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Fortune is telling the story of how raw costs are starting to weigh on corporate profit margins. History tells us that eventually the raw costs will be passed on to consumers in the form of either smaller packages or higher prices. Or both.
The commodities crunch is corporate America’s dirty little secret. Even as consumers open their wallets once again and sales volume improves, inflationary pressure is creeping in. It’s hitting companies small and large. And even giant corporations with plenty of heft to negotiate the best possible rates from suppliers are feeling the pinch. Procter & Gamble’s (PG) chief financial officer, Jon Moeller, told us on Squawk Box that the consumer-products giant saw a 160-basis-point impact from higher input costs late last year. For now, P&G has offset that rise with its productivity and cost-saving programs.
That can’t continue indefinitely, of course. Commodities prices continue to skyrocket — last year crude-oil prices were up 17.3%, sugar climbed 25.5%, and wheat rose 49.3% — and eventually will start seriously chomping into corporate profits. (Not that investors have noticed: Thomson Reuters has analysts forecasting a 13.4% climb in corporate profits in 2011.) “Either the revenue picture will start increasing more rapidly over the next few quarters, and that will offset higher costs, or profits will get hit,” says Ashwani Kaul, head of his own investment advisory firm. “Something has to give.”
Don’t sleep on this stuff, you will hear more about it this spring. I’m having a lot of fun riding agriculture commodity stocks and ETFs all year but you know what they say about having too much fun. At a certain point, people, not just companies, are going to feel this.


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Brisbane's CBD streets will soon be home to a new type of takeaway - street food just like you'll find on city street corners around the world.
Thanks to locals Helen Bird and Billerwell Daye, Street Food Australia will hit Brisbane's streets with it's $25,000 modified Sorte Jernhest cargo-bike in what they believe to be an Australian first.
Street Food Australia is a start-up social enterprise dedicated to helping disadvantaged migrants start their own business in the food industry. The idea is to assist disadvantaged migrants start their own businesses within the food industry by helping them to set up a street food bicycle-driven cart, serving food from their native culture.
This stepping-stone micro-industry will allow participants to test their food ideas, capture a following, earn an income, stash the profits and learn all the business basics for graduating into a bigger operation such as a café/restaurant.
The Sorte Jernhest cargo-bikes have the greatest capacity (in weight), the tightest turning circle and are road tested in the food service industry in Europe.
Street Food Australia's bicycle-powered cart was designed and manufactured in Brisbane by a new design firm Pearler.
The fitted bike is a self-sufficient example of sustainability in motion, using solar, 12V & LPG as the only fuels, no mains water, no generators and no power leads required. The food inputs are all sourced from local organic farms (where possible) and the packaging is the best biodegradable examples on the market.
Street Food Australia is working with a quadruple bottom line which targets economic, social, ecological and cultural sustainability. The plan is to expand the number of bikes over the next few years.
The launch was held in the courtyard, foyer and screening room courtesy of the Institute of Modern Art (IMA) at the Judith Wright Centre, Cnr Berwick & Brunswick Sts, Fortitude Valley
There was also built a pop-up street food cookbook bookstore (on a bike) to inspire diners to cook street food recipes at home - kindly sponsored by Scrumptious Reads bookstore.
The crowd lining up for steaming dumplings, 'mini-banh mi', elote (mexican corn), tequila ribs, and more was thick but comforted by the amazing smell of the food cooking.
I tried the $5 ribs and corn combo which tasted amazing.
Check the Street Food Australia website for more information on where the bikes will be positioned.
Disclaimer: Ed+bK paid for this meal

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New Orleans antiques dealer Cindy Galliano.
New Orleans antiques dealer Cindy Galliano. Neenah Ellis
Carnival is rolling in New Orleans, with parades almost every day through Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) on Feb. 20. While Mardi Gras is very much alive in New Orleans, the city is also home to artifacts and treasures from seasons past.
In the antique stores along Magazine Street in the Uptown neighborhood you can find items ranging from a float-rider's mask, ca. 1950, to an array of glass beads from the former Czechoslovakia, once thrown to the crowds in the festivities before Lent.


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Google has announced that 60 eligible black-founded startups across Africa have been selected for the second cohort of Google for Startups Black Founders Fund (BFF) for Africa.
The startups joining the program will receive a total of $4million in funding and support to enable them to scale up their ongoing work.
Each of the selected startups will receive support in the form of a 6 month training programme that includes access to a network of mentors to assist in tackling challenges that are unique to them.
They will also be part of tailored workshops, support networks and community building sessions. The 60 grantees will also get non-dilutive awards of between $50,000 and $100,000 and up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credit.
The grantees, made up of 50% women-led businesses, hail from Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.
They specialise in sectors such as fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, logistics, agtech, education, hospitality and smart cities.
The top five countries with the most startups selected for the program are Nigeria with twenty-three grantees, Kenya with twelve grantees, Rwanda with six grantees, South Africa with five grantees and Uganda with four grantees.
Botswana and Senegal have one selected startup each, Cameroon and Ghana both have three grantees each while Ethiopia has two selected grantees.
“Africa is a diverse continent with massive opportunity but the continent is faced with the challenge of limited diversity in venture capital funding flow.
We hope that the Black Founders Fund program will be able to bridge the gap of disproportionate funding between expat startups over local and black-led companies.”, says Folarin Aiyegbusi, Head of Startup Ecosystem, SSA.
Launched in April 2012, the Google for Startups program has created over 4,600 jobs and raised more than $290M in funding
The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund program will introduce the grantees in Africa to Google’s products, connections, and best practices which will help the founders to level the playing field as they build better products and services that add value to the Africa economy.
“Programs like the Black Founders Fund enhance the African ecosystem – where we currently have gaps in funding and infrastructure.
Google getting involved and throwing its might behind thriving entrepreneurs in Africa is a beautiful thing, and I am very happy that Google has continued the Black Founders Fund in Africa initiative in 2022.” says Abimbola Adebakin , CEO, MyMedicines and alumni of the 2021 BFF program.
Funding for the Google for Startup Black Founders Fund will be distributed through Google’s implementation partner, CcHUB.
“The equity-free cash assistance to startups will enable them to take care of immediate needs such as paying staff, funding inventory, and maintaining software licences is to help the grantees buffer the cost of taking on debt in the early stages of their business as many of them do not have steady revenue streams yet”, Aiyegbusi concludes.
Funding Black founders in Africa fuels generational and systemic change. The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund for Africa program reinforces Google’s commitment to empowering entrepreneurs and startups in the region as a vital prerequisite to driving employment and growth on the continent.
Below is the list of the 60 startups that were selected for the second cohort of the Black Founders Fund in Africa.
- Botswana: Brastorne, PesaChoice
- Cameroon: Bee, COVA, Healthlane
- Ethiopia: Garri Logistics, ZayRide
- Ghana: Built, KUDIGO, Zuberi
- Kenya: Ajua, BuuPass, DohYangu, FlexPay, Keep IT Cool, Leja, Solutech, Synnefa, TIBU Health, TopUp Mama, Zanifu, Zuri Health
- Nigeria: Awabah, Bookings Africa, Clafiya, Eden Life, Estate Intel, Flex Finance, Gamr, Haul 247, Heathtracka, HerVest, Kyshi, LifeBank, Norebase, OneHealth, Pivo, QShop, Scrapays Inc, Shiip, Spleet, Stears, TERAWORK, Topset Education, Wellahealth
- Rwanda: BAG Innovation, Bailport, Exuus, Kapsule, Pindo
- Senegal: Cauri Money
- South Africa: Agrikool, CreditAIs, Mapha, Rekisa
- Uganda: ClinicPesa, Easy Matatu, Eversend, Xente
Don’t miss important articles during the week. Subscribe to techbuild.africa weekly digest for updates


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As per the latest reports, Tesla has shared details around the deliveries of the electric vehicles that it has achieved in the second quarter of 2021. The largest electric car manufacturing company in the entire world has revealed that it has delivered 201,250 in the second quarter of 2021.
According to Tesla, the sales it has achieved in the second quarter of 2021 are less than what was expected for the particular quarter. The analysts at Tesla had predicted that the company would be able to deliver 201,820 vehicles in the second quarter of 2021.
However, things did not turn out the way the analysts had predicted. However, the company has still managed to deliver vehicles close to the predicted figure. The estimation that the company analysts had set for the deliveries was between 190k and 231k. After revealing the sales figures achieved in the second quarter of 2021, Tesla has managed to gain an increase in its share prices.
As of Friday, July 2, 2021, the share prices of Tesla have increased by 1.5%. This is something that has proven to be very promising for Tesla as the company is currently facing many problems.
The company is currently under the radar of the countries with the largest economy as well as the electric vehicle markets. The United States and China are both currently running their investigations over Tesla’s software for autonomous vehicles.
In recent months, Tesla has been heavily criticized by the regulatory authorities as well as many EV enthusiasts over its auto-pilot feature. Initially, Tesla was criticized for testing the autonomous software directly through the vehicles of the customers.
After that, Tesla came under a lot of pressure due to its handling of Bitcoin (BTC), which itself has become a very hot and sensitive topic. Then the company faced another problem in China, where the vehicles would automatically end up activating cruise control mode.
The cruise control mode would start increasing the speed of the car making it almost unbearable to drive. This is the reason why the company had to recall more than 200,000 vehicles for fixing the software on all of them.
Ever since the beginning of 2021, Tesla’s share prices have experienced a significant dip and it has been struggling to make a comeback since then. Despite hitting all the records for EV car manufacturers in a week or a month, Tesla has still experienced a dip in its stock prices.
Even though many speculations were made against Tesla’s price drip, it has still managed to gain in on its stock prices. Even the company’s recent recall has helped it gin on its stock prices.


