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Five from India are among the more than 70 creative leaders from 19 APAC countries and regions to be selected by The One Club Asia to serve as judges for the One Asia Creative Awards 2022.
After years of running The One Show Greater China, the club expanded the scope of the awards last year to include all of Asia Pacific as One Asia. Entries were received from 17 countries and regions in APAC, with winners representing 14.
The confirmed One Asia 2022 juries to date from India are as follows:
Design, Print & Out of Home, Print & Out of Home Craft
Santosh Padhi, CCO, Wieden+Kennedy India, Mumbai
Sonal Chhajerh, ECD, Leo Burnett, Mumbai
Direct Marketing, Creative Effectiveness, Innovation; Integrated
Melvin Jacob, ECD, Famous, Bengaluru
Branded Entertainment; Public Relations, Public Service & CSR, Social Media
Aarti Srinivasan, ECD, BBH Mumbai
Experiential & Immersive, Digital Craft, Gaming, Interactive, Online & Mobile
Deepali Nayar, CD, Publicis Sapient, Gurugram
The complete list of One Asia 2022 juries can be viewed here.
Entries are now being accepted, with fees increasing after each deadline period. The regular deadline is August 19, 2022, and the final deadline is September 16, 2022.
Eligible countries and regions for One Asia are Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Mainland China, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Online judging will take place in October, with finalists announced in November. Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be announced in late November.
Starting this year, One Asia is now part of The One Club’s Global Creative Rankings for 2023. One Asia awards won by agencies and brands will now gain them international recognition in their own right, and contribute as appropriate to network and holding company global rankings totals.
“After a successful first year in 2021, One Asia will be significantly more important to agencies and brands now as part of the Global Creative Rankings,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. “These judges represent the vanguard of creatives, designers, and innovators across all of APAC, and they will drive the process to recognize this year’s winners.”
“After expanding The One Show Greater China to the whole Asia Pacific region as One Asia last year, we now take the next step in elevating the best work in the region on the global stage,” said Ma Chao, chief representative, The One Club Asia office.
Entries are now being accepted via One Asia Online System.


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China’s housing rental transaction service platform operator Ke Holdings has filed a preliminary prospectus for a U.S. initial public offering on July 24, aiming to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “BEKE”.
Luckin Coffee shares took a 36% dive on Wednesday after the company resumed trading on Nasdaq, following a delisting notice from the exchange on grounds of financial fraud.
37 Interactive Entertainment reported a steady increase in revenues and surging profits in the first quarter of 2020 as the company pivots more to markets outside China.
On March 11, China's third largest e-commerce company, Shanghai-based Pinduoduo reported their fourth quarter results for the year 2019.
The ByteDance-owned short video app TikTok announced the appointment of Roland Cloutier, a renowned cybersecurity expert, as the company’s as CISO.
On February 19, Bloomberg reported that China is considering taking control some of HNA Group’s airlines that have been unable to meet financial obligations.
Baofeng Group is requested to appoint relevant senior management personnel as soon as possible to ensure the stable operation and the timely performance of information disclosure obligations.
I-Mab, a Shanghai-based developer of biologic treatments for cancers and autoimmune disorders, has filed for an IPO on the Nasdaq under the symbol “IMAB”.
DecodeChina is an exclusive opportunity for globally-minded, tech-obsessed professionals to dive into China’s tech scene through company and start-up visits, courses and workshops, networking events, and much more!
On June 23, Suning.com Corporation announced that its subsidiary Suning International purchased an 80 percent stake in Carrefour China.
On March 20th, a top executive from a supply chain of Huawei TV revealed to a reporter from Jiemian News that the Huawei TV will be released next month.
The third annual Facebook Overseas Marketing Summit was held in Shanghai on Sept. 12. At the event with the theme “created by you, loved by the world”, Facebook jointly released with KPMG a list of top 50 Chinese brands ranked by global influence.
After going public in July, the e-commerce giant Pinduoduo Inc. (PDD) released its first quarterly report on Aug. 30, showing some big gains and even bigger losses.
Beijing-based media group Caixin Global reported that the list of companies issued China Depositary Receipts (CDR) has been released. The companies include BATJ (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com), Ctrip, Sina Weibo, NetEase and Sunny Optical Technology.
Since the Spring Festival of 2018, enterprises have concluded their annual meetings, revealing numerous important information.

domain: news


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Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, CEO of Christian Dior Couture, has been named as the new head of Hugo Boss.
Lahrs, who has been in charge at French fashion house Dior for almost 5 years will replace former Hugo Boss CEO Bruno Saelzer in August, according to a statement by the company.
Saelzer quit the company in February after disagreements with their leading investors, Permira.
Lahrs is now looking forward to the new challenge: "My goal is to bring more of an international presence to the brand, in the large and growing markets of Asia and America," he said in the statement.
Tagged in Dr Who


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PEOPLE have been queuing around the block for weapons and weed as gun shops report a 68 per cent rise in business due to coronavirus.
Alongside fights over shopping karts, people have started buying tactical wear, ammo, liquor and weed; even Everclear has been stripped from the shelves to be used as improvised hand sanitiser.
⚠ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
Coronavirus panic is forcing Walmart and other grocery chains to reduce their daily hours in order to restock.
Supermarket chains including Publix, Harris Teeter and Wegmans will all be halting their 24-hour services to restock and sanitize their stores as the virus causes shelves to empty across the country.
Meanwhile, sales on Ammo.com, an online ammunition store, were 68 per cent greater from February 23 to March 4 than they were the preceding 11 days.
Residents in North Carolina and Georgia had the biggest increase in sales on the website.
Kevin Lim, who owns tactical gear retailer Bulletproof Zone, told BuzzFeed News his sales have jumped 50 to 100 per cent.
He said: “I think with the way things have escalated quite quickly around the world and in the US in just the last couple of weeks, it’s very hard to tell what’s going to happen next, and I believe it is better to be safe than sorry."
Most guns reportedly being sold are automatic "self-defense" weapons like the AR-15.
Owner of Gun Effects and Cloud 9 Fishing, Dennis Lin, said there has been a large rise gun sales among Asian Americans who "are being targeted because of their race".
Business was also booming at the Herbarium, a marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles.
Spokeswoman Breanna Lucier, 36, said: “There are two reasons for all the customers you see in here right now.
"One is that people are stocking up on all the things they consider essential after being advised to stay indoors.
“The other reason — people don’t want to care about coronavirus or watch upsetting news about it on television,” she told the LA Times.
“Instead, they just want to chill out with Netflix and some weed.”
Meanwhile coronavirus panic is forcing Walmart and other grocery chains to reduce their daily hours in order to restock.
Shoppers are desperately trying to stockpile grocery items ahead of a potential quarantine or self-isolation, as videos show people fighting over shopping carts at a Costco in Fairfield, California, according to KNTV.
Later a fight erupted in the same store when a man grabbed a package of toilet roll from someone else's shopping trolley, Jodi Hernandez reported.
Grocery chains claim that there is no chance of a food shortage due to disruptions to the supply chain caused by the virus, but admit that they are struggling to keep up with the demand.
Walmart, America's biggest chain, announced on Saturday that all of their stores currently operating 24-hours will be moving to a 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. operating schedule until further notice.
In a statement, Chief Operating Officer Dacona Smith said: "This will help ensure associates are able to stock the products our customers are looking for and to perform cleaning and sanitizing."
The changes will affect about 2,200 of Walmart's 4,700 stores in the US.
Supermarket chain Publix, which has 1,200 stores in southern states, also announced that it will close two hours early, at 8pm, every day.
The chain said this was to give employees time to sanitize shelves and restock produce.
Todd Jones, Publix CEO, said: "Publix will continue to focus on keeping our associates healthy — and our stores open and stocked — to serve and support all our communities.
Giant, based in Pennsylvania, took similar moves as they announced that their 24 hour supermarkets would start closing at midnight and not open until 6am.
In a statement, they said: "The decision comes as part of the company's continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic and will allow store team members additional time to sanitize and restock shelves as daily deliveries arrive."
Wegmans will also be reducing its 24-hour service, as stores in Pennsylvanie (except Erie) and New Jersey set to open at 6am and close at 11pm.
The chain says it needs additional time to restock products and clean its stores.
It also limited the purchases of certain items according to its website, including paper towels, household cleaners and hand sanitizers.
Supermarket chain Harris Teeter, from North Carolina, will now close its stores at 9pm each night to safeguard its employees' health.
There have been more than 2,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the US.
In the US, the deadly virus has spread to 49 states, and President Trump announced that he had tested negative on Friday night.
Source: Read Full Article


