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Five years after the Iowa Legislature approved the sale of medical cannabis products in Iowa, the number of registered cardholders, visits to dispensaries and sales have climbed — but at a much slower rate than in other surrounding Midwest states.
Monthly sales have yet to reach $1 million. Just 0.3% of Iowans are registered cannabis cardholders. But new cards issued spiked to record highs in both March and April, at 1,213 and 1,221, respectively, according to Iowa’s Office of Medical Cannabidiol. Dispensary visits in April reached 6,371, the highest ever. And MedPharm, Iowa’s only manufacturer of cannabis products and owner of dispensaries in Windsor Heights and Sioux City, is preparing for what it sees as growth ahead.
“We still have a massive amount of people who don’t know the program, or who remember what the old program used to be and decided it’s not good enough,” said Lucas Nelson, president of MedPharm, which will be rebranded as Bud & Mary’s.
With providers making cards easier to obtain, lower prices, more product availability and a cap lifted on the amount of THC in products sold in the state, MedPharm anticipates that will change. Last week, the Iowa-based company announced that it was expanding its existing production facility on Des Moines’ east side, adding up to 20 employees and rebranding.
To read the complete article, go to eu.desmoinesregister.com


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UK user figures for the online travel market By Rhian Harris New findings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) — UK reveal an increase of adults using the internet to research and book travel arrangements, with the 25-35 age group peaking as the highest users.
What’s the true return on investment from social media marketing? By Rhian Harris A new report from US-based customer acquisition and retention platform, Custora reveals that customers gained via social media are worth 23% less than other channels.
UK internet marketing statistics for 2013 By Rhian Harris When you work in or with digital marketing, statistics and data are just part of the day job.
Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day WILL be promoted By Rhian Harris So we’ve all been there, questioning whether Valentine’s Day is the true meaning of love, or just over-commercialised rubbish. Whatever you think, digital marketing loves the opportunity to promote the day in the pursuit of sales.
Not letting that transaction get away By Rhian Harris Aside from ‘big data’, showrooming is one of the latest terms coined for something we have been doing offline for years.

domain: news


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Many people are still recovering from the massive hack that took place on the PlayStation Network back in April. In fact, some regions such as Japan only recently came back online, thanks to the government intervening so it could ensure the network was up to snuff when it came to security. Sony announced a partnership with Debix to offer everyone with a valid PSN account prior to the attack which grants access to identity theft protection including a $1 million insurance policy. The initial signup window has passed, but Sony has decided to extend the length of time that you can sign up for the service.
As announced on the PS.Blog, US customers can request an account with Debix, free for a year, until the end of this month. The original signup period ended on June 28th as indicated on emails that had previously been sent out. The program is called “AllClear ID Plus,” and includes “cyber monitoring and surveillance,” “priority access to licensed private investigators and identity restoration specialists,” and the aforementioned “$1 million identity theft insurance policy per user.” So if the Welcome Back program or Uncharted 3 beta distracted you and you forgot to sign up, now is your chance! Is this a worthwhile program to sign up for in your opinion?


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Leading health and fitness mobile app “ayubo.life” launches its revolutionary “5Kg in 5 Weeks” weight loss programme led by social media personality Danu Innasithamby.
Available at a reasonable price of just Rs. 2,900, ayubo.life will guide users through losing 5 kg within a span of five weeks. This programme will incorporate healthy food and fitness choices customised to the needs of each user by an experienced team of dieticians and fitness instructors at ayubo.life.
“As Sri Lanka’s first health, fitness, and lifestyle app, we believe it is vital to keep users engaged and excited about their health whenever they connect with ayubo.life. In order to succeed, we knew we had to take a holistic approach to fitness and wellness, and the 5Kg in 5 Weeks weight loss programme is the latest in a series of challenges that aims to do just that. We want to provide individuals striving to lose weight with as many options as possible to achieve their goals in a faster and healthier manner,” Digital Healthcare Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd. Director/COO Dr.Chamila Ariyananda said.
The 5Kg in 5Weeks programme includes a daily meal plan for five weeks with three options for each main meal, a simple fitness plan for the duration of the challenge together with video instructions, weekly shopping lists, and 5 free video calls with assigned dieticians and fitness instructors who will aid users through the weeks. The diet programme will also come with additional tips to stay healthy, including special recipes and cookery demos.
ayubo.life is a lifestyle, health, and fitness app available on both iOS and Android, providing a comprehensive platform for all who need to stay healthy. It connects multiple healthcare services, stores family medical records, facilitates on-demand consultations with doctors via video, and keeps a record of workouts while partnering with experts in the wellness industry to provide online wellness solutions. ayubo.life is owned and operated by Digital Healthcare Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd., a company funded and supported by Hemas Holdings PLC.


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China has extended its review of Marriott International Inc’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc by up to 60 days, the companies said on Monday.
China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) review is the only remaining merger clearance for the deal, which is expected to create the largest hotel group in the world with a combined enterprise value of $36 billion and 1.1 million hotel rooms.
Hilton Worldwide Holdings, which would be No.2 behind the combined group, has 775,000 rooms.
Marriott and Starwood did not say why MOFCOM needed more time and said their planned merger did not create any anti-competitive issues in China.
MOFCOM has only ever blocked two deals of the 1,473 deals it has reviewed since its anti-monopoly law came into force in 2008 but it has asked for remedies in 26 cases, including InBev, according to law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
Marriott’s deal to buy Starwood, the operator of Sheraton and Westin hotels, has been cleared by antitrust authorities in more than 40 countries including the United States, the European Union and Canada.
The shareholders of both companies approved the deal in April.
A Chinese company, Anbang Insurance Group Co, had made a bid for Starwood, but abandoned its pursuit of the hotel operator in April after a bidding war that resulted in Marriott increasing its cash-and-stock bid for Starwood by $1 billion. The deal is currently valued at about $13.4 billion.
Anbang had offered $14 billion in cash but an acquisition by the Chinese firm would probably have faced scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency panel that reviews deals to ensure they do not harm national security.


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ESPN’s Mark Gross goes live What were CES’s coolest new ideas? Sports Media: NFL Net effect Who rules viewership? Sports Mom, fan launches coaching video startup 5 Questions with Laura Froelich How Chris Berman won over sports fans Sports Media: Twitter’s game plan NBC, Turner combine streaming services Intersport
SBJ/April 16-22, 2012/Media
NBC’s Olympic promos will cover 20 channels, 66 websites
Published April 16, 2012, Page 4
The company plans to feature 30-second advertisements across 20 channels and 66 websites over the last 100 days leading up to the London Games. The promotional efforts will kick off Wednesday with a spot featuring 16-year-old swimmer Missy Franklin during the “Today” show.
For the first time in NBC’s Olympic history, spots will run on Comcast-owned cable channels such as E! and Style. They also will run in the homes of Comcast subscribers, and customized ads will air on NBC affiliates.
NBC Sports will supplement its TV ad campaign with signage at NBC Universal theme parks and advertising at gas stations, Best Buy stores and with American Airlines.
“There’s an awful lot of hyperbole that goes around these things, but this particular time it’s the biggest Olympic campaign we’ve ever had, mostly because our company is bigger,” Miller said. “We’re not taking any chances. We want to make sure these Games are in the top tier and well-watched.”
Miller said the focus of the spots is on reminding people who watched the Beijing and Vancouver Games that the London Olympics are on the horizon. NBC’s research shows that those viewers enjoyed watching those Games and are more inclined to watch this summer’s Olympics.
As summer begins, the advertising campaign will shift its focus from the previous Olympics to the stars NBC plans to showcase this summer. Spots will highlight top athletes such as swimmer Michael Phelps, beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh and gymnast Jordyn Wieber.
U.S. Olympic Committee sponsors Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and BMW also will be featured in sponsor-integrated spots. Coke’s spots will feature conversations with Olympic hopefuls; Anheuser-Busch’s will feature youthful music; and BMW’s will feature footage of top athletes.


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- Read more: Rolls-Royce news and reviews
- Rolls-Royce reveals new Dawn convertible
- Quick Spin review: Rolls-Royce Wraith
Rolls-Royce made a splash in Sydney this week with the Asia-Pacific debut of its new Dawn convertible.
The luxury brand unveiled its latest creation on board a luxury motor yacht before taking potential customers and members of the media for a cruise around Sydney Harbour.
Priced from $749,000 on the road, the Dawn costs around $100,000 more than the Wraith coupe on which it is based.
Though it shares its engine and underpinnings with the coupe, Rolls-Royce is at pains to point out that the Dawn is a different car that has only 20 per cent of its bodywork in common with the hardtop.
Rolls-Royce claims its car is the quietest convertible on sale today, thanks in part to a thick, multi-layered canvas roof. The soft-top takes just over 20 seconds to work through its routine, and can go through its motions while drivers tootle along at up to 50km/h.
Able to reach 100km/h in 4.9 seconds, the Dawn is powered by a BMW-sourced 6.6-litre V12 with 420kW of power and an effortless 780Nm of torque. That energy travels to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission that uses satellite data to choose the right gear for each moment on the road.
The Dawn also features a new 10.25-inch infotainment system capable of interpreting a driver's handwriting in English as well as Chinese and Arabic, helping cater to wealthy customers from emerging automotive markets.
The brand says Australia is a key market for the convertible, which is intended to attract a younger, more social audience than other cars in its range.
2016 Rolls-Royce Dawn pricing and specifications
Price: From $749,000 drive away.
On sale: Now, for 2016 delivery
Engine: 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12
Power: 420kW at 5250rpm
Torque: 780Nm at 1500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive
Fuel use: 14.2L/100km
- Interested in buying Rolls-Royce Ghost? Visit our Rolls-Royce showroom for more information.


