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Rebecca Jackson, who will be competing in the FIA Electric Production Car Series this year, welcomes on board Morris Lubricants. The company, which is one of the largest privately-owned manufacturers of high-quality lubricants in Europe, will be supporting Rebecca during her season in the Tesla Model S P100D.
Rebecca is very excited about this partnership and is looking forward to the first race in France in November. She says: “I’m so pleased to have Morris Lubricants on board as they’ve been supporting British motorsport for a number of years. I’ve got no doubt we’re going to do fantastic things together.”
Alongside her efforts in the Electric Production Car Series, Rebecca will also be competing in another championship, which will be announced soon. Throughout her racing schedule, she’ll be working closely with the team at Morris Lubricants to promote the brand in the UK and beyond.
Morris Lubricants launched its successful Morris Lubricants Racing (MLR) programme in 2016 to support all levels of British motorsport and promote the company’s superior quality oils and lubricants. In 2018, the Shrewsbury-based company re-opened its MLR programme to applicants at Autosport International Show at the NEC, Birmingham.
More than 400 applications from talented drivers and riders, who provided details about themselves, their racing credentials and their ambition, were received by the company from all levels of British motorsport.
Gina Hinde, marketing manager at Morris Lubricants, is pleased to have Rebecca on board. She says: “We see Rebecca as a fantastic ambassador for Morris Lubricants. 2018 is definitely going to be a strong year for women, which will bring significant step-changes towards equality and we hope that motorsport will follow this progression. Rebecca has proved herself as a very talented driver and that she can mix it up with the best of them.
“She is not only a great ambassador for the company but for people of all backgrounds in motorsport.”
With a proud heritage dating back to 1869, Morris Lubricants is one of the largest privately-owned manufacturers of high quality lubricants in Europe. Over the past 148 years, the company has developed a global reputation for delivering the highest quality products and services across a range of sectors in more than 85 countries worldwide. Find out more at www.morrislubricants.co.uk.


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The baby industry is an industry that a lot of entrepreneurs don’t pay attention to. Knowing fully well that the rapid spread of the COVID-19 outbreak has come with a devastating global impact on various industries. It has become a global threat and taken a lot of jobs and businesses to the cleaners.
Looking at the future with the spectacles of the past. One thing I can tell you that the World isn’t talking about is the impending population explosion that is about to hit us during Post-Covid-19.
Remember the “Baby Boomers” during post World War II – The population explosion of new infants immediately and the War. About 77 million babies were born in the United States alone, making a total of nearly 40% of the American population. These 77 million people born between 1946 and 1964 in the US alone and the birth rates across the world spiked.
However, history has it that the idea behind the Baby Boomer was caused by two factors: People wanting to start the families that they put off during World War II and the Great Depression. They were also optimistic that the coming era would be safe and prosperous. This was indeed true in all indication. The late 1940s and 1950s generally saw increases in wages, thriving businesses, and an increase in the variety and quantity of products for consumers. Those who invested in the baby industry made a fortune.
A lot of Companies were birthed and founded to capture the Baby Boomers Generation. Brands ranging from; Reese Peanut butter, Quaker Oat, Pampers, Huggies, Ziploc, Band-Aid, McCormick, Chiquita, etc.
This is an industry that is going to have an upward trajectory during Post-Covid-19. The exponential growth is going to hit an all-time high of 162%. You can’t leave two adults on lockdown for months without expecting the third.
More so, the baby care products market is projected to be worth approximately 109.13 billion U.S. dollars worldwide in 2026. This is a geometric increase from 73.86 billion U.S. dollars, which was the estimated value of the market in 2018 according to research by (Globe Newswire). The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the market is expected to grow by 7.3% (CAGR 2020-2025).
Some key players are currently moving with the tide and contributing to the size of the market?
Key companies in the global market are increasing their production because of the boom that is about to hit the market. Procter & Gamble Company, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Johnson & Johnson PLC, Unilever PLC, Nestle S.A., and Abbott Nutrition.
The baby care market is composed of different sectors and products, such as toys, feeding accessories, wipes, disposable diapers, body care products, and soothers.
- Cosmetic & Toiletries
- Baby Skin Care Products
- Bath Products
- Baby Hair Care Products
- Other Cosmetics & Toiletries
- Baby Food
- Milk Products
- Frozen Baby Food
- Baby Juice
- Baby Food Snacks
- Baby Food Cereals
- Baby Safety & Convenience
- Baby Strollers
- Baby Car Seats
With all of these currently unfolding from this industry. If there is an industry to play around in the next 1-5 years- The kiddies Industry is one of them.
Hence, the need to position yourself for the Boom that is about to hit the baby industry and tell the future from the previous events of the past.
Photo Credit: Pinterest

domain: news


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My holiday gift giving season started early Thursday morning when the UPS guy pounded on my door and handed me a package. Inside was a notebook -- Google's much-discussed cloud-based Cr-48 Chrome OS laptop, which was announced by the company on Tuesd...
The CR-48 has landed! This morning, we received one of Google's first Chrome OS-powered laptops. As you'll see in our video, the CR-48 looks a lot like an old black Apple MacBook that's trying to sneak past customs -- it's all flat black with no stic...
Google's Chrome OS is coming to a netbook near you sometime later this year. The Web-centric, Linux-based, open source platform will offer a lightweight, cost-effective alternative operating system for portable computing.
It's official: Google plans to debut its Chrome operating system in the fourth quarter of this year, although the company has yet to provide an exact launch date. Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management, made the announcement W...
Despite Google's move into the operating system (OS) space, the idea of a primarily cloud-centric OS is nothing revolutionary; the earliest examples date back to 1999. And although numerous other attempts at developing Web-centric OSes none up to th...
The Great Recession cast a shadow on all sectors of the economy in 2009. IT fared better than most, however, and the slump did not curb the dynamic nature of the industry. Acquisitions among big vendors continued to reshape the market, operating-syst...
When Google first announced its Chrome OS project, many commentators assumed that the Internet giant was challenging the dominance of Microsoft Windows. The truth is, Chrome is not a threat to Windows, OS X, or any distribution of Linux--nor is it me...
When Google unveiled its open source Chrome OS on Thursday, many commentators were quick to dismiss the new operating system as unimpressive and underwhelming. Citing everything from the browser interface that represents the entirety of the user expe...
Misconceptions and misinformation have surrounded the Chrome OS almost since the day it was announced. This week's press conference at Google's Mountain View, Calif., campus helped to clear the air, but uncertainty about what the search giant's new O...
Google's mantra is "Don't be evil." Let's hope it the tech giant means it, because if Chrome OS succeeds in replacing Windows at the world's dominant operating system, Google's sway over the computing world could be exponentially higher than it is t...
Google's Chrome OS event made me realize: There is a lot in Google's OS that can benefit Microsoft--like giving it a completely new platform and one it needs. If Google is really true to its open source promises, Microsoft should join the fun.
Thursday Google opened its doors to the press to show off its hotly anticipated Chrome operating system. In a small auditorium in Mountain View, California, Google VP of Product Development Sundar Pichai took to the stage to give us a demonstration o...
Tomorrow's hot ticket is for the Chrome OS event at Google HQ down in Mountain View. Chrome OS has already caught many imaginations, as something exciting often does, especially before the real world interrupts the fantasy.
Google Chome OS, which Google is expected to preview this Thursday, has been the subject of much speculation and rumors since its announcement last summer, when Google made public its plans to develop a lightweight, open-source Linux-based OS aimed p...
Google says it is working on an operating system designed for netbooks that boots in seconds, is impervious to viruses, and is designed to run Web-based applications really well. What's not to like? Plenty--if you're the number one software maker, Mi...
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The Economist | 9/15/2011 12:00:00 PM
Bridging the gaps
September 15--A creaking transport network is holding back Colombia’s growth. How fast can Juan Manuel Santos improve it?, 246447
The costs of Colombia’s deficient infrastructure—which came 79th of 139 countries’ networks ranked by the World Economic Forum—are massive. Moving goods from inland cities to a port can be more expensive than shipping them from the port to a market halfway around the world. Gerardo Duque, a lorry driver, says driving the 410km from Bogotá to the south-western city of Cali can take 14 hours “on one of the better routes”. As a result, exporting a standard shipping container costs $1,770 in Colombia, against $1,480 in Argentina. Luis Carlos Villegas, the head of the national industry group, likens the infrastructure deficit to a 10-15% tax. And government planners say that resolving it could raise annual GDP growth by a full percentage point.
Read more here.
Semana International delivers news about Colombia in English. Find more in our home.


