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- South Africa was just lately faraway from the United Kingdom’s crimson record, reopening journey between the international locations on Monday.
- Since the announcement, journey enquires for holidays beneath the South African solar have surged.
- And though the Covid-19 pandemic has led to enterprise closures and layoffs, South Africa’s tourism and hospitality sectors will rapidly be capable of scale capacity to satisfy demand.
- For extra tales go to www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
South Africa’s beleaguered tourism sector is getting ready for an influx of British guests forward of the busy summer time season. This comes amid the United Kingdom’s resolution to ease journey restrictions between the 2 international locations.
The UK has historically been South Africa’s largest supply market for tourists. More than 430,000 UK tourists visited South Africa in 2019, representing nearly 30% of all European arrivals. It’s estimated that UK tourists pump as much as R790 million into the financial system each month in the course of the busy season.
But the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, related lockdowns, and journey bans – on this occasion, the UK’s site visitors mild system – floor worldwide tourism to halt. Less than 11,000 UK travellers entered South Africa in the course of the first half of 2021, a drop of greater than 95% in comparison with pre-pandemic ranges.
The UK just lately eliminated South Africa from the crimson record – a class of Covid-19 danger which restricted journey and enforced a pricey necessary quarantine interval – to the delight of the tourism industry.
And curiosity in South African summer time holidays has surged, with journey companies and tour operators reporting a flurry of bookings. Some of these even got here in anticipation of South Africa being faraway from the crimson record.
“The number of quotes this [last] week [between 4 and 8 October] was the highest in 19 months, with quotes from the UK up 150% and confirmed bookings up 100% on the same week a month prior,” Craig Smith, the CEO of New Frontiers Tours, informed Business Insider South Africa.
“This was just in anticipation of the green list, and we expect significantly higher numbers next [this] week once the revised status has been digested by the marketplace.”
Rhino Africa, which affords safaris and excursions within the area, reported pre-Covid-19 enquiry ranges following the reopening of journey between the UK and South Africa.
“We expect to see momentum continue to build through October. Since Thursday [7 October, when South Africa was removed from the red list], we have confirmed over R11 million in new sales with 60% of all sales for the November/December 2021 travel period,” David Ryan, CEO and founder of Rhino Africa informed Business Insider SA.
“This is exciting news for our industry and no doubt our next collective challenge will be capacity of our industry to cope with the increased demands given the significant but necessary cuts we were forced to make. This is the type of challenge we all welcome.”
South Africa’s tourism sector – hit tougher than most as a result of worldwide journey bans emanating from panic over the Beta variant – has seen companies shut and jobs misplaced. This extends to the hospitality sector, half of the tourism sector’s ecosystem, with eating places and motels battered by harsh lockdown restrictions imposing alcohol bans and curfews.
But the tourism sector’s problem to scale in time for the arrival of UK guests isn’t as robust as preparations which might be confronted by different industries in anticipation of quickly elevated demand. This is in keeping with the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa), which factors to helpful abilities being retained within the nation all through lockdown, regardless of job cuts and downscaling.
“Obviously, people have consolidated and reduced staffing, however, all that expertise is still here… the knowledge of the people and all the infrastructure,” Fedhasa’s nationwide chairperson, Rosemary Anderson, informed Business Insider SA.
“So, people can gear up very quickly and that’s the wonderful thing about hospitality. So many people are hungry and desperate for the industry to get the business that it needs, so I don’t think that capacity will be a problem at all. Staffing won’t be a problem, people will get back to work as quickly as possible.”
The Covid-19 pandemic additionally pressured companies to be nimbler and extra progressive, qualities which Anderson says will really assist them in the course of the upcoming summer time season. While it is nonetheless to be seen whether or not tourism numbers match pre-pandemic ranges over the following 5 months, Anderson believes that cabin fever and unspent forex might seemingly culminate in a growth.
“If you look what’s happened in the UK, the moment they were allowed to travel anywhere they were on the next plane, there was such a demand,” stated Anderson.
“Also, people will be starved for our sun, it hasn’t been a great summer in the UK. And people have had 20 months of income that they haven’t spent on restaurants and all the rest like they used to, so there’s lots of disposable income in the UK, more so than ever, that they’ll hopefully be spending in South Africa.”


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Lashley talks food security
PLANT MORE TREES that produce fruits that can be consumed or turned into products.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth Stephen Lashley was speaking during the launch of the National Productivity Council’s Planting Pride Initiative at Crystal Gardens, The Glebe, St George, yesterday.
“We are aware that food security is an important aspect of our national development and every opportunity that we get, we must encourage our country to get back to the traditional practice of growing our own food to reduce the food import bill,” he said.
He added it was critical given the context of recent national discussion about the state of the economy and low levels of productivity. (LK)
Please read the full story in today’s Daily Nation, or in the eNATION edition.

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- Walmart announced this week that it is closing four stores in Chicago in a matter of days.
- Elected officials said that the decision to close the stores "worsens food deserts" in the area.
- Walmart has closed dozens of stores nationwide this year, citing "underperformance" as an issue.
Walmart's sudden move to close 4 Chicago stores sparks outrage, with critics saying it will drive up grocery costs for the neediest families
Walmart's decision to shutter four Chicago stores has drawn ire of elected officials representing the Windy City.
In a rare press release on April 11 announcing store closures, Walmart said bluntly that these stores "have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago."
"These stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years," the company said. "The remaining four Chicago stores continue to face the same business difficulties, but we think this decision gives us the best chance to help keep them open and serving the community."
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement she was "incredibly disappointed" by the decision.
"Unceremoniously abandoning these neighborhoods will create barriers to basic needs for thousands of residents," Lightfoot said. "While near-term arrangements will be made for workers, I fear that many will find that their long-term opportunities have been significantly diminished."
In its announcement, Walmart said all affected store employees would be assisted in transferring to any other Walmart or Sam's Club location, and that those who do not transfer will be paid until August 11. Additional severance benefits will be available to eligible employees after that time.
Illinois' layoff law — broader in scope than the federal WARN Act — requires many large employers to provide 60 calendar days' notice before a location closure that is expected to result in 75 or more job losses. Walmart typically does file advance notice where required.
Employers who close without full notice may be responsible for paying workers for up to 60 days, but Walmart appears to go well beyond covering that period; it will provide 17 weeks of wages for those who don't transfer to other stores.
Walmart declined to comment on whether it is providing comparable wage extensions for workers at other closing stores, including elsewhere in Illinois.
Local lawmakers meanwhile have expressed alarm over the swift closures — Walmart is shutting the stores five days after its announcement — and the impact on communities where shoppers rely on Walmart for everyday essentials.
A coalition that includes two state representatives, a state senator, and incoming and current members of the Chicago City Council called the move "unethical" in a statement.
"The communities of the South and West sides of Chicago have already been struggling with increased food costs due to inflation," the coalition said. "Walmart's decision to close four stores in predominantly Black and Brown communities not only worsens food deserts, but will also increase grocery costs for families."
—Robert Peters (@RobertJPeters) April 12, 2023
Shoppers at these stores have echoed these concerns. Regina Dickey, a 38-year-old Chicago resident who shopped at the Walmart Supercenter at 8431 S. Stewart Ave., told the Chicago Sun-Times this week that "it's like (Walmart) didn't even give a thought to the people in these communities."
Walmart isn't a stranger to store closures this year. Since February, the retail giant has announced plans to close 20 retail locations across 11 states and Washington D.C.
The move represents a retreat of an aggressive urban expansion Walmart made in recent years. The company does not operate any stores in New York City, and with these closures in Chicago, Walmart is halving its footprint in the third largest city in the United States.
The four Walmart stores closing in Chicago
- Chatham Supercenter, the Walmart Health center, and the Walmart Academy, 8431 S. Stewart Ave.
- Kenwood Neighborhood Market, 4720 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
- Lakeview Neighborhood Market, 2844 N. Broadway St.
- Little Village Neighborhood Market, 2551 W. Cermak Road


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Although many Bitcoin enthusiasts have been looking for new merchants who are directly accepting the cryptocurrency in their local towns, it seems that a move from Square could end up being an even bigger deal. Square announced their integration with Bitcoin today on their blog, and they revealed a few details about how their new Bitcoin-enhanced system is going to work. Most online retailers are not going to notice much of a change, except for the fact that they could have a new crowd of Bitcoin customers rolling through their stores. Online merchants who already use Square Market can now accept Bitcoin at the click of a button, which should open the door to many new real world Bitcoin transactions. While this is amazing news for the Bitcoin payment system, it should be noted that Square merchants will not have the option to hold onto the bitcoins sent to them by their customers. The bitcoins will be instantly converted to dollars for merchants who decide to accept the cryptocurrency.
While some bitcoiners will be disappointed by the fact that brick and mortor retailers who use Square still cannot integrate with Bitcoin, this is definitely still a move in the right direction. At the end of the day, huge merchants, such as Whole Foods and Starbucks, are already integrated with Square, so they’ll instantly have access to Bitcoin payments once Square decides to build this out on a larger scale. It makes sense for Square to start with online merchants before they bring Bitcoin into the real world. Once their new system has been thoroughly tested online, they will eventually be able to give real world merchants the option to accept Bitcoin payments. Jack Dorsey has stated his intention to allow merchants to accept every form of payment known to man, so it would make sense for him to eventually bring Bitcoin to the masses through Square Register.
The real problem when it comes to Bitcoin adoption at physical stores and restaurants right now is that merchants don’t want to have to add a completely new POS system to their business. With something like Square Register, Bitcoin could be placed right next to Visa and Mastercard as a payment option for customers. While this may be pie in the sky thinking right now, it wouldn’t be too crazy for Square to allow merchants to offer discounts to customers who wish to pay with Bitcoin. Square already offers a unique, low-priced 2.75% fee to each transaction, and integration with Bitcoin would allow them to lower that rate even more for their merchants. As competition between Square, Stripe, PayPal, Google, and others continues to heat up at physical stores, we could see those low fees offered by Bitcoin come into play.
Last modified: June 13, 2020 9:27 PM UTC


