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With Samsung targeting growth of 50 percent for its premium models this year and Apple aiming for between 15 percent and 25 percent growth in iPhone sales, the premium phone segment will become increasingly crowded and further pressure HTC’s margins, CLSA said.
Tue, Jul 09, 2013 - Page 14 News List
HTC stock takes a tumble
CHINESE RESCUE?Given its precarious situation and the heavy competition in the smartphone market, an analyst suggested HTC might consider tie-ups with Chinese firms
By Helen Ku / Staff reporter, with CNA
This story has been viewed 2966 times.
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In 2017, Zoës Kitchen launched its largest menu overhaul in eight years and brought a fresh, bold prototype to market. Yet these significant upgrades are really just precursors to an innovative-driven future at the 243-unit Mediterranean fast casual, CEO Kevin Miles said in a conference call.
At the same time, tepid sales growth and somewhat uneven results were part of what Miles called “a foundational year for long-term healthy growth.” Zoës reported adjusted loss of 12 cents in the fourth quarter, which was wider than the year-ago figure of a loss of 7 cents. Revenues of $71.4 million missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $72 million, although it did improve 15.2 percent year-over-year thanks to new restaurant openings (five company-owned units in the quarter with 25 expected in 2018). Same-store sales grew 0.3 percent, driven by a 1.6 percent decline in transactions and product mix, and a 1.9 percent rise in price. This was an improvement over the prior quarter’s decline of 0.5 percent but worse than the year-ago growth of 0.7 percent.
But much of this loss can be credited to investments Miles and the company believe will position Zoës for a brighter future, even if the results take a short-term hit.
The menu revamp, introduced in June, added a new appetizer, two new protein options, three new pita sandwiches, three new bowls, and four new sauces.
“The new menu items have outperformed our initial expectation and are now top-performing items in the menu mix,” Miles said.
While many brands are seeking that value customer, Zoës will continue along this path of innovation. Starting in March, Zoës will launch a new baked falafel nationwide. It’s been piloted, and is also on the menu at the brand’s Raleigh, North Carolina, store, which opened in January with the new design package.
The falafel comes in a pita sandwich, as an appetizer, and as a protein choice in Zoës existing bowl category. Miles said it contains about half the calories as a traditional fried falafel. “It’s something that we’ve had consumers really request for many years, but we wanted to land in a better-for-you category with a baked falafel and it took some time to innovate,” Miles said.
In March as well, Zoës plans to expand its Med Family Meal offerings as the company focuses “on capturing incremental sales in our dinner daypart,” Miles said. This comes with the introduction of a new Moroccan chicken and baked Ravioli Sorrentina. Turmeric rice is also joining the brand’s healthy side offerings.
On the beverage side, major changes are coming, too. In the first quarter, Zoës will test a better-for-you beverage program that includes a variety of all-natural drinks made with a proprietary blend of ingredients, Miles said. Additionally, the wine program is being enhanced and a new Moroccan-inspired sangria, which is currently being poured at the new prototype, is coming. Miles said Zoës has fresh sandwich options in the works for a late 2018 rollout.
“Menu and beverage innovation will be a core focus in 2018 as we look into expanding our Mediterranean and better-for-you positioning,” he said. “We’ve been hard at work, building a strong culinary pipeline for 2018 and beyond.”
As for the new prototype, which features a slew of major changes, including a bright color scheme, improved patio, open kitchen, and area dedicated to off-premise business, Miles said Zoës expects to open another later this year. “And we’ll use learnings from these two new restaurants, as well as results from our value engineering efforts, to determine the pace of rollout of this new design and to inform future refresh programs of existing restaurants,” he said.
Zoës is also targeting 2018 as a year for digital innovation. The key tenets: enhancing the brand’s loyalty program; evolving its digital marketing strategies; and improving the guest experience on web and mobile platforms with upgrades to ordering, gift cards, and payments.
The loyalty program changes are coming in the second quarter, Miles said. The big difference being that guests would be able to earn points for every dollar spent, redeemable for rewards based on certain thresholds.
Miles added that Zoës recently finished the design and development of its first CRM tool focused specifically on catering. “This tool allows our catering sales force to develop strategies for new customer acquisition and better maintain existing client relationships,” he said.
Zoës’ catering holds great potential for its business, Miles explained. In the third quarter, Zoës relaunched its new website and mobile app that connects its online technology with in-store point-of-sale technology. Since, Miles said online sales, including catering, grew about 25 percent in the fourth quarter. The chain’s email database has increased by about 50 percent.
Zoës is working to “close the convenience loop” with online catering orders as well, Miles said, by expanding the company’s ability to deliver via its internal employees.
“With $200-plus check sizes, it’s advantageous to execute catering deliveries ourselves in terms of costs, customer service and top line growth potential,” he said. “Furthermore, this capability opens the door in the longer term for potential delivery opportunities in the dinner day part, where recent customer research confirms our incremental sales growth opportunity at dinner. Already in 2018, we have finished designing, developing and deploying new in-store software in a small set of restaurants to help our teams execute delivery.”
The delivery angle of this is evolving. Miles called Zoës’ approach to third-party delivery “methodical,” in 2017. The company is offering the platform in just over 100 restaurants and has seen sequential improvement every quarter in its delivery sales mix, Miles said.
“And as we said before, we believe our food’s proven portability, unique and diverse menu, and dinner relevancy create a set of strategic advantages to capture growth in this developing fast-changing channel,” Miles said.

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- J.M. Smucker Co. has issued a voluntary recall of 49 Jif peanut butter products due to potential salmonella contamination.
- Currently, 14 people have reported illnesses across 12 states, with two hospitalizations and no reported deaths.
- Consumers are encouraged to check their peanut butter products and dispose of any that may be contaminated.
It’s time to check your pantry: Jif peanut butter products are being recalled over salmonella concerns. J.M. Smucker Co. issued the voluntary recall on Friday, May 20, impacting several of their Jif peanut butter products sold in the United States, according to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) release. The recall is due to potential salmonella contamination and has been linked to a Lexington, Kentucky manufacturing facility.
The recall affects 49 of Jif’s most popular peanut butter products including varying sizes of their creamy and crunchy peanut butter, twin packs, natural peanut butter, to-go cases of peanut butter, squeezable pouches of peanut butter, no added sugar peanut butter, and more.
The impacted peanut butter was sold nationwide in retail stores with lot codes 1274425-2140425. The lot code can be found on the packaging next to the best-if-used-by date and should include the numbers 425 for the fifth to seventh digits. For a full list of recalled peanut butter products and their UPC number, you can visit the FDA’s website.
If you are concerned about a product you have that may be impacted by the recall, the FDA encourages you to dispose of it immediately.
As of today, there are a total of 14 reported illnesses and two hospitalizations due to consuming the impacted peanut butter. No deaths have been reported. Salmonella infections due to Jif peanut butter have been found in 12 states including Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri Ohio, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, according to the FDA.
Data from the FDA states the first person to be infected by this salmonella outbreak reported symptoms on February 20, and the government agency estimates the actual amount of people infected by this is much higher.
What is salmonella?
Salmonella is a food-borne illness caused by an organism. When ingested it can cause serious gastrointestinal symptoms and can be quite dangerous in young children, elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems, according to the press release. On rare occasions, organisms can get into the bloodstream and cause more severe illnesses, such as arterial infections, endocarditis, and arthritis.
Most people infected with salmonella will begin to experience symptoms 12 to 72 hours after infection, lasting four to seven days. Typical symptoms of salmonella in otherwise healthy people include:
- Diarrhea, sometimes bloody
- Abdominal pain
Salmonella is spread through food handlers not washing their hands, the surfaces and tools used to prepare foods, or when people eat raw or uncooked foods, according to the FDA. It can also spread through petting an infected animal, scooping their poop and touching your mouth or food, or eating dairy or meat from an infected animal. It is estimated that 450 people in the United States die every year from salmonellosis.
Again, if you are concerned you have a product that may be impacted by the recall, the FDA encourages you to dispose of it immediately. If you have questions or would like to report a reaction to the products, you can contact Jif at 800-828-9980 or on their website.


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For your weekend reading, here’s a recap of five noteworthy stories that appeared on Data Center Knowledge this past week:
- Facebook Unveils Custom Servers, Facility Design - Facebook today unveiled details of its new technology infrastructure, which features custom-built servers, racks and UPS units that will fill its new data center in Prineville, Oregon. The project is Facebook’s first company-built facility, and is optimized from the two-story structure right down to the servers to reflect the company’s vision for energy efficient data center operations.
- Facebook Opens its Server, Data Center Designs - In a marked departure from industry practice, Facebook is disclosing the designs and specs for its new data center in Prineville, Oregon. The social network today launched the Open Compute Project, through which it is releasing the details of its energy efficient data center design, as well as its custom designs for servers, power supplies and UPS units.
- Dell Plans Global Network of Cloud Data Centers - Computing giant Dell is deploying a fleet of 10 data centers around the world to host cloud computing services for customers, the company said today. The company plans to invest $1 billion to launch and market cloud offerings that will commence with email archiving and a hosted virtual desktop offering.
- Report: Apple Buying Boatloads of Storage - Apple has reportedly placed large orders for storage equipment from Isilon Systems that can support 12 petabytes of scale-out storage, according to a report in a storage industry publication
- Twitter’s Expansion Brings Capacity, Controversy - The recent migration for Twitter has proven to be more complicated than most, as the microblogging service wound up adding an extra data center location, causing confusion about the reasons for the change.


