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End of the Road Runner
Anvil falls on short-lived Valero brand; Corner Store name to grace new builds, remodels
SAN ANTONIO -- Valero's stunning 5,500-square-foot Road Runner convenience store in western San Antonio opened early this year in the glare of flashbulbs. But unlike its namesake from the classic Warner Brothers' cartoon, in which the swift-footed roadrunner routinely outfoxed his devious coyote rival, this Road Runner had a short lifespan.
The store itself is doing fine--quite well, actually--but it has since changed its name to Corner Store, the brand that graces the more than 1,000 stores in Valero's direct-run network, according to Gary Arthur, president of Valero Retail [image-nocss] Holdings.
"It didn't make sense to us to have a second brand," Arthur told CSP Daily News. "Our first thought was that it was a differentiated offer, so does it deserve differentiated name?... But it just didn't seem to make sense from a strategic perspective or from a cost perspective, so we went back and said, 'Let's go with Corner Store'."
But the name itself isn't the only change. Valero has instituted a "differentiated look and feel" for the Corner Store logo. The new logo has been added to the former Road Runner site, as well as the 72 fueling stations acquired in May from supermarket retailer Albertsons LLC. Going forward, the newly updated Corner Store imaging will be applied to all corporate new builds and remodels.
Arthur estimated the Road Runner brand was replaced early into the second quarter of this year, a mere six weeks or so after the store's opening. Valero continues to see strong performance from the store, one-third of which is devoted to proprietary fresh-prepared foods such as sandwiches, roller-grill items, dispensed beverages and its signature kolachky, a flaky pastry of Czech origin.
Volume potential and merchandising flexibility have made the company confident that a larger-format store is ideal for locations near highways (or with highway access) and in developing neighborhoods with an excess of rooftops.
"We have built four more of those larger-sized stores, with two or three more in some form of construction," Arthur said. "They have those same attributes with the open ceilings, the larger restrooms--everything you saw at that store in San Antonio.
"These stores are being built in locations that can support the investment, drive significantly higher inside sales and can support the traffic a store of this size generates," he continued. "In the past, when we built a 3,500- or 4,500-square-foot store, if we had a good site, we would max out its potential pretty quickly. This allows us to continue to grow the business inside the footprint of that store and offer a wider variety of merchandise."
Arthur suggested the larger stores give customers more room to maneuver both inside and out, especially during peak times such as the morning drive and the lunch rush. With more square footage, however, comes a larger overall site footprint, meaning a significantly higher investment. Arthur estimated the company has had to buy "at least 50% larger" lots than it used to as a means of accommodating ingress/egress, extra parking spaces and other room for increased maneuverability.
While he couldn't share specific numbers regarding rates of return or similar benchmarks tied to the per-site investment, he did say the company has been "very pleased with the results we've seen so far" from the 5,500-square-foot store, which is nearly 2,000 square feet larger than its conventional Corner Stores.
"We will open five stores this year, with more scheduled for the early part of next year," he said. Beyond that, depending on the permitting and building process, the company has another five or six slotted to open in 2009.
Apart from expansion, the company plans to continue to look for ways to "value-engineer" its stores as a means of reducing costs, labor chief among them. It also will search out additional methods for offering customers greater variety and value for their money, such as the ever-growing list of products marketed under Valero's own Fresh Choices label.


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TORONTO – Ontario’s Government for the People is supporting the province’s greenhouse sector by encouraging innovation that takes steps to increase the supply of Canadian food in North American markets.
Today, Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that the government has worked with the Ontario Greenhouse Alliance to change the way that $8 million in existing funding will be delivered in order to maximize value and innovation in the sector. The streamlined program will result in additional innovative projects occurring in the greenhouse sector.
“Ontario greenhouse vegetables and ornamentals are available across North America and operations are growing to meet increasing demand for high-quality products in other markets,” said Hardeman. “We are working with our partners to make sure we deliver maximum value for our investments. We’re also focused on helping greenhouse farmers strengthen their operations so they can be more competitive, and continue to contribute to the success of our agri-food sector.”
Ontario has taken steps to reduce the burden for greenhouse businesses. These include clear actions to reduce electricity costs, end the cap and trade carbon tax, getting incentives to extend natural gas to more of rural Ontario and keeping the minimum wage rate at $14 per hour.
- Ontario’s greenhouse sector grows by approximately 150 acres per year, with greenhouses making up a total 3,900 acres across the province.
- Ontario represents almost 60% of the production area for Canadian greenhouse vegetables.
- Last year Ontario’s greenhouse sector and related value chain supported over 81,000 jobs.
- Agricultural Adaption Council will deliver the redesigned program and will encourage innovation by supporting greenhouse projects that are accelerated or incremental.
“Greenhouse agriculture is a driver for growth and jobs. We are very pleased to be working as a partner with Minister Hardeman to get support for the greenhouse farmers. This funding will help the sector to continue implementing advanced technology, to be more effective as a sector and to benefit consumers.”
“In partnership with the government, greenhouse growers in Ontario will be better positioned to reach their growth goals as a sector. Working together, we can develop sustainable solutions that enhance our productivity and provide consumers with fresh products year-round.”
Jan Van Zanten
“We are pleased to have the support of the government and look forward to continue working collaboratively to ensure the competitiveness of Ontario’s greenhouse sector.”

domain: news


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The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has asked Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, the US subsidiary of Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries, to withdraw many batches of its generic Metformin Hydrochloride tablets used for treating diabetes, citing efficacy and quality issues.
According to a USFDA Class II withdrawal announced on March 19, Caraco will have to withdraw seven lots of Metformin Hydrochloride in bottles of 100, 500 and 1000 tablets each.
The withdrawal was necessitated by undersized and oversized tablets, which could result in patients not receiving the expected dose, said the regulator. Caraco has initiated the recall. The FDA said the recall was valid nationwide and 22,156 bottles of the drug were in circulation in the US.
In November 2007, the FDA had asked Ranbaxy Laboratories to withdraw its Gabapentine tablets 600 mg from the US market for excessive impurity specification.
The FDA had also suspended production at the manufacturing facilities of Leineur Health Systems, Dr Reddy's Laboratories US partner for over the counter drugs, citing quality issues. Subsequently, Dr Reddy's severed the tie-up with Leineur Health and launched its own products in the US market.
Metformin Hydrochloride, a bio-equivalent of Bristol Myers Squibb's Glucophage, was launched by Caraco in the US in February 2002.
The loss of revenues by the withdrawal was not 'much significant' and could not be ascertained at this moment, said a company source. A US stock exchange listed company, Caraco had sales of $117 million in FY07 and markets over 40 products in the US market.
A Sun Pharma spokesperson declined to comment on the development.
- Citing efficacy and quality issues, the USFDA asked Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories to withdraw Metformin Hydrochloride from the US market
- The withdrawal was necessitated by undersized and oversized tablets, which could result in patients not receiving the expected dose
- In November 2007, the FDA asked Ranbaxy to withdraw its Gabapentine tablets for excessive impurity specification
- Caraco, a US stock exchange listed company, markets 40 products in the US market


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Cable giant Comcast Corp is testing a new set-top box that interweaves TV and the Internet, a report published in the Wall Street Journal claims.
The paper cited people familiar with the matter who said that the new service, which flows content through a set-top box that interweaves features of the Internet with those of a digital video recorder, is being tested in Augusta.
The new service allows users to watch a web video through their TVs and make search across live, on-demand and recorded programming.
The service, known to users as Spectrum, marks an important step in the efforts of the US cable giant to adjust to the rise of Internet programming and devices such as Apple TV and Roku.
Commenting on the new service, Comcast spokesperson said, "We are testing many technological approaches to understand how best to meet consumer interests, and this small trial is one of those experiments."
Meanwhile, Comcast is attempting to acquire a majority share of NBC Universal. The potential deal would give Comcast control over major movie studio and several popular TV channels such as NBC, CNBC and Bravo.


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Infiniti introduced its new QX Sport Inspiration concept crossover ahead of the 2016 Beijing auto show.
It’s a sleek luxury crossover concept that could signal an upcoming replacement for its QX50 crossover.
Although Infiniti characterises the QX concept as a mid-size crossover, it’s actually 5 inches shorter than the current compact QX50.
Apart from the dimensions of the concept car, Infiniti has made few technical details available.
The automaker remains tight-lipped about the car’s powertrain and on-board tech features.
The compact luxury SUV segment is one of the hottest and most competitive in the US market.
So far this year, sales in the segment have surged 22%.
For a luxury brand to succeed, a competitive offering this segment is a must.
Unfortunately for Infiniti, the QX50 — which debuted in 2007 — is simply too dated to compete with segment leaders such as the Acura RDX, BMW X3, Audi Q5, and Mercedes GLC.
Although, an update in 2015 has bolstered sales, the QX50 holds just 3% of the share in the segment.
However, another possibility is that the QX Inspiration could spawn as new mid-size crossover that slots in above the compact QX50 and the mid-size, Nissan Pathfinder-based, three-row QX60.
“The QX Sport Inspiration comes at a time when Infiniti continues to expand its product portfolio globally — into new and popular segments,” Infiniti Vice President product strategy Francois Bancon said in a statement.
“We design concept cars with true production potential, and the QX Sport Inspiration offers a vision of how Infiniti could bring something exciting and new to the mid-sized SUV segment.”
Either way, a fresh new crossover SUV offering in any guise is good news for Infiniti. The luxury sedan market, on the whole, is either static or even contracting depending on the price bracket. This means that consumer demand has shifted to a point where the only avenue for growth in the premium market is through new SUVs.
For Infiniti, the sweet spot that finds the perfect intersection between sales volume and profit margin is likely in the neighbour between $40,000 to $55,000 — exactly where a production version of the QX Inspiration would live.
Infiniti hasn’t revealed when the production variant is slated to arrive in showrooms.
The 2016 Beijing auto show runs through May 4 at the China International Exhibition Center.


