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- RCEP is expected to be signed by the heads of the 15 member nations when they meet via teleconference on November 15
- Ministers from China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and ASEAN met on November 11 via teleconference for final-stage talks
- India, which withdrew from the talks late last year, will be under a special arrangement that will allow it to join the trade bloc later on
- If passed, RCEP becomes Asia-Pacific’s largest trading bloc, representing about a third of the world’s GDP and population even without India
The much-awaited Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to be signed by the heads of state of the pact’s 15 member nations when they meet via teleconference on November 15.
On November 11, ministers from China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met via teleconference for final-stage talks on the mega regional trade deal.
Missing from the negotiations is India, which withdrew from the talks late last year over concerns about a flood of Chinese goods hurting small businesses in India, and the impact of free agricultural trade on the country’s millions of small-scale farmers.
However, the remaining 15 RCEP members are making a special arrangement to leave the door open for India’s possible return in the future. The RCEP will be closed off from other countries for a certain amount of time after it takes effect, but this policy will not cover India.
If passed, the RCEP will become the Asia-Pacific’s largest trading bloc, representing about a third of the world’s gross domestic product and population even without India.
RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012 at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia with the aim of boosting economic cooperation and market access among the 10 ASEAN countries and their six dialogue partners China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, and New Zealand.
The ASEAN is comprised of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.


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A few months ago, news broke that British-Nigerian actor, Nonso Anozie — one of the most underrated Hollywood performers of Nigerian descent — will be starring alongside Grammy-winning singers, Rihanna and Donald Glover in the upcoming film, Guava Island.
Now, it has been announced that the film will be available to stream on Amazon Prime, following at 8 pm live stream at Coachella on April 13.
You’re all invited to our staycation with @donaldglover and @rihanna. The new #ChildishGambino film #GuavaIsland will be available on Prime Video starting Saturday 4/13 at 12:01am PST. pic.twitter.com/rxXecJEfzp— Amazon Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) April 11, 2019
While there hasn't been any new information divulged about the film since the news broke, an ad recently popped up on Spotify teasing the release date, and now we know exactly where and when we'll be able to watch it.
Shot in Cuba and directed by Hiro Murai (Childish Gambino’s "This Is America"), all we know is that Rihanna will be playing Donald Glover’s love interest; and joining Anozie as the movie’s other non-musically inclined co-star is Black Panther star, Letitia Wright.
We can't wait to see it.

domain: news


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ICYMI, today (Feb. 9) is National Pizza Day!
And while normally these “national” days feels pretty superfluous (who invents them anyway???), it at least gives the opportunity for bragging rights, which three states all claiming to have the best pizza had to do in a giant Twitter war today.
Of course, the only true winner is New York, but Chicago and New Jersey tried to shoot their shot!
It all started when Chicago claimed to be the the “Pizza Capital of the World” on National Pizza Day…
They tagged New Jersey, seemingly as a callback to the state’s declaration last year on National Pizza Day, who had quite the comeback:
While New York came up with its own wood-fired oven BURN:
Of course Governor Cuomo had to jump in:
And New Jersey had to come back with a full powerpoint presentation on the subject:
Anddd the battle continues:
New Jersey and Chicago, please just sit DOWN. We’re not only the #1 city for pizza addicts according to recent studies (which were based on metrics including the amount of pizzerias in each city per 100,000 residents, the average cost of a pizza, Instagram popularity of pizza businesses, and more!), anyone who lives here or has even visited here knows it’s the best.
There’s a reason the New York slice is sacred!
featured image source: Unsplash


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OpenSC launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2019 with fish caught in Antarctic waters and traced on the OpenSC platform served at major New York Times/DV and WWF dinners.
Source: Austral Fisheries, ABC News
Strategic partnership with Austral, the world's largest seafood company
Strategic partnership with Woolworths, Australia's largest grocery retailer
Strategic partnership with Nespresso to give customers the chance to follow their coffee’s journey


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Now you can play even more games on your Amazon Fire TV
The latest update for the Fire TV box from Amazon is live, and it’s got some compelling new features.
The new update modifies the way games interpret the signals from the controller or Fire TV remote, letting you play even more tablet-style games, like the above Sev Zero tower defense game.
The new Fire TV update also gets you Guest Display Mirroring, which will let anyone come on over and use their Fire phone, Fire tablet, or Android device running 4.2 Jelly Bean or higher to display their screen and audio on the big screen. Your friends will be able to do this even if their device isn’t registered to the same account as the Amazon Fire TV, making it super easy and useful.
Finally, you can take your Fire TV with you when you travel and use the device in a different country. Currently only good for US to UK and vice versa, it won’t be long until more countries are onboard.


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An alleged car thief didn’t get very far when the owner of the vehicle tried to stop it from being stolen.
The vehicle owner was reportedly putting air in the tires at the BP gas station, at the corner of 16th Street and Avenue of the Cities in Moline, Illinois, when someone tried to drive away in his car.
When the vehicle owner tried to stop the theft, the car crashed through the front window of the store.
The store and the vehicle sustained heavy damage.
No injuries were reported.


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The three-day expo saw an enthusiastic participation from over 130 national and international exhibitors from 10 exhibiting countries such as China, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Russia and Taiwan to name a few. The event was supported by key associations such as All India Association of Industries (AIAI), Indian Imports Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IICCI), Franchising Association of India and Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA). CBME India witnessed a Korean Pavilion by Korea Federation of Clothing Merchant Federation & a Hong Kong Children Babies Maternity Industries Association (HKCBMIA) Pavilion.
Some of the key exhibitors include Artsana India Pvt Ltd – Chicco, Nobel Hygiene Pvt Ltd, Mitsui & Co. India Pvt. Ltd. – Merries, PUR Thailand, Tiny Twig Apparel Pty Ltd., Softsens Consumer Products Private Limited, NOVATEX GmbH, First Care India Private Limited – BuddsBuddy, Azafran Innovacion Ltd., American Hygienics Corporation, Mother and Babycare Inc. – Little Angel, Indify Ventures - OK Baby & BEABA, Maiden Distributors amongst others, who are showcase trending and innovative products catering to this niche industry.
"The childcare and maternity products market once considered as very niche is set for a big boom. With an increase in disposable income of parents, a change in their consumer habits, increased media exposure, awareness amongst women, online shopping and a renewed focus on child safety and well-being, this high potential industry which has a projected growth rate of over 17% (CAGR) till 2020 is now ready for a major growth spurt that will transform it into a thriving industry. We see the industry making a shift towards a more organised market from a then fragmented one. With structure come innovation and technology that has helped widen the market further," Yogesh Mudras, managing director, UBM India, said.
"Unique initiatives like CBME India play a very important part to provide information and education as well as the inspiration to raise the bar for the children and maternity market. While the baby care and children products are evolving, an even greater potential exists for the maternity products segment that needs to be unraveled," said Mudras.
In its quest to deliver unique and innovative value propositions to exhibitors and visitors alike, this year, CBME India 2019 comprised a number of salient features including power – packed knowledge sessions, seminars, discussion of new trends and various international pavilions to surge into the rapidly expanding and diverse retail sector in India.
The first day of the programme saw presentations and seminars by WGNS, the trend partner for CBME India 2019 that discussed kids fashion trends, toy trends and retail concept. Sessions by industry speakers included topics such as fast fashion impact on the kids wear market and how brands are adopting closed loop recycling to incorporate sustainability?
The last day witnessed a seminar on 'Licensing of Kids Brands – Trends and Thoughts Triggers for Future Growth' and hosted a panel discussion followed by a fashion show - Cool Kids Fashion India in association with Udaan that highlighted premium kids fashion accessories and clothing (age 0-14 years) from both well-known & emerging designers, brands and manufacturers. The topic of discussion for the panel was – ‘Changing Consumer Behaviour – Trends and Opportunities’. The event saw announcement of one of a kind initiative by UBM India – ‘IMP CBM Brands’ a bi-annual programme, which will be a nationwide quest for India’s most preferred brands in the children, baby and maternity products industry, and conferring on them, the exclusive privilege to license the prestigious ÍMP logo for all their marketing engagements, such as online campaigns, hoardings, merchandising, product packaging and advertising.
The expo featured a special licensing pavilion by Lima that fostered the growth and expansion of licensing around the world, raise the level of professionalism for licensing practitioners, and create greater awareness of the benefits of licensing to the Indian business community. The pavilion showcased various licensing opportunities with licensing experts to answer queries related to global brand licensing. (RR)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India
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The High Court of Ireland ruled on Friday that Ireland’s data regulator can resume an investigation that might lead to a ban on Facebook’s transatlantic
A worker testified Friday at a National Labor Relations Board hearing that security guards at an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse in Alabama had keys to a
Authorities claimed a Tesla that was involved in a deadly crash on a motorway in Southern California last week was on Autopilot at the time.
Retail sales in the United States surprisingly stopped in April as the stimulus boost faded, but with record savings and a recovering economy, an increase
It may take weeks for drivers experiencing fuel shortages in regions of the United States’ East and South to see supply levels return to normal.
Big Tech has entered a court battle over visas in order to save the jobs of spouses of foreign staff working in the United States.