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The residential and commercial segments will drive the Chinese LED lighting market to a CAGR of 24%, far outpacing the 5.6% CAGR for the broader lighting market. A report published by Lux Research says China’s LED lighting market will more than double to $7.4 billion in 2017 from $3.1 billion, as ongoing urbanization, local energy savings targets and price cuts make the technology more appealing. As a result, LED lighting will grow its share of the lighting market from 9.6% to 18%.The residential segment shows fastest growth. The Chinese residential LED market will grow from $23 million in 2013 to $310 million in 2017, a CAGR of 92%, the highest among five market segments, as average prices fall from $6.02 per fixture in ‘13 to $3.13 in ‘17.


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On a hot day in Washington, D.C., a federal agency issued 11 pages of new regulations on Christmas lights and other holiday decorations, calling certain products “a substantial product hazard.”
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission … is issuing a final rule to specify that seasonal and decorative lighting products that do not contain any one of three readily observable characteristics (minimum wire size, sufficient strain relief or overcurrent protection), as addressed in a voluntary standard, are deemed a substantial product hazard under the Consumer Product Safety Act,” the Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Monday in its new rule.
A voluntary standard, which created safety guidelines for companies that manufacture Christmas lights, was created by Underwriters Laboratories in the 1990s. Underwriters Laboratories is a non-governmental party that provides safety-related guidance to a wide range of industries.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has now taken those standards and imposed them as official, enforceable regulations.
Products found in violation of any of the imposed safety characteristics can now be stopped at ports or otherwise prevented from distribution without testing.
If Christmas lights are not made in accordance with these standards, the agency said consumers can be “seriously injured or killed by electrical shocks or fires.”
In its justification, the Consumer Product Safety Commission cited 258 deaths that have occurred as a result of dangerous holiday lights since 1980.
The vast majority of those deaths occurred before 1994, prior to when Underwriters Laboratories issued its voluntary standard for the industry.
Since the voluntary standard was put into place, that number has sharply declined.
In 2014, no deaths were attributed to being caused by Christmas lights. In 2015, the agency cited one death caused by holiday decorations.
Critics argued the rule “represents government waste, government overreach, or would result in a ‘waste of money,’” but the commission disagreed, citing its mission to protect consumers from “unreasonable” risks of injury or death.
“This allows us to leverage private sector success by giving our border inspectors a screening tool to keep out the tiny fraction of products that don’t comply, preventing injuries and deaths that the voluntary standard has shown are entirely preventable,” Joe Mohorovic, a commissioner at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, told The Daily Signal.
Diane Katz, a research fellow in regulatory policy at The Heritage Foundation, disagrees.
“This is regulating for the convenience and power of regulators—not for public safety.”
The rule takes effect on June 3.


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LINCOLN — Make-A-Wish Nebraska has partnered with a Florida-based health services company to raise funds to grant wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.
The company will donate 50 cents to Make-A-Wish Nebraska each time a prescription is discounted using company's free discount card.
The program began last month and will continue until Oct. 25, 2014. Make-A-Wish Nebraska is the third chapter nationally chosen to participate.
Brigette Young, president of Make-A-Wish Nebraska, said if the pilot programs are successful, the program could be expanded to all Make-A-Wish chapters.
Sam Mattingly, head of public relations for Watertree Health, said the cards provide discounts on brand name and generic drugs at participating chain and independent pharmacies.
Preactivated cards can be downloaded at watertreehealthcard.com/wishne or requested from a participating pharmacy.


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The group of concerned Marshfield residents aiming to ban plastic bags in town, led by Jeanne Ryer, Carol Robinson and Gail Salvetti, continue to seek input from town boards, meeting with the Board of Public Works Monday night.
Robinson said the most pressing issues with the potential ban for the Board of Public Works were plastic bags getting caught in storm drains, littered in public places, beaches and waterways and contributing to the overall volume of solid waste in town.
“The intent is to reduce the deterioration of the environment and the potential health risks by eliminating the use of thin plastic carry out bags at the point of sale,” said Robinson.
After meeting with the Board of Health last month, the group amended its bylaw to include all retail establishments, not just those over a certain size, at that board’s suggestion.
The thin plastic bags targeted by the ban are not compostable or biodegradable and are not accepted by Marshfield’s recycling program. Paper bags that are at least 40 percent recycled content would be acceptable under the bylaw.
Board of Public Works member John Cusick suggested there might be business implications, with shoppers opting to go a little further to the Stop & Shop in Pembroke rather than the Roche Bros., also on Route 139, because the former store would provide plastic bags.
Ryer said that while that is a valid concern, studies have shown that customer store choice has not been broadly affected.
Resident Pam Keith expressed her lack of support for the ban, saying that she researched the topic after shopping at large stores in Plymouth like Walmart, where a ban is in effect, and seeing the high number of paper bags being used instead.
“It’s a very complex issue,” she said. “We’ve heard it for years that plastic bags are bad, so the minute you hear someone wants to ban them, you think you have to get on board with that. When you read, even green sites will agree that paper bags are worse for the environment.”
BPW Chairman John Vallier said public hearings on the issue should be held in the future to hear all sides.
The group is waiting to have a meeting scheduled with selectmen and aims to have their bylaw proposal before voters on the spring Town Meeting warrant.
Follow James Kukstis on Twitter at @MarinerJamesK.


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Hedi Slimane is known for doing things his own way. Fresh off his women’s Fall 2023 collection for Celine in December – which is extremely early on the fashion week calendar – the Creative Director is now shaking things up for menswear.
Fashionably late and three weeks after the European men’s show round-up, Slimane will be revealing his men’s collection for Celine on February 10 which is scheduled to take place at the famed Paris nightclub, Le Palace.
Originally built as a theatre dance hall in the 17th century, the legendary location holds a special place in the designer’s upbringing. Slimane would spend most nights during his youth at Le Palace (including his 50th surprise birthday party), and it even triggered his future as a couturier.
Over the years, Le Palace was one of the first nightlife venues that welcomed a plethora of renowned personalities including Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger and many more. For the upcoming men’s show, we can’t wait to see who’ll be sitting front row. Stay tuned.


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Told ya’ higher interest rates would lead to more Canadian real estate inventory. Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) data shows existing-home sales dropped sharply in May. At the same time inventory has been climbing as more owners cash out some of those record gains. Falling sales and higher inventory has driven the market into balanced territory already. However, with more rate hikes in the picture, demand may ease even further.
Canadian Real Estate Sales Fell 8.6%, Back To Pre-Pandemic Levels
Canadian real estate sales have fallen sharply over the past few months. Seasonally adjusted sales dropped to 42,649 units in May, down 8.6% from the previous month. Unadjusted sales were down 21.7% from the same month last year. Canadian home sales are now at pre-pandemic levels and just above the 10-year average.
Canadian Real Estate Is Seeing Fewer Sales, But Much More Inventory
New listings for Canadian homes are hitting the market at a much higher pace, as more people cash in some gains. Seasonally adjusted new listings hit 74,145 in May, up 4.5% from a month before. The unadjusted units came in 6.3% higher, a substantial climb as demand (at these prices) drops. You know how people won’t sell their home when it’s rising $50,000 per month? The opposite trend is starting to emerge.
Canada’s Real Estate Market Is Now Balanced, and May Loosen Further
Falling sales and rising inventory helped to restore balance to the market. The seasonally adjusted sales to new listings ratio (SNLR) fell to 57.5% in May, down 8.2 points from the prior month. The unadjusted SNLR fell 2.1 points from the same time last year, so conditions are easing by all measures. A ratio at this level implies Canada is now a balanced market, believe it or not. That was fast.
What does this mean? The SNLR is used by the real estate industry to measure relative demand for inventory. When the ratio is between 40% and 60%, real estate markets are balanced. Above 60% and the market is a sellers’ market — low inventory and higher prices appear. Below 40% is a buyers’ market where prices fall and inventory becomes plentiful.
At the national level the market is now balanced, but the trend is stacked towards slower sales. Toronto and Vancouver tend to lead the market, and they’ve already begun to see the ratio fall even lower. Most of the falling demand is likely investors, who saw their share of the market surge as rates fell. As rates rise, they’re getting the exuberance knocked out of them, helping to restore balance.