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The Food and Drug Administration is splitting down on several companies that distribute and make kratom, a supplement with psychoactive and pain-relieving qualities that's been linked to a current salmonella break out.
In a letter released on Tuesday, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb called on 3 companies in different states to stop selling unapproved kratom items with unverified health claims. In a declaration, Gottlieb said the companies were engaged in "health fraud scams" that "pose serious health risks."
Obtained from a plant belonging to Southeast Asia, kratom is frequently sold as pills, powder, or tea in the United States. Advocates say it helps suppress the symptoms of opioid withdrawal, which has actually led individuals to flock to kratom in the last few years as a means of stepping down from more effective drugs like Vicodin.
However because kratom is categorized as a supplement and has actually not been developed as a drug, it's exempt to much federal policy. That indicates tainted kratom pills and powders can quickly make their method to store racks-- which appears to have happened in a current break out of salmonella that has actually up until now sickened more than 130 people throughout several states.
Outlandish claims and little clinical research
The FDA's recent crackdown seems the most recent action in a growing divide between supporters and regulatory agencies relating to the use of kratom The business the agency has called are Front Range Kratom of Aurora, Colorado; Kratom Spot of Irvine, California and Revibe, Inc., of Kansas City, Missouri.
The claims these three companies have actually made consist of marketing the supplement as "very reliable against cancer" and recommending that their products could help in reducing the symptoms of opioid dependency.
There are few existing scientific research studies to back up those claims. Research on kratom has discovered, nevertheless, that the drug see post taps into some of the very same brain receptors as opioids do. That stimulated the FDA to classify it as an opioid in February.
Specialists state that due to the fact that of this, it makes sense that people with opioid use condition are relying on kratom as a way of abating their signs and stepping down from more effective drugs like Vicodin.
However taking any supplement that hasn't been tested for safety by doctor can be hazardous.
The risks of taking kratom.
Previous FDA testing found that numerous items distributed by Revibe-- among the three business named in the FDA letter-- were polluted with salmonella. Last month, as part of a demand from the firm, Revibe ruined numerous tainted products still at its facility, however the business has yet to confirm that it remembered items that had actually currently shipped to shops.
Last month, the FDA provided its first-ever necessary recall of kratom items after those produced by Las Vegas-based Triangle Pharmanaturals were discovered to be contaminated with salmonella.
As of April 5, a total of 132 individuals throughout 38 states had been sickened with the bacteria, which can cause diarrhea and stomach discomfort lasting approximately a week.
Besides dealing with the risk that kratom products could bring hazardous bacteria, those who take the supplement have no trustworthy method to identify the appropriate dosage. It's likewise tough to find a validate kratom supplement's complete ingredient list or account for possibly harmful interactions with other drugs or medications.
Kratom is presently prohibited in Australia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and several US states (Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, and Wisconsin). Throughout the US, several reports of deaths and addiction led the Drug Enforcement Administration to put kratom on its list of "drugs and chemicals of issue." In 2016, the DEA proposed a ban on kratom but backtracked under pressure from some members of Congress and an outcry from kratom advocates.


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AASHTO Journal, 29 July 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nation’s deteriorating surface transportation infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 876,000 jobs, and suppress the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product by $897 Billion by 2020, according to a new report released today by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The report, conducted by the Economic Development Research Group of Boston, showed that in 2010, deficiencies in America’s roads, bridges, and transit systems cost American households and businesses roughly $130 billion, including approximately $97 billion in vehicle operating costs, $32 billion in delays in travel time, $1.2 billion in safety costs, and $590 million in environmental costs.
If investments in surface transportation infrastructure are not made soon, those costs are expected to grow exponentially. Within 10 years, U.S. businesses would pay an added $430 billion in transportation costs, household incomes would fall by more than $7,000, and U.S. exports will fall by $28 billion per year.


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QUESTIONS have been raised after it emerged a Lyndhurst boutique hotel chain backed by multi-billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has furloughed staff using more than £4m worth of taxpayers’ money.
Hundreds of workers for Home Grown Hotels and Lime Wood Group are being helped through the government’s Business Interruption Loan Scheme (BILS) – leading some MPs to ask if that is appropriate given Sir Jim is among the group’s known investors.
This comes in the wake of the latest Sunday Times richlist which estimated Sir Jim, who has owns a waterfront mansion in Beaulieu and is founder and chairman of petrochemical giant Ineos, to be worth £12.1bn. It makes him the fifth richest Briton.
However, the ranking was two spots down on his 2019 listing, with the decline blamed on Ineos debts and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Pig Hotels and Lime Wood group is based in Lyndhurst. Among the group’s portfolio is the village’s luxury five-star Lime Wood Hotel and The Pig in Brockenhurst.
Asked to comment, a Lime Wood Hotel a spokeswoman pointed to a letter written by chairman of the hotel group, Robin Hutson.
Addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Mr Hutson said the group had taken advantage of the government’s help to furlough 782 staff, worth £4m in assistance.
Signed by a host of other notable people in the hospitality industry – including former Dire Straits bassist John Illsely, who owns the East End Arms in Boldre – the letter called on the government to give more support to the ailing hospitality industry, adding reopening during 2020 looked “unlikely”.
It also said furlough payments should be backdated to March this year and not just for those RTI registered, the business rates holiday extended, VAT for hospitality businesses reduced and a further extension of time given for repayment of deferred VAT/PAYE.
“Hospitality is a labour-intensive industry with high fixed costs and, despite its success, operates with slim profit margins,” the letter said. “Many rural businesses live from hand to mouth, from season to season, with little or no cash reserves.
“In the past few years the sector has been bombarded by an assault on these already slim margins. High rent rises, increased food and beverage costs, hikes in business rates, utilities, insurance and the new National Living Wage. For most of us, break-even occurs at 70%-plus occupancy.
“It is against this background and recognising the critical importance of hospitality to rural communities I wish to highlight the unique sensitivity of reopening these businesses post-lockdown.”
The letter went on: “Critically, it is the negative financial consequence of the increased spacing/restricted trade that causes the greatest concern. Spacing rules will undoubtedly push many rural businesses below their break-even point,” the letter added.
“The worst possible scenario for rural hospitality, would be the ‘perfect storm’ of furlough ceasing, hospitality opening up, but social distancing rules imposed.
“This toxic recipe would immediately translate to mass redundancies and the permanent loss of hundreds of thousands of rural jobs. This would be economically and socially devastating for rural Britain.”
It highlighted the group had invested close to £100m in rural Britain developing its hotels and created around 800 permanent jobs in the process, thanking the government for its help.
Asked about furloughing, a spokesman for Ineos said it had not furloughed any of the 3,000 staff who work at its UK chemicals sites.
“We have worked hard to keep our people safe to keep plants running that produce vital raw materials used in the fight against Covid-19.
“Our products go into the production of paracetamol, anti-inflammatories, anti-virals, aspirin and the reagent chemicals that go into testing kits. In addition to the plastics needed in medical equipment, face masks, ventilators, sterile gloves and eye visors.”
He pointed out Ineos had built a new plant in Middlesbrough manufacturing medical-grade hand sanitiser, which had been operational for a month.


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Steam’s front page has a handful of lists for broadly relevant games, including ‘new and trending,’ ‘top selling,’ and ‘popular upcoming.’ It seems the latter is a point of concern. Mike Rose – indie developer behind Hypnospace Outlaw – calls it a “(sometimes accidentally) manipulated mess,” and Valve is already looking to solve the problem.
The popular upcoming tab lists a set of upcoming games curated by wishlist numbers, as Rose notes on Twitter. They’re ordered by release date, except ‘release date’ doesn’t really matter. Developers can put any date they want into Steam’s back-end, and it doesn’t matter if that matches the release date shown on the store page – just for placement on the upcoming list.
Developers can manipulate that system to make sure their games are on top of the popular upcoming tab regardless of when those titles are coming out. Well-meaning developers still clog up the list by forgetting to change the back-end date after a delay. With so many games out on Steam every day, prominent placement on the front page can make a huge difference in how many people hear about that game.
Valve’s Tom Giardino chimed into Rose’s thread to say that it’s a point of concern within Valve, too. “This was a big topic of discussion yesterday, and it frustrates us for the same reasons it frustrates you. But it’s also super important that devs get to control their own release timing so we don’t want to mess with that.”
Giardino is reticent to commit to any timetable for a fix, but says Valve is “trying to fix it in a way that makes upcoming releases more valuable without hurting games that wish to shift their release date.”
Read more: Stay current on upcoming PC games
Exactly what that fix will end up looking like remain to be seen, but for now you shouldn’t rely on the upcoming games list to tell you what games are actually coming soon.


