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- What events may drive the market between 08 and 12 February?
- 2021-02-09 14:20:50 (GMT)
- "mt5 forex forum" <email@example.com>
FX.co | Forex Trading Portal
Kate Stikhinа|InstaForex TV Director
Hello! This week is going to be rather interesting and rich with significant macroeconomic events. Be on top of the news highlights with our weekly digest.
What to expect on Forex this week?
Monday | 08 February
Even though the macroeconomic calendar on Monday will be empty as usual, there will be still something worth paying attention to. This refers to Switzerland, where the unemployment rate should rise to 3.6% from 3.5%. Most likely, this will lead to a modest fall in the price of the Swiss franc.
Tuesday | 09 February
Tuesday will be a calm and uneventful day. The macroeconomic calendar will be completely empty. This is probably for the best, since market participants will be able to prepare for the release of the US inflation report.
Wednesday | 10 February
On Wednesday, the US will deliver its inflation data. The inflation rate should accelerate to 1.4% from 1.2%. Given the general trend towards the strengthening of the greenback, the final reading will only boost the currency. Apart from that, there will be nothing else to expect on Wednesday.
Thursday | 11 February
Thursday will be as busy as Wednesday. The day will start with the publication of the retail sales data in the eurozone. The reading is expected to increase to -1.0 from -2.9%. Therefore, the euro will probably extend its rally. The crucial event of the day will be the Board meeting of the Bank of England. However, it is unlikely to somehow influence investor sentiment. The regulator is expected to keep its monetary policy unchanged like other largest central banks. Thus, the pound sterling will not react to the outcome of the event. This means that investors will be focusing more on the US jobless claims ahead of the Labor Department report. This is going to be a pessimistic forecast again, since both initial and continuing jobless claims should show a small increase in their number. However, one should not forget that similar forecasts have been made for a long time. Nevertheless, the number of jobless claims has been decreasing steadily. This time, the same scenario may unfold again. Of course, it will lead to the strengthening of the greenback.
Friday | 12 February
Friday will be the most interesting and busy day of the entire week. It will kick off with the preliminary GDP report in the United Kingdom. The economy is expected to shrink to -8.0% following a contraction of -8.6%. Even though the slump is still too deep, the most important thing is that the economy shows early signs of recovery. This, of course, will provide support for the pound. Meanwhile, industrial production in the United Kingdom is projected to decrease to -5.4% compared to a -4.7% fall, restraining the pound from rising. Similar situation is likely to unfold in the euro area, where industrial production is forecast to plunge to -3.2% from -0.6%. Clearly, this fact will lead to the weakening of the euro. At the same time, the Swiss franc may come under pressure due to deflation in Switzerland. In fact, there has been a decline in consumer prices in the country for eleven consecutive months. Moreover, the inflation rate is expected to accelerate to -0.9% from -0.8. Such a prolonged and deep deflation will inevitably affect the franc. Notably, foreign investments to the Swiss economy dropped almost to a zero level during deflation.
Read and learn
Watch and earn
As for the technical analysis, traders should pay attention to the following price levels:
1,2000***; 1,2150*; 1,2185*; 1,2350**; 1,2550; 1,2825.
1,1900**; 1,1810*; 1,1650*; 1,1500.
1,3750**; 1,4000***; 1,4350.
1,3650*; 1,3560*; 1,3450*; 1,3300*; 1,3000***; 1,2860.
0,9000***; 0,9200-0,9250***; 0,9480; 0,9650**.
0,8750**; 0,8550; 0,8000***.
* Periodic level** Level of a trading range*** Psychological level
Germany’s businesses enter new year on pessimistic note
Germany’s economy seemed to regain momentum at the end of 2020. However, despite some improvement, the German business sentiment fell sharply in January 2021. According to the Ifo research institute, the business climate indicator for Germany tumbled in January to the lowest level in 6 months for the obvious reason. The second COVID-19 wave is putting a strain on the domestic economy.
The Ifo business climate index dropped to 90.1 in the first month of 2021, much lower than the revised 92.2 in December 2020. A second lockdown prompted disruption to businesses in the largest eurozone’s economy.
Germany’s economy has to survive the corona crisis in Q1 2021 with the service sector bearing the brunt of it, chief economist at VP Bank Thomas Gitzel comments on worsening business conditions. The authorities’ decision to extend restrictions is denting recovery prospects of local businesses. Importantly, some lockdown measures will remain in force until mid-February. Indeed, it is still premature to ease tough restrictions in the near time. Several Germany’s provinces which have been hit the hardest by the pandemic called on the federal government to extend the lockdown.
Germany’s gross domestic product shrank 5% in 2020. The national output is expected to rebound 3% in 2021 on condition that tough restrictions are lifted. In the final quarter of 2020, the powerhouse of the eurozone’s economy was able to regain footing with zero economic growth. A slump in the hospitality industry and retail sales was offset by a revival in the manufacturing sector and construction.
*The market analysis posted here is meant to increase your awareness, but not to give instructions to make a trade
More analytic articles on the portal FX.co
Be on top of the forex market events with FX.co,Kate Stikhina, InstaForex TV Director
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Men who hoarded over 17,000 hand sanitizer bottles donate stockpile amid price-gouging probe
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Two Tennessee men who hoarded over 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer have donated their stockpile amid backlash and a price gouging investigation.
On Sunday morning, Matt Colvin, an Amazon seller outside Chattanooga, helped volunteers from a local church load two-thirds of his stockpile of hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes into a box truck for the church to distribute to people in need across Tennessee, according to The New York Times.
Officials from the Tennessee attorney general’s office took the other third. The office is investigating him for price gouging.
Colvin and his brother Noah became the subject of national scorn after The New York Times published a story about how they cleaned out stores of sanitizer and wipes in an attempt to profit off the public’s panic over the coronavirus pandemic.
The article says while people across the country have stockpiled items such as hand sanitizer or antibacterial wipes, internet companies like Amazon and eBay have enacted strict measures to stop those looking to price gouge.
Coronavirus live updates:Death toll surges, schools close and a warning - CDC says no large gatherings for 8 weeks
Noah Colvin, of Hixson, took a 1,300-mile road trip in early March across Tennessee and Kentucky, racking up thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer to resell online.
Meanwhile, Matt stayed at home, waiting for pallets of antibacterial wipes and even more sanitizer to be shipped, according to a New York Times article.
The two then sold sanitizer online at a steep markup – $8 to $70 a pop. Amazon quickly removed their listings amid a larger effort to stop coronavirus-related price gouging.
The Tennessee Attorney General's Office ordered the brothers to stop buying and selling medical goods and products following the reports of possible price gouging while an investigation into their actions is underway.
"We will not tolerate price gouging in this time of exceptional need, and we will take aggressive action to stop it," said Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III. "During this pandemic, we ask that you report suspicious activity to the Division of Consumer Affairs and refrain from threatening or hostile communication with individuals or businesses you may suspect are price gouging. Our team will review complaints closely and we are prepared to act to protect Tennesseans."
The Colvins told The New York Times that Noah Colvin hit “little hole-in-the-wall dollar stores in the backwoods. The major metro areas were cleaned out.”
Matt Colvin said he was simply fixing “inefficiencies in the marketplace.” Some areas of the country need the products more than others, he said to the Times, and he’s helping send the supply toward the demand. On Sunday he expressed remorse for his actions and said he didn’t realize the gravity of the coronavirus outbreak, or the severe shortage of sanitizer and wipes when he began buying the supplies.
“I’ve been buying and selling things for 10 years now. There’s been hot product after hot product. But the thing is, there’s always another one on the shelf,” he told the Times. “When we did this trip, I had no idea that these stores wouldn’t be able to get replenished.”
Click here to read the full article.

domain: news


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“The process of granting licenses to these units has been speeded up given the contingency situation at the moment due to the coronavirus
outbreak. The movement of goods regarding the hand sanitiser raw material and finished goods has been exempted from the restriction imposed due to the lockdown order,” a senior UP sugarcane department official told Business Standard here.
According to UP Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA) secretary Deepak Guptara of the 94 private sugar mills, about 40 mills have captive distilleries, comprising both the big groups and standalone mills.
Meanwhile, some sugar companies
have proposed to only produce bulk quantities of hand sanitisers and supply it to other firms for bottling and marketing.
Besides, sugar mills have firmed up contracts to supply ethanol/ethyl alcohol/extra neutral alcohol (ENA) to external sanitiser units inside and outside the state.
Last week, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) had written to the Centre assuring that the domestic sugar industry would supply adequate quantities of ethanol or extra neutral alcohol (ENA) according to the requirement for use in the manufacture of hand sanitisers.
Recently, the local drug manufacturers had alleged about the black marketing of isopropyl alcohol (IPA), used in hand sanitisers, in the state was inhibiting their plans to increase production.
UP Drug Manufacturers Association (UPDMA) president Prashant Bhatiya said IPA was being sold for Rs 360 per litre in the state black market against its normal price of Rs 95 per litre.
Hand sanitisers could also be effectively manufactured with ethanol/ethyl alcohol/ENA, as advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Bhatiya alleged there were bottlenecks in the supply of ethanol from the state distilleries as well.
UPDMA has already written to chief minister Yogi Adityanath to facilitate the easy availability of these raw materials in the state and pledging to manufacture hand sanitisers on a “war footing’ to meet the growing demand.
The UP government has urged the surgical mask and hand sanitiser units operating in the state to augment their production by working in three shifts a day even as new units were promised with speedier approvals.


