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"I am feeding my daughter one egg a day instead of two. I stopped eating eggs and fish to provide for my baby. Even so, the price of baby food has increased so much that it is difficult to manage nutritious food for them," said Khalid Hasan (not his real name), an employee of a private company in Dhaka.
Most fixed-income parents are struggling to provide nutritious food to their children. Nutrition experts believe pricey baby food could lead to long-term child malnutrition.
"The authorities must take initiatives to control the price of baby food. Otherwise it will have a long-term impact on the nutrition of children," Khursheed Jahan, a renowned nutritionist and honorary professor of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Dhaka, told The Business Standard (TBS).
Khalid Hasan told TBS, "My daughter is 18 months old, so her weight should be 18kg. But she weighs less than 10kg. The doctor prescribed nutritious food for her. We are feeding her Cerelac (nutritious cereal for babies), semolina, almonds, and dates along with breast milk. But because of the high prices of food products, we are unable to feed her what she needs. The girl's weight is not increasing properly."
The country has seen prices of all kinds of commodities soar in recent times, triggered by the fuel price hike. Middle-class and lower-income people like Khalid Hasan are forced to make various cuts in household expenses to meet the additional expenses.
Khalid Hasan said that with a monthly salary of Tk35,000, he is struggling to make ends meet. "I have to spend Tk5-6,000 per month for my daughter's food alone, not to mention the house rent, transportation, and household expenses."
"Earlier, I used to eat snacks costing Tk30-40 at the office in the afternoon, but now I just skip it. This month, my girl was supposed to be taken to the doctor for a follow-up but could not go due to financial problems. I have left all socializing. I didn't even attend a close relative's wedding last week to avoid expenses," he said.
Mousumi Mou, a resident of Mohammadpur, is going through a similar experience. Her one-year-old twin girls have not been breastfed since birth. Earlier, they were fed NAN milk worth Tk800. But since the price of that milk has increased to Tk900 and other costs have increased, Mou is feeding Lactogen 2 worth Tk520 to the children, even though the price of Lactogen has also increased by Tk20 recently.
"Milk for my children now costs about Tk7,000 a month. Not only milk but prices of all kinds of baby food have gone up. I have now been forced to cut down on children's food," she said.
"Egg protein is a first-class protein that can provide the nutrients needed for children's physical and mental growth. But the price of eggs has skyrocketed now. Milk is another essential food for babies. Milk supplies calcium and many other micronutrients to children's bodies," said nutritionist Khursheed Jahan.
"Not getting nutritious food regularly will affect children's health. As a result, stunting will increase, and the physical growth of the child will be hindered and also brain development," she added.
The prices of all types of milk in the markets of Dhaka have risen by Tk20-50 in the last three months. A 350gm lactogen (1, 2, 3) milk packet now costs Tk520, which was Tk500 a month ago. The price of Nestle NIDO One Plus Growing Up Milk Powder (350gm) is now Tk400, up from Tk375. Biomil 1 Milk Power (350gm) is priced at Tk490, up from Tk470 three months ago. NAN 1 milk (400gm) is priced at Tk900, up from Tk860. The price of Cerelac depending on standards ranges between Tk250 and Tk475.
An employee of Live Pharmacy at east Rampura, on condition of anonymity, said, "The price of milk of every brand has increased in the last two to three months. Due to the price hike, consumers are now buying 350gm packets of milk instead of big ones.
Rates of malnutrition in Bangladesh are among the highest in the world. In Bangladesh, more than 54% of preschool-aged children – equivalent to more than 9.5 million children – are stunted, 56% are underweight and more than 17% suffer from wasting away of the body, according to a 2019 report by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).


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Richard Lane of GreenCarDesign.com is blown away by a zero emission car that promises to redefine the EV look
When Renault's all-electric ZOE goes on sale in June it's going to buck several trends. Starting at £13,650 (plus battery rental from £70 a month), it's going to cost considerably less than anything that...
Prominent funder of climate sceptic and anti-regulation lobby groups died from advanced prostate cancer
Oil giant makes first foray into Australia's competitive power market as it continues drive into consumer energy supply, renewables, and clean technologies
Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG) coalition will launch at the G7 summit this weekend, warning inequalities around the world are economically-damaging
All the green business news from around the world this week

domain: news


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“Sephora has always been the goal,” says the Mara Beauty founder Allison McNamarawho launched the brand in 2018. “As I was building the brand, I went to Sephora and imagined that brand would be there.”
Retail partnerships have always been an important part of the brand’s distribution strategy, McNamara said. Currently, his DTC site accounts for 32% of his total sales. Its initial retail strategy focused on small retailers and clean beauty boutiques, launching at Credo Beauty three months after the brand’s launch.
“It was important for us to get that clean retailer and that respect in the clean beauty world from the start,” she said.
The brand’s current bestseller is its oil cleanser, while its face oil is a close second. Both of these products will be on the physical locations, along with the brand’s vitamin C and retinol oils.
Mara Beauty’s oil cleanser saw sales surge after its April 2021 appearance YouTube video on night skincare routine by Hailey Bieber, who was introduced to the brand by McNamara’s wife and Bieber’s hair colorist, Cassondra Kaeding.
“I thought Shopify was in trouble” due to increased sales after Bieber posted the video, McNamara said. The momentum continued into 2022, as Bieber again showcased the product in a video for Allure in April. Sales of the cleansing oil increased 35% year over year. The brand’s universal face oil has also seen a 20% increase this year, gaining its own cult status after being featured on Chrissy Teigen’s Instagram account in 2020.
Previously working as both a celebrity-covering PopSugar reporter and an editor on hairstylist Jen Atkin’s Mane Addicts site, McNamara has recognized the power of celebrities and influencers in what she calls the “new pop culture conversation.” age”. Although she has 45,000 Instagram followers herself, she doesn’t consider herself an influencer.
“It’s really exciting that Sephora is going back to its roots and giving independent brands a chance,” she said. “For so long, the landscape has been one of celebrity and influencer-based brands. Having the opportunity to go this far in their stores with a non-famous, non-influencer founder is really exciting.
Primarily using glass packaging and supporting ocean kelp reforestation efforts as part of the “blue beautybrand qualifies for Sephora’s Clean + Planet-Positive label. In order to achieve the “Planet-Positive” designation, the brand worked with the Climate Vault organization to achieve Scope 1 and 2 carbon neutral status.
To support its Sephora launch, Mara Beauty will participate in a 75,000 pack sampling program with the retailer. For physical stores, McNamara said she plans to road trip to as many places as possible to educate associates and store managers about the products in person.
“It’s going to be important for me to do those active sales support moments,” she said.


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Posted on : November 8, 2016
Views : 1
Category : International Business
James Root, a partner with Bain’s Consumer Products practice, discusses the challenges that brand owners and retailers face in China, as well as the emerging digital platforms that could supplant distributors.
- Consumer goods companies in China suffered a rude awakening in the past few years. Growth in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG)—from beer and cigarettes to diapers and dish soap—plummeted to about 3.5% in 2015 from nearly 12% in 2012, according to the Bain-Kantar China Shopper Report.
- The sharp drop is a result of the country’s slowing economy and shifting consumer behavior. China is now a two-speed market, with some categories continuing to prosper while others, such as instant noodles, are getting whacked with sales declines of more than 5%.
- Lurking below the surface is another huge challenge: China’s antiquated, fragmented distribution system. It’s costly, inefficient and provides only a hazy line of sight to the consumer.


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Private equity fund Think3 plans to spend $1 billion to encourage and empower entrepreneurs to build more SaaS companies. The fund seeks to buy out modestly-growing companies so that founders can focus on starting the next big thing in software.
Based in Austin, TX, Think3 is an offshoot of another enterprise buy-out firm called ESW Capital, which has executed approximately 50 acquisitions over the past decade. Think3 indicates that it will transition founders within 100 days from the close of a sale to take their entire team and launch a new company, geared with half a million dollars in a no-equity angel round. Founders will also have the choice of securing $1 million in equity funding.
"We developed this fund to enable founders to take more shots on goal," said Andy Tryba, the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Think3, in an interview with TechCrunch. "Founders should think of 'time' as their portfolio — making the call earlier if their current company is growing fast enough for exit velocity. Too many founders hang on too long hoping for a growth miracle — killing their career."
While most private equity firms require the founder and team to stay on with a target company, Tryba suggests that Think3 is the only PE fund targeted at enabling entrepreneurs to take their next shot. The fund intends to help high-skilled leaders optimize their time, which he pegs at about 15-years in the startup space, and deems “the most valuable asset they have.” With the new fund, Think3 will give leaders an option that does not involve them letting down their current teams, investors and customers. The fund will also introduce founders and their teams to key venture capitalists as they launch their new company.
“The sweet spot of the companies we target are in the $5-30 million in revenue range though we are happy to look at larger companies also,” the CEO told TechCrunch. “These companies can be making or losing money. We consider both. We typically pay one to two times revenue for the company.”


