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To celebrate the third year of it’s indie digital publishing service ComiXology Submit, the cloud-based digital comic giant have produced an awesome infographic highlighting some of the successes of the first 3 years and showing some of the best-selling titles released on the platform during that period. They have also announced a 30 issue bundle of […]
Category: Indie Comics News
The best indie and small press comics news.
Pirates and swashbuckling adventures on the open sea might not immediately go with digital comics, but the new 2000 AD digital-first collections The Red Seas are set to change that! The publisher of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic is releasing two volumes of Ian Edginton (Brass Sun, Hinterkind) and Steve Yeowell’s (Zenith, The Invisibles) swashbuckling arcane adventure series as an exclusive 2000 AD digital-first […]
Mark Waid is no stranger to the world of digital comics, thanks to his digital imprint Thrillbent and his work on Marvel’s Infinite comics he has become a de facto godfather of digital comics. Well he has taken that role one step further with the announcement of a new digital comics super team – The Digital Comics Coalition – and […]
Posy Simmonds’ True Love, the first British graphic novel, to be released as an exclusive digital edition on the Sequential iPad app
Love is in the air for comics fans this Valentines Day as Sequential, the iPad app for digital graphic novels, have announced the release of an exclusive enhanced edition of Posy Simmonds’ True Love. Arriving on our screens in April True Love is regarded by many as the first ever British graphic novel and is a bonafide classic from the […]
Dubbed ‘Netflix for Comics’ by Wired, subscription reading service Scribd has changed the landscape of digital comics with two huge partnerships, bringing titles from Marvel Comics, IDW Publishing and Top Shelf Comics to it’s site. For less than $9 a month fans will have access to over 10,000 comics in a huge on demand library featuring some of […]
Living up to their elusive moniker Dark Horse Comics, the publisher of Hellboy and Sin City, have previously only made their digital titles available from the Dark Horse Digital Comics app and online store. However today that has changed, with the announcement that Dark Horse digital comics and graphic novels will be included in the Sequential iPad app, with the first batch of […]
Fans of digital comics and Image co-founder Todd McFarlane’s Spawn series have a new reason to be happy today, with the debut of all 250 issues of this long-running series now available. Released to coincide with Spawn’s 250th issue you can now get the adventures of Al Simmons and co, on ComiXology, iBooks, Google Play and […]
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes converge to face a new threat thousands of years in the making in AVENGERS: MILLENNIUM, the brand new Marvel Infinite Comic series debuting this February! Fan favorite writer Mike Costa (Scarlet Spiders, A+X) along with artists Carmine Di Giandomenico (All-New X-Factor) and Geoffo & Mast (Deadpool: The Gauntlet, Iron Man: Fatal Frontier) bring […]
UK publisher Nobrow have made a name for themselves by producing some of the best high end independent graphic novels around. Well they are now set to push the boundaries of digital comics with their new high concept app for iPad which offer a unique way for readers to experience the comics like never before.
As part of our year end celebrations we gave you a rundown at the most exciting indie digital comics we’d read that year in our Best of ComiXology Submit 2014 list. However today the digital comics giant have unveiled their own list of the top 25 best-selling ComiXology Submit titles. There are plenty of titles on both our lists, […]


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Owner shot multiple times in jewelry store robbery
Police searching for robbers
Three men robbed a York Township jewelry store Thursday morning, leaving the owner shot multiple times, according to police.
Officials said the robbers hit the White Jewelers store at 204 Saint Charles Way at 10:45 a.m. They shot a jewelry case, stealing items from within and shot the owner.
Police said the owner, John White, was hit three times. As of Friday morning, he was listed in serious condition.
The robbers fled in a silver Hyundai. They later switched to a black Chevrolet in the Powder Mill Apartments.
Investigators said they are looking for anyone who may have been in the area during the robbery or witnessed the robbers drive off in the second vehicle.
Police said they think the robbers may have gotten away with watches and some cash.
Employees at a neighboring business told News 8 that the jewelry store has been robbed before.

domain: news


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After Disney initially confirmed that parking lot trams would not be available for Guests during the Annual Passholder preview days, we are now receiving word that the trams will not be available even after the parks officially reopen to the public.
“For those arriving in their own vehicles, auto plazas will offer cashless payment; parking lot trams will not be available at this time,” Disney shared in a press released earlier today. You can read the entire press release here.
The report also comes from Scott Gustin on Twitter:
WDW is using the parking lots as the first step in social distancing for guest theme park arrival — so this all makes sense. Just want everyone to be ready for Saturday. ?
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) July 8, 2020
Typically, Guests who drive to any of the four Walt Disney World Resort theme parks have the option of taking a tram after parking in order to save themselves from walking such a long distance upon arrival. However, it has now been confirmed that the parking lot trams will continue to be out of service for the time being. Guests who plan to drive their own vehicles to Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, or Disney’s Hollywood Studios will have to walk after parking their cars in the parking lot.
Further information regarding the trams (including when they will resume service) has not yet been released.
For more information on all of the transportation options that are currently available — and the transportation options that will be available soon — you can read the official guide here.
We also published a lot of new additional information today regarding what Guests can expect in the Disney World theme parks. You can read up on the characters in the parks here or dining information here.
We will continue to share more information about Walt Disney World Resort’s reopening as it is released. If you are planing to visit the Disney Parks anytime soon, we hope you stay safe and abide by Disney’s guidelines to ensure you have a magical trip.
Need an expert to guide you through these changes as you navigate the Disney Parks on your next trip? Academy Travel agents understand these changes and will make sure your trip is magical. Reach out to them here!


