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Since its inception, the young Israeli cyber startup Wiz has received criticism. Perhaps it bothers people that it is "the fastest unicorn in the history of Israeli high-tech", or the fact that it raised copious amounts in capital, or maybe it was the lavish vacation hosted for employees in Mauritius and the extravagant Disney-themed company party it held. With the critiques, the company has been painted the poster girl of the tech "bubble", as various reports on its profits stated that it only made a few million dollars. But yesterday (Wednesday) the startup revealed a new and impressive milestone, especially for how young it is.
The $100-million-a-year club
Wiz was founded in March 2020 by the group of entrepreneurs who founded Adallom – Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik and Assaf Rappaport – and sold it to Microsoft 3 years after the establishment. Rappaport continued at Microsoft and managed the company's Israeli development center, until he left in 2020 and founded Wiz. From the beginning, we could see that Wiz wasn't playing by the book.
For example, only 9 months after it was founded, it had already raised $100 million. But it only picked up the pace from there, as it managed to raise about $600 million in just 18 months, with their most recent valuation being $6 billion. Among the investors in the company are VC firms Sequoia, Index, Insight Partners, Green Oaks, Salesforce and Gili Raanan’s Cyberstarts. Some of their private investors include Bernard Arnault (the third richest man in the world), Howard Schultz (owner of Starbucks) and other prominent entrepreneurs.
Wiz has just announced that it has reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue in only 18 months. According to the company, it is the startup that did it in the shortest time in the world. The importance of using ARR as an index, especially in a time of market uncertainty, is that it signals to investors to focus on generating sales and profits. The Bessemer Foundation uses this index to check the progress of its portfolio companies and calls it the "North Star". However, it is important to remember that this is a private–not public– company, so the data is based on its reports only; we were not allowed to see confirmation or verification from an external accounting firm. In addition, looking only at the ARR index, without data on the cash burn rate, and expenses such as customer acquisition cost, we are only a partial view.
Beyond the heavy funding rounds, the company also jumped in the number of employees they have, from 200 at the beginning of the year to 500 today. Moreover, its product is used by about a quarter of the Fortune 100 companies.
Assaf Rappaport, co-founder and CEO of Wiz, said in response to the announcement: "Many cyber companies today continue to grow rapidly. The slowdown in the markets does not reduce the cyber expenses of large organizations, but the opposite. Many governments are increasing the procurement volumes of cyber technologies, and at the same time applying regulation to a series of organizations, mainly those dealing with critical infrastructures, like financial organizations and health organizations since they use sensitive information of hundreds of millions of citizens and more. Naturally, Israel is one of the main beneficiaries of the growth in the field, and Wiz will continue to grow at a rapid pace in terms of recruiting brilliant employees in Israel and the world, as well as rapidly recruiting customers. We have enough money to continue to support our growth plan and recruit the best talents."


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Netflix’s revenue trends
Netflix’s (NFLX) revenue grew 2.2% YoY (year-over-year) to $4.52 billion in the first quarter, beating Wall Street’s estimate of $4.50 billion by 0.4%. Excluding currency headwinds, Netflix’s revenue grew 28% YoY in Q1 2019.
Although Netflix’s revenue has consistently grown sequentially, its YoY growth has declined for the past four quarters. Analysts’ revenue estimate of $4.928 billion for the second quarter implies they expect YoY growth.
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Consistent and robust global subscriber growth has been a key revenue driver for Netflix. The company added 9.6 million paid subscribers during the first quarter, compared with 8.26 million in Q1 2018 and 8.84 million in Q4 2018. The recent 13%–18% increase in US membership prices is also expected to boost the company’s revenue. Netflix’s basic plan is set to start at $8.99 per month, whereas Walt Disney’s (DIS) upcoming Disney+ streaming service is set to cost a competitive $6.99 per month. AT&T’s (T) WarnerMedia and Apple are also set to launch streaming services later this year, and Comcast’s (CMCSA) NBCUniversal and Discovery (DISCA) plan to launch services next year.

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The DMV Blog
In an effort to prevent distracted driving – which has become one of the leading causes of car accidents in the U.S. in recent years – car makers are increasingly installing voice-controlled infotainment systems in vehicles, allowing drivers to control the in-car navigation systems, audio systems, and other similar entertainment and convenience features without having to take their hands off the wheel. However, while these hands-free systems are touted by the auto industry as the perfect solution to the distracted driving problem, there are those who argue that using these types of infotainment systems is not that safe and doesn't eliminate driver distraction entirely.
Now, these claims can be backed up by some pretty solid evidence,more »
Among the several advantages that ride-sharing services have over taxis, the fact that they are more affordable is the one that is being mentioned most often. In addition to being a very convenient alternative to owning a car or getting a taxi, ride-sharing is generally cheaper, which makes it appealing to an increasing number of commuters, and nowadays it is the preferred transportation option for a lot of people in various major countries and cities across the globe. Although ride-sharing fares may vary significantly between cities, and based on the time of day these services are used, they are still more affordable, which is mostly duemore »
Over the past couple of years, Texas has been undergoing a major drilling boom, after large reserves of oil and gas were discovered back in 2008, which resulted in a huge job and population growth. This is obviously great news for the state's economy, but this fracking frenzy has also had a significant negative impact, as it has led to a surge in traffic-related deaths, with a large portion of all highway fatalities that have occurred during the oil boom being caused by commercial drivers.
Up until 2008, traffic fatality rates in Texas have been falling for several years in a row, but in 2009, car crash-related deaths started to climb, seeing an 8% increase over the next fourmore »
There is a good reason why car insurance for teen drivers is so expensive. The risk of getting into a fatal crash for drivers between the age of 16 and 19 is much greater than for drivers age 20 and older, so insurance companies are right to raise premiums when a teen driver is added to an existing policy. While insuring an underage driver is expensive in all states, premiums vary greatly from one state to another, depending on car insurance regulations, frequency of crashes and claims, as well as the geography in a given state, with states that have large rural areas having lower rates.
According to a research from InsuranceQuotes.com, adding a teen driver to an existing insurance policy raises the policy'more »
One of the most popular electric vehicles nowadays – the Tesla Model S – is widely considered to be a luxury car, which is understandable, given the $69,900 price tag for the base model, along with the abundance of comfort amenities and high performance. This is the reason why it is out of the average consumer's price range, and why it has mostly been targeted to high-end consumers. Nevertheless, Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, has said repeatedly that one of the company's main goals is to make its cars as affordable as possible, and the latest project towards achieving this goal is the Certified Pre-Owned Program for the Model S, which is set to start very soon.
The news about the CPO programmore »
In the last couple of years, driving in the U.S. has been on the decline, a trend that has been especially noticeable among the younger population. With less and less people showing interest in driving, and even owning a car, for that matter, it seems that the driving boom – that started in the mid 1950s – may soon be over. This decline in driving has mostly been attributed to the fact that Baby Boomers have started retiring, while Millennials have been embracing alternative modes of transportation, but rising gasmore »
Electric cars have been selling quite well lately in the United States, albeit not at a rate that had been expected by manufacturers and the government, which has been trying to boost sales by offering various incentives to consumers. Nonetheless, even though EVs still only make up less than 1% of all new car sales in the country, demand for these alternative fuel vehicles has been increasing constantly over the past few years, with California being the state with the highest electric vehicle sales numbers for amore »
DMV.com's study looking into the reasons for why desire is outpacing demand in the green technology vehicle market was recently featured on Car Biz Today!
Click here to see the video and read the rest of the article.
Distracted driving has become one of the most serious problems on U.S. roadways, with over 3,000 people killed in distraction-related crashes each year. Texting while driving is considered to be the most common cause of driver distraction, so many organizations fighting distracted driving, along with authorities, have been focused on raising public awareness of the risks involved in composing, sending or reading text messages while behind the wheel. Distracted driving laws across the country impose bans on text messaging, and some states even prohibit the use of hand-held cell phones altogether, but these laws don't seem to be helping reduce the number of car crashes significantly, so the searchmore »
Despite a growing demand for green vehicle technologies and increased interest in purchasing hybrid or electric cars, there is still a significant gap between the desire to own a green vehicle and the number of people actually buying hybrid and electric vehicles. According to our recent survey, 38% of respondents are planning to purchase a green vehicle in the next 5 years (either hybrid or electric). Given the clear interest in hybrid and electric vehicles, it would appear that automakers should be making plans to aggressively pursue the expanding market for green vehicles.
However, the perceived interest among consumers in purchasing green technology vehicles is has not translated into actual sales. Despite an interest in hybrid and electric cars, these vehicles still only represented 3.8% of all vehicle salesmore »