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Globally popular sports car manufacturer Lamborghini had been working on a hybrid sports car concept for a while now. The company will showcase the vehicle tomorrow at the EmTech conference which is held by the MIT Technology Review. Likely to be the Huracan’s successor, the vehicle is expected to be introduced in 2022. The company has recently released a teaser image of the upcoming vehicle.
Based on what can be seen, the vehicle gets large air intake arrangement on the front. Although the company will introduce the hybrid technology, they will continue to offer the V-10 and V-12 engines. The company chooses to remain tightlipped about technical details for now, however reports indicate that the vehicle might be capable of doing a 0 to 100kmph in under 3 seconds.
Lamborghini had first showcased its hybrid supercar concept named the Asterion in 2014. The vehicle generated an impressive 890bhp of power and was capable of sprinting from 0 to 100kmph in under three seconds. The concept vehicle was capable of attaining a top speed of 320kmph. Although the company will not showcase the old concept once again, the new model is expected to feature additional developments.


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Not only is America dealing with a supply chain crisis but a trucker shortage. Experts say there is a lack of truckers on the road getting things where they need to be.
Many truckers say that the jobs don’t pay enough., But there is more to it. When truckers have to wait hours for their loads, it costs them money. Because there aren’t enough people at warehouses and ports, they have to sit and wait.
That costs them money they cannot afford to lose.
There are hundreds of thousands of truckers in Florida, and even that isn’t enough. The need is so great that companies are now offering $15,000 bonuses to drivers that already have their commercial driver’s license (CDL).
Cleveland Brogen has been driving a truck for more than 10 years. He’s witnessed the changes in the industry. “Back then, you would be able to drive, pull over and sleep. Now, you have 10 hours. You have to wait, and you’re not making any money because you have to sit on the load. Then, when you go to get off on the road, they’re short-staffed at some of the ports, the warehouses that you go load,” Brogen said.
Plus, there are rising fuel prices that drivers have to worry about. “They don’t have fuel surplus anymore, and they’re putting on the load, but it’s not covering it,” said Brogen.
Those added costs are being passed on to consumers. Alix Miller is the president and CEO of the Florida Trucking Association. “It’s called a supply chain because of the links. So when one is strained or weakened, it affects the rest of the supply chain,” said Miller.
“It affects you all by price. It goes down from us, it goes down from the materials, to bringing it in and then fuel with those prices. The consumers are paying all of that,” Brogen said.
Those long hours on the road and away from their families add up. So, this is yet another reason the truckers are parking their rigs. And it isn’t easy to find replacements.
The 80,000 driver-shortfall is expected to get worse. “We definitely need to see more people in the field, more in the pipeline out of high school, younger generations getting into the field to bolster our numbers,” Miller said.
For Miller, getting people back on the road is a priority. “I think it’s important for everybody to advocate and recognize how important and essential the driving industry is and particularly how important these drivers are,” she said.
Brogen has a few ideas on how to fix the shortage. “Three things. Fuel, cost, insurance cost, and we like to see them do something with the sitting 10 hours on a load,” said Brogen.
Miller also told WINK News that it’s about finding the right place and the right truck to drive. “We know of many companies that are paying $10,000 to $15,000 signing bonuses, so depends on what you’re hauling and how far you’re hauling it and which company you work for,” said Miller.


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London cycling: Car parking permits cheaper than bike storage – BBC News
Russell Newlove BBC News 20/4/22
Hangars can store six bikes in half the space a car takes up, Islington Council says
The cost of storing a bike in a hangar is five times higher than a car parking permit in some areas of London.
Only six boroughs offer bike storage at cheaper or similar rates to the cost of a permit and in 10 boroughs electric vehicles can be parked free of charge.
Cyclists can pay up to £107 for bike hangar usage annually, despite taking up much less space than drivers do.
The #ThisIsAwkward campaign, which was launched in March, showed Londoners storing bikes in unusual places around their homes.
In as many as 10 boroughs, electric vehicle owners are able to obtain a free parking permit due to their vehicles’ low emissions.
Islington Council, which charges £25 a year for electric vehicle permits, and as little as £30 for other cars, has the highest bike hangar rental cost in London, at £107 a year…and has a waiting list of almost 7,000 people for use of its hangars.


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Bankruptcy Court Signs Off on Boscov’s First-Day Motions
- Aug 07, 2008
Boscov’s Department Store L.L.C. just announced that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has signed off on the Reading, Pa.-headquartered company’s first-day motions, which were heard on Aug. 5. Sidelined by a souring economy that has put a damper on retail sales, Boscov’s filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code earlier this week. As part of its restructuring effort, the company plans shutter the doors of 10 of its 49 stores. Paving the way for Boscov’s to return to a healthy relationship with its vendors and keep the merchandise rolling in, the court granted interim approval for the retailer to access its $250 million Debtor-in-Possession financing. The court will conduct a hearing later this month, during which Boscov’s expects to receive the final green light to tap into the financing from Bank of America. Other orders granted will fund the payment of employee salaries, healthcare benefits, 401(k) contributions and other worker programs. Boscov’s will also be able to continue its facilitation of various customer programs. Additionally, the court also gave the go-ahead for auction procedures for the selection of a liquidation firm that will assist the company with store-closing sales at the 10 struggling locales it has decided to close. Operations are scheduled to cease at five stores in Pennsylvania, three in Maryland, and one each in New Jersey and Virginia. The downturn in the economy has hit most sectors of the retail industry hard. The average national vacancy rate for retail properties, according to a midyear report by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, is anticipated to jump 140 basis points this year to 11.1 percent, on the heels of a 90 basis point increase in 2007. Given the state of the market, Boscov’s is hardly the only retailer fighting to keep its head above water. Mervyns filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week and later secured the court’s interim approval of its $465 million DIP financing facility, which will be provided by Wachovia Capital Finance Corp. Home furnishings specialty chain Linens ‘n Things filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 on May 2, and received the court’s final approval of its $700 million DIP financing by General Electric Capital Corp. on May 28. The company announced last week that it would close 57 underperforming locations in its portfolio of 589 stores. In business for nearly a century, Boscov’s is the largest independent family-owned department store in the country. The company currently has a presence in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.


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Big News – The New Gasmet Brand Identity
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Technical Challenges of Continuous Mercury Emissions Monitoring
Soil Flux Measurements – Technology Comparison Report
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Peregrine unveils STeP8 UltraCMOS process technology
Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., a fabless provider of high-performance radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), announced from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the latest version of UltraCMOS® process technology — Semiconductor Technology Platform 8 (STeP8). STeP8 technology shows a 36 percent improvement in RonCoff performance over STeP5 technology announced just one year ago — dramatically improving the linearity, insertion loss, and isolation capabilities of Peregrine’s RFIC products. Flagship devices utilizing the latest generation of the UltraCMOS technology include a HaRP™ enhanced SP16T RF switch and a highly integrated SP4T DuNE™ enhanced antenna-tuning switch, both of which are available for sampling. The initial STeP8-based SP16T RF switch demonstrates a nearly 40 percent shrink over the industry-leading footprint of the STeP-5-based counterpart.* The SP4T antenna-tuning switch has on-resistance of 1.5 Ohms, and insertion loss performance of 0.15 dB matched at 900 MHz — a 66 percent improvement over the previous offering from Peregrine.*
“As a fabless semiconductor company, our unique combination of process architecture, circuit designs, and device modeling has enabled an accelerated technology roadmap,” said Mark Miscione, vice president of RF Technology Solutions for Peregrine Semiconductor. “These results further validate Peregrine’s expertise in advanced RF silicon-on-insulator process development and its commitment to integration and high-performance at the RF Front End.”
The 4G LTE network has introduced significant challenges to the RF Front End of smart phones, including a fragmented RF spectrum, which causes co-existence issues between bands and other connectivity standards such as GPS, WiFi®, and Bluetooth®. The lack of global frequency alignment has resulted in more than 40 LTE bands now identified.
“Given the demanding RF conditions in which mobile devices must operate, demonstrating the ability to meet next generation requirements for high linearity, low loss and optimization is critical for success in the RF components market,” said Francis Sideco, senior principal analyst, consumer electronics and communications technologies at IHS. “Companies who are able to deliver innovation along those lines are strongly positioned to outpace their competitors.”
To ensure consistent, reliable operation within the LTE environment, mobile wireless device designers are required to incorporate high performance components into the RF Front End while maintaining a small form factor. Highly-integrated RF Front End modules such as those that UltraCMOS STeP8 enables address these demands by providing an ideal combination of high linearity and low insertion loss in a single, monolithically-integrated device.
“Peregrine continues to be the right choice when we look for RF innovation for the RF Front-End modules we deliver to our demanding global OEMs,” said Norio Nakajima, vice president of the communication business unit at MuRata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. “Their ability to engineer leading-edge technology like STeP8, and rapidly adjust to market dynamics, makes them our ideal partner.”
Peregrine is sampling the STeP8-based SP16T RF switch and SP4T antenna-tuning switch to select customers today; further interest should be directed to Peregrine’s global direct sales management. For more information, visit http://www.psemi.com.