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Could the new Ford Edge be the car that reverses a decades'-old trend? For years now, the volume car-makers have been pushed downmarket by the vanity-badge appeal of the German premium three. And of course, by the generally high calibre of the cars that Audi, BMW and Mercedes sell.
Now if you’d walked into the head office car park of any medium-to-big business in the UK 25 years ago, the cars you’d have seen occupying the slots for the managing director, sales and marketing boss and finance director would likely have been Ford Granada Scorpios, Rover 800s, Vauxhall Carltons and the occasional BMW.
And as we all know, the route of the executive car market shifted down another segment, the BMW 3-series, Mercedes C-class and Audi A4 ending the dominance Ford and Vauxhall once enjoyed with Cortinas, Sierras, Cavaliers and Vectras. If you want people to know that you’re doing decently well in life while marooned on the M25, then it’s a 3-series you need and not a Mondeo.
But when Ford launched the S-Max a few years back, it uncovered a surprise chink in the premium brand’s armour. The S-Max offered something a little different, with its rakishly handsome MPV style, and proved a fine demonstrator of the fact that Fords have changed – considerably – since the days of the Scorpio.


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Can real estate’s hottest sector stand the heat in 2022?
After a record-setting year, logistics is facing a growing set of challenges
The bar has been permanently raised on global logistics real estate.
The sector made up nearly a quarter of all commercial real estate investment globally in 2021, according to JLL. Prime yields compressed to 4.4 percent. Demand is at a record high, with net absorption reaching as high as 183 percent in Asia Pacific.
Now the questions are turning to whether such a fierce pace can continue. Developers are struggling to keep up with record demand from e-commerce and logistics firms, while investors are finding it difficult to find investible assets, hindering their allocation targets.
“It was such a phenomenal last year, although I don’t think it was entirely unexpected,” says Nick Jones, pan EMEA Logistics & Industrial investment director JLL.
“The pressure on the sector is really due to permanent structural change of supply chains and more goods coming through the consumer front door via e-commerce.”
Demand for land
Shifts in consumer behavior are a major driver behind the sector’s growth story.
Given online shopping is set to keep growing, so too demand for logistics space is seen as increasing at least five percent in the next three years, according to 75 percent of respondents to JLL’s 2021 survey of 720 of logistics experts. Some 28 percent of those surveyed expect growth in demand of more than 20 percent.
But with growth in occupiers’ net absorption of space high, the number one constraint is a lack of land. Developers are struggling to secure suitable development land and planning permission.
It’s why the coming years will see more developers look to multi-storey schemes, particularly in land constrained, urban areas, says Rich Thompson, Global Leader of Supply Chain & Logistics Solutions at JLL.
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“A limited amount of industrial zoned land is driving a need for a whole new vertical building design,” Thompson says. “Multi-storey has been around for some time, but in the U.S., it’s a relatively new trend. We’re seeing more and more opportunities emerge as land prices rise and as the need to be closer to consumers becomes ever more critical.
“Distribution which was once a ‘necessary evil’ focused only on cost, is now considered a strategic priority by corporate occupiers.”
With demand from investors showing no signs of abating, 2022 may also mean more partnerships emerge as a feasible and viable route into the sector, as M&A activity rises across the wider real estate industry.
The green challenge
The supply chain is also facing a challenge to improve both its sustainability credentials, with 73 percent of respondents to JLL’s survey mention energy efficiency as a high priority.
The next decade is set to see more fleets go electric, particularly for the last mile section of the delivery journey. The UK’s Royal Mail has added an additional 3,000 low-emission delivery vans to its fleet. Logistics firm DB Schenker recently ordered 1,470 fully electric vans from Volta.
“Pressures are mounting on the supply chain to deliver decarbonized solutions, from modern, resilient buildings to new transportation modes,” says Patrick Remords, head of supply chain and logistics services at JLL France.
As the sector continues to grow, pressures will continue to mount. In the U.S., where vacancy levels in large, entry point, coastal markets are below one percent, there’s a “huge challenge” looming for mid-2022 due to the inability of developers to deliver buildings in time and keep up with leasing demand, explains Craig Meyer, America chair of Industrial & Logistics at JLL.
“With pressure sustained from all sides, the sector will require innovative and fresh thinking – from sustainability solutions to smarter more efficient use of space by occupiers, developers and owners – both in 2022 and beyond,” he concludes.
Contact Rich ThompsonGlobal Leader of Supply Chain & Logistics Solutions, India, JLL
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More than two years on, widespread COVID-19 concern appears to be declining as international travel resumes, amid easing travel restrictions and rising vaccination rates.
According to a live poll conducted by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, 57 respondents are not concerned or are not very concerned about the spread of COVID-19, suggesting that tourists are more prepared to live with COVID-19. Hannah Free, Travel and Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, comments.
The outlook for tourism in many countries is brighter than at any time in the past two years. However, the turbulence and uncertainty of COVID-19 have created several challenges which are likely to further complicate recovery.
Rising demand, coupled with mass layoffs and competition for talent with other sectors, has resulted in widespread labour shortages in several tourism economies such as the UK, the Netherlands, and Spain. As countries gradually lift travel restrictions and tourism restarts in many parts of the world, hygiene and safety must continue to be a priority and coordinated health protocols that protect workers, communities, and travellers, while supporting companies and workers, must be firmly in place to boost travel confidence.
Free adds to the global travel and tourism industry post-pandemic recovery is gaining traction as pent-up demand for international travel rekindles.
Written by: Matthew Thomas
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- TravelManagers’ ‘Peace of Mind’ Attracts High Calibre New Recruits
- IAPCO launches its new Job Board, bringing together recruiters and job-seeking meeting professionals from the global meetings industry.
- K-Beauty Brand LAPCOS Just Dropped Three New Products
- Continued Investment In Tech Infrastructure Reaffirms Commitment To Innovation


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Around two thirds of younger consumers are shunning online banking services, according to a US study by Mintel, which found that 40% of these 18-34 year olds "don't trust transactions on the Internet".
The study found that only one-third of consumers aged 18-34 are using Internet banking services, with the remainder preferring the human touch.
Susan Menke, senior financial services analyst for Mintel, says the result is surprising given that these generations have grown up with the Web.
Furthermore the research shows that younger consumers still have major concerns about security of online banking. Some 40% of those who do not use net banking says it is due to security concerns over financial transactions on the Web.
Menke says financial services companies continue to elevate their level of safety and security messaging to their consumers but younger groups "do not necessarily have their fears laid to rest".
The study also found that 80% of 18-24 year olds and 83% of 25-34 year olds own debit cards, but credit card ownership has been dropping in recent years for both groups.
But Mintel says contactless credit cards may provide a new outlet for attracting new consumers, with over 60% of 18-34 year olds showing interest in the technology.


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Legends Of Aria Will Be Playable For The First Time On April 28th
Earlier this month, Shards Online developer Citadel Studios announced that the game would be morphing into a "full-fledged MMORPG" called "Legends of Aria," which would feature a larger world with more features akin to Ultima Online. The new version of the game was not released to backers alongside the announcement, but Citadel announced today that it will be playable for the first time on April 28th.
Legends of Aria tests will be held in a manner that is more similar to other MMORPGs. As the announcement puts it, "tests will come online for specified periods and will focus on specific areas of gameplay for final feedback and bug testing."
To prepare for the first Legends of Aria release, the official servers will be shutting down on March 26th. Furthermore, it is noted that "access to community servers will be limited," although it is unclear what that means.
The first Legends of Aria release will also mark the beginning of Alpha 2. You may remember that the Steam launch was intended to coincide with the beginning of Alpha 2. Now that Shards has "evolved" into Legends of Aria, there is a "need for extra testing periods" and it will not launch on Steam until it reaches Beta.
You can find the full announcement here.