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The victim, aged in her 80s, was shopping in Wilkinson’s store on High Street in Northallerton on the morning of Monday April 13 when she was approached by a group of three men and one woman.
One of the men started talking to her and while she was distracted her purse was stolen from her shopping basket.
Police want to speak to the man and woman shown in the images and are appealing to members of the public to contact them if they can help identify them.
They also want to speak to anyone who may have found a discarded mustard yellow purse.
The man who spoke to the woman is described as having olive skin and spoke with an eastern European accent.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2 and ask for PC Paul Fricker or email [email protected]


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The popular Trezor hardware wallet will support Bitcoin Cash.Purchase Bitcoin using a credit card or with your linked bank account via an online exchange.Get started with Bitcoin: find a wallet, buy bitcoin, shop with bitcoin, read bitcoin news, and get involved on the forum.If you have a Blockchain wallet, it is essential that you retain your wallet and corresponding recovery phrase and not delete them, even if you empty the BTC balance.If the fork is successful you will automatically have the equivalent amount of BCC as the amount of BTC stored in your BTC.com wallet.
Hi at the end of the article you mention preventing the exposure of your private keys by transfering your bitcoin into another wallet.The network that they are creating is known as Bitcoin Cash or BCH. When.
How to Claim Your Bitcoin Cash and Sell it for BitcoinIf your bitcoins are stored on an exchange (which is not recommended for security reasons), the relevant custodian will decide the fate of your BCH.The Bitcoin world received its first hard fork yesterday at 1:20 BST, with a new blockchain being introduced to the Bitcoin world known Bitcoin Cash.
In the event of two separate blockchains after August 1, 2017 Blockchain.info will support the longest chain.Bitcoin Cash (BCC) is a cryptocurrency created via a fork of the Bitcoin network.Bitcoin is an innovative payment network and a new kind of money.Major Chinese ASIC manufacturer and mining pool operator, Bitmain, planned and coded a response to the possibility of a UASF-induced fork.A week after Bitcoin Cash took a quick tumble after going live, it would appear at a quick glance of its price chart that the Bitcoin offshoot has stabilized. But.How these figures will develop after the fork occurs is a highly speculative matter.
Bitcoin and Altcoin price charts / graphs
Kraken - Market DataKeepKey plans to support all forks of bitcoin as unique currencies and will allow you to swap between them with ShapeShift.Bitcoin Cash has already been a disruptive force within the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Bitcoin Cash (BCC or BCH) is a hard-fork from Bitcoin launched on August 1st 2017.You can also read the latest news, or engage with the community on our Bitcoin Forum.Their Chrome wallet interface will also feature a split utility and a selector for both chains.My keen interest in matters financial, economic and political eventually led me to conclude that the current, debt-based fiat system is broken.
The popular Ledger hardware wallet will also support Bitcoin Cash.
Why your Bitcoin will be safe when ‘Bitcoin Cash’ isAfter the fork occurs, monitor the Bitcoin Cash price so judge the potential gain against the possible risk, plus the time and effort required.
Bitcoin Cash digital asset pricing, news list and more at EveningStar.io. Track and share your favorite blockchain news stories, digital coins and cryptocurrencies.
Differences Between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash – Bitcoin.com
Since these apps are true bitcoin wallets, users hold the private keys and have full, exclusive access to their funds.
4hr Ripple Reversal? Bitcoin cash & Steemit 4hr chart updateCryptoCoinCharts.info is storing 143,287,131 trades of 6432 currency.
Bitcoin Cash tanks 10% as investors dump coins
Bitcoin Split, Bitcoin Cash Trades Above $400
The combined wallet and exchange service, Exodus, will not support Bitcoin Cash, either through splitting or providing a market.Current fiat prices for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) crypto with volume, trading pairs and historical cryptocurrency information across all exchanges.Bitcoin Cash has had a very interesting launch with miners coming in and out very quickly.Convert amounts to or from USD and other currencies with this simple Bitcoin calculator.Bitcoin machine gives an easy and fast way to buy and sometimes sell bitcoins for cash.
The consensus appears to be that Bitcoin Cash will fail to gain meaningful traction.


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Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) reported second quarter 2021 earnings results today.
Net revenues fell 2% year-over-year to $5.7 billion.
GAAP net income decreased 2% to $3 billion, or $1.38 per share, compared to the year-ago period. Adjusted EPS dropped 1% to $1.38.
Due to the prevailing uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economy, Visa is not providing guidance for full-year 2021.
Looking for more insights on the earnings results? Click here to access the full transcripts of the latest earnings conference calls!
The cloud computing market witnessed accelerated growth in the last couple of years, as enterprises across the world shifted their digital assets to cloud for ensuring safety and enhancing data
Dollar Tree (DLTR) vs. Dollar General (DG): How did the third quarter turn out for these discount retailers?
In times of high inflation and economic uncertainty, consumers tend to turn to discount retailers in search of more value. The two leading discount retailers Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR)
The retail environment has witnessed many changes in customers’ shopping behavior lately, especially after the COVID outbreak. With inflation putting pressure on personal finances, there appears to be a new


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Ford to Operate 4,000 Temporary Layoffs in Europe
"This downtime is related to product changeover at the plant and the expectation that demand will remain weak next year across the European industry," said Schmitz, who's based at Ford's European headquarters in Cologne, Germany. "The decline in demand in both Spain and Europe is affecting all of the industry.”
The Valencia factory employs some 6,2000 people right now. However, they also have facilities in Romania, Portugal, Germany, England, Belgium and Turkey.


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Dog-Eared and Dispatched: March 1, 2015
From the discovery of a lost tale to the destruction of rare books, this has been a tumultuous week in the book world. Barnes and Noble, though, has managed to do something that’s made Wall Street Happy, and the West Coast port strike is over at last. Ready for more? Read on!
While cleaning out his attic, 80-year-old Walter Elliot found a lost Sherlock Holmes story in a collection of pamphlets put together to raise funds for a new bridge in Selkirk in 1904. Although there is some doubt as to whether the story was actually penned by Arthur Conan Doyle (“the famous litterateur”), he was apparently in town for the fundraising bazaar, and a signed copy of the story apparently exists. The mystery deepens. [Telegraph, Huffington Post, BBC]
As its stores buckle under the weight of snow, Barnes and Noble announces that it is separating its college stores from its retail and NOOK units. The college/educational division will become a separate publicly traded company called B&N Education, in the hopes that this will optimize both trade and college sales. Wall Street seems cheered by the plan, and the company’s shares reached 2009 levels. In the tradition of keeping one’s friends close and one’s enemies closer, the troubled nook division will become more closely enmeshed with the retail division. Whether this will allow Barnes and Noble – which has been closing stores across the country – to survive remains to be seen. [Shelf Awareness, Publishers Weekly, Barnes and Noble College, Reuters, MobyLives!]
- Turkish novelist Yasar Kemal died on Saturday at the age of ~91. His debut novel, Memed, My Hawk was first published in 1955.
- An excursion into the art of literary biography.
- Yes, editors are aware of the lack of diversity in publishing.
- The strike in West Coast ports has ended, but it will be a while before things are back to normal.
- Poets & Writers is releasing an app to promote local literary events.
- A young evangelical leader lost a book deal after coming out in support of the LGBTQ community.
- Hitler’s manifesto will be published again in Germany after copyright lapses in December.
- Eight thousand rare books burned as ISIS bombed Mosul library.


