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Putting on a simple home garage sale is a challenge but putting on a rummage sale for a whole Marin town? Daunting might be a better description.
Yet, that’s the task ahead for 23 civic-minded seventh- and eighth-grade students in the community service class of Ross School.
Supported by a number of Ross community members, they will sponsor a charity benefit, the Ross rummage sale Oct. 11 and 12 in the Ross School Gym. A preview night is Oct. 10.
The event, in its second year, is a joint effort among Ross School, the Town of Ross and St. John’s Episcopal Church, which originally ran the rummage sale by itself for several decades.
“We needed fresh ideas and energy so Liz Welsh, who was president of the PTA, thought it would be a good idea to join forces with the community service class,” Edwards says.
“The students are the ‘executive committee’ and learn how to plan and execute the event, including marketing, set up and staffing,” says Susan Edwards, a parishioner of St. John’s who is assisting the class.
After a recent field trip to a local Goodwill store, she adds, students learned about pricing items and managing crowd flow, too.
“They’ve also learned how to vet a charity, how to involve the community, ask for donations, figure out how much money it takes to put on an event and reduce the expenses, and how to create shifts and cashier,” she says. “It’s a lot of work.”
The two-month long class, led by teachers Susie Becker and Liz Welsh, and assisted by Edwards, Anne Doyle and Katie Hoertkorn, is so popular, some of the students have taken it twice.
“Last year we raised $18,000,” Edwards reports, adding that proceeds are split among three Marin charities handpicked by each group.
The students have selected as their beneficiaries Home Away from Homelessness; the Town of Ross chose Family and Children’s Law Center of Marin and St. John’s tapped Canal Alliance.
“Each charity will send a representative to the class to discuss what they do,” she says. “They will also attend the Ross School Board meeting in November when the students will present their checks to each charity.”
Two weeks ago, the students began accepting items and have already scored a shoji screen, a set of four leather high-back dining chairs, several headboards and kitchen tables and chairs, a white leather sofa, baby items and jogging strollers, garden containers, books, vases and a pair of never-worn Prada suede boots.
“We’re just getting started but lots of furniture has been promised.We really do get a lot of good things,” Edwards says.
“We have a ‘Ross Runway’ that is like a little clothing boutique. Last year, there were some designer dresses, including Trina Turk and Vera Wang, and some clothes with tags on them still. They all went pretty quickly.”
If you want to donate items (excluding car seats, baby cribs and electronics) you may drop them off at Ross School between 9 and 10 a.m. or 3:30 and 4:30 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until Oct. 8. There is free local pickup available by arrangement. The professional moving team is also available to deliver any furniture purchases after the sale for a nominal amount.
PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design and entertaining topics every Saturday and also on her blog at DesignSwirl.co. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at firstname.lastname@example.org.
IF YOU GO
What: Ross rummage sale
When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 11, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Oct. 12. Oct. 10: Preview night 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 10
Where: Ross School Gym, Kent Avenue in Ross
Admission: Free; preview night is $20 for adults, $5 for 17 years and under
Information: www.rossrummagesale.com or email@example.com


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Policy disincentivises private hospitals from engaging with companies
In a letter sent to Modi, the group cited a Reuters special report published last month that revealed Amazon has for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its Indian platform, using them to circumvent the country's strict foreign investment regulations.
To put things in perspective, brands including Bisleri, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Co sell bottled water at Rs 20 a litre across all markets in the country.
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Metro has been operating its nationwide chain of 31 cash-and-carry stores since 2003 but intense competition and large investments to sustain operations forced the Dusseldorf-headquartered multinational to first undergo a detailed business review and then choose to give the sell mandate.
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Dr. Rajendra Prasad Sharma Professor and Head, MDPs, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
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- 9h SC stays NGT order imposing penalty of over Rs 15 crore on Coca-Cola's bottling unit
- 10h Dealshare appoints Venkatesh Tarakkad as new CFO

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Are there signs of recovery? Well, if the MT basket of transport shares is anything to go by there has been a little bit of growth in the past month. But this doesn’t tell the full story for all of our big eight transport firms listed on the London Stock Exchange. While our politicians have been arguing over the UK’s Triple A status (or rather lack of Triple A status) the combined share price of transport firms has had a […]
The fate of the UK Mail brand has been sealed, with owner Deutsche Post DHL set to bring the delivery company under a new name after buying the business in 2016.
UK Mail Group has been given the green light to develop its new hub in Coventry, following its agreement with the DfT earlier this month.


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Hey, I got this reason why drinking soda is bad for you—where, amidst this huge pile of other reasons why soda terrible for you, shall I put it? Next to the diabetes or on top of the gum disease?
In the latest horrifying discovery, researchers have found that the caramel color used in sodas is potentially carcinogenic. That’s right. The most superficial aspect of soda (aside from celebrity endorsements) can also kill you, according to research led by the John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
When certain kinds of caramel color are manufactured, they produce a substance called 4-methylimidazole (or 4-MEI), which is potentially carcinogenic. Complicating things, the amount of 4-MEI in drinks really varies—two cans of the same soda may show different levels. For example, samples from soda sold in California showed lower levels of 4MEI than samples from other states. And the FDA has no limit on the amount of 4-MEI in food…
Ver la entrada original 95 palabras más


text: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott yesterday filed a lawsuit against Dallas-based collection agency Anderson, Crenshaw & Associates LLC for allegedly harassing consumers and sending deceptive collections letters. The collection agency unlawfully mailed letters to debtors during s 30-day period the debtors were given to validate their debts, Abbott claims in a complaint filed in Cameron County District Court. To compel consumers to pay their debts, the collection agency also told consumers it was going to file lawsuits against them when none actually were planned, Abbott alleges in his lawsuit. The attorney general also claims the agency, which also identifies itself as Debt Liquidation Group, harassed, abused or threatened consumers when collecting by using profane language and by threatening to take action prohibited by law, such as garnishing wages and placing liens on homes. Anderson, Crenshaw & Associates officials did not return calls seeking comment. Attorney General Abbott is seeking civil penalties of up to $20,000 for each violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The Office of the Attorney General says it has received more than 75 complaints alleging misconduct by the collection agency.


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Berry Global Group Inc., known as a company that has expanded through acquisitions since its very beginning, is now turning more inward with plans to emphasis organic growth.
The Evansville, Ind.-based plastics packaging and product maker has grown to a $14.5 billion company, and much of that growth has been in recent years thanks to a handful of major transactions.
While money was once spent on a series of megadeals for companies like RPC Group plc, AEP Industries Inc. and Avintiv Inc., the company is now emphasizing a desire to return cash to shareholders and fund opportunities for existing operations to grow on their own.
Berry has made about four dozen acquisitions since its 1967 founding, and the company still will consider so-called bolt-on acquisitions that would strengthen segments of existing operations.
"Berry is in a unique spot right now. There's no large-scale acquisitions that we have to do to create scale. The real focus is on how we ultimately utilize bolt-on acquisitions as a means to accentuate organic growth," CEO Tom Salmon said in a recent conference call to discuss first-quarter fiscal year 2023 earnings.
Salmon, who announced plans to retire at the end of 2023, has continually said he believes shares of Berry are trading lower than their true value. So the company is funneling boatloads of cash to repurchase shares at a perceived discounted price.
While dividends directly pay cash to shareholders — Berry's quarterly dividend right now is 25 cents per share — stock repurchase programs are designed to boost stock value by lowering the total number of outstanding shares in the market. Fewer shares to represent the total value of the firm theoretically increases the value of each share.
The practice, which is extremely popular right now, is not without controversy. Critics of stock repurchases claim the practice concentrates wealth with shareholders at the expense of other company constituents such as customers and employees.
Berry spent $178 million during the fiscal first quarter to repurchase nearly 3 million shares representing 2.4 percent of the total shares outstanding. The company also revealed expectations to spend at least $600 million during the current fiscal year on stock buybacks.
Berry also is telling the stock market that the company wants to limit the amount of debt being carried to a range of between 2.5 and 3.5 times adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). That's a debt ratio lower than the company has carried in recent years, especially after making deals that, at times, temporarily pushed debt levels higher.
"It's a balanced approach. We really believe we can operate the company at a lower leverage range. We can continue our balanced capital allocation between buybacks and dividends. And we continue to invest in organic growth to reaffirm our commitment as growth as a priority for us," Salmon said.


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Following on from Flurry's research, which saw 6.8 million new iOS and Android devices activated on Christmas Day, rival app analytics outfit Localytics has also attempted to calculate what happened.
Providing analytics to apps on over 200 million devices, it saw 12 times more Android devices activated over the Christmas weekend compared to the previous December weekend.
For iOS devices, the bump was 12.5 times, of which iPhones were up 14 times and iPods up 21 times.
Breaking out the numbers in terms of national markets, Localytics reckons that Android was strongest in South Korea, Sweden, Spain and Japan. IOS was strongest in US, Germany, the UK, Italy and Malaysia.
Localytics sees iOS and Android activations up 12-fold over Christmas weekend
Android big in Korea, iOS big in US
Early Bird tickets for Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2023 end soon! Don't miss out on your chance to attend the leading b2b global games industry conference, May 16-17. BOOK NOW!