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Heath heading for a downturn
SAMUEL Heath & Sons, the maker of upmarket bathroom fittings, was £47,000 off last year's interim pre-tax profit of £595,000 and forecast it will be down on the year.
'It is fashionable to blame the dreadful events of 11 September, but we do not supply trades directly affected by this catastrophe, and have suffered only from the general downturn,' said chairman Sam Heath.
Sales rose nearly 12% to £6.4m. Earnings per share were down 1p to 14.4p but the dividend was held at 5p a share.
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“We prefer to buy any available and affordable resource, but it needs to be competitive. At the same time, BYD also prefers to own some mining operations in Brazil,” Li said at an interview in Sao Paulo.
Latin America has emerged as a hot spot for carmakers seeking to tap metals used in electric vehicles as the industry shifts from fossil fuels.
Stellantis NV and miner Rio Tinto Group are upping their investments in a giant copper deposit in Argentina, while Ford Motor Co. recently closed an agreement with Chile’s lithium producer SQM.
Li is part of a delegation of BYD executives that toured Latin America, including the company’s chairman and founder Wang Chuanfu. In Chile — the nation with the world’s largest reserves of lithium — Wang met President Gabriel Boric to discuss accelerating electrification and developing the local lithium industry.
In Brazil’s northeast, BYD will invest 3 billion reais ($594 million) to build its first electric-car plant outside Asia and plans a research and development center to advance technologies for a flex-fuel hybrid engine. Its Chinese competitor Great Wall Motor Co. plans to start making its first pre-series EV models in the country in May of next year.
“We are gonna build up this plant fast,” said Li. “We need to make sure in the future all cars we sell here are 100% produced here. BYD will become like a Brazilian company.”
(By Leonardo Lara)


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Later this year, all Booking.com listings -- including
alternative accommodations -- will be available on Sabre.
Sabre on Wednesday said it signed an agreement with
Booking.com enabling agencies to access its listing via Sabre Content Services
for Lodging, a technology solution that integrates hotel content from multiple
sources into the GDS.
The solution will launch later this year and will be
available via Sabre APIs, Sabre Red Workspace, GetThere and TripCase.
Booking.com has over 28 million listings., including 5.4
million homes, apartments and unique accommodations.
Ripsy Bandourian, the OTA's senior director of partnerships
and business bookers, said the agreement with Sabre will help expand Booking.com's
reach with agencies.
"Adding the Booking.com portfolio to Sabre's lodging
offering will allow travel buyers to meet the growing demand for alternative
lodging options and deliver even more value to their travelers," said Traci
Mercer, senior vice president of lodging, ground and sea for Sabre Travel


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SEO Consult (http://www.seoconsult.co.uk/), one of the premier search engine optimisation (http://www.seoconsult.co.uk) agencies in the United Kingdom, today comment on the surprising and unexpected update on Google’s PageRank toolbar.
Google Page Rank toolbar updates typically happen four times a year, and is a quarterly revision to help users quickly identify the page rank of the website they are currently viewing. The toolbar reading is a snapshot of current live ranking behaviour happening to the site you are currently viewing, and the toolbar is compatible on popular browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer. Results on the toolbar are measured from 0 to 10, with 10 being an indicator for the most popular web pages and 0 showing poor ranking behaviour.
There were questions as to whether Google would continue to update the Page Rank toolbar as the last update occurred later than usual, yet this earlier update indicates that Google are keeping faith with the technology leading into the New Year.
“It’s certainly surprising that Google have updated the PageRank toolbar earlier than usual, especially as most SEO (http://www.seoconsult.co.uk/) companies close on 31st December,” said Matt Bullas, Managing Director of SEO Consult. “The PageRank toolbar is a handy piece of website optimisation (http://www.seoconsult.co.uk) equipment and can help clients and corporations alike to keep an eye on the current ranking trends of the website they are visiting. SEO Consult have noticed the update early, and always make a point of keeping a keen eye on updates in the industry whenever they occur.”
To find out more about SEO Consult, their free website analysis or any of their other services, please visit our website at SEO Consult (http://www.seoconsult.co.uk/) or call 0845 205 0292.


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Hedge fund managers and market watchers have been saying it for months. Tech stocks are done; it’s time to ditch the pricey momentum names in favor of value stocks. Unfortunately it seems like every time we hear that, the tech sector pauses ever so briefly before taking another leap even higher into the sky. So when will the markets really be ready to say goodbye to high-flying tech stocks?
We might finally be there. Maybe. Perhaps. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Investors unloaded equities last week
Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists Jill Carey Hall and Savita Subramanian said in their “Equity Client Flow Trends” report this week that their firm’s clients were big sellers of stocks last week. The broad-based selling of single stocks followed a week of net buying.
At this year's annual Robin Hood conference, which was held virtually, the founder of the world's largest hedge fund, Ray Dalio, talked about asset bubbles and how investors could detect as well as deal with bubbles in the marketplace. Q1 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more Dalio believes that by studying past market cycles Read More
Institutional clients led the equity sales. Private clients sold stocks for the ninth consecutive week, although last week they recorded the largest sales in about three months. However, hedge funds shifted from selling to buying after four weeks of selling.
Are tech stock sales finally here to stay?
The BAML team said clients sold stocks across all sectors, but the largest net sales were in tech stocks and consumer discretionary. Both sectors have been this year’s biggest winners so far, which suggests the big momentum names could finally be starting to slow down, if the trend holds, of course. Consumer discretionary sales reached the highest level in nearly two years. In fact, sales of discretionary stocks were at the fourth-highest level since BAML started keeping data in 2008.
Although discretionary and tech stocks were the most out of favor in terms of sales last week, the firm said the one sector that was “the most persistently negative” in terms of flow sentiment — based on sales over the last 12 weeks — was energy. The BAML team said institutional clients, private investors and hedge funds were all unloading energy stocks last week. In fact, energy was the only sector the firm’s clients sold throughout all of the third quarter.
All three investor types also sold tech stocks, discretionary stocks and utilities. Industrials was the only sector BAML clients were not broad-based sellers of last week. In fact, the sector recorded inflows in three of the last four weeks, the firm added.
Share purchases slowing, ETF buying continues
Another interesting trend they noted was a meaningful downshift in share buybacks among corporate clients. Going into earnings season, share buybacks plunged to their lowest level in two years. However, repurchase are still up 88% year to date on a year-over-year basis. Buybacks tumbled 22% quarter over quarter in Q3. Despite that plunge, repurchases were still at their second-highest level since the third quarter of 2009.
BAML’s clients were also buying exchange-traded funds last week. Most of that buying was in the healthcare, telecom and communication services sectors. In fact, the firm found that ETF buying in the telecom and communications sectors was at the highest level since January 2017. The sector has recorded inflows among ETFs for the last four weeks, making it the longest buying streak recently.
Last week marked the third consecutive week of buying for equity ETFs, with the highest concentrations in blend ETFs. BAML clients sold growth and value ETFs.
This article originally appeared on ValueWalk Premium


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Mobile user experience solutions developer Zumobi announced a partnership with Microsoft, which will distribute the firm's Zooming User Interface and mobile widget platform via Windows Mobile-based devices. The Zumobi UI originated in Microsoft's IP Ventures program under the ZenZui brand. "Currently shipping on devices from more than 48 device makers with 125 mobile operators in 55 countries, Windows Mobile is one of the most accessible and familiar mobile computing platforms," said Zumobi CEO Eric Hertz in a prepared statement. "This strategic partnership benefits all of our constituencies--consumers, developers, content providers, carriers and advertisers--and enables us to continue building momentum quickly with our audience of techno-culturists and mobile business users."
For more on the Zumobi/Microsoft deal:
-read this release
ZenZui rebrands as Zumobi, details beta rollout


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Paragon Products, Ronnie Neville Sign ‘Ultimate Irish’ Deal
HONG KONG, April 19, 2023
Paragon Products Ltd. announced today that the company has signed an exclusive agreement with Irish pitchman Ronnie Neville for the ongoing promotion of its Ultimate Irish™ line of kitchen products.
First featured in a commercial for the Ultimate Irish Peeler, Neville burst onto the ‘As Seen on TV’ scene in the fall of 2022 and quickly went viral. His charming accent and quirky style even grabbed the attention of Seán William McLoughlin, better known as “Jacksepticeye,” a famous YouTuber with some 29 million followers. McLoughlin dedicated an entire episode of his show – titled “The Greatest Irish Salesman of All Time” – to showcasing Neville’s selling techniques.
“The first weekend we test a commercial, we air on just a few stations and get perhaps a few thousand views online,” said Jordan Pine, Paragon’s creative director and co-founder. “With Ronnie’s commercial, we quickly surpassed 100,000 views and suddenly people everywhere were quoting his clever lines and jokes.”
“I won’t stop until every home in America has an Ultimate Irish product,” Neville said. “They’re the best products in the world!”
The Ultimate Irish™ line of kitchen products currently includes the aforementioned peeler and a unique “prep bowl” for making salads and stir-fry. Paragon’s best-selling Egg Pod™ microwave egg cooker – which recently entered its fourth year as a nationally ranked winner – will also be joining the lineup.
“We are excited about the opportunity this partnership with Ronnie creates,” said Paragon co-founder Bill Quarless, who leads Paragon’s engineering and manufacturing teams. “We have several other great products in development that will soon be ready to join the Ultimate Irish line.”
Paragon Products Ltd. (paragonproducts.com) is a Hong Kong-based company that specializes in creating hit products and winning commercials for the ‘As Seen on TV’ industry. Founded in 2010 by two US military veterans with deep industry expertise, Paragon is behind many well-known TV brands, including the Bell+Howell TacLight™ flashlight, RoboTwist™ electric jar opener and Boom Touch™ portable speaker.


