges drew up a shortlist of 20 companies before selecting a winner. The judges remarked that this year saw a very high quality of entries across a broad range of sectors. As Emma Rodgers, Director at Clearwater International said: “It demonstrates that the cloud is now all-pervasive across different markets. Even those sectors which have traditionally been slower to adopt new technologies are now seeing take-up.”
Theo Duchen, Co-CEO, Acturis Group, said: “We are very grateful for the recognition. This is not a one day wonder, this is 16 years in the making! It has been a gradual climb and we are finally seeing the benefits of that. Because we are a pure disruptor in a very conservative market it has taken persistence and a connected offer to win over customers, and it takes a while for such a conservative market to have the courage to embrace the cloud.
“But what we do has massive benefits for productivity. We are now the biggest player in Germany and are looking to replicate that in other geographies in Europe and beyond.”
Emma Rodgers, Director, Clearwater International, commented: “From the start Acturis has been a real disruptor, changing the model of the market and more importantly, taking the market through that change. A very professional business with great market share and fantastic financials that has delivered time and again.”
Award presentation to Acturis
L to R: Emma Rogers (Clearwater), Hayden Parra (Acturis), Theo Duchen (Acturis), Carl Houghton (Clearwater)


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Mobile phone manufacturing company Motorola is now planning for joining in the race of Facebook cell phone world – according to a new source report.
The report has also stated that by following this tradition this mobile manufacturing company will bring more handset in this world.
The entire matter has come into the entire limelight while a picture of Motorola EX225 has published on of the well known Bluetooth accreditation website Bluetooth SIG, which has shown that this brand new upcoming product Motorola EX225 is associated with a little blue Facebook key in the corner position.
But this picture has not shown any Android buttons anywhere, that’s why it can be assumed that it may come in the market with their own OS power or it may also happen that Motorola is now trying to develop its android key – so this time it is in huge confusion.
More about this handset:
But this time Motorola’s this upcoming handset is looking too much similar like Vodafone 555 Blue model, which is not made with the Android, though the matter of fact is its integrated Facebook key – which on the other hand is indicating that this phone must come out with some advanced features like photo uploading and music sharing etc.
With the sequence to the fact Hyper-rad has stated “This phone is associating with a 2.4 inch wider screen, which describes that through it people will quiet be able to touch with world anytime from anywhere.”
But many rumors are showing that this phone may come with non Facebook version, so this puzzle can only be solved while this phone exactly launched into the market.
Whatever the rumors as well as the facts are, aside from that it is true that this phone has passed by the Bluetooth SIG, that’s why we can expect that this phone will launch before Christmas and I believe it must come along with a cheaper price range also.