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The Maytags, one of Iowa’s most famous pioneer families, are at it again.
But this time, they’re ignoring modern technology. And the surprising product is … popcorn.
“It makes all of us think about our heritage, our Iowa heritage of real people. And we thought what could be more Iowan than popcorn?” said Ken Maytag, who was raised on Maytag Dairy Farms. He’s the great-grandson of the German immigrant who founded the Maytag appliance company.
Maytag and others were on hand recently for the farm’s first popcorn harvest — a hand harvest — which was held outside Newton, Iowa, during the 70thanniversary celebration of Maytag Dairy’s famous blue cheese. Special guests were invited to pick some popcorn to take home.
Nearly three acres were picked by hand, a throwback to how popcorn was harvested decades ago. The instructions: Just grab an ear, give it a twist and a jerk, and it falls off in your hand.
Myrna Ver Ploeg, president of Maytag Dairy, said hand picking reduces damage, and drying it on the cob produces ideal moisture content, resulting in fewer un-popped kernels.
“It’s amazing just what handling it correctly and what hand harvesting does for the quality of the pop,” she said.
Farmers who work with the big popcorn companies don’t harvest by hand anymore — for good reason.
Garry Smith, president of Jolly Time in Sioux City, Iowa, the nation’s No. 3 producer, said it’s probably been 75 years since his contract farmers have hand-picked popcorn.
“Over the years combines have improved and the farmers know the settings and that quality difference just didn’t warrant the extra expense, so now literally all popcorn throughout the entire industry is combined, and so we’re taking in just the kernels now,” Smith said.
Nonetheless, Smith said hand-picking is good marketing for a small company just getting started.
Ver Ploeg said she considers popcorn to be just a little sideline to Maytag’s cheese business.
“It’s refreshing, it’s something small, its special, it’s organic,” she said. “But I don’t think we’ll be pushing Orville Redenbacher probably by next year anyway.”
Maytag Dairy Farms expects to shell hundreds of pounds of popcorn, compared to Jolly Time’s 55 million.


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There is a grave challenge for borrowers to pay their EMIs on time without default and retain their credit scores, it noted.
Basing its analysis on the latest RBI data, Assocham said housing, vehicle loans and credit card segments formed the major chunk of the personal loan outstanding.
Though components like consumer durables have shown a big year-on-year growth of 43 per cent, the base was small with outstanding of Rs 6,495 crore.
''As we deep-dived into the data, the areas of concern appear to be housing, credit cards, vehicle loans and education loans. Though the RBI has granted a three-month moratorium on EMIs, deferment comes at the cost of compounding of interest as the tenure gets prolonged, " said Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood.
The industry body said the credit card spenders were, in a way, leading the demand push and were sitting on an outstanding of Rs 1.11 lakh crore as at February-end, logging a significant annualised growth of 33 per cent.
Likewise, the housing sub-segment witnessed an annual expansion of 17.1 per cent with outstanding of Rs 13.30 lakh crore .
Even before the coronavirus outbreak , vehicle loans were acting as driver for somehow reviving the automobile demand with outstanding loans of Rs 2.21 lakh crore with growth of 10.3 per cent, it said.
The outstanding for other personal loans aggregated to Rs 7.17 lakh crore with a growth of over 20 per cent.
Assocham said though education loans had shown a negative growth of 3.4 per cent, the aggregate outstandings were large enough at Rs 66,563 crore to pose debt-servicing risks, which would only scale up in the wake of employment situation deteriorating because of the lockdown and the subsequent costs to the economy.
''The outstanding loans to be serviced in different tenures carry different rates of interest and penalty clauses. For instance, the credit card default attracts huge compounding costs. Moreover, there is not much clarity with regard to credit card outstandings in reference to RBI moratorium, " said Sood.
It further said the personal loan borrowers always remain concerned about maintaining their CIBIL credit scores.
"Most of the personal borrowers are young professionals who have long working career as also personal ambitions ahead of them. We must ensure that their concerns are addressed and their credit scores are not compromised. After all, they are a key component of the India story," said the Assocham Secretary General.
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There is need for further reforms in the direct and indirect tax regimes, revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj said.Global Apparel Cos Bounce Back in Style
About half a dozen global apparel and lifestyle brands expanded anywhere between 30% and 70% to garner combined annual revenues of nearly $2 billion in FY22, reversing the performance from a year ago when Covid-induced curbs on mobility and business operations caused sales to shrink.
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Kotaku is a well-known video game website and blog. In fact, any active gamer is well-acquainted with this website. The developers first launched it in 2004. At that time, it was a part of Gawker Media. However, many notable personalities in the field of gaming and journalism have been associated with this network. The list includes the likes of Tim Rogers, Luke Smith, Jason Schreier, and Cecilia D’Anastasio.
We generally know this website for publishing updates and reviews about video games. However, it has also been involved in controversies in the past. In fact, in 2007, Sony temporarily blacklisted Kotaku. Moreover, in 2015, they claimed that Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft had also blacklisted them.
In spite of these controversies, Kotaku has been a greatly useful website for getting various updates about the gaming world. This year, on 29th June, Kotaku published a report about Cyberpunk 2077. We know that Cyberpunk 2077 was full of technical bugs and developmental woes.
According to the report published by the website, a YouTuber named Upper Echelon Gamers has brought some interesting details to the fore. The channel stated that during the development of the game, a QA firm largely misled CD Projekt Red. However, in a VGC interview, Stefan Seicarescu, the CEO of the quality assurance firm, stated that it was nothing but a huge misunderstanding. Read the article to know more about the issue.
Kotaku: The Incident
Kotaku reports that on 25th June, a YouTube channel named Upper Echelon Gamers posted a video. In that video, UEG discussed various details obtained from a whistleblower from Quantic Lab. Quantic Lab is a quality assurance testing team based in Romania. In fact, the firm has a reputation for known fishing out bugs from various games like Destroy All Humans, Desperados III, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and even Cyberpunk 2077.
The anonymous whistleblower, who is an employee of the Quantic Lab, sent an email to UEG on 23rd June. In that email, the employee stated everything that happened during the QA testing of Cyberpunk 2077. According to the report of Kotaku, UEG believes that the source is authentic.
In the video, Upper Echelon Gamers states that the whistleblower stated that in 2019 a team from the Quantic Lab was sent to Poland to work with the developer of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red. Quantic Lab was to send an experienced team for the QA testing. But the whistleblower claimed that the team that traveled to Poland consisted of mainly “junior testers.”The testers had less than a year of working experience. However, the developers, being unaware of this fact, trusted them as veterans who had the experience of working on The Witcher 3.
Also read: 10 Exciting Things to Do in ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Game
Apart from this, there was yet another issue. There have been allegations against the higher authority of Quantic Lab that they have introduced a “bug quota” for each employee. This quota allegedly requires an employee to submit a minimum of 10 bugs a day. Upper Echelon Gamers in the video claimed that to maintain this policy; the quality assurance testers focused on numerous minor and low-priority bugs. This ultimately overworked the testers and resulted in the missing out on certain greater bugs.
The Response of Quantic Lab
Kotaku further states that immediately following the video of Upper Echelon Gamers, Stefan Seicarescu, the CEO of Quantic Lab appeared in an interview with VideoGamesChronicle. Stefan stated that the entire thing was nothing but a misunderstanding. Interestingly, he did not deny or accept any particular claim made by UEG. Rather he stated that the video was full of inaccurate details about QA testing.
Stefan further states that in today’s world a game developer never relies on a singular QA team. Therefore, he suggested CD Projekt Red consult some other firms for their Cyberpunk 2077. He also stated that Quantic Lab handles over 200 projects every year. In doing this, they always prioritize quality. He further claimed that they maintain a highly professional approach to their clients and work with utmost transparency.
According to Kotaku the CEO of the Quantic Lab therefore, has claimed that the video published by UEG is full of unreal claims about QA testing. However, he never discussed particular claims in detail. On the other hand, Upper Echelon Gamers claims his source to be an authentic one.
Thus, doubts remain. Cyberpunk 2077 has been a disaster with lots of bugs. Therefore, it remains to be seen how the developers react in this regard.
Also read: Top Best Games for Modding in 2022


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This morning at around 5am, Reuters published an article which shocked most Huawei mobile customers across the globe.
Just 30 minutes ago, Huawei posted on it’s Facebook page and clarify it’s stand on the matter.
It is said that Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after sales to existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet that has been sold or in stock globally.
Nothing is mentioned about the future of upgrades of to Android Q. It is also not known that will they replace the Google App Store with the AppGallery which co-exist on Huawei phones right now.
Questions remain whether the upcoming launch of Honor 20. Will it continue to use Android 9.0 or they are ready to use their own in house OS rumoured Hong Meng. ( 鸿蒙 ) which started development in 2012 as a plan B in case they no longer licensed to use Google Android or Windows Mobile.
defintiion of 鸿蒙 据了解，鸿蒙，道教神话传说的远古时代，传说盘古在昆仑山开天辟地之前，世界是一团混沌的元气，这种自然的元气叫做鸿蒙，因此把那个时代称作鸿蒙时代，后来此一词也常被用来泛指称远古时代。四大名著《西游记》第一回中，也有“自从盘古破鸿蒙，开辟从兹清浊辨”的描述。


