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A few years ago a Peugeot boss told Handelsblatt that the French carmaker was no match for Germany’s leading automakers.
But today, Jean-Philippe Imparato, the Peugeot brand’s chief executive, is dismissive of such defeatism. He’s been in the job for four months and has big plans. “With the new 3008 we’re moving into the segment of German brands, taking on the VW Tiguan and the BMW X2,” he told Handelsblatt. He wants the firm to become “the best mass supplier in the high-end segment.”
The medium-sized 3008 SUV was launched in October and is selling well. Peugeot says 60,000 orders in the first three months beat expectations by 70 per cent. Mr Imparato is also especially pleased about the prices achieved. He says they range from €30,000 ($32,000) to €42,000, driving up profit. “Our aim was to reach 20 per cent of the profit with 15 per cent of the sales,” says the brand head. He adds that they’re already above that with a share of 20 to 25 per cent of the margin.
In March, Peugeot will add the big 5008 SUV to the range. Both models are part of a strategy to penetrate especially profitable market segments. Until recently Peugeot lacked attractive SUV and crossover models. Hence it couldn’t profit last year from the strong market growth in Europe and was even overtaken in sales by arch-rival Renault.
Renault has just announced another record year in Germany. Including sales of its low-cost Dacia brand, it sold about 175,400 vehicles in the country in 2016 – up 12.2 per cent on the previous year and making it the biggest exporter of cars to Germany.
In technical and design quality Peugeot could now match the German premium brands.
In 2016, the French motor industry went through ups and downs. As well as a few successes, Peugeot, Citroën and DS – the core brands of the parent PSA Group – had to cope with some harsh setbacks, shown by sales numbers presented on Wednesday.
A positive is that for the first time since its survival-threatening crisis PSA was able to sell more than 3 million vehicles worldwide. The biggest driver of this growth was the resumption of trade with Iran. After sanctions ended last year, production and sales were restarted there.
But a painful setback has been the drop in sales in China and Southeast Asia. Mr Imparato, who worked in China for a few years, has a convincing explanation. He doesn’t put it down to unsuitable products or wrong pricing, but primarily to a weak dealer network. “We have around 500 dealers, which is not enough if you want to grow strongly in the market.”
The currently high real-estate prices are making it hard to grow the network. But that will happen this year, and sales will pick up again as well, Mr Imparato predicts. “This year we’ll sell more than 400,000 units again.”
Where does he see his brand compared to the German competition now? At price level they’re equal with VW, he says. Peugeot no longer needs to be cheaper to push its cars into the German market. Mr. Imparato even says he consciously avoids special offers or sales gimmicks. That could increase sales short-term, he explains, but would weaken the margin. In technical and design quality Peugeot could now match the German premium brands. From model to model and country to country the rivals vary, he says.
The positioning of the Peugeot brand has undergone several changes. The Citroën models used to be the jaunty low-priced ones in the company, the Peugeots the dignified high-priced models. Then everything changed with the Citroën DS line. PSA chief Carlos Tavares formed the third brand to establish the group in the luxury segment. But there has been one small problem: the cars are beautiful but don’t sell and are outdated.
The rise of DS made Peugeot‘s brand positioning more complicated. Mr. Imparato can’t comment on DS but makes his point in a roundabout way: “I keep it very simple; I’m a mass supplier but in the high-end segment, and I don’t mind chasing a few premium suppliers there.”
Apart from margin targets, it’s important to him to drive internationalization. “In 2020 we want to sell every second car abroad,” he says. Peugeot suffered for a long time from being too dependent on the French market. Nearly all its production happened there, driving up costs, and in the final analysis also caused the crisis. But in 2016 Peugeot managed to grow the external proportion from 38 per cent to 42 per cent.
Recently PSA agreed a new deal with its trade unions. Employees again accepted greater assignment flexibility and cost-cutting measures. In return, the firm promised a greater utilization of its plants. Because costs have been cut, Peugeot can now also produce profitably in France and aggressively push the “Made in France” label.
Meanwhile, domestic rival Renault is upping its game when it comes to competing with Peugeot in the German market. At his traditional end-of-year presentation Renault-Germany’s chief Uwe Hochgeschurtz was able to report the best growth in six years.
As well as the 175,400 Renault and Dacia passenger cars it sold in the country in 2016, it also shifted 23,100 commercial vehicles.
Overall Renault is growing twice as fast as the market and has raised its share in Germany to almost 5.5 per cent.
That again makes Germany the second most important market for the French in Europe. And when Dacia sales are included, even allows Renault to call itself the “biggest importer” of cars into Germany.
With a comparatively young range of models, Renault wants to grow at twice the market rate again this year. To help drive that are new models like the big Koleos SUV and the Alaskan pickup, as well as the reworked Captur.
The firm’s financial figures in Germany are not disclosed, but Mr. Hochgeschurtz hints that it was a “satisfactory” year, with every car, including electric ones, returning a profit.
The electric range has developed extraordinarily well, even though its share of sales is still small. With 3,900 new registrations, the French profited most from the German government’s financial support for the purchase of electric cars. Sales of purely electric cars rose by 56.5 per cent. Renault’s Zoe was the biggest-selling electric model in Germany. The reworked battery drives the Zoe for up to 400 kilometres (250 miles).
Renault’s best seller remains the small Clio. The 24,600 registrations were 9.7 per cent up on the previous year. Even greater growth was achieved by the compact Captur SUV, which with 21,300 vehicles sold (up 30.7 per cent) can hold its top position for compact off-road vehicles.
After a mixed year, Dacia is also back on track in Germany. With growth of 7.4 per cent, the Romanian subsidiary grew faster than the market.


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Rivian isn’t messing around.
At the big reveal of its anticipated R2 electric SUV, the fast-growing EV startup had not one, but two more surprises in store for us. The first of said surprises is the R3, a smallish crossover EV that borrows from the R2’s boxy-but-smooth design language.
The first thing you’ll notice about the R3 compared to its newly released brethren, the R2, is that it’s notably smaller. The R3 carries the moniker of a “crossover” which is always confusing, but the main thing you need to know is that the wheelbase is about five inches shorter than the R2.
You could call it a hatchback, but the rear glass actually lifts up, and like the R2 there’s still storage in the front trunk (frunk, if you will).
Rivian R3 Crossover Specs
We don’t know everything about the R3 yet, but we do know that it will come in three motor variants: single, dual, and tri.
If just the idea of an even smaller R2 isn’t enough to get you excited, Rivian also says that the R3 will be even cheaper than the R2 which — for an electric SUV in America — is pretty affordable.
Rivian wasn’t content with just having one, one more thing announcement either. It also introduced the R3X, which is like the R3 but more of a rally car. Again, the details on the R3X are slim, but one thing that we do know is that it comes in this eye-catching green color with orange accents.
And other than those details, we’re still relatively in the dark about both the R3 and the R3X. There’s no official word on when either will be available for preorder or purchase, but for reference, the R2 is coming to customers in the first half of 2026. Given that timeline, there’s a chance we may have to wait quite a while to see the R3 and R3X IRL.
The R3 Appeal
I don’t know about you guys, but I love a small SUV. There’s still a lot we don’t know about the R3, but my initial reaction — and seemingly all of social media — is that Rivian knocked this one out of the park. The body is still characteristically Rivian while adding a dose of curvy- but-angular, goodness, and the price (if it actually ends up being what Rivian says it will be) is more than right.
Bring on the era of smallish SUVs — your move, Tesla.

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Luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz is offering people classified as "VIP customers" with discounts of as much as $5,000 per vehicle, and is offering to let its clients forego more monthly payments than the amount offered by rival carmaker BMW.
An October 2 memo sent to dealers of the Mercedes vehicles revealed that the company has started a 2012 program that includes potential customers' special lease agreements and cash offers, according to Bloomberg. The carmaker also wrote an email to dealers on October 5 announcing a promotion that permits certain owners of the vehicles to skip up to five payments.
For the first nine months of the year, Mercedes has sold 5,221 more vehicles in the United States than rival BMW, the media outlet reports. The carmaker is suffering from headwinds in various foreign markets, with September sales in China dropping for the first time in eight months and Germany starting to suffer from the lackluster demand experienced by many other nations in Europe. These ailing economies are putting downward pressure on both BMW and Daimler, which owns Mercedes.
"It isn’t just about being No. 1,"Greg Goodwin, chief executive officer of Vancouver, Washington-based Kuni Automotive, which operates 14 dealerships, including those that sell BMW vehicles, told the news source. "What BMW and Mercedes also are dealing with is global competition and the ebbs and flows of global demand."
Mercedes recently began offering incentives on vehicles sold in Germany, such as a 3,000-euro trade in incentive for its vehicles, according to Bloomberg News. Data provided by trade publication Autohaus PulsSchlag revealed that in the discount levels offered for new vehicles in Germany rose to an average of 12.2 percent in September, which was the highest level since 2010.
Seeing as how car sales in the European nation have fallen 11 percent in September, these incentives are not having the desired effect, the media outlet reports. Since Germany contributes more to regional auto sales than any other nation, this drop may result in European sales of these vehicles dropping to their lowest level since 1993.
"There’s no point buying a new car at the moment," Frankfurt nurse Jiri Macan, who had recently bought a used VW Golf, told the news source. "A used car keeps its value much better."