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The Indian government has announced plans to push the processing and export of the jackfruit as a priority, with plans to start the first jackfruit processing plant to begin operations at Mala in Thrissur next month. Jackfruit has been increasing in popularity as a new vegan ingredient, and is often prepared and sold as a “pulled” product with a similar consistency and taste to pulled pork.
Since last year, ProVeg has been running a climate campaign on the occasion of the annual world climate conference. ProVeg aims to raise awareness of the link between diet and climate change. This year, the COP 24 world climate conference will take place in Poland, and ProVeg will be there again. The events are organised in advance with climate experts and politicians. The aim is to demonstrate the effects of …
The US Food and Drug Administration spoke in a conference last week to question whether the “standards of identity” applied to milk in the United States are being enforced correctly, in a bid to protect the dairy milk industry amid the current explosion of vegan milk drinks.
Califia Farms, the well-known Los Angeles based natural beverage company, have announced a new round of funding which they have received to the tune of over $50 million. The plant-based milk market is set to exceed $34 billion by 2024, thanks to the enormous success in the global natural milk producers, and in particular Califia Farms, who have been enjoying exponential growth with their plant milks, creamers, juices and probiotic yogurts.
The Israeli start-up Aleph Farms, developer and producer of “Clean Meat” (laboratory meat), recently called on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support and promote Clean Meat. The company points out the advantages of the product when compared with conventional meat products, especially in the area of food safety.
The EU Commission’s work programme for 2018 involves drawing up a legally binding definition of the terms “vegan” and “vegetarian” and enshrining it in law by 2020. As early as 2008, uniform rules for veggie labelling were set out in cooperation with the European Vegetarian Union (EVU) and ProVeg (formerly VEBU) and laid down in the Food Information Ordinance (LMIV) as a binding future assignment for the Commission.
Worldwide, the consumption of purely plant-based foods is increasing, and with it the competition between various suppliers in the food industry. As a result of this change, there are increasing complaints from the meat industry about misleading product names and distortions by suppliers of animal-free meat products. The fight for meat-free meat has begun.
“To nature and back” – Italian hoteliers in the newly opened vegan hotels “i pini” in Tuscany and “La Vimea” in South Tyrol have risen to this challenge in full. Their motivation is to enable everyone to lead a natural life.
People have often voiced their opposition to animal testing and campaigns have been launched from many angles. Recently, however, the campaign leaders of a global anti-animal testing campaign in the cosmetics industry have taken an important step towards an animal testing ban.
The Plant-Based Foods Association (PBFA) has written a letter to the House and Senate Agriculture Committee advocating changes in agricultural policy to support the plant-based foods market.


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7-Eleven fans activate rewards via in-app participation
Convenience retailer 7-Eleven continues to build up its mobile prowess with a new promotion that gets consumers to download its mobile application in exchange for snack rewards.
To celebrate consumer loyalty, 7-Eleven will deliver free offers to app users during the week of its 87th birthday, which highlight free Slurpee drinks and candy items to elicit in-store traffic. This latest activation supports 7-Eleven’s aggressive digital strategy as it experiments with mobile to find new and exciting ways to engage tech-savvy consumers.
“Smartphone users index very highly with 7-Eleven customers,” said Margaret Chabris, a spokesperson for 7-Eleven.
“We’ve learned that mobile offers a smart and convenient way to connect with our fans and we continue to look at ways we can provide convenience and value to our customers, and having these offers available on our mobile app is an ideal way for us to achieve this.”
“As long as the guests continue to have an affinity with mobile, we will continue to build and innovate on that marketing frontier,” she said.
Each day beginning on Friday July 11 through the nineteenth, a coupon for a different, free item will be featured on 7-Eleven’s smartphone app. Daily offers include free Slurpees, Hostess Twinkies, Snickers ice cream bars, Pillsbury cookies and more.
To receive each day’s free offer, a customer must first download and register on the 7-Eleven app. A customer opens the 7-Eleven app at the store and shows an associate the barcode at checkout. The bar code appears below the coupons. Once the associate scans the barcode at the register, the customer will receive the item as they check out.
This is the 12th year 7-Eleven has rewarded guests on its birthday with in-store offers. Each year the party extends to social media where 7-Eleven sees its traffic increase by double digits on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The retailer has added Tumblr to its social media mix this year.
The convenience store chain’s “Pizza for Life” sweepstakes in April promised to deliver free pizza to one lucky tech-savvy pizza lover as integrated conversation piece on social media stimulated through its app.
An in-app online entry form fused with social platforms to share sweeps information via the hashtag #GIMMEPIZZA4LIFE. To enter, consumers needed to type in a name and email address. The recent initiative demonstrates the growing role that mobile plays for 7-Eleven in building in long-term engagement through an app through one-off promotions, and was a perfect match for guests on the go.
Last year, 7-Eleven also pushed its #AWESUMMER campaign, offering coupons for free merchandise weekly. They also revamped their digital presence by boosting their new mobile app via product awareness. All Slurpee cups prompted buyers to text FLAVOR to 711711, which prompted smartphone users to receive a link to download the app (see story).
In celebration of its birthday last summer, 7-Eleven used a multichannel retail strategy of SMS, mobile Web, social media and mobile advertising to get the word out about its Slurpee Dance campaign (see story).
Similarly offering customers a free small Slurpee drink on its big day as it is doing this year, 7-Eleven only asked in return that guests perform, record and share their own Slurpee dance on Facebook and Youtube with the tags @7-Eleven and #SlurpeeDance to celebrate the feel when they take that first sip of a Slurpee drink.
7-Eleven values the ongoing conversation with guests via app feedback and social engagement through community managers. In addition, the brand strives to create engaging content for its social channels that guests will find share-worthy based on a quick laugh, exclusive product find or great value.
“Over the past 2 years we have significantly ramped up our marketing activity in the mobile space, primarily our mobile app, SMS and mobile web,” Ms. Chabris said.
“Our Mobile App is our most dynamic platform, and we are quickly evolving our business to support the digital channels our guests prefer. We also have a variety of SMS campaigns that deliver coupons, sweepstakes, app download links, and brand messages on our short code 711711. Our mobile web drives the bulk of our store location searches.”
“Overall, we have found that mobile has proven to be one of the most efficient ways to communicate with our guests who are on the go,” she said.
Michelle is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York


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Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is set to roll out the latest video call update for iOS users.
WhatsApp announced that this new feature will enable users to continue their video call while checking out other apps or using other features on their iPhones, offering them a more convenient way to multitask.
This feature is rolled out with the 23.3.777 version of its iOS app, allowing users to multitask during a video call by minimizing the WhatsApp app. The social media platform first announced this feature last year in December, when it disclosed that it was testing it with a few select people.
Previously, WhatsApp users in a bid to multitask while on a video call will see the video paused in the background, which often forces them to exit the call if they wanted to use another app.
But with WhatsApp picture-in-picture video call update, the PiP support feature enables users to tap the home button while on a call, and the video will continue playing in a small window on the corner of their screen. Users can switch to other apps or features on their iPhones, while still being able to see and hear their conversation.
The PiP feature is available for both one-on-one and group video calls, making it easier for users to have discussions with multiple people at once. This feature is very efficient for businesses/ organizations, as it enables videos conference with clients or colleagues, while users can still be able to access other work-related apps on their iPhones.
It is also interesting to note that WhatsApp’s PiP support also works seamlessly with other iOS features such as Apple’s virtual assistant Siri and Apple’s do not disturb mode. For instance, if a user while on a video call receives a message, Siri will read it aloud without interrupting the video call. Also, if a user activates do not disturb mode during a call, they will still be able to see and head their conversation in the PiP window.
Apple announced that the picture-in-picture mode for video calls and other features will be rolled out in the coming weeks, as users are urged to wait a few days before the feature is updated on their devices.
While WhatsApp is best known for bringing quality private and secure messaging to users across the globe, Investors King understands that the platform has continued to make improvements to its video calling feature to enhance users’ experience.
Last year in November, it introduced a new to improved group call feature, which enabled users the ability to start a video call on their mobile device with up to 32 people.
Elon Musk Envisions X as the Future of Your Financial Life
WhatsApp Introduces Dual Account Feature, Enabling Users to Sign Into Two Accounts
WhatsApp has introduced a groundbreaking innovation that promises to redefine the user experience.
This new feature allows individuals to simultaneously manage two WhatsApp accounts on a single device, eliminating the need for dual phones.
The eagerly anticipated announcement was made by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, who assured Android users that this feature will soon grace their screens.
Gone are the days of juggling multiple WhatsApp accounts, a task that often required carrying two separate devices. While tech giants like Xiaomi and Oppo had previously introduced app cloning features for multiple WhatsApp instances, WhatsApp’s integrated approach sets a new standard for seamlessness.
This innovation is poised to be a game-changer for users who navigate both personal and professional realms on this ubiquitous messaging platform.
Cumbersome login-and-logout routines and the perpetual concern of messaging from the wrong account will soon be a thing of the past, replaced by a newfound ease of multitasking.
Activating this feature is a straightforward process. Users need only navigate to the ‘Settings’ menu and select ‘Add Account.’ During setup, a second phone with a SIM card or a device supporting eSIM technology is required to unlock the full potential of multi-SIM functionality.
WhatsApp ensures that each account can have its own customized notification and privacy settings, preserving data integrity and personalization.
In addition to the dual account feature, WhatsApp recently introduced passkey support for Android, enhancing security by providing an alternative to SMS-based two-factor authentication.
This latest advancement underscores WhatsApp’s dedication to user convenience, connectivity, and digital identity security, setting the stage for a more organized and efficient way of communication.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemicals and textiles manufacturer GHCL Ltd on Monday reported a 27.71 percent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 84.86 crore for the quarter ended September 2020, said Chemweek.
The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 116.84 crore in the July-September period a year ago, GHCL said in a regulatory filing. Revenue from operations dipped 3.47 percent to Rs 806.51 crore as against Rs 835.52 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year, it added.
Total expenses stood at Rs 703.84 crore, almost unchanged from Rs 703.18 crore in Q2 FY2019-20. GHCL Managing Director R S Jalan said the company’s businesses are returning towards normal.
"Better consumption patterns, robust improvement in operational efficiencies, cost reduction programs coupled with volume growth have led to improved financial performance,” he said. Revenue from inorganic chemicals segment was down 11.37 percent to Rs 479.90 crore as against Rs 541.50 crore earlier.
Home textiles revenue rose 11.08 percent to Rs 326.61 crore as against Rs 294.02 crore. Shares of GHCL Ltd on Monday settled at Rs 162.95 on BSE, up 3.10 percent from its previous close.
As MRC wrote previously, US chemical volumes are expected to drop nearly 10% this year as global economic activity contracts due to the impacts of COVID-19, according to the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) Mid-Year 2020 Chemical Industry Situation and Outlook. Volumes should recover in 2021 with a return to pre-COVID-19 output levels in the US by the second half of 2021.