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Clean energy stocks are a rapidly growing sector of the stock market. For the uninitiated, clean energy is defined as energy that comes from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, and water. Clean energy stocks encompass a wide variety of companies. This includes companies that are involved in the production and distribution of clean energy products and services. Notably, some of the more popular clean energy stocks include; Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR), SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR), and Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP) to name a few.
Many investors view clean energy stocks as a shrewd investment. This is mainly because they offer the potential for strong growth and high returns. Additionally, clean energy stocks tend to be less volatile than other types of stocks. As a result, this can make it an attractive option for risk-averse investors. Given the numerous benefits, it is no surprise that clean energy has become one of the hottest sectors in the stock market. If this has you interested in the clean energy sector, here are two companies to watch in the market now.
Clean Energy Stocks To Watch Right Now
1. Plug Power Inc (PLUG Stock)
Leading off the list today is Plug Power Inc. (PLUG). For starters, the company is a provider of clean, reliable energy solutions. In brief, the company designs develop, manufactures, and sells fuel cell systems for use in forklifts, automotive, and other applications. Plug Power’s products offer an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to traditional combustion-based technologies. Additionally, PLUG has a growing list of customers who are using its products to power their operations. The most notable companies include Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG).
PLUG Recent Stock News
Just today, Plug Power announced an agreement with third-party food logistics company FreezPak Logistics. Diving in, FreezePak is going to expand its operations throughout the United States, and are using PLUG’s fuel cells and hydrogen infrastructure. Specifically, Plug Power will deliver its products to nine additional sites and approximately 400 lift trucks. There was nothing disclosed about the financial terms of this new agreement.
Andy Marsh, Plug CEO, commented, “FreezPak Logistics has been a longstanding believer in Plug’s innovative technology and hydrogen fuel cells. We are thrilled to expand our partnership, which further improves the American supply chain and decreases carbon emissions.”
PLUG Stock Chart
Year-to-date PLUG stock has been beaten down by 41.54% so far. Meanwhile, as of Wednesday’s closing bell, shares of PLUG stock dropped 11.93% on the day at $16.83 a share.
2. Enphase Energy (ENPH Stock)
After that, let’s turn our attention to Enphase Energy (ENPH). Simply put, Enphase is a global energy technology company that provides smart energy solutions. Enphase offers a complete line of solar energy products, including inverters, microinverters, and batteries. Enphase also provides software and services to enable the efficient use of solar energy.
ENPH Recent Stock News
On Monday of this week, the company announced that it will expand its partnership with CREATON GmbH. In detail, CREATON GbmH is one of the leading residential roof manufacturers in Europe. The announcement reported that CREATON GbmH will now be exclusively offering Enphase© IQ™ Batteries. This is an effort to increase Enphase’s footprint in Germany, as CREATON, has multiple offices and manufacturing plants throughout Germany.
Dave Ranhoff, chief commercial officer at Enphase commented, “CREATON continues to prove its industry leadership with an innovative business model offering both roofing and construction as well as home solar and battery installation, using top products and services. Solar and battery technology is rapidly expanding across Germany and we’re seeing homeowners look to electrify their lives as gas prices continue to rise. This convenient end-to-end solution provides homeowners with an excellent experience and more control of their future energy needs.”
ENPH Stock Chart
So far in 2022, ENPH stock has outperformed the broader markets, up 31.17% year-to-date. Though, on Wednesday shares of Enphase stock closed down 3.77% on the day at $241.95 a share.


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Turkey-based prosecutor launched an investigation against a cryptocurrency exchange operator after he shut down his site and fled the country with an estimated $2 billion in investor funds on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Thodex website went down, leaving a suspicious message behind saying that the trading would be suspended for 5 days due to an undisclosed outside investment.
The photograph released by a Turkish official showed Faruk Fatih Ozer, the founder of Thodex moving through passport control. The location to where he was migrating remains undisclosed. Local resources highlighted that 27-28 year looking individual had flown either to Albania or Thailand.
Image source: Yahoo Finance
You May Also Like: PayPal launches crypto checkout service to boost the use of digital assets
Reports from the sources mentioned that the site and the entire exchange had shut down while holding at least $2 billion from 391,000 investors.
“The victims are panicked,” investors’ lawyer Oguz Evren Kilic was quoted as saying by HaberTurk.
“They are lodging complaints at prosecutors’ offices in the cities they reside.”
Thodex has introduced aggressive investor-attraction campaigns. Cryptocurrency is popular these days among Turkish People. Turks are looking to protect their savings, In the midst of a dramatic fall in the value of the local lira. Despite President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government’s increasing skepticism about the protection and usage of digital currencies, the Turkish crypto market remains unregulated. From April 30th, the Turkish Central bank has decided to ban cryptocurrency in payments for goods and services.
It also mentioned that cryptos “involve major risks” due to the market’s uncertainty and lack of regulation.
“Wallets can be stolen or used unlawfully without the authorization of their holders,” alarmed the central banks last week.
Image Source: DNA India


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Midget Gems have been rebranded due to concerns the branding may offend people with dwarfism.
Marks and Spencer rebranded their chewable gummy candy to Mini Gems after a campaign.
Dr. Liverpool Hope University’s Erin Pritchard, who suffers from achondroplasia, has lobbied shops and manufacturers to change the name of the candy.
M&S is the first dealer to react and removes the term.
Dr. Pritchard said: “The word ‘midget’ is a form of hate speech and contributes to the prejudice that people with dwarfism face on a daily basis.
“We need a better awareness of this particular word so that things can change for the better.
“And I’m grateful that M&S was willing to listen to the concerns of people with dwarfism and pushed the rebranding forward.”
Vegan-friendly company Free From Fellows, whose products line the shelves at Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, WH Smith and Boots, has also done away with the term “dwarf jewels.”
Dr. Pritchard said: “For me, this underscores the need for a better awareness of how problematic the word ‘midget’ really is, and I would love to see other retailers and manufacturers follow in the footsteps of M&S and Free From Fellows.”
She added: “Often referred to as the M-word by people with dwarfism, it’s a term derived from the word ‘midge,’ meaning midge or sandfly.
“Its origin automatically dehumanizes people like me. It was a term popularized during the Victorian freak show in which many disabled people, including those with dwarfism, were oppressed and exploited.
“Here, people with bodies that exceeded normal expectations were displayed for others to stare at and often taunt.”
An M&S spokesman said: “We are committed to being an inclusive retailer – from the way we support our colleagues, to the products we offer and the way we bring them to our 32million market customers.
“Based on the suggestions of our colleagues and the insights of Dr. Erin Pritchard, we introduced a new mini gem packaging last year, which has since rolled out across all of our stores.”