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Taco Bell is more than full. Teenagers crowd into tiny booths like the clown car at a circus.
Down the street, a long line snakes through McDonald's as dozens, if not hundreds, of $1 food items pile onto trays and into sacks.
It's lunchtime at Merced High School, and the students have filed out to their choice eating establishments.
On one block of Olive Avenue, they have access to El Pollo Loco, Jack In The Box, Burger King, IHOP, Quiznos, Long John Silver's, Carl's Jr., Kentucky Fried Chicken and still others within walking distance of the 2,600-student campus.
Only upperclassmen get off-campus lunch privileges, but even among the students who stay on campus, healthy choices aren't the most popular. Last year, the high school district listed the most common purchases: assorted cereals, ranch dressing, chicken patties, sliced jalapenos, pickle chips, baked potato chips, cheese sauce, cream cheese and potato puffs.
The rate of obesity in the Central Valley is alarming at all age groups, but the number of overweight children is especially shocking.
And unlike Russian babushka dolls, which get smaller one inside the other, if a boy's body shape is too heavy, it's probable he'll be shaped that way as a grownup -- only bigger.
Read the complete story at mercedsunstar.com


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Whenever Phyllis Salowe-Kaye discovered that brand new Jersey County Funding Council (NJSIC) got spent 50 mil county your retirement dollars having an exclusive security firm that used a number of the funds buying a predatory payday bank, she experience the newest proverbial rooftop. The newest long time manager manager of brand new Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) quickly developed a powerful coalition regarding consumer cover and you may civil-rights advocates and you may began implementing pressure on the commission to sell their risk on organization. Payday lending are illegal inside the Nj and you may she felt the fresh accessibility county dollars to invest in a pay check financial, at the very least, a violation of stability and argument of interest to your fee.
Towards the , nearly 10 weeks adopting the NJCA’s first query, the official capital fee established at their month-to-month fulfilling it got finalized divestiture away from JLL Lovers, the personal equity business you installment loans in South Carolina to definitely purchased Expert Bucks Share. Adept got prior to already been fined $5 mil and you will ordered to repay borrowers other $5 million by the User Monetary Cover Bureau (CFPB),and therefore found Ace’s lending and you can range techniques to-be predatory.
“Sure, sure, sure,” told you Salowe-Kaye, whenever inquired about the newest CFPB’s results and you will further governing to the Ace, “This is exactly why they [pay-day lenders] try unlawful inside the New jersey.”
“We had been not satisfied which got up until January,” she extra. “We would features enjoyed to have seen which happen eventually.”
Some of those you to definitely helped from the force toward commission’s divestment was indeed Bruce Davis, monetary sofa into the NAACP county chapter, the brand new Reverends Dr. DeForest Soaries and you can Errol Cooper away from Basic Baptist Chapel out-of Lincoln Home gardens, and you may Reva Foster, chair of your Nj-new jersey Black colored Points Fulfilling.
According to NJCA, a dozen mil Americans is actually drawn inside because of the quick cash you to payday loan provide, charging him or her $eight mil inside the interest levels and charges. Normally, payday loan hold a great 391 percent apr (APR) and therefore are directed mostly to those of colour, army team, and you may the elderly.
Beverly Brownish-Ruggia, a community coordinator that have NJCA, aided kickstart the procedure of formally asking for that fee start divestment legal proceeding which have JLL. “The first methods was to get in touch with the state, sign up to chat, get in touch with all of our supporters also to carry out way more research in regards to the relationship amongst the your retirement financing and you may Adept Dollars Express,” Brown-Ruggia told you.
Abreast of subsequent investigation into the matchmaking amongst the payment and JLL, Brown-Ruggia found that, inspite of the CFPB governing against Adept, brand new commission planned into the dumping a lot more state currency for the JLL. “At the fulfilling in which i bought right up our needs to own divestment i along with realized that, for the , brand new council had acknowledged a suggestion for the next $150 million financial support,” Brown-Ruggia remembered.
When he remaining this new conference where the divestment is actually revealed, Tom Byrne, president of your own NJSIC, sounded such as for instance a guy who was merely ready to become placing brand new divestment campaign at the rear of your. He approved the latest commission’s obligation to help you comply with this new coalition’s demands, inspite of the monetary effects to have county pensions, as well as for JLL Partners.
“What we divested is a business which is illegal so you can perform from inside the New jersey,” Byrnes told you. “I do not imagine JLL is actually as well happy, but i decided we envision was at brand new finest social coverage notice. These are generally business owners and they have to know once they build particular purchases they just take providers risks.”
Sede Legale via genico 2 22010 Musso CO
sede sales: via Melchiorre gioia 78 Milano
Teatro di produzione: Teatro Don Vittorio di Sondrio
Ridere fa bene alla tua salute


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Indonesia becomes largest importer of Thai rice
Exports of Thai rice to Indonesia have soared over the past few months as the country struggles with severe drought triggered by the El Niño phenomenon and the delayed onset of the rainy season.
Deputy Commerce Minister Naphinthorn Srisanpang said on Tuesday that drought has impacted Indonesia’s rice-growing areas, especially in Java and parts of South Sumatra.
Farmers in highland areas have been forced to cultivate plants that consume less water such as corn, he added.
Naphinthorn said Indonesia ranked 20th on Thailand’s list of rice importers last year, ordering 91,714 tons of rice worth US$42.24 million (1.48 billion baht).
In the first 10 months of this year, that volume increased dramatically to 1.05 million tons of rice worth US$523.45 million (18.42 billion baht).
“Indonesia is now Thailand’s No 1 rice market,” he said, adding that most of the rice imported to Indonesia is white rice.
Thailand’s rice exports from January to October totalled 6.92 million tons worth $3.96 billion (139.80 billion baht), up 11.4% and 24.7 % year on year respectively. The top five importers were Indonesia, the US, South Africa, Iraq and China.
“The demand for rice is likely to increase due to drought and El Niño’s impact on rice production,” Naphinthorn said. “Concerns about food security have pushed many countries to import rice to meet domestic demand.”
To increase exports and promote Thai rice among new consumers, he said Thailand needs to accelerate its development of rice species, focusing on boosting competitiveness and meeting consumers’ demands.
Farmers should seek guidelines to deal with climate change and follow government agencies’ water management measures to mitigate the impact of drought, he added.https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/economy/40033524
Published Date: December 5, 2023


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2017 Honda CBR 1000 RR launched in India at Rs 17.6 lakh
Honda has just announced that bookings have opened for its latest superbike, the 2017 CBR 1000 RR a motorcycle more famously known as the Fireblade. The 2017 Blade has been launched in two flavours, the standard RR and the top spec SP. After nine years, Honda gave its flagship superbike a complete overhaul with a revision across 90 per cent of all components. The motorcycle is now 16kg lighter with a kerb weight of 195kg and the engine sees a 11PS bump in power for a total of 192PS@13,000 while peak torque is 114Nm@11,000.
Electronic assists see a massive jump as well with the introduction of ride-by-wire, gyroscope assisted ABS that brings in a cornering ABS function, 9-level traction control, selectable engine braking control and riding modes. The new Fireblade gets a high resolution TFT display inspired by the RC213V-S.
The Fireblade SP gets advanced Ohlins semi-active suspension and a quickshifter/autoblipper
Over this, the Fireblade SP offers Ohlins semi-active suspension, a 43mm NIX30 fork and TTX36 shock at the rear. While a quickshifter is available as an option on the standard bike, the SP offers it as standard, including an autoblip option. Honda has priced the standard Fireblade at Rs 17.6 lakh while the SP costs 21.7 lakh, ex-Delhi. As of now, the Fireblade is available in Delhi and Mumbai through select Honda dealerships, with Mumbai prices being roughly Rs 1.5 lakh higher.
As of now, the Fireblade is the most affordable of the latest gen litre-bikes in India with the Kawasaki ZX-10R and ZX-10RR priced at Rs 18.1 lakh and 21.9 lakh ex-Delhi respectively. The freshly launched BMW S1000RR and S1000RR Pro meanwhile are priced at Rs 18.9 lakh and 21.4 lakh respectively. The Yamaha R1 and Aprilia RSV4 are all priced higher than these three motorcycles. Until Suzuki launches it's new GSX-R1000 in India, the new Honda CBR 1000 RR Fireblade promises to be the most affordable new-gen litre bike you can buy in India today.
Starts Rs 21,29,000
Starts Rs 17,60,000