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The WireWheel Blog
Let’s look at a few easy steps you can take to be proactive about employees’ data privacy in the age of Covid-19.
Regardless of whether CCPA gets the stamp of approval in July or September, enforcement is right around the corner, and now is the time to make sure your business is prepared.
From June 17 – 18, WireWheel brought together experts across different industries for Spokes 2020, a virtual privacy and technology conference that examined pressing privacy and data protection issues that organizations are currently facing. Here's a quick overview of...
Improve data governance and control with automated tools for identity management, data discovery, and cataloging. By indexing data across multiple systems using consistent definitions and categories, you can match consumer identities and build an accurate account of personal data.
This week Forrester Research Inc. named WireWheel a Strong Performer in Privacy Management and noted that we’re on a trajectory for leadership in the category.


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EA Play Live is only a month away! Watch our pre-show July 22nd starting at 10AM PT/1PM ET, followed by the main showcase. See you then. 👋 pic.twitter.com/1PZ5IXRYePJune 22, 2021
In May, EA announced that its normally E3-adjacent reveal event is happening later than usual this year. The big E3 2021 press conferences and livestreams happened in mid-June, but EA Play Live will take place on July 22.
Following the end of E3, EA made the announcement more specific: The EA Play Live pre-show will start at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on July 22, and the "main showcase" will follow. Presumably, the pre-show is 30-60 minutes, but EA hasn't specified.
In previous years, EA has announced new Battlefield games in advance of E3 before featuring live gameplay demos during the big conference. It seems like it's doing the same thing here, just with the date of its E3 event moved back. Battlefield 2042, which will be out on October 22, was announced prior to the E3 streams, and then a gameplay trailer was shown off at the Microsoft and Bethesda E3 Showcase. At EA Play Live, we can probably expect to see some extended, uncut gameplay footage.
We also know that EA will reveal a new Battlefield 2042 mode made by DICE LA, which is said to be a "love letter" to series fans.
Aside from Battlefield, we'll surely hear news about Apex Legends and the usual sports games. Something related to Dragon Age 4 also seems likely. Less likely is information on BioWare's new Mass Effect game—it seems too early in production—but it could get a mention. Star Wars: Squadrons studio Motive has games in production that we could hear about, and there's also the next Need for Speed, although the most recent news was that it was delayed until next year.
It's slightly odd that EA chose to do its event a month later than everyone else. Maybe it just needed more time to get trailers and demos together, but it makes one wonder if the company is waiting for something.


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March 8, 2012 — -- Karen Greenwood, 47, of Cary, N.C., became a victim of income tax identity theft in 2009. An executive assistant, Greenwood was expecting a check from the Internal Revenue Service for $2,300, which would have included her tax refund for 2008 and a rebate from the economic stimulus plan that was in effect then.
She said the refund was especially urgent that year, because she had been laid off and was collecting unemployment and supporting her 74-year-old father, who lives with her.
"I wouldn't wish it on anyone," Greenwood said, describing the ordeal of her stolen tax refund.
Tax-related identify theft is relatively easy to commit, as all that's needed is a Social Security number and a name, according to Identity Theft 911, an identity and data risk management provider. As victims like Greenwood are dismayed to learn, the crime continues to grow, according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organization within the IRS that assists taxpayers.
The service received more than 34,000 tax identity theft cases in fiscal-year 2011, a 97 percent increase over 2010.
Three weeks after Greenwood filed her taxes, she said she logged onto the IRS's website to check the status of her refund. Instead of providing an update, the website advised her to call the IRS. After verifying some information, the IRS said Greenwood's address was not the one in its files, and asked her if she had ever lived in Parsippany, N.J.
Never having lived in New Jersey, Greenwood was told the income tax return had been filed online in her name and with her Social Security number -- with a New Jersey address.
"Notwithstanding the IRS's efforts, its resources and ability to resolve cases are stretched thin," read the Taxpayer Advocate Service's 2011 annual report to Congress. In fiscal year 2011, the IRS's centralized identity protection specialized unit received more than 226,000 cases, a 20 percent increase over 2010.
"The overriding challenge facing the IRS is that its workload has grown significantly in recent years, while its funding is being cut," the National Taxpayer Advocate's Nina Olson said in a statement when it released its report on Jan. 11. "This is causing the IRS to resort to shortcuts that undermine fundamental taxpayer rights and harm taxpayers, and at the same time reduces the IRS's ability to deliver on its core mission of raising revenue."
According to the report, an IRS task force said that 28 different units within the agency charged with helping victims of tax identity theft found more than 50 gaps in IRS procedures. Among the report's recommendations was that the IRS institute a mechanism by which to monitor how long it takes to resolve an