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It was a pleasant experience and joy to escort E3 2018 momentum and the lots of games that were announced. For the very same title, we’re about to expect even more info, thus discover something new regarding the same. Well, Bethesda has already noted that their space-themed RPG will be Single Player only. People do love sci-fi video games, but no one knew what Bethesda’s goal with their Starfield video game was.
Bethesda’s Space-Themed RPG Starfield is going to be Single Player, Confirmed.
After a while since E3’s departure, Bethesda has finally discovered what kind of game will Starfield be. While some of the fans believed it would be a multiplayer RPG, it turns out the opposite. Starfield will offer a Single-Player content. It is kind of strange to see Bethesda swimming in these waters since their similar-genre titles are more likely classified as multiplayer rather than just another single player video game.
Not to forget that almost everyone’s first beliefs were that Starfield would be the multiplayer title, and not Fallout 76. Todd Howard has also claimed that Fallout 76 will have a vast PVP potential for the first time in its series. While all of that was debatable, no one would’ve ever believed that Bethesda will begin focusing on Single-Player video games.
In an interview for FZ.se, Pete Hines claimed the following:
“[The announcement] also helps convince folks, like, look, this is not forever-more what we’re doing. We are going to do a game that’s just single-player next time around, and yes, we are going to get to Elder Scrolls 6. There’s going to be a long time before we’re ready to talk about what those are, because we want the time between when we start to talk about it and it comes out to not be two years long or three years long. But it just gives folks a better idea of where we’re headed and understanding what the studio is working on and trying to do. ”
Well, what do you think about all of this? It’s rare to see Bethesda going for a single player title. According to us, be calm, there’s nothing dangerous to panic about.


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When: Fri., Aug. 16, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. and Sat., Aug. 17, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. 2013
The Eureka Center for Spiritual Living is holding its annual sale. Items include books, housewares, furniture, plants, baked goods and more.
239 Buhne Street (Eureka)
Select a star to rate.
© 2021 North Coast Journal


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MINOT – Too ambitious? Not achievable? Crazy idea?
Not in Minot.
The goal is to raise $150,000 to help airmen stationed at Minot Air Force Base get home for the Christmas holiday season.
“Minot Air Force Base is home to the highest number of first-year airmen in the Air Force,” said Tom Ross, mayor.
Ross said in past years less than $10,000 had been raised to assist airmen with the expense of going home during the Christmas season. In meeting with commanding officers at MAFB Ross told them of a much more ambitious plan he was contemplating.
“I really wanted to put this project under my wing and kind of make it into something big,” said Ross. “I took the colonels by surprise when I told them my goal was to present them with a check for $150,000 to send as many airmen home for the holidays that we could.”
With help from the Minot Chamber of Commerce, which raised $15,000 for “Home for the Holidays” at the annual Prairie Warrior Auction fundraising event, the project was off to a great start. What followed was another huge boost from a Minot business.
“Magic City Beverage had a group from Anheuser-Busch come to do a market visit and I was able to meet with them,” said Ross. “They stopped me 30 seconds into my pitch and said let’s get it done.”
“We started selling raffle tickets for a motorcycle about the middle of July and we’ve got until the middle of September to sell 3,000 of them at $150,000 to send home airmen for the holidays.”
The Budweiser Harley-Davidson, purchased from Magic City Harley-Davidson, has been making the rounds in the city where Budweiser products are sold.
Ross said a Chief Master Sergeant at MAFB reminded him of the impact of the fund-raiser.
“She said I have no idea of the effect this is going to have on the airmen,” said Ross. “A lot of them already love Minot now, but doing this is just going to have such a positive impact on their lives.”
Ross said tickets can be purchased by calling Magic City Beverage or wherever Budweiser products are sold.


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Alliance initiates farm-to-table community
ZANESVILLE - FoodWorks Alliance has joined the movement to establish a farm-to-table community. The local food movement is well established in many parts of the U.S., as evidenced by the nearly five-fold increase in farmers markets over the past two decades.
Formerly known as the Kitchen Incubator, the organization opened in February 2015 as a division of Muskingum County Business Incubator. Last month, the incubator announced its reorganization and move toward a more innovative program to provide tools and education to entrepreneurs.
"MCBI is doing what they can to reinvent their organization to better serve the community," Carol Humphreys, FWA director, said. "We are an incubator of our own with the goal of developing programs and partnerships with the community and the region to increase local food access, education and purchasing of local foods."
Humphreys said the focus of FWA is to connect their clients — growers, food producers, processors — with consumers via partnerships with local venues such as restaurants, retail shops, farmers markets and events.
"There are so many ways we can all work together to help small food businesses grow, create employment and support economic development in our region," Humphreys said. "While at the same time supporting our local growers and producers and provide the community with locally grown fresh food."
According to the 2014 US Census, the average individual spends $2,282 at home and $2,293 away from home each year on food. Approximately three percent of money spent on food by Muskingum County residents is spent on local foods, according to Humphreys.
"If we could increase that amount to just five percent it would impact our local income by almost $7.8 million dollars per year," Humphreys said. "If the same individuals would increase that amount to seven percent they could add over $27 million to our local economy annually."
FWA offers many services to the community and Humphreys fears not enough people, particularly business owners in the food industry, know about the services provided by FWA.
"The farmers market that takes place at the fairgrounds each Saturday has been pretty successful at getting locally grown produce, meats and homemade foods to consumers," Humphreys said. "The farmers market closes the end of October each year and many local growers still have an abundance of produce that goes to waste. So, we came up with a solution to eliminate the waste of so much fresh produce and keep consumers supplied with locally grown fruits and vegetables all year."
FWA serves as a front door to network producers with consumers through local venues. Government standards prevent producers from packaging fresh foods for sale in retail venues economically. Governed by federal and state agencies, FWA meets all of the requirements to package produce for retail sale.
"Our local growers don't have the facility or the license to turn their leftover tomatoes into salsa or can their green beans so that people have access to fresh foods throughout the year," Humphreys said. "The cost to be in compliance with federal and state requirements far outweighs the profit. The kitchen has to be approved, you have to have licensed staff working in the kitchen, the recipe has to be approved. We have all of that in place."
Locally grown canned produce, prepared by FWA, is available to consumers through small venues provided by Shrivers Pharmacy and Rittberger Meats. This alliance is the infancy of creating a farm-to-table community. With support from local growers and producers, retailers, restaurants, local government and consumers, FWA thinks Muskingum County has the resources to greatly increase its economic growth while providing the community with a healthier food choices.
In addition to working with local growers to produce value added products that helps eliminate waste from overabundant crops, FWA is reaching out to local restaurants to process their "secret" soups and sauce recipes.
FWA also offers SafeServe classes to local restaurants so their employees don't have to travel to Columbus for certification.
For a complete list of services offered through FWA, visit them at www.foodworksalliance.com or contact Humphreys at 740-453-3649.


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“To empower people to unlock the joy of discovery, feel the wonder of creation and better harness the world’s knowledge, today we’re improving how the world benefits from the web by reinventing the tools billions of people use every day, the search engine and the browser,” he stated. Yusuf Mehdicompany vice chairman & shopper leader advertising and marketing officer.
The AI-powered Bing seek engine and Edge browser are to be had in a restricted preview at Bing.com and will likely be “expanded to millions soon.” Everyone can consult with Bing.com to take a look at pattern queries and join the waitlist. “We’re going to scale the preview to millions in the coming weeks. A mobile experience will also be in preview soon,” Microsoft introduced.
‘Copilot for the internet’
Microsoft is asking the brand new Bing and Edge as customers’ AI copilot for the internet as they’re claimed to ship higher seek, extra whole solutions, a brand new chat revel in and the facility to generate content material.
“AI will essentially exchange each device class, beginning with the most important class of all – seek. Today, we are launching Bing and Edge powered by way of AI copilot and chat, to assist other people get extra from seek and the internet,” he said. satya nadellachairman and CEO, Microsoft.
What’s new in Bing and Edge
– Better search: Microsoft says that the new Bing will give users “an stepped forward model of the acquainted seek revel in.” As per the company, the search engine will provide more relevant results for simple queries like sports scores, stock prices and weather, and more comprehensive answers in a new sidebar.
– Complete answers: Just like Google announced in the case of Bard, Bing will also review results from the web to find and summarize the answer.
– New chat experience: For complex searches, such as for planning a detailed trip itinerary or researching what TV to buy, the new Bing will offer new, interactive chat.
“The chat revel in empowers you to refine your seek till you get all the resolution you might be in search of by way of inquiring for extra main points, readability and concepts – with hyperlinks to be had so you’ll act straight away in your choices,” the company explained.
Apart from these, the new Bing can generate content for users. It can write an email, prepare for a job interview or create a quiz for trivia night.
The new Bing will also cite all its sources allowing users to see the links to the web content it references.
When it comes to Microsoft EdgeMicrosoft says it has updated the Edge browser with new AI capabilities and a new look.
There are two new functionalities: Chat and compose. With the Edge Sidebar, users can ask for a query, like a summary of a lengthy financial report to get the key takeaways, and then use AI chat for comparison.
Users will also be able to ask Edge to compose content, such as a LinkedIn post – just like the way it is done in ChatGPT.
Updated OpenAI model in Bing
Microsoft says that the new Bing runs on a new, next-generation OpenAI large language model that is more powerful than ChatGPT and customized specifically for search. “It takes key learnings and developments from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 – and it’s even sooner, extra correct and extra succesful,” the company claims.
The Windows-maker also says that it has developed a proprietary way of working with the OpenAI model that allows the company to best leverage its power and call it the Prometheus models.
Prometheus model will be responsible for delivering more relevant, timely and targeted results, with improved safety.
Just like Google mentioned, Microsoft and OpenAI are implementing safeguards to defend against harmful content.
“Our groups are running to deal with problems equivalent to incorrect information and disinformation, content material blockading, information safety and fighting the promotion of damaging or discriminatory content material in step with our AI ideas,” the company said.
Microsoft will use ‘critical feedback’ to improve the AI models.
5 Google Chrome extensions you wish to have to take a look at | 5 Extensions spice up your day by day productiveness.