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The blueprint aims to make Scotland ‘one of the most innovative small nations in the world’ by working ‘closely with universities to design and develop a £100m Scottish Innovation Fund to invest in early stage start-ups focused on deep science and other emerging tech’, such as advanced manufacturing and net zero.
“Scotland is already home to a number of globally competitive, research intensive universities and some of the most exciting and innovative companies in the world, and this strategy focuses on actions required to scale, accelerate and further unleash the potential of innovation across the country,” said Prof Sir Jim McDonald, vice-chancellor of the University of Strathclyde and co-chair of the Steering Group of entrepreneurs, industry experts, academics, business leaders and investors that shaped the strategy.
Magnets for talent and investment
“Countries that can show agility and harness the power of new ideas and new technologies will thrive and become magnets for talent and investment over the next decade and beyond.
“We must also support the development of a much more diverse and inclusive community of entrepreneurs, researchers and business leaders, which in itself will create a more innovation-led ecosystem.”
Scotland’s innovation strategy has taken inspiration from Nordic countries, including Denmark, Norway and Finland, known for placing world-class R&D at the heart of economic growth and productivity.
Key proposals include:
- encouraging European-style clusters of similar businesses by focusing on developing key strengths in advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences, net zero, and data and digital technologies
- adopting a new approach to investing in innovative companies by reviewing existing public sector funds and improving signposting towards other sources of finance
- supporting Scotland’s world-class universities to become better at turning research into successful products and businesses
- taking a new approach to monitoring Scotland’s performance and benchmarking this against similar nations
The current landscape
Scotland already has a range of established, growing and emerging clusters serving a number of key international markets.
One such sector is a vibrant £15bn food and beverage (F&B) industry, which comprises over 17,000 businesses that provide employment for over 130,000 people in all parts of Scotland, even its most nethermost regions. According to government data, the sector accounts for 4.9% of total employment in Scotland and 15.1% of employment across the wider F&B sector in Great Britain.
The appetite for Scottish products from across the globe is borne out by exports worth a record £8.1bn in 2022.
The government’s Industry Recover Plan committed £15m (between 2020 and 2023) to assist all sectors of the industry to overcome disruptions from COVID and Brexit. With the Recovery Plan coming to an end, the government is now looking to refresh its Food & Drink Export Plan - which initially provided £2.7m in funding over 2019-2024 - with aims and ambitions for the next decade.
Other influential sectors in Scotland’s economy include those that are pivoting in line with its transition toward a fair and greener future. Natural capital - defined as the utilisation of the natural environment for the benefit of communities and the economy - may be an emerging opportunity area for Scotland, but it’s a highly important one.
World leader in entrepreneurship
“This strategy sets out our vision to become one of the most innovative small nations in the world over the next decade,” said Innovation Minister Richard Lochhead.
“This is key to our efforts to transform the economy and drive a lasting improvement in Scotland’s economic performance.
“It also sends out a wider message - that we are determined to become a world leader in entrepreneurship and innovation.
“Scotland will use all the powers we have to create an economy which supports businesses to thrive. We will do this by harnessing the skills and ingenuity of our people and seizing the economic and social opportunities provided.
“Scotland is famous the world over for invention and innovation and today we have many strengths, including emerging and potentially game-changing advances in areas like biotechnology and data. So we build from strong foundations.
“I am very grateful to Sir Jim and to all those from business, academia and across the public sector who contributed to the development and will be key partners in the delivery of this strategy.”


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The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is underway in Los Angeles, as the latest developments within the industry are showcased. With the sector currently generating nearly £1.5 billion for the UK economy, Matt Cox spoke to games industry expert, Matthew Barr, from the University of Glasgow.
Peter Randall, CEO of London start up SETL, talked about blockchain and its impact on financial institutions. SETL is launching ‘the world's first commercial platform for using blockchain technology to register and settle securities transactions’. Peter discussed the platform.
Researchers at Leibinz University in Hannover are creating an artificial nervous system, making it easier for robots to work side-by-side with humans. Experts predict that relationships between robots and humans may soon become common-place, so Robert Van Egghen spoke to Julie Carpenter, a roboticist from the University of Washington, about the future for human-robot relationships.
The financial services industry is the perfect target for a cyber-attack, a report from lobby group, TheCityUK, has warned. Marcus Scott, Chief Operating Officer at TheCityUK, told Sarah Lowther and Chris Bailey why the banking and financial sector need to be more resilient to cyber-attacks.
You've heard of fintech, but what about fashion-tech? Clothing store, Topshop, has launched a new scheme aimed at fashion technology start-ups. It partnered up with corporate innovation specialist and early stage investor, L Marks, and Matt Cox spoke to Liberty Mawhood, Chief Operating Officer at L Marks, about the scheme.
Oliver Smith, Senior Reporter at business tech trade magazine The Memo, discusses Facebook’s general strategies, after it was announced that they will now allow businesses to deliver automated customer support, e-commerce guidance, content and interactive experiences through chatbots. So how does this work?
Money20/20, a big technology in finance event, is taking place in Copenhagen, looking at how payments and financial services can combine in mobile technology. Michael Rolph, Co-Founder & CRO of Yoyo, a mobile platform that merges payments, loyalty promotions and discovering new events, joins Share Radio to talk about his company and the Money 20/20 event.
David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, joins Share Radio to talk about the increasing number of companies being attacked by Ransomware. Ransomware, one of the fastest-growing types of cyber threats, encrypts data on infected machines, then typically asks users to pay ransoms in hard-to-trace digital currencies to get an electronic key so they can retrieve their data.
Dave Millett, Founder and Managing Director of telecoms broker, Equinox, talks about Ofcom’s report ruling on whether BT can keep its Openreach broadband arm. BT seems to have escaped the immediate threat of selling off its wholesale arm, but it faces a stricter regulatory straitjacket under wide-ranging proposals which would allow other operators to lay fibre optic lines alongside its network. Dave discusses the decision.
A report from Mintel has found that electrical and electronic goods are taking the top share of online sales in 2015, ahead of fashion. Richard Perks, Director of Retail Research at Mintel, speaks to Sandra Kilhof and Mark Johnson about the findings.


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StoreDot leads the charge
Wed, 07 Oct 2020
Using current battery technology, a mobility scooter owner can expect to leave their vehicle plugged in overnight to achieve a full charge. This may give the user weeks’ worth of use, but if they find the battery suddenly flat and need to make an urgent trip out, there is little scope for a quick charge, other than leaving it plugged in for half an hour and hoping it does not run out on the way back from the shop.
StoreDot, an Israeli company formed by students of Tel Aviv University, believes it may have the answer to this problem. Founded in 2012, StoreDot specialises in ultra-fast charging batteries. It’s technology utilises electro-chemical properties and nano-materials, optimised for the ultra-fast charging of electric vehicles, mobile phone power banks, drones and other devices that would benefit from shorter charging times.
The first question people tend to ask when they hear the term ‘fast charge’ is, “How fast?”
“Our aim is to be able to charge any electric vehicle within five minutes,” explains StoreDot CEO, Doron Myersdorf. More than just mobility scooters, this will include fully fledged electric cars like Teslas. While the idea might sound pie-in-the-sky, StoreDot is well on the way to achieving this goal, with plans to demonstrate the full charge of a four-wheeled vehicle by the end of next year. Another aim is to fully charge a smartphone battery within 30 seconds, and the company has already successfully demonstrated the full charge of both drone and two-wheeled vehicle batteries in five minutes.
So the technology already exists to charge an electric mobility scooter in as little as five minutes. If this is true, when can users expect to see these batteries readily available? Myersdorf says: “We are in the process of producing 1,000 samples to ship to customers. These are produced in China with our partner EVE Energy, and we hope to get feedback from the customers during Q4. This will take one to two quarters. So,” he concludes, “I think best case will be the middle of 2021, that we will see this on the market.”
However, in that short time, there are a number of hurdles for StoreDot to overcome. Unsurprisingly, the company’s batteries cannot be charged from a normal 230-volt wall socket in the home. Because of the high amount of power needed in a short amount of time, the batteries require something more powerful. When used with drones, for example, StoreDot requires that users buy charging stations, specially made by third-party manufacturers, in order to be able to use its batteries. When it comes to electric vehicles, however, it turns out there is already an infrastructure in place that will allow the charging of the batteries – namely the ever-growing network of electric vehicle charging stations around the world.
“What is different about StoreDot is not the charging, it›s the battery,” says Myersdorf. “The battery itself is new. It’s a battery that is safe, and it is able to take all of this power in a very short amount of time – in the case of drones or two-wheeled vehicles, five minutes.” With the increasing popularity of electric cars, it seems very possible that charging stations could be put in accessible locations – or eventually perhaps even residential locations – for mobility scooter users.
Another problem comes with the cooling of the batteries. Charging them can generate a significant amount of heat, which can prove dangerous, Myersdorf explains: “When you charge very fast there is a lot of power that is produced as a by-product. Power generates heat. The battery should not go above 45 or 50 degrees celsius during charging, so this is why we need cooling.”
The first option is to charge the batteries while they are in place in the vehicle, which requires collaboration with the vehicle manufacturer in order to design a cooling system that will nullify the danger of overheating; the second is to remove the batteries from the vehicle, placing them in the charging station alone. This way, the inbuilt cooling system in the charging station will deal with the heat – something electric vehicle charging stations already do.
“Even today,” Myersdorf describes, “let’s say you want to charge a Tesla in a charging station that is fast, you have liquid cooling for the cables and for the connector itself, and inside the car too for its operation. So you actually already have active cooling in the charging stations. We would use similar technologies. What is different about StoreDot is not the charging, it›s the battery. The battery itself is new. It’s a battery that is safe, and it is able to take all of this power in a very short amount of time – in the case of drones or two-wheeled vehicles, five minutes.”
As Myersdorf explained at a recent demonstration of its technology in use with a drone, the company does need to make some hardware and software changes to the vehicle in order for the battery to be compatible with it. He describes it as “almost plug-and-play”.
When it comes to using the batteries with mobility scooters specifically, Myersdorf says: “It’s going to be an interesting market for us. Every application where it becomes critical to charge fast, there is a value to replacing the batteries with our batteries, so they would charge in minutes.
“But then there is, of course, some trade off that you would get. You would give up some of your energy as we don’t give out exactly the same amount of energy. So you would give up maybe 20% – that›s about how much it compromises the energy density. Plus there is the issue with the cooling during charging that we need to take care of. But this is a price that many users are willing to pay to take advantage of losing the many hours of charging.”
The most pressing issues, such as the cooling method, StoreDot is dedicated to working out before what it is labelling ‘gen one’ launches, hopefully in mid-2021. And yet already, the team is working on ‘gen two’, which Myersdorf says will radically reduce the final cost of the product. At the moment he estimates that the first generation will cost “two to three times” the cost of a traditional rechargeable lithium option – not an exorbitant uptick in price given the benefits. However, the company knows that it can really take over the market once its batteries are competitively priced.
“We cannot introduce it to the full vehicle yet because of the price. Most of our research and development effort now is on gen two, which will reduce the cost dramatically, making it very close to a traditional lithium battery. This will take another two years or so, so we are looking at 2023 to have a full solution for an electric vehicle like a Tesla,” the CEO said.
Reflecting on the company and the work it is doing, he added: “The product is very unique, as is our company in the startup world. We have 35 PhDs here that are working on new materials. So we’ve basically taken a very difficult challenge on the material side, but in order to really disrupt the battery market that is already so well established, you need to do major work with the materials.”
Asked about how it feels to revolutionise a sector like the mobility scooter market, Myersdorf added finally: “Everywhere that we can solve people’s problems, this is where we want to be. Especially when it comes to the disabled. If we can tailor a solution that will make life much more convenient for them, then that is what we will do.