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When US consumers have their online bank accounts hacked and looted by hackers, US financial institutions are legally bound to reverse any unauthorized transactions as long as the victim reports the fraud in a timely manner. But new data released this week suggests that for some of the nation’s largest banks, reimbursing victims of account takeover has become more the exception than the rule.
The findings came in a report published by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), which in April 2022 opened an investigation for fraud related to Zellethe peer-to-peer digital payment service used by many financial institutions that allows customers to quickly send money to friends and family.
Zelle is run by LLC Early Warning Services (EWS), a private financial services company jointly owned by Bank of America, Capital one, JPMorgan Chase, NCP Bank, Truist, American bankand Wells Fargo. Zelle is enabled by default for customers at over 1,000 different financial institutions, although many customers still don’t know it exists.
Sen. Warren said several of EWS’ owning banks — including Capital One, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo — failed to provide all of the requested data. But Warren obtained the information requested by PNC, Truist and US Bank.
“Overall, the three banks that provided comprehensive datasets reported 35,848 scam cases, involving more than $25.9 million in payments in 2021 and the first half of 2022,” the report summarizes. “In the vast majority of these cases, banks did not reimburse customers who said they had been scammed. Overall, these three banks reported refunding customers in just 3,473 cases (representing nearly 10% of scam claims) and refunding only $2.9 million.
Importantly, the report distinguishes between cases involving direct takeovers of bank accounts and unauthorized transfers (fraud), and losses resulting from “fraudulently induced payments”, where the victim is tricked into authorizing the transfer of funds to scammers (scams).
A common example of the latter is the Zelle Fraud Scam, which uses an ever-changing set of come-ons to trick people into transferring money to fraudsters. The Zelle Fraud scam often uses spoofed text messages and phone calls to make it look like they are from your bank, and the scam usually involves tricking the customer into thinking they are sending themselves money. money when he really sends it to the crooks.
Here’s the catch: when a customer issues a payment order to their bank, the bank is required to honor that order as long as it passes a two-step test. The first question is: is the request really coming from an account owner or signing authority? In the case of Zelle scams, the answer is yes.
Trace Foosheestrategic advisor in anti-money laundering practice at Aite Novaricasaid the second stage requires banks to give the customer’s transfer order a kind of “detection test” using “commercially reasonable” fraud checks that are not generally designed to detect patterns involving the social engineering.
Fooshee said the legal term “commercially reasonable” is the main reason no bank has much – if anything – in the way of scrutinizing scam detection.
“For them to deploy something that would detect a good deal of fraud on something so hard to detect, they would generate extremely high rates of false positives which would also make consumers (and, subsequently, regulators) very unhappy” , Fooshee said. “It would undermine the business case for the service as a whole, making it something the bank can claim is NOT commercially reasonable.”
Senator Warren’s report makes it clear that banks in general not reimburse consumers if they are fraudulently enticed to make Zelle payments.
“Simply put, Zelle indicated that it would provide redress to users for unauthorized transfers in which a user’s account is accessed by a bad actor and used to transfer payment,” the report continues. “However, EWS’ response also indicated that neither Zelle nor its parent bank owners would reimburse users fraudulently enticed by a bad actor to make a payment on the platform.”
Yet data suggests that banks refunded at least some of the funds stolen from scam victims about 10% of the time. Fooshee said he was surprised that number was so high.
“The fact that banks pay anything to victims of authorized payment scams is remarkable,” he said. “It’s money they pay out of pocket almost entirely for goodwill. One could argue that reimbursing all victims is a good strategy, especially in the climate we find ourselves in, but to say that this should be what all banks do remains opinion until Congress changes the law.
However, when it comes to reimbursing victims of fraud and account takeovers, the report suggests banks are toughening up their customers whenever they can get away with it. “Overall, the four banks that provided complete datasets indicated that they only reimbursed 47% of the dollar amount of fraud claims they received,” the report noted.
How did the banks behave individually? From the report:
-In 2021 and the first six months of 2022, NCP Bank reported that its customers reported 10,683 instances of unauthorized payments totaling more than $10.6 million, of which only 1,495 instances totaling $1.46 were refunded to consumers. PNC Bank left 86% of its customers who reported fraud without recourse for fraudulent activity that occurred on Zelle.
– Over this same period, American bank customers reported a total of 28,642 instances of unauthorized transactions totaling over $16.2 million, while refunding only 8,242 instances totaling less than $4.7 million.
-In the period between January 2021 and September 2022, Bank of America customers reported 81,797 instances of unauthorized transactions, totaling $125 million. Bank of America only paid out $56.1 million in fraud claims, less than 45% of the total dollar value of claims made at that time.
–Truist indicated that the bank had a much better record of reimbursing defrauded customers during this same period. During 2021 and the first half of 2022, Truist clients filed 24,752 unauthorized transaction claims amounting to $24.4 million. Truist paid off 20,349 of those claims, totaling $20.8 million – 82% of Truist’s claims were paid off during this period. Overall, however, the four banks that provided complete datasets reported that they only reimbursed 47% of the dollar amount of fraud claims they received.
Fooshee said there has long been a lot of inconsistency in how banks reimburse unauthorized fraud claims – even after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB) has issued guidance on what constitutes an unauthorized fraud claim.
“Many banks have reported that they still do not meet these standards,” he said. “As a result, I imagine the CFPB will crack down on those who issue fines and we will see a correction.”
Fooshee said many banks have recently adjusted their refund policies to bring them more in line with CFPB guidelines from last year.
“So it’s going in the right direction, but not with enough vigor and speed to satisfy the critics,” he said.
Seth Ruden is a payment fraud expert who serves as a global consulting director for a digital identity company BioCatch. Ruden said Zelle recently made “significant changes to monitoring its fraud program due to consumer influence.”
“It’s clear to me that despite the sensational headlines, progress has been made to improve outcomes,” Ruden said. “Currently, in-network losses on a volume-adjusted basis are lower than typical for credit cards.”
But he said any failure to reimburse victims of fraud and account takeover only adds to the pressure on Congress to do more to help victims of those defrauded to authorize Zelle payments.
“The bottom line is that regulations haven’t kept pace with payment technology in the United States, and we’re not alone,” Ruden said. “For the first time in the UK, authorized losses from payment scams have exceeded credit card losses and a regulatory response is now on the table. Banks have a choice now to act and strengthen the controls or waiting for regulators to impose a new regulatory environment.
Senator Warren’s report is available here (PDF).
There are, of course, some versions of the fraudulent Zelle scam that can confuse financial institutions as to what constitutes “authorized” payment instructions. For example, the variant I wrote about earlier this year started with a text message that spoofed the target’s bank and warned of a suspicious pending transfer.
Those who responded received a call from a spoofed number to make it look like the victim’s bank call, and were asked to validate their identity by re-reading a one-time password sent via text message. In reality, the thieves had simply asked the bank’s website to reset the victim’s password, and this unique code texted by the bank’s site was the only thing the crooks needed to reset the password. target’s password and clear the account using Zelle.
None of the above discussions imply the risks affecting businesses that bank online. Businesses in the United States don’t have the same fraud protection as consumers, and if a banking trojan or clever phishing site causes a business account to be drained, most banks won’t refund this loss.
That’s why I have always and will continue to urge small business owners to only bank online from a dedicated, restricted, and secure device – and preferably a non-Windows machine.
For consumers, the same old advice remains best: watch your bank statements like a hawk, and immediately report and dispute any charges that appear fraudulent or unauthorized.


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With an increase in the cess from 2% – 7% on mid sized, large cars and SUVs Toyota is has announced an increase in the prices of Innova Crysta, Fortuner, Corolla and the Etios. The approximate price increase in Delhi for Innova Crysta is Rs 78,000, Rs 72,000 for Corolla Altis and the Platinum Etios will see an increase of Rs 13,000. The biggest price change though has been done for the Fortuner, which will now be dearer by up to Rs 1,60,000. However, prices of hybrid models (Camry Hybrid, Prius) have not been increased.
Speaking of the price increase, N. Raja, Director & Sr. Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said “Following the ordinance on GST amendment, we have to revise the price of our products in line with the cess hike which may nearly reflect the prices in the pre-GST scenario.”
As per the new rates, mid-sized cars like new Hyundai Verna, Honda City, and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz will see a price increase around 2 percent. Luxury car prices will increase by 5 percent which includes vehicles from the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover. In addition, SUVs in the premium segment will witness a price increase of 7 percent. Rates on hybrid and small cars remains unchanged, which was approved earlier in July 2017. More vehicle makers such as Mahindra and Mahindra, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and JLR will increase the prices of its products in coming days.
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During New York Fashion Week last September, Fendi presented a special runway show to fete the 25th anniversary of the Baguette bag. Created in 1997 by Silvia Venturini Fendi, this iconic bag became a cultural phenomenon and revolutionized the fashion industry. Now Fendi has teamed with jeweler Tiffany & Co. to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of craftsmanship in sterling silver.
This creation is exceptional at multiple levels. To begin with, it is part of Fendi’s ambitious ‘hand in hand’ initiative to celebrate local artisans whose expert craft transforms the Baguette into a full-fledged objet d’art. What’s more, this collaboration is the first ‘hand in hand’ partnership outside Italy, as Fendi teams with a house that boasts its own rich tradition of sublime craftsmanship and shares a commitment to exquisite savoir-faire.
Weighing 5.2 pounds (2,356 grams), the unique piece is engraved with a floral pattern of lilies – the national flower of Italy – and roses, the emblematic blossom of New York State. Made using a traditional silversmithing technique called ‘chasing’, the silver masterpiece is an homage both to Fendi’s iconic bag and to Tiffany & Co.’s heritage of exquisite craftsmanship. Created by skilled ‘Makers’ at the American jeweler’s workshop, the bag took some 250 hours to craft over four months.