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Posted by Mayuresh Saoji, Product Manager, Google News There’s something special about reading news on your tablet. Indeed, swiping through articles brings to mind the familiar feeling of flipping through a favorite magazine or newspaper. Starting today, Google News feels even more natural and fluid on tablet devices. For example:
You can find new articles, news sources, and even topics of interest with intuitive gestures. Swipe horizontally between sections – from Business to Entertainment, for example – or tap “Explore in depth” to see multiple articles and other info related to a particular story.
We’ve also added more breathing room between articles, making it easier to spot the stories you really care about.
We think these improvements will help Google News send even more visits to news sites (six billion per month and counting).
We’ll be rolling out this new experience in the US over the next few days. To give it a try, just visit news.google.comwith your Nexus 7, Nexus 10, or iPad.
Last year we updated Google News to make it easier for you to scan for stories that are interesting to you and let you dig deeper when you find them. Today we’re announcing an update that brings some of those same ideas to news search.
Over the next few days we’ll be rolling out the following features:
Click-to-expand news results clusters: Each news results cluster is collapsed down to one result with the exception of the first cluster. Click on the “Show more” link to see articles from more sources. This improvement makes it much easier to scan through the search results to find just the collection of news coverage you’re looking for.
Multimedia: Within some of the expanded results clusters you’ll see a bar of videos and photos that relate to each cluster’s content. Click on any of these for more coverage of the story.
Layout updates: The cluster image now appears on the left and the source information has been moved to below the article links for better readability.
You can try this out by doing a search on Google News or by clicking on the “News” filter on the web search results page. We hope you like these changes and that they improve your experience searching the news.
Posted by Krishna Bharat, Distinguished Scientist and Founder, Google News
Google News launched on September 22, 2002—exactly a decade ago.
Inspired by the widespread interest in news after the September 11 attacks, we invested in technology to help people search and browse news relevant to them. Google News broke new ground in news aggregation by gathering links in real time, grouping articles by story and ranking stories based on the editorial opinions of publishers worldwide. Linking to a diverse set of sources for any given story enabled readers to easily access different perspectives and genres of content. By featuring opposing viewpoints in the same display block, people were encouraged to hear arguments on both sides of an issue and gain a more balanced perspective.
In the last ten years, Google News has grown to 72 editions in 30 languages, and now draws from more than 50,000 news sources. The technology also powers Google’s news search. Together, they connect 1 billion unique users a week to news content.
Take a look back at the past decade in Google News through the top stories from each year and a few notable features that have launched in the interim:
It’s undeniable that the online news landscape has changed immensely. Smartphones and social networks have transformed how news is accessed and sourced, and shifted the relationship between readers and authors. Open journalism is the norm, and aggregation by humans and machines is an integral part of the ecosystem. New technologies such as Hangouts on Air have the potential to connect users, journalists and opinion makers and transform how stories are discussed.
Opportunities abound, and we are excited for where we can take this product in the next decade. While change is inevitable, one thing remains the same: our mission is to bring you the news you want, when you need it, from a diverse set of sources.
Posted by Rudy Galfi, Product Manager, Google News
The day after the historic 1929 stock market crash, Variety bannered their front page with these words: “WALL ST. LAYS AN EGG.” It’s a great headline: pithy, catchy, and expressive of the substance of the story as well as the scale of its consequences. It’s also worth noting that Variety’s editors had a full day to write the headline—millions of readers weren’t trying to search for the story within seconds of hearing about it.
The Web has transformed both how news organizations report information and the way users find it. Imagine if “WALL ST. LAYS AN EGG” were used as a headline today by an online news site. Since the headline is a sequence of text that’s only readily understandable by a human, most machine algorithms would probably attach some sort of biological association to it. In turn, this would make it difficult for millions of curious users who are using Google.com or Google News to find the best article about the stock market crash they just heard about.
To help solve this problem, today we’re excited to announce a news_keywords metatag. The goal is simple: empower news writers to express their stories freely while helping Google News to properly understand and classify that content so that it’s discoverable by our wide audience of users.
Similar in spirit to the plain keywords metatag, the news_keywords metatag lets publishers specify a collection of terms that apply to a news article. These words don’t need to appear anywhere within the headline or body text. Taking the Variety example above, news keywords such as “stocks”, “stock market”, or “crash” would be helpful in allowing Google News to better understand the article content for ranking without forcing the editors to water down the creativity of a great headline. Because the metatag appears only as part of the HTML code of a page, visitors to a site won’t ever see the magic under the hood.
Keep in mind that this metatag will be one signal among many that our algorithms use to determine ranking. The news_keywords metatag is intended as a tool — but high-quality reporting and interesting news content remain the strongest ways to put your newsroom’s work in front of Google News users.
Posted by Scott Zuccarino, Product Manager, Google News
When a story breaks, Google News is designed to give you the most relevant articles from a variety of sources — from national news outlets, to local points of view, to expert opinion pieces. To continue to expand your views on the news, we are adding three new features for those using our US edition: larger images on our main page; a new realtime coverage page to surface the latest articles and commentary; and relevant Google+ posts for a new social perspective.
Get coverage in real time Our new realtime coverage page is now available for every news story as soon as they become available to Google News.
See relevant comments on top stories Many news stories inspire vibrant discussions on Google+, and today we’re starting to add this content to both the News homepage, and the realtime coverage pages. This way you can see what your circles, journalists covering the story and notables like politicians or others who are the subjects of stories have to say about breaking news, and even contribute to the discussion directly from Google News.
Note that these Google+ discussions will only appear for those of you reading the US edition who have signed in and upgraded to Google+.
If you’d like to try these new Google+ features in News, it’s easy to upgrade here. That said, if you prefer your Google News to contain just news stories and no Google+ posts, you can either log out of Google or turn off the display of Google+ posts via the Google News settings page.
We’re rolling out all of these features over the next week, so don’t worry if you don’t see them immediately. Today’s updates are the latest examples of how we’re working to provide users with a beautiful, consistent experience across Google. So we hope you enjoy them.
Whether we’re getting the latest election news, making sense of the day’s stock market activity or looking for an update on our favorite celebrities, we rely on publishers to inform and entertain us. Online publishers often fund the creation of this content through ads; sometimes they ask you to pay for content directly, by buying a subscription or purchasing a particular article.
Now, you may see a new option: the ability to access some of this content by responding to microsurveys, without having to pull out your wallet or sign in. When a site has implemented this option, you’ll see a prompt that offers you a choice between answering a market research question or completing another action specified by the publisher (such as signing up for an account or purchasing access). All responses are completely anonymous — they aren’t tied to your identity or later used to target ads. The prompts look like this:
Publishers get paid for hosting surveys. A number of publishers, such as the The Texas Tribune, the Star Tribune and Adweek have already started running these microsurveys on their sites.
So what’s the point of these questions? From international brands to local food trucks, every business owner wants to make important decisions with their customers’ feedback in mind. That’s why we’ve created Google Consumer Surveys, a new business-facing product that makes custom market research easy. It enables companies to ask questions (the ones you’ll later see on your screen) and get back quantitative results quickly, accurately and cost-effectively. Companies have already been using it to research everything from online shopping behavior (Lucky Brand Jeans) to gluten-free baking mixes (King Arthur Flour), and to assess brand awareness (Timbuk2) and inform product development (479 Popcorn). Google shares the money these companies spend with our publisher partners.
The idea behind Google Consumer Surveys is to create a model that benefits everyone. You get to keep enjoying your favorite online content, publishers have an additional option for making money from that content, and businesses have a new way of finding out what their customers want.
If you’re a publisher interested in running microsurveys on your site, let us know.
It is 2012- nothing’s changed from Yahoo & Hotmail’s supposed uber spam filtering services.
It is the same as it was say 5 years ago. We are still receiving tons of junk mails on a daily basis and most of it happen to arrive right in our inbox folders. Google’s Gmail isn’t perfect but it detects almost all of the spams!
Today, we received an email on Yahoo Mail in what looked like a letter from Google Adwords. It even managed to have the ‘from’ address set to email@example.com. We have an account with Adwords so we opened it. We immediately sensed it was a fake.
First of all, legitimate sites never address their users with a general: “Dear users” or “Dear members”- The mail will always address you with your full name or your username. Secondly, legitimate sites never send out a mail without addressing anybody! In this case, the mail just read:
Your account is about to expire.
In order to remain active, please click the link below and verify your account now.
Thank You, Google AdWords
Since scammers are very much alive on the internet, and fake emails arrive in great numbers, there must be a lot of people who still fall for it and become victims of virus, malware attacks or worse identity theft.
What to do? Can’t really do much other than NOT to fall for it!!! Do not go unrecognized websites! If you are curious, do a Google search on a company site before going directly to the questionable site.
Here are some ways to detect a FAKE email and ways to safeguard yourself on the net:
Do you recognize the sender? No? Then MARK it as SPAM or Junk and or delete.
In Doubt? Check the FULL HEADER to see where the mail originated. In this case it says the IP isn’t permitted by Google.com as sender.
Received-SPF: softfail (transitioning domain of google.com does not designate 184.108.40.206 as permitted sender)
Check for typos, misspellings, grammatical errors.
Legitimate websites pay a copy editor, a writer, and or a marketing guru to create their emails. They are experienced, highly educated people and are paid to make sure the emails or any reading materials that go out bearing the company brand is free from errors or dead links!
Hover on the link before clicking it!!
When you hover on a link (place your mouse pointer to the link), the URL of the link will show up at the bottom of your browser. If the email says it came from Paypal. The URL has to show the exact URL of Paypal such as: firstname.lastname@example.org and NOT email@example.com or any variation thereof of the URL.
You know it’s a scam, DO NOT CLICK ON IT THEN!
You get curious and you click on a link- sometimes that is enough to trigger an attack to your computer. By clicking, you just activated any spyware, malware or tracking beacons waiting to be unleashed on your machine! Some are harmless but annoying, monitoring your habits online so they can send you more junk stuff based on what you sites you visit. They snoop basically. Some are harmful that attacks your registry that upon reboot, your computer will no longer behave as it should and will redirect all your browsing to a set of spam websites.
If you get a malware or spyware…
Doing a “system restore” will restore your previous computer settings to where everything was working fine. Rather than just “cleaning,” system restore is most effective in clearing up everything to a state before your computer was messed up.
If you had set your machine to have regular restore points, then you can select to a date where you know things were normal and fine. It will not delete your old program installations, however, it will delete any NEW updates or programs created after your selected restore date- so choose your dates carefully. If you have the disc or copy of the new program, then it shouldn’t be an issue, just reinstall it after the system restore and create a new restore point.
TO FIND SYSTEM RESTORE ON YOUR PC, just go to your start menu and type “System Restore” on your search bar. The computer will find it for you. Click on that and start the process. Read and follow instructions.
If you are unable to boot your machine after an attack then you need a computer tech to repair your system.
Be smart. Do not be gullible. If it’s too good to be true then it is!! There is no such thing as ‘free lunch’. This goes way back, from the time our parents told us ‘never talk to strangers’ or ‘never accept candies from a stranger’– it is the same warning! If you don’t know the sender, don’t click on the links!! Simple as that.