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The Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is excited to announce the opening of Made in the Mojave on May 13, with a public reception from 4-6 p.m. The exhibition will be on display until July 30. From April 17 to May 12 MOAH
Art Share LA presents "Semi-Precious." The show will run from April 12th through April 30th, 2017. An opening reception will be held on April 22nd from 7-10pm.
Are diamonds still a girl’s best friend? Fine art in its way is also a variety of expensive, rare, coveted luxury


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Hello, again! It’s time for The Weekly Download.
On the hot sheet today: new emoji, new Twitter, Elon Musk’s futuristic Neuralink technology, Google’s latest social network test, and is engagement really declining on Instagram? Plus, you’ve probably seen FaceApp go viral (again) this week, but should you be worried about allowing it to access your camera roll?
Read on to find out!
More Fun (And Representative) Emoji Are on Their Way
In celebration of World Emoji Day, it was announced that many more new emoji will be coming to Apple and Google devices in the coming months. The new icons will include fun and cute (otters, sloths and flamingos) and also be more socially representative.
Both companies are overhauling their couples emoji to ensure your tiny graphic friends can hold hands with whomever they want — regardless of skin tone or gender.
Other new emoji that we’re happy to see added to the line up: people using two different kinds of wheelchairs, a service dog, an ear with a hearing aid, and a person walking with a white cane.
But while emoji offerings are becoming more inclusive of today’s socio-political landscape, many are upset that with these new releases there’s still no trans flag emoji. We’re happy to find out, however, that it IS on the approval shortlist for a potential 2020 release.
Elon Musk Unveils Neuralink’s Brain-Reading Technology
Last time we checked, we were living in 2019, but Elon Musk and his secretive company, Neuralink, are thinking way into the future.
This week Musk unveiled Neuralink’s new technology and it’s straight up futuristic. Using a module that sits outside a user’s head, the technology will wirelessly communicate with the brain through flexible “threads” embedded therein.
The threads are considerably thinner than a human hair and are less likely to damage the brain than materials currently used in brain-machine interfaces. If that wasn’t high-tech enough for you, Neuralink’s other big advance is a robot that surgically embeds the threads.
The company’s goal is to eventually begin implanting devices into paralyzed humans, allowing them to control phones or computers. According to Musk, a monkey has been able to control a computer with its brain using Neuralink’s technology. We’re not sure whether to be amazed or slightly scared…
Latest Statistics Show Engagement is Declining on Instagram
New data released by Trust Insights confirms that the overall engagement rate on Instagram is decreasing.
Trust Insights analyzed 1,430,995 posts from 3,637 brands in 2019, and notes a sharp decrease in engagement happening in May of this year. While there’s no way to say for sure what caused this drop off, Trust Insights maintains it is happening to individuals and brands alike.
To mitigate the decrease in engagement, some marketers have begun promoting feed posts in their Instagram Stories or using Instagram Ads to get noticed.
Have you noticed a drop in your personal or business Instagram engagement? Tell us using the comments below.
FaceApp Goes Viral (Again), But Should You Be Worried About Your Privacy?
This week you probably saw celebs (and everyone else) posting their FaceApp filtered results on social media. It’s a fun app — one that uses artificial technology to imagine what you might look like in the future — but some are worried that it might be invading user privacy.
After a developer wondered if the Russian-built app could be taking all the photos from your phone and uploading them permanently to its servers without any obvious user permissions, people started to worry.
Should we be concerned about the provenance of the company behind FaceApp?
— Thomas Brewster (@iblametom) July 17, 2019
Several security researchers have taken a deeper dive in response to these concerns and say that while the app could make users feel safer without storing images to a cloud-based server in the short term, access to your entire camera roll isn’t something to worry about.
According to FaceApp developers, images are deleted from the cloud server within 48 hours of their upload date, and are only stored so user photos aren’t repeatedly uploaded for every edit operation.
New Twitter for Desktop Goes Live
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 15, 2019
So what’s new? Twitter’s made it easier for users to access their favourite features, see more of “What’s Happening?” around the world, and streamlined DMs by putting them all in the same place. A much-anticipated “dark mode” is also now available, along with colour customization.
As with any big interface change, some people had strong (read NOT happy) feelings about the redesign. What are your thoughts on Twitter’s new look and feel?
Shoelace is Google’s Newest Attempt at a Social Network
After Orkut, Google Buzz and Google+ comes… Shoelace?
Shoelace is described as a hyper-local social networking app (available for download on Android and iOS) that aims to connect people based on shared interests in specific events and in-person activities. What’s different about the app is that it encourages people to get off their devices and actually connect in real life.
Users create event listings called “Loops” that can be shared with others on the app. If you don’t have any of your own Loops to broadcast to the world, Shoelace will recommend some for you based on your interests.
Before you get too excited, there’s one major catch — Shoelace is only available in New York City… for now. Oh, and if you do happen to live in or near NYC, you’ll have to score a special invite to join during the testing phase.
Tell us: would you use an app like Shoelace to meet new friends and check out local events?
Heavy Metal Knitting World Championship
This piece of Friday Fun needs no introduction… Turns out knitters can be a little hardcore, too!
Buzz Aldrin Steals the Show at the Moon Landing’s 50th Anniversary Party
Eight astronauts from various Apollo missions gathered together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, but one astronaut in particular was the real star of the show.
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out 89 year-old Buzz Aldrin’s suave getup from the event — he’s got style that’s really ~out of this world~ (sorry!).


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ReDOX Technology Begins Development of Its High-Energy Density Battery
ReDOX Technology Corp. (Houston, TX) is pleased to announce that the development of their proprietary high-energy density battery has begun. The project will involve a series of five prototypes that will be produced over the next 13 months.
ReDOX President and CEO Richard Szymanski explained the potential magnitude of a successful end product. "An independent research lab studied our initial research and, based on our design, said that the theoretical energy density for our battery is 648Wh/kg. Energy density in standard lead-acid batteries, based on size are 170Wh/kg, 336Wh/kg or 447Wh/kg. The significance of the composition of the ReDOX battery is its potential capacity to serve a stronger and longer life in a much smaller size. We believe that our battery can be applied to PC's, cellular phones, hand-held devices, cars, or any product that requires a battery."
ReDOX believes the testing and prototype development will substantiate that the ReDOX battery can last more than twice as long as a conventional alkaline battery, has greater energy density than lithium-ion batteries, is less expensive to build, more powerful, environmentally friendly, and is recyclable.


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Marks & Spencer (M&S) revealed this morning that it enjoyed a solid Christmas trading period as the retailer recovers from the recession by reporting its first rise in sales in two years.
But, Sir Stuart Rose, the executive chairman, joined Next in warning that steps to reduce the public deficit could derail the consumer recovery.
Shares in the company fell 3.5 per cent or 14.7p to 390.9p in early trading as the update failed to live up to the expectations set by strong figures from Next and John Lewis. M&S insisted that it would have beaten City expectations if its trading update had included the first day of its sales period, as its rivals do.
Like-for-like sales rose 0.8 per cent against last year, when…


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DailyObjects has launched India s first portable multi-functional UV Sterilizer which will help to disinfect smartphones, tech-gadgets, and personal accessories to destroy 99.9% of the germs in just 5 minutes.
According to multiple studies, germs and bacteria usually live on the surfaces, in our surroundings. Therefore, wiping down the tech gadgets and accessories with an alcohol-based sanitizer is not a solution to kill the germs. Only disinfecting can destroy 99.9% of all viruses that accumulate on the surface of the products. In addition, the liquid-based sprays can accelerate wear and tear of the oil-repellent coating of the display.
While everyone is taking necessary precautionary measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, self-quarantining, washing hands repeatedly and keeping surroundings clean, using IR Thermometers has become an important initiative. The product does not use any additional chemicals or cause any harm to the accessories and gadgets, thus making it a safe way to disinfect. It is made to quickly disinfect small accessories and tech gadgets like rings, mobile phones, face masks, spectacles, watches, cash, baby products, wallets, jewellery, and many more.
Mr. Pankaj Garg, CEO & Founder, DailyObjects said, “Smartphones accumulate 7 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. The rings people wear everyday carry 1,70,000 bacteria even after regular washing. The personal accessories we carry almost ten times the bacterial load than shopping carts and doorknobs. And all of these can potentially harm us a lot more than we can imagine. But are we doing everything to keep ourselves safe?”
“DailyObjects strives to bring out an innovative product that can protect people with time. Today as COVID-19 is spreading all over the country, we intend to launch the product in the health category in India to help people fight the virus more effectively and be safe” Further, he added,
Product Description: India’s first UV Sterilizer & Wireless Charger uses UV-C light to destroy 99.9% of germs living on the surface of phones, earphones, watches, and other accessories in just 5 minutes. This multifunctional gadget also includes a wireless charger that is compatible with all phones and earphones that support wireless charging.
UV-Sterilization is one of the most common methods to sterilize hospital rooms and medical instruments, UV-C light is known to break apart germ DNA making it impossible for it to function or reproduce. DailyObjects UV Sterilizer & Wireless Charger uses the same UV-C light to destroy 99.9% of germs living on the surface of small gadgets and accessories.
Price: ₹ 4800+taxes
This product is available online at DailyObjects.com.