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The coworking industry one was promised to be an escape from the mundanity of office life. Harsh lighting, bleak cubicles, and surface-level conversation would be no more.
Companies like WeWork emerged from the woodwork to promise an innovative, youthful atmosphere similar to a hip Silicon Valley office.
However, as the story has gone with much of the real estate industry, coworking spaces were forced to shutter numerous locations throughout the last 18 months. The idea of sitting in close quarters with dozens of people from various companies just didn’t have the same appeal during a global health crisis.
Now, with the lines between home and work increasingly blurring, society is at a point where an office doesn’t sound too scary anymore.
Companies are transitioning to hybrid work models, and coworking operators have a revitalized sense of purpose to address the need for an alternative office outside of workers’ homes and their company’s headquarters.
This thought process has led to the new venture SaksWorks, a coworking space in partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue and WeWork.
SaksWorks has opened two locations over the last month, with one situated on the 10th floor of the company’s Midtown flagship store and the other in the Financial District.
The Fifth Avenue location is a biophilia dream, with walls covered in moss and the ability to pick up a fresh Napa cabbage lined up on the front desk counter.
Additionally, users can book meeting rooms, order lunch from one of the store’s restaurants, as well as gain access to the numerous phone booths, sofas, and even an on-site gym with Peloton bikes.


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Despite the economic woes created by COVID-19 and other issues, businesses continue to consider Concord and Cabarrus County. It looks like two retail businesses are coming to the Concord Mills area, and a Charlotte-area printing company could relocate here.
The Babies R Us building is being gutted. The former retail site at the Pavilion at King’s Grant, 8062 Concord Mills Blvd., has been gutted and building permits have been issued for Buy Buy BABY. It is another baby retail store.
Buy Buy BABY has been owned by Bed Bath & Beyond since 2007. We don’t know any details on the project, but it looks like there is a lot of work to be done on the building before the store can open. We’ll let you know more as we find out about it.
I like to call the Pavilion at King’s Grant “the Krispy Kreme Shopping Center.”
Michaels is coming to the Krispy Kreme Shopping Center. A.C. Moore went out of business several weeks ago, eliminating one of the major craft-supply options. Michaels, another crafty company, has been opening in some of the locations, and it appears that going to happen at the Concord Mills site.
A permit to allow Rite-Lite Signs to install a “Michaels” sign at 8066 Concord Mills Blvd., was issued April 28. That’s the same address as A.C. Moore. There is a paper sign on the door listing the nearest Michaels over in the university area.
There were lights on in the building when I went out there Thursday morning, but I couldn’t see what was going on inside. We’ll keep looking.
An economic development project. Cabarrus County Commissioners will consider an incentive grant for a company that is considering a move to the RiverOaks development on Derita Road.
The business, now being referred to as Project Paul, would spend almost $24.6 million with a move to 700 Derita Road, Building B. It is a commercial print and mailing operation that would be moving from another location in the Charlotte area.
Information provided to commissioners by the Cabarrus Economic Development Corp. said the Project Paul company would have 136 full-time and three part-time jobs. Of those, 120½ jobs would be transferring from the current location. The average pay would be $39,936.
The incentives include rebating 85 percent of new property taxes created by the project over the first three years of the project. The city of Concord is also being asked for a similar incentive.
More taxes for the county and city. Over the first three years, Project Paul would generate $453,331 for the county, based on a 74 cents per $100 valuation tax rate. It would generate $294,053 for Concord, based on a 48 cents per $100 valuation tax rate.
The 85 percent rebate would be $385,332, with the county netting $68,000 over the three years. In the city, the rebate would be 249,945, with Concord netting $44,108.
After the three years, Concord and Cabarrus County would no longer rebate any taxes to the company.
The economic-incentive game is all a bit sleazy to me. I like to call it the “if everybody jumped off a building, would you jump too” game. Everybody does. If you don’t do it, you are at a competitive disadvantage, meaning the company would likely go elsewhere.
There are benefits: more jobs; more tax revenue than if the company had not come here; and, after the three years, all the tax revenue comes to the local government. Nobody likes the game, but it’s one our leaders have to play — otherwise we get nothing but housing developments.
If Project Paul incentives are approved and the company decides to move here, it would happen in the third quarter of this year.
Odds and ends. At last check, there was no word on Project Press (a beverage canning operation) over on Kannapolis Parkway. Cabarrus County Commissioners and the Kannapolis City Council approved incentives for the project.
The folks at Cabarrus EDC hope they hear something in the next few weeks about that project.
The response to the 2020 census continues to creep up. I heard a radio ad the other day saying it’s more than halfway complete. Cabarrus County is lagging in the response rate for the region, with 57 percent of households responding. That’s better than the state’s percentage of 55.3 percent, but less than the United States percentage of 59.1.
Here are some other response percentages in the area: Union County, 67; Iredell County, 61.8; Mecklenburg County, 58.5; Rowan County, 57.9; and Stanly County, 57.2.
The goal locally is 80 percent, which would be higher than the 2010 census response rate. We’ve got a ways to go. If you haven’t completed the census form, go to my2020census.gov or call 844-330-2020.
Are you a Facebook user? If not, don’t worry about this one. If you are, no doubt you will know what I am ranting about. Probably 90 percent of the political posts and COVID-19 posts are false, partially false or somebody’s under-informed opinion. I am pretty close to just getting off the site completely. There are so many good things there, but I can’t get away from the crap.
If it sounds outrageous and I don’t recognize the source as reliable, I am not going to believe it. The Russians, among others, are out there filling up cyberspace with things designed to tear us apart. Please don’t fall for it.


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Backyard cooks looking to grill this summer have another option: hot dogs without “added nitrites.”
Are they any healthier?
Oscar Mayer is touting its new hot dog recipe that uses nitrite derived from celery juice instead of artificial sodium nitrite, which is used to preserve the pinkish colors of processed meats and prevents botulism. Kraft Heinz, which owns Oscar Mayer, says sodium nitrite is among the artificial ingredients it has removed from the product to reflect changing consumer preferences.
The change comes amid a broader trend of big food makers purging ingredients that people may feel are not natural.
But nitrites are nitrites — and the change makes little difference — according to those who advise limiting processed meat and those who defend it.
Kana Wu, a research scientist at Harvard University’s school of public health, said in an email that it is best to think of processed meat made with natural ingredients as no different from meat made with artificial nitrites.
Wu was part of a group that helped draft the World Health Organization report in 2015 that said processed meats such as hot dogs and bacon were linked to an increased risk of colon cancer. She notes WHO did not pinpoint what exactly about processed meats might be to blame for the link.
One concern about processed meats is that nitrites can combine with compounds found in meat at high temperatures to fuel the formation of nitrosamines, which are known carcinogens in animals. It’s a chemical reaction that can happen regardless of the source of the nitrites, including celery juice.
But the U.S. Department of Agriculture caps the amount of artificial nitrites that can be added to meats to prevent excessive use, said Andrew Milkowski, a retired Oscar Mayer scientist who consults for the meat industry. Meat makers also add ingredients to processed meat like bacon that help block the formation of nitrosamines, he said.
Though the terms nitrates and nitrites are used interchangeably, the meat industry says it’s mainly sodium nitrite that companies currently use to cure meats such as hot dogs, cold cuts and bacon.
For Oscar Mayer hot dogs, the packages now list ingredients like celery juice that has been treated with bacterial culture. That turns the naturally occurring nitrates in celery juice into nitrites that serve a similar purpose.
While the nitrites derived from celery juice are no better, the switch may nevertheless help address negative consumer perceptions, said Milkowski, who also teaches at the University of Wisconsin’s department of animal sciences.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest agrees nitrites from natural sources aren’t that different from artificial nitrites in processed meats. But the group has cited the WHO report in calling for a cancer warning label on processed meats, regardless of how they’re made. It also says nitrite-preserved foods tend to be high in salt and should be limited or avoided anyway. The American Cancer Society also suggests limiting processed and red meat, citing a variety of reasons.
The meat industry has contested the WHO’s finding, saying it is based on studies that show a possible link but don’t prove a cause, and that single foods shouldn’t be blamed for cancer. Many health experts also say there’s no reason to worry about an occasional hot dog or bologna sandwich.
And while natural preservatives may not make hot dogs any healthier, they fit with the growing preference for ingredients like celery juice that people can easily recognize.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said Kristin Kirkpatrick, a dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic.
An interesting wrinkle worth noting is that federal regulations require processed meats without added nitrites or nitrates to be labeled as “uncured” and to state that they have no nitrates or nitrites added — except those naturally occurring in the alternative ingredient. That’s the language you’ll now find on Oscar Mayer hot dog packages, though the products previously only had added nitrites.
The meat industry has contested the required language of meat being “uncured,” because it says the products are still cured, albeit with nitrites derived from other ingredients.


