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An OfficeMax Inc. shareholder sued to block a proposed $1.17 billion takeover by Office Depot Inc., calling the deal "grossly inadequate."
The acquisition, announced by the companies on Feb. 20, would combine the second- and third-biggest U.S. office-supply businesses behind market leader Staples Inc. Stockholders of Naperville-based OfficeMax would get 2.69 shares in Office Depot for each one of their shares.
"OfficeMax, if properly exposed to the market for corporate control, would bring a price materially in excess of the amount offered in the proposed transaction," the OfficeMax shareholder, Eric Hollander, said in a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Chicago.
Hollander is seeking to proceed on behalf of all OfficeMax shareholders affected by the merger plan. He's seeking an order blocking the deal unless OfficeMax gets an agreement "providing the best available terms for shareholders."
Also named as defendants are OfficeMax Chairman Rakesh Gangwal, Chief Executive Officer Ravichandra K. Saligram, six other board members and Boca Raton, Florida-based Office Depot.
Hollander accused the individual defendants of breaching their fiduciary duty to OfficeMax stockholders and Office Depot of aiding and abetting that breach. He is seeking a court order compelling the individual defendants to account for all damages sustained by the investor class.
Nicole Miller, a spokeswoman for OfficeMax, had no immediate comment on the lawsuit yesterday. Brian Levine, a spokesman for Office Depot, declined to comment on it.
The case is Hollander v. OfficeMax Inc., 13-cv-03330, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).


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People in Asia, especially South-East Asia, know that Costa Rica is a small country, but few know it to be very special with unique characteristics.
They are also aware that its government is working very hard to improve the business climate in the country, and find ways for the business community to expand. Ministers and officials are continuously talking to the private sector to know their needs and help them develop their businesses.
The ministers and officials are also often travelling across the world to lure investments. On one such trip to Asia recently was Costa Rica’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Indiana Trejos (above), who visited Singapore on October 5 and 6, 2023, after being in Japan.
She met Ambassadors, High Commissioners and representatives of The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) member-countries – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam – presenting them with Costa Rica’s value proposition to become a member.
During the agenda intensive working visit, she also met with officials from Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, members of various business organisations focusing on the semiconductor industry as well as business leaders who are keen to invest in Costa Rica.
“I’m in Singapore because we have a free trade agreement that’s been in force for 10 years or so and we highly value our trade relationship with Singapore,” Ms Trejos told Inside Recent. “Also, we’re like-minded countries, and we work very well together in the multilateral fora like the World Trade Organisation. We also have many universal values in common and a wide array of topics of common interest.”
The Deputy Minister explained that Costa Rica has evolved over the last 30 years from an agricultural based economy to one that is advanced in manufacturing and technology. “Our value proposition is very much catered to those sectors,” she said. “Costa Rica is geographically located in the heart of the Americas, and we have 16 free trade agreements and many other trade associations that as a whole comprise two-thirds of the world’s GDP and one-third of the world’s population.
“We have an excellent talent pool. So, it makes perfect sense to establish a business in Costa Rica and export to the world. “We’re only five million people. So the investment that comes to Costa Rica is not to cater for the Costa Rican people, but to be used as a base. The base will be valuable as we have FTAs with the United States, China, the European Union and other countries, with most in Latin America.”
Since the Central American country lies about 18,455km from Singapore, logistics could be an issue. But Ms Trejos pointed out that “things have changed dramatically in the world”.
“We have to see the supply value chains, something that can work globally,” she said. “Of course, we have to be very strategic in terms of which industry we focus on. But by no means do we consider that, because of distance, there’s no way to trade. And Costa Rica definitely wants to strengthen its relationship with the Asia-Pacific region.”
According to the Deputy Minister, “Costa Rica has an important incentive scheme that is catered for our free trade zones”. “There is no income tax for several years depending on the amount of investment you make, the number of employees you have and the sector,” she said. “So, that is a big factor.
“But what companies that have invested in Costa Rica continuously mention is that Costa Rica is a place for them to grow because they find the talent that they require. They also like it because we’re a stable economy where we protect the rule of law. It is important that we maintain the rules and provide that security. Businesses like to come to Costa Rica because of our huge network of free trade agreements and are an open economy.”
Regarding Singapore investments in Costa Rica, it is an area “that needs improvement”, said Ms Trejos.
“We don’t have many Singaporean companies investing in Costa Rica,” she said. “That is also why I am here. We know it’s not going to happen overnight. So we have to let them know about Costa Rica’s value proposition. But we can definitely see that there could be synergies in the semiconductor sector.
“Costa Rica has major semiconductor players who have decided to reinvest heavily in our country in recent years. And that is a sector where we definitely want secure and resilient supply chains. We see that this is one industry where we can work very well together with Singapore.
“Also, Singapore has an important life sciences sector, just like Costa Rica. In fact, our main export product to Singapore is medical devices. We have a very robust cluster in Costa Rica comprising more than 90 multinational companies in the medical device sector.
“And so, there are many areas where we can find a win-win solution. Also in terms of sustainability, because when we look for investment, it is not only the quantity of investment, but also the quality of investment. So we want investment that is sustainable and contributes to inclusive growth.
“We’re also seeking technology transfer. At the end of the day, we want our people to benefit from trade and investment.”
Ms Trejos admitted that the advent of Covid-19 has definitely presented challenges. “We saw that in the supply chain, where definitely there is a change of view on how things are done,” she said. “But Costa Rica is very well positioned to take advantage of how things have changed in between, based on the fact that our strategic location is in the heart of the Americas, and we have preferential access to the United States market, Canada and Mexico.
“We have an FTA with China as well, so we can make good use of also Chinese imports, depending on the industry. But, of course, things have changed after Covid, and the supply chains being secure and resilient is something that is very, very important. And Costa Rica has proven to have a good track record in that regard.
“In fact, even during Covid-19, manufacturing in Costa Rica did not close for even one day. We have a robust, very strong health system, which allowed our industries to continuously operate.”
Covid did affect life and business in Costa Rica. But the country has bounced back. Tourism continues to be big, and it received many digital nomads who found Costa Rica a good place to live in and work during the pandemic.
“It is essential for Costa Rica’s economy to grow,” said Ms Trejos. “We want Costa Ricans and foreigners to continue seeing Costa Rica as a place where their businesses can grow and prosper. And, at the end of the day, this translates into more and better jobs for our people. And that’s what we want. We want inclusive growth, sustainable growth.”

domain: news


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New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) As you stream your favourite movies or TV series on Netflix, Disney Plus or Hulu, or connect with your team via video meet app Zoom, leading Cloud service provider Amazon Web Services (
New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) Video meet app Zoom on Friday announced that after May 30, all its clients on older versions would receive a forced 5.0 update when trying to join meetings as GCM encryption would be fu
New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) Realising the importance to remain relevant in a shrinking job market during the Covid-19 lockdown times, more than three in five Indian professionals (63 per cent) will increase t
Washington, May 16 (IANS) As NASA plans to return humans to the Moon by 2024 under its Artemis programme, the US space agency has laid out certain principles for responsible space exploration that will gui
Toronto, May 14 (IANS) Despite YouTube's efforts to remove pandemic related minsinformation, more than a quarter of the most viewed COVID-19 English-language videos on the platform contains misleading or i
New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) Technology companies have a key role to play in developing solutions for testing, treatment and containment of COVID-19, Intel India Country Head Nivruti Rai said on Tuesday.
San Francisco, May 11 (IANS) Microsoft has started rolling out a tool designed to protect Office 365 users worldwide from reply-all email storms.
When a reply all mail storm occurs in an organisation, i
San Francisco, May 10 (IANS) A hacker group is selling data of 10 companies including online dating app Zoosk, US newspaper Star Tribune and food delivery service Chef that contains over 73 million user re
New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) The overall number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks during the first three months of this year have seen a significant spike in attacks on educational websites as millions
San Francisco, May 8 (IANS) Microsoft has come out in the open against ecommerce giant Amazon's Cloud arm, slamming Amazon Web Services (AWS) for once again challenging the US government's decision to award $10
New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) As millions of kids take online school classes from home globally including in India, government along with private education sector have a great responsibility to offer online e-Le
Cupertino, May 4 (IANS) Apple on Monday updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Magic Keyboard that comes with physical Escape key, along with Touch Bar and Touch ID along with doubling the standard storage fo
New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) Microsoft on Monday announced that Surface Pro X, Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3 will be available in India via commercial authorized resellers, authorized retail as well as online p
New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) While the new government guidelines have allowed IT manufacturing units including mobile phones to resume operations from May 4, there has been no official confirmation yet and Realme In
Sydney, May 1 (IANS) Are you disinfecting your phone? If not, do it now. Mobile phones could be acting as 'Trojan horses' for coronavirus, warn researchers, urging billions of users worldwide to decontamin
New Delhi, May 1 (IANS) Movement to workplaces declined significantly in India after the country imposed a nation-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, shows the latest Google COVID-1
San Francisco, April 30 (IANS) Facebook has issued 40 million warning labels across its services related to fake content around COVID-19, Its CEO Mark Zuckerberg has informed.
Facebook has partnered wit
New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) After facing several security and privacy issues, video meet app Zoom on Wednesday released a much-awaited 5.0 update to its popular video conferencing service with several security a


