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Socially responsible condom company Hero is aligning with NSW Health to launch a fashion design competition aimed at destigmatising condom use among youth.
The competition gives entrants the chance to win tickets to this year’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Weekend Edition by using Hero condoms to conceptualise a unique fashion design.
The competition is a part of National Youth Week, an initiative created by young people for young people to discuss important issues, showcase their talents and celebrate their contribution to the community.
“Youth Week is the perfect opportunity to call attention to the many health issues facing young people across Australia,” Hero CMO David Wommelsdorff said. “STIs are on the rise in Australia, and are reported to be the highest they have ever been among 15-24 year olds, so it is critical that we support efforts that destigmatise the use of condoms and encourage young people to get involved and have a voice in this important issue.”
Hero is committed to stopping the spread of HIV through its ‘one for one’ business model, whereby for every condom sold in Australia and New Zealand, Hero donates one. It has pledged to donate two million condoms to the people of Botswana in 2016.
“Hero’s promotion of condom use resonates with young people, so they are well placed to encourage them to take greater control of their sexual health,” Head of STI Programs Unit at NSW Health Dr Chris Bourne said.
National Youth Week runs April 8-17, 2016.


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Authorities say the darknet platform had half a million users, where drugs, counterfeit money, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards. By JT HarviainenCited by 9 The dark web is often associated with criminal activities such as drug trading and the spread of child exploitation images, but it also contains many completely. Hydra was the largest darknet marketplace, accounting for 80 of Users could buy just about anything on Hydra, from illegal drugs and. On the dark web, anything goes, whether it be illegal drug sales, the Silk Road marketplace, a defunct black market and the most famous dark web site. Authorities Shutter Sprawling Dark Web Drug Bazaar and Seize 25 A Russian-language darknet marketplace, Hydra has been one of the. Hydra was an online criminal marketplace where mostly Russian users bought and sold illegal goods and services, including illegal drugs, stolen.
The darknet's biggest contraband marketplace has vanished in a suspected 12 million swindle that's sent tremors of panic through the online. Hydra was an online criminal marketplace where primarily Russian users bought and sold illicit goods and services, including illegal drugs. A darknet marketplace has announced that it has prohibited the sale of fentanyl after a dramatic rise in the number of overdoses related to. By archetyp market url JT Harviainen 2022 Cited by 9 and way of life to analyze cultural and socioeconomic factors related to the lives of drug users who utilize a Finnish dark web site. Despite the FBI shutting down the Silk Road back in 2022, people's confidence in the dark web as a marketplace for illegal drugs doesn't. A young Canadian man was allegedly the mastermind of AlphaBay, an internet marketplace that traded in illegal drugs, firearms and.
Darknet markets' mainstay is the sale of illegal drugs. The RAND Corporation reports that researchers at Carnegie Mellon archetyp market darknet University concluded that darknet. AlphaBay's dark web site is now accessible not only via Tor, a life sentence for running the original dark web drug market known as Silk. This darknet trade offers an entirely new way for drug dealers to sell their of the geographical marketplace for the illegal drug trade. Several horrible video contents are available on the dark deep web sites. After the conviction of Ross Ulbricht, the owner of the drug marketplace Silk. Drugs,chemicals, Guide & tutorials, Digital Products, Services, Other listings and others. Marketplace Valhalla: This deep. The major darknet marketplace known as the Wall Street Market have been took down the owners archetyp market link of darknet drug emporium Wall Street Market.
A northern California man was arrested Monday for distributing marijuana and cocaine nationwide through marketplace sites on the Darknet. AlphaBay's dark web site dark web drug marketplace is now accessible not only via Tor, a life sentence for running the original dark web drug market known as Silk. In Britain, police arrested six people, including suspected web administrators of the online drug marketplace Silk Road dark web drug marketplace and vendors who. They function primarily as black markets, selling or brokering transactions involving drugs, cyber-arms, weapons, counterfeit currency, stolen credit card. By J Buxton Cited by 116 We should not have drug forums, we need a decentralized marketplace software that is NOT meant for use for illegal activity but is able to be used for ANY sort. Thailand seizes 21 million in assets from dead founder of dark net marketplace AlphaBay BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police have seized nearly.
Monopoly market is an XMR darknet market where people can buy drugs using Dark Market is a small darkweb marketplace it prides itself with running. A northern California man was arrested Monday for distributing marijuana and archetyp link cocaine nationwide through marketplace sites on the Darknet. By Z Li 2022 Cited by 5 Overdoses from opioids, a class of drugs that includes both prescription pain relievers and illegal narcotics, account for more deaths in the. Reportedly, AlphaBay's database comprised 200,000 users, 40,000 vendors, 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals. The AlphaBay. In 2022 alongside AlphaBay and Hansa, Dream Market was the third-largest marketplace in the field. It had an incredibly large product range, including drugs. Different darkweb marketplaces offer to buy illegal drugs online like LSD, The Alpha Market is a very new type of darknet marketplace or one of the.
Uk Darknet Markets

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Pharmacists Hoping for the Best
By Michael Kaufman
News that Gov. Cuomo has finally signed into law a bill that prohibits insurers from requiring patients to get prescriptions through the mail was greeted with guarded optimism by owners of independent hometown pharmacies. The law, which passed overwhelmingly in both houses of the state legislature earlier this year, will allow people to fill any prescription covered by mail order at an independent retail pharmacy. But there’s a catch.
The governor said the law will only go into effect after state legislators approve an amendment requiring retail pharmacists to agree in advance to accept the same reimbursement rate as mail-order pharmacies. Just how this will work remains to be seen. Will local pharmacists be able to obtain prescription drugs from pharmaceutical companies at prices similar to those negotiated by health insurers with big mail-order companies such as Medco? If not, neighborhood pharmacies will continue to be squeezed as they’ve become accustomed to in recent years with competition from chains such as CVS and Drug Fair, big-box stores such as Walmart and Costco, and from supermarkets that offer pharmacy services in addition to groceries.
The stark fact is that about 375 independent pharmacies in New York have closed since 2008, according to the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York. The group estimates that between $4 billion and $5 billion for prescriptions leaves the state each year because of mail orders. The organization hailed the Dec. 13 signing by Cuomo as “a tremendous victory for all pharmacies in New York State and the millions of New Yorkers they serve.”
“We are hoping for the best,” said pharmacist Jean Murphy, co-owner of Akin’s pharmacy in Warwick. “We don’t know yet how it is going to work.” The governor provided no date as to when the measures would take effect.
Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), which opposed the bill, welcomed Cuomo’s insistence on the amendment. “Employers, taxpayers and consumers appreciate Governor Cuomo’s admonition to the legislature to improve this costly, anti-consumer bill,” said Mark Merritt, CEO of the Washington-based lobbying group. “In this economy, employers need every cost-saving tool they can get and mail-service pharmacy is at the top of the list.”
The PCMA casts local pharmacists as anti-consumer villains, as does the New York Health Plan Association (NYHPA), which lobbies on behalf of 25 managed health care plans in the state. In opposing the original bill, the NYHPA declared, “This proposal enriches community pharmacists at the expense of patients and will result in increased pharmaceutical costs.”
As noted previously, the original bill was also opposed by the Business Council of New York State (BCNYS), which condemned it as a “state-imposed coverage mandate [that] will increase overall costs to the health care system, limiting one very real opportunity and option to bend the cost curve in health care without any decrease in access or quality to care.”
This statement is belied daily by the real-life experiences of the supposed beneficiaries of this largesse. After our previous post on this topic last month, Peter B. of Warwick wrote, “I HATE Express Scripts, but have to use them. ALWAYS, ALWAYS late, and when I call, which is every time, I get the same bland crap; nothing even remotely helpful or actionable.”
Consumers forced to use Medco, the largest of the mail-order firms and a spinoff of pharmaceutical giant Merck, regularly voice their complaints via the internet at consumeraffairs.com. Here is a sampling of recent comments:
Heather of Ladson, SC, wrote, “I have had nothing but headaches and issues with Medco from the beginning….You receive different information from each representative you speak with….First, they tried to deny medications that my doctor specifically requested (with prescription and official letter) for me because they were supposedly ‘not covered’ under my plan.”
Susan of Drums, Pa., wrote, “I was never notified I would be forced to use the mail order program. And now I am without my medication because I am required to go back to my doctor and spend money I don’t have to get a new prescription….”
Michelle, of Phoenix, Ariz., wrote, “I called to place an order on a prescription and the prescription was never filled. I called back and was told the request was never made, yet I have my confirmation email. The rep then placed another refill request and I was assured it would ship by a certain date as I was almost out of medication. To no surprise the medication did not ship on the date I was advised. I have spent several hours on the phone over the past week with no resolution. I was told I could transfer it to a local pharmacy to be filled immediately.
“I later received a call from Medco stating they tried to transfer it but the local pharmacy didn’t have it in stock….I decided to call the pharmacy myself and found out they do have the medication in stock…. I asked to speak with a [Medco] manager and was advised there was no manager available. I am now left without my medication and have no idea when or if I will actually receive it.”
But the lobbyists at the BCNYS keep spinning: “Typically, mail order pharmacies are an option to employees, not a mandate, and the option usually is accompanied by passing along the savings to the insured in terms of lower out-of-pocket co-pays. If an insured prefers to use a non-mail order pharmacy, it is the informed choice of that consumer to fill the prescription knowing that the co-pay will be higher.” Big Brother would be proud.
Companies that offer mail-order pharmacy as an “option” make it clear they want employees to use mail order. Nonunionized workers in the private sector, fearful of losing their jobs, are likely to comply, like it or not.
Those who don’t are badgered by robot phone calls and mailings from Medco. These start out cordially enough: gentle reminders that you are missing out on a wonderful healthcare benefit and an opportunity to save money. After a while they become more ominous and take on an unmistakingly threatening, invasive tone. They remind you that the cost of your prescription for a specific drug will soon go up if you don’t switch now. They are Big Brother. They’re watching you. And they got to the governor.
Hometown pharmacists are hoping for the best, but the worst would be no surprise.
Michael can be reached at email@example.com.
Tags: Michael Kaufman