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World's Largest Ethane Carrier Advertises an Iconic Clothing Brand
Plastics and petrochemicals giant INEOS has christened the world's largest ethane carrier, the new Pacific INEOS Belstaff. Built with prismatic Type B tanks that conform to the shape of the hull, she can carry nearly 100,000 cubic meters at a time. Her construction marked an achievement in precision for Chinese shipbuilding, according to shipyard CSSC Jiangnan.
The vessel is as distinctive in its appearance as it is in its specifications. INEOS is known in the maritime community for the bold mottos on its vessels' hulls, like the phrase "Shale Gas for Prosperity" emblazoned on INEOS Independence, but it has gone a step further with the Belstaff. The vessel serves as a floating billboard for a separate business, and she bears the name and logo of another INEOS-owned brand in letters approximately three meters in height.
INEOS (formerly Inspec Ethylene Oxide Specialities) is a leading manufacturer of commodity chemicals and plastics, like polyethylene, styrene, polypropylene, PVC and ABS. It has expanded rapidly through acquisitions - including the $5 billion purchase of BP's petrochemical portfolio in 2020 - and through partnerships with leading petchem companies like BASF and Solvay.
INEOS' shipping fleet carries a product of natural gas extraction, ethane, which is a key building block for plastics production. Its vessels were the first of their kind to export ethane from U.S. shale gas fields, and they provide a steady supply of affordable American feedstock for ethylene cracker plants in the UK, Europe and China.
Though its core business is in industrial chemicals and plastics, INEOS also owns a historic clothing brand specializing in classic outerwear in leather, waxed cotton and wool. That brand, Belstaff, has clothed the likes of Steve McQueen and Che Guevara, among other famous names. “We have a lot in common [with Belstaff],” said INEOS chairman and founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe when the firm bought the clothing brand in 2017. “We are British, we are entrepreneurial, straightforward, adventurous and most importantly, we are successful.”
Belstaff's 98-year history is now represented in the name and the hull markings of Pacific INEOS Belstaff, which will serve as an ambassador for an "iconic, prestigious British brand."
“I am proud to be godmother to this new and innovative carrier as it becomes a part of the growing INEOS fleet," said Belstaff CEO Fran Millar in a statement. "In displaying the Belstaff brand along the length of the ship it also provides Belstaff with an enormous billboard introducing our logo to some very new places around the world."


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Samsung Gear A Smartwatch may arrive at Galaxy Unpacked 2015
We saw a lot of new products shown off today, but the smartwatches weren’t among them. We’ll see the Moto 360 sequel soon, but the Samsung Gear A smartwatch is also waiting in the wings for a release. If a new report for the WSJ pans out, we won’t have to wait much longer.
Samsung posted the invite to their Galaxy Unpacked 2015 event today, but the Wall Street Journal is reporting the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Galaxy Note 5 may not be the only gadgets shown off. The Samsung Gear A smartwatch is also a possibility for the event on August 13th, and it’s a device we’ve become very familiar with over the past few months.
The Samsung Gear A was originally dubbed the Samsung Orbis, and it’s said to be Sammy’s first round wearable. We’ve seen enough leaks to know it definitely exists and even have a good idea of what to expect from the Samsung Gear A specs. The wearable is rumored to sport a Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 360 x 360, with a dual-core Exynos 3472 chip, 768MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. It will definitely run Tizen, and other rumored specs include Wi-Fi, 3G, and a rotating smart bezel.
The Apple Watch may be raking in the dough at the moment, but that will change when a slew of new smartwatches arrive from Motorola, Huawei, Samsung and others. We’re still not sure how folks are going to take to Tizen over Android Wear, but we’ll find out soon enough as all signs point towards the Samsung Gear A smartwatch making an appearance August 13th.
Are you excited for the Gear A smartwatch or waiting for the Moto 360 sequel?
Source: Wall Street Journal


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Thursday, August 19, 2010
U.S. Wheat Exports Increasing Steadily; Trend Likely to Continue
PIERS, the standard in trade intelligence, reveals a steady increase in wheat exports this year, and expects the trend to continue.
With a U.S. trade deficit that has widened significantly, Russia's temporary ban on wheat exports is likely to bode well for the U.S.
According to PIERS, year-to-date January through June U.S. ocean exports of wheat and maslin grew 11 percent, following an 11.2 percent decrease of the same grain commodities during the 2009/2010 trade season (July 2009 – June 2010).
This news, on the heels of a century-in the making drought situation in Russia, is a positive signal for U.S. Grain exporters.
U.S. Ocean export of wheat and maslin came in at more than 21.8 million metric tons (MT) during the 2009/2010 trade season.
Top markets receiving U.S. wheat products include Japan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Mexico and South Korea, with Nigeria increasing 25.5 percent and Japan 18.7 percent over the previous trade season.
But a shift is likely to occur.
Two Middle East countries adversely effected by Russia's August 15th ban - Egypt and Yemen - may look to the U.S. to compensate.
PIERS data reveals that during the 2009/2010 trade year, the U.S. exported 308K MT to Egypt and 365K MT to Yemen.
This is a steep decline from the 2008 -2009 trade season.
Mario Moreno, PIERS Economist says, "It is interesting to note that Egypt was the second top importer of U.S. wheat during the 2007 – 2008 season but last year, the country barely made it to the top 20."
According to Moreno, "At a time when the U.S. trade deficit widened to an almost two year high last June, the drought in Russia feels like 'manna from heaven' for many U.S. exporters."


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Ford is recalling about 213,000 police vehicles in North America to fix springs that may not keep doors closed in a crash.
Amy’s Kitchen is recalling more than 70,000 cases of food.
Giant Eagle has issued recalls for two products it sells in its Giant Eagle and Market District supermarkets.
Giant Eagle is recalling several kinds of seasonal cut-out shapes cookies due to undeclared milk allergen.
Kraft Foods is recalling about 6.5 million boxes of original flavor Kraft Macaroni & Cheese because some of the boxes contain small pieces of metal.
Hundreds of products are being pulled from store shelves after traces of peanut were found in cumin spice – a life-threatening danger to some people with peanut allergies.
About 5 million fire extinguishers are being recalled because they may not put out a fire.
The company is recalling thousands of containers of black pepper because they may contain salmonella.
Kiddie is recalling more than four million of its disposable fire extinguishers.
There’s an important recall for people with peanut allergies.
You may want to think twice before you reach for your morning bagel if you have a food allergy.
Drivers, bring your vehicles back to the shop for more work on faulty air bags.
Chrysler is bowing to demands from U.S. safety regulators, and will add about 179,000 vehicles to a recall list for air bags that could explode with too much force.
Del Monte is recalling some fresh cut fruit that may be contaminated with Listeria.
At least 36 people have died and 44 have been seriously injured in crashes involving General Motors cars with defective ignition switches.


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President Donald Trump ordered ByteDance on Friday to divest the US operations of Its Own video-sharing app TikTok within 90 days, the latest Attempt to ramp up pressure in the Chinese company over concerns about the safety of Their personal data it handles.
“There is credible evidence which leads me to think ByteDance… could do something that threatens to impair the national security of the USA,” Trump said in this order.
Trump’s latest move comes together with an executive order that he issued a week that would prohibit certain transactions with TikTok unless ByteDance divests it within 45 days.
The new order adds to pressure for ByteDance to divest TikTok, and legally buttresses that the US government’s crackdown on the Chinese-owned social media app. It authorises US officials to inspect TikTok and ByteDance’s books and information systems to guarantee the safety of personal data while the purchase talks are ongoing.
While TikTok is famous for its anodyne movies of people dancing and going viral among adolescents, US officials also have expressed concerns that advice on users could be passed on to China’s communist government.
ByteDance said on Friday in reaction to the order that it is used by 100 million Americans”since it’s their house for amusement, self-expression, and link. We’re committed to continuing to deliver joy to households and meaningful professions to people who make on our platform for many years to come.”
Trump has said he’d support an effort by Microsoft to purchase TikTok’s American operations when the US authorities got a”substantial part” of the proceeds, however, has also said that there are other interested potential buyers.
Last year, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the USA (CFIUS), a US government panel that reviews deals for possible national security risks, opened a new review of ByteDance’s acquisition of app Musical.ly in 2017. That deal created TikTok in its existing form.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday the arrangement also needs ByteDance to divest”any data obtained or derived from TikTok or even Musical.ly users from the USA.”
He explained CFIUS”conducted a thorough review of the case and recommended this action to the president so as to protect US users from exploitation of the personal information.”
The Trump government has stepped up its attempts to purge what it deems”untrusted” Chinese programs from US electronic networks.
Asked on Friday when he was worried the sweeping ban on WeChat could prevent Apple from selling iPhones at China, Trump did not state worry.
“I do what is good in terms of the security of our country,” he told reporters.
A group of leading US firms, such as Apple, increased concerns this week about the possible negative implications on US companies from the TikTok and WeChat orders.