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|14th May 2015, 16:45||#1|
Senior - BHPian
Join Date: Oct 2014
Thanked: 8,379 Times
Jaguar F-Pace to get a smaller sibling?
Jaguar is gearing up to launch the F-Pace crossover, which will make its debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September this year. However, while the SUV is yet to be revealed, talks of a smaller counterpart have already begun.
A recent report highlighted the possibility of Jaguar developing a premium small car, but the British automaker isnít ignoring the lucrative crossover segment either. According to the report by Autocar UK, Steven De Ploey, Jaguarís brand director, has said the company is looking at adding further crossovers to its line-up. Ploey stated that a family of SUVs has not been confirmed, but is being considered. He added that the company has the tools to build more SUVs, but highlighted the need for the product to be dynamically capable and for it to meet Jaguarís design standards.
The new SUV is speculated to be a rival for the BMW X1, Audi Q3 and Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class. The model could also warrant the development of a new architecture, since scaling down the F-Paceís platform comes with its limitations.
*Jaguar F-Pace teaser image for representation only
|15th May 2015, 18:10||#2|
Join Date: Feb 2004
Thanked: 103,475 Times
Re: Jaguar F-Pace to get a smaller sibling?
Jaguar desperately needs a wider range of cars and is investing heavily in new models. Nothing new, it's taking a leaf out of Mercedes / BMW / Audi books. See how the 3 Germans have expanded their product range which now includes small cars, small sedans, innumerable SUVs etc. It's hard to believe they had only 3 mainstay products (all differently sized sedans) in the nineties.
Expect to see Jaguar (and Land Rover too) in segments previously untapped.
|Thread Tools||Search this Thread|
|Thread||Thread Starter||Forum||Replies||Last Post|
|Jaguar's SUV, the F-Pace. EDIT: Now unveiled||karan561||The International Automotive Scene||86||11th July 2016 12:53|
|Grace, Space and Pace, The Jaguar XF||akj53||The International Automotive Scene||21||22nd September 2010 18:34|
|Why is the Ferrari F2005 off the pace?||po10cy||Int'l Motorsport||15||1st September 2005 13:28|
|Narain : does he have the pace ?||Hatari||Int'l Motorsport||5||13th March 2005 12:47|
|Know your pace notes||Tom||Indian Motorsport||15||14th June 2004 20:09|


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Fans of sticky, fizzy beverages are still divided on the likability of the absence of carbs in their drinks. Cutting the carbs that go into the making of Coca-Cola should prove a much less contentious topic.
Dongen, a small village 100 km south of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, hosts Coca-Cola's Dutch beverage factory, supplying 85% of its liquids to the country. Over the next two years, the factory is slated for carbon neutrality, in line with the Coca-Cola European Partners' pledge to become CO2-neutral by 2040. Dongen would be the sixth site out of the 47 Coca-Cola operates in Europe to achieve that.
To this end, Dutch power utility Eneco has entered into a partnership with the fizzy drinks maker to supply local renewable energy from the de Wildert solar project, which is currently being constructed just 300 meters away from the factory. The 13 MW plant will be ready to supply power by 2022, the company said. The solar park has been constructed to provide several industrial off-takers directly in the plant's proximity, Eneco added. Additionally, power will also come from the municipality-owned 14 MW de Spinder wind power plant.
“Coca-Cola European Partners aims to be climate neutral and to use local energy sources,” Hans Peters, chief customer officer at Eneco, said. “It's a great ambition to which we at Eneco are delighted to be able to contribute. With the delivery of solar and wind power from the immediate vicinity of Dongen, we are taking important steps together towards a carbon neutral production location. Moreover, a portion of this wind power will remain available for local residents. It's a partnership to be proud of.”
Coca-Cola received renewable power from Eneco before but will need a top-up on the back of swapping its gas-powered equipment for electrical appliances. Vehicles such as forklifts and road sweepers on the factory grounds have been changed for electric-powered models. Factory management is replacing gas-powered heating equipment with full electric heat pumps and swapping the old gas shrink furnace for an electric furnace to shave off those last carbs.
“It is vital that we continue to invest in sustainability, particularly in these times,” Jaap Wassink, vice president and country director of Coca-Cola European Partners Nederland, said. “We are committed to emerging from this crisis stronger, and reducing our environmental impact continues to be one of the most important challenges confronting our company.”
Beverage companies have been frequent customers of renewable energy lately. A number of beer breweries in Europe and around the world have decided to develop solar and sometimes even sizeable storage projects on their factory sites or entered into corporate PPA supply deals.
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Putin orders Defense Ministry and FSB to ensure protection of Russia’s interests in ArcticRussian Politics & Diplomacy March 29, 21:46
Kiev aware of few chances to win in debt lawsuit case — envoyBusiness & Economy March 29, 20:52
Russian top diplomat dismisses claims about human rights violations in Crimea as liesRussian Politics & Diplomacy March 29, 20:23
Moscow suspects Jabhat al-Nusra could be used to topple AssadRussian Politics & Diplomacy March 29, 19:58
Lavrov reiterates there are no facts substantiating Iran’s links to terroristsRussian Politics & Diplomacy March 29, 19:40
Russia to upgrade helicopter protection system based on Syrian experienceMilitary & Defense March 29, 19:00
Lavrov says Ukrainian president wants to bury Minsk agreementsRussian Politics & Diplomacy March 29, 18:57
FIDE executive says Ilyumzhinov himself to blame over media buzz on his resignationSport March 29, 18:46
Russian top diplomat says Moscow ready to develop relations with WashingtonRussian Politics & Diplomacy March 29, 18:37
The Public Chamber, which has set up a hotline for monitoring food prices, also said that it had not registered any “massive complaints about food price increases” in the country.
Most complaints (43%) are about increases in the prices of poultry, especially chicken meat. In particular, chicken meat prices grew by 25% over the month in Ulan-Ude, the capital of the East Siberian Republic of Buryatia, compared with the average increase in the prices of these products by 2.1% across the country as reported by Russia’s State Statistics Service (Rosstat).
The largest number of such complaints came from Moscow, the Primorye Territory in the Russian Far East and the southern Krasnodar Territory.
Complaints about meat and meat product price increases are next on the complaint list with 22% These complaints are mostly coming from residents of the southern Stavropol Territory and the Khabarovsk Territory in the Russian Far East and the city of Norilsk in Russia’s Far North.
Fish (15%) and dairy products (14%) are the last food items on the complaint list.
Public Chamber Social Support and Life Quality Commission Chairman Vladimir Slepak said there were no objective reasons for price hikes in the country at present. He said “it is possible to talk about some unscrupulous entrepreneurs who have initiated pricing decisions apparently expecting that buyers will not be vigilant enough.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in early August to ban for one year the imports of agricultural, raw and food products from the countries that imposed sanctions against Russia over its stance on the developments in neighboring Ukraine.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that the Russian government had imposed a one-year ban on imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United States and Norway.


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Aug 31 , 2020 Nashville, Tenn.
Bridgestone Reminds Drivers About Important Role Tires Play in Road Safety During National Tire Safety Week
- Bridgestone is encouraging drivers to inspect their tires before hitting the road for Labor Day weekend.
- Tire safety is as simple as three words: inflate, rotate and evaluate.
- A consumer safety and education initiative, National Tire Safety Week is led by the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) and runs August 31 to September 6, 2020.
Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) is urging drivers to perform tire safety and maintenance practices as part of National Tire Safety Week (August 31 – September 6). Led by the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA), the National Tire Safety Week “Know Your Roll,” initiative aims to educate consumers about proper tire care and maintenance as they take to the road for the upcoming Labor Day weekend and throughout the remainder of the year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed travel and daily commuting patterns. A recent Harris Poll found a large percentage of Americas plan to use their vehicles for long distance travel through the end of the year. In addition, many Americans see their personal vehicle as the safest mode of travel in the current environment.
“As the only part of a vehicle that directly connects to the road, tires play a critical role in ensuring a safe journey,” said Chris Lasko, Chief Quality Officer, Bridgestone Americas. “Checking tire health is especially important for drivers who may have delayed routine vehicle maintenance in recent months due to COVID-19. We urge all Americans to inspect their tires today and keep their family and others safe on the road.”
Bridgestone reminds drivers that tire safety is as simple as three words: inflate, rotate and evaluate. To make sure tires are ready to hit the road and allow passengers to get to their destination safely, Bridgestone recommends the following easy steps:
- Inflate – Tire pressure should be checked monthly, as well as before long trips or when carrying an extra load, using a tire pressure gauge. Proper inflation information can be found in the vehicle’s owner’s manual or on the tire information placard in the vehicle’s door jamb near the driver’s seat.
- Rotate – Routine tire rotation prevents uneven tire wear. Tires should be rotated and balanced according to the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations or every 5,000 to 7,000 miles. Visit an authorized Bridgestone dealer or company-owned retail location for support with tire rotation needs.
- Evaluate – Drivers should check tread depth to make sure tires have enough traction to grip the road. All it takes to check the tread depth is a penny. Put the penny into a tread groove, with Abraham Lincoln going in headfirst. If Lincoln’s head is fully visible in several grooves, it’s time for new tires.
National Tire Safety Week is an annual initiative aimed at helping consumers learn the essential steps for proper tire care and maintenance. The initiative is led by the USTMA and supported by its member companies, including Bridgestone Americas.
For more information on tire safety visit BridgestoneAmericas.com/TireSafety.
About Bridgestone Americas, Inc.:
Nashville, Tennessee-based Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM) is the U.S. subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest tire and rubber company. BSAM and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market a wide range of Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires to address the needs of a broad range of customers, including consumers, automotive and commercial vehicle original equipment manufacturers, and those in the agricultural, forestry and mining industries. BSAM also is engaged in retreading operations throughout the Western Hemisphere and produces air springs, roofing materials and industrial fibers and textiles. BSAM also operates the world’s largest chain of automotive tire and service centers. Guided by its global corporate social responsibility commitment, Our Way to Serve, the company is dedicated to improving the way people live, work, move and play in all of the communities it calls home.
About the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association:
The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association is the national trade association for tire manufacturers that produce tires in the U.S. Our 13 member companies operate 56 tire-related manufacturing facilities in 17 states and generate over $27 billion in annual sales. We directly support more than a quarter million U.S. jobs – totaling almost $20 billion in wages. USTMA advances a sustainable tire manufacturing industry through thought leadership and a commitment to science‐based public policy advocacy. Our member company tires make mobility possible. USTMA members are committed to continuous improvement of the performance of our products, worker and consumer safety and environmental stewardship.