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T-Mobile will pay $40 million to the U.S. Treasury for failing to correct ongoing issues with call delivery to rural areas and fooling customers with false ringtones, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced today.
The FCC decided that T-Mobile violated the Communications Act following an investigation launched after T-Mobile subscribers were unable to reach customers served by three rural carriers in Wisconsin. T-Mobile claimed it had fixed the issue, but the FCC continued to get numerous complaints from T-Mobile callers attempting to reach at least 10 rural areas. From FCC chairman Ajit Pai: „It is a basic tenet of the nation’s [...]
T-Mobile today announced support for Business Chat in the Messages app on iOS devices, a feature Apple introduced in a beta capacity with the release of iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4.
Apple Business Chat is available for all T-Mobile customers, allowing them to interact with T-Mobile’s support staff directly in the Messages app.
T-Mobile says that its customers can access Apple Business Chat by searching for T-Mobile and tapping on the „chat“ or „message“ icon either through the iPhone’s main search window or in Apple Maps.
Business Chat can be used to change a rate plan, change an address, purchase a new smartphone, ask [...]
Sprint and T-Mobile have once again entered into talks over a potential merger, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The revitalization of the discussion comes just five months after the two companies officially called off plans for a merger following an inability to reach „mutually agreeable terms.“
At the time, Sprint parent company SoftBank was not satisfied with the deal because of ownership terms, with SoftBank concerned about losing control of the combined company after T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom requested a controlling stake.
The current discussions are said to be in a preliminary stage, and it’s not clear what terms the [...]
April Fools‘ Day is here once again, and this year it falls on the same day as Easter. As you browse the internet today, be forewarned that many of the stories, press releases, and announcements discovered over the next few hours will likely be hoaxes made by companies with a proclivity for teasing their customers every April 1.
If the past few years have been any measure, you can expect bizarre Apple-related accessories, an absurd product or service unveiling from T-Mobile, wisecracks from Siri, and much, much more.
It’s also worth noting that April 1, 2018 marks the 42nd anniversary of Apple, which was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve [...]


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Fond du Lac 'Miracle Mile' store flooded with Powerball buyers
As of Wednesday morning, the Powerball jackpot was $550 million. What can $550 million buy you? Here's 10 examples:
1) Every home in the town of Elmwood Park in Racine County - 11 times over.
2) A 2013 Harley-Davidson Fatboy motorcycle for everyone who lives in Whitefish Bay and Shorewood, or everyone in Neenah. (Photo: Harley-Davidson)
3) A flight from Milwaukee to New York and back for every person living in the Milwaukee metropolitan area.
4) Every case of MillerCoors-made beer currently inside the Miller Valley distribution facility - 110 times over.
5) One triple scoop waffle cone from Kopp's Frozen Custard every day for every person living in the city of Milwaukee for six months, or one Kroll's original butterburger for every person living in Green Bay for more than three years. (Photo: Journal Sentinel)
6) Tuition, room, board and fees for every undergraduate student at Marquette University this year, or every undergraduate student at St. Norbert's College for four years.
7) Tickets to every seat at every Packers game at Lambeau Field for the next 8 years.
8) 2,200,000 shares of stock in the Green Bay Packers. (That won't get you any closer on the season ticket waiting list.)
9) The Milwaukee Bucks. (Of course, there's that issue of paying players with the leftover cash.) (Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
10) 275 million more Powerball tickets.
But there's one key thing to remember: You won't end up with $500 million in the end. First consider the fact that the lump sum payment is actually said to be $327 million, according to Powerball's web site, and choosing to go with the annuity will actually get you about that much, or potentially less.
Then, remove the portion to be allocated for taxes, and various estimates have the remaining value as slightly less than half to about half of the advertised jackpot.
FOND DU LAC - People hoping to win tonight's giant Powerball jackpot are flooding what many believe is the luckiest store in Wisconsin.
Korneli's Main Street Express is located on the storied Miracle Mile in Fond du Lac.
The store has history of selling winning lottery tickets, including a $208 million Powerball jackpot in 2006, when the store was known as Ma and Pa's.
Store manager Amanda Ruelle told Newsradio 620 WTMJ's Michelle Richards that it's been getting busier and busier since no one won Saturday's drawing.
"Everything from last week Saturday...has been getting busier and busier. We've been all hands on deck, three registers going, three lotto terminals going. Today, we expect it to be absolutely insane," said Ruelle.
Ruelle told Richards that customers from all over the Midwest are coming in for Powerball tickets.
She even had a woman drive all the way up from Tennessee.
"One lady last night called from Tennessee. It's a nine-hour drive. She was coming up just to buy her ticket."


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Intuit's Small Business Employment Index Shows Increase In Small Business Jobs
Written by Jenna Weiner
The Small Business Employment Index from Inuit shows a job growth of about 66,000 in April.
The latest Intuit Small Business Employment Index indicates that small business employment grew by 0.33 percent in the month of April. This growth means approximately 66,000 new jobs were created during the month and roughly 300,000 new jobs have been added since the upward trend began in June 2009.
The monthly report is based on aggregate and anonymous figures from the 55,000 small businesses around the country that use Intuit Online Payroll. The results were released at the company's Small Business Town Hall at the Nasdaq Center in New York.
Reversing the downward trend that has been in place since 2007, the Small Business Employment Index shows that employment has been climbing since mid-2009. Month-to-month changes are seasonally adjusted and indicative of the state of the economy as whole.
Economist Dr. Susan Woodward said small businesses "are looking healthier," pointing out that "every trend [the index measures] is showing signs of a recovery."
Another recently released index brought more good news for entrepreneurs this week. Discover's Small Business Watch indicated that small business confidence jumped from March to April, surging back up to levels from the beginning of the year after falling last month.
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Swift is at it again. Wielding her influence for a good cause.
No more bad blood: Apple senior executive Eddy Cue announced on Twitter that Apple Music will pay artists during the service’s free, three-month trial period. The reversal of policy comes one day after Taylor Swift wrote an indictment of Apple Music on Tumblr titled “Dear Apple, Love Taylor.”
“We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists,” Cue wrote on Twitter. “Love, Apple.”
On Sunday, Swift called out Apple in a widely circulated post that explained why her latest album, 1989, would not appear on Apple Music when it debuts on June 30.
“I find it to be…
View original post 287 more words


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VW’s Slovak plant workers have voted to take strike action over pay, according to reports.
Reuters reports that the local labour union at the plant expects majority participation and a halt to production at the Bratislava plant. Strike action could start next Tuesday (20 June).
Local media in Slovakia says that the decision to strike follows eleven rounds of failed negotiations.
According to Reuters, the labour union said in a statement the strike would be unlimited. The union is reportedly after a 16% wage hike, an increase that VW has described as unacceptable. VW has offered a 4.3% raise and other inducements such as a one-off bonus of EUR350.
VW’s Bratislava plant is the exclusive source for the Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Volkswagen up!, Skoda Citigo, SEAT Mii. It also produces bodies for Porsche Cayenne. In addition, it makes underbodies and gearboxes for other VW Group brands, suggesting that a strike could potentially disrupt VW Group’s European production network more widely.


text: How are you spending Father’s Day this year? Well, if you happen to be in Los Angeles this weekend, you can celebrate dad’s day by attending the annual Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance. About 100 cars will be bringing the bling against the backdrop of some of the most hoidy-toidy shops in Beverly Hills. And unlike most everything else in the 90210, this is free. Described by travel publisher Frommer’s as one of the “300 Unmissable Events & Festivals Around the World,” The Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance has been a Father’s Day tradition for five years running. The cars are chosen by a select committee of notable automotive collectors including Shin Takei, Fred Bogardus, Creighton Turner, led by collector extraordinaire Bruce Meyer. The selection runs the gamut from street rods to the most exotic cars on the planet, and they’re all, of course, concours-level. This year the show celebrates 75 Years of Jaguar Heritage, and the company will have their new XJ there on display. The show runs between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, along the 300 and 400 blocks of the tawny drive. Admission is free, but parking can be a problem in the area as there will be crowds. Also, it’ll be hot, so wear a hat and plenty of SPF. These shots are all from last year’s show, but an equally eclectic mix of cars is expected this year, including the only Tucker Convertible there is. If you want to stop by and say, “hey,” I’ll most likely be lurking around most of the day, just look for a black XK-120 Jag. Directions to the event can be found here.


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We’re only a few days away from another Air Jordan XX9 release, as this “Riverwalk” pair will be arriving at retailers this Saturday, October 11th. When looking at the upcoming Jordan release slate, there are a number of pairs referencing the 1996 NBA All-Star Game in San Antonio, an event that saw Mike break out the Air Jordan 11 “Columbia” on court. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise or a coincidence that alongside that patent leather gem’s Holiday 2014 release date, Jordan Brand is doling out a number of other San Antonio themed sneakers. The Air Jordan 29 features that gradient digital elephant print as fusion pink and tropical teal work together to match the Spurs colorful home court back in the 90s. Be sure to stay tuned for more updates in our release dates page and catch a better glimpse of this upcoming Air Jordan XX9 after the break.
Air Jordan XX9 “Riverwalk”
Color: Fusion Pink/White-Tropical Teal-Black
Style Code: 695515-625
Release Date: 10/11/14


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Pretty soon, Apple will no longer be offering iTunes Radio, the ad-supported, Pandora-style internet radio service launched in 2013, for free. Instead, starting 1/29, it’ll only be available to paid Apple Music subscribers, BuzzFeed reports. The new, paid iteration of iTunes Radio will be ad-free and allow users to skip as many songs as they want. Going forward, Beats 1 will be Apple’s only free radio service.
“We are making Beats 1 the premier free broadcast from Apple and phasing out the ad-supported stations at the end of January,” an Apple spokesperson told BuzzFeed. “Additionally, with an Apple Music membership, listeners can access dozens of radio stations curated by our team of music experts, covering a range of genres, commercial-free with unlimited skips. The free three-month trial of Apple Music includes radio.”
A “source familiar with the situation” confirmed to BuzzFeed that this shift from advertising to a subscription model is directly related to Apple’s phasing out of its iAds Network, which sold advertising to be displayed in iOs apps.
Is this heartbreaking to anyone? Did anyone even use iTunes Radio?