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16 to 30 of 31
18 april 2017
For every container redeemed, TOMRA will donate to Keep America Beautiful.
22 marts 2017
Are you interested in recycling, sustainability and making a positive contribution to the planet? Then you might be keen to participate in Earth Hour, taking place this Saturday 25 March, at 8:30-9:30pm in your local time zone.
17 marts 2017
TOMRA Collection Solutions has returned from EuroShop, the world’s largest trade fair for the retail sector.
08 marts 2017
Today on International Women’s Day, TOMRA Collection Solutions spotlights three of its female leaders in technology: Ingrid Solberg, Lisa Hodska and Mia Norman.
01 marts 2017
TOMRA Collection Solutions and its smarter new reverse vending offerings will be on show at EuroShop, the world’s largest retail trade fair, in Dusseldorf on 5-9 March.
28 februar 2017
TOMRA Collection Solutions is expanding its industry-first Flow Technology across its portfolio of reverse vending machines (RVMs), which collect bottles and cans for reuse and recycling.
21 februar 2017
Reuse and new mindsets are vital in achieving a circular economy
15 februar 2017
Retailers can now enhance consumer engagement, insight and in-store management
TOMRA Connect launches digital experiences for can and bottle collection
26 oktober 2016
TOMRA and its Italian agent Love Recycling will be at this year's Ecomondo event, taking place 8-11 November 2016 at the Rimini Expo Center. We look forward to seeing you at our stand (number 69) in Hall 3B.
12 oktober 2016
TOMRA Collection Solutions (TCS), the international market leader in reverse vending (RV) technology, is expanding its presence and partnerships in Australia, as it prepares for the upcoming New South Wales (NSW) deposit system.
10 februar 2016
27 maj 2015
TOMRA blev kåret til vinder af prisen European Business of the Year i kategorien for virksomheder med en omsætning på € 150 mio. eller højere. TOMRA var én af ti finalister i denne priskategori.
24 marts 2014
13 februar 2014


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More Drivers Can Now Leave Their Car Keys at Home If They Have an iPhone
25 March 2022 - autoevolution
Back in 2020, Apple announced an exciting new feature that made it possible for iPhone owners to unlock the doors and even start the engine of their car using nothing but the smartphone.
Launched exclusively on select BMW models, the feature was obviously bound to expand to more cars out there, especially given Apple was already working with other carmakers to make it happen.
And today, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker finally released this highly anticipated announcement: the digital car key feature is now rolling out to select 2022 Genesis and Kia models.
At this point, however, the information that’s available for customers is extremely limited, with neither Kia nor Genesis making any official announcement on this front.
Apple, however, has already updated its supported car model list, so we know that in addition to Kia Niro, the 2022 Genesis GV60 and the G90 are both compatible with the digital car key system.
Given the information is stored in the Wallet app, Apple customers can also use an Apple Watch for the same capability. You can imagine how convenient this is, though, on the other hand, many people might consider it rather redundant, especially if their cars already come with a keyless system that allows for a similar way to unlock the vehicle doors.
Apple also announced that it expanded the support for storing the driver’s license and the state ID information in the Wallet app for people in Arizona. This means you no longer have to carry your driver’s license with you when getting behind the wheel, as the iPhone is all you need in case you’re pulled over.
The company has obviously promised to expand the availability of both the digital car keys and the digital driver’s license to more regions in the coming months, but of course, no further information in this regard has been shared just yet.


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WOODBURY, Conn. (WTNH) — Gepetto’s Toys is closing soon and it’s tugging on the heartstrings of many people in the Connecticut Valley. The Waterbury-area toy store has meant more than just fun and games for many customers. Over 3 decades, children who came here with their parents are now parents themselves — like Adam Brent.
When he came here as a kid, he had his favorite board game. It still catches his eye on the shelf.
“Parchese,” he said. “That’s the first thing I saw when I came in — just a great board and a great design on the board.”
On Thursday, he was passing on the Gepetto family tradition by bringing his daughter, Hazel, there to pick out a birthday present among the games like Parchese, stuffed teddy bears, books and slinkies.
Adam isn’t the only one who remembers special times with the family at this small jewel in Woodbury.
“My grown daughters are very sad that Gepetto’s is closing,” said Bill Bosch. “They are 34 and 31.”
Bosch says this was his go-to place for Christmas shopping over so many years. The smiles on his girls’ faces Christmas morning assured him that his favorite toy store would always have a special place in his heart and in his family’s hearts.
For him and many others, this is a sad time. But, they also realize it’s a sign of the times. What’s happening to Geppetto’s is happening to many small businesses across the country as technology has lured more shoppers online.
“The passage of time that takes these stores away from us is sad,” Bill said.
The owner of Gepetto’s admits that’s one factor that’s made it more difficult to stay in business in these modern times. Thomas Abbott, the Academic Program Manager for Business Administration and International Business at Post University in nearby Waterbury says what’s happening to Gepetto’s is unfortunately becoming the norm in so many cases in today’s retail world.
“A lot of the smaller retailers are struggling and the whole retail industry is configuring itself differently these days,” Abbott said. “It’s not just happening to smaller businesses, it’s happening to larger ones, too.”
“New factors are coming in. How do I pay for my product — it’s not just money anymore and it’s not just a credit card. The consumers have a whole bunch of different choices that go beyond the product and I think small businesses are in a position where they’ve got to react to that.”
Another new factor — kids like Hazel might be more drawn to video games these days instead of Parchese, much to the dismay of her dad.
“They had a great run,” he said.
The owner of Gepetto’s, Alex DeSorbo says he isn’t exactly sure when Gepetto’s will end its more than 30-year run, but he tells News8 it could be as soon as sometime next week.


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Sadly, restaurant receipts have become an all-too-common place to find taunting notes and racist comments from customers and employees alike. This week, Papa John's Pizza is under fire for an offensive epithet printed on a pizza box.
On Tuesday afternoon, a 17-year-old black man ordered a pizza from the Green Valley Ranch location of Papa John's in Denver, CO. When it arrived, he noticed that the N-word was printed on the label where the customer's name should be, so he contacted a local activist, The Denver Post reports. Brother Jeff Fard then circulated a photo of the label on social media, urging the community to take action by calling the corporate offices.
Though a report of a homophobic slur written on a Whole Foods cake in May turned out to be a hoax, it seems that in this case, the claim is legitimate. In response to an inquiry, a customer service representative from Papa John's admitted the employee was at fault. The explanation reads as follows:
"We have spoken with the customer and apologized for this incident. The former employee that created this offensive label was African-American and claims that he knew the person ordering the pizza from high school. We unequivocally do not condone this behavior and have terminated his employment."
The offensive language on the receipt may have been meant as a joke between acquaintances, but it seems the employee is suffering the consequences of his ill-conceived actions.
Follow Delish on Instagram.


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MLB.TV Unveils Pricing For Shortened Season, Still Free For T-Mobile Customers
MLB.TV, the league’s out-of-market streaming package will cost $59.99 for the entire 60-game MLB season. They will also offer a $49.99 plan for a single team’s out-of-market games. Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, the service was originally priced at $122 for the entire 160 game season.
The new pricing is a bit more expensive per game than it was originally supposed to cost this season, especially when you factor in a higher percentage of games will appear on ESPN, FOX, TBS, MLB Network — which will be blacked out.
Fortunately though, if you are a T-Mobile subscriber, the 2020 season will still be free. To redeem the offer, subscribers will be able to access an exclusive link from the T-Mobile Tuesday app in the coming weeks.
When baseball is back, so will https://t.co/BQYg1SBebu for free. At T-Mobile we love baseball as much as you do. And the second it’s back, we’ll be on deck with free https://t.co/BQYg1SBebu for our customers! ^KevinWatts— T-Mobile Help (@TMobileHelp) July 6, 2020
As a reminder for fans in Canada, Blue Jays games will be blacked out on MLB.TV for fans within the country for the first time starting this season. Live Blue Jays games will now be available to stream on Sportsnet NOW ($20.83 per month).


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Indie bookstores around the country are finalizing their plans for Independent Bookstore Day on August 29. The coronavirus forced the celebration to be postponed from its original April 25 date, resulting in it bumping up against this year’s back-to-school rush. Add in a hurricane on the Gulf Coast and wildfires in California made many bookstores do IBD differently this year. Most stores are holding hybrid IBD celebrations, and one is holding a completely virtual IBD, due to its employees all being in quarantine.
Left Bank Books in St. Louis is temporarily closed to customers after an employee tested positive a few days ago; the entire staff is working remotely for the next two weeks while the store is sanitized. According to a letter posted on the store’s website and on social media by co-owner Jarek Steele, Left Bank is doing “an online version of IBD: smaller and deconstructed, much like our store at the moment.”
The store owners decided to move online despite an offer from Holland Saltsman of the Novel Neighbor, an indie located nearby that usually competes with Left Bank, to sell Left Bank’s IBD merchandise alongside the store’s own merchandise. Not only that, but Saltsman also offered to give Left Bank the proceeds from sales of Novel Neighbor's IBD merchandise. “I teared up, thanked her and told her that she should reap the benefits of her own significant labor,” Steele wrote. "We'll be ok. I'm sharing this story because it highlights the best of us. It highlights what we as a community can be to each other. It highlights what we can be as, well, neighbors.”
Among the stores holding downscaled IBD celebrations. is Schuler Books in Okemos and Grand Rapids, Mich. It is planning on “giveaways via email and social media, and exclusive items for sale in the stores,” marketing coordinator Alana Haley said. “That’s it! We didn’t want to drive more people to the stores as we are currently at the level we can comfortably and safely handle. No in-store giveaways to limit transaction time and handling.”
To prevent customers from crowding her store, and also in a bid to jumpstart customers thinking about the holidays, Linda Kass, the owner of Gramercy Books in the Columbus suburb of Bexley, Ohio, is not holding Independent Bookstore Day. Instead, the store began celebrating Independent Bookstore Week on August 23, with gift cards being sold at a discount through August 29.
According to Stephanie Hochschild, the owner of the Book Stall in Winnetka, Ill., while Chicagoland booksellers in previous years have had success coordinated promotions, this year participation in IBD will vary widely across the indie landscape because many stores are operating on different schedules. Some stores are open to foot traffic, but others, like hers, are not or have limited hours. The Book Stall simply will emphasize to its customers on IBD “that we are local and a dedicated member of the community,” she wrote in an email. “Sharing the highs and the lows, celebrating special occasions and the holidays together.”
The Book Stall in Winnetka, Ill. is not open to foot traffic as was reported in an earlier version of this story and has been corrected.