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After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East’s first ever World Fair opened on Friday in Dubai, with hopes the months-long extravaganza draws both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape.
Named Expo 2020, the event was postponed by a year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus last year. While that could have an impact on how many people flock to the United Arab Emirates, the six-month-long exhibition offers Dubai a momentous opportunity to showcase its unique East-meets-West appeal as a place where all are welcome for business.
Not long ago, the site of the 1,080 acre (438 hectare) expo was barren desert. Less than a decade later, it is a buzzing futuristic landscape with robots, a new metro station, multi-million dollar pavilions and so-called districts with names like sustainability and opportunity all built, like much of the Gulf, by low-paid migrant workers.
Organisers say 192 nations are represented at the expo. The US pavilion will showcase a replica of the Space X Falcon 9 rocket. Italy’s pavilion houses a 3-D replica of Michelangelo’s biblical hero, David, that is 17 feet high (5.2 meters). Other attractions include an African food hall, a royal Egyptian mummy, concerts and performances from around the world, and the option to dine on a USD 500 three-course meal with glow-in-the-dark cuisine.
Since first making a splash in London in 1851, world fairs have long been an opportunity for nations to meet, exchange ideas, showcase inventions, promote culture and build business ties.
For more than a century, these global exhibitions have captured the imagination and showcased some of humanity’s most important innovations.
The first World Fair held in the United States in 1876 debuted Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, the typewriter, a mechanical calculator and Heinz Ketchup. Held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that fair attracted nearly 10 million people at a time when the entire US population was estimated to be just 40 million. One of its main buildings, Memorial Hall, is now a museum.
Other fairs showcased inventions like the sewing machine, the elevator, carbonated soda, the Ferris wheel and, in 1939 in New York, the television. People journeyed far for the chance at a glimpse of the world in ways they couldn’t otherwise access.
This year’s expo is happening amid a global pandemic, when untold numbers are still working and studying remotely and connecting to the world virtually. It’s unclear how many visitors Dubai can attract, and how much the expo will stimulate its tourism-driven economy.
To enter the expo site, visitors will need to show a negative PCR test or proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
So what is a World Fair in this not-quite-post-pandemic year of 2021?
Dubai’s ruler and the force behind the emirate’s transformation, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, says Expo 2020 is a chance to showcase the best of human excellence.
It offers a platform to forge a united worldwide effort to build a more sustainable and prosperous future for all of mankind, he told guests at the expo’s opening ceremony Thursday night.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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After award success in 2017, Byron Hairdressing is flying the flag in Fife as it wins another business award for its training and development.
The Maletti Eden Plus Wash Unit promotes wellbeing and helps salons to provide clients with the best experience.
The Fellowship for British Hairdressing has announced its new President, Vice President and newly-elected members of the Council.
Team ghd is currently out in California for Coachella, working with a host of gorgeous guests on their glam – using the brand new Festival range.
Sleeping in silk has numerous benefits for your hair – both protecting it from damage and also prolonging hairstyles across more days.
Introducing JOICO’s new LoveFest Collection, featuring colour star Larisa Love
We caught up with Samantha Wheeler, who was chosen as Concept Hair’s Apprentice of the Month for March.
We caught up with Jon Jamieson, who was chosen as Concept Hair’s first ever Apprentice of the Month on Friday.
We caught up with British Hairdresser of the Year, Sally Brooks, about her new documentary: The Journey To My Destination.


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It all kicked off with a cocktail party in Soho.
Danielle DuBoise and Whitney Tingle, two 20-something NYC transplants on the time, had been charging mates “admission” to their residence soiree.
The yr was 2012 and the get together was a trial for his or her younger enterprise: Sakara Life, an natural food-delivery service providing plant-based, chemical-free, prepackaged meals.
The dinner raised the pair simply $700 in capital, which they used to purchase a website, make enterprise playing cards for distribution at cafes and yoga studios, and check out wholesome, natural recipes on mates and neighbors, hand-delivered door-to-door on bikes.
Just a yr later, in 2013, Gwyneth Paltrow endorsed Sakara on GOOP, taking the model mainstream.
DuBoise and Tingle rapidly started choosing up press, featured all over the place from Vogue and The New York Times to Forbes’ 30 Under 30. By 2016, Sakara had raised $four.eight million in its solely funding spherical to this point. In 2017, the founders wrote in an article for Time, Sakara had 85 staff and delivered 1 million meals. Between then and 2019, its buyer base tripled, per Glossy.
What started as a cocktail party changed into a multimillion-dollar enterprise in lower than 5 years. While DuBoise and Tingle, now 35 and 36 years outdated, respectively, declined to share Saraka’s income for the previous yr with Insider, they stated that as of 2020 it had 2 million subscribers and 200 staff.
Nearly a decade in, what they name the “Sakaralite community” has grown huge and various, they stated. But alongside the way in which, the model has garnered a cult following amongst fashions and celebrities resembling Chrissy Teigen and Lena Dunham, changing into the go-to well being detox for rich millennials particularly. It’s a staple amongst each Victoria’s Secret fashions like Lily Aldridge and “the fashion flock,” as Vogue places it, and even caters backstage at runway reveals.
Sakara has additionally cast partnerships with different cult-like millennial manufacturers resembling SoulCycle, GOOP, and Tata Harper, and sells merchandise via millennial favourite Free People and high-end retailer Saks Fifth Avenue.
The cofounders, who served as co-CEOs whereas every had a being pregnant in 2020, advised Insider about how Sakara took flight, the way it’s nonetheless rising, and the way its neighborhood of followers is remodeling the corporate. What’s taken form over the previous decade is a life-style model that sums up the rich millennial.
Organic meals for younger professionals on-the-go
A Sakaralite might discover on their doorstep for lunch one thing like Sakara Cobb Salad with coconut “bacon” (seed-crusted avocado) or Golden Pineapple Un-Fried Rice with tempeh and purple cabbage. For breakfast, which may look extra like a Sacha Inchi Pumpkin Scone with apple butter.
The meals arrive in deliberately shareable packaging that characterizes the millennial aesthetic, with clear and minimalist kind, daring hues, and nature-inspired prints, starting from colourful cacti to pink and purple petals.
Pricing starts at $80 a day for three days of meals for $240, or $70 a day for five days of meals for $349. A separate five-day detox runs for $400, and a four-week, 20-day program for brides is $1,395.
A healthy, outsourced, Instagrammable meal seems to be the ultimate recipe for the young professional long on money and short on time. Sakaralites often seem to be women similar to DuBoise and Tingle, two chic blondes who exude an effortless cool girl aesthetic. They’re women who want to eat healthy but lack the time to figure out how, which DuBoise and Tingle were themselves, before that dinner party in 2012.
Like many young adults, DuBoise and Tingle had relocated to New York City in their 20s from their hometowns (they are both from Sedona, Arizona) to pursue careers. But their lifestyles didn’t align with good nutrition.
The long, high-stress hours of Wall Street left Tingle eating quick, low-nutrient food that wrecked her gut health, while yo-yo dieting put DuBoise, then a student modeling part-time, in the hospital with pneumonia.
The health scare prompted DuBoise to switch from studying medicine to nutrition for alternative healing methods. She and Tingle educated themselves on every nutritional theory they could find, slowly transforming their relationship with food and overall health.
“I decided that my mission would be to share that way of plant-rich eating and mindful living with the world in hopes I could help others have a similar transformation,” DuBoise said.
Sakara’s wellness mantra made it a millennial status symbol
Sakara’s focus on the body and mind lures a millennial cohort, dubbed “the wellness generation.”
Millennials take a holistic approach to wellness, viewing it as something that can be incorporated into every aspect of their lives, Kenya Watson, Intelligence Analyst at CB Insights, told Insider. She added that millennials are influencing the health and wellness industry by breaking down traditional boundaries around product categories.
“Different aspects of physical wellness like food, fitness, and beauty are no longer compartmentalized,” Watson said. To millennials, she said, “it’s about how these products work together, which is why food products can be viewed through a beauty and wellness lens.”
Sakara has tapped into this shift with offerings beyond meal deliver. There’s Clean Boutique, an online marketplace with everything from beauty chocolates to metabolism super powder (raw cacao that promises to “fire up” metabolism); S-Life Mag, a digital magazine that dives into happiness and spirituality, touting headlines like “Heal Your Headspace” and “Strengthen Your Pranic Body;” and a cookbook, “Eat Clean Play Dirty.”
The cofounders have also hosted Sakara Sessions, panels across US cities featuring health and wellness leaders (the panels went virtual during the pandemic).
Balancing quarantine, their simultaneous pregnancies, and continuing to grow Sakara in 2020, DuBoise and Tingle aren’t slowing down. In March 2020, they launched a podcast that harkens back to their spiritual Sedona roots, billed as a mind and soul counterpart to Sakara’s food and science. They’ve spoken with everyone from Arianna Huffington on burnout culture to star astrologist Susan Miller on purpose in the planets.
The cofounders said they believe Sakara has been able to carve out a durable niche because its philosophy is rooted in both emerging nutrition science and ancient healing practices. A Sakaralite, as they describe it, is a “person looking to take their health in their own hands, feel good in their bodies, and invest in their health, whether as a one-time reset or permanent lifestyle.”
It’s why DuBoise and Tingle have touted Sakara as more of a wellness company than anything, preaching lifestyle over diet and nutrition over calories. When asked to concisely describe the brand, they responded with “transformation and self-actualization.”
A hands-on approach
Sakara’s foothold among wealthy millennials signals just how far the brand has come since its beginning, when one of DuBoise and Tingle’s first clients was DuBoise’s boss, who they said was suffering from a variety of health issues. As they tell it, they knew they had something worth sharing after seeing his transformation upon eating their meals.
By the time their client list hit 25 people in the first year, they had begun hiring and managing a team. In 2019, they diverged from their grassroots approach to increase their marketing budget by 60%, Glossy reported, with the majority allocated toward offline marketing.
Throughout all of Sakara’s journey, DuBoise and Tingle said, they’ve remained involved in everything. In the early days, they juggled everything from finance and customer service to recipe development and cooking.
Today, each targets certain business areas best suited to their strengths. DuBoise’s medicine and nutrition background enabled her to lean into scientific research and product development, while Tingle focuses on education and community.
Sakara has a grip on a competitive industry
In a time when eating out is more nostalgia than hobby, meal-kit delivery services have seen a surge. But that’s also meant the space has become more crowded, with restaurants foraying into the industry to compensate for the losses of their temporarily shut doors.
The growing meal-delivery space is expected to reach nearly $20 billion by 2027. Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, and HungryRoot are just a few of Sakara’s competitors.
Industry experts question whether this uptick will last once indoor dining and regular grocery trips become widespread again. Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis, previously told Insider Intelligence that he views meal-kit services as more product than standalone service.
Looking toward the rest of 2021, DuBoise and Tingle said they’re focused on hiring and “building out Sakara’s tool kit” by expanding the brand’s product offerings, enhancing technology, and creating new platforms.
“We make it a priority to give people the tools to nourish, build a body they love (and feel good in), and understand that we should all enjoy that glass of wine or fries if it brings us joy,” Tingle said.