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While IBM has been cautious to back cryptocurrency projects, the New York-based technology giant has still been doing its best to make a successful foray into the blockchain space. But as some skeptics see it, IBM hasn’t done much to make a meaningful impact on this flowering industry.
IBM & Blockchain — Is It Really The Best Combo?
IBM has long been at the head of technological innovation, continually pushing for the best technology has to offer society for the better part of 100 years. It seems that the firm’s drive for the creation of technological breakthroughs has led it straight to blockchain technologies, which is arguably the fastest growing space in a multi-trillion dollar market. While the blockchain industry remains in its infancy, the technology-focused firm has begun to heavily allocate resources to its growing decentralized technology division.
For some, it seems that the firm’s investment into blockchain has paid off, with IBM recently revealing details about its partnership with the world’s largest shipping company reports Forbes. The American firm will continue to collaborate with Maersk to create the so-called “TradeLens” supply chain solution, which intends to keep track of essential shipping data on a worldwide scale.
TradeLens has already garnered support from 94 organizations, who all actively participate in the testing and development of this novel take on supply chain management. Additionally, a strong collaborative effort has seen the platform capturing over 154 million shipping events over a multi-month period. Marie Wieck, IBM’s general manager and head of blockchain, told Forbes about her excitement for this blockchain-backed project, stating:
“I think with over 90 organizations and over 150 million events captured on the system we really are seeing proof in the pudding in terms of where people are spending their time to get benefits from blockchain.”
While many proponents saw this as nothing less than a bullish sign for a nascent field, it may not be all sunshine and rainbows for IBM Blockchain.
Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of the Digital Currency Group, recently issued a tweet speculating on the firm’s blockchain-focused budget. Citing Quartz’s IBM article, Silbert reasoned that at an average of $100,000 per person for IBM Blockchain’s team of 1,600, that the firm’s budget for blockchain could be $160 million per year. While Barry Silbert didn’t cite any reported financials, clearly taking a napkin math approach of the technology giant’s blockchain budget, it becomes clear that to IBM, blockchain is no joke.
At $100,000 per person, IBM is spending $160,000,000 per year on blockchain projects https://t.co/3L1ux6V0Tm
— Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) August 9, 2018
Despite the fact that Silbert likely posted this figure as food for thought, users still responded to this tweet, discussing their opinions on if this investment is warranted. Let’s be real, does a $160 million annual investment into blockchain really warrant what developments or lack thereof that we have seen? A Twitter user going by Marcos called it “money down the drain.”
As later elaborated on by another Twitter user, IBM’s capital allocation to its blockchain branch might not be well spent, bringing attention to Stripe’s (relatively) measly $3 million seed investment into Stellar, which we now know as one of the most influential networks in the cryptosphere.
Fun fact: their partners in blockchain only needed $3 million in funding to create one of biggest projects in crypto: Stellar $XLM
— José (@josevc) August 10, 2018
In the aforementioned Quartz article, reporters divulged that less than 1% of company executives in a survey revealed that they had introduced blockchain tech into their systems. Although this dismal figure is not the fault of IBM alone, it goes to show how blockchain-based systems may still not be ready for mainstream adoption. As the Harvard Business Review notes, the widespread use of blockchain in traditional systems, such as governments or banks, is likely still years, if not decades away.
Blockchain may be costing IBM a hefty sum, but maybe its all a part of the firm’s long-term plan for continued domination over the tech sector, while also remaining a forefront for innovative technologies to better humanity.
Featured Image From Shutterstock


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By Dawn Krebs
PORT ST. LUCIE - A little more than a year ago, Anthony Olano opened the doors to Town Jewelers II in Port St. Lucie. Inside was only one showcase.
"I built the business little by little," Mr. Olano said.
It also gave him an opportunity to show the community his expertise in restoring jewelry and creating custom pieces.
"Everyone goes to the mall," he said. "I wanted to focus in a different area."
Now the store is filled with both showcases and customers, and Mr. Olano's 27 years of experience is reflected with every piece of jewelry he restores and creates.
"When a jeweler tells someone there's nothing they can do to repair a piece, that's my time," he said. "I focus on the repair more than anything else."
To help him achieve his results, a laser machine sits quietly next to his wooden workbench and all his tools.
"The laser allows me to do so much more," he said. "It gives me the precision I need to restore a piece."
Another part of his quality customer service are the numerous cameras located throughout the store, including his workbench. Mr. Olano videotapes himself repairing jewelry to show the owner of the piece.
"I want to be able to show the customer the repairs I do to their jewelry," he said. "It gives the customer the knowledge of what's involved in restoring a piece of jewelry."
For those who choose a custom engagement ring, he will record the process of creating the ring and give the video as a gift to the couple.
"Every single day I have more and more people come in my store and discover what I do," he said. "It's a success, and I'm proud of that."
Town Jewelers II is located at 3259 S.W. Port St. Lucie Blvd. in Port St. Lucie. It is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, call (772) 236-5575.


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Levi's 501 Day celebrates the anniversary of the original blue jean – which came to be 145 years ago, on May 20, 1873. For this year’s 501 Day, Levi’s celebrated the stories of people who make the 501 their own, showing that we are all collaborators with the brand.
The month of May has been a social celebration of fans and influencers who have collaborated with Levi’s by customizing and personalizing their 501 jeans. Levi’s hosted activations around the world including customization workshops in Europe, musical performances in the US, Brazil, Thailand and India, and influencer collaborations, including special 501 jeans made by Chinese designer Feng Chen Wang.
AKQA supported the strategic foundation on which 501 Day was built, designing the creative campaign and look of 501 Day, which was executed globally through social, digital, retail and experiential channels.
501 Day Creds List – Levi’s
Jen Sey, CMO
Chris Jackman, VP Global Marketing
Adriana Higuera, Senior Marketing Manager
501 Day Creds List – AKQA
EB Davis, Creative Director
Jan Barcikowski, Senior Art Director
Bryan Dempler, Senior Copywriter
Cameron Hughes, Designer
Zoe Drazen, Copywriter
Kaitlyn Peterson, Associate Designer
Olivia Albanese, Client Manager
Marina D’orthez, Project Manager
Nu Goteh, Senior Strategist
Dave Shuff, Director of Motion and Film


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Former Kraft exec sentenced for tomato scam
August 12, 2009
by FoodBusinessNews.net Staff
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Robert L. Watson, a former Kraft senior purchasing manager who admitted to accepting $158,000 from SK Foods, a Lenmore, Calif.-based tomato processor, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release. In addition, he was ordered to pay $1,858,000 in restitution to his former employer, Kraft Foods.
"By accepting bribes in making his purchasing decisions, Robert Watson defrauded both his employer and ultimately the consumer," said U.S. attorney Lawrence G. Brown.
In late January, Mr. Watson admitted helping Randall Lee Rahal, a sales broker and director at SK Foods, to charge their respective companies with inflated prices. For his part, Mr. Watson was charged with making sure Kraft purchased approximately 203 million lbs of processed tomato products from SK Foods at higher prices between 2004 and 2008. He pleaded guilty to two counts of honest services mail fraud.
Mr. Watson is the first defendant to be sentenced as a result of the ongoing federal investigation into fraud and corruption in the tomato products industry. James Wahl Jr. and Robert Turner, former purchasing executives with Frito-Lay, Inc., a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., and B&G Foods Inc., respectively, also have admitted to receiving illicit payments from Mr. Rahal and are awaiting sentencing.
Mr. Rahal pleaded guilty Dec. 16 to racketeering, price fixing, bid rigging and contract conspiracies.


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Call of Duty: Ghost Debut Teaser Released, Exclusive First Look on May 21 at 10AM PDT
Call of Duty: Ghost is real, Activision has just officially confirmed via press release that Call of Duty Ghosts is the next installment in the long running Call of Duty series.
Both Activision and Infinity Ward didn't reveal much about the game, but the publisher/developer duo did release a live action teaser trailer called "Masked Warriors". Watch the teaser below.
About first official reveal of Call of Duty: Ghost, Activision said: "To see an exclusive first look at Call of Duty: Ghosts tune in to Xbox: the Next Generation Revealed on May 21 at 10AM PDT on Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE or SPIKE TV for the debut of the all-new game from Infinity Ward."


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Eschalon: Book III Summary
Basilisk Games has announced that Eschalon: Book III will release for Windows, Macintosh and Linux on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2014.
Eschalon: Book III was recently approved on Steam's Greenlight service and will be available worldwide and DRM-free from most digital distribution portals when it launches.
Developer Basilisk has announced that Eschalon: Book III has been launched on Steam Greenlight, and the third in the roleplaying game series. The game, which aims "to feel like a true pen-and-paper RPG" is due to be released sometime in Summer 2013.


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(CNN)– Starting early next year, about five million vending machines nationwide will be required to display calorie information.
The new FDA regulations apply to more than 10,000 vending machine companies nationwide that operate twenty or more machines. The result will be similar to the calorie count menus in restaurants.
In vending machines, customers will see the calories next to their snack choice.
The FDA hopes this will help consumers go for alternatives that will help them stick to their new year’s resolutions. The FDA estimates if just 0.02% of obese adults ate 100 fewer calories per week, it would save $24 million or more in annual health care costs.