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Weaker economic data and growing uncertainty around company debt has made the yield curve inversion more serious, according to Morgan Stanley.
The exec will continue as a senior adviser after his retirement and continue to have an office and assistant at the Wall Street firm
The stock market's 'dead cat bounce' is over and the rolling bear market is making a comeback, Morgan Stanley says
The stock market may have bounced back following its sell-off in early October, but Morgan Stanley says the selling is going to pick back up soon.
Morgan Stanley says they just witnessed Nordstrom’s strongest quarter of the year, but are still raising their price target.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas teased a tie-up between Elon Musk's companies.
The hurricanes wrecked so many cars that they gave a boost to auto sales, as well as automakers' and auto-dealers' stocks.
Amazon is taking over a number of industries, but which will be hit the hardest, and which are safe from the e-commerce giant.
Rumors have swirled over the past two days that Ferrari is planning some sort of more versatile vehicle.
Roboadvisers claim they're going to dominate money management. Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman isn't convinced.
John Mack, former CEO of Morgan Stanley, has invested in a cryptocurrency agency broker startup.
The downgrade is a result of worries over user growth and strong competition.
Wind, solar, geothermal and hydroelectric are on pace to be cheaper than coal in less than three years.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas — a Tesla bull, for the most part — published a note in Thursday in which he captured the mood around Tesla.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas lays out a strong case for Elon Musk's big-boy truck.
The firm does expect total Tesla vehicle production — Model S, Model X, and Model 3 — to add up to nearly 400,000 units by 2020.
This year's list is shorter than last year's, when 156 people were named managing director.
There aren't a whole lot of iconic American manufacturing companies that are better situated to prosper in a Trump America.
Morgan Stanley analysts have articulated themes and concerns developed for the past two years, as the mobility landscape is transformed.


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More grist to the recent blockchain conversation mill!
Clickmine by Sarah Friend (Canada)
We are pleased to announce this new co-commission by NEoN and
Selected from an open call circulated as part of Furtherfield’s
ongoing investigations into the politics of the blockchain, smart
contracts, and cryptocurrency systems and NEoN’s programme using
‘media archaeology’ to uncover and reconsider the obsolete,
persistent, and hidden material cultures of the technological age.
The online work will be available soon and a free to play version
will be exhibited at the upcoming NEoN
festival in Dundee
Clickmine is a hyperinflationary ERC-20 token that is minted by a clicking game. Clicking games, like cookie clicker and cow clicker, are the reductio ad absurdum of a ‘game’ (brutalist with a sense of humour). The cryptocurrency ecosystem, (particularly the Ethereum network), has been overrun by the phenomena of token sales or International Coin Offerings (ICOs). The fervor to purchase ERC-20 tokens (a meta currency that exists on top of Ethereum itself) has
reached such an intensity that it stalls the processing time of the network. This has already prompted the creation of satirical coins UselessToken and Ponzicoin. Clickmine moves similar mechanics onto the blockchain, in a hypercapitalist frenzy that makes the generation of useless wealth via clicking more literal than ever before.
Read more here


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Heat named NBA’s 2013 Co-Retailer of the Year
MIAMI — The Miami Heat have been named the 2013 Co-Team Retailer of the Year by the National Basketball Association for their successful merchandise sales during the 2012-13 NBA season.
Miami now is the only four-time winner of the award, which has been given annually since 2002 to highlight the accomplishments of team merchandise sales and operations. The award recognizes the NBA’s most successful merchandising operations in the categories of innovative marketing and merchandising programs, breadth of product assortment, customer service, consumer shopping experience, and overall sales success. The Heat previously won the award in 2003, 2006 and 2011. The HEAT shares this year’s award with the Golden State Warriors.
On the heels of their second consecutive NBA title, the Heat achieved record-breaking merchandise sales in-arena and expanded their marketing and retail efforts by opening new retail locations throughout the community. Energized by the introduction of the White Hot and Hardwood Classics Red uniform collections, the team recorded the highest regular season, NBA Playoffs and NBA Finals retail sales per cap average in league history. The Heat have been among the top 10 teams in NBA retail sales every year since 2002, among the top five teams in retail sales for seven years and currently leads the NBA in retail sales per cap for the 2013-14 season.
Under the direction of Vice President of Retail Business and Development, Andy Montero ("Crazy Andy"), the Miami Heat Retail Department manages four retail outlets: the flagship store at AmericanAirlines Arena, the satellite store located in Dolphin Mall, its newest location inside Miami International Airport’s American Airlines Concourse D32 and its online retail site, TheMiamiHEATStore.com. In addition, first introduced during the 2011 NBA Playoffs, two 48-foot Miami HEAT Store trailers are stationed outside the front of the Arena to meet the increasing retail demands of HEAT fans.
The Heat also implemented unique promotional campaigns such as the 2013 White Hot playoff program, Crazy Andy Items of the Game and Internet-only, Black Friday and Cyber Monday themed programs to help drive sales.


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December 17th, 2012 | By Charles Ferrendelli
The mini-version of the hit indie title, Minecraft, has now sold over 5 million copies between iOS and Android. It’s pretty astounding when you consider that between all platforms, including Xbox 360 and PC, that Minecraft: Pocket Edition account for more than one-fourth of the series sales.
Despite how well it has sold, Pocket Edition is the much lesser developed in comparison to the XBLA and PC version. We’ve seen over the past few months Mojang continuously updating the game to catch it up to speed to its bigger version.
Currently the one big feature Minecraft: Pocket Edition is missing is online multiplayer. Users can play together via local Wi-Fi, but not through the Internet. However Johan Bernhardsson of Mojang has recently stated that online multiplayer is in the works.


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The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) set up to issue ISINs for OTC derivatives under MiFID II has published a report covering functional changes that will be made based on industry feedback to a second industry consultation that opened at the end of June 2018 and closed a month later. The final consultation report also notes industry interest in additional use cases for ISINs.
The consultation asked industry members to consider revision of DSB user categories and the fee model; changes to DSB functionality; service levels; and access and user agreements. The consultation questions were shared with DSB’s 373 user organisations as well as with subscribers to DSB updates, trade associations and other interested parties. Fifteen responses from 19 entities were received by the DSB, predominantly from paying users of its services.
Emma Kalliomaki, managing director of the DSB and its parent the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA), comments: “We are listening intently to industry opinion, and for the most part, sentiment has shifted to exploring how to move forward with additional use cases to bring more ISIN efficiency to the industry.”
The consultation report notes that current user categories – power users with programmatic connectivity that pay fees, registered users that receive a free service, and infrequent users and standard users that receive free GUI connectivity – will remain the same, reflecting industry feedback.
Based on industry consensus that users should continue to pay the DSB on the basis of their use of its services and infrastructure, and that the fee model should continue to be based on total message impact on the DSB instead of a move towards ISIN creation metrics, the report states that the DSB will ‘work with industry in 2019 to review and agree the way forward to determine an appropriate fee model’. It will also review the user agreement to allow users to make a single agreement with the DSB covering multiple user categories.
In terms of functionality and taking into account industry responses to consultation questions covering whether the DSB should create a user forum, proceed with dynamic enumerations, and implement proposed monthly metadata reports, the report notes that a user forum will not be created as a product committee and technical advisory committee are already in place.
On facilitating dynamic enumerations, the DSB, which is financed on a cost recovery basis, will proceed at a build cost of €500,000 to €750,000 depending on implementation details. The cost will be amortised over a four-year period, but will have an impact of €125,000 to €187,5000 per year and equate to a 1.4% to 2.0% increase on the 2018 cost base. It will also proceed with the provision of specific metadata.
Industry responses to questions about operations and service levels resulted in the DSB reporting that it will investigate the expansion of the product committee, most probably to allow trade associations to be represented, before the end of 2018. Malavika Solanki, a member of the DSB management team, says: “There will be some changes to the operating model of the product committee and its size, which will make it easier to engage with the DSB and discuss how we can work together with the industry to find solutions that will benefit the market as a whole.”
In line with increased support services approved by a meeting of the technical advisory committee, from 1 January 2019, the DSB will remain operational on all holidays, increase availability hours from 24×6 to 24×6.5, improve email response times for power users, instigate an on call rota for technical support during unavailability hours, move to a monthly release schedule for all BAU functionality, and publish monthly support statistics.
These changes also carry costs, with the DSB envisioning an additional running cost of €382,000 a year that will equate to a 4.2% increase on the 2018 cost base.
In conjunction with the consultation report, the DSB published a draft user agreement and associated policies. Comments on the draft must be submitted in the next couple of weeks before a final version of the agreement is published on 20 September 2018. Final costs for DSB services in 2019, based on 2018 charges, as well as per user fees and numbers of users will be made available on 5 December 2018.
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From October 21 to 24, 2019, the Aqua Expo 2019, the world aquaculture congress that gathers larvicicultures, producers and exporters of the continent, is held at the Convention Center of Guayaquil. There are about 200 companies participating in the business fair, where they present their latest technology products, goods and services in an area of 6,500 m2.
The conference program has the participation of 35 international experts and five national speakers. The topics to be addressed are: crop production and management, shrimp sustainability, nutrition and feeding strategies, genetic improvement, shrimp health management in crop systems, new technologies applied to industry and the market situation.
At the opening of the event were the Minister of Environment, Raul Ledesma and the Deputy Minister of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Roberto Viteri.
The President of the Republic sent a letter in which he stressed the importance of the shrimp industry, which represents the first non-oil export item with a growth of 19% this year.
Moreno announced the possibility of abolishing the Value Added Tax for the shrimp producer. For his part, José Antonio Camposano, executive president of the National Chamber of Aquaculture, indicated that it is a correct decision for the benefit of the sector.
He stressed that this is the most important trade fair in the sector. The shrimp sector generates more than 261,000 direct and indirect jobs and a great impact on the Ecuadorian economy.
During the Aqua Expo, the worldwide launch of Motiv, a bioactive and beneficial protein for the shrimp sector, will be offered, offering shrimp producers a solution to reduce stress and minimize the impact of the disease, while increasing growth, Shrimp


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According to a story in the Hartford Courant, the state’s US House delegation, all Democrats, voted in favor of climate change legislation that will increase the average American family’s yearly expenses by $1,500. The federal congressional budget office and the US Environmental Protection Agency estimate the yearly rise at $80 - $175 per year.
Asked to clarify the gap between the widely divergent estimates, spokesman for United Illuminating Al Carbone said "From our initial review, we don't think it's going to decrease rates. Let's put it that way.”
Let's put it this way: All regulations involve hidden costs passed along to consumers in the form of price increases. In this way regulatory costs are like business taxes, and business taxes passed along to consumers are destimulants.
What the government gives with the right hand it takes away with the left, leaving taxpayers, to quote an old saw, "holding the bag."


