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Volvo Cars, the pride of Sweden has revealed new Cross Country version of the popular V60. This is the latest addition to brand’s lineup and features numerous handy gadgets. And just like its siblings, new V60 Cross Country allows countless personalization tweaks and goodies to be added or removed, depending on buyer
Volvo adds more choice and personalization options to the V60 estate car rage by introducing new R-Design models. Sexy and advanced, the new family members surely will get some attention both from brand enthusiasts and sceptics.
R-Design vehicles are immediately recognizable – first for being Volvo vehicles
Volvo introduces performance and efficiency benefits of the T5 turbocharged petrol engine that would be available for S90 saloon, V90 estate, V90 Cross Country and XC90 SUV. With massive overall output of 250hp and 350Nm of torque, the T5 would ensure pleasurable, smooth and refined driving experience.
The T5 joins
Volvo’s popular XC40 takes one more prestigious award home thanks to its participation in the 2018 Euro NCAP tests. As always the vehicle earned the maximum five stars for safety features and joins its large siblings 60 and 90 series as one of the safest vehicles on the road today.
2018 Euro NCAP tests are conside
The latest Volvo V60 mid-size estate is already available for order and features tons of goodies that are worth mentioning. This latest generation of 60 series is based on company’s Scalable Product Architecture platform and uses a special Drive-E engineс, designed and assembled by Volvo engineers. Furthermore, all trim levels ensure cutting-edge connectivity, entertainment and safety technologies.
The entry-level, named Momentum comes with LED headlights, powered tailgate, two-zone climate control and 12.3-i
Volvo Cars, the well-known Scandinavian vehicle manufacturer and the leader in truck making Volvo Trucks are incorporating a special system that shares real-time data to update the connected safety technology. This is a cloud-based system that would allow inner vehicle data gadgets to communicate with each other and alert drivers for upcoming road hazards.
This is the first time that Volvo team is doing such a collaboration with another compan
Chances are that you already know that Volvo is known for making one of the safest vehicles in the world. Something more, the team has aimed to create the first vehicle that would be so safe that it would not let occupants receive any kind of damage during collision and unfortunate events.
However, we are still waiting for the game changer. Meanwhile, brand’s usual suspect, XC90, has proved itself worthy in one more statistics - death. There has been not a single death in a car-to-car accident in the UK, accor
Sweden’s pride, Volvo Cars, has finally revealed the latest V60 five-door mid-size premium wagon. Featuring the well-known SPA platform and top-notch engineer features, this one is surely a worthy Volvo family member.
Fans and buyers would one more time relish a beautiful exterior design, mixed with premium and cozy cabin and of course, a refined drivetrain system. And as expected, this vehicle adopts manufacturer’s premium safety features
Volvo Cars, the pride of Sweden has just revealed the new lineup of premium vehicles. It is named S90 Excellence and it aims bot high-end customers and the most interesting part is that it would be also offered in China. Cool!
In fact, this is by far the most premium car to hit the Chinese market and we are pretty sure it will be a massive success. Here’s why.
The S90 Excellence features tons of goodies that will please future buyers:
Volvo Cars has finally revealed the long-anticipated V90 Cross Country, which will complete the whole 90 Series lineup. As you might know, the first Cross Country was revealed twenty years ago and since then it became a sort of a symbol for the whole brand. So, what has changed two decades later?
First of all, buyer
Volvo began the production of the XC60 eight years ago. Ever since that starting point, the SUV still remains highly popular for the strength, durability and comfortability it offers. Bu the way, exactly this model has been awarded several times for being the “best-selling premium SUV in Europe", including in 2015.
In June, Polestar Performance has offered an optimization for the new generation of Volvo XC60. It also made an improvement
Sad, but true: Zlatan Ibrahimović says goodbye to the Swedish national football team in a special Volvo video.
As football fans would tell you, Ibrahimović represented Sweden for 15 years as a captain to the team and has done much about country's sport achievements. Ibrahimović thanked his enormous fan base and said that he has played his last match in the yellow jersey. And of course, Volvo managed to capture the dramatic moment in a beaut


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Mazda Motor Europe announced that effective today it is taking the distribution of Mazda in Belgiumand Luxemburg into its own hands, under the name of Mazda Motor Belux. Mazda takes over the import of Beherman Auto, which has taken care of distribution since 1967. The appointment of the new Managing Director, Olivier Sermeus, was announced in December 2006. The new management team consists of, among others, Dominique Wouters, Sales Manager, Johan Costrop, Marketing Manager, Lionel Goyeau, Finance Manager and RenÃ© Derboven, After Sales Manager.
Olivier Sermeus, 40, comes from Kia Motors Belux where he executed the same function. Formerly, he was Managing Director at MG Rover and Director of Sales and Marketing at KBC Autolease. He is Belgian and speaks Dutch, English and French fluently.
â€œThe Mazda network in Belgiumand Luxemburg consists now of 63 distributors and 40 acknowledged auto repairers. We intend to bring the brand as close to the customer as possible,â€ explains Mr. Sermeus.
The founding of Mazda Motor Belux fits in the international strategy of Mazda, which wants to organize European distribution itself. It recently founded national sales companies in Ireland, the CzechRepublicand SlovakRepublic.
â€œWe have a strong reputation and a widespread dealer network in Belgiumand Luxemburg,â€ says Philip Waring, Vice President for Sales at Mazda Motor Europe. â€œThe favourable economic climate, the enthusiasm of the distributors and the strength of our future product range are solid grounds for the further development of the brand. We are convinced Mazda Motor Belux has a bright future under Olivierâ€™s management.â€

domain: news


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June 2014 sales is its best ever with 25,303 motorcycles sold (domestic wholesale and exports). Royal Enfield production this quarter is setting the pegs strong for the Indian bike maker as it works on becoming a global leader in the mid-sized segment. Consistency is key, and Royal Enfield sold 25,010 units in May 2014. Since Q1 2014, Oragadam plant production has been at more than 10,000 units per month, contributing immensely to production volumes. The 25k benchmark each month certainly puts Royal Enfiled on track to meet this years target sales and production, if not surpass it.
Motorcycle sales for June 2014 in India stand at 24519 units over 13315 units sold in June 2013 to report 84% sales growth in the domestic market. Exports for the month stand at 784 bikes over 491 units exported in June 2013 to report growth of 60%. Overall sales of 25303 units in June ’14 over 13806 units sold in June 2013 equates to 83% sales growth.
YTD 2014 domestic sales stands at 135026 units over 72638 units sold in India for H1 2014 to equate to 86% sales growth in India. Exports for January-June 2014 are 58% with 3373 units shipped overseas over 2138 units exported in the first 6 months of 2013. Total sales (domestic wholesale and exports) through Q1-Q2 2014 stand at 138409 units over 74777 units sold in Jan-June 2013 to equate to 85% sales growth.
For Jan-Mar 2014, RE sold 64,268 motorcycles over 34736 bikes sold in Q1 2013 yo report 85% sales increase. For the first time, Royal Enfield waiting periods abroad isn’t because of production limitation but due to increase in demand. In forging its identity, Royal Enfield has introduced a newness in its badging with an all new logo.


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RUDE GO TRANSIT RIDERS TARGET OF CHEEKY ETIQUETTE CAMPAIGN
Apr 01, 2016
By Bob Komsic
GO riders mind your manners if you don’t already.
A new campaign begins Monday that looks to reduce rude, inconsiderate behaviour on GO vehicles.
According to an online survey of more than 1,000 riders last fall, the top five complaints are:
Feet on Seats 67%
Loud talking on phones 60%
Bags on Seats 54%
Loud talking, crowding platforms 52%
There’ll also be a social media copnent to the campaign that revolves around #etiquettefail.
Metrolinx spokesperson Ann Marie Aikins says ”We have made this campaign a little humourous and edgy in the hopes we will spark a conversation and people talking about this. Our goal is to make your ride more comfortable.”


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Providers of online, payday and peer-to-peer loans for small businesses say they are increasingly concerned that the lack of regulation of the sector could see a few bad apples destroy it. by Renee Thompson
Access to finance is still a significant barrier for Australian small businesses, with entrepreneurs increasingly turning to credit cards, family and personal loans to fund their ventures. by Renee Thompson
SmartCompany.com.au is Australia's leading website for SMEs featuring business news, business information and business blogs. SmartCompany's archive of news, feature articles, entrepreneur interviews and business webinars cover topics such as advertising and marketing, buying or selling a business, starting a business, growing a business, franchising, SEO, superannuation and tax.