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Beyond the Footsie: Friday close
SMALLER companies struggled to close higher, as largely upbeat corporate news helped to offset weaker-than-expected US employment data. The FTSE SmallCap index closed up 4.7 points at 1,843.5.
DDD Group was among the best performers, adding 1 1/2p to 10 1/4p after signing a technology and market development partnership with ViewSonic to help develop a range of 3D display products.
Elsewhere, 4imprint advanced 5 1/2 pence to 39p after saying it sees full-year results in line with expectations, despite a challenging advertising market, and reporting a global contract win with Cessna Aircraft.
Recent directors' share buying aided Devro, up 4 1/2p to 46 3/4p, while Senior was up 1p to 26p after talk of a bid priced at more than 40p a share.
On the downside, McLeod Russell dropped 13 1/2p to 36 1/2p after posting broadly flat full-year profits and warning that the current year has started slowly.
And Holmes Place dropped 5 1/2 pence to 97p, after announcing that membership was lower than expected at the year-end and reiterating its recent warning that full-year profit will be significantly below forecasts.
The health clubs operator confirmed however, that it is in exclusive offer talks, thought to be with venture capitalists Bridgepoint Capital.
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The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) has urged the Government to provide some clarity on Brexit trading arrangements amid concerns meat exports could be seriously compromised.
In order to continue selling meat and other food products into the EU after the transition ends on December 31, the UK as a whole will have to be formally listed as a Third Country by the EU.
Once that is done, each individual food manufacturing plant will then need to be formally approved as well. It’s up to the EU whether or not they require a physical inspection of each and every plant.
If inspections are required, this could see British food manufacturers waiting in line for formal listing before they can export anything further to the EU. The longer they have to wait, the more orders will be lost, the BMPA warned.
BMPA chief executive Nick Allen said: “While a request has been submitted by the UK, there is currently no firm indication as to when the EU will consider and vote on formal country approval, let alone when and if plant inspections will be done.
“It’s highly unlikely that the EU will refuse us Third Country status. The bigger question is when it will be granted and how much damage to our food businesses and supply chains will be done in the process.”
The BMPA explained that in order to give the UK approval as a Third Country, in the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s words, the EU ‘needs to know in full what a country’s rules are, [including] for imports. The same objective process applies to all listed countries’.
Recent speculation over whether or not Boris Johnson’s government will relax import rules and standards in order to do a deal with the US may well have prompted the EU to re-assess the Third Country approval they gave us in August last year, the BMPA added.
The association stressed that Third Country status was ‘just one thing that could throw a spanner in the works and prevent us from exporting product to the EU’. Others potentially include issues like new export certification requirements and the uncertainty over Health Marks that has not yet been addressed by the UK Government.
Mr Allen added: “We need all of this to happen urgently, otherwise British firms will start losing orders from this month onwards for product due for delivery in the new year.”
- You can read about some of the Brexit issues of concern to the pig sector in a Pig World news analysis article HERE


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Record Store Day was a vital vehicle for renewing interest in vinyl. But after more than a decade, the vinyl market’s future seems untethered from the crate-digging holiday.
It might seem like a distant memory at this point, but it wasn’t terribly long ago that Record Store Day was a 24-hour affair with a fraction of its current reach. Now internationally celebrated twice (and for a stretch, as many as four times) per year, the crate-digging holiday has grown at a rate commensurate to the vinyl market it almost singlehandedly pulled from the cliff. But what began as an initiative seeking to revive an ailing physical media format and the local businesses devoted to their preservation, proved wildly successful in the former, and relegated the latter to an afterthought.
While it’s true vinyl sales were seemingly on an uptick at the time of its official launch in 2008, the market for vinyl as a whole was effectively on life support after experiencing a 43% dive between 2000 and 2006. The shift was drastic and felt at every level of record vending and distribution, but became particularly evident in 2007 when Tower Records, a giant and iconic multinational music retailer, closed the doors at nearly all of its locations outside of Japan.
Rightfully panicked and hoping to bring new patrons into their hallowed and expertly-curated cathedrals of overlooked catalogs and regional rarities, the shop owners and the leaders of various groups advocating for independent music stores –including Coalition of Independent Music Stores, Alliance of Independent Media Stores, and the Department of Record Stores — held a forum in Baltimore with the lone mission of devising a scheme to both celebrate and revitalize an exchange many of them had spent decades cultivating without much of a profit motive.
The origins of Record Store Day
To attract collectors and casual buyers alike, the inaugural Record Store Day in 2008 featured 10 limited edition titles only available in about 100 stores nationwide. First-year sales figures are hard to come by, but the expansion to 85 titles in the following year is a solid indication of how quickly stores were to adopt. And by 2010, both the metrics and momentum were irrefutable as 1,000 shops across the country took the “RSD Pledge” and stocked their shelves with now hundreds of in-store exclusives. The response was so overwhelming, a second day of observance was added on Black Friday that year, along with an annual (and entirely ceremonial,) ambassadorship program, giving the RSD the vote of approval and spokesmanship of an established artist.
Over the course of the next five years, Record Store Day anchored and drove a renewed interest in vinyl so palpable even the majors began to issue pressings of new and catalog albums again. And with their involvement, vinyl eventually reclaimed the physical media crown following a decade and a half of year-over-year market growth.
On its face, labels and fans opting for gatefolds and acetates over jewel cases and plastics is presumably what the record enthusiast of ten years prior might have hoped for. In practice, though, it amounted to — and compounded– some of the crippling drawbacks associated with revitalizing the format without any investment into the manufacturing process behind it.
In short, the added demand for vinyl without the infrastructure to meet it clogged the already crammed production calendars of pressing plants worldwide. With label money now integral to the resurgence of a whole market, top-billing artists were receiving top-billing slots on the production schedule, forcing independent musicians to turn in their projects well ahead of their intended release dates or suffer drastic delays as a result. This was acutely felt during the pandemic’s supply-chain shortage, when many artists chose to release cassettes as the physical version of their new albums to avoid any complications caused by the influx of pop stars with towering vinyl orders. But it can be more broadly observed in the average price of a new album on wax, which has steadily ramped up as supplies remained limited.
Stores and RSD
Along with creating cut-throat competition for priority on the factory floors, Record Store Day has also made it increasingly difficult for secondhand shops to sustainably participate. Arbitrary minimums on orders of RSD-stamped titles put traditional vinyl vendors (who sell used pieces, as opposed to new pressings and recent reissues,) in an untenable spot, forcing them to either take on more copies of an album than they can confidently move or stay out altogether.
“I get 300,000 calls starting now until two weeks after Record Store Day about limited edition, hot pink, scratch and sniff Taylor Swift records,” says Tom Noble, DJ and owner of Superior Elevation Records in Brooklyn.
For Noble, a boisterous, label-studying mainstay of NYC’s used vinyl exchange and DJ circuit, the numbers don’t add up. “You order a bunch of that stuff, but you also have to buy 30 records at $27 a piece that are done by random Coachella bands who are in the microfiche section of the Coachella menu. And people only want the Taylor Swift, so those records end up just becoming trash.”
Though he doesn’t see a practical point of entry to the overtly gamified “RSD exclusive” racket, Noble considers Record Store Day an effective draw for corralling prospective customers through the doors of his Williamsburg storefront. “It actually whips people into a frenzy to go hit a shop one day. So even if you’re not entering in Record Store Day products, you’re still going to capitalize on the frenzy of having a really hooked up Saturday at your shop,” Noble admits.
Travis Klein, the owner of Bushwick’s venerable Human Head Records, has identified a good grip of those vultures scouring for would-be rarities in his own aisles. “So much of the Record Store Day clientele cycle between prospectors looking to make money on the things that they think they’re going to be able to flip and the people who become fans of the day and the collectibles and then run around trying to find places to get them before the flippers,” Klein says. For the Human Head proprietor, who claims to have attended one of the very first observations of Record Store Day in the country but has yet to actually participate in it as a store owner, the record trade isn’t about generating FOMO for the sake of it, but providing a space for deep listeners with interests (and motives,) beyond profit to obsess freely, learn openly, and maybe even put a greying record man onto something he might not have come across.
The future for RSD
As we approach yet another run through the crates (just five months since the last,) the gains ushered by Record Store Day are crystalline. Records are now the widely preferred form of tangible media. Pressings of new and hard-to-find titles are readily available, if not in-store, then almost certainly on one of the thousands of Discogs pages for shops and private collectors stateside and abroad. And, thanks to a handful of pressing plant start-ups founded over the last few years to meet an insatiable demand, artists at every tier of the industry are finding ways to affordably cut their own wax.
However, it feels equally important to at least acknowledge vinyl, as a format and a market, no longer needs saving in 2023. A decade and a half of galvanizing collectors, retailers, and casual hobbyists has run its course and served its purpose. But, along the way, it has also revealed small businesses might have always been a secondary concern. Until the organization behind it is able to relax some of its cartel tendencies, factor the prosperity of the holiday’s namesake into the equation, and ultimately, resolve that bit of inherent dissonance, Record Store Day will always feel categorically empty in both spirit and promise, no matter how many grails get reissued each year. We’ve reached a point where vinyl’s future seems firmly protected and untethered from the adoption of record-selling ploys meant to benefit only those who play ball. Record Store Day should take heed. And we should probably start asking ourselves whether we even need it anymore.