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Why Doctors Recommend the Mediterranean Diet
Cardiologist Hooman Yaghoobzadeh on the many benefits of this heart-healthy diet.
Ever wonder why doctors recommend the Mediterranean diet? There’s a long list of reasons, says Dr. Hooman Yaghoobzadeh, a cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
The diet, high in fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish, and nuts, is associated with a wide range of health benefits, from reducing the risk of heart disease to cancer.
“One of the best things you can do for your heart is follow the Mediterranean diet,” says Dr. Yaghoobzadeh, who is also a clinical associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. “There’s also growing evidence that it may help people live longer.”
Study after study supports the diet’s heart benefits, and an analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults has demonstrated that following the Mediterranean diet is associated with a significant improvement in health, as well as a reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality and overall mortality. It has been associated with lowering the bad cholesterol that’s more likely to build up deposits in your arteries.
The plant-based diet is rich in antioxidants — substances that could be involved in potentially reducing and repairing cell damage — which have been shown to be beneficial for heart health and overall health.
The Mediterranean diet can also help protect against other diseases, as it is linked to reduced incidences of cancer and Parkinson’s, and for preventing or slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s. A recent study suggests that women who adhere to the diet may have a reduced risk of breast cancer.
And unlike fad diets, it’s not difficult to follow or stay on.
“I tell my patients that even though it’s called the Mediterranean diet, it really should be called the ‘Mediterranean way of life,’” says Dr. Yaghoobzadeh. “Diets are usually something that you do that is short-lived, or very specific, and you can’t stay on them for long. The Mediterranean diet isn’t a 30-day fast or a 10-day no-carb diet, and you don’t need to bring a salad in a brown bag if you go out to a restaurant. It’s a healthy way of living that you can stick to for the rest of your life.
“In fact, hundreds of millions of people already eat this way,” he adds. “One of the main benefits comes from the increase in fiber, which is the food (prebiotic) for the healthy bacteria in your gut (probiotic). Fiber also enhances and leads to healthy nutrients for the gut lining.”
Dr. Yaghoobzadeh also recommends combining the diet with an exercise program to keep your heart healthy. Here, he shares the key points of the Mediterranean diet:
* Eat your fruit and vegetables.
* It’s good to go nuts — have a handful of nuts as a snack.
* Avoid sugar and high glycemic index foods. Use the carbohydrate/fiber ratio (total carbs divided by total fiber) to pick healthier alternatives. Try to keep the ratio below seven for foods that are processed like bread, pasta, cereals.
* Lose the butter. Use olive oil or canola oil as a replacement.
* Savor some spice. Add herbs and spices to your food instead of salt. Turmeric, saffron and many other spices pack powerful antioxidant punch.
* Go fish. Move away from meat and towards fish.
* Avoid red meat. Substitute fish or plant-based proteins. Red meat is associated with a higher incidence of coronary events because it’s high in saturated fat. Recent studies have linked frequent red meat consumption to high levels of a chemical, called trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), associated with heart disease.
* Limit dairy. Use dollops of yogurt as accent, and add cheese to enhance flavor as opposed to being the centerpiece.
* Beans are good for your heart and your gut. They are high in minerals and fiber but without the saturated fat found in most animal proteins.
* Wine. If it is OK with your doctor, you can have a glass or two of wine — preferably red. Try to have several days a week where you are not consuming alcohol.


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Apple offers a demonstration of the new CarPlay iOS mirroring feature in a Mercedes-Benz C-class during the Geneva auto show.
Pricing not available
At events around the world, BMW pulled the wraps off its purpose-built electric car.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs apparently envisioned an Apple-made automobile as a future project ahead of his death.
iOmounts' magnet-based iOauto makes mounting a phone in your car easy, but it is an ugly-looking thing, and requires a bright, silver disc on the back of your phone.
An Apple board member has told how the late Apple boss dreamed of reinventing car design.
What once was iOS in the Car is now CarPlay, and Ferrari, Mercedes, and Volvo will all have models on display at this week's Geneva auto show.
Mini announces new iPhone integration technology for the Countryman.
A firmware update for Pioneer's NEX series car stereos will add Apple CarPlay compatibility to their already impressive feature set.
Apple has announced its in-car service, CarPlay, which promises to integrate your iPhone into your dashboard.
Apple will reportedly unveil iOS in the Car next week, with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo all signed up to use it.


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How can citizens across Central and Eastern Europe access finance without a credit history? Our very own Paul Randall spoke with FORBES and Joe R. Wallen to explain. Read the full article.
The Kenyan market is amongst the first in Africa to benefit from a fully integrated psychometric module within a credit bureau system, thus enabling more accurate credit decisioning and broader access to finance, thanks to an additional layer of information on the consumer, coming from the consumer himself/herself: information on one’s personality.
COREMETRIX, the world’s leading provider of psychographic data, has announced the launch of a new product allowing lenders and debt collection agencies to assess the likelihood of customers recovering after they fall into arrears.
Lenders in emerging markets are increasingly looking towards personality-based methods when a customer’s credit history is insufficient for traditional risk analysis. Coremetrix believes that psychometric data can play a vital role in opening up access to vital financial services and matching lenders with profitable, new customers.
Clare McCaffery’s recent interview in TEARSHEET explains some of the methodology behind how Coremetrix can predict real-life financial outcomes and unlock access to credit and other financial products worldwide.
Check this out right here.


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MyPRINTResource Buyer's Guide is an extensive resource of printing, graphics and finishing products & supplies, trade services, distributors and more from MyPRINTResource.com
refine by type:
Sun Chemical Corporation
Sun Chemical will present its portfolio of digital aftermarket inks including a new soft signage solution at FESPA Digital 2014, 20-23 May 2014, in Munich.
PoliPrint, which is designed for high-heat, dry toner production equipment such as Xerox iGen and Kodak Nexpress, is available in 5, 8, 10, and 14 mil thicknesses, and is distributed exclusively by xpedx.
Photo Silk Baryta 310 is a white, silk gloss Baryta paper that gives the impression of a traditional silver halide photo paper.
Designed for the poster and infographics markets, Canon USA Inc. has announced the new SE Series imagePROGRAF large format solution lineup.
CMA Imaging America Inc.
CMA Imaging is expanding its CMA gal'art solvent papers and offers now a full range of fine art media covering a wide variety of printing applications, from canvas to fine art textured.
Hexis USA LLC
HEXIS USA is launching a new type of digital printing vinyl for large format solvent, eco-solvent and Latex inkjet printers.
With the appeal of its digital signage suite now extending beyond the print houses it was designed for, Caldera has announced a new version upgrade.
Value Vinyls Inc
Value Vinyls has introduced Soluna, a 19 ounce coated PVC vinyl.
Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions
Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions has announced the addition of 16 high gloss colors to the 700 High Performance Calendered Film Series.
Fisher Textiles has announced its newest fabric for soft signage, high end displays and retail advertising applications, GF 4834 Luxury Banner (FR).


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Applications for US Jobless Benefits Fell to a Low 216,000
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs declined and hiring is likely strong.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 216,000, a very low level by historical standards. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 235,750.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs, since people cannot claim benefits unless they lose a job through no fault of their own. Businesses are hiring at healthy levels and posted the most open jobs in nearly two decades in December. With demand for workers strong, companies are holding onto their staffs.
Other economic reports have suggested growth may be slowing this year. Manufacturing output and retail sales have both fallen in the past two months. Still, consumer optimism has bounced back, according to some measures, after falling sharply in the wake of the 35-day partial government shutdown. That could revive spending going forward.
The economy expanded at a 3.8 percent annual rate last summer and fall. But analysts forecast growth weakened in the final three months of last year, to roughly 2 percent to 2.5 percent. The report on fourth-quarter growth was delayed by the government shutdown and is scheduled to be released next week.
Growth has likely slowed further in the first three months of this year, economists expect, with some projecting it to be as slow as 1.5 percent to 2 percent at an annual rate.
By AP reporter Christopher Rugaber