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Normal, Illinois is like many small U.S. towns. Located on the northern fringes of Bloomington, Il., a large percentage of its 54,000 population are employed by either the Illinois State University, State Farm Insurance, Country Financial, or Mitsubishi Motors North America.
Despite how normal Normal is, however, the town is home to more than 300 electric cars, equating to one electric car for every 180 residents. This is far higher than the U.S. national average of one electric car for every two to three thousand residents, so how did Normal do it?
The answer is part legislation, part governmental support, and really great EV infrastructure, as Normal’s awesome new EV-oreinted EVTown documentary details alongside its new education and promotional website, EVTown.org details.
The documentary — which interviews everyone from its council members and Major through to EV drivers and everyday residents — details how the town’s interest in electric cars dates back to its eco-friendly Major and a whole slew of enviornmentally-responsible incentives.
Normal’s love-affair with electric cars goes back several years, and can be traced — at least initially — to Mitsubishi North America. That’s because Normal happens to be where Mitsubishi North America’s production facility has been based since the 1980s. And when times were tough for Mitsubishi back in 2011, pro-EV Major Chris Koos, along with Illinois governor Pat Quinn, worked hard to brand the town ‘EVTown.’ As part of that, the state and town cut a massive incentives deal with Mitsubishi to save 1,200 jobs at the Normal facility and encourage EV adoption in the area.
Working with local businesses and the local government, Koos and his staff realised that Normal was perfectly disposed to become a leader in electric vehicle adoption — and not just Mitsubishi cars. So the Blooming-Normal Electric Vehicle Task Force was set up and the concept of the EVTown was born.
It didn’t take long for legislators in Normal and neighbouring Bloomington to aggressively develop the necessary public charging infrastructure needed to encourage its residents to feel confident enough in electric car technology to dump the pump for good.
Using Federal grants, Normal purchased 48 level 2 stations which it placed throughout the town, as well as one CHAdeMO DC quick charge unit. Earlier this year, the city council voted 5-2 to
approve a five-year lease of four Tesla Superchargers, allow Tesla to license spaces in the town to locate four Superchargers, making the town a stop-off point for any Tesla Model S owner, state resident or visitor.
With so much charging infrastructure, not to mention a waiver of the usual permit fees charged on public or private electric car charging stations installed within the town’s limits and a 1 percent sales tax rebate for all Normal residents on the purchase of a new EV, it didn’t take long for EVs to make economic and environmental sense.
Once incentives were in place, dealers soon followed suit, offering unbelievable lease deals on cars in an attempt to cash in on the local EV buzz. Combined with free charging all over town, it’s no surprise that EVs are now the norm in Normal, and the town’s commitment to plug-in cars extends far beyond the Mitsubishi i-Miev with plug-in cars from every major manufacturer represented in and around town.
It may have started as a cute marketing campaign on behalf of Mitsubishi, but these days, Normal’s pro-EV stance has made its self-appointed title as EVTown a self-fulfilling prophecy. So is it something our own cities and towns could replicate?
We think so, but what do you think? Leave your thoughts in the Comments below.
Hat-tip: Brad Horton for the video link!
You can also support us directly as a monthly supporting member by visiting Patreon.com.


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Now more than ever, business leaders are looking for fresh ideas, new understanding, and actionable insights to jumpstart their business. Denise Lee Yohn inspires, informs, and instructs them with a completely different way of thinking about their business. Blending a fresh perspective, twenty-five years of experience working with world-class brands including Sony and Frito-Lay, and a talent for inspiring audiences, Denise is a leading authority on building and positioning exceptional brands. Below, Denis looks at the new management at McDonald’s, and why their lack of experience in critical areas may end up being problematic for the brand:
At first blush, McDonald’s recent decision to bring in some new leaders seems bold. Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press secretary during his first term and senior campaign adviser during his re-election campaign, and Silvia Lagnado, creator of the Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty,” seem like real fire-power to be waged against the company’s shrinking sales.
But despite the impressive resumes for the chain’s new global chief communications officer and global chief marketing officer respectively, they both lack what McDonald’s really needs right now – experience in a franchised retail operation.
Of course, McDonald’s needs the objective perspective and fresh ideas of people from a wide range of backgrounds which Gibbs and Lagnado will certainly bring – as well as their respective experiences fielding communications campaigns that have inspired cultural movements and changed deeply rooted beliefs. But the franchisor-franchisee relationship is so unlike any other and the retail industry is undergoing such significant transformation that it’s likely the new managers’ lack of experience in these areas will impede their effectiveness.
Fast food marketing has a dirty little secret – more chief marketing officers are fired because of failed franchisee relationships than failed consumer campaigns. The franchisee community of most quick serve companies wields unusual influence on the retention of corporate personnel in general, but the top marketing spot is almost always under fire. At some level, this is understandable – franchisees put up the dollars to run the marketing campaigns. McDonald’s franchisees contribute 1.6% of their sales to the company’s national advertising fund. And while they’re not required to participate, those who abstain don’t receive access to the company’s marketing programs.
Cultivating trust among franchisees, galvanizing their support for unconventional ideas, and gaining their cooperation when business is bad is no easy task, particularly for the uninitiated. Plus franchisee engagement – or lack thereof – is probably the biggest problem McDonald’s currently faces. According to research by Janney Capital Markets, relations between franchisees and corporate are at their lowest in more than 11 years – and the company’s turnaround plan depends in part on getting franchisees to spend more to fund new initiatives like double-lane drive-thrus and new customization platforms in their kitchens. Unlike the political opponents that Gibbs has had to fight off, franchisees can’t be vilified or antagonized. And unlike the channel partners that Lagnado has had to work with, they aren’t easily appeased with promotional dollars.
The far-reaching, fast-moving changes in the retail industry also present a steep learning curve for the two new leaders. Technology alone presents a host of new opportunities and challenges. From order placement to order fulfillment, customization, payments, and loyalty – every aspect of the customer journey is ripe for transformation and new capabilities are uncovered practically daily. Social media plays a unique role in retail, given the expectation of real-time customer service and the need to engage in-store employees. And then there’s need to support, promote, and advance operational excellence in the brick-and-mortar in-person experience, which has been McDonald’s kryptonite of late. None of these are areas of strength or experience for Gibbs or Lagnado.
McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook heralded the new hires as instrumental to the company’s attempt to become a “progressive burger company.” Gibbs and Lagnado may indeed be “progressive” but their lack of experience in critical areas may also end up being problematic.


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Other estimates are more subdued. ShopperTrak reports that because of aggressively priced doorbusters and other promotions, sales on Black Friday itself increased just 0.3% versus the same period in 2009, to a record $10.69 billion in various retail locations. Friday's foot traffic increased 2.2%.
Retailers' efforts to draw shoppers in earlier were quite effective, the NRF reports, with the number of shoppers venturing out at midnight tripling to 9.5%. By 4 a.m., 24% of Black Friday shoppers were already inside the stores. With more retailers opening on Thanksgiving Day, people responded by heading to the mall instead of lounging on the couch, with 22.3 million shopping Thanksgiving Day. (Back in 2005, just 10.3 million people did so.)
The NRF says it is also encouraged by shoppers splurging on less practical gifts than in the last few recession-themed years, with 14.3% buying jewelry, up from 11.7% last year. Gift cards, toys, and books and electronic entertainment sales are also outpacing last year's results.
Traffic increased at both department stores and clothing stores. And it looks like direct channels are also doing well: QVC says it had its best Black Friday ever, with $42 million in sales. Online sales also rose a healthy 15.2%, with 33.6% shopping online this weekend.
The NRF also says it predicts that 106 million people will shop online on Nov. 29 -- Cyber Monday -- up from 96.5 million last year. The study conducted by Shop.org, the NRF's e-commerce division, says hundreds of retailers have already announced one-day-only deals, percentages-off, and free shipping offers, which is expected to drive sales.
Last week, comScore forecast an 11% increase in online spending for the holiday period, with sales expected to reach $32.4 billion.