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DIGITAL CITIZENS ALLIANCE RELEASES NEW REPORT ON GOOGLE AND YOU TUBE
Today, the Digital Citizens Alliance released a detailed report on how Google and You Tube stand to benefit when bad actors exploit the Internet.
Download a copy of the report here. Read our executive summary below.
Since it’s inception, Google adopted the motto “Don’t be evil.”
In a letter to the public when the company went public, Google described its “don’t be evil” motto as: “We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served — as shareholders and in all other ways — by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains."
Google is a great company with brilliant minds. It has demonstrated a willingness to take on huge challenges and solve major problems.
That is why it is so disconcerting to see a leading American company allowing one of its most prized platforms, YouTube, to be exploited by those selling and promoting illegal narcotics, prescription drugs without a valid prescription, knock-off merchandise, and fake IDs including driver’s license and passports.
When Google sell ads on YouTube videos promoting things like drugs, prostitution and forged documents, it has effectively become advertising partners with bad actors that make the Internet unsafe. That is because when YouTube users click on those ads, Google’s business model is to split the ad revenue with those video producers.
It’s hard to fathom why Google would knowingly run ads tied to videos promoting unsafe and potentially dangerous activities. While we all know that the price we pay for a free and open Internet will be things we may find objectionable, we are disappointed when a great company like Google profits from them.
The Digital Citizens Alliance is focused on highlighting the challenges we face with making the Internet a safer place so we can find solutions. Given how popular YouTube is with teens and pre-teens, this report must be an alert for parents to closely monitor their children’s usage.
By pointing out how YouTube has become overrun with thousands of potentially dangerous and harmful videos, we also call on Google to recognize the responsibility to clean it up. That is what a great company does and why Digital Citizens is optimistic that Google can live up to its motto.
IN THE NEWS
June 18, 2013 | Fox News- Fox & Friends
“Several states are taking aim at Google and they are demanding more actions on the internet to prevent legal sales of drugs on-line. The company could be facing a major court battle…”
June 10, 2013 by Terry Hart | Copyright Alliance
“Yesterday, the Digital Citizens Alliance released Google & YouTube and Evil Doers: Too Close for Comfort, a report detailing several ways in which Google profits from illicit content…”
June 11, 2013 by Sheila Shayon | Brand Channel
“Google has bowed to pressure initiated by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and removed ads and search results for numerous websites selling pharmaceuticals without prescriptions…”
June 11, 2013 by Jeff Amy, Associated Press | Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
“Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says Google appears to be removing online videos that give instructions on how to buy drugs without a prescription. Hood threatened legal action against Google last week…”
June 10, 2013 | CBS 58- Milwaukee, WI
“A new report released Monday is asking Google to crack down on websites selling illegal prescription drugs. The report, from the Digital Citizens Alliance, said that the internet giant is promoting the sale of the drugs, without prescriptions, through Youtube.com…”
June 10, 2013 by Jayne O’Donnell | USA Today
“Ads for a number of websites selling pharmaceuticals without prescriptions have disappeared from Google search results, according to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, who warned the company last week that he believes the ads violate its 2011 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice…”
June 6, 2013 by Jayne O’Donnell and Ben Mitchell | USA Today
“Google still is allowing ads for illegal online pharmacies that sell dangerous or counterfeit drugs without a prescription, Mississippi state Attorney General Jim Hood charged Thursday. The Internet giant paid $500 million in 2011 to settle Justice Department charges over fraudulent online pharmacy ads…”
To learn more about Digital Citizens Alliance, and to read our study on the ease at which teens can access prescription drugs online, please click here.


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In 2015, the beauty retailer Sephora made its brand tagline “Let’s Beauty Together,” switching away from a prior mantra, “The Beauty Authority.” Its senior vice president for marketing and brand, Deborah Yeh, explained the tagline several years later: “Beauty is diverse and has many voices and faces,” she said. “We believe it’s for our clients to define and for us to celebrate.”
In late April, the R&B star SZA, who is black (and has said she worked at Sephora before she made it as a musician), reported that a Sephora employee in Calabasas, Calif., had “called security to make sure I wasn’t stealing.” The news threatened to upset that carefully honed, diversity-focused image, which has resonated with the brand’s young American customers.
On Wednesday, Sephora will close all of its stores in order to host a “one-hour inclusivity workshop” for employees at retail locations, distribution centers and corporate offices in the United States. The brand announced these plans in the caption of a Facebook video several weeks ago. Separately, the brand apologized to SZA, and said it was “working with our teams to address the situation immediately.”
The training comes in tandem with the release of a Sephora “manifesto,” entitled “We Belong to Something Beautiful,” that is meant to outline the brand’s commitment to championing diversity and self-expression. “While it is true that SZA’s experience occurred prior to the launch of the ‘We Belong to Something Beautiful’ campaign, the campaign was not the result of this Tweet,” said a statement released by Sephora. “However, it does reinforce why belonging is now more important than ever.“ The company had been planning the one-hour workshop for its 16,000 employees for more than six months, the statement explained.
Normal store hours will resume, the company said, following the workshop.
The Sephora training follows a series of racist choices made by fashion and beauty companies, and by the retailers that sell their wares. In 2014, Barneys New York agreed to pay $525,000 in costs, fees and penalties after a nine-month investigation by the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, found that the store profiled customers by race. (The inquiry was triggered by complaints from two black patrons who described being detained after making expensive purchases.)
In recent years, brands have moved sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly to address public response to racism. Prada and Gucci, which both released racist products, took public steps to show their penitence. Prada created a diversity and inclusion council, led by Ava DuVernay, the film director, and Theaster Gates, the visual artist, in response to its crisis. Gucci hired regional and global managers for diversity and inclusion; created a multicultural design scholarship; and participated in a town hall in Harlem that was organized by designer and Gucci collaborator, Dapper Dan.
SZA’s experience stood out given that Sephora is owned by the luxury group Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton LVMH, which has received a lot of attention for its focus on diversity. It hired Virgil Abloh as artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s wear, and set up Rihanna in her own brand, Fenty.
Sephora USA had about 10,000 employees as of September, 2018. That makes it one of the larger companies to shut down temporarily in order to hold some form of diversity training. In May 2018, Starbucks closed more than 8,000 company stores in order to conduct racial bias training after two black men were arrested on charges of trespassing at a location in Philadelphia.
Frank Dobbin, a Harvard sociologist who has studied diversity and discrimination in business, said that more than a thousand studies had shown that short-term interventions that last only half of a day, a day or even a week, were ineffective in changing people’s unconscious biases.
“When this is the only thing that a company does, we know it’s not going to have much of an effect,” he said. “Usually the leaders are trying to send a signal to the world that they’re trying to do something.”
However, when paired with other changes, like task forces and mentoring programs for women and groups of people who make up a minority in the workplace, such trainings could make a difference, he said.
Sephora’s statement said that the hourlong store closure was “part of a long journey in our aspiration to create a more inclusive beauty community and workplace, which has included forming employee resource groups, building Social Impact and philanthropic programs, and hosting inclusive mindset training for all supervisors.”
With the rise of online retail, brands like Sephora have doubled-down on providing in-store services and have won a generation of customers. Those customers want edgier products and, along with them, a focus on principles like diversity and inclusion, said Erwan Rambourg, an analyst at HSBC who focuses on LVMH.
“Look at the success they had with Fenty,” Mr. Rambourg said, referring to the line of makeup developed by Rihanna that was originally sold at Sephora. “Arguably the product wasn’t revolutionary, but the sales were.”
Vanessa Friedman contributed reporting.