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THE management of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, lBEDC, has commenced effective metering of consumers within its franchise. The Disco said the metering, which began on Thursday, August 1, is under the Meter Assess Providers, MAPs scheme.
John Ayodele, chief operating officer, IBEDC, who made this known at a town hall meeting, said there is need for effective metering within its network. He said the essence of the forum was to sensitise customers on how to apply for meter, and also to comply with the directives from the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission, NERC.
He said the company kicked off the first town hall meeting to engage and educate customers on MAP. He noted that the scheme was not only for the provision of meters, but also responsible for the installation, maintenance and replacement of faulty meters.
Ayodele said the management was committed to ensuring that its over 988,915 customers got metered with ease at the rate of N38,325,00 for single phase meter, while a three phase meter cost N70,350,00 with VAT inclusive. According to him, MAP scheme was established under the MAP regulation 2018, introduced by the NERC.
“This is to stop incessant complaints over the estimated billings by customers, bridge the metering gap and accelerate meter roll out to enhance revenue generation. The meter providers drawn from the Nigerian private sector are licensed by NERC to encourage the development of independent and competitive meter services,” he said.
Ayodele appealed to customers to go through the proper channel to avoid fraudulent activities, saying there are no hidden charges, no processing fees and no application fees of any kind. He advised customers to apply for meter through online on www.ibedc.com or visit any of their offices to fill the MAP application form.
He noted that after a technical evaluation of the customer’s apartment was carried out, the customer would get a MAP identification number. “This MAP identification number is all that is required to pay at any bank in Nigeria. Meters are then installed in customers’ premises within 10 working days after receipt of payment.”
– Aug. 2, 2019 @ 16:49 GMT |


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Roku CEO Anthony Wood explains why people don’t want to talk to their TVs and why he no longer reads business books
Roku has built a dominant position as the co-leading streaming video distribution platform in U.S. households, in a near dead-heat with Amazon. The two companies own more than 70% market share, according to research firm Parks Associates.
But can Roku maintain its lead over Apple and Google if Americans’ future is a house controlled by a voice-enabled smart-home device that can turn on and off a television and change the channel?
That’s not what people want, claims Roku CEO and founder Anthony Wood. He spoke with CNBC’s Alex Sherman in an exclusive interview.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Wood’s thoughts on Roku’s culture can be found here.)
Sherman: Let’s talk about interactivity. Is it just a matter of time before Roku lets me watch sports and bet from my TV at the same time and do other sorts of cool stuff people have never seen before?
Wood: It’s a complicated question. A couple points. One, it’s not as bad as it used to be, but even today, many companies just don’t really understand the attitude people have when watching TV. They want to sit there, drink their beer, and watch TV. You’ve seen over the years, there was this whole phase where there were interactive TV companies. They all failed, because people don’t want to do that. My philosophy is to keep things very simple. So any time interactive ideas have come up, we would not do that.
That said, there are some exceptions. For example, advertising — we offer interactivity to our ad partners. If you see an ad you’re interested in, like a car ad, you can browse, or do something simple like press a button and send me a text with an offer. So, we experiment with that type of interactivity because it doesn’t get in the way of the viewing experience. If you want to get a free coupon because you’re interested in a commercial, press a button, you can do that.
One of our main goals as a platform is to help you find content that you want to watch. Things like universal search — where you can search across services for an actor or a movie — and get information about if something is free on one service or you have to pay for it on another, that type of interactivity is something that people love, if it’s around discovering content. So, we’re looking for other ways to help people discover content that’s interactive in its nature.
In terms of sports betting — maybe. We’ll see.
Is the future of the TV ecosystem one where every device in the home is connected, and I just call out to my TV and it turns on, and I don’t need a remote anymore?
We are incredibly focused on being the best TV experience. That’s why we’re successful. There are a lot capabilities that I think are silly. People generally do not want to talk to their TV to turn it on, for example. Because as soon as you turn it on, you need to pick up your remote control anyway.
Well, you do today, maybe, but theoretically, you don’t have to, right? Why can’t I control everything by voice? Isn’t that easier?
I don’t think people want to talk to their TV. In cases where it’s faster and easier — search, for example — we make voice remotes. We focus on integrating voice into areas where it can really make a difference, like entering your password or your e-mail address or searching — those are things where it’s tedious to tap stuff out on your remote. But other areas, like just scrolling up and down or the power button, it’s actually easier to use the remote.
But I always lose my remote.
Well, that’s why we let you use your phone as a remote. We also have a cool feature called remote finder, where we help you find your remote for you. We’re big believers in remotes. You look at Chromecast, they made a huge bet that people wouldn’t use their remotes. That wasn’t the case.
One topic that investors are curious about is international expansion. Do you have a broad road map for international? I know you’re in Canada, Mexico and Brazil a little bit. But there’s a whole world out there. What’s the plan? Lay it out for us.
We have a strategy. We have tactics and road maps which we don’t disclose. But our strategy is pretty straightforward. If you look at the evolution of our business model, first we focus on scale, and once you have enough scale, then you start focusing on monetization. That’s the same strategy we’re talking on international. With most countries, we are still at the building scale stage as opposed to the monetization. There are some exceptions. With Canada, as you mentioned, that’s the first country we entered. Now we sell ads there and we have The Roku Channel there. So we’re doing monetization there.
The other part of our strategy is using the same techniques that have worked for us in the U.S. and applying them internationally. So, focus on growing our smart TV market share — we’re No. 1 in smart TV market share in the U.S. We’re No. 1 in Canada. We’re No. 2 in Mexico. Samsung is No. 1 there, but we’re catching up fast. So focusing on smart TVs and selling low-cost players is how we gain scale. For example, when we launch a player now, we launch it in many countries at the same time as opposed to just the U.S.
If you look at all the countries that we’ve entered, our market share is growing and we’re doing well. Android has been the default choice internationally for a long time because it was the only option. So they’re our biggest competitor. But as we add new countries and start focusing on them, we have an awesome solution. The same reason we’ve won in the U.S. is the same reason we expect to win internationally.
I’ll get into this in the main feature more in depth, but after you started Roku, you worked for Reed Hastings at Netflix for about nine months. Have you modeled your leadership at Roku after him? And if not, has there been anyone you’ve tried to emulate?
My relationship with Netflix is obviously very important to Roku, but I only worked there for nine months. It was nine months. It was a great experience. I’ve got lots of people I respect, but I haven’t tried to copy anyone in particular. I used to read a lot of business books when I was younger, but now I’ve stopped.
Is there a reason you stopped? Did you feel like you just didn’t get any use out of them anymore?
I think you go through different phases in your career. When you first start out, just like when you first start out in college, you just have no clue. So, reading books and talking to people is a good way to learn the basics. As you advance, I think, you become much more experienced, and you find that a lot of the books are not helpful. Like, “Oh yeah, if I didn’t know anything, that’s what I’d do,” but that’s not actually the right way to do it.
One of the best things I’ve done to help me build my skills since Roku has grown is to have an adviser — kind of like a coach. He used to be the CEO of a public company. So when I have issues, I talk to him. That’s David Krall. He was the CEO of Avid. He works one day a week for us being an adviser. Talking to an experienced CEO is helpful.
Describe yourself as a leader.
What I try to do is hire good people — people I want to work with, so there’s a good chemistry and team — and devise a strategy and some high-level goals. I might come up with the strategy or work with the team to develop the strategy, but there will be a strategy. I think I’m pretty strategic. And then, focus on execution, giving people the freedom and whatever they need to do their job. That’s what I spend my time on — hiring and strategy.
You’re 56 years old, is that right?
Maybe. That sounds right.
Do you expect to be running Roku as an independently traded company ten years from now?
I have no idea. I’m happy running Roku right now. I have no idea what I’m going to do 10 years from now.
Do you know who your successor at Roku will be?
All public companies have to have a succession plan, so we have one. I focus a lot on developing talent on my team. But often there’s talent outside the company as well. So, I don’t know. I have no plans to leave, but if we were to hire a new CEO, I’d imagine we’d look internally and externally.
Drone startup Zipline hits 1 million deliveries, looks to restaurants as it continues to grow
Autonomous delivery drone startup Zipline said Friday that it hit its 1 millionth delivery to customers and that it’s eyeing restaurant partnerships in its next phase of growth.
The San Francisco-based startup designs, builds and operates autonomous delivery drones, working with clients that range from more than 4,700 hospitals, including the Cleveland Clinic, to major brands such as Walmart and GNC. It’s raised more than $500 million so far from investors including Sequoia Capital, a16z and Google Ventures. Zipline is also a CNBC Disruptor 50 company.
The company said its zero-emission drones have now flown more than 70 million autonomous commercial miles across four continents and delivered more than 10 million products.
The milestone 1 millionth delivery carried two bags of IV fluid from a Zipline distribution center in Ghana to a local health facility.
As the company continues to expand, it will bring on Panera Bread in Seattle, Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, and Jet’s Pizza in Detroit.
Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton told CNBC that 70% of the company’s deliveries have happened in the past two years and, in the future, the goal is to do 1 million deliveries a day.
“The three areas where the incentive really makes the most sense today are health care, quick commerce and food, and those are the three main markets that we focus on,” Rinaudo Cliffton said. “Our goal is to work with really the best brands or the best institutions in each of those markets.”
The push into restaurant partnerships marks an “obvious transition” he said, due to the continuing growth in interest in instant food delivery. Zipline already delivers food from Walmart to customers.
“We need to start using vehicles that are light, fast, autonomous and zero-emission,” Rinaudo Cliffton said. “Delivering in this way is 10 times as fast, it’s less expensive … and relative to the traditional delivery apps that most restaurants will be working with, we triple the service radius, which means you actually [get] 10 times the number of customers who are reachable via instant delivery.”
Zipline deliveries for some Panera locations in Seattle are expected to begin next year, the Panera franchisee’s Chief Operating Officer Ron Bellamy told CNBC. Delivery continues to grow for its business, even in an inflationary environment, he said. Costs with Zipline are anticipated to be on par with what third-party delivery is now, he added, with the hope of that cost lowering over time.
“I’m encouraged about it, not just even in terms of what I can do for the business, but as a consumer, I think at the end of the day, if it is economical, and it delivers a better overall experience, then the consumer will speak,” Bellamy said.
Super Micro plunges as investors rotate out of red-hot AI stock ahead of earnings later this month
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Super Micro Computer shares plunged 18% on Friday as investors scaled back their holdings of one of the market’s hottest stocks ahead of earnings later this month.
Shares of Super Micro, which joined the S&P 500 in March, are still up about 168% this year after climbing 246% in 2023. The server and computer infrastructure company is a primary vendor for Nvidia, whose technology is the backbone for most of today’s powerful artificial intelligence models.
Super Micro said in a brief press release on Friday that it will report fiscal third-quarter results on April 30. The company broke from its pattern of providing preliminary results. In January, Super Micro increased its sales and earnings guidance 11 days before announcing second-quarter financials.
The stock is on pace for its steepest drop since Feb. 16, when it fell about 20%.
While Super Micro is getting a big boost from its ties to Nvidia, the market remains highly contested, with competitors including Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise planning to build systems using Nvidia’s latest generation of Blackwell graphics processing units.
Dutch government says it may stop using Facebook over privacy concerns
Morning traffic outside Meta headquarters, in Mountain View, California, U.S. November 9, 2022.
Peter Dasilva | Reuters
The Dutch government said Friday that it may be forced to stop using Facebook after a warning from the Netherlands’ privacy regulator about the Meta-owned social media platform’s privacy risks.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) issued a statement advising the Dutch Interior Ministry not to rely on Facebook pages to communicate with citizens if it doesn’t have a clear idea of how Facebook uses the personal data of people who visit government pages.
The Interior Ministry had previously asked the DPA to advise on whether the government could use Facebook pages in a compliant way.
The government wants clarity from Meta “as soon as possible, at the latest before the summer recess, on how they are addressing our concerns,” Alexandra van Huffelen, the Dutch Minister for Digitalization, said in a statement.
“Otherwise, in line with the advice of the DPA, we will be forced to stop our activities on Facebook pages,” she added.
The Dutch DPA’s chairman, Aleid Wolfsen, said in a statement that “people who visit a government page trust that their personal and sensitive information is in safe hands.”
“The fact that this can also involve information about children and young people makes this even more important. They are vulnerable online and need extra protection,” Wolfsen said in the statement, which was translated to English via Google Translate.
A Meta spokesperson told CNBC: “We fundamentally disagree with the assessment that underpins this advice, which is wrong on the facts and demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding as to how our products work.”
“We review all Meta products to ensure they comply with laws in the regions in which we offer our services, and will continue to engage with the Government to ensure they can use social media to communicate with people,” the Meta spokesperson added.
The DPA advice serves as further evidence of “growing distrust between European regulators and Meta,” Matthew Holman, a tech, privacy, and AI partner at law firm Cripps, told CNBC via email.
Holman said that the Dutch regulator’s concern is likely to be that user data “is shared with government departments on Meta’s platform and could still be subject to security issues, monitoring or access by US federal agencies.”
– CNBC’s April Roach contributed to this report
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Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd said on Saturday it has agreed to buy eight generic drugs in the US from Teva Pharmaceutical and Allergan Plc for $350 million (around Rs 2,350 crore) in cash.
The combined sales of the branded versions of the products in the US is around $3.5 billion, the Hyderabad-based drugmaker said in a stock-exchange filing.
"This transaction will add strength to our product portfolio, help us be more relevant in the US market and also create new opportunities for growth," GV Prasad, co-chairman and CEO of Dr Reddy's Laboratories said.
The portfolio being acquired is a mix of filed abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) pending approval and an approved ANDA and comprises complex generic products across diverse dosage forms, Dr Reddy's said.
The generic drugs being acquired are part of the portfolio that Teva is selling to complete its $40 billion acquisition of Allergan. The acquisition of these ANDAs is contingent on the closing of the Teva-Allergan generics transaction and approval by the US Federal Trade Commission of Dr Reddy's as a buyer, the Indian company said.
Dr Reddy's is acquiring the portfolio on a cash-free, debt-free basis and expects to finance the transaction using a combination of cash on hand and available borrowings under existing credit facilities, the company said.
The deal for Teva and Allergan generic drugs comes barely weeks after Dr Reddy’s said in May that it acquired a portfolio of half a dozen over-the-counter (OTC) drug brands from American drugmaker Ducere Pharma to enter the branded consumer health business in the US. The twin deals will help the drugmaker expand its US business, which is already its largest overseas market.
Alok Sonig, executive vice president and head of North America at Dr Reddy’s, said the company has 79 ANDAs pending approval in the US, of which 18 have first-to-file status. The acquisition of Teva and Allergan products will “enhance our short- to mid-term aspirations and is consistent with our growth initiatives to identify inorganic opportunities to expand our base business,” he said.
The latest deal is much larger than the $128 million transaction Dr Reddy’s announced in April last year to acquire a portfolio of established brands of Belgium-based pharmaceutical firm UCB in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives. It is also the largest acquisition by Dr Reddy’s since its $570 million takeover of Germany’s Betapharm in 2006.
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Well, somebody has been!
In February, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had received 11,650 enquiries regarding scams between 1 December 2015 and 30 November 2016. 13% of all their dealings with consumers were about scams.
You might be reading this thinking, I’m a grown up, I can handle myself. I would never fall for a scam. What about your more elderly