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The CMA CGM Group informs it has taken a strategic stake in the 25-years old Indian logistics company LCL Logistix, via the group’s freight forwarding and logistics solutions subsidiary CMA CGM LOG. CMA CGM LOG said it reinforces its position in India and will leverage LCL Logistix’s Indian network as well as its presence in Canada, in the United States and in East Africa to accelerate its development. Thanks to this strategic stake, CMA CGM LOG expands both its product offering and its geographic coverage, including in emerging countries where logistics solutions demand is high. Created in 2001, CMA CGM LOG is the CMA CGM Group’s subsidiary specialized in freight forwarding and logistics solutions. Its 500 experts offer logistics solutions that are complementary to maritime services in 32 countries, including air freight, multimodal transport, custom clearance, warehousing and distribution. After a sustained growth in 2014 and the opening of offices in six new countries, CMA CGM LOG accelerates its development in 2015. LCL Logistix is a freight forwarding company in India based in Mumbai. LCL revenues amounted to circa $120 million for the fiscal year 2014. Present across India, LCL Logistix also operates three CFS in strategic locations: in Nhava Sheva, where CMA CGM has vessels calling, in Haldia (West Bengal) and in Pipavav (Gujarat)
Maritime services provider Inchcape Shipping Services signs strategic partnership with offshore logistics & freight forwarder Palumbo S.P.A. to form ISS Palumbo. S.r.l. The new partnership combines ISS’s worldwide network with Palumbo’s core capabilities in providing offshore project logistics and freight forwarding solutions and enables ISS Palumbo S.r.l. to offer a unique global combination of agency
WCA Family announced that the whole of the Sinotrans Group of companies has joined CGLN. The Sinotrans Group is one of the oldest established freight forwarding companies in China and operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Commerce; the Group consists of over 24,000 employees operating at over 235 offices throughout the country, with 98 owned-operated vessels, owner-operated terminals, 56 own container yards and over 335 warehouse locations
Philip Brown, who has worked in the logistics and freight forwarding industry for over 20 years, has been appointed UK Managing Director for SBS Worldwide. Steve Walker , Group Chairman said ‘ This completes our senior management appointments that will see our change from an A2B forwarder to a Supply Chain driven model, with Phil’s expertise allied with our consultative brand Virtualized Logistics leading the drive’
Kim Pedersen, 47, has been appointed Executive Vice President of Geodis Wilson, heading up the Freight Forwarding Division. “In Kim Pedersen we have a person at the top of our freight forwarding activities who brings the capabilities, the experience and most importantly the right mindset to lead this important business unit of Geodis further into areas of strong and sustainable growth on a global scale”, says Marie Christine Lombard, CEO of Geodis.
London's Baltic Exchange and clearing house LCH.Clearnet are in talks about a tie-up over the Baltic's freight derivatives platform, the two groups said on Friday. Volumes have remained low on the loss-making Baltex multilateral trading facility since it started in June 2011. It is the first central electronic marketplace for freight forward agreements (FFA). "We are finalising arrangements with LCH.Clearnet, which clears about 70 percent of the dry bulk FFA market
The NY/NJ Foreign Freight Forwarders and Brokers Association announced that Christopher Koch, president and CEO of the World Shipping Council, will be honored as “2006 Person of the Year” at their annual dinner to be held in New York on January 25, 2006. This recognition is given to someone who demonstrates commitment, contribution and achievement in the international trade, transportation and logistics arena. “We are most pleased to have Mr. Koch as our 2006 honoree,” said Stewart B
Fratelli Cosulich is celebrating 150 years in shipping during 2007. The Euro600m turnover global group began as a shipowner in 1857 and today has diversified interests in shipowning, liner, tramp, yacht and cruise agency, ship management, bunkering, freight forwarding and NVOCC, travel agency, trading and IT. The group employs about 350 people in six offices in Italy and 10 offices abroad. There are subsidiary companies
GFI Group Inc. has conducted the first matching* of dry freight forward freight agreements “FFAs” trades on its premier electronic platform EnergyMatch Europe. EnergyMatch Europe is GFI Group’s electronic trading platform for energy and commodities and the market leader for the trading of Dry Freight FFAs. The screen allows for trading in co-mingled markets (co-mingling is the ability to clear trades with different clearing houses) and provides customers with the choice of
Insurance specialist in the global freight industry, TT Club, sees proliferation in technological capabilities & tailored supply chain processes. A long-term supporter of the British International Freight Association (BIFA) Awards, TT Club sponsored the 2012 European Logistics Award. TT Clubs Development Director for UK and Ireland, Brian Sullivan was part of the judging panel that employed a stringent vetting process to find the winner, Delamode International Logistics
As part of its 20th anniversary celebration, Argosy Transportation Group (ATG) is sponsoring various professional events, and contributing toward initiatives in education within the maritime industry. ATG said it appreciates the importance of investing in young professionals
Avalon Freight Services co-founded by Greg and Tim Bombard and Harley Franco, will debut freight service on Friday, April 1, 2016. Currently scheduled to operate a minimum of five days a week, year round, the company will transport freight from Berth 95 in San Pedro and the Pebbly Beach
Maersk line's Annual Award Night recognizes the best performing logistics solutions providers and top customers of Maersk Line for the year 2015 For the fourth time in a row, Al Sharqi Shipping was awarded the Maersk Platinum Award, recognizing the company once again as a top Maersk Line
Jacques Cousteau’s ship Calypso, star of the “Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau”, was loaded on March 14 in Concarneau, France for shipment to Turkey, where the legendary oceanographic vessel will undergo renovations.
Baltex reaches breakeven level since start of 2015; Baltic previously faced broker opposition over platform. London's Baltic Exchange is studying a potential foray into commodities and is open to proposals on tie-ups as other exchanges attempt to boost volumes, its chief executive said.
Cantwell, Booker, Murray, Markey introduce freight investment legislation aiming to eliminate chokepoints at critical highway, rail, port and intermodal facilities to support economic growth, and reduce the impact of freight movement on communities
Gottfried Knöbel owns almost 1,500 miniature model ships, many of them are Hapag-Lloyd ships. How did he end up with this collection? In a quiet residential district in Cologne, hundreds of kilometers from the sea, Gottfried Knöbel opens the door of his house to reveal an
Chicago Express brings vintage Messerschmitt to the U.S. Container shipper Hapag-Lloyd has transported some unusual cargo from Rotterdam to Norfolk. Securely packed in a 40-foot cube container, the vintage fighter airplane, a Messerschmitt Bf 109
Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS), the marine, cargo and supply chain solutions provider, said it is continuing its expansion program in the Black Sea region with the opening of a new office in Ukraine. Situated in Odessa, this new base is part of the company’s drive to expand its presence
Freight forward agreement (FFAs) trade rises. The market for hedging oil tanker freight has revived sharply this year to a value of $4.5 billion after years of torpor, with ship owners looking to profit from a freight rally and more energy companies scramble to cover risk, industry sources say
President Obama is today, expected to sign a five-year, $305 billion transportation reauthorization bill that Congress overwhelmingly passed yesterday which includes $11 billion in new freight funding grants and programs and other top priorities among America’s seaports.
Dry bulk asset values dropped sharply in November and have reached 16-year lows, partly driven by very weak sentiment over the near-term future for vessel earnings, according to the latest Dry Bulk Freight Forecaster from shipping research and consultancy firm Maritime Strategies International
Freight rates on world's busiest route down 20.6 pct; forward contracts indicate continued weak 2016 market. Shipping freight rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe plunged by 20.6 percent this week and there is nothing to indicate that shippers can expect
Global Forwarder GEODIS and Maersk Line deliver their share and partner on a 5-year strategic commitment to reduce their environmental footprint. This agreement integrates both companies’ sustainable commitments to reduce GEODIS’ CO2 emissions per container moved
Amazon.com Inc is aggressively expanding its logistics operations in China as part of a broader effort to control the rising cost of shipping billions of packages. Its plans in China, outlined in filings there, include handling cargo and customs for goods headed to ports in Japan