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Game Developers Conference Survey
The Game Developers Conference released its 2019 State of the Industry Survey on Thursday, which showed a potential shift in the games industry. It covered over 4,000 games professionals, and revealed that two big topics were on their mind: Steam and unionization.
According to the survey, about half (47%) of video game professionals support unions in the industry. This topic was especially popular last year on Twitter, when #AsAGamesWorker was trending. Workers were calling for improved conditions. Then they were hit with studio closures, layoffs, and other issues like workplace harassment, so unionizing seemed to be the best solution. Overtime was also a major issue, since as many as 44% of respondents said they work over 40 hours a week.
Of course, not all developers are on board with this. Twenty-six percent said “maybe” to unions, while 16% said workers should definitely not unionize. Their reasons for opposition are simple job loss for unionized workers. They said that companies will instead hire people with fewer demands, as so many people are coming into the industry.
All that being said, few respondents actually saw unions happening. Just 21% said they affirmatively saw unionization in the future. Thirty-nine percent said “maybe” unions could happen. So, they want unions, but don’t see them as a realistic goal.
The Steam Issue
Steam is a game distribution platform created by Valve Corporation, where users can purchase and play video games. While 47% of respondents on the GDC Survey said they sell their games on Steam, many are second-guessing the platform. Valve’s revenue share from the games is 30%, and many developers feel that is completely unjustified.
A new platform has arrived, Epic Games Store, which only takes a 12% revenue cut, but it has its issues. Earlier this year, the Better Business Bureau gave Epic Games an “F” rating. Yikes.
One respondent wrote that Steam could do better if they “Take less revenue from sales and curate their store better for visibility for real games.”
Two percent of respondents said they are currently developing games for platforms that don’t even exist yet. Sixteen percent said they were developing games for platforms that are available or will be available soon. No matter where you get your games, someone is working on something new, and that’s exciting.
For more WotN video game news and features, click here.


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As the pandemic recedes and we make our first forays back into the world, many of us are thinking about putting aside our sweatpants and picking up some new outfits. But I have some bad news: Clothes are getting more expensive.
The price of clothing in the U.S. has gone up 5.6% over the last year, according to the consumer price index released by the Labor Department last week. And that’s across the board, from mass-market retailers all the way up to luxury brands. It’s part of a broader wave of inflation that’s causing the prices of everything from washing machines to furniture to creep up. There’s no single, straightforward reason for these increases, and when it comes to clothing, the causes of inflation are particularly complicated. Two retail experts help break down why shirts, dresses, and sneakers are pricier than ever.
We stopped buying clothes
The problem started during the pandemic. In March 2020, when stay-at-home orders first went into effect in the U.S., Americans changed their shopping habits drastically. With nowhere to go and a possible recession on the horizon, apparel purchases ground to a standstill. In April 2020, clothing sales fell 79%, which is the largest-ever recorded decline.
Fashion labels began to panic. It was unclear how long the pandemic would last and, by extension, how long consumers would continue to not buy clothes. So many brands radically changed their operations, starting with worker layoffs and slashed prices on merchandise to unload existing inventory. Many canceled orders for the rest of the year, leaving overseas factories in a lurch. In turn, many factories had to fire garment workers.
Starting this summer, life in the States has started to return to normal, and there’s a lot of pent-up demand for clothing. But brands can’t suddenly flip the switch and increase their supply. Some are still short-staffed. And many clothing factories around the world are still shuttered. “Most brands do their manufacturing offshore, so it is not a very nimble supply chain,” says Lauren Bitar, head of insights at the analytics firm RetailNext. “So now, there’s enormous demand and not enough supply. Hence prices are going up.”
The pandemic isn’t over overseas
While the U.S. and some European countries are beginning to bounce back from the pandemic, there are many countries around the world that are facing new waves of COVID-19 cases. This makes the situation even more difficult for brands because their partner factories are located in countries like India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia, where governments have imposed lockdowns.
“Retailers are working as best they can with their suppliers and have been for the better part of a year now,” says Jon Gold, VP of supply and customs policy at the National Retail Federation. “It’s a very complicated process to change suppliers even in normal times, but it’s incredibly difficult when you can’t even travel to visit the new factories.”
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis—coupled with the spike in demand from consumers in the U.S. and Europe—is contributing to shortages of materials around the world. Countries in Asia that produce raw materials like cotton and synthetic fabric are struggling to meet the new demand, which has led to prices for these materials going up. “The costs of producing the same item is now higher than it was before,” Gold says.
But that’s not all. Brands are also facing massive shipping delays. The pandemic wreaked havoc on global shipping, leading to a shortage of shipping containers and an imbalance in where they were stuck versus where they were needed. Bitar says that as demand for products has increased, shipping companies have started using larger vessels, but this has led to other problems. “It takes longer to unload these larger vessels,” she says. “Because of their size, there are also fewer vessels able to unload at any given time at any given port.”
Retail staff want better pay
When stay-at-home orders went into effect last spring, many retailers fired or furloughed their retail staff. Now that they’re beginning to open up again, workers are not to easy to find, Bitar says. This is partly because Americans had access to better unemployment benefits during the pandemic, which made low-paying retail work seem less attractive. Now, even as some states have stopped providing additional benefits, the job market is strong, and employees can be choosier about where they work.
“Retail has traditionally paid very little, forcing workers to work unpredictable hours, and not provided a solid career path,” Bitar says. “A lot of workers got burned from being unceremoniously laid off or furloughed during the pandemic, so they may be looking for a different kind of work.”
To get the workers they need, Bitar says retailers will have to offer better pay and benefits. And this is yet another cost that may lead to an increase in clothing prices.
What comes next?
With massive demand for clothing and not enough supply, many brands don’t need to discount products the way they did last year during the worst of the pandemic. That’s why prices this year are comparatively higher than they were last year, when brands were slashing prices to move inventory. “They’re also cutting their marketing spending because they’re trying not to market items if they think they’re going to sell out,” Bitar says.
Gold contends that prices may go up even further. Right now, he says many retailers are absorbing some of the increased costs in their supply chain and simply taking a hit to their profit margins. Part of the reason for this is that they don’t want to raise their prices dramatically if their competitors aren’t doing the same. “But at some point, these increased costs will become unsustainable and they will have to begin passing on their costs to their customers,” Gold says. This is likely to make other brands follow suit, leading to higher prices across the board.
It’s still unclear whether this will happen, or how dramatically it will impact consumers’ wallets. But experts believe there’s a good chance clothing prices will keep increasing. And as Bitar points out, clothes are generally considered discretionary spending, so many consumers may simply buy fewer clothes as a result. But perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. Americans are known for consuming far too many clothes, so it’s possible that higher prices will be just the nudge we need to buy a little less.


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Published Aug 17, 2017Earlier this month, we learned that Netflix was planning a price hike in Canada. New users immediately face the increased price, while existing users are having their fee changed as we speak. Naturally, people with nothing better to do were pissed, and now a Quebec law firm is planning to launch a class action lawsuit.
According to the Canadian Press, the motion was filed in Quebec Superior Court earlier this month by the law firm Kugler Kandestin. The suit claims that Netflix didn't follow the rules laid out in Quebec's Consumer Protection Act.
Specifically, the suit claims that Netflix didn't specify the previous rate in their announcement. Further, they allegedly didn't offer a clear enough option for users to cancel if they didn't like the price hike.
If a judge does approve the case, the lawsuit seeks a reimbursement of the fee hike, as well as several million dollars in punitive damages. The lawsuit would only apply to Netflix users in Quebec, of which there are approximately 1.45 million.


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Motor dealers are concerned that ‘clocking’ of used cars is becoming increasingly common on their forecourts, according to new figures from automotive data experts Cap HPI.
In a monthly survey, conducted with dealer networks across the UK, a quarter expressed concern that clocking and mileage discrepancies had worsened in the past 12 months.
More than a third (36%) of dealers are concerned that the incidence of clocking will have a negative impact on their business, making a dent in profitability.
The practice of clocking takes place when drivers look to deliberately defraud second-hand car buyers when the vehicle is sold on.
Earlier this year Cap HPI established that the number of cars showing mileage discrepancies rose to one in 16, a jump of 25% on 2014’s figures of one in 20 cars displaying a discrepancy.
And, with this one in 16 chance of purchasing a vehicle with a mileage discrepancy, the cost to motorists stands at over £800 million every year.
The HPI Check includes a mileage check against the National Mileage Register as standard, now with more than 200 million mileage readings. Cap HPI also confirms whether a vehicle is currently recorded as stolen with the police, has outstanding finance or safety recalls against it or has been written-off, making it the best way for consumers to protect themselves from fraudsters looking to make a fast profit.
Barry Shorto, head of industry relations at Cap HPI, said: “There’s no doubt that the escalating problems associated with clocking and mileage tampering are now starting to become a cause for concern by dealerships across the UK.
“The situation demands a tough stance from the industry and the government as not only is it costing honest motorists millions but it is tarnishing the good names of established and reputable car dealers across the UK who are on the receiving end of this deception.
“There’s also the vital issue of driver safety which unscrupulous clockers have no regard for whatsoever in their quest to make a quick buck. The problem needs to be dealt with swiftly and culprits punished severely.”
Shorto believes there are a number of reasons for the increase in clocking. He said: “The continued development of technologies to alter digital odometers is a major factor with easy access to this technology via the internet and similarly, the ease of access to mileage adjustment services online, some of whom will behave legitimately, others less so.
“The increase in mileage-related finance arrangements such as PCP and PCH may also be a contributing factor as motorists look to bring down their mileage count to within contracted levels and avoid paying penalties for excess mileage.”
Earlier this year, Cap HPI played a vital role in securing custodial sentences for individuals in the North West involved in what is thought to be one of the largest clocking cases in UK legal history.
Shorto concluded: “Our latest insight from the dealer network shows that this is having an impact and is a worry for many.
“The convictions secured earlier this year should serve as a clear warning shot to clockers and it’s only a matter of time before they are caught and brought to justice.
“Our advice to dealers is not only should they make conducting mileage investigations an integral part of their business process to protect their reputation and their customers, but they must actively promote the fact that these checks have been done for customer peace of mind.
“Proof of a mileage check needs to be a key part of a dealer’s sales strategy, promoting the quality of their stock, as well as highlighting the dangers of clocking for their customers.”