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News Flash Home
The original item was published from 10/25/2019 12:44:31 PM to 11/2/2019 12:00:07 AM.
Town News Flash
Posted on: October 25, 2019
[ARCHIVED] Transfer Station temporarily not accepting Credit/Debit Cards
The transfer station is currently experiencing difficulties with its credit card machine and unfortunately will not be able to accept credit cards or debit cards until further notice.


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Digital giants such as Apple, Google and Amazon have been seen as potential disruptors in areas ranging from healthcare to financial services. But IBM’s newest annual Global C-Suite Study [pdf], aptly titled “Incumbents Strike Back,” suggests that C-suite execs see the threat of disruption coming more from existing players in their industries than from the largest tech companies.
The study surveyed almost 13,000 executives across 6 C-suite roles and 112 countries, asking them which types of enterprises are leading disruption within their industries.
Respondents expressed a strong level of consensus about existing players: 72% said that disruption was being led by innovative industry incumbents.
That was more than twice as many as said (34%) that digital giants such as Apple, Google and Alibaba are the leaders in disruption.
Fewer still believe that disruption is being led by companies from other industries (23%) or by smaller companies or startups (22%).
The results concerning company size are interesting in light of separate recently-released research. GE’s Global Innovation Barometer revealed a noteworthy increase since 2014 in the proportion of business executives who believe that multinational companies are the main drivers of innovation in their countries (23%, up from 19%). Likewise, more respondents this year (18%, up from 14%) feel that large enterprises headquartered in their country are the innovation drivers.
By contrast, GE’s research found that the share of respondents who feel that small and medium companies are the main drivers of innovation has halved from 2014 (11%, down from 22%).
In tandem, these studies indicate that top executives see innovation and disruption as the domain of large enterprises rather than smaller businesses.
What Are the Leaders Doing in Marketing?
The IBM study segmented respondents into 3 clusters: Reinventors; Practitioners; and Aspirationals.
The analysts used several variables for the segmentation, including but not limited to disruptive ability, digital technologies used for customer interaction, and data and analytic insights used to inform business strategy.
Reinventors (27% of the total) are the standouts in term of outperforming peers in their revenue growth and profitability, while leading in innovation and organizational alignment. Aspirationals (36% of the sample), for their part, are lagging in their digital transformation and ability to rapidly seize new opportunities.
Specific to marketing, IBM noted that key areas where Reinventors distinguish themselves from Aspirationals include:
- Using data to understand their customers’ unmet needs (82% of Reinventors are effective at this, versus 35% of Aspirationals);
- Integrating customer feedback into all their planning and design processes (68% of Reinventors, versus 32% of Aspirationals); and
- Detailing customer experience journey maps (65% of Reinventors are effective, versus 26% of Aspirationals).
In other findings from the IBM report:
- About two-thirds of C-suite executives expect organizations to emphasize customer experience over products;
- Market factors have overtaken technological factors as the most important external force that C-suite executives believe will impact their enterprises in 2-3 years; and
- More than 6 in 10 respondents believe that the majority of organizations will keep expanding their networks of business partners.
The full study is available to view here [pdf].
About the Data: The IBM study is based on responses from 12,854 across 6 C-suite roles: CEO (2,148); CFO (2,102); CHRO (2,139); CIO (2,258); CMO (2,091); and COO (2,116). Asia, including Asia-Pacific, China and Japan (4,207), Europe (3,457) and North America (3,144) were the most heavily-represented regions.
The GE study is based on a survey of 2,090 business executives from 20 countries.


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Santa Claus, uh, we mean Blue Bell Ice Cream, has truly outdone itself with its Christmas Cookies flavor. It’s no wonder people look forward to its return every year! Well, you can find the half-gallon in grocery stores and retailers now for the 2019 holiday season.
The limited-edition ice cream starts with sugar cookie-flavored ice cream. It’s mixed with chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, sugar cookies, and red sprinkles. The container is complete with a green icing swirl. Now do you see why people look forward to this for Christmastime?
Blue Bell Ice Cream announced on social media that the Christmas Cookies flavor was officially back on Oct. 17. Hungry followers were quick to voice their happiness (and how they hoped production would be plentiful and distributed widely).
“THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I hope y’all made a lot of it this year!” one person wrote. “I made the mistake of not buying this the first one I saw it last year and missed out. I will not make that mistake this year,” wrote another.
Blue Bell Ice Cream confirmed that the flavor will be available in most stores that sell the brand. On your mark, get set, track it down!


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This past week Canviiy founder, Sherrel Sampson, sat down with Beauty Independent, one of the premiere news outlets on beauty and wellness entrepreneurship to discuss all things Canviiy. Mrs. Sampson not only went in-depth on how Canviiy got its start, she also shares insight on the Target launch as well as teased what the future may hold for the brand.
Mrs. Sampson shared a theme of intentional design and intentional delivery as she discussed the journey from identifying as and with the consumer through to a deliberate product design process that led to a one year incubation process with more than $70,000 in investment. Identifying the needs of the Scalp Care category was not sexy at the time but with perseverance her team was able to deliver a product that delivered days of relief versus minutes when using competitive products.
Despite competing against bigger players over the past five years, Canviiy has positioned itself at the head of the masstige Scalp Care market. The recent Target launch has been a validation of the hard work to this point, an opportunity to launch new innovation and a vehicle to continue to introduce the brand to new consumers. When asked about new innovation Sampson said “I really want to own that space but own it for delivering performance. We want to drive efficacy and performance.”
Canviiy’s strength is not just being intentional in how it plots product growth but also in how it anticipates threats. Mrs. Sampson has spent significant time game planning production to make sure there are no COVID-19 induced supply chain interruptions as well as smartly using this time to identify how she can further scale both her team and her business.
For more on the Beauty Independent article see here: Canviiy Strengthens Its Position in The Growing Scalp Health Category By Launching At Target