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Hot cereal in the US represents 12% of the overall market and is fast outpacing growth in cold cereals, according to Mintel data.
Between May 2012 and 2013, hot cereal pulled in sales of $1.2bn, up 4% on the previous year, amid flat ready-to-eat cold cereal sales. The hot sector has grown 7% in the last two years and PepsiCo Quaker continues to hold a majority share of 57%. Mintel data indicates that the brand with the highest percentage sales increase was Quaker Real Medleys, a portable oatmeal package with mix-ins such as nuts and real fruit. The oatmeal is now Quaker's third best-selling variety in the US after regular Quaker and Quaker Reduced Sugar.
Amanda Topper, food analyst at Mintel, said the perceived health benefits of hot cereal and innovations catering to taste and nutrition preferences have driven growth.
“There is great potential for hot cereal in the US because of recent innovation aligning with consumer product preference,” Topper told BakeryandSnacks.com.
“Areas of innovation impacting sales in the segment include the increase in superfood ingredients. Buzzworthy add-ins such as chia seeds and quinoa are becoming more mainstream as consumers seek protein-rich foods and cereal manufacturers compete with other breakfast items with higher protein levels such as yogurt,” she said.
There have also been new product launches with such as whole grain, high fiber and natural, as manufacturers target health-conscious consumers, she added.
Health and nutrition mind-set – a good fit
A majority of consumers want high fiber (82%) and high protein (81%) to be top of the list on cereals, Topper said, and many hot cereals meet these nutritional preferences.
With consumers increasingly turning to better-for-you food options, the hot cereal segment has naturally benefited, she said.
“I think the most attractive characteristics associated with hot cereal are its high fiber and whole grain content, as well as superfood add-ins, such as quinoa and chia seeds.”
Topper said healthy claims on hot cereal products around fiber and whole grain will mount in 2014.
Future R&D potential in portability, customization and organic
The hot cereal segment will continue to grow over the next year, she said, but there remain untapped opportunities that manufacturers should consider investing in.
“Convenient and portable, single-serve packs and bowls will remain important as Americans continue to snack anytime, anywhere. Products that allow for customization will also be key. For example, Kellogg’s Special K Nourish hot cereal includes the option to add in nuts, fruit, or seeds, and Quaker’s Perfect Portions allows users to portion out their desired amount of oatmeal.”
Manufacturers must also recognize the increased importance consumers place on healthy eating, she said. “The major three manufacturers are developing options with more better-for-you ingredients, including Greek yogurt and chia seeds, and boosting health claims by reducing sugar and increasing fiber.”
She said organic also appears to be an untapped opportunity. “Developing organic hot cereals would align with consumers’ already-existing interest in better-for-you products,” she said.


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Bon-Ton Stores will enter liquidation after being acquired by a joint venture composed of bondholders, Great American Group and Tiger Capital Group. A hearing to approve the sale and wind-down is scheduled for April 18, 2018.
The value of the winning bid was estimated at $775.5 million, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Other liquidators placed bids as well.
The retailer’s stores, e-Commerce and mobile platforms under the Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s and Younkers banners will remain open throughout the liquidation process. The closures are expected to be completed in up to 12 weeks, according to CNBC.
Bon-Ton filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 4, 2018 with $572 million in debt due in December 2018. The company had reported Q3 sales of $545.3 million, a 7.6% drop year-over-year, while comparable store sales fell 6.6%.
An investor group including DW Partners, Namdar Realty Group and Washington Prime Group had submitted a letter of intent to acquire Bon-Ton earlier in April, but the bid reportedly fell through after the court ruled Bon-Ton wouldn’t be able to pay the group a $500,000 “work fee,” according to CNBC.
Washington Prime had 15 Bon-Ton leases in its mall portfolio, and was willing to bid on the retailer to maintain control of the real estate, keep some stores open longer and buy time to find replacement tenants, according to industry experts. Jones Lang LaSalle told CNBC that it can take a mall owner anywhere from nine to 24 months to collect rent again after a department store closes.


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(CBS/AP) ISHPEMING, Michigan - A northern Michigan teen put together one sweet prom dress, thanks to the help of classmates who collected thousands of Starburst wrappers for her.
Diane McNease told WLUC-TV that she came up with the idea of making her prom dress out of candy wrappers when she saw a friend folding some.
She estimates it took about 18,000 Starburst wrappers to make the corset of her dress, as well as matching hair bands and a purse.
McNease told the station it took five months to make the dress with the help of friends and family.
"I wanted to give the illusion that the dress was kind of falling apart, so I strung Starbursts all around," said McNease.
The Ishpeming High School student wore the dress to Saturday's prom in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The top half of the dress is made out of folded wrappers and the bottom looks more like a traditional gown. It took about five months to make, with help from family and friends.
In other news:
State mum after woman admits to abusing Illiniois Link card program
Woman killed after vehicle leaves I-70, lands on adjacent road
Bank of America reaches out to 'underwater' homeowners
Check out our SLIDESHOWS


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After two years of research and product developed with the University of Auckland, Protein Enriched Coffee Solution has created what is believed to be New Zealand’s only protein-enriched coffee.
Just like your normal coffee grains with no added taste, with PECS you get 35 percent protein… just like that!
Founder, Chris Buhmann says the premium coffee product took two years to develop due to finding the right protein mix and getting the flavour and texture right.
“It’s a simple idea that gave rise to a few challenges at first. It became a passion project for us to find a protein powder that would actually blend with coffee properly without changing its taste or texture.
“We don’t want people to give up getting that coffee-hit feeling just because there is protein in it. It is an added benefit that doesn’t take anything away from people’s beloved cup of coffee.
“We have developed a premium instant coffee/whey isolate blend that dissolves easily in hot water. The idea is to get your perfect coffee hit, while also getting your protein intake.”
The concept behind mixing protein with coffee was to ensure people could get their protein intake without doing anything differently, day to day.
“The biggest challenge was including a high protein content in the formulation while
ensuring solubility in hot water,” says Auckland University’s Director of Food Science Programme Siew-Young Queck
PECS coffee is good for anyone looking to increase their protein intake while enjoying the perfect cup of coffee, but it’s especially great for vegetarians looking for alternative protein sources, body builders and fitness enthusiasts who are looking for muscle gain and to lean out.
Just add hot water and drink, it’s that simple.
For more information please go to http://www.pecscoffee.com/


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It’s May Day, which this year also means Met Gala day where hundreds of celebrities, politicians, and fashion’s top designers will descend on New York for the famous fundraiser.
The star-studded event is one of the most-anticipated fashion dates of the year, with an exclusive group of celebrity guests invited to attend annually.
This year will celebrate the late Karl Lagerfeld, and as always will include a parade of well-known guests posing on the grand entrance steps of the Met Museum to show off their themed outfits ahead of the lavish affair.
So while those invited are busy getting themselves red-carpet-ready, here’s everything you need to know about the fashionable fundraiser.
What is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala is the biggest event in the fashion calendar.
And while it is well known as an opportunity for famous faces and designers to put on their most lavish and bold displays of fashion as per the theme in place, at its core it is a massive charity event.
All proceeds from the event go to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
Who hosts the event?
Vogue’s legendary editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has spearheaded the gala for almost thirty years, with her first taking place in 1995. Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, Roger Federer, and Dua Lipa have been announced as her 2023 co-chairs ahead of the event this year.
What is the theme?
This year's theme is Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, in tribute to the legendary designer who died in 2019 at the age of 85.
The year’s event is all about the iconic fashion designer's work throughout his career and the dress code is “in honor of Karl.”
Where is it held?
The lavish affair is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
When it is on?
The event is famously held every year on the first Monday of May and this year that falls on May 1.
How to watch?
Coverage of the arrivals will be streamed on Vogue's website from 6pm EST.
It will also be broadcast live across all of Vogue's YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages.
E! will also be hosting a red carpet special, titled E! Live from the Red Carpet: Met Gala.
How much does it cost to attend?
A ticket to the gala this year reportedly costs $50,000 whilst those booking a table at the New York shindig could be set back over $275,000.
However, those who have been invited by Anna or have been specifically invited to wear a designer's work miss out get to avoid the price tag.
How do you get invited?
The Met Gala is known to be an exclusive extravaganza with an ‘invitation-only’ policy, so money is not the only issue in making it to the lavish party. The guest list is carefully presided over by Anna Wintour and her chairs each year, adding intrigue for those watching at home as to who has and hasn’t received the iconic invite each year.
Who will attend this year?
The guest list is notoriously kept a secret until the stars arrive in style, but some of the 2023 attendees have already been revealed.
The star-studded soiree regularly draws A-listers like Blake Lively, Rihanna, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift. Irish stars Nicola Coughlan, Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley, and magazine boss Samantha Barry have also received the nod in recent years. Barry has already revealed she will return again this year, as she has been documenting her prep on social media.
Despite reports of a snub earlier on, Kim Kardashian has also confirmed that she has made the cut and has also been documenting her pre-gala outings and preparations in New York ahead of the big night this week.
Elle Fanning has also confirmed that she will attend, as well as Florence Pugh who will attend as a guest of Valentino.
Paris Hilton has also been announced to attend for the first time.
Meanwhile, Dua Lipa, Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, and Roger Federer are this year’s co-chairs and will likely be some of the first up on the red carpet on Monday.
La La Anthony, Chloe Fineman, Derek Blasberg, and Emma Chamberlain will also be in attendance, as they have been confirmed to be co-hosting the live stream from the red carpet.
Get more news and features
Met Gala: Look back at some of the best dressed Irish guests over the years
- Irish festival guide: Top ten music and art weekends taking place this summer
- Frank Ocean pulls out of Coachella weekend two due to 'injury' from festival
- Irish rocker Danny O’Reilly on ‘pinch-me moment’ playing for Joe Biden at last-minute show
- Irish singer Cian Ducrot leaves US Today Show host in tears with surprise performance live on air
For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here