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Former Ghanaian President, John Dramani Mahama is calling on Nigeria to reopen her inland borders. According to Mahama, if the Nigerian government opens its borders, it can boost economic activities in West Africa. The former Ghanaian president aired his view at a lecture in commemoration of the 7th Realnews Magazine Anniversary in Lagos. The topic of the lecture was “Beyond Politics: An Economic Narrative for West Africa“. While speaking during the event, Mahama opined that Nigeria’s decision to close its borders was hurting the ECOWAS agenda.
ECOWAS stands for Economic Community of West Africa States. It is a regional economic bloc of West African states established in 1975 and has 15 member states. The objective of the body is regional economic integration. It involves the cooperation of member states to ensure free trade aimed at enhancing economic growth and development in the region. With Nigeria being the headquarters of ECOWAS, closure of its borders contravenes the objectives of the body.
In August, Nigeria made a unilateral decision to close its border to Ghana and other West African countries. As a result, there is a pause in free trade in the region. Nigerian indicated that the move is to end widespread smuggling through its porous borders. Consequently, the closure will go on until January next year. John Dramani Mahama stated that it was unfortunate that economic activity in the region was suffering because of the country’s weak institutions.
Impact of Nigeria’s Border Closure on Business in the ECOWAS Region
The closure of Nigerian borders is taking a toll on SMEs in Ghana, Togo, and Cote d’Ivoire. These countries rely heavily on inter-county trade, However, some businesses in Nigeria are not immune to the impasse. According to John Dramani Mahama, businesses in Nigeria were equally suffering because they depend on supplies from neighbors. Recently Nigeria and her neighbors signed a joint border task force deal. In line with the agreement, the former president is now calling for the opening of the border to allow free trade. Mahama’s advice to Nigeria’s government is to strengthen its systems and institutions to tackle the problem of smuggling.
Nigeria is the largest economy in the West Africa region and home to ECOWAS headquarters. John Dramani Mahama, who was also a former chairman of ECOWAS, indicated that his interest was seeing the region prosper. According to him, the decision by the Nigerian government was causing regional economic instability. Consequently, it is breaking the objective principles for the formation of ECOWAS. The trading bloc’s objective is to foster collective self-sufficiency through economic cooperation. John Dramani Mahama said,
“Nigeria must invest in strengthening its institutions and systems that are responsible for the importation of illegal or prohibited goods. The total closure of especially the Benin border is having a significant toll on many small and medium enterprises especially in Togo, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire that rely on inter-country trade for survival… As an economic and regional bloc, a lot of economic opportunities are available to us and we must take advantage of them.“
Promoting free trade in Africa
Africa has a substantial urbanizing population. Thus, there is a need to develop services and digital economies. However, this is attainable if African countries can cooperate and allow free trade. Digital economies, if well nurtured, will grow faster and could employ the growing young population.
Correspondingly, there is massive potential in the ICT, creative industry, tourism as well as financial services sectors. John Dramani Mahama also stated that in most African countries, the services sector is growing fast—with massive economic prospects. According to the former president, it will be difficult to make these gains if free trade is hampered.


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Reliance Jio has initiated a new facility that let lets you recharge jio number on whatsapp. This facility is available on its chatbot and includes JioFibre and JioMart payments. Additionally, this new feature offers several added options.
These Jio-WhatsApp initiatives are happening after Facebook invested in Jio last year. Reliance integrated its e-commerce platform JioMart with Jio last year to help consumers to shop comfortably from the comforts of their home.
With this collaboration, Reliance Jio is possibly aiming to extend its consumer base and help existing users to enjoy better services easily.
Currently, the Jio WhatsApp chatbot to recharge Jio number facility is available in English and Hindi. The company will soon include more languages as well. This feature in addition to MyJio app will allow customers to gain easy access to their mobility, JioMart, and Fiber accounts.
So, how to recharge your jio number using JioCare Whatsapp chatbot?
Follow the steps;
- First, Add the recharge number-7000770007 in your contact list.
- Next, open WhatsApp and find the stored contact.
- Once you find it, type “Hi” and the chatbot will provide you a list of services it offers.
- Select the option “Recharge phone number”.
- Next, make the payment using e-wallets such as, Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay Amazon Pay or even debit and credit card.
- That’s it. Your number is recharged.
How to change the language?
While the default language of the bot is English, you can change it to Hindi as well. Here’s how.Type ‘Set Language’ on Whatsapp and change to Hindi.
In addition to recharge jio number on whatsapp, this facility can be used to raise service complaints via the bot.
That said, users can also see information related to the Covid-19 vaccine in the main menu. You can find nearby vaccination centers by typing in the Pincode of your city. For more information like vaccine eligibility, side-effects, process, and more you can select the “vaccine information” option.
While the company already has My Jio smartphone app for Jio users, the new facility allows users to recharge jio number on whatsapp conveniently. You can get complete details of all the transactions, balance, data expiry, and more.


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Apple’s strongest year in this year’s Global Creativity Report
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has released its annual Global Creativity Report, providing in-depth analysis and rankings from the 2018 awards.
The report shows that one of the most changed rankings is the Top 20 Independent Agencies, where Jung von Matt Hamburg, who failed to rank in the Top 20 last year, knocked Droga5 New York off the top spot. Wieden+Kennedy London returned in 3rd place after being absent since 2015, while Mother London ranked at 5th after a two year absence.
There were an impressive nine newcomers in the Top 20 which included JohnXHannes New York, N=5 Amsterdam, Cummins&Partners Sydney, BBC Creative London, 23 Stories x Condé Nast New York, Eleven San Francisco, King James Group Cape Town, DUDE Milan, and History Will Be Kind Sydney.
“We saw huge engagement from brands this year as they continue to recognise the value of creativity in driving their business and brand reputation,” said Philip Thomas, Chairman, Cannes Lions.
“It’s been interesting to see the shifts in the Top 20 Clients as a result of this, including AB InBev ranking in the top 20 for the first time, McDonald’s climbing up the table to 6th which is their highest held rank to date, and Volvo returning after a one year absence. As clients continue to invest in creativity and drive it through their brand, this is an unfinished story which will shift and evolve over the coming years.”
Mars retained its place as the most awarded client, while Apple Inc. had their strongest year, seeing their first ever placement in the Top 20 Clients, ranking in third with 25 Lions and two Grands Prix, and taking the top spot in the Consumer Electronics rankings.
Brand Experience & Activation Lions Jury President and Global Creative Chairman for McCann Worldgroup, Rob Reilly, commented “Apple for decades was known as somebody who makes magical products. Now I feel they’re making magical experiences, and important experiences”.
MARKETING Magazine is not responsible for the content of external sites.


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The portal company seems finally ready to part with Chinese giant Alibaba, selling their 40 percent stake for an expected $7 billion.
If accurate, the reports say the deal could be announced on Monday.
After taxes, Yahoo will use all of the money to buy back their own stock.
On the other end, Alibaba will then move towards an IPO. Yahoo Japan (which is a separate company) will then sell 25 percent share, leaving the company on its own with the exception of a small 10 percent share owned by Yahoo Japan.
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 May 2012 15:01


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GTA: Farm Edition [Moment via Getty Images]
Grand Theft FarmVille... Instead of rolling in a sleek Zentorno, you're cruising on a goat. Take-Two Interactive agreed to buy mobile-gaming icon Zynga for $12.7B. Zynga makes hit apps like FarmVille, Words With Friends, and CSR Racing. Take-Two is known for computer and console franchises like GTA and NBA 2K — but has started snapping up smartphone games.
Billions in the palm... Wild stat: Consumers now spend more on mobile games than on console and PC games combined. Zynga makes $$ through its in-game buying biz (tokens, etc.), plus its smaller ad biz (accidentally clicked mid-game). The pandemic supercharged scrolly-tappy gaming: In the first quarter of 2021, users spent a record $1.7B per week in mobile games. Also: Children’s screen time soared during the pandemic, and parents and researchers are worried about kids developing gaming addictions.
Mobile can “maxim-eyes”... Maximize users while minimizing costs. We’re spending more time (and money) on our phones. Mobile now accounts for over half of the $180B gaming industry, and is the fastest-growing segment. While social-media games like FarmVille can cost less than $250K to make, GTA 5 cost $265M to develop and market (and took three years to create).


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Knights of Columbus members Liam McManus (standing), Tom Eimers and Bob Ellis (upper right) called Bingo for the annual Turkey Bingo held Fri., Nov. 17 at the Chamberlain Armory.
The Chamber of Commerce, along with area businesses will be hosting a variety of events for the holiday season beginning with the annual Chili Supper Fri., Nov.
The Chamberlain Chamber of Commerce kicks-off the holiday shopping season this weekend with retail promotions to encourage people to shop locally and keep the Chamberlain/Oacoma communities thrivin
Chamberlain Oral Interp presented at the Regional Competition at Arrowwood Resort on Monday, Nov. 13. Qualifying for the State Competition in Aberdeen Dec.
Three local veterans, Ken Anderson, Dennis Gunderson and Tim Thomas were honored and recognized for their service during the Chamberlain High School’s Veterans Day Program Fri., Nov.


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Motorola just announced its first LTE phone for the Verizon network the Droid Bionic. The Bionic is one powerful superphone’ with a 4.3-inch qHD display sporting a resolution of 960×540. The phone has a dual-core processor (Nvidia Tegra 2, perhaps?) and packs in 1GB of RAM. The back of the phone sports an 8MP camera while the front features a VGA camera for all your video calling needs.
The handset also supports 4G, which is up to 10x times faster than 3G. The handset features a mini-HDMI jack so that users can hook the phone on to their HDTV display and enjoy full HD content.
DROID BIONIC is the epitome of speed, providing consumers with instantaneous access to their personal and work content, anytime and anyplace,said Alain Mutricy, senior vice president of portfolio and device product management, Motorola Mobility. By combining such a powerful mobile device with the performance and capabilities of Verizon’s 4G LTE network, we’re empowering consumers to define how they want to live their mobile lifestyles.
The Bionic also has a Mirror Mode’ which allows users to simultaneously stream video to their HDTVs and watch it on their handset. Sadly, the Droid Bionic will run on Android 2.2 Froyo when released. The Motorola Droid Bionic also packs in support for corporate email, remote wipe and data encryption and other security features which corporate users will cherish.
The phone also features the usual Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS and a 3.5mm jack. The phone is powered by a beastly 1930 mAh battery.
The Droid Bionic does look like a very impressive superphone. However, Motorola did not announce the release date or the pricing of the device.