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Fallout 76 is nearly here, so by now you'll want to know exactly where and when you'll be able to play the game. Well don't worry, because we've got the full Fallout 76 launch times for you.
Bethesda has kindly revealed the full Fallout 76 release times for the entire world, and they're quite interesting because some places get the game before others - even though the Fallout 76 release date is November 14th. So what time does Fallout 76 come out? Let's find out.
What are the Fallout 76 Launch Times?
Bethesda kindly revealed the full global release times for Fallout 76, so we now know exactly when the game will launch in every region. Here's all the Fallout 76 release times:
If our calculator is correct, this means the game will launch in Europe first, and then the UK before it comes out in the US. Furthermore Fallout 76 is available to preload on all platforms right now including PC, so get going if you've pre-ordered and want to play the game straight away.
Of course don't expect to see Fallout 76 on Steam anytime soon since the game's exclusive to Bethesda's own launcher right now.


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India’s fading jute fabric industry hopes for rebound as demand for plastic bag alternatives grows
SCMP, 08 Oct 2021
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Jute is becoming more popular worldwide as people look for more eco-friendly alternatives to plastic bags and ways to fight climate change. Growing jute can help reduce greenhouse effects and producing fibres from the plants consumes less natural resources than cotton. Some analysts say the jute bag market could be worth more than US$3 billion by 2024, encouraging once thriving production centres such as India. While India’s jute production is still outpaced by neighbouring Bangladesh where cheaper labour is available, analysts say upgrading machinery and worker skills could revive the industry.
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The corporate can also be tipped to be engaged on a smartphone with a popup inbuilt camera and a MediaTek chipset.
What you must know
- Xiaomi may quickly launch one other Android smartphone with a 108MP major camera.
- The smartphone is codenamed “Gauguin Pro” and is anticipated to come back geared up with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.
- Aside from China, the phone will probably be headed to India and Europe as nicely.
In November’s final yr, Xiaomi launched its first smartphone with a 108MP camera. Since then, the corporate has launched two extra smartphones with 108MP cameras: the flagship Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro. Now, a brand new report from XDA Developers has claimed the corporate is engaged on one other telephone with a 108MP digicam, codenamed “Gauguin Pro.”
The “Gauguin Pro” will apparently be a part of a brand new product sequence that may also embrace a vanilla model codenamed “Gauguin.” In contrast to the Pro model, the vanilla “Gauguin” is claimed to come back geared up with a 64MP major digicam. As per proof that has been discovered inside MIUI 12, each telephone may have quad-camera setups on the rear. Whereas the remainder of the important thing specs of the 2 telephones stay a thriller at this level, the report suggests they are going to each is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. The report additional states that the Gauguin sequence is going to be launched in three areas: China, India, and Europe.
Xiaomi can also be mentioned to be engaged on a brand new Redmi K30 sequence telephone known as the K30 Ultra. The telephone is tipped to function a popup selfie digicam and run on a MediaTek chipset. If Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station is to be believed, the telephone will function MediaTek’s Dimensity 1000 chipset and a 144Hz show.


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Wednesday, October 26, 2016 12:23 AM
MILAN—Citing 2016 as its year of “transformation,” Luxottica Group
(NYSE:LUX) reported overall group net sales rose 3.2 percent to €2,225 million at current exchange rates, 3.5 percent at constant exchange rates, for the third quarter and nine-month period ending Sept. 30, 2016.
Monday, October 24, 2016 12:23 AM
CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France—Essilor International
(Reuters: ESSI.PA) posted consolidated revenue totaling €5,306 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2016, up 7.8 percent from year ago at constant exchange rates, 5.5 percent as reported and 3.8 percent like-for-like.
Friday, October 21, 2016 12:23 AM
LAUSSANE, Switzerland—The Swiss company Sensimed
has expanded its collaboration in Japan with SEED
, a Japanese contact lens manufacturer.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 12:23 AM
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.—Getting a boost from recent new-product launches and a strong core business, Johnson & Johnson
(NYSE:JNJ) reported on Tuesday that its worldwide sales rose 4.2 percent to $17.8 billion in the third quarter compared with the year-ago period, while U.S. sales rose at an even stronger pace of 6.7 percent.
Monday, October 17, 2016 12:30 AM
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Alpine Capital LLC
, a health care-focused financial services firm, said it has provided $7.5 million in financing to Claris Vision Holdings
, a company that brings together some of New England’s top eyecare practices.
Friday, October 14, 2016 12:23 AM
, a nonprofit health organization working to eliminate corneal blindness, has raised $10 million in a Series A financing round led by Flying L Partners, a new health care investment firm launched by the veteran health care executive and entrepreneur William Link.
Friday, September 30, 2016 12:23 AM
CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France—The board of directors of Essilor International
(Reuters: ESSI.PA) has approved a plan to promote employee shareholding, with the long-term objective to boost the amount of employee shareholders worldwide from 20 percent to 50 percent.
Monday, September 26, 2016 12:23 AM
announced financial results for the six months ending June 30, 2016, reporting operating revenue of $9.3 billion, up from $8.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Monday, September 26, 2016 12:22 AM
PLEASANTON, Calif.—CooperVision, Inc.
announced that its parent company—The Cooper Companies
(NYSE:COO)—was added to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after the close of the U.S. markets on Sept. 22.
Friday, September 23, 2016 12:30 AM
PLAINVILLE, Mass.—Hilco Vision
is expanding its presence in Europe through the acquisition of two Netherlands-based optical companies, Optiplus
Monday, September 12, 2016 12:23 AM
IRVINE, Calif.—AcuFocus Inc.,
a privately held ophthalmic medical device company, has raised approximately $66 million in a financing round led by the global investment firm KKR
. AcuFocus develops and markets breakthrough small aperture technologies for the improvement of near vision.
Friday, September 2, 2016 12:23 AM
PLEASANTON, Calif.—The Cooper Companies
(COO) reported that revenue increased 11 percent year-over-year, and 6 percent pro forma, to $514.7 million for the fiscal third quarter ended July 31, 2016.
Monday, August 29, 2016 12:23 AM
, a provider of mobile vision screening technology, received a $6M investment round from venture capital firm InterWest Partners in a first close of its Series B financing.
Monday, August 29, 2016 12:22 AM
, the eyewear licensing platform that partners with several designers to create sunwear and optical lines, has completed a $7 million Series A round of financing led by Tenfore Holdings, Tribeca Venture Partners, RiverPark Ventures and WTI, according to an announcement from the company.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016 12:18 AM
DUBLIN, Ireland—Presbia PLC
(NASDAQ: LENS) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Presbia Ireland, Ltd. recently completed the purchase of the assets of Switzerland-based Neoptics AG, including its intellectual property portfolio for an aggregate purchase price of $1.5 million.


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Insight: Cotton market trust crumbles on defaults, lawyers pounce
By Josephine Mason
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The global cotton trade, which still operates on handshakes and trust to the astonishment of hard-bitten operators in other commodities markets, might lose much of that clubbiness because of a wave of defaults by textile mills.
Merchants are reviewing centuries-old practices that relied on promises of payment rather than cash deposits - with any disputes sorted out calmly through arbitration. They are now either taking or considering legal action to stem the tide of contract defaults caused by the wild price volatility that has engulfed the industry since 2011.
The National Cotton Council (NCC) estimates that contracts worth a whopping $1 billion, or 7 percent, of the $14 billion a year global cotton market could be in default.
Many of the deals being ripped up were signed when prices were soaring to record highs of $2.20 per lb in March 2011. In many cases, the scramble to secure supplies meant mills agreed to pay record prices, while delivery of the fiber was not for another year.
When prices collapsed to below $1, spinning mills struggling with squeezed margins and weak demand walked away from those higher-priced deals at an unprecedented rate.
Joe Nicosia, the global head of cotton at trading house Louis Dreyfus, the world's biggest cotton merchant, is threatening legal action against customers who renege on contracts and is now forcing some buyers to post deposits.
"Arbitration's not the last resort. It's a middle phase. There are legal enforcements," he said in an interview earlier this month on the sidelines of the Cotton Beltwide conference, the biggest meeting of farmers in the country. "We'll be taking people to court."
Nicosia would not name who he had in his crosshairs, but his message was clear. Continued...