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WHEN THE LAMBERT brothers started to experiment with brewing in 2009, the craft beer scene wasn’t very noisy. A lot has changed since then.
In 2012, there were 15 microbreweries in Ireland. Last year, that figure was up to 62. The competition is even fiercer on the world stage, which makes standing out from the crowd a tall order.
Some new breweries resort to telling the personal story behind the company to stand out, but Nicky Lambert, co-founder of Wexford-based YellowBelly Beer, opted for something a bit different.
“What we’re trying to do is build an international brand so we see our competitors as being global craft beer breweries like Sierra Nevada, Stone and Founders,” he tells Fora.
“When we started out, people were telling us we needed to be telling a story, so we said we could tell a story about a pub and myself and my brother Simon.
“But you’re not going to want to listen to what we’re doing every other day. So from the start we created the YellowBelly character instead.”
The creation of the character involved the original seven people working on the startup in a writer’s room scenario, cooking up ways to present and use YellowBelly to tell the brewery’s story, Lamberts.
The startup has used YellowBelly in a number of different ways to front the brand, all while the founders operate in the background.
He is the focal point of a three-part comic book series coming out in the next few weeks and is also the star of a video game the company made last year to promote the brand.
“He is an inter-dimensional time traveller, but he has a bit of all of our personalities in him,” Lambert says.
“We can create concepts and storylines around the character and we can do lots of stuff with him. That was the whole idea of having a character to do it rather than the simple story.”
Launched in the middle of last year, YellowBelly Beer isn’t following a normal playbook for setting up a brewery.
Lambert says he was encouraged to use the startup’s Irish roots as a selling point internationally, but it’s not an approach he really wants to take.
“We’re proud of being from Ireland, but we’re not going to make a stout or red ale just because we’re Irish,” he says. “A lot of people expect us to, but that’s what Guinness does. We’re happy to try unique recipes.
“Rather than sticking to a stout or red ale or blonde, we want to try different recipes and keep people engaged in what we do. Being creative is what the craft beer industry is based on.”
So far, the startup has produced three main beers – Citra Pale Ale, Bohemian Lager and Castaway Passionfruit Sour – but it also brews a monthly canned special every month and weekly keg special.
Although Lambert is relatively new to the brewing game, his family have decades of experience in the drinks business.
His family has owned a pub in the centre of Wexford Town since 1965, which Lambert and his brother took over when his father passed away in 2006.
It was at that point, when the brothers were trying to find ways to improve their pub’s offering, that the idea to brew their own beers came about.
“We took the pub over at the end of the boom so getting money to do it up was very tough. We have had to work within our means. We wanted something to differentiate ourselves. There are 20 pubs in Wexford and every one of them sell the same seven beers.
“We looked at how we could stand out from the pub down the road. So we got into stocking a lot of different world beers. There weren’t many craft breweries about, so we made the decision in and around 2009 to start brewing ourselves.”
After taking a few brewing courses, the brother started production in the basement of their pub on a small-scale.
“We started with what was literally a 200-litre brewery – a big home-brew kit basically.
“It got to a point where our brewer, Declan Nixon, was brewing twice a day, five days a week. We couldn’t keep up with demand. So we built our second system in the basement that could produce 1,000 litres per batch.
“Since then we have outgrown that and gone into a new facility, which is an old recycling plant up on White Rock Hill and produce between 6,500 and 8,000 litres a week.”
The company has nine staff working for the brewery, while 30 people work for the Wexford-based pub.
Lambert says the firm planned to open a new pub in Waterford during the summer, but the project was delayed until the new year due to the work required to move into the new brewery site.
The new brew house has the potential to house enough equipment to brew up to 108,000 litres a week, according to Lambert.
He added that the company plans to steadily grow into its new space in the old recycling plant as it branches out into new markets.
The company has a foothold in Ireland across a number of supermarkets and off licences, but also has a presence in the UK and Germany.
Lambert says the next plan is to make a move on the Italian market, while making more progress in the UK where it has “barely hit the tip of the iceberg”.


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Moodymann first sold his last album, 2019’s Sinner, at a barbecue he held during Detroit’s Movement festival. And although this weekend’s edition of Movement is cancelled (and going virtual) thanks to the pandemic, Moodymann is out here selling a new album anyway. The elusive Detroit house producer has just released Taken Away, and on first listen, it’s really good, injecting a bluesy, soulful grit into the ever-present electronic thump. Stream it below.
Taken Away is out now.


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State lawmakers grappling with pandemic-driven spikes in costs and looming budget shortfalls are looking to reach into the deep pockets of the tech industry.
A bill moving through the legislature would institute a new tax on digital advertising revenue from giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Google. Supporters say it could generate as much as $250 million a year.
The idea is drawing support from both conservative Republicans and liberals but it faces strong pushback from the tech industry’s lobbyists.
Connecticut isn’t the only state looking to tap the enormous economic clout of big tech: Maryland recently passed the nation’s first such tax and similar measures are under consideration in at least five other states. Several European nations have embraced a similar strategy.
At a public hearing on the measure Monday, Rep. Holly Cheeseman said the tech giants have grown rich by collecting the personal data of their users; why shouldn’t they be taxed on that?
“[The] Facebook, Googles of this world ... without a doubt have monetized Connecticut residents’ information and their browsing habits for their benefit,” said Cheeseman, a Republican from East Lyme who introduced the legislation. She was among the lawmakers grilling the industry lobbyists who spoke out against the measure at the virtual hearing held by the tax-writing finance committee.
Cheeseman said she’s heard from “a number of residents who complain that [they] Googled something and all of a sudden there’s this Facebook ad.”
“Surely,” she added, “it’s within a state’s rights to look at how ... we best protect our residents and provide a revenue stream, when no doubt you’re benefitting from it.”
The tech companies have come to dominate American culture and commerce, reaping record profits in the process, said Rep. Sean Scanlon, a Democrat from Guilford.
“Google generated $134 billion dollars in advertising in 2019,” said Scanlon, the co-chair of the finance committee, “an increase from $79 billion in 2016.” And that was before the pandemic pushed the tech company’s profits even higher as they reached even deeper into virtually every aspect of modern life.
Labor leaders also spoke in favor of the tax. “For decades, social media mega-companies, and tech giants like Google and Amazon, have grown exponentially by collecting personal information and availing themselves of state infrastructure without contributing anything to Connecticut taxpayers,” Sal Luciano, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, said in written testimony to the finance committee.
“They profit from surveilling and collecting data from Connecticut users and then employing that data to target their advertisements,” Luciano said.
John Olsen, Northeast director of state government affairs for the Internet Association, a trade group that counts Amazon, Google, Twitter, Uber and dozens of other Silicon Valley firms as its members, is among those fighting the bill.
Olsen told legislators that such a tax would hurt small businesses, who rely on tech platforms to advertise.
“If you pass a tax like this, the person who is going to most feel it is the small business, who’s trying to use these platforms to advertise,” Olsen said. “If you assess ... a tax on the large companies, that will ultimately reflect in the cost that everyone who uses those platforms pays.”
Cheeseman said she does not believe such a tax would hurt small business “or any business ... it’s such a small [part] of a huge and growing pot.”
The Connecticut proposal, House Bill 5645, does not specify how much that tax would be. It would direct at least a portion of the revenue raised to fund online bullying prevention efforts and training and research to address social isolation and suicide prevention.
In Maryland, lawmakers approved a graduated tax based on a company’s earnings. For example, companies that net between $100 million and $1 billion in revenue will be assessed a 2.5% tax on all digital ads displayed on its site within the state. The rate rises for larger firms; for companies with revenue that exceeds $15 billion annually, such as Amazon and Google, the ads would be taxed at 10%.
The law, which was vetoed by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and overridden by the Democratic-controlled legislature, is already the subject of a lawsuit. The tech lobbyists warned Connecticut to wait until the legal action has been resolved before enacting its own version of the digital ad tax.
Despite the threat of legal action, at least five other states — Massachusetts, New York, Washington, Indiana and West Virginia — are contemplating similar taxes.
Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel for NetChoice, another industry group, said such state-level efforts to tax digital advertising would run afoul of the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act. The act, passed by Congress in 1998, bars states from imposing taxes on internet-only services.
But Cheeseman noted that the internet — and the role the tech giants play in the lives of most people — has changed significantly since 1998.
“This was passed way back when when no one had any inkling about what the size of the market would be, the amount of revenue generated [and] the way residents browsing habits would be monetized by these large corporations,” she said. “It may be somewhat incongruous for a Republican to be making this argument but I happen to feel that this was not anticipated.”
“We talk about the brick-and-mortar stores that benefit from digital advertising,” Cheeseman added, but “they’re the same ones who are being destroyed by the digital world.”
Daniela Altimari can be reached at email@example.com.


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Blockchain got a boost last week after the Ohio House Of Representatives introduced a bill that would let state government agencies use blockchain technology.
According to Cleavland.com, the bill sponsored by Ohio Representative Rick Caragna is part of the state’s efforts to build a legal framework for the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. If the bill passes, government agencies in Ohio could use blockchain for recording car titles or tracking hunting licenses online, noted the report. Ohio already sees blockchain being used to store marriage licenses and birth certificates, among other potential things.
Ohio has been pushing to incorporate blockchain into government for some time. In the summer former Governor John Kasich signed a cybersecurity bill that enables electronic payments to include blockchain-based ones. The legislation was aimed at spurring the expansion of blockchain R&D efforts within the state. Ohio is hoping its Columbus-based “smart city” efforts will be attractive to the blockchain industry. Ohio is also the fifth-largest hub for the financial services industry. The state is leveraging those two attributes to lure blockchain developers and companies to Ohio.
It’s not the first time Ohio has tried to be ahead with blockchain and digital tokens. It is the first state to let businesses pay their taxes with cryptocurrency. The program was put in place under former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel. It’s not clear if current Treasurer Robert Sprague will continue it or whether it will eventually resonate with businesses. At the early part of this year Overstock, the online retailer and blockchain company, said it would take Ohio up on its offer to pay taxes with bitcoin, becoming the first major U.S. company to pay taxes with bitcoin. “We applaud Overstock for becoming the first national brand in America to register to pay taxes via cryptocurrency,” Mandel said in a press release at the same time. “Their embrace of blockchain technology was ahead of its time, and we’re proud to have them join OhioCrypto.com.”


