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New Delhi, India: Like many countries, India is experiencing a boom in demand for bicycles, as people shun public transport and gyms for fear of catching the novel coronavirus.
As a result, Inderjit Navyug should be a very happy man right now. But, his bicycle-parts factory in the city of Ludhiana in northern Punjab state has remained shut since late March when India went into lockdown to rein in the spread of the virus.
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The nationwide shutdown was lifted in phases starting on June 8, but virus cases have surged past 3.3 million, making India the third-worst affected country globally. Some states, like Punjab, have decided to maintain some restrictions, and Navyug’s 35 workers are afraid to return until the virus has been brought under control, he says.
“My sales have dropped completely,” Navyug told Al Jazeera. His company had a revenue of $140,000 last year, and he is not hopeful of achieving anything near that this year. “I have sent money to the workers. I hope they’ll rejoin next month,” he said.
Navyug’s firm is one of the hundreds of thousands of small Indian manufacturers whose business has been decimated by the virus. His plight is a reflection of the deep economic slump India is likely to face for some time.
India’s economy – the world’s fifth largest – had already been sputtering before the pandemic. But the lockdown, one of the world’s strictest, crippled most economic and commercial activities.
The economy is expected to have shrunk by about 20 percent in the April-June quarter compared with the same period last year, likely setting a record, according to recent polls of economists by the Reuters and Bloomberg news agencies, capturing most of the lockdown period.
For the full financial year to end-March 2021, the Reuters survey predicts gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink by 5.1 percent, the weakest performance since 1979. The government is due to release its GDP data for the April-June quarter on Monday.
Rahul Bajoria, an economist at London-based lender Barclays, has an even more pessimistic outlook. In a research note this month, he said the economy probably shrank by 25.5 percent over the three months, which is worse than his earlier 22.2 percent contraction forecast.
“If you shut everything down for six to seven weeks, obviously everything is going to be impacted,” Bajoria told Al Jazeera. “India’s biggest challenge right now is how do you go back to a certain amount of normalcy and how do you grow from there?”
In an attempt to do that, India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, in May launched a $265bn fiscal stimulus package, which it said amounted to 10 percent of the country’s GDP. But, economists say the actual amount of money spent is expected to be just 1 percent of total economic output and that it is unlikely to significantly boost consumer demand.
After the government began reopening the economy in phases on June 8, there was a noticeable jump in several sectors. Sales of passenger cars and motorbikes, among other goods, rose, as did electricity demand and commercial activity, including manufacturing. But those metrics have since started to slow down, a sign that, while the number of coronavirus cases continues to increase, the economy will not return to pre-pandemic levels, economists warn.
“Things can’t be business as usual [while] the health crisis persists,” said Bajoria, adding that even if all sectors of the economy, such as travel and tourism, opened up, people have to feel safe enough to want to pursue those activities.
“It’s one thing [for] the government not allowing certain types of economic activity and it’s another to see if people want to partake like they used to. Economic normalcy will only come when the health crisis appears under control.”
While the economy has improved in comparison to where it was at the start of the lockdown, “the pace of the improvement is looking much shallower than what we were anticipating and that concerns us,” said Barclays’s Bajoria.
The other problem is that even as the country has opened up for business, sporadic local lockdowns continue. Because of its federal structure, individual states have a large degree of autonomy over whether they open parts of the economy allowed by New Delhi, or not.
Among the latest such decrees, Punjab imposed a night-time curfew from 7pm to 5am and a weekend lockdown from August 21 in all towns and villages across the state. On the same date, Haryana announced that only essential shops and offices will be allowed to operate on weekends.
Gurpargat S Kahlon, who manufactures auto parts in Ludhiana, mostly for export to the Middle East, Germany and the United States, is also feeling the effects of Punjab’s measures.
He had already been dealing with a drop in orders, a shortage of workers and looming bank repayments, among other issues, during the nationwide lockdown. As a result, his two factories are running at half capacity, he said.
Now, with the 7pm curfew in place, he has to shut shop earlier than normal and expects annual revenue to halve to about $700,000.
“Our industry has been badly hit and now not even half the business is left and it’s getting difficult to pay salaries,” he told Al Jazeera, adding, “There’s no sight on orders down the line and we can’t go abroad to secure new orders and neither can they come here.”
“That’s the worst part right now,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at research firm CARE Ratings, adding that measures such as the ones Punjab are implementing are disrupting supply chains, limiting businesses from operating and increasing costs. “What they’re doing is not serving any purpose,” he told Al Jazeera.
CARE has predicted a 20.2 percent shrinkage in India’s economy for the quarter ending June, citing a steep contraction in industrial activity including mining and quarrying, manufacturing, utility services and construction.
Selling the family silver?
The government is somewhat hamstrung in its ability to provide much more of a fiscal stimulus. The slowdown in activity has resulted in a 41 percent drop in tax collections, amounting to about $25bn for the quarter to end-June compared with the same period last year, according to CARE.
The government’s measures to protect small businesses and rural populations are expected to result in a fiscal deficit – a shortfall between revenue and expenditure – amounting to 7.4 percent of GDP in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
That is a smaller gap than the IMF’s 9.1 percent average forecast for emerging-market and middle-income countries.
But, India has already seen a cut in its credit rating and outlook by Moody’s in June, and a change in outlook from the Fitch ratings agency. Analysts say the government is wary of increasing spending in case it results in more downgrades, pushing its cost of borrowing funds from international markets higher.
To raise the extra funds, one option could be to sell off some government assets, says Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, director at CRISIL Ltd, a unit of rating agency S&P Global.
In July, state-owned Indian Railways invited bids from private firms to operate some passenger trains, a step towards diluting its long-held monopoly. The government is inviting bids for 109 rail routes (which it calls origin and destination pairs) which will cover the major economic hubs of the country including, Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Chennai, Howrah, among others, for an estimated investment of about $4bn.
“No doubt this is an opportunity with a fair amount of interest for the private sector,” said Padmanabhan.
The vast network of Indian railways is tested daily with millions of passengers travelling on it. The private companies wading into this sector are being drawn in by the same incentives that helped India’s budget airlines take off: the aspiration among Indian people for faster, more pleasant travel at an affordable price.
Achieving that balance will be the tricky part for any company getting involved, as Indian consumers are very price-conscious, warns Padmanabhan.
But ultimately, the “need for travel will continue, and if this is successful, the government can open this sector further and the initial set of operators [who bid for the routes] can catch the population in the first mover advantage,” he added.
Padmanabhan has other suggestions to help the government not only find some revenue streams in the short term, but also help it meet an ambitious target of investing $1.4 trillion through the National Infrastructure Pipeline over the next five years to upgrade the country’s ports, airports, railways and mass-transit metro systems. It also aims to provide affordable and clean energy as well as high-quality education and health services, among other investments.
“Where will you get so much money?” he asked.
If, given the current economic uncertainty, companies are unwilling to invest money in new projects, Padmanabhan suggests auctioning to them existing ones so the government can use those funds to create new infrastructure. “Milk the tier-one airports [and highways] and use that to fund regional airports, for instance. It can be one of the pillars of go-to market strategy,” he said.
However, such strategies may not be useful in providing any immediate economic relief, other economists warn.
CARE Ratings’ Sabnavis said: “These things will work over a period of time, and are good in the medium term to earn income but they won’t be of any help to the economy right now.”


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AT&T reportedly pulled out of the deal under pressure from USA lawmakers who wrote to the FCC citing concerns "about Chinese espionage in general, and Huawei's role in that espionage in particular". A copy of the letter was seen by Reuters. Both Mate 10 and the Pro version will be available in USA markets on February 18, via the Amazon online store or brick and mortar shops like Best Buy.
When the Mate 10 Pro was unveiled last October, Huawei launched it in staggered markets around the globe, but gave no details on when it would be offered for sale in the U.S.
AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook declined to comment.
"We are compliant with the world's most stringent privacy protection frameworks and requirements and have gained the trust of over 150 million customers in the past year alone", Plummer said in an email.
DiCaprio to star in Tarantino's Charles Manson movie
According to Deadline , the Manson movie will be an ensemble movie (Tarantino's specialty) similar to his hit film Pulp Fiction . The as of yet untitled ninth picture by Quentin Tarantino about Charles Manson has picked up a huge actor for its roster.
Regardless of the reasons why AT&T would not support them, the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro are capable flagship phones.
Rep. Mike ConawayKenneth (Mike) Michael ConawayTop intel Dem: Trump Jr. refused to answer questions about Trump Tower discussions with father House panel interviews Podesta after Trump dossier revelation Texas lawmaker says GOP colleague should resign over lewd photo MORE (R-Texas) announced the bill on Friday, drawing renewed attention to concerns in Congress about the firms and their relationship with the Chinese government.
But deals with carriers are important in the USA because the majority of smartphones are purchased through carriers.
Huawei is the TOP 3 smartphone manufacturer in the world, along with Apple and Samsung.
'Veep' production postponed as Julia Louis-Dreyfus undergoes cancer treatment
The clip features Henry, 25, and Charlie , 20 whom Louis-Dreyfus shares with husband Brad Hall, dancing and lip-syncing the lyrics to " Beat It ".
In the United States, where telecom carriers dominate the distribution channel by typically providing subsidies and special package deals, Huawei had been unable to make any significant inroads due to national security concerns.
China warned yesterday that American protectionism was on the rise after congressional documents showed that Chinese technology giant Huawei's designs on the United States market were causing national security concerns in Washington. It builds on past action against Huawei (the world's top seller of telecom equipment) and ZTE (ranked fifth), which included a ban on ZTE selling products to the USA government agencies in 2013.
The letter notes worries over "Chinese espionage in general, and Huawei's role in that espionage in particular".
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) Receiving Somewhat Positive Media Coverage, Report Shows
It also upped Columbus Mckinnon Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCO) stake by 41,775 shares and now owns 139,730 shares. Suntrust Robinson initiated the stock with "Hold" rating in Thursday, January 19 report. (NASDAQ:KTOS).