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MHG Anticipates they will Exceed $125 million Target from China Trip
BAINBRIDGE, GA. — MHG presented their PHA (polyhydroxalkanoates) and PLA (polyactic acid) biopolymers to investors at China’s International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen, China. The event, which signifies huge investment opportunities for multilateral investment companies, took place from September 8th to the 11th. In attendance were nearly 20,000 people consisting of various overseas and local investors, international promotion agencies, and other interested parties.
“MHG has recognized the future demand for sustainable solutions to waste endemic produced by petroleum based plastic products,” said CEO and Executive Chairman to the Board of Directors at MHG, Paul Pereira. “We have created a fully functional and fully biodegradable alternative that can revolutionize plastic on a global level, and we were happy to have such a great reception at CIFIT.”
At the symposium, MHG was able to showcase examples of their biopolymer products in a customized booth as well as inform investors of the many advantages of their vertical integration approach, such as the possibility to create unlimited opportunities for customization based on a client’s need. MHG maximized their branding and promotion opportunity by creating an advertisement in The China Daily newspaper, the largest-print circulation of English based newspaper reaching over 420,000 people.
Initially, projected funding from investors was expected to be $125 million and would produce nearly 3,000 jobs. However after the huge success of the event, MHG is expecting to exceed their initial target, which would indirectly and directly induce over 8,000 job opportunities.
MHG is the holding company of Meredian Inc. and DaniMer Scientific—two innovative environmental entities that are striving to replace petro-plastic with their 100% biodegradable and toxic free biopolymers. Their trademarked agrofacturing process is the system of cold-pressing canola oil harvested from non-GMO canola seed and manufacturing it into customizable PHA biopolymers. By choosing to utilize locally grown canola seed, MHG is able to eliminate high-transportation costs as well as provide local farmers with a market that does not compete with other food sources.
For more details regarding MHG, please visit the website http://www.meredianholdings.com. Be sure to follow MHG-Meredian and MHG-DaniMer on Facebook (MHG-Meredian, MHG-DaniMer), Linkedin (MHG-Meredian, MHG-DaniMer) and Twitter (@MHG_Meredian, @MHG_Danimer) to stay up to date regarding latest news with the company and in the industry.
Meredian Holdings Group, Inc. to be known as MHG, is the holding company of Meredian Inc., a recognized world leader in production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and DaniMer, a specialist in the customization of biopolymer formulations which can combine PHA and PLA through a proprietary reactive extrusion process. These companies are supported by a world class group of dedicated, highly skilled team members. With the addition of Meredian PHA biopolymers, the two companies offer a comprehensive selection of biopolymers that supports their core values of utilizing sustainably produced, renewable resource based polymers to improve people’s lives at work. The company currently owns more than 125 patents across nearly 20 countries, and is headquartered in Bainbridge, Ga.
- Meredian at China investment fair hoping to raise money for expansion and commercialization
- Southern Film Regional Center Creating Jobs Under the USCIS Program


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(Reuters) - Cheesecake Factory Inc’s (CAKE.O) third-quarter profit fell short of expectations after higher costs and Hurricane Irene dented results.
Shares in the restaurant chain, known for its array of cheesecakes and ample portions, slipped 1 percent in extended trading after it also forecast fourth-quarter earnings that could fall below analysts’ average estimate.
The company expects fourth-quarter earnings of 51 cents to 53 cents per share for the current quarter, Chief Financial Officer Doug Benn said on a conference call.
Analysts, on average, are expecting a profit of 53 cents per share in the latest quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Cheesecake Factory’s third-quarter net income fell more than 6 percent to $20.6 million, or 36 cents per share, for the quarter ended September 27. Analysts, on average, were looking for a profit of 38 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company, which raised menu prices in the summer to help offset higher commodity costs, said revenue was up almost 3 percent to $430.4 million.
Total costs and expenses added up to 93 percent of revenue in the latest quarter, up from 92.5 percent a year earlier.
High food costs have been a persistent pain for restaurants. At Cheesecake Factory, dairy and produce prices exerted the most pressure in the latest quarter.
Overall sales at restaurants open at least 18 months were up 0.8 percent in the recent quarter. Excluding the impact of Hurricane Irene, same-restaurant sales would have increased 1.2 percent, the company said.
Same-restaurant sales inched up 0.8 percent at the Cheesecake Factory and rose 0.9 percent at Grand Lux Cafe.
Looking ahead, the company forecast a 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent rise in overall same-restaurant sales for the fourth quarter.
Shares fell 3.1 percent to $25.25 in extended trading, after closing 4.3 percent lower at $26.05 on Nasdaq.
Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; editing by Carol Bishopric and Richard Chang


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Large numbers of road haulage operators registered for Scotland’s Clean Air Roadshow, held at Hampden Park and were left in no doubt that Low Emission Zones will soon be operational in four cities.
Aviemore remains one of Scotland’s most charming locations and APSE will once again return to the picturesque Highland town to present the 2019 edition of Scotland’s annual local authorities seminar.
Known historically for its aluminium tipper bodies, Wilcox Commercial Vehicles has diversified into mixers and moving floors, also expanding its factory to increase production levels and parts storage.
Nothing encourages demand more than being told you can’t have it. So five years after its launch, operator requests led to the first Renault Range T High with a flat floor and in RHD!
The recent truck of choice at A&D Logistics has been Volvo, but now the container operator is trialling three alternative brands. Kevin Swallow visits the company to ask why such a trial is necessary.
More than 400 exhibitors are gearing up to showcase their latest products and services at the 2019 CV Show, the premier UK commercial vehicle event for companies supplying the CV industry and its customers.
LOGISTICS provider Europa is celebrating a 14 year partnership with Walkers Shortbread, labelled the ‘world’s finest shortbread brand’. Based in Aberlour on Spey, Walkers exports nearly half of its output, with its products transported into […]
WHEN COMMISSIONING a trailer for the punishing demands of the timber industry, David Hyslop of Annandale Transport Company took no chances; specifying SAF-Holland Intra axles. ‘Transportation for forestry typically involves dealing with some of the […]
AS PART of a new, five year contract hire agreement with long standing customer Menzies Distribution, Fraikin was tasked with supplying 75 commercial vehicle assets to the company within weeks. In order to meet this […]
THE 2018 DAF Dealer Awards highlighted Solway DAF in Carlisle, winner of the ‘Managing Directors’ award for their ‘exemplary reputation for customer service’. It follows a memorable year for the Carlisle dealership. The family run […]


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- FOR fashion buyers and editors, New York Fashion Week, which opens on February 12th, marks the beginning of their twice-yearly, month-long tour of the world’s main shows. London, Milan and Paris come next; and in the autumn they repeat the circuit.Fashion houses take part in them for two reasons. First, because buyers from department stores and other retailers are in the audience, ready to sign contracts if they like what they see. Second, as a broader brand-building exercise, to convince consumers that a label is still at the cutting edge. Luxury brands have been cutting out the middlemen in their distribution chains. More than 80% of the shoes, bags and other products bearing the Prada label are now sold in its own shops, compared with about 50% a decade ago.Fashions change faster than they used to: brands can no longer get by with just two collections a year.Burberry has led the way: it was one of the first to live-stream its displays, and last September it became the first to use Twitter’s “buy” function, allowing consumers to purchase items straight off the catwalk.
- Standing out as a book writer today requires more than a bright idea and limpid prose. Authors need to become businesspeople as well, thinking strategically about their brand, and marketing themselves and their products.Authors mostly used to rely on public-relations staff provided by the publishing house. Now, wise writers hire their own publicists,Authors must court an expanding variety of “influencers”—people whose opinions can determine a book’s success.Entrepreneurial authors find it more effective to devote themselves to a more achievable aim: getting onto the bestseller lists. The secret of such lists, the most prominent of which are those in the New York Times, is that they do not measure total sales, but their velocity. Books that fly off the shelves in their first week make the lists, and that in turn boosts their subsequent sales. Pre-orders of books all count toward the first week’s sales figures, so canny authors try to get people to buy copies in advance of publication.Eric Ries, a lecturer on entrepreneurship and innovation, went on a “pre-book” book tour to drum up interest before his work, “The Lean Startup”, even had a firm name, and started selling it online more than a year in advance of its publication.Even some of the most successful ones make most of their money from public speaking, consulting or teaching, and use the publicity gained by their books to justify higher fees.
- Russia is one of the three biggest military powers in the world. It has almost 3,000 tanks, many of which have been deployed near the Ukrainian border. By contrast, the entire tank force in European countries now numbers 8,000. Its armed forces number 770,000 active personnel but reservists and paramilitaries add a further 2.5m to that total. Defence spending rose by 10% in real terms annually for the three years to 2014, when it reached $70 billion, or 3.4% of its GDP. Only the United States, China and Saudi Arabia spent more.China’s submarine fleet is the biggest in the world, although only a few are nuclear-powered.
- GERMANY’S training for young people is medieval—in the best sense. As in the old guild system, young people wanting to join a trade, from welding to hairdressing, go through apprenticeships while completing school, earning formal qualifications. Many attribute the country’s apprenticeship system for the country’s low youth unemployment, of just 7.4% compared with a European Union average of 21.9%. A quarter of young Germans have foreign roots, but just 15% of the companies currently running apprenticeship schemes have at least one apprentice with what German bureaucrats call a “migration background”. The biggest such group is ethnically Turkish, but the numbers also include ethnic Germans from formerly communist Europe. But when 70% of Mittelstand companies complain of a lack of skilled labour, there is all the more reason to cast a wide net.
- WHEN disputes arise on Wikipedia, contributors are encouraged to go to a “talk page.” But often an “edit war” ensues: a change is repeatedly done by one person and undone by another—known as a “revert.” These reverts represent the most controversial articles. Taha Yasseri of the Oxford Internet Institute and colleagues looked at Wikipedia’s different language editions from their inception (January 2001 for English) to March 2010.Americans bicker over politics and professional wrestling; among the top French squabbles is Freud.