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Mobile Commerce: Living Up To The Hype
May 12 , 2011
A tiny town in Sweden is on the cutting edge in the mobile commerce sector.
For nearly a year, shoppers in Visby, in the Swedish municipality of Gotland, have been able to walk into almost any of the locality's 60 or 70 shops and pay for goods without having to reach for a wallet or purse. Instead, a system called PayEx lets shoppers pay via their mobile phones.
Here's how it works: A retailer keys the amount to be paid into a PayEx point-of-sale device, which communicates with a server using a secure authentication service from the Swedish software developer Accumulate. The authentication service sends a message to shoppers' mobile phones, asking them to confirm the purchase. For small purchases under a few euros, shoppers press "OK" on their phones or swipe the phones over a terminal; for anything over a few euros, shoppers key in a PIN.
PayEx can also be used for online and person-to-person payments. And since last July, eco-conscious drivers in Visby have even been able to use it to pay for recharging their electric cars. PayEx works with any phone that has a data connection, including iPhones and BlackBerrys, and runs on Android, Java, Symbian or Windows operating systems. So far around 3,000 users have signed up for the service. Payments are automatically deducted from users' PayEx accounts.
Sweden seems an unlikely mobile commerce hotbed, but consider the facts: mobile phone usage is among the highest in Europe, and mobile phone searches via Google Sweden grew 500 percent in 2009 and 2010. The growth was due to shoppers searching for apparel and shoes.
Mobile commerce has been around since 1997, when two Coca-Cola vending machines were set up to take payments via SMS texts in Helsinki, Finland. But the sector only began to take off in the last year or so because smartphones have gotten more sophisticated, making mobile buying easier. Lars Aase, vice president of marketing at Accumulate concedes that mobile commerce has been "very hyped," even though it has grown slowly.
"The telephone is the perfect authentication tool."
— Lars Aase, vice president of marketing, Accumulate
ABI Research predicts mobile commerce revenues will reach $163 billion, or 12 percent, of worldwide e-commerce sales in 2015. "Mobile online shopping is reaching critical mass," notes ABI senior analyst Mark Beccue.
New services and technologies are in the works to aid mobile commerce. For instance, Cisco's Next Generation Hotspot strategy, announced at this year's Mobile World Congress, will make it easier for service providers to deliver new personalized mobile services, such as special offers or coupons.
Aase is certain mobile commerce will become commonplace in developed markets. "It will take off, absolutely," he says. "The telephone is the perfect authentication tool. Merchants and operators are understanding people really want to use it."
Jason Deign is a freelance writer based in Barcelona, Spain.
The contents or opinions in this feature are independent and do not necessarily represent the views of Cisco. They are offered in an effort to encourage continuing conversations on a broad range of innovative technology subjects. We welcome your comments and engagement.
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Google has sent out invites to a media event on October 4, with expectations set for Google’s next flagship phone. Scheduled to kick-off at 9am PT in San Francisco, the event will witness upgrade to Google’s smartphone series.
— Google (@google) September 20, 2016
In a teaser video posted on YouTube, Google previews its upcoming smartphone, which is likely to be a Pixel-branded device this time. The video features a phone, followed by the company’s ‘G’ symbol on the right and date on the left.
[videoembed type=”youtube” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNnCtmyujLA” title=”1″ playbar=”1″]
Google has also set up a dedicated page for the event from where you can sign up for updates right into your inbox.
It’s all set. October 4 is entirely of Google. Stay tuned!
Samsung has ‘A Galaxy Event’ scheduled for October 11
Yet another Galaxy coming next month. Phone, Camera, or what else?
Samsung is hosting a Galaxy event on October 11 next month. The company posted a brief note about the event on its press website, in a surprising move today. We’ll be seeing a new Galaxy device that will offer “more ways to express yourself than ever before,” says Samsung.
The event teaser reads “4x fun” in the heading, which we have no idea what it’s hinting toward but a Galaxy device. This indeed is a surprising news, provided it’s coming from a company who released its phablet flagship, Galaxy Note 9 last month. And also not long after Apple wrapped up its iPhone Xs event this week. Samsung’s Galaxy event poster doesn’t reveal anything about what we will be seeing next month — a phone, camera, or something new — but it will be four times the fun, according to the South Korean giant.
As there’s no mention of the event location, the Galaxy event could be an online announcement across Samsung’s website on October 11, 2018. Stay tuned for what happens next on this story.
Watch Apple’s 2018 iPhone launch event live
Watch Apple unveil the next generation of iPhone, and a lot more!
Apple’s annual iPhone event is a couple hours away, and you wouldn’t want to miss watching the special event live. Apple will be live streaming the 2018 iPhone event for you to watch from anywhere around the world.
At this year’s special event, Apple is set to debut three new iPhone models — iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, and iPhone Xr — alongside Apple Watch Series 4, and perhaps hardware updates to the existing MacBook Air. This doesn’t limit the event to hardware-only launches, we’re also to observe public software releases for iOS 12, macOS Mojave, watchOS 5, and tvOS 12, which were announced at WWDC 2018.
The 2018 iPhone event will take place Wednesday, September 12 at the Steve Jobs Theater inside Apple Park in Cupertino, California.
You can watch the special event on Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch through the dedicated Apple Special Events page using Safari. If you’re on Windows, make sure you use Microsoft Edge for the stream. Apple TV users can tune-in to the Events app from the Apple TV home screen.
Surprisingly, Apple is also planning to live-stream the event on Twitter. Be sure to check the social network, if above live-streaming choices are not available to you. This is the first time Apple is streaming its special event on Twitter.
— Apple (@Apple) September 10, 2018
Microsoft schedules Surface event for October 2
A moment of your time.
Microsoft has announced its Surface event for October 2 in New York City. The press event will begin at 1pm Pacific Time, focusing on the company’s latest hardware and software releases.
Microsoft will likely showcase its updated Surface line of products during the event, though the invite doesn’t hint anything in particular. “A moment of your time,” reads the invite.
It’s been quite a long — two years in number — since we’ve had any major Surface Studio announcement coming to us, which also aids toward major spec bump for existing Surface hardwares. Not to mention, Microsoft can surprise us with new software releases, too.
Microsoft’s Surface event is being held a couple weeks after Apple’s iPhone event, and a week before Google’s Pixel event. All that leads to an exciting month ahead!


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Spring has sprung and there is no better time to show off your beautiful skin!
Here are a few helpful tips to help you achieve beautiful, healthy skin and help prevent photoaging.
This one step is one of the most important things that you can take to boost your business. In fact, according to experts, people who who do this increase their business by more than 35 percent.
Inspired by K-Beauty, the new Uth Facemask is designed in South Korea, the beauty-mecca of the world.
The Uth Facemask, a unique skincare product developed by Mannatech’s Skincare Innovation Center in Korea, will be available in North America starting next week


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Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd has, in an official communication has announced that they have reduced the price of their automatic electric vehicle e2o thanks to the benefits offered by the central government’s FAME scheme. The e2o now costs Rs 4.79 lakhs (On road Delhi) in addition to a fixed energy fee of Rs 2,999 per month for 5 years or 50,000 km, which as per the company is a reduction of 16 per cent over the old price.
16 percent means about a slash of Rs 75,000 and do notice that the price listed here is the on-road price in Delhi and not the ex-showroom, and includes all the other taxes etc.
FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) scheme will also help facilitate special focus on investment in research and development. A major problem of using electric vehicles in India is that we do not have a proper charging infrastructure.
The aegis of FAME shall also include the process of making charging infrastructure more accessible and also expand its network. A rise in publicly available charging point is thus expected. Mahindra Reva has been serious about charging infrastructure and has already set up 300 such charging points across the country.
The air quality in cities in the country is already under a lot of scrutiny by environmental agencies and a move like this is definitely welcome. Instead of regular sources of electricity, we have to invest in more non-polluting and safe sources of power such as solar. Otherwise it is just shifting the problem from one backyard to another.


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The fintech sector continues to evolve at a neck-breaking speed. Just last year, the fintech industry saw record-breaking investments as the total global funding reached US$210 billion across 5,684 deals. If anything, this suggests that the fintech market is becoming more mature, with more consolidation activity and big M&A transactions taking place.
Fintech shapes every aspect of financial services, with electronic payments, insurance underwriting, peer-to-peer lending already an integral part of everyday life for millions of users. And as these fintech subsectors continue to grow, we see a surge of interest in embedded finance, cryptocurrencies, and other fintech software development trends. Without further ado, let’s see what they are.
Fintech trends to keep an eye on in 2022
1. Embedded finance
Embedded finance is a new trend but it is already gaining traction. Simply put, embedded finance refers to the blending of financial tools into non-financial platforms and solutions to enhance the user experience. This integration enables customers to access services like loans, insurance, payment processes without disrupting their flow. By 2030, embedded finance is forecasted to become a $7.2 trillion opportunity.
Some examples of embedded finance include car insurance provided together with car-sharing or taxi services. British Airways, for instance, provides travel insurance on its website when a customer purchases a flight ticket.
Another well-known example of embedded finance is the Buy-Now-Pay-Later model, or BNPL for short. BNPL is a form of installment payment service that allows customers to split a purchase into several parts. Amazon has teamed up with Barclays to offer a BNPL plan — customers can split their Amazon purchases into 3 to 48 monthly installments.
2. Focus on cybersecurity and data protection
In 2020, financial institutions were the most common targets of cyberattacks. Since then, investments in fintech cybersecurity have more than doubled, and ensuring reliable protection of customers’ data remains the top priority for fintech experts.
A particular interest lies in the use of AI, machine learning, and automation to improve security posture. Namely, fintechs are increasingly deploying AI-driven endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions that perform dynamic behavior analysis across complex systems and automatically identify suspicious patterns and uncover threats that would be impossible to detect with static behavior rules.
3. Cryptocurrency and CBCD on the rise
Despite shifting regulatory environments, the interest in the cryptocurrency space is strong as ever. In 2021, global investment in blockchain and cryptocurrencies skyrocketed to $30.2 million, which is five times higher than in 2020.
As cryptocurrencies are becoming mainstream, merchants and major payment service providers expand their support for crypto settlements. PayPal, for example, allows users to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. So does Revolut, a UK-based fintech startup, that now supports over 30 cryptocurrencies.
Source: The Papers
Governments and central banks are also warming to the idea of cryptocurrencies. El Salvador was the first country to make Bitcoin a legal currency. Other countries look into developing a central bank digital currency (CDDC) of their own. In February 2022, India announced its plans to introduce a digital rupee within the next couple of years. China has been testing its digital yuan, dubbed e-CNY, since 2020. In fact, 80% of central banks are considering launching CBDC, according to PwC.
4. The rise of super apps
This year, industry experts also expect to see the race of super apps getting more intense. A super app basically refers to a “one-stop-shop” app that offers a wide range of products and services under one roof. The most vivid example of a super app is WeChat, which is used by more than two-thirds of the Chinese population. This popularity is not surprising given the impressive functionality of WeChat — paying bills and getting loans, booking a taxi or buying a movie ticket, messaging and calling, and much more.
Source: Agile Tech
Asia may have pioneered the concept of super apps, but now the Western world is catching up with the trend. Last year, PayPal acquired Paidy, a Japan-based buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) startup. Walmart also aims to make a big splash in the super app arena. The commerce giant is on track to acquire two fintech startups — Even Responsible Finance Inc. and ONE Finance Inc. — and then relaunch under the name ONE with a “financial services super app” status.
Top 10 highest valued fintech unicorns in 2022
According to a Dealroom report, there are now 473 fintech unicorns globally, with 40 added in the first quarter of 2022. We have compiled the list of top ten fintech unicorns with the highest valuation.
New and promising fintech niches
With seamless payments, alternative funding, personalized insurance offers, the fintech sector has come a long way. But still there are niche areas that fintech is yet to exploit.
- Non-fungible tokens (NFT). NFTs are all the rage right now — in 2021 the NFT market surpassed $40 billion. Simply put, NFTs are tokens that exist on a blockchain and are used to prove the ownership of digital items. And financial players are starting to see the lucrative opportunities and new revenue streams in NFT development.
- Cryptocurrency regulation. As crypto is becoming mainstream, robust cryptocurrency regulation is needed to support innovation while protecting against fraudulent activity. Japan, for example, has become the first country to regulate crypto exchanges that must be registered and comply with traditional AML/CFT requirements.
- ECG-focused fintechs. Since the UN Climate Change Conference, the prioritization of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives has been happening on a much broader scale. Now there is a growing focus on ESG capabilities among fintechs, and VC investments into ESG-related fintechs have surged within the last 24 months.
To sum it up
We are almost halfway through the year, and we have already seen 40 new fintech unicorns added to the big family. There is no doubt that fintech is a forward-thinking industry that leverages cutting-edge technologies to improve customer experiences and deliver innovative products and services, from embedded financing solutions to super apps to cryptocurrencies and NFTs. In parallel, fintech is expected to play a crucial role in encouraging green initiatives and supporting ESG capabilities.