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The Huawei Mate 20 series will be one of the greatest Huawei creation for the year 2018 and the launching is just 2 weeks closer. Apart from the launch broadcast live from London, Huawei Malaysia has appointed several local star to be the ambassador during the launch.
Coming from a fashion industry and the founder of “Mimpi Kita” brand, Nurul Zukifli promotes the strength of the dual core neural processing unit on the Kirin 980 chipset, which mimics dual hemisphere of our brain.
Owen Yap from the media industry also join in the force with the motto of rejecting the casual and aim for the difference.
Lawrence Wong, a Malaysian actor which is involved in the iconic drama “Story of Yanxi Palace” also shows his face for being an ambassador of Huawei Mate 20 series.
Even DJ Jeff which used to work with MyFM also shares the same spirit with Owen Yap
Looks like there will be a lot of local artist and talent joining the Huawei Mate 20 launch in Malaysia!
Prior the launch, let’s recap what will the Mate 20 series offer. The Mate 20 series includes 3 models which are the Mate 20 standard variant, Mate 20 Lite and Mate 20 Pro. The Mate 20 Pro is leaked to bring 4000mAh battery capacity in action with 40W quickcharge. It will be powered by Kirin 980 SoC, in-screen fingerprint sensor and GPU Turbo “overclocking” technology.
Stay tuned for the launch as Huawei Mate 20 series could be some unexpected technology breakthrough in this launch.


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Yahoo! is to spin off its prized $40bn stake in Chinese retail giant Alibaba, in a tax-free move that is designed to reap maximum rewards for shareholders.
Around 384m shares, or 15pc, of Alibaba will be put into a new company named SpinCo, which will be distributed to current Yahoo! shareholders as a separate public firm.
Marissa Mayer, chief executive of Yahoo!, hopes this will deliver more cash for shareholders than an outright sale of the stake.
"Throughout my tenure with the company, we have worked tirelessly on a tax-efficient alternative that would maximize the value of our Alibaba investment for our shareholders," Ms Mayer said. "A tax-free spin-off accomplishes this and delivers value directly and exclusively to our shareholders."
Yahoo! shares jumped 7.4pc in after-hours trading to $47.99 following the news.
“This is a very meaningful move on behalf of management for shareholders,” Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, told Bloomberg. “It means shareholders get the money - it means Yahoo! management will not spend the money.”
Yahoo! will continue to operate its core business and hold its 35.5pc stake in Yahoo! Japan.
The company also revealed that sales, excluding revenue shared with partner websites, fell 1.8pc to $1.18bn in the fourth quarter, meeting analyst predictions. Profit, excluding items such as stock-based compensation, was 30 cents a share, slightly beating analyst expectations of 29 cents a share, according to Bloomberg.
Yahoo! invested $1bn in Alibaba, which owns a range of market-leading retail websites in its home country, in 2005.
It sold 140m Alibaba shares in the Chinese company's September IPO, netting the US search firm $9.4bn before tax. However, Ms Mayer was left with $6.3bn after paying a 35pc tax rate on the transaction.
Current and new Yahoo! structure
Tuesday's decision to hive off the stake in Alibaba will see Yahoo! pay no tax on the profits from that holding.
Ms Mayer will hope that the move pacifies activist investor Starboard Value, which has been pushing Yahoo! to take a string of actions that will increase the value of the business.
Starboard, which owns 7.7m Yahoo! shares and is its 18th largest stockholder, wrote to Ms Mayer in September urging her to "unlock the substantial value from Yahoo's non-core minority equity stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan in a structure that delivers value directly to Yahoo! shareholders in a tax-efficient manner".
Yahoo! should also merge with rival AOL instead of pursuing its own acquisitions, Starboard added.
Ms Mayer, who joined from Google in July 2012, has been snapping up companies in a bid to return Yahoo! to its glory days, when it was one of the most powerful internet companies around. However, it has since been overtaken by the likes of Google.
Yahoo! bought BrightRoll for $640m in November to strenghten its presence in the lucrative digital advertising market.
Ms Mayer also bought online blogging service Tumblr for $1.1bn in 2013, even though that New York company hadn't yet proven it could make money.


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Alibaba says 140,000 brands will take part in its 11.11 shopping festival this year
Alibaba has launched its 11.11 Global Shopping Festival for 2017, signing up over 140,000 brands to take part in the annual sales event.
Last year's 11.11 Gala event
The occasion, previously known as Singles Day, is a 24-hour sales event that originated in China, which Alibaba promotes with a live show and online and offline retail activity. This year the theme will sit alongside the e-commerce businesses’ strategic vision for ‘New Retail’ by focusing on future retail innovation at an “unprecedented scale”.
Alibaba is to host 11.11 on 10 November this year and today marks the start of three weeks of digital marketing activity from the ecommerce brand to build anticipation. Central to the marketing activity is a major Gala event, which Alibaba chief marketing officer Chris Tung hopes will become “bigger than Christmas”.
It plans to announce the full details of this year’s festivities on 31 October but has teased elements related to the ‘New Retail’ theme today.
According to Alibaba, it wants to show what is possible for retail by “infusing physical retail elements in social media, interactive content, and entertainment in one platform at an unprecedented scale”.
At the higher end of the scale, over 1000 brands will be turning 100,000 physical retail spaces into ‘smart stores’, showing off some of the ‘New Retail’ experiences that Alibaba believes is key to its future. These include online browsing, shopping guides, virtual fitting rooms, digital payments and delivery.
On a more local level, 600,000 convenience stores in China and 30,000 Rural Taobao Service Centers will take part by using technology on its merchandising and inventory systems, partnering with brands such as Mondelez, Lay’s, Ferrero and P&G to reach more customers.
As a more consumer-facing execution, it’ll bring back its Pokemon Go-style AR gaming strategy from 2016 in the shape of 'Catch the Cat', which will allow Chinese consumers to earn coupons when they find and scan the Tmall mascot via the Mobile Taobao app. According to Alibaba, Tmall mascots will be featured in stores for mainstream brands, such as Starbucks and KFC across China.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma this week outlined its overall ‘Alibaba Economy’ strategy in his annual letter to shareholders, of which ‘New Retail’ is one of five main pillars. The other pillars are 'New Finance', 'New Manufacturing', 'New Technology' and 'New Energy'.