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Mark Trump inauguration boycott becomes wider to third of Democratic caucus Dow: And dow jones: And after that S 500:HomeNewsPoliticsTrump inauguration boycott advances to third of Democratic caucusPresident elect feud with John Lewis fuels unityHow To: Fix Your Fatigue And have more EnergyRoughly 60 House dems, Or nearly one third through the 194 member caucus, Plan to be while else when Mr.
Trump takes the oath of operate, Citing enquiries from Russian hacking to his feud with Rep. Bob Lewis of ga.A two more dems Reps. Janice n. Schakowsky of Illinois and Grace Meng of New the black friday ads York announced Wednesday that they would hop aboard the boycott wagon in a show of partisan congressional opposition that might be unlike any other detail in modern history.SEE much too: Dems have a new dread: Fear of Trump successseems fairly unprecedented this nike air max black friday sale amount of people would boycott and in such in store black friday deals a formalized manner, Spoken to Barbara Perry, Presidential studies director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the college or advanced schooling of Virginia.House Democrats black day shopping know some reasons for having boycotting Republican inaugurals a handful skipped the 2001 swearing in of President George W. Bush but the only event much like this year exodus apropos scale is the 1973 inauguration of President Nixon.Prior to starting, Character. Impart Edwards, The state of north dakota Democrat, Told The los angeles Times that 165 congress would shun the ceremony. Far lower did, But lots of no shows is subject to debate.Pictures: Donald Trump arrives in houston ahead of great inaugurationSeveral news outlets, Like with CBS and MSNBC, Have reported that 80 congress ended up skipping the 1973 swearing in, But Senate historian Betty Koed declared boycott fizzled almost entirely.Never seemed to occur, Microsof agency. Koed told the McClatchy News active experience. In conclusion, There was clearly the usual work.
Began as a trickle of absentees swelled into a torrent now as House dems rushed to show their support for Mr. Lewis, A earliest civil rights leader, After he became relating to a feud with Mr. Trump.
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Renault: the end of a buoyant wave on the stock market?
If certainly, at the end of June, Renault still displayed all the assets of a star of the stock market, such no longer seems to be the case now. Everything still seemed rosy on that date, so much so that the automotive group had then clearly raised its financial objectives for 2023. The manufacturer then surfed on the wave of a first half conducted at full speed, thanks to the launch of new models. carried out successfully, the arrival on the market of the Renault Austral ensuring good commercial results.
UBS lowers Renault’s rating, even advising to sell
But now the wheel is turning for Renault. The bank has indeed lowered Friday the rating assigned to the group, from “neutral” to “sell”, with a goal of neck. At the same time, reducing its target price to 31 euros against 42 euros previously. This change in recommendation immediately impacted the value of the title of the automotive group on the stock market, especially since advice to “sell” is relatively rare. Results of the race: Renault shares fell by 4.7% on the Paris Stock Exchange from 11 a.m., posting the largest decline in the index.
UBS expects performance to deteriorate in 2024
According to UBS, Renault is close to having reached a peak in terms of financial results. If the Swiss bank is still counting on high financial results for the coming quarters, not even ruling out the possibility of seeing them improve further, it nevertheless believes that most of the group’s key indicators should no longer improve.
UBS estimates that Renault’s profitability will peak this year, expecting an operating margin of 5.9% in 2023, then falling to 4.7% in 2024.
Model prices can’t show increases forever
Main elements put forward by UBS to argue its position: the manufacturer’s pricing policy.
If UBS notes that “Renault’s pricing has improved by around 20% since 2020 and is now at the level of its sector comparables”, it estimates that as a result, the contribution of price increases to results will therefore fade away. Understand: Renault will not be able to count indefinitely on an increase in the prices of its models to obtain good financial results, the price policy of other manufacturers not allowing it to follow such a strategy.
Renault very exposed to competition from Chinese manufacturers
According to UBS, “mass market” automakers like Renault are the most at risk of losing market share in Europe, due to increased competition from Chinese groups and their offensive on the Old Continent. The offensive of BYD, Chinese specialist in electrified vehicles being highly likely to cause some harm to the French group.
“With around 70% of sales in Europe and a European market share of 10%, Renault is one of the most exposed names here”, indicates UBS.
The establishment notes that the Chinese BYD and the American Tesla intend, between them, to increase their vehicle sales on the Old Continent by 2.5 million units. To be compared to the global market of currently 15 million cars. Ambitions that Renault could find difficult to counter.
UBS lacks light on Ampère
Another element at risk according to UBS: the lack of visibility on the future of Ampère. Company which will eventually combine Renault’s EV and on-board software activities and which the manufacturer intends to IPO in the spring of 2024.
UBS estimates that it will be difficult for Ampere to meet its medium-term objectives: sales of 1 million electric vehicles in 2031. The Swiss bank expects 800,000 vehicles in 2030 and an operating margin of around 10% in 2030.
In the end, therefore, according to UBS, the IPO of Ampere should not allow the creation of value, the objective nevertheless sought by Renault in this operation.
“Ampere’s ability to achieve its long-term goals, which we consider ambitious and with a limited margin of error, is highly dependent on external factors, such as battery costs and the competitive landscape, as well as the costs of materially lower production,” the bank said. Which adds that “the valuation of Ampere is strongly focused on the 2025-30 horizon, for which we have too little visibility”.
In its base scenario, UBS values Ampere at 3-4 billion euros. Renault, for its part, has never given a valuation target for its future subsidiary. However, Reuters and Bloomberg evoke a figure that may be around 10 billion euros. And previous analyst estimates were between 5 billion and 30 billion euros. Finally, UBS considers that Renault’s structure after this operation “will become increasingly difficult to read”. Taking the example of the “mixed” results of Porsche’s IPO at the end of 2022, which had little effect on the performance of the stock of the parent company Volkswagen.
Sources: UBS, Reuters, Bloomberg


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The new generation of Nissan GT-R has come up over the internet due to some renderings, revealing the new sport car with some features from the yet unveiled Sport Sedan Concept.
The 2016 Nissan GT-R is showed with a much more impressive design and with some inspiration features from the Sport Sedan Concept, previously shown to the public with the occasion of the 2014 NAIAS, Detroit at the beginning of this month.
The new GT-R looks great in the Sedan`s feature, aside from the flashy front fascia which seems to be too much for the 2016 Nissan.
The new generation of Nissan GT-R is rumored to adopt a new cool “green” stylish and come with a hybrid powertrain. Other rumors concern its extreme sporty features, with performances resembling those from Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche.
What we should also mention, is that it doesn’t matter how it will eventually turn up. But it is very obvious that the Nissan will carry on its legacy, left from the previous version GT-R.


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Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock bought new rifle three days before massacre
The gunman who killed 58 people in Las Vegas bought a new weapon at his local gun shop just three days before he opened fire on fans at a country music festival.
Stephen Paddock, 64, was cheerful and friendly as he provided information for a compulsory background check and paid for a bolt action rifle last Thursday, the general manager of Guns and Guitars in Mesquite, Nevada said.
“It was a normal day. He came in and filled out his paperwork, went across the street, did some shopping at Walmart, came back, shook my hand, said ‘have a great day’ and out the door he went,” Christopher Sullivan told the Desert Valley Times.
It was the fifth firearm that the shop had sold to


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Brittney Henry, who was crowned Miss Washington in July, is asking the public to keep their eyes out for her sash, crown and gowns that were stolen along with her car from outside her Edgewood home early this morning.
“I would be extremely grateful if you could help me by keeping your eyes open for any of these items to appear on craigslist or Ebay- particularly my crown and sash which are obviously one of a kind (they say Miss Washington 2011 on them),” Henry, 24, wrote on Facebook.
She said her crown and sashes, autographs from Miss America contestants (she competed in Las Vegas in January), shoes and her purse containing her checkbook and credit cards were taken.
Pierce County sheriff’s deputies recovered Henry’s 2011 GMC behind a Puyallup shopping center after tracking it with a GPS locator. The thieves have reportedly used her debit and credit cards at stores in Tacoma, Puyallup and Federal Way.
“The car was recovered but the gowns and crowns and Miss Washington stuff is still missing,” sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.
Henry said she’d left the items in her car because she had to leave at 5 a.m. for an appearance at an iHop in Everett.
Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and charging of the thief.


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The Dominican Republic's National Council of Merchants and Entrepreneurs (Conacerd) denounced that the garlic sold in the recent auction on the Dominican Agribusiness Exchange (BARD) was overpriced by 7,500 pesos above its normal price, according to its cost in China or the United States.
The executive vice president and general secretary of Conacerd, Antonio Cruz Rojas, said that the current price of a quintal of garlic in both markets, placed in Dominican docks, was 3,000 pesos, plus a 25% customs tariff payment, as this product is part of the Technical Rectification of List XXII of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Cruz Rojas said he was concerned that Decree 569-12, which transfers the products of the Technical Rectification -including garlic, onions, beans, and corn, among others- to the Dominican Agribusiness Exchange so that they are auctioned, had led to an increase in the price of these highly-consumed products to the detriment of the country's poorest population.
According to Cruz Rojas, the most alarming thing is that the country will import garlic in November after the producers of the Constanza Valley have already sold the contracted harvest at a rate of 10,000 pesos per quintal of garlic.
"If we add 7,500 pesos to the 3,750 pesos that the imported garlic costs, including taxes, we can deduct that consumers would save more than 85 pesos per pound of garlic it wasn't being auctioned," he stated.
According to Cruz Rojas, since Decree 569-12 was issued in 2012 to date, “Dominican consumers have been paying a surcharge for the reference items; i.e. up to 400 pesos for a pound of garlic, 80 pesos for a pound of onion, and 70 pesos for pinto beans. In summary, Dominican consumers have paid a surcharge of more than 25,000,000,000 pesos for this unfair cause," he said.