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Pricing for the upcoming all-in-one Chrome OS PC from LG has been revealed – and it makes for disappointing reading.
Australia will be one of the first countries to bag the LG Chromebase, where it launches this April with the recommended retail price of AU $599.
The XE currency converter translates this as being roughly US $540; €400; and £330 – though these are not official prices, nor account for any locale-specific taxes, costs or, in the case of the UK, infamous price hikes.
LG is yet to officially confirm pricing for the US and Europe.
‘Are a fancy monitor and some bundled accessories worth a $400 premium?’
The LG Chromebase features a decent 21.5-inch IPS screen at 1920×1080 resolution, an Intel Celeron CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD, all housed within an attractive plastic shell a mere 3-inches thick.
A built-in webcam, USB, audio in, and ethernet come as standard, while a HDMI in socket allows the Chromebase to double up as an external monitor.
The cheapest ASUS Chromebox costs US$179 with a near-identical set of system innards: the same CPU, the same SSD size, the same amount of memory; while Touchscreen Windows 8 all-in-one PCs can be picked up for as little as $400.
But are a fancy monitor and some bundled accessories worth a $400 premium?
Back in January I posted an editorial reasoning that price, and price alone, would decide the success of the Chromebase.
“Priced above $500 and the Chromebase will struggle to sell,” I said at the time.
The recent reveal of new Chromeboxes from ASUS and HP has only served to underline cost as a potential deciding factor – in thick bold black marker.
The LG Chromebase can be a success. It has decent hardware in an attractive, tidy form-factor. Retailer discounts could yet see it positioned at the pivotal sub-$500 price point.
Time – and the LG press office – will tell.


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Services like AfterPay and Klarna are convenient but risky
A group of U.S. Senators led by Jack Reed of Rhode Island wrote a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) calling for closer scrutiny and better regulation of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products (such as Klarna and AfterPay).
The Senators noted:
“While the emergence of BNPL as affordable small-dollar credit has potentially provided an alternative to more costly forms of credit, these products also have the potential to cause consumer harm. Many BNPL providers structure these products in an effort to avoid certain consumer protection obligations under the Truth in Lending Act or the Military Lending Act, which generally apply to loans that are repayable in more than four installments or are subject to a finance charge. BNPL products generally do not receive all of the protections credit cards have, including those governing ability-to-repay, monthly statements, reasonable and proportional penalty fees, and the ability to raise merchant-related disputes.
Reed was joined by Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Jon Ossoff of Georgia in calling for CFPB oversight of the BNPL products.
The call by these Senators comes as consumer groups have noted both the benefits to consumers and the potential risks.
Lauren Saunders of the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) says of these products:
“Buy-now-pay-later products, if affordable and truly free to the consumer, may help consumers manage larger purchases without the long-term debt and high costs of credit cards. But some BNPL products may have deceptive and abusive profit models built on the expectation of late fees from struggling consumers.
In addition to late fees, a report from CNBC notes that BNPL products can have a negative impact on a consumer’s credit score:
“While the record of on-time payments can boost your credit, you could see a blow to your score from using the [BNPL] service,” says Leslie Tayne, founder and managing director at Tayne Law Group. “Every purchase you make with a POS loan is considered a separate account on your credit report that gets closed once you pay off the balance. Since these loans are short-term (generally six weeks), they can bring down the average age of your credit history considerably — especially if you’re a regular borrower.”


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LONDON (Alliance News) - Independent News & Media PLC on Friday said its pretax profit grew in the first half of 2016 as exceptional charges booked a year earlier turned to gains and as the company saw revenue increased.
The Irish newspaper and media group said it made a pretax profit of EUR19.5 million in the half to the end of June, compared to a EUR13.4 million profit a year earlier. The year prior, the company booked one-off charges of EUR1.7 million, which swung to a EUR1.0 million gain in the first half of 2016.
Revenue increased to EUR161.6 million from EUR157.3 million in the half and the group's profit also benefited from 23% growth in digital advertising revenue, a reduction in net interest costs and lower operating expenses.
The growth in digital advertising sales drove the revenue increase, offsetting a fall in publishing advertising revenue, circulation revenue and commercial printing following the closure of the company's Belfast printing operation. This closure was partly responsible for the decline in operating costs for the company in the first half.
Chief Executive Robert Pitt said the company had performed well despite a challenging trading environment in the first half, which will continue into the second. Pitt said the company will continue to deal with the challenges it faces, including the decline in print advertising, "pro-actively".
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved., source Alliance News


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Narendra Modi will manage the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign for Indian general elections due in less than a year, bolstering his chances of becoming the prime ministerial candidate of nation’s main opposition group.
Tata Motors Ltd. may report a record loss at its Indian operations in the quarter ended March as sluggish sales of its cars, including the world’s cheapest, drags down earnings for the group that owns Jaguar Land Rover.
Tata Sons Ltd. Chairman Cyrus Mistry, chasing his predecessor’s vision of boosting revenue fivefold in the next decade, is searching for a head of mergers and acquisitions, a person familiar with the plan said.
Tata Steel Ltd.’s convertible bonds are falling from a one-year high on concern a plan to borrow $2.4 billion will worsen the finances of India’s top steelmaker, after the biggest loss in more than three years.
Tata Steel Ltd., India’s biggest producer of the alloy, plans to raise about 260 billion rupees ($4.7 billion) in loans to fund its first new mill in a century, two people with direct knowledge of the deal said.
Two weeks into his new role, Karl Slym, managing director of Tata Motors Ltd. plans to scrap models and change perceptions about quality as India’s biggest automaker struggles to stem losses in market share.
Karl Slym, managing director of Tata Motors Ltd., said he’s planning to build a diesel version of the world’s cheapest car this year to revive vehicle sales, which have dropped for three straight quarters in India.
Tata Motors Ltd., maker of the world’s cheapest car, is turning to China to buy autoparts unavailable in India as it seeks to offer vehicles with automatic transmission at home, Chairman Ratan Tata said.


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Android fragmentation a thing of the past: Gingerbread OS runs 73 percent of Android devices:
According to the research, 73 percent of Android devices run on the Gingerbread OS or an Android 2.3 variant. Froyo, also known as Android 2.2, gobbles another large slice of the pie with 23 percent. Meanwhile, 61 percent of Android devices have 4-or 4.3-inch screens, with 62 percent of Android displays sporting an 800-by-480 resolution. The higher 960-by-540 resolution only maintains a meager 6 percent of screens.
Seriously? Android fragmentation is almost gone because almost 3/4 of devices are using an OS that was released in 2010 and more than half share the same screen resolution?
How do you think the Ice Cream Sandwich transition is going to go? If you’re a developer, how much extra work are you going to have to do to cover the portion of the market that cares to have the latest and greatest? How much work are you going to have to do if your business model requires that you be accessible to as many people as possible? This still seems like a huge problem to me.


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Xiaomi recently launched its first-ever foldable smartphone, the Mi MIX Fold in China. The phone is now expected to reach out to more markets, including India pretty soon. Also Read - Apple dominates list of top 10 best-selling smartphones, followed by Samsung, Xiaomi
The Xiaomi foldable phone’s global model number has been spotted on the IMEI database. Here’s a look at the details we have. Also Read - Xiaomi Mi Band 7 launches globally with Always-on-display and bigger screen
Mi MIX Fold coming to India soon
As revealed by renowned tipster Mukul Sharma, the Mix MIX Fold has been spotted on the IMEI database site with the global model number of M2011J18G. This appears to the device’s model number for India as well, as suggested by Sharma’s tweet. Also Read - Xiaomi 12S with Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 chipset spotted on Geekbench
So yes. Xiaomi's first-ever foldable is likely to launch globally as well. Have spotted the global variant (M2011J18G) on the IMEI database
Plus, though it does not guarantee it, the device has been registered on the Indian IMEI database too
Feel free to retweet.#Xiaomi pic.twitter.com/PfIVTMvbAl
— Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) April 22, 2021
With this, it’s safe to say that the Xiaomi foldable smartphone is coming to India, as well as, other markets outside of China pretty soon.
However, we don’t have an official launch date for the same. There are chances, the phone could launch globally in a couple of months.
Mi MIX Fold features, specs, price
To recall, the Mi MIX Fold looks a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 and even copies its vertical folding style.
The phone gets an 8-01-inch WQHD+ OLED foldable display, which when folded, gives rise to the external 6.52-inch AMOLED display. The former comes with a 60Hz refresh rate, while the latter gets a 90Hz refresh rate.
The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 mobile platform and comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage.
It’s the first Xiaomi phone to come with the company’s in-house Surge C1 image signal processor (ISP) and Liquid Lens technology. There is support for quad rear cameras (a 108-megapixel main camera, a 13-megapixel wide-angle lens, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens, and an 8-megapixel macro lens). The front camera stands at 20-megapixel.
The foldable phone is backed by a dual-cell 5,020mAh battery, which supports 67W fast charging. It runs MIUI 12 based on Android 11. Additionally, it comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold starts at CNY 9,999, which translates to around Rs 1,15,000. It is expected to be priced north of Rs 1,00,000.