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Many countries’ governments are nearer to prohibiting bitcoins when the Supreme Court disassembled a notification released by the State Bank of some countries blocking cryptocurrencies. After all, bitcoin businesses appear overly optimistic, noting as the specific country is expected to pursue industrialized countries by embracing bitcoin. In 2019, the Inter-Ministerial Committee study proposed a moratorium and supported sanctions and punishments on those dealing in digital currencies.
Though the government of countries appears nearer to blocking bitcoins through a new rule, cryptocurrency businesses agree that ‘thinking legislation’ is required rather than a ban. Although reports of the possible ban might depress bitcoin enthusiasts, companies remain moderately positive about all this. It is in state-leading interest to support a rapid market. Blacklisting isn’t just an answer, and some countries will pursue a short and mid approach here.
Most of the countries are now heading in the right direction until it comes to science. I am hopeful that we will pursue the example of developing countries that have embraced crypto and adopted constructive protections. Everyone is accessible to interact with investors and better highlight the extra advantages that bitcoins can bring. If you are interested in most of the country’s cryptocurrency story, then visit the apppicker.com website.
The World is at the Legislative Crossing Point:
Industrial men claimed the legislative crossing point at that time. Most of the countries are already at the financial transition point – in which way goes to different stakeholders using blockchain technologies with virtual currencies, and the other side participants refuse to use game-changing software. The government said that a ‘thinkable regulated strategy’ will benefit us. We are sure that after attention and discussion with significant companies, Politicians will prefer the prior route.
Why should Policymakers Try to Block Cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies such As bitcoin are either illegal or blocked in a variety of countries across the world. Though developing countries’ stance seems to be vague, the RBI directive barring crypto is why recent cross notice indicates that the state is vulnerable to a prohibition. In 2019, the opinion of the Inter-Ministerial Board proposed a restriction on digital currencies. The study also suggested warnings and punishments for those engaging in crypto activity in the state. The argument used by the Council was that cryptocurrencies are speculative and may contribute to the growth of an alternate economy inside this nation.
- The government has introduced a cryptocurrency law.
- The act could restrict or prohibit bitcoins in India.
- Government plans to set up its own bitcoins.
When the countries decide to recommend restricting digital currencies, it wants to find a way to repay 7 million people holding significant assets of more than $1 billion, CEO from industry-leading national policy frameworks. Industrial men are already hoping that a total ban on cryptos, such as bitcoin, is doubtful and that the state can facilitate commerce. Many governments presented the Blockchain and Control of the Official Bitcoin Exchange Law, 2021, to the Assembly.
The idea that many coins, such as Bitcoin or Dogecoin, also see a significant rise in their price. Bitcoin reached the $50,000 threshold for the first time, facing Elon Musk’s Tesla’s contribution. Everyone had said that WazirX witnessed an increase in contract further to Musk’s income. Shareholders also want to recognize that bitcoins are robust investment techniques and wish to conduct their research before going.
The Suggested Bill to Ban Cryptos in Developing Countries has Indeed Managed to Bring The Others To The Limelight. How Then Do You Think This Policy Could Affect The Industry?
We understand that the Digital currency and Consumer protection of the Approved Major Cryptocurrency Bill 2021 is one of the bills to be viewed in this government. After all, I would like to assign that the components of the statement are not understood. I’m ambitious that our country is not allowed to make a socially destructive transition like a boycott. According to the National assembly report, the bill is based on the Garg Council’s IMC report entitled “Banning of Bitcoin and Consumer protection of Approved Digital Currency” in 2019. has undoubtedly been modified to be known as the “Bitcoin and Government oversight of the Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021.” It’s worth noting that approximately, there’s no description of a ban in the bill’s title. They also introduced that their objective was to control crypto.


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UK business secretary Vince Cable has called for international collaboration to fight piracy and counterfeiting, saying national efforts to protect intellectual property are insufficient.
“Cross-border leakages are now enormous, and there is a recognition of the potential losses as a result of cross-border piracy," he told the first International IP Enforcement Summit in London.
Cable said although piracy now carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years and UK legislation allows enforcement agencies to obtain search warrants and seize counterfeit goods, more needs to be done.
Payment service providers and advertisers should boycott "dodgy websites", and alternatives need to be developed to encourage people to use legal routes, he said.
Cable said there is a direct link between economic performance and IP theft, with every 1% increase in IP crime estimated to cost the UK economy 1% of GDP, which works out at £1.7bn, The Daily Telegraph reports.
In the international community, Cable said China is becoming a key player in developing a global approach to protecting the IP of creative industries.
He said China looks set to overtake the US and India as the world’s biggest producer of films. "It has occurred to the Chinese that if they have this creative industry, they will need to protect its content," he said.
Heinz Zourek, director-general of the European Commission's Taxation and Customs Union, backed Cable's call, saying enforcement needs to be done in a collaborative, co-operative manner.
"IP enforcement policy ought to be focused on the fight against commercial-scale IP infringement activity, which is most harmful for the EU economy," he said.
Read more on piracy
Zourek revealed that the European Commission is developing a single-market IP policy that will take a ‘follow the money’ approach to transnational counterfeiting activities, reports World Trademark Review.
In April, Mike Weatherley MP, IP adviser to prime minister David Cameron, said that the next step in the fight is to block advertising revenue to sites that sell pirated or counterfeit goods.
The issue of IP theft is being taken much more seriously by the UK government and has moved up the agenda, Weatherley told an event at Parliament organised by the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) and Microsoft.
In November, a study commissioned by Europe’s Office for Harmonisation of the Internal Market (OHIM) found that although 96% of Europeans believe IP is important, 34% think buying counterfeit goods can be justified to save money and 42% think illegal downloading is acceptable for personal use.
OHIM president António Campinos said success depends on delivering a clear, co-ordinated international message, drawing on methodologically sound findings about the impact of infringement.
The OHIM plans a study to measure the negative impact of IP theft in terms of lost jobs and losses to the economy.
OHIM believes that showing what infringement means in real terms for individuals will have a more immediate impact and will be communicated to a younger audience more easily.
“I am convinced that citizens think IP is a good thing for innovation, but when it comes to their own actions, they don’t respect it to the same degree,” said Campinos.
“So we are on the brink of losing the young generation and need to present clear narratives.”


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Google Will Eventually Be Dethroned, Says Internet Pioneer
Mar 24, 2012 - in News
The father of the internet sees the end of the road for Google.
First Super Wi-Fi Network in the U.S. Finally Deployed
Jan 26, 2012 - in News
The first commercial TV white spaces network has been launched, leading to a nation-wide public internet access.
SPONSORED BY Intel - Intel Inside, Including the Motherboard?
Jun 13, 2011 - in Reviews
The market is brimming with motherboard options, and businesses of all sizes face the unenviable task of trying to decide which vendor to place at the heart of their productivity desktops.
Sony, Intel, Google to Announce Line of TVs in May
Apr 30, 2010 - in News
Sony, Google and Intel could announce new line of living room entertainment devices next month.


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According to a 2015 report from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, “Pharmacy robbery is a serious and growing problem. … [R]obberies of pharmacies in the United States increased 82 percent from 2006 to 2011.” The report’s authors hasten to add that this phenomenon is not limited to the United States. There are similar trends reported in England, Ireland, and Australia, and that “the common theme across international, national, and regional experiences with pharmacy robbery is that the volume of legally prescribed pain relievers has risen steadily. For example, opiate painkillers, arguably the most addictive of prescribed medicines, are also the most widely abused, and the distribution of these drugs has increased by over 600 percent in recent years.”
Opioid Addiction Creates Persistent Criminals
In their 2012 study, “Understanding Decisions to Burglarize from the Offender’s Perspective,” Blevins, Kuhns, and Lee found that “88 percent of respondents indicated that their top reason for committing burglaries was related to their need to acquire drugs (51 percent [or respondents]) or money (37 percent), although many reported needing the money to support drug problems.” Additionally, 44 percent of these burglars specifically sought out prescription drugs during their crimes. In a 2011 presentation for the Centers for Disease Control National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, epidemiologist Dan Hartley reported that pharmacy robberies tend to focus more on on getting controlled substances than cash, and that 82 percent of these assailants were armed (compared to just 55 percent of robbers who focused on the store front and check-out clerk.
Consider this security camera footage from a March 2016 pharmacy robbery in Salem, New Jersey. You’ll note that the armed robber ignores a full cash tray, instead waiting for bottles of OxyContin and Xanax:
Not only are these criminals highly motivated and focused, we also know that they pose a persistent threat: In 2015 the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department partnered with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Attorney’s Office to crack down on pharmacy robberies. (At that time, Indiana lead the nation in pharmacy robberies, with about 18 percent more pharmacy robberies annually than the second runner-up—California, a state with six times as many residents as Indiana.)
After Indiana embarked on this coordinated crackdown, there was a 43 percent drop in pharmacy robberies throughout central Indiana. But those crimes weren’t eliminated, just displaced: As Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Craig McCart told Fox 59 News last month, “Initially we saw them going out to Avon, Brownsburg, Anderson Muncie, places close to here. And more recently, we’ve seen them going even further to Louisville, to Cincinnati, to Detroit, to St. Louis.”
These criminals aren’t satisfied unless they can get their hands on their pills of choice, and they are well aware that the shortest distance between them and their pills is over the pharmacy counter.
Securing Independently Owned Pharmacies
In their 2015 report on pharmacy robberies, the Department of Justice noted that “some police and security experts recommend putting bullet-proof glass or steel barriers at the dispensary window … [as] this strategy has shown to have some effect in reducing robbery” in similar settings.
Epidemiologist Dan Hartley—the NIOSH Coordinator for Workplace Violence Prevention Research—has often noted that the key to increasing pharmacy security is in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (“CPTED”). These are modifications to the workplace that reduce the opportunities for crime, and include such measures as increased in-store and exterior lighting, appropriate landscaping, and so on. Harley as often mentioned “having unobstructed views of the counters” as very important in pharmacy security.
In his years designing, engineering, fabricating, and installing custom bullet resistant barrier systems, Total Security Solutions CEO Jim Richards has worked with countless pharmacies, and agrees about the importance of good sight lines. But more importantly, an independent pharmacy’s security barrier must clear communication and easy transactions.
“What I’ve seen is how busy pharmacists are. You want to protect them, but you still want them to be able to talk to their customer and do their business. We make a point of understanding how they do business in their specific location. Where they need to be able to communicate, where they need to be protected, what they need to pass to customers. They need deeper cash trays, for example, because they’re mostly passing bottles. That’s something we can do, because we do so many custom trays. Or, in some pharmacies, they need to be able to pass items at different points along their platform, or talk to their customer as they’re moving through their process. So we make smaller little passers, or add voice ports at several places on that platform. The point is, you can’t do a cookie cutter security barrier for a pharmacy. It’s always custom.”
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Cars.com Reviews the 2013 Chevrolet Corvette 427
The 2013 Chevrolet Corvette marks a fitting end to GM's sixth-generation icon, says Cars.com Industry Analyst Kelsey Mays. This is the generation’s last year before an all-new 2014 Corvette is unveiled. The Corvette’s departure is marked by a 427 Convertible Collector Edition that combines the high-performance 505-horsepower Z06 with a convertible body style, an unavailable blend before 2013. Despite disappointments that have plagued the current generation from day one, Mays says the car still holds unmistakable appeal.