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Katelin Schumacher, Spencer Hanson and Colton Armstrong
The facts are true, students are just not getting the right nutrients in college. As there are many factors that contribute into this issue, some of them are highly preventable. Food insecurity on college campuses has grown into a huge problem. Many students are having to choose whether they want to buy food, or if they need to buy non-food necessities such as textbooks, rent, along with many others. According to researchers at Southern Illinois University, 35% of students at four-year universities reported low or very low food security. While another 23% stated they had marginal food insecurity. Only 45% of students on campus reported being food secure. Statistics also show that at community colleges, 67% of students report having marginal food security, and 13% of students reported that they do not receive the proper nutrition.
Some of the students here at DMACC skip meals. I know some of my teammates do not eat breakfast and that is the most important meal of the day. Personally, every morning if I wake up in time, I make eggs. However, if I don’t wake up early enough and I have to rush, I just make a smoothie. A lot of my teammates also don’t like to cook and a lot of them will just go out to eat and choose bad eating choices such as unhealthy food. A lot of these main choices are because of low their short amount of income, not being able to buy the correct types of food.
A lot of my teammates are not consuming the proper healthy foods that athletes need. They are lacking the correct amount of nutrients needed to be a top tier athlete. Getting the proper amount of nutrients is imperative in order for our bodies to grow healthier and stronger. Scholarships for baseball athletes are not very high in covering the whole cost of the college, they can only give out three fourths of a scholarship. Athletes have to come up with that other
twenty-five percent to buy groceries and gas other materials, sometimes if they are running low on their money they cut corners and not buy completely healthy foods.
According to a ‘Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior,’ over half of college students had high levels of “food insecurity,” meaning they had limited or uncertain availability to healthy foods due to high costs, leading to a higher risk of malnutrition. Money is definitely a issue for a lot of college students and athletes. If there’s no meal plan or a cafeteria for them, then it’s pretty hard to try to eat healthy and buy healthy food on their own. Instead of buying the cheap stuff such as 98 cent quick meals that might not be totally healthy for you.
By bringing the issues involving students health these issues to administrations, the problem involving food can decrease dramatically, and the students that may not be able to eat every meal or even one meal a day will be able to eat and be healthy. Eating healthier will result in the “Freshman 15,” or nowadays “Freshman 40,” going away, along with the ability to feel better about themselves throughout the day. When a person feels better about themselves, they will tend to perform better in academic activities, physical activities and any other activity. Eating healthier also allows the brain to function better and at a higher level, allowing students to be more alert. I urge other people to reach out to the administration and push for a meal plan to be put into place.


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April 24, 2023 | By Emma Goodyear
Stay loyal to premium brands or trade down? Shop online or visit the store? Buy local or stock up at a superstore?
Consumer needs and preferences continue to evolve at a pace that is hard to keep up with, let alone get ahead of. Economic factors such as geopolitical uncertainty, high inflation and rising interest rates, and general financial worries continue to disrupt and influence consumer spending decisions.
These changes in the global economy have a way of revealing new trends in how consumers react to them, forcing many industries that sell to consumers to reexamine and transform their strategies. The consumer goods industry is no different. While we expect more shifts, there are a few distinct areas where we see increased focus:
- Predicting rapidly changing consumer needs: Greater focus on understanding economic triggers and their impact on consumer spending and price elasticity.
- New ways to connect with consumers: Meeting consumers where they shop and addressing their preferences as they evolve.
- Driving supply chain transformation: Striving for a more digitized and sustainable supply chain.
Before diving into what we see in the industry, it’s crucial to understand how the economy and consumer choices are changing globally.
Consumer goods companies (also known as consumer packaged goods companies) were not immune to the inflation shock of 2022, but there were vast differences by product category, based on analysis from the Mastercard Economics Institute. For example, inflation spiked for household paper products, leading to a decline in spending. Less spending on household paper products may mean consumers are trading down to less expensive brands. In contrast, spending on cosmetics has been strong as people prioritized looking good when economies started re-opening.
High grocery inflation has also been a key driver of shifts in consumer preferences. In most European countries, consumers are shopping in person at grocery stores more frequently and spending less per visit.
However, high food inflation in Eastern European countries has driven up grocery spend despite consumers trading down in countries like Hungary, where spending on groceries was up 12.1% in January 2023 compared to January 2022 and up 11.2% in the Czech Republic, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse™, which measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment.
The trend in Asia Pacific is more varied. In September 2022, consumers in Australia had increased their grocery shopping trips by 6.7% compared to September 2019 and spent 9.4% more per visit, according to the Economic Outlook 2023 report. But in Indonesia, consumers increased their shopping trips by 35% but spent 3.1% less per visit. In Singapore, grocery sales were down -21.1% in January 2023 compared to January 20221.
The impact of inflation may be felt differently worldwide based on factors like fiscal policies and income levels2.
The lower the country is on the income ladder, the higher the impact.
Understanding and adapting to changing consumer needs and navigating the complex implications of the macroeconomic environment are crucial to success this year and beyond.
What other ways is the consumer goods industry changing in 2023?
Predicting rapidly evolving consumer needs
Continued economic uncertainty in 2023 brings a greater need to understand economic triggers and their impact on consumer spending and price elasticity. How do global consumer goods companies make reliable demand predictions knowing any event or combination of circumstances could dramatically change things?
Generally, consumer goods demand forecasting is sophisticated, often leveraging AI and machine learning.
No one has a crystal ball, so forecasting models capable of scenario planning and tracking to guardrails are key.
Incorporating macroeconomic trends into these models is complex but necessary.
Consider a seemingly simple scenario: What if inflation rises by 1%? Of course, any good forecasting model can look at prior times of increasing inflation to see how consumers reacted and build that into the forecast. But how does a 1% inflation increase impact consumer spending trends following a pandemic and stockpiling, followed by supply chain challenges and major consumer preference changes?
While historical data is still crucial to predicting the future, we may never have previously seen this exact combination of events. Predicting the outcome therefore becomes far more complex.
Predictive models should have the capacity to ingest macroeconomic data and triggers, along with controlling for special events and the consequential behavioral changes, working toward producing a baseline forecast backed up by a range of scenarios (both positive and negative) to assess the breadth of potential outcomes. This type of scenario forecasting helps frame things like:
- What is the potential impact on supply chains?
- How quickly might stockouts occur?
- How might different sub-sets of consumers respond?
- How is consumers’ price sensitivity changing across categories?
Only then can a solid contingency plan be developed to mitigate potential risks. Of course, there is also an upside of a rapidly changing market, providing that companies can quickly spot changing consumer needs and react quickly. Even in tough economic times, companies should continue to seek fresh opportunities and innovate with speed.
New ways to connect with consumers
Proximity to the consumer is an ongoing challenge for consumer goods companies. Direct-to-consumer brands and channels once seemed to be the answer, but the reality today is the scalable distribution play is through established retailers.
However, connecting with the consumer does not necessarily mean having a direct connection. Instead, connections and, ultimately brand loyalty, can be formed by meeting consumers where they are shopping and addressing their evolving preferences.
Meet the consumer where they want to shop
One channel that will continue to gain traction for consumer goods companies is retail media networks. These are retailer-owned platforms that enable in-store advertising via the digital channel, such as the retailer’s online store.
As Google prepares to eliminate third-party cookies from Chrome in 2024 and more regulations on consumer privacy are introduced, retail media networks have been a viable way for consumer goods brands to get in front of captive consumers.
Many large retailers across the globe are capitalizing on this opportunity, including grocery giants like Walmart, Walgreens-Boots, Schwartz and Woolworths. Advertising on retail media networks could reach 20% of U.S. digital ad spend in 2023, according to Gartner. Total global retail media spending could hit $160 billion by 2027, which represents a 60% growth rate over five years.
Addressing evolving consumer preferences
As if predicting rapidly evolving consumer needs wasn’t hard enough, capitalizing on insights gleamed is even more challenging. Consumer goods companies must generate and activate these insights quickly to make data-driven decisions.
Consider the role of analytics in the new product development cycle. Before product design, companies need to understand consumer needs and market conditions. Post-product launch, companies must quickly understand how the product performs and its impact on other product lines.
For example, a global consumer goods company based in the U.S. wanted to better understand consumer spending patterns across various industries and channels. So it used Mastercard’s SpendingPulse™ Next Generation platform to access market intelligence based on consumer buying behavior. The platform provided the company more insight into upcoming market trends and understand key drivers for fluctuations in consumer spending.
In another instance, a consumer goods company based in North America replaced a value product with a new mid-tier product. The company wanted to use a scientific approach to understand the sales impact of the new product launch, including potential cannibalization effects. The company used Mastercard Test & Learn® to test the product introduction in a subset of markets and evaluated the product’s performance. By targeting the distribution of the new product to a select set of stores using Test & Learn®’s predictive model, the company drove $15.3 million in incremental sales.
Adapting to emerging consumer trends quickly and using business experimentation to optimize consumer engagement is critical for staying relevant.
Driving supply chain transformation
Supply chain disruption has been felt worldwide in the last couple of years, impacting most consumers in some way. This led consumer goods companies to reexamine and transform supply chains. Mastercard is working with companies in two key areas:
Sourcing – Driving supply chain sustainability and resilience
Food and fast-moving consumer goods produce more than one-third of global emissions. Today’s consumers are increasingly aware of what their favorite brands represent, and, led by Gen Z, demand for increased sustainability measures is growing. Regulations also play a key role in net-zero emissions, as well as reusable or recyclable packaging by 2030 with the European Union’s Green Deal.
No wonder consumer goods companies are more focused than ever on building sustainability into their supply chains. However, identifying weaknesses and opportunities for improvement is a critical component and can be quite challenging.
Mastercard is working with consumer goods companies to overcome these challenges with the recent launch of Global Treasury Intelligence. This is a collaborative platform that extracts data from a company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (or often multiple ERP systems) and cleanses and normalizes these complex data sets into a single platform capable of identifying risks and commercial opportunities. This gives companies a 360-degree view of their suppliers, their diversity and environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings and implications across the supply chain.
The platform also generates insights on how and when companies pay suppliers, which is significant for smaller suppliers as many are working capital constrained. Paying these smaller suppliers faster can mean more opportunities to diversify supply chain partners and support small businesses.
Distribution – Digitizing the ecosystem for small retailers
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies create close to 70% of jobs and GDP worldwide but more than half struggle to thrive. According to research from the World Economic Forum and the National University of Singapore Business School, 67% of executives from SMEs cite survival and expansion as their primary challenge.
Small businesses like grocery stores and restaurants and bars play a vital role in the consumer goods value chain due to their proximity to end consumers. But they need access to the short-term working capital critical to survival and growth. As a result, in tough economic times, these small businesses tend to be the first to collapse.
Consumer goods companies also suffer in cash-heavy economies, leading to fraud, security challenges and operational inefficiency. So providing a digital and financial ecosystem for SMEs represents an opportunity for consumer goods companies to boost sell-in and make the distribution network more efficient while increasing the resilience, opportunities and loyalty of their retailers. And this is precisely the ambition of many of our consumer goods partners, particularly in emerging markets.
Mastercard is working with consumer goods companies to develop digital programs for small businesses to help them access formal credit, use digital payments for paying and receiving, and embed B2B loyalty to get rewarded along the way. One example is Mastercard’s Microcredit program, which combines distribution data from Unilever and analysis by Mastercard to provide micro-credit eligibility recommendations to KCB Bank in Kenya. The bank then uses this information to assess a retailer’s creditworthiness and extend formal credit for stock purchases – interest-free for up to 17 days.
This program is helping create financial resilience to help combat the effects of tough economic conditions and help small businesses thrive.
As the global economy and consumer preferences evolve, consumer goods companies must focus on making data-driven decisions using economic and consumer insights, finding new channels and approaches for engaging consumers and driving supply chain transformation. Mastercard works with global consumer goods companies to focus on these evolving priorities. To learn more, reach out to your Mastercard representative or contact us.
2 Economic Outlook 2023, Mastercard Economics Institute, December 2022
3 “E-commerce & retail media forecast,” GroupM, WPP’s Media Investment Group, September 2022.
4 4 ways the food and consumer goods industries can decarbonize their supply chains,” World Economic Forum, November 11, 2022.
5 “Future readiness of SMEs and mid-sized companies: A year on,” World Economic Forum, December 2022.