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Turner Makes PPV Golf Match Free After Tech Glitch
Because of a technical bogey, Turner let golf fans watch the Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods match for free at the last minute.
Mickelson won the $9 million winner-take-all contest in 22 holes, but some viewers who ponied up the $19.99 complained online about others not having to pay.
The technical glitch made it hard for people who wanted to access the event via the Bleacher Report Live streaming service at the last minute. To ensure that paying customers wouldn’t miss the match, Turner took down the paywall and some people were able to find the match on social media.
The technical issue apparently did not affect those who bought the event through traditional cable and satellite distributors.
“We experienced some technical issues on B/R Live that temporarily impacted user access to The Match,” Turner said in a statement. “We’ve taken a number of steps to resolve the matter, with our main priority being the delivery of content to those that have purchased the PPV event.”
Turner said it would be releasing numbers showing how many people bought the event in a few days.
It was not clear whether people who paid for the event would receive a refund.
The latest product and technology information
Future US's leading brands bring the most important, up-to-date information right to your inbox


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Victoria, Seychelles, November 7th, 2023, Chainwire
Bitget, the leading cryptocurrency derivatives platform and copy trading platform, has increased its support for fiat gateways in the Middle East region. Users can now utilize the platform’s peer-to-peer trading for seven currencies: DZD (Algerian Dinars), BHD (Bahraini Dinars), TND (Tunisian Dinars), JOD (Jordanian Dinars), QAR (Qatari Rials), MRU (Mauritanian Ouguiyas) and OMR (Omani Rials).
With the newly added fiat support, users can buy and sell cryptocurrency on Bitget’s P2P platform with zero fees. Payments can be made in local currencies with local payment methods.
“Our products are aligned with Bitget’s expansion plans in the Middle East. We want to enable our traders to trade in their preferred fiat currencies. With Bitget P2P we’re enabling a seamless and convenient trading experience for our valued users in the region. We’re focused on driving financial sovereignty as we make crypto accessible and user-friendly throughout the globe,” said Gracy Chen, Managing Director at Bitget.
The addition of these fiat currencies is a recent development. It is part of Bitget’s expansion strategy in the Middle East, recognizing the region’s prominence as a thriving hub for crypto activities.
Bitget’s peer-to-peer trading framework is designed to provide a smooth and easy trading experience with zero fees. The exchange also aims to obtain the necessary licenses and approvals from regulatory agencies to enable expansion and open regional offices. In recent months, the company has expanded its operations globally and registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in Poland and Lithuania.
The launch of a specialized Euro (EUR) Fiat Gateway is exclusively for institutional accounts. Verified customers can enjoy a variety of features, including easy access to deposits and withdrawals.
With this new service, EUR transfers are more flexible, secure, and cost-effective. This improves the user experience on the Bitget platform.
Established in 2018, Bitget is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and web3 company. Serving over 20 million users across 100+ countries, the Bitget Exchange is dedicated to helping its users trade more intelligently with its copy trading feature, among other trading solutions. Formerly known as BitKeep, Bitget is a multi-chain world-class crypto wallet. The company offers a wide range of comprehensive WeB3 Solutions and Features including Wallet functionality, Swap, NFT Marketplace, DApp browser and more. Bitget has collaborated with credible partners including legendary individuals and Argentinian Footballer Lionel Messi. PGL is the official eSports event organizer.
For more information, visit:


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To celebrate Mother’s Day and all the mothers in the Second Life
community, we are releasing new limited edition last names today, only
available until May 10th:
These names are seasonal and may come back around this time next year, for a limited time.
When the Lab has made a last name available before, in it's early days it was available for several months, then dropped and never available again. Recently, it could be available for longer sometimes, but still never available again once dropped. This would be the first time that the Lab has considered the possibility of a last name available for a second time.
On April 1, Linden Lab announced two other limited edition last names which were around for only a week. It was never stated whether or not they will be available again.
Source: Linden blog
Post a Comment


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MILAN — Trussardi unveils today its Archive+Now°2 project, the second chapter of the new course of the fashion house under the new owner and in collaboration with @Checking_Invoices.
The company has once again opened up its archives to let a creative talent give new life to accessories and products through images, installations and videos.
The fun, tongue-in-cheek images and the video emphasize not only Trussardi’s luxury leather accessories and looks, but also the city of Milan, closely linked to the brand, with landmarks such as the medieval Castello Sforzesco in the background.
An image from the new Trussardi collaboration with @Checking_Invoices.
Greyhounds also appear in the images — a reference to the storied logo of the Trussardi brand.
Another image from the Trussardi collaboration with @Checking_Invoices.
The Instagram account @Checking_Invoices created by an anonymous duo composed by a stylist and a videomaker now counts 35.3K followers. The account features a faceless character wearing high fashion in unexpected and humorous public situations. “Whilst we started the account just for fun, it grew considerably as it accidentally became a response to the “drama” of the fashion industry (sometimes taking themselves too seriously). At the same time, anonymity functioned as a counterbalance to the overexposure that social media


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Mazda North American Operations (MNAO, Orange County, California) announced that it is donating $5,354,550 to select charities as a result of its event. In addition to the monetary donation, Mazda employees and dealers across the nation also will donate more than 72,000 charitable service hours in 2016 through various local charitable service opportunities.
“Mazda Drive for Good” winter event was created in 2013. In its third year, Mazda’s Drive for Good event ran from November 23, 2015 through January 4, 2016. Mazda continued its donation of $150 per new Mazda sold. Nationally, Mazda worked with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, American Red Cross, American Heart Association and Mazda Foundation(U.S.A). Additionally, Mazda offered a local charity option to its customers by partnering with an additional 43 charities based on dealer input in the local markets. In addition to the monetary donation, Mazda also pledged an hour of charitable service for every test drive of a new Mazda vehicle taken during the Mazda Drive for Good event.
Please see the press releases of MNAO’s official website for more information.
Mazda Drive for Good