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Kishangarh, Ajmer: Undeniably, R K Marble, the leading marble conglomerate of the country, has come a long way from their humble beginnings of selling marbles from a small cabin. Today, with a strength of over 3500 people working for them, R K Marble has carved their own name in stone.
The growth of the company has been a constant source of wonder and applause. Their exemplarity becomes explicit when we see the number of marble companies that have mushroomed since the start of the company in May 1989, in tall expectations of reiterating the success story of R K Marble.
The stronghold of the company over their financial grounds has been nothing short of inspirational for budding entrepreneurs. Much credit can be given to the team backed by R K Marble’s Director of Finance, Subhash Agrawal and his own, quite unprecedented visionary approach towards economic matters.
Mr. Agrawal defined the success of any company as, “A company is only successful if it has the financial stability to combat against all the struggles that may befall them. The struggles so mentioned, cover the probable losses in land, labour, capital or entrepreneurship. Financial stability of any institution is defined as its ability to resist economic shocks with an extraordinary propensity to function smoothly. Despite the hiccups in their path, R K had achieved this sort of incredible success, early on. But the journey hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk, neither for my predecessors nor for me.”
We understood the subtle inclinations of Mr. Agrawal and hence, we asked him how he thinks demonetization has influenced the marble sector as a whole and R K Marble with it. To this Mr. Agrawal replies, “While demonetization was launched as a fairytale effort to undercut black economy, counterfeiting and freezing the terror financing, the implementation of the event that, changed the economic landscape of our country, could have been more systematic and smoother as contrasted with how abrupt it was. Even if we view demonetization against the backdrop of other economic gains, it undoubtedly led to a widespread instability. The economy came to a screeching halt as the expenditures discontinued and the manufacturing took the worst hit, coming to an all-time low.”
When the schemes that aim to shape and revolutionize the economic structure of the country are launched, a state of unease amongst the entrepreneurs, and often outspoken dissent, is seen. Many opposed the changes in the prevalent system of levying taxes on goods and services in the form of GST.
We asked Mr. Agrawal how tectonically did the aftermath of the launching of GST on July 1, 2017, influence the marble sector. Mr. Agrawal replies, “GST singularly brought home the instability to the marble sector. Previously, the two types of taxes were levied on the marble sector i.e. Excise Duty at INR 60 per square meter and the Value Added Tax, levied as specific rate of duty. Subject to the quality of marble, VAT varied from INR 9 per sqft for imported marble, to INR 1.50 per sqft for domestic marble. Effectively, this rate approximated to 8% on imported marble and 14% on domestic marble, whereas GST on marbles rose as high as 28%. The tax eventually affected the end-user and put R K Marble’s dedication to bring cost-effective marble solutions to every one of our customers in a limbo. It was clear that, GST was unfortunately influencing the buying power of our customers”.
The strike that was launched in opposition to this tax slab, consequently affected sales and operation. But finally, the government relented and reduced the GST on polished marble to 18% after which the strike was rescinded and the marble industry returned back to the track.”
R K Marble, the largest of the many marble companies at the marble hub of Asia, Kishangarh, has led the marble industry since decades.
After over one and half year of launching of demonetization and over six months of GST being in place, Mr. Agrawal replies to the prospect of growth in the marble industry in the future, “Indian economy has managed to beat these odds. The economic reforms should help the end-user. So long as this happens, the economy will flourish. The market is blooming once again after repeated amendments in GST, and though the previous pace of the economy had been slow, it was definitely in a forward direction. We expect these baby steps to flourish as significant laps, eventually. The marble industry has bounced back with rigor and vigor.”


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In the realm of sustainable packaging solutions, DisSolves, a startup founded in 2018 by chemical engineer Jared Raszewski, has garnered attention for its pioneering approach. The company specializes in edible films crafted from natural ingredients like sodium alginate and pullulan, offering a compelling alternative to traditional plastic packaging.
DisSolves' technology, anchored in its patented edible films, holds promise for various industries, including vitamins, supplements, coffee, and personal care. Unlike many competitors reliant on PVA, a petrochemical derivative, DisSolves distinguishes itself with faster dissolving times and cleaner ingredient lists, aligning with the burgeoning demand for eco-conscious options.
Recognizing the potential of DisSolves' innovative solutions, Generation Food Rural Partners (GFRP) recently acquired the startup. This strategic move injects vital resources into DisSolves, facilitating the scaling of production and the fulfillment of pilot agreements with major food companies. Key figures, including founder Jared Raszewski as Chief Product Officer and Scott Bolin, a seasoned expert in biomaterials and sustainability, joining as President, underscore the commitment to continuity and expertise within the company.
The market demand for sustainable packaging solutions has been steadily mounting, driven by consumer preferences for eco-friendly alternatives. DisSolves enters this landscape as a competitive player, offering not only environmental benefits but also cost-competitive solutions compared to multi-layered alternatives. The appeal extends further with faster dissolving times and cleaner labels, resonating with health-conscious consumers seeking transparency and sustainability in their purchases.
Looking ahead, DisSolves is poised for expansion, buoyed by GFRP's support and a robust pipeline of pilot agreements. Scaling up production to meet these demands represents a pivotal step towards broader adoption and potential partnerships with major food producers. The disruptive potential of DisSolves' technology within the packaging industry underscores its significance as a sustainable and consumer-friendly alternative to traditional plastic options.


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Revealed: First Harrogate BID networking event for 14 months will take place soon
Harrogate BID is inviting town centre businesses to its first BID Club since the pandemic struck in a glorious setting near the Stray.
The networking event, which was last held a week before the first Covid lockdown in March, is being staged from 5.30pm on Thursday, June 3, in Cedar Court Hotel’s Tipi on The Stray giving business owners, managers and their staff the chance once again to get together, mingle, and chat with their peers over a drink and nibbles..
It will also be an opportunity to meet the new Harrogate BID Manager, Matthew Chapman, Chair Sara Ferguson, and other Harrogate BID directors, a number of whom joined the board at last year’s AGM.
Matthew Chapman said: “I’m really looking forward to our first BID Club in more than 14 months, and getting to meet those whose businesses who help make Harrogate a great place to shop, eat and drink.
“Because the last 12 months have been challenging for every single business, we are opening this BID Club to all town centre businesses, not just levy payers or BID members. The previous BID Clubs were always well attended, and I am sure this will prove equally popular.”
Because there are still Covid restrictions in place, Harrogate BID is asking those who want to attend to register for the event by emailing [email protected]
Further information about the Harrogate BID is available from its website, http://harrogatebid.co.uk/
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Spokesman for Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said that foreign trade record including import of basic goods, exports and transit in a short timespan of activity of 13th government has been broken, Trend reports citing Mehr.
Speaking in an interview with Iranian media on Friday, Seyyed Rouhollah Latifi Spokesman for IRICA stated that 5.3 million tons of non-oil goods were discharged at customs offices of the country in Iranian month of Shahrivar (August 21 - Sept. 22) in the current year while 2.7 million tons of goods were discharged in the first five months of the current year (from March 21 to August 22).
Latifi also said that 8,101,000 tons of goods were transited from the country in the first eight months of the current year (from March 21 to Nov. 22), the rate of which is predicted to hit 12.4 million tons by the yearend.
Elsewhere in his remarks, IRICA spokesman stated that Economic Diplomacy of the country can develop with the correction and modification of economic relations with other countries as well as the development of Economic Diplomacy.
According to latest statistics of IRICA, Iran’s total foreign trade hit 110.3 million tons, valued at $63.1 billion, since the beginning of the current year up to the end of Iranian month of Aban (from March 21 to Nov. 22).


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Rarely have we seen a hybrid as terrifying as the one we bring you today. The artist and cosplayer known in social networks as Junkers has created a three-dimensional figure that mixes the body of the sympathetic Pokémon Eevee with the prominent head of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the famous wrestler and actor who is currently sweeping the Hollywood blockbuster cinema. Where did the idea of creating this figure that has generated many comments from fans of pocket monsters come from? According to its creator, this is a joke to emphasize that the nice Normal-type brown fox doesn’t have a Rock-type evolution yet, highly demanded by fans.
As those of you who know the world of Pokémon will well know, Eevee is the creature with the most evolutions among all monsters that we have been able to see in the existing generations so far. This species is capable of evolving into eight different types with the most varied methods; To give a few examples, we have Flareon as the Fire-type evolution or Umbreon as the Dark-type evolution. However, despite the fact that Eevee has an evolution for practically every one of the elemental types, the absence of the Rock type has always been highlighted by the fandom. In this sense, the effort of talented fans to put on paper how it could be is appreciated, although this Eevee The Rock is completely far from what we could expect.
Legends Pokémon Arceus debut this January 28
Pokmon is on everyone’s lips thanks to the successful premiere of Pokémon Shiny Diamond / Shimmering Pearl, the longed for remakes Sinnoh that fans are spending an infinite amount of hours. However, despite the furor that this new installment has caused, it could be overshadowed by the premiere of Leyendas Pokmon Arceus, the new title developed by Game Freak that promises to be a revolution within the saga thanks to a mission system similar to that of Monster Hunter and a completely revamped concept of captures and battles. Remember that the game, one of the most anticipated of this new year, will go on sale next Friday January 28 exclusively for Nintendo Switch.