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Twin Health to Expand its Operations with Newly Raised $ 140 Million
Twin Health, the company behind the Whole-Body Digital Twin precision health technology, has raised $140 million in Series C funding (about Rs 1,000 crore). The funds will be used to help the company expand its operations in India and the US.
Sequoia Capital India, ICONIQ Growth, Perceptive Advisors, Corner Ventures, LTS Investments, Helena, and Sofina all participated in the round.
Twin Health, which was founded in 2018, leverages IoT, AI, and machine learning to treat chronic metabolic disorders including type 2 diabetes.
The clinical research team at Twin Health is conducting the world's first randomized controlled trial (RCT) for employing digital twin technology to reverse chronic metabolic disorders. Early RCT results were recently presented and published in the Diabetes journal of the American Diabetes Association, including first-of-its-kind health outcomes.
"Our Whole Body Digital Twin lives alongside you, providing you a window into your stunningly complicated biology, constantly learning about your metabolism, and informing you what you can do right now to better your health”, adds Jahangir
Patients and their doctors can use the Whole Body Digital Twin to get nutrition, sleep, movement, and meditation breathing advice to safely reverse and avoid chronic metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and liver disease.
"My many years at Sequoia India have taught me that partnering with missionary founders who want to tackle difficult challenges in order to make the world a better place creates real change and real value. Twin Health is developing a game-changing healthcare solution. Jahangir's daring vision of reversing chronic metabolic disorders in a personalized fashion would pave the way for a new generation of healthtech advancements in India and around the world”, says Sequoia India's MD, Mohit Bhatnagar.
Jahangir is a digital pioneer, serial innovator, and entrepreneur. In the year 2000, he founded Kineto Wireless, which was the first to employ WiFi technologies in mobile phones for indoor voice and data. Later, he developed and grew Jasper Technologies into a major global IoT platform, which was purchased by Cisco in 2016 for $1.4 billion. According to Jahangir, "After becoming aware of the global scale of chronic disease, I decided to make the Whole Body Digital Twin my life's work. Every day, the positive influence Twin has on people's life energizes and encourages me”.
"Our Whole Body Digital Twin lives alongside you, providing you a window into your stunningly complicated biology, constantly learning about your metabolism, and informing you what you can do right now to better your health”, adds Jahangir.


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Eurozone 'facing lost decade of stagnation' as inflation falls and unemployment remains high
Fears that Europe is heading for a Japanese-style lost decade intensified yesterday after inflation unexpectedly fell and unemployment remained stubbornly high.
Figures from official statistics agency Eurostat showed inflation in the eurozone fell from 0.8 per cent in December to 0.7 per cent in January – stoking concerns that a damaging bout of deflation is on the way.
A separate report showed unemployment in the single currency bloc held firm at 12 per cent last month, with more than a quarter of the workforce in Greece and Spain unable to find a job.
Eurozone crisis: More than a quarter of the workforce in Greece and Spain is unable to find a job
There were more than 19million out of work – down 129,000 on November. The figures will pile pressure on the European Central Bank to take action to stop the region replicating the years of deflation and stagnation suffered by Japan.
Azad Zangana, European economist at Schroders, said: ‘The low levels of inflation are leading many investors to question whether the eurozone is slowly slipping into a Japanese-style deflationary downward spiral.’
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Social shopping platform Personas Social has rolled out a bitcoin payment system, according to a press release. The company will now accept bitcoin payments for purchasing content on its Peeks Social platform.
The release stated this will also come with identity verification which will require users to submit a photo ID and proof of address in order to enable funds withdrawals.
Personas Social has received requests from online merchants to use its bitcoin payment service and said it might consider expanding into payment processing for other merchants, the release noted.
DoppelPaymer said if the ransom wasn’t paid, stolen data would be shared with the public, according to the report. In addition, if not paid within 10 days, DoppelPaymer said the amount demanded would rise to 600 bitcoins, or over $30 million.
Right now, Kia Motors America is suffering severe power outages with both phone systems and web systems offline, CoinDesk reported.
Gemini said in the post that its mission is to “empower the individual through crypto, and we believe that journey begins with understanding. We know that the lack of comprehensive education around crypto is one of the main barriers to entry and adoption for consumers — which is where Cryptopedia can help.”
The new Cryptopedia will work for any level of knowledge with crypto, from those looking to learn about the fundamentals of bitcoin to deep dives on trendy new projects in decentralized finance (DeFi) or how trading and investing concepts apply to cryptocurrency, the post stated.
There’s also an expert network, which will provide insights from people like Brave CEO Brendan Eich, Aave CEO Stani Kulechov, Tezos Co-Founder Kathleen Breitman and others, according to the post.


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A skin microbiopsy device developed by researchers at the University of Queensland, that takes tissue samples smaller than 0.5mm in diameter could change the way skin cancers and other skin conditions are diagnosed and monitored.
The technology allows dermatologists to rapidly collect samples of skin without the use of local anaesthetic or sutures.
Professor Soyer said biopsies were commonly performed to diagnose suspected skin cancers and inflammatory skin conditions and the process relied on routine histopathology for diagnostic interpretation.
"Conventional skin biopsies are usually 2-4mm in diameter, which means local anaesthetic is required and one or two sutures needed to close the wound," he said.
"By contrast, the microbiopsy device being developed is relatively painless and leaves a tiny puncture site in the skin that heals in days.
"It also allows clinicians to analyse the molecular profile of a potential skin cancer or an inflammatory skin condition, which is significant because it opens the door to biomarker profiling, which dramatically improves diagnostic information for doctors, and will, in the future, lead to personalised medicine treatments."
Professor Soyer said the less-invasive device would also allow dermatologists to better monitor the progression of suspected skin cancers and other skin conditions over time, without the need for more invasive conventional biopsies.
The licence agreement follows an evaluation partnership announced by UniQuest and Trajan in 2017.
Trajan chief scientific officer Dr Andrew Gooley said he was excited the parties had reached the exclusive licence agreement to further develop and take the microbiopsy device to market.
UniQuest chief executive Dean Moss said it was fantastic to see UQ technology in the hands of an Australian-based global company like Trajan.
"As Australian skin cancer rates continue to increase, it's reassuring to see a University of Queensland innovation commercialised to potentially support early detection and improve treatment outcomes for patients," Dr Moss said.


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Business warns on cutsPUBLISHED: 15 Nov 2011 00:01:35 | UPDATED: 15 Nov 2011 03:00:31PUBLISHED: 14 Nov 2011 PRINT EDITION: 15 Nov 2011
Labor is promising “difficult decisions” as it searches for billions of dollars in savings, but business has cautioned against cutting so deeply that the economy stalls.
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According to a new lawsuit, Amazon.com Inc. earned billions through an Illegal internet gambling enterprise by distributing social casino apps and facilitating the purchase of virtual chips. In addition to breaking multiple laws, the brief argues, the actions of Amazon and the “Social Casinos Enterprise” amount to racketeering.
The complaint, filed by Nevada resident Steven Horn, relies heavily on a 2018 US appeals court decision that ruled social casino apps illegal under Washington State law. Despite that, the brief claims that Amazon offers more than 30 illegal casino apps through its “dangerous partnership” with social casinos.
On behalf of the proposed class, Horn seeks restitution, damages, and “relief from Amazon’s ongoing participation in an illegal internet gambling enterprise.”
Social Casinos Increasingly Face Legal Reckoning
Social casinos, explains the filing, are apps playable from smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
This ubiquity, the brief follows, makes the slot experience available to customers anytime and anywhere.
By moving their casino games directly onto the phones and computers of players, and by leveraging an innocuous-sounding “free-to-play” model, social casino companies, along with Defendant Amazon, have found a way to smuggle slot machines into the homes of consumers throughout the United States, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.
The lawsuit is the latest effort targeting online slot machines in Washington federal court.
In a similar case, Meta asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the argument that platform providers are liable for the in-app purchases facilitated between users and third-party providers.
That lawsuit named Meta, Google, and Apple as defendants over their involvement with social casino products.
Usually, in these cases, the companies behind the games argue that because chips are unredeemable, social casinos are distinct from gambling. Oppositionally, plaintiffs typically claim that because chips are required to play, they constitute a “thing of value” legally.
But, by settling these cases before judgment, companies have avoided setting legal precedents.
And if the Ninth Circuit gives Meta its way, that case won’t get even that far.
District Court Judge Edward J. Davila already dismissed the data sharing and advertising arguments in his ruling. However, when it came to facilitating the purchase of chips, Davila referred the question directly to the appeals court rather than enter a verdict.
Now, it’s up to the Ninth Circuit to dismiss or allow the case to proceed. Either outcome could lead to a precedent. Or, parties could settle, leaving the legality question for another day.
Acceptance Shifting in Some States
Still, even without strict precedent, the acceptance of social casinos has started to shift.
Alongside the 2018 Kater v. Churchill Downs ruling, Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel recently shuttered Golden Heart Games (GHG) social casino with an Assurance of Discontinuance.
The platform, Nessel said, constituted illegal gambling:
Unlicensed gaming robs our schools and our government of essential funding and leaves consumers unprotected. When companies like Golden Hearts attempt to circumvent Michigan’s gaming laws, they create the false impression that their games are legal and safe for consumers. My office is committed to ensuring that our gaming laws are strictly enforced and those who violate those laws are held accountable.
Since then, Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW), another social casino company, announced it’s pulling out of the state.
The company’s official statement reads:
VGW continually evaluates their business operations in the interests of all their stakeholders and after careful consideration they have decided to take this course of action.
Suit: Amazon Liable in Illegal Gambling Conspiracy
In the case against Amazon, Horn brings his claims for damages and injunctive relief under the Washington Return of Money Lost at Gambling Act (RMLGA), the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA), and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
According to the filing, social casinos are wildly lucrative due to their mix of addictive slot mechanics and the ability to exploit customers prone to addictive behaviors. That exploitation, the brief contends, depends on Amazon’s ability to leverage data to identify and target those consumers.
The lawsuit claims that in 2020 alone, consumers spent an estimated $6 billion on virtual social casino chips.
The brief notes the substantial boost that brings to Amazon’s bottom line.
In exchange for distributing the casino games, providing them valuable data and insight about their players, and collecting money from consumers, Amazon takes a 30-percent commission of every wager, earning billions in revenue.
By comparison, the “house” at a traditional casino only takes 1 to 15 percent while also taking on significant risk of loss in its operation. Amazon’s 30 percent take, on the other hand, is guaranteed for its ability to act as the casino “house” and broker.
Lawyers for the plaintiff claim that “tens of thousands of consumers” have been affected due to Amazon’s social casino partnerships.
Despite knowing that social casinos are illegal, Amazon continues to maintain a 30% financial interest in the upside by brokering the slot machine games, driving customers to them, and acting as the bank.
As such, Amazon is liable as a co-conspirator to an illegal gambling enterprise and conspiracy.
Amazon has not filed a response to the accusations or responded to Bonus’ request for comment.