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Twenty motor-bikes worth Sh2 million were also given away as hundreds of other lucky winners won instant prizes valued at Sh23 million through fuel vouchers ranging between Sh300 and Sh3,000 in the just ended promotion.
The three were handed over keys to a 33-seater Isuzu minibus, Nissan double cabin and a Mitsubishi saloon car in a prize giving ceremony that was graced by the winners and their families, service station retailers and Vivo Energy members of staff.
In the promotion, the company was rewarding loyal customers as well as encouraging motorists to try their products.
To win the prizes on offer, customers were to fill-up with any Shell differentiated fuels including Shell V-Power, Shell Unleaded extra and Shell Diesel extra.
The promotion targeted private vehicles and motorbikes owners as well as company fleet operators.
“We at Vivo Energy Kenya are always responding to the needs of our retailers and customers. It is in this light that we have drastically increased the number of our retail stations, and rolled-out exciting customer reward campaigns,” said Polycarp Igathe, Managing Director Vivo Energy Kenya.
“Our focus on continuous improvement and developing customer focused promotions is something that we want our clients to see coming through in their daily activities, and that is why this promotion will change the lives of Kenyans who have won, their family and perhaps relatives.”
Shinda Ndai Na Shell campaign comes at the back of a very successful V-Power campaign that ran last year and rewarded over 15,000 Shell V-Power loyal customers.
Last year, the company opened eight more service stations including reviving and upgrading dormant ones.


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SARASOTA – For Cheryl Noble, who lost her mother to breast cancer 32 years ago, the 10th Annual Key to the Cure Kick-off on Oct.15 will have two special meanings.
The Kick-off will be the first event where Noble offers her new line of gourmet sweets, Mia Bella Fine Italian Almond Cookies. The Oct. 15 shopping showcase is also how Noble will pay tribute to her mother, Ruth, who died in 1983 after a three-year battle with breast cancer.
“The Key to the Cure is very close to my heart,” Noble said. “I have always been deeply moved by this event, and having the chance to participate with my new Mia Bella cookies makes Key to the Cure even more meaningful for me and my family.”
Noble is set for an October 5 launch of her handmade Mia Bella gourmet cookies, unique because they are based on generations-old, authentic Italian recipes and use only five high-quality, all-natural ingredients.
The delicate pink tone that distinguishes Mia Bella’s luxurious packaging is also a touchingly apt fit for Key to the Cure, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The annual shopping extravaganza is sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue and many other leading businesses and organizations, and has raised more than $1 million since 2005 to fund breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers in the Sarasota/Manatee region.
Mia Bella Fine Italian Almond Cookies will be among many companies participating in the October 15 Key to the Cure Kick-off, an evening of food, beverage, entertainment, shopping and a special “key event” that organizers are keeping under wraps until the big night.
The fun is 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Saks Fifth Avenue at The Mall at University Town Center. Admission is $125 and reservations can be made at www.smhf.org.


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Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. reported a net loss of $166.3m in the Q4 of 2015, the first major petrochemicals firm in the kingdom to report its earnings, according to the Business Recorder. Reuters said this was the largest loss Kayan had suffered since it was first listed in 2007, with its share prices falling 6.4% after it had released the bad news in a stock exchange statement.
Kayan chalked this loss down to a drop in the average selling prices of most petrochemicals products, in addition to a problem with its spare parts inventory. Maintenance work at some of its plants had been rescheduled, causing production delays. The company further explained that the drop in its oil feedstock costs and an increase in overall sales volume, along with a drop in marketing fees from its parent company SABIC, were not enough to counteract the losses. The company did not provide sales figures, however.
Kayan was one of a few Saudi companies that had been granted a grace period stretching to the Q2 of 2017 for receiving feedstock at subsidized prices, according to an earlier report by Reuters. This was following the government announcement that energy subsidies would be phased out to reduce the budget deficit. In the meantime, the company will only face gradually rising production costs. Kayan’s feedstock also includes ethane, butane and methane.


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Clients’ emotions have a huge effect on customer experience and satisfaction, trust and even brand loyalty. It’s time to embrace them.
“They say money talks, but all mine ever says is ‘goodbye’,” goes the witty internet adage and it hits home for many banking customers. A new survey by CompareCards, a popular credit card comparison website that helps people make better financial choices, found that 7 in 10 Americans have actually cried over their money problems before. “Even in generally good economic times, there’s an awful lot of people who have debt,” Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst at CompareCards points out. “Anyone who’s ever had debt knows that when you feel like you can’t get rid of it, it can be an overwhelming feeling,” he adds.
And American consumers have exactly 13.3 trillion reasons to feel stressed out. That’s the level overall consumer debt reached in the fourth quarter of 2018 according to consumer credit reporting company Experian. And what makes them happy and optimistic? Money, for a change (pun intended). In a 2018 research by Milwaukee-based financial service provider Northwestern Mutual, financial security emerged as the first and foremost component to a positive outlook on life. In fact, 87% of respondents downright said that nothing made them happier or more confident than feeling that their finances are in order.
“The formula is simple. Financial security creates options, and options empower people to curate the life they want – both in the present and the future,” says Rebekah Barsch, vice president of planning at Northwestern Mutual. This single comment alone shows how the connection between psychology and banking is becoming a growing issue these days. Enter emotional banking, the concept of “moving away from thinking feature sets to thinking of customers’ feelings,” according to digital banking specialist Duena Blomstrom.
Needs and habits
For starters, let’s have a look at customer needs in more detail. Several levels in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are connected to money. Still, people don’t actually need loans. Or current accounts. What customers do have are physiological, safety and self-actualisation needs, which these products satisfy. “It is time to become more empathetic and dig deep into our customer’s hierarchy of needs and build an emotional experience,” Blomstrom points out. But bankers need to do a much better job stepping into the shoes of their customers.
They “imperatively need to analyse how they feel themselves, and translate those feelings to a desire for digging into others’ relationship with their money as well.” Understanding the customer’s emotional experience should come before product development and setting up customer service units. And digital tools can be of great help when it comes to understanding and dealing with their clients’ emotions, bringing intuitive digital experiences that deliver the financial well-being and guidance customers are looking for.
Size doesn’t matter
We’re not only talking about milestone-type financial decisions here. “Financial well-being is not exclusive to those ‘financial moments’ when consumers make purposeful decisions on their finances,” EY Global Banking and Capital Markets Deputy Sector Leader Jan Bellens says. “It is driven largely by everyday behavior and decisions — some big and binary (such as deciding to get a college degree), some small and gradual (such as going to the gym).” But, when added up, these ‘mini milestones’ can make or break a customer’s financial health.
Using advanced data analytics, banks can explore each and every customer’s financial persona and help them live a healthier financial life through expert advice and care. The beauty of this is that banks “typically have all the information they need to develop tailored recommendations”, MasterCard’s Senior Vice President, Grayson Clarke points out. Spanish banking giant BBVA, for instance, has created dedicated apps to help customers analyse their own financial situation and benchmark themselves against other anonymous customers of similar financial standing.
AI: a digital contradiction?
Financial institutions can improve customers’ emotional connection with money by offering digitally-inspired experiences that blend the human touch with smart automation and artificial intelligence. By combining sentiment analysis with big data, for example, banks can identify trends in clients’ social networks and among their influencers. AI offers powerful predictive insights that drive top- and bottom-line performance.
Contradictory as it may sound, advisory tools can combine machine intelligence with human emotion. Morgan Stanley, for example, has equipped its advisors with algorithmic assistants that send multiple-choice recommendations based on variables, such as market changes or customer life events. They hope that their “next best action” project will provide better solutions for wealthy families than “mere software allocating assets for the masses”.
This post was originally published on 29 November 2017 and has been updated to include recent developments.