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Sunseeker may plot course for float
It is 74ft long, finished in gleaming white, offers onboard luxury with sumptuously equipped teak cabins, state-of-the-art navigation and is capable of speeds of 35 knots. Oh, and it could be yours for just £1.4m.
The Manhattan 74 cruiser, built by Poole-based Sunseeker, is the most expensive boat at the London Boat Show. But it is not there to enable pretty girls to stretch out on the palatial sundeck. Huge City bonuses and the flood of hi-tech millionaires have boat builders rubbing their hands in anticipation of bumper orders.
Sunseeker joint owner Robert Braithwaite said: 'We are expecting to do some serious business.' Together with brother John he started in 1970 building 17ft boats. Now the biggest is 105ft, costs £4.5m, and there are plans to design even larger superyachts. 'The increase in size reflects people's increased prosperity,' said Robert.
Sunseeker boats have been bought by former racing driver Nigel Mansell and nightclub boss Peter Stringfellow. Talk on the marinas is that Sunseeker, with £105m annual sales, may consider flotation to help develop the business further.
While City dealers like to display their new wealth by splashing out on floating gin palaces, the Square Mile has never warmed to investing in nautical ventures. The £20m flotation of sailing holidays group Sunsail was sunk after fund managers gave it a wide berth in 1995. The same year the only quoted boat builder, Fairline, was taken over by a South African group.
However, since then the industry has grown substantially, apart from a slight downturn in 1998 when exports were hit by the strength of sterling. Last year, turnover grew 11% to more than £1.5bn.
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Bellavita Expo London next edition date updated
London - Bellavita Expo
Bellavita London's 8th edition will be held 22-23 June 2022. Book a Sponsor/Stand. Subscribe to our Newsletter.
Bellavita Expo acquired European Pizza & Pasta Show. This acquisition makes it the largest HoReCa event both in Europe and the UK. Bellavita Expo London will host the next edition of its largest Mediterranean Food & Beverage show. It will take place at the Olympia London exhibition center on 22 and 23 June 2022.
The two events, which were organized with support from Vinitaly, Cibus and other organizations, will be combined to create the largest food and drink trade show. This event will provide significant growth opportunities for both the UK and European F&B industry.
The event will feature over 300 F&B vendors and 10,000 visitors. There will also be interactive areas and features, including the Spanish pavilion organized by Iberica Expo. Industry competitions, innovative cooking shows and wine tastings, as well as talks featuring Michelin-starred chefs like Giorgio Locatelli and Masters of Wine.
We hope to see you at the European Pizza & Pasta Show 2022 and Bellavita Expo 2022.
After the extraordinary challenges that the F&B industry faced in the last year and a half, it is crucial to strengthen Made-in-Italy's position in the UK through innovative and interactive trade shows like Bellavita London.
The variety was great and the show was well-organised.
Bellavita is true to the spirit and quality of Italy and now they're adding produce from Spain and Croatia to their menu.


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BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 22
By Nazrin Israfilova - Trend:
Belarusian glass plant Neman OJSC intends to expand cooperation with Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to BelTA news agency.
A delegation headed by the director of the glass plant Yuri Kislyak visited Azerbaijan on December 17-19. During the visit, the delegation members held talks with a dealer of glassworks in Azerbaijan.
The members of the delegation of Belarus visited the sales centers and reviewed the available products.
Moreover, the sides summed up the preliminary results of cooperation in 2021 and discussed the prospects for cooperation for the next year.
The delegation arrived through the assistance of the embassy of Belarus in Azerbaijan.


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Uplatform will be introducing its latest solutions at stand B1213 at G2E Asia 2022, to be held from August 24-26.
Press release.- Ready to engage your players with next-gen content, huge coverage of sports, esports, live casino, and other amazing iGaming products? Then be sure not to miss Uplatform in Singapore from August 24-26 showcasing their wide range of iGaming solutions to the lucrative local market at G2E Asia.
The G2E Singapore edition will be as colossal and busy as ever and it is a great opportunity for industry leaders and decision-makers to come together, network, show their solutions, and discuss the Asian gaming market and its huge potential.
Join Uplatform at Stand B1213 to learn more about their effective range of solutions.
Uplatform offers a fully managed sports betting and online casino platform embracing the betting preferences of players from all over the world and providing all necessary tools to target any audience.
Usports (Uplatform’s sportsbook) extensive coverage of more than 200+ sports – basketball, UFC, badminton, football, and unique sports including sepak takraw and kabaddi, along with more than 60+ esports. There are also live dealer games featuring local dealers, with Asian favourites like Baccarat and Sic Bo.
Uplatform has been carefully designed to meet regional needs and preferences, offering a variety of payment methods, local languages, a light web version, and apps for iOS, Android, and Windows.
Aside from demonstrating products, Uplatform will also provide loads of entertainment. At their stand, visitors will have an opportunity to capture their memories of G2E 2022 in a unique way, receive some valuable prizes and enjoy productive talks with Uplatform’s experts.
Drop by and meet Uplatform’s team at G2E Asia 2022 to find out how to improve your existing iGaming business or start it from scratch and reach success in no time at all. Be sure to book your meeting in advance via https://uplatform.com/contact-us/
G2E Asia Singapore – What to expect there?
Global Gaming Expo Asia (G2E Asia) is renowned as a key gaming and entertainment business hub across the continent.
It is the must-attend marketplace for the Asian gaming-entertainment industry, offering a one-stop platform to industry professionals to network, forge fresh connections, source new products and solutions, and gain a deeper insight into the latest global industry trends.
Every year, over 95 per cent of Asian casino operators attend G2E Asia to look for cutting-edge products and solutions and gather upcoming industry trends. Held in Macau – the heart of Asian gaming entertainment, G2E Asia is the ideal hub where professionals network and conduct business.


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Pres. Donald Trump instructed the U.S. trade representative to consider an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods in a dramatic escalation of the trade dispute between the two countries . . .
As the ELD mandate takes effect in the US, Canada has published its own first draft of rules . . .
Beginning Nov. 1, drivers across California can expect to pay an extra 12 cents per gallon for gasoline at the pump, and an extra 20 cents per gallon for diesel . . .
Lehigh Valley, PA, a burgeoning logistics hot-spot, now ranked 65th largest GDP out of the 382 metro areas in the US . . .
TBL is proud to announce a joint venture with BDP International which increases our global reach and solutions to our wide range of valued clients.


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THQ auction recap: Dead Island publisher buys Saints Row and Metro, Crytek picks up Homefront, Sega acquires Warhammer studio and more
It was indeed a sad day today as bits and pieces of THQ were sold off at an auction to the highest bidder. The publisher’s goal of keeping all of its studios intact were crushed as creditors clamored for THQ to be sold in pieces to maximize return on the now defunct publishing giant.
The most surprising news out of the auction was the announcement that Koch Media, parent company to Deep Silver acquired Volition and the Saints Row IP from THQ for $22.3 million. For those of you that don’t know, Deep Silver is Dead Island’s publisher.
Koch Media also picked up the Metro series for $5.8 million. The game will continue to be developed by third party Ukraine-based studio, 4A Games. Volition is currently working on Saints Row 4 and 4A Games is nearly done with Metro: Last Light which had a release date for March 2013. While there is no announcement if these titles will be delayed, its looking like the release date may hold.
Take-Two has acquired new IP ‘Evolve’ from THQ, currently being developed by Turtle Rock, co-developer of the Left 4 Dead series. Interestingly enough, Turtle Rock had put in a $250k bid to purchase the Evolve license, but was vastly out-bided by Take-Two when the publishing giant dolled out $10.8 million for the IP.
While there is no information on Evolve other than that it’s a co-op shooter, the new IP must have immensely impressed the likes of Take-Two in order for it to shell out over $10 million on an unproven license.
Sega has stepped up to acquire Relic studios, the same folks that brought you Warhammer 40k and is currently working on RTS title, Company of Heroes 2. Sega apparently paid $26 million for the developer and its IPs. Oddly enough, I find the Warhammer series being a nice fit with Sega.
Crytek has revealed that the studio has picked up the IP to Homefront for an estimated price of $500k (unverified), a franchise the developer has been working on. Homefront 2 is currently under development by Crytek on the CryENGINE.
While the Homefront IP is probably not all that appealing if judging off the first game, more than likely Crytek wanted to make good on all of its development cycles spent on Homefront 2.
Ubisoft also got in on the action when the publisher picked up THQ Montreal along with a new IP, Underdog and 1666 doe $2.5 million. The publisher also picked up the South Park: Stick of Truth IP for$3.3 million. However, according to reports South Park Studios is planning on fighting to take control of the Stick of Truth IP.
Lastly, there was some sad news revealed after the auction that the developers of Darksiders, Vigil studios was left without any bidders. THQ revealed that steps will be taken to layoff resources immediately.
However, there was some good news as Platinum Game’s head, Atsushi Inaba tweeted that he was interested in the studio and the Darksiders IP as long as he can get it on the cheap.
"In THQ studio and IP selling off auction, Darksiders is unsold? [We] wanna buy it…on the cheap…"
There may still be hope yet for Vigil and its staff.


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In the April 25th, 2001 issue of Japanese Newsweek, an article talking about the upcoming system wars had a quote from Tecmo of Japan Vice President, Jinji Nakamura. This quote was terribly taken out of context, incorrectly stating that Tecmo felt the Xbox was the least important of the next generation consoles. Mr. Nakamura actually stated that the in the current Japanese gaming market, Japanese gamers found the PlayStation 2 was the most important platform, followed by the Game Cube, and then the Xbox. Here's an official statement from Tecmo's "PR Guy" George Ngo:
"It's a shame that in their hurry to break the news before the competition, some websites didn't bother to do any fact-checking or actual calling to the source. If they did, they'd find out that the story about Mr. Nakamura involved a quote that was taken out of context in order to present a controversial news story. This is irresponsible and also known as libel. I commend the 'cooler heads at the few websites who bothered to do some fact-checking before posting."
--Anthony Chau, IGN


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Holiday Nights 'N Lights preparing for opening night
Now that Halloween is over, many of us are already starting to think about the winter holidays.
And in Ottumwa, the Ottumwa Chamber of Commerce is getting ready to kick off its 8th season of Holiday Nights 'N Lights beginning November 17.
The nearly one-mile drive-thru display will be open seven days a week through December 28.
There are more than 300 different pieces with around 70 different displays.
â??The 200-foot lighted tunnel. We've got breathing, fire breathing dragons, we've got an enchanted forest, we have a candy shop. We have a lot of new surprises this year. Every year we try to move things around and bring in new displays and so we're really excited about that. And you know for three or four weeks it takes us, many many volunteers it takes us to set up. It's a lot of work and it's only $10 for a carload, which is a bargain,â?? said Terry McNitt, Ottumwa Chamber Director.
Discounted tickets are also available at any Elliott Oil location for $8 and you can also purchase a season pass for $40 at the Ottumwa Chamber office.