domain: news


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Oftentimes, especially in the world of software, attempting to fix a problem can unveil new and unexpected problems. It’s something that Battlefield 4 developers DICE know all to well, and isn’t uncommon for many video games.
The latest Xbox One update, for example, was meant to add a few oft-requested features to Microsoft’s next-gen console — controller battery management, storage space customization, among other things — but alongside those additions came a new bug. Luckily, at least according to Microsoft, the bug isn’t affecting too many gamers.
So what exactly is this unexpected bug, you ask? It reportedly dumps the Xbox One to a black screen upon start-up with no indication that the console has frozen or locked up. Players are simply left waiting — hoping that the green Xbox One icon might pop up at some point. It won’t.
Microsoft claims that the problem can be fixed with a quick power cycling of the Xbox One — a solution that tech users know all to well. To power cycle the Xbox One, all one needs to do is hold the Xbox icon on the front right of the console for 10 seconds and it should power down completely. Then boot the console up like normal, and the black screen bug should be fixed.
As far as a firm fix for the black screen bug, Microsoft says they are working on it. Luckily, there is another major Xbox One update on the way, which is geared at fixing the console’s party system and multiplayer issues before the Titanfall launches on March 11th. Presumably Microsoft could slide a fix for this black screen bug in with that update, provided they don’t roll out with something sooner.
While obviously not on the scale as some of the Xbox One’s bigger problems at launch (e.g. faulty disc drive, GPU failure), any issue involving both next-gen consoles is worth keeping an eye on. The Xbox One is certainly a work in progress, and any steps backwards will be detrimental to the console’s future success.
Have you experienced this black screen bug since the latest Xbox One update? Have you noticed any other problems or issues that weren’t there prior to updating your console?


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McDonald Sued by Tina Sherman for Nu-de Photos. It been sizzling hot for the searches for the Nude photos of Tina Sherman circulating on the internet right. So what is the connection of this nude photos to McDonald’s?
It boils down all to a mobile phone, Phillip Sherman the husband of Tina Sherman reportedly left his mobile phone in one of the McDonald branches in Arkansas City. McDonald’s staff assured Mr. Sherman that the phone will be safeguarded until his return, but the assurance was not fulfilled as Tina Sherman’s Photo have been leaked over the internet.
Thus prompting Tina Sherman and Phillip Sherman to filed a lawsuit against the McDonald’s Corporation for jaw breaking hot $3 Million. Moral lesson of the story don’t store photos on your cellphone which will bring you shame on the future.


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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Big Stage Emerges From Beta
Pasadena-based Big Stage Entertainment, the venture-backed startup which is developing photo-realistic avatar technology, has exited its beta and officially launched its site. The firm said the official launch will allow users to create what the firm calls an "@actor" -- a 3D avatar which can be inserted into movie and TV clips, music videos, still images, and elsewhere. The firm had launched a beta of its site in August. BigStage is venture backed by Mission Ventures, Selby Ventures, and the Tech Coast Angels, and is based on research from the University of Southern California; the firm's CEO, Phil Ressler, was formerly a venture capitalist at Clearstone Ventures, and the firm was co-founded by Jon Snoddy and Jon Kraft, who also helped co-found music service Pandora.


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Last month, an alleged photo of the curved glass panel of the upcoming vivo NEX 3 appeared online showing off the extreme curvature. Today we got an official confirmation coming straight from the company’s product manager, Li Xiang.
He posted a photo of the curved glass on Weibo, which looks identical to the image we saw a month ago. The curvature is extreme and by the looks of it, the bezels are extremely thin as well. It could be due to the angle, but the bottom lip does look a lot skinnier than expected.
Also, there aren’t any cutouts or holes in sight suggesting that the NEX 3…


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Digital Trends has recently reported how a British Shop used the wonders of 3D printing to save the rarest of Jaguars. The 1954 Pininfarina-bodied XK120 is a one-off, and probably the rarest Jaguar in the car company’s history.
Back in 1954, the XK120 was “delivered to a high-profile owner in New York City. The one-of-a-kind car changed hands numerous times over the subsequent decades, and it ended up the worse for wear. That’s when modern tech came to the rescue.”
More specifically, a British shop known as Classic Motor Cars “spent a whopping 6,725 hours restoring every single part of this car to like-new condition.”
The team began by stripping the car down to bare metal. “Its one-off status complicated the task considerably because there are no blueprints or reference guides to rely on.” So when it came to the challenge of finding the parts that were missing, 3D printing was the ideal tool.
“Using photographs taken over the course of the car’s life, Classic Motor Sport re-manufactured the front and rear bumpers, which are specific to this car, and made mock-ups of the lights using a 3D printer. Some of the missing bits and pieces were also 3D printed.”
“This is clearly a technology that changes the way we restore cars; even big manufacturers are using it. And while we can’t 3D print glass parts yet, 3D scanning technology was used to reproduce the rear window.”
And now, thanks to 3D printing, this Jaguar purrs like a kitten once more.
Image and Quotes Courtesy of Digital Trends


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Gran Turismo 2 Preview
Ok, its only good news this time. The rumors were just rumors. IGN have reported that they received a phone call from Sony telling them that Gran Turismo 2 is still being released on December 7, 1999 which was their original release date. These rumors were sparked because there were talks in changing the release date in Japan. But everything is running as scheduled in North America.


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Many lovers of Filipino food cheered the recent spate of news articles declaring the cuisine the next big food fad. Long the underdog of Asian fare, the often heavy, deep-fried and meat-centric dishes were finally enjoying their moment in the mainstream. More Filipino restaurants have been cropping up across the country, and they have been innovative and successful to boot. Chicago’s Sunda is a “fancy” (read: not plated on plastic foam trays) Asian restaurant that features many Filipino dishes on its menu. The owners of Purple Yam, a Filipino restaurant in Brooklyn, also wrote a book called Memories of Philippine Kitchens, which documents Filipino food across generations and includes over 100 Filipino recipes.
But the roots of Filipino American food businesses are in catering, which allows entrepreneurs to build up the capital and the reputation to start a restaurant. Catering is a relatively inexpensive way for aspiring Filipino American food entrepreneurs to start a business. Rather than hiring hosts, servers and cooks, many Filipino American caterers rely on their families for cheap, and oftentimes free, labor. “The Park’s Finest doesn’t just include me, but my fiancée and my compadres that I grew up with since elementary school,” said Johneric Concordia, who credits his father for the savory BBQ sauce that has all of my Los Angeles Pinoy friends raving. Concordia owns The Park’s Finest, a popular Filipino BBQ catering service in L.A.
Jay-Ar Pugao, owner of the Oakland, CA-based Filipino vegan catering business No Worries, said his family was the reason the business exists. “My mom innovated it, my brothers promote and handle the behind-the-scenes aspect of it, my father is my investor and believer and my close friends — who I consider family — provide unconditional love and work for it,” Pugao said. “This is definitely a family business.”
Concordia chose to open a catering business in 2009 despite the fact that food trucks were emerging as the fad of the moment for those wishing to start a small food business cheaply. “We knew that taco trucks were going to be poppin’, but we wanted to take a different route,” Concordia said. “Instead of waiting hours in line to get food, give us a call, and at the time designated, we’ll come with the food. Let’s be convenient to the people.”
Pugao started his catering business 14 years ago as a food-loving teen. “Catering was the initial idea because I knew that while in high school, I was not prepared to handle the overwhelming responsibilities of trying to open a restaurant,” he said. Beyond serving up delicious food, these caterers also use their businesses as an avenue to create change in their communities. Concordia attributes his success to his activist background (local nonprofits helped him develop a business plan), and he hopes to give back to the community by someday creating a scholarship fund with the help of The Park’s Finest.
Pugao, on the other hand, hopes to contribute to creating a healthier community. “The reason the name is ‘No Worries’ is to dispel all the negative connotations that Filipino food comes with: unhealthy, oily, fatty, meat-heavy,” he said. Consider the Filipino party staple lechon baboy, a roast pig dish, and it should be little surprise that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the Filipino American community, while diabetes cases are increasing at an alarming rate in the Philippines.
“It is important to me that people understand there is a wonderful alternative for them, but it is up to them to seek it,” Pugao said.
That alternative has become easier to find. In October, No Worries opened its first restaurant, instantly drawing huge lines. The catering business will continue to operate as well. Likewise, Concordia hopes to one day open a “Pinoy House of Blues” in Southern California where the Filipino American community can gather and eat.
So what will it take? Working harder, of course. “Filipino cuisine is the next big thing only if Filipinos represent it as such,” Pugao said.
Concordia agrees. “We’re always competing with one another,” he said. “I think it’s going to be the next big thing if we don’t trip ourselves up. It’s just an issue of supporting each other.”
Paola Rodelas is a writer living in San Diego. She contributes to bakitwhy.com and is an intern for the San Diego Asian Film Festival.


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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The NYPD reached out on social media for help identifying a man sought for questioning in connection with a recent theft from a drug store on Amboy Road in Great Kills.
The petit larceny occurred at a CVS at 4065 Amboy Road on Dec. 17 at about 6:30 p.m., according to a post on the 122nd Precinct Twitter feed. The "perp" then left the store in a black pickup truck, the NYPD post said.
Photos posted by the 122nd Precinct show the man sought in connection with the incident touching items on a store shelf and walking down an aisle with a shopping basket.
People with information are encouraged to contact Detective Borough Staten Island at 718-876-8196 or the NYPD's Crime Stoppers website. Call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 (TIPS) or 1-888-577-4782 (PISTA) for Spanish, or text their tips to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.