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“Though it is not decided who will go where but prima facie it seems that the commerce and industry minister will go to Washington,” said one official in the know of the details.
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Washington, DC(BlackNews.com) -- Fashion just got a little more mobile!
Local entrepreneur Sharlia Lee's new mobile fashion truck business called "Street Boutique" made its recent debut in the Washington DC area - and with great success! She started out last fall by collaborating with several major festivals. With her presence, local residents got their first taste of chic, affordable fashion on wheels! Leveraging the success of the food truck concept, Lee has created a unique shopping experience for customers without them having to go to a mall or actual storefront.
Lee comments, "I absolutely love fashion, but I wanted to do something different. I thought: 'Why not take fashion to the streets? Literally!' And then I came up with what is now Street Boutique."
Products on the fashion wagon include several coveted designs from Collective Concepts, Street Level, Ark n Co., Naked Zebra and Sugarlips, as well as pieces from up and coming Australian brands Reverse, Madison Square Clothing, D. ra and Numph. Street Boutique offers on-trend merchandise with an incredible shopping experience. Customers who step inside the Street Boutique fashion truck are literally stepping into a mobile closet! With inventory changing every week, customers have so much to choose from.
Available for community events, as well as private parties, Street Boutique offers customers a shopping experience unparalleled to any other! Customers can also shop online via her web site at ShopStreetBoutique.com. Via social media, customers can also be alerted to the company's latest event locations, appearances and merchandise!
For more details, visit: www.shopstreetboutique.com


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Europe's Fashion Crowd Mixed High Fashion and Sportswear for the Final Day of Paris Fashion Week
Everything from Raf Simons to Kappa.
After London, Pitti Uomo, Milan and now Paris, fashion week season is almost over with only New York remaining. Europe’s fashion crowd ended it in style, and brought out some of their best fits for the final day of Paris Fashion Week. As with the rest of the week, attendees were notable for their mixed approach to styling, with pieces from fashion week favorites such as Raf Simons and Vetements sitting alongside more relaxed sportswear brands like Kappa and Nike. There was also some strong streetwear on show, with brands including Supreme and ALYX featuring on a day of shows that included Enfants Riches Déprimés, Paul Smith and Alexander McQueen, before the curtain came down on this season’s Paris Fashion Week with a show from Kenzo.
- CRIS FRAGKOU/HYPEBEAST


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NEWPORT council has defended its position to cut free parking at its car parks after Christmas.
The Argus reported on Monday how the council has decided to axe a two-year-old scheme which allowed shoppers to park in council-owned multi-storey car parks for free for two hours.
Cllr Ken Critchley, cabinet member for infrastructure, told the Argus yesterday that free parking had led to an increase in footfall in Newport’s city centre and said traders asked if they could provide a longer period so people would stay for longer.
But he said that providing this free parking costs almost £1 million a year which he said is “no longer sustainable” at a time when central budgets are facing significant cuts, with a funding gap of around £8 million expected next year.
He said that to continue to offer free parking would adversely impact on other services such as street cleaning, waste collection and road repairs.
Cllr Critchley said the council had tried to offer the best option in difficult financial circumstances and came up with the compromise of a £1 charge for three hours.
He said it hoped this will still encourage people to visit the city centre and stay for longer.
He said this fee, which comes into effect on February 1, was also cheaper than the current cost of staying for three hours and would help pay for the car parks’ maintenance and other services in the city centre.
The council realised it was important to support the city’s retailers and so had offered the five hours’ free parking leading up to Christmas and during the January sales period, which will cost the council around £79,000.
He said somewhere like Cwmbran Shopping was able to balance rental income from traders with free parking but that Newport council did not receive rental income from retailers in Newport and that business rates were set nationally.
He said: “Wedid not feel it was appropriate at this time to ask traders to contribute financially to sustain free parking” – something he said the business improvement district was asked to do in Swansea.
Cllr Critchely said the £1 fee for three hours in Newport will also be lower than other local councils, pointing to Monmouthshire, which charges £1.30, and Rhondda Cynon Taff, where there is a £2.30 fee.


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Back in 2016 WWE reintroduced the official brand extension (better known as the brand split), putting a strict dividing line between the Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live rosters with only minor exceptions. But earlier in the year the split started to deteriorate, mostly when Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair began popping up on both shows to build towards their WrestleMania 35 match. Shortly after the Superstar Shakeup in late April Vince McMahon announced a new rule, the Wild Card Rule, would allow up to four wrestlers to jump from one show to the next on any given week.
However that rule wound up getting broken almost every week, leaving the brand split all but dead. But with SmackDown's move to FOX on the horizon it appears the brand split is making a comeback as Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Melzer reported this week.
Meltzer stated that part of the reason for the Wild Card Rule's elimination is to help each show establish it's own unique identity. The company has already moved forward in that attempt by hiring Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff to be the executive directors of Raw and SmackDown, respectively.
"In their executive roles, Heyman and Bischoff will oversee the creative development of WWE's flagship programming and ensure integration across all platforms and lines of business," WWE stated in a press release when the hirings were announced. "The creation of these roles further establishes WWE's ability to continuously reinvent its global brand while providing two distinct creative processes for its flagship shows."
While Heyman had been working with various wrestlers on their storylines months before the announcement, the news marked the official return of Bischoff to the company's creative team for the first time since the early 2000s.
Based on his previous comments in an interview with Inside the Ropes, Bischoff seems to be a big fan of a strict brand split between the two rosters.
"I think after going through my own experience and having been apart of the WWE's experience, the advice that I have would be to be as disciplined as you can possibly be at keeping the brands distinct," Bischoff said. "If you don't make them feel completely different, it won't work. And part of that is creating stakes, part of that is it's got to feel real, it's got to believable or nobody is going to buy into it.


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The Golden Gate Woman’s Club has scheduled their annual Spring Luncheon and Fashion Show for Tuesday, April 9, 2013, at the Golden Gate Community Center, 4701 Golden Gate Parkway. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and tickets are $10.00 per person.
For reservations, call Vicki at 239-455-1475 by 5:00 p.m. on April 5.
Fashions are from Bonworth and local businesses throughout the community have
donated gifts for the Silent Auction.
The Golden Gate Woman’s Club will celebrate their 50 Year Anniversary in 2015.


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Samsung’s next big event for, Yes, you guessed it right! The Galaxy S9 is now rumored to take place at Barcelona 2018, that’s where the MWC event will take place, the event usually starts from 26th Feb and goes until March 2nd or 4th 2018. So, if these rumors are any true, the next galaxy is almost 3 months away from now.
Other reports suggest that there will be three variant of the Galaxy S9:
- Galaxy S9 Standard variant
- Galaxy S9 Plus variant
- Galaxy S9 Mini variant
The difference between them is obviously going to be their screen sizes, and we hope Samsung use the same high-end panels on the mini option as well. The Plus vari…


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Pandemic lockdowns have cost millions of low-income Americans their jobs, while white-collar types who work from home are flush with cash they can’t spend on dining or travel. Instead, many of them are buying expensive cars.
High-end trucks and sport utility vehicles are flying off dealer lots, but sales of entry-level compact cars and crossovers remain depressed. General Motors Co.’s premium people haulers like the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs saw deliveries rise more than 30% in the fourth quarter, but sales of the more affordable Chevy Equinox crossover sank 22%.
Ford Motor Co. reported Wednesday bigger and more expensive SUVs, such as the Explorer, saw sales soar, while smaller and more affordable models, including the Escape and EcoSport, declined. The company said deliveries of the lower-priced Fiesta and Fusion models continue to “wind down” as it exits sedans, but new Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley has promised budget-minded replacements.
Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus GX midsize SUV, which starts at $53,000 but hasn’t had a full upgrade in a decade, posted big gains in the final months of 2020, and Volkswagen AG luxury brand Porsche had its second best year in the U.S.
“Those who have money are spending big on loaded SUVs and pickup trucks,” said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst for Autotrader, a unit of Cox Automotive. “Those at the other end of the spectrum — many of them younger — have been increasingly frozen out of the new-vehicle market because they have less-than-stellar credit and, with the pandemic, are more apt to have lost their jobs or had their income reduced.”
New-car prices have been climbing for years, as automakers kitted out vehicles with expensive new technology and demand shifted to pricier SUVs and trucks. But plant shutdowns last spring constrained supply, pushing prices to record highs and making discounts scarce. That’s been great for manufacturer and dealer profits, but it’s shutting more Americans out of the market for new vehicles.
Low-paying work in services, where there’s more face-to-face contact with customers, tended to disappear first as economies locked down. And financial markets, where assets are mostly owned by the rich, came roaring back much faster than employment rates. The upshot has been labeled a “K-shaped recovery” as the virus has widened income and wealth gaps across fault lines of class, race and gender.
A similar phenomenon is playing out in the auto market. The average list price of a new car hit $40,000 for the first time in December, according to researcher Cox Automotive. Consumers took on more debt to swallow that: The average amount financed climbed to $35,373 in the fourth quarter, compared with $33,525 a year ago, according to market researcher Edmunds.
“A lot of people are looking for the bells and whistles” in a luxury vehicle, so they want the higher trim, said Andrew Gilleland, group vice president and general manager for Toyota’s Lexus division. “We’ve definitely seen an elevation and I think that’s true across the industry” in luxury cars.
Rock-bottom interest rates also are encouraging consumers to spend more — helping those with better credit scores the most. “There’s been a low-interest-rate environment that’s really supporting spending,” said Arun Kumar, managing director for the automotive and industrial practice at consultant AlixPartners. “Credit availability has been pretty strong as well.”
At the other end of the spectrum, budget-car buyers squeezed out of the market for new vehicles are bidding up prices for used cars. Cox data shows the average used-vehicle listing price hit a record $20,000 this summer and has been climbing ever since.
Carlos Hidalgo, who owns a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep Ram dealership across the bay from San Francisco, says he can feel the economic disparity in the cars he’s moving. He’s sold plenty of the electrified Chrysler Pacifica minivan, which starts at $39,995, and Dodge Hellcat muscle cars retailing for $78,695.
“This is the capital of technology so a lot of these people are working but from home, and they still have money,” he said.
The dealership is moving fewer vehicles geared toward blue-collar buyers, Hidalgo said, including the Jeep Renegade subcompact and Compass compact SUVs — both of which have sticker prices above $20,000. Even before the pandemic, it was getting harder to find budget-priced cars with lower profit margins.
The entry-level Nissan Versa sedan bucked the trend. Sales of the subcompact car — which starts at less than $15,000 — were up 90% in the fourth quarter but down 28% in 2020. It benefited from a shortage of used cars, which nudged some consumers back into the new-car market, said Judy Wheeler, vice-president of sales and regional operations for Nissan’s U.S. unit.
“There’s not a huge amount of used-car inventory out there,” she said. “So customers are coming in that are looking for a vehicle that’s affordable.”