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The Christmas Controversy is a media and social talking point every year during the festive season. As a culture which often has an unquestioned excitement about Christmas, the Christmas Controversy provides a counterbalance to the status quo.
One part of the Christmas controversy is its decreasing connection to Christianity and being seen as an increasingly secular holiday. Its widespread disassociation with Christianity comes partly from the development of a more multicultural society. Many Western countries are now full of thousands of religions and cultures. Although Christianity is still seen as the biggest religion of the UK, its declining numbers and rise in other religions has led governments to portray Christmas as a secular holiday in which all can participate in gift-giving and relaxing days off work and school.
However, some would argue that this diminishes the true meaning of Christmas as celebrating the birth of Christ. Having said that, in 2013, church attendance figures throughout the year averaged at roughly 1 million, but that same year, church attendance on Christmas Day was 2.4 million, according to the Church of England. This is a clear sign that a significant amount of people respect what Christmas was originally all about.
This leads to one of the other main debates regarding the Christmas Controversy; its materialistic nature. Perhaps the increasing disassociation from religion and holiness creates the opportunity for businesses and marketers to seize this festival as a hotbed for consumerist activity, since the whole nation can be the target market.
That’s not to undermine the fact that Christmas is great time for the wider family to get together after periods of being apart from one another. Everyone gathered round, appreciating each other’s gifts, joking and laughing (and probably a good dose of arguing too). However, the consumerist lengths we go to in order to celebrate Christmas is astonishing.
Giving gifts is not usually seen in a negative light. It tends to be things like decorations, trees, cards and wrapping paper that hold an unnecessary position. It would be more simple and cost effective to either cut down on these to a more moderate amount or do away with them altogether. But we seem to now be at a point where an item isn’t considered as much of a ‘gift’ or as exciting if is not wrapped in colourful, shiny paper and placed under a sparkly tree – all of which businesses greatly profit from.
Moreover, companies, especially more dominant ones, like to make full use of advertising in order to boost sales. For example, the Christmas adverts for Coca-Cola and John Lewis began in 1995 and 2007 respectively, and the latter has since become quite a grand event, reported in the media and discussed as if it is a cultural phenomenon. This year’s John Lewis advert, released on 2nd November 2015, has already had over 16 million views on Youtube. Their adverts tend to send out a message of giving and sharing, yet this is with the aim of more people purchasing their products.
The fact of the matter is that economically-speaking, the Christmas spending period is vital. It is a peak selling season for many retailers. Many businesses who fail to reach their targeted sales may face losses and even closure. Many major stores begin advertising and supplying Christmas goods as early as October, before Hallowe’en is even over. According to Learning English, in 2003 Christmas shopping counted for a quarter of all spending in the USA, much of which can be attributed to their Black Friday after Thanksgiving. To consider things on a smaller scale, Christmas markets up and down the country offer local and independent businesses and traders a bigger market exposure than they would have perhaps had all year.
The meaning of Christmas may now have no religious bearing to most who celebrate it, yet church-attendance figures are high enough to see the respect is still there. Christmas has taken on a new meaning, and the consumerist element of it may be very over-the-top, but it’s showing no signs of disappearing. However it does not necessarily have to be something we are forced to put up with as a piece of mainstream Western culture – there is still a choice in participation.


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By Lu Yanan from People’s Daily
“My boss declared before the Spring Festival that business was slack and he had to close the factory,” said Chen, who decided to try his luck in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province. “Many factories are in recession, and many of my fellow-townsmen have gone back home.”
Chen’s experience is an epitome of the Chinese economy in the new normal era. “Economic growth shift” is considered the most prominent characteristic of the new economic pattern in China.
Statistics released on Wednesday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed that China’s national economy in the first two months of 2015 was confronted with increasing downward pressure, a trend that had been going on since the beginning of last year.
In January and February, China’s industrial use of electricity increased only 1.6 percent year-on-year, which was 1.1 percent lower than the growth rate of total electricity consumption. The above scale industry increase value grew 6.8 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 1.1 percent lower than that in December 2014, and was the lowest on record since 2010.
A sustained slowdown in China’s economic growth has triggered panic in many local governments. “Many people have illusions about China’s economic figures at the current stage,” said Liu Shijin, an associate director at the Development Research Centre of the State Council.
Liu said that many people were anxious about or even frightened by China’s economic prospects, because China’s actual economic growth rate has dropped a few percentage points from the double-digit growth rate of the past 10 years. But actually China’s aggregate economic volume base has grown larger. A slowdown in economic growth is the normal result of economic rules.
“In 2015, a 2-3 percentage points growth in China’s economy is equal to 10 percentage points’ growth in 2000. Therefore, even though the economic growth slows down, the economic value represented by each percentage point is much larger than before,” Liu said.
“We can’t do without GDP, because GDP is directly linked to government revenue and public welfare improvement,” said Li Zaiyong, Party secretary of Liupanshui city, Guizhou Province. Each percentage point growth in Liupanshui’s GDP represents 10 billion yuan value of output and about 900 million yuan of government revenue.
They cover a wide range of expenditures in sectors such as education, medical health and public transportation. “However, we can’t worship GDP,” Li said. “It’s unscientific and unsustainable if we measure development only by economic growth rate. We should abide by the new normal regulations and take comprehensive development in areas of economy, culture, politics and ecological environment, into consideration. We should seek a GDP that is green, low-carbon, efficient and high-quality. Thus, we may find hope.”
The factory worker Chen is not worried about getting a new job. “There are so many places looking for employees. Restaurants, hair salons, neighborhoods, housekeeping companies… I don’t have to seek a job in a factory.”
“China’s economic structure is undergoing profound changes in a period of differentiation and transformation. The active elements supporting stable economic growth are also collecting. We should not struggle with the growth rate problem,” said Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics.
In the past two months, the production index in China’s service sector has grown 7.4 percent year-on-year, 0.6 of a percentage point higher than the growth rate of the above scale industry increase value in the corresponding period.
Particularly, the retail sales of China’s online commodities and services have increased 44.6 percent year-on-year. Also, the growth is significant in certain areas such as the Internet and the culture industry. “China’s economy is seeing new markets, new business formats and new driving forces. There is an evident transformation tendency in China’s economic development forces, ” Ma said. (People’s Daily)


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With technology governing almost every aspect of our lives, industry experts are defining these modern times as the "platinum age of innovation"; verging on the threshold of discoveries that could change human society irreversibly, for better or worse. At the forefront of this revolution is the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a technology that is more vibrant than ever due to the acceleration of technological progress in machine learning – the process of giving computers with the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed – as well as the realisation by big tech vendors of its potential. One major tech behemoth fuelling the fire of this fast-moving juggernaut is Intel, a company that has long invested in the science and engineering of making computers more intelligent. The Californian company held an "AI Day" in San Francisco showcasing its new strategy dedicated solely to AI, with the introduction of new AI-specific products, as well as investments for the development of specific AI-related tech. And Alphr was in town to hear all about it.
Nov-27-2016, 20:35:04 GMT


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Standards or product development?
SURPRISE, THERE'S A new standards-making group on the storage scene. Just what we need, right? I'm all in favor of standards. When they address real hardware/software issues and are universally accepted, they make life easier for storage managers and storage cheaper to make and buy. But while we're waiting for dramatic developments to roll out of existing standards outfits such as the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), instead we get another standards organization.
The new Storage Bridge Bay (SBB) Working Group was formed to promote a standard spec for the electrical and mechanical interfaces between a drive array's backplane and a controller component. The principal SBB standard-bearers are Dell, EMC, Intel and LSI Logic, with approximately nine other companies comprising the current membership roster.
In a curious twist, those key movers and most of the new group's other members are also SNIA members. But despite their active SNIA memberships, this new standards-setting squad isn't part of SNIA. It's like a Russian matryoshka doll: You open it to find an exact, but smaller, replica on the inside. Open that one and there's another smaller one inside. I guess you can pop the top off one standards body and find another inside.
Is the SBB Working Group competing with the SNIA? Not so, says spokesman Bill Dawkins, the group's chairman and Dell technology strategist. Dawkins says they chose to create a new group to expedite their planned spec. That doesn't seem too encouraging for SNIA if its members feel a need to spin off new organizations when they want to create a new standard. But maybe Dell, EMC, Intel, LSI Logic and their comrade companies didn't think they could get enough support among SNIA's rank and file to launch their effort.
Most unsettling for what's supposed to be a standards-making body is the lack of a competitive mix to the SBB Working Group's member list. Where's Hewlett-Packard? And what about Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, Network Appliance or Sun? Dawkins says the SBB is open to any company willing to pony up a relatively modest entry fee. But he declined to say if any of those other storage heavy-hitters were approached. It's a little hard to imagine that any spec cobbled together without the support and participation of more than one major storage vendor has a real chance of becoming a standard. At least a standard outside the walls of Dell, EMC, Intel and LSI Logic.
There are typically two routes to standardization. One way is for the major players in an industry to get together, put aside their differences and hammer out some specs that promise to save everyone money, time and grief. These efforts have a good chance of success because of the collective heft of the participants, which is often bolstered by the involvement of a neutral standards body like the IEEE. Standards may also happen unintentionally. When IBM built its first PC, it used off-the-shelf parts. When the PC turned into a huge success, its standard-parts pedigree made it easy for other companies to build what were essentially duplicates. So the IBM PC and its easy-to-source components became a de facto standard that's been around for more than 25 years.
The SBB Working Group doesn't resemble either of these scenarios. Eschewing existing standards organizations and lacking broad industry membership puts the viability of its work in doubt and raises some questions. The biggest of these is: Is this a standards-building effort or just product development?
I hope I'm wrong and the SBB team creates an innovative interface that gets widely adopted. But the skeptical New Yorker in me says this looks more like marketing than standards development.