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The hotly anticipated Harry Potter action RPG, Hogwarts Legacy, could see itself once again delayed. The rumor stems from PlayStation insider, Colin Moriarty, who hosts the Sacred Symbols podcast.
The host shared that he’s been “hearing behind the scenes that [the] game isn’t coming out this year.” The key point to make is that this is the extent of the rumor, it could be all bunk but thanks to the ongoing pandemic, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise to most gamers if does turn out to be true.
Hogwarts Legacy was originally slated for a 2021 release, but that didn’t pan out as the pandemic kind of ruined many big releases, not to get peoples’ hopes up too much, WB Games didn’t share a release date when sharing that they’ll have big news this year in the last month of 2021, but rather a window of 2022.
Recent rumors are also pointing that WB Games might be officially announcing that the game needs more time during a February State of Play, but we haven’t even heard anything concrete about that, either.


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TORONTO — Kraft Heinz is bringing the production of Heinz Ketchup for sale in Canada back to Canada from the U.S. The ketchup will be produced at Kraft Heinz Canada’s flagship Mont Royal factory in Montreal, Que. as part of a joint investment between Kraft Heinz Canada and the Government of Quebec’s business expansion program.
The new ketchup line — set to begin operation in late summer 2021 — is expected to produce more than 100 million pounds of Heinz Ketchup for Canadian consumers in the first two years alone as production ramps up.
“Kraft Heinz Canada is pleased to partner with the Quebec Government on this investment in bringing ketchup production back to Canada from the U.S.,” says Bruno Keller, president, Kraft Heinz Canada. “Through our partnership with Quebec and increased efficiencies at our Mont Royal facility, it became possible to return this iconic product back to Canada for Canadians at this time.”
The project will create 30 new jobs and help maintain approximately 750 more at the Mont Royal facility.


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TVH has appointed Carnelius Cruz as vice president of sales for the Americas, with responsibility for the USA, Canada, Mexico as well as south America markets.
He joins the company from Navistar /International trucks, where he has been vice president of spare parts sales for the past four years. He began his career in 1998 as an assistant football coach for the University of Rhode Island, University of New Hampshire and Northern Illinois University, moving to the Genuine Parts Company of Atlanta in 2007, initially as a sales manager for the Under Car division. Over the next 13 years or so he progressed through the ranks to become general manager of the Filters and Heavy Duty group, until December when he left for TVH.
TVH Americas is based in Olathe, Kansas, with 16 locations through the Americas, it is wholly owned subsidiary of Belgium’s TVH Parts Holding which has 81 locations around the world, with 5,000 employees shipping parts and accessories for forklifts, aerial work platforms and industrial vehicles to around 180 countries.


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Hasbro recently announced the arrival of 3 new 6″ The Black Series figures, arriving at shopDisney.
We also reached out to Hasbro to ask if the figures will be available outside of the US, after hearing reports that these figures were being offered to European retails at wholesale. In response we were told “Yes, select figures will be available globally. Check your local retailer for availability.”
And while you’re here, check out my unboxing videos for these 3 figures.
So, great news for collectors worldwide to lead us into the weekend.


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FILE - In this Dec. 28, 2020, file photo, staff of the Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 disinfect the store to help curb the spread of the coronavirus before it opens in Pyongyang, North Korea. The World Health Organization says it has started a process of sending COVID-19 medical supplies to North Korea through the Chinese port of Dalian, a possible sign that the North is easing one of the world s toughest pandemic border closures to receive outside help. AP
The World Health Organization has started shipping COVID-19 medical supplies into North Korea, a possible sign that the North is easing one of the world's strictest pandemic border closures to receive outside help.
WHO says it has started the shipment of essential COVID-19 medical supplies through the Chinese port of Dalian for strategic stockpiling and further dispatch to North Korea.
WHO representative told AP the items included emergency health kits and medicine. The country still claims to have a perfect record of fighting the virus and has reported no coronavirus cases. It recently turned down some Sinovac vaccines offered via the U.N.-backed program. It had severely restricted cross-border traffic and trade for the past two years despite the strain on its crippled economy.


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Europe’s biggest rapid-delivery app is setting its sights on the U.S.
In recent weeks, New Yorkers have started to notice couriers in purple and yellow zipping around their city on mopeds.
These couriers, who can also be found in Chicago and Boston, are transporting groceries for rapid-delivery app Getir.
Founded six years ago in Istanbul, Turkey, Getir aims to deliver everyday essentials from its grocery stores to people’s front doors in under 10 minutes.
This year, it expanded across Europe, where it competes with the likes of Gorillas and Zapp. Next year, it will be a lot more focused on the United States, where it will face a whole new level of competition.
“One U.S. is equal to all [of] Europe,” Getir CEO and co-founder Nazim Salur told CNBC in an interview, adding that he thinks it’s the best place in the world for start-ups to operate.
“A good basketball player in the end wants to play in the NBA and the NBA is in the U.S.,” Salur said. “We played basketball in Turkey and then the EuroLeague. And now it’s time to show our skills and try to make it in the NBA.”
Getir plans to expand into “many more” U.S. cities in 2022, Salur said. The entrepreneur declined to give a specific number, but it will “definitely be” more than 10, he said.
“To give you an idea, we opened London 10 months ago, and today we’re in 16 cities in the U.K.,” he said, adding that the U.K. market is five times smaller than the U.S.
Stiff competition in the U.S.
Getir, which has almost 30,000 employees worldwide, will face stiff competition from much larger companies in the United States.
Food delivery firm DoorDash, which has a valuation five times that of Getir, has launched its own rapid-delivery service, while Uber is also running experiments. Amazon, the world’s biggest e-commerce company, could also move into the space.
“There are other companies who are coming into our area,” Salur said. “Some existing bigger players, such as DoorDash.”
There’s also a new generation of rapid-delivery companies trying to get a slice of the pie.
Several New York rapid-delivery startups, including Jokr and Buyk, have sprung up recently, but Salur claims they don’t pose any immediate threat to Getir.
“They are very new and we’re much more experienced,” he said. “The competition there is not going to bother us.”
Backed by deep pockets
Getir has raised over $1 billion for its expansion efforts, with investors most recently valuing the business at more than $7.7 billion.
The company plans to raise more capital in 2022, Salur said, adding that he raises money in a different way from some of his rivals.
“Others raise in panic most of the time and the investors make the rules,” Salur said. “When we raise it is mostly on our terms.”
Reluctant to dilute his stake in the company any more than necessary, Salur said Getir won’t take on more cash than it needs to.
While Getir has been backed by big name investors such as New York hedge fund Tiger Global and Silicon Valley venture firm Sequoia, not everyone is willing to make bets on rapid-delivery companies.
Christian Angermayer, who regularly invests in startups alongside Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, told CNBC that he’s not bullish on rapid-delivery businesses.
“It’s very challenging to get the unit economics to work in this sector, and just a few will survive,” he said. “I regard the current valuation of those companies extremely exaggerated and hyped.”
Salur plans to take the company public in New York eventually. He said this could happen as early as next year or 2023.
“We would IPO when the right time is there but then we want to stay at the helm of the company in the long term if the situation permits us of course,” Salur said.


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Being able to develop electric vehicles (EVs) is a vital expertise for carmakers as the industry speeds towards electrification of its products. However, just as vehicles with internal combustion engines are useless without liquid fuel, EVs will not run without electricity. The electricity can come from various sources – even the sun – but what’s more important is being able to store the energy.
That’s where batteries come in and currently, there is much focus on the development of batteries for EVs, with the technology advancing very quickly. As we have seen with the shortage of microprocessors disrupting vehicle production globally, a shortage of batteries would also mean EVs cannot leave the factory, even if the vehicle is completed.
For this reason, the major carmakers have looked for ways to secure supply of batteries for coming years as demand for EVs increases rapidly. The biggest companies have established their own subsidiaries to develop and manufacture batteries, setting up factories around the world to ensure that different regions are covered.
Following on from the January announcement, it has been reported by Nikkei that the joint venture between Honda and GS Yuasa International will invest over 400 billion yen (around RM13.3 billion) to establish an efficient production operation including the supply chain for key raw materials. This will include building a new factory in Japan which will have a production capacity likely to be up to 20 gigawatt hours (GWh), according to the newspaper’s report.
Honda and GS Yuasa have had a close relationship since 1981 when Yuasa began supplying batteries as original equipment for Honda motorcycles. Over 4 decades, the two companies have grown together and with the EV age starting, Yuasa’s long expertise in making batteries (going back to 1915) has become even more valuable. The company evolved into GS Yuasa Corporation in 2004 and five years later, formed a joint venture with Honda that was called Blue Energy Co. (BEC) to produce lithium-ion batteries for Honda’s hybrid models.
In January this year, Honda and GS Yuasa announced the basic agreement toward collaboration for a high-capacity, high-output lithium-ion battery. With the EV market becoming more competitive, this is an important step for Honda not only in R&D and battery production methods but also establishing a supply chain for key raw materials and a highly-efficient battery production system.
“Honda is striving to realize carbon neutrality for all products and corporate activities which the company is involved in by 2050. Honda and GS Yuasa have already been working together on lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles, and this new collaboration will further accelerate Honda’s electrification strategies toward the achievement of our carbon neutrality goal,” said Toshihiro Mibe, Director, President and Representative Executive Officer of Honda Motor.
While Blue Energy has not been named, it is believed that this company will also be involved in the factory which would make sense. Production is expected to begin in 2027.
Earlier this month, in its presentation of Vision 2035 (GS Yuasa’s long-term vision and 6th Mid-Term Management Plan), the company showed its R&D roadmap for battery development over the next 3 decades. It will move towards all-solid-state batteries to achieve higher energy density with the company’s unique solid electrolyte technology. Liquid electrolyte lithium-ion batteries as they currently exist will evolve into batteries free from the use of rare metals, possessing longer lives, and capable of being recycled.