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NEPEAN, ONTARIO -- Anniversaries give us a chance to both reflect back, think about our current situation and wonder what the future holds. With the CKCA turning 50 this year, it is a time of reflection and celebration, but also an opportunity to think about what’s next. The kitchen cabinet manufacturing industry in Canada began in the late 50’s. What used to be the job of a trim carpenter who was building a home and also built the cabinets in the kitchen, has morphed into a complex manufacturing system driven by computers and robotics. But even with all the technology, behind it, all are the real people, the committed business owners and their employees who are at the heart of any business. With the pressures of skilled trade labour shortages, the large numbers of people starting to retire, the ever-changing kitchen design and smart technologies of the home, the demand for kitchen cabinets remains constant and challenging.
We start with you.
CKCA celebrates the anniversary by collecting the stories behind the many successful businesses. So much hard work, perseverance and creativity have gone into building the industry to where it is today. How do we ensure its sustainability for the future? If you are a manufacturer or supplier in this industry we want to hear from you. We want your stories, your thoughts on what it takes to be successful in this industry. Why did you get into this industry? What have you learned? What would you say to that high school student who is contemplating the profession? With your help, the CKCA will create a tool to share with the industry that provides the insight on how to be successful. A legacy project to thank those who have given so much and an opportunity to mentor the next generation. We know many companies are family run and are passing down their business to the next generation. But we still need the injection of new employees, new entrepreneurs, new innovators and we need to support those businesses that are being passed down through the generations. With your help we can entice the next generation to join this exciting industry with a proven record of success built on a solid foundation of experience. The founders of CKCA understood that bringing the industry together would always be valuable and 50 years later, this industry has benefitted from their foresight.
Tell us your story. CKCA has created a survey, please go to the link in this article and help us build a succession tool for the industry.
We start with you.
Have something to say? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.


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By this point, you have to wonder if there is something in the water at BlackBerry’s headquarters in Canada.
In an exclusive interview with The National last week, chief executive John Chen revealed that his company is going to release two new devices in 2016 - one with the famous BlackBerry keyboard and another that's all touchscreen, both running Google's Android operating system.
Pretty much everyone is now wondering, if they haven’t already been doing so for some time, why BlackBerry is bothering. The company should have thrown in the towel on phones and focused its attention on software long ago, yet still it soldiers on to continually diminishing returns.
The depth and speed of BlackBerry’s fall has been almost unprecedented.
In 2007, the company was riding high as the pioneer of the smartphone market. Corporate executives, celebrities and even heads of state were glued to their “Crackberries.” BlackBerry hit a peak market capitalisation of $69 billion (Canadian) on the Toronto Stock Exchange and, for a time, it was the most valuable company in Canada.
But executives met the iPhone’s arrival with a shocking degree of hubris. Then co-chief executive officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis derided Apple’s effort, believing no one would want a touchscreen phone and that their device was superior.
How wrong they were. Just a few short years later, Apple was dominating, followed by Google via multiple manufacturers. BlackBerry had badly misjudged consumers’ desire for large touchscreens and apps that did everything from display movie times to deliver pizza.
The company’s market share has plummeted from a world-leading 20 per cent to less than one per cent as a result. In late 2013, Mr. Chen, who previously turned around software vendor Sybase, was brought in to do the same at BlackBerry. The company he inherited was a shadow of its former self, with its market cap at around C$3 billion.
The BlackBerry Priv, finally released in the UAE in January, was supposed to be the company’s saviour. Running Android, it had all the apps people wanted, plus the iconic keyboard that made BlackBerry a force to begin with. It was also touted as the most secure Android phone, since it had the company’s vaunted privacy features built in.
None of it mattered. The Priv flopped hard, with BlackBerry selling only 600,000 total devices in the three months to the end of March, well below analyst estimates of 850,000. By comparison, Apple sold nearly 75 million iPhones in its most recent quarter.
In his interview with The National, Mr. Chen admitted the Priv was too expensive. “A lot of enterprise customers have said to us, ‘I want to buy your phone but $700 (US) is a little too steep for me. I’m more interested in a $400 device’.”
The next two Android phones will thus be aimed mid-market, but that is also proving to be a moving target. By the time BlackBerry has a $400 Android device, the mid-market is likely to have shifted even lower.
Samsung, the world’s largest phone maker, has seen the average selling price of its phones drop to US$343 in 2015 from nearly US$500 in 2010. Even Apple has experienced slowing sales thanks to a saturating market, prompting last month’s release of the cheaper iPhone SE.
With trajectories like that, BlackBerry’s desire to continue making phones looks more nonsensical by the day, especially when its software and services revenue more than doubled in its latest quarter to US$153 million year-over-year. For the full year, that revenue surged 113 per cent to US$527 million.
It could be that Mr. Chen is trying to buy time for the software business to continue building momentum with stopgap handsets. But with the number of BlackBerry faithful quickly approaching zero and the company spending dwindling resources on developing those devices, it’s clear he’s wasting time - not buying it.
Despite his history with turnarounds, Mr. Chen simply hasn’t delivered with BlackBerry. Overall revenue has fallen from US$11 billion in 2013 to just over $2.1bn in the fiscal year that ended in February, while the stock price has not left its doldrums during his tenure.
The company has been shedding almost as many employees as customers, with the latest round of 200 job cuts coming two months ago. With its continuing poor performance and an insistence on sticking with a failed formula, BlackBerry might want to consider shedding one more employee.
Peter Nowak is a veteran technology writer and the author of Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of the Species.
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The Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 first sale ended very fast after its official launch in India. Samsung is now looking forward to bringing another stock on February 7,
Samsung finally unveils the official Samsung Galaxy M20 phone. The M20 is so far the only Samsung phone to sport the Notch display feature with massive battery box of 5000mAh power.
The Korean giant is all set to unveil its budget Samsung Galaxy M20 phone in February. In fact, the Galaxy M20 handset is the first Samsung phone ever to sport
Samsung Galaxy M20 is another Samsung budget phone that carries a big 5,000 mAh battery box. The phone offers some cool decent specs and its launch market date is also


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24 February 2017
Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) is expected to benefit from the Australian Federal Government’s recent move to facilitate faster access to medical cannabis for patients in Australia.
The company’s shares were last trading 13% higher intra-day on Friday, at $0.305.
The Federal Government has authorised the import of medical cannabis by approved providers from international sources to boost local supply until domestic production meets Australian needs.
Importantly, Creso’s exclusive facilitator in Australia, Health House International, has been granted an import/export licence.
Creso is a pioneer in cannabidiol (CBD) innovation and develops cannabis and hemp-derived CBD nutraceuticals and medical cannabis products for human and animal health.
The company started trading on the ASX in October 2016, following a successful A$5 million capital raising that was significantly oversubscribed.
Earlier this year, Creso secured a letter of intent with Health House for the import and sale of cannabis products.
The new government policy will allow importers to source supplies of medicinal cannabis from abroad, shortening the timeframe required to supply patients.
The legalisation of medical cannabis last year by the Federal Government allows patients with a valid prescription to possess and use approved medicinal cannabis products.
The changes put medical cannabis in the same category as restricted medicinal drugs such as morphine.
Furthermore, there are new efforts to decriminalise medical marijuana in Australia following the New South Wales State Opposition introducing a bill into State Parliament this week.
The bill aims to allow medically-certified sufferers to carry small amounts of cannabis of up to 15 grams.
New South Wales has already begun trialling medicinal cannabis for cancer sufferers and children with epilepsy.
The Australian medical cannabis market represents an attractive opportunity for Creso and the company is well placed to capitalise on further decriminalisation efforts.


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Undoubtedly, the Oculus Rift" target="_blank">Oculus Rift is already set to change the world of video games and beyond, offering an impressive and viable way to achieve virtual reality. And like any exciting piece of new tech, the Rift has spawned its own accessories to increase the overall experience. But where devices like the Omni treadmill require a large setup to make you feel like you're actually walking in a game, the PrioVR uses a series of sensors strapped right to your body.
YEI has spent years working on affordable sensors, capable of reading body movements and transmitting those motions to software. And thanks to the Oculus Rift, the company realized those nodes could be used for VR, meaning you can wear the headset and engage in an in-game sword fight with your actual arm swings and kicks.
The Kickstarter campaign is seeking $225,000 in funding, and as of this writing, the PrioVR project has already raised over $11,000. The demonstrations shown in the video appear to offer 1:1 responses to the player's actions, including walking around and kneeling down in an environment. A $450 early bird pledge will get you a "Lite" version of the developer kit, while a "Pro" version--read: more sensors--costs $625.
Yes, it's expensive. And yes, when coupled with the Oculus Rift headset, it's impossible to not look like a total goober. But if the PrioVR actually works as described, it's the beginning of something potentially exciting.