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Global tyre manufacturers have committed significant funds to expanding their operations over the past 12 months, according to new research.
Tyre Business has released a report which shows that tyre firms have pledged to spend around $10 billion (£6.2 billion) to increase production capacity over the past year – a record for a single year.
This has largely been driven by the ambitious plans of Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli and French giant Michelin.
Pirelli's expansion plans are based across the world, with the firm planning projects worth nearly $600 million (£373 million) in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
The firm is set to invest in its car and light truck tyre plant in Silao, Mexico, as well as a number of its Russian facilities and its plant in Merlo, Argentina.
Meanwhile, Michelin has committed around $1.46 billion to build a new car and truck tyre plant in the Chinese city of Shenyang, which is set to be completed in 2014.
The group is also planning to expand production capacity at its South Carolina and Indian plants, as well as its Serbian and French operations.
Posted by Danielle Barge


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Fintech firm MONVA announces second fundraising campaign
Fintech MONVA has launched its latest round of fundraising, returning to Crowdcube one year after its last fundraising target.
MONVA is now targeting a further £200,000 investment via Crowdcube, ahead of a larger institutional round expected to take place towards the end of 2021.
MONVA is a new smart comparison service which uses customer data and artificial intelligence to personalise and revolutionise the price comparison customer experience.
The service is the brainchild of CEO Steve Wiley and COO Stuart Wakefield, who previously held senior executive positions at MoneySuperMarket, MBNA and Virgin Money, with decades of experience in Fintech and financial services.
Commenting on the fundraising campaign, CEO Steve Wiley said: “We’re proud to announce our latest round of crowdfunding following an exciting period of development for MONVA.
“Price comparison sites were at the forefront of the digital revolution in financial services. However, innovation has slowed, and the mainstream model has become outdated, predicated on the user doing the hard work and built on a noisy, icon led marketplace. Despite their growth, there remains over 80% of people in the UK who have never switched a product, or switch rarely. Our smart technology and money-saving assistant, Mo, represent the biggest advancement in the industry yet. Our aim is to serve not only those who use comparison today but also those who have been put off from making important financial decisions and the potential of saving money by using services promoted by gimmicks that do little to support the customer.
“MONVA entered the market at an essential time for UK consumers. While COVID-19 caused a reduction in deals for credit products due to high uncertainty, this has given consumers time to consider their existing products and research new ones. As the economy and the financial services markets go back into motion and recover, so too will demand for price comparison.
“Since our last raise in May 2020, MONVA has made incredible progress. We have hired several senior specialists; built partnerships with key brands to enable extensive product coverage across credit cards, loans and energy; and built key elements of our technology, launching into energy and credit card switching markets. We’re excited about the huge opportunity ahead of us to continue building MONVA and developing a next-generation price comparison service for our users.”


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Yesterday, over 100 business groups wrote to the Congress and the Administration requesting that the response to the economic crisis confronting us is on the same scale as steps being taken to respond to the virus itself. Entire portions of the economy have been shut down, and already businesses are closing their doors and laying off workers. For the economic response to be effective, it needs to be broad and it needs to be in place quickly.
Here’s the text of the letter. You can access the pdf and the signatories here.


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Amazon is enjoying what are touted to be good sales of the Kindle 2, and the rumor mill is going full speed that a new, larger Kindle is to be announced this week. The buzz surrounds a deal that Amazon has supposedly inked with The New York Times to provide a Kindle with a large screen for viewing periodicals like newspapers. I am afraid they may run into some harsh realities if they release such a beast.
The rumor was sparked by an invitation that some journalists have received for a press event:
We’d like to invite you to an Amazon.com press conference scheduled for Wednesday, May 6 at 10:30 am ET. The press conference is scheduled to take place at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, located at 3 Spruce Street, New York City. Doors will open for registration at 9:30 am ET.
This has desperation written all over it. A large Kindle is not going to stop the death-spiral that newspapers are firmly in the grasp of, no matter how cool. Who is going to carry such a large Kindle around with them? No one, and that’s a big hurdle to overcome. Couple that with the cost such a device would require, and it’s game over before the starting buzzer. The littler Kindle costs over $300; this one would possibly have to run a good $500, and who’s going to pay that to read their favorite newspaper they are already reading free online?


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Over 15,000 WordPress websites have been compromised and redirected to fake portals to increase spam website traffic.
A new malicious SEO campaign has successfully compromised over 15,000 WordPress websites. The goal of the campaign is to redirect users to fake Q&A sites to increase visitor traffic.
Over 15,000 WordPress Sites Compromised
In a new black hat redirect campaign, hackers have managed to compromise over 15,000 WordPress websites to increase the search engine rank of various phony websites.
As reported in a Sucuri blog post, there has been…


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TOKYO (AFP) – Toyota on Wednesday said it was on track for record $17.5 billion full-year net profit, as Japan’s major automakers wrapped up a bumper earnings season, but a slowdown in Asia, including China, could slam the brakes on growth.
The world’s biggest automaker revised up its fiscal year profit forecast by 12.4 per cent to 2.0 trillion yen, and said revenue would come in at 26.5 trillion yen, as it saw strong results in North America.
It also booked a 1.13 trillion yen net profit for the six months through September, from 1.00 trillion yen a year ago, while revenue rose 3.3 per cent to 12.94 trillion yen.
The results came a day after rival Nissan said its half-year net profit rose 25 per cent to 237 billion yen and Honda last week reported a nearly 19 per cent jump in its six-month net profit to 288.41 billion yen.
The Japanese auto industry has benefited from the big-spending policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with huge monetary easing measures from the premier’s hand-picked team at the Bank of Japan helping push down the yen since last year.
A weaker yen boosts the competitiveness of exporters and inflates their repatriated overseas profits, although analysts say the effect has been waning in recent months.
“The lower yen is undoubtedly a tailwind but factors other than that have not improved significantly from the first quarter,” said Credit Suisse analyst Masahiro Akita. “It is unclear how demand in China – a core market for Japanese automakers – will fare,” he added.
Nissan and Honda both warned over slowing sales in China.
Toyota reported a nearly 7.0 per cent increase in the huge market, but half-year results were down in some other key Asian markets including Indonesia and Thailand, which has been hammered by political unrest, with sales tumbling 26 per cent from a year earlier.