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Led by Nunavut’s blistering pace, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut combined for manufacturing sales of $47 million in 2022, a 13.8 per cent improvement over $41.3 million in sales in 2021.
The 2022 figure was the best performance since 2018 when the two territories achieved $50.2 million in combined sales.
Statistics Canada usually does not break down Nunavut and the NWT’s manufacturing sales figures separately month by month because sales can be so small for either territory and could thereby reveal belonging to a single manufacturer, depriving that company of privacy.
However, the national statistics agency did reveal manufacturing details independently for each territory throughout 2022 and it showed that Nunavut did a brisk $34.5 million in sales compared to $12.5 million for the NWT.
Nunavut’s best month came in June, which brought in $4.9 million in transactions. The NWT’s top month was March at $2.3 million.
The first few months of 2023 saw Statistics Canada once again release only combined figures for the two territories and March, at approximately $2 million in sales based on preliminary data, was 40.6 per cent slower than March 2022. February also resulted in close to $2 million in combined sales while January was stronger at $4 million.
In Nunavut, manufacturing represented 0.52 per cent of the territory’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, up from 0.46 per cent in 2021. Manufacturing only accounted for just 0.32 per cent of the NWT’s gross domestic product in 2022, down slightly from 0.35 per cent in 2020 and 2021.
In the NWT, the industry received $54,693 in Support for Entrepreneurs and Economic Development (SEED) funding in 2021-22, representing 1.3 per cent of that financial assistance.
Manufacturing sales for NWT and Nunavut in 2022 (seasonally adjusted)
February $1.9 million
March $1.5 million
April $1.9 million
May $3.3 million
June $4.9 million
July $4.7 million
August $4.3 million
September $2.8 million
October $3.1 million
November $2.6 million
December $2.9 million
January $1.4 million
February $2 million
March $2.3 million
Source: Statistics Canada
For more stories from Opportunities North 2023, click this link: https://www.nnsl.com/special-feature-publications/opportunities-north-2023/


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Facebook says it will release its AI hardware design to the Open Compute Project soon, promising to give the community a system designed specifically for AI tasks built from off-the-shelf components. This design features eight NVIDIA Tesla M40 GPUs seated into an easily serviceable motherboard. "The CPU heat sinks are the only things you need a screwdriver for," the company says.
"We want to make it a lot easier for AI researchers to share techniques and technologies," the company said in a statement today. "We believe that this open collaboration helps foster innovation for future designs, putting us all one step closer to building complex AI systems." Sounds pretty good. Check out the source link below for Facebook's official announcement.


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IOST x Grimm’s Antiques | IOST Drives Enterprise Adoption in Artwork Traceability and Anti-Fakes
Increasing traceability and reducing counterfeit products in the art world is a well-known blockchain technology adoption scenario. Today, IOST is excited to announce the strategic partnership with one of the largest Chinese antique collector — Grimm’s Antiques.
Located in central Shenzhen, Grimm’s Antiques houses a large collection of antiques from seven European countries and artworks crafted by Chinese artists, with value stretching into millions of dollars. Through IOST’s tracing technology, part of the collection’s certificates will be put on-chain, with a unique identification card for each piece on the IOST blockchain. Buyers can obtain the artwork’s certificate by scanning its ID to check information including price, description, pictures and the current owner. Every artwork will go through strict screening to ensure its authenticity before going on-chain.
IOST will also establish a foundation with the Grimm’s Antiques to give out token rewards to buyers. Buyers can win credits for buying artworks and the credits will also be recorded on IOST blockchain for earning IOST tokens.
Initiated by Jerry, the representative of an IOST Partner Node, this partnership with Grimm is part of IOST’s progression in enterprise blockchain adoption. IOST will work together with Jerry and his team in realizing more enterprise utility cases in the future. Jerry commented:
We have investment in different industries and artwork is only a starting point. We will continue to contribute to IOST’s mass adoption and integration with traditional industries, creating limitless possibilities together.
Enhanced tracing technology can not only ensure sellers’ interests, by figuring out the source and circulation of the item, but also optimize user experience by reassuring the buyers.
By improving public chain’s performance and security, the tracing technology can better ensure the practicability and authenticity of mass adoption. We believe that blockchain technology can bring about a more efficient and high-trust society by fighting and deterring counterfeit products.
Backed by advanced technology and multiple application scenarios, IOST strives to dispel the prejudice that blockchain technology is nothing more than a buzzword and has no practical utility. IOST does not only aim to become the industry benchmark, but also provide better services for industries, including asset tokenization and charitable work. With the assistance from partners like Jerry, IOST is believed to accelerate towards its goals!
Join the IOST Community!
This is just the beginning and together with our Node Partners, IOST will continue to hold events across numerous cities to engage our community members all around the world!
IOST will continue work hand in hand with developers and our community to build the world’s first scalable AND decentralized blockchain project, with a vision of on-boarding over 100 million users by 2019.
If you would like to hang out with the IOST community on chat, social media or to discuss product development, we have something for everyone:
- International English Telegram Group: t.me/officialios
- IOST Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/IOStoken
- Jimmy Zhong Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmyzhong_iost
- Slack Developer Community: https://invite.iost.io
- Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IOStoken
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IOSTofficial/
- Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IOST-FB-Group


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Over 150 London pubs, bars and restaurants closed permanently in 2020.
As the pandemic has led to huge impacts in the sector, the number of venues dropped from 3,460 venues to 3,303 – a 4.5% drop.
Closures over 2020 were approximately three times higher than closures in 2019. In addition to London, Birmingham and Leeds also saw a large number of closures in the sector with a drop of 8.5% and 5.6% respectively.
Across the whole of the UK, 10,000 pubs and restaurants closed in 2020.
Mark Lynch, Partner at corporate finance house, Oghma Partners, commented on the number of closures for pubs and restaurants in 2020: “This is sadly not the last time we will see this type of data for pubs, restaurants and casual dining as thousands more will close throughout 2021, impacting directly and indirectly on huge sections of the UK population. Lockdown restrictions have essentially frozen Food to Go and food service providers that are unable to service clients as per normal. Pubs, restaurants and food service manufacturers and, to a lesser extent, Food to Go capacity are disappearing from the market. However, we are seeing positive sales growth for direct to consumer and supermarket companies. Indeed, we have already seen a significant shift in consumer behaviour which has boosted growth for those companies in 2020 and could be set to increase as they acquire more market share.
“Unsurprisingly, both overall deal volume and value for 2020 are the lowest recorded since we began this review back in 2009. Despite all the market uncertainties surrounding Covid-19 and Brexit, the appetite from overseas and financial investors has remained relatively positive throughout 2020, accounting for 27.1% and 20.3% of total deal volume, respectively. In 2021 we expect distressed deals to be a continued feature of activity, but our expectation remains that it won’t be until Q2 2021 that we will see year on year increases in M&A activity,” he added.


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Professor Pierre Francois Fournier is often called the father of minimally invasive cosmetic procedures, thanks to his pioneering treatments that allow people to stay young. In Dubai this week to announce his affiliation with the Aesthetica Clinic, the Parisian surgeon shares the secrets of his success with Emirates Business and his opinions on plastic surgery.
What are the most popular treatments? The majority of patients want lipo filling, or fat injections. Twenty per cent of people have too much skin so we make it shorter by putting in fillers, while 80 per cent lose volume so they need a facelift to pull it up. They also want it to be done as naturally as possible, so we don't use as many artificial fillers.
What are the advantages of minimally invasive procedures? They are much cheaper than surgery and even more so when a natural filler is used. The fat in natural fillers is still alive because it has been taken from the body – usually the hips – and contains oestrogen, which improves the complexion. If we take out more than we put back in, some women use the rest as a night cream as it's one of the best ones around.
But what about the disadvantages? These treatments don't last. A filler in the nose, for example, has to be re-done every two years, while surgery is for life. Sometimes, in the case of preventing sagging skin, the procedure will only last a couple of years, but the scars are for life.
Will these treatments eventually replace surgery? In the future we may not need surgery because most patients just want to stay young and enhance their beauty rather than completely change their looks. It's like a drug for some so they come back every four or five years for retouching and as we are living longer, people are taking better care of themselves, both inside and out.
Is there more pressure on women to look good now than ever before? It's more difficult to be a woman than a man because in many countries beauty is a necessity that they have to conform to. We have a saying in France that women are like flowers – that they have to look different on the same stem every day.
Homegrown bookstore chain Magrudy's is going green. Beginning this week, all five outlets will replace current paper bags with those made from jute, a biodegradable material that is strong, waterproof and reusable. The Dh1 a bag charge will be donated to the planting of new trees in sustainable forests. All loyalty card members get points when they bring their own environmentally friendly bags back.