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Area Development Magazine has come up with the rankings for new and expanding businesses in the United States and South Carolina is ranked No.2. On the heels of Texas, South Carolina has moved up from fourth place in 2011 in part because of growing exports and $3.4 billion dollars worth of investments. Some of those investments include Bridgestone America’s $1.2 billion expansion, BMW’s expansion- bringing their investment in the state to almost $6 billion. There is also Michelin North America’s investment of nearly $1billion in plants around the state creating 500 jobs.
So, you might ask your self why is South Carolina so appealing? Well, South Carolina offers great training/ development programs, competitive labor, and a willing workforce with the advanced skill sets needed for new operations. Editors of the magazine pointed out that Ready SC , South Carolina’s workforce development program, has trained more than 250,000 workers for 2,000 companies.
More GREAT things happening in South Carolina: Ranked No.2 for overall business climate, No.3 for infrastructure and global access, and tied for No. 5 in leading the economic recovery.
For more information on this article please see GSA Business Journal or Area Development Magazine
The S.C. Realtors said in their monthly home sales report that sales are up by 13.4% statewide. Which indicates a trend toward rising prices and more homes sold in a shorter time on the market. This is great for many sellers who have waited to place their homes on the market as new listings in South Carolina increased 2% and pending sales were up 11%. Another great sign for optimistic sellers is that the inventory of unsold homes has gone down 15.1% and low interest rates have helped as they dipped below 3.49% for a 30-yr fixed mortgage. However, we still have a ways to go before sustained recovery as consumers are still lacking confidence in both the economy and their family finances.
The strongest increases in the number of homes sold were in the Spartanburg and Hilton Head markets reaching 25% in both areas.
Here are some market facts:
- The strongest price range was $200,001-$300,000 with a 15.4% increase in sales during July, compared with the year-earlier month.
- The bedroom count with the strongest sales in July was 4 bedroom or more, and sales up 15.1%.
- Condominiums were the property type with the strongest sales, up 11.4%.
According to a report in the Huffington Post, South Carolina is the 8th best state in the nation for growth in women-owned businesses.
According to the report, nationally women-owned businesses have grown at a rate 1.5 times faster than all businesses–50 percent since 1997. In South Carolina, the growth rate for the same period was 63.6 percent. There were 105,100 women-owned businesses in South Carolina in 2011.
The number one state for women-owned businesses?: Georgia. Eight of the top 15 states are in the South. Read the report at huffingtonpost.com by clicking here.
South Carolina ranked No. 16 nationally for friendliness toward small business, according to a recent survey by Thumbtack.com, in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The Palmetto State received an overall grade of B+, garnering mostly high marks in the two-month survey that involved 6,000 small-business owners nationwide.
Other key findings for South Carolina included:
- It costs relatively little to hire a new employee in South Carolina — the state was the second-least costly place in the nation to hire a new employee.
- Women-owned small businesses in South Carolina were significantly more optimistic about their financial future than their male counterparts. Female entrepreneurs were 15% more likely than male entrepreneurs to rate their company’s financial situation as likely to improve over the coming year.
The state received a grade of A+ for the ease of starting a small business, cost of hiring a new employee and friendliness of environmental regulations. It received an A for overall regulatory friendliness, and friendliness of employment, labor and hiring regulations.
Chief Executive magazine ranked South Carolina the seventh best state in which to do business, an improvement of one spot from the 2011 survey.
The top states include:
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
The bottom states include:
45. New Jersey
49. New York
The survey asked 650 CEOs to rate states in the areas of tax, regulation, quality of work force, and living environment. According to the report, most of the top 20 states are right-to-work states.


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NetApp was the big winner as other vendors suffered from revenue declines
Telstra in Australia will start selling its service soon and a launch in Japan is planned for next year
Vendors will continue to lean on higher resolutions and faster processors
The company takes advantage of Google's recently released development kit
Vendors shipped 4.97 million 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports during the third quarter.
The result will be available for Android-based smartphones across Europe next year.
Version 10.2 of the management platform gives IT staff more flexibility when managing iOS and Android-based devices.
Alcatel-Lucent has teamed up with site owners to build a database of locations where network operators can install small cells.
Despite production problems, Dutch company Fairphone is getting ready to ship the first batch of its green smartphones, which have been developed with as much conflict-free materials as possible.
3D printing is not only entering the consumer space these days, but it also is finding application in the filmmaking industry.
The flagship Asha 503 model is available in countries such as France, Italy, the UK and Portugal.
Nokia is hoping that availability of its low-end Lumia 525 in countries like China and Russia will soon give its smartphone sales a boost.
Following the cloud storage company's purchase of dLoop's technology, look for the first improvements to Box's search capabilities to come along soon.
The updated beta version allows users to add more drives to their servers.
Nothing spoils holiday travel quite like getting locked out of the house Wi-Fi. Here's how to help your folks set their networks aright.
Articles by RickNext Page


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Producer Laurie David talks about the documentary “Fed Up,” which upends the conventional wisdom of why we gain weight and how to lose it. The film unearths the dirty little secret your favorite brands and restaurants don’t want you to know—far more of us get sick from what we eat than anyone ever realized and this is in largely due to added sugar in 80 percent of items sold in grocery stores. “Fed Up” opens May 9 at the Angelika.
“Exercise is essential for good health. But we can’t exercise our way out of the obesity epidemic. And if you just look at one small stat from the movie, which is a child who drinks one soda a day would have to be on a bicycle for an hour and 15 minutes to get rid of that soda,” Laurie David said. “There really aren’t enough hours in the day to exercise this food off.”
We should only be eating about 6-9 teaspoons of sugar a day, “But most of us are consuming about 22 teaspoons a day, which is an incredible amount of sugar. But the problem is, they’re not even aware they’re consuming it,” she said. “You don’t necessarily know you’re consuming sugar when you’re using store-bought salad dressing, or store-bought tomato sauce, or healthy granola bars. It’s added to all these foods.”
Although many people think that cutting down on fat will lead to weight loss, fat is not the problem—sugar is what causes people to gain weight. When the food industry created low-fat and nonfat versions of foods, they added sugar to those products to make up for the flavor lost when fat was removed. “Fed Up” shows how powerful food companies are and how they’ve taken advantage of the confusion about what constitutes a healthy diet. It also looks at the role advertising and marketing has worked to exacerbate the problems of obesity. “It’s outrageous that we allow these companies to market food that we know is unhealthy to children,” she said.
Read labels and pay attention to the sugar content in foods and drinks. If you want to cut out added sugar and improve your diet and health, avoid processed foods as much as possible. As Michael Pollan recommends in Food Rules: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Pollan also has this nugget of advice: “If it’s a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t.”
Watch the trailer


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UF alumnus Amir Rubin (B.S. ECE’03) is a serial entrepreneur. As the CEO of Paracosm, a company which he founded, he is leading the development of computer vision and simultaneous-localization-and-mapping (SLAM) technology that is making the next generation of 3D scanning tools possible. Rubin’s vision is to use these tools to someday produce a 3D map of the entire world.
In 2016, Rubin and his team built PX-80, the world’s first mobile LIDAR scanner that produces color data. Shortly afterward, Paracosm was acquired by spatial computing company Occipital, making the combined company a strong force in the world of 3D sensing.
“Amir is a true visionary. He’s that rare innovation pioneer that speaks through his actions not his words,” said Erik Sander, FLEX Executive Director and Michael Durham Director of the UF Engineering Innovation Institute. “He’s also been a great role model and mentor to students and other entrepreneurs in the area.”
Just before graduating from UF’s engineering college, he became the co-founder of Prioria Robotics, where they built robots, drones and embedded systems. Next, he founded the engineering and product development consulting firm Accelerated Perception, LLC. In 2011, he became the first employee of Shadow Health, a learning management system development company founded by engineering faculty member Benjamin Lok.


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UK retail footfall in January was 1.2% up on a year ago, significantly above the 2.2% decline seen in December – and its best performance since January 2014, excluding Easter distortions.
Figures released by BRC (British Retail Consortium) and Springboard in their monthly monitor show that footfall in retail park locations increased 5.2% year-on-year – its best performance for two years. This is well ahead of December’s 2.1% rise and above the three-month average rate of 3%.
High streets reported their first rise in footfall since July 2013, excluding Easter distortions) – significantly ahead of December’s 4% decline.
Footfall growth in shopping centres was broadly flat in January – its best performance since January 2014.
The national town centre vacancy rate was 8.7% in January, down from the 9.1% rate reported in October 2015. This is the lowest reported rate since BRC and Springboard began reporting the data in July 2011.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “The improvement in shopper footfall witnessed in January provided a timely and welcome fillip to retailers at the start of the year, with retail parks once again recording a stellar performance. Indeed, this was the best overall footfall performance for two years, and well ahead of the three-month average.
“The further reduction in the shop vacancy rate is encouraging – more so against a backdrop in which online retailing is becoming increasingly popular.
“However, the fact remains that one in every 11 retail premises in our town centres lies empty. The current business rates system, in which rates bills only ever seem to rise, is wholly inadequate to the task ahead.
“So it is imperative that the chancellor capitalises on the conclusion of the review to introduce a system which flexes with economic conditions and leads to a substantially lower tax burden.”
Springboard marketing and insights director Diane Wehrle commented: “The increase in footfall across all retail destination types, the first since December 2011, alongside the rise in spending in January, finally demonstrates what is well known – that bricks and mortar shopping environments are still important to consumers.
“Tracking footfall across 450 individual locations since 2009 has shown that it is the post 5pm period that has been most resilient, with improvements in daytime footfall following on from an increase in activity in the evening.
“The improved vacancy rate is an encouraging sign, but there needs to be caution about being too optimistic, as evidence shows the driving force to be an increase in pop-ups and temporary lets in the run-up to Christmas and which are still occupied.
“However, the rationale for pop-ups for many retailers is an exploration of whether there is an appetite for the brand in that location; and an increase in footfall may encourage the conversion of a proportion of these into permanent occupancy, so improving the vacancy position into the next quarter.”