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Pancakes ‘N Syrup flavor coming soon to Protein Wars champ ISO-Protein
5% Nutrition previews its glucose...
Dedicated is updating its 24...
> Legendary Labs
Legendary Labs combines laxo, epicatechin and more in its new Triumph
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Legendary Labs’ DMHA pre-workout Elektra up for pre-order
Nov 27th, 2017
Legendary Labs welcomes its pump pre-workout Vulcan Pump
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Legendary Labs teases a nitric oxide formula possibly titled Vulcan Pump
Sep 2nd, 2017
AMP citrate pre-workout coming soon from Legendary Labs
Mar 4th, 2017
Redcon1's Total War RTD has arrived ⇒


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SRI Sports files for bankruptcy
On Feb. 12, SRI Sports was the leading supplier of sports surfaces in North America. The next day, it had ceased to exist.
Even now, weeks later, awestruck industry veterans are experiencing feelings familiar to supporters of Howard Dean's candidacy, say, or anyone who witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall. AstroTurf, SRI's most prominent product, had dominated its category since the 1960s, and while there are few people around who can remember clearly the surfaces industry before it, the abruptness with which SRI collapsed made the company's supremacy all that harder to fathom.
That was primarily true for people with short memories. After all, in the mid-1990s, a similar fate befell St. Louis-based Balsam Corp., which in the late 1980s had bought AstroTurf Industries Inc., Pitzer Products Inc. (maker of Proturf polyurethane gym floors), Rekortan Corp. (a track surface company) and Connor•AGA (a maker of basketball floors), among others. An overextended Balsam unexpectedly declared bankruptcy in 1994, after which AstroTurf was among Balsam's assets purchased by SRI, a relative upstart then known as Southwest Recreational Industries. Just as Balsam had, SRI's parent, American Sports Products Group, spent the 1990s gobbling up related businesses (such as Martin Surfacing and Sport Court), until falling prices caused by increased competition and an inability to obtain financing forced SRI's hand. (While SRI's track and synthetic turf divisions are being discontinued, ASPG plans to sell its Sport Court, AAI and BPI divisions.)
In truth, SRI's sudden death should have been easy to foresee. For example, last year's departure of SRI President and CEO Reed Seaton, who had founded SRI precursor Southwest Track Builders Inc., is now being seen in a different light. At the time, Max Chapman Jr., who only six months earlier had become SRI's chairman (replacing the retired Bill Sorenson), characterized Seaton's departure as necessary "to enhance our position for future served markets," while predicting that the synthetic turf market could grow by as much as 40 percent this year.
Not surprisingly, SRI's lack of future served markets is prompting some behind-the-scenes snickering. One of SRI's primary sales pitches - that only a big, well-established company like itself could be trusted to be around in five years to stand behind its warranty - is a principal object of derision. Beyond that, much hay is being made of SRI's frequent boasts about its huge market share - even though the boasts happened to be true. As Dave Demey, vice president of business development with Sprinturf, puts it, "They went after every job they could, and they lowered their pricing through the floor, and it really forced the whole industry to become commodity driven. So yeah, they were the biggest, but at what cost to the company?"
Adds a less-charitable industry insider, asking not to be identified, "When you start giving away fields, it's amazing how many more fields you can sell."
Competitors' gloating notwithstanding, many of the effects of SRI's failure are no laughing matter. More than 500 people are looking for work. The company listed more than 1,000 creditors when it went under, led by Blackstone Mezzanine Partners LP of New York (which is owed $19.6 million), Martin Surfacing (an SRI subsidiary that is owed $6.3 million) and General Electric Capital Corp. of Chicago ($3.3 million). And hundreds of facility operators now own recently installed sports surfaces with warranties that might be worthless. (More worthless than they realize, says an anonymous source. Many installations bear the corner-cutting stamp of the recent low-bid mentality; those projects are "time bombs ready to go off," he says.)
The most immediate effect was a mad scramble by facility operators who had installations scheduled with SRI to line up new fields and installers (most notably, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis was trying to replace its turf before the Twins' home opener on April 5). This was more than matched by a mad scramble by the remaining scores of turf companies to pick up the slack. Noting that Sprinturf is now North America's second-largest turf company, Demey says, "Whatever's in the realm of being legal, we're looking into it. We're doing everything we can to bolster our position."
Interested industry watchers can expect to see two further effects of SRI's demise: rising prices for turf, and an expansion of the litigation that heretofore pitted FieldTurf, the new overdog, against SRI.
The Metrodome project offers a glimpse of the future. According to a report in The Minneapolis Star Tribune, SRI's AstroPlay was selected by the Minneapolis Sports Facilities Commission at a bid of $715,157, more than $150,000 lower than FieldTurf's bid. Although no papers had yet been filed, FieldTurf CEO John Gilman had threatened a patent-infringement lawsuit against the commission if it went ahead with the AstroPlay installation. Within days of SRI's bankruptcy filing, however, the commission contacted Gilman, who the paper said wouldn't commit to installing FieldTurf at the price the company bid last October. (On Feb. 26, FieldTurf did agree to do so after a bankruptcy court hearing that voided the MSFC's contract with SRI.)
"Our prices will be going up," Gilman says now, "because our margins were not sufficient as a result of SRI's underbidding everyone, and as a businessman I'd like to make more money."
Gilman says he hopes - though he knows better - that SRI's departure will spell the end of turf salespeople claiming that their products are the same as other people's, only less expensive. One thing's for sure, Gilman won't hesitate to back up his talk with legal action against turf companies that supply - and customers who purchase - "infringing fields," as he calls them. "Some people view us as the big bad guy. I don't view us as the big bad guy," Gilman says. "We have patents, we earned the patents, we paid for the patents. We spent millions of dollars developing this product. We will vigorously defend the technology we invented."


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Worldwide Developers Conference
The software running Apple’s iPhones and iPads is getting a new look and several new features. The Mac is borrowing more functionality from mobile devices. New MacBook Airs are out, and a new Internet radio service will be coming this fall.
Apple unveiled its highly anticipated new laptop at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco this week and the top of the line MacBook Pro is already stunning many experts.


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NVIDIA today released the latest version of its GeForce Game Ready drivers. We are awaiting an update from NVIDIA on the game-optimizations, since the changelog accessed by us isn't clear on that. The
drivers do address a handful issues. Firstly, a bug that caused abnormally high CPU utilization for the NVIDIA Container internal process of the driver, has been fixed. Stability issues on certain la ...


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UPDATE Jun 28 15:40:05 MDT 2016:
All systems and services are up and running. Thank-you for your patience.
All RDA services will be unavailable starting at 6:00 AM MDT on June 28 due to system maintenance. It is estimated that RDA services will be back online by early evening.
We apologize for the inconvenience.


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Oct. 11 Samsung Mobile Unpacked Postponed
Samsung and Google have decided to postpone the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the CTIA in San Diego, previously scheduled for Oct. 11. Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product. We ask for your understanding regarding any inconvenience caused. We will announce a new date and venue in due course.
Products > Mobile


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Recent studies have shown that Artificial Sweeteners increase Obesity, Diabetes, Cardiovascular and Cancer risks and are a major part of one of the many issues slowly killing the us and turning the world population into super obese people.
Right now that can of Coke Zero, diet soda, or Pepsi max doesn’t look so good after all. Neither should it, because the ingredients in those drinks, when consumed, even if just once, or twice per week, are slowing taking years off your life and affecting your health and disrupting your reproductive, metabolic, cardiovascular, endocrine and immunes function.
But it isn’t just these drinks that are the issue. These artificial sweeteners are in are in everything from foods you are eating daily, many popular/fad protein shakes, chewing gum and even kids chewable vitamins. Yes, those vitamins are providing your children with a chemical toxic ingredient on a daily basis, under the banner that it is good for you.
People do need to take the blinkers off and realize that these artificial sugars are in fact a toxic chemical that the body cannot covert properly, tends to store in fat tissue and then covert to other toxic substances in the body. They are worse for you than naturally occurring sugars and that is a scientific and even logical fact. They are chemically engineered and they do not naturally occur in our environment. This doesn’t mean refined sugar is good for you either, but it is definitely better processed by the body and there are better options for sugar than refined sugar cane.
The problem is that most of the population has a sugar addiction and it is slowly killing them, or for some, it is killing them quite quickly. This is not just some conspiracy theory at all. The whole is now facing the fact that most of its population is overweight and resembling the characters off the movie “Wall-E”. But worse still people are now thinking that the chemically laden substitutes are actually a better alternative to sugar. Not so
Consumption of noncaloric, artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) is associated with an increased risk for disease variety of chronic diseases, according to an opinion article by Susan E. Swithers, PhD, a professor of behavioral neuroscience at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, publishedin Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism
In recent years, some high-profile studies have caused concern, suggesting that pregnant women who use high-intensity sweeteners incur risks, including premature delivery. Studies in mice have highlighted cancers related to ingestion of sweeteners in large quantities and potential diabetogenic effects of artificial sweeteners through microbiota.
“Frequent consumers of these sugar substitutes are at increased risk of excessive weight gain, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Swithers writes.
The prospective studies Dr. Swithers reviewed found an elevated risk for weight gain and obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and hypertension in those who consumed ASBs..
Participants who regularly consumed ASBs tended to have higher baseline body mass indexes compared with participants who did not.
Similar studies showed that these artificial sweeteners are also putting children at a major health risk and definitely are a part of the obesity epidemic that is fast turning our children in super obese adults.
Hormones, Brain Response Altered
Brain responses are altered in those who consume artificial sweeteners compared with those who consume caloric sweeteners. In addition, studies in humans have found that the release of hormones and other markers need for hormone synthesis and insulin regulation and glucose homeostasis, are disrupted after ingestion of artificial sweeteners. Many of these artificial sweeteners are actually endocrine disruptors that are affecting the conversion of cholesterol into hormones and causing what many know as “The pregnenolone steal”. Basically you aren’t producing your hormones properly and not converting many of our much-needed hormones at all. Plus obesity is causing hormonal disruption by too much fat, which are now being termed as “Obestrogens”.
Current findings suggest that caution and avoidance of about artificial sweeteners is warranted. People need to open their eyes and look at the foods they are consuming on a daily basis. Many of them have hidden artificial sugars and additives in them and worse still, many of the foods children are consuming daily are the same. We all need to start to eat less process foods, avoid refined sugars, avoid artificial sugars, increase vegetable and fruits, increase nuts and seeds, increase our protein and where possible eat fresh organic foods.
Forget global warming killing us off, the world is doing a pretty good job of its own by ingesting chemically laden foods and sugar substitutes such as these artificial sweeteners.