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Samsung is working on some new devices and the company will launch it later. Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+ are the upcoming tablets from Samsung and they will be a premium-class tab with a lot of premium features to satisfy the needs of the users. Samsung makes the best display and they are going to add a very good display panel in the upcoming Galaxy Tab S7+ but it is rumoured that Samsung will stick with the LCD panel for the Galaxy Tab S7. The previous version that was the Galaxy Tab S6 was pretty good and there was a lite version too of the Galaxy Tab S6.
Samsung always stays one step ahead of all and that is the reason why the company is working on new tabs. People are demanding premium tabs and Samsung is working on it already. There are some leaks that confirm the design of the upcoming Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+ and the images looked pretty good. Even the people are waiting for an official update from the company or some official leak because all the rumours are not true. Samsung will not disappoint its users and the Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+ will be very good tablets.
Samsung will add Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ in both the upcoming tablets and all the features are almost similar other than the display resolution. Both will get 6GB of ram for the base model. All these features are rumoured and there is no official news about it as these two upcoming tabs were listed on the Google Play Console. We will have to wait for the official launch to know all the features.


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Here's yet another way to keep up with the Kardashians.
Coming off the success of Kim Kardashian's smart phone game
, the reality star and her famous sisters have all launched new websites and mobile apps that will give fans an inside look into their lives that not even their reality shows can show.
The apps will be free to download, and will include a mix of subscription and free content. The subscription fee will be $2.99 per month.
The new platforms will allow the famous sisters to share personal diary entries, live stream with their fans and offer beauty tutorials and workout tips. Giveaways and access to events are also some perks of subscribing.
Kim has already shared a video diary
about her second pregnancy, revealing that this time around the baby is kicking. "I didn't experience this a lot my last pregnancy so it's a lot of fun," she says.
She also gave advice on how to dress up when pregnant. "My tip to anyone who is trying to dress their growing bump is to be prepared for trial and error and just wear what you know works best, even if it's repetitive!" Kim says. "If it works, it works!"
And if you don't think you can pull off 34-year-old's style, she also has a section dedicated to her daughter's fashion statements called "Get North's Look."
As for the youngest sister
, Kylie Jenner, she has posted a video about under-eye concealer. Meanwhile, Kendall Jenner will be sharing some "model moments."
Khloe Kardashian's app will also feature some fun tips and tricks. The super-fit reality star will be posting workout videos titled Khlo-Fit.
While we can't wait to see what the Kardashian-Jenner clan will show us next, ET caught up with Kim's makeup artist
, Mario Dedivanovic, who revealed some of the reality star's biggest beauty secrets.
"She does love her contour," Dedivanovic shared, "a little bit of contour and highlight and lashes."
Will you be downloading the new Kardashian-Jenner apps?


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MPs have launched a blistering attack on the social media giant Google for failing to tackle online fraud.
A member of the Treasury Select Committee accused Google of profiting from advertising fraud.
Google says it’s doing everything it can to stem the problems. But today the banking industry warned fraud was a threat to national security.
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The Rolling Stones are getting their very own shop on London’s iconic Carnaby Street next month.
RS No.9, which will be located on 9 Carnaby Street, has been described as being the band’s first-ever flagship store and is set to open its doors in the central London location on September 9th.
The flagship Stones store promises to feature “exclusive collaborations, new fashion and merchandise” as well as stocking the band’s extensive music catalogue and latest releases. Items will also be available to purchase online.
“More than just a store, RS No.9 will be a fully immersive experience for fans of all ages,” a press release which also encouraged fans to follow the RS No.9 Instagram page promises.
“Soho has always encapsulated rock’n’roll so Carnaby Street was the perfect spot for our own store. We are confident this exciting project that our friends at Bravado have created will be an unrivalled experience for everyone to come to London and enjoy,” the band said in a statement.
Check out the promo video, below.


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SPECIALIST inks manufacturer Gardiner Colours has been bought out by the founder’s son for a six-figure sum.
The Normanton-based firm said James Gardiner, the son of founder Ray Gardiner, has bought 100 per cent of the business, marking his return to the firm after five years working as an independent sales consultant in the print sector.
The £2.5m turnover business is based at a 22,000 sq ft manufacturing facility on Normanton Industrial Estate and manufactures inks, sealers and varnishes for printing and packaging companies across the UK and Europe.
Established in 1981, the business said it had survived the recent turmoil in the print sector by focusing on producing high quality specialist products.
The acquisition will be matched by further investment to fuel international expansion.
Gardiner Colours’ products are used by publishers and banks to produce millions of magazines, brochures and marketing materials.
James Gardiner said: “The business started in the eighties, and, despite tough times in the sector in the last 10 years, the quality of the products the firm has developed has allowed us to own a niche in the UK and European print sector.
“Some of the biggest printers in the industry have come to favour our products because of the consistent nature of their quality and technical performance, and that has been our specialism for the last 20 years or so.”
The group currently sells to firms in Europe, the US and Australia and said it sees “huge potential for further growth”.
The deal will also see a six-figure investment in new manufacturing capacity, technology and working capital.


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WHITE Milano presents WHITE Show September 2021 www.whiteshow.com, interactive and sector fashion event that presents the avant-garde and the first collaboration with The Face magazine from 23 to 26 September.
Since its relaunch two years ago, the magazine has paved the way for fashion, supporting new talents in music, TV, cinema, also through a digital and quarterly publication.
The goal of WHITE Show September 2021 is to introduce the most original brands of the sttore to its public. Hence the collaboration with the brands selected by the founders of WHITE, Massimiliano Bizzi and Brenda Bellei.
For WHITE magazine, the mission is to promote sustainability and trigger a real change within the fashion industry, from start-ups to established brands. An initiative that aims to facilitate business contact both online and with the best international retailers.
During the Milan Fashion Week https://www.cameramoda.it/it/, which will take place from 21 to 27 September, WHITE will present a new generation of over 200 independent brands and designers in the Tortona Fashion District location.
Emphasizing art, design, culture and technology, the three-day live event offers industry experts buyers and consumers the opportunity to learn about fashion and inspiration for trends.
The event organized by WHITE Show September 2021 will be attended by Danielle Emerson, fashion director of The Face who will lead a talk on the future of fashion. An opportunity for budding designers and business professionals to learn how brand identity is built and how to establish itself on the market.
An appointment that will also be online on the magazine’s Instagram channel and on theface.com


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Partnership would tackle common issues.
The National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) and the Video Software Dealers Assn. (VSDA) jointly announced today (June 11) that they have entered into talks to explore a merger.
According to their statement, the trade organizations may also explore "other mutually beneficial business or strategic" relationships.
The groups say a formal letter of intent is being finalized.
The merger talks stem from the fact that the bodies are now facing similar retail issues. "The digital and Internet revolution has increased the number of issues in common to members of both organizations," the statement says. "In addition to industry consolidation and other economic factors, matters pertaining to piracy, copyright law, First Amendment protections, theft prevention, formats, packaging and labeling, emerging business models, digital delivery and the like concern our members."
A steering committee with representatives from both NARM and the VSDA will be formed to negotiate the partnership.