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It was but days ago that we first caught wind
of Big Cable's plans to bite a chunk
out of the online TV
pie, and now we're already hearing that things could be ready to roll by summer. According to undisclosed sources quoted by Reuters
, both Comcast and Time Warner Cable are heading up talks with major content providers like Viacom and Discovery Communications. We're told that their plans are at "different stages," but pay-TV subscribers could be tuning into bonus coverage on the web or via smartphone "as soon as this summer." Tick, tock...


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Print 4 All, Fieramilano - Rho; Hall 16, 18, 20 which will be at Fiera Milano from 29 May to 1 June 2018, is a big industry event that, for the first time, brings together three historic trade show names – Grafitalia, Converflex and Inprinting – to create a one-of-a-kind event, richer and more representative of the individual vertical markets that it includes.
Innovation Alliance goes beyond the traditional segmentation of the commercial, editorial and industrial printing market today to offer a broader showcase and a more vast and varied selection of solutions. Thus visitors will come in contact with the entire gamut of different target markets, creating synergies and generating new business opportunities.
The event is a unique opportunity to discover the industry and all of its innovations, a whole new perspective for the world of printing. “The Innovation Alliance” project, which collects Plast, Ipack-Ima, Print4All, Meat-Tech and Intralogistics at one time, giving the visitor the opportunity to inquire about all those are technologies starting from raw material, to converting, printing, dosing and packing machines, and in-house logistics.
This important event is added to the historical reference figures such as the K fair and the Drupa fair.


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Just ahead of the busy holiday shopping season, retail sales declined in October for the first time in three months.
According to the National Retail Federation, October retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) decreased 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from September. However, retail sales increased 3.9 percent compared with October 2011.
Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, said Hurricane Sandy and fears of the looming "fiscal cliff" likely affected spending in October.
"The automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect at the end of the year may have more of an impact on business confidence and consumer spending than any other issue," Shay said in a statement. "It's imperative that policymakers address the looming fiscal cliff now to give consumers some certainty heading into the holiday shopping season."
Electronics and appliance stores' sales decreased 1 percent seasonally-adjusted since September and 4.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year.
Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores’ sales increased 0.5 percent since September and 5.4 percent year-over-year.


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Words and Thoughts of President Alan R. Miciak
Connecting Futures: Cleveland and Halifax
During my tenure as Dean of the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University, a mid-sized public university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I could validate news and data coming from global markets with a less precise but far more immediate and palpable measure.
On a clear or even cloudy day, I could simply eyeball activity at the port of Halifax, North America’s first inbound and last outbound gateway, all happening less than two miles from my office window.
Over the past year, we have been reminded that while Amazon Prime strives to deliver the next day, that promise is only as good as Amazon’s ability to ship products from global manufacturing centers to its North American ports, intermodal hubs and warehouses.
Multiply that uncertainty by tens of thousands of companies, distributors, shipping intermediaries, retailers and customers, and you have yourself a genuine global supply chain disruption. Supply chain experts have labeled the coronavirus pandemic’s global effect a “black swan” event. While the analysis of why so many supply chains imploded may be complex, at root we know that trouble grew from over reliance on single suppliers and a lack of backup options.
Supply Chain at John Carroll University
We began teaching supply chain, logistics and global business at John Carroll University some 50 years ago. Much has changed in that time. Container ships ballooned in size in a herculean effort to lower costs. The model of just in time inventory management — one that requires working closely with suppliers so that raw materials arrive as production is scheduled to begin, but no sooner — became gospel. And over the last decade, digital consumption (e-commerce) produced a tsunami of data. Across the world, companies continue to translate that data into insights and process changes that transform the way they define and manage their supply chains.
Well before the black swan landed, John Carroll began to invest in tools and teaching approaches to prepare a new generation of supply chain managers to deploy data analysis tools and techniques. That investment is ongoing; only now it has more relevance and urgency than ever as companies seek structured processes to explore, evaluate and capture big data opportunities in their supply chains.
Opportunities for supply chain leaders will continue to evolve. Once content to simply get the right goods/services to customers in the right quantity at the right time (improved materials flow and production optimization), the goal post has moved. Today, managers face a new challenge — imagining a more integrated and mission critical supply chain management role. Linear supply chains will surely morph into more complex and adaptive networks that hold both far greater risk and opportunity for companies.
In the past, supply chain expertise was viewed as a tactical asset. Managers viewed tradeoffs between doing it cheaper (cost containment) and doing it better (product/service innovation) as inevitable. Today, in the wake of a pandemic, supply chain leaders look to avoid such compromise by helping companies do more than one thing well, including:
- control costs
- anticipate disruptions
- factor in design/sustainability considerations
- manage supplier and customer relationships
- track competitors
- commercialize more and better products
Information is supply chain management’s currency
A persistent challenge during the pandemic has been not having vital information readily available or accessible across global teams. Companies scrambled to learn which suppliers, sites, parts, and products were at risk. Disruption came so quickly, and was so widespread, that no simple route to alternative sources could be identified to avert a crisis.
A few months ago, that port in Halifax (naturally deep, wide, ice-free, with minimal tides) welcomed the Marco Polo, the largest container ship to ever call on North America’s east coast. With a capacity to carry more than 16,000 shipping containers, the ship represents a potential game changer, and not just for Halifax (two days closer to Europe and one day closer to Southeast Asia (via the Suez Canal) than any other North American East Coast port.
The Marco Polo delivered everything from clothing to household goods and electronics, a vastly different load than what we primarily see in Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River ports from Cleveland to Toledo, Michigan and beyond. Policies and port limitations mean that most goods passing our way are single product shipments — inbound coal or outbound Iowa grain or Minnesota iron ore pellets — destined for a single port.
Cleveland made a significant investment a decade ago to handle more container ships, but the pay off so far has been limited. We use less than 10% of our full container capacity. It will take smart supply chain management thinkers to re-imagine our system and restore greater flexibility and resilience to the entire U.S. shipping system, including inland ports such as ours.
When we talk about transforming John Carroll University in ways that bring us to the applied edge of the liberal arts, it’s not a theoretical exercise. We have the faculty, alumni and partners needed to bring real change in areas such as supply chain management. We have working models to study and adapt, such as when large vessels sail from Cleveland to Belgium, only then to connect with even smaller vessels to get in and around Europe.
Last week’s signing of the single largest federal investment in American history will include $17 billion in infrastructure improvements at coastal and inland ports, waterways and ports of entry along the U.S.. The Biden administration will begin work within the next 60 days with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on $4 billion worth of construction work at coastal ports, inland waterways as well as other corps eligible facilities.
The plan will also identify and prioritize $3.4 billion in upgrades to obsolete inspection facilities that will make international trade more efficient through the northern and southern borders.
Our role and responsibility as a Jesuit university is to engage all questions, contemporary and eternal, to meet this moment and work to bring about a better world and improved lives for everyone. Right now, that question is as basic as this: how do we better connect the Halifax port to partners and people across Northeast Ohio, the Midwest and places in every direction across the U.S.
Photo courtesy of the Port of Cleveland.


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Chinese City Branding Report 2020
Published on 6 Jan 2020
A report by Oval Branding on the place brand awareness and perception of Chinese cities and new development areas among UK businesses.
This report also includes the ‘5 Steps on How to Build Place Brand Value’.
Among a sample of Chinese cities and areas, not including Beijing or Shanghai, the city of Shenzhen has the highest level of brand awareness with UK businesses at 93%, while other cities and new development areas are failing to gain brand awareness.
The most significant factors which influence investment decisions were found to be the cost of doing business and the buying power of potential customers; the least significant factor is natural environment.
The traditional marketing strategy for raising brand awareness of Chinese places by the Chinese government has been hosting one-off events in London, which is failing to impart a significant connection in the audience’s long term memory.
The more effective way to raise place brand awareness and perception is a long term wholistic marketing campaign with a focus on online marketing, including English websites, advertising, social media, content marketing and public relations.
For more information: email@example.com