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Retailers, often depending on where they’re located, expressed differing views on carrying bedding plants .
Ironically, some retailers in areas where there’s still snow on the ground are going out of their way to brighten up the front of the store with whatever plants will withstand a chilly day. If necessary, they’ll roll the racks in at night, and put them back out the next morning.
“It’s snowing here right now, but we have pansy plants on a single rack out front,” Steven Day, CFO and co-owner of Day’s Market, Heber, Utah, told SN.
“We do have a canopy out there so they’re somewhat protected, and if we find out the temperature is going to drop below freezing, we’ll roll the rack inside for the night.”
Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, where there’s still snow on the ground, Brigido’s Fresh Market, based in North Scituate, already has some pansies, too, and bulb plants, but floral manager Donna Lally makes sure they’re protected from the elements.
“It’s on the early side for us. All I’m putting outside right now are bulb plants, hyacinths, tulips … they’re 4 feet off the ground on a rack,” Lally said. “That’s at the two stores with overhangs, and we have a bunch of garage doors.” Lined up, they provide a wind barrier to keep the plants protected.
Lally said it’s important to have colorful plants out front as early as possible, because people expect them.
“It’s an aesthetic thing. I think they ‘flavor’ the store. Those beautiful, living things make a good image for us. And, if they’re well taken care of, they bring in a profit.”
SN blog: Floral, Fresh Are Venturing Off the Beaten Path
The front of Brigido’s stores all will blossom later with a large selection of flowering plants.
“We’ll be getting annuals, and a lot of vegetable plants, but not until after Mother’s Day. It’s just still too cold for them,” Lally said.
No matter where in the country they’re located, all the retailers SN talked to agreed that bedding plants require constant care, and that can be a problem. They have to be watered one or two or three times a day, and the buyer has to know what will hold up and what won’t. For that reason, one person generally is designated as caretaker.
At Day’s, in Utah’s mountains, when planting season finally arrives, Steven Day hires a manager on a temporary basis for the bedding plants.
“The biggest challenge is keeping the plants healthy, and that means protecting them from cold, heat, wind, and watering them at least twice a day. It’s possible, too, to overwater some plants, so the manager has to have experience. They also do the ordering, and they know variety and color are key.”
There’s extra incentive as well for the plant caretaker to do a good job.
“At the end, if we’ve had a successful season, the manager gets a bonus,” Day said.
Day’s is one of the supermarkets that makes a big thing of bedding plants, and it works. Sales have continued to grow over the last 10 years, Day said. And last year, when a Wal-Mart  moved next door — with a selection of plants — Day’s bedding plant sales didn’t falter. Indeed, sales were up from a year earlier.
“We had way more variety, and our quality is better,” Day explained.
Good care is a must, but it can be a huge problem for a retailer. The floral department has to have an associate it can rely on to remember to water the plants, said floral consultant Terry Johnson, principal at Horticultural Marketing Resource, Mission Viejo, Calif.
“One day of not watering a plant can kill its roots. So, missing a day can result in a bunch of dead roots. The plant may still look OK, so the worst is that the customer buys them, takes them home, and when they don’t grow, he’s going to blame the supermarket.”
In the warmer regions of the country, erratic temperatures are less of a problem.
“We started two weeks ago and we’ll go through Mother’s Day,” said Bradley Gaines, floral supervisor, at 50-unit United Supermarkets, Lubbock, Texas.
“We pitch them really hard, and even though it’s a tad early, we try to be the first ones out there with bedding plants.”
Gaines’s theory is that once the weather starts warming up, people expect to see live, green plants
“We ordered a wider variety this year, and bought a lot more from Texas. One of our biggest sellers is herbs, and this is the first year 100% of them are local,” Gaines said. “Last year, 80% of our herbs came from California.”
Read more: Year-Round Floral Sales
Local is big in Texas, so each plant variety is designated with signage that says, “Texas Grown.”
Inside, signs guide customers outside to the plants.
In the floral department, a sign may read, “Did you miss our lavender or mint out front?”
It would be difficult, however, at United’s stores for a customer to miss the bedding plants because they’re on a low profile rack smack in front of the entrance, Gaines said. A customer has to walk around the rack to come into the store.
While the weather is still apt to get pretty cold, Gaines focuses on just a few varieties that hold up well such as ivy just to have some green outside.
“This Saturday and Sunday the weather is predicted to go below freezing. We will roll them in.”
Gaines said he doesn’t focus on vegetables even though he’ll have tomato plants in soon. The market is flooded with vegetable plants, he said.
“Lowe’s has 100 varieties. It’s difficult to compete with those stores.”
The plants Gaines buys have well-developed roots so they’re not so vulnerable. It cuts down on their maintenance.
“We also get the store directors involved in their care, and we talk about the plants at regional meetings. We focus on them because they’re good for our fresh image,” Gaines said.
“We have some ‘hot buys’ like asparagus ferns that we get in and then out quickly with a great price.”
Gaines said sales of the category are marginally ahead of this time last year. Usually, he said, during the bedding plant season, those plants make up 5% to 8% of floral sales at United.
“I think there’s a good future for the category as long as you’re doing something different with it.”
In Louisiana, it’s heat that’s the big threat to fledgling plants. For that reason, Rouses Supermarkets , Thibodaux, displays them in shaded areas, hires trained florists and buys plants in 4-inch pots so the roots are better protected by ample soil.
Rouses puts its focus on vegetable plants, proven customer favorites.
“Particularly Creole tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers, and this year, we added yellow, straight-necked squash,” said Susan Sistrunk, the floral director.
Creole tomatoes, revered by Rouses’ customers, are an heirloom variety developed by Louisiana State University to withstand high heat and humidity.
“It [the Creole tomato] is said be so great-flavored … because it’s grown in the rich delta soil of the Mississippi River,” Sistrunk said.
K-VA-T ’s Food City in Louisa, Ky., in an area usually warm by this time of year, just got its bedding plants delivered last week, later than usual.
“We’ve had a cold snap here. It’s 28 degrees,” said Debbie Burke, the store’s floral manager.
Read more: Plant Sales Mixed at Retail
Last year, Burke kept selling out of cabbage plants and rosebush plants even though she got weekly deliveries, and she expects those two to do well again this year.
“They’re both easy to grow. The ‘Double-Knockout Roses’ are resistant to mold and other things that often make roses difficult to grow. We’ll sell a lot of those and they’re not cheap: $16.99.”
In addition to her regular selection of bedding vegetable plants, Burke has some new ones this year, including okra and pickling cucumbers.
She said she’s the designated caretaker for the bedding plants, and she makes sure no day goes by without watering them twice.
Echoing the sentiments of consultant Terry Johnson, Burke said, “One day without water and they go from beautiful into the garbage.”
Such vulnerability has led some retailers to limit their selection or to forgo carrying bedding plants.
Publix Super Markets , Lakeland, Fla., stopped carrying them last year.
“We discontinued the landscape products in 2012. In order to offer new varieties in the floral department, we needed to create space and discontinue items that weren’t performing well,” said Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous.
Sidebar: Robust Roots
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Home vegetable gardening didn’t decrease when the recession eased up, according to Bruce Butterfield, market research director, at the National Gardening Association here. In fact, it’s going strong.
Vegetable gardening increased 7% from 30 million households in 2011 to 32 million in 2012, and container gardening also was up 10%, Butterfield told SN.
A bigger jump had come just after the recession began.
“In 2008, 27 million U.S. households were participating in vegetable gardening. In 2011, there were 30 million households doing vegetable gardening,” Butterfield said in an earlier interview. A general view at the time was that people, affected by the darkening economy, were saving money by growing their own vegetables.
Butterfield attributes the 1 million increase in vegetable gardening from 2011 to 2012 now to the economy as well — a recovering economy.
“It’s a sign the economy is strengthening,” Butterfield said. “People are spending more for better-tasting, quality food.”
He also commented on the extreme local-ness of growing your own vegetables, and that fits with consumers’ increasingly favoring local products.
|Suggested Categories||More from Supermarketnews|


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Cloud Distribution has signed up thin-client vendor Praim as it pushes into the UK, claiming the Italian firm has "nice guys" who offer a higher "level of love" than bigger rivals. Praim, which is headquartered...
Licensing VAR giant looks to build out services
HP and Lenovo enjoy growth
Chinese giant launches in into wider client space
Data suggests more than half of enterprises have no plans