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Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) might have enjoyed a small bump yesterday, but shares have sunk around 20% in 2017 alone and are sitting nearly 70% lower than they were a year ago.
While Fitbit fans may have been hoping the company’s next earnings report — due after the bell today — will offer another bump, low expectations coupled with leaked photos of Fitbit’s highly anticipated smartwatch should sour such expectations.
Fitbit has been talking about transitioning from fitness trackers to full-blown smartwatches, but images of the first Fitbit smartwatch — dubbed “Project Higgs” internally — are being roasted by the tech world for being too similar to previous devices (mostly the GPS-tracking Surge).
Tech companies — especially those with hyped product release cycles — are always put under a microscope. And oftentimes, techie bloggers are more critical in their hot takes than the average consumer. The trouble, though, is that Fitbit doesn’t really have much room for error. Sales are declining, the stock is declining, the market is competitive and being a first mover in a space doesn’t guarantee a moat.
The investors that have hung on despite the past year’s decline have done so because they believe the product mix will turn around. Eventually, though, they’re going to need some evidence to back up such a theory. The recent photos of Fitbit’s smartwatch aren’t that.
Besides, buzz does trickle out from bloggers to shoppers. Beleaguered Fitbit needs all the positive buzz it can get, especially as it tries to expand beyond its current customer base. Not everyone is obsessed with tracking their steps, heart rate and water consumption.
The point of a smartwatch was to draw in such “average” consumers — those who might wear a watch anyway, but aren’t quite as into the gamification of their lives. Releasing a smartwatch that looks quite similar to the Surge doesn’t seem like a great way to draw in new fans.
After the bell today, Fitbit is supposed to post a 19-cent loss, compared to a slight profit a year ago. So while an earnings beat would technically be an improvement from the past (sequential) quarter, there’s barely a bar to stumble over. That loss is on tap to come on the back of a 44% decline in sales, too.
That drop that will contribute to a 27% decline expected for the full year, which comes on the back of a 20% last year. See what I mean about there not being much room for error?
Bottom Line for FIT Stock
In fact, most trends in the most recent full-year report weren’t favorable. Fitbit’s cost of revenue increased and its margins decreased. Sure, devices sold and active users did go up last year but hardware is what will keep that trend going — especially as the market continues to get more crowded.
Even if Fitbit stock manages a beat today, I’d stay away. The fundamentals are non-existent, the product mix is shaky at best, the company’s leadership is in flux as a result, and such negative sentiment is hard to turn.
Fitbit stock big-time whiff on its smartwatch is just the latest reason to stay away.
Hilary Kramer is the editor of GameChangers, Breakout Stocks, High Octane Trader, Absolute Capital Return and Value Authority. She is an accomplished investment specialist and market strategist with more than 25 years of experience in portfolio management, equity research, trading, and risk management. She has extensive expertise in global financial management, asset allocation, investment banking and private equity ventures, and is regularly sought after to provide her analysis on Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business Network and other media.


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Jan 25, 2016
Switzerland is a tiny European economy known for its financial industry. China is the world’s second largest economy known for its manufacturing. Yet Switzerland beats China in manufacturing innovation, according to a recently released 2015 Bloomberg Innovation Index.
Switzerland occupies the first position among fifty countries ranked, while China occupies the 41st position.
More from Forbes.


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Although Nigeria is yet to ink the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), a multibillion dollar booty is said to be awaiting the country if it does, particularly when the multilateral currency swap lines being championed by the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) comes on stream.
Just last week, in far away Egypt, at the just-concluded Intra Africa Trade Fair (IATF), the bank said it was working on an arrangement that would enable countries trade and settle transactions costs without reference to external currencies.
According to its Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Obi Emekekwue, Afreximbank is already working on the scheme that would enable African countries trade with one another without resorting to other convertible currencies like the almighty dollar, pound sterling, euro and the Chinese renminbi.
He disclosed that the bank had already commenced a test run of the scheme, which would be launched across the continent soon.
Although its modality is still in the wraps, it is a step in the right direction as the only game in town now is currency swap, particularly among continental brothers across the globe,. For instance, it was reported recently that the Asian tigers, Japan and China, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, are in talks to resume a currency swap arrangement between their central banks worth about 3 trillion yen (£21.3 billion).
Back home in Africa, the lack of such deal to facilitate urgent settlement of trade has been the albatross since time immemorial, which may eventually frustrate the dream of a common market under an AfCFTA regime, according to the Chairman of Vista Bank, Mr. Simon Tiemtore.
A report from IATF quoted Tiemtore as saying that currency issue remained a major challenge for the realisation of a unified African continental market, which all stakeholders, including the respective central banks, should resolve to achieve the goals of AfCFTA.
His words: “But trade among nations must continue while the governments take stronger policy actions to sort out these issues because the private sector cannot wait until this is done. Trade among African countries must continue while we look at Afreximbank and the central banks to put in place policies to resolve these issues.”
Ahmed Mansur, an Executive Director at Dangote Group, noted that some countries were already trying their hands on currency swaps option, stressing, however, what was needed among neighbouring countries to transact were trust and guarantees from the government using their local currencies.
Just last June, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Limited, while making case for the Nigerian naira and South African rand swap deal said any type of deal between Nigeria and South Africa will be useful and will consolidate stronger position of trade between both countries.
“This swap will ease pressure on external reserves, enhance infrastructural development, create jobs and improve trade between the two countries especially when these two are yet to sign on AfCFTA, and the swap arrangement is also estimated to generate a region of $1 billion over three years.
“The swap arrangement will also enhance trade flows by at least 50 per cent to $4 billion, ease demand pressure on both currencies, narrow Nigeria-South Africa imbalance to less than $1 billion and companies which will play in retail, telecoms, power and entertainment sectors will be key beneficiaries of the arrangement,” he stated.
Rewane explained that Nigeria and South Africa both account for 37 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and both have exported 59.3 per cent of total export and 58.2 per cent of total import between them.
Last July, President Emmanuel Macron of France, during his visit to Nigeria, also advocated for common currency in Africa saying, “I am a strong believer of ECOWAS and market access approach. You see, Nigeria is a big champion in ECOWAS.
A sizeable number of your neighbours have to work and make business in English.For you to work and make business in French, you have to make regional integration real.
I do believe in ECOWAS, free trade, free market, free regulation and much more integration. I am for regional integration. It is about time we went for more integration, market access and possibly a sort of common currency zone in the region.
“We have to change the rules, we have to accept this idea for a lot of countries’ integration in their own fashion. To achieve market access, you need stability; you need framework. What African Union signed in March in Kigali, to launch its own initiative for free trade, is a good one.”
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been making frantic efforts since 2003 to adopt a common currency.
Recently, the ECOWAS parliamentarians adopted a new strategy to make the single currency dream a reality. The new measure, according to a report, would examine the level of preparedness of each member state, discuss and determine the baseline macro-economic requirement and structural convergence for economic and monetary integration that will lead to actualisation of a common currency for financial transactions and trade facilitation in the sub-region, just like the euro zone.


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Chargestorm launch payment solution for electric vehicle charging
A new mobile app will make it easy for operators to charge for electric vehicle charging. In Norway, the country with the most mature market electric vehicles, the app has been a success and now the product is ready for the Swedish market.
“The key to success is the very user-friendly mobile app developed by WTW in combination with Chargestorms web portal that supports all brands of fast charging stations and AC charging stations in the Norwegian market,” says Christian Aune Thomassen, Technical Manager at WTW.
Chargestorms client list of companies that use the web-portal, Charge Portal, in order to monitor, gather statistics and administer charging stations, is growing rapidly.
“We currently have over 20 customers only in Sweden that use our web-portal. Together they have conducted over 50,000 electric charges, which are now stored in our database. Common to customers is that all offer the service for free. A natural next step is to introduce a convenient way to charge for the service.”, says Patrik Lindergren CEO of Chargestorm.
The payment solution has been developed in cooperation with WTW, a Norwegian company focused on ticketing. The partnership began a year ago, when Chargestorm launched their products and services in Norway. The service has been a success and to date it is used by four major operators in the Norwegian market, with thousands of payment transactions each month.
For more information, please contact:
Patrik Lindergren, CEO, ChargeStorm, +46 70 461 25 78
ChargeStorm is today one of the leading companies in the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. ChargeStorm delivers complete solutions including charging stations, operating and monitoring software, and various payment solutions.


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LevelUp, a Boston-area payments startup, has raised another $9 million for its astonishing idea of making payments absolutely free.
Last month, the company stopped charging merchants the usual percentage fee for payments processing. And today, founder Seth Priebatsch unveiled a plan to give away the hardware they need to take payments, too.
Deutsche Telekom's venture-capital arm, T-Ventures, is the latest investor to join. Google Ventures, Highland Capital, and Balderton Capital are among its prominent other investors.
LevelUp launched a year ago in beta and has since signed up 3,000 merchants and has 200,000 consumers using it a month. Instead of having customers swipe a credit card, LevelUp's app generates a QR code—a more sophisticated version of the classic barcode—that merchants scan, and LevelUp charges a credit or debit card linked to the customer's account.
LevelUp generates revenue when merchants run campaigns to attract new customers and reward loyal ones. It takes a 40 percent cut of first-time purchases and reward spending.
For example, here's a Ben & Jerry's offer: Get $2 off your first purchase and after you spend $50, get another $5 off. LevelUp will make an 80-cent fee on the first discount and $2 on the $5 loyalty discount.
Merchants don't have to run campaigns. In that case, LevelUp is essentially giving them credit-card processing for free. But Priebatsch told us 98 percent of his business customers opt to run some kind of profitable promotion.
The company currently has 162 employees in the U.S. and is shooting for 200 by the end of 2012. Its 3,000 merchant customers are primarily food and beverage businesses, including big names like Quiznos and Ben & Jerry's.
Its 200,000 customers spend $2 million a month, with 30,000 to 50,000 new users a month. Those are real users making a transaction, Priebatsch said.
A key proof point of LevelUp's popularity: The average user makes two to three LevelUp purchases a week. That's the same as the average rate of credit-card purchases in the U.S., he said.
But only 40 percent redeem a reward—and since LevelUp only makes money when a campaign's successful, that puts pressure on its margins.
Priebatsch claims he's obtained favorable interchange rates from banks and payments networks because of LevelUp's security measures. The QR code system means that LevelUp doesn't actually pass the credit-card number to the merchant.
One advantage LevelUp has is that merchants don't have to replace their whole point-of-sale system with LevelUp; they can use it alongside regular credit-card systems.
Here's a screenshot of how it works:


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has banned 2.3 billion misleading ads
that violated its advertising
policies in 2018, the company announced in its annual Bad Ads report
for the year.
This effectively means that the internet
giant banned around six million bad ads on a daily basis. Bad ads are mostly malicious advertising and phishing scams.
The company also identified and terminated almost one million bad advertiser accounts, which is nearly double the amount that were terminated in 2017.
Nearly 734,000 publishers and app developers were terminated from the Google ad network and ads were completely removed from nearly 1.5 million apps and nearly 28 million pages that violated the publisher policies, the company said in a statement.
In terms of misinformation, Google removed ads from around 1.2 million pages, over 22,000 apps, and nearly 15,000 sites across its ad network for violations of policies directed at misrepresentative, hateful or other low-quality content. More specifically, around 74,000 pages were removed for violating Google’s ‘dangerous or derogatory’ content policy, and around 190,000 ads were taken down for policy violations.
"At Google, we take our responsibility to help create a healthy and sustainable advertising ecosystem that works for everyone, seriously. Our ads are meant to connect users with relevant businesses, products and services; but bad ads ruin the experience. We, at Google, have been working towards protecting the users, advertisers and publishers by investing significant technological resources," said Scott Spencer, Director of Sustainable Ads, Google, in a statement.
"This will continue to remain our top priority as bad ads pose a threat to users, Google's partners, and the sustainability of the open web itself," Spencer added.
Google said they introduced 31 new ads policies during the year to address areas such as third-party tech support, ticket resellers, cryptocurrency, as well as local services such as garage door repairmen, bail bonds and rehab facilities.
The tech giant said it will also soon roll out a new Policy Manager in Google Ads
that will provide tips to advertisers on common policy mistakes and make it easier to create and launch compliant ads.


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Market Day a hit for designers
Designers taking part in Life Con showcased their work during a Market Day held at Tanoa Tusitala Hotel on Friday.
The aim of the market day was to gather all the participants to showcase and sell their products at discounted prices.
“It is also for the make-up artists, photographers and everyone else that will be participating in this important event. It's a day for them to gather and familiarise and sell their products and designs at very low prizes like 50 percent off,” Event Coordinator, Tyra Elisara said.
Local fashion designer, Dinah Schmidt Macdonald, was one of the participants.
“I have sold quite a few stuff today and I’m happy. I’m more proud to sell the designs that represent our heritage, our culture that’s printed on our dresses, so I’m very proud,” she said.
Another clothing shop participating this year is Rimani Samoa.
Supervisor, Tapa’au Tuipulotu, said it's good exposure for them.
"We've had a lot of customers coming and we’re glad we joined the Life Con market day and event this year."
Four international designers have joined this year's Life Con.
They share the same passion of expressing the Samoan culture and heritage through their designs.


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His PayActiv business allows professionals get access to that money it have previously gained. Very from the many companies now – including Lee’s Famous Dish Chicken and also the nation’s most significant individual sector company, Walmart – experts down load an application to their cellular phone. It’s associated with PayActiv and this new payroll system of your company.
“Therefore what if obtained already made $900” of the generating $one hundred a day to possess nine weeks, claims Shah. However, payroll remains five days away and additionally they have to have the currency immediately. Shaw claims it discover the latest app and “might discover a variety which is half of extent he has obtained that is available to him or her.”
The good news is, once the NPR’s Chris Arnold records, businesses are going directly into assist their employees that have a much lesser way of getting particular disaster dollars
Therefore if they need $eight hundred having a car repair or a trip to go to a good unwell brother, they tap a number of buttons and the currency gets zapped to help you their savings account otherwise a prepaid credit card. Therefore the percentage is $5. (Some companies spend the money for fee or a portion of it.) And most workers are determining which is a much better choice than just providing trapped during the a cycle out of financial obligation that have pricey payday loans.
The new application also offers particular creative a means to nudge staff so you’re able to develop discounts accounts therefore they’re not chronically secured for money. The computer spends some techniques grounded on behavioral economics. Shah states it requires specialists to place, https://paydayloansexpert.com/title-loans-wi/ state, couple of hours out of shell out per week on coupons, just like the experts function better to one rather than a dollar count.
Like systems are very important, obviously, while the problem people for example PayActiv are trying to address was not merely one out of experts not receiving paid in time for you to shell out some debts. It is a more difficult situation within difficulty way too many Us americans face away from dealing with and you can being near the top of its earnings in the middle of other pressures from lifestyle.
“Some candidly, a lot of America are life income so you’re able to salary that’s perhaps not a great socioeconomic problem, that is a western situation,” claims Daniel Eckert, an effective Walmart elderly vice president. “One covers numerous socioeconomic kinds whether you are a keen each hour associate otherwise an administration associate.”
“I truly think it’s game-modifying,” says Laura Scherler, this new movie director off economic stability and you can victory on Joined Ways. Those individuals get paid right back more longer intervals that have focus.
Individual supporters say businesses are cautious to make certain that their staff are getting a whole lot. But Scherler says discover a straight down-cost loan selection. “Indeed there appears to be a few things coming together with her best since produces it most fun. I believe companies are all the more conscious that economic stress has an effect on the professionals.”
And gurus see very aware of that as well. More than 100 people have finally accompanied PayActiv. An effective Walmart manager states we have witnessed an enthusiastic “extraordinary” reaction off personnel. More than two hundred,100 Walmart workers are now making use of the program.
She says other enterprises work at businesses supply specialists genuine fund – more than simply an advance into instances obtained currently worked
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: More companies these days have to give this type of help from creatures such as for example Walmart right down to nothing fried chicken dining.
ARNOLD: Keith Brown was a chef in the Lee’s Well-known Meal Poultry when you look at the Richmond, Va. The guy as well as the team was gearing up on lunchtime hurry.
ARNOLD: The fresh cafe manager, Henry Enjoying, noticed over the years a large number of his professionals here was basically taking burned – perhaps not which have fry oils but by highest-pricing financing that they had get trapped during the.


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Peter Woods has stepped down as president and CEO of Dorel Sports, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News has reported.
The decision was mutually agreed on, according to a Pon Holdings release, and Woods will continue working for Pon.Bike as a special advisor until the end of the year. In this role, he will continue to support the integration within Pon.Bike.
Woods joined Dorel Sports in March 2012 as CFO and was appointed president and CEO in May 2014. Before joining Dorel Sports, he held a series of senior positions in finance, strategy and mergers and acquisitions for Diageo in London and Connecticut.
Dorel Industries completed the previously-announced sale of Dorel Sports, its bicycle segment, to Dutch mobility group Pon Holdings earlier this year for $810 million. At closing, Dorel said it received net proceeds from the sale of approximately $735 million, which it will use for payment of a special dividend of $12.00 per share.
The transaction consisted of the sale by Dorel of 100% of the shares of its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary companies, comprising Dorel Sports as well as certain related assets.
Following the news, Martin Schwartz, Dorel president and CEO, said: “We are very pleased to have completed the sale of Dorel Sports to a great company like Pon. On behalf of the board of directors, I again thank the Dorel Sports team for their commitment to Dorel and their great achievements.
“We believe that with this sale, Dorel has realised full value for Dorel Sports, for the benefit of Dorel and our shareholders.”
Dorel’s board of directors declared a special dividend of $12.00 per share on Dorel’s outstanding Class B Subordinate Voting Shares and Class A Multiple Voting Shares, representing an aggregate amount of approximately $390 million.
Dorel Sports’ portfolio of brands includes Cannondale, Schwinn, Mongoose, GT, Charge, Caloi and KidTrax. Pon.Bike’s portfolio includes Gazelle, Kalkhoff, Focus, Santa Cruz, Cervélo, Swapfiets, Urban Arrow, BBB Cycling, Lease a Bike, Union, Reserve Wheels and Juliana.


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It was no secret that a new Corvette ZR1 was in development. Numerous spy shots, rumors and speculation, and even a cover leak confirmed the moniker's inevitable revival. After teasing its upcoming reveal, Chevrolet finally debuted the all-new Corvette ZR1 in Dubai. In addition the high-end model, Chevy also introduced the Sebring Orange Design Package for the ZR1.
The package features a tintcoat finish while the brake calipers, rocker panels, and splitter accent stripes are also painted in orange. The citrus theme continues inside where the seat belts and interior stitching receive the same orange treatment. Meanwhile, the cabin trim is adorned with bronze aluminum which is unique to this package.
The Corvette has had much success at the Sebring International Raceway. Earlier this year, Corvette Racing celebrated its third consecutive win in the GT Le Mans class at the 12 Hours of Sebring upsetting both the Ford GT and Porsche 911 RSR.
The ZR1's cockpit includes heated and vented leather sport seats, a carbon fiber-rimmed steering wheel, Bose premium audio system and more. Like the Z06, the Performance Data Recorder allows you to check your lap times, among other things, for track days.
The ZR1 features a new 6.2-liter LT5 supercharged V8 engine producing 755 horsepower and 715 pound-feet of torque. An optional eight-speed automatic transmission will be available for the first time in addition to a seven-speed manual. Pricing has not yet been disclosed, but it will likely cost more than $100,000. The Sebring Orange Design Package will likely command a premium on top of that.
Competing against the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini, this American car brand hopes to lure those looking for similar performance at a lesser price point.