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The 110-acre site was used to reclaim metals, including copper and lead, from cable wires from 1963 until 1984. Cable burning and processing materials at the site caused contamination of the surrounding soil and sediment that posed a risk to human health and the environment.
The cleanup included the stabilization and off-site disposal of contaminated soil and sediment by Nassau Metals Corp., New Providence, New Jersey. Approximately 80,000 tons, or 4,000 truckloads, of stabilized soil and sediment were removed from the site during the remediation.
EPA conducted oversight of the remediation work by Nassau Metals and has determined the site no longer poses a threat to human health or the environment.
The National Priorities List is a roster of the nation’s most contaminated sites that threaten human health or the environment. The sites on the list are eligible for cleanup under EPA’s Superfund program. EPA removes sites from the list once all the remedies are successfully implemented and no further cleanup is required to protect human health or the environment.
“Superfund cleanup and safe reuse of the site continues to be a priority at EPA as we work to create a safer and healthier environment for all communities affected,” Cosmo Servidio, EPA Mid-Atlantic regional administrator, says. “Removing this site from the list represents an important step toward achieving this goal.”
EPA did not receive any adverse comments during the 30-day public comment period on the proposal to delist.
For more information about the site, visit https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0300881.]]>
Postconsumer plastic scrap has been a primary target of the import bans China has introduced this year. Additionally, import licenses for plastic scrap have been harder to come by, while import quotas have been reduced.
Panelists during the second plenary session, China’s Impact – The Ban and Beyond, during Plastics Recycling 2018 discussed the impact of China’s actions on the plastics recycling industry. The event, organized by Resource Recycling, was Feb. 19-21 in Nashville, Tennessee.
“China is completely off the table,” said Hamilton Wen, director of California-based Newport CH International’s plastics division. As a result, the company’s plastics brokerage business has experienced a “complete upheaval,” he added.
While Newport CH is looking at other markets worldwide, sales come down to quality, he said. “It is no longer a seller’s market. Now it is who has the best material.”
Pablo Leon, Asia manager for the Spanish company Fosimpe SL, with operations in Shanghai, said China’s actions should not have come as a surprise. “The bans have been rumored for some time.”
However, Leon added that he believed that China has gone too far with its actions.
Brent Bell, vice president of recycling for Waste Management, Houston, said that 30 percent of the tons the company processes are exported, with the primary destination historically having been China.
In response to China’s actions, the company has developed alternative markets in India, Southeast Asia and even the U.S. for the nearly 30 percent of its tonnage that was previously shipped primarily to China, he said.
Wen said Southeast Asia offered a tenuous alternative to shipping to China, however, citing problems at the ports in the region related to the “sheer amount of volume” being shipped. Additionally, he said he felt it was only a matter of time before these countries started to enact laws and procedures similar to those China has adopted.
Dylan de Thomas, vice president of industry collaboration with The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, agreed, saying, “Other countries are looking to China for what they want to do in the future.”
He added,” I’m bullish on domestic capacity, personally.”
De Thomas and Bell agreed that educating residents on what is and is not acceptable for recycling is an important factor, as it affects the degree of inbound material contamination material recovery facilities (MRFs) experience.
Bell said contamination rates of 0.5 percent, as China has specified for incoming plastic scrap shipments, will be difficult to achieve with 15 percent inbound contamination rates at MRFs.
Reducing contamination at the MRF hinges on resident education, which Bell said was a “hard exercise to go through” and that there are no “silver bullets” that can apply in all situations.
As a MRF operator, Bell said, it is important for WM to talk with the communities it serves to see if they still want their recycling programs to include recyclables that may have limited demand and value.
The changes in China’s policies toward imported scrap have created real challenges for municipal programs, de Thomas said, with communities re-evaluating the materials their recycling programs accept.
While he said improving quality was a “big part” of the answer to the questions posed by China’s recent actions, demand for recycled plastics also must increase.
Bell agreed, saying, “We need demand to exist to make the recycling system work.”
To that end, WM is talking with companies about including recycled content in their products, he said.
While Bell said he supports China’s effort to clean up its environment and have the material quality the country’s consuming companies deserve, he would have liked to have seen a longer time frame for implementation of the government’s changes to import policies.
Leon said he felt the Chinese government “may have gone too far,” adding that “all the plastics they were receiving were not junk.”
“There will be markets for low-grade plastics,” Wen said. “They will take time to develop.”
He continued, “This material has value. It will get recycled somewhere.”]]>
In its management discussion and analysis, the firm’s executives say they have developed strategies to cope with the Chinese government’s recovered fiber import restrictions.
The analysis authors write, “As government environmental policy becomes more determined and stringent, and environmental enforcement becomes more extensive and rigorous, [the] group has adopted a proactive strategy to achieve the appropriate balance between selling prices, sales volume and inventory levels for optimal profitability, and has recorded historical high sales revenue and profits during the period.”
In describing its strategy, Nine Dragons’ managers write, “Although the import of recovered paper into China has become more restrictive, the group is still able to maintain a flexible procurement strategy that is based on the selection and purchase of raw materials offering the most optimal cost-value relationship by closely monitoring the market price trends of different sources. The purchase value of domestic recovered paper accounted for approximately 57.3 percent of the total value of the group’s purchase of recovered paper in the period.”
In the outlook section of its analysis, the company’s managers portray Nine Dragons as a firm that can benefit from paper mill capacity cuts in China, and also hints that the scrap import restrictions may yet pose problems.
“Non-compliant capacities in the packaging paperboard industry will continue to be shut down,” write the company’s managers. “New capacities of Nine Dragons Paper will offer more high-quality products to replace low-quality products in the market. Nevertheless, new capacities are expected to emerge during certain periods and imported raw materials will also be tightened, representing challenges to be met by the group.”
Projecting optimism, the managers add, “Nine Dragons Paper will adopt an effective strategy to adjust for changing supply-demand dynamics in the market, and enhance upstream and downstream integration along the supply chain in order to create the optimal synergy for the best shareholders’ value in the long term.”]]>
A J.P. Morgan analysis, however, notes that Shanghai Futures Exchange (AHFE) aluminum inventories “continue to surge over the last six months, increasing by some 90 percent.” This has caused the premium of SHFE to LME aluminum to shrink to only $73 per metric ton, versus the five-year average of $305 per metric ton.
J.P. Morgan also notes, “There are some concerns as to what would happen to Chinese aluminum exports in the event that the United States enacts import duties or quotas on aluminum imports, and whether the Chinese exports would go to other markets.”
A Commerzbank analysis, meanwhile, observes, “One can only hope that the Chinese government’s months of fighting ‘illegal’ aluminum smelters will lastingly eliminate the oversupply and generate greater transparency.”
The same analysis also states, however, that despite winter anti-pollution efforts in China that mandated aluminum smelter cutbacks, “Nonetheless, the latest trade figures show that exports of aluminum products [from China] in December 2017 and January 2018 exceeded 390,000 net metric tons in each month, despite the reduction in output. This points to ample supply on the aluminum market.”
Copper began the last week in February with a price rise, as higher imports to China and strong economic data cemented expectations of solid demand from the world’s biggest metal consumer. Three-month copper on the LME closed up 0.2 percent at $7,110 per metric ton, not far from a four-year high of $7,312 achieved the prior month. The red metal struggled later in the same week, as did zinc.
Robust economic data in China reinforced expectations of strong demand for primary metals. Primary copper imports to China rose 13 percent in January 2018 compared to December 2017, while refined nickel imports doubled month-to-month and refined zinc volumes rose by 287 percent.
Chinese imports of scrap metal, meanwhile, fell to the lowest level in nearly two years in January 2018, after restrictions were introduced. Copper scrap imports were down 28 percent year-on-year. The price of copper in China surged in late 2017 on expectations that lower scrap imports to China would increase demand for refined metal.
In the steel sector in China, the municipality of Tangshan has proposed a plan to require local steel mills to lower their production rates by 10 to 15 percent even after the winter cuts are lifted. This could be a positive for global steel prices and for high-grade iron ore producers.
Commodities Pricing Trends
Feb. 26, 2018 Jan. 15, 2018 % change
LME Copper $7,112 $7,206 -1.30%
SHFE Copper $8,499 $8,547 -0.56%
LME Aluminum $2,139 $2,226 -3.91%
LME Nickel $13,935 $12,865 +8.32%
LME Ferrous Scrap $356 $371 -4.04%
SGX Iron Ore $77.50 $76.57 +1.21%
SHFE Rebar $632 $591 +6.94%
[Prices per metric ton.]]]>
“Many will look back at 2017 as the year China announced its ban on certain scrap imports,” says ISRI President Robin Wiener. “While this dramatically alters the landscape of our industry, many other changes are also taking place, causing the industry to continue to evolve as it has so many times in the past. Changes in the administration in the U.S., shifting global trade policies, new technologies, an overhaul of the U.S. tax structure and more have all impacted business, markets and trade. Throughout all of this, the one constant has been ISRI working hard to assist and advocate on behalf of our members and the recycling industry,” she adds.
In addition to the industry’s response to China, other ISRI highlights from 2017 covered in the report include:
achieving the resumption of the U.S. Mint’s Mutilated Coin Redemption Program;
successfully advocating for provisions in the U.S.’s tax reform package to encourage investment in recycling equipment;
the creation of the MRF Council to help with issues concerning the collection, recovery and processing of curbside recyclables;
the development of guidance for a new NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) trade agreement;
state advocacy efforts to promote industry interests among legislators, lieutenant governors, attorneys general and other policymakers;
a revised safety outreach program;
successful education and training programs, including the ISRI Convention & Exposition, Operations Forum, Commodities Roundtable and ISRI Safety & Environmental Council meetings;
partnering with groups such as Keep America Beautiful, JASON Learning and Earth911 to promote the benefits of recycling; and
releasing a study on the economic impact of the industry;
“ISRI accomplished many positive things for the industry in 2017,” Wiener says. “However, none of it would have been possible without our members and volunteer industry leaders. As we have just concluded our 30th anniversary, we can now look back and see how much the industry has changed and the important role ISRI has played in its evolution thanks to our membership.”
She adds, “With the start of 2018, ISRI is excited for the future that lies ahead.”]]>
The “2016 National Post-Consumer Non-Bottle Rigid Plastic Recycling Report” and the “2016 National Post-Consumer Plastic Bag and Film Recycling Report” were released at the annual Plastics Recycling Conference, which took place in Nashville, Tennessee, Feb. 19-21.
The reports also show dramatic long-term growth in both plastics recycling categories, the ACC says. The volume of rigid plastics collected for recycling in 2016 is nearly 4.5 times greater than the volume collected in the 2007 inaugural report. Additionally, plastic film recycling has grown for 12 consecutive years and has more than doubled since 2005, when the first report was compiled.
“We are pleased to see the increase in plastic film and rigid plastics recycling in 2016 and the dramatic growth over the last decade,” says Steve Russell, vice president of ACC’s Plastics Division. “America’s plastic makers are committed to supporting plastics recycling growth through improved infrastructure and education and believe that these efforts will continue to support the industry in future years.”
Both reports attribute the increase in material collected for recycling partly to demand from export markets. As a result of China’s 2017 policy restricting imports of scrap materials, including plastics, the plastics recycling value chain is working to develop stronger domestic end markets to continue the increase in plastics recovered for recycling, the ACC says.
“From investments in recycling facilities and advanced technologies to public commitments to use more recycled plastics in products and packaging, we see real dedication from the recyclers and end users to grow end-market opportunities for plastics recycling here in the U.S.,” Russell says.
Recycled plastic film is used in composite lumber, new film and sheet, agricultural products, crates, buckets and pallets, the ACC says, while typical end markets for nonbottle rigids include automotive parts, crates, buckets, pipe, lawn and garden products, and thick-walled injection molded products.
Plastic film includes flexible product wraps, bags and commercial stretch film made primarily from polyethylene.
The rigid plastics category includes food containers; caps; lids; tubs; clamshells; cups and bulky items, such as buckets, carts and lawn furniture; and used commercial scrap, such as crates, battery casings and drums. As in prior years, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) comprised the two largest resins in this category, representing 40 percent and 36 percent, respectively, of total rigid plastics collected.
Both the film and rigids reports were based on an annual survey of reclaimers conducted by More Recycling, based in Sonoma, California.]]>
The TOMRA laser technology sorts based on the feed material’s spectral and spatial characteristics, with the new LOD detecting material that near infrared technology (NIR) is incapable of identifying, according to the firm.
“NIR technology cannot detect items such as black plastic and rubber, glass and other waste items,” says Carlos Manchado Atienza, regional director in the Americas for TOMRA Sorting. “By combining our new LOD technology, which can detect these items, with our powerful AutoSort and Finder systems, TOMRA once again leads the industry in developing and adapting technology to meet continually evolving specifications in the market.”
LOD has been designed to offer recycling facilities a low energy, cost-effective solution for meeting tough customer purity requirements, TOMRA indicates. The new TOMRA sorting system can boost final product purity by as much as 4 percent without sacrificing circuit productivity, according to the firm. Its modular design enables the LOD system to be added onto the same platform as existing TOMRA sorting equipment. Alternatively, it can be added as a standalone sorting stage.
The LOD is mechanically mounted to a platform in an arrangement that allows for both large and small feed material to pass under the laser without blockage, the firm’s technicians say.
“LOD is the perfect complement to existing TOMRA equipment within a circuit to give purity levels a boost to meet ever-tightening final product purity requirements such as the China National Sword standard,” says Ralph Uepping, technical director of recycling at TOMRA Sorting. “Increasing product purity levels expands market potential and increases the profit potential for customers.”
The company indicates its new LOD system cost-effectively sorts glass as well as plastic material and black plastic from paper, boosting product quality. Foreground detection technology has been designed to ensure the laser beam only identifies material above the belt, reducing background noise and giving operations the flexibility to use any type of belt feeder for the circuit, according to TOMRA.
LOD also has been designed to separate black rubber, glass and plastic material from nonferrous zorba and zurik products, allowing operations to turn these commodities into more valuable revenue streams while reducing the number of manual pickers, TOMRA indicates.
TOMRA Sorting is owned by Norwegian company TOMRA Systems ASA, which was founded in 1972 and has annual sales of approximately €710 million ($875 million).]]>
The April ceremony will be held at the Tigard, Oregon, facility to “launch a week of celebrations, including plant tours by invitation from April 24-26, 2018,” according to the firm.
“The company has been converting [scrap] mixed plastics into crude oil since 2005 and the expansion of our platform to chemically recycle polystyrene (PS) [scrap] back to monomers is a significant advancement to circular economy solutions and a milestone achievement for our company,” says Joe Vaillancourt, CEO of Agilyx. “Polystyrene is a very versatile, cost-effective and valuable polymer used in our everyday lives. However, it is one of the least recycled materials in today’s recycling programs. We are proud to have commercialized the first chemical recycling solution creating a more sustainable end-of-life solution for polystyrene.”
The worldwide consumption of PS is approximately 16 million tons and is expected to grow to 17.5 million tons by 2019, according to Agilyx. In the United States just 1.3 percent of PS is currently recycled, the firm also indicates.
Agilyx is billing the Oregon plant as “the first commercial-scale closed-loop chemical recycling process for polystyrene in the world.” The plant has been designed to recycle up to 10 tons per day of PS scrap to produce styrene oil. The oil can be used by styrene manufacturers AmSty and INEOS Styrolution for processing and blending into virgin polystyrene streams used for manufacturing consumer goods, according to Agilyx.]]>
Via the agreement, Komatsu America will purchase the assets of PBE group, subject to a period of due diligence and final approval of Japan-based Komatsu Ltd. Not included in the sale will be the Kubota line of equipment and parts carried by PBE. The planned closing date for the sale is April 1, 2018.
The new entity, to be named later, will assume PBE Group’s trade territory, which includes all of Connecticut, excluding Fairfield county, and certain counties in southeastern New York state. The agreement covers all Komatsu construction, mining and utility equipment sales and rentals, parts, service and customer support activities.
The Boniface family, who launched the Pine Bush Equipment Company in 1956, will continue with the new operating company, “providing continuity and support as Komatsu continues to strengthen the company’s reputation as a trusted equipment partner in the region,” Komatsu states in a press release.
“We’ve said in the past that Komatsu America is committed to excellence in the Northeast region of the U.S.,” says Rod Schrader, CEO, Komatsu America. “Investments in Midlantic Machinery, Edward Ehrbar, Komatsu Northeast and now Pine Bush, demonstrate the company’s determination to walk our talk. Our goal remains the same: provide the extra support the team in place needs to deliver unrivaled products, services and solutions that exceed customer expectations.”
Once the sale is complete, the new entity will be part of a larger group of distributors, designed to provide more equipment and parts inventory availability and greater service and support resources to customers. “Substantially, all employees, facilities, and customer support infrastructure from PBE Group will be retained,” states Komatsu America.
Komatsu America Corp. is a U.S. subsidiary of Komatsu Ltd., the Japan-based manufacturer and supplier of earthmoving machinery that includes construction, mining and compact construction equipment.]]>
Joseph Long will join the Shelmet staff starting March 1, 2018, according to the firm’s Jeff Nadler. Long has previous experience in exporting and will be involved in domestic trading.
Michael Derer, who has been with the company since 2012, has been promoted to full time aluminum trader at Shelmet, while Nick Villa has been promoted to traffic manager.
“Shelmet LLC is excited about new upcoming ventures and will continue to be the industry’s ‘go to brokers,’” says Nadler.
Shelmet LLC describes itself as a family business established in 1983 that buys and sells all types of scrap metal. The firm indicates it focuses on aluminum, but also trades copper, stainless steel and other alloys.]]>