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Marriott has revealed plans for its luxury brands for 2023. The American hospitality group will open more than 35 luxury hotels across the globe next year.
Tag: St. Regis Hotels and Resorts
Marriott has announced that it has signed a management agreement with GURNER to bring the St. Regis brand to Australia’s Gold Coast.
Marriott has revealed plans to open more than 30 hotels across Africa by the end of 2024. The company will add more than 5,000 rooms across Africa by the end of 2024.
Marriott’s luxury brand, St. Regis Hotels and Resorts has announced the opening of The St. Regis Goa Resort, making it the second St. Regis property in India after The St. Regis Mumbai.
Marriott International has announced that it will open 14 new luxury hotels and resorts in Asia-Pacific by the end of 2023. These 14 properties will fall under Marriott’s collection of luxury brands such as The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, W Hotels, The Luxury Collection, EDITION, JW Marriott, and Bulgari. Marriott currently operates 156 luxury properties in […]
Marriott, the world’s largest hospitality chain, has announced that it will open more than 200 hotels and resorts across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in 2022 and 2023.
***UPDATE***: The Leela Goa’s website has now been updated showing that The Leela Goa is now accepting reservations till the night of 6th October 2022, meaning that the resort will operate under The Leela brand until 7th October 2022. One of Goa’s best hotel, The Leela Goa, is soon going to be rebranded as St. […]
Marriott International, the largest hospitality chain in the world, has announced that the iconic St. Regis brand is coming to London in 2023.
Top 10: Marriott Hotels in Malaysia
Disclaimer: Top 10 Lists are created keeping in mind only my opinion. Rest assured that IH Aviation and Travel is not biased whatsoever. Malaysia is a SouthEastern Asian country occupying parts of the Malay Peninsula and the island of Borneo. The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is the largest city of Malaysia. The country is known for […]
Marriott has announced the signing of an agreement with Sela Sport Company to develop two new luxury hotels in Saudi Arabia.


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Malaysia and the Philippines have joined the growing list of countries heading to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to request consultations with the US over its 30% solar import tariffs, according to WTO filings both dated 21 February.
Canadian solar manufacturers will suffer “immediate, severe, and irreversible injuries” as a result of the new US safeguard measures, according to a lawsuit they have filed against the Trump administration.
Singapore has joined the pile of countries going to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to demand a consultation with the US over its 30% solar import tariffs, according to a WTO filing from Friday 9 February.
Tesla reported another major decline in its residential solar installations for the fourth quarter of 2017, while a supply shortage in its energy storage system ‘Powerwall’ has created a customer backlog of solar and storage installs of more than one year.
The EU is the latest region to wade into the Section 201 saga by demanding a consultation with the US over its imposition of tariffs on solar imports, according to a WTO filing from Wednesday 7 February.
A day after First Solar and SunPower agreed the sale of its JV yieldco to Capital Dynamics, the asset management firm has announced plans to build a 1GW PV power plant in Nevada using US made solar modules for clients such as technology infrastructure firm, Switch.


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It’s official: Everybody hates advertising
Mark Duffy has written the Copyranter blog for 11 years and is a freelancing copywriter with 25-plus years of experience. His hockey wrist shot is better than yours.
It’s not just the general public and “Banksy” anymore. Even most ad men and women hate it now. Even the “creatives” who like to shove that their job is “creative” — and yours isn’t — in your face, hate it. Even creatives making well over six figures now hate it. Boo. Hoo.
The reason? The product has never sucked harder than it does right now. It sucks the butt of the biggest ass beast in the Ass Beast Cavern of Hell.
Or, as The Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman described the current business state: “A pig’s breakfast of insufferable bullshit, dreadful jargon, stupid gimmicks and amateur bumblers producing horrific crap.”
On Monday, Campaign published the results of its second-annual ad industry survey. “Morale” has dropped big time, 36 percent from 2015. Nearly half of the respondents reported that their morale was “low” or “dangerously low.” (What exactly is “dangerously” low? Is that like, “I’m ready to go spree-killing” low? Seriously, why word it that way, Campaign?)
Here are some noteworthy comments from respondents on why their morale sucks:
• “THE AMERICAN ADVERTISING INDUSTRY IS RACIST AS FUCK.” — Black male, working at a media agency, making $50,000—$100,000.
• “Sociopathic partners.” (Been there.)
• “Everything being a bake off versus having ownership. Creative shops love to make things. Not endless talk about making things.” — White female, creative agency, making $101,000—$250,000.
• “ There’s a complete lack of compassion from most in leadership positions. It is completely bizarre. Who raised these people?” — White female, creative agency, making $251,000—$500,000.
• “Toxic culture, ego driven, boys club.” — White female, creative agency, making $101,000—$250,000.
• “Age discrimination is even stronger than racial or gender. It is truly automatic.” — 60 year-old freelancer, Hispanic male, making $101,000—$250,000.
I can angrily ditto the age discrimination.
The only people in the world who don’t hate advertising right now are the exceedingly rich holding company CEOs like Sir Martin Sorrell. Also, ad tech execs, because they’re making scads of scam cash because too many of you marketing bozos buy into their completely unproven bullshit sell-message that “data” collection and “metrics” measuring has improved advertising by making it more relevant.
Billy Mays would still love advertising, but, yeah: God rest his yelling, selling soul.
To help soothe the Hurt, Campaign is holding a #MoraleCamp on Twitter this week. Morale Camp! No thanks. I’ll be hanging out in the Ass Beast Cavern.
Anyway, hang in there ad folk! At least you’re not getting chlorine gas dumped on you in Aleppo.
How (and why) agencies are adapting to stay relevant in the metaverse
To get more comfortable in this new environment, some agencies are getting involved in experimental projects to stake their claim to the metaverse.
‘Reach a totally different audience’: With Sundance virtual once again, marketers pivot to online experiences
Until earlier this month, this year’s Sundance was meant to be a hybrid festival with attendees returning to Park City to participate in-person as well as virtual elements for attendees to tune-in online.
Pepsi launches app and short ‘trailer’ to hype Super Bowl halftime show
The soft-drink giant will promote its Super Bowl Halftime show with a newly launched app and a short film directed by F. Gary Gray.
SponsoredHow the relationship between live events and mobile devices is evolving in 2022
Sponsored by AdColony The pandemic has accelerated changes in the way people consume content — and live events are part of that transformation. For advertisers, the questions are the kind on which campaign success depends: In what ways (and numbers) have people returned to watching sports, e-sports and events such as the Grammys? Are they […]
In Graphic Detail: The great gaming consolidation
Gaming is in the midst of an M&A arms race. The protracted pandemic has made sure of that.
‘The business is at a level of scale now’: The Brandtech Group CEO David Jones on building a business for the ‘post-advertising’ world
Not only is the holding group past the hype cycle peak these businesses usually encounter, it’s skipped right over the trough of disillusionment that tends to follow and is straight into growth mode.


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The King of Cups
Reese, Anomaly and LeBron James Go Together like Peanut Butter and Chocolate
June 9, 2021
LeBron James is unequivocally one of the best basketball players of all time, and a pretty excellent human to boot, but we all have our weak spots. King James’ just so happens to be on the top of his 6ft 9in frame.
During the 2020 NBA playoffs fans spotted said weak spot, or in this case thinning spot, and pointed out that the superstar’s balding head resembled a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup after some of the chocolate and peanut butter got stuck to the wrapper. A very specific, but highly relatable reference that James acknowledged; game recognizes game as they say.
Inspiration can come from anywhere, but it is particularly unique when it comes from a legend’s lack of hair, but that’s just the case in Reese’s new campaign created by Anomaly Toronto. Taking James’ wrapper resembling dome as a starting point Anomaly and Reese realized they could do a campaign for Peanut Butter Cups without the Cups.
“Lebron’s post solidified the idea that even if we remove our most iconic asset, the Peanut Butter Cup, from our advertising, consumers will still immediately understand that it is unmistakably Reese’s,” said Akhtar. “Lebron’s post had thousands of likes and comments, but we could sense consumers’ love — and hate — of the chocolate and peanut butter that’s left over. But it was also clear that whether it’s a ‘sticky cup’ or a ‘clean cup,’ the passion for the product never wavered.”
It is a bold move to produce a campaign without the central asset, but internal research indicates that Reese’s customers have unique and particular rituals when it comes to consuming the Cups. Slow peels to ensure a chocolate and peanut butter free wrapper, or savouring the smudge left in said wrapper. There is no right way to enjoy a Peanut Butter Cup, but there definitely are many ways to “uncup.”
The campaign is being presented as a billboard that features the iconic wrapper and tasty smudge and nothing else, social campaigns that pit “sticky” vs. “clean cups,” as well as a “Reese Uncupping” video.
Reese’s marketing manager, Azim Akhtar, identifies how this strategy, removing the cup from an ad campaign about removing cups, relates to Reese’s strategy: “This campaign aligns with our strategy to drive a deeper emotional connection with consumers, and what better way to do this than by leaning into a consumer tension that already exists,” he says.
Brand: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Client: Hershey Canada Inc.
Sr. Director of Marketing: Alexia Wharton
Sr. Marketing Manager: Mathieu Gamache
Marketing Manager: Azim Akhtar
Assistant Marketing Manager: Dulangi Kapugama
Executive Creative Director/Partner: Pete Breton
Associate Creative Director: Marko Pandza
Associate Creative Director: Jason Kerr
Art Director: Sasha Barkans
Writer: Cristina Pineros
President, Managing Partner: Candace Borland
Head of Client Services: Bryden McDonald
Business Director: Erin Wilbur
Account Executive: Lauren Zaitz
Account Supervisor: Carly Watson
Account Director: Rhiannon Enss
Group Planning Director: Mahmoud El Kattan
Strategy Director: Andrew Ahern
Head of Production: Marie-Pierre Toure
Agency Producer: Martina Esguerra
OOH Producers: Rob Murray, Tracy Haapamaki
Social Media Strategist: Matt Stasoff
Production Company: Trizz Studio
Directors: Oriol Puig & Laura Iban?ez
Director of Photography: Nono Arruga
Executive Producer: Chris Vulpi
Head of Production: Simon Bath
Production Company Producer: Cecilia Gomez
Editorial, Post Production and VFX: Trizz Studio
Editor: Miquel Alcoriza
Colorist: Mikel Gomez
Flame Artists: Jorge Febrero, Mikel Gomez
Animator: Nacho Codinach
Music: Piece Of Me by Lady Wray
Sound Design Company: Ta2 Music
Director of Music & Voice Over: Steve Gadsden
Executive Producer/ Director of Licensing: Christine Leslie
Sound Engineer: Dave Clark