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COLUMBIA — Missouri's Norton grape is starting to get a little respect.
At the 2009 Pacific Rim International in California, Stone Hill Winery won a gold medal for its Norton.
MU has recently established an experimental winery to test grape varieties and growing practices in the state.
Keith Striegler, director of the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology, said winery will "allow us to do experiments on wine making."
Equally important is the ability to now do viticulture experiments "from the field to the final product," he said.
There will be opportunities for “sensory analysis,” where wine tasters will evaluate how the experimental practices affected the final product.
To be able to determine the impact of any practice done at a vineyard is very important, Striegler said.
Until a “teaching winery” is built, the experimental winery will also be used to teach students interested in viticulture.
The winery did its first “crush” this fall, producing its first batch of experimental wine.
Striegler said the winery will conduct experiments on the Norton grape next year.
“We should be very proud of our Nortons,” he said.
At the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento, Calif., people who are accustomed to drinking Cabernets and Merlots always line up to taste the Norton wines, he said. They’re very impressed and very satisfied with what they taste.
Stone Hill also won the Governor's Cup at the Missouri Wine Competition this year for its 2007 Cross J Vineyard Norton.
Last year, the 2006 Norton from Les Bourgeois Vineyards won a gold medal at both the Taster Guild International Wine Judging and the Missouri Wine Competition.
Jacob Holman, a winemaker at Les Bourgeois for 10 years, attributed the growing popularity to higher quality Nortons from Missouri wineries.
Last year, increased consumer demand caused Holman to limit the amount of time he usually left the wine in barrels and bottles to get the wine on the shelves.
"We're producing more and more every year," he said.
The Norton/Cynthiana grape (Vitis aestivalis) is the oldest American grape still grown. The blue-black grapes produce a dry, medium-bodied wine with a deep red color.
Rachel Mills, marketing director at Les Bourgeois in Rocheport, said Norton is “the cornerstone of the Missouri wine industry."
The state's 92 wineries produced about 888,000 gallons of wine last year, according to the Missouri Wine and Grape Board.
"It's very, very popular now," said Paul Roberts of Deep Creek Cellars in Maryland about the Norton varietal. "It has to be the most broadly planted wine grape in the country because it's grown as far west as Arizona, in the Midwest, the East and the South."
A Missouri native, Roberts grew up in Poplar Bluff, graduated from MU and worked as a reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune for five years.
During three of those years he volunteered at local wineries on weekends during the fall harvest season. This prompted an interest in wine and different varietals. While living and working in publishing in Pittsburgh, he founded Deep Creek Cellars with his wife in 1997, then built a house and moved there in 2000.
In 1999, he wrote a book called "From This Hill, My Hand, Cynthiana's Wine." In it, he explained why Norton rises above other native North American grapes that are often considered sub-par by the much of the wine trade.
He attributed that assessment to a chemical flavor and aroma called "foxyness," a cloying, bubble-gum smell and taste that can diminish the wine's prestige.
"This characteristic usually mars dry table wines," he wrote. "For some reason Norton wines have none of the foxyness.”
Roberts and his wife grow their own grapes, but their location is too cool to ripen Norton, so they buy the varietal from Virginia, about two hours south. Beginning next year, his Norton grapes will come from a grower farther east in Maryland.
The Norton varietal is grown in at least 28 states across the United States, he said, but not in the "big three" wine states of California, Oregon and Washington.
The vines are mostly planted in Midwest and East Coast states where they can survive the humid summer weather and tolerate thin soil conditions.
"The rocky soil and humid climate in Missouri is something the Norton does very well with," Mills said.
This year, the Austrian glassware company Riedel worked with the Missouri Wine and Grape Board to recognize the wine by developing an exclusive glass to drink it.
"Reidel recognized the Norton varietal as a distinctive grape and wanted to design a specific glass showing off the wine as evidence that it has arrived," said Danene Beedle, marketing director for the Missouri Wine and Grape Board.
"It gives Missouri greater exposure and recognition of producing quality wines," she said. "Norton is a distinct varietal, and people who are wine enthusiasts like interesting wines."
A study released in the fall of 2004 by the American Wine Society Journal reported that the Norton grape got its start around 1823 on a farm owned by Daniel Norborne Norton near Richmond, Va.
The grape made its way to Missouri by way of German immigrants who settled in Hermann.
Before Prohibition, Missouri ranked second in American wine production. Winemakers headed west after the amendment was ratified in 1919 and took the few vines they could salvage with them.
The vines were planted in California, ultimately producing grapes that earned international recognition. But no Norton is grown in that state.
The difference is the climate, Beedle said. California's temperatures are not as broad as Missouri's.
"It gives us a regional differentiation," she said.
Next fall, the Norton Wine Festival will be held again in St. Louis to showcase the state's distinctive grape.
“Distinctive plus good equals success,” Roberts said. “That’s what Norton has going for it.”


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Moscow and the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous regions lead the rankings
Moscow and the resource-rich Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous regions in the Urals have topped the rankings of the 35 strongest Russian regions in terms of economic development, a study based on data from Russia’s Tax Service and statistics agency Rosstat has found.
The three regions led the rankings based on the level of wages and the amount of Value Added Tax (VAT) paid, according to figures from the second quarter of 2023.
While profits decreased for enterprises in some industries during the period in question, wages were on the rise, researchers said in the report published on Monday.
The largest amount of VAT was collected in the Russian capital, the surrounding Moscow Region, and St. Petersburg. Russia’s most profitable enterprises were in Moscow, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, and St. Petersburg.
“Moscow’s leadership is obvious. It is a competitive and innovative region with high salaries, where the most profitable companies are located and wealthy people live,” said Georgiy Ostapkovich, head of the Center for Market Research at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
“As for the Khanty-Mansi and the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous regions, these are the richest regions in terms of raw materials with developed industry and high productivity,” he added.
The report also noted that demand for labor in Russia has grown sharply in areas where import substitution is taking place, particularly in engineering, IT, and industry.
For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section


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The U.S. Postal Service is underwater. It’s financially drowning. Ben Franklin, America’s first postmaster general, must be rolling over in his grave.
Even Biden’s Postal Service director, Louis DeJoy, admits that the agency LOST $15 billion over the past two years. His prognosis is anything but promising. HE predicts some $160 billion of red ink over the next 10 years.
Did I mention that by law, the Postal Service is required to be a self-financing operation?
There’s one big reason why snail mail volume is shrinking right before our very eyes: Email. Electronic mail means that financial transactions, letters, photos, journals, and even junk mail (now called spam) can be sent over the internet for free. There’s no turning back the clock here. The mailman is going to go the way of the milkman.
One would expect given this dismal financial outlook for mail delivery that Congress is demanding immediate and dramatic cutbacks in costs and perks and delivery services that lose money.
After all, that’s what any sane private business would have to do.
Instead, Congress caved last week to the postal unions and adopted a hocus-pocus accounting change—or “reform” as House members are calling it—to make its losses magically disappear off the balance sheet.
Congress will now stop requiring the letter carriers to prefund their gold-plated and underfunded multibillion-dollar employee health benefits. It’s an accounting swindle and everyone knows it.
The postal unions—which are a powerful lobby because there are mail delivery workers in every congressional district in the country—defend the change because they say that private sector companies don’t have to prefund their pensions. So why should the USPS?
Because the Postal Service has no money in reserve or any future revenue stream large enough to pay for the pensions and there is close to zero chance they will ever have a cash profit to support the exorbitant benefits. Private companies have been moving toward self-financing 401(k)-style pension plans and prefunded Medical Savings Accounts to make sure that the money is there to pay the benefits.
Most companies have moved away from so-called defined-benefit plans because the financial risk is too great.
Every member of Congress knows full well that the Postal Service won’t have anywhere close to the money to ever pay for these promised benefits. And EVERYONE knows the game afoot is to eventually place these burdens on the backs of taxpayers. This is on top of the $30 trillion of debt taxpayers are already on the hook for.
When will Congress admit that it’s time to get the government out of the mail delivery business? Privatize the entire operation. FedEx, UPS, and now Amazon deliver to nearly every address in America—and a lot faster than the Pony Express ever has. Government mail delivery is truly the last dinosaur in America—and yet Congress refuses to let it go extinct.
Instead, we get sham bookkeeping. A large majority of Republicans and Democrats in the House voted for the gimmickry. They’ve even congratulated themselves for solving the Postal Service’s mounting losses.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) even gushed that Congress’s Bernie Madoff accounting scheme will “finally put USPS on a sound financial footing.”
Uh-huh. Sure, Carolyn. We believe you.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.


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Software giant invests in Finjan, picks up rights to ideas on how to combat previously unknown security threats.
The deal, announced Wednesday, gives Microsoft a minority share in the privately held, San Jose, Calif.-based company. It enables the software giant to use ideas developed by Finjan in future products, said Nick Sears, president of Finjan in the United States.
"It covers a broad range of patents that Finjan has developed and acquired in the last nine years in the security space," Sears said. Financial details of the deal are not being disclosed.
Microsoft has been pushing into the security arena over the past couple years. The company has acquired antivirus and anti-spyware technology and is working on bringing products to market. Also, Microsoft has said security is now top priority when developing its other products.
The technology Microsoft has licensed covers ways to monitor Internet traffic and block malicious code based on security policies, Sears said. The behavior-based system aims to defend corporate networks against viruses and spyware even if the malicious programs are completely new and have never been seen before, he added.
Microsoft has licensed only ideas covered by the patents, but not actual technology such as software code, Sears said. It is entirely up to Microsoft how it will use the patents, Sears said. "What Microsoft chooses to do, in development plans, is not part of this agreement," he said.
Microsoft would not say how it will use Finjan's ideas in products. "Microsoft has licensed nonexclusive patent rights from Finjan pertaining to areas of interest to Microsoft and its efforts to provide customers with innovative security technologies," a company representative said in an e-mailed statement.
The licensing agreement is part of Microsoft's strategy to obtain the rights to technologies that it might use in its lineup. The Redmond, Wash., software giant has signed patent licensing agreements with Sun Microsystems, InterTrust, ContentGuard and Citrix, among others, the representative said.
Finjan expects the licensing agreement with Microsoft to lead to similar agreements with other companies, Sears said. However, it is not transforming itself into an intellectual property licensing company. "We are a product company," Sears said.
Finjan sells appliances for various security tasks, including securing e-mail and Web traffic. Investors include venture capital providers and Cisco Systems.