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There is no doubt that China is becoming one of the quickest growing luxury car markets in world. Taking advantage of that, Mercedes-Benz announced today that it is opening its world’s first AMG-only dealership in Beijing.
“The AMG Performance Center in the Sanlitun Village North luxury shopping mall is situated at an exclusive top location in the centre of the Chinese capital and reflects AMG’s pioneering role in design and technology in a modern setting,” Mercedes-Benz AMG said in a statement.
“With this new AMG Performance Center in Beijing we hope to be able to attract and care for current and potential AMG customers. Here in Sanlitun Village North we enjoy a premium location, one where customers and all those interested can experience our brand claim ‘Driving Performance’ intensely. The new store will act as an example for future ‘stand-alone’ Performance Centers which are planned for other metropolis”, says Ola Källenius, chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.
Since 2008, 195 AMG Performance Centers have opened doors in 18 countries, however all of them reside inside a Mercedes-Benz dealership.
– By: Omar Rana


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The freight forwarding landscape is transforming, driven by cutting-edge innovations that promise to redefine efficiency, sustainability, and overall supply chain performance. With the integration of technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and blockchain, forwarding companies are embracing a new era of digitalization and automation. Join us as we take a deep dive into the top trends that will revolutionize logistics in the freight forwarding industry in 2024.
IoT and AI Technology for Forwarders
In this digital age, the integration of IoT into logistics and supply chain operations is providing unprecedented visibility and efficiency. Trailblazers are leveraging IoT to manage fleets effectively, offering solutions for fuel management, route optimization, and real-time performance monitoring. Meanwhile, startups are combining Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) and Software as a Service (SaaS) to offer Logistics Operation as a Service (OaaS), facilitating swift digitization and improved efficiency. Such technology can be found in the 7ConNetwork quotation and booking platform. Continued innovations in 2024 will make AI accessible to forwarders within the 7ConNetwork platform.
AI and machine learning algorithms are accelerating logistics by enabling proactive decision-making. Companies are at the forefront of this revolution, providing AI-based software solutions for demand forecasting and price prediction. On the other side of the globe, startups are developing AI-based optimization software that enhances logistics processes, reduces costs, and automates decision-making for fleets over time.
Robotics, Drones and Warehouse Automation
Enter the era of robotics, where integration into logistics processes is redefining speed, accuracy, and overall productivity. Startups specialize in collaborative robots (cobots) that work alongside human workers, picking, placing, and packing goods. Meanwhile, startups are focused on Robotic Process Automation (RPA), automating low-level repetitive tasks and reducing human error.
Addressing challenges like traffic congestion and customer preferences in last-mile delivery, innovations in last-mile delivery are reshaping the logistics landscape. Startups are taking to the skies with drone delivery services for restaurant chains, bypassing traffic congestion and reducing delivery time. Others provide last-mile delivery software for efficient order management, driver dispatch, and real-time tracking.
The heart of logistics operations lies in warehouses, and automated technologies like AGVs and robotic picking systems are optimizing the way they operate. Startups offer AGVs like Dynamo, facilitating the automated transport of goods within warehouses. Others are taking it a step further with systems employing automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) to optimize eCommerce warehouses.
Blockchain, Big Data & Analytics, and Cloud Computing
The decentralized ledger system of blockchain is revolutionizing logistics, enhancing security, transparency, and efficiency. Startups simplify payment processes using blockchain's smart contracts, while others build a connected and secure supply chain ecosystem, leveraging blockchain technology to enhance transparency and reduce waste.
Unlocking the power of data, big data and analytics solutions are transforming warehouse operations and logistics processes. Companies lead the charge with AI solutions that reduce fuel consumption and increase efficiency in maritime transport. Others provide prescriptive analytics for inventory planning..
But cloud-based SaaS solutions are what is redefining logistics, offering scalable and cost-effective platforms for freight forwarding. Startups advance cloud logistics, providing warehousing as a service integrated with blockchain technology. Others, like 7ConNetwork, focus on developing a cloud-based transportation management system to meet end-to-end freight forwarding needs.
Keep an Eye Out for Autonomous Vehicles
Safety and efficiency take center stage with the emergence of autonomous vehicles in logistics operations. Startups offer an autonomous utility vehicle fleet, facilitating intelligent and predictable goods transport. Across the globe, startups develop self-driving vehicle software for efficient and safe shipment transport.
Be Flexible in 2024
Flexibility is the name of the game, enabling businesses to adapt operations to fluctuating demand and avoid overcapacity, ultimately reducing costs. Networks like 7ConNetwork offer on-demand freight transport services, connecting freight owners with transporters through a logistics service network. Learn more about gaining flexibility with 7ConNetwork here.
The freight forwarding industry is standing on the cusp of a remarkable transformation, and 2024 will be the year that marks its chapter of revolution. The integration of digitalization and automation, driven by these top trends, will pave the way for a more efficient, sustainable, and technologically advanced future. As freight forwarding companies embrace these groundbreaking innovations, they position themselves to stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving landscape. Join us in embracing the logistics revolution and witness the remarkable advancements that will redefine the industry in 2024 and beyond.


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SLOVAKIA’S business environment index recorded a drop of 2.58 percent quarter-on-quarter to 62.2 points in third quarter of the year, the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS) informed on December 3, citing results of its own survey.
“The marked drop can be put down to the dissatisfaction of entrepreneurs with the state’s tax policies, inconsistent enforcement of the principle of equality before the law and unstable legislation,” said business environment index project manager Martin Hassler, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The most notable drop among the factors that have an impact on the overall figure was legislation associated with taxes, fees and investments.
“Except for keeping VAT on the level of 20 percent, the unfavourable evaluation in 3Q 2014 can be ascribed to the gradually unveiled changes in the income tax legislation,” Hassel said, as quoted by TASR. “Also of negative impact were increased expenditures of entrepreneurs due to legislation on the protection and endorsement of public health.”
Moreover, entrepreneurs gave poor evaluations to the bracket of comprehensibility, usage and stability of legislation.
“Constant alterations of laws associated with business cause problems to entrepreneurs, as they interfere with long-term plan making, require that businesses allocate their capacities to monitor the legislative developments, and last but not least, they increase the spending associated with adjustments with respect to new requirements emerging from the amended laws,” Hassler added.
The PAS survey also indicated that businesses view in a very negative light what they call an unequal approach on the part of the government to individual entrepreneurs. According to the respondents, the government is in favour of a strategy entailing the provision of assistance to large investments, while small- and mid-sized businesses are ignored.
Conversely, among the things that the respondents found to be the most positive was a perceived improvement in the approach towards financial resources, which has been caused by increasing willingness of banks to provide loans to entrepreneurs at lower interest rates.
Other positively evaluated factors were the stability and predictability of exchange rates and the regulation of cross-border trade, as reported by TASR.
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
4. Dec 2014 at 10:00


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The coronavirus is impacting the health of tens of thousands of people in China.
Chinese manufacturers are hurting as well, and it's creating a ripple effect around the globe, including here in North Dakota.
Duffy's Hockey & Sports has been a staple in Minot for nearly 15 years. Athletes in the community depend on it for equipment like hockey sticks, helmets and ice skates.
“We do a lot with Minot Public Schools and a lot with the outline area rinks whether it is Rugby, Watford City or Crosby,” said owner Duffy Doubek.
Doubek said he depends on China for many of his orders, and with the coronavirus impacting manufacturers, his business may suffer the consequences.
“Most of the hard goods, your sticks, your skates, your protective gear, and stuff like that, that comes out of China,” said Doubek.
Data from Dun & Bradstreet found that areas in China with 100 or more confirmed cases of the virus are also home to more than 90 percent of all active businesses in China. Those businesses export goods all over the world.
"So much of it winding down right now, but that would be my biggest concern is if we were doing custom uniforms for somebody right now. It may be a problem getting them in a timely fashion," said Doubek.
Doubek says most of his orders have already been processed for the season, but retailers in the electronic and auto industries say the coronavirus, combined with recent tariffs places on Chinese goods, have made it more difficult to import products from the country.
“It's actually coming across issues with all of it doesn't matter if its auto parts, semi tires, car tires, rims for pickups, and cars , and semis, you're seeing it across the board,” said James Lockhart, Harry's Tire salesmen, at Harry’s Tire.
Lockhart says he now gets his parts from the U.S. which cost more for his customers.
“We are so used to as consumers wanting to go for a cheaper line. Most of our stuff nowadays come from overseas, but now the overseas stuff with the tariffs and everything else, the shipping is lagging behind so much that we are buying U.S. stuff but paying more for it,” Doubek said.
As of today the World Health Organization reports more than 79,000 cases found around the globe.