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American technology giant, HP has announced that it will cut up to 16% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan aimed at cutting costs. In its statement, the company said it will be cutting about 7,000 to 9,000 jobs through a combination of retrenchment and voluntary early retirement.
As per the company estimates, the restructuring will result in annual gross run-rate savings of about US$1 Bn by the end of fiscal 2022. HP said that it expects to return at least 75% of free cash flow, with a 10% increase in the planned quarterly dividend amount, and the balance returned to shareholders through share repurchases in the fiscal year 2020.
Enrique Lores, incoming President and CEO of HP stated, “We are taking bold and decisive actions as we embark on our next chapter. We see significant opportunities to create shareholder value and we will accomplish this by advancing our leadership, disrupting industries and aggressively transforming the way we work.”
It was announced in August this year that Enrique Lores would be replacing Dion Weisler as the new President and CEO.
Based on the current environment, HP is hoping to generate free cash flow of at least $3 Bn for the fiscal year 2020. The company also expects to incur total labor and non-labor costs of approximately US$1 Bn in connection with the restructuring and other charges. The restructuring is expected to be completed in the fiscal year 2022.
Currently, HP has about 55,000 employees worldwide, according to the latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The announcement has left Singapore employees worried as there may be as many as 10,000 employees in Singapore or about one-fifth of HP’s global workforce.
A spokesperson from HP’s Singapore office stated that the job cuts were necessary for the company’s future. “To create the necessary capacity to reinvest in our business requires us to make some difficult decisions that impact a significant number of our colleagues,” the spokesperson told the media. However, the person declined to comment if there would be job cuts in HP Singapore.
Enrique Lores, who heads the $20 Bn printer business, is succeeding Dion Weisler as the Chief Executive Officer of HP Inc., effective 1st November, 2019. For the company, printer net revenue has declined 5 percent year-over-year, and analysts predict, macro issues around the economy will put a dent into commercial purchases of PCs and printers heading into 2020. The workforce reductions come as the Palo Alto-based company wraps up a three-year restructuring plan that included the elimination of up to 5,000 jobs. The job cuts are an indication of the tough times the technology giant anticipates in the near future. HP Inc.’s stock is down 10% so far this year, while the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 16%.


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The 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid is the best vehicle in the Subaru lineup to patrol the Yamanashi Prefecture Highway.
Nissan is celebrating 30 years of NISMO engineering with a week of events around the world, focusing on activity at major motorsport events in the U.S.
While we are certain to see better stock numbers once the 2015 Ford Mustang GT reaches the hands of owners who have a chance to get plenty of seat time in the new pony car, these first published nu
This week I am testing a Toyota Corolla LE Eco. From my point of view, this is the most affordable green family car in America right now, and it can do things that no EV can.


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Titan Company is set to recruit over 3,000 employees in the next five years as it pursues its goal of becoming a ₹1,00,000 crore business, the company said in a statement.
The company plans targeted hiring at mid to senior-level, seeking expertise in digital, e-commerce, sales, optometry, design, and engineering, among others.
Furthermore, in line with its focus on innovation and technology, it plans to increase the percentage of employees in engineering roles by 50 per cent in the next two-three years. Additionally, it will actively seek professionals with specialised skills such as data analytics, cyber security, product management, digital marketing, and other new-age skills, among others.
“Our aggressive hiring strategy reflects our dedication to hiring a diverse and talented workforce. This will accelerate our growth and innovation, strengthening our position in the industry. Currently, 60 per cent of our workforce is in metros and 40 per cent in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. We will continue to strengthen our play in the emerging markets and focus on local talent to promote regional employment,” saidPriya Mathilakath Pillai, Head - HR, Corporate and Retail, Titan Company Limited.
Titan is also deepening its foray into the premium and luxury segments by building deep expertise through a build, borrow, and buy strategy.
While the company will continue to expand its portfolio of offerings across Tanishq, Mia, Fastrack, Sonata, Eyeplus, Taneira, Skinn, and Caratlane across the domestic and international markets, there will also be significant focus on augmenting Titan’s luxury segment.
- Also read: Titan to have 200 Mia stores by fiscal end
Moreover, it is all set to aggressively expand its international footprint in North America and the Middle East and increase its international workforce by 10 per cent over the next five years, with a specific focus on the GCC market, where around 150–200 new positions will be created in the next two-three years.
Simultaneously, it will continue to hire campus talent, and it is expected to contribute to 15–18 per cent of the total hiring every year, ensuring a steady influx of innovative young minds.
Titan is also aligning their synergies to up-skill and enable the re-entry of women into the workforce and recently launched the women-focused return-ship program Sequal, which will upskill women and provide re-entry support.


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Clementine to Head Holly Springs Town Center Marketing Effort
Clementine Creative Agency will helm strategic marketing efforts for the new Holly Springs Town Center including branding, website design and development, social media and marketing communications.
The landmark new destination in Holly Springs, GA will be home to the new Holly Springs City Hall as well as an array of community and event spaces including an event lawn and amphitheater, more than 30,000 square feet of restaurants and retail as well as residential offerings for sale and for lease. Main Street appeal will come to life at Holly Springs Town Center with its thoughtfully designed master plan that blends the charm of the city’s rich history with fun, fresh and modern amenities designed to create and celebrate connections and community. Construction on the Holly Springs Town Center site is set to begin in August.
See more of the Holly Springs Town Center vision on the new website, just launched at HollySpringsTownCenter.com or catch up on social media @HollySpringsTownCenter on Instagram or Facebook.


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Monthly Archives: August 2015
Business writer Claire Martin of The New York Times interviewed our CEO Tony Dykes, and met with Don McPherson and Andy Schmeder, the scientists who developed our EnChroma lens technology. They even got a photo of Andy, our Chief of Technology, looking cool in his EnChroma Cx Gammas.
A pair of EnChroma’s glasses worn by Andrew Schmeder, a mathematician and computer scientist who helped develop them.
Credit Jason Henry for The New York Times.
EnChroma User Videos in The New York Times
The NYT article, featured in Sunday’s business section, also included a shout out to the power of our customers’ videos.
” … New EnChroma customers began filming and sharing their experiences online. The company placed inserts in its eyeglass boxes encouraging customers to participate. Prompted by the insert, Bob Balcom, a 60-year-old retired high school science teacher and labor relations specialist in Chatham, N.Y., uploaded his first YouTube video in March. Shot by his wife, it shows Mr. Balcom putting the glasses over his own eyeglasses and staring up at the sky quietly for several seconds. “The blue sky is deeper than I’ve ever seen,” he says. “It reminds me of Colorado. And the pine trees, they’re just so green.” Tears stream down his cheeks … “
Share Your Video With Us
We’d love to see your video on our EnChroma YouTube channel. Please share your experiences!


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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Masks are flying off store shelves once again, as mandates return to help stop the surge of COVID-19 cases.
At this point it's likely you've tried them all, cloth masks, surgical masks, KN95 masks, N95 masks, and a mix of some of those together. Masks with replaceable filters have gained in popularity too. But which one is the best and which one provides you the most protection?
"The best mask you can wear is actually not a surgical or cloth mask alone," says UCSF's Dr. Monica Gandhi.
Meaning that most of those we saw with masks on Wednesday in San Francisco were not wearing the best masks possible at a time when COVID-19 cases are surging due to new variants.
N95 masks are an option, not always the most comfortable, but one of UCSF's Dr. Monica Gandhi's top three picks. Unfortunately when we went to the Home Depot store in Emeryville Wednesday, shelves were empty. Employees telling us they sold the last N95 mask hours ago.
"What we would prefer is that you use at least a surgical or medical grade mask," said one health officer at a multi-county COVID-19 mask meeting earlier this week. But we spoke with Jeremy Howard of Masks4all who says he doesn't recommend the surgical masks unless they are pulled in on the sides. Meaning the elastic is knotted together with the leftover loop going around your ears.
"They have bad fits like we've discussed and I'd say they're pretty much the worst option. I would avoid them and go with these," says Howard referring to a KN95 mask. Make sure you get one of those from a known company though because many KN95's can be knock-offs.
As for Dr. Gandhi's last two top mask picks, she says either a cloth mask with a filter because they are thinner and still provide the double blockage or a double mask.
"A combination of a surgical and a cloth mask," says Dr. Gandhi.
Cloth against your skin and surgical on the outside is what studies found added nearly a third more protection.
"From 65% blockage with one, to up to 94% with two so it was significant," says Gandhi.
VACCINE TRACKER: How California is doing, when you can get a coronavirus vaccine
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RELATED STORIES & VIDEOS:


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Google unveiled Project Glass yesterday, an experimental project building a pair of glasses that work like a computer screen.
The video embedded above illustrates the science fiction premise behind the glasses–as a young man navigates New York City, he uses a pair of futuristic computer glasses to send emails, check Google Maps and navigate the Strand Bookstore in New York City.
What do you think? This GalleyCat editor spends way, way too much time in front of a computer screen, so the idea of wearing a computer all day sounds awful. Author Sean Ferrell was blunt in a funny essay: “I hate Project Glass.” Poet Craig Teicher wrote a poem about these strange Google glasses.
Below, we’ve embedded a photograph of the prototype. Here’s more about the project: “A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.”


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Warning as Royal Mail hits £3m profit
But despite the good news, chairman Allan Leighton said there was a "long way" to go before the organisation achieved sustainable profitability.
The company, which is still clearing a backlog of mail following a series of wildcat strikes by postal workers, said its day-to-day operations made a £55 million profit compared with a £147 million loss a year ago.
The financial figures covered the six months to September, before the unofficial strikes which are believed to have cost Royal Mail millions of pounds.
The Royal Mail made a £542 million loss in the first half of last year but has benefited from a 1p rise in stamp prices in May.
Mr Leighton said the figures had brought "welcome news" but he said the Royal Mail had not yet achieved a turnaround.
"Crucially, Royal Mail has still not implemented key operational changes in most of the letters business.
"We did not earn this profit from efficiency gains through much needed operational changes."
Royal Mail was facing "very heavy" additional costs including pay increases for 165,000 postal workers and an extra £100 million a year to the pension fund.
Mr Leighton said the organisation had to earn almost half a billion pounds to keep the renewal plan on track.
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Leedex PR is being bought out of its listed holding company,
Birkdale, by Birkdale chairman Kevin Morley, who will step down from his
position in the process. Morley is also buying two other Birkdale
subsidiaries: marketing companies TGA Chapmans and M&K Design. Morley’s
plans are subject to a Birkdale general meeting next month.