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Centuries ago the Orient supplied Europe with the luxuries it craved — spices, jade, jewels and silk — by caravans crossing the dusty plains along the old Silk Road. Today China has become the world’s workshop, and is reopening the old land routes to Europe to speed up delivery of millions of containers. This time, however, the new Silk Road will be built of steel.
A new “Eurasian Land Bridge” railway is under construction, with freight trains set to rumble thousands of miles from China to Turkey, the Balkans, Germany and the West.
No country is better placed to cash in on


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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s alleged that it would ask Pakistan for the inclusion of India in the transit trade agreement. The agreement would make stronger trade relations between all the countries of the region.
Deputy Spokesperson of the U.S. State Department, Mark C. Toner asserted, "I would just say, speaking broadly, that we would support stronger trade relations within the region. And we've long said that it's a priority for the United States at least, but it should be a priority for the countries in the region to all work more cooperatively and constructively together. And a trade agreement would be part of that."
When asked by a reporter for India’s inclusion in the transit trade agreement, Toner replied, "I think we would encourage, as I said, stronger trade relations between all the countries of the region."
The agreement is signed between Islamabad and Kabul and it is considered as Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA). It has been renegotiated several times.
The bargain was marked in 1950 which gave Afghanistan the privilege to import obligation free merchandise through Karachi.
Then, on additionally being about Afghanistan stand that if India is excluded, it would deny Pakistan the privilege to travel its merchandise to Central Asia through Afghanistan, Toner said, "I'm not going to say something regarding the transactions between – reciprocal arrangement betweenAfghanistan and Pakistan."
He was of the supposition that Afghanistan has rights to settle on its own choices concerning who it chooses to permit exchange relations with.
"Afghanistan is a sovereign nation and it has its own particular rights – it has rights to settle on its own choices as to who it chooses to permit exchange relations with. In any case, comprehensively, once more, it's in light of a legitimate concern for the area, it's been a reliable objective of our own deliberately to advance more grounded relations between every one of the nations," he included.
The APTTA arrangement likewise permits Afghanistan to access to the dry port of Lahore, furthermore access to an area course up to the Wagah fringe with India.
Be that as it may, it doesn't permit India to utilize the area course to fare merchandise to Afghanistaneither.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi declaring one billion USD help to Kabul, Toner said that the US backings India's liberality and spotlight on Afghanistan and readiness to helpAfghanistan turn into a more grounded and autonomous nation.
"The way that India will put resources into that future we see as an extremely positive sign and we welcome India's exertion," he said.


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But the show must go on, so let's get on with it.
We were truly inspired last week; a sugar-rush surge of pure patriotism gripped us when a package of patriotic Peeps arrived in the office straight from Bethlehem, Pa., home of Just Born, the candy company. Were these soft, spangled pillows of pure sugar here just in time to celebrate Operation Iraqi Freedom? Not quite. "They will be distributed for the summer holidays, for Fourth of July," said a company spokesperson cheerily.
Coincidentally, another inspiring new product appeared on our horizon: Star Spangled Ice Cream. "Ice cream with a conservative flavor," says the Web site (starspangledicecream.com). It's positioned as an alternative to ice cream with a hippie liberal taste, in other words, Ben & Jerry's, the brand that is pushing an anti-war attitude. Spangled ice cream flavors include: "I Hate the French Vanilla," "Iraqi Road," "Smaller GovernMint" and "Nutty Environmentalist."
Grin and bear it
An item hot off the wire. Conan O'Brien, the late night blabbermouth, recently declared that Unilever's famous fabric softener mascot, Snuggles the bear, has attitude. "Snuggles has got this weird edge now," observed the perspicacious Conan. He's right, for once: The cuddly little fur ball is no longer so cute-he's lascivious. In an ad campaign from Lowe that broke last week, the plush little pooh turns up lounging languorously in a basket of sheets, with bloodshot eyes no less, doing pelvic thrusts with a pro-vocative grin.
Don't forget Shemp
Always on the cutting edge, NBC aired a timely special last week about the Three Stooges. No, not Iggy Pop and the Stooges. We're talking about that irascible black-and-white trio of clowns whose idea of humor of was to bonk each other on the head with ball-peen hammers. That's right, a full hour about these incredibly impertinent knuckleheads. And in the middle of all this merriment what should appear but a commercial for Zoloft, the anti-depressant drug. Talk about highly targeted advertising!
Closing the gate
There was controversy in adland last week as CBS refused to air the "RipBurnRespect" ad from Gateway that promotes legal music downloading using Gateway equipment. "We don't accept advocacy advertising and this particular ad fell under that umbrella," said a CBS spokesman. The network and its parent Viacom have lobbied against music piracy in Washington, helping bring Napster to its knees. The offending ad, meanwhile, has aired on most other networks. The spot is an innocuous tableau of hipsters spouting Internet music jargon, not very threatening. It was created by a company called Dogmatic, and directed by a photographer named Gobi and Laurel Harris, owner of Dogmatic. "It's kind of exciting," says Laurel about the controversy surrounding her work. Check it out for yourself at AdAge.com QwikFIND aao56g.
Fox Sports Net's extreme-sports show "54321" introduced a brand new sport recently: skateboard hockey. The crazy game, aired on a recent episode, was dreamed up by a group of skate freaks in L.A., led by Mike Vallely, who happens to be consultant on the show. How do you play hockey on a skateboard? "You use the board as well as the stick to handle the puck," says Mike. "The trick is to keep one foot on the board and one foot off so that you can change direction." Another group that claims they created the game, the Jaks from Vancouver, use a crushed Fosters Lager can as a puck. Adages suggests the Aussie brewmasters get in touch with these Canucks and work out an embedded branding deal. "The game is really just a lot of drunken fun," observes Brian Peach, a skateboard hockey player from Toronto. "It's not as organized as you might think." Cool, the perfect pastime for beer drinkers and makers.
Send your useless prattle to [email protected]


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The exhibition of apple varieties managed by Interpoma Variety Garden fills the show with color
For the first time in its history, Interpoma, the international apple show, which takes place from November 17 to 19, will host the Jardin des Variétés, an exhibition of more than 55 varieties of apples managed from all over the world.
The 12th edition of Interpoma will be colorful. During the international apple industry fair, which takes place from November 17 to 19, the Fiera Messe H1 event space at Fiera Bolzano will host an exhibition of more than 55 managed apple varieties from the main apple producing countries of the world. worldwide, including New Zealand. , the United States and France, as well as Italy, which features South Tyrol and Trentino. The Interpoma Variety Garden, the latest addition to the Interpoma 2022 program, is organized in partnership with the Variety Innovation Consortium South Tyrol (SK) and the Laimburg Research Centre.
“We imagined the Variety Garden as a way to bring the innovative and international spirit of Interpoma to life through color and appearance,” says Thomas Mur, Managing Director of Fiera Bolzano. “The varieties of apples managed come from the main apple producing countries of the world and tell the story of the thirty years of existence of the system. It starts with the first managed varieties that were produced exactly thirty years ago, such as KIKU® and Pink Lady®, up to the new varieties that are barely hitting the supermarket shelves. We are extremely proud to be the first and only to have brought together the abundance of heirloom varieties under one roof,” adds Mur.
Color will be the undisputed star of the Jardin des Variétés. Fruit on display will display a remarkably wide range of hues, from the bright yellow of yello® and opal® apples, to the fresh, vivid green of GreenStar®, to the dark, intense red of Crimson Snow®, to attractive new fleshy varieties. red bearing the Red Moon®, Kissabel® and Lucy™Glo trademarks.
Interpoma Variety Garden is just one of many side events planned for the 12th edition of Interpoma. The opening night will take place on November 16, the day before the show opens, and will present the winners with the Interpoma Award, a competition that recognizes the best innovations in the field of water conservation. The Interpoma congress will take place on November 17 and 18 and will focus on the apple industry in the United States and robotic harvesting. Interpoma Tours, 10 guided tours of the most innovative companies in South Tyrol and Trentino in the apple sector, will take place during the three days.
For more information:


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Whoo! Get ready for four public holidays in four weeks
IF YOU are dreading returning to work on Tuesday, you can take heart knowing this time next year, there will be almost a month of four-day weeks in a row.
The four weeks of holidays will begin on Good Friday, which will fall on April 14, 2017.
Are you looking forward to having four public holidays in four weeks?
This poll ended on 03 May 2016.
Yes, I can't wait, it will be a good chance to relax and take a break
I would prefer to have them broken up during the year
I'm not a fan of so many in a row because of the impact it will have on businesses
I'm unsure at this stage
This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.
The next week starts with the Easter Monday public holiday on April 17, with a holiday for Anzac Day the next Tuesday on April 25.
Then, to complete the four weeks of public holidays, the Labor Day holiday will be on Monday, May 1.
While this news is sure to leave most people cheering at the thought of so many potential beach days and backyard barbeques in such a short time, for Tinana Hot Bread Shop owner Dan Moes, it could mean his business will run at a loss once a week for an entire month.
Mr Moes said between paying staff penalty rates and a drop in customers, public holidays were not good for his finances, but he keeps his doors open to keep his regular customers happy.
"We have such a good customer base," Mr Moes said.
"They still want their fresh hot bread so it's still important that we can offer that to them."