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Canonical is working with hardware vendors to port Ubuntu to smartphones, tablet computers and Internet TVs, founder Mark Shuttleworth has told journalists.
The company could not announce any specific tie-ups yet but said it hoped to bring a strategy based on expanding Ubuntu's appeal beyond the desktop to fruition by 2014 with the first products appearing "in the next 18 months."
Hardware vendors would be offered SDKs to smooth development and partners would be able to offer reference hardware for developers as needed.
The company had received strong feedback from hardware companies that the industry needed an alternative to the increasingly integrated and locked-down platforms being offered by Google, Apple, and Microsoft, he said.
"Vendors feel disempowered. Most don't have much confidence. They know that in a world limited to hardware, they are in dire straits," said Shuttleworth, comparing the current situation in smartphones and tablets to what happened during the early years of the IBM PC era.
The risk was that the big three platform makers would control the revenue streams coming from services, leaving third-party hardware vendors eking out a living from the small margins on hardware.
Using a third-party software vendor such as Canonical would result in a more equal partnership that many vendors were desperate to see happen before the mobile market is carved up.
The potential of Shuttleworth's new Ubuntu everywhere? Ubuntu had 20 million users today but Shuttleworth believed expansion to non-PC devices had the potential to multiply this tenfold.
Shuttleworth said he was confident that the relatively long timescales would not present an obstacle to Ubuntu take-up. "This is a tightly contested market but it is very dynamic," he said.
Canonical released the latest version of Ubuntu, 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot' two weeks ago, the second of its twice-yearly refreshes but there is no question that today the well-regarded OS is still seen as software to run on PCs, laptops and servers.
The potential for Ubuntu to expand its horizons is obvious but will require a major culture change in which partners and developers play a leading role.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.


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Jani-King’s El Paso Office opens Monday, November 23rd making it the 6th location in Texas, along with Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio offices. El Paso’s steady population and economic growth year-over-year made it the next obvious location for the commercial cleaning franchisor’s Texas expansion. But a corporate office footprint in the Borderplex is also timely in light of increased market demand for cleaning and disinfecting services to combat COVID-19. Jani-King’s business model activates local franchisees, who are trained and equipped to provide five-star janitorial services to local businesses using locally sourced personnel. With a vast opportunity for cleaning and disinfecting work across the region, including healthcare facilities, Jani-King may be just the type of company El Paso needs to stay strong during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More businesses can open safely.
Health and safety regulations enacted to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have put an undeniable strain on El Paso businesses both small and large. Business owners are adapting to a new and safer way of operating, with a strong focus on more systematic and meticulous cleaning practices. With a new resource to help fill this need, more Borderplex businesses may be able to re-open or increase their hours of operation.
Changing Business Sanitation Requirements
Regulatory health and safety rules and recommendations change constantly as more is discovered about the virus, and as cases rise and fall. Access to adaptable and reliable cleaning staff makes navigating these changes less of a headache for business owners and facility managers. Jani-king oversees any and all procedural changes, scheduling, staffing, and quality control. This means that business owners can conserve operating capital and allocate savings toward a COVID-19 pivot strategy.
Sanitation Standards and Compliance
By leaving the rigorous cleaning and disinfection requirements to a commercial cleaning company with a robust staff and technical skillset to do the job right, businesses can focus on rebuilding. Jani-King’s training and certification programs equip technicians to clean and disinfect at EVS standards and in compliance with the strictest regulations. In turn, this may make a mandatory shut down in El Paso and Los Cruces businesses with high rates of COVID-19 contraction less likely.
A shot in the arm for the El Paso economy.
El Paso stands eager to revive its economy. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, El Paso’s unemployment rate jumped from a historically low rate of 3.7 to 8.7 between September 2019 and September 2020. January’s Workforce Solutions’ Borderplex annual report predicted a decrease in construction jobs, and COVID-19 hastened the decline for the once-booming construction industry. Construction produced the third-highest number of September unemployment claims. Jani-King’s presence in the Borderplex offers immediate work and business opportunities for El Paso’s displaced workforce and other people in search of employment.
New Business Owner Opportunities
For those with an entrepreneurial spirit, operating a Jani-King backed cleaning business may provide an alternative to re-joining the workforce. Jani-King’s franchise fees rank on the lower end comparatively and provide heavy corporate support to franchise operators. New franchisees can receive business leads, earn healthcare cleaning certifications, and use Jani-King’s billing team to get their new businesses off to a solid start.
Business Growth Opportunities
Owners of local cleaning companies who are looking to scale their business may appreciate Jani-King’s franchise support as well. Cleaning companies that convert to the Jani-King system can take advantage of the higher level of cleaning demands in the COVID-19 market wave while facing fewer roadblocks that fast growth can sometimes encounter. El Paso cleaning business owners can grow their area coverage, hire and train more employees, and provide service to El Paso businesses at the highest standards using well-tested systems and support provided by Jani-King.