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It took a little while before Limketkai Cagayan de Oro Cinemas finally opened diverting more..
The cessation of CDO Night Cafe and Bazaar at Divisoria was indeed a shocking news..
I remember on one of my Cebu visits, I mistakenly thought the Kinilaw as Fruit..
Honda Philippines, Inc. continues to provide the motorcycles in the industry particularly for the On/Off-Road..
BOBSON brings Japanese denim craftsmanship and heritage to the fashion-forward Kagayanons as it finally opened..
“Those loud explosions may be due to those grenades, firearms and ammunition,” Macauyag told Bombo..
In the world of food today, it’s not just about the taste anymore. More often..
Gone are the days of spending 3 hours inside a video rental shop looking for..
Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year. What else are you doing on the..
Forever 21 brings its hip and trendy style to SM CDO downtown premier! California-based fashion..
Over 260,000 lines delivering 10 Mbps now available in select areas Globe Telecom is on..


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Who cares about the prom king? Actor Will Smith's famous teen son Jaden trades in the traditional tuxedo for a cool superhero costume complete with a cape. Of course he does.
The world's largest software maker hits a milestone Saturday. Read its co-founder and former CEO's letter to employees asking them to remember the transformative properties of technology.
Celebrations on the starboard bow: "Fast and Furious" director Justin Lin will helm the third movie reboot, uniting old and new "Trek".
Unveiled last week, Sony's 20th anniversary throwback grey PS4 is nearly impossible to find unless you're ready to pay a hefty premium. We got up-close and personal with this slick console.
Sony is celebrating 20 years of PlayStation with a limited edition PS4 in the same throwback gray the original PlayStation debuted in. Good luck getting your hands on one, Sony only made 12,300 of them.
Only 12,300 limited edition PS4s were made. Finding one now is next to impossible.
After the limited-edition PlayStation 4 quickly sold out, nostalgic gamers turn to the online auction site -- and fork over some serious cash -- to get the console.
CNET speaks to World of Warcraft Lead Game Designer, Ion Hazzikostas, about the history of WoW and making a game that is all things to all players.
Commentary: Marking its first anniversary, CNET en Español brings light to the most influential and outstanding Latinos in an industry that could do much better when it comes to diversity.
Geekerati like Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Weird Al, and more celebrate four decades of dice-rolling derring-do by lending their voices to a free Audible audiobook by R.A. Salvatore.


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Back in the ‘70s, the United States suffered a severe oil shortage.Lines at the gas station filled city blocks. Thieves siphoned gasoline not to save
Back in the ‘70s, the United States suffered a severe oil shortage.
Lines at the gas station filled city blocks. Thieves siphoned gasoline not to save money but time. In response, the federal government created a measurement, miles per gallon. Since then, MPG has become a factor in many car purchase decisions. Today, fuel efficiency has improved threefold, and we have hybrid and electric cars.
We are facing another crisis that threatens our way of life — ransomware. Cybercriminals hold hostage individual, public sector and enterprise data with remarkable ease and frequency. Although paying ransoms may solve a short-term problem, it almost guarantees that attacks will continue creating a larger threat to our digital society.
Ransomware commonly infects via a disguised email attachment. Unwitting users click, and at that point antivirus software should detect and block the ransomware. That’s the security hole — email — and that’s the measurement — detection rates.
Ransomware can be defeated if we consider detection rates when purchasing security software. As detection rates rise, ransomware payments will decline, and cybercriminal income will fall. As their income falls, they will have less to invest in more sophisticated attacks. As detection rates continue to rise, their income will fall to the point where alternative and legal vocations will become more attractive.
Sadly, many antivirus (AV) products do not participate in public detection rate testing. These companies complain that the tests are expensive and not realistic. This position hurts the public’s ability to view a comprehensive head-to-head AV detection rate test.
With that in mind, my company partnered with AV Comparatives from Innsbruck, Austria, to create an involuntary test, where no product would be aware when and how the test would be executed. The sample size of the test exceeded 5,000 viruses and with two separate ransomware sets. The test was comprehensive including 28 different AV products.
The highlight of the report is Microsoft Windows Defender’s surprisingly high detection rates. Microsoft has historically had a curious love-hate relationship with the antivirus community. They positioned Windows Defender and Security Essentials as a last-resort AV inferior to any and all other security. In the last three years, the gloves have come off, and Windows Defender is superior to many pay alternatives.
Microsoft is raising the bar on detection rates and that is good for the battle against ransomware and the entire Windows ecosystem. The message is clear. When purchasing AV, select products that have better detection rates than Windows Defender.
Microsoft’s sudden rise in detection rates demonstrates that the world of antivirus is not static. The cybercriminals are rapidly increasing in sophistication, and antivirus products are frankly struggling to adapt. Today’s studs can be tomorrow’s duds. A great antivirus must constantly and continuously evolve in order to stay current and remain great.
Detection rates bring much-needed objectivity into the purchase process of security software. Sadly, the purchase of security software is analogous to how consumers buy beer and toothpaste. A brand is chosen based on largely subjective attributes, and seldom is that choice reevaluated. In the battle against ransomware, one’s security solution should be constantly reevaluated in search of higher detection rates against the latest threats.
Unlike beer and toothpaste, automobiles are replaced every three to four years. This drives a cycle of innovation where cars improve in security features, technology and MPG. A similar cycle can begin with antivirus software and lead us to a world without ransomware. It all begins by considering detection rates when purchasing security software.
This article is published as part of the IDG Contributor Network. Want to Join?


text: European oxo-alcohols spot prices were stable to lower in the week to Tuesday, with sources pointing to still lackluster demand for oxo-alcohols. Demand from the automotive and construction sectors in particular was said to be weak, with one producer saying products such as oxo-alcohols that “end up in these value chains are in lower demand.” However, sources said the 2-ethyl hexanol market saw some support this week from higher US demand. “I got a lot of enquiries from the US, meaning something is happening in the US market, potentially production issues,” a second producer said. “They are seeking quite significant volumes of 2-eh for late February delivery into the US.” However, a third source said that while the arbitrage window to the US is open, “there are still enough volumes [of 2-eh] available in Europe.” S&P Global Csg assessed 2-ethyl hexanol stable on the week at Eur1, 060/mt FD NWE Tuesday, within a Eur1,020-1,120/mt range heard corroborated by several sources. N-butanol and iso-butanol were assessed at Eur960/mt FD NWE and Eur800/mt FD NWE, respectively. Prices for n-butanol hence fell Eur15/mt week on week and were assessed based on a Eur950-990/mt range heard corroborated by several sources and indications of weak demand for solvent applications in the automotive industry. I-butanol was assessed down Eur30/mt week on week, within a range of Eur750-840/mt heard and based on indications of ample availability of product of Russian origin in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp region. Fundamentals on the PA market remained unchanged. Despite some sources saying a large producer on the upstream orthoxylene market had over-committed for contracts, meaning customers had come to the OX spot market for additional volumes, the PA market remained long and prices were unaffected. “[This] could only have an impact if PA producers are getting fewer raw materials,” a fourth source said, adding that he did not think this was the case. “The market is still oversupplied, nothing has changed,” the source said. Csg assessed PA flake stable on the week at Eur940/mt FD NWE, corresponding to a value heard pegged around Eur940/mt in the market.


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Many Americans, including those in Congress, have a myopic view of the Asia-Pacific region.
They only see China, but as the recently concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Honolulu illustrated, we have 21 important trading partners with shores bordering the Pacific Ocean.
To concentrate solely on China ignores the robust trading relationships the U.S. has with Asian nations. APEC, besides the United States, consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
For example, during the most recent APEC summit, the United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Gregory Domingo signed a customs administration and trade facilitation agreement. The Philippines is already an important U.S. trading partner, with two-way goods and services trade last year of $20 billion.
Lest we forget, just recently the U.S. finally ratified a lingering free trade agreement with South Korea that is estimated to support 70,000 new American jobs. And that’s just for starters, as South Korea is our eighth largest trading partner and our most important free trade agreement since NAFTA.
APEC is hammering home the benefits of trade. Trade creates U.S. jobs and strengthens the economies of the U.S. and its trading partners. The Asia-Pacific region is the largest market in the world for U.S. exports and consumes over 70 percent of U.S. agricultural exports. This is something that cannot be ignored.
According to reports from the summit, the leaders agreed to adopt market-driven innovation policies, reduce tariffs and eliminate other barriers to trade in environmental goods and services, and improve regulation to reduce unnecessary burdens on businesses. This is good news for U.S. manufacturers.
The U.S. has maintained an open market for other nations, but many of our trading partners impose tariffs and other regulations that make American products prohibitively expensive.
The question is; why did it take President Barack Obama so long to embrace the benefits of trade?
It was encouraging when he vowed during his 2009 State of the Union Address to double exports within five years. He then did nothing to make it happen. Instead, he let labor unions continue their ill-informed diatribes that exports destroy American jobs.
This is nonsense.
With our 17 current free trade partners, we have a trade surplus; setting aside imports of oil and gas. When American manufacturers have access to foreign markets, in the same way that foreign manufacturers have access to the U.S. market, amazing things happen. We perform exceedingly well. What more proof do we need?
Now that Obama is in full re-election mode, the labor union bosses seem to be ratcheting down the rhetoric of their anti-trade demagoguery, at the behest we assume, of Obama’s advisers. They realize that unless the U.S. can quickly find some jobs, Obama has no chance to get re-elected. They are playing along for now.
What was particularly interesting about the summit was that in his opening remarks, Obama did not mention China. This was seen as a way to mollify smaller Asian nations that fear China’s power and its influence on the U.S.
The U.S. certainly can’t ignore China, since they hold so much U.S. debt. And their currency manipulation, excessive tariffs, and theft of American intellectual property are major concerns.
But China in no way reflects or represents the mutually beneficial trade agreements we have with the rest of the world. We have nothing to fear and everything to gain from trade with Asia. We cannot allow a growing animosity toward China to diminish America’s resolve to seek closer ties with our trading partners in Asia and around the world.
We have a choice. We can stick our heads in the sand and build walls around our economy. Or we can go out in the world and compete. An isolated America is a weaker America.
That’s why it will take a true American commitment to free enterprise and free trade. It needs to be more than a re-election ruse. It needs to be the core of an American policy priority that starts with a vision of a strong and prosperous America competing freely and fairly.
Supporting engagement with our trading partners that strengthens the American manufacturing base is the solution to U.S. job creation. It starts with Asia, but it spreads everywhere.
“Made in America” means something in the world. And it should mean something to every member of Congress and every citizen.
More Posts by Neal Asbury
© 2016 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.