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Time to dust off that hype machine. The next generation of video game consoles may debut as early as February 20. That's the date Sony has set aside for an event in New York City, leading some to believe this could be the first-ever announcement of the PlayStation 4, the inevitable successor to the company's current PlayStation 3 game system.… Read more
Those ladies who are fluent in Klingon but just can't seem to find a boyfriend are now in luck. Apparently, a certain someone is seeking women for "Star Trek" role-playing -- strictly "The Next Generation."
A recent Craigslist ad titled "Make It So" is making the joke rounds on Twitter today. The ad promises "no nudity, no touching" but asks for two to three women to get in character with the ad's author as he plays the "honorable" and "intellectual" Captain Picard.… Read more
Chipmakers are preparing for the second-generation iPad Mini and Samsung is on track for a phone with a bendable display and possibly an early intro of the Galaxy S4, according to a research note from RBC Capital Markets.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman -- who is in China visiting chip companies this week -- offered this ambiguous Apple note: "iPad Mini Gen-2: Apple's gen-2 iPad mini is getting pulled-in, and is likely to have several new suppliers, with TXN gaining content."
"Pulled in" would seem to imply that Apple is moving up introduction of … Read more
Maybe today's youth aren't as different as older generations when it comes to tech.
A new report by Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism looks at how different people use their smartphones and tablets to consume news. It finds that younger users are just as likely to get news on those gadgets as older folks.
"While they are much lighter news consumers generally and have largely abandoned the print news product, young people get news on mobile devices to similar degrees as older users," the report reads. "And, when getting news through … Read more
Soon there will be more than just one way to contact 911.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced today that the four largest wireless carriers in the U.S. have agreed to fast track a service that will let people text the emergency 911 line.
AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile have all signed on and major deployments are planned to roll out in 2013 and the service should be fully available nationwide by May 15, 2014.
"Access to 911 must catch up with how consumers communicate in the 21st century -- and today, we are … Read more
Apple's new 7-inch tablet should be nicknamed Mini the Cannibal as it eats up sales from its bigger brother.
A poll of 50 Apple stores conducted by Citi this week found limited stock of the iPad Mini but wide availability of the iPad 4.
Among the stores called, 80 percent indicated that some version of the Mini was on the shelves. But 96 percent said that overall availability was limited based on the amount, storage options, and colors that consumers were seeking. Among the various models, the 32GB iPad Mini showed the greatest availability.
In contrast, 100 percent of … Read more
You asked, we answered. It turns out that the iPod Touch is the product a surprising number of you wanted to see unboxed and tortured on our show -- so here you go! In addition to the regular gauntlet of tests, it seemed pretty obvious that the Wild Card for the iPod Touch pretty much had to involve children. So we rounded up four kids, ages 2 to 5, and gave them pizza, chips, candy, fruit, and juice, and let them go crazy with the iPods. Let me be honest: I could watch this video all day long, and not … Read more
The iPhone 5 and new iPads will trigger a surge in sales for Apple this quarter and next, says Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty.
In an investors note out today, Huberty pointed out that key suppliers for both devices say their own revenue will be higher than anticipated for the current quarter. They're also seeing above-average orders from Apple for next year's first quarter. And demand could rise even higher before the year is over.
The analyst believes the iPhone 5 will drive more customers to upgrade this quarter and on into next year. At the same time, … Read more
Leaked from today's 404 episode:
- Square launches mobile payment service at 7,000 Starbucks stores.
- Razer Naga gaming mouse requires always-on Internet connection; license agreement says they can use this to spy on you.
- Four African teenagers invent a urine-powered generator.
Consumers eyeing the fourth-generation iPad can now buy one through Apple's online store without any wait time.
The Apple Store shows all three flavors of the Wi-Fi-only edition now in stock. The 16GB version goes for $499, the 32GB version for $599, and the 64GB version for $699.
The new iPad's immediate availability is a change from the earlier shipping estimate of three to five business days. The status also is the same for Apple's online stores in the U.S. and abroad, a sign that the supply of the tablet seems to have caught up with … Read more


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- Cybercrime costs the Australian economy more than AU$1 billion annually and half of all cybercrime is targeted at small businesses.
- In 2017, NAB had sent the details of approximately 60,000 customers to an email address on a global domain rather than its .au address.
Purpose of the roadshow
In a bid to aid businesses in better protecting themselves from cybercriminals, National Australia Bank (NAB) will be launching a roadshow next week, on Monday.
The bank will embark on a small tour around the country to teach Australian small businesses on cyber threats and recommended security measures. Small business customers will be given the opportunity to learn cyber protection skills and speak directly to cybersecurity experts.
"Cybercrime costs the Australian economy more than AU$1 billion annually and half of all cybercrime is targeted at small businesses,” NAB business and private banking chief customer officer Anthony Healy said. "Across Australia and often in regional areas, we see hundreds of small businesses and agribusinesses every year who are unfortunately targeted by cybercriminals through tactics like identity theft, romance scams, and invoice fraud."
Learning from the past
NAB's contributory move to cybersecurity awareness is also coming out of self-realized incidents.
- In July this year, NAB admitted to uploading some personal information on approximately 13,000 customers to the servers of two data service companies, without authorization.
- The compromised data included customers’ names, dates of birth, contact details, and in some cases, a government-issued identification number, such as a driver's license number.
- Though a human error, in early 2017, the migrant banking team of the NBA had sent the details of approximately 60,000 customers to an email address on a global domain rather than its .au address.
The roadshow will focus on how to keep defenses up to date, while providing information on encrypting data, and the employment of multi-factor authentication for identity protection, and other essential security measures.
- The NAB Cyber Security Roadshow will begin in Parramatta, New South Wales, on October 28.
- Next, it will head south to Wollongong, then to Tasmania for a show in Hobart on November 25.
- Victoria's Frankston will play host on November 26, followed by Perth on December 2, and then the Sunshine Coast in Queensland on December 4.


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- Above is this week's WWE Network promo, focusing on live pay-per-view events.
- We noted earlier that there's been an internal push to sign James Ellsworth
to a full-time WWE
deal due to his strong merchandise sales and online popularity. PWInsider reports
that Ellsworth is booked for tomorrow's SmackDown tapings in Green Bay. It looks like he may get involved in the Dean Ambrose
vs. AJ Styles
match, which will see Ambrose become the new #1 contender to Styles' WWE World Title if he wins.
- It looks like The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz will do battle one more time as they have been announced for House of Glory's 6th anniversary show on December 17th in New York City, as seen below:
Follow Marc Middleton on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Got a news tip or correction? Send it to us by clicking here.


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Town of Waukesha Plan Commission puts Dunkin' Donuts proposal on hold
Wants updated plan for next meeting
After hearing the plan from developers and from many concerned residents, a new Dunkin' Donuts shop on Sunset Drive in the Town of Waukesha will have to wait.
Due to safety and traffic concerns, the Plan Commission unanimously voted to table the item to its next meeting until developers bring forth an updated plan.
The 5,040 square-foot shop, located at S30 W24836 Sunset Drive, could hold up to four tenants.
The donut shop would also have a drive-through lane as Dunkin' Donuts representatives said are the norm.
But many residents had issues with that as well.
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- 'Suspicious' Halloween decoration turns out to be mannequin in a tree
- Waukesha man accused of repeatedly manufacturing, selling cocaine
- Waukesha man accused of molesting, groping his granddaughter for years
- Waukesha Community Briefs: Apple harvest, lawn care and more
- Waukesha Police Report: Sept. 18, 2014 issue
- Waukesha wants judge to reverse ruling on former fire chief's job
- Waukesha asks public for help to fund new downtown holiday lights
- Second stabbing suspect to be mentally evaluated in Waukesha Slender Man case
- The Clarke Hotel in downtown Waukesha again looks to fill vacancy with general manager stepping down
- Catholic Memorial earns distinct national School of Excellence recognition


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FAISALABAD: Gas supply to Faisalabad industries could not be resumed on Monday after a four-day weekly break, prompting protests from industrialists who said suspension for long periods would exacerbate their problems and cause heavy financial losses.
In a statement, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) Chairman Asghar Ali expressed concern over failure of the gas distributing company to restore supply to industries in the Faisalabad region as industrial production remained suspended for the fifth consecutive day.
According to the schedule put in place by Sui gas authorities, the industries were to be given gas from 6am Monday to 6am Thursday (three days in a week), but the company could not meet the schedule because of disruption in supply from Zamzama gas field, forcing all major manufacturing units to stay closed.
The company has announced a new schedule from next week, according to which industries will get gas for four days a week.
“Suspension of gas supply to industrial units is sheer injustice as this has badly hurt thousands of workers besides affecting production of goods,” Ali said.
He pointed out that gas outages for four days a week had already crippled industrial activities and more stoppages would bring activities to a grinding halt and badly hit the textile industry, the largest export sector of the country.
He sought priority status for the textile industry to revive economic activities in the country.
Ali blamed the government for failing to develop a long-term strategy to tackle energy crisis and said the textile industry had been suffering a huge loss of Rs200 billion each year for the last four years because of power and gas shortage.
Though the country produced good cotton crops in recent years, the energy shortage served as an obstacle to the consumption of the crop for producing value-added products, he said. Especially, export-focused manufacturing units were facing a host of problems as they had not been able to meet shipment deadlines.
This energy problem, he said, has pushed some textile units to relocate to Bangladesh, Turkey and Sri Lanka, which are enjoying tariff concessions, easy access to export markets and satisfactory energy supply. Easy availability of utilities, low prices for utility services as well as subsidies provided by competitor governments have put textile exports from Pakistan at a disadvantage.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2013.
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Ford Motor Company and General Motors will jointly develop new nine- and ten-speed automatic transmissions, marking the third time this decade that Ford Motor Company and General Motors have collaborated on such a project.
February car sales were slightly weaker than January, but they were stronger than last year by 7 percent. Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, and General Motors saw their sales rise, while Honda and Nissan saw declines.
The sequester – while short-term painful – will likely prove to be not the worst thing in the world and that the economy, the consumer and corporate profits were able to weather it and make it through to the other side, Brown writes.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet is reportedly considering offshore oil and pipeline legislation that would appease environmentalists, Alic writes. While environmentalists focus on the new pipelines like Keystone XL, Alic adds, the real threat is the older pipelines.
Pipeline leaks, ruptures, and spills are increasingly causing property damage, according to a new study, and detection systems to detect pipeline leaks may be lacking.
Dow Chemical publicly disavowed a $6.5 billion project for a natural gas export terminal that it partly owns, Alic writes. Dow is opposed to this project because its senior management believes high volumes of LNG exports will lead to higher prices at home.