text: HomeBitcoinA Japanese Court Just Ordered the Nation’s First Cryptocurrency Seizure A Japanese Court Just Ordered the Nation’s First Cryptocurrency Seizure By Crypto News Pipe August 19, 2020 Bitcoin 0 Comments A Tokyo court sets a precedent in the Japanese crypto industry. Source: A Japanese Court Just Ordered the Nation’s First Cryptocurrency Seizure Tags:Bitcoin Related Posts Bitcoin Trading Generated $875M in Quarterly Revenue for Square Cryptocurrency On-Ramps and Off-Ramps, Explained Iranian trade ministry issues 30 crypto mining licenses About Author Crypto News Pipe Crypto News Pipe is a cryptocurrency news aggregator service. It presents a continuous flow of articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Add a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment:*Name:* Email Address:* Website: Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.


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Super Bowl XLV is coming up this Sunday.
The Super Bowl is much more than a football game. The Super Bowl has become, well some would call it a media circus, but really it has become such a major event that has created sub-events and spinoff events and parties and so much more than just the football game which is at the center of it all. That is besides for the advertising involved, as the Super Bowl is famous for the ad spots that run on television throughout the game, especially ads for companies such as Go Daddy, Budweiser beers, and plenty of others.
Yet one other aspect of the great Super Bowl Sunday is the contests around the game. Of course there is the betting on who will win and what the score will be along with individual accomplishments, but we won’t talk about that (shhh…). Besides for that there are all the companies that capitalize on the interest in the Super Bowl and hold their own contests, challenges and raffles. As mentioned, the Super Bowl has become a humongous event and there is so much more going on than just a football game.
Green Smoke, the leader in electronic cigarettes, is also running a Super Bowl challenge. And this is to remind you that the Super Bowl is this Sunday and your ability to enter the Super Bowl XLV Challenge is coming close to an end. Sign up now, figure out which team you think will win the Super Bowl and what the final score will be, and grab your chance to win a free iPad.
Good luck and may the best man, and team, win.


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|Master Investor Magazine
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AIM-listed mobile payments provider Boku (LON:BOKU) has seen its share price decrease by 5.04% to 122.50p (as of 13:00 BST) after it provided an update for the first half of the year. Management said that the company was on track to meet revenue and EBITDA expectations after its revenues grew by 33% during the six months ended 30th June.
CEO Jon Prideaux commented: “With Monthly Active Users continuing to grow strongly, we are proving once again the value that Boku brings to our global digital clients. Of course, the law of large numbers dictates that Payments volumes will not continue to grow at such high percentages indefinitely, but with our significant scale driving operational gearing, the incremental revenues we generate from Payments will continue to drop straight through to EBITDA, affording us the opportunity to make ongoing investments in future growth.
“Our first such investment, Boku Identity, is off to a flying start and yet we have barely begun to realise the full potential of this new venture. Having acquired Danal Inc, now fully integrated as Boku Identity, at the beginning of the year, the first half of 2019 has been focused on setting ourselves up for sustainable global expansion in what is a new and emerging market. We expect this progress on Identity to continue and accelerate in the second half.
“Identity is not the only innovation we are pursuing. Our recently announced partnership with Grab in South East Asia demonstrates that there is plenty of potential to grow our Payments business through partnerships with mobile wallets and other alternative payment methods.
“I am hugely excited by the pipeline of opportunities that we have created in both Payments and Identity and I look forward to providing further updates as the year progresses.
“We maintain our full year guidance for revenues and adjusted EBITDA, with the normal seasonal bias and further scale up in identity revenues expected in H2 2019“.