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According to this post on Econsultancy there should be a strong emphasis on meeting the needs of customers online. The results of a survey conducted by nGeneraCIM show that 91% of UK web users mentioned that customer service is crucial when purchasing online.
If customers needed help when searching through the site, 36% preferred email as a contact means, 26% said they would visit the FAQ section, and only 19% said they would call a customer service number. Many UK websites still haven’t provided adequate means of contacting customer service through the internet. They will have to do a better job, as well as utilize live chat to have an effective online customer service strategy in the future.
PC World recently wrote a post about how NetFlix is doing an excellent job responding to its customers and giving them great service. According to Edward Albro, he recently had problems with his streaming services on Netflix. He assumed it was issues on his end, such as his internet connection. But when he opened his email one morning recently, he had received and email discount for 2% on his current NetFlix bill. The company took responsibility for it’s technology error, and let their customers know if the issue. There was no mess when dealing with the company. Do you know any other compnies who have stepped up and taken responsibility when an error was caused by their systems?
We’ve posted how companies like Dell and Southwest Airlines have used Twitter for customer service by listening to what customers were saying about their products. This article on MediaPost highlights how seven customer service reps at Qwest monitor their Twitter page around the clock to provide answers and support in real-time.
Qwest hopes that their Twitter page will help reps resolve issues on high-speed Internet, billing, pricing, technical support, just to name a few. So far, it was worked well for the company.
Businesses should dive into creating pages like the one Qwest has made, it can help reduce the call-time wait at call centers by simply sending a tweet whenever service outages are known.
According to a new article at Business Week, researchers at the Michigan Ross School of Business and Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, customer service has a direct impact on the investors. The study comparing customer service and stock performance showed that as customer satisfaction scores rose over time, stocks outperformed the market.
When a company’s customer satisfaction score has improved over the prior year’s results and is above the national average (currently 75.7), studies show its shares have a good chance of outperforming the broad stock market in the long run.


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8 mln foreign tourists ‘expected to visit Antalya in 2017’
ANTALYAAround 7.5 to 8 million foreign tourists are expected to visit the Mediterranean province of Antalya over this year, following a daunting year for Turkey, a leading tourism player has said.
The number of foreigners visiting Turkey, mainly Istanbul and Antalya, declined to 25.3 million in 2016, a 30 percent drop compared to 2015, after a series of bomb attacks, a diplomatic crisis with Russia, and the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
Professional Hoteliers Association (POYD) President Hakan Duran said the Russian market has started presenting attraction to Turkey again, as early bookings from them were growing in high numbers.
“We expect around 7.5 to 8 million foreign tourists to visit Antalya this year, which will represent a 30 percent increase compared to 2016,” he said, as quoted by state-run Anadolu Agency.
Half of Russia’s holidaymakers have chosen Turkey as their top travel destination in 2017, a recent report released by the Association of Tour Operators in Russia (ATOR) stated, citing estimates from the country’s tour operators and agencies.
“We have expected around 2 to 2.5 million Russian tourists to visit Antalya this year. If an average of 2.5 million Russians visited Antalya this year, we can close 2017 with around 7.5 to 8 million foreign arrivals, even in the scenario of some 1 million losses from the European market,” said Duran.
He added that there was a strong recovery in the U.K. market, as many Brits wanted to visit Antalya, however the same trend could not be seen for many other European markets, including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Duran also noted that around 650,000 to 700,000 Israeli tourists were expected to visit Antalya this year.


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Fish farms kill off wild salmon
Salmon lovers often face a tough decision: Farmed salmon is less expensive and has more omega-3 fatty acids than wild salmon. But farmed salmon has been shown to contain up to ten times the level of contaminants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), flame retardants (PBDEs) and other organic chemicals.
Sadly, the issue might soon be moot.
Parasitic sea lice infestations caused by salmon farms are driving nearby wild salmon populations toward extinction, according to a study in the journal Science.
"If outbreaks continue, then local extinction is certain, and a 99 percent collapse in pink salmon population abundance is expected in four salmon generations," the researchers wrote. "These results suggest that salmon farms can cause parasite outbreaks that erode the capacity of a coastal ecosystem to support wild salmon populations."
Previous research has shown that sea lice from fish farms can infect and kill juvenile wild salmon. This is the first study to look at the population-level effects on the wild salmon stocks.
Sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) are "naturally occurring parasites of wild salmon that latch onto the fishes' skin in the open ocean, according to the press release announcing the study results.
"The lice are transmitted by a tiny free-swimming larval stage. Open-net salmon farms are a haven for these parasites, which feed on the fishes’ skin and muscle tissue. Adult salmon can survive a small number of lice, but juveniles headed from the river to the sea are very small, thin-skinned, and vulnerable."
Read the 2003 National Geographic article "Salmon Farm Escapees Threaten Wild Salmon Stocks."


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07-13-2007 07:22 PM
07-13-2007 08:40 PM
07-14-2007 08:45 AM
Starting in September, one of the CBs, I forget which one, will stop recognizing Authorized Users, so those of us who have been added as an AU on another persons CC for the benefits of their good account history will stop reaping those benefits. The other two CBs will make this change starting early next year.
beach123 wrote:I have to ask CreditHawk - what rules are changing in September - I know I missed that post.Thanks!
myFICO is the consumer division of FICO. Since its introduction 20 years ago, the FICO® Score has become a global standard for measuring credit risk in the banking, mortgage, credit card, auto and retail industries. 90 of the top 100 largest U.S. financial institutions use the FICO Score to make consumer credit decisions.>> About myFICO


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THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) began processing most of its transactions online at the start of this year, as the tax collector moves from the cumbersome manual data capturing and processing system.
In a notice, ZIMRA indicated that starting this year, it would no longer issue manual Tax Clearance Certificates (ITF 263s), as these would strictly be processed online.
“This means that clients can now apply for their tax clearance certificates online and in return receive them online,” ZIMRA said.
“This has been done to increase convenience to you our valued clients and also to reduce compliancy costs.”
ZIMRA has been test-running this new online system that handles a number of tax obligations electronically since June last year.
This system requires all businesses to register on the ZIMRA e-services portal for them to obtain e-services accounts. It would also be a requirement for all businesses that deal with ZIMRA to have active e-mail accounts.
In addition to tax clearance, businesses can now also apply for Business Partner (BP) registration online, carry out online lodgement of income tax returns, Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax returns, as well as Value Added Tax returns.
The new e-services platform is set to cut out a posse of middlemen most of whom connived with some rogue ZIMRA officials to make processing of ordinary tax documents a nightmare resulting in businesses engaging these middlemen at a huge cost.
Over the years, there has been an increase in cases where companies were issued with fake Tax Clearance Certificates.
In November last year, ZIMRA technical services manager, Alick Mutandiro, told the Financial Gazette that the tax collection authority, which is in the process of attaining ISO Certification, was putting in place a raft of measures to bring it closer to the public as well as shed the image of a dreaded organisations in the country.
Follow us on Twitter on @FingazLive and on Facebook – The Financial Gazette


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Yesterday we showed you the new Twitter iPad app, now it seems that there will be something new coming to the Twitter iPhone app in the near future.
Twitter will be adding push notifications to their iPhone app, and they are currently testing out this new feature, and expect to roll it out to the iPhone app shortly.
We’ve been testing push notifications internally. When we launched Twitter for iPad, there was a configuration error that caused us to offer push messages to a small set of users. We’ve stopped sending push messages, but users may see an option to turn on push until we release an updated version of the app. So, push isn’t ready yet but we look forward to rolling this out soon.
There are no details as yet on what messages will be pushed to the iPhone app, lets hope it isn’t all notifications, as users who are following a large number of people good end up getting lots of push notifications.
via Gadget Venue
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Apple iPhone 12 and 12 Pro go on pre-order today, iPad Air tags along
Apple opens up pre-orders for the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 and 12 Pro today. And for the first time the launch is going to go live simultaneously around the world. Apple's store is down in anticipation of the launch.
For the US, the start is at 5:00 am PDT, same for Canada. Moving east to the UK, the launch will be at 1:00 pm BST, a bit further to Germany go time is at 2:00 pm CEST, then moving all the way to Australia the start is set for 11:00 pm AEDT.
The Apple iPhone 12 and 12 Pro will go on pre-order today in more than 30 countries, including Australia, China, Germany, Japan, the UK, the...


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RAM releases Oktoberfest Bier
The arrival of fall heralds the release of The RAM Restaurant and Brewery’s most popular and celebrated seasonal brew, Oktoberfest Bier.
The RAM’s Oktoberfest has won three consecutive medals at the North American Beer Awards and is available on tap at all locations for a limited time.
“We are excited to release Oktoberfest; brewed in late summer and lagered until tapping in mid-September, our brewers have created a smooth, easy-drinking fest bier, a copper-hued Marzen-style lager with toasted malt notes and crisp German hop finish,” said Dave Leonard, director of brewing operations.
The RAM is at 515 12th St. SE in Salem.