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Today, many companies want to give access to back-end services to other applications through an application programming interface (API). It usually requires a tremendous amount of effort and resources to create, maintain and secure the API and make sure it’s operating correctly. Amazon hopes to simplify that by essentially creating an API as a Service.
A successful API could deal with millions or even billions of calls a day and this puts tremendous pressure on its servers and the company to make sure it’s operating smoothly. Everyone wants other services tying into theirs, but it takes work. If it’s not going smoothly, developers will simply find an alternative that is.
It also ties into other Amazon services (naturally) such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) for compute power and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) to verify and authenticate API requests. Developers can also take advantage of Amazon Lambda, announced at Amazon’s re:invent conference last fall, which lets programmers create programmable trigger events based on certain actions.
For instance, if your API is getting extremely popular and it’s causing latency, you could have a trigger event that kicks in at a certain amount of API calls to spin up new compute resources.
This announcement puts AWS in direct competition with several companies which have been offering API management services for some time including Apigee, which went public last April, Mashery and others. Just because a big player like Amazon enters a particular market isn’t a guarantee it will succeed, but it has to making these other players a bit uncomfortable right about now.
Amazon is charging $3.50 per million API calls received, plus the cost of data transfer out, in gigabytes. It also has additional charges depending on the amount of cache memory you’re using. You can find a list of the data transfer and caching rates on the Amazon API Gateway pricing page.
There is also a free tier, which includes one million API calls per month for up to 12 months


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Google to buy video compression firm for $106.5M
(AP) -- Google Inc. says it plans to acquire On2 Technologies Inc., a provider of digital video compression technology, in an all-stock deal valued at $106.5 million.
On2 helps shrink video files so they can be sent more easily across the Web, an increasingly important technology as the volume of online video grows rapidly.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, which owns the popular video sharing site YouTube, says On2 shareholders will receive 60 cents worth of Google class A common shares for each outstanding share of On2 they hold. That represents a 57 percent premium to the Clifton Park, N.Y., company's closing price Tuesday.
Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president for product management said Wednesday in a statement, "Today video is an essential part of the Web experience, and we believe high-quality video compression technology should be a part of the Web platform."
Google expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter.
Google's shares jumped $2.27 to $456 in premarket trading, while On2's shares surged 20 cents, or 52 percent, to 58 cents.
©2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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The visiting Canadian delegation has signed export and investment deals worth US$24 million during its two-week stay in Bangladesh, said Antonie de Wilde, senior programme manager of SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF).
The agreements include US$ 10 million in export orders and US$ 14 million in investments and joint ventures, he said while addressing a business meeting with members of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at its secretariat yesterday.
FBCCI President Yussuf Abdullah Harun presided over the meeting.
Significant investments have been made in sectors like ready made garment (RMG), beverage and leather but the delegation did not mention the sectors in which they signed export orders.
A Canadian garment manufacturer signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Bangladeshi company for orders worth three million US dollars. In another case, a Canadian garment manufacturer decided to relocate its Toronto factory to Bangladesh.
A Canadian beverage company signed a joint venture agreement with a Bangladeshi soft drink producer to set up a production plant with an approximate investment of seven million US dollars and annual sales of seven million US dollars.
Three Bangladeshi companies signed MoUs with a Canadian leather company. One of the MoUs, covers an investment of over three million US dollars. These three agreements cover immediate sales of over 2.5 million dollars, the delegation said in the meeting.
A Canadian Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) company signed a joint venture agreement with a local Internet service provider (ISP) for voice-over data contract with a value of one million dollars in annual sales.
A freight forwarding company signed MoUs with three Bangladeshi companies with an expected value of 750,000 US dollars.
Addressing the meeting, Greg MacDonald, leader of the delegation, said the joint ventures will not only help increase Bangladesh's exports to Canada but also to the neighbouring US market.
In his presentation, Ronald Beriet, representative of Trade Facilitation Office of Canada, highlighted the eligibility criteria of least developed countries (LDCs) for getting market access to Canada.
He also said the aim of the Canadian duty-free access is to help reduce poverty level in the LDCs and also to help poor countries cope with probable challenges of WTO regime.
He said the Trade Facilitation Office of Canada (TFOC) works for government departments and agencies, foreign trade and investment promotion organisations, and private companies
In the open discussion, speakers said small and medium industries have good prospects in Canada.
As the duty-free access allows any Bangladeshi product, excepting arms and poultry, to enter Canada, Dhaka should make extra efforts to diversify its export basket to include pharmaceutical, light engineering, shrimp, handicrafts, software sectors, apart from ready made garment (RMG) and leather, the speakers said.
Board of Investment (BOI) Executive Chairman Mahmudur Rahman urged for joint collaboration between the pharmaceutical sectors of both the countries.
Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Vice Chairman Habib Abu Ibrahim said the bureau will provide more facilities to the trade bodies to get access to foreign markets.
The EPB vice chairman also assured the Canadian delegation that the government will fill up the vacant posts of trade officials in different Bangladeshi foreign missions in the next two to three months after the delegation members expressed concern over it.
Mofizur Rahman, executive chairman of BEPZA, also spoke at the meeting attended by leading exporters, producers, and businessmen of Bangladesh.


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With its pickle-fork bow section and chiseled lines, Tigé's RZ2 already had styling to set it apart from other inboard V-drives on the market, but for 2009 Tigé has taken the model and bumped it up a few notches. Make that several notches.
One look at the stellar new graphics packages and the composite tower are a great indicator that the company has taken a fresh new design and made it even better. The new graphics include eye-popping colors and brash accents across the hullsides. The look is a welcome change from the "tribal flames" that swept through the inboard industry a couple of years ago, which looked more like prison tattoos than leading-edge graphic design.
The RZ2's new Alpha Z tower complements the graphics, but it also has features that make it easy to use. For example, it has counterweights inside that make it easier to raise and lower to windshield height, and docking lights for those wakeboard runs at dusk. You also have a choice of tower accessories, from custom speakers to board racks, all styled to look part of the package.
Also new for 2009 is the black-frame windshield and a redesigned interior, which also are congruent with the new graphics and tower. The profile of the dashboard has been lowered for the new model year, but still comes fitted with three-and-a-half-inch nonglare color display. Fitted exclusively with engines from Pleasurecraft Marine-as are all Tigés for 2009-the RZ2 comes standard with a 343-horsepower 5.7-liter V-8.
Measuring 22 feet long and 8 feet, 6 inches wide, the RZ2 weighs in at 4,150 pounds and carries 48 gallons of fuel. Factory literature says there is seating for 15-and the wide pickle-forked bow area does create more passenger room. What's more, Tigé says the RZ2 delivers "outstanding no-ballast wakeboarding wakes and astoundingly clean slalom wakes." That's something a test drive would verify.
At a price of $68,310, which Tigé says is for a nicely equipped model with the new tower and a standard engine, but no trailer, the RZ2 officially qualifies as an expensive V-drive. Anymore, it seems that's the kind of coin it takes to get the newest, latest and greatest.
For more information, call 325-676-7777 or visit Tigé.