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How to hire staff
Decisions on when to hire or fire are amongst the toughest you'll make as an entrepreneur.
Key players in the Australian tech start-up scene have lashed out at Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s suggestion the 457 visa program is being abused by the IT industry.
The owner of a Canberra restaurant has been fined over $16,000 for using individual contracts to try and avoid paying minimum wage obligations.
SMEs have been reminded to follow unfair dismissal procedures to the letter, following a recent case in which an employee was found to have engaged in misconduct but wasn't terminated fairly due to improper notice.
Employers in the building, construction and engineering trades have an extra two months to take advantage of the Apprentice Kickstart Initiative, amid calls for an apprentice pay rise.
Do you want to find the perfect employee? If so, the Taskmaster suggests you should start hiding your pens – here’s why.
Under an Abbott government, the Productivity Commission could be charged with overhauling workplace laws, but penalty rates will remain unchanged.
Just as businesses were getting used to the idea of the federal government's maternity leave scheme, experts are warning SMEs to stay on top of the latest addition to parental benefits – Dad and Partner Pay.
A lack of confidence and an “unconscious bias” could be holding back female entrepreneurs, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest Australian Social Trends report.
Hiring an apprentice can be very rewarding – both from a business and a personal perspective. Here is everything you need to be aware of before you start. BY MICHELLE HAMMOND.
The chief executive of Melbourne-based tech start-up Miiy has offered to find positions for retrenched Sensis staff within his company, which is developing a range of business services.
The Taskmaster has just spent part of the morning perusing LinkedIn, My Career, Seek and other major jobs websites. If you’re an entrepreneur, there’s a good reason why you should as well.
Proposed law changes on workplace bullying complaints have business groups worried by the prospect of forum shopping litigants.
New legislation is on the cards for more flexible workplace arrangements, but industry groups say they are still in the dark about how it will work.
Napoleon Perdis has suggested Australian department stores could reverse their fortunes by investing in staff. It’s a suggestion with implications far beyond the retail sector.
Flexible work arrangements are very much on the election agenda, as Labor releases more details about legislation changes.
Yesterday, the Taskmaster outlined why it’s a good idea to have your staff spend one day per week or per fortnight in sales. But should your sales staff spend time in other departments?
An expert has highlighted some of the challenges of hiring immigrant franchisees, after Retail Food Group said more than 50% of its successful franchisee applicants over the last six months spoke English as a second language.
Australia’s unemployment rate remained steady at 5.4% in January, despite predictions it would rise, but NAB has warned the labour market will weaken as business conditions deteriorate.
The Fair Work Ombudsman today announced a new focus on unpaid work experience, following new research into the practice.


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FHC Shanghai – China’s global food and wine expo ends with strong gains
15 November 2010
The 14th edition of FHC, China’s global food, wine and hospitality exhibition and most important business event of the year for the retail and hospitality sector, closed last week in Shanghai with companies reporting record business contacts and orders. Headlined by the press as the “United Nations of food and wine in China” and the “World Expo of food”, FHC 2010 attracted 1,017 companies from 79 countries and regions. While a record 23,539 buyers, +13% over last year’s show, sourcing food, wine, beverages and hospitality supplies attended the three day trade fair from supermarkets; hospitality sector; contract caterers; airline and cruise industry; importers and distributors from every region of China.
FHC, specializes in bringing international companies to China and connecting them with importers and professionals serving this market.
“This has been a very successful fair for our US companies” commented Keith Schneller, Director, Agricultural Trade Office, Shanghai.
“The annual FHC show is the most important exhibition for Italian food and wine companies exporting and promoting to the China market” Maurizio Forte, Trade Commissioner, Italian Trade Commission, Shanghai.
“There are 107 importers and distributors exhibiting in FHC in addition to the thousands of visitors. The opportunity to meet these importers on their stands and who are a vital link to the China market has proved invaluable to South American companies” commented Martin Diez, co-ordinator for the Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru pavilions at FHC 2010.
“RT-Mart will have 153 supermarkets in East China by year end. FHC provides a perfect opportunity for our buyers to source a wide range of imported products from all over the world, in Shanghai”. Paul Shyu, Grocery Dept President, RT-Mart.
FHC is not just for international companies exporting to China. As the China market matures and distribution channels develop, FHC has proved popular with international companies who have production facilities in China and are seeking brand-marketing opportunities. Top names at FHC 2010 included Hormel, meats; Twinings of London, tea; Heinz, for sauces; Fonterra, dairy products; McCormick, spices; Carpigiani, Gelato and many more.
“We invited 100 of our distributors from all over China to attend FHC. The show has proved a great platform for brand marketing to our established and many potential distributors in this vast market” Woody Guo, General Manager, China Hormel Foods International Corp.
The organiser of FHC, China International Exhibitions, CIE, reported that Taiwan region had the largest single pavilion of companies at FHC 2010 followed by Spain, Korea and Japan. The biggest growth in participation by region, this year has been from Asian countries.
Guaranteeing the right visitors attend FHC, the organisers ran specialist competitions, tutorials and seminars alongside the show for target customers. These included three wine tutorials and a wine challenge for 218 wines, judged by a panel of 17 judges. The panel of judges included Master Sommeliers from Argentina, USA, France, Singapore and UK and the top Chinese sommeliers from hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Three coffee events, including the very popular Ultimate Barista Challenge. Four cooking competitions, where 324 chefs participated, cooking and presenting in 12 categories. A China Pizza championship; Ice Cream University and Olive Oil tasting and display zone. “All these specialist events were oversubscribed, and this confirms the right visitors came to FHC from the different sectors, to attend the activities and to meet with the specialist product suppliers in the show” commented Brendan Jennings, GM for CIE.
Promotion for FHC 2011, from 16-18 November 2011 at Shanghai New International Expo Centre was already well underway before the close of the 2010 show. The show organiser, CIE reports that three new country pavilions have already confirmed to join FHC 2011, in addition to the 22 groups that are already present this year.
“China has now overtaken Japan as the 2nd largest market in the world for hospitality receipts. This fact reflects the scale and potential of this country to import and consume food and beverages in both retail and hospitality sectors on a huge scale. A market, which no food producer worldwide can afford to ignore” commented Joel Haggard, General Manager Asia, US Meat Export Federation.


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Altair Semiconductor, a leading developer of single-mode LTE chip sets, has completed a $25 million round of funding from existing investors Bessemer, BRM, Giza, JVP and Pacific Technology.
"Our month over month increase in chip shipments is a testament to the widespread move towards LTE-only across the industry and we intend to use the funds to support our customers as they ramp high volume production and deploy their products in the field," said Oded Melamed, co-founder and CEO of Altair.
The cost of integrating LTE-only is substantially lower than LTE+3G, minimizing the prohibitively high cost delta that exists today between basic Wi-Fi models and those with mobile broadband connectivity. The lower cost of integrating LTE-only connectivity is also a key factor in the enablement of widespread availability of cloud-connected devices in the consumer and machine-to-machine space, driving the "Internet of Things" market.
Since rolling out its first chipset in 2009, Altair has achieved many industry-firsts, including the release of the first FDD/TDD chip set, the first commercial LTE chip set to exceed 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and the first chip set to be certified by the Verizon Wireless 4G chipset certification program.
To date, Altair's products have been integrated into more than 100 different product models designed by more than 30 companies, including tablets, Ultrabooks, portable hotspots, USB dongles and routers.
Altair’s products are based on a novel, proprietary Software Defined Radio (4G Optimized OFDM) Processor that provides a combination of flexibility and performance, with ultra-low power consumption. The company’s 4G portfolio includes comprehensive baseband processors, multi-band RF transceivers for both FDD and TDD bands and a range of reference hardware and product level protocol stack software.
A recent Bloomberg report claims the Israeli startup has a chance at loosening Qualcomm’s stranglehold over wireless-data chips. The Hod Hasharon-based company sells chips that only work on 4G networks thus avoiding legacy issues with other wireless technology networks.
Earlier, Bessemer Venture Partners had invested $100 million in Altair in addition to the recent $25 million from several investors.
Altair was founded in 2005. The company provides chips for devices in Russia, and Verizon Wireless has certified a modem for its U.S. network. Altair’s management and technology executives were among the founding team of Libit Signal Processing, a fabless chip company acquired by Texas Instruments in 1999 for $365 million.
Leading up to their current exclusive 4G offerings Altair’s scientists and software engineers have jointly developed more than 30 complex mixed-signal silicon products, spanning six different broadband wired and wireless technologies.


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Leeds United, the prominent Premier League football team, has entered into a partnership with Skrill, the global digital payments provider. The partnership will allow the use of Skrill for both merchandise and ticket purchases with Leeds United, as well as other synergies between the two entities.
Beginning this weekend at Elland Road, the home of Leeds United, Skrill branding will be prominently displayed via LEDs around the stadium. Skrill will also become a live payments option so that Leeds United supporters can use the platform for ticket purchases.
Leeds United will work with Skrill to create exclusive content campaigns, including exclusive access for Leeds United fans to players, and added entertainment options. Skrill will be a part of Leeds United’s branding and have its logo used on the football team’s official mobile app, website, and social media outlets.
Skrill Makes Payments Easier Globally
Leeds United fans will now be able to take advantage of a payments platform that has a global reach, and substantial capabilities. Both entities are excited to be working together, and offering Leeds United’s supporters new ways to pay.
Andrea Radrizzani, President of Leeds United, commented,
“We are delighted that Skrill is joining us as a partner. Both Skrill and Leeds United are dynamic forces in our respective industries, challenging the status quo and going through a particularly exciting time in our journey. Both of our brands have a strong and loyal fan base in the UK and internationally, and we look forward to rewarding our fans through this partnership.”
Skrill offers a range of fiat payment options, and also allows its users to buy and sell cryptos from their Skrill wallet. Clients can buy and sell more than ten popular tokens from the Skrill wallet, and use the funds to pay for goods and services, like Leeds United tickets and merchandise.
Far from being a new company, Skrill has been making payments easier since 2001. It has an extensive global…


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Rome's trendiest chefs and diners are trash-talking garlic, contending it's time to replace the smelly bulb, and claiming it overpowers everything it touches, NPR reports. Once the only tool peasant farmers had to flavor their meager meals, garlic should give way to a subtle array of flavors available in an increasingly sophisticated Italy, they argue.
Garlic also carries "second-class" connotations for people who smell of the herb, said one restaurateur. Clearly, not everyone agrees in a nation that consumed 108 million pounds of garlic last year. "What are we supposed to eat, shallots?" demands a garlic vendor. "Will that make us more elegant? More French?" (Read more food stories.)