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7 Unreliable Economic Indicators That Move Markets
Published 2:53 pm, Sunday, October 6, 2013
Investors and traders live on weekly and monthly economic reports published by private and public data agencies.
With the government shut down, much of the popular economic data — like the closely followed monthly U.S. jobs report — has been delayed.
But maybe we're better off without some of these reports.
The Bank of England keeps a table of which indicators correspond nicely to observed global growth. Air freight and Suez Canal data are useful, but there are plenty of other indicators out there that are just unreliable or overrated.
We rounded up seven heralded economic indicators that have drawn criticism from the experts. They are the market-moving reports that see huge revisions, use questionable data, or are just flat out misunderstood.
The Baltic Dry Index
This index measures the current cost of sending bulk commodities by ship around the world and often comes to vogue as the best indicator of the stock market or world economy.
Unfortunately, studies show it has almost no correlation with global GDP.
It's also extremely volatile in the short-run. Here's former BI writer Vincent Fernando: "Why do shipping rates seem to jump all over the place? Due to near-term supply of ships versus demand for commodities. It's just a matter of bottleneck problems. If rates go up it can come from either of two things: not enough ships at the time or too much commodities demand at the time. In a situation where ship owners match demand, which over the long run they will, then rates won't skyrocket and will just track their costs plus some margin for their effort."
The Consumer Confidence Index
This monthly survey asks consumers how they feel about current conditions and what they expect for the future.
"This figure measures sentimental rather than actual economic activity," said BlackRock's Russ Koesterich. "As a result, the consumer confidence index is highly volatile, making it an unreliable indicator of economic activity."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly jobs report, which tallies new nonfarm payrolls, is one of the most closely-watched, market-moving economic indicators in the world.
But according to Goldman Sachs economist Jan Hatzius, the report is "statistically insignificant." For one, payrolls are subject to major revisions months and years after the initial numbers come out. The report also comes out three weeks after the "survey week," meaning that there are timelier indicators out there. Because the Fed's monetary policy is so linked the labor market, the jobs report likely gets more attention that warranted, Hatzius notes.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider


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Apple might not realize it, but it’s in the midst of a public relations nightmare. Not just public as in the buyers of your stuff, either. I’m talking about all the world. Developers of applications sold on their platform. Analysts who watch your every move. Journalists covering their steps and missteps. And yes, people lining up to buy an iPhone at the Apple Store.
It’s been a strange time to watch Apple in recent weeks. We had those new iPhones launch in September, along with the new Apple Watches. They certainly raised a ton of money and times were good. But there was bad news: some products became more expensive without getting new features. So Apple followed that by announcing a price increase in some of its services.
Then things got worse. As if trying to chip away at five cents to make another billion dollars in profit, Apple placed new ads on its app store. And all hell broke loose.
ads for everyone
What is this? Gambling ads at the bottom of a listing on a gambling addiction recovery app. How can this possibly go wrong? #Apple #appstore pic.twitter.com/9MQQvDMx8rOctober 26, 2022
Apple putting ads on the App Store isn’t new, but it expanded them in a way that surprised many, apparently including the company itself. By putting ads on app pages, Apple found itself in the middle of a storm. dating app ads appeared alongside marriage counseling apps. Gambling ads appeared on app pages designed to help people kick the habit. It was as if Apple had opened the floodgates, seemingly unaware of the possible repercussions of allowing ads to appear alongside anything, as long as the offer was high enough.
Apple subsequently pulled the plug, at least in some ads. Apple said it was pausing “gaming-related ads and some other categories on App Store product pages.” And that was it.
There are some unpacking issues there, starting with the fact that Apple didn’t see this coming, or worse, didn’t think it mattered. But the real issue is why Apple found itself pushing gambling addicts to addicts in the first place. And it’s the same reason apple music Now it costs more and buying the same ipad-mini today it will cost more than a few weeks ago. It’s about growth.
growth at all costs
Apple, like most companies, is publicly owned. It has shareholders. And while you might think that Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn’t have a boss, you’d be wrong.
The shareholders are their bosses. Each. Unique. A. And they, like Wall Street, demand growth.
It doesn’t matter how well Apple did last quarter or last year. It’s have to do better this year, or has failed. Damned, as the Internet might say. It doesn’t matter if Apple matches the previous year’s numbers to the penny. If he didn’t sell an extra $19 cleaning cloth, Tim Cook isn’t doing his job.
There was a time when Apple could rely on the iPhone to carry the load, of course. Each new iPhone outsold the last, and while estimates suggest that the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max are selling well, the same cannot be said for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. A global economic situation that is on life support isn’t helping either. But you know what does it keep growing?
recent from apple quarterly results (opens in a new tab) it has services accounting for $78 billion by 2022 through September 24. That’s up from $68 billion at the same point in 2021. For the quarter, it grew $1 billion. The previous quarter also experienced growth, although at a decreasing rate compared to some previous ones.
Which brings us to how Apple can increase its revenue. It only releases a new line of iPhones once a year. Same for iPad and Apple Watch lineups. Macs come and go, but each model is updated once a year at best. Mac Pro owners get a new model every time the company gets down to it. In terms of predictable recurring revenue, Apple’s focus appears to be on services. That’s why supposedly spent $2.5 billion to get the broadcast rights to Major League Soccer. And it is said that he is in the driver’s seat for a similar deal with the NFLalso.
So the services are where the money is, good. But we also need to address why Apple’s iPad and iPhone are more expensive than they were a couple of months ago.
We all know that the world is in the midst of a difficult time in terms of finances. Markets are all over the place, currencies are falling in the blink of an eye, and above all, the US dollar is strong. And that is the crux of the matter.
Every time Apple sells an iPhone or iPad in the UK, for example, it has to convert sterling back into dollars. When the dollar is worth so much against the pound, you get less money from each device that is sold. The same goes for other countries and currencies as well.
So what does Apple do? Increase the price of international products to compensate. Makes sense, right? Except there’s one problem: it sucks. And people look at Apple’s balance sheet and Scrooge McDuck’s mountains of money and think “hey, maybe Apple could eat some of that cost.”
And of course it could. But also can not.
By the shareholders. and growth. And the real job of the CEO: to make as much money as possible for those shareholders. Effectively, gifting money to international clients is the opposite of that, so it can’t happen. Even if Tim Cook wanted to, and I don’t think for a minute that he would, he couldn’t. His hands are tied. And the situation is the same with everything that is wrong with Apple right now, including those ads.
sleeping chickens everywhere
now we know why Apple has increased the price of its services, and why your next iPad will cost more than your last one even if it hasn’t changed a bit. But what is the real cost of all that?
We know that Apple likes to think that it is above other companies in many ways. It does so with its environmental initiatives that, while doing good, still manage to be a public relations exercise. It does so with the way it tries to tell us how happy everyone is with their new hardware: “customer satisfaction is off the charts,” as Cook would say. Apple’s reputation matters. And he’s trading it for a few million here, a billion or two there. And it sucks.
Putting ads on the App Store was one thing. Putting them on individual app pages is another. Not thinking about, or worrying about, the ramifications of those ads is another thing, too. But the big problem? The real problem that could cause Apple to start to slide, maybe even so slowly that you don’t notice?
It is losing our trust. And no amount of money can recover that. To earn trust, Apple has to do the right thing for customers. Whether it’s the right thing for shareholders, or not.
and shareholders forever victory.
It may be an extreme example, but we need look no further than the clutter on Meta and Twitter to see how bad things can get when the mantra is “growth at all costs.” target only fired thousands of peopleand Twitter did the same thing after the Elon Musk purchase and did it so randomly that I had to ask some to come back.
Apple might be in a much better state than Meta or Twitter, but the point is firm: growth at all costs can be quite costly at times.