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N-fixing tech gets to the spore of the matter
The creation of technology that fixes nitrogen for crops has been a long-sought goal, and companies are finding success with biological approaches. BioConsortia, an innovator focused on microorganism discovery and modification, has a new approach that offers added benefits for users.
CEO Marcus Meadows-Smith says what has come to market so far are nitrogen-fixing microbes, known from research literature. This differs from what BioConsortia has discovered and is developing for the market. “We have ended up with spore-forming microbes that we have selected that colonize corn, wheat and other non-leguminous crops,” he says. “They colonize the root system, and they fix nitrogen.”
That last part — the spore forming — is what changes the equation for getting these microbes from lab to plant root. The current nitrogen-fixing biological products on the market are available in their live, vegetative state, Meadows-Smith explains. In the spore form, the microbe is dormant in the package and on the seed, making it more stable for commercial use.
In addition, BioConsortia has identified and isolated the microbes. Through gene editing, the company has given the organism a boost in its nitrogen-fixing ability. The aim is to bring to market a product that meets specific targets from the start. This is just one technology the company is working on by using the technique. The firm also is developing microbes for nematode control, fungicide activity and plant biostimulants.
For the nitrogen-fixing technology, BioConsortia has teamed with Mosaic to field-test the tool and look toward commercialization.
“We’re in the crop nutrition business, so why would we be looking at things that use less crop nutrition?” asks Kim Nicholson, vice president of Ag Technology and Innovation, part of the Strategy and Growth group at Mosaic. “Fundamentally, we believe that the world is changing. And how we use all of our nutrients — whether its nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, or any of the other micro and macronutrients — is changing. We want to be part of that change and help educate growers how to use crop nutrition in the most efficient and effective ways.”
She says as a company, Mosaic knows a lot about crop nutrition, which is why the partnership works. “We are experts in crop nutrition. We bring our knowledge of the science and markets to the partnership to round out the skills that BioConsortia brings in microbiology and genetics,” she says.
The aim is to reduce nitrogen use or boost nitrogen-use efficiency, and biological products can help. BioConsortia, with its approach called Advanced Microbial Selection, has worked to evolve microorganisms using genomic selection and, where needed, gene editing. Some “wild type” microorganisms that are spore-focused can fix nitrogen, with gene editing ramping up that ability.
Why spores mater
A gram-negative biological product for fixing nitrogen can be effective, but there are limits, Meadows- Smith notes. It is a living organism in a vegetative state, he explains. That limits shelf-life and how it can be used by farmers.
With a gram-positive, spore-focused approach, the company’s bio-based product can offer a range of benefits:
Longer shelf life. The product being developed is optimized for two-year shelf stability, mixability and handling characteristics. That means it can be marketed through traditional crop protection and fertilizer marketing channels.
“What stood out to us with the BioConsortia team is they were thinking upfront about how to make this practical for the grower,” Nicholson says. “They’re thinking about shelf stability, thinking about ease of use. They’re taking their background and experience and making something that a grower can easily adopt.”
Seed treatment option. The product can be used as a seed treatment with an 18-plus month seed life. It can also be used in low-dose in-furrow or drench treatments.
Multiple uses. The spore-focused approach also makes it available to be used in new ways. “We’ve demonstrated that we can get the spore to be coated on a fertilizer granule,” Meadows-Smith explains. “You can imagine that’s a very harsh environment for a living organism to sit on a fertilizer granule. We’ve demonstrated that they can survive when they’re put in the soil. When that microorganism comes close to a plant root, it will spring back to its vegetative state and colonize the plant to fix nitrogen.”
Given this flexibility, Mosaic can bring the tech to market in different ways. The company could partner with a seed company for a treatment, sell through dealers as an in-furrow treatment, or even coat a fertilizer granule for dry application.
BioConsortia’s business model is focused on identifying useful microorganisms and working toward commercialization. At that stage, the startup partners with established industry firms to bring products to market.
In the field
Testing is underway for the nitrogen -fixing technology. In 2022, the company saw a 3.2% bump in wheat yields and a 6-bushel-per-acre boost to corn yields without changing applied-fertilizer levels. In addition, the company saw, what Meadows-Smith calls, “compelling initial results” in vegetables.
Sarah Reiter, head of business development at BioConsortia, says a few vegetable trials were conducted with the N-fixing tech in 2022. “But what we saw was enough to pique our interest,” she says. “We saw almost a 20% improvement over the reduced fertilizer rate and even over the full fertilizer rate.”
Potatoes had a 9% bump in production; peppers rose nearly 20%; and letuce saw more than an 8% improvement. And there’s one area where they saw improvement that may surprise some farmers: soybeans.
“Soybeans, I think, are really exciting for us and probably a market that a lot of people haven’t really thought their way through because we don’t apply N to this crop generally,” Reiter says. “What we’re seeing though is that in the presence of our microbes, at least in this one study, there was some benefit. Perhaps there is some synergy there.”
That single test showed a 9% boost to soybeans when teamed with rhizobia. Reiter and Meadows-Smith point out this is one study, and they’re looking more thoroughly at that question with field tests in 2023.
For 2023, Bioconsortia and Mosaic will be conducting more than 300 field tests across a range of crops to validate performance. The long-term aim is to achieve a 20% yield increase for row crops like corn or wheat, and a 25% boost for vegetable crops, or displace as much as 30% of applied nitrogen. The target for the new tech would be a 2024 launch if field tests show results.
Learn more about BioConsortia’s technology at bioconsortia.com.
Written by: Willie Vogt for FarmProgress


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It’s coming, folks… closer and closer. That’s right, of course we’re talking about the Evo 3D and the View 4G tablet. Sprint has recently made some website changes, for example: heading to www.sprint.com/evo3d will now bring you to the new “All. Together. Now.” page, which shows off the Evo 3D, View 4G, Kyocera Echo, and Nexus S 4G.
Be sure to hit the link above to check it out for yourself!
Sprint always seems to be coming out with new, semi-cool, carrier-billable services, and today is no exception. The carrier has released “Music Plus”, a new service that runs off of the RealNetworks back end and is available on Android and Blackberry handsets.
The service provides access to singles, albums, ringtones and ringback tones. They all come in DRM-free, and th app also doubles as a media management too, where you can store your playlists and get recommendations on new media. There is also talk that you can save by bundling your tracks when you buy.
Be sure to check it out by scanning the QR code below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Our friends over at BGR got a tip from an inside man at Sprint that cases for the Motorola Xoom are starting to arrive at the retail locations. We’ve certainly heard a lot of talk about the Xoom arriving the Now Network, and adding this little kindling to the fire certainly makes it look like we’ll be getting some official word soon. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted as soon as we have the announcement on price and release date, but in the meantime…it looks likely that Sprint will be bringing us the Honeycomb tablet with WiMax soon.
The above picture is a training promotion for Sprint’s upcoming phones that show a Samsung Replenish. It was originally thought to be a feature phone, but it looks like it will be a “green” Android smartphone according to a couple of Sprint internal pages that have been leaked. The pages also reveal that an official press release will come on April 15 and Sprint will be selling it on May 5th.
The Replenish could be the Samsung portrait Qwerty phone that was leaked a couple of months ago.
Hit the break for shots of the leaked pages
This afternoon at TalkAndroid we received a finalized press release from Brett at the MWW Group For Samsung Mobile. This release discloses information about the pricing and availability of the WiFi-only version of the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab. Earlier this week we reported that Sprint would be dropping the price of the the 3G version to $199, starting April 3rd. Now it looks like we have a Wifi version, free of contract for $349.99.
With-in the following press release you’ll find a link that will point you to a list of retail and online stores that will carry the Galaxy Tab. Hit the break for it all…….
All of you Sprint customers itching for that new Google Voice integration will be happy to know that the service has entered beta status. Android Central received word from a few of the beta testers today who supplied a bit of information about the incoming service. Apparently, you’ll have two options: either using your Sprint number for your Google Voice, or using your Google Voice number for your Sprint number. Both solutions offer their own caveats based on what you want to use it for. Obviously, if you would rather keep your Sprint and Google numbers separate instead of merging, you can do that as well.
Like all betas, this one does come with a few things that haven’t been ironed out quite yet, most noticeably a lack of Sprint support. Customer service calls will go through Google’s own support instead of Sprint’s Customer Service. Considering this a beta test for what is mostly Google’s service, this is probably not a bad thing.
Check out the full e-mail message after the break.
This “Pure Google” device was pretty big new last month, where there was talk of preordering at Best Buy, planned ship dates, and Sprint carrying the phone. Looks like we’ve been let down…for now at least. Best Buy did have the Samsung manufactured Google phone listed as shipping April 6th. That has since changed, and Android Centrals Best Buy sources gives us another story.
This phone is included in the Sprint line up of latest Android devices, along side the HTC Evo 3D. Both phones are still advertised on Best Buys site. It states that the Nexus S 4G can still be preordered via your local store. And the HTC Evo 3D you can opt-in via email to receive notification when this device is available for ordering.
Many of us hope to see this phone at our doorsteps soon. And if you’d like, you can head over to Sprints website and read up on the “Coming Soon” Nexus S 4G to alleviate the shakes from the Android candy being withheld as of late.
[via android central]
Well, folks, we’ve been graced with the opportunity to take an HTC Thunderbolt by Verizon into our arms and cradle it, and we must admit… we just don’t want to let us go. Fortunately for you, we won’t be discussing our phone envy, but rather giving you an in-depth review of the Thunderbolt. We also ran it through some comparisons with Sprint’s HTC Evo, and the result were pretty astounding. Hit the break to check out the video, and let us know what you think in the comments.
With how fast Android has been advancing, anti-Android pundits like to point out that your device will be outdated merely a week or two after you buy it. What does that say about your device in 10 months? Does that make it archaic? The HTC Evo 4g was released to the public on June 4th, 2010. This was in the middle of possibly the most heated stage of the “Android vs iPhone” war. The iPhone 4 was just around the corner, Android was starting to really pick up steam, and the Evo 4G was marked with the typical “iPhone killer” (stupid phrase) even with the expected iPhone 4 coming out just later that month. The device received rave reviews, numerous awards (including a rather prestigious award from Popular Mechanics), and few criticisms. It set the standard for devices with large screens and brought about a new wave in how people view smart phones. Suddenly the standard 3.5 inch screen that the iPhone taught the world was the norm wasn’t as appealing. 4+ inch screens became the new black with the Evo leading the way (Yes, Verizon supporters, the Droid X was released in response to the Evo). Of course, all new technology is amazing when it’s initially released. The shelf life and its use months later, however, are what set the device apart from the pack.