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When Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater originally launched in 1999, the game was a breath of fresh air in a genre that hadn’t evolved since 720 for the NES. THPS, as it came to be known, combined slick arcade-style gameplay with an addictive combo system and a wonderful soundtrack.
The game was a hit, and a franchise was born. Game after game was released bearing the Tony Hawk name, but as the scope of the series grew, the quality began to decline. After a decade of shredding, the series went quiet. That is until Activision released a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD, a high definition remake of THPS and THPS2, in 2012 as a downloadable game for Xbox Live and PSN. Despite lacking a multiplayer mode, reaction was positive, and fans hailed the series return to its roots. After this, the series once again went quite, but Tony Hawk teased that something was brewing.
Activision clearly took this cry for a classic THPS game to heart, and has announced that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 is finally coming, and it’s going to be a serious return to form for the franchise. While there have been 10 sequels and spin-offs since Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 released all the way back in 2002, Activision says the title is indicative of the franchise’s return to its roots.
The game, set for release later in the year for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is said to fuse the old-school objective-based gameplay found in original THPS games with new additions such as power-ups and the ability to shoot projectiles for specific missions. While Activision has not yet revealed a level line-up or said if any fan favorite skate spots will reappear, the publisher has said that the game will feature a variety of new locals that can be tackled solo or with a friend. Activision has promised that the game will feature a seamless online mode, allowing players to pop in into an online session with a friend to bust some tricks and then leave the session to play the level alone.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 will also bring back the fan favorite create-a-park mode, allowing gamers to create their dream skate parks. Unlike the old days, friends won’t have to huddle around the same PlayStation to play a created park; now, parks can now be uploaded online and shared with the world.
While Activision has not yet revealed plans for a create-a-skater mode, the publisher has announced that pro skaters, both old and new to the THPS franchise, will be featured in the game. Nyjah Huston, Aaron Homoki, Ishod Wair, Riley Hawk, Lizzie Armanto, Chris Cole, David Gonzalez, Leticia Bufoni, and Andrew Reynolds are all available to olly, grab, and grind through the Tony Hawk 5 world.
While Activision has shared screens of the upcoming game for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the publisher has not yet revealed what gamers can expect from the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Activision has simply stated that the game is coming for last-gen system, and that the actual release date will be announced at a later date.
While the Skate series brought some much needed innovation to the skateboarding video game world, it’s been quite a while since a skating game really shook things up. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skate 5 is shaping up to be a shot in the arm for the skating genre, and it appears to be the THPS game fans have been clamoring for.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 releases for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 later this year
Source: Game Informer


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Sonam Kapoor awarded “The Trendsetter of the Year” at the Filmfare Glamour & Style Awards 2015 !
Actress & International Fashion Icon, Sonam Kapoor, sashayed down the red carpet of the Filmfare Glamour & Style Awards 2015 , looking every bit a contemporary dream in a Jean Louis Sabaji creation.
The actress who has constantly been celebrated for her international appearances, including those at the Cannes Film Festival ,has always found herself on the front rows of the biggest fashion brand shows and was rightly bestowed the honor of “The Trendsetter of the Year” at the Filmfare Glamour & Style Awards 2015 last night!
On the occasion said Sonam Kapoor, “It’s important to be yourself and your clothes are just an expression of who you are.Everyone has an individual voice , so to me having an individual sense of style is very important. I’m really excited with the award and to receive it from Madhuri Dixit was an iconic moment for me”.


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While many Office 365 users know the service can boost their company’s productivity, many aren’t utilizing it to its full potential. There are several key principles and tips that can make the service even more productive. So to help you get the most out of Office 365, here are some tips to follow.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced they’ll be replacing their current E4 Office 365 suite with the new upgrade – E5. With an unspecified release date for later this year, E5 will have a direct effect on current E4 users and those who are thinking about signing up for a new Office 365 package.


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Published on : Thursday, December 13, 2018
Minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Local Government and Community Development Premila Kumar said that Tourism Fiji’s 2019 Calendar of Activities specifically outlined the various activities that they would carry out to keep the Fijian brand competitive in the global tourism market.
Ms. Kumar added that Tourism Fiji would continue to strengthen Fiji’s presence in strategic markets, boost emerging markets and continue to grow in all the core source markets.
As stated in their Tourism Fiji Industry Day 2018 booklet, six niche experiences have been set as priorities that best align with the destination’s brand and would be further promoted via strategies to highlight the Fiji’s natural environment and its experiences.
The niche experiences include:
1. Romance — weddings, honeymoons.
2. Youth — volunteerism, educationals, graduate groups.
3. Dive — shark diving, soft coral.
4. Maritime — yachting/boating, cruise.
5. Sports & Adventure — fishing, surfing and golf.
6. Luxury — accommodation and experiences.
Tourism Fiji invests in events that align with Fiji’s brand values and deliver an increment return for Fiji.
The booklet states that Tourism Fiji invests in events delivering on two primary objectives: to bring new visitors to Fiji that otherwise would not have visited and to display the best of Fiji to potential visitors via international media coverage of the event.
Tags: Fiji tourism


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Pixel Qi‘s display technology allows you to seriously reduce power consumption when you cut off the backlight and use a tablet or notebook in high contrast, black and white mode. So while a 10 inch Pixel Qi screen uses around 2.5W of power in full color mode, it uses closer to 0.5W in black and white mode.
ARMDevices spoke with Pixel Qi founder Mary Lou Jepsen recently and she suggested that this means you could theoretically power a tablet computer with a small solar panel that generates just 1W of energy.
That’s because a low power ARM-based processor and all the rest of the components in a tablet could use as little as half a watt. The screen is typically one of the most power-hungry components of a mobile device.
The technology probably wouldn’t make it into mainstream consumer products in the US, but I could see it filling certain niches. People who spend a lot of time camping or hiking would probably be in the market for this sort of device, as would anyone else who likes the idea of being able to run or charge a tablet without relying on fossil fuels — and who has ample access to sunlight.
But the biggest advantage would probably come if tablets were deployed in developing nations where access to electricity isn’t reliable.
You can check out a short video after the break. Unfortunately there’s no actual prototype of a solar powered Pixel Qi tablet yet, just a discussion of how it could work.


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Via Alex Butler
|Current selected tag: 'Digital Health'. Clear.|
Pharma Industry Regulation
Stories & Insights Regarding Marketing Regulations & Guidelines
Curated by Pharma Guy
FTC regulation of the digital health space just got serious. The FTC in their recent statement says health companies need vigorous data to back up their claims.
The FTC has come down with a hammer on Lumosity — the online digital healthcompany that promised consumers their games would help reduce neurocognitive deficits. The company has settled for $2 million, and is also being imposed a $50 million judgement by the FTC. The $50 million fine is being suspended due to Lumosity’s apparently inability to pay for it.
The real story here isn’t Lumosity though — it’s the wording the FTC used in their decision to put the digital health world on notice about creating apps that promise too much without having evidence and rigorous data to back it up their claims.
"Advertisers must ... have rigorous, scientific support to substantiate claims for products that purport to prevent or treat health or disease-related conditions," said FTC.
First of all, how does Luminosity get away with not paying $50 million because it "can't afford it"? Shouldn't FTC garnish their income as would happen if you or I could not pay our fines?
Good to know that FTC supports what I have been advising pharma mHealth app developers to do for a long time: test and document that apps are effective as advertised. For more on that, read "
#mHealthEthics: A Call for Pharma to Develop Mobile Health Guiding Principles"; http://sco.lt/4w5xzd
Also, you might be interested in reading this Pharma Marketing Blog post: "If FDA were as Powerful as FTC"; http://bit.ly/FTCvFDA


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Immediately following the episode, singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne enters a fun question into our fishbowl of questions from other stars for upcoming stars on the show.
About Maria Menounos
This author has yet to write their bio.Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud Maria Menounos contributed a whooping 119 entries.
Entries by Maria Menounos
FROM VIDEO NUZE – September 16, 2013 (written by Will Richmond) A great example of how online video is enabling talent to create new forms of programming targeted to particular audiences is “Extra” co-host Maria Menounos’s “AfterBuzz TV.” Formed with her partner Keven Undergaro, AfterBuzz TV features live and on-demand “post-game” discussions of dozens of […]
FROM COMIC ADDICTZ (SEPTEMBER 10, 2013) In an interview with Maria Menounos , Diesel says he and Marvel are still discussing the role for the mystery 2016 Phase 3 film .
A promotional clip that Extra aired September 9th, 2013 about Vin Diesel’s interview on Conversations with Maria Menounos.
Immediately following the episode, Vin Diesel enters a fun question into our fishbowl of questions from other stars for upcoming stars on the show.
Immediately following the episode, Barbara Eden enters a very risque question into our fishbowl of questions from other stars for upcoming stars on the show.
FROM EXTRA TV (AUGUST 21, 2013) “I Dream of Jeannie” star Barbara Eden sat down with “Extra’s” Maria Menounos to talk about working with her former co-star, the late Larry Hagman, and Hollywood leading ladies who’ve given her the cold shoulder, plus the men who have wooed her! Watch!
FROM USA Today – http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2664443 by Julia Ryan, USA TODAY This week in Tech we took a look at the Hyperloop, new TVs, iPhone rumors and more. Here’s what you need to know about the week in Tech: 1) ‘Hyperloop’: L.A. to San Francisco in 30 minutes? Yes, you read that right. Tesla CEO Elon […]
FROM PC MAG – http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2422131,00.asp When Apple announces new iTunes Store milestones, they usually relate to apps or music. But today, the Cupertino tech giant is calling out an achievement for podcasts. The iTunes Store has reached more than one billion podcast subscriptions, Apple announced Tuesday. To celebrate the milestone, Apple created a special section […]
Conversation with Maria
Conversations with Maria Menounos is on SiriusXM Channel 109 Stars every weekday 10am pt / 1pm et