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Quick-turn manufacturer Proto Labs is set to report its second-quarter earnings on Thursday before the market opens. Going into the report, the Wall Street community expects Proto Labs to grow revenues by 18.5% year over year to a record $62.6 million and earn $0.48 per share.
Beyond the headline figures, investors should also familiarize themselves with the underlying drivers of Proto Labs' business to help determine whether the long-term investment thesis remains intact. In total, there are three key areas for investors to watch when Proto Labs reports earnings.
1. Product developers served; prices paidWithout a doubt, Proto Lab's most important lifeline is the number of product developers it serves in a given quarter. As the number of product developers Proto Labs serves grows, so does the company's revenue-generating potential.
Historically, Proto Labs has done an excellent job of growing the number of product developers it serves on a quarterly basis. Most recently, Proto Labs served over 11,000 unique product developers in the first quarter, representing an increase of over 40% year over year. To be clear, though, a large portion of this increase was attributable to Proto Labs' acquisition of its Fineline 3D service, which wasn't part of the business the year prior.
Nonetheless, Proto Labs investors should still key into how many product developers the company served in the second quarter, how it compares to the year before, and average revenue per product developer that the company generated. When this is compared with the company's overall revenue performance for the quarter, investors can get a better sense of what's driving top-line results.
2. European revenueDespite Europe being a pain point for other manufacturers and 3D printing companies, Proto Labs CEO Vicki Holt highlighted during its first-quarter earnings call that it expects growth out of the region this year. This expectation is based on the company's plan to introduce new manufacturing services, including 3D printing, as well as new manufacturing materials into the European market in the latter half of this year.
In other words, investors should revisit this expectation to see if it remains on track and how the company's European segment fared in general.
3. MarginsIn recent quarters, Proto Labs' gross profit margin has been falling on an annual basis. Management has cited a combination of currency headwinds brought on by the strong U.S. dollar and the inclusion of its Fineline 3D printing service, which carries a lower gross margin than its other segments, as reasons for the decline.
Although Proto Labs' gross profit margin remains healthy where it stood at the close of the first quarter, it may become a point of concern if it continues its downward trajectory. This is especially true if the decline was based on factors like pricing pressures or expenses rising significantly faster than revenue growth.
All eyes on ThursdayWhen Proto Labs reports earnings on Thursday, Foolish investors should focus on how the underlying business is performing, rather than how investors react to the news. Come Thursday, be on the lookout for the number of product developers Proto Labs served, how its European operations fared, and whether its gross margin trended lower.
The article Proto Labs Inc. Earnings on Thursday: 3 Things to Watch originally appeared on Fool.com.
Steve Heller owns shares of Proto Labs. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Proto Labs. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2015 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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There were clashes with police as hundreds of angry business owners gathered at the Italian Parliament in Rome on Tuesday to denouce draconian Covid measures.
Restaurateurs, bar landlords, and others wore shackles and chains as they protested against the crippling lockdown measures that are keeping their business’s closed.
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Summit News reports: A number of arrests were made as members of the Italian Business Movement clashed with police.
“We put chains on ourselves because we can’t go ahead and accept this situation. We want to reclaim our jobs and our freedom,” one protester told the media.
Current restrictions mean that bars and restaurants are only allowed to open in the day for takeaway, although some of the protesters are vowing to defy the rules and open at night from tonight.
“We just want to work, we don’t ask for anything else,” chanted the protesters, as others simply chanted “Work!” and “Freedom!”
“We ask for an immediate end to the national lockdown,” said another protester. “We ask for an immediate end to the coloring of different regions. And we ask for the immediate opening, without restrictions for people or times, of all commercial activity. Regardless of the statistics related to the disease.”
Italians will remain under lockdown depending on their region at least until the end of April, with non-essential movement and large Easter get-togethers banned by the government.
Meanwhile, a new poll of Italians conducted by Euromedia Research finds that 70 per cent are tired of the lockdown restrictions and want them to end.
Under 27 per cent of respondents said they don’t want the restrictions to be lifted while almost a third (30.6 per cent) say that they were no longer able to cope psychologically with the situation.
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Google has launched a campaign to pressure Apple to adopt Rich Communications Services (RCS), a protocol used by most mobile industry vendors, but not the iPhone maker.
Android devices communicate with RCS, but Apple devices do not. Apple uses its own iMessage protocol in its Messages app to communicate between iPhones. So when iPhone users want to chat with Android users through Apple’s Messages app, the conversation happens through an older technology.
And Google, unable to convince Apple to treat Android devices better, has made a website Clay. This represents an escalation of RCS lobby at the Google I/O developer conference in May and a Apple-jabbing tweet in June.
“It’s Time for Apple to Fix Texts,” Says the Search Firm Facing Antitrust Complaints That May Be Resolved With mandatory interoperability.
“Texts between iPhones and Android phones use SMS and MMS, outdated systems from the 90s and early 00s,” Google complains. “The result is a poor experience – they don’t support modern text features like end-to-end encryption, high-quality media sharing, read proofs, type indicators and more.”
Coincidentally, it was about a decade ago when Google “[abandoned] open standards for instant messaging” by moving away from XMPP / Jabber.
To make its case, Google cited messages on social media, in the form of tweets and TikTok videos, expressing frustration with Apple’s intransigence. And the ad giant is promoting the #GetTheMessage hashtag to fuel further outrage on social media.
Google maintains that if Apple upgrades from SMS/MMS to RCS, the subpar experience of texting between iPhones and Android phones – made visible with green cross-platform text bubbles instead of blue Apple-only text bubbles – will be improved.
RCS did not originally include E2E encryption, but Google Messages added support in late 2020; Group messages got E2E encryption this year. Apple supports end-to-end (E2E) encryption for its own iMessage-using customersalthough iCloud backups of Messages contain the encryption key (making encryption useless for backup messages).
Conversations between iPhones and Android devices using Apple’s Messages app are not E2E encrypted. Thus, Google has gone so far as to recommend non-affiliated apps like Signal and WhatsApp as alternatives for iPhone users who want to promote more equal communication with the Android world while maintaining some security.
The Register asked Apple for comment and we haven’t heard back, but there is no surprise over there. The last time Apple provided the proof of life in its communications department was on February 25, 2022 to acknowledge and respond to a question, “Can we email off the record?” Despite the acceptance of those conditions, no further response was received. So it’s perhaps not surprising that Google’s prodding has not elicited a response from Fortress Cupertino.
During the antitrust case Epic Games filed against Apple in 2020 – still awaiting a decision from the appeals court – messages exchanged by Apple executives revealed why the company may not be inclined to make iMessage compatible with Android apps.
In a court document [PDF] filed last year prior to the Epic Games v. Apple trial, Epic’s lawyers cited internal Apple communications to argue that Apple uses iMessage to close customers in its iOS ecosystem and described how Apple considered creating an Android version of iMessages.
“In 2016, when a former Apple employee commented that “the #1 hardest [reason] to leave the Apple universe app is iMessage. . . iMessage comes to serious lock-in’ to the Apple ecosystem, [then head of worldwide marketing Phil] Schiller commented that ‘moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us, this email illustrates why,’ the court says. ®
#Google #tells #Apple #fix #text #messages #promote #RCS #protocol #Register


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Eyemouth ice-cream parlour Giocapazzi's has been named Champion of Champions for producing the best flavour in the whole of the UK.
Their chocolate fudge brownie ice-cream took six months to develop.
It has never been sold to the public but judges at the Ice Cream Alliance said it was 'outstanding.'
Giocapazzi's is a family run business which first opened in Eyemouth in 1900.
More top news
Lakelovers, a holiday cottage agency, celebrated 40 years in Cumbria with a plaque unveiling and Fix the Fells fundraiser.
A look ahead at the forecast for the Border region.
Over Langshaw Ice Cream, based in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, is set to expand its business after receiving funding of over £45,000.


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And Austin-based Virtual Arts, the parent company of DanceFight, just struck a deal with reality TV pioneer Bunim-Murray Productions, based in Los Angeles. Together, they have formed a joint venture called Wonderfuel, an entertainment company that will use NFT to create and fund unscripted TV shows.
“This is a moment like never
before where the fans and audience can get involved and be part of the action,”
said Ryan Jordan, Virtual Arts Co-Founder. “We’re excited to be enabling the
shift that distributes more participation and more opportunity to the viewing
NFTs, Web 3.0 and the Metaverse are all hot topics at this year’s SXSW 2022. An NFT is a non-fungible token that can’t be duplicated and is stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, to prove ownership. NFTs can be sold and traded like collectibles. The NFTs can consist of artwork, photos, video and audio.
Wonderfuel plans to roll out
a full slate of shows with NFTs baked into both the funding model and audience
experience to air on both traditional networks and streaming platforms as well
as Web 3.0 platforms, Jordan said.
“NFTs will be minted and
released alongside the shows so that fans can become NFT owners and gain access
to unique rewards, from involvement in creative decisions to sharing in prizes
and unique fan experiences,” according to a news release.
created the hit series The Real World on MTV. Its current series include
Keeping up with the Kardashians, and Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls,
which debuts on Amazon Prime this month.
‘Bunin/Murray Productions has been creating unscripted content for three decades and we value innovation – entertainment consumption is evolving and engaging with the audience has never been more critical to a show’s success,” Julie Pizzi, Bunim/Murray President said in a statement. “The world of NFTs is a thrilling way to put power into the hands of the consumer, creating programming that the audience has a very real stake in, and taking some of the financial burdens off the platforms. It’s an exciting way for unscripted content to converge with the power of tech.”
NFTs are now being extended to poetry, film, comedy, dancers, choreography, Matt Medved, founder of NFT Now, said in a panel at SXSW on Friday morning. NFTs allow people to build a community around their work and directly monetize which is exciting, he said. However, last Sunday, Futurist Amy Webb in her keynote address at SXSW cautioned against investing too much into NFTs. She sees the movement as more of a fad than something that will endure.