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”The story that is emerging feels like a plot that was initially looking like a thriller and is now transforming into a ghastly horror film”
The Insider, Fleet World magazine.
Progress in the switch-over to the new WLTP international vehicle emissions test might well be characterised by Donald Rumsfeld’s famous quote about “known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns”.
The “known knowns” include the WLTP CO2 figure for most but not all new cars. All WLTP CO2 figures should be known by 31 August 2018, because that is the last date on which new cars can be sold in Europe without WLTP certification. However, it is already a known that some models won’t be tested in time, while others are being temporarily or permanently withdrawn from sale due to the increase in official emissions.
Another “known known” is the fact that interim ‘correlated’ CO2 figures, which were supposed to act as a bridge between the old NEDC emissions standard and WLTP, are turning out to be unexpectedly high, causing problems with choice lists and individual drivers’ BIK liabilities.
The biggest “known unknown” is what the UK government plans to do. Industry bodies hope the Chancellor will use the Autumn Statement in November to provide clarity on future BIK scales that will take account of unexpectedly-high official CO2 emissions figures for many cars.
“Unknown unknowns” are by definition unknowable but it isn’t hard to guess that they could involve the Real Driving Emissions standard and/or Brexit. RDE2 is a whole new plot line in the emissions saga, waiting to take over where WLTP leaves off. Before we go there, though, let’s look at one example of how WLTP is working out in practice.
A WLTP Example
This is how WLTP affects the taxable CO2 emissions of the BMW 120d (manual transmission). As far as we are aware, the 2017 and 2018 models are mechanically identical.
- 2017 model year version (NEDC-tested): 114g/km
- 2018 model year version (WLTP-tested): 150g/km
- 2018 model year version (‘NEDC-correlated’): 124g/km
NEDC is the old emissions test procedure that was abolished in September 2017. The ‘NEDC’-correlated figure is an interim figure, designed to be used for BIK and VED purposes in the UK until April 2020, i.e. to soften the blow of WLTP by giving fleets and manufacturers a lower CO2 figure to work with while they adjust to WLTP. It is calculated using a set formula and applies to cars that don’t have a ‘proper’ NEDC figure because they were launched after NEDC testing ceased.
The large increase (31 per cent) in CO2 from NEDC to WLTP is at the upper end of the expected increases due to WLTP – 20 per cent should be typical for the average car. However, the key figure is the NEDC-correlated output, which is still 9 per cent higher than the ‘proper’ NEDC figure for the 2017 model. The 2018 model therefore moves two bands higher up the company car BIK scale despite being essentially the same vehicle as last year’s car.
To make matters even worse for fleets, these higher-than-expected NEDC-correlated figures come on top of two years of bruising increases in BIK, as I detailed in my recent blog. Unfortunately the government seems to be in no hurry to talk to the industry about this problem, which it clearly didn’t see coming.
It is also fair to say manufacturers have displayed variable levels of readiness for WLTP. While a few published WLTP CO2s well ahead of the upcoming deadline, others have scrambled to cope with the change. Prices of some models have been cut to offset the impact of correlated CO2s on BIK. Other models have been withdrawn temporarily and some may be discontinued permanently if their WLTP figures make them unattractive to fleets.
Company car drivers may have to wait to learn the new CO2 of their preferred replacement. Others face a higher-than-expected BIK liability sooner than they anticipated. From what I’ve seen a lot of fleets are extending leases until they achieve more clarity over cost impacts.
Fleet World magazine’s pseudonymous Insider columnist recently speculated whether manufacturers who lose out during this period will be allowed back on fleets’ supplier lists once we are through WLTP.
Whole Life Costs
WLTP generates higher WLC calculations for the same cars, since the greater official CO2 bump up projected tax costs (including capital allowances where the new WLTP-compliant CO2 crosses the 110g/km threshold).
In the absence of full WLTP data or any clarity from HMRC over tax rates after 2020-21, fleet operators are in limbo when it comes to realigning their WLC benchmarks and communicating these impacts to their company car drivers.
Real Driving Emissions
From next year, the Real Driving Emissions Step 2 (RDE2) standard will come into play alongside WLTP. Although RDE2 won’t be mandatory for all new cars until January 2021, manufacturers have a strong incentive to get diesels RDE2-certified because they will then avoid the 4 per cent diesel BIK surcharge. Compliant cars should start appearing in small numbers in 2019.
RDE2 measures NOx emissions so it won’t affect BIK liabilities apart from the diesel supplement. However, it is not yet clear how employers will identify RDE2-compliant cars. HMRC is advising companies to refer to Certificates of Conformity. These are available from manufacturers but although the UK accepts national certificates for trucks, vans and buses, it currently relies on EC certificates for cars and these will cease to be valid in Britain after we leave the EU next March.
No end in sight
WLTP is turning out to be a far bigger headache than many people anticipated. Clarity on future BIK probably won’t arrive until November, while disruption to vehicle orders and deliveries could last into next year. The question mark around Certificates of Conformity post-Brexit hints at potential “unknown unknowns” lurking in the wings in addition to the known knowns and known unknowns concomitant with exiting the EU next year.
To pick an often-used misquotation from the world of movies: “Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”


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Buy Zimbabwe is set to host the Buy Zimbabwe 10th Anniversary Awards on the 7th of May 2021. The awards celebrate local companies that have promoted the production and consumption of local products and services.
The organisers say the awards recognise remarkable leadership, commitment to excellence, developing best practices and innovative strategies over the past ten years.
“Buy Zimbabwe, will be hosting the 10th Anniversary Awards on the 7th of May 2021 at Rainbow Towers Hotel In Harare.
“The awards seek to celebrate local companies who have contributed and shaped the Zimbabwean economy and are visionaries behind today’s outstanding businesses.
“Winners of the Awards demonstrate resilience and commitment in creating jobs, reducing the import bill and raising the Zimbabwean flag,” said Buy Zimbabwe General Manager Alois Burutsa.
The event will see the launch of the Great Zimbabwe brands campaign under which the organization is calling upon citizens to submit short video clips, WhatsApp audios, text messages or call in highlighting their memories of Great Zimbabwean brands.
According to the organisers, those with interesting stories will stand a chance to win lots of prizes and will be featured on different platforms including television and radio.