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AQUASCUTUM'S DIRTY WEEKEND:
Aquascutum has drafted Gisele Bündchen
and Irish actor Jamie Dornan
for its latest global ad campaign, which was shot at one of Britain's most notorious stately homes. The cinema-inspired ads were photographed on location at Cliveden, the former home of the Astor family and the famous backdrop to the Profumo Affair — the political and sex scandal that rocked Britain in the early Sixties. Mario Sorrenti
snapped the pictures that, appropriately, depict "a weekend of stolen moments, intrigue and trysts," according to Aquascutum president and chief executive Kim Winser
. "Gisele and Jamie are the perfect pairing to communicate our creative vision for the new season." During her wicked weekend at Cliveden, Bündchen wears one of five coats from Aquascutum Vintage, a new collection based on vintage Aquascutum designs worn by Hollywood heroines including Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Bacall
and Sophia Loren
— but presumably not Profumo maiden Christine Keeler
. The campaign will break in the August issue of L'Uomo Vogue and later in the September issues of magazines including Tatler, British Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. — Samantha ContiINDEPENDENT SPIRIT:
Gucci has tapped Mert Alas
and Marcus Piggot
to shoot its first-ever ad campaign solely dedicated to the season's must-have accessory. For fall, it's the Indy bag, a rigid frame style with a strap inspired by the steering wheels of old racing cars, hence its name.
The two, which creative director Frida Giannini
selected for their ability to interpret her vision, shot in a studio in London on a set that re-created the asphalt of a racetrack. Sprawled across the track is model Natasha Poly
, shielding her eyes from the sun while dressed in a leather-and-fur blouson jacket and clutching a crocodile bag.
"This is not a typical still life campaign," said Giannini. "For me, the Indy bag embodies the core characteristics of the Gucci woman: sensuality and strength. This is why I wanted to create a dynamic setting."
The campaign breaks in August fashion titles worldwide.


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HOUSTON, March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- FREEBIRDS World Burrito, known for offering "way more choices" to custom-build rockin' burritos, salads, nachos, tacos and more, announced today the 2011 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ has chosen FREEBIRDS as the winner of this year's Gold Buckle Foodie Award for "Best Taco/Burrito." FREEBIRDS' pork carnitas burrito took the honor for the second time since 2009. The award and ribbon will proudly be displayed at FREEBIRDS Rodeo booth #RP130 open daily serving award-winning breakfast, lunch and dinner through Sunday, March 20th, 2011.
"We're honored to have brought home the title again this year for our pork carnitas burrito and plan on proudly displaying the 2011 Gold Buckle Foodie award," says Payman Khania of FREEBIRDS.
More than 100 entries in 13 different categories were distributed to judges to determine this year's 2011 Gold Buckle Foodie Award winners. Food vendors proudly displayed their finest creations to tickle Houston celebrity judges' taste buds for this annual competition.
ABOUT FREEBIRDS WORLD BURRITO
FREEBIRDS has created a strong following. Why? Awesome burritos and freedom of choice. As guests join the queue, they are partnered with a team member, known as a "Roller," who helps them choose from four sizes of burrito made from four possible flavors of tortilla then hand-rolled with the guest's personal selection from more than forty freshly prepared ingredients including grass fed beef, hormone-free chicken or all natural pork carnitas with hand-cut veggies and hot peppers plus house made salsas, queso and guacamole to create their perfect burrito. Burritos range in size from the generously-sized Hybird to the legendary Super Monster which can weigh-in at seven pounds.
Each FREEBIRDS restaurant features the concept's signature Statue of Liberty – affectionately known as 'Libby' – riding a custom-built motorcycle while breaking through the Freedom Wall. Libby was designed to serve as a reminder that each of us can break through walls and truly change the world. The restaurant has a free-spirited ambience with a rockin' soundtrack, reminiscent of a late-'60s rock 'n' roll roadhouse. Each FREEBIRDS offers online ordering and full service catering for 10 – 10,000.
Concept owner, Tavistock Restaurants, LLC, currently operates 46 FREEBIRDS restaurants. 44 FREEBIRDS World Burritos are in Texas and Oklahoma and two in California, with the first location in Los Angeles across from University of Southern California and Orange now open.
SOURCE FREEBIRDS World Burrito


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AAM applauds CMS for requiring health plans to place generic drugs on tiers
The Association for Accessible Medicines is commending the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for several of the recommended provisions outlined in the proposed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2024.
In particular, AAM publicly commends the administration’s efforts to standardize plan choice by requiring generic drugs be placed on generic tiers and brand-name drugs on brand-name tiers.
[Read more: AAM reacts to Avalere study on generic drug costs]
The organization stated that because new, lower-cost generics and biosimilars also face coverage challenges as a result of the perverse incentives of brand drug rebates, it further recommends that CMS and HHS take steps to ensure timely patient access to new generic and biosimilar medicines by standardizing an option for a generic and biosimilar specialty tier.
“In spite of the lower prices of generics and biosimilars, plan design too often does not optimize their use. And when this occurs, patients are forced to pay more than necessary,” said David Gaugh, interim CEO at AAM. “We look forward to working with the CMS to ensure that patients have access to and realize the full value of lower cost generic and biosimilar medicines.”


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03 March 2021
TOWHIRE is an ocean towage agreement on a daily hire basis. It is not intended for use in port towing. The latest edition of this contract is TOWHIRE 2021.
Copyright in TOWHIRE 2021 is held by BIMCO.
16 February 2021
This year, BIMCO has expanded its ice reporting to cover the Northern Chinese, Japanese and Greenland sea areas, and can advise on contractual issues related to ice clauses.
29 January 2021
The BIMCO Maritime Information department informs members on a weekly basis, updates about the COVID-19 in relation to implementation measures imposed by governments for sea transport including for crew change as well as from the United Nation bodies like the International Maritime Organization (IMO), World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO).
BIMCO provides the following update for this week ending Friday, 29 January 2021
25 November 2020
This year, tanker shipping will not benefit from the usual strong winter seasonal effect. Though the new lockdowns being introduced in many countries are less strict than in the spring, the effect on tanker shipping will be worse, given the oil supply glut of Q2.
19 November 2020
BIMCO has published SHIPLEASE, a new standard term sheet for sale and leaseback transactions which will be presented at a series of free seminars in the coming months. We will start with two online seminars and, as soon as the situation allows, live networking seminars will be planned in Asia, Europe and USA.
03 November 2020
As the world’s seas and oceans become noisier, with little doubt that low levels of continuous noise can seriously impact the health of marine species, it is ever more likely that the shipping industry will have to get used to noise-reduction requirements and new regulations.
21 September 2020
Sale and leaseback transactions have seen a substantial increase in recent years as an alternative method of ship financing, and BIMCO has adopted a new term sheet which will facilitate the negotiation of sale and leaseback deals and make the process cheaper for parties involved.
26 August 2020
Recent Newbuilding contracting activity revealed an appetite for new orders within the tanker sector with the 10 MR vessels ordered by Bahri Navigation making the headlines.
The weekly newbuilding report by Intermodal Research & Valuations feature, include newbuilding prices for dry bulk-, tanker- and gas shipping segments. Additionally, recent newbuilding orders are listed by units, type, size, yard, expected delivery date and price.


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According to the annual report by Pew Research in the United States, adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 use YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, WhatsApp, Reddit and Tumblr.
The favorites for young people are YouTube, which reigns with 95 percent of time online, then TikTok with 67 percent and Facebook with only 32 percent.
Most also go to Instagram (62%) and Snapchat (59%). Facebook has aged, with just 32 percent of teens reporting they’ve ever used it, down 39 points from 2014-15, when 71 percent said they’ve ever used the platform.
In the case of Twitter, it is used by 23 percent and it has also fallen since in 2014-15 it was 33 percent.a behavior similar to Tumblr because before it was used by 14 percent of teenagers and today they are only 5 percent.
On the amount of time they spend on social media in general, the majority 55 percent say they spend about the right amount of time on these apps and sites, while about a third of teens 36 percent say they spend Too much time on social media.
In the case of access to digital devices95 percent reported having a smartphone, 90 percent a desktop or laptop, and 80 percent game consoles.
The study shows that there has been an increase in daily Internet users among teenagers, from 92 percent in 2014-15 to 97 percent today.