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The smart Trick of Computer Classes That Nobody is Discussing in Dutch Harbor AK 99692
Won’t be able to obtain what you’re looking for? Utilize the Interlibrary Loan support to receive resources from other libraries.
by Jamie Littlefield Up-to-date December 01, 2017 Whether you are new towards the computer or merely would like to brush up on your abilities, you can find a cost-free program on line to meet your preferences. Performing through tutorials is a great way to follow computer skills You may use on a daily basis at your house or function.
Where Can I Take Computer Classes in Dutch Harbor, Alaska 99692
Computer Training School in Dutch Harbor Alaska
Dutch Harbor AK - BingNews Search results
This winter, a major oil exploration effort is happening in a familiar place: Prudhoe Bay
Digert said this winter’s 3-D seismic program will guide the next decade of drilling, helping BP squeeze every last drop out of Alaska’s biggest oilfield. According to an annual NOAA Fisheries report ...
Mission to a vanishing sea-ice landscape, Part 2: Ecosystem
Three days out of Dutch Harbor, the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy was coming ... I joined Rolf Gradinger, a marine biologist from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Rolf and his team were taking ...
Alaska tops commercial landings by volume, value
For the 21 st consecutive year Dutch Harbor led the nation as the port with the highest volume of seafood landed, 769 million pounds valued at $173 million. NOAA’s data showed that Alaska Pollock made ...
Alaska ports leads nation in seafood catches, new fishing report shows
Officials said that, for the 21st consecutive year, the Alaska port of Dutch Harbor came in first in the U.S., with the highest amount of seafood landed. There, the final number for 2016 was a whoppin...
Dutch Harbor remains nation’s top port for 21st consecutive year
More than 90 percent of the seafood landed in Dutch Harbor in 2017 was Alaska pollock. (Sarah Hansen, KUCB – Unalaska) For the 21st consecutive year, Dutch Harbor is America’s largest fishing port. Ac...


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Digital Media briefs
Nearly half of all US adults—48%, or 112 million—used the internet for drug information in 2010, according to Manhattan Research, which found that older consumers are now joining their younger counterparts in searching for medical info online. That's more than double the 55 million Americans searching for drug info online in 2005. The research firm said it found that consumers are more likely to discuss the information they glean online with their doctors than they are to act unilaterally on it, and consumers “are considerably more likely to use pharma product and corporate websites for prescription drug information than government websites, pharmacy websites, patient association websites and social media sources.”
A CVS Caremark survey of four decades of medical journal articles on how health information technology and electronic communications may impact adherence found few studies that show how HIT can be used to boost compliance.


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Offers now pouring in for NZ Dairies
No-one wanted to buy New Zealand Dairies for $100 million, but it appears plenty may be keen for a bargain now it is in receivership.
The receivers BDO have received seven offers for the Studholme milk processing factory from a mix of overseas and New Zealand companies.
A decision is expected within a fortnight.
The Herald understands those companies interested include New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, Westland Milk Products and Synlait, who had been in talks with New Zealand Dairies prior to its collapse.
Christchurch-based merchant banker Ocean Partners has also taken an interest in the company's assets.
BDO co-receiver Brian Mayo-Smith said they were going through the sale process, with indicative offers having closed last week.
"Obviously there are quite a few ingredients in the mix before we come to a conclusion."
Mr Mayo-Smith said they had talked to all the interested parties by phone or in person.
"The process is ongoing and we have also been talking to the farmers who supply the factory as they are a key part of the process."
Mr Mayo-Smith said they may also need to contact either the Overseas Investment Office or the Commerce Commission as well, depending on the buyer.
The Russian-owned dairy company collapsed owing suppliers an estimated $30m.
It had been on the market since November 2010, having received funding from Russian Bank VTB Capital, who called in the receivers prior to paying its 37 farmer suppliers for all milk sent to the factory in April, as well as another 15 cents for every kilogram of milk solids produced in the 2011-2012 season. Some farmers are likely to struggle to recover from the lost payments.
A number of local suppliers of services to the factory, as well as their transport operator, are likely to also be out of pocket.
In April, former director Richie Smith, who advised the Russian owners, said the factory would keep processing milk as usual.
New Zealand Dairies has had a chequered past since it was converted from a food processor in 2006, with financial over-runs meaning it cost more than $130m to complete. It does however have the potential to double its output with the infrastructure already in place for a second dryer.
The Timaru Herald


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The Pelham Chapter of the Friends of Sound Shore Medical Center (SSMC) invites the public to celebrate the 17th Anniversary of Accents on Antiques (Accents). The event is scheduled for Thursday, April 19 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at the shop, located at 125 Wolfs Lane in Pelham.
In addition to a live auction and special dealer discounts, the event will feature a check presentation that represents proceeds from last year’s operation of Accents. President and CEO of Sound Shore Medical Center, John R. Spicer, and the Director of Emergency Medicine, Joseph Ponticello, MD, will accept the check on behalf of the Department of Emergency Medicine. As a New York Designated Area Trauma Center as well as Stroke Center, the donation will benefit this vital community resource that records more than 37,000 emergency visits annually.
Opened in 1995, this upscale shop operates for the exclusive benefit of SSMC. The net proceeds from the sale of donated, consigned and dealer merchandise have enhanced many of Sound Shore Medical Center’s services, including their New York State designated Level 3 Neonatal Nursery, Solomon Katz Breast Center, Gladys and Murray Goldstein Cancer Center and Helen and Michael Schaffer Extended Care Center and most recently the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Staffed by 60 dedicated volunteers, this 4,800 square foot retail space houses estate furniture, china, crystal, silver, and jewelry as well as an array of decorative accessories and collectibles. First time and repeat customers, alike, enjoy the breadth of merchandise from the 13 dealers that includes country antiques to mid century modern and everything in between. There truly is something for everyone at Accents!!
For more information about Accents on Antiques: donating, consigning, dealer and volunteer opportunities or to RSVP (by April 16th) for the 17th Anniversary Celebration, please call Rita Borell at 914.365.3205.


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Singer Antara Mitra is all set to release a new Rabindra Sangeet offering, post the success of Aira Gaira from Kalank
The Dangal star is seen sitting by the window seat quietly, wearing a pale blue cap and has his signature spectacles on.
Here are six places you can visit, this summer
Servieres’ sketches capture fleeting moments from the city life
Now that Thanos has snapped his fingers what’s going to happen next? This is the question that has left all the Marvel fans wondering.
The Square by Cafe Coffee Day gives you the experience of exotic brews and the nostalgia of hanging out at the cafes we grew up on
The pan-Indian café chain Café Coffee Day (CCD) decides it’s time Hyderabadi coffee and tea lovers get a taste of its new age, indulgent menu and opens its first The Square, a fine-dine outlet.
Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her 93rd birthday, which this year coincides with Easter Sunday.
As far as Bond thrillers go, Forever And A Day, the 40th official novel in the James Bond Series, is set up like the mother of all Bond escapades
A chat with Ma Faiza, the ‘Mother of Electronica’ in India.
The 37-year-old travelled to New Delhi and Mumbai shortly after her romance with Prince Harry went public as part of her work with the charity World Vision, reports media.
Emirates is introducing seasonal treats to celebrate Easter on board and in select airport lounges worldwide.
Spanish classic "Don Quixote", which remains the most-translated book in the world after the Bible, has inspired a new novel by Man Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie.
A supreme sensibility: Celebrity couturiere Anamika Khanna opens up about her journey in design so far
Celebrated designer Anamika Khanna shares her plans to launch a new menswear line, and open a store
World Heritage Day: How five Indians are preserving their heritage in Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad
Ahead of World Heritage Day, these heritage conservationists and an enthusiast tell us about their sole purpose of preserving and raising awareness about iconic structures.
The beautiful designs we saw are inspired by her travels to Vietnam and more so to the Sa Pa region.
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Last weekend, more than 200 teams from 65 countries came together for the World Robotic Olympiad – digitally, of course – and I was there with Robopolitan. At the streaming event, kids and teens around the globe competed in worldwide competitions. It was really fascinating to see what skills the next generation has already developed with robots and how natural it is for them to use this technology. But what many people don’t know is that the topic of robots is actually not that new. After all, the first company to produce robots was founded back in 1961 and produced welding robots for the automotive industry.
Where there are robots, Jean Olivier must not be absent
Of course, we were there, too. We. By that I mean the show robot Robopolitan and me. Because where digital technology, robots and online magic come together, that’s where we feel at home. And so we were able to plunge into the adventure of showing the young robotics experts something completely new with Robo Magic. It was also a novelty for us. Because enchanting several thousand spectators at a global event around the world via stream is not something we do every day. It was all the more beautiful to see the beaming and fascinated faces on the monitors. It was a great pleasure for us to present our robot show at this big streaming event. And we will gladly continue to enchant the robot developers of the future with technology magic in the years to come. Long live the robo-magic!


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Chinese holding company Tencent announced to its crew that it has officially established an extended reality business division XR, entering the bet on the concept of metaverse and virtual world.
This new division has the task of building a specialized business in the extended reality of Tencent that includes the necessary software and hardware, and will lead this division, which will become part of the Interactive Entertainment Business Group, by Li Chen, CTO of Tencent Games Global.
Sources close to the company stated that the department will have about 300 staff, which is considered a huge number at a time when Tencent seeks to reduce expenses and ease recruitment processes, but the same sources warned that the volume of staffing is still volatile and unstable, as the company will adjust the number of employees. Based on department performance. Read more [China’s Tech Giants are Rushing Into Metaverses].
Investors, entrepreneurs and tech giants around the world have been rushing into the concept of a metaverse world since the early days of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg changing his company’s name to Meta Platforms and dedicating his company’s future to building the metaverse world. Read more [Meta Announces a New Virtual Clothing Store] and [Baidu Will Need 6 Years to Launch its Own Metaverse].
Many companies, from Microsoft to Disney, have announced that they are working on their own metaverse world, in conjunction with the development of other Chinese and American technology companies such as ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, and Apple, for devices and helmets that include extended reality technologies. Read more [The World of Metaphysics Will Be Investable].