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Apple is set to reveal a smaller, cheaper version of the iPad at an event on Oct. 23, according to several reports published Friday.
Apple Inc. hasn’t said anything about a smaller tablet, a concept company founder Steve Jobs derided. But company watchers have assumed for months that an “iPad mini” will appear before the holidays.
The screen is reportedly about half the size of the iPad’s. Analysts speculate the starting price of the device could be about $299.
With the device, Apple could close an opening in the tablet market for rivals like Amazon.com Inc., whose Kindle Fire is half the size of the iPad and starts at $199.
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- Fonar lands $440K PILOT to renew lease, renovate
- The China syndrome
- Average US rate on 30-year mortgage drops to 3.84 percent
- A look at Macy’s outlet stores
- McDonald’s, Tyson cut ties with farmer tied to abuse video
- US stocks extend recovery after Chinese market surges
- Hofstra rates high for family law
- Q&A with Richard Margulis
- Cablevision inks deal with CBS including Internet
- Sears to layoff 31, close Melville facility


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A large number of new iPhone 12 mini owners have reported lock screen sensitivity issues since receiving their phones.
The problem arises for most users when they swipe up from the bottom of the lock screen using their thumb to unlock the device, or when pressing the flashlight or camera buttons via the lock screen.
And the screen doesn’t always recognize pressing or swiping up to unlock, and sensitivity issues are gone once iPhone 12 mini is unlocked.
Fingers other than the thumb seem to have no problem, but this is not very helpful for a phone designed for one-handed use.
Some users speculate that the lack of response may be a connection or grounding problem, given reports that the problem resolves on its own when connecting the phone to a wall charger, or when using it without a cover.
However, there is no consensus yet on the cause of the problem, and whether it is hardware or software related.
Apple says it is aware of the issue and will provide a fix via a future software update.
The company stated that some audio devices connected to iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro or iPhone 12 Pro Max may emit unexpected noises, including constant loud sound, intermittent sound, or distorted sound.
Users have reported these issues on several online forums, including the Apple and Reddit support communities.
Apple has not specified which software update will include the fix, but it did release the first beta version of iOS 14.3 for developers and general testers earlier this week.
It is noteworthy that this is not the first time that users of hearing devices have difficulty using the new iPhone models, as the iOS 13.1.3 update was released in October 2019 to fix the reliability problems of the bluetooth connection, especially for audio devices.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. ETH, -1.37% on Thursday said fiscal fourth-quarter income rose to $22.4 million, or 66 cents a share, from $19.5 million, or 56 cents, a year ago. Sales for the three months ended June 30 increased to $272 million from $242.3 million. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call, on average, forecast earnings of 62 cents a share on sales of $266.4 million. For 2007, the Danbury, Conn., home furnishings retailer said earnings per share should grow 10% to 12%.
Ethan Allen profit, sales rise


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By Aisling Finn on Monday 4 May 2020
The fintech also plans to offer its Lithuanian customers credit cards and loans within the next few months.
Digital banking service Revolut has launched a bank under its European Banking licence in Lithuania.
Revolut’s 300,000 Lithuanian customers can now transfer their accounts from an e-money account to a fully-fledged bank account as of today.
The switch will now protect customer deposits up to €100,000 under the Lithuanian state company Deposit and Investment Insurance.
As well as now providing bank accounts, Revolut plans to offer its Lithuanian customers consumer loans and consumer credit cards in the next few months.
Virgilijus Mirkės, chief executive officer of Revolut Bank who was appointed to the role in June 2019, said: “Revolut has become a trusted household name in Lithuania. We are incredibly excited to take the next step in our mission to build a world-class bank for our customers in Lithuania.”
Revolut received its European Banking licence from the Bank of Lithuania in late 2018 and has since transferred its UK business customers over to its Lithuanian banking entity.
The transfer was revealed in a blog post citing the possibility of a no-deal Brexit as the reason for doing so.
Following the discovery that the fintech was on the hunt for a UK Chairperson to help score a UK banking licence, last week a spokesperson for the bank said: "Revolut has always said that our ambition is to become a global financial platform and we may consider an application in the future. Revolut has not at this stage applied for a UK Banking licence."
Despite now being a bank in Lithuania, the e-money institution is still yet to even apply for a banking licence here in the UK, having operated in the UK for five years without one


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Blue-chip shares bounced back today as worries about European banking began to fade and traders warmed to the latest US corporate earnings.
The FTSE 100 Index had lost more than 2.5% last week, partly driven by fears over Portugal's financial sector, but better sentiment at the start of the week helped the top-flight climb by 56 points to 6746.1, a rise of 0.8%.
France's Cac 40 posted a similar increase while in Frankfurt the Dax lifted more than 1%.
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On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was also enjoying a positive session. It came as quarterly results from US banking giant Citigroup helped add to expectations of a strong corporate earnings season - despite it announcing it would pay a 7 billion US dollar (£4.1 billion) fine to settle a federal probe over subprime mortgages.
On currency markets, sterling lost ground ahead of the publication of latest UK inflation figures, with the pound slipping to below 1.71 US dollars and also falling against the single currency towards 1.25 euros. In London, equities were buoyed over the latest update from takeover target Shire, which has entered into talks with US suitor AbbVie.
The pharmaceuticals firm said it had received a new takeover proposal worth more than £31 billion, which it would be willing to recommend.
Shire, which specialises in drugs to treat attention-deficit disorder and rare diseases, added it is now in discussions with AbbVie over the terms of the new proposal, which values Shire at 5330p a share. The stock rose 33p to 4903p.
Topping the FTSE 100 risers' board was Mike Ashley's Sports Direct, which rose nearly 4%, or 25p, to 723p, after the retailer said it would enter the Australia and New Zealand markets for the first time. Sports Direct has signed up to a partnership on the venture with MySale, the online discount retailer backed by Top Shop and BHS mogul Sir Philip Green. MySale shares rose nearly 2%, or 4p, to 214p.
Tesco was also a strong riser after a note from Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded the UK's biggest supermarket to buy from sell, saying it was 35% undervalued compared to its peers.
A reorganisation of UK operations could help recapture customers and lead to a return of sales growth in 2015, the broker added. Tesco improved more than 2%, or 6.4p, to 284.4p.
Rolls-Royce shares gained 13p to 1050p after Airbus, the European aerospace group, said it was to sell new versions of its A330 passenger jet powered by the British company's Trent 7000 engines.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were Sports Direct up 25p to 723p, Petrofac up 37p to 1198p, Johnson Matthey up 84p to 3056p and SABMiller up 84p to 3297p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 Index were easyJet down 22p to 1244p, Burberry down 14p to 1438p, Fresnillo down 8.5p to 919.5p and Randgold Resources down 35p to 5085p.


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Comments on: Yahoo Builds New Mobile Portal
Yahoo! has announced the debut of a new suite of search services for mobile users at the CTIA conference. This new search offering enables mobile consumers to search for local information, images and Web resources on mobile devices.
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Microsoft has released to manufacturing its Windows Phone 7 operating system for smartphones, taking a major step in its efforts to regain momentum in the mobile device market.
Word of the milestone came in a blog posted late Wednesday by Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone engineering.
From here Microsoft will be sending the mobile operating system to handset manufacturers who will build it into their products. Microsoft has said a number of manufacturers, including Dell, HTC, LG and Samsung, have committed to using Windows Phone 7.
Microsoft is playing catch-up in the mobile operating system arena where Windows Mobile, the current version of the vendor's mobile operating system, lags behind leaders Symbian and Research In Motion, and even more recent entrants Android and Apple's iPhone OS.
In the second quarter of this year Windows Mobile held only a five-percent share of the worldwide smartphone operating system market, according to market research firm Gartner, down from 9.3 percent in the second quarter of 2009.
At Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in July Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged that the company had missed "a whole generation of users" with its earlier mobile software efforts, but vowed to make up for lost ground with Windows Phone 7. Throughout WPC Microsoft executives never missed an opportunity to tout the capabilities of the new mobile operating system.
Efforts to build support for Windows Mobile 7 also include creation of an online showroom called Mobile App Match to spur development of third-party applications for the mobile operating system, and supporting the development of video games that will run with Windows Phone 7.
"While the final integration of Windows Phone 7 with our partners' hardware, software, and networks is underway, the work of our internal engineering team is largely complete," Myerson said in his blog.
"Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released," he wrote. "We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. We've had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback. We are ready."