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Indore-based ShopKirana raises funding, expansion to other Tier-II cities on cards
Indore-based ShopKirana – a B2B M-distribution platform for merchants and small retailers – has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Samsung’s Atul Jain and Anil Gelra,Founder of Hola Chef, along with a few other FMCG veterans. ShopKirana has plans of investing the funds in technology to make their model scalable in other cities.
ShopKirana was founded in 2015 by Tanutejas Saraswat, Sumit Ghorawat, and Deepak Dhanotiya. ShopKirana is an Android-based mobile application that can be downloaded for free. The retailers can then look for goods they want, order through the app, and pay cash at the time of delivery. “We are glad such great people of this ecosystem believed in us in changing how the retail market works,” said Sumit. The revenue model of the startup is based on trade margins from the brands that get listed.
ShopKirana began from Indore and launched in Mumbai later. The startup had already tested its model in Tier I and II cities. It is now focusing on expanding to Tier II cities. “That’s because the retail channels are comparatively unorganised. That’s a pain-point we still need to address,” said Tanutejas. The startup had seen a phenomenal traction within a few months of its launch, on boarding 500 retailers with just 10 brands integrated in the system. It had managed a sales turnover of more than Rs 50 lakh. Currently, ShopKirana has more than 2,000 retailers on board in Indore city, who gave an order of Rs 85 lakh last month.
Traditional market and scaling up
Tanutejas said, “When you give technology in the hands of most traditional business owner of this country, then magic happens. The numberand data which we are generating now is magical from a sector which was ignored before. This is what fascinates us. We are looking forward to scale up ShopKirana in 10 cities by the end of 2016.”
“We are going to invest in technology first, as we are generating huge amount of data.So, we need to make sure it makes sense to the brands. Scaling to other cities was never an issue for us as we have done that twice in a pilot itself. We have learned how to execute in seven days,” added Co-founder Deepak.
Offline retail and competition
The offline retail market in India is worth $500 billion with around 18 million retailers and will hit $1 trillion by end 2020. India is the sixth largest grocery market in the world,while only five to eight per cent of grocery stores are organised. Despite this hurdle, reports suggest that the online grocery market has been growing at the rate of 25–30per cent annually in metros and bigger cities.
While ShopKirana has its own way of reaching out to the good old mom-and-pop shop owners, better known as ‘kiranawalas’, in India, there are a few startups that are waking up to this market. There’s Twikster, Bizom, Applicate and biggies like Amazon Business, Alibaba, and Walmart.
Along with retailers, ShopKirana has been looked at by the CPG companies and distributors as a platform to find retailers. “Through ShopKirana, now distributors and product companies can get benefits such as POS data, trend/forecast along with analysis of promotion, competition. They are able to time their product launches and they will know exactly where the demand is,” shared Tanutejas.
Notably, ShopKirana was chosen a winner during the YourStory City Meetup in Indore ahead of its annual TechSparks event during October 2015.
Read their founding story here


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THEY say money is the mother’s milk of politics. In marketing, it is new products, meant to pique the interest of consumers and thereby stimulate demand at stores, restaurants and dealer showrooms.
In tough times, it would seem the flow of new products would be slowed by companies fearing that shoppers have too much on their minds to consider still another cereal, soap or soup.
But as the recession grinds on, Madison Avenue is serving up a steady stream of new packaged foods, cars, drugs (prescription and otherwise), menu items (for both sit-down and fast-food restaurants) and beverages ( alcoholic and otherwise).
The new product pitches are coming from all manner of marketers, from global behemoths among them Campbell Soup, General Mills, Mars and Unilever to family-owned companies like Sargento Foods.
One reason to stay the course on new products is that they can offer marketers new reasons to reach out to consumers when the impulse may be to pull back.
“There’s a saying: ‘When times are good, advertise. When times are tough, advertise more,’ ” said Dan Beem, president at Cold Stone Creamery in Scottsdale, Ariz., the ice-cream chain owned by the Kahala Corporation. “We want to stay with that philosophy.”
Cold Stone is bringing out, and promoting, new products like ice cream cupcakes, iced and blended coffee drinks, Jell-O Pudding Ice Cream and a line of cheesecakes.
The hope is that amid the changes consumers are making in buying habits, “they’re still looking for that 10-minute vacation at Cold Stone,” Mr. Beem said. “Our goal is to introduce some new products that will encourage them to go with the family to the parlor.” Another reason to keep filling the new-product pipeline is that successful newcomers can bring in much-needed revenue. According to the annual New Product Pacesetters report from Information Resources Inc., the top new food product of 2008, the G2 sports drink from PepsiCo, generated sales of $159.1 million, and the top new nonfood product last year, the Zyrtec allergy medication sold by a unit of Johnson & Johnson, took in $315.9 million.
There still is “opportunity in this kind of economic weather,” said Stefan Holwe, managing partner at Plantage, an agency in Berlin that is creating a worldwide campaign to introduce this month the 2010 Cabrio convertible for the Mini division of BMW.
“It’s a good time to do a campaign for Mini,” Mr. Holwe said, because of “the relevance of the brand in these really difficult times.” Mini sales in the United States, where some elements of the Plantage campaign will appear, rose 28 percent last year compared with 2007.
To hedge their bets on the multimillion-dollar costs of introductions, many marketers bring out new products under the banner of brands that consumers already know well, in what is known as line extensions.
Examples include the new Pantene Nature Fusion line of hair care products from Procter & Gamble, the new Glade Sense & Spray air freshener from S. C. Johnson & Son and new flavors of Honeycomb and Post Select cereals sold by a unit of Ralcorp Holdings.
Reckitt Benckiser named a new bleach-alternative stain remover Spray ’n Wash Bright & White although unlike Spray ’n Wash, which is sprayed on clothes before they are washed, the new product is added to the laundry along with detergent.
“The Spray ’n Wash name sounds weird for an in-wash product,” acknowledged Laurie Labesque, marketing director for fabric care at Reckitt Benckiser in Parsippany, N.J., but it made sense to “extend an existing brand name” that has been promoted to consumers for decades.
The new product did well in tests, Ms. Labesque said, because the idea that “it can extend the life of your clothes” resonated in this economy.
Similarly, when Häagen-Dazs considered introducing an ice cream composed of five natural ingredients, a decision was made to place it under the umbrella of the Häagen-Dazs brand of superpremium desserts and name it Häagen-Dazs Five.
“To tell you the truth, part of the reason we called it Five is that we have modest marketing dollars and wouldn’t have a lot of money to explain what it was,” said Ching-Yee Hu, brand manager for Häagen-Dazs at Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream in Oakland, Calif., a division of Nestlé that sells the brand in the United States under license from the Häagen-Dazs owner, General Mills.
“We would’ve liked a name that was a little less literal,” she added, but on the other hand, it has the benefit of being short.
The campaign to introduce Häagen-Dazs Five includes house parties, supervised by a company called SheSpeaks, at which the hosts offer samples of the new ice cream to guests.
“This is a very good time for brands to get out there in new and different ways,” said Aliza Freud, chief executive at SheSpeaks in New York.
Because of the economy, “consumers are talking about reassessing their brand favorites,” she added, “not necessarily to trade down, but if they think they can get a better value at the same price.”
Members of SheSpeaks were recently polled on their attitudes about trying new products in light of the economic downturn, Ms. Freud said. Of the respondents, 44.4 percent said they were more likely to try them and 42.3 percent said they were equally likely.
Only 13.3 percent of the respondents said the economy made them less likely to try new products because “this is not a time to experiment.”


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Facebook patents tech that can guess where you're going next
It will use your previous location data, as well as previous data from other users.
Instagram adds walkie-talkie voice messages
Talk to your Insta friends without relying on live chats.
The internet war on sex is here
No sex, please, we’re beholden to our advertisers.
Facebook tests a live video shopping feature
Merchants can show off their products and answer questions live.
Facebook’s internal documents show its ruthlessness
Zuckerberg: "That [app] may be good for the world but it’s not good for us unless people also share back to Facebook..."
Facebook adds animated GIFs and more customization to Messenger Lite
The app is still under 10MB.
Facebook defends policies following massive document dump
The company argues the information lacks context.
Mark Zuckerberg dismissed the risks of sharing user data
He didn't think a Cambridge Analytica-like scandal was possible.
Facebook gave Lyft and others special access to user data
It also denied access to competitors like Vine.