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Open-world blockchain sport Illuvium managed to maintain the common transaction price for its nonfungible token (NFT) Land at about $20 by holding the Dutch public sale on the Illuvium X Layer-2 scaling resolution.
The value to mint the NFTs was a fraction of the price customers paid to mint in Yuga Labs’ Otherside sale. Illuvium experiences that customers spent solely $350,000 in charges in complete to mint almost 20,000 plots of Land value about $72 million, all with none reported community errors.
By distinction, the Otherside sale was plagued with points. Users paid a median of $6,000 in fuel charges and a few as excessive as $14,000. Ethereum turned congested as consumers tried to get their orders stuffed as shortly as doable.
The 19,969 plots of Land have been offered primarily to ILV holders utilizing a Dutch public sale format, the place the value per unit decreases over time based mostly on what number of are offered forward of it. This allowed potential consumers to attend for a extra fascinating value vary to position an order.
Co-Founder of Illuvium Kieran Warwick stated the sale had been designed as an antidote to Ethereum NFT gross sales that end in wasteful bids that reward miners and value the customer.
The 4,018 ETH raised within the sale, valued at about $7.4 million, shall be redistributed to holders of Illuvium’s native ILV token. However consumers principally used ILV tokens to make their purchases. The 239,388 sILV2, a staked model of ILV tokens, shall be burned.
It was a reasonably spectacular effort contemplating the NFT bear market which has suffered a significant decline in quantity over the previous 30 days. Sales quantity topped $137 million on May 6 and has fallen 78% to $31 million as of June 5 based on NFT market tracker CryptoSlam.
Illuvium is a decentralized fantasy RPG of epic scope based mostly on large battles of creatures known as Illuvials.
Illuvium NFT Land plots are a pivotal side of the sport’s ecosystem. Land generates FUEL, which is used to seize sport characters known as Illuvials or offered for Ether (ETH). There may even be utility for Land on the upcoming Illuvium Zero sport.
The Illuvium Land Sale is formally over!
All Land Plots Sold Out
$72M+ in Total Sales
239,388 sILV2 to be burned
4,018 ETH to be redistributed
NO GAS WARS
MASSIVE thanks to all contributors and companions that helped make this a historic success ♊ pic.twitter.com/adMTq6PpKe
— Illuvium (@illuviumio) June 5, 2022
Warwick believes Illuvium’s sport design and tokenomics set it other than different gaming finance (GameFi) opponents. But he informed Cointelegraph that Illuvium is free to play for informal players who aren’t but keen to stump up some money. “It wasn’t an option to not have a free to play version,” he stated.
The sport combines collectibility and in-built rarity. Warwick stated every in-game character NFT, known as an Illuvial, is exclusive and the availability is deflationary. One methodology to deflate the availability is that to degree up an Illuvial requires burning three others.
Each Illuvial additionally is available in a set that solely stays accessible for six months. Warwick stated, “Every six months we produce a new set and you can never collect those Illuvials ever again.”
“So people can play for free as much as they want. Using the tier zero Illuvials and shards. But if they want to explore further with higher level characters is when they start paying.”
Illuvium could have its work lower out to realize traction within the present circumstances with the NFT gaming business seeing a troubling 82% drop off in every day gross sales quantity. Daily quantity hit $70.3 million on Jan 1, 2022, however clocked in at simply $13.7 million on June 6 based on decentralized app (Dapp) tracker DappRadar.
Related: Could GameFi and carbon currencies reverse blockchain’s local weather stigma?


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The Look Of The Ataribox Revealed
At E3 this year Atari said it was "back in the hardware business," and today in a newsletter to its fans the company revealed the look of the Ataribox – a PC-based system that plays old and "current" games.
There is no price point, release date, or other hard details at the moment, but the system comes in regular and retro configurations. Both have an HDMI port, four USB ports, and SD card support.
Atari is funding the console via crowdfunding. It says it is bringing the system along slowly, "[listening] closely to the Atari community feedback as we do so."
Hopefully there will be more concrete details about the Ataribox soon.
As far as Atari games go, I don't think the well is deep. There are few games from Atari's heyday in the '80s that have any staying power, and there already have been retro roundups of those games via the Flashback series.
In terms of more modern Atari titles, perhaps the Ataribox hosts such as the BioWare-developed Neverwinter Nights when Atari was allied with Infogrames. Otherwise, there's the RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise, Test Drive, and not much else. Although, I bet Neverwinter's rights are tied up with EA to the point of being inaccessible.
Speaking of which, I worry that using third-party licensing to get content into the box would make it more expensive than the system needs to be in order to sell.


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The board of directors of United Spirits (USL), in which UK-based Diageo has a stake, approved the sale and franchising of certain popular brands to Inbrew Beverages for Rs 820 crore in cash on Friday.
USL and Inbrew have agreed to sell the entire business undertaking associated with 32 brands, which include iconic brands such as Haywards, Old Tavern, White-Mischief, Honey Bee, Green Label, and Romanov. The transaction is subject to customary adjustments, according to a late-night announcement on the BSE by USL.
The sale portfolio includes the entire business venture associated with the 32 brands, such as contracts, permits, intellectual property rights, associated employees, and a manufacturing facility. Furthermore, USL and Inbrew have agreed to a five-year franchise agreement for 11 additional brands, including Bagpiper.
USL has also granted Inbrew the right, subject to certain conditions, to convert the fixed-term franchise agreement into one with perpetual rights to use or a call option to acquire the brands for a pre-agreed-upon sum.
The transaction reflects the ongoing evolution of the popular portfolio’s management since 2016 when the company moved to a franchise model in many states to enable a sharper focus on ‘Prestige & Above.’ This is a significant move to reshape our portfolio in support of their publicly stated mission of delivering double-digit profitable topline growth for the long term.
With the acquisition of these iconic brands, Inbrew gains a unique platform to further its goal of becoming India’s trusted household beverage company. These brands have delighted customers for generations, and they are thrilled at the prospect of building on that legacy. These brands will be revitalized by Inbrew through expanded distribution, innovation, and investments.
The legal title to the franchised brands remains with USL pending the settlement of the ongoing dispute and the release of the existing encumbrance over the franchised brands. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2022.
United Spirits Limited (USL) is an Indian alcoholic beverage corporation and the world’s second-largest spirits organization by volume. It is a Diageo subsidiary with headquarters at UB Tower in Bangalore, Karnataka. USL exports to more than 37 countries.
According to the company’s official website, as of March 2013, USL had more than 140 liquor brands, with 15 brands selling more than one million cases per year and three brands selling more than ten million cases per year.


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Dana tries to buy time over hostile KNOC move
Dana Petroleum executed a shrewd manoeuvre in a bid to buy more time for its defence against a hostile £18-per-share bid from KNOC, but is just 'delaying the inevitable'.
Amid half-year results showing a 274 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £82million, Dana (up 4p to 1,810p) declined to offer new information on its proposed £240million deal for North Sea assets from Canada's Suncor.
The move means the state-backed Korean firm, which has details of the transaction after looking through Dana's books, has insider knowledge not available to other shareholders.
Strong results: Dana Petroleum reported a 274 per cent hike in half-year pre-tax profits to £82million
Its advantage over fellow shareholders prohibits KNOC from buying shares on the open market to push the level of support it has from shareholders above 50 per cent.
But oil analyst Peter Hitchens said the tactic would not stop KNOC succeeding with its hostile £1.87billion bid. 'They can only spin the deal out so long before they have to announce what they're buying,' he said.
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Travis Scott found himself surrounded in controversy following the fatal Astroworld Festival last year. But his reputation hasn’t appeared to suffer too much, if his latest collaboration with Nike is any indication.
According to TMZ, the rapper released his first collaboration with Nike since the festival on Friday. The clothing release includes a series of pants, jackets, shirts, and more, but the real showstopper was the new Travis Scott Air Trainer 1s.
RELATED: ‘Super Dad’ Kanye West Rents Fire Truck For School Drop Off
Only two pairs of the Air Trainers were released during the collaboration. Anticipating the demand would be high, it was determined ahead of time that a raffle would be held to choose the buyers.
Sources told TMZ that over 1 million people signed up for the raffle within 30 minutes. The publication adds that Travis’ team worked with website developers to set up anti-bot protection to ensure no one had an unfair advantage.
Given the popularity of the drop, this certainly won’t be the last Nike x Travis Scott collaboration. Rumor has it that another collection will drop sometime next week and may even include a pair of Airmax.
The Nike collection isn’t the only recent sign that Travis’ star power has ceased to fade following the Astroworld tragedy. For instance, ticket sales for his performances haven’t faltered.
Travis gave his first public performance since the festival earlier this month, performing to a sold-out crowd. The rapper gave a set at Miami’s E11EVEN Club, as part of the Formula 1 Race Week celebration. Prior to that, Travis only gave a few select performances at private events, including a Coachella afterparty.
The rapper is facing multiple lawsuits connected to the fatal festival. Earlier this year, it was reported the total value of the lawsuits filed against Travis and other festival organizers was over $10 billion.
10 people were killed during the festival after the crowd started to surge, including children. Hundreds of people reported injuries in the aftermath.
Travis has come under scrutiny for continuing to perform while the chaos was ensuing as well as for attending an after party. However, he claims he didn’t know the severity of the incident until well after.
Travis, who welcomed his second child with Kylie Jenner earlier this year, has been doing damage control in the wake of Astroworld. In addition to getting back to performances and collaborations, the rapper has also been doing charity work. Most recently, Travis made headlines for donating $1 million to go directly to Black students who are graduating this year.
Sources: TMZ, Hypebeast,
Source: Read Full Article


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In news that’s a shock to nobody who’s actually paying attention, Netflix has officially handed Apple their shapely, well-designed buttocks when it comes to movie streaming. But what it really is, is a story about how accounting procedures make for ridiculous flaws.
It’s like this: until Netflix infamously split its DVD and streaming plans last year, technically, the over twenty million customers it had using streaming were not counted as “online movie purchasers,” for some baffling reason known only to the kind of people who write these reports.
But now, they are, and Netflix holds 44% of the market. Also, Netflix’s market share is growing, while Apple’s isn’t, something movie studios are not going to enjoy hearing. Shockingly, people can wait to see most of Hollywood’s product a few years.
Furthermore, the streaming space is supposed to double in revenue next year, largely thanks to all the people saying they’d never go back to Netflix because of the price, so, yeah.
(Image via Netflix)
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Survey: Electronics Managers In China Earn $8,000 A Year
Their desires sound like the hopes and dreams of managers everywhere. According to the survey, 43% would like to earn a higher salary, 42% want more career growth, and 32% want a position with more responsibility.
Electronics managers in China receive an average annual salary of slightly more than $8,000 with most receiving a yearly pay increase of 11 percent, according to a survey released Friday by Electronics Supply & Manufacturing-China (ESM-China,) a publication of Global Sources.
While salaries may be low compared with U.S. wages, most managers also receive benefits including pension plans and medical insurance. While improving, the salaries and benefits for managers in China are still low enough compared with the U.S. and other developed nations that high labor costs are unlikely to interfere with the unbridled growth of electronics and computer hardware manufacturing in China.
The Global Sources Salary & Career Development Survey polled 1,300 managers. "China's $373 billion electronics/IT market has a growing demand for capable managers," said ESM publishers Mark Saunderson in a statement. "Companies are improving their compensation packages and offering more opportunities for career growth to attract and keep managerial talent."
The study found that electronics managers typically work 47 hours a week. The largest industry segments polled were in consumer electronics where 27 percent were employed, 17 percent in communications and 15 percent in electronic components.
Their desires sound like the hopes and dreams of managers everywhere. Said Saunderson: "Managers are looking to enhance their current working conditions. Forty-three percent would like to earn a higher salary, 42 percent want more career growth, and 32 percent want a position with more responsibility."
5 Top Federal Initiatives For 2015As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.


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China has been conducting reviews of the technology products of the United States to ensure no security threats are posed to China, a report says.
The reviews target “encryption and the data storage” of products sold in China by Apple and some other American companies to see if they pose a threat the county or their consumers, The New York Times reports.
According to the paper, the reviews are “opening up a new front in an already tense relationship with Washington over digital security.”
The reviews are conducted by a committee associated with the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s Internet control bureau, said people briefed on the reviews.
Chinese local media implied earlier that the security reviews were launched early last year and that, over the last nine months, a number of companies have been called in to cooperate.
The United States and the American companies are concerned that because Beijing has not disclosed the project, it could use the review to “extract tech knowledge.”
The report said the review could eventually be “used to block products without explanation or to extract trade secrets in exchange for market access.”
It would also end in the leakage of the American company’s secrets to Chinese competitors, it added.
US tech companies are concerned that the reviews could set a precedent and that other countries will follow suit, each demanding different checks, forcing them to to hand over further secrets in exchange for market access.
The Cyberspace Administration of China, however, told The NY Timesthat many countries carried out security reviews and that the inspections did not target any particular country or product.
According to a commentary from The China Daily in 2014, companies subjected to Beijing’s tech reviews could include Cisco Systems and Microsoft.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken measures to have American tech products monitored reportedly to ensure the neutralization of potential security threats.Under Xi, China has taken steps to reduce the nation’s dependence on it.
China and the US have been embroiled in a quarrel about tech and security that has strained their relationship.
Last year, the Obama administration raised concerns about Chinese rules that trade groups said were written to wean the country’s banking industry off foreign technology.
The US also objected to an anti-terrorism law that called for foreign companies to hand over encryption keys in China.
Tech products have already been used for spying purposes or other acts of sabotage.
A malware, named Stuxnet and widely believed to have been developed by the US and Israel, was reported in July 2010 to have attacked industrial computers around the globe, with Iran identified as the main target.
It was said to have manipulated encrypted codes of devices supplied by Siemens to a uranium enrichment facility in Iran, forcing a number of centrifuges to spin out of control.


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American Chamber of Commerce wants port x-ray scan contract nixed
Santo Domingo.- The American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic (AMCHAMDR) on Thursday asked president Danilo Medina to rescind the contract with the company ICSSI signed during Hipolito Mejia’s Administration, to install and operate X-ray scanning equipment in the country ports, because it "undermines national competitiveness" by creating unnecessary transaction costs.
In an October 15 letter to Presidency chief of staff Gustavo Montalvo, AMCHAMRD cites payments as high as US$95 established by decree in 2002, for ICSSI to scan cargo which enters or leaves the ports.
"Lower transportation and logistics costs should be a national priority, as this increases the competitiveness of Dominican exports, reduce imports cost and serve as an incentive to direct foreign investment companies seeking lower cost for their supply chain to sales in the U.S. market," says the missive signed by AMCHAM DR executive vice president William M. Malamud.
The contract with ICSSI was signed July 18, 2002, by the Armed Forces Ministry representing the Dominican Government, for the operations of the X-ray scanning equipment as a security and control measure for imported or exported containers or vehicles at the ports.


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The Small and Medium Industry (IKM) of Majalaya, Badung Regency screamed because the price of yarn as a raw material has skyrocketed in recent months. Rohimat, one of the entrepreneurs of the Majalaya Textile IKM, said that in the last 3 months the price of raw materials for making cloth has increased significantly. "For the past 3 months, yarn prices have continued to rise. The average increase is between 25-30 percent," said Rohimat, Monday, June 6, 2022. He gave an example of the price of white polyester yarn from the original only Rp. 28.000/kg which rose to Rp. 33.000/kg. Even with TE, which was originally only Rp. 24,000/kg, now it has increased to Rp. 35,000/kg.
"The increase in cotton is very high, from Rp. 7,000,000/bal to now Rp. 10,500, 000/bale," he said.
The increase in the price of raw materials made the Majalaya textile IKM business actors scream.
This is because the price of cloth sold to the market has not increased at all.
"Traders at the shop don't want us to increase the price of cloth. If the price of cloth is raised, no one will buy it," he said.
As a result, many IKM Majalaya business actors are threatened with stopping fabric production due to the rising prices of raw materials which have skyrocketed in the last 3 months.
"We hope that the government can intervene to improve the yarn trading system," he said.
If not, many Majalaya textile IKM business actors will stop production, one of the effects of which is employee housing.


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In a joint op-ed published in Morning Consult today, the heads of several major financial trade associations, including the American Bankers Association, called for the repeal of the Durbin amendment, which imposed government price controls on debit card interchange. The op-ed came ahead of tomorrow’s markup of the Financial Choice Act, which includes a provision to repeal the controversial amendment.
According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the Durbin amendment has “siphoned upwards of $6 billion to $8 billion a year from the revenue banks and credit unions use to serve their customers and members, respectively,” the groups wrote, totaling $42 billion since it was passed as part of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. They pointed out that the amendment has greatly limited banks’ and credit unions’ ability to provide their customers with low-cost financial products and services, and that in the meantime, retailers’ profits have grown.
In addition, they noted that the amendment has done significant harm to small businesses, which have seen increased costs for processing small-dollar transactions and fewer choices for payment processing services since the law took effect. Smaller card issuers have also struggled with added compliance costs and lower revenues as a result of the amendment, and those factors have contributed to an increase in consolidation among banks and credit unions as institutions attempt to “offset the lost interchange revenue with higher fee-generating deposits and other assets that earn income,” the associations said.


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Susan Hardwicke wants to pump you up.
For Hardwicke, that means starting her own business making health products designed to increase brain functioning for runners and other athletes, and she knows the tricks of manufacturing and selling a product bound for drug stores and specialty shops.
Her company, Vabion, has one major product: Diesel Energy Stix, a powder that dissolves on the tongue and contains taurine, ribonucleic acids, creatine and caffeine that equals about half a cup of coffee. It is manufactured in Illinois.
“We originally wanted to keep caffeine out of it, but that was something that the consumer wanted, so we put it in,” she said. “But there is far less caffeine in it than in Red Bull.”
The company launched in 2006 and began taking off in 2008.
The company, which is located on Gaskins and Patterson, is profitable and has six employees. Sales have been slow but steady, said Jason Yu, a 2008 Virginia Commonwealth University graduate and the marketing director at Vabion.
“The energy supplement market is so competitive, and sales are not where we’d like them, but it has been a steady stream,” he said. “Most of our traction comes from Rite Aid, but we send out anywhere from 10 to 40 shipments a month directly from our site.”
Diesel Energy Stix was the not the original business plan, Hardwicke said.
“I was very interested in food-derived energy supplements,” she said. “So that led to the development of the Fuser Bar. … While the Fuser Bar was doing well, it just didn’t prove to be cost-effective. So we had to change our business plan, and the result was the Energy Stix.”
The Fuser Bar was developed at Hardwicke’s previous company, KSero, which was located at the BioTech Park in Glen Allen. KSero sought to treat physiological issues in adults and children without prescription medication, according to the company website.
The problem with the Fuser Bar was that it was costly to store and ship, Yu said
“Diesel Energy Stix means more profit per square inch,” Yu said. “The Fuser Bar was affected by hot and cold, so they had to be stored at the right temperature. And it just makes more sense because there is so much competition in the energy bar world, and not as much in the energy stick market.”
Hardwicke, who is in her 50s, said she realized she needed to change the business plan when fuel prices skyrocketed in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
“Just the cost of getting them in and out of the warehouse was huge, and production costs were higher on the Fuser Bar,” she said. “And that’s pretty risky for a startup. So the new product was born out of lessons learned from the costs of the old product. The energy sticks had lower production costs and lower shipping costs.”
Hardwicke received her PhD in cognitive psychology at George Washington and has recently been doing research into “chemo-brain.”
“Chemo-brain is a side effect of chemotherapy,” she said. “Patients describe it as a general inability to process information as quickly. And I know this from my experiences also.”
Hardwicke’s research into chemo-brain is also leading her into development of a product that specifically addresses those negative side effects, although she said that the energy sticks did seem to help the response time in chemo patients.
As Vabion looks to the future, it also looks to expand its influence in the Web 2.0 world, running a site called thinkfastmovefaster.com, which is designed to be an online community of athletes. The site launched two months ago and has just under 100 members, Yu said.
Hardwicke said she was excited to have hired Yu, who started as an intern in 2007, full time and wants to hire similar people in the future.
“My vision for the company is to hire young people, like Jason, with a lot of energy and who understand what we are trying to do in the social media world,” she said. “And then of course there will be me.”
Yu said their product can now be found in more than 1400 Rite Aid/GNC centers nationwide and also on BodyBuilding.com, the top health supplement website.
David Larter covers startups for BizSense. Please send news tips to [email protected]


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Published Sunday, Feb. 03, 2013 in the California Forum section of the Sacramento Bee
January is usually an altogether dreary time to be in London. But it was in that month 160 years ago that an inventive American named Samuel Colt, a genuine Connecticut Yankee, opened a factory in the capital of Queen Victoria's empire to manufacture his signature product, a sidearm then in great demand worldwide.
Two years earlier at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London's Hyde Park, Colt had astonished audiences by demonstrating how he could do something even British industry was unable to do: employ machines to mass-produce the components of his revolvers to standards so exacting that the parts could be interchanged between weapons.
In 1853 he was back to supply firearms to the British military, then bracing for war – the Crimean – against imperial Russia.
While Colt's London armory would be shuttered four years later, after the British had imported American machinery and managers to compete with him, it nonetheless represents a significant milestone in U.S. industrial history. For it was among the earliest cases of an American company gaining a competitive foothold in an overseas market by manufacturing abroad rather than exporting from its U.S. factories.
Colt's venture is relevant today because it brings a much-needed perspective to a recent series of studies that, having supposedly recalculated the cost advantages of manufacturing in China and other developing countries, contends that making things in America – especially things for American consumers – now makes good sense.
What began as an exercise by business analysts in rubbing a very small number of anecdotes together in hopes of igniting the latest "Next New Thing" has lately gained traction in the popular media and now threatens to have a disruptive impact on public policy.
As a pair of articles in the December issue of the Atlantic magazine as well as a recent lengthy commentary in the Economist concluded, because Made-in-America is becoming an increasingly viable proposition, U.S. companies that had previously outsourced, or offshored, factory jobs to other countries will soon begin repatriating thousands of those jobs to America.
But does this mean the United States is poised to see a manufacturing renaissance, as a much-touted report from the Boston Consulting Group predicts will happen later this decade? More to the point, how likely is it that American multinational corporations will close factories overseas and come home?
The answer, in no small part, lies in understanding why these companies went abroad in the first place. And this is where the example of Samuel Colt's gun factory in London and later generations of American manufacturers who set up shop overseas is worth recalling.
Americans built factories abroad in 1800s
The second half of the 19th century saw the emergence and remarkably swift growth in the United States and in Europe of middle-class consumer demand, particularly for inexpensive but reliable goods.
American manufacturers of that era had a critical edge over their foreign rivals. To produce larger and larger volumes of goods in a country whose workforce remained predominantly agrarian, U.S. manufacturers such as Colt had been impelled early on to substitute machines for manpower. Moreover, unlike existing goods-producing firms across the Atlantic, the newer U.S. firms were far less constrained by traditional production methods and were thus freer to innovate.
Yet even with the use of labor-saving machinery to produce goods that were increasingly regarded as superior to those being made in Europe, major hurdles remained in supplying foreign markets with products shipped from U.S. factories. Transportation costs were excessive, and governments overseas often sought to protect domestic industry by imposing high tariffs and other barriers to imported goods.
Even more importantly, differences in language and culture generally required that manufacturers adapt their products to each market's distinctive tastes and preferences. What sold in Peoria and Portland often flopped in Paris and Prague.
Historians of the era's cross-border industrial development such as Mira Wilkins and John H. Dunning describe an evolutionary pattern in which fledgling multinationals on both sides of the Atlantic progressed from exporting their products, to licensing their technologies to foreign partners, to ultimately investing in the establishment of their own factories abroad.
Isaac Merritt Singer, who had founded a sewing machine company in 1851, tried the first option by selling his French patent rights in 1855 to a French merchant in exchange for royalties. Singer's company subsequently changed strategy and built its first overseas plant in 1867 in Glasgow, Scotland.
That facility quickly became the world's largest sewing machine factory. By 1879, Singer was selling more sewing machines abroad than at home in the United States.
To meet surging European demand, Singer soon built plants in Germany and Austria and, by 1901, had established one near Moscow.
Singer didn't just manufacture abroad. The company sold directly to customers through networks of stores and sales agents, who also serviced the machines they sold. For example, the company in 1914 employed 27,000 Russians to manufacture, market and service its products in that country. Unhappily, Singer's Russian assets were seized in 1918 by the new Bolshevik government.
Colt and Singer were not alone. Pittsburgh Reduction Co., later renamed Alcoa, set up an aluminum plant in France in 1891.
Westinghouse built a manufacturing plant in Manchester, England, in 1899 and, by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, had factories in France, Germany, Russia and Canada.
Henry Ford was manufacturing cars in England by 1911, and within three years the Model T was the best-selling car in England. By then, Ford also had an assembly plant in France. By the end of the 1920s, Ford was making cars in Europe, Latin America, and even Japan.
Cars need parts and accessories. So Goodyear, among other subsidiary elements of the American automobile industry, moved abroad, building tire factories in Australia, Britain, Argentina, Brazil and Sweden between 1929 and 1938.
The trend was not limited to machinery. During the interwar period, such stalwarts of the U.S. pantry as Quaker Oats, Kellogg, Heinz, Carnation, Pet Milk, Kraft and even Wrigley all set up foreign production facilities, albeit usually in other English-speaking countries.
By 1939, Coca-Cola was being bottled and sold in 70 countries.
Foreign sales topped $5.2 trillion in 2010
The lesson here is not simply that American corporations have been manufacturing goods abroad for much longer than is generally appreciated. It is that their reasons for doing so have typically involved much more than merely sourcing goods wherever labor is cheapest and where government regulators aren't terribly fussy about air and water quality, or workplace safety standards.
With 95 percent of the world's population residing outside the borders of the United States and with the ranks of middle-class consumers expanding at unprecedented rates throughout the developing world, U.S. companies continue to have powerful incentives to adapt their products to local preferences in multiple overseas markets.
And that is just what American companies continue to do. Sales by the overseas subsidiaries of U.S. corporations exceeded $5.2 trillion in 2010, a year in which direct exports of goods and services from the United States totaled a more modest $1.8 trillion. Yet only about 9 percent of the sales made by these subsidiaries involved American customers. Sixty percent were made to residents of the country in which the affiliates operate and 30 percent to customers in other countries.
If there is some compelling reason why these corporations should instead opt to meet global market demand with products exported from America, it is far from evident. Let's not even get into the well-attested desire of U.S. companies to limit their exposure to U.S. tax rates.
Even in the case of Apple, which designs products of almost universal appeal, the Cupertino-based company's recent decision to begin producing a limited number of computers in the United States appears to driven more by its public relations department than its accountants. Apple long ago ceded its manufacturing expertise in order to concentrate on product design and marketing. And the same factories in China that make iPhones and iPads for American consumers also supply Apple's customers everywhere else in the world.
But even if Apple and other U.S. firms chose to manufacture more of their products here, it does not necessarily follow that large numbers of blue-collar factory jobs would be created. American companies began substituting machines and technology for manpower back in the 19th century, and they've gotten steadily better at it ever since. Indeed, manufacturing in America remains a highly profitable and productive endeavor – in all measures except employment.
To be sure, there are U.S. companies such as GE and Otis Elevator that have lately opted to move some manufacturing activity back to this country. The numbers are few, however, and the economic impact thus far has been negligible.
What is regrettable is the belief that more and more American companies will be persuaded by (dubious) economics to re-establish manufacturing operations on U.S. soil, giving life to an unfounded sense of hope that re-shoring will reverse a decades-long decline in U.S. factory jobs, including a precipitous 37 percent drop in manufacturing sector employment in California since 1990.
What's worse is that policymakers, persuaded that re-shoring jobs will be the deus ex machina that will rescue America's middle class from its downward spiral, will now attend to other priorities.


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Cost of Hate
seen gradual increase of hate against its Muslim Minority. This gradual
increase of last 6 years has suddenly spiked in last 8 months, which is noticed
by global human rights groups and Governments.
countries and international organizations has started discussions and so are
governments. This discussion has now coming to the point it will start damaging
India’s Economy and will have serious implications.
Congress has already issued statement and so is USCIRF and Congress Members,
and Bernie Sanders has raised serious questions on India’s handling of Racism,
Hate and Violence against its minorities.
Parliament has already discussed the matter.
Parliament will take up the issue once opened. It has 3 resolutions on the
OIC – Organization
of Islamic Cooperation is world’s second biggest group of countries has already
issued statements and requested government of India, to protect the life and
properties of Muslims.
GCC – Gulf
Cooperative Council is world’s smallest but richest group with substantial
exposure and relations with India and with very good say across the worlds, is
started serious talking about Islamophobia and Hate in India. This will have
serious economic impact.
and UK, number of Muslim countries has echoed their concern for the Hate Crime
and Islamophobia in India.
among them are Turkey, Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia has come out with their
question is How is the cost or economic impact of all this hate mongering.
start with GCC.
GCC hosts 9 million Indian – This
number can vary between 9 million and 12 million depending upon how you view or
The total of 79 billion USD, 55
Billion comes from GCC countries or 70%, more importantly India is single
largest recipient of foreign remittances.
Among countries, the top remittance
recipients were India with $79 billion, followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico
($36 billion), the Philippines ($34 billion), and Egypt ($29 billion). World
More than 80% Indian working in GCC
are low wage earners or labor which are easy to replace.
India’s Export – Fresh Vegetables and
GCC is single biggest market for Fresh
Vegetables, and Fruits, Agriculture Products.
GCC is single biggest market for Fresh
Meat Exports – Caracas – Goat and Sheep
GCC is single biggest market for Beef
GCC is single biggest trading partner
for Agro Commodities.
countries account for 15 percent of India’s total import and 12 percent of the
country’s total export basket in value terms.
the GCC countries, UAE accounted for the major chunk of India’s exports and
imports with $30.08 billion and $29.77 billion respectively in FY19.
This is despite a negative growth in both imports and exports of gems and jewelry, a major item in the product basket between India and UAE. India’s imports of gems and jewelry from UAE have seen a decline of 13 percent, while its exports of these products to UAE have fallen by 3 percent in FY19 over the previous fiscal.
accounts for 9 percent of India’s total export basket and 5.80 percent of
India’s import basket by value.
UAE is the major
destination for India’s jewelry exports, accounting for about 80 percent of
Expatriates and Economy
National make up the Gulf states’ largest expatriate community, with an
estimated 9.6 million Indian nationals living and working in the region;
especially in Saudi Arabia (2.8 million) and the UAE (2.6 million.
The GCC is
India’s largest regional-bloc trading partner, which accounted for $104 billion
of trade in 2017–18, nearly a 7 per cent increase from $97 billion the previous
year. This is higher than both India–ASEAN trade ($81 billion) and
India–EU trade ($102 billion) in 2017-18. Two of India’s top five trading
partners, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are from the Gulf. The GCC also provided
over $55 billion in foreign-exchange remittances from Indian expatriates in
2017, accounting for over 70 per cent of India’s total.
bilateral trade between the GCC and India was estimated at US$121.34 billion
($203 billion) in 2018-19. The UAE is estimated to be India’s third-largest
partner with trade in 2018-19 estimated at nearly US$60 billion ($100 billion),
while Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth-largest trading partner, with trade in
2018-19 estimated at over US$34billion ($57 billion).
They aim to
increase bilateral trade by 60 per cent over the next five years and have set a
target of $75 billion for UAE investments into India’s infrastructure
development, spanning ports, airports, highways and construction, as well as
to attract large-scale investment from the GCC to India, following the recent
announcement of the development of a $44 billion oil refinery to be built by
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Saudi Aramco and Indian counterparts.
The announcement comes a few months after Emirates Group announced a $4.23 billion (INR300 billion) aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) project in Andhra Pradesh in February this year.
Aramco is also in talks with Reliance Industries Limited to purchase a 20 per cent stake in its oil to chemical business, which is estimated at US$75 billion ($125.5 billion).
The GCC has also invested in
developing India’s energy infrastructure. In 2019, the Saudi Ambassador to
India stated that Riyadh wished to invest US$100 billion ($166 billion) in
Direct Investment (FDI) in India increased to $61.96 billion in 2017-18,
according to Indian Government’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion
(DIPP). Total FDI reached $ 61.96 billion in the last four years, it said.
India: An investment gateway
Yusuffali predicts that an investment to the
tune of $150 billion will flow into retail, aviation, tourism and manufacturing
sectors from Gulf countries.
This will have a mutual benefit for both the
countries as India faces 30 per cent wastage in the Indian farm sector due to
bottlenecks in storage, packaging and transportation, and investment by Saudi
Arabia would benefit both the countries.
Why GCC Matters
And with an average GDP per capita of US $ 61,559
in terms of purchasing parity, most GCC nation rank in worlds top ten richest
Indonesia and Malaysia account for 85%
of the world's palm oil output while India is the biggest buyer of edible oil.
Indonesian crude palm oil has sold at
a premium to Malaysian oil since India this month placed curbs on imports of
refined palm oil.
The trade ministers of India and Indonesia, which want to more than double their bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2025, met in Davos on Thursday and agreed to fast-forward trade between them, one of the informed sources
An Indian government document, reviewed by Reuters, said that Indonesia had "informally agreed" to double the annual quota for Indian bovine meat exports to 200,000 tonnes.
Indian-Indonesian trade was worth $21.2 billion in the 2019.
Indonesia imported 94,500 tonnes of
Indian buffalo meat worth $323 million in the 2018/19 fiscal year. It is the
third biggest buyer of Indian buffalo meat after Vietnam and Malaysia.
India’s Tourism Sector
The Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India is small compared to global
standards. The lack of enough and quality infrastructure is one reason, the
culture and social environment is second factor.
The arrivals are divided as Foreign and NRI, we will discuss only
The single largest arrival is Bangladesh Nationals. Then come US
and Europe. The Bangladesh alone constitute more than 20% of total arrivals,
USA and Europe together constitute another 25%.
The remaining 55% is scattered over countries. North Africa, GCC and
Malaysia together is above 10%. Other Muslim Countries has another 3% arrivals
Tourism is one of very important employment sector for India. The
present environment of hate will directly affect sentiments of Tourist and their
arrivals. Not only the Muslims but all arrivals will be affected.
We see more than 50% reduction in Tourist arrivals from Muslim
World to India. The NRI arrival will also be heavily affected because of Job
The arrivals from USA and Europe will be affected by 15%, as
sentiments go negative. This will affect India’s direct foreign currency income
Services Sector – India’s services sector is more dependent on USA
and Europe. IT, ITES are mostly catered to developed world. In last few years,
there is substantial growth and Opportunities are generated from GCC. This
growth is steady and remain double the average growth of India’s services
sector exports. This nascent sector will face challenge to survive in GCC,
North Africa and Malaysia, Indonesia.
The Effect of Hate on FDI and PPP and other projects
As Result of Increase of Hate in India, India will see
substantial losses in terms of financial loss. Remittance will be down by 30%
or 17 Billion Dollar, direct commercial loss or loss of business will be 55
billion and overall Indian economy will be take hit of 1.5 percent.
The sentiment in GCC particularly and worldwide in general will be
negatively impacted. The investors look for safety of their amount and social
conditioning. Peace is most important to drive growth anywhere in the world.
Without peace and harmony, it is impossible to find growth and development.
Hate will not only drag down the growth of particular community but it will
have drag down effect on everyone. These negative sentiments will persist for
the long time. GCC human rights activist and global Human Rights activist
particularly in EU and USA will have substantial impact on FDI in India.
Data Source -
India Tourism Statistics 2019 Ministry of Tourism Government of
Annual Report 2018 -2019 Department of Commerce Government of
World Bank Remittances Report
IMF Economic Review
Venture Art Economic Projections


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Lots of folks have old guns hiding in the back of their safe. Whether it's a family heirloom that's been passed down for generations or something they stumbled across at shop a few decades earlier, it inevitably leads to one question: What's it worth? Attendees of the 142nd NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits had a chance to find out just that, thanks to the National Firearms Museum.
Every firearms owner knows how important it is to keep your guns secure—and Cannon Safe continues to make that task more manageable. Its "Cannon" line of gun safes comes fully equipped with a variety of features that make it easier than ever to maintain the security of your firearms.
Everything is coming up pink! Holsters, earmuffs, training jackets: They're all pink (for now). Soon to be released in other color options, Packing in Pink has been catering to the women's shooting market since 2007, proudly offering Bladetech holsters and many other U.S.-and Canadian-made products.


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Convenience wholesaler Lekkerland, which is part of Rewe Group, plans to launch several different types of unmanned vending boxes under its Rewe To Go banner operation. Lekkerland has developed a vending machine with German start-up Latebird. Now Lebensmittel Zeitung reports that parallel vending boxes with scanless technology from AiFi are also planned under the name Rewe To Go.
With Latebird, Lekkerland has developed a fully automated store solution that makes a wide range of products available around the clock, seven days a week: from chilled products such as salads and sandwiches to non-refrigerated items such as sweets and snacks to frozen goods. The goods ordered via app or touchscreen kiosk are assembled fully automated in the vending machine and handed out to the customers. In March, the partners received one of the prestigious Reta Awards from EHI Retail Institute for the development.
The concept is soon to be launched under the name of the Rewe To Go banner operation, Lebensmittel Zeitung reports. But not only that. According to trade newspaper, convenience specialist Lekkerland, which was acquired by Rewe Group in 2019, also plans to open scanless sales boxes under the same Rewe To Go brand, using technology from Californian just-walk-out specialist AiFi.
Test with AiFi instead of Trigo
In these, customers take the desired products from the shelves themselves — the shopping basket is calculated in Amazon’s just-walk-out style without the need to scan items. Shoppers’ account is automatically debited after leaving the sales box. A Rewe To Go test store with this technology offers around 200 items (SKUs), including refrigerated and frozen products as well as tobacco products, Lebensmittel Zeitung reports.
In its Pick&Go store in Cologne, which has already opened without Lekkerland and operates according to the same principle, Rewe Group relies on the technology of the Israeli AiFi competitor Trigo. In the meantime, Rewe Group has a financial stake in both technology providers.
Third concept with self-checkouts
Lekkerland also wants to test a thrid unmanned concept under its Rewe To Go banner operation, in which customers actually have to scan the goods at self-checkouts. Lekkerland has already used this concept under its Frischwerk sales line in two clinics of the hospital operator Sana Kliniken in Stuttgart and Munich.
It is still unclear who will be the operator of such unnamed sales boxes of the Rewe To Go brand after the test phase. Within the Rewe Group, Lekkerland has recently taken over the Rewe To Go sales line, but at the same time emphasised that it does not want to open any more stores under this brand — at least not as managed operations. However, as with other Lekkerland brands, a franchise system is a possibility. After considerable dissatisfaction with the Rewe To Go concept among Aral tenants, the Aral owner BP took over the operation of the stores at its petrol stations itself in 2020.


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In a formal response to the Federal Communications Commission inquiry, Apple told the FCC that it did not reject Google Voice and is in fact still studying it.
Google Voice, a VoIP service lets users set up one phone number and like their other phone numbers to it. It can also control which phones to ring depending on the time of the day, etc. Furthermore, it allows users free domestic telephone calls and discounted international calls and texts.
So what’s stopping Apple from approving the app?
The company said that Google Voice duplicated the functions of the iPhone which might confuse readers. The app “appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voice mail,” Apple explained through the letter.
Another concern of Apple is privacy issues. According to the company, Google Voice copied info about a user’s contacts to Google’s servers and they have “have yet to obtain any assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways.”
Apple further denies that AT&T has no hand in making the decision as to whether Google Voice will be approved or not, although it did say that it had agreed not to allow any applications that sent voice calls over the Internet, bypassing AT&T’s network, without the phone company’s permission.
AT&T has previously sent its letter of response to FCC dated August 21. The letter explains that the phone company had “no role in any decision by Apple to not accept the Google Voice application for inclusion in the Apple App Store” and that it was “not asked about the matter by Apple at any time, nor did it offer any view one way or the other.”


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DineEquity completes sale-leaseback of Applebee's HQ
- from the Kansas City Business Journal
DineEquity Inc., owner of Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar and IHOP restaurants, has completed the sale-leaseback of its Applebee's corporate headquarters building in Lenexa, which generated about $39 million in after-tax proceeds.
In a release Thursday, DineEquity (NYSE: DIN), based in Glendale, Calif., said it will use about $20 million of the proceeds to pay the remaining balance of its $350 million consolidated funded debt and the remainder for expenses for its acquisition of Applebee's International Inc. and for general corporate purposes.
The transaction follows DineEquity's completion June 17 of a sale-leaseback of 181 Applebee's-owned restaurant locations -- six fewer than previously expected -- for about $296 million in cash. DineEquity also generated about $27 million from the sale of 26 Applebee's restaurants in Southern California earlier this month.
DineEquity reiterated in Thursday's release that it expects the sale of 15 company-owned Applebee's locations in Nevada to close in the fourth quarter.
The Lenexa headquarters sale-leaseback includes a primary lease term of 15 years with four extension options of five years each. The initial lease payment is expected to be about $293,000 a month for the 180,000-square-foot building.
DineEquity said it expects the payment to be offset in time because Applebee's plans to sublease part of the building.
The sale-leaseback of Applebee's corporate headquarters building does not qualify as a sale under accounting rules, DineEquity said in the release, because Applebee's will have ongoing economic involvement with the property by subleasing part of the building. The $39 million in proceeds will be treated as a corporate borrowing and presented as a financing obligation in DineEquity's consolidated balance sheet, the company said.
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In our latest Cosmetics Design Asia special newsletter, we looked at how brands are striving to better understand their consumers to develop and market products that truly appeal to their needs.
As bespoke beauty provides consumers with multiple options, brands are now looking at how and why consumers are inspired to customise cosmetics options.
According to insight from market research company, Euromonitor International, customisation is set to be a defining trend for skin care in the Korean market and Asia-Pacific region.
“The trend is gaining momentum in response to the increasing consumer demand for personalised skincare products, which is particularly evident in the rise of multicultural beauty,” emphasised Marty Lumain, a Chemical Engineer at Seppic.
In today’s multifaceted beauty landscape, “consumers are eager to see personalised products that cater to age, moisture balance, ethnicity, gender and lifestyle,” revealed Lumain.
Emotions on the up
Industries assess and review influences on purchasing choices on an ongoing basis. Seppic announces how “research has shown impulse purchases are guided by emotion in eight out of ten instances”, indicating the importance of emotions when it comes to buying products and services.
Forrester’s analysis of first wave 2015 CX Index data, for example, indicated that emotion is the number one factor in customer loyalty.
Cosmetics companies are now ploughing resources into how they can accurately and effectively “measure emotions to better understand consumer behaviour”.
Connected devices including emotion trackers built into wearable tech are being developed, as well as software that can analyse emojis.
Experiential shopping that attracts the senses forms part of the contemporary customer purchasing journey.
As a result, "formulators are having to adopt a holistic approach to cosmetic design, taking into account appearance, spreading and perceived benefits," added Lumain.
Health and beauty ingredient designer, Seppic, has released its ‘Mood Paint’ texture bar to enable customers to develop new looks through its ingredient palette.
To spur creativity through customisation, Seppic's five beauty care laboratories have designed eleven new emotion-stimulating formulations that have been inspired by cosmetic trends and various artistic movements such as Street Art, Pop Art, Surrealism, Naïve Art and Renaissance Art.
Highlighting how innovation can alter sensory interpretation, in-cosmetics Korea visitors will be able to explore formulations including the Perfect Body Illusion that has taken inspiration from optical illusions, and Pop Art-inspired tube masks that are designed to be applied in layers on the face.
Marty Lumain from Seppic will deliver a technical seminar on Mood Paint, called 'When painting inspires your emotions', on 22nd June, 11.15am -11.45am, at the upcoming in-cosmetics Korea show. For more information, visit http://korea.in-cosmetics.com.


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Dec. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Dunkin' Donuts, America's all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods, is kicking off December with some exciting early holiday presents for its Facebook fans. Dunkin' Donuts has launched two new Facebook promotions, the
Top of the WorlDDPhoto and Video Contest and the
Dunkin' K-Cup ® packs K-ountDDown, helping fans celebrate the home stretch of the season with chances to win a ho-ho-host of holiday prizes, including the opportunity to have their photo or video appear high over Times Square on
New Year's Eve, JetBlue airline tickets, and
$2,500 towards their rent or mortgage payment in 2013.
Beginning today, Dunkin' Donuts' "Top of the WorlDD" Photo and Video Contest gives its Facebook fans the chance to start 2013 "at the top" by having their image broadcast high over the Crossroads of the World in Times Square on its most famous night,
New Year's Eve. Fans can submit their celebratory photos and/or videos wishing their loved ones a happy New Year to a special tab on the brand's Facebook page. One photo and one video submission will each win the grand prize of a pair of JetBlue tickets. Ten first prize photo and 10 first prize video submission winners (20 total) will each receive a
$50 Dunkin' Donuts Card. Dunkin' Donuts will select at least one video and one photo
to be shown on the Dunkin' Donuts digital billboard atop Times Square on New Year's Eve and into
New Year's Day, along with a special series of messages from Dunkin' Donuts created for the billboard to help keep revelers running as they welcome 2013.
As fans count down the days through the holiday season, the "Dunkin' K-Cup
® packs K-ountDDown" offers fans a chance to enter to win a daily prize pack, while enjoying tips related to home brewing and holiday entertaining. The daily prize pack includes several items to keep them running on Dunkin' at home, or while on-the-go, including a Keurig
® brewer, a six month supply of Dunkin' Donuts K-Cup
® packs and a
$20 Dunkin' Donuts Card. And, to help cover one of the biggest home-related bills facing people after the holidays
, at the end of the promotion, five grand prize winners will receive $2,500 they can put towards their home or rent payment in 2013.
For more information about both the "Top of the WorlDD" Photo and Video Contest,
https://www.facebook.com/DunkinDonuts/app_468464913195288, and the "Dunkin' K-Cup
® packs K-ountDDown,"
https://www.facebook.com/DunkinDonuts/app_333735163392145, visit Dunkin' Donuts' official Facebook page at
John Costello, Dunkin' Brands Chief Global Marketing and Innovation Officer, "This has been an exciting year for Dunkin' Donuts, and as 2012 winds down, it was important to us to find a fun and meaningful way to show appreciation for our Facebook community and the millions of loyal fans who make us part of their daily lives. With our new 'Top of the WorlDD' Photo and Video Contest and the 'Dunkin' K-Cup
® packs K-ountDDown,' we look forward to rewarding our supporters throughout December with fantastic prizes, with the grand finale that puts our passionate fans in the spotlight atop Times Square on
New Year's Eve."
Dunkin' Donuts is the place to help keep busy, on-the-go people running all throughout December. Dunkin' Donuts' holiday lineup features three flavored hot or iced coffee and lattes, including new White Chocolate as well as classic Peppermint Mocha and Gingerbread. Dunkin' Donuts' Peppermint Mocha packaged coffee is available for a limited time only in an 8-oz. size at participating restaurants. Mint Hot Chocolate, available year-round at participating Dunkin' Donuts restaurants, puts a spin on the classic Hot Chocolate, combining the warmth of rich hot chocolate with a cool, invigorating flavor.


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Way entrance in the median at Fleming Avenue. Spurlock said the KKK believes Keeton's rights were violated when Nike Shox Deliver Red
Exactly what are you protesting? Keeton's rights were never violated; furthermore, she was never told to renounce her biblical viewpoints in order to remain in the graduate program. Obviously, you do not understand that there are rules and regulations that govern every collegiate program and that for all professions there is an Ethical Standard for them to follow. Ms Keeton does not want to be involved with the Ethical Standard portion of her degreed program; in that event, she should not Nike Shox Nz Grey Volt be allowed to remain in the program or graduate.
the school required her to participate in a remediation program after she objected to counseling homosexuals. "It's your constitutional right, so how could you tell someone you have to do something completely different?" Spurlock said. "We're not out to harm her. We're trying to protest the constitutional rights that they are trying to take away from her. ""She is no way whatsoever affiliated with us," he said.
"She has not contacted us, but we were contacted by someone that is aware of her. "Richmond County sheriff's Lt. Scott Gay said members of the Nike Shox Womens Shoes Sale
KKK met with the sheriff's office Saturday to discuss security for the protest. Gay stressed that his office's involvement is strictly neutral. Spurlock said he is affiliated with the Church of the National Knights of the KKK based in South Bend, Ind.
If her sensitivities preclude acknowledging the fact that homosexuals do exist and that some do require counseling then she needs to obtain her education elsewhere perhaps a parochial school of higher education may be more suit.
He said the group, which boasts 100,000 members, is active in 41 states and 21 countries. It was formed in 1960 as a response to the civil rights movement from a collection of splintered Klan groups in Southern states, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Web site. well, gee, Bobby Spurlock, isn't it a bit early to celebrate halloween?? Nike Shox Black And Pink
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