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KNIT TECHNIQUES INC. SEVERS CLAREDON TIE
NEW YORK — Knit Techniques Inc. said Friday it is ending its six-year affiliation with Claredon Knitted Fabrics.
Citing “unresolvable business circumstances,” Jay Rosen, president of Knit Techniques, sales and styling arm of Claredon, a knitter in Passaic, N.J., said he is “currently involved in negotiations that will determine the future of Knit Techniques.”
While he wouldn’t discuss those negotiations, Rosen said, “Knit Techniques is not going to be liquidated, nor is it going to file for bankruptcy protection.”
Rosen’s wife, Joanne Rosen, will continue to design Knit Technique’s novelty fabrics. Rosen said all orders would be filled.
Claredon and Knit Techniques combined for 1994 sales of $10 million to $15 million.
Donald Dorfman, vice president of manufacturing for Claredon, said the firm “is doing our explorations for another sales and styling representative, but as of yet, we have not found none.”


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A COMMUNITY centre in Hinckley held its first lottery as part of a funding rescue plan in a bid to keep it open.
Westfield Community Centre in Rosemary Way drew the lucky tickets for its first lottery draw last Wednesday after Leicestershire County Council cut a central grant of £140,000.
All proceeds from the lottery go to funding the work of the centre and particularly its elderly and disabled groups.
Head of centre Dave Roberts said: “We have looked at cutting costs, saving money but it’s not enough. Every penny helps so we need people to buy tickets.
“The lottery is a part of a larger fund-raising rescue plan implemented as a result of the cuts to the budget.
“The three-year plan involves cutting opening hours, and some staffing, raising funds through the lottery, through an online charity shop and appealing for funds and donations generally.
“The centre will shortly receive charitable status as part of its restructuring.”
Visitors are invited to buy a ticket for £1 and when 1,000 tickets are sold the names will be drawn. Alison Nuttall drew the first prize of £250, Debbie Bennett got £100 and Natalie Vaughan-Prosser claimed the third prize of £50.
The centre has also set up an online shop asking people to donate items they want to sell.
So far they have sold a motor vehicle that was consigned for scrap, a set of chairs and an electric wheelchair. The centre has a van and can arrange delivery.
The community centre’s 45-year history includes providing for the whole community from nursery, pre-school, kids clubs, youth clubs, sports/recreational clubs to formal and informal education groups and day care services for the elderly and disabled.
A team of 30 committed staff and more than 100 volunteers a week help deliver services to the community.
Mr Roberts added: “We are interested to hear from anyone who wants to buy or indeed sell Westfield lottery tickets, anyone who has good quality re-saleable items to donate to our online charity shop, or anyone who wishes to make a monetary donation to ensure this much needed centre continues to provide for the whole community.”
Anyone who has anything to sell can contact the centre on Hinckley 637516 or 07980 631255.


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JAKARTA, June 8 (Reuters) -
* Unilever Plc is planning to spend 2.5 trillion rupiah ($175.44 million) in a Indonesia’s special economic zone (SEZ) in Sei Mangkei in North Sumatra, an official at the company’s Indonesian arm said on Tuesday.
* The fast-moving consumer goods giant plans to expand its oleochemical factory, which can hire 600 new workers directly and potentially create 6,000 new jobs “indirectly”, Arif Hudaya, finance director at PT Unilever Indonesia, said in a statement.
* “We are currently planning to expand Marvel 2 (the factory), namely the expansion of oleochemical products and products with added value, namely soap noodles and surfactants through technological innovation,” Ariff said. ($1 = 14,250.0000 rupiah) (Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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Qualcomm’s Board of Directors Appoints Sylvia Acevedo and Greg Johnson to Board
Qualcomm Incorporated announced that its Board of Directors appointed Sylvia Acevedo, former CEO Girl Scouts of the USA, and Greg Johnson, EVP and General Manager, Consumer Group of Intuit Inc, to the Board, effective immediately. Ms. Acevedo will serve on the Governance Committee and Mr. Johnson will serve on the HR and Compensation Committee.
“We welcome Sylvia and Greg and look forward to bringing their knowledge, experiences and broad perspectives to the Qualcomm Board of Directors as we continue to lead the 5G transition and execute on the large opportunities ahead of the Company,” said Mark McLaughlin, Chair of the Board.
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Ms. Acevedo served as Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of the USA from May 2017 to August 2020, and as interim Chief Executive Officer from June 2016 to May 2017. She was a board member from 2008 until 2016. Prior to her arrival at GSUSA, Ms. Acevedo served as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, with a focus on educational policy around dual-language in early childhood. Earlier in her career, Ms. Acevedo held senior positions with IBM, Apple and Dell .
A rocket scientist by training, Ms. Acevedo holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University and a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Mr. Johnson has been Executive Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Group of Intuit Inc., a global financial platform company, since August 2018. He served as Senior Vice President, Marketing, Consumer Tax Group of Intuit from December 2012 to July 2018.
Prior to Intuit, Mr. Johnson held various marketing positions at Advance Auto Parts, Inc., Best Buy Co., Inc., The Gillette Company, Eastman Kodak Company, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., Motorola, Inc. and Kraft Foods, Inc. He also served in the United States Air Force.
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February 18, 2010 |
When Indian IT services and consulting? giant, Wipro - acclaimed by Greenpeace as the leading green IT company in India - decided to extend its green and low carbon initiatives on a global scale it quickly became clear that the UK would be an ideal partner to ensure its success. The low carbon sector in the UK is considered to be a world leader, and companies have come a long way in commercialising cutting-edge technologies to create solutions that meet the real world challenges of climate change.
December 12, 2004 |
KOLKATA: UK seems to have become the happy hunting ground for Indian industry. Around 480 companies have set up shop in the UK over the last few years. In fact, 60% of Indian investments in the European Union are routed to the UK. The number of Indian companies has grown 47% in 2003-04 when seen against the backdrop of 2002-03. "Of the 480 Indian companies which have expanded into the UK, 350 are from the IT and the knowledge-based sector. The presence of Indian companies in the UK has steadily grown ever since the globalisation process was set in motion in India.
February 12, 2013 |
BANGALORE: India's second largest IT company Infosys on Tuesday said it will assign a local mentor to 16 of the United Kingdom's emerging digital, wireless, and mobile software technology companies visiting Bangalore during their inaugural Web Mission 2013 to India. Britain's most promising start-ups are on an entrepreneur-led trade mission to Bangalore and New Delhi this week with the aim of developing new relationships and opening up their business to the Indian market.
June 6, 2013 |
LONDON: The UK government's decision to create a pan-India network of business centres got a major boost with the appointment of a managing director to head the ambitious project in the country. The UK India Business Council (UKIBC), tasked with realising British Prime Minister David Cameron's announcement of these centres during his high-profile visit to India in February, named Richard McCallum, co-founder and director of Flying Fox - India's first zipline tour company - as MD of UKIBC India Private Limited.
June 23, 2016 |
Silicon Valley leads in its capacity to attract startups and entrepreneurs, but the UK is increasingly looking to grab a share of India's startup growth story. According to UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) investment from India had increased by 65% in 2015, making India UK's third largest source of FDI. By 2015 Indian firms had increased their investment in the UK by forming 122 investment projects creating 7,730 new jobs and safeguarding 1,620 jobs in the UK. But, these figures are largely bolstered by likes of Tata, Wipro and Infosys and the UK is now keen to change the mix by adding a generous sprinkling of startups.
January 31, 2005 |
For entrepreneurs from India, UK has become an attractive destination, thanks to a new programme by the UK government which provides a support package for business talent to relocate. "The Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP) is different from all earlier programmes and helps experienced entrepreneurs with their own businesses as well as people with big ideas to set up shop in the UK," said Eric Van Der Kleij, dealmaker with the programme. India is the first country where the GEP has been launched keeping in mind the large pool of entrepreneurial talent in the country.
August 1, 2013 |
LONDON: Britain today appointed Indian-origin economist Kumar Iyer as the Director General for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) for India, a new top-level post created to reflect the increasing importance of bilateral business ties. He will also be the British Deputy High Commissioner for Western India . He will take up both positions, based in Mumbai, on August 5, it was officially announced. As Director General India of UKTI, Iyer will have the overall responsibility for the UK-India commercial and trade relationship across the country.
January 4, 2010 |
MUMBAI: Leading private sector lender, ICICI Bank has tied up with UK Trade and Investment to help Indian firms explore business opportunities in the British market. The tie-up will provide training events and investment assistance to Indian firms looking at business opportunities in UK, a press release said. "Through this initiative, we envision further awareness to the Indian businesses by means of knowledge and counselling sessions," ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar said.
May 17, 2013 |
LONDON: Tata Management Training Centre and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) have joined hands to mentor and support innovative UK technology SMEs entering Indian market , UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has said. "Tata and UKTI will develop and deliver a programme of business-orientated education, mentoring and hands-on support for up to 20 UK technology SMEs. The pilot will be delivered over seven days and will take place both in India and the UK," Osborne said in a statement.
September 12, 2008 |
HYDERABAD: Testing, quality management and certification solutions company AppLabs announced on Friday that it has won the 'New Market Entrant of the Year' award at the UK Trade and Investment India Business Awards 2008 for successfully managing integration of intellectual property and business processes of Indian and UK operations. The UK Trade and Investment India Business Awards are a recognition and celebration of the UK-Indo business partnership, especially in terms of inward investment, collaborative business partnership, entrepreneurship and innovation, the company release said.