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(Dhaka) – Garment workers in Bangladesh face poor working conditions and anti-union tactics by employers including assaults on union organizers, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. In the two years since more than 1,100 workers died in the catastrophic collapse of the Rana Plaza factory on April 24, 2013, efforts are underway to make Bangladesh factories safer, but the government and Western retailers can and should do more to enforce international labor standards to protect workers’ rights, including their right to form unions and advocate for better conditions.
“If Bangladesh wants to avoid another Rana Plaza disaster, it needs to effectively enforce its labor law and ensure that garment workers enjoy the right to voice their concerns about safety and working conditions without fear of retaliation or dismissal,” said Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director. “If Bangladesh does not hold factory managers accountable who attack workers and deny the right to form unions, the government will perpetuate practices that have cost the lives of thousands of workers.”
The 78-page report, ‘“Whoever Raises Their Head, Suffers the Most’: Workers’ Rights in Bangladesh’s Garment Factories,” is based on interviews with more than 160 workers from 44 factories, most of them making garments for retail companies in North America, Europe, and Australia. Workers report violations including physical assault, verbal abuse – sometimes of a sexual nature – forced overtime, denial of paid maternity leave, and failure to pay wages and bonuses on time or in full. Despite recent labor law reforms, many workers who try to form unions to address such abuses face threats, intimidation, dismissal, and sometimes physical assault at the hands of factory management or hired third parties.
Human Rights Watch called on the Bangladesh government, factory owners, and Western retailers to ensure respect for workers’ rights and end the unlawful targeting of labor leaders by factory owners and supervisors.
At Rana Plaza, factory managers compelled reluctant workers to enter the building despite major cracks in the complex’s walls. At the Tazreen factory, where a fire killed at least 112 workers on November 24, 2012, managers refused to let workers escape even after the fire alarms went off. None of the factories involved had a union to represent workers to help them to push back against the managers’ deadly demands.
While changes to some labor laws since Rana Plaza, including provisions easing the union registration process, have facilitated registration of new unions, still fewer than 10 percent of garment factories in Bangladesh have unions. Union leaders told Human Rights Watch that they continue to be targeted by factory management, risking abuse by both managers and supervisors, or thugs acting at their behest. In some factories, workers leading efforts to form unions have been dismissed for their organizing activities. Factory owners and management reject these allegations. A Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) official told Human Rights Watch: “We have a bitter experience about unions. They believe they don’t need to work and they will get paid.”
Workers also continue to regularly face ill-treatment and poor working conditions inside factories such as physical and verbal abuse, forced overtime, denial of paid maternity leave, failure to pay wages and bonuses on time or in full, pressures not to take toilet breaks, and provision of dirty, unpotable drinking water. The vast majority of garment workers are women, while supervisors and managers are mostly men, and sometimes the verbal abuse of women workers is of a sexual nature.
A union leader at a factory in Gazipur said that when she and others tried to set up a union in January 2014, they were brutally assaulted and scores of workers were fired. She said she was beaten while pregnant, forced to work at night, and eventually fired, without receiving all the back wages she was owed, all because she refused to stop unionizing. “I was beaten with metal curtain rods in February when I was pregnant. I was called to the chairman’s room and taken to the third floor management room which is used by the management and directors and there I was beaten by the local goons.”
“The Bangladesh government and retailers need to ensure that factory owners and management start respecting workers’ rights, and the government must hold accountable those who abuse labor rights,” Robertson said. “Clearly, it is not enough to focus on factory safety alone. Recent tragedies at Bangladeshi factories demonstrate that dangerous working conditions are linked to the failure to respect workers’ rights, including their right to form unions which can help them to collectively bargain for improved safety.”
The primary responsibility for protecting the rights of workers rests with the Bangladesh government. Since the Rana Plaza disaster, the government has taken steps to strengthen the Directorate of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, which is responsible for monitoring work place safety and compliance, and has hired more inspectors. But Human Rights Watch found that much more remains to be done to strengthen the ability of the Ministry of Labour and Employment to effectively investigate and prosecute unfair labor practices, including anti-union discrimination, intimidation, and harassment cases, and ensure inspectors strictly follow the law.
For instance, in one Dhaka-based factory, female union leaders faced threats, abuse, and dramatically increased workloads after they submitted union registration forms. In interviews with Human Rights Watch, six women who helped set up the union all said they were harassed for having sought to register, and one even said she received threats at home: “When I submitted the registration forms, local gangsters came to my house and threatened me. They said, ‘If you come near to the factory we will break your hands and legs.’” Similarly, some workers at a different factory told us that some union members had been forced to leave their homes after receiving threats when they filed union registration papers in 2014.
Many international garment brands and retailers have company codes of conduct that require suppliers to respect the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and factory managers have said that they comply with these codes. But despite these measures, workers in factories told Human Rights Watch that many abuses and violations are simply not noticed, or are ignored, by the monitors inspecting factories by or on behalf of buyers.
Factory owners and the companies buying their products have responsibilities to prevent human rights violations from occurring in the garment factories. They should take effective steps to identify and mitigate human rights risks, and should take remedial action should abuses occur. As the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights states, businesses should “seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts.”
Bangladesh has also ratified International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, and is required to protect the rights contained in them. Yet to date, Bangladesh’s labor laws do not fully comply with these standards.
The Bangladesh government should carry out effective and impartial investigations into all workers’ allegations of mistreatment, including beatings, threats, and other abuses, and prosecute those responsible.
Companies sourcing from Bangladesh factories should immediately take action to ensure that factory inspections conducted on their behalf or with their support are effective in ensuring that their supplier factories comply with the companies’ codes of conduct and the Bangladesh labor law. Audits and inspections undertaken by or on behalf of international apparel companies should be reviewed to ensure that they are capable of effectively detecting and investigating factory management actions and practices that deny workers’ rights to freedom of association and protection against anti-union discrimination. International apparel companies and clothing retailers should also agree to supply chain transparency and regularly and publicly disclose all Bangladesh-based factories from which they source.
The Human Rights Watch report also examines the aftermath of the Rana Plaza and Tazreen disasters. Three separate initiatives to inspect the factories for safety are underway, by the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, and by government inspectors, supported by the ILO.
However, more remains to be done to adequately support the victims of the collapse of Rana Plaza and the deadly fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory. Survivors told Human Rights Watch that the compensation they have received until now is not sufficient to pay their medical bills and cover their loss of livelihood. An independent commission has estimated that US$30 million needs to be paid to the survivors of Rana Plaza and the dependents of those that died, but only about $21 million had been paid or pledged as of March 2015. For victims of the Tazreen fire, the situation is much worse in the absence of a sustained campaign for compensation, such as in the case of the Rana Plaza collapse. In November 2014, the European retailer C&A pledged a “significant amount towards full and fair compensation” for the victims of Tazreen, and the Hong-Kong-based company Li & Fung made a donation to support victims soon after the disaster. However, several other companies have paid nothing, claiming the factory was making or storing their products without their knowledge or authorization.
The readymade garment industry accounts for almost 80 percent of the country’s export earnings and contributes to more than10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), employing more than four million workers, a majority of them women. The industry, which includes more than 4,500 factories of various sizes, has a crucial role in alleviating poverty in Bangladesh. However, the rapid growth, as well as the failure of the Bangladesh government to enforce its building and labor regulations, resulted in worker abuse and many unsafe and poorly constructed factories.
“Continuing the economic success of the Bangladesh garment sector offers benefits for everyone – the retail companies and their consumers, factory owners, and the government,” Robertson said. “But those gains should not come at the cost of lives and the suffering of garment workers struggling for a better future.”
“Four people were holding me and beating me on the legs with bars and two people were beating her with iron bars. She was beaten on her head and on her back. Her arms were severely injured and bleeding. Bones of one of her fingers were broken. She had to get 14 stitches on her head. When they were beating up Mira, they were saying ‘You want to do union activities? Then we will shower you with blood.’”
– Mitu Datta, worker in a garment factory in Chittagong, describing the attack on his wife and him outside the factory.
“In our factory, 80 percent of workers are female and they will get pregnant but the managers are not doing anything about maternity leave and bonuses. When we protested about it, our supervisors used really bad words against us, such as: ‘If you’re all concentrating on fucking, why are you working here? Go and work in a brothel.’”
– A female worker at a Dhaka-based factory.
“They started beating me, slapping me, slapping on the ears and punching me, boxing me in the chest, on the sides, and I fell down, and then they started kicking me. I was screaming....”
– A worker at a Dhaka-based factory said he was beaten up after he intervened on behalf of a fellow worker who had been fired without receiving the benefits to which he was entitled.


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Sainsbury’s general merchandise and Tu clothing businesses grew 6% year on year during Q4, despite total sales at the supermarket falling 0.3%, with like-for-likes also down 1.9% (excluding fuel) for the 10 weeks to 14 March 2015.
Chief executive Mike Coupe warned the trading environment “remains challenging” in the retailer’s most recent update.
He added that this is expected to continue into the “foreseeable future.”
“Our strategy to deliver a broad range of products and services through our increasingly multichannel offer is also progressing well.”
The business continues to trial online sales of its Tu clothing brand. It broadened the initial pilot in the Midlands to a select group of customers in London and the Southeast in January.