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The number of Americans boarding commercial flights has risen steadily over the past five days, leading to an increase in reports of crowded flights on which social-distancing measures were impossible. There has been some recent criticism of American Airlines after a passenger boarded a weekend flight and found it nearly full, with no social distancing guidelines being practiced due to the shere amount of people on the flight. The question here is – if airlines keep running these flights, and travel continues even on a limited basis, what airlines are doing to protect passengers and what we can do to protect ourselves? Travel Expert, Francesca Page, sheds some light….
So are airlines listening?
American Airlines and JetBlue implemented new flying policies Monday, after travellers reported packed flights amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Taking AA as an example, we do know that despite the fact that American has cut 60% of its flights in April (and is reportedly planning on suspending more in May) beginning in early May, American will build on its cleaning program by expanding on the cleaning procedures already used during longer stops to every mainline flight. Changes will include flight attendents being required to wear masks (something Jetblue was already enforcing,) the distribution of sanitizing wipes or gels and face masks to customers, and an expansion of cleaning frequency in the areas under its control including gate areas, ticket counters, passenger service counters, baggage service offices and team member rooms.
What do you think people will do in future to protect themselves when flying and traveling in a larger sense?
There is no doubt that people are more aware of their vulnerability in general when traveling now more than ever. In terms of flying, airlines like AA have been very open about passengers rights to ask for a seat ‘re-assigment’ to create more space and have said they are blocking half of all middle seats but they have also said seat reassigment is not guaranteed. In a larger sense I think we’ll see business and consumer travelers taking it upon themselves to keep protected in a few ways:
- The landscape of travel insurance and protection will change, with more business and consumer travelers joining travel health and safety programs. Those that can afford it, will sign up air medical transport and travel security memberships so that if they hospitalized while traveling, get sick or injured, transportation to a home country hospital of their choice can be arranged for in-patient care.
- There will undoubtably be a rise in other alternative forms of transport to flying that allow more privacy and less exposure, like the road trip.
- People will be more aware of keeping themselves at a distance from other passengers and in flight etiquette will be more obligatory accross the board.


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Expedia, the world’s largest online travel agency by booking volumes, has added yet another dimension to its growth strategy by going after the mobile travel space to boost its traffic.
The company has launched a slew of mobile applications to capture a larger slice of the travel market on the back of the smartphone revolution in its key markets. Expedia competes with other leading online travel companies such as Priceline and Orbitz.
We value Expedia with a $30.60 Trefis price estimate, implying a premium to its current market price.
Why go mobile?
1) Huge reach
Mobile has a greater reach than the Internet today (4.8 billion mobile users vs. 1.7 billion Internet users) especially in emerging markets such as India where penetration of personal computers is low and mobile Internet on handsets is a popular choice amongst consumers due to its affordability and portability. Reacting proactively to this opportunity can thus help OTAs in increasing their presence in the offline market.
2) The smartphone revolution
According to a recent Deloitte survey, business travelers are increasingly turning to their smartphones to research and book travel. It reports that 63% of business travelers earning more than $150,000 a year have web-enabled smartphones. This represents a sizable opportunity for OTAs to capture, by developing a suite of mobile phone apps.
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Products/partnerships undertaken in mobile
1) Mobile app for Hotel booking
Expedia has launched a free app ‘Expedia Hotels’ for iPhone and Android users allowing them to book hotel rooms from their mobile devices.
2) iPhone app launch by Egencia
Egencia, the corporate travel arm of Expedia, launched an iPhone app equipped with user-friendly features like Smart Itinerary, Flight and Destination Alerts, Flight Schedules for business travellers, early this month.
3) Acquisition of Mobiata
Expedia acquired the creator of best selling mobile travel applications, Mobiata, late last year. The deal is expected to accelerate the company’s ability to enable mobile travel shopping and booking across multiple platforms.
4) Partnership with Nokia through TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor (now spun-off from Expedia) formed a partnership with Nokia in July 2010, which resulted in an Ovi app for Nokia’s Ovi Store and integration of the TripAdvisor service into Nokia’s Ovi Maps, thereby allowing travellers to search for popular hotels, restaurants and also find the cheapest airfares available.
How could this impact Expedia’s valuation?
Expedia received ~4% traffic through mobile bookings and this fraction will only increase with growth in smartphones using population that we currently project to be at least 70 million by end of 2011 and rise to 110 million by end of 2015 in the U.S. alone.
Owing to the smartphone revolution and Expedia’s efforts to increase its presence in the mobile travel space, the company stands to benefit in more ways than one. By leveraging the mobile media, Expedia gets access to the the pool of customers who were earlier users of offline travel services, but now have access to the OTA services through their mobile apps.
Expedia gets the opportunity to save any attrition from its current customer base who are active users of smartphones and may prefer mobile bookings over online bookings, as could be the case for Business travelers or customers with last minute booking needs.
Overall, Expedia has an opportunity to improve its current market share of hotel and airline ticket bookings through its mobile travel strategy, as OTAs proliferate into the offline segment of the travel market. A potential upside to the current price levels exists for Expedia as the market dynamics shift and the rewards from the strategy accrue.
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LONDON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — AEG's bid to manage London's Wembley Arena has been provisionally approved by the Competition Commission, replacing the venue's previous managers, Live Nation.
AEG had originally signed on with Wembley owner Quintain Estates & Development to manage the arena earlier this year; however the Office of Fair Trade raised concerns about AEG's dominance of the London market leading to higher ticket prices. Approval of the deal leaves AEG operating the two largest indoor venues in London, the O2 Arena and Wembley arena, as well as the Hammersmith Apollo, and IndigO2. AEG has also recently been awarded a five-year contract to deliver summer concerts at Hyde Park.
After review, the Competition Commission reported that they found the anti-competitive effects of the Wembley deal, such as higher prices and lower quality of service of the Wembley deal, presented little risk to consumers.
In the report's executive summary, the committee reported: "AEG’s opportunity to increase venue prices would be limited given that other factors are more important and that any negotiation on price takes place after the venue has been confirmed. Where we have seen evidence of promoters switching venues, the decision was made on non-price reasons such as tickets not selling fast enough at the first choice venue.
"We also considered whether AEG would or would not have an incentive to reduce the quality of the venue after the merger. We provisionally found that doing so could damage AEG both in financial terms and also in relation to its reputation at its other venues." – Staff Writers


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The first commercial, a 60-second spot,
Tagline in play
Nissan's ad agency, Omnicom Group's TBWA/Chiat/Day, Playa del Rey, Calif., retained the brand's "Shift" tagline. The first TV spot ends with "Shift the playing field." The agency's pre-launch 15-second pre-launch TV spots for Titan broke late last month.
The new campaign includes national print and outdoor advertising. Online executions will target lifestyle sites for hunters, fishermen and sports enthusiasts. Nissan said the media buy matches the vehicle's target of mostly males from 32 to 48.
The Titan, one of the first models from Nissan's new plant in Canton, Miss., pits the automaker against Detroit's last stronghold, the truck segment.
Nissan is expected to spend at least $60 million on the Titan launch, although by press time the automaker hadn't commented on its spending plans.
Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, which leads the category, is backing its redone 2004 F-150 pickup with $100 million-plus in media buys.
The automaker priced the Titan competitively, with a base suggested retail price starting at $22,400, topping out at $34,200. Nissan's first, full-year sales target is 100,000 Titans.
The Nissan division has introduced a slew of new and redone models this year and in the past few years has executed one of the industry's most stunning turnarounds. The automaker said its Nissan brand sales in North America rose by 1.8% through October to 563,627 units vs. a year ago.
Nissan spent $453 million in measured media through August 2003, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR.


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Etsy Inc., a website for handmade and vintage goods, has already sold more than $1 billion in merchandise this year as customers increasingly view products on mobile devices.
The New York startup, which had $895 million in gross merchandise sales for all of last year, passed the $1 billion milestone in October, setting the company up for another year of growth, CEO Chad Dickerson said in an interview.
The company's biggest quarter tends to be the holiday season, during which Mr. Dickerson expects customers to start coming to the site mostly via mobile phones. Etsy has updated its applications for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Google Inc.'s Android in anticipation of the trend, with a design emphasizing product images.
"This will be the holiday of mobile," Mr. Dickerson said. "Customers will start visiting the site mostly via mobile some time during the holiday season, or definitely by early 2014."
Etsy, which is profitable though has not disclosed its revenue, takes a 3.5% cut of all merchandise sold on its site, plus 20 cents for listing products. It also makes money via advertising.
The company expects a new revenue line to come out of its business putting Etsy sellers' products in brick and mortar stores, like Nordstrom Inc., but hasn't yet figured out that business model, Mr. Dickerson said.
Last month, the company loosened rules for sellers on its platform to allow them to use outside manufacturers and hire employees. The change allowed vendors that had cultivated their businesses on Etsy to keep expanding on the site while still qualifying as "handmade."
Etsy was founded in 2005 by Rob Kalin, who was named one of Crain's Top Entrepreneurs in 2009.