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By the SMU Social Media Team
A trait most entrepreneurs share is the courage to challenge assumptions. Often this is key to unlocking the ideas required to create innovative solutions.
For example, you’d probably assume that Muslim diners would have no trouble finding a place to eat out in the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, like Singapore and London – after all, the global halal food market is reportedly worth USD 1.1 trillion and is set to grow to a staggering USD 10 trillion by 2030.
But it was an observation on dietary restrictions which led SMU alumna Siddika Jaffer and her team to challenge this assumption about the dining habits of Muslims, and launch the Halal Dining Club – a website and app aimed at transforming the dining experience for this huge and underserved market
“Dietary restrictions are a massive issue affecting large parts of the population which can make finding a place to dine out a time consuming and frustrating task,” says Siddika, “The largest of these dietary restrictions is the need to dine halal, which is a unifying need shared by 1.6 billion Muslims. This population is large, growing fast and increasingly affluent.”
Certainly, there’s no shortage of halal dining options in global cities like Singapore and London, but finding them is the problem. Siddika says it’s enormously challenging for Muslim diners to discover new halal options for a particular occasion like a birthday, business dinner or group gathering, as existing directories cater for mainstream diners who aren’t restricted to halal food.
“People perceive there are loads of choices for halal diners,” she elaborates, “but traditionally these are confined to the predominant ethnic make-up of the Muslim populations in those countries. So, in Singapore this is Malay food and some Arabic food; and in the UK, this is largely South Asian food like Indian or Pakistani cuisine. But a new generation of well-travelled Muslim millennials are keen to enjoy more than traditional cuisine – things like halal Chinese, Korean, Brazilian and Japanese food are all becoming popular.”
Another commonly held assumption is that the term ‘halal’ means the same to every Muslim. Siddika and her team have turned that one on its head too, “With 1.6 billion people from different cultures, living in different countries, there is bound to be some discussion and interpretation of what halal means. In fact, there are over 140 halal certification bodies around the world with slightly different interpretations,” she says.
Siddika says the easiest way to define halal is to think of it as a spectrum of what is acceptable. And differing attitudes to this determine where one sits on the spectrum.
“Some diners will only eat in a Halal Certified establishment that serves no alcohol and has certificates prominently displayed,” she explains, “others will be happy dining in a Muslim-owned restaurant getting verbal assurance that the place is halal. And at the other end of the spectrum there may be places that we call ‘halal friendly’ which have some items on their menu that are halal but the restaurant may serve other non-halal dishes or serve alcohol as well.”
And so, The Halal Dining Club’s list of over 3,500 restaurants is carefully curated, based on the team’s insight into the halal-spectrum. Advanced filtering allows users to find the perfect dining spot suited to the occasion, chosen cuisine, and by halal preference. Users can make reservations via the app and there’s also a loyalty programme whereby points earned can be donated to charitable causes.
The idea for the Halal Dining Club came to Siddika while she was studying for a Masters in Innovation at SMU. The app and website was founded in 2015 and incubated at SMU. Singapore and London were selected as the first two markets for launch last year as they’re both home to Muslim population that love to dine out.
It’s been well received in both cities but interestingly, user habits differ in each, “In Singapore, we find people respond to the discovery elements of our content much more; whilst in the UK, we see a lot of users wanting to solve the “immediacy” need. They find themselves in a new part of town and want a tool they can use to find somewhere that appeals quickly.”
For Siddika, having the courage to challenge assumptions has proved a springboard to success. And the team’s achievements are gathering momentum with the latest expansion into Hong Kong, Bangkok, as well as Birmingham and Manchester in the UK, just this May. The plan is to be in 8 cities across 5 markets by the end of 2017 she says, “We have a really exciting product roadmap outlined for this year, and at the same time are now beginning to really ramp up our customer acquisition efforts and we see ourselves seeking a series A round in the next 12 months or so to help us scale further.”


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About a third of the 17 million cars expected to be sold in the U.S. this year are leased. The rest of them are purchased. However, there’s a new option for drivers coming in 2018 – car subscriptions. It is addressed to people that do not want to own a car but want to have access to a range of cars whenever they want.
So, by paying a monthly fee to access a variety of vehicles they can change up when they want. The flat fee starts from $400 and gets to as much as $3,700, depending on the company, and most often comes with insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance, pickup and drop-off. And in most cases, the subscription can be ended at any time. Today the vehicle subscription is in the 100,000 to 150,000 range, but it has a potential in the next 12 to 18 months to grow into millions.
More and more car makers start to offer subscriptions, like BMW and Mercedes, both announcing new car subscription pilot programs in Nashville earlier this year. There’s also Care by Volvo which launched nationwide in March for one of its compact vehicles. And there’s a list of others that are starting to adopt this program.


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Free-market think tanks, their ideological friends in the media and Liberal party leadership hopefuls have fixated on supply management as the next big economic boogeyman (after the Wheat Board) to banish from this land. Torches had been lit months ago but the opportunity for the angry mob to finally march against Canada’s dairy, egg and poultry farmers came only this week when Prime Minister Harper announced Canada’s invitation into U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, which include big dairy exporters like Australia, New Zealand and, yes, the United States.
Canada doesn’t export much dairy (with exceptions for ice cream and some cheese), chicken or eggs. We produce enough for what we consume and prices are carefully controlled so that farmers in these sectors can make a living off their work and plan production levels accordingly. Imports are controlled, with the European Union holding the majority quota for cheese into Canada. People like European cheese. I’m one of them, and I find the selection at many grocery stores to be pretty good. Consumers pay slightly more for their Canadian milk, butter and cheese than U.S. consumers do, but then everything in Canada is more expensive. A Senate committee is looking into why that’s the case.
The reason the U.S. wants to dismantle supply management, with its tariff walls on dairy and chicken imports, is obvious. U.S. producers of these foods are always looking for new markets. With almost all of Canada’s population a mere 100 km from the border, we could be drinking a lot more U.S. milk. New Zealand and Australia, as well as the EU, see more of a market for cheese, milk by-products, like powdered milk, and other milk proteins that processed food makers in Canada can use as an alternative to Canadian dairy products, which lets them increase profits. Canada already has a consistent trade deficit in milk products (we imported $418 million more than we exported in 2011, according to Statistics Canada). The TPP would worsen that.
Critics of supply management argue it hurts lower income Canadians most but this is a truism — everything costs more as a percentage of income for lower-income families. The price differential is also not as pronounced as critics claim, and there is no guarantee that producers and retailers would pass the savings on to consumers if we did lose supply management. Once again — everything is more expensive in Canada and those other prices (for cars, books, underwear, etc) are supposed to be based on the market. It’s lose-lose. (It’s also the case that supply management is not on the shit-lists of any of the poverty or development organizations I know of. It is on the hit-list of free-market think tanks like C.D. Howe and the libertarians at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.)
My favourite argument is that supply management is a barrier to Canada’s full participation in TPP talks, as if this is anything to scream about. If we think about the TPP on strictly trade terms, the export potential is tiny. Canada’s exports to TPP countries where we don’t already have a free trade deal in place (outside the WTO that is) amounts to less than 1 per cent of total exports. So we pick up a few extra jobs in some export sectors. We also stand to lose thousands more in sectors that rely on the domestic market (and domestic protections).
I understand that Canada’s agricultural exporters (canola and other grains, pork, beef) are always looking for new markets. I understand why the forest products sector would want tariffs as high as 10 per cent on wood products removed from some TPP countries. I don’t understand why we have to throw dairy and chicken farmers under the bus to marginally improve the fortunes of big corporate players in these export sectors… AND change our drug patent regime in a way that increase Big Pharma’s profits… AND make the Internet a less free, more corporate place to roam… AND expand the number of countries whose corporations can sue Canada when public policy lowers profits…
And this is why we shouldn’t think of the TPP as just about market opening. When we do, we see the gains are miniscule. When we take a look at the other changes Canada will be asked to make to public policies that should be decided after a long, internal public debate, we see a bigger picture emerging — one that protects mostly large U.S. intellectual property owners.
The Liberal party, traditional supporters of supply management, is splitting in half on this issue. Strategists like Rob Silver (a frequent commentator on CBC’s Power and Politics) and former MPs like Martha Hall Findlay have grabbed their pitchforks and torches, rallying perhaps behind colleague and former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley, now at the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, which rails against protectionism for farmers (but not intellectual property protectionism for brand name pharmaceutical firms or the mega entertainment industry).
Other Liberals including Wayne Easter and Frank Valeriote, who actually come from farming communities, as well as Liberal bloggers like Far and Wide or Impolitical are asking why this one issue has become such a fundamental one for the future of the party. The internal Liberal dispute gives the NDP an opportunity to stand squarely with dairy, poultry and egg farmers in support of supply management. NDP Trade Critic Don Davies appears to be holding firm on that position so far but the pressure will surely mount as Canada eventually joins other TPP countries at the bargaining table and details of the trade-offs emerge.
Harper’s ideologically driven murder of the Canadian Wheat Board was already too much to take. Supply management is, in my opinion, another of those important Canadian institutions that strikes a balance between what’s best for farmers and producers, on the one hand, and the consumer on the other. It fits somewhere between the kind of policy (or absence of) free-market fundamentalists would want and what pinko commies like myself can imagine. Eliminating balance in favour of the extremes… that doesn’t sound like Harper at all, does it?
It doesn’t, or didn’t sound like the Liberal party until a few days ago.