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Advance news from Siggraph is already starting to roll in and here is some big news from The Foundry. The press release and some images are after the jump, but in a nutshell The Foundry is incorporating elements of Disney’s internally developed Paint 3D technology into Mari and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ technology group will participate in a Mari steering committee, contributing to the future direction of the software.
The Press Release:
The Foundry, a world-leading developer of visual effects (VFX) software whose products have been used to create ambitious VFX sequences in recent box office blockbusters such as Iron Man 2, Avatar, and Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, has entered into a unique relationship with Walt Disney Animation Studios to advance 3D texture painting techniques announced Bill Collis, CEO, The Foundry. In addition to incorporating elements of Disney’s internally developed Paint 3D technology into Mari, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ technology group will participate in a Mari steering committee, contributing to the future direction of the software.
Paint 3D offers some of the industry’s most advanced aspects of paint and texture creation technology. Paint 3D is also the original development ground and authoring tool for Ptex, Disney’s revolutionary open source texture mapping system that eliminates the need for UV mapping and efficiently stores hundreds of thousands of images in a single file. This represents the first time Walt Disney Animation Studios has commercially licensed its proprietary animation software to an outside company.
“The technology group at Walt Disney Animation Studios is proud to have created some of the most innovative software in the industry and we’re thrilled to be contributing technology to The Foundry to make these next generation tools available to everyone,” said Dan Candela, director of technology at Walt Disney Animation Studios. “We’re looking forward to expanding our relationship with The Foundry, using their technology to help create 3D paint and texture tools that leverage the best of our mutual technologies.”
“The addition of Mari to the product portfolio earlier this year has launched us into a new market,” said Collis. “This agreement with Walt Disney Animation Studios provides access to their Paint 3D technology with its industry-proven toolset, powerful procedural paint and definitive Ptex paint infrastructure. It’s a natural complement to Mari and we’re very excited about producing new solutions.”
Paint 3D was first used on Disney’s 2005 animated feature, Chicken Little, and was widely deployed on Meet the Robinsons (2007), Bolt (2008), and all subsequent animated projects including the upcoming November release, Tangled. Disney first used Ptex on the production of its animated short, Glago’s Guest, in late 2007, and went on to present it publicly for the first time at the Eurographics Symposium on Rendering (EGSR) in June 2008. Its enthusiastic reception was followed in January 2010 by an announcement of the availability of the Ptex technology as open source.
Mari – technology originally developed at Weta Digital – is a 3D texture painting application. The technology was driven by the need to handle complex, high-resolution textures on 3D models. Mari was designed as a full 3D paint tool with a responsiveness and feature set that exceeds the best dedicated 2D paint systems. Mari is extremely scalable, coping easily with extremes level of detail – literally, thousands of textures – quickly and elegantly.
6 thoughts on “The Foundry and Disney launch Groundbreaking Agreement”
Pingback: big news and new directions as disney adopts mari
Its just me or Mary its slow really slow with big objects?
I’d love to give Mari a try it would be great if they released a educational or trial version! Maybe a new phd masterclass! 🙂
Ptex is going to be awesome once its been piped into major 3D software. Cant wait for the day we dont have to UV map 😀
Well until other renderers support Ptex this isn’t super useful. Not everyone has renderman pro server 15.
Pingback: Weeds: a Disney artistok által készített indie rövidfilm története - Meshmag
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New Delhi: Under the air bubble agreement between India and Bangladesh signed last year to facilitate the movement of passengers and goods, the Ministry of Civil Aviation began operating flights between the two countries this week.
Airlines of both countries have the ability to operate flights internationally with certain restrictions under a bilateral air bubble pact in the event of a COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Civil Aviation of India, along with the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), have decided to restart flights under the air bubble arrangement between Bangladesh and India.
The Indian Visa Application Centres (IVACs) in Bangladesh have resumed operations since August 10 following the lifting of the countrywide lockdown in both countries. The 15 IVACs in Bangladesh will accept all applications except for tourist visas, according to a statement of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
The Indian High Commission in Bangladesh, earlier, has temporarily suspended operations at all its visa centres in Bangladesh due to a lockdown implemented by the Bangladesh government from April 14.
There are reports that over 3,500 Bangladeshis travel to India daily on average and that over 10 percent of them go for medical purposes. In terms of foreigners coming to India for medical purposes, 45 percent are from Bangladesh, according to the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.


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Contact center solutions presented by CallCopy at Enterprise Connect 2012
March 26, 2012 by James
At the 2012 Enterprise Connect Conference being held in Orlando, Florida from today March 26th through March 29th, is CallCopy who will present its new workforce management solutions and interactive demonstrations of its workforce optimization suite, cc: Discover. The company no doubt is using printing services to do flyer printing announcing its presence at the conference and the new products it is releasing.
CallCopy, based out of Columbus, Ohio, provides innovative call recording and contact center solutions. According to President and CEO of CallCopy, Jeff Canter, the Enterprise Connect Conference is important for growing the business of his company as it is a focal point for the best minds and partners in corporate telephony based on the IP, or Internet Protocol. Enterprise markets are very much attracted to the company’s solutions as they enable a better end-user experience and improve the efficiency of call centers.
CallCopy has been recognized for many distinguished awards. For the third consecutive year it has won a Business First “Fast 50” Award and for the fourth consecutive year Business First also recognized it as one of the “Best Places to Work”. It is number 411 on the 2011 Inc. 500 list and a customer satisfaction survey conducted by industry analyst DMG Consulting LLC gave it the highest Product and Overall Vendor satisfaction rating.
The Enterprise Connect Conference is a leading exhibition and conference for unified communications, converged networks and IP telephony. It enables decision makers in the information technology industry to come together with vendors, consultants and analysts in the telephony industry in order to make decisions on the issues and products that are central to enterprise communications and networks.


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The iPhone 6 from Apple is not ready to be unveiled until this coming September 9th, but this does not mean that interest has flatlined, but on the contrary, parties such as China Mobile has begun to accept preorders for not one, but both iPhone 6 models – namely the 4.7” and the 5.5” variant. This is more or less an unofficial confirmation that there will indeed be a 5.5” iPhone 6 device that is set to roll out.
China Mobile happens to be the world’s largest carrier due to the sheer population in China, and the company has restricted preorders to its online store. Ever since the company began to accept these preorders, China Mobile managed to ring up over 33,000 reservations – sounds like a whole lot, but it isn’t if you were to take into consideration at just how many people there are in China alone. An anonymous source who claims to be familiar with the timing of the launch touted that the upcoming iPhone 6 will be released in China some time in the middle of September.
For those who are interested in picking an iPhone 6 up, or decide to reserve a spot, it might cost somewhere in the equivalent of $810 to do so over in China – insane! It remains to be seen how Apple’s latest smartphone will sell when it goes up against the like of homegrown champions, so to speak, like Meizu and Xiaomi.


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ADP: Private-sector hiring rose last month
Hiring by private-sector businesses showed further signs of strengthening in December, according to a closely followed report that bodes well for the upcoming release of national employment data. Automatic Data Processing Inc. said that businesses added 238,000 net new jobs last month, with small firms and the construction sector showing increasing momentum. The tally is up from a revised figure of 229,000 new jobs that ADP calculated for November. Public- and private-sector job growth for November, as reported by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, was 203,000. The labor agency is scheduled to release its December jobs report on Friday, along with any revisions to its November employment statistics.
Eurozone unemployment stays above 12%
Europe's labor market remained stagnant in November, but analysts saw reason for hope elsewhere in the economy, including a surge in retail sales. The unemployment rate in the eurozone stood at 12.1 percent, a stubbornly high level that has held since April, Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, reported. As the sovereign debt crisis seized the region and economic malaise set in, the jobless rose from just under 10 percent in early 2011 to the current record level. The November rate was in line with economists' expectations. For the full E.U., the jobless rate was unchanged at 10.9 percent.
Barnes & Noble names insider its new CEO
Barnes & Noble Inc. promoted Michael Huseby, who has served as its chief financial officer and president, to chief executive as the chain struggles to retain customers increasingly shifting to digital books. Huseby also has been elected to the board, the New York-based company said. Barnes & Noble, which has more than 670 stores, has been heavily investing in its Nook digital unit. After some initial success with its Nook e-readers and tablets, the division's sales slumped during the holidays in 2012 and haven't recovered. Cratering sales led to the July departure of CEO William Lynch.
J.C. Penney mum on December sales results
Shares of J.C. Penney Co. tumbled after the retailer raised doubts about its turnaround by releasing a two-paragraph statement on holiday results that didn't include sales data it had provided the previous three months. The shares sank 10 percent to $7.37. J.C. Penney began reporting monthly same-store sales in September to show investors that it was rebounding from steep sales declines. Sales by that measure rose 0.9 in October and 10 percent in November. The company didn't release December results, only saying that it was pleased with its holiday performance.
Inflation in China cools off to 2.5 percent
China's inflation rate eased in December to 2.5 percent amid signs the world's second-largest economy might be cooling. The consumer price rise reported Thursday was down from November's 3 percent. Inflation for the full year of 2013 was 2.6 percent, below the ruling Communist Party's target of 3.5 percent. Lower inflation could ease pressure on Chinese leaders as they try to focus on promised reforms aimed at making the economy more productive and keeping growth strong. China's economic growth dropped to a two-decade low of 7.5 percent in the second quarter of last year. It rebounded the following quarter, but analysts say the recovery is likely to fade.
Twitter stock slides further after downgrade
Twitter's stock price continued a recent decline, closing down 3.5 percent to $59.29 after an analyst lowered the short messaging service's rating on concerns that its stock price is too high. Shares of Twitter Inc. surged 53 percent in December as investors disregarded the company's lukewarm early-November initial public offering. But the company's soaring stock price has given analysts pause, even as they remain upbeat about Twitter's business model. Youssef Squali of Cantor Fitzgerald sees big things ahead for Twitter but says the December surge was unwarranted. Squali lowered his rating on Twitter's stock to "sell" from "hold," calling the stock's price "excessive." He thinks a fair value for the stock is $32.
FROM NEWS SERVICES


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Warren Buffett ready to pour £1.8bn into Swiss Re
Warren Buffett, the American billionaire investor, is to inject SwFr3 billion (£1.8 billion) into Swiss Re in a move that could give him 30 per cent of the world’s second-largest reinsurer. News of the deal came on Thursday as Swiss Re revealed a huge loss for the year.
Berkshire Hathaway, the investment business run by Mr Buffett, already owns 3 per cent of Swiss Re and will charge the reinsurer a high interest rate of 12 per cent for the funding over three years.
The move is similar to Mr Buffett’s rescue of Harley-Davidson this week. The American motorcycle manufacturer is to receive $300 million (£204 million) of his cash but will be charged a huge 15 per cent rate for it.
Berkshire Hathaway will


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Co-Chairmen of Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee, Paul Higgins Jr. and Michael Higgins, have been appointed Members of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor.
illycaffè has opened its ninth academic year of the inter-University level one Master’s Degree in the Economics and Science of Coffee-Ernesto Illy.
The Bühler Group has released its annual results for 2018, which shows the business continued its positive development over the last year, following the integration of Haas and the establishment of its third business pillar, Consumer Foods.
According to the London-based International Coffee Organisation (ICO), coffee prices in January increased slightly over December 2018.
Bühler has named Mark Macus as new Chief Finance Officer at the company, effective 1 September 2019. The appointment follows the retirement of previous CFO, Andreas Herzog.
PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans, US, is preparing to grind out a substantial 2019, following 2018’s milestone growth.
Following the SCA’s announcement to form a US Chapter, the deadline for nominations has been extended.
Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee has opened a European head office in Bordeaux, France, and has appointed Emmanuel Dias as vice president trading, Europe.
49th Parallel Roasters, a specialty grade coffee company, has formed a strategic partnership with private investment firm, Claridge Inc. Thanks to the Claridge investment, 49th will be broadening its product portfolio, expanding its footprint, and extending its reach to new distribution channels and markets.