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Atlas, the 3D generative AI platform, has emerged from stealth mode after two years and secured $6 million in seed funding. The funding comes from two investment rounds, a $4.5 million round led by 6th Man Ventures (6MV), and a $1.5 million round led by Collab+Currency. This innovative platform collaborates with game developers and brands to create immersive virtual worlds.
An innovative AI platform for virtual worlds
Redefining the virtual landscape
Atlas is transforming the virtual landscape with its 3D generative AI technology. By partnering with game developers and brands, the platform enables the seamless creation of immersive virtual worlds. With Atlas, developers can enhance the realism and richness of virtual environments, creating engaging and memorable experiences for users.
Seed funding to fuel growth
The $6 million seed funding, comprised of two investment rounds, will enable Atlas to accelerate its growth and expand its operations. The $4.5 million round led by 6th Man Ventures and the $1.5 million round led by Collab+Currency demonstrate strong confidence in the platform’s potential. This funding will allow Atlas to further develop its technology and forge new collaborations to broaden its reach in the gaming industry.
The benefits of the Atlas platform
Enhancing realism in virtual worlds
Atlas leverages its 3D generative AI technology to enhance the realism of virtual worlds. By using advanced algorithms, the platform generates and populates virtual environments with detailed and diverse scenery, objects, and characters. This technology elevates the visual quality and immersion, enhancing the overall user experience.
Streamlining content creation
With Atlas, content creation for virtual worlds becomes more efficient and streamlined. The platform automates the process of generating assets, reducing the time and effort required by developers to create visually stunning environments. This enables developers to focus on other aspects of game development, such as gameplay mechanics and storytelling.
Collaboration with game developers and brands
Atlas embraces collaboration with game developers and brands to create virtual worlds tailored to their specific needs. By partnering with Atlas, developers and brands gain access to a powerful AI platform that can bring their creative visions to life. This collaboration fosters innovation and allows for the creation of unique and immersive experiences.
Atlas has launched its 3D generative AI platform, bringing a new level of realism and efficiency to virtual world creation. The $6 million seed funding will fuel the platform’s growth and enable it to forge valuable partnerships within the gaming industry. With Atlas, the future of virtual worlds is poised to be even more engaging and immersive.


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Husker fans frolic at Pigskin in the Park
Nebraska, Ohio State tangle in Columbus
For Nebraska Cornhusker fans that couldn't make it to Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, Midtown Crossing offered the next best thing.
Pigskin in the Park featured food vendors and a big-screen TV for watching Nebraska and Ohio State tangle on the gridiron.
Bundled up, dressed in red and serving food, the Husker fans may as well have been right outside the Horseshoe.
"It's kind of like the next best thing to being there," said fan Tony Marino. "We're outside -- it's probably what it's like at Ohio State right now."
Even though Omaha is 800 miles from the actual site of the game, with a big screen wired with loud speakers and plenty of space to party, fans were grateful.
"Kind of nice the city offers this venue to do it, so we're taking advantage of it," said Marino.
And for the Marino family, it was a chance to scope out a different part of town.
"It's so beautiful here," said Jennifer Marino. "It's just so pretty. And if we didn't have four kids, two cats and a dog, I could see myself living in one of these buildings up here."
For Jennifer, football season is more than just about the play by play.
"We like Husker games -- it's kind of more about the socializing and everything around the Huskers," she said. "It's nice out here. They're (her kids) running around. They're shopping and enjoying the hot chocolate and other stuff we won't let them have at home."
Before kickoff, Husker legend Johnny Rodgers signed autographs and took pictures with fans.


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Allstate said it would buy SquareTrade for about $1.4 billion from a group of shareholders that include Bain Capital.
Toys R Us will open for business on Thanksgiving Day at 5 p.m. local time for 30 hours of continuous shopping.
Consider yourself warned: It looks like we have the makings of a holiday toy craze on our hands: Hatchimals.
Here's a list of just some of retailers that have disappeared over the few decades. Bring on the nostalgia.
FedEx and UPS with a combined 947 million packages to deliver between Black Friday and Christmas Eve - up 8 percent from last year's forecasts.
Even as retailers become more aggressive with their shipping guarantees, time is running out for online shoppers.
Retailers offered early Black Friday discounts to lure bargain-hunters on Thanksgiving eve, but crowds in brick-and-mortar stores were subdued.
We've pulled together a list of just some of retailers that have disappeared over the last 25 years. Bring on the nostalgia.
Wal-Mart is seeking cost cuts of 2 percent to 6 percent from suppliers that produce goods in China given the yuan's weakness.
After rent increases forced FAO Schwarz to plan on leaving its Fifth Avenue location, it may have found a new home, the Commercial Observer reports.
Incoming Hudson's Bay CEO Storch said the Internet, value and luxury goods will be the most important retail themes of 2015.
Santa's sleigh delivered more on-time packages this Christmas, though a few retailers still broke their delivery promise.
So you missed the holiday deadline for free standard shipping. Oops. Try these last-minute gifting strategies.
With an abundance of sales happening early on this holiday season, some retailers may fare better than others.
To receive your online orders in time for Christmas, most retailers' standard delivery order deadlines are Friday.
Toys R Us and Kohl's are keeping their stores open into the wee hours as the countdown to Christmas winds down.
If you still have Disney's Frozen Castle and Ice Palace Playset on your holiday gift list this year, you may already be out of luck.
Giving Tuesday is only on its third year, but it’s quickly become a sensation with non-profits, donors and charitable causes.
Crowds flocked to Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us locations around the U.S. to snatch up doorbuster deals.
A lawmaker in Ohio wants stores in the state to pay triple wages for employees who work on Thanksgiving.


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State plans future online tax revenue spending
SACRAMENTO (KABC) -- There's a movement under way by Amazon.com to try and overturn a new online tax law, but the panel that oversees tax collections is already debating how the sales tax revenue should be spent.
The California State Board of Equalization says it needs a court order, a referendum or direction from the state attorney general to stop implementation of the "Amazon Tax."
Online retail giant Amazon.com began gathering signatures for a referendum, hoping to overturn California's new law requiring the Seattle-based company and other out-of-state "e-tailers" to start collect the sales tax from California customers.
Despite efforts under way to void that law the California State Board of Equalization, a taxing agency, began discussing how to implement the online sales tax.
Republican members question whether it's appropriate to proceed, knowing Amazon will likely get enough signatures to put the brakes on the new law until voters can weigh in next year.
"I have great difficulty, members, for us then to continue a regulatory process on basically a bill and a concept that indeed is on pause," said former state Senator George Runner (R-Antelope Valley), who sits on the Board of Equalization.
But Democrats pointed out Amazon is still in the process of overturning the online sales tax law, and gave the OK for the state to begin creating rules to comply.
"I believe we have a responsibility to basically uphold the law. It is the law. We took an oath of office to uphold the law," said Betty Yee (D), member of the Board of Equalization.
Many California-based websites that provided links to Amazon and other e-tailers lost a chunk of their revenue when their contracts were canceled earlier this month. Amazon and others did not want to start collecting the sales tax.
Former Amazon affiliates are disappointed California is moving ahead.
"If the signatures are gathered, then the rule-making becomes a moot point. It doesn't matter," said Rebecca Madigan, executive director, Performance Marketing Association.
Brick-and-mortar stores, though, are happy the state is moving forward to even the playing field, where businesses with storefronts and in cyberspace both have to collect the sales tax.
"I believe that the businesses that are set up online essentially to skate the sales-tax laws are frauding the government and the people," said Howard Skalet, owner of Skalet Family Jewelers.
Amazon executives told PC Magazine Tuesday the company prefers a federal law dictating the online sales tax, rather than leaving it up to the states.
budget, economy, taxes, california news, nannette miranda
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Most items in any given household or business were, at one time, shipped in a container. And as companies such as CN know full well, moving those containers is big (and profitable) business. Indeed, CN recently announced strong quarterly results that stemmed, in part, from increased movement of in-bound containers from countries around the world.
With all those containers moving the world’s economy, one might reasonably ask who helps secure maritime shipping?
Looking at a few of Canada’s harbours – and their connections to various coordinated government agencies – helps answer that question.
The Port of Montreal is one of the busiest harbours in North America. It handles more than 20 million tonnes of highly diversified cargo every year – including containers, liquid bulk and dry bulk – and generates economic spin-offs of $2 billion annually. It also operates 100 kms of railway directly linked to the yards of CN and CP.
Keeping watch over this massive installation is itself a massive job.
To that end, Port of Montreal officials invested millions of dollars in a master control centre that is open 24 hours a day. From this centre , security coordinators have a clear view of the entire port area thanks to more than 50 port video cameras installed at strategic locations and linked back to the command centre.
This in-situ security system, in turn, is connected to local, provincial and federal emergency services and border control agencies such as the Sûreté du Québec and the Canada Border Services Agency. Of note is the federal government’s Container Security Initiative (CSI) , a multi-national initiative that protects containerized shipping from being exploited or disrupted by terrorists. CSI is designed to safeguard global marine trade while enabling legitimate cargo containers to move faster and more efficiently through the global supply chain.
Similarly, though on a small scale compared to Montreal, the Toronto Port Authority closely monitors two million tonnes of cargo coming in from markets around the world every year. Security in this case is under the watchful eye of Angus Armstrong, Chief of Security and Harbour Master. Angus has 30 years of maritime security experience in Toronto and is a member of a number of national and international maritime security organizations.
Among other things, Angus was instrumental in having the Port of Toronto receive the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code approval. The ISPS Code is a comprehensive set of measures laid out by the International Maritime Organization to enhance the security of ships and port facilities, developed in response to the perceived threats to ships and port facilities in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
So, who helps secure maritime shipping? Plenty of highly qualified professionals working in close coordination is the answer.
For those keen on learning more can check out an innovative on-line feature the BBC did last year on shipping [link to http://bbc.in/nptTgs]. They tracked a container for one year to tell stories of globalization and security. It’s well worth a few minutes.