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Ano ba talaga, kuya?
That’s what people say when conflicting statements are issued as in the case of the rice situation in our country.
First, the economic managers said rice importation will continue as stopping such will have a more disastrous effect on our economy.
Then came President Rodrigo Duterte who apologized to rice farmers over the weekend who were badly affected because of the Rice Tariffication he signed early this year, allowing the unlimited entry of imported rice to supposedly bring down retail prices.
Rice farmers claim that the move has brought palay prices down, warranting even local government units to shell out funds to buy palay from their farmers in order to keep them afloat.
Losses have been estimated to reach P140 billion because of the mess which Federation of Free Farmers president, Leonardo Montemayor said is “more than 10 times the damage inflicted by Typhoon Yolanda on the agriculture sector in 2013.”
According to FFF, rice accounts for 20 percent of the gross value added of Philippine agriculture. The industry employs 2.1 million farmers. Local farmers supply 90 to 95 percent of the country’s rice requirements.
But not anymore, since more than 240,000 MT tons of rice on a monthly basis has entered the country putting us on top of the list of major importers.
The President also ordered that rice importation just be suspended last Wednesday, clearly stating that he is aware that if palay prices continue to plunge due to rice importation (which did not really bring down domestic prices anyway) there will be unrest when people start going hungry.
However, his economic managers, including Agriculture Sec. William Dar do not believe there was such an order from the president even though the same has been headlined in almost all newspapers.
So ano ba talaga, kuya?
Who is running this country if the president’s public pronouncements is not even taken seriously by his cabinet members?
To curb the effects of such order from the president, the economic managers along with Sec. Dar met with him right after he issued the banning on rice imports to clarify his order – and guess what, they got their way and it made the president look like a fool for not standing by his pronouncements.
Of course it is not surprising since the president has been known to change positions overnight but in this case – after the apology and his cabinet retracting his order, I wonder how many farmers will continue to support him.
Not surprising for Dar, too, to shrug his shoulders on the matter since even with regards to the issue of sugar liberalization that has been oft repeated by the economic managers, he refused to make any stand as he has yet to see the order which I presume must be a written order as he has said he does not believe stories published in media about it.
To appease the farmers probably, Dar said they will implement stricter and more stringent measures for importers. In fairness, this order has already been issued and this has brought the number of rice imports to 85,000 metric tons or about a third of what it has initially allowed in.
Sec. Dominguez, on the other hand, said that the president is looking at all angles but appealed to “give the law a chance to work. Initially, there will be winners and losers. But we will not stop it, we are implementing the law properly.”
Makes me curious to know who are the winners he is talking about for we already know that millions of rice farmers are at the losing end of it.
One thing is certain though, it’s going to be a blue Christmas for our rice farmers and so with the other agriculture sectors that have been hardly hit by the decisions of our economic managers this year alone.
But, not all things are bad this holiday season as in the case of the Panaad garden growers who were given a reprieve to stay until Christmas, giving them enough time to find new homes for their plants by year end.
Answered prayers was what 81-year old Endring Castillo said after Gov. Bong Lacson, through Provincial Administrator, Ray Diaz, allowed them time to vacate the stalls they have been occupying for over two decades.
All’s well that ends well and I just hope that the provincial government will send emissaries like Ray to such situations in order that peaceful solutions will be arrived at instead of sending that Jojo guy who just worsened things due to his callous remarks.
There is hope too that the garden growers may still remain in Panaad, perhaps in another location, and enter through a MOA that will legitimize their presence if they properly organize themselves and work with the provincial government.
For now, a reprieve is a better ending to this story.*
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The 2024 Polestar 2 switches from front- to rear-wheel-drive, a significant change that should completely transform the driving experience. It’s more powerful than the outgoing model, and it offers a longer driving range, yet the price hike isn’t as steep as you might assume.
Pricing for the entry-level, rear-wheel-drive 2 starts at $51,300 including a $1,400 destination charge. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive variant carries a base price of $56,700. In comparison, the 2023 model cost $49,800 with front-wheel-drive and $53,300 with all-wheel-drive. But keep in mind that buyers who select the all-wheel-drive 2 end up paying essentially the same price because the sedan now comes standard with the Pilot Pack, which cost $3,400 in 2023. It adds driving aids such as Pilot Assist technology and a 360-degree camera.
While a handful of subtle design tweaks set the 2024 Polestar 2 apart from the 2023 model, the most important updates are beneath the sheetmetal — and rear-wheel-drive is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The base version of the car gets a new motor rated at 299 horsepower and 361 pound-feet of torque, up from 231 and 243, respectively, in the 2023 model. It takes 5.9 seconds to reach 60 mph from a stop, which is a full second quicker than before, its estimated driving range increases from 270 to 320 miles, and it’s compatible with 205-kilowatt fast charging.
The all-wheel-drive 2 benefits from similar updates. Its dual-motor drivetrain is now rated at 421 horsepower and 546 pound-feet of torque, up from 408 and 487, respectively, in 2023 — more power is hard to argue against, especially when it’s essentially free. If that’s not enough, the optional Performance Pack increases horsepower to 455 while adding Brembo brakes, package-specific forged alloy wheels, Öhlins adjustable dampers, and Swedish Gold accents on the seatbelts. Hitting 60 mph from a stop takes 4.3 seconds (or 4.1 seconds with the Performance Pack), and Polestar estimates that driving range will check in at up to 276 miles, though the EPA hasn’t tested the new 2 yet.
Pricing for the Performance Pack hasn’t been announced, but Polestar slashed the cost of the Plus Pack from $2,400 to $2,200. It bundles equipment like a heat pump that should increase range, a Harman Kardon sound system, a panoramic moonroof, and heated rear seats.
On sale now, the 2024 Polestar 2 will enter production soon, and deliveries are scheduled to start in August 2023. It’s too early to tell what the future holds, but nothing suggests that this is the sedan’s final evolution. Polestar has leveraged its over-the-air software updating system to make numerous improvements since production started. June 2023’s update notably brought in-car YouTube, among other new features.


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The Nike Air Yeezy 1 model that was designed by Kanye West, will go on sale for more than a million dollars.
Kanye West caused a stir on social networks after announcing the cost of the shoes from the Yeezy line that he designed for Nike, the sports shoes will go on sale for a price of more than a million dollars.
Reuters announced the price that the American rapper’s sneakers would have, making it the most expensive sports shoe in history, which has left netizens astonished.
And, the famous rapper Kanye West unveiled the first Nike Air Yeezy, 1 model, during his participation in the celebration of the 2008 Grammy Awards. After the euphoria it caused, it became one of the fashionable footwear.
Kanye West tennis shoes on sale
Because sports shoes became a fashion item, they have now made it known on social networks that the sneakers have been put up for sale by the auction house Sotheby’s, causing a furor among the rapper’s followers.
The sportswear company and the famous rapper joined in that 2008 Grammy ceremony to present the new Nike model, so the auction house pointed out that they could be the most expensive sneakers in history.
The auction house also announced that West shoes will be shown at the Convention Center and Exhibition Hong Kong between 16 and April 21, but the sale will be private.
Kanye West ended his collaboration with Nike in 2013 to partner the Yeezy brand with Adidas. By 2020, the franchise of Kim Kardashian’s still husband generated 1.7 billion dollars in sales, according to Forbes magazine.
Have you been fascinated by the rapper’s tennis shoes?


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Today, 26/12/11,Monday, Ndot has successfully released the free version of Dollarr – a fiverr clone website where micro jobs (services) are offered
People like surfing! They like surfing the internet, surfing the TV, and not the least surfing their phones.
Storming the e-commerce world, social commerce has stepped in as the new but highly successful concept employed in marketing.
we are developing various mobile applications like android apps, iPhone apps, blackberry and windows phone apps.
Our Groupon clone script “NDOT deals” is continuously dominating the market by its unique feature and after sales support.
Ndot Reviews – I am Dominic Xavier from United Kingdom, Sussex. Starting a business is not an easy task for everyone in this competitive world.
“Fiverr “A micro job site hits the market in 2010, since then it is continuously growing bigger.
Why do businesses need social media marketing?
Social media is a more effective medium to reach the target audience.
Simple steps to improve your small business using SEO and Social media.


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Berkshire Partners of Boston, a private investor with a number of data center market services, acquired a majority stake in Teraco, which, according to Bloomberg, is the largest data center provider in South Africa.
Permira, a London-based private investment company that has supported Teraco in 2015, will remain a "significant investor," Teraco said. Permira has been shopping around Teraco at least since the beginning of last year, according to a Bloomberg report, according to which the sale could reach between $ 600 and $ 1 billion. The financial details of the deal with Berkshire have not been revealed.
With the new investor on board, Teraco seeks to double the existing capacity of data centers as it seeks to acquire a growing opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. As in other locations around the world, business in the region is undergoing digital transformation, stimulating demand for data center services, according to a statement by Michail Zekkos, a partner at Permira. Zekkos also cites cloud penetration and the outsourcing market at an early stage as a reason to believe Teraco has strong growth opportunities.
"We believe that Teraco is extremely well positioned to take advantage of the rapid growth of the sub-Saharan information infrastructure infrastructure market, given its highly interconnected ecosystems, well designed facilities and the ability to offer a wide range of deployments," said Berkshire Director, says a statement.
Total power in the Teraco data centers (two in Johannesburg, one in Cape Town and one in Durban) is 30MW, the company said. Jan Hnizdo, Managing Director, said the company's goal is to reach 60MW over the next few years. On the website, the company said it plans to expand the facility in Cape Town and build a new one in Gautheng.
Berkshire's previous investments in the data center industry include acquisition of Abry Partners by the GI Partners in 2011 for collocation and Telx intergraph heavyweight. Since then, they have sold Telx to Digital Realty Trust.
Berkshire's latest deal is her investment in launching Vapor IO at the end of last year's calculations. Berkshire-led V-series financing of Vapor helped the start-up fund to acquire the end-of-data colocation business, which began with the US giant Crown Castle.


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Sunrise Soya Foods expands
By Food in Canada staffBusiness Operations Specialty Foods Sunrise Soya Foods
Canadian tofu manufacturer Sunrise Soya Foods is adding a new facility to meet market appetite for plant-based foods. Sunrise Soya Foods is Canada’s only tofu manufacturer that has distribution nationwide.
The company has manufacturing facilities in Vancouver and Toronto, and the newest production facility will be built in Delta, B.C. The addition marks a significant milestone for both the company and for the Joe family, who founded Sunrise Soya Foods 60 years ago.
Being Canada’s largest tofu producer, Peter Joe, CEO of Sunrise said in a release that the company ” aims to increase public awareness around the health benefits of tofu as a nutritious and versatile ingredient,” and that it takes pride in tofu and the creative ways it can be used in everyday recipes,” states Peter Joe, Chief Executive Officer at Sunrise.
“We own the top product in the market with our Sunrise Extra-Firm Tofu,” states Kala Patel, Vice President of Marketing, “We are proud to be the leading tofu brand in Canada, and this expansion allows us to keep pace with the demand for plant-based foods, which seems to grow more and more each year.”
Sunrise brands included Sunrise, Soyganic and Mandarin. Products can be found across Canada in major grocery chains, natural health food stores, Asian independent supermarkets, produce wholesalers and in regions of the United States.
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New Jersey’s governor says he remains “very much open-minded” about the idea of adding a home grow option to the state’s marijuana law—but he still wants to give the licensed industry more time to mature before implementing that change.
In an interview with New 12 New Jersey on Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) was asked about the state’s ongoing criminalization of home cultivation, especially as others states permit it.
“I’m very much open-minded to this. I would bet—if I were a betting man—that down the road that that’s exactly where this would land,” he said. “I understand, having said that, why wasn’t in our initial regs, because I think there’s a rightful objective to get this industry up on its feet and make sure that the folks who are in this as a matter of commerce are successful and, again, with a huge amount of focus on equity.”
“Social justice is how I got here to begin with, to support it. What we’ve done, by the way, has gone really well. We just haven’t done enough. We’ve just got to do more—get this more proliferated,” he added. “But I think once the industry is up on its feet, and it is getting there…I think at some point [home grow is] a consideration we’ll get back on the table.”
Murphy has been repeatedly pressed on the state’s lack of a home cultivation option, and he’s maintained his openness to the policy before and after New Jersey’s adult-use cannabis market launched last year.
What he hasn’t offered, however, is a concrete sense of what exactly he’d want to see in terms of industry maturation before he’d be willing to seriously engage on the issue administratively or legislatively.
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The marijuana market has continued to evolve in other ways since shops opened. For example, state cannabis regulators started accepting public comment last month on proposed rules to expand the types of edible cannabis products that could be sold at licensed retailers, including beverages, chocolates, baked goods and jams.
Regulators have already waived certain requirements to authorize the sale of additional marijuana edible types.
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) has also looked into adopting new rules that would create a permit to allow “clinically focused” cannabis dispensaries to enter into partnerships with research institutions to carry out cannabis studies using products that they grow or sell to patients.
In terms of promoting social equity, the state recently awarded $12 million in grant money to 48 licensed cannabis operators to help them start and expand their businesses. It’s part of the state’s effort to remove barriers to entry to the legal industry, especially among people from communities disproportionately harmed by the drug war.
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.