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'PUBG Mobile' releases worldwide for iOS and Android
Mississippi Boy's Video Game Shooting Over Controller Kills Sister
HTC Vive Pro Price Announced, Original Model Gets Price Reduced
Sprint Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8
Stephen Hawking's Final Scientific Paper Points Towards The Existence Of Parallel Universes
IPhone X Qualcomm Models Still Have Faster LTE Speeds Than Intel Models
04 December 2017, 02:51 | Ross Houston
Qualcomm fires back at Apple with new batch of patent infringement suits
This new lawsuit from Qualcomm follows the countersuit by Apple against Qualcomm filed on Wednesday.
Chip-making company Qualcomm has filed three new patent infringement claims against Apple at a US District Court, bringing the total number of suits against the phone and luxury gadget making company to 16.
That case accompanied a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission seeking to ban the import of Apple iPhones that use competing Intel Corp chips because of the alleged patent violations.
The dispute between Apple and Qualcomm over patents is part of a wide-ranging legal war between the two companies. Qualcomm says Apple is using its patents without paying the proper/ royalties.
This summer, Qualcomm filed a complaint alleging that Apple was infringing on its power-efficiency technologies for mobile phones. Qualcomm added that Apple has also encouraged the companies that actually manufacture iPhones to breach their contracts by refusing to pay Qualcomm royalties, and has "misled governmental agencies around the world into investigating Qualcomm in an effort to indirectly exert leverage over Qualcomm".
The three cases filed Thursday were all filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego. However, Qualcomm still believes that the dispute could be resolved outside the courts.
Most of Apple's models, starting from the iPhone 4s to the iPhone 6s, all employ Qualcomm modems inside them. Because the Qualcomm modem chip was much faster over LTE than the one made by Intel, Apple was forced to throttle its speed so that there wouldn't be a huge discrepancy in performance between the CDMA and GSM models.
All this is taking place in a technology market and ecosystem that is changing rapidly.
Cards, Giants have framework for Stanton deal
Why would they if he's determined to play for them and no one else? Second baseman Joe Panik has also been mentioned. Over the past two days, representatives for Stanton have met with officials from the Giants , sources said.
SpaceX to send a Tesla Roadster into outer space
As if bringing humans to the Red Planet were not hard enough, he has now announced he wants to send his Tesla sports vehicle too. The Falcon Heavy rocket features 27 Merlin engines and boasts at least double the thrust of any other rocket on the market.
The X Factor UK 2017 Live Final Results, Winner Revealed
An emotional Cowell who mentored the group called them "gentlemen", adding: "You are stars". "I also have to say something else". Following his elimination, Kevin told Dermot: "Thank you the United Kingdom for believing in me to put me on that stage".
Ahmed Shafik in Cairo hotel and in good health: lawyer
Shafiq left the UAE for Cairo following his detention, Emirates News Agency (ENA), official news agency of UAE, reported earlier. A Gulf source familiar with the matter said earlier: "Shafik has publicly asked to go to Egypt and his wish will be met".
N.Korea: Kim visits missile truck tire factory
After the missile was tested, Trump tweeted Wednesday that "additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea". White House national security adviser HR McMaster says the U.S. is in a race to address the threat from North Korea .
Matthew Stafford injured in Lions loss to Ravens
Stafford appeared to have his right hand stepped on by Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs when he threw a late interception. The Ravens then pulled away after rookie Marlon Humphrey's interception at the Lions' 31.


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Apple says will not meet revenue guidance for March quarter due to coronavirus impact
'Taking one for the team' to debut first driverless car in aged care sector
AFP searches for digital health record system
Xerox invites HP shareholders to dinner
China seeks help of national tech giants to track coronavirus with QR codes
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Obama issues first govt guide on responding to cyber attack
Criticised for lack of detail.
Jul 27 2016 9:45AM
Obama weighs in on Apple/FBI dispute
Argues the case for encryption backdoors.
Mar 14 2016 6:15AM
Obama plans billion-dollar spend on computer science in US schools
Ambitious Computer Science for All program launched.
Feb 1 2016 9:34AM
US, China ink cyber security truce
But Obama remains wary.
Sep 28 2015 6:38AM
US businesses lobby Obama over China tech policy concerns
Claim national security is being used to restrict competition.
Aug 13 2015 9:53AM
US tech industry urges Obama to keep hands off encryption
Posts second public letter.
Jun 9 2015 2:48PM
Obama vows to boost US cyber defenses amid alleged China hacking
Hack likely intended to help recruit spies, access weapons.
Jun 9 2015 11:14AM
Tech giants urge Obama to rule out backdoors
Policy would weaken infosec and undermine human rights.
May 20 2015 9:16AM
Questioning the effectiveness of sanctions
[Blog post] Attack attribution and motive are key.
Apr 7 2015 2:57PM
Obama launches financial sanctions for cyber attackers
Describes cyber crime "national emergency".
Apr 2 2015 6:29AM
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Hands-on Nokia Lumia 820 pictures have appeared online just days ahead of the handset’s expected September 5th unveiling in New York.
The as yet unconfirmed handset’s second premature appearance in a matter of days, claimed hands-on images of Nokia’s first Windows 8 handset have hit the web courtesy of Chinese site Coolxap. The latest images following Friday’s Nokia Lumia 820 leaks that saw rendered press images outed on Twitter.
Seemingly set to sport a slimmer, longer body than its Nokia Lumia 800 predecessor whilst maintaining many of the same design characteristics, the heavily rumoured Nokia Lumia 820 has been snapped sporting a white polycarbonate finish, with previous leaks suggesting the WP loving handset will also be made available in grey, black, purple, blue, yellow and red colour schemes.
Varying slightly from the previously leaked Lumia 820 press shots, the latest early outing shows a device which brandishes the words “Property of Nokia, not for sale. Prototype” on its rear suggesting this particular model might never make it to the realms of reality.
Whilst a number of Nokia Lumia 820 images have hit the web, details on the upcoming handset’s internals are still a little unclear with the Windows Phone 8 filled device said to be heading to market with an expansive 4.3-inch display. Although the device has somewhat surprisingly been tipped to sport a meagre 335MB of RAM, little else is know about what to expect from Nokia’s latest Samsung Galaxy S3 and Apple iPhone 4S rival.
With Nokia and Microsoft confirmed to be hosting a joint launch event in New York City this Wednesday, September 5th, it is widely expected that the Finnish phone manufacturer will further deepen its close relationship with the Redmond-based software giant, unveiling what are likely to be the first Windows 8 handsets to hit retailers across the globe.
Not content with launching one new high-end Windows Phone 8 handset, Nokia is expected to partner the Lumia 820 unveiled with confirmation of the Nokia Lumia 920 PureView, the company’s previously leaked new flagship handset.
Having previously leaked alongside the Lumia 820, the Nokia Lumia 920 PureView is rumoured to be getting ready for launch with a 4.5-inch display in tow. As its name suggests, the 920 is also expected to feature Nokia’s high megapixel PureView camera technology debuted earlier this year on the Symbian powered Nokia 808 PureView.
What would you need to see on the Nokia Lumia 820 to tempt you to join the Windows Phone 8 movement and turn your back on the throng of high-end Android handsets and upcoming Apple iPhone 5? Let us know via the comments box below or through the Trusted Reviews Twitter and Facebook feeds.


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Made in Iraq, launches in Baghdad in the presence of Al-Kazemi
Economy News _ Baghdad
The Ministry of Commerce announced, on Monday, the launch of the activities of the qualitative "Made in Iraq" exhibition on the grounds of the Baghdad International Fair, under the patronage and presence of the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, and a number of ministers, deputies and figures concerned with the industrial aspect.
Trade Minister Alaa Ahmad al-Jubouri said in a statement received by "Al-Iktissad Wal-Nation", on the sidelines of his attendance at the launching ceremony of the exhibition, that the exhibition "enjoys governmental interest and support as it is an economic demonstration and an important opportunity to reverse the effort made by the Ministry of Industry and its continuous endeavor to develop Iraqi industry and restore confidence in national production." ".
The minister indicated that the exhibition represents an important and appropriate point for all private and mixed sector companies, public sector and national industries companies to meet within the framework of the general goal of building the new Iraq, encouraging investment and commercial activity, supporting the national economy and increasing exports, as it provides an appropriate opportunity to choose a number of national products for display. In international exhibitions outside the country, in addition to being a worker to promote the capabilities and products of specialized companies in various industrial sectors and an opportunity to expand the establishment of commercial relations as suitable for promotion, marketing, advertising, attracting investments and establishing partnerships with the private sector, allowing these companies to display their locally manufactured products as an alternative to imported products To cover a large part of the needs and requirements of the Iraqi market.
It is worth noting that the qualitative "Made in Iraq" exhibition, in its fifth session, was launched with the participation of (30) companies from the Ministry of Industry and Minerals and private sector companies, which was organized by the Ministry of Industry in coordination and cooperation with the Ministry of Trade represented by the General Company for Iraqi Fairs and Commercial Services.
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Virus writers finally paid some attention to Apple Macs in 2010, with several new types of malware appearing to puncture the myth of the platform's security invulnerability, security company Intego has reported in its annual review.
The widely-reported 'Boonana' Trojan was a new piece of malware after all and had nothing directly to do with Koobface, Microsoft and other security companies have reported a week after the event.
A new variant of the Koobface worm that targets Mac OS X and Linux as well as Windows is spreading through Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, security researchers warned today.
A week after a security company warned Mac users of the slowly growing risk of malware attack, a new Mac OS X Trojan-worm based on Koobface has been discovered circulating via Facebook and Twitter.
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The Search Agency, in a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, found that among 2,006 U.S. adult Internet users. The Search Agency, in a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, found that among 2,006 U.S. adult Internet users, more than 33 percent of those questioned believe search engines make money by selling personal data to marketers. While, West online adult users said the search engines sell advertising that runs with the search results (84 percent). Also, just over 75 percent of the total U.S. online population are known with the fact that this as being a source of funds for the engines.
Also, users have no clue about few interesting facts about Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc.Despite huge user base among these social networking sites, users had no knowledge about many minute things which they use daily. For example: many users don’t understand how the social networking site – Facebook makes money, length of tweet, how search engines make money.
Few facts which unveiled during the study:
Facebook: only 54 percent understood how Facebook makes money. To be more specific the percentage is divided on the basis of men and women users – 57 percent men and 51 percent women. Additionally, only 70 percent of online adults voted that they know how to post to someone’s timeline; 76 percent of women said they do, compare to 64 percent of men.
Twitter: 37 percent of men know the length of tweet compare to women 27 percent.
Pinterest: On the contrary to Twitter, women (48 percent) are well known with the term “pin” compare to men (42 percent).
The tendency to click over paid links were seen more in south part of U.S online adult users compared to other regions like northeast(20 percent), west ( 19 percent) and Midwest(17 percent). While American users aged between 18-34 (30 percent) click on search engine ads almost two fold more than the users aged between 35+ (18 percent).
Also, The Search Agency’s vice president of agency products “Keith Wilson”, told about the knowledge gap between men and women,
It’s really incumbent upon advertisers, and publishers, as well, to help educate consumers on how data can be used in a useful fashion. That’s the key thing. Everyone says, “Oh, this ad is not relevant to me.” But if you get ads that are more relevant to you and you understand the relevance based on the queries that you’re making … there is relevance there. They’d rather be served that ad than the alternative, which is something more spammy.
Finally, the study shows the gap between the knowledge among men and women related to social networks varies.