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Tomorrow, November 7th is N7 day – a day to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the release of one of my very favourite gaming franchises from the last generation, Mass Effect. I don’t think there’s a single overarching series of games that got me so emotionally invested in so many characters. In celebration of N7 Day, Bioware is hosting a Developer Roundtable that’ll be streamed all over the internet. Could they reveal some new information about the next game in the series?
It’s on tomorrow, at 10am Pacific Time, which is tomorrow at 8pm in local time. You’ll be able to watch the stream here. Presumably, they’ll be discussing a few things related to the Mass Effect universe, quite ostensibly spilling details on the new game. And, as loathe as I am for remakes, if there’s one series I would happily replay all gussied up for a new generation, it would have to be Mass Effect. The original game was released as an Xbox 360 exclusive back in November 2007, and now, 7 years on, would be a great time for a re-release.
If not news of a remaster, I’d happily gobble up any new information on the new game, which is definitely not Mass Effect 4. Officially announced at this year’s E3, the game will be running on Frostbite 3 engine, much like the imminent Dragon Age: Inqusition.
“To call the next game ‘Mass Effect 4’ or ‘ME4’ is doing it a disservice and seems to cause a lot of confusion here.,” BioWare community manager Chris Priestly said of the new game. “We have already said that the Commander Shepard trilogy is over and that the next game will not feature him/her. That is the only detail you have on the game. I see people saying ‘well, they’ll have to pick a canon ending.’ No, because the game does not have to come after. Or before. Or off to the side. Or with characters you know. Or yaddayaddayadda. Wherever, whenever, whoever, etc will all be revealed years down the road when we actually start talking about it. I do not call the game ME4 when I talk about it ever, [because] that makes people think of it more as ‘what happens after ‘Mass Effect 3’ rather than ‘what game happens next set in the ‘Mass Effect’ Universe. Obviously fans are going to speculate content, character and story until we actually reveal details in the years or months to come as you have almost no actual details, just don’t get bogged down in ‘well how are they going to continue ME3.’”
What are you hoping to hear from Bioware’s N7 day stream? Would you jump up and down like an excited child for a remaster of Shepherd’s trilogy, or are you more keen to see what’s next for the Mass Effect Universe?
Last Updated: November 6, 2014


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The Commissioner for the Regulation of Utilities Aoife MacEvilly has said the CRU will work with energy providers to ensure transparency in costs.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show, Ms MacEvilly urged anyone who was having trouble paying their energy bill to engage with their provider as there were options and supports in place to assist.
“It is really important for customers to understand that even though prices have fallen, they are still higher than they have been. So wholesale prices are still around double the normal wholesale price. So what we’ll see is prices will come down, but they won’t be going down to the levels that we’ve seen in the past based on current market prices that we could expect to see some level of relief for customers towards the end of this year.”
Ms MacEvilly said it was important to get the message across “very clearly” to suppliers that they “absolutely need” to be passing on these prices as soon as they can.
“They shouldn’t be waiting around, and that is the challenge that we place to them. How quickly, how soon and how much can they pass on this to their customers? So are they waiting around?
“What we’re saying to them is, get those prices passed on to customers as quickly as possible. And I think also one of the challenges that we’re putting to them as well is can you do a better job of explaining this to your customers, please? Because it feels like we’re the only people out here trying to explain these wholesale and retail market dynamics. I think customers would value hearing it from their own suppliers.”
The CRU did not want to be in the position of being “an apologist” for the energy companies.
“We want to be able to give confidence to customers that the market is working efficiently, even though at the moment that’s delivering high prices because of the fundamentals.
“We want to be able to assure customers that the market will also deliver the reductions. And we also want to give clarity to customers. Prices are unlikely to reduce to the levels that we’ve seen before, and that’s by way of helping customers think about how do they start budgeting, how do they start preparing for next winter.
“Prices should be a bit lower, but they won’t be back down to the levels we’ve seen before. So that’s why we’re explaining this for customers.”
The CRU would continue to monitor the market “very carefully,” she said.
“We’re monitoring the wholesale price trends and we’re monitoring the retail price trends. If at some stage we become concerned, or we see an issue, or we see evidence of something that is not quite what we’d expect in a competitive market, then we can step in and investigate that.
“At the moment, however, what we’re seeing is the normal evolution of retail prices based on the underlying wholesale and other market price trends.”


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TOKYO -- Toray Industries will build a factory producing separators for electric-vehicle batteries in Hungary, the first of its kind in Europe, looking to serve an expanding supply chain in a region where increasing regulations are expected to accelerate demand for environmentally friendly cars.
The Japanese manufacturer plans to invest 200 million euros ($225 million) in the factory, to be located near an existing carbon-fiber plant outside Budapest. The facility, scheduled to go online in July 2021, will boost Toray's separator production capacity by 20%, supplementing plants in Japan and South Korea.
Separators are thin membranes that sit between the two terminals of a lithium-ion battery to prevent them from coming into contact and potentially starting a fire. They are a key factor in battery safety and life span. The global market for these components jumped 20% last year on a square-meter basis.
Japan's Asahi Kasei leads the industry with a roughly 20% share, though Toray is believed to control more than half the market for separators with the high heat resistance required for use in automotive batteries.
Toray's move to add capacity in Europe comes after the European Union issued strong new emissions targets, requiring automakers to cut fleetwide average carbon dioxide emissions for passenger vehicles by 37.5% from estimated 2021 levels by 2030.
These targets will be difficult to achieve with conventional gasoline vehicles, prompting automakers to lay out plans for shifting to electrics. Volkswagen has said it aims to have electric vehicles make up 40% of its global sales in 2030.
Toray plans to continue boosting capacity in Europe after its new facility is completed, in anticipation of growing demand, and the company's move could spur other component makers to follow suit. Providing manufacturers with a ready supply of quality parts and materials should make for better batteries and, in turn, higher-performance vehicles.


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The Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill has the banking industry up in arms. It directs the Federal Reserve to regulate and limit merchant interchange fees on debit cards for large issuers with $10 billion or more in assets. The Fed has proposed capping interchange fees at 12 cents, down about 80% from current levels, and requiring at least two unaffiliated payment networks for each debit card (for signature and PIN entry).
Lenders less than thrilled
The proposals unleashed a firestorm of criticism from the banking lobby. Without interchange fees – essential, they say, to cover costs of issuing debit cards, such as fraud protection – they will be forced to raise fees on checking accounts, make fewer loans, and raise interest rates beyond already-unprecedented levels. For the most part, we may dismiss their doomsday predictions as histrionics. Anti-fraud technology, for one, lags far behind that in Europe; the merchant interchange fee pricing shows significant signs of monopoly control.
Credit unions, the not-for-profit and generally more consumer-oriented cousins to banks, make much the same claims. They also argue that interchange fees are necessary to cover these costs. But unlike their larger cousins, they do not have enough assets or customers to simply absorb the loss.
The Durbin Amendment deeply unsettled credit unions, prompting a flurry of press releases, studies and pleas in anticipation of the National Association of Federal Credit Union’s recent testimony before the House Financial Institutions Subcommittee.
Regulation misses the target
The rationale for curtailing merchant exchange fees rests on the belief that such fees are out-sized compared to the costs of issuance, which includes fraud-prevention measures such as entering a PIN number, but also refunding stolen money and replacing lost cards in the event of theft.
Merchant exchange fees actually vary wildly, from the type of merchant (generally, larger stores face lower fees) to the type of card (debit cards command low fees, whereas credit cards draw high ones). Premium rewards credit cards are the biggest offenders, with swipe fees that are often more than double those for debit cards.
Debit swipe fees more closely reflect the cost of fraud protection than do credit card fees, which the Durbin Amendment leaves untouched. The fees are particularly essential for credit unions: far smaller than banks, they cannot take advantage of economies of scale to reduce the cost of servicing their customers. And because they generally charge lower interest rates, annual fees and late penalties, they lack the monetary cushion that for-profit banks enjoy. Credit unions truly do use the merchant exchange fees to serve their customers.
A number of these institutions, like Tower FCU, Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union, and First Entertainment Credit Union, offer terms unheard of in the banking industry. For example, Tower and JDCU charge only $10 for late payments, while the industry standard is $35. According to Patricia Wagaman of TFCU, "We're well aware that our late payment fees are low. We've firmly believed for decades that all our terms, fees, and conditions should be transparent to customers." FECU goes even a step further, charging only $7, and according to VP of Marketing Roy MacKinnon, "Our current fee covers expenses involved with producing late payment notices and account servicing. We do not view it as a revenue generator."
Debit interchange fees in the US are already middle-of-the-road compared to more regulated markets. Durbin will push these fees to make the US one of the lowest debit interchange markets on the planet. Meanwhile, the reform ignores the real anti-trust problem that is raising consumer prices, credit card interchange. Out of the countries which Visa discloses interchange rates for, the US is by far the highest.
Credit unions say Durbin is a dubious medicine
Banks are hardly the most trusted institutions in America, but credit unions deserve considerably more faith. Not-for-profit credit unions typically limit membership to certain constituencies such as residents of a community or employees of a company, and are owned by their members. Banks put shareholders’ interests first; credit unions, on the other hand, tend to value consumers above all. Says Michelle Silveira of Jeanne D'Arc, "If we do the right thing for members, they'll stay with us."
Therefore we are more likely to believe their claims that the Durbin Amendment will force fewer benefits and higher fees. A survey by the National Association of Federal Credit Unions found that nearly half of respondents are considering eliminating free checking to make up for lost fees. A similar proportion indicated that they would eliminate or cut back on rewards programs, and almost 9% professed that they might have to lay off staff members.
This is significantly different from the threats of for-profit banks, who are hiring at a brisk pace, make thick profit margins on almost all customers, and are paying out hefty bonuses. A reduction in debit swipe fees, which make up 20% of non-interest revenue for credit unions, seems likely to negatively affect customers and to force layoffs.
The small-institution exemption is merely a fig leaf
The Federal Reserve, in apparent consideration of the relatively high cost that credit unions face in protecting customers, proposed an exemption on the fee cap and network requirements for institutions that have less than $10 billion in assets. However, market forces will render this exemption meaningless.
Imagine that a merchant decides to allow two unaffiliated networks to compete for swipe fees, competition that the Fed’s proposal requires. One is Visa, who will charge 20 cents for a small credit union’s card, but only the federal-mandated 12 cents for debit cards from larger issuers. The other is a competing low cost payment network called CheapPay, who charges only 10 cents for all transactions. In this case, the merchant will always route its transactions through CheapPay, and the credit union will only ever get their cut of 10 cents, even though it costs the law exempts almost every credit union from the 12 cent cap.
The merchant can only set one price for his products, but he can decide to pay the credit union 20 cents a transaction, or 10. A rational man, the merchant decides to pay the lower amount, forcing the credit union to take a loss, despite the regulatory exemption. This scenario will take place on a nationwide scale, resulting in severe losses for credit unions.
Electronic Payments Coalition spokeswoman Trish Wexler argues, “The so-called ‘carve out’ for smaller card issuers will simply not work, given the way the law is constructed. Merchant discrimination and market forces will pressure small issuers out of the marketplace and consumers will be left with fewer options…Even the Federal Reserve staff who drafted the rule acknowledged that smaller financial institutions may not ultimately be protected.”
NAFCU President Fred Becker agrees: “The two-tier system will not work in the long run.” In a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Becker elaborated, “despite Congressional intent to the contrary, price caps on debit card interchange fees will ultimately impact all institutions, regardless of their size.”
Maybe time to reconsider
The intent of the Durbin Amendment is laudable: the Visa-MasterCard duopoly in merchant exchange fees has resulted in higher fees for merchants and higher prices for consumers. However, the bulk of the pricing inefficiency results from credit card fees, which are not addressed by the Durbin Amendment.
Despite the exemption for community banks and small credit unions, the fee cap will affect all institutions irrespective of size. The network competition requirement will force prices to conform to the cap, and in any case, a fee battle of Visa versus MasterCard will hardly budge prices.
The Durbin Amendment, inserted into the Dodd-Frank bill with little debate and no hearings, will adversely affect consumer-oriented lending institutions and the consumers themselves. We expect that credit unions to reiterate their strong – and justified – opposition to the amendment even after their testimony. The state of the regulation is in limbo, and we can only hope Bernanke & Co. will see the light.
This post comes from Tim Chen, CEO and founder of NerdWallet, a website dedicated to educating consumers about the credit card market.