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In September, Toyota announced that it will invest $391 million in its truck assembly plant in San Antonio. Hyundai announced that it is investing nearly $300 million in its factory in Montgomery, AL. Brake manufacturer Bendix Spicer began construction on a $65 million expansion of its assembly plant Bowling Green, KY. And, automotive supplier Hirotec Group said it will invest $48 million to build a new assembly plant in Fayetteville, TN.
Keeping an assembly process simple is always a smart approach to manufacturing any product. And one of the simplest ways to implement linear or rotary motion into an assembly process is with a pneumatic actuator.
A&H Meyer, a manufacturer of cable management systems for furniture, approached RNA Automation Ltd. to design a flexible automation system to sort, separate and feed busbars. The company wanted a system that could handle 12 different lengths of flat and crimped busbars with minimal changeover time.
ROYALTON, VT— GW Plastics Inc. has completed a 30,000-square-foot expansion of its manufacturing and technology center here to accommodate the growth in thermoplastic injection molding and medical device contract assembly business.
In its latest report, BCC Research projects the global drug delivery market to grow to nearly $227.3 billion by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.9 percent. This is great news for the French company Nemera, which designs and manufactures world-class drug delivery devices for the pharmaceutical industry.
An assembler wanted to automatically feed and orient synthetic corks at a feed rate of 200 parts per minute. These corks are difficult to feed due to the sticky film that remains on their surface after the manufacturing process.
Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) play a significant role in data collection and alleviate challenges brought by high customer demand and labor shortages. Join us for the AMR Conference to learn how to deploy AMRs, understand how they can change your business, and get an update on upcoming mobile robot safety standards. Read More
Join manufacturing professionals from around the world at AI Manufacturing 2020, August 26-27 in Dallas, Texas, to discover integration strategies, ROI, and best practices. Join manufacturing professionals from around the world as we cut through the hype and provide in-depth analyzes on how AI can contribute to the changing needs across various manufacturing sectors. Read More


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AOL tunes into video ads with Adap.tv buy
US Internet pioneer AOL announced Wednesday that it is buying online video advertising platform Adap.tv in a $405 million deal spotlighting the lucrative potential of the market.
The acquisition is the company's largest since it regained its independence from media giant Time Warner in late 2009.
Adapt.tv is among the fastest growing video ad platforms on the Internet, having doubled its revenue annually in the past three years, according to AOL, which expected the takeover to be completed by early September.
Last year, Silicon Valley-based Adap.tv supported more than 26,000 global ad campaigns run across approximately 9,500 websites.
AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong saw Adapt.tv as well-positioned to capitalize on the shift of viewing habits from traditional television to online venues and of automating ad placements.
"Adap.tv is positioned squarely in front of the huge opportunity these trends are presenting," he said.
"AOL is a leader in online video and the combination of AOL and Adap.tv will create the leading video platform in the industry."
In the US alone, spending on online video advertising reached $2.9 billion last year and was expected to climb to $4.1 billion this year, according to industry tracking firm eMarketer.
A study published Wednesday by global investment bank Jefferies indicated online video ad spending could crest at $10 billion annually by the year 2016.
AOL is certainly not alone in wanting to cash in on trends in online video viewing and advertising.
Internet giant Google has been steadily improving its offerings and revenue tools at globally popular online video-sharing service YouTube.
Speculation simmering for months hints at Facebook being intent on weaving video ads into the leading online social network.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley said Wednesday that video ads may represent 10 percent of the social network's advertising revenue next year and boost Facebook's overall profit by as much as 15 percent in the next one or two years.
Weaving video ads into Facebook's platform worldwide could generate $3.5 billion for the California-based company by the year 2017 in what would amount to a one percent cut of the global television ad budget, according to Morgan Stanley.
The Facebook audience in the United States includes the highly coveted 18 to 34-year-old bracket likely to attract television advertising dollars, Morgan Stanley said in a note to investors.
Online video ads combine the imagery, sound, and movement of television advertising with the ability to better track when snippets are watched and whether people display interest with actions such as clicking links for more information.
Jefferies noted that the online video advertising market has challenges as well as promise.
There is an array of strong competitors in the market, and people are increasingly accessing the Internet on the move with smartphones or tablets, meaning they may be averse to wasting time and data streaming capacity on video ads.
Internet viewers have also become clever about skipping past online ads, putting pressure on marketers to be more creative about holding people's attention.
Nonetheless, online video advertising is expected to flourish, at least during the next four years or so, with marketing budgets shifting money away from print media.
© 2013 AFP


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TheStreet Quant Ratings provides fair and objective information to help you make educated investing decisions. We rate over 4,300 stocks daily and provide 5-page PDF reports for each stock. These ratings can change daily and today's changes are reflected in the email below. If you are looking to check-up on the stocks you currently own or are looking for new ideas, you can find our full database of password-protected ratings reports in our proprietary ratings screener: http://www.thestreet.com/k/qr/flat/stock-screener.html Upgrades: CCJ, CMC, DF, DLNG, GATX, PCH, PFNX, PRAH, RDY, TMHC, VLO Downgrades: AKRX, BETR, EDGW, HLTH, KNDI, PRMW, SONC, VWR Initiations: RGNX Read on to get TheStreet Quant Ratings' detailed report:
When a company disappoints, its stock gaps lower and struggles to regain momentum after it is sent to the woodshed. Here's how to trade several of these stocks.
SONIC® Drive-In (NASDAQ: SONC) is expanding its line of innovative SONIC Blast® Flavor Funnels with the Holiday Pecan Pie Flavor Funnel.
SONIC® Drive-In (NASDAQ: SONC), the nation's largest chain of drive-in restaurants, wrapped up its eight annual Limeades for Learning® Fall Voting Campaign, giving more than $1 million to fund 2,315 public...
Index funds are great, Jim Cramer says, but he encourages investors to do some smart stock picking.
Shares of the U.S.-based sportswear maker tanked after reporting its slowest sales growth in six years.
Sonic (SONC) posted weaker-than-expected fiscal 2016 fourth quarter and full-year revenue late yesterday, prompting Stephens to cut its rating on the stock.
Strong earnings are warming investor hearts as the days grow colder -- and the urge to merge among companies offers support.
Sonic (SONC) reported lower-than-expected revenue for the fiscal 2016 fourth quarter and full year late Monday.
Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ:SONC), the nation's largest chain of drive-in restaurants, today announced results for its fourth fiscal quarter and year ended August 31, 2016.
A bad quarter may only strengthen the activist's hand.
AT&T agrees to buy Time Warner; Rockwell Collins reaches deal to buy B/E Aerospace; U.S. stock futures rise amid the M&A activity.
For the week of October 24, investors await quarterly results from a slew of major companies, including Apple, along with the first estimate of third quarter GDP.
Domino's crushes it during the third quarter. Same-store sales in the U.S. surge 13%.
Today SONIC® Drive-In (NASDAQ: SONC), the nation's largest chain of drive-in restaurants, announced the hiring of Sam Wong, new senior director of franchise sales and development.
Sonic (SONC) upped its stock buyback program by $40 million.
Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ:SONC), the nation's largest chain of drive-in restaurants, today announced that its Board of Directors has increased its authorization under the share repurchase program by $40 million.
Arby's continues to crush in the United States amid its focus on innovative, high quality new foods explains CEO Paul Brown.
Domino's CEO Patrick Doyle explains how the pizza joint posted some mind-boggling third-quarter sales results.
Domino's reports third-quarter earnings Tuesday. Can it deliver?
The pizza king is an interesting spot as it prepares to deliver 3Q results Tuesday.
SONIC® Drive-In (NASDAQ: SONC), the nation's largest chain of drive-in restaurants, presented nine achievement awards to franchisees and team members at the 2016 SONIC National Convention in Nashville, Tenn.
Taco Bell's sales pick back up after a sluggish second quarter.
Hat tip to Darden for a solid quarter amidst challenging conditions in the restaurant space.
The time to look at Yum as a restaurant company instead of an investment vehicle is fast approaching.
Fall in love with Iced Tea all over again with new Frozen Sweet Teas at SONIC® Drive-In (NASDAQ: SONC), your Ultimate Iced Tea Stop.
Jim Cramer ponders how oil and math don't mix, and the fate of Wells Fargo's Stumpf.