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The Payment Times Reporting Regulator has published its third data set from large businesses covering their payment practices for their small business suppliers.
There are now more than 25,353 reports submitted on the register from 9,487 reporting entities.The most recent data set covers the six months to June 2022.
Our previous article from November 2022, highlighted that there had been improvements in the overall payment times of large businesses in Australia during the six months to December 2021.
For the period to June 2022, BDO’s half-yearly Payment Performance Tracker has revealed that:
- There was a slight deterioration in average payment times, including a higher percentage of payments made over 60 days.
- Construction and manufacturing remain two industry areas that lag in terms of their payment practices, and both experienced deteriorations in the latest reporting period.
Background to payment times reporting in Australia
The Australian Government introduced the Payment Times Reporting Scheme in January 2021.
The scheme requires large organisations to report on their small business payment terms and times. For more information, read our recently published article explaining the background of the legislation, our team also compiled a business guide to help prepare for the payment times reporting scheme.
In January 2023, the Regulator provided an update on the scheme.
In the update, the Regulator stated their intention to pursue compliance and enforcement activities with a focus on identifying instances of failure in submitting reports and improving the quality of reporting.
The deadline for the lodgement of the next period of reports (for the half year to 31 December 2022) is 31 March 2023. Reporting entities failing to report can incur a maximum daily penalty of $66,600. For example, if a Reporting entity is nine days late in submitting a payment times report, they could be penalised up to c. $600,000.
Analysis by Industry
The most recent payment practices reported for the half year to June 2022 highlight a slight deterioration compared to the previous half-year across all large companies in Australia.
The percentage of payments made within 30 days remained relatively stable at just below 70%. In contrast, the portion of payments made in over 60 days deteriorated slightly, from 7.0% last period to 7.4% for the half year to 30 June 2022.
From the reports submitted for the half year to June 2022, the manufacturing and construction industry groups remain the two sectors that were slowest to pay small businesses:
- Construction – 57% of small businesses were paid within 30 days (58% in the prior period), and 8% paid over 60 days (8% for the previous period). Within the construction industry, the land development and subdivisions subsector was an area with noted deterioration. At the same time, entities within the house construction subsector reported an average improvement in payment practices.
- Manufacturing – 55% of small businesses were paid within 30 days (56% in the preceding period), and 14% in over 60 days (13% in the prior period). This increase in the percentage of payments made in over 60 days was the highest among all industries.
While it has a relatively smaller representation among reporting entities, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry was an area with noted improvements. On average, the industry reported a higher percentage of payments within 30 days and a reduction in payments made outside of 60 days. There was also a similar improvement in the small sample of reporting entities from the arts and recreation services industry.
Australia’s largest companies
The release of the payment times reports for June 2022 allows us to observe the continuing trends in the payment practices of Australia’s largest companies. In assessing the data reported by a few of Australia’s largest companies, it is evident that these companies settle a significant portion of their invoices within the short term.
BHP Group Ltd (BHP) and Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra) are the two standouts from the companies assessed. Both companies have reported continual payment times improvements across each reporting period. Further, both entities paid over 90% of small business invoices within 30 days in H2 FY22. This is a considerable improvement on the 72% and 69% BHP and Telstra reported in June 2021.
The payment times reported by Fortescue Metals Groups remained unchanged over the half year to June 2022 and lagged the reported payment times of the other large companies analysed.
While the construction and manufacturing industries continue to have the slowest payment times, our analysis shows that large Australian businesses have improved their payment practices for small businesses since the scheme’s introduction. This has occurred despite the significant challenges that Australian businesses have faced including:
- Natural disasters, such as the NSW floods
- Workplace absenteeism due to COVID-19
- Supply chain challenges due to COVID-19
- Increasing interest rates
- Increasing energy costs.
What should your business be doing?
We encourage large Australian businesses to be mindful of upcoming lodgement deadlines, especially given the Regulator’s intention to pursue compliance and enforcement activities.
Further, we encourage small Australian businesses to regularly review the payment times register available on the Regulator’s website to mitigate credit risk and reduce working capital requirements where possible. For more information, please contact your local BDO adviser.


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It is a goal for which Volkswagen has to stretch itself mightily.
By 2030, according to the plan, every second vehicle in the Wolfsburg group should be an electric car.
In order to achieve this, the management is investing a lot of money in the entire value chain, especially in battery technology, for which VW is now launching a new joint venture.
Together with the Belgian materials technology group Umicore, the group wants to produce cathode and pre-material for around 160 gigawatt hours of battery cell capacity per year by the end of the decade, as the partners announced on Monday.
That corresponds to the needs of 2.2 million e-cars.
Cathodes are among the most expensive and important components in battery electric vehicles.
They represent around half the value of the battery cells, which in turn account for around 40 percent of the total added value in the car.
To put it simply, a mixture of high-purity materials such as nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium is required to produce them.
Specialized processors such as Umicore, BASF or their Asian competitors use this to produce a paste that serves as the basis for further processing and is currently one of the bottlenecks in cell production.
Thomas Schmall, CTO at VW, summed up the logic behind the new joint venture on Monday.
"Immediate and long-term access to extensive capacity therefore represents a clear competitive advantage."
Focus on supply chains that are as local as possible
The partners are planning around 3 billion euros in investments, also for new production facilities, the exact location of which is still being negotiated.
One possibility is Nysa in Poland, where Umicore opened its first European factory for the production of cathode material a few days ago.
The joint venture is to deliver to the group's own VW battery cell factories in Europe, six of which are planned, the first of which is in Salzgitter.
Through additional agreements, according to the announcement, VW and Umicore also want to work together in the procurement of raw materials, a highly competitive field in which geopolitical tensions are increasingly playing a role.
In Germany, VW is working with Vulcan Energy, among others, to enable completely CO2-free lithium production in the Upper Rhine Graben region.
In Canada, too, VW has entered into new partnerships that will in future also include a stake in mines.
The concept behind this is to make production in every major region of the world - from Europe to North America to Asia, especially China - as self-sufficient as possible and thus independent of conflicts in other parts of the world.
Battery recycling in the future?
Umicore boss Mathias Miedreich said on Monday that the joint venture with VW is strategically unique because it is the first all-encompassing supply chain in the field of battery technology in Europe.
"No other partnership has such strength across the value chain," he said.
The recycling of used batteries is also an option for the joint venture.
By 2026, a capacity of 40 gigawatt hours is to be built up.
In the years that follow, the pace should pick up in order to reach the planned 160 gigawatt hours.
VW and Umicore had already made the first announcements about the joint venture last year.
Since then, a concept has been developed that now offers advantages for both partners.
For example, VW's own battery company Power Co has access to innovative, sustainably sourced and tailor-made high-performance battery material on a significant scale and at competitive prices.
In return, the Belgian partner will have access to a significant share of the European cathode market.
The partners want to share costs, investments, income and profits equally.


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Vision Motors Pvt Ltd is one of the largest authorised dealers of Honda Passenger Cars in South India and the biggest in the state of Kerala. www.visionhonda.com
For the latest from Bollywood – Hindi movies, events, awards, gossips and lots more www.filmfareme.com
NetVenture gladly announce the launch of Kerala Premier League Dubai – www.kpldubai.com
For the latest dough on celebrity news from the Middle East, visit www.saltnpeppa.me
AZ LOGISTIC is amongst the renowned global cargo service providers headquartered at Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
K&MACE gain the experience to tackle many kinds of contracting projects with the help of their well trained team. Today, their name is a promise of quality, consistency and value, fulfilling their client’s needs by customer focused attitude. www.khalafmohdgroup.com