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BWG Foodservice, part of leading Irish wholesale and retail group BWG Foods, has announced an exclusive partnership with premium coffee provider Bewley’s. The partnership, announced at the BWG Foodservice Christmas Showcase offers all customers of BWG Foodservice a quality coffee offering bespoke to their particular business type.
The Bewley’s team will work with the BWG Foodservice team to deliver the right solution for specific businesses, irrespective of size and customer base. Following a site survey from the Bewley’s team they will present back a range of options that meet the specific requirements and will work with the customer to finalise the best solution for that site, whether that be bean-to-cup or a more elaborate barista solution.
Commenting on the partnership, Ricky O’Brien, Head of BWG Foodservice said: “We’re thrilled with this partnership, which will bring added value to all our customers. Our exclusive partnership will ensure our customers, are afforded the best and most innovative hot beverage solutions to grow their business. BWG Foodservice is proud to have teamed up with Bewley’s, Ireland’s largest coffee roasters and a market-leading supplier of hot beverage solutions to the foodservice sector.”
Sheila Dowling, Bewley’s Sales Director, said, “At Bewley’s, we are delighted to be partnering with BWG Foodservice as their official coffee and tea partner. This new partnership brings together Bewley’s rich heritage as coffee & tea experts and the BWG Foodservice expertise in the Irish market.”
Established in 2001, BWG Foodservice supplies everything needed to run a food service business, from gourmet food, chilled food, frozen food and ambient to alcohol and non-food products like catering supplies and catering disposables. All are delivered via multi-temperature storage and transportation facilities, ensuring food arrives in premium condition.
Pictured at the announcement of BWG Foodservice’s partnership with Bewley’s were Sheila Dowling, Bewley’s Sales Director and Ricky O’Brien, Head of BWG Foodservice


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AutoGuide News Blog
The AutoGuide News Blog is your source for breaking stories from the auto industry. Delivering news immediately, the AutoGuide Blog is constantly updated with the latest information, photos and video from manufacturers, auto shows, the aftermarket and professional racing.
Every now and then, a leading automotive publication compiles a list of cars it thinks have made a valuable contribution to the automotive landscape. The latest to offer such a list is Edmunds Inside Line.
Their list is quite interesting, as it makes mention of such odd-ball picks like the Acura Integra Type R, the Lamborghini LM002 and the 1934 Chrysler Airflow. It has some familiar favorites also, like the Ferrari F40, the Bugatti Veyron and the Lamborghini Countach, which probably adorned more teenage bedroom walls than Brooke Shields back in the 80′s.
Then there are cars on the list that would make you question Inside Line’s sanity, including such dreary motors as the original Ford Explorer, the third-generation Toyota Camry and the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
For a full list of entries by Inside Line, and to see which car they placed at the number one spot, click at the source link below:
[Source: Inside Line]
An Ogilvy Cape Town South African Volkswagen Golf R advertisement is encouraging the reader to ingest the advertisement(see picture above). The ”Eat the road. Seriously, eat it” ad is made of “glutinous rice flour, water, salt, propylene glycol, FD&C colour and glycerin.”
The idea behind this ad is giving people a test drive in their mouth. This takes perfume testers found in magazines to another level. Hopefully it is obvious that you should simply read this ad instead of eating it for lunch, however it will be interesting to see how many people are hungry while reading this ad and decide to look over their shoulders to make sure the coast is clear.
[Source: Edmunds Inside Line]
Over 70 years ago, the Battle of Britain was waged in an effort to stop Hitler’s army from invading the United Kingdom. While Britain may have won that pivotal contest, it looks like the Germans are about to make off with one of the UK’s cultural jewels, as the BBC prepares to sell the print version of Top Gear.
German publishing firm Bauer is considered a leading candidate to purchase the magazine, as well as Burda, another German outfit. British publishers Haymarket and Future are also said to be involved in the bidding process. Top Gear is actually being sold as part of the entire BBC magazines suite, which suggests that the state owned broadcaster is looking to divest itself entirely from print.
[Source: This Is Money]
Two mainstays of the buff book world have been sold as part of a package deal, after their parent company, French publishing giant Lagardere, dumped a variety of print properties, including Car and Driver as well as Road & Track.
In a shedding of properties that Lagardere no long deems “strategic”, the two magazines, as well as 100 other publications, were sold for $889 million to U.S. publishing giant Hearst. Lagardere’s CEO said that the company could no longer compete effectively in the United States, especially with the downturn in advertising revenue. Women’s magazine Elle was among the titles sold, but the brand will remain under the stewardship of Lagardere, unlike the two car mags. Lagardere subsidiary Hachette Filipacchi Media was the previous owner of the magazines.
[Source: New York Times]
With less than 10 percent of vehicles sold today equipped with manual transmissions, and an even greater number being taken off the road, Car and Driver magazine is on a campaign to “Save the Manuals”.
C/D Editor-in-Chief Eddie Alterman has this World Vision-esque video admonishing viewers to save old cars with manual gearboxes from rotting in the junkyard, or worse, LeMons races.
Really, the best thing would be to keep buying new cars with manual transmissions. Buying up used cars with stick shifts won’t make any car companies take notice, but if a whole lot of new cars start selling with manual gearboxes, supply with start to match demand. Vote with your wallets folks.
Hit the jump to watch the video
[Source: Car and Driver]


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Sitelink Extensions in Bing Ads
In its ongoing quest apparently to be just like its main rival Google, Microsoft this month released Sitelink Extensions in Bing Ads.
Just like its Google counterpart, Sitelink Extension in Bing Ads offer advertising an opportunity to showcase relevant/important sections of a site, adding additional messaging or information without modifying text ads or keywords.
Bing noted that during the pilot phase of Sitelink Extensions, "most" of its advertisers experienced an click-through rate increase of between 15 and 25 percent when compared to standard search ads.
Bing Ad Sitelink Extensions can be added through the Big Ads user interface, the desktop editor or directly through the Bing Ads API.


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We all know presidential campaigns are expensive, but just what kind of numbers are we talking about out on the campaign trail? It’s not just TV ads and fundraising events…some of the things candidates spend their money on might surprise you:
1. Food: Aside from the fancier eats at catered stops or major fundraising events, fast food reigns supreme as the dining choice for most campaigns. Why? Because it’s fast, readily available, and open LATE. Regardless of where they’re snacking, food is a major expenditure for presidential candidates and their staffers. Some notable receipts include the Cruz campaign spending a whopping $1,233 on grilled cheese in Texas; Rubio’s campaign racking up $15,219 on dinner at the Bellagio; and Clinton’s numerous pizza runs. Plus, don’t forget all the coffee that staffers (and candidates) need to go, go, go! (And although not an expense, the Sanders campaign did receive $822 worth of ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s! Jealous.)
2. Campaign gear and materials: Political swag has become a huge part of campaigning. Clinton has spent roughly $62,873 on all those “Hillary” bumper stickers and signs, and Sanders is reportedly ringing in at about $3 million to get voters to “feel the Bern.” The Carson campaign paid $18,750 to hip hop producer Kevin “Khao” Cates to record a campaign theme song. And those “Make America Great” hats and tees? Trump has spent around $678,000 getting the word out with his popular gear.
3. Travel: Across the board it seems that candidates love using Uber, with campaigns spending almost $40,000 collectively on the transportation company (from funds allocated for taxis.) Clinton’s campaign has dropped about $30,000 on American Airlines flights alone, while roughly 23% of the Trump campaign’s total lodging expenses has been paid to luxury hotels.
4. Miscellaneous: Though out of the race, Rand Paul’s purchase of the domain randpaul.com for $100,890 was perhaps one of the most expensive single-ticket items from recent campaigns. Even more reason to get that domain now, in case you run for president someday!


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Given the dire straits of the newspaper business at the moment, trying anything to boost circulation and ad revenue can hardly sound like a bad idea. Still, MediaNews Group's plan to offer subscribers the chance to pick the kind of news stories they get from the Los Angeles Daily News seems unlikely to provide a real shot in the arm. As NYT points out, readers can already set up news alerts on Google; also, RSS feeds tend to do all the work of sorting out specific topics of interest. Peter R. Vandevanter, VP for targeted products at MediaNews, tells the NYT that the main hopes for what it calls "individuated news" as a sign of its faith in the project, the phrase is trademarkedis the ability to sell targeted ads.
At time when the online media industry is faced with regulatory challenges on targeted ads, focusing some of those efforts on the printed format do make sense. But whether they will be able to make more out of it than than have on the web will certainly be more cumbersome. For one thing, MediaNews expects daily newspaper readers to buyor perhaps renta special printer that will spit out daily pages. Aside from solving the advertising problem, the company thinks that the device will ultimately help them cut their greatest costs, namely printing and delivery of the newspaper. Mark Winkler, EVP of sales and marketing for MediaNews, tells the company's Denver Post, eliminating delivery on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday would result in significant savings. While the company has no set plan to restrict home delivery to three days a week, the company does consider that to be interesting proposal.
A post on the Nieman Journalism Lab blog offers a good deal more skepticism about MediaNews project, comparing it to previous ill-fated efforts to create a "fax newspaper" in 1939 and then again in the 1980s. The main point: while Hearst's investment in an e-reader sounds promising, for the most part, newspapers need to get out of the hardware business, not into it.
By David Kaplan