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With design as their forte, the products exude class and workmanship, sometimes more than the device that they intend to complement
On the Panasonic Purifier, pull open the front cover and you can see the filters immediately. There’s a composite filter and an activated carbon filter.
The SafeMate by MapmyIndia is one such device. It’s about the size of a matchbox - small enough to be hidden away inside a school bag, pocket or handbag.
Garmin’s wrist-based offering is at the higher end of the spectrum but it truly is a stylish piece of kit.
For most middle-aged readers of books in English here in India, the world of 1950s-1960s Britain is more familiar and more negotiable than that of India of those times or even of today.
Recently , an Indian bank was attacked by hackers, which may have compromised some data, say people with knowledge of the matter.
Android users are indeed spoilt for choice when it comes to apps. But some of the most popular apps may not be good for your smartphone's health.
Apple said users will be able to use the new remote with an accelerometer and gyroscope to play interactive, multi-player games.


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Noel Patterson, a wine distributor in Tucson, Ariz., started keeping bees as a hobby six years ago, with advice and guidance from local apiarists. But two years ago his hobby turned into something a little more: Dos Manos Apiaries, which is comprised of 40 hives.
Patterson’s honey business started through this day job.
“I would bring honey in when I harvested it from my backyard and eventually somebody asked if they could use the honey in their restaurant,” Patterson told the Arizona Daily Star. “This idea evolved that the only way for me to produce enough honey to support a restaurant would be if I started a new hive. But I didn’t have the money to start a new hive, so it grew into this idea of a restaurant paying the cost to start a new hive.”
Local eateries sponsor a hive for $300. The cost pays for equipment and bees and in turn the eateries receive locally sourced honey, which is purchased at an additional cost. According to the Arizona Daily Star, Patterson’s goal is to have a hive for each restaurant.
Even though business is going well so far, Patterson has no immediate plans to quit his day job. “If somebody wanted to pay me a lot of money, then sure,” he told the Arizona Daily Star, “but I’ve never met a rich beekeeper.”


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Nissan Motor Co. Carlos Ghosn fired as chairman on Thursday, limiting the powerful executive's nearly two decades of reign at…
Nissan Motor Co. Carlos Ghosn fired as chairman on Thursday, limiting the powerful executive’s nearly two decades of reign at the Japanese automaker after his arrest for alleged financial irregularities.
During an hour’s meeting, the company’s board was unanimously voted to dismiss Ghosn as chairman and as a representative leader, Nissan said in a statement. It said that its own internal investigation, caused by a whistleblower, found serious irregularity, including underreporting his income and abuse of corporate assets.
It was a fantastic downfall for one of the biggest figures in the automotive industry, a man helping to drive turnarounds on both France’s Renault SA and Nissan, and then managed an alliance between those who sold 1
Nissan said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange that its investigation revealed the abuse of
Renault voted to hold Ghosn to its CEO but appointed interim chief Thierry Bollore as chief executive.
Another Nissan executive, Greg Kelly, was arrested in Japan with suspicions of collaborating in error and will also be dismissed as a representative director, Nissan said.
Ghosn, 64, is suspected of under reporting $ 44.6 million in revenue from 2011 to 2015 according to Tokyo prosecutor.
Nissan’s Board consists of nine members, including Ghosn and Greg Kelly. The seven other board members voted at the meeting, including two members from Nissan and two from Renault.
Ghosn and Kelly will remain on Nissan’s Board for now because the decision will be up to shareholders.
Ghosn is also chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Corp., a smaller Japanese automaker who collaborates with the Renault-Nissan alliance and plans to hold a board meeting next week.
Ghosn has been held since his arrest Monday at a detention center in Tokyo, under the same spartan conditions as other prisoners, Tokyo prosecutor Shin Kukimoto told reporters on Thursday. He gave some details about the matter.
According to Japanese law, suspects may be held for 20 days at any charge without official prosecution. Additional charges may be noted, resulting in longer detentions.
The maximum sentence of conviction for breach of financial and exchange laws is 10 years imprisonment, a fine of 10 million yen ($ 89,000) or both.
A French citizen born in Brazil Ghosn became one of a company’s superstar in Japan when he led Nissan’s resuscitation from close bankruptcy after Renault sent him to help in 1999.
Ghosn served as Nissan’s CEO from 2001 to last year. He became Executive Director of Renault in 2005 and led the two car manufacturers at the same time. In 2016 he also became chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. After Nissan took it into the alliance.
Kelly, 62, joined Nissan, manufacturer of Leaf electric car and Infiniti luxury models, in the US in 1988. He became a board member in 2012. His background is in human resources and alliance management.
Analysts say that the future of Nissan’s alliance with Renault may be at stake, but Nissan’s statement Thursday said the company’s leadership was determined to minimize the impact of Ghosn’s fall on the partnership. Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan and Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault.
“The long-term alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged,” said the Nissan statement in English, emphasizing the alliance rather than the injuries.
The Economy Ministers of Japan and France met in Paris on Thursday to discuss the issue and released a statement saying both sides are required to support the alliance.
Nissan said the board will study setting up a third party to deny board management and compensation at Nissan.
CEO Hiroto Saikawa at a recent news conference on Monday said that too much power had been concentrated in Ghosn, with too little credit to the many others who worked for the company’s success.
Janet Lewis, Managing Director and Chief of Industrial Research in Asia at Macquarie Capital Securities in Tokyo, said in an interview that an adjustment was necessary to give Nissan more statement in the alliance with Renault.  Partnership remains crucial for both companies, she says, in addition to the financial ties, companies share technology and share.
Car manufacturers must be more like roommates than a married couple, “So they need to find a way to share their house and share all their expertise, because it’s very necessary in the new automotive industry, new platform development,” Lewis says.
“They have to find out how they can continue this and still live happily together in the same
Associated Presswriter Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
On Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/yurikageyama/?hl=en


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We first saw Sandisk’s Memory Zone application back in September when they launched it in beta out into the big wide world of the Android Market. 350,000 or so downloads later, they’re ready to end that beta process.
Sandisk let us know that as of Monday, the application will be officially exiting beta. Their last update a few weeks ago brought Facebook integration with it, which allows you to upload [Read More...]
We recently learned that Google was celebrating their 10 billionth app download with some 10-cent sales, but what is pretty interesting is Google took the time to break these downloads down. Did you know that Sunday at 9 p.m. is the most popular download time for applications, or that South Korea is the most app-crazed country?
The Android Market’s 10 billionth app download has been a hot topic this week. We’ve been talking about all the apps that are on sale to celebrate and which developers are reaping the rewards, but we haven’t really had a chance to take a look at how it all happened. Like what’s the most popular type of app? When is the most popular time to [Read More...]
We love Beautiful Widgets. Not only do they provide essential shortcuts on our homescreens, but they look good doing so. It’s because of this that we’re happy that LevelUp Studio announced that the app is the first paid to reach 1 million downloads. To celebrate, they put together an infographic (see it after the break) detailing some of their stats. They have had 121 updates in the Android Market, they have a [Read More...]
While the Android Market is celebrating its 10 billionth download this week, another company is busy enjoying their success. Level Up Studio, the folks behind Beautiful Widgets, is proud to announce that their widget suite is the first paid app in the Android Market to be downloaded one million times.
The road hasn’t been as easy one for Level Up, [Read More...]
The folks over at Gesture Theory have found a pretty significant bug in the Kindle UI that allows users to temporarily download any book in the Kindle store for free. That’s right, full access to paid books for free.
How it Works
When browsing the Kindle store, Amazon wants it to be simple for you to purchase content, utilizing their one-click ordering system. Before you’ve had a chance to finalize your [Read More...]
Have an Xperia Play that is in need of some new games? If so, Sony Ericsson & EA Games has you covered. Now you can get four of the hottest Xperia Play game titles for free.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 Dead Space Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Need for Speed SHIFT
Sony Ericsson & EA Games has been working together to make more and more titles available for Xperia Play users and [Read More...]
On Friday, app marketplace analytics firm Ditimo published their latest findings regarding the download patterns and trends within the digital world’s most popular app markets today. And the findings aren’t particularly positive for Android – at least not when compared to Apple.
Based on the data compiled, of the more than 200,000 applications now available in Google’s Android Market, most have logged a pretty poor download record. Ugly but true, 20% of all free applications [Read More...]


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AIM allocates RM2.5 billion for micro financing this year
Last Update: 07/09/2019
KANGAR, 7 Sept -- Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) has allocated RM2.5 billion for micro financing this year, targeting a total of 400,000 entrepreneurs or “Sahabat AIM” (Friends of AIM) .
Its chairman, Datuk Junaidah Kiting said to date, 342,202 people had registered as Friends of AIM, including 4,600 in Perlis.
“As of last July, a total of RM1.6 billion has been disbursed to assist Friends of AIM, with an increase of about 50,000 members.
“The increase shows that women are keen to increase their household income and that AIM provides opportunities for those in the B40 group get out of poverty," she told the media after a talk program on Developing Women Entrepreneurs, which was held in conjunction with Fiesta Sahabat AIM here, today.
AIM, established in September 1987, offers micro-credit financing scheme to the poor to undertake any skills-based economic activity to supplement their family income.
On today’s program, Junaidah said it was aimed at fostering closer relations among AIM entrepreneurs and giving them an opportunity to introduce and promote their products and businesses.
She said AIM would be introducing new business courses such as "post-natal care", spa massage, beauty and health for free soon and called on more women to register as Friends of AIM.
“We will go to all states and the selection of participants will be made through interviews to see their level of interest and knowledge,” she added.