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My job should not include abuse
With the hashtag #myjobshouldnotincludeabuse climbing in social media ranks, many have been sharing their own experiences of sexual abuse in the industry through Instagram. The likes of Kate Upton, Sara Sampaio, Saskia De Brauw and Edie Campbell have taken to the social media platform to share stories in support of model and activist Cameron Russell – who has been sharing anonymous stories on behalf of lesser-known individuals in the fashion industry.
Top Global Fashion Schools 2017
The Business of Fashion has released their Top Global Fashion Schools list for 2017. The coveted Central Saint Martins in London has remained at the top of the list with the highest global influence score - rated by industry professionals. The University of Technology, Sydney fashion programme has risen 15 places from number 28 in 2016 to number 13 this year. Whitehouse Institute of Design and Sydney’s TAFE Fashion Design Studio have now joined the ranks at numbers 27 and 28, respectively.
UTS Honours Fashion Show
More success for UTS, with their 2017 Fashion Show drawing in industry professionals to view the work of this year’s honours class. Leading lights included Peta Tornaros, Yael Frischling, Guzman and Samantha D’Iorio.
Sales in Sydney
Shop sustainable Australian brand Kitx at their own Sydney Warehouse Sale this week. With a conscious promise to ethical, traceable and non-hazardous materials - a Kitx piece is a worthy investment with a hefty pricetag. At this week’s warehouse sale save up to 80% on selected Kitx styles, classic prints and silhouettes.
WHEN: Friday 3rd November – Saturday 4th November
WHERE: 17 Oxford St, Paddington (next door to Verona Cinema)


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Albion Online: Where Are Your Limits Launch Trailer
Albion Online has officially launched – and presents a new trailer asking “Where are your limits?”
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South Korean trade commission said 28, has proposed to impose punitive tariffs on imports from China steel sharply, to protect the domestic steel industry.
South Korean industry trade resources issued a statement said: “south Korean trade commission has decided that suggest that over the next five years, on imports of Chinese steel in 28.23% to 32.72% of anti-dumping duties, but seven Chinese steel mills, including tianjin west steel. This several steel companies agreed to take the initiative to raise price.”
South Korean trade commission made the decision, derived from the two Korean steelmakers filed a complaint, said imports from China of h-beam prices damage the interests of their own.
The committee said earlier, in 2013, Korea h-beam market size of 2.25 trillion won ($2.03 billion), the Chinese steel mills accounted for about 30%.


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Skyrim AIAA Award dedicated to late concept artist Adam Adamowicz
Bethesda's Todd Howard has dedicated the latest award that Skyrim has won to the concept artist Adam Adamowicz who recently passed away from cancer when he picked up the Game of the Year award at this year's Annual Interactive Achievement Award.
Pete Hines announced the sad news on Twitter last week that Adamowicz had passed away after a long struggle with cancer. Bethesda's blog is currently hosting a tribute page to the concept artist showcasing the very best elements of his work.
Adamowicz worked extensively on concept artwork for Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim and was instrumental in shaping these worlds into the wonderful environments we have had the pleasure of exploring over the years.
A tribute to Adam Adamowicz on AwesomeRobo described him as, "A veritable one-man conceptual machine, who, unlike his contemporary counterparts, did a majority of his work in non digital mediums. Fallout 3 was pretty much visually designed from the ground up by one humble man who got little to no recognition, nor sought it."
The success of Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim stands as a monument to the creative talents of Adam Adamowicz and the games industry is diminished by his passing.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 after all
- Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third gets a release date
- Adr1ft is coming to PC and consoles at the end of the summer
- EA gives the new Mirror's Edge a name – Mirror's Edge Catalyst
- ZombiU PS4 and Xbox One port reportedly in the works
- Mike Bithell's Volume to be released this August
- Gearbox's new shooter Battleborn gets a pre-E3 trailer
- Steam Controller launches in October, Steam Machines arrive in November
- Gears Of War devs Black Tusk change their name to The Coalition ahead of E3


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Here's some good news for the music industry: Last year's vinyl-record sales were the highest they've been in 15 years.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents the worldwide recording industry, released its annual statistics report Monday, and with it came the news that vinyl sales hit $177 million -- an 18-percent uptick, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's the highest figure since 1997, when vinyl-friendly bands like Radiohead and Spiritualized released, respectively, "Ok Computer" and "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space."
The highest-selling vinyl album of 2012 was Jack White's Grammy-nominated solo effort "Blunderbuss," selling 34,000 units. White's album unseated The Beatles' "Abbey Road," which came in at No. 2 on the list after taking the top spot during each of the previous three years. Other top sellers included Mumford & Sons' "Babel," The Black Keys' "El Camino" and Adele's "21," according to Nielsen.
Some music companies are seeking incentives to boost vinyl sales. »
- Matthew Jacobs
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Are you the sort of person who has stopped buying one brand and started buying another because you liked the politics of the new brand better? Or have you recently bought a brand for the first time because you appreciated its political stance?
If so, you’re what Edelman calls a “belief-driven buyer,” one of an increasing number of consumers who are putting their dollars where their politics are when they’re making their purchase decisions. Edelman released a report this week in which it shared data this worldwide shift in buyer behavior.
As far as the US is concerned, Edelman’s data captures an interesting change in consumer perspective. Now, Edelman observes that 48 percent of respondents trust business as a source of news and information from business, as opposed to 33 percent who trust government. That’s a 15-point gap in trust
“People believe that brands can drive societal change.” Edelman says. This appears to be more than “cause marketing”, which has been with us for some time.
In 2017, Edelman began observing “belief-driven buyers” and now, they say, half of us act this way in our purchasing decisions:
- 67 percent of belief-driven buyers bought a brand for the first time because of its position on a controversial issue.
- 65 percent avoided a brand because it stayed silent on an issue that consumers believed it had an obligation to address.
Edelman observed double-digit growth in the number of belief-driven buyers in eight of the largest markets around the world. And, while we often think of Gen Z developing a brand attachment because of how woke a brand is, Edelman says that the belief-driven mindset is now a majority at all ages, including 56 percent of those older than 55 and 69 percent of those in the top 25 percent of income earners.
So, how does a brand take a stand? Edelman observes a spectrum beginning with clearly articulating your brand purpose and making a proactive effort to address that purpose; “authentically connecting your brand to a relevant moment in culture; and engaging in activism: confronting a controversial issue that has a direct impact on your stakeholders and/or your brand.”
To communicate their message around their beliefs, brands need to tell a compelling and engaging story. Now, the data show, consumers want to be engaged — rather than forced to pay attention to marketing messages. Successful marketers will use paid, owned, social and mainstream media channels to communicate with consumers and activate that engagement.
There are a number of implications of belief-driven marketing for a brand.
- Its stand will cause people to buy a brand. Or avoid it.
- People will talk about the brand.
- Brands will benefit from activating a spectrum of brand ambassadors. Not surprisingly, perhaps, “customers or regular persons” were the most effective brand advocates (with an index of 166); actors were the least effective (with an index of 20).
The major difference here between belief-driven branding and more traditional approaches is the willing embrace of controversy that comes with it. Brands will gain fervent advocates who are invested in the issues the brand espouses. But those stances will turn others off, even those who have a strong relationship with the brand already. Brands must be able to stomach pushback and trolling.
It’s not at all clear to me how belief-driven marketing will play out in higher ed. But this year we’ve seen examples of colleges and universities taking a public stand on issues they could avoid.
In September, for example, College of the Ozarks made headlines when it announced it was cutting ties with Nike after the athletics apparel brand debuted an ad featuring Colin Kaepernick, the football player famous for taking a knee during the National Anthem to protest police brutality against black people. Liberty University was considering following suit.
But the more compelling approach to belief-driven marketing lies in not simply taking a stand on a controversial issue. Building a belief-driven higher ed brand requires linking an institution’s historic mission and its aspirations with a vision and commitment to connecting deeply to the needs of contemporary society.
That’s going to be difficult for an institution whose brand is focused on tradition or athletic prowess, however significant and valuable they are to many stakeholders. On the other hand, it could be more simple for faith-based institutions or an HBCU to meet this challenge.
The real question is whether most colleges and universities have the courage to embrace public stances that will gain new admirers but turn others into fervent trolls.
Michael Stoner is a co-founder and president of mStoner, Inc., a digital marketing firm serving higher education.


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Does a commercial work if you never show the product you’re selling?
Since many television stations do not accept cannabis advertising, the brand turned to the Innovation Agency to help mitigate the challenge. Their solution? A concept that promotes the brand without ever showing the actual product.
The Innovation Agency’s commercial asks viewers to “discover” more noble aspects of life.
“We wanted to create a commercial that captures the essence of the brand,” said Randall Huft, president and creative director of Innovation Agency. “Eureka stands for inclusion, acceptance and love. They want to promote mutual respect and understanding, and the discovery of the beauty and individuality of each human.”
The “Discover Eureka” commercial will be running in Los Angeles, San Diego and other markets.
You can also “Discover Eureka” (as well as many other brands!) in person at the 2017 SoCal Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino this weekend. Tickets are available HERE.
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.


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You are here
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California State Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, introduced a bill yesterday meant to address consumer privacy concerns related to the commercial use of radio frequency identification technology.
State Senate Bill 1834 states: "This bill would require a person or entity that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) systems to comply with certain conditions, including obtaining an individual's written consent before attaching or storing personally identifiable information with data collected via an RFID tag or before any personally identifiable information collected via an RFID system is shared with a third party. The bill would make a violation of the bill an act of unfair competition that is subject to specified enforcement provisions, including actions brought by the Attorney General or a district attorney or city attorney."
The bill would apply to any business or state government agency using RFID systems to track merchandise or people -- an activity that's on the rise.
The bill proposes that businesses and agencies be required to notify people that they're using an RFID system that can track and collect information about them. It would also require consumers to give express consent before businesses or agencies could track and collect information about them via RFID. Lastly, the legislation requires retailers to detach or destroy RFID "tags" on merchandise before consumers leave the store with it.
Privacy concerns over RFID began to surface last year when retailers began testing the technology in stores. Consumer advocates fear such systems could lead to surveillance on an unprecedented scale.