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Merger Talks Terminated
PITTSBURGH (AP) _ H.J. Heinz Co. said Friday its agreement to acquire Bumble Bee Seafoods Inc. has been terminated.
The announcement comes two months after the U.S. Justice Department said it would file suit to stop the deal on anti-trust grounds.
The federal regulators said that Heinz’s wholly owned Star-Kist Foods Inc. and San Diego-based Bumble Bee account for half of the $1 billion retail canned tuna market in the United States.
Heinz argued that foreign tuna canners would provide sufficient competition to keep prices down.
Heinz said it wanted Bumble Bee for economies of scale and cited Star-Kist and Bumble Bee plants on Puerto Rico that are separated by only a chain-link fence.
Termination of the merger was announced in a statement from Heinz late Friday, when its spokesmen were unavailable to elaborate.
The deal was announced in February. The Justice Department objected in May, and in June Heinz extended the merger agreement while it studied the government’s position.
Heinz never disclosed the purchase price for Bumble Bee, a former Castle & Cooke unit that was taken private by managers and investors in 1985 for $60 million.
The other leading U.S. producer of canned tuna is Chicken Of The Sea, owned by Ralston Purina.


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Angry Birds game now on Facebook
London: The Angry Birds game that has been downloaded 500 million times has been launched as a free version on social network Facebook.
In the game, players use catapults to fire infuriated birds at pigs hiding inside buildings made of planks.
The Facebook game, however, allows users to pay for extra birds and other in-game extras.
The website game is similar to the iPhone app. The only difference is players have to use a mouse to sling birds across the game`s landscapes rather than a finger, the Daily Mail reported.
Peter Vesterbacka, chief marketing officer of game-making company Rovio, said he hoped up to 40 percent of Facebook users would pay for in-game extras.
Rovio has never spent any money on advertising or marketing Angry Birds, the report said.
It had made 50 failed games before Angry Birds. The company also sells a million Angry Birds toys and a same number of T-shirts every month.
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Overall, among APAC consumers aged 18-44 years, about three in ten (29-30%) think it is acceptable to share their streaming accounts.
Last month, Netflix announced its first net loss in subscribers in over a decade, while subsequently warning that a password-sharing clampdown is imminent to curb unpaying users of the streaming platform. But what do consumers in APAC feel about sharing login details for such streaming services?
According to newly-released data from YouGov Global Profiles it turns out that consumers in India (41%), Thailand (36%) and Vietnam (34%) are most likely out of 12 major APAC markets to say it is okay to share their streaming service login details with anyone they want to.
On the other end of the spectrum, more than half of consumers in Japan (55%), Hong Kong (53%), and Australia (52%) responded that it is not okay to share their login details, as do 47% of Singapore’s consumers.
Overall, among APAC consumers aged 18-44 years, about three in ten (29-30%) think it is acceptable to share their streaming accounts. The same is “more or less true” for 45-54-year-olds, with close to three in ten (28%) agreeing, although more think streaming account sharing is not acceptable (36%), said YouGov.
Differing from the rest, consumers aged 55 years or older are much less likely to be fine with sharing streaming subscriptions – just under one in five (19%) are – while almost half (48%) disagree with this practice.
When it comes to group subscriptions, consumers in India are also more likely than any other major APAC market to think that video and music streaming services should offer more of them – over three in five (62%) say so – as do more than half of consumers in Vietnam (57%), Philippines (56%), Malaysia (57%), Singapore (57%) and Indonesia (54%).
The study additionally found that two in five in China (41%) and one in six in Japan (16%) would like to see more group subscription options for streaming services.
Featured image: Giordano Rossoni via Unsplash


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A juried exhibit of paintings by PAA members will be on display in the annual Penfield Art Association Winter Show and Sale at Barnes & Noble Pittsford (NY) store location.
The exhibit opens Monday, Jan. 31, and runs until Saturday, Feb. 26. The show is open daily during Barnes & Noble store hours. Due to the COVID upsurge, the reception and awards presentation has been cancelled.
The judge is noted watercolor artist and Finger Lakes native Valerie Larsen. She is a member of two national groups, the National Watercolor Society and Watercolor USA Honor Society. Larsen’s work appears in six Splash watercolor books and she has participated in numerous national exhibits. She has taught workshops and is an instructor of watercolor at her studio. .
The show will be accompanied by an online exhibit featuring many of the pieces in the live show. That exhibit will open on this website Jan. 31.
The Winter Art Show and Sale is one of three annual exhibits presented by the Penfield Art Association. Formed in 1963, the Penfield Art Association today has more than 70 members from throughout the Rochester area. The organization is open to artists of all skill levels and people interested in the two-dimensional visual arts. (Posted Jan. 6, 2022)


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Fann Wong’s online pastry shop launches CNY offering; extends orders for pineapple tarts
Ahead of Chinese New Year, the actress launched new items, including a fruity pound cake and orange pineapple tarts, on her pastry shop’s website this morning.
When Fann Wong launched her online pastry business Fanntasy Bakes in September last year, offering Musang King gula melaka tarts and Valrhona chocolate tarts, every single item was snapped up in 30 minutes.
For her second launch, the 50-year-old opened orders for Chinese New Year at 9.05am this morning (Jan 8), featuring a CNY Fanntasy Bundle (S$88) comprising a lemon blueberry pound cake, brown butter almond nibs and orange pineapple tarts. Customers could also order a two-box set of pineapple tarts, at S$48.
And just like the response for her debut launch, this one was no different. By 10.15am, the online bakery updated on its Instagram Stories that all its tarts – the pineapple ones, as well as their Musang King gula melaka and Valrhona chocolate tarts – were sold out.
Thankfully, the team decided to increase its orders for the pineapple tarts, said the online bakery on its latest Instagram update at 11am.
We can’t promise that the CNY Fanntasy Bundle and pineapple tarts will still be available, so our advice is to try your luck quickly.


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Premier of Government of People Republic : 2019/11/09Premier urges follow-up on RCEP negotiation
|11/09/2019 | 03:55am|
At the State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on Nov 6, related departments were urged to complete follow-up work of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement to expand opening-up and facilitate free trade and investment.
Two days ahead of the executive meeting, Premier Li attended the East Asian Leaders' Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand. After seven years of effort, 15 participating countries concluded text-based negotiations and essentially all market access issues.
'This is a major breakthrough in the construction of a free trade area boasting the largest population, most diversified membership and greatest potential for development,' Premier Li said. 'Under the complex world economic situation, the RCEP will boost the confidence of the market, industrial upgrading and employment, and cope with global economic downward pressure.'
The RCEP's breakthrough will be a strong support and a conducive supplement to the global multilateral trade system, according to international public opinions. It will set a good example for mutually beneficial free trade among countries at different development stages and of different systems.
'I once said last year, that RCEP negotiation has come to a stage waiting for a shot. Now the ball is in the net but still spinning. Efforts from different sides should be made to make the ball fall on the ground as soon as possible,' Premier Li said at the meeting.
A few issues still need to be negotiated by different sides. The Premier demanded related departments to cooperate with each other to complete the follow-up work in 2019, while promoting related reforms.
Premier Li said that member countries of the RCEP are at different developing levels, and can complement each other in terms of their economies to form a complete industrial chain and expand markets with huge potential for win-win results. This also will be favorable for promoting industrial upgrading and employment in China, he added.
'Chinese enterprises should grasp the opportunity, face the challenges, and actively participate in global competition and cooperation. They should also improve competence and promote industrial upgrading,' Premier Li said.
For the next steps, China should sign high-standard free-trade agreements with more countries, and build an open economic system at a higher level, thus making the Chinese economy achieve win-win development with other countries in the process of being more open, the Premier stressed.
Premier of the Government of the People's Republic of China published this content on 09 November 2019 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 09 November 2019 08:54:04 UTC