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Twitter Partners is led by former Nielsen president and angel investor Peter Read and is a privately held, London-based firm.
Read has assembled a line-up of well-known digital figures to advise the company. They include former Yahoo! vice-president Toby Coppel, Last.fm founder Stefan Glaenzer, LoveFilm co-founder Saul Klein and Lastminute.com founders Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman.
According to reports Twitter is investing an equity stake in the company.
One of Twitter Partners' first tasks is a campaign promoting the release the animated band Gorillaz' upcoming documentary titled 'Bananaz'.
Other clients include Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Knitting Factory, Paramount and Comedy.com.
Twitter Partners will offer the brands a number of services, including customer insight, profiling and segmentation, CRM, buzz monitoring, virtual focus groups and corporate reputation management.
It will initially work on a consultancy basis but plans to expand into products and automation in the future.
According to twitter Partners' website, it has already lined up 11 agency partners, including Razorfish and Unanimis, and is "building a suite of apps, tools and services to help brands, media companies, and celebrities harness the power of the Twitter ecosystem".
The Twitter 'ecosystem' is now inhabited by more than 7m users but Twitter itself has yet to find a secure revenue model. The company houses approximately 30 staff, mostly engineers, and has been more focused on technical than commercial development.
Twitter is currently being courted by many firms, including Google, which was reported to be in "late-stage" acquisition talks with Twitter last week, though it now appears negotiations are at a much earlier stage.
A number of brands and celebrities are already well-established on Twitter, including Stephen Fry, Starbucks and Comparethemarket.com, which recently ran a campaign asking Twitter users if they would like to appear on a testimonial page on its mascot's website.
Earlier today it was revealed that public relations advisor Carri Bugbee plans to launch a Twitter-based ad agency for media and entertainment companies on the back of the success of a Twitter account based on the fictional agency from the television series 'Mad Men'.


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Whether for health reasons, to improve your fitness or because you want to save calories: more and more people are getting on alcohol-free beer around. Now those who want to lose weight and have therefore given up alcoholic beverages should be particularly happy. supposedly helps alcohol-free beer in fat burning. wmn has investigated what is behind.
Can non-alcoholic beer really make you lose weight?
Non-alcoholic beer is said to increase fat burning, at least that’s what a 2018 study says. At the time, two teams of scientists from Germany and Austria examined two different ingredients in non-alcoholic beer: xanthohumol and iso-alpha acids. According to Prof. Dr. Claus Hellerbrand of the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg, the two substances can not only Obesity, but it also helps with inflammation and cancer.
The result may be surprising because, as another study recently found, above all, Non-alcoholic beer causes blood sugar levels to spike. Finally, high blood sugar levels are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular problems, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Therefore, both studies must be viewed critically.
Non-alcoholic beer is said to promote fat burning
Studies have shown that xanthohumol reduces the risk of obesity and malnutrition It inhibits fatty liver and prevents the liver from scarring. According to the head of the study, Prof. Hellerbrand, the substance is also responsible for killing liver cancer cells that prevents weight gain from overeating.
But the iso-alpha acids found in non-alcoholic beer are also said to do something amazing. “They have a positive effect on health and not only inhibit liver damage, but they have a positive effect on the metabolism of fats and sugars.“
That’s what the experts say.
Depending on the type you drink, beer contains a lot of calories. It’s not for nothing that men talk often from a beer belly. However, things don’t look so bad today. A normal beer contains about 43 calories per 100 milliliters, with non-alcoholic beer it’s only 25 calories. That he but lose weight with beer, many experts are quite skeptical.
This is how the nutritionist Uwe Knop comments to the magazine fit book very critical of the study results. The fact that non-alcoholic beer is supposed to slim down and protect against cancer is the stuff of experts. “Fictitious nonsense”.
However, he also refers to a quote from the person responsible for the study: “It is (…) conceivable that the consumption of non-alcoholic beer or other foods and beverages containing hops (…) could have a positive effect “. The researchers put their statement into perspective with the word “conceivable.”
Conclusion: Non-alcoholic beer is not a fat burner
About xanthohumol substances and iso-alpha acids no basic research yet According to Uwe Knop. “Just because one sees positive effects in the test tube with substances isolated from beer, doesn’t mean no way that eating the whole meal actually shows the effects in real life.”


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Housebuilder, Barratt Developments, has announced that it has delivered a strong performance since the start of 2019, experiencing high customer demand aided by a stable market backdrop.
According to the firm, during the period from 1 January to 5 May 2019, the company’s net private reservations per active outlet per average week were 0.79 against 0.80 during the equivalent period in 2018.
It operated from 388 outlets, which matched the same period last year, launching 47 new developments (2018: 33). Barratt said it continued to anticipate average active outlet numbers for the full year being similar to 2018.
It added that it was progressing well with its medium term targets, with its focus on driving margin improvements through the firm.
And in improving its cost profile, Barratt said that this financial year it had refined its new housing ranges further with the ranges being rolled out across the business, “providing us with the flexibility to replan sites to suit market conditions and meet consumer demands should the need arise”. It added that the new ranges were compatible with modern methods of construction.
As of 5 May 2019, Barratt’s total forward sales were 2.4% ahead of the same point last year, at £3,365.1 million.
David Thomas, Barratt’s CEO said, “This has been another strong period for the group. As Britain’s largest housebuilder we remain firmly committed to delivering industry-leading build quality and customer service and we are proud to have been awarded five stars for customer satisfaction for ten years in a row.
“Trading since the beginning of the year has been strong, the outlook for the year is modestly ahead of our previous expectations and we are encouraged by our continued progress in driving operating efficiencies through the business.
“Whilst we continue to monitor the market closely, we are confident of delivering a good financial and operational performance in FY19.”


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BEIJING: At first glance, it’s a seemingly busy weekday morning for the fruit and vegetable shop that Mr Li Hongyan works at, located in a residential area in the Chinese capital.But it is not business as usual.Consumers in China are starting to feel the pinch as the country grapples with rising food prices, with factors such as bad weather and disease causing supply to dip.Officials have sought to allay concerns, saying that it will step up monitoring as well as efforts to guarantee supply of necessities, such as fruits, vegetables and meat.Fresh fruit prices jumped 27 per cent in May, compared to a year ago. Mr Lu said some customers avoided buying the more expensive fruits.“This year, especially apples and pears, the price has gone up by a lot more compared to previous years," said Mr Li."The price has gone up because the supply is down.”Fruit supply has been affected by severe weather in parts of China. Business has taken a hit, Mr Li … [Read more...] about Consumers in China feel the pinch as food prices rise
Apple in china
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple is seen as a prime target for retaliation over US moves against the Chinese tech giant Huawei, but the roots planted by the company in China should help it weather the storm, analysts say. While Beijing may take aim at Apple in the countries’ high-stakes trade war, experts believe that the company’s size, cachet, and years spent cultivating business relationships in China should protect it from any direct retaliation. “As the US pounds on Huawei, Apple is the likely target for China to pound back,“ technology analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group said. “As the trade war accelerates, then Apple and Huawei are the two firms likely to get the damage,“ he said. Huawei has been thrust to the center of escalating tensions between the world’s two top economies, which have exchanged tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in two-way trade. President Donald Trump’s administration has infuriated Beijing by blacklisting the … [Read more...] about Will Apple’s roots in China hold fast amid political storm?
WASHINGTON: The tough sanctions imposed on Huawei by President Donald Trump could deal a blow to the many US firms that make up the Chinese tech giant's supply chain.American firms last year sold an estimated US$11 billion worth of components to Huawei, which was put on a blacklist last week by Washington over national security concerns as trade frictions grow between the US and China.Trump's executive order could effectively ban makers of US hardware and software from selling to Huawei by requiring a special licence from Washington.The Commerce Department on Monday delayed the sanctions on Huawei for 90 days, saying the additional time was needed to allow for software updates and other contractual obligations.The agency said it was granting Huawei a "temporary general license" through August 19 allowing for transactions "necessary to maintain and support existing and currently fully operational networks and equipment, including software updates and patches, subject to legally binding … [Read more...] about Huawei sanctions: A blow to US tech firms in supply chain?
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - China-based Huawei outsold Apple's iPhones in the first quarter of this year, seizing the California company's second place spot in a tightening smartphone market dominated by Samsung, a tracker said Tuesday (April 30). A total of 310.8 million smartphones were shipped globally during the first three months of this year in a 6.6 per cent decline from the same period in 2018, according to preliminary data from the Chinese-owned International Data Corporation (IDC). It was the sixth consecutive quarter of decline for global smartphone shipments, the market tracker added. IDC saw the results as a sign that 2019 will be another down year overall for smartphone shipments, apart from strong growth by Huawei. "It is becoming increasingly clear that Huawei is laser focused on growing its stature in the world of mobile devices, with smartphones being its lead horse," said IDC mobile device programme director Ryan Reith. "The overall smartphone market continues to be … [Read more...] about Huawei jumps ahead of Apple in tough smartphone market
REUTERS: Apple Inc on Tuesday forecast stronger-than-expected third-quarter revenue and Chief Executive Tim Cook said iPhone sales had started to stabilize in China, a sign that Apple's price cuts there are helping limit sales declines.IPhone sales marked their steepest decline ever, falling 17 percent in the fiscal second quarter from a year earlier and slightly missing analyst expectations. But Apple executives said a pickup in iPhone sales toward the end of the second quarter, along with growth in sales of services and wearable devices, made them optimistic about the current quarter.Shares rose more than 5 percent to US$211.50 in after-hours trading after Apple announced the results.Apple said it expects revenue between US$52.5 billion and US$54.5 billion for the current quarter ending in June, above analysts' average estimate of US$51.93 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.In an interview, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said that iPhone sales started to strengthen during … [Read more...] about Apple optimistic on sales as iPhone price cuts help in China