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Disney gurgles with delight as China eases one-child policy
Family entertainment giant Disney on Friday welcomed Beijing's scrapping of the one-child policy as investors bumped up Chinese "baby concept" stocks, but analysts warned the benefits to companies might be limited.
China announced the end of its controversial family planning policy at the close of a meeting of the ruling Communist Party on Thursday, with a communique saying all couples will be allowed two children.
On a visit to China, Walt Disney chief Robert Iger said the change was "good timing" for the US company as it prepares to open a theme park in the commercial hub Shanghai.
People walk past a banner of Disney animated characters outside China's first Disney flagship store at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai on May 20, 2015
"It was good timing... Obviously kids are good for Disney," Iger told a conference in Shanghai, to audience laughter.
The Walt Disney Co. and Chinese partner Shanghai Shendi Group broke ground on the $5.5 billion park in April 2011. The opening was originally planned for this year, and was later pushed back to 2016.
But Disney, whose businesses range from movies to merchandise, believes the world's most populous nation has strong potential regardless of the family planning rules, Iger said.
"China is a good market, policy change or not," he said. "Yes, we love kids of course, but we love everybody."
Other beneficiaries include global dairy-related companies such as France's Danone and Mead Johnson Nutrition of the United States, whose stock prices rose on Thursday after the policy change was announced.
A series of food safety scandals in China, including one in 2008 when several infants died and thousands fell ill because of poisoned milk, has driven demand for foreign infant formula brands.
The relaxation of the policy comes as China's working age population is shrinking and social tensions are on the rise, and the policy has created a significant gender imbalance given a traditional preference for boys.
"The relaxation will likely lead to a higher birth rate in China," UBS Securities Asia said in a research report, but added that the extent of the rise was "uncertain as birth rates in its East Asian neighbours are also very low".
"Short-term benefits of the policy relaxation will be limited, as demographic shifts tend to be very long term," it added.
- More babies, more business -
Some urban Chinese couples cite the cost of raising a child as a disincentive to having more than one.
But entrepreneur Liang Yan, who runs her own store Little Angel selling baby milk powder and clothing in the northern province of Shanxi, welcomed the change -- especially given slowing growth which has forced her to shut two other shops.
"More babies means higher demand and more customers," she told AFP. "Who knows what people think of the policy. But after a couple of years, our sales should be able to jump."
Stock investors also cheered the news, pushing up listed Chinese companies which offer products for children.
Beingmate Baby and Child Food surged by its 10 percent daily limit on the Shenzhen market on Friday, despite previously reporting a first-half net loss of more than 100 million yuan ($16 million).
Shenzhen-listed Nappy provider C&S Paper also surged 10 percent in Shenzhen while Guangdong Alpha Animation and Culture, which produces animation and toys for children, jumped 7.87 percent.
In Shanghai, milk producer Bright Dairy and Food gained 4.12 percent.
But one analyst warned the gains might be short-lived.
"The market has speculated on the baby concept for years, but how this policy (change) will actually affect companies is still unclear," Zhang Qi, an analyst from Haitong Securities, told AFP.
"The easing of the one child policy might not have such a big effect on the birth rate as it's difficult to reverse the current population structure," he said.
Robert Iger, chief executive of Disney, says China has big potential as his company gets ready to open its theme park in Shanghai in 2016 ©Scott Olson (GETTY/AFP/File)
All couples will be allowed two children under changes to China's family policy ©Frederic J. Brown (AFP/File)
Walt Disney Company chairman and chief executive Robert Iger speaks about the new Shanghai Disney Resort during a press event in Shanghai on July 15, 2015 ©Johannes Eisele (AFP/File)
The towers of Disney's planned Magic Kingdom in Shanghai are wreathed in scaffolding and mystery after the US entertainment giant pushed back the opening of its first mainland China theme park to next year ©Johannes Eisele (AFP/File)
China's previous "one-child" family planning regime has seen arbitrary and often brutal enforcement, including forced abortions and sterilisation of some ©Greg Baker (AFP)
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Next time you are out late at night without a ride home and need the number of a taxi service, just chill. If you are out of cash in a new city and are looking for an ATM? You got it. Power cut in the midst of a nail biting cricket match? Get instant update.?
Google India has launched a newer version of its SMS Search service that allows users to SMS their query to 9-77-33-00000 at the cost of a regular SMS and get instant answers. According to the company, the new Google SMS Search service is available across all operators on both GSM and CDMA mobile phones across India.
Google claims that its new SMS-based search service works just like its internet search and can offer cricket scores, stock updates, Indian Railways train schedules, PNR (train ticket) status, horoscopes, movie show-times, latest news, flight status, weather information and facts & figures. Google SMS Search service can also work as a local business search, dictionary, calculator and currency convertor.
"No longer do you need to remember complicated strings to put before your query, you can search as if you are searching on Google web search – we will do all the hard work to understand your query and give you the best results on SMS," Google India has said.


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On Air Now
Rob Howard & Lauren Layfield 6am - 10am
Officers reckon the jewellery could have been stolen from the East Midlands.
The jewellery has been valued at £26,850 and could have been stolen from Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire or Lincolnshire.
- A silver and diamond bracelet
- A silver and diamond ring
- A pair of silver and diamond earrings
On October 1 2010, Derbyshire police arrested a 22-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man, both from Notts, at the Giltbrook Retail Park under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Investigations have revealed that a silver Breitling watch the man had taken off him, had been taken during a jewellery shop robbery in Nottingham in September 2008.
Anyone who can help officers identify where the jewellery has come from should call PC 2259 Hyde on 0345 123 3333 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


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Victorian businesses to be targeted in COVID rule crackdown
Businesses across the state will be targeted in an Easter blitz to crack down on COVID-19 rule breaches.
Eateries, retail stores, bars and markets will be among locations scrutinised as part of about 3900 checks over the long weekend.
The blitz will check businesses have COVIDSafe plans, working QR code systems, and are adhering to capacity limits.
Individuals caught flouting the rules face $1652 fines, while businesses can be fined up to $9913.
But CEO of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Paul Guerra, says it would be “really disappointing” if fines were handed out.
“We’re hoping this weekend’s blitz is about education, not about fining people,” he told Neil Mitchell.
Press PLAY below for more.


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Israeli company has developed a stable long-life probiotic for convenient storage and consumption
Vitafoods 2019 will see Anlit demonstrate its ProBites Long-Life Probiotic supplement; a line of chews. The new line has been designed by the Israeli company for the whole family, suitable for age three and up.
The inherent sensitivity of probiotics raises two key challenges, maintaining stability and extending shelf life in the development of an effective supplement.
Anlit has developed a technology called “ProBites LLP, Long-Life Probiotic” that allows for high stability of live bacteria in ambient conditions. This means they can be incorporated by Anlit into a convenient format, with multiple flavours, including chocolate, vanilla, and a variety of fruit flavours They are also sugar-free, kosher, halal, and non-GMO.
The company has also instituted a double packaging system with multilayer laminate to retain a perfect, moisture-free support environment for the probiotic and to protect the organoleptic characteristics of the product. The company will present its full range of chewable dietary supplements for children and adults at Vitafoods Europe 2019, including high omega-3 chew for pregnant women and vegetarian curcumin chews.
Vitafoods will take place on 7-9 May 2019 at Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland.
At the event, Anlit can be found at booth.