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Ocado Group (LON:OCDO) and Ocado Retail Limited have announced the location of a sixth Customer Fulfilment Centre (“CFC”) in the UK to support the growth plans of Ocado Retail, allowing it to bring the market-leading Ocado customer experience to even more customers in the UK.
This will be Ocado Retail’s first mini-CFC and will be located in Bristol. The facility will have the capacity for over 30,000 orders per week compared to approximately 85,000 orders per week expected from Ocado CFC 5, currently under construction at Purfleet. As a result of the benefits of our unique fulfilment system, this facility is being built in an existing warehouse and is expected to go live at the end of 2020 or early 2021, so bringing new capacity into operation significantly faster than for purpose-built standard-sized CFCs. Despite its smaller size, we expect the Bristol mini-CFC to achieve productivity close to that in our standard facilities.
This mini-CFC brings further benefits to Ocado Retail as it creates the opportunity to serve all of its customers with a full grocery range direct from the facility. This means customers in Bristol and the surrounding area will have a wider range of options for delivery, including placing orders for delivery later the same day. It will also mean saving the cost of spoke sites, offsetting most of the additional costs of the supply chain.
In further developing a mix of different sizes of facility, Ocado is creating a unique and flexible ecosystem. In the future, mini-sized CFCs can complement the standard-sized CFCs to build a fulfilment network including in areas not suitable for larger CFCs. This will deliver long-term network benefits, enabling all Ocado Solutions partners to reach ever more households, while catering to the wide and growing range of shopping missions that customers expect to be served through online grocery.
The Bristol mini-CFC, consisting of a 150,000 sq ft warehouse in Avonmouth delivered by St. Modwen, is expected to support around 815 jobs in the local area.
Peter Davies, Development Director at St. Modwen Industrial & Logistics, said:
“Securing a customer of this nature is testament to the quality of our scheme, its prime location and confirms our commitment to speculatively build-out sites where appropriate. Across our parks, we’re able to cater to both leading national occupiers as well as small-to-medium-sized industrial and logistics businesses. Ocado Retail is a strong addition to our growing list of high-quality customers and the company’s developing offering in the South West will bring significant investment in the regional economy and support hundreds of new jobs.”
Tim Steiner, Chief Executive of Ocado Group, said:
“The Ocado Smart Platform is constantly evolving as we innovate to adapt to changing customer needs. We can now deliver the best customer experience across a whole range of customer missions, through CFCs, mini-CFCs, and micro fulfilment centres. Ocado’s technology is dynamic and constantly improving, delivered through tried and tested solutions with proven and attractive economics. Our mission is to deliver the future of online shopping today, and we believe we are succeeding.”


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New 50th Anniversary Goofy The Haunted Mansion Figure by Jim Shore Coming Soon, Disney Responds to Tenaya Stone Accusations at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and More: Daily Recap (4/9/22)
This post may contain affiliate links; please read the disclosure for more information.
We bring you a lot of stories every single day. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up. So in case you missed anything from our feed, we have rounded up all our stories in one place to get the news at a glance. Here is your Daily Recap for Saturday, April 9, 2022.
You better check out this radical new Baja-style hoodie we found at Surfside Souvenirs in Disney California Adventure! It’s, like, totally radical!
Earlier this week, we reported accusations that the stone at the center of the Tenaya Stone Spa may have been obtained in a culturally insensitive and possibly illegal manner. Now, Disney has responded to the original Fodors article.
Shining, shimmering, splendid! Did you think we were talking about “A Whole New World?” Well you’d be wrong, we found a new glittery Mickey-shaped PopSocket at the World of Disney Store in the Downtown Disney District!
Tokyo Disney Resort
With the Toy Story Hotel now officially open, one of the biggest questions is what kind of merchandise is on sale at the brand-new hotel, and what sort of shop is it all situated in. Well wonder no more — we took a look inside and documented the entire experience!
For dining onsite, the only option at Toy Story Hotel is the Lotso Garden Cafe, which offers buffet meals for both breakfast and dinner. So naturally, we stopped in to check it out!
Meet Mr. Knight in Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure!
That’s it for today; we hope you enjoyed this Daily Recap. Thanks for stopping by, and we’ll see you tomorrow!


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Jitta, a Bangkok-based fintech startup, is getting ready to launch a private fund service for HNWIs in the country, in what would be a first for the Thai market.
Slated for release in the second quarter of 2019, the new service - Jitta Wealth - will invest in stocks through the separately managed accounts of customers. Clients are required to have at least 1 million baht ($31,566) in investable assets.
CEO Trawut Luangsomboon said the accounts will be managed by Jitta Wealth Asset Management. The firm has applied for a licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand, he told Citywire Asia,
Founded in 2014, Jitta has developed a proprietary algorithm that helps to identify investment options on a range of stock markets that include the US, Thailand and other parts of Asia. The company started out offering a freemium intelligence product that allowed professional, or at least serious, investors to tap its technology to find undervalued stocks or investments that are poised for growth.
Jitta Wealth is to offer a passive investment option to users who have do not have the time or confidence to invest by themselves. Instead, they put money into Jitta Wealth and let the company bring in a return. Jitta's pricing means it is incentivized to do just that. Customers will be charged a 0.5% management fee and, at the end of the year, Jitta will take a 10% cut of their profit.
The company is targeting Thailand first, but its stock analysis product — which covers 16 countries — is likely to be expanded into new markets this year, with India and Singapore on the horizon
Jitta made headlines in February for raising $6.5m in a pre-series A funding round led by Beacon VC, a corporate venture capital arm of Thailand's Kasikornbank.


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The Cornucopia Institute Grades Senators and Representatives Ahead of 2018 Fall Election
Every member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives who voted for or against stripping states of the ability to require the labeling of genetically engineered food (“The Dark Act”) has received a grade on their votes on issues concerning transparency and the labeling of GMO food ingredients. The scorecard was prepared by The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group watchdogging government and industry on matters impacting organic food and agriculture.
“Public polling continues to indicate that consumers are very interested in the ‘right-to-know’ what is in their food and want transparency in the use of GMO food ingredients,” said Jason Cole, a researcher for Cornucopia who gathered and analyzed the voting data. “We think voters will also be interested in digesting how their elected officials graded out on these issues as they prepare to cast their ballots next week on November 6.”
In the House, 70 members received an “A” or a “B” on the seven legislative issues concerning GMOs. Five representatives scored an “A+”. In contrast, a whopping 162 representatives totaled zero points and received an “F” on Cornucopia’s report card.
In the Senate, 26 senators received an “A” or a “B” for their actions, on behalf of consumers, on five legislative issues concerning GMOs. Nine senators obtained an “A+” in the GMO scorecard. A total of 41 senators fell at the opposite end of the spectrum, receiving a failing grade for scoring zero points with their legislative actions.
Congress passed a national uniform GMO food labeling law in 2016, an action that was dubbed by Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), chair of the Senate’s Agriculture Committee, “the most important vote on agriculture in the last 20 years.” Most of the incumbents standing for reelection in 2018 were in Congress when the important GMO labeling vote was taken.
“Senator Roberts was undoubtedly right about the importance of the new GMO food labeling law,” said Cornucopia Executive Director Mark Kastel. “But we and many other public interest organizations think it is a toothless bill, largely benefiting Monsanto and the biotech industry, and that it will continue to mask GMO food ingredients while doing little to help consumers easily understand what is in the food they are eating and feeding their families.”
The USDA has since missed a congressionally mandated deadline for implementation of the labeling law and the widely criticized requirements, described as a giveaway to corporate agribusiness, have yet to be implemented.
This vote illustrates a decisively partisan tilt in the support of labeling of GMO foods between the two major parties. Of the incumbents standing for reelection in 2018 who voted for The Dark Act, 121 Democrats and Independents, or 63% sided with the public’s right to know, while only 11 Republicans, or 5%, did so.
The bill, that made its way through Congress in 2016, was the catalyst for one of the largest controversies in the history of the organic movement. Almost 300 public interest groups and other organic stakeholders aggressively lobbied Congress to vote against the legislation which didn’t require Big Food to label GMO content on packaging and preempted states from doing so themselves. It was revealed that the organic industry’s powerful lobby group, the Organic Trade Association (OTA), and some of its largest members, had worked behind the scenes in support of the labeling law.
Cornucopia contends the OTA position gave some members of Congress the political shelter needed to side with powerful agriculture and biotechnology interests.
“We know that some members of Congress, who otherwise had positive voting records, were intentionally misled by the OTA claiming that it represented the entire organic community, rather than acting as a corporate-dominated lobby group long led by such prominent agribusinesses as Dean Foods/WhiteWave, Smucker’s, Driscoll’s, Dannon/Stonyfield, and Organic Valley,” Kastel stated.
The dustup has caused some well-known members of the Organic Trade Association, including Dr. Bronner’s and Nature’s Path, to resign.
One of the hallmarks of organic agriculture has been food transparency. The use of GMO technologies is expressly prohibited in organics.
The four current House members receiving the highest score are Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Peter DeFazio (D-OR). The eight senators Cornucopia called “champions” are Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).


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Allianz Real Estate, the property arm of the German insurer, has purchased a 50% stake in a 375,000 sq.m. logistics portfolio in China from private equity property firm Gaw Capital Partners and logistics specialist Vialog China.
The portfolio features five assets across the cities of Shanghai, Jiaxing, Foshan, Wuhan and Shenyang, according to an announcement.
The acquisition price was not disclosed. The properties, developed between 2016 and 2017, are occupied by tenants including online retailer Vipshop and hypermarket chain Carrefour.
“Demand for logistics in China is underpinned by growth in e-commerce, middle class accession and infrastructure build-out,” said Rushabh Desai, CEO Asia-Pacific at Allianz RE.
“We already have exposure to logistics development portfolio in China, getting access to a core portfolio provides a nice balance for our investors.”
Vialog China and Gaw Capital Partners will hold the remaining interest in the portfolio and manage the assets.
Allianz RE has US$67.5bn of assets under management, while Gaw Capital holds $18.3bn of AUM.