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PUTRAJAYA (March 12): The Federal government has agreed to extend the exemption initiative and 50% discount to tenants of Federal land and buildings.
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 24): A healthier economic outlook is anticipated in the coming months based on the latest Malaysia’s Leading Index (LI) performance and the implementation of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 23): The Covid-19 vaccination programme planned by the government is important in order to create herd immunity, allowing the country's economy to recover, said Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) official.
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) said 10,768 of its commercial customers who had previously received a 15% discount under the Penjana economic stimulus package are automatically eligible for the 10% discount under the new Permai package.
PUTRAJAYA (Jan 20): Fire and Rescue Department personnel involved in the fight against COVID-19 will receive a one-off RM300 payment, as announced under the Perlindungan Ekonomi dan Rakyat Malaysia (PERMAI) package, said Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin (pictured).
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 19): The Malaysian Economic and Rakyat's Protection Assistance Package (PERMAI) is a much-needed relief and support for Malaysians in the face of the prevailing health and economic crises, says Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF).
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 19): The RM15 billion PERMAI stimulus package unveiled by the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday will only have a minimal impact on the government’s fiscal position, said CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd.
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 18): The government has unveiled PERMAI, its fifth economic stimulus package to date, worth RM15 billion spread over 22 initiatives aimed at combating the Covid-19 outbreak, safeguarding the welfare of the people and supporting business continuity following the implementation of the second movement control order (MCO 2.
KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 18): Local hoteliers say the RM15 billion Perlindungan Ekonomi dan Rakyat Malaysia (Permai) assistance package, which was just announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, falls short of expectation as the tourism industry continues to grapple with struggling businesses amid the on-going Covid-19 pandemic and recently imposed Movement Control Order (MCO 2.


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Car giant completes tests of autonomous logistics robot at its Ingolstadt plant
German automaker Audi is to increase the productivity of robots working within its logistics operations.
The company has been conducting tests involving autonomous robots it calls “Ray” for more than a year.
In exclusive comments to Robotics and Automation News, Audi’s project manager for driverless transport, Christine Widbiller said: “Currently we have four Rays working at the logistics department and they are fully integrated in the transporting process.” Continue reading Audi to make Ray robot workers more productive
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records broken as bacs sets new processing highs
September 12, 2018
Last month proved to be a record-breaking one for Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs), the organisation behind Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit in the UK.
Across August, a huge 580 million payments were processed, smashing the existing record of 573 million, set in December 2015. A new daily high was also set at the end of last month, with 114 million transactions processed in a single day, over 2 million more than the previous record, registered in June 2017.
The news underlines the continued appeal of automated payments to UK businesses and consumers alike, and comes on the back of a memorable 2017 in which Bacs processed over 6.34 billion payments, worth a total in excess of £4.9 Trillion.
This included over 4.2 billion Direct Debits - a year-on-year increase of 3.8 per cent, or 155 million payments - while Bacs Direct Credit saw values increase to £3.6 trillion, up 3 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Andy Hollingdale, general manager of Bacs, said: “Following what was a record year in 2017, it’s particularly pleasing to be able to celebrate the setting of these new daily and monthly processing records.
“As we mark our 50th year, it’s clear that our products continue to be the payment methods of choice for the millions of consumers and businesses which rely on them each day.”
For further press information, please contact:
Damion Clark at Real PR (Consultants) LLP. Tel: 01353 667934 or 07789 911314 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org


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Over the last month, we’ve seen roiling stock markets, Fed uncertainty, trade wars escalate and talks about impeachment dominate news cycles. But for one corner of the market, things got even crazier.
Cannabis, as an industry, has been one of the wildest (yet most compelling) investment areas for the past two years. It has truly been the premiere example of Wall Street’s fickleness. It’s peaks and valleys make the ’08-’09 financial crash look like a slight correction:
As you can see by looking at this chart of the Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), which represents most publicly-traded cannabis stocks, last year saw a wild ride. But 2019 hasn’t been a cruise for pot stocks.
The first quarter of this year saw a strong rebound from the industry after the devastating post-Canadian legalization freefall last October. But from the end of March until now, it hasn’t been so great.
Investors are at turns both fascinated and scared of this group of stocks. With the heightened political environment in the U.S. these days, cannabis has come under fire.
The passage of last year’s Farm Bill was the most progressive move so far by the U.S. federal government when it legalized the cultivation and sale of cannabidiol or CBD. But since then, the topic has moved to the FDA to regulate its use in other products, namely food, beverages, and health care products.
That’s starting to come to a head. Last week, the agency held its first major hearing on the subject. It invited more than 100 witnesses and speakers to discuss the pros and cons of the substance.
Since this was only an information-gathering session, no policy has been decided yet. But the tone of the agency members’ questions leaves no doubt: it is looking for proof of safety and efficacy in CBD.
This takes research… a lot of it. The average drug takes around a decade to go from idea to approval. So, it’s clear the FDA is not a swift-moving body. But just because we may be looking at a long period of analysis and trials doesn’t mean there’s a lack of profit to be made.
Not all companies in the field are strictly growers and distributors. This, as with all industries, has many different components. Medical marijuana is only one small portion of it. CBD too is broken down into growers, research firms, product developers, marketers, and distributors.
What we’re seeing here, with how the FDA is signaling its intent on what comes next, is a boom for the first two: growers (specifically those involved in hemp and CBD extraction) and researchers (those that will deal directly with the FDA to gain drug approvals.
That’s not to say others won’t benefit from this heightened attention on CBD. Certain states and countries will, of course, have their own rules regarding the non-psychotropic cannabis product. But right now, researchers, medical and drug developers, and their partners stand to benefit right away.
This is also a bit of a look at what we can expect if marijuana itself gains legalization. The FDA is likely to follow the same steps with THC as it is with CBD if that substance comes into its purview.
This is one area set for the most explosive and sustainable growth… at least in the short term. So, that’s where we head for this month’s “Pot Stocks of the Month.”
There are really only two companies worth looking at here. Each has its own market advantage and economic moat. And each is in the perfect place to take advantage of the new FDA directive.
Pot Stock of the Month No. 1: GW Pharmaceuticals plc (GWPH)
You can’t talk about the growth and potential of CBD drug development without talking about the top dog… the company that has already proven it is years ahead of everyone else.
In fact, this company has the only plant-derived drug approved by the FDA. That includes THC and CBD-based research.
GW Pharmaceuticals plc (GWPH) is a large company for this industry at $5.4 billion. Still, it is nowhere near the size of Canopy.
The reason is simple: it is a biotech with a platform that was only approved last year. It doesn’t have the kind of speculative stir its larger cannabis brethren have. That doesn’t mean it is unworthy of that attention.
Last November, its first (of likely many) CBD-based, FDA-approved drugs, Epidiolex came to market. This drug treats epilepsy in people (including children aged 2 and over) with Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes.
I won’t blame you if you aren’t acutely aware of those specific forms of the disorder. Only about 45,000 to 70,000 people have it out of the 3.4 million sufferers of epilepsy.
But to put it in perspective, the drug industry hasn’t come out with a new treatment for LGS since 2011. And it has never had a treatment approved for Dravet. This is a relatively small, yet largely untreated segment.
Again, to clarify the actual market for this new CBD-based treatment, consider that Epidioloex is really the only drug out there for it… and just 7,600 of these sufferers have even been introduced to GW’s product so far. Yet, sales of the drug have already brought in $33.5 million in just its first quarter.
There’s enormous potential here… not only in expanding coverage to the other 60,000-plus patients but geographical and disorder-type expansion.
Right now, Epidiolex is set to launch in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain this year. By next year, even more of Europe will open up as its own version of the FDA sets to greenlight it.
Beyond just expanding across borders, the use of the drug is set to explode. Right now, Epidiolex is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of Rett syndrome – a female birth abnormal neuronal development disorder affecting 10,000 – 15,000 people.
Epidiolex is also near an FDA decision for the use on sufferers of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.
But GW is not a company to put all of its eggs in one basket. The company has several more drugs in the pipeline.
Sativex – another CBD-based drug – is working its way through Phase 3 trials for Multiple Sclerosis Spasticity. Outside of the U.S., this drug is already well beyond this stage, approved in more than 25 countries.
CBDV is another epilepsy treatment using CBD that GW Pharma is working on. It is being studied for the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder and epilepsy. This one is already in Phase 2 studies.
In short, this company has a robust pipeline, early sales success and FDA exclusivity for the only CBD-based drug already on the market. It has this exclusivity for the next seven years. In Europe, once all those i’s are dotted and t’s crossed, it will be the sole provider for 10 years.
Of course, just having the right formulas and first-to-market advantages would be meaningless if the underlying company wasn’t sound. Fortunately, GW has that covered too.
Despite working to push its cannabis-based drug development platform through approval for many years, it hasn’t been forced to take on any large amount of debts.
In fact, as of its most recent quarter ending this past March, GW Pharma was sitting on $522 million with only $25.9 million in debt. That’s a 20-1 cash-to-debt coverage ratio.
With such a footprint, pipeline and financial position, GW Pharma is clearly a place to put your cash right now.
If you’re looking to take advantage of the now-declared direction the FDA intends to head with CBD (and likely eventually THC), this is the play for you.
Action to take: GW Pharmaceuticals plc (GWPH) is a strong buy in the CBD drug research industry.
Pot Stock of the Month No. 2: Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (EMHTF)
While GW Pharma has a large leg up in the U.S. already, that doesn’t mean others won’t try to elbow their way in. The problem is that dealing with the FDA, its regulations and processes are difficult and time-consuming.
There might be another way, however. Those looking to get in on this early action on the drug development side of the industry might be able to do so with a bit of money.
You see, the U.S. and Europe aren’t the only regions interested in cannabis from a pharmaceutical standpoint. In fact, another country has been way ahead of the game… namely, the one he has already opened up the industry for way more than medical.
Canada only recently passed its recreational use laws that went into effect last October. It was – and is – one of the premier medical marijuana research nations.
And with so much new interest in CBD, it too has taken advantage. Especially, Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (EMHTF).
Emerald is a crucial piece in the tough-to-navigate supply chain… specifically on the drug side. It owns and operates — both fully and through partnerships — a number of facilities that develop, grow and harvest hundreds of cannabis strains.
The company has a 50/50 partnership with Pure Sunfarms, a massive 1 million-plus sq. ft. greenhouse facility that yields 75,000 kg of cannabis at a minimum annually.
That’s just the start. The company is working on an expansion project that will double the production with another 1.1 million sq. ft. greenhouse to bring its production up to 150,000 kg of product.
But straight up product growth isn’t the only thing Emerald is interested in. It has a fully-owned facility in Quebec for development and production. While much smaller, this 88,000 sq. ft. the facility contains 12 processing and packaging rooms, 23 independent growing rooms and is currently growing 200 different strains of cannabis.
This is what sets Emerald above the rest. It is developing for the future of the industry. As the legal situation continues to evolve in many areas and distribution and marketing continue ramping up in Canada, Emerald will have the desired new types of product.
On top of these production facilities, it has lucrative partnerships with individual research groups to study these substances. It is also working on alternative THC related products, including THCA – a non-psychotropic substance that shows promising results in animals.
The company has so much going on, it’s nearly impossible to cover it all. But as for the reason it is a perfect “pot stock of the month” candidate, it is actively and aggressively growing its CBD business.
Just this year, the company contracted to buy over 500 acres worth of hemp chaff for CBD extraction. Next year, that should double to 1,000 acres.
This costs the company very little. But it does make it a key link in the supply chain. You see, no research can be done on the substance without a steady supply of it to study.
Hemp, which is the type of cannabis CBD comes from, isn’t nearly as high margin as the THC variety. So, growing it hasn’t become the boom segment of the industry many hope. But specializing in the next stages does make good money.
Emerald is already a foremost expert on the extraction and preparation for clinical studies of both CBD and THC.
This also gives way to the real opportunity. While Emerald is certainly set to do quite well by itself – with a solid balance sheet, strong top-line growth, and flourishing relationships – it offers another investment angle.
Emerald is a near perfect buyout target. While the company has limited exposure to the U.S., it has been dipping its toes into opening up exports of its products to the U.S.
But more importantly, the company already has production, proprietary strains and more than a dozen crucial patents for both regular CBD and THC extraction as well as those alternative areas that deal with a line of research called the Endocannabinoid System… basically the next giant step forward in this area.
Think what all of this could mean to a major player in the U.S. Imagine what this kind of setup could be worth to the likes of Pfizer or Merck… or even another cannabis player like Canopy Growth.
Now, consider that Emerald has a market cap of just $350 million – loose change for Big Pharma.
This is, especially after the recent direction the FDA has indicated, an exceptional find and one that won’t last forever.
Action to take: Shares of Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (EMHTF) are a steal at today’s prices.