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BRITAIN’S biggest dry-cleaning chain revealed yesterday that it is to put the shutters up at more than one in three of its stores this year in a retrenchment that could trigger more than 400 job losses.
Johnson Service Group chief executive Chris Sander said it was planning to shut 109 of its 307 branches, of which 24 are in Scotland, as the business continues a strategic refocus from stand-alone high street locations towards supermarket collection and delivery points.
No regional breakdown was given of which branches will close. Johnson Service has also not disclosed redundancy numbers but, with a typical store employing four, the planned closures could affect more than 400 jobs.
The latest shake-up comes after the group, which also closed more than 100 branches in 2012, said the dry-cleaning business failed to grow sales last year despite several initiatives to reach new customers. By contrast, the bigger textile rental arm, had “performed well,” Johnson said.
The group has established collection and delivery points in office buildings where high numbers of staff are employed, and now also has a presence within 78 Waitrose stores, including two in Scotland. Nearly 50 of these such locations are to be opened early in 2015.
The group, in a pre-close trading update before its results for 2014 are published on 3 March, said dry-cleaning “continues to operate in a difficult high street environment”.
Sander said: “We are commencing a consultation exercise with affected employees and anticipate that branches will close during the first half of the year.
“The remaining 198 better-performing premium branches are in more convenient locations with an infrastructure capable of receiving dry cleaning from various collection and delivery points.”
Most stores set for closure have leases expiring within the next two years, with renewal not seen as financially viable. Johnson said it was also planning to launch an online home collection and delivery service for higher-value or bulky items.
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This article is an Australian Fair Trade & Investment Network Media Release October 21, 2015
“The deal reached by the ALP and the Coalition on the China FTA falls short of the recommendations of the ALP dissenting report for the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties published only two days ago,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Coordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.
“The ALP dissenting report recommended that the Migration Act be amended before the China FTA implementing legislation is passed to require that jobs for Investment FacilitationAgreements (IFAs) be advertised locally, that would raise the minimum rate of pay for temporary migrant workers, that would ensure skilled workers have the relevant license or registration within 60 days, and for improved resources for enforcement to prevent exploitation,” said Dr Ranald.
“The deal falls short of those recommendations. Instead of changes to the Migration Act, the deal involves changes only to the regulations of the Migration Act, but the draft regulations are not yet available for public scrutiny. It is claimed that the regulations will have the force of law, but regulations are much easier to change than legislation. It is not clear that there will be additional resources for enforcement, despite the many current examples of workers on temporary visas being exploited.”
“It is claimed that the regulations will include labour market testing for IFAs, raising the minimum rate of pay for temporary migrant workers to local market rates and ensuring that skilled workers have the relevant license or registration within 90 days, but without the details of the regulations we cannot know if this is the case,” said Dr Ranald
“There are other problems with the China FTA. It was concluded in haste, parts of it are unfinished and there has been no separate study of its impact on the economy as a whole. We remain opposed to the inclusion of investor rights to sue governments over domestic regulations, known as ISDS, the lack of improved regulation of quality and safety standards for imported food and other products, and note that there are no mention of commitments by China or Australia to enforceable workers’ rights and environmental protections similar to those in some other recent agreements. Overall, the agreement is not in the national interest,” said Dr Ranald


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The Euro to US Dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate managed to recover ground this week, as weaker-than-forecast economic data out of the USA increased speculation that the Federal Reserve will choose to delay hiking interest rates until the end of the year.
The Euro to US Dollar Exchange Rate Touched a Weekly High of 1.0839
Due to a lack of market moving economic data releases on Monday, the EUR/USD got the week off to a rather muted start.
The currency pair experienced movement on Tuesday as a report published by Eurostat showed that industrial production across the single currency bloc increased by 1.6% on a year-on-year basis and expanded by 0.8% month-on-month. The Euro found more support after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its growth forecasts for the Eurozone in 2015 from 1.2% to 1.5%. The IMF said that it believes that a weaker Euro and falling oil prices will help boost economic growth in the region.
As the session progressed, the Euro made further gains against the ‘Greenback’ as retails sales data released in the world’s largest economy came in below market expectations. On a monthly basis, sales rose by 0.9% in March, missing economist expectations for a rise of 1%. On a year on year basis, sales increased by 1.3%, missing expectations for a rise of 1.6%. Following the poor data the Euro jumped by more than 1%.
On Wednesday, the Euro dipped lower against the US Dollar after the European Central Bank chose to leave interest rates at the record low level of 0.05% the single currency then pared losses after ECB President Mario Draghi said that the bank expects to fully implement its €1 trillion quantitative easing programme.
‘Our focus will be on the full implementation of our policy measures. There is clear evidence that the policy measures are effective and added that borrowing conditions for firms and households have improved notably,’ said Draghi at his press conference.
On Thursday the Euro moved higher, as the ‘Greenback’ remained under pressure from data released by the Washington based Labour Department, which showed that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased by 12,000. The rise was larger than the 2,000 increase expected by economists.
On Friday, the Euro remained supported as revised data showed that Eurozone consumer price inflation rose by 1.1% last month. Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs rose 1.4% in February, up from an initial estimate of 0.6%.
The ‘Greenback’ meanwhile eased its losses due to a strong US consumer sentiment report. The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index rose to 95.9 this month from 93.0 in March, beating expectations for a reading of 94.0.
Looking ahead to next week the movement of the currency pair’s movement will all depend on concerns over Greece and US data releases. Disappointing data out of the USA will likely increase the speculation that the Federal Reserve will delay hiking interest rates and in turn weigh on the ‘Greenback’.
Flash Eurozone consumer confidence data is released midweek and is expected to show a slight improvement. The index is expected to come in at -2.5, an improvement on the previous figure of -3.7.
Italian data on Wednesday could also influence the exchange rate. Industrial and retail sales data will be published.
On Thursday, German GFK Consumer Confidence data could offer support to the Euro. Economists are expecting confidence to have risen from 10.0 to 10.2.


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Nepal-Bangladesh commerce secretary-level meeting kicks off
Kathmandu, March 3
The fifth Nepal-Bangladesh commerce secretary-level meeting has kicked off in Dhaka from today.
An eight-member team led by Baikuntha Aryal, secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), is participating in the two-day meeting. The meeting will primarily focus on bilateral trade and investment, direct bus service, cargo movement, direct flights, possible waterways connecting the two nations and easing different customs barriers, as per Nabaraj Dhakal, joint secretary at the MoICS.
Among others, Nepal has tabled a proposal to study the feasibility of operating direct bus service between the two countries from Kathmandu to Dhaka. Similarly, connecting the two countries through inland waterways is the other major agenda that Nepal has raised in the meeting. “Discussions are being held to study the feasibility of enhancing connectivity between the two countries through road, air and waterways. Enhanced connectivity between the two nations will promote and ease bilateral trade and investment,” said Dhakal.
Similarly, preliminary discussions regarding the bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement is also taking place at the meeting.
Nepal has been negotiating the preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Bangladesh urging the country to remove an array of duties and charges that it levies over and above basic customs duties on products of export.
The government has also proposed Bangladesh to review the list of Nepali exportable goods for duty free access to Bangladesh. Though Bangladesh has granted duty free access for 108 Nepali products in its market, the list does not include Nepal’s major exportable items.
Bangladesh is one of the major trade partners of Nepal.
In the last fiscal year, Nepal had exported goods worth Rs 1.3 billion to Bangladesh while the country had imported goods worth Rs 4.25 billion. Nepal’s exports to Bangladesh primarily constitute yellow lentils, oil cakes, cardamom (large), wheat, vegetable seeds, handicrafts and pashmina while it imports industrial raw materials, chemicals, fabrics and textiles, jute products, electric and electronic items from Bangladesh.


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HELLO…Here is a wakeup call for all retailers and brands….
While the news media was focused on the downward death spiral of the physical retail sector, it seems Amazon was busy ramping up its roll-out of physical stores, a development that many observers have perceived as merely test-marketing or experimenting.
Not so, says Adam W. Ifshin, a board member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC.org), an industry trade group.
Ifshin says that, based on studies done by ICSC, Amazon is on track to become a gorilla in the bricks-and-mortar retail business with eventually as many as 3,600 physical stores.
“There's only one company in e-commerce that matters and it's Amazon,” says Ifshin. “And what are they doing? They are trying to become Walmart.”