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TORONTO FASHION WEEK CANCELED
With innovation and style at the forefront TORONTO FASHION WEEK has always been the go to for the Canadian fashionably elite. Unfortunately, it seems that what was once a bi-annual staple for this big northern city, is now just a thing of the past.
The Canadian Press reported today that IMG Canada & IMG Fashion - the two main organizers - are nixing the whole thing, mainly due to a lack of local support.
"We really felt that our Canadian fashion footprint was not generating the local commercial funding that we really required in order for us to continue producing the event to the highest standard that, really, the industry deserves and the designers in Toronto deserve," Catherine Bennett, senior vice-president and managing director of IMG Fashion Events & Properties, told the Canadian Press.
This isn't the first time TFW has lost one of their major sponsors. Earlier this year, World MasterCard dropped out as the event's title sponsor as well, an omen good for no fashion show. What was once a classic is now no more.
But like with any generational tide, an old end brings new beginnings, and with it hopefully a new business plan! Keep your eyes peeled for what are sure to be some of Toronto's favourites like Toronto Men's Fashion Week, Startup Fashion Week, Mississauga Fashion Week, and Canadian Asian Fashion Week.
WHILE YOU'RE HERE, CHECK OUT SOME OF OUR OTHER FEATURES:


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A new report showing that half of the world’s food is wasted each year has been causing a splash in the last week. The report said that between 30% and 50% of the four billion tonnes of food produced around the world each year went to waste, with half the food bought in Europe thrown away.
The report flies in the face of the recent spate of propaganda from the GM industry arguing that we need to increase production to feed the world’s population. However, most of the coverage of the report has focused on the consumer end of the food waste issue, paying little attention to the systemic problems in the distribution policies of the multiples that dominate the food industry.
As the food waste campaign group ‘This is Rubbish’ point out, it is monopoly control over distribution that is the real culprit.
The UK food industry is responsible for generating approx 60 per cent of the 18 – 20 million tones of food wasted in the UK every year (1). On top of that between 25-40% of UK fruit and vegetable crops are rejected before purchase by supermarkets as not conforming to visual standards (2).
The real issue is that there is no compulsory auditing of food waste in industry. Reports are based on data presented voluntarily by retailers themselves and so lack detail and are made on a condition of total secrecy, so the truth remains hidden from the public.
We are glad to say there are no such problems in Organiclea’s production and distribution systems where our zero waste policy ensures that every scrap of edible food finds its way to the table and the rest is put on the compost heap to return next year.
As This is Rubbish say: ‘Regulate the system, not the celery!’
(1) 1. HM Government, (2010) Food 2030, London, p. 54
(2) Staurt, Tristram “Food Waste Facts”, Waste, May 2011. < http://www.tristramstuart.co.uk/FoodWasteFacts.html>
(3) Stuart, Tristram (2009), Waste; Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, (P 25), London: Penguin Group


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Tel：86 0768 6613111
Fax：86 0768 6619394/6619583
Address: Sun Road, Chaoan District, Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province
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The Asian creative packaging event is in bloom in April.
The Eleventh Shanghai international luxury packaging exhibition will be held in Shanghai Exhibition Center on 11-12 April. As Asia's focus on creative packaging, the exhibition will show the latest packaging solutions and sustainable development trends. 200 top packaging suppliers gather with luxury brand decision makers from beauty, wine, fashion, fine food, electronics and many other industries. This year, the theme of "experience the future of luxury packaging" will bring an exciting journey to participants through the rich interactive exhibition area and activities.
Preview of exhibitor's bright spot
The top 200 exhibitors focusing on all kinds of packaging will showcase their packaging technologies, materials and processes, of which 58 are new exhibitors for the first time.


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Ubisoft finally ditching their always-on DRM
Ubisoft has admitted that they are calling time on their notorious always-on digital rights management system for the PC.
Their introduction of the always-on DRM system has been controversial and has had many PC gamers up in arms over the system which at its worst not only forced gamers to be continually connected to the internet while playing Ubisoft titles but also to save their games remotely on Ubisoft's servers rather than on their own computers.
The French publisher/developer has now rolled back on the requirements of the frankly invasive DRM. Their worldwide online games director Stephanie Perlotti said, "We have listened to feedback, and since June last year our policy for all of PC games is that we only require a one-time online activation when you first install the game, and from then you are free to play the game offline."
She continued, "Whenever you want to reach any online service, multiplayer, you will have to be connected, and obviously for online games you will also need to be online to play. But if you want to enjoy Assassins Creed III single player, you will be able to do that without being connected. And you will be able to activate the game on as many machines as you want."
Thanks Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
- Valve's Chet Faliszek has been confirmed as the first developer session for EGX Rezzed 2015
- One area from Zelda Wii U is as big as the entirety of Skyward Sword
- Telltale's new collaboration is with Mojang, on a Minecraft story game
- Franklin voice actor indicates GTA V story DLC is on the way
- Red Dead Redemption, LA Noire and Bully sequels will come when the time is right says Rockstar
- Telltale teases another collaboration with another game developer
- New Company Of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault trailer recognizes the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge
- New Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare trailer focuses on character customization
- Splash Damage's free-to-play shooter Dirty Bomb coming to Steam in the new year


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Feels Nike is sending wrong message by using Kaepernick for Ads campaign
ONE of the top sport sponsoring manufacturing of sport wears, Nike decided to make one of NFL most controversial sportsman, Colin Kaepernick as an ambassador. Kaepernick is the NFL quarterback whose decision to kneel during the national anthem sparked a national controversy in solidarity with protest of multiple police shootings of unarmed black men.
US President, Donald Trump, Tuesday said Nike was sending “a terrible message” with an advertising campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick.
“I think as far as sending a message, I think it’s a terrible message and a message that shouldn’t be sent,” Trump said in an interview with the Daily Caller.
“There’s no reason for it.”
Trump, who has frequently railed against the decision by NFL players to kneel during the anthem, acknowledged in the interview that the company had “certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn’t do.”
Meanwhile, some protesters have been burning their Nike shoes, investors sold shares and some consumers demanded a boycott after the footwear and apparel maker launched an advertising campaign featuring Kaepernick.
But the brand recognition that comes with the campaign may be just what the company wanted, and marketing experts predicted it would ultimately succeed.
While some fans praised Kaepernick and other players who joined him in kneeling as patriotic dissenters, critics led by US President Donald Trump blasted the protesters as ungrateful and disrespectful.
In the immediate backlash against the campaign, announced on Monday, Nike shares fell nearly 4 per cent at one point on Tuesday and closed down 3.2 per cent.
Calls for a boycott fed social media buzz about the campaign. There were 2.7 million mentions of Nike over the previous 24 hours, the social media analysis firm Talkwalker said at midday, an increase of 135 per cent over the previous week.
After his protests, Kaepernick could not find a job for the 2017 season and sued the National Football League, accusing owners of colluding to blackmaill him. He is still without a team.
Nike has sponsored Kaepernick since 2011 and said he will be one of several faces for a campaign marking the 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” slogan.
The ad refers to Kaepernick’s loss of NFL income with the quote: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Some who were offended by the choice posted social media pictures of Nike shoes they had set on fire or socks with the Nike swoosh cut out.


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Vodafone deal sparks doubts
...but takeover receives good reviews from most in the City
Sunday 17 January 1999
"Vodafone will have a market capitalisation bigger than that of BT, it will generate 30 per cent annual earnings growth, and it will be a giant in the industry in terms of its international reach and potential to develop even more markets," said Henderson Crosthwaite analyst Chris Godsmark yesterday.
But a second telecoms analyst working for a US bank argued that the hit to earnings Vodafone will take because the deal was structured as a takeover rather than a merger will be massive.
"Vodafone is buying AirTouch for pounds 37bn," the analyst said. "AirTouch has only pounds 5.5bn in fixed assets. That means writing off pounds 31bn of goodwill over 20 years. I reckon that will dilute pre-tax earnings in the year to March 31, 1999 from about pounds 1.8bn to pounds 300m."
Despite such concerns even the most sceptical analysts gave the deal a thumbs-up. It makes Vodafone the largest mobile phone company in the world. Analysts will this week seek answers from chief executive Christopher Gent and the new company chairman, former AirTouch chief executive Sam Ginn on the company's strategy for Europe and the US.
"Together, they have the second [largest mobile phone operation] in almost every European country, with 20 - 30 per cent of the market," said Andrew Webber, a telecoms analyst at management consultants Arthur D Little.
The task will be to leverage this coverage into more profits. "One way to do it will be to offer Vodafone customers in one country preferential rates when they ring Vodafone customers in another country," said an analyst.
The bigger challenge, however, will be in the US, where mobile phone penetration stands at a relatively static 25 per cent. "If they can change the US business into a fast-growing one," said Godsmark, "that will deliver tremendous value to shareholders."
The rate of growth in mobile phone use worldwide is phenomenal. During the first nine months of 1998 23.2m net additional cellular subscribers signed up in Europe alone, compared with 12.4m in same period of 1997, according to Salomon Smith Barney.
Mobile phones are destined to become the equivalent of hand-held personal computers. When they do, Vodafone will be well positioned to strike deals with media companies seeking to sell information and entertainment services to mobile phone users.
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PlayStation and Xbox hacked by Lizard Squad
Exclusive: Abusers using spyware apps to monitor partners reaches 'epidemic proportions'
Dublin court rules brain-dead pregnant mother's life support can be switched off
Margaret Thatcher 'expressed fears of Asian rising' at Anglo-Irish summit in 1984
The 'Black Museum': After 150 years, public set to see exhibits from police’s grisly crime museum
British actor Idris Elba cannot star as James Bond because he is black, says shock jock Rush Limbaugh
Rozanne Duncan: Ukip expels councillor for 'jaw-dropping' comments made in BBC TV interview
Germany anti-Islam protests: 17,000 march on Dresden against 'Islamification of the West'
Ukip member gets into Christmas spirit with Union Flag plea to Santa 'for our country back'
BBC director Danny Cohen: Rising UK antisemitism makes me feel more uncomfortable than ever
Katie Hopkins speaks out on childhood obesity: 'Parents of fat children should be prosecuted for child cruelty'
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