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Last year saw Facebook challenge Google's video site for audience views and advertiser dollars, as the world's largest social network started to publicly display view counts. The impact on the online video ecosystem has been huge.
Once synonymous with online video, YouTube’s share of the online video market has shrunk significantly, from 46.5% in January 2012 down to just 21.1% by the end of 2014, according to comScore.
But any thoughts that 2015 would herald a let-up in hostilities were quickly swept under the carpet this week as Facebook continued its assault on YouTube’s domination by publishing a blog post highlighting a major shift in online trends towards visual content, especially videos.
To back up its claims (and no doubt to throw the gauntlet down to YouTube), the social media giant included some interesting stats around video consumption.
Video is Facebook’s latest battleground
These include the claim that more than 50% of people who come back to Facebook every day in the US watch at least one video every day and that over the past year the number of video posts per person has increased 75% globally. Rather tellingly, it also reported that a significant proportion of these video views are happening on mobile: 65% globally.
Drawing attention to these figures is certainly a smart move by Facebook. Video is a key battleground for the social media giant, especially mobile, where video consumption has grown by 532% cross-platform, according to eMarketer, while mobile video overall is estimated to increase 14-fold between 2013 and 2018, according to Cisco Systems.
But what should we make of these claims? Well, the first thing to say is that the shift towards more visual content is nothing new - the web has been moving from a text-based medium to a visual medium since its inception, and this in itself is part of a broader, fundamental shift away from logo-centric or text-based models of communication and towards a more visual model of communication, a cultural shift that has long been in motion, and one which can be seen in education and in politics as well as the advertising and publishing industry.
Since we started tracking the online video ecosystem in 2006, we have seen an exponential increase in online video sharing. Nine years ago, Zazoo’s hilarious condom ad topped the Unruly Viral Video Chart with a mere 92,100 shares. Fast forward to 2014 chart, and the number one ad, Activia’s World Cup campaign "La, La, La", generated 64 times more shares (5.87m).
The continuing popularity of content-sharing apps as diverse as Tumblr, Pinterest, WhatsApp and Keek, and the continued rise in consumption of animated GIFs and emojis, plus the proliferation of short-form video platforms such as Vine and Instagram all highlight our seemingly insatiable appetite for visual content online.
Fuelled by the growth of video consumption, video ad spend continues to soar. The trend is set to continue as TV spend moves across to digital. So the competition for video ad dollars has intensified and the battle between YouTube and Facebook looks set to become a war of attrition in 2015.
Sharing is a key metric
View numbers may not be the best measure of success, however. There’s no unified definition of a view and brands with a more advanced video strategy in place are interested in far more than views alone - they’re measuring attention - dwell times, completes, interactions - and they’re optimizing for sharing activity, a deeper measure of engagement and buzz.
And this is where Facebook, which now accounts for 18.4% of the online video market (comScore), holds a trump card. Facebook is a social network rather than a search engine - and it shows. For example, if you look at John Lewis’ Christmas campaign, "Monty the Penguin", which was launched on both video platforms, it was the Facebook video which drove the majority of the shares (just under two-thirds).
In fact, only 10 of the 75 campaigns we saw over the festive period used the Facebook video player as part of their online video strategy. Yet these videos still drove 30.5% of the total online shares of Christmas ads. Another recent example is the film trailer of the latest Jurassic Park film, Jurassic World. Released on both formats in November, the Facebook version generated a mammoth 92% of its 2 million shares.
But while these two giants continue to slug it out during 2015, what’s important to remember is the remaining 60% of video views which are occurring outside of either Facebook or YouTube. Indeed, it’s beyond these walled gardens - across the "Open Web" - that the real opportunities lie for smart marketers.


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PONTOTOC, Miss. (WTVA) - Hundreds of employees attended a meeting less than 24 hours after the flames at Washington Furniture to find out what the company will do with their employees.
Employees were informed that they will still be employed by the company and paid during the next three weeks.
“The management team all of our supervisors rallied this morning to make sure our employees know that they make this company understand that they are going to be taken care of and without them, we are not a company,” said John Beard, Vice-President of Sales at Washington Furniture.
It is still unclear at this time what caused the fire but the warehouse will be shut down over the next three weeks.
Workers praised the company for making sure its employees are taken care of.
“You know things like this do happen, I'm really grateful to work for a company that gives us some great compensation while they figure out the next plan," said Corey White.
According to the company's CEO Lyle Harris, they plan to have the reconstruction done by mid-October.
- Warehouse blaze leaves hundreds wondering
- Firefighters battle Eupora business blaze
- Firefighters: Blaze damages Tupelo businesses
- Blaze damages house in Columbus
- Aberdeen firefighters extinguish overnight blaze
- FBI investigating threat at Blue Mtn. warehouse
- Ripley PD look to ID warehouse burglar
- Arrest made in Myrtle furniture warehouse burglary
- Firefighters battle blaze at Winona business
- Fire marshal looking into Aberdeen blaze


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Cannasure Insurance is providing stress relief for legal cannabis businesses across the country. Since cannabis is still a schedule 1 drug and federally considered illegal, business that are operating in the industry are having trouble finding a place to put their stacks of cash. Federal banking institutions are fearful from being shut down if they take the cannabis industries money.
Cannasures Insurance will covers insurance for dispensaries, processors/manufacturers, ancillary businesses, landlords and testing laboratories in the industry. The reason why insurance for the industry is so important is because most businesses are operating legally in the state they do business in but, federally illegal according to the US government. This difference in policy has lead to a thriving industry in recreational states as well as overall confusion on what the current status of the law is. Cannasure Insurance is capitalizing on this.
CEO Patrick McManamon stated “The cannabis industry is evolving at an unprecedented rate and because of this so are the industry-specific risk factors and operational demands.”
Businesses will be covered for up to $5 million in general liability, which will include all aspects of their operation. Everything from delivery drivers, retail dispensaries, finished goods, cannabis cultivations, fire, theft, and even lawsuits. The company is starting to take clients today!
You may be interested
Organigram Holdings Begins Harvest on Phase 2 Indoor Grow RoomsSam Rosenberg - April 23, 2018
Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX VENTURE:OGI) (OTCQB:OGRMF) announced this morning that the company has harvested over 1,500 cannabis plants from the first state-of-the-art Phase 2 indoor grow rooms. Organigram…
The Maricann Group Receives Approval for Cultivation from Health CanadaSam Rosenberg - April 23, 2018
The Maricann Group Inc. (CSE:MARI) (OTCQB:MRRCF) has announced this morning that the company has received approval from Health Canada to begin immediate propagation in their new state of…


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On MCX, gold futures for October plunged 1.77% to Rs 56,622 while silver futures for September plummeted nearly 2% to Rs 68,129 from Rs 69,575 in the previous trade
skidded to Rs 53,394 per 10 gram on Thursday following decline in the international prices of precious metal while silver prices also dropped to Rs 67,072 per kg, according to Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.
Gold jewellery prices vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.
In New Delhi, prices of 22-carat gold rose sharply to Rs 51,850 from Rs 51,150 per 10 gram in the previous trade while prices of 24-carat was at Rs 56,560, up by over Rs 1,000. In Chennai, the rate for 22-carat dropped to Rs 51,560 while for 24-carat it was Rs 56,240. In Mumbai, 10 gram 22-carat was retailing lower at Rs 51,980, according to Good Returns website.
On MCX, gold futures for October plunged 1.77% to Rs 56,622 while silver futures for September plummeted nearly 2% to Rs 68,129 from Rs 69,575 in the previous trade.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India last week said it will launch a liquidity enhancement scheme in the newly launched segment ‘options on goods’ with gold mini contract.
The liquidity enhancement scheme, popularly known as market making, will start from September 1, said in a circular.
“The Exchange, based on a competitive bidding process, will appoint the lowest (qualified) bidder in terms of ‘bid incentive amount’ as a single designated market maker for the product till the scheme remains in force. The maximum incentive bid amount is Rs 40 lakh per month,” the exchange circular added.
In international market, gold dipped below $2,000 an ounce on Wednesday partly in response to a pause in the dollar’s slide as investors awaited more details on the US Federal Reserve’s strategy to revive the pandemic-hit economy.
“pared previous gains on dollar recovery as dollar index witnessed recovery on Wednesday ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes,” HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said.
Spot gold fell 0.8% to $1,984.74 per ounce, having hit a one-week high of $2,014.97 on Tuesday.
US gold futures were down 1.1% at $1,991.20.
The dollar was up 0.1% versus major currencies, pausing its slide that had pushed the currency to a more than two-year low on Tuesday.
While gold dipped on the steadier dollar, expectations of further dollar weakness could prompt gold to “carve out a more sustained presence above $2,000 and reach new record highs,” said FXTM market analyst Han Tan.
“The release of the latest FOMC minutes could offer another gust of wind in bullion bulls’ sails, especially if there is an obvious signal that the Fed is willing to tolerate faster U.S. inflation,” Tan added.
First Published: Thu, August 20 2020. 07:03 IST


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We Are Dublin Town
DublinTown & VISA Ireland Host “Future of Payments” Members Networking Event
- Thu 13 June, 2019
Members of DublinTown enjoyed an evening of networking and discussion on the future of payments – including the topic of cashless businesses – on Wednesday June 12th, 2019.
Hosted by DublinTown in association with VISA Ireland and taking place in the unique event space of Drury Buildings, those in attendance heard about the benefits of moving to a cashless system, consumer expectations and what changes (and challenges) can be expected in the future in regards to card payments.
Speaking at the event were:
- MC – Gavin McLoughlin (Deputy Business Editor, Newstalk)
- Richard Guiney (CEO, DublinTown)
- Philip Konopik (Country Manager, VISA)
- Sam Donnelly (Owner, Sam’s Barbers)
DublinTown has noticed a trend with consumers where there is an expectation that shopping in a physical environment should be as seamless and convenient as it is when shopping online. Speaking on this, Richard Guiney noted “with Generation Z going cashless is the way forward and that businesses will need to adapt. In Britain & Germany, over 50% are already cashless”.
Looking to the future, Philip Konopik explained how the payment process is continuing to evolve, for example “in Ireland, 55% of all their customer transactions are on card. This number is only going to increase with public transport and taxis.”
Finally, Sam Donnelly elaborated on the decisions and benefits behind moving to a cashless business, commenting how “if standards are high then customers will embrace change and move with you.”
DublinTown would like to thank our MC and panel of guests for sharing their experiences, those DublinTown members who supported the event and availed of the networking opportunity and to Drury Buildings for allowing us the use of their event space for the evening.
Future members events, including more related to payments and potential changes in the industry, will be notified to members through our Membership Managers and mailing list. Please reach out to firstname.lastname@example.org for more information.