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The Indian government is already begun cracking down on China after the recent border clash that left soldiers on both sides dead.
Amazon and Flipkart have agreed to ask merchants to start prominently displaying “country of origin” for all goods sold online in India, Bloomberg reports. The commerce ministry’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade had summoned the online retailers to a videoconference meeting on Wednesday, giving them just a day’s notice. The move will be seen a way for Indians to avoid purchasing Chinese goods following the skirmish in Ladakh, which was precipitated after China tried to illegally occupy Indian land in the area. Also present at the meeting were executives from Reliance Retail, Jio Platforms and Tata Cliq along with ecommerce companies such as Snapdeal, Udaan, Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket and Grofers.
The government is basing its move on the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011. The clause will likely be included in the e-commerce policy that the commerce and industry ministry is drafting, sources told ET. “No company is being arm-twisted and the scheme is part of the country’s Atmanirbhar policy,” they added.
It’s still unclear though when the labeling will actually come into force. Online retailers reportedly asked for a window of 4-5 months to comply with the requirement, a government official said. “In an offline setting, a consumer can pick up a product, see where it was made and take an informed decision. Similar details should be displayed on ecommerce websites,” a senior government official said. Companies have been asked to provide feedback within a fortnight about the modalities after discussing it with sellers on their platforms.
The government has already acted in this regard — it has directed sellers on GeM, its own e-marketplace where it procures all manner of goods, to display the country of origin on products. According to the officials, who requested anonymity, the new feature was added to the online marketplace so buyers can make informed decisions and avoid Chinese products.
Apart from the government, several people are being vocal about boycotting Chinese products. Engineer and social worker Sonam Wangchuk has released a series of videos in which he’s urged Indians to boycott Chinese goods. Several trade associations around the country have also declared their commitment to no longer use Chinese products. On social media as well, there are several posts that have been asking Indians to give up Chinese goods following the country’s misadventures in Ladakh. And with the government now officially letting people know the country of origin of goods so that they can make an informed choice, the boycott China movement appears to be gaining even more steam.


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The last time the CETA agreement was in the news Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, threatened to scuttle the entire deal. This time the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is in the news for much more promising reasons.
The EU Parliament voted to pass the CETA agreement by 408 to 254 votes, with 33 members abstaining. After nearly eight years of negotiations, and about 1,600 pages, the deal is finally being put into place…or at least most of it is.
The European Parliament vote means that tariff reduction will be implemented, but the controversial investor court system (whereby businesses could take any member country they believed was in violation of the deal to binding arbitration) will be reviewed, and have to pass through the labyrinth that is the complicated EU legislative system. The investor court system, and other contested aspects of the deal will have to be ratified by each EU member country, as well as the EU Parliament. The deal still also needs to be ratified by the Canadian Senate, but there is no anticipated issue with this final (Canadian) step.
What is the CETA agreement?
The CETA agreement is a Canada EU free trade agreement. The deal will see Canada and Europe remove tariffs and other barriers on eachothers products (and some services). Once fully implemented the deal is expected to remove 99% of all non-farm duties between Canada and the EU.
The EU, when including all member countries, is the largest economy on earth (according to the UN), while Canada is the world’s 10th largest economy (not bad for only 35 million people, eh?). The two economies already have a bustling trade relationship of about €63.5 billion. The deal is expected to save EU exporters about €500 million in tariffs every single year.
According to the European Commission’s (one of three pillars of the EU) website, “Canada is a large market for Europe’s exports and a country rich in natural resources that Europe needs.”
What are the arguments in favour of CETA?
Supporters of free trade agreements in general usually argue that reducing tariffs and other barriers to trade allow economies to grow more specialised, competitive, and prosperous. NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) between Canada, the US, and Mexico helped boost US investment in Canada from $70 billion in 1993 to $368 billion in 2013.
Many supporters argue that the deal comes at the perfect time, as Canada’s largest trading partner, the US, is in turmoil under the Trump administration which has threatened to “renegotiate” NAFTA. Moving closer to the EU would be a prudent move to reduce reliance on the US.
As the European Commission Vice-President for jobs growth, investment and competitiveness tweeted, the CETA agreement is “Good for jobs and businesses in Europe and Canada!”
What are the arguments against CETA?
Most opposition to CETA comes from anti-globalisation campaigners. Wallonia, the Belgian region which blocked the deal earlier this year and is “staunchly socialist” did so for protectionist reasons, believing that certain industries would be out-competed by Canadian firms. They also stood in opposition to the aforementioned complex investor court system which they believe will effectively mean multinational corporations dictate policy.
Many groups also raise environmental concerns, and concerns about the quality of Canadian products. The EU has some of the highest quality-assurance standards in the world, and some EU members are concerned that Canadian goods don’t meet those standards. Lowering labour standards in Europe is another common concern.
Far right French candidate Marine Le Pen has been vocal in her opposition to the deal. Donald Trump has also spoke out against NATO, and ended the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership, throwing all global trade deals into question.
What the CETA agreement means for businesses
Most businesses should be thrilled by the CETA agreement. It opens up a market of about 500 million people to Canadian businesses. That means goods and some services can be sold, with no tariffs, to a market more than 10 times the size of Canada.
Companies that capitalize quickly on the deal should find themselves in a much stronger position than they were prior to the deal. Detractors argue that Canadian businesses may face stiffer competition, and some could even go out of business. Dairy farmers are some of the most concerned, but for such threatened industries the Canadian government is offering financial assistance to help them adjust and compete.
EU firms will also be allowed to bid on deals for public contracts in Canada. This means that the government will likely pay less, but also that fewer Canadian companies may win contracts.
CETA will also make it somewhat easier to move employees between Canada and Europe temporarily for work purposes, but it should be clear it will not increase immigration.
The CETA agreement will also make investment between Canada and Europe easier, which could be a major boost for Canadian companies. The deal will, according to the European Commission’s website, “remove barriers for EU firms wanting to invest in Canada”.
What the CETA agreement means for consumers
Consumers should be thrilled by the deal. It will mean more products, more brands, and more businesses to choose from. European cheese imports will almost double over the next five years. Luxury vehicles like Audis and BMWs will no longer be subject to a 6.1% tariff.
One downside is that pharmaceutical companies will be able to extend their patent by about 2 years if they experience delays in the approval process. This provision is designed to eliminate the cost of delays to big drug manufacturers, but could mean that it takes longer for generic drugs to become available. The consequence of this is that in eight years Canadians may notice a rise in some drug prices.
Wine and spirits will also be allowed to enter Canada from Europe without paying tariff, bringing prices down and increasing your selection at the LCBO!
European businesses competing with Canadian businesses should mean, in theory, that prices drop as more companies compete for your dollar.
What CETA means for currency exchange
As we have explored in previous FX101s the currency exchange market is vast, complex, and is affected by many different factors. Balance of trade is one of those factors. The more a country exports, the more of their currency that other countries need in order to buy their goods. This raises the value of the currency, which then over time may make goods less competitive, and rebalance trade. So in theory, as trade is boosted with the EU, the value of the loonie could rise. In practice this would be a very slow process with minimal impact compared to other factors.
A stronger Canadian economy, which proponents argue will be the result of the CETA agreement, would encourage the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates. Higher interest rates mean a stronger currency, but again, this could take a while and may be offset by other issues.
Right now Canada’s currency is heavily tied to oil prices. Oil drives much of Alberta’s economy, and is one of the country’s biggest exports. While oil will likely still be around for decades even as green energy slowly becomes more prevalent, we are still affected by spikes and drops in value, as evidenced by the loonies precipitous fall in 2014. Opening trade with Europe could allow the Canadian economy greater diversity, protecting it from swings in commodity prices.
More trade with Europe would also mean more demand for euros, and with more demand would hopefully come more competition. Currently every bank and currency exchange in the country offers much higher markups on buying and selling EUR than say, USD. As EUR trades become more frequent the markups should become smaller and more competitive.
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The ECOWAS Commission, through the Trade Directorate and the ECOWAS Gender Development Center (EGDC), has organized a retreat in Tema, Ghana from 15th to 17th August 2023, to finalize preparations for the sensitization and awareness raising campaign for small-scale cross-border women traders and to engage relevant stakeholders at the national level in the planning and execution of the activity. The retreat included a field visit by the participants to the major market in Tema Community 1 and the Transport station to familiarize with the area and to facilitate the initial activities of the sensitization campaign to be held at Tema, Ghana.
The retreat was attended by experts from ECOWAS Institutions and representatives from the Ministries of Trade and Industry, and Gender, Children and Social Protection of the Republic of Ghana; representatives from the Ghana Union of Trade Associations; and other Micro Small and Medium Enterprise owners.
In her opening remarks read on behalf of the Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, Prof Fatou SOW SARR; and the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Dr. Massandjie TOURE-LITSE, the Director of the ECOWAS Gender Development Center (EGDC), Mrs. Sandra OULATE FATTOH, expressed appreciation to the Government and people of Ghana for accepting to host the meeting. She also thanked the Ministries of Trade and Gender, Children, and Social Protection of Ghana for facilitating the holding of this retreat.
She noted that the sensitization campaign touches on the fundamentals of the ECOWAS Regional integration process, which hinges on the promotion of regional trade and characterized by the free movement of Persons, Goods, and Capital.
Mrs. OULATE FATTOH indicated that studies have shown that women constitute about 80 percent of small-scale cross-border traders, thus making them key stakeholders in the realization of the integration agenda. She highlighted some of the key challenges facing women engaged in cross-border trade, including complex customs clearance procedures, sexual harassment and undue delays at the border posts, extortion, ignorance of cross-border trade instruments and regulations, lack of sanitary facilities at the border posts, corruption, and different types of verbal and physical abuses. She outlined the major measures put in place to address these challenges, principal among them being the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS).
She concluded her remarks by expressing optimism that through the collaborative efforts of the Directorates of Trade, Customs, Free Movement, and the Gender Development Center in the implementation of the sensitization campaign, within the framework of the Trade Facilitation West Africa Program (TFWA), women SSCBT operators would be adequately sensitized on cross border trade and gender instruments for an accelerated integration process and in furtherance of the ECOWAS vision 2050. On that note, she declared the retreat open.
On behalf of the Acting Director of Trade at the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Kolawole SOFOLA, the Program Officer in charge of Trade and Development, Mr. Christopher Mensah-Yawson, recalled the objectives of the meeting and thanked the Government and People of Ghana for accepting to host the meeting. He also thanked the participants for accepting to participate in the meeting and urged them to bring their expertise and experiences to bear on the deliberations to ensure a successful and effective sensitization campaign which may be considered as a pilot for possible future exercises along other corridors in the region.
In her welcome remarks on behalf of the Government of Ghana, Madam Faustina ACHEAMPONG, Director of the Department of Gender at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, welcomed the participants from the private sector and the ECOWAS Institutions to the retreat and thanked the ECOWAS Commission for considering Ghana for the retreat and the sensitization campaign. She noted that once women are equipped in knowledge on business operations it helps them to function effectively. She also pointed out that a self- employed woman is capable of contributing not only to family finances but the Nation’s GDP as a whole. She concluded by observing that the initiative will go a long way to equip women cross-border traders with the knowledge on trade regulations in order to make their trade transactions much easier.
The Meeting revised and validated the itinerary and road map for the sensitization campaign, which is scheduled to commence on 2nd October and end on 15th October 2023; and identified relevant committees to be established to facilitate the planning and implementation of the campaign. The retreat also reviewed, amended and agreed on the budget for the campaign.
The campaign will consist principally of the official launch, town hall meetings and a range of activities along the Tema-Ouagadougou corridor highway.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).