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In April this year the number of homes sales recorded by the Spanish Land Registry surged by 31%, compared to the same month in 2017, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Property portal Idealista.com published its own statistics on price increases, which show an increase of prices by nearly 0.8% for the month of May, compared to May 2017, thanks to booming demand. Year-on-year, resale house prices rose by 7.8%, according to the portal's own data. International property experts Lucas Fox estimated that in the first two months of 2018 alone some 90,000 Spanish homes were sold.
According to INE, 37,930 home sales were registered with the Land Registry in April of this year. The total figure was 42,041, including VPO or subsidised homes. Homes sales are registered with the Land Registry in Spain between one and three months following the sale of a Spanish property, so there's always a certain amount of inaccuracy about the actual monthly figures. The Association of Spanish Notaries publish their own records, which are more accurate with regard to timing. The Association's figures for April showed a rise of 11.6% to 48,415, which includes VPO properties.
The market is still led by resale homes, although new Spanish home sales are gradually catching up. INE's figures for April 2018 show that new homes sales rose 27% (to 7,105), and second-hand home sales increased by 31% (to 34,905) this year. Over the past 12 months, new home sales have increased every month, bringing the long slump in this sector to an end, as an over-supply of housing stock is being reduced due to rising demand.
According to Idealista.com's own data, resale house prices rose by 0.8% in May 2018, bringing the price per square metre to 1,645 euros (or 154 euro per square foot).
Malaga region's home sales in April, according to the Land Registry's figures, rose by an amazing 62%. This includes sales registered for the Costa del Sol. According to Idealista.com's findings, Madrid is still the most expensive autonomous community - here the average cost of buying a second-hand home stood at 2,804 per square metre in May 2018 (260 euros per square foot). The Balearic Islands came in second place with an average house price per square metre of 2,617 or 243 euros per square foot. This was due to high demand for property in Mallorca. At the lower end were the communities of Extremadura with 926 euros per square metre (86 euro per square foot) and Murcia, where the square metre of a resale home cost 1,027 euros or 95 euros per square foot.
The portal's own data also revealed that house prices in Madrid province rose by 2.1%, one of the highest increases recorded after Las Palmas (2.5%) and Lugo (2.2%), whereas home owners in Zamora had to contend with a 1.9% average reduction on resale prices. Homes in Ja én old on average for 1.1% less in May 2018 and in Guadalajara province home prices dropped by 1%.
Barcelona province was the second most expensive area in terms of average price per square metre after Madrid province. Property in Barcelona province saw an increase per square metre soar to 2,733 euros (or 254 euros per square foot). Toledo turned out to be the cheapest province. Here the average house price was 793 euro per square metre or 74 euro per square foot. Idealista.com's figures were based on 402,279 property listings for the month of May 2018.
If you were thinking of buying an investment property in Spain, a retirement villa or holiday home at the Costa del Sol, don't delay your decision for too long - prices are rising fast due to surging demand, as figures for April and May prove. Spain's house price index published by Tinsa, which is one of the country's biggest appraisal companies, also showed that house prices rose considerably, particularly in Barcelona and Madrid, where prices went up by 8.7% in April 2018, compared to the previous year. Tinsa also showed that house prices for the Balearic Islands, including Mallorca, went up by 5.6%.


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More variety at the Singapore Coffee Festival
It may have been a work day, but the Singapore Coffee Festival 2017 saw a steady stream of visitors yesterday.
The event at Marina Bay Cruise Centre opened to the public yesterday, with close to 4,000 people turning up.
Mr Lim Tian Wee, 48, executive director of Gryphon Tea Company, which has a booth at the festival, said the turnout was "far better than I expected".
"It's Friday lunchtime and there's already a crowd. We're expecting the weekend to be crazy," he said.
The festival, which ends tomorrow, is organised by The Straits Times and presented by DBS Bank.
It features more than 90 exhibitors, including coffee purveyors, equipment distributors and cafes, as well as workshops, talks and live entertainment.
Exhibitors and visitors who attended last year's festival praised this year's edition for its more spacious layout and greater variety of products on offer.
The public is encouraged to buy their tickets online in advance in order to minimise queuing time.
Each session, which has different activities, costs $22, or $18 for DBS and POSB cardholders and Straits Times subscribers. ST subscribers who flash their ST+ cards can get into the express queue. Those who download the SPH Rewards app from the App Store or Google Play can redeem a gift at the SPH Rewards booth on level two.
Those who subscribe to ST at the Singapore Coffee Festival stand a chance to win a prize on the spot. Lucky draw prizes include a Panasonic camera and an LG pocket printer.
FOR MORE, READ THE STRAITS TIMES TODAY


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Gimav, the Italian Manufacturers’ Association of Machinery, Accessories and Special Products for Glass Processing, has announced the appointment of Laura Biason as the new deputy director for Gimav. Laura Biason will promote member companies working alongside Gimav Director Renata Gaffo.
Laura Biason is the new deputy director for Gimav, the Italian Manufacturers’ Association of Machinery, Accessories and Special Products for Glass Processing.
Appointed in May 2014, Laura Biason will promote member companies working alongside Gimav Director Renata Gaffo. Her task will mainly be to attend leading international appointments for the glass industry, interact with the main Italian and overseas institutes and strengthen initiatives aimed at increasing the association’s prestige.
A Computer Engineering graduate from the Polytechnic of Turin, and an expert in company engineering and communication, Laura Biason has always worked on giving support to companies. She started out in 1995, at the Unione Industriale of Turin and joined the National Confindustria (Italian organization representing manufacturing and services companies) in 2000, dealing with technologies, growing association membership and giving support to affiliated associations.
Her passion for technology and communications earned her the role of ICT Manager at Confindustria in 2008. She was in charge of IT systems and supported trade associations and companies in the area of Information and Communication Technology, developing their new media communication strategies. As a result of her achievements she was appointed the director of Confindustria Messina in 2010. She succeeded in growing membership, optimizing activities, and upping the prestige and visibility of the association locally and nationwide as a result of her ongoing networking activity and the new initiatives that were put forward. Her contribution to enhancing the institutional communication strategy led to the conferral of the Euromediterraneo award in 2012 for corporate communications on social networks.
“By enlisting Laura Biason we feel that we have added one of the best experts on the market to our ranks, the best person to build Gimav activities for its member companies. She stands out because of her strategic mindset and track record in delivering services to companies, public and in-house relations, growing the functions and prestige of the organizations where she has worked,” stated Gimav Director Renata Gaffo.
This expertise will definitely bring excellent results to the special Made in Italy branch of industry that Gimav represents: a high-tech, highly specialized niche sector made up of internationally-recognized leading companies with a very strong export drive (where overseas sales account for about 80% of revenues).
Gimav is the Association of Italian manufacturers and suppliers of machinery, equipment and special products for glass processing. Set up in 1980 by a small group of businessmen, Gimav plays a fundamental role in the entire glass industry both nationally and internationally.
As a member of Confindustria, Federvarie and Federmacchine, during its 34 years of activity, Gimav has considerably strengthened its representative presence in the entire glass processing industry and now plays an indispensable role in relations with all private and public institutions. The sales volume of Gimav member companies, accounts for approx. 80% of the industry’s total turnover and for 77% of total exports by Italian manufacturers of machinery, accessories and special products for glass processing.


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Toyota Glanza Spotted in a New Set of Interior & Exterior Photos
Published: Friday, 17 May 2019 0:00 AM | By Maxabout News Team | 547 Views
Toyota is all set to launch the Glanza hatchback (Rebadged Maruti Baleno) in June 2019. The much-anticipated car has surfaced again in a new set of photos which gives us a clear view of the interior. In addition to a similar exterior as the Baleno, the hatchback also features an identical cabin, except for a Toyota badge at the centre of the steering wheel. It is now also confirmed that the Glanza indeed features a CVT automatic gearbox. Apart from a redesigned front radiator grille, a Toyota logo on the wheels and Toyota badging at the rear of the hatchback, the Glanza remains identical to the Maruti Suzuki Baleno. The cabin features a similar touchscreen display with connectivity for Android Auto and Apple Car Play in addition to an engine start/stop button and black/blue upholstery. On the exterior, the alloy wheels, LED DRLs, projector headlamps, and the ORVMs also remain similar. Powering the upcoming car will be a 1.2-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine as seen on the Baleno hatchback. The engine is capable of delivering 84 HP of maximum power and 115 Nm of maximum torque. The engine will be mated to a 5-speed manual transmission and will also come with an optional CVT automatic unit. When launched in India, the Toyota Glanza will compete in the market with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Hyundai i20, and Honda Jazz. Toyota is likely to keep the price tag for the hatchback above the Maruti Baleno. The car is expected to get a starting price tag of around INR 7 lakh and will go up to INR 9 lakh for the top model. The brand will be launching the Glanza in two variants: G and V. According to the reports, Maruti has already dispatched 364 units of the Glanza to Toyota Kirloskar Motor.