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Sinar Mas founder Eka Widjaja started trading palm oil at 15 and rebuilt his fortune after a default linked to the Asian financial crisis.
There is plenty of sustainable palm oil being produced, but suppliers say consumers are unwilling to put their money where their mouths are.
America’s soybean exports to the world’s biggest market have all but disappeared, leaving farmers dependent on a $US12 billion bailout.
Commodities took a kicking last year – with deep losses in everything from oil and copper to coffee and sugar – but a reasonably positive picture emerges for the start of 2019.
It's been a big year for the companies that sell coffee, but not so much for the growers that supply them.
US wheat futures fell more than 1 per cent on Monday in thin trade but still posted a yearly gain of almost 18 per cent.
The Federal Court has slapped former Murray Goulburn Co-operative boss Gary Helou with a $200,000 fine for being knowingly involved in the company's misleading claims about the farmgate milk price.
China's soybean imports are set to drop by a quarter in the last three months of 2018, their biggest fall in at least 12 years.
Australia's leading consumer advocacy group, Choice, has defended its decision not to comment on the introduction of a drought levy on some low-cost milk.
Canada is ready to offer the United States limited access to the Canadian dairy market as a concession in negotiations to rework NAFTA.
Fonterra Cooperative Group chairman John Wilson has resigned with immediate effect, citing a serious health scare.


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Most wouldn’t anticipate that the tourism industry in Turkey is rapidly growing, with record numbers hitting 51.7 million visitors throughout the 2019 fiscal year. Growth was more than 13% was the previous year, with analysts expecting history repeats itself throughout the 2020 fiscal year. Soaring revenues are prompting for new facilities to be built, with lower rates than other travel destinations worldwide.
Tourism analysts believe that cruise ships that sailed Chinese waters will select Turkey as their new destination, which follows after the coronavirus outbreak. This could create an overwhelming last effect for Turkey’s tourism industry, with the market earning $34.5 billion last year. That number could sail to $50 billion by the end of Q4 2020. However, it should be noted that profits from this extensive valuation are spread between millions of employed citizens.
Istanbul and Antalya have become the two dominating cities for tourism, with both locations expected to host 57 million tourists throughout the upcoming year. This prompts issues for government officials, with the rate of growth being faster than demands. All subsidiary industries working under the tourism market have been flooded with requests, prompting significant delays for the development of new facilities. It could create an economic downfall by 2025. Similar problems occurred in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Dubai and Russia. Sectoral representatives that have faced these economic downfalls will assist Turkey to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.
Turkey hasn’t been the only market to receive an influx of tourists, with the Netherlands experiencing a 12% increase throughout 2019. Analysts in this sector believe that growing political tensions elsewhere have forced travellers to reconsider their desired destinations. The proof is shown by the decreases in tourist activity in Russia and Ukraine, with average yearly downfalls of 6.2%. Germany is experiencing similar growth to the Netherlands as well, with their technology and tourism sectors combining to create unique experiences for travellers. Turkey should follow similar recuperating efforts that were employed by Germany and the Netherlands. We will keep our readers informed on any drastic changes to the tourism industry in Turkey.


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CIA officials recently unveiled two new television recruitment ads targeting Middle Easterners.
The Iranian-American ad depicted Iranians differently than Arabs. The
Arab ad took place in a family dinner setting, where as the Iranian ad
featured individuals representing professional careers, such as
Given the history of CIA in Iran, I don’t think this is such a great idea.
Also, why is it that the Arab-American ad is about food, and the Iranian-American ad is about going to school and studying hard?
The video is embeded in the following link.


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BYD presented the Seal, Song Plus EV, Atto 3, Dolphin, Han, Denza D9 at the Munich auto show and made the Seal officially available locally.
(Image credit: BYD)
BYD presented six models on the first day of the IAA Munich auto show on September 4 and made the Seal from the Ocean range officially available in Europe.
The six models are the Seal, Song Plus EV, Atto 3 known as Yuan Plus in China, Dolphin, Han, and Denza D9.
The BYD Seal is offered in two versions in Europe with starting prices of 44,900 euros ($48,210) and 50,990 euros.
The BYD Seal is currently available in five versions in China with a starting price range of RMB 189,800 ($26,000) to RMB 279,800.
BYD rebranded the Chaser 07 as the Seal DM-i on July 14 as a hybrid variant of the Seal. The model went on pre-sale at the Chengdu auto show late last month.
The Song Plus EV's display at the Munich auto show was the model's European debut, and it will go on sale there shortly, BYD said today.
BYD's passenger new energy vehicles (NEVs) have entered 15 European countries in nearly a year, opening more than 140 stores in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain with local partners, said Michael Shu, general manager of the company's European car sales division.
The BYD passenger NEVs are now in 54 countries and territories worldwide, according to a BYD press release.
BYD introduced three BEVs -- the Atto 3, Han, and Tang -- to the European market on September 28, 2022, marking the beginning of its passenger NEV's entry into Europe.
The Chinese NEV giant wants to build a plant in Europe, and France is one of the countries it was considering, with Spain and Germany also in the running, according to French media outlet Les Echos in a May 22 story.
"Discussions with BYD are continuing," the report quoted an unnamed one French minister as saying.
($1 = 0.9314 euros, $1 = RMB 7.3039)