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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a warning that New York could face more flight delays and cancellations due to a shortage of air-controllers. The FAA anticipates that these issues could worsen if flight reductions are not implemented, potentially causing significant disruptions to air travel.
In Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) has announced that there are no plans for further rate hikes in the coming months. This statement, made by ECB policymaker Madis Muller, comes as a relief to market participants who were speculating about the possibility of an increase in interest rates. The decision to hold off on rate hikes reflects the ECB’s cautious approach towards monetary policy, prioritizing stability and economic recovery over tightening measures.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of August fell short of expectations, coming in at 0.3% instead of the anticipated 0.4%. This lower-than-expected figure indicates a slower pace of inflation in the Italian economy.
In the commodities market, the price of gold has continued to climb, reaching $1,920 per troy ounce during early trading hours in the European session on Friday. Investors are closely monitoring the US economic data, which is expected to have a significant impact on the gold market.
China’s retail sales in August exceeded expectations, with a year-on-year growth rate of 4.6%, surpassing the projected 3%. This positive outcome indicates a potential recovery in the country’s consumer spending and economic activity, suggesting that Chinese consumers are regaining confidence and increasing their spending habits.
In the currency market, the EUR/USD pair is currently trading within a narrow range below the mid-1.0600s. The euro has been under pressure against the US dollar, with the pair continuing to struggle near a six-month low.
In the UK, steelworkers in Port Talbot are expressing fear and frustration as reports of potential job losses at Tata Steel emerge. The workers claim that they have been left uninformed and uncertain about their future amidst rumors of 3,000 job cuts.
US oil prices surged to a ten-month high on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil nearing the $90.00 mark. This rally comes as US light sweet crude experiences a significant upward momentum, driven by increasing global demand for oil as economies recover from the impact of the pandemic.
In the US, business inventories for the month of July fell below expectations, registering a 0% growth compared to the anticipated 0.1%. This unexpected decline in business inventories suggests potential challenges for the US economy.
Finally, the European Central Bank (ECB) has made a significant decision to raise interest rates to an all-time high, despite the struggling economic growth in the eurozone. This move, announced on September 14, 2023, marks a quarter-point increase in rates by the ECB.
This article was generated by AI so there may be some errors.
#FAA #FlightDelays #ECB #InterestRates #GoldPrice #ChinaRetailSales #EURUSD #TataSteel #USOil #BusinessInventories #Eurozone


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Submitted by WA Contents
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos "briefly" named as world’s richest man
United States Architecture News - Aug 01, 2017 - 16:21 11718 views
American technology, retail entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and the founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos has "briefly" been named as the world's richest person - Bezos took on the top of the list by passing Bill Gates, who is the co-founder of Microsoft and world-renowned American business magnate.
Last week, Amazon's retailer’s earnings report saw a rapid change in the exact magnitude of wealth of Jeff Bezos, moving him to the top of the list with his net $92.3 billion rose, according to Bloomberg Technology. Until the end of the week, Jeff Bezos "briefly" passed Bill Gates, who had a net worth of $90.8 billion as of the Wednesday close. However, Amazon's stock fell suddenly at the weekend and this withdrawn $6 billion from Bezos' fortune and placed Bill Gates above him in the world's richest man.
Bezos, 53, now remains ranked second on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, behind the Microsoft co-founder Gates, 61, has held the top spot since May 2013. He owns about 17 percent of Seattle-based Amazon, which had surged 40 percent this year through Wednesday, helping to add $24.5 billion to his net worth. He started 2017 as the world’s fourth-wealthiest person and has since surpassed Warren Buffett and Inditex SA founder Amancio Ortega, 81, who ranks third with $82.7 billion.
Top image: Jeff Bezos, image © Wesley Mann
> via Bloomberg Technology


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In a continued expansion within the SME market, leading embedded finance provider, Liberis, has today announced that they will be working with DNA Payments. Liberis will be analysing data from DNA Payments to offer pre-approved funding to over 65,000 of their merchant customers in the UK and Europe.
DNA Payments provide high-quality customer and payments experiences to businesses, helping them receive payments online or via card terminals. Looking to support their SME customer base of 65,000, and growing, they sought to work with Liberis to provide embedded finance solutions as an additional service to their customers.
Lloyd Hutchinson, CCO at DNA Payments commented: “We wanted to increase the lifetime value that we can offer our customers, and the next step was to support them with their funding needs. With a trusted provider such as Liberis leading this expansion to our services, we are able to take away the confusion that our customers face when looking for reputable, reliable, and efficient funding options.”
The partnership will see integrated payment and lending options offered as an additional service within DNA Payments’ platform, with their customer data being optimised and analysed by Liberis to offer personalised funding options. These solutions will be white labelled within the platform and will ensure customers can access funding sources they trust and recognise.
Pedram Tadayon, CCO of Liberis commented: “We’re incredibly proud to be offering our embedded finance services to DNA Payments, one of the UK’s fastest growing payment providers. Their dedication to their customers, a majority of whom are small business owners, is something that we are passionate about at Liberis – so the partnership is a perfect match.”


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It’s safe to say that my last post, How to save $4million, was, by far, my most popular yet. Netting ten times the number of readers, it was testament, not just to the power of an arresting headline, but to the ongoing interest in ways for businesses to reduce their costs.
What might have surprised readers however, was the fact that the post wasn’t to be found on a finance or business strategy blog, but one dedicated to corporate responsibility.
Lower costs, higher stock value
There is an abundance of evidence to support the economic case for corporate responsibility. For example, global management consultancy McKinsey has estimated that $2.9trillion dollars could be saved annually just by eliminating wasted energy.
Goldman Sachs found that companies that were leaders in sustainability and had good governance policies in place have a 25 percent higher stock value than less sustainable competitors. But despite the evidence, there is still a tendency, in some quarters at least, to assume that doing the right thing always comes at a cost to the business.
That might have been the case when the interpretation of corporate responsibility was just writing checks to worthy causes, but for today’s companies, it runs much deeper, often aligning to the company’s core values and, for the most forward-thinking, embedded as part of its business strategy.
A growing trend
Although CSC can’t claim savings in the trillions of dollars, our own energy reduction programs have already helped us reduce our absolute energy use by 15 percent within just two years. And we’re not alone in our ambition; 57 percent of Fortune 500 companies now produce sustainability reports, and the number of reporters is growing year on year.
As our furniture story demonstrated, there is often no difference between good business and sustainable business. And as businesses look for new ways to cut costs, applying the sustainability lens is often the way to kick-start innovation that’s good for business, good for society and good our environment.


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iPhone shipping late June
Reuters reports that an AT&T executive confirmed that the iPhone will be arriving “at the end of June”.
“Our expectations are good. Our testing has been good,” said AT&T Chief Operating Officer Randall Stephenson. “The iPhone is on target to launch in June.”
This is consistent with Apple’s previous statements regarding the iPhone’s progress. Apple announced that iPhone was on target on April 12th:
iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned
Powered by ScribeFire.


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Over 200,000 smoke alarms and combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are being recalled due to “risk of failure to alert consumers to a fire.”
"Consumers should immediately contact Kidde for a free replacement alarm," the notice states. "Consumers should keep using the recalled alarms until they install replacement alarms."
The recalled models are listed as: Kidde Model Series 2040, 2050, 2060 and 2070 smoke and combination smoke/carbon monoxide alarms. The alarms were primarily sold at Walmart, The Home Depot, Amazon.com and Menards from May 2019 through September 2020.
According to Kidde’s website, several of the recalled units will have the TruSense logo or "AMBER=FAULT" printed on the front.
No injuries or incidents related to the alarms have been reported so far, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission website.
Consumers with the affected models can contact Kidde about registering for a replacement online or at 844-796-9972 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Saturday.


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The annual EIR from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) which represents the global travel and tourism private sector, shows the sector’s contribution to GDP dropped a staggering 45,5 percent.
Travel and tourism’s impact on the nation’s GDP fell from USDD73,2 billion (4,4 percent) in 2019, to USD39.9 billion (2,4 percent), just 12 months later, in 2020.
The year of damaging travel restrictions which brought much of international travel to a grinding halt, resulted in the loss of 84,000 travel and tourism jobs across the country.
However, this number, while devastating to those affected, is much lower than many other countries globally and within the region.
WTTC believes the true picture could have been significantly worse, if not for the government’s job retention scheme, the Universal Employment Insurance Roadmap, and the emergency relief stimulus payments, all of which offered a lifeline to thousands of businesses and workers.
These job losses were felt across the entire travel and tourism ecosystem in the country, with SMEs, which make up eight out of 10 of all global businesses in the sector, particularly affected.


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Home Tags Lithium hydroxide
Tag: Lithium hydroxide
Australia's first lithium hydroxide processing facility has made its first chemicals but won't reach full production of its battery-grade product until late 2022.
LGES buys 5,000 tons of battery-quality lithium hydroxide from the Zero Carbon Lithium project
Acceptance agreement should start from 2025
Battery main signs of lithium hydroxide


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WELL, ACTUALLY NO SURPRISE AT ALL. BUT TO SEE HOW IN BED WE WERE WITH AMERICA ON THIS ‘ISSUE’, AND WHO WAS GETTING FUCKED IN THAT BED MAKES FOR LOATHSOME READING. OH, HELLO CAMPBELL SMITH……..
The New Zealand government has proposed amendments to the Copyright Act 1994 that would allow format-shifting, or the duplication of sound recordings to another format for a purchaser’s private use without the copyright owner’s permission. The amendments also would extend to all communication works a provision in the Copyright Act that permits time-shifting, or the recording of a broadcast or cable program for private use solely for the purpose of viewing or listening to the recording at a more convenient time or for making a complaint. The amendments were proposed and released as a cabinet paper in June 2003, after a review of how digital technology had affected the country’s copyright law (see Paragraph 13). Legislation incorporating the amendments is being drafted and is expected to be introduced in Parliament in April. (ref D)
As the International Intellectual Property Alliance noted in its Special 301 submission, these exceptions to copyright protection would send the wrong message to consumers and undermine efforts to curb unauthorized copying of CDs in New Zealand. They would cost the industry in revenue and profits and discourage innovation. However, Associate Minister of Commerce Judith Tizard still is discussing the issue with the music industry and has expressed a desire for a solution that satisfies all parties, although the format-shifting and time-shifting exceptions remain for now as proposed in the cabinet paper. We will continue to work with the government and industry on this issue. In the meantime, with discussions ongoing, we believe a Special 301 listing over this issue would not be helpful.