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While less is more when dressing for work, that same logic hasn’t yet reached corporate uplifts
MARK Zuckerberg is guilty of it. So were the tieless bunch of world leaders who assembled at the G8 summit last June. Yet the much-criticised phenomenon of successful people dressing down – eschewing shirts, ties, suits, and proper shoes for whatever falls out of their wardrobe – apparently has some justification. A recent study from Harvard Business School asked luxury shop assistants in Milan what they thought of people walking in wearing gym clothes. The noncomformists, particularly when their behaviour was seen as a form of conspicuous consumption, were perceived as of higher status and greater competence.
But if less is more sartorially, why does job title inflation show little sign of abating? In 2012, the Resolution Foundation released We’re All Managers Now, and confirmed what many already knew. An increasing number of people with “senior sounding job titles” earn middle ranking wages. In retail, for example, the proportion of managers earning less than £400 a week rose from 37 to nearly 60 per cent during the 2000s.
And in big corporates, the situation is surely even worse. For all the fuss about new culture secretary Sajid Javid being Chase Manhattan’s youngest vice-president, Goldman Sachs now reportedly has 12,000 of them. On the JP Morgan operating committee, there are no fewer than five chief executives. And the tech giants win all the prizes for job “fluffing” creativity: David Filo, Yahoo’s co-founder, is also its chief Yahoo; Microsoft has a chief envisioning officer; AOL’s digital prophet is called Shingy.
What has driven this? Some think companies use title “uplifts” as a way of hanging on to staff during difficult times – an alternative to a pay rise. Others, including professor Betsey Stevenson, have argued that it’s a consequence of flattened hierarchies: if the corporate ladder is no longer so steep, yet employees still think they should get a promotion, firms hand out better titles to make staff feel valued.
Wharton’s Peter Cappelli says job title inflation originated in the 1970s, in the sorry era of wage and price controls. Companies couldn’t give employees a pay rise higher than a centrally-determined level, so souped up role descriptions took on some of the heavy lifting. Firms even use titles as a form of signalling. When you have a chief diversity officer and a chief learning officer, we know you really care.
Like those corporate empire-builders in hoodies, however, some have rowed back against the vicious circle of competitive up-bidding. Google has even been criticised for the crime of job title deflation. You can see why it might want to pop this particular bubble. It’s a problem when no one knows what you do, no one knows which jobs they can apply for, language is brutalised for the sake of keeping staff happy, and titles effectively become meaningless. Yet perhaps it’s wishful thinking to expect our “directors of first impressions” to suddenly become receptionists again.
But in the cause of revealing some of the greatest sinners, and courtesy of the Plain English Campaign, here is a small selection of the worst – possibly apocryphal – culprits, along with their definitions:
■ Space consultant: estate agent.
■ Ambient replenishment controllers: shelf stackers.
■ Foot health gain facilitator: chiropodist.
■ Knowledge navigator: teacher.
■ Head of verbal communications: secretary.
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“For far too long Visa and MasterCard, along with the largest Wall Street banks, have used interchange fees to discreetly fleece retailers, restaurants, and every business — to the tune of $160 billion dollars last year alone. The lack of competition in the credit card market means even though the cost of accepting and processing electronic payments has gone down, banks and card networks continue to raise fees unchecked, meaning higher costs for businesses and higher prices for consumers.
“The Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 ensures merchants will have more choices and can shop for service providers with more competitive prices when accepting credit card payments. Injecting competition into the payments market will benefit American consumers and businesses of all sizes.
“In 2022, U.S. retailers paid an astounding $160 billion to accept electronic payments, a whopping increase from 2015 when merchants paid $83 billion; and more than double what the merchant community paid in 2011, $64 billion. This trajectory is simply unsustainable and reflects a broken market.
“RILA believes competition is the hallmark of America’s retail industry. It drives innovation and brings consumers lower prices and new products and services. We applaud the bipartisan efforts by Senators Durbin (D-IL), Marshall (R-KS), Welch (D-VT) and Vance (R-OH), and Representatives Gooden (R-TX), Lofgren (D-CA), Tiffany (R-WI) and Van Drew (R-NJ) for their leadership in working to bring competition into the payments market."
RILA is the US trade association for leading retailers. We convene decision-makers, advocate for the industry, and promote operational excellence and innovation. Our aim is to elevate a dynamic industry by transforming the environment in which retailers operate.
RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs, and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers domestically and abroad.
Supporting Free Markets and Fostering Innovation


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US poultry processors now have another year to comply with new chicken labelling rules, after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) agreed to extend yesterday’s [Wednesday] deadline.
Cattle and hog industries had campaigned for years for a reform in the laws governing chicken meat production. In particular, they argued that the ability to sell poultry meat with up to 8% added water weight was unfair when pig and cattle meat is not allowed to contain any extra water.
In 1997, a federal judge agreed with the campaigners and ruled that the USDA must review the standards. Processors were supposed to have complied with the resulting new rules, which included the disclosure of the water content of raw chicken sold in supermarkets, by yesterday. The new rules also say that processors must reveal whether any added water is due to anti-bacterial treatment.
Once enforced, the labelling requirements are expected to add a penny per pound to chicken’s retail price.
Poultry processors had asked the USDA for a two year delay in the deadline.


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Written by Staff Writer
06 Jul, 2019 | 8:48 pm
COLOMBO (News 1st): The Consumer Protection Unit of the Sri Lanka Customs seized 65 freight containers containing used mattresses imported from the UK. Customs Media Spokesperson Sunil Jayaratne stressed that there is serious concern over the material as it could be classified as waste adding that certain elements in the mattresses could pose a threat to the environment. He said several freight containers will be selected at random on Monday for inspection.
A private company in Sri Lanka had imported the mattresses from the UK. It is reported, that over 100 freight containers with similar mattresses were imported on an earlier occasion as well.
The global trash trade has reached a turning point; wealthier nations have long shipped their waste to the developing world to be processed, but in recent months, some nations in South East Asia have begun sending the exports, much of it contaminated plastic and trash that is un-recyclable back to where it came from.
The pushback comes as containers of trash continue to accumulate on the shores of countries like China, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, which are increasingly worried that the environmental costs are greater than the income they bring in from importing the waste. However, in many cases, industrialized countries would rather ship the waste to developing nations instead of dealing with the cost and difficulties of proper waste disposal. The garbage is exported from around a dozen developed countries including the U.S., Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the U.K.
According to the BBC, the European Union is the world’s biggest exporter of waste, while the U.S. is the largest single-country source. Despite the various efforts made to curb the dumping of waste in countries unfortunately unequipped to handle them, the illegal practice continues.’
Ghana, Africa is one of the countries where e-waste from all over the world “go to die”.
Every day, the port city of Lagos in Nigeria receive an estimated 15 shipping containers filled with discarded electronics.
Bangladesh has a running history of being a dumping ground for everything from plastic waste and asbestos to defective steel, waste oil, lead waste and used batteries from different countries.
Experts continuously warned of the attempts to dispose of the waste of foreign nations in Sri Lanka through the Singapore – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. Sri Lanka is yet to make a strong stand against the dumping of foreign waste as in China, Malaysia, Thailand and Phillippines.
Massive garbage mounds are seen in areas like Kandy, Matara and Karadiyana, where excessive amounts of garbage are being disposed of without a proper disposal system. The clinical waste that washed up on the shores from Uduppu to Norochcholai in the Puttalam District was also a similar instance.
05 Oct, 2021 | 08:42 AM
27 Sep, 2021 | 07:08 PM
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Android 12 is set to come with new features and changes and following with that the new information claiming the upcoming operating system will allow sharing Wi-Fi passwords. In detail, a new submission from Google engineer Abel Tesfaye to AOSP aims to adjust the “Share Wi-Fi” page to provide a nearby sharing button.
We already know that the smartphone or devices running on Android 10 allow users to easily share Wi-Fi passwords in the form of QR codes through the Wi-Fi Easy Connect protocol. For the change company working on a more secure method for sharing Wi-Fi passwords.
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To do so this function needs to be clicked and the ‘Nearby Share’ will be activated so that the user can share the QR code with nearby peoples. Since Nearby Share can work at close range, it does not require physical contact or scanning any QR code, which means that users can share Wi-Fi passwords in different rooms.
Scanning the QR code is still a bit difficult that’s why Google is working on a new solution that allows users to use the company’s “Nearby Share” feature to share the generated QR code with others more easily. As per the previous reports, Google may launch the first Android 12 developer preview version in the coming month.
If you like our news and you want to see such news even further, then follow RealMi Central on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook (Page) (Group) & Instagram.


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Meat-Growing Cocoon Concept Wins Electrolux Design Lab 2009 Competition
The meat- and fish-growing "Cocoon" designed by Rickard Hederstierna of the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden won this year's Electrolux Design Lab 2009 competition that challenged industrial design students around the world to create home appliances following the theme “Designs for the next 90 years." The cocoon is a concept design intended for every day use that "prepares genetically engineered and prepackaged meat and fish dishes by heating muscle cells identified by radio frequency identification (RFID) signals."
Hederstierna said in an interview that he had sustainability and a minimal environment impact in mind when designing it. By using science to create food, it would reduce the need for intensive farming and fishing: "The negative effects of this process, including the mass transportation of food around the world, clearing of land and distortion of ecosystems, are then negated." Here's a short video:


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A SHORTAGE of exhibition space for artists in South Wales has prompted the launch of a new business venture.
Mother and daughter team Aaltje and Hannah Smith have set up T Celf in Cambrian Road in the heart of Newport city centre. The business has a dual purpose – to create a venue for up-and-coming local artists, and at the same time to sell crafts and other locally-made products.
“We wanted to provide a showcase for artists in a prominent part of the city and help them develop their careers,” said Aaltje. “There is a shortage of venues in South Wales and we wanted to try and address this problem.”
Artists who are not already famous can take many years to get their work shown.
“The waiting list for gallery space in Newport can be many years, and in Cardiff it can take as long as 10 years, or even longer” added Aaltje.
Both Aaltje and Hannah are artists in their own right. Aaltje specialises in colourful canvasses, many with a Spanish theme, and her daughter produces home-crafted jewellery, cards and other works which go on sale in the store.
T Celf emphasises authentic products made in Wales and reflecting Welsh culture. Support for the business has come from the Kickstart programme, funded by Tata subsidiary UK Steel Enterprise and administered by the Centre for Business.
T Celf received a £2,500 loan and a grant for £500 to help get established.
Andrea Rogerson-Hewett of UK Steel Enterprise said: “We are delighted to help this new business, which is providing an important platform for local artists to demonstrate their work, and bring it to a wide audience of visitors and local people alike, here in the city centre.”
Business advice continues to be provided by Centre for Business. “Many people dream of having a shop of their own, but do not always realise what they can be taking on,” said business adviser Catrin Williams. “This is why it is important to get advice at every stage of launching a new business.
“We have been able to provide ongoing support for Aaltje and Hannah to help them through the start-up process and now to develop the business.”
A busy schedule of exhibitions is now planned over the summer and autumn at T Celf. These will include local artists such as Alan Rosser, Sheila Harris and Beryl Morgan.
In October an open exhibition will be held of paintings and craft, which anyone can enter, and the winners will be decided by a public vote.
T Celf also organises monthly art and craft fairs above Newport Market, details of which are on the web site www.Ty-Celf.com.