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Kerry continues building express platform
Kerry Logistics is planning to develop a regional express delivery platform in China and across the Asean region to capitalise on a rapidly growing segment of the logistics business, but will do so cautiously.
May 1, 2015
Kerry Logistics is planning to develop a regional express delivery platform in China and across the Asean region to capitalise on a rapidly growing segment of the logistics business, but will do so cautiously. The first step in that direction took place when Kerry secured the first batch of courier licences late last year. The company expects to have the final licences by the end of this year that will cover 14 provinces and 19 cities.
“The situation in China in the courier market is chaotic, unregulated and in a cut throat price war,” Edwardo Erni, Kerry Logistics executive director and managing director of China and North Asia, said at the company’s 2014 results announcement.
The Hong Kong-listed logistics company reported healthy performance for 2014, ending the year with net profit up 10 per cent to HK$976 million (US$125 million) on the back of a six per cent rise in turnover to HK$21,115 million. The company’s integrated logistics segment posted 12 per cent year-on-year growth and the international freight forwarding division grew 11 per cent.
Kerry plans a cautious strategy for the China market, creating pilot projects within the next six months in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. “We are targeting the tier one cities that have the volumes to support a trial run. The first tier cities are where the consumers are spending more. This year will be the reshuffling year of the courier market in China, phasing out the weaker players and the market will further consolidate. When it does, we will be ready to move in a big way.”


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Texas AG Ken Paxton Suing Electric Company Griddy Over Rates
I have been keeping an eye on this wholesale electrical company Griddy based out of Houston. The Attorney General has now gotten involved and things are getting serious.
During the brutal arctic blast two weeks ago, I reported to you about this electrical company called Griddy. They told their customers to cancel their service because their bills would increase significantly. Here's the problem, if they cancel, they can't switch to a new provider til the following week. So it was either freeze in single digit temperatures or pay out the butt.
One customer who normally gets charged around 12 cents a kilowatt was now being charged 900 dollars a kilowatt. Griddy is a wholesale electrical company, you pay what the electric company pays they say. So if the demand is high, your bill is higher. Two weeks ago, the demand was VERY HIGH for electricity. Many customers had to make the difficult decision for what to do with Griddy.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is now coming to help out Griddy customers. He filed a lawsuit against the company this morning for violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. He claims they used "false, misleading, and deceptive advertising and marketing practices."
"Griddy misled Texans and signed them up for services which, in a time of crisis, resulted in individual Texans each losing thousands of dollars," Paxton said. "As Texans struggled to survive this winter storm, Griddy made the suffering even worse as it debited outrageous amounts each day. As the first lawsuit filed by my office to confront the outrageous failure of power companies, I will hold Griddy accountable for their escalation of this winter storm disaster. My office will not allow Texans to be deceived or exploited by unlawful behavior and deceptive business practices."
Griddy is blaming the Public Utility Commission. The company states that it did not profit from raised prices. I'm still trying to figure out how Griddy makes any money with their service. Something seems very sketchy with all of this.


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COMPANY NEWS; Hughes in Venture to Expand Direct TV
By ANDREA ADELSON
Published: March 10, 1995
Hughes Communications Inc. said yesterday that it had teamed up with three prominent Latin American media companies to create a satellite-delivered television service across Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
The $500 million venture, known as Direct TV Latin America, plans to start delivery by November of 144 channels of programming in Spanish and Portuguese to a market estimated at 77 million households. The partners are Hughes Communications, the Cisneros Group of Companies of Venezuela, Brazil's Televisao Abril and Mexico's MVS Multivision.
The project represents the first international expansion of Hughes's Direct TV service, which was begun last year. As part of a move to diversify its business in the face of shrinking military budgets, Hughes has spent $750 million since 1987 developing the technology to create Direct TV.
In the United States, Direct TV has attracted 350,000 customers in its first 9 months. Customers buy a set-top decoder box and satellite dish and pay a $30 monthly fee for an array of news, sports and movie programs in an all-digital feed. The lone manufacturer of the $700, 18-inch home satellite dishes has a backlog of 500,000 orders and is adding a third production line, said Thomas M. Brachen, a spokesman for Direct TV Inc.
The partners are predicting even more rapid acceptance in Latin America, because few homes are wired for conventional cable service, which is delivered through a system of underground conduits. The partnership expects to win 10 million Latin American customers within 7 years, generating $600 million in subscription fees and at least another $600 million in advertising revenue, said Gustavo Cisneros, chairman and chief executive of the Cisneros Group.
At least two rival services are planned in Latin America, said Christopher M. Campana, an analyst covering Latin American companies for Kagan World Media Inc., a television market research company in Carmel, Calif. One includes Mexico's Grupo Televisa, the world's largest Spanish-language television programmer.
Hughes "has chosen some of the most aggressive operators in Latin America, who are strong financial players," Mr. Campana said.
Hughes has a 50 percent stake in the partnership, and Cisneros has 20 percent. The remaining 30 percent is split evenly between Grupo Abril, the parent of Televisao Abril, in Sao Paulo; Mexico City's MVS Multivision, which is a subsidiary of the JV Corporation, and a third American partner whose identity has yet to be disclosed.
Hughes Communications, a subsidiary of the Hughes Electronics unit of the General Motors Corporation, said in a statement that it was developing similar partnerships in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.


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The Dallas-based lender's third foray into the deep subprime ABS market in 2018 arrives as recent Santander DRIVE securitizations are performing well with recently lowered loss expectations from S&P Global Ratings.
The Dallas auto lender might lose as much as one-third of its business if it severs ties with the automaker, raising fresh questions about whether its parent company will buy out shareholders and take full ownership.
The subprime lender could lose a big partner now that Fiat Chrysler has officially announced it will form its own auto finance unit, and the two are negotiating an end to their 6-year-old relationship.
The subprime auto lender paid $2.9 million to Connecticut consumers and a $100,000 fine for miscalculating balances owed on repossessed cars and for charging improper fees. It says the settlement is part of an effort to clean up "legacy issues."


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Supervalu laying off up to 2,500 Albertsons employees
Supervalu Inc. said Wednesday it's laying off as many as 2,500 employees from its Albertsons stores in California and Nevada.
The layoffs will affect 247 Albertsons stores, Eden Prairie-based Supervalu (NYSE: SVU) said in a news release. They will begin the week of June 17 and be completed by the end of the month.
Supervalu said it will lay off between 2,200 and 2,500 employees.
"The change is expected to directly impact a small number of positions at any specific store location," Supervalu said in a news release.
Albertsons is the largest retail chain in Supervalu's family of grocery stores.
"A decision of this nature is never easy, but it is the necessary step for us to take to help improve our business and accelerate our turnaround,” Albertsons President Dan Sanders said in a statement. "Our goal is to more effectively serve the marketplace by scheduling associates more appropriately to serve customers at the times they shop."
Last month, Supervalu said 120 people would lose their jobs as it closes an Ohio distribution center. And in February, the company said it was eliminating 800 jobs form its corporate and regional offices nationwide.
Ed Stych assembles a daily stream of best-in-class information for entrepreneurs and top managers that appear in The Business Journals' national How-To blog.
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By Russ Bellville
Two retired Multnomah County prosecutors have come out against New Approach Oregon's (NAO) marijuana legalization proposal. Norm Frink, former chief deputy district attorney, and Mark McDonnell, former chief of the drug unit, worked with members of NAO at the Legislature to create a legalization plan, but now call the initiative "deeply flawed."
McDonnell cites Washington's legalization as a better model for its inclusion of a stoned driving standard and proscription against home growing. He also prefers just one ounce of possession over NAO's proposed eight ounces. Frink goes further in wanting police to be able to draw the blood of suspected stoned drivers without a warrant.
Why do Frink and McDonnell think legalizing marijuana invents stoned drivers? You'd think they had never successfully prosecuted anyone in Multnomah County for a marijuana DUID in the time they served.
Three hundred thousand Oregonians use marijuana monthly now. Driving stoned is illegal now. How are police catching stoned drivers now? Are we to assume that nobody's ever considered how to catch a stoned driver until 16 years after we passed the medical marijuana law? Why shouldn't cops continue detecting the impairment of stoned drivers the way they have been for decades, with field sobriety tests and officer observation? Even the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration admits that "it is inadvisable to try and predict [impairing] effects based on blood THC concentrations alone."
Frink and McDonnell's opposition to home growing is also ludicrous. Every Oregonian is allowed to brew dozens of gallons of their own beer. It's far cheaper than retail prices with the alcohol taxes attached. Yet somehow, Oregon has a thriving microbrew market that owes some of its success to legal home brewers taking their craft to the masses commercially.
We just have to look at the medical marijuana market to see the truth in this. Any medical marijuana patient is allowed to grow 24 plants and have 24 ounces. Yet, dispensaries popped up as patient numbers rose. Why did those patients seek to spend more money per gram on marijuana than the cost of growing it themselves? Why wouldn't that hold true for recreational consumers?
The fact is growing good marijuana takes dedication and talent. Most recreational consumers will be glad to shop in well-lit, adults-only stores offering a huge variety of products, especially when NAO legalizes marijuana the right way: with a tax on weight, not price, capped at $35 per ounce. Without home grow, all we would be doing is continuing to felonize good Oregonians who are committing no harm to others. Somebody growing four plants at home is not setting up to be the marijuana kingpin of Multnomah County.
Finally, their concern about eight ounces of marijuana at home being too much shows how little they understand about harvesting marijuana. NAO limits home grows to four plants. Even a novice grower should be able to get two ounces per plant. Thus, the eight ounce home limit fairly protects a home grower from accidentally exceeding her possession limit when she harvests.
Frink and McDonnell purposefully omit the fact that outside the home, only one ounce of possession is permitted by NAO, because then you'd realize it's no scarier than the current decriminalization. To consider Washington as the model, when its first open pot shops are closing for lack of inventory and its prices are double or triple the black market price, shows just how out of touch these former prosecutors of cannabis consumers are on the legal marijuana issue.
But at least they recognize "it's a practical reality" that "marijuana legalization is inevitable."
Russ Bellville, of Portland, hosts a cannabis-themed talk radio program.