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More mobile users shopping via phone
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PayPal has announced a whopping increase in mobile payments this festive season. In the month to December 15 the online payment processing company registered a 300% rise, compared to the same period last year.
This isn't the first record-breaking increase for PayPal's mobile payments this holiday season. Last month, the company announced a 310% increase in mobile shopping on Black Friday.
The company, which handles approximately 16.5% of all online transactions in the U.S., also saw a 27% rise in mobile payments on Black Friday alone, as shoppers become more comfortable with making purchases from their devices.
This rate of adoption is changing the face of shopping - both on- and offline.
According to PayPal's President of Platform, Mobile and New Ventures, Osama Bedier, within the next five years it will be commonplace for consumers to pay for purchases via their mobile phone.
By that time, stores on the High Street will have begun to incorporate technology to allow payments to be taken for offline purchases via mobile payments.
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Matt Smith of Walker plans to open the Louise Earl Butcher shop at 1106 Wealthy Street Se in Grand Rapids in late 2015.
(Garret Ellison | MLive)
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A vacant storefront on Wealthy Street may get new life this year as a neighborhood butcher shop.
Matt Smith of Walker is hoping to open the Louise Earl Butcher shop at 1106 Wealthy St. SE, a few doors down from the Wealthy Theatre later this year once he closes on the building purchase.
“We want to do a lot of old-style terrines, pâtés — a lot of things you don’t normally see at a butcher shop or meat counter,” said Smith, who presented his vision for the empty storefront to the East Hills Council of Neighbors on Monday, Jan. 5.
“We’ll cut everything by hand.”
The building is current owned by Handicap Signs Inc. and is used for storage. It was built in 1936 and has remained boarded-up and reminiscent of Wealthy Street's rougher days for many years.
Smith said he’s looked at numerous buildings in the city and is eager to take advantage of the increasing foot traffic along the corridor.
Plans call for a new façade and roof on the 4,500-square-foot building, which is located in the Wealthy Theatre Historic District.
Smith has been planning the new business for a couple of years. He currently works at DeVries Meats, a processor in Coopersville. His background is in the restaurant and finance industries. He’s spent time working at butcheries in Chicago and Nashville over the last few years, conducting research on the retail meat industry.
“I needed to know everything top to bottom,” he said.
Louise Earl (a family name) will practice the traditional European-style “seam butchery,” he said.
“We want to get back to the old-style techniques,” he said. “We’re going to use whole, naturally-raised animals from local farmers.”
In addition to the meat counter, the shop will sell a small selection of fresh produce and pantry grocery items, as well as some retail accessories.
Smith said Louise Earl will sell sandwiches and soups from the kitchen.
Smith hopes to open the shop in late summer or early fall. He and wife Cynthia Esch are financing the new business with a combination of personal cash, a bank loan and a Small Business Administration loan. The project is also seeking support from the state’s Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act program.
Louise Earl is expected to be open Tuesday through Saturdays.
“This isn’t going to be a shop you come into and find pre-packaged meat like at the grocery store,” he said. “It’s going to be a shop that, if you want to talk about the recipe you’re making for Sunday dinner, we’ll have the knowledge and staff to walk you through the cuts and help out with suggestions.”


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India's stockpiles of dairy products have recovered in the past two months, though some products could qualify for duty free imports during peak demand season, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
Milk prices in the world's biggest producer have risen at their fastest price in a decade to a record high as lumpy skin disease and the Covid-19 pandemic slowed dairy breeding.
"There is adequate inventory of skimmed milk powder (SMP)," said Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary at the department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying.
SMP stocks reached 109,000 tonnes in February, up by nearly 27,000 tonnes from December, ministry data shows.
"But in the case of dairy products, especially fats, butter and ghee, etc, the stocks are lower than the previous year," Singh said.
Butter and ghee stocks have fell to 36,000 tonnes in February, down from 75,000 tonnes a year earlier.
"Imports will be allowed only if needed. Imports do not help farmers, they help consumers," he said.
Dairy remains a key source of calcium, vitamins and protein for a largely vegetarian population.
There has been stagnation in milk production this year while demand has risen by 8-10%, Singh said, adding that milk production in some states has been increasing in the past few weeks as temperatures have dropped during recent rains.