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The plan you need, a nationwide network, all without a contract.
// DO UNLMITED YOUR WAY
Virgin Mobile USA today announced it will offer iPhone 5s, the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world, and iPhone 5c, the most colorful iPhone yet, without a contract to customers beginning on Tuesday, October 1.
For more information please visit: www.virginmobileusa.com/iphone/
For more information on iPhone, please visit: www.apple.com/iphone


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CINCINNATI — Procter & Gamble said Friday that its fiscal second quarter net income more than doubled and boosted its profit outlook as the maker of Tide and Pampers took back market share.
The increases are good news for the world's largest consumer products maker, which has had to win back business lost to competitors, in some cases because it raised prices too much.
For the October-through-December quarter, P&G earned $4.06 billion, or $1.39 per share, up from $1.69 billion, or 57 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Excluding items, it earned $1.22 per share. Revenue increased 2 percent to $22.18 billion.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.11 per share on $21.86 billion in revenue.
The company said it held or increased its market share in businesses representing nearly 50 percent of the recent quarter's sales. In the U.S. market, that figure increased to 60 percent of sales.
Based on its better-than-expected results for the first half of the year, the Cincinnati-based company said it now expects fiscal 2013 core earnings of $3.97 to $4.07 per share on revenue growth of 1 percent to 2 percent. It previously predicted an adjusted profit of $3.80 to $4 on flat revenue growth to up to 1 percent.
New home sales best since 2009
WASHINGTON — Sales of new U.S. homes cooled off in December compared with November, but sales for the entire year were the best since 2009.
The Commerce Department said Friday that new-home sales fell 7.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 369,000. That's down from November's rate, which was the fastest in 2 ½ years.
For the year, sales rose nearly 20 percent to 367,000. That's the most since 2009 and the first annual gain since 2005, although that's coming off the worst year for new-home sales since the government began keeping records in 1963. Sales are still below the 700,000 level that economists consider healthy.
Though new homes represent less than 20 percent of the housing sales market, they have an outside impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenues, according to data from the National Association of Homebuilders.
Hasbro to cut jobs as sales miss target
NEW YORK — Toy maker Hasbro said Friday that its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of weaker-than-expected demand over the holidays. It plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce and consolidate facilities to reduce expenses.
Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, whose brands include Monopoly and Nerf, has about 5,500 employees worldwide. A 10 percent workforce cut would put about 550 people out of work.
While Hasbro said consumer demand was softer than it expected over the holidays, the season was expected to be tough. This was in part because retailers were ordering inventory more cautiously.
In addition, stores such as Wal-Mart, Kmart and Toys R Us beefed up their layaway and reservation services to encourage shoppers to buy toys early in the season, which meant items may have been scarce later on.
The November and December holiday selling period is critical for toy makers because it can make up as much as 40 percent of their annual revenue.
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LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - U.S. investor Royalty Pharma
raised its offer to $12.50 per share for Irish
drugmaker Elan on Monday, representing a premium of 45
percent to Elan's enterprise value, it said.
The company said it was offering $4.6 billion for Elan's
Tysabri Royalty, a 42 percent premium to the $3.25 billion price
at which Elan sold half of its interest in Tysabri to its U.S.
partner Biogen Idec. The increased offer is now all


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On November 11, 2017, the foyer area of Lahore's Al Hamra art gallery wore a festive look.
The space was dressed with exquisite collections, designs and embroidered textiles from South Punjab and Sindh. Overhead, hundreds of colourful thread spools interspersed with scores of embroidery frames creating a 'sky of Pakistan's embroidery'. Traditional sitar music played in the background, adding to the grand display of Pakistan’s embroidery tradition.
Sitting amidst dignitaries, designers, business persons and development professionals was Shamshad Bibi, a traditional artisan from a remote village in Pakistan's Sindh province. She peered expectantly at the runway, as did everyone else in the room.
Moments later, Moammar Rana, a popular Pakistani actor walked in wearing an elegant black kurta paired with an intricately embroidered tribal shawl. A buzz went around the room, as excited guests scrambled to take a look. Shamshad Bibi was thrilled too, albeit for a slightly different reason. Rana was wearing her creation.
Actor, Moammar Rana, in a tapestry of colours, traditional skill and perseverance - the Rang project
Hunar ke Rang or 'colour of skills' is a marquee event organized every year by the Indus Heritage Trust (IHT) to celebrate Pakistan's glorious craft traditions and their unsung rural practitioners. Besides the one-of-a-kind fashion show, the event features an exhibition showcasing various collections, interactions with traditional artisans on traditional techniques, and discussions with sector experts from across South Asia. Hunar ke Rang 2017, which is the second annual event, featured the running stitch collection, the Soojni collection, the tribal collection and the Daftry (office) range of stationery products - the four distinctive collections of the Rang project.
"RANG aims to empower artisans by supporting them to set up their own producer groups as well as higher level artisan institutions and enterprises. We have worked with the artisans and supported them in the creation of as many as 17 cluster enterprises and worked with them in developing businesses and supply chain skills. RANG has reached out to national and international designers to work with the artisans and create more than 3000 innovative prototypes that we are now aggressively marketing through various channels," said Siddiqa Malik, Chairperson, IHT.


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For Immediate Release:
20 April 2012
Benazir Suraiya; [email protected]
Sachin Bangera; [email protected]
Sultry Model, PETA Hold Event on Eve of World Day for Animals in Laboratories
Mumbai – Sitting in a bathtub filled with blood-red water next to a backdrop that reads, “Don’t Buy While Animals Die. Choose Cruelty-Free Cosmetics”, Rozlyn Khan – the captivating Gladrags model who can be seen in the upcoming film Dhamaal Chowkadi – will appear at the Captain’s Deck of the Bombay Presidency Radio Club Ltd on Monday. The body wash and shampoo bottles that Khan will have on hand will also be filled with “blood”. The event – held by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India – will take place on the eve of World Day for Animals in Laboratories. Khan and PETA’s point? That not only is testing cosmetics on rabbits and other animals harmful and deadly to the animals, it’s also bad science – and and the Ministry of Health and Welfare should ban it:
When: Monday, 23 April, 12 noon
Where: Captain’s Deck (beside the swimming pool), Bombay Presidency Radio Club Ltd, 157 Arthur Bunder Road (near the Gateway of India), Colaba, Mumbai
“Testing cosmetics and household products on animals hurts animals and does nothing to protect consumers”, says Khan. “With so many top-quality, cruelty-free products to choose from, there’s no reason to buy from companies that still harm rabbits and poison mice.”
The EU’s phased-in ban on the testing of cosmetics and their ingredients on animals is scheduled to take full effect in 2013. PETA is calling on the Indian government to base its ban on the EU model – a proposal that has already gained support from the Indian Council of Medical Research.
More than 1,000 companies around the world have banned all animal tests, but many still choose to subject animals to painful tests in which substances are smeared on their skin, sprayed in their faces or forced down their throats. Because of the vast physiological differences between humans and the animals used in these tests, the results are often misleading.
For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com.


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Google develops contact lens glucose monitor
SAN FRANCISCO – Google’s vision for wearable technology took another ambitious leap forward Thursday when the world’s largest Internet search company announced it is developing a smart contact lens.
The lens measures glucose in tears using a wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor. While at a very early stage, Google hopes the technology could help people better manage diabetes.
The project is the latest invention to emerge from the company’s Google X unit, which works on long-term, risky new technology that may never become commercially successful but has the potential to change in drastic ways the way people live. The unit has already produced self-driving cars and Internet-connected eyewear called Google Glass.
Google said it went public with the contact lens project at an early stage because it is looking for expert partners who could bring the technology to market.
Diabetes sufferers sometimes do not check their glucose levels as often as they should because those checks are usually disruptive or painful, such as pricking a finger to do a blood test. Researchers have been looking for less intrusive ways to check glucose, through sweat, saliva, urine or tears.
It’s very difficult to measure glucose levels with tears, partly because there’s not much of the liquid available and it is hard to collect.
To make the contact lens, Google had to design its own tiny chips and mount them on very thin, flexible, plastic-like film. The chip and a sensor are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material. A tiny pinhole in the lens lets tear fluid from the surface of the eye seep into the glucose sensor. The prototypes can take a glucose level reading once every second, Google said.
“It doesn’t look like much, but it was a crazy amount of work to get everything so very small,” said Brian Otis, who co-founded the project with Babak Parviz. It took years of soldering hair-thin wires to miniaturize electronics, essentially building tiny chips from scratch, to make what Otis said is the smallest wireless glucose sensor ever made.
Google said it has done multiple studies to test the comfort and functionality of the lens and explore how tear glucose correlates with blood glucose, particularly in people with diabetes. It is also talking about the technology with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
An early, outsourced clinical research study with real patients was encouraging, but there are many potential pitfalls yet to come, said University of North Carolina diabetes researcher Dr. John Buse, who was briefed by Google on the lens last week.
“This has the potential to be a real game changer,” he said, “but the devil is in the details.”
Contributing: Associated Press


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Dutch telecom firm KPN
Some aspects in the performance of The Netherlands did not meet our expectations ... in order to strengthen our domestic businesses in response to the challenges they face from the changing external environment, we will further expand and accelerate our investment strategy beyond the measures we announced in May 2011, said Chief Executive Eelco Blok in a statement on Tuesday.
The firm also said it will sell the international division of its IT unit Getronics, which had 2011 sales of 565 million euros and employs 4900 people.
KPN said it now expects 2012 core profit to be 4.7 billion euros to 4.9 billion euros (3.9 billion pounds-4.1 billion pounds) down from 5.268 billion euros in 2011. It still expects a 2012 dividend of 0.90 euro cents but has scrapped its share buyback program.
KPN reported fourth-quarter sales down 1.8 percent to 3.375 billion euros, and core profit, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), down 6.2 percent to 1.316 billion euros. Analysts had expected core profit of 1.367 billion euros on fourth-quarter sales of 3.346 billion euros.
KPN competes for market share in its home market with Vodafone Group
Ziggo, owned by private equity groups Cinven
(Reporting By Roberta B. Cowan; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)