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The postal authorities of Assam today said the services of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) would be available in 26 branches and 100 post offices in the state on the day of its launch on September 1.
The IPPB would be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on that day to leverage reach of 1.55 lakh post office branches in the country to provide banking and financial service to people in rural areas.
The IPPB service would be available to all the post offices of the state by December 31, Chief Post Master General, Assam Circle, Vishvapavan Pati said.
It was aimed at the financial inclusion agenda of the government by removing the barriers for the unbanked and underbanked population, he said.
Payments banks can accept deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh per account from individuals and small businesses. The IPPB will be used by government to distribute NREGA wages, subsidies, pension etc.
A wide range of products and services such as savings account, current account, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, 3rd party products, bill and utility payments and enterprise and merchant payments will be offered by the IPPB, Pati told reporters here.
Mobile banking, SMS/Missed Call Banking, Internet Banking, interactive voice response (IVR)/Call Centre and innovative delivery channels, including Post Office Counter and Door Step Banking, the CPMG said.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


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The spread of COVID-19 has affected thousands of lives and prompted many industries to think of transforming their supply chain model. So, this virus is now the black swan of 2020. It has already revealed the vulnerabilities of various businesses, which heavily rely on China to fulfill their business needs. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 or coronavirus a pandemic. Even after over two months, the virus is showing no visible signs of slowing. On a global level, more than eighty countries have imposed various policies to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, which mainly include quarantines, travel restrictions, suspending maximum business operations, and so on.
For many years, China has become known as the world’s largest manufacturing hub of electronic products. It is also called as “the world’s factory” owing to its strong business ecosystem, low taxes and duties, competitive currency practices, and the lack of regulatory compliance. The COVID-19 outbreak is arguably more impactful on operations and supply chain.
Initially, many companies struggled to deal with the fallout, which had a deep impact on manufacturing outcomes. Now, after China declared control over the spread, various factories in China from less virus-affected areas have re-opened, but the shipment and transport are still badly affected. Thus, many companies across the globe that have Covid-19 cases, as well as businesses with China, such as the USA, are taking preventative steps to avoid supply chain risk management.
How is Venture Mfg. Co. Preventing Supply Chain Disruption?
Venture Mfg. Co. is a US-based manufacturer of motion products and has come up with key guidelines that might trigger for policy changes. The company is focusing on all the necessary measures to prevent the impact of the virus on supply chain management.
- Hygiene and Sanitation: The company has been keeping its facilities, as well as inventories safe and sanitized, considering the vulnerability of the supply chain. Following these safety practices has helped prevent disruption in manufacturing.
- Safety of Employees: The health and safety of employees are of paramount importance for Venture Mfg. Thus, the company is actively taking efforts to determine the right policies for their staff. At this time, the company is educating its employees on signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and precautions that can avoid the risk of contracting the virus. Also, Venture is highly focusing on implementing a workplace emergency response protocol.
- Production Scheduling: In the time of crisis, many manufacturers are devising productive strategies to minimize disruption of supply chain. Venture is also implementing advanced planning and scheduling system that can improve their production with ease. They are taking the orders on first-come-first-serve basis to minimize the effect of the situation.
- Stringent Screening Protocols: Venture has a screening process in place for its employees and visitors. They also allow sick employees to take leave, and most others to work from home unless it is essential to be present in the office.
It’s quite impossible to predict the arrival and gravity of global crises such as COVID-19. However, businesses can lighten their impact by keeping their supply chain preparation to a higher level and leaving some buffer to accommodate such situations. They should be ready with new plans even before a disruption occurs. To know more about the COVID-19 supply chain plan, you can contact Venture Mfg. co. via phone or email provided on the website.


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Lockwood Haulage saw its annual turnover climb by almost 20% to £17.5m in its latest reporting period, thanks to new wins and the development of existing partnerships. Keith Allsop, Lockwood key account manager, told MT that the growth in its haulage division was a result of “agreeing further commitment” with long established customers. This also led to an increase in its fleet numbers, as well as winning new business. Pre-tax profit in the 12 months to 31 January 2018 at […]
Elddis Transport has joined Palletforce after a 17-year hiatus from pallet networks.
Palletforce has added DNA Express Couriers and NGC Logistics to its network.
Aberdeen-based ARR Craib Transport saw off difficult conditions in its key oil and gas sectors last year, helped by several major wins in the construction and fast moving consumer goods markets.


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Raid on cyber cafes, 6 couples detained
Cuttack, March 1: Police have launched a special drive against cyber cafes in the city to ensure that people, especially teenagers, refrain from indulging in “immoral acts” at public places.
Moreover, six couples were detained and subsequently released after a raid on a cyber café at Buxi Bazar yesterday.
The café owner has been arrested under sections 292, 293 and 7 of the Cinematography Act and produced before court today. Three computers and hard disks were seized on the allegation that these gadgets stored pornographic content. Moreover, the hard disks will be sent for further investigation by computer experts.
Sources said that despite restrictions, many cyber cafes were functioning in violation of the new guidelines, which barred setting up of covered cubicles. Even high partitions and closed cabins are banned.
“It is the girls, who could fall victim as there is every possibility that their intimate moments might be captured and circulated on internet or in the form of CDs,” said Dinesh Shah, a local resident.
Senior police officials said efforts are on to create awareness among the youths. “We are alert and raids are being conducted following specific allegations regarding illegal activities inside cyber cafes,” said deputy commissioner of police S. Praveen Kumar.
The cyber café at Buxi Bazar was operating without adhering to the prescribed guidelines. This is the second cyber café that has been raided in the past 15 days in the city.
On February 21, the police had raided a café in front of Shailabala Women’s College near Chandi Mandir Square. At that time, the cops seized two computers and many objectionable items, including some pornographic CDs. The cyber café had been operating from a residential-cum-market complex for a couple of years. The café had been raided on April 28 last year and four computers were seized.
In another development, many cyber cafes have installed softwares that block access whenever a user tries to view pornographic sites. Similarly, it is been made mandatory for the customers to carry identity cards before accessing computers at any cyber cafe.
“We are strictly adhering to the norms and maintaining customer records. We ask for identity proofs from our customers,” said Rakesh, a cyber café owner.


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It's time for all the designers, models, and assorted hangers on to finally head home and get over the constant champagne buzz of New York Fashion Week. Yes, today is the final day of the festivities, and we're still bringing you the best images of the day, like this model at Elie Tahari, who does not want to be messed with. [Image via Getty]
It's a big day for Jewish fashion designers from the outer boroughs, clearly: Brooklyn native Isaac Mizrahi turns 48 today; meanwhile, the Bronx's very own Ralph Lauren is turning 70. Others celebrating today: Usher is turning 31. Yankees manager Joe Girardi turns 45. Actor Roger Moore is 82. Marc Jacobs' longtime business partner, Robert Duffy, is turning 55. Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks is 35. Czech model Daniela Pestova is 39. Sports radio host Jim Rome is turning 45. Writer Katha Pollitt turns 60. Wrestler/actress Stacy Keibler is 30. And Madonna's daughter, Lourdes Leon, who looks like she's turning 21, is actually turning 13 today.
Because the fashion industry really, really wants you start shopping again, it's pulling out all the stops for Fashion's Night Out, the hyped-up retail pep rally scheduled for September 10. The latest PR offensive: A TV commercial featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Isaac Mizrahi, Diddy, Tory Burch, Lazaro Hernandez, Ashley Olsen, and a whole bunch of others—all jam-packed into a spot that's less than a minute long. If you watch the commercial—and you can do so above—make sure you're paying attention at the 0:30 mark. It's not every day that you get to see Anna Wintour come off as a giddy schoolgirl.
New York's epic article about Annie Leibovitz in this week's issue is well worth a read, particularly since it sheds a little light on how it is one of the world's highest-paid photographers now finds herself on the brink of financial ruin. (If the only person you'll allow to repair your air-conditioner has to travel to NYC from Vermont to do the work, that's probably not a good sign.) Leibovitz's financial fate will likely be sealed in September when the $24 million loan she secured from Art Capital Group last year is due. Interestingly, though, Leibovitz appears to be hinting that the terms of the loan— which required her to put up the rights to her photos and real estate holdings as collateral—only became apparent to her after the Times reported on Art Capital Group back in February. Friends of the photographer suggest that Leibovitz had no idea she was giving up so much when she took out the loan; they also seem to be shifting some of the blame to Ken Starr, the financial adviser who took the photographer on as a client in 2007 and who was also responsible for introducing Leibovitz to Art Capital Group. Pinning the blame on Starr, who boasts an insanely long list of celebrity clients, may be a hard argument to make.
• QVC has tapped Isaac Mizrahi to host a show that's "part pitch, part reality show." The shopping network will air eight hours of "Isaac Mizrahi Live!" a month beginning in December. [WSJ]
• Rachel Roy is opening a pop-up shop in Soho in September. [NL]
• Tory Burch has sold a stake in her company to a Mexico City-based private equity firm. [NYT]
• Marc Jacobs' latest collection of t-shirts take a stand on gay marriage. "I pay my taxes, I want my RIGHTS!" is stamped on the front. [Cut]
• How did a fish-and-chips waitress named Laura Hollins transform herself into supermodel Agyness Deyn? Cintra Wilson reports. [NYT]
• Crisis averted! The $5,950 alligator clutch that some people thought Michelle Obama was carrying in Russia earlier this week was a much more modest $875 leather one. [NYDN]
• Say hello to the 16 contestants who will be making it work (or not) when the new season of Project Runway debuts next month. [People]
• The Calvin Klein billboard in Soho that has caused a bit of controversy recently has been replaced. Of course, just swapping out the ads could be part of the company's PR strategy to keep people talking about the ad campaign, in which case, well, it worked nicely. [GoaG]
• Rumor has it Anna Wintour has offered a Vogue internship to Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton. [Grazia]
• Rumor also has it Emma Watson is designing a teen line. [Fashionista]
• Olivia Palermo plans to model now: She's signed with Wilhelmina. [P6]
• Isaac Mizrahi is opening a store on the Upper East Side in August. [WWD]
• Gwyneth Paltrow is planning to give up her contract with Estée Lauder so she can focus on her website Goop.com, per the ever-reliable Daily Mail. More troubling: The paper says her plan is to "become an Oprah Winfrey-like lifestyle guru." [DM]
• Michelle Obama returned to NYC today. She attended the reopening of a wing at the Met (where she wore a coat by Isaac Mizrahi coat and sat next to Ralph Lauren, Iman, and Anna Wintour). Then it was over to opening night at the American Ballet Theater. [WWD, NYT]
• An excerpt from Lauren Conrad's debut novel has been posted online, in case you feel up to tackling some heavy literature. [Teen Vogue]
• Valentino, diplomat of fashion: "I saw the pictures of the Metropolitan gala evening last week and I never saw something more ugly." [Guardian]
• Speaking of Valentino, Time Out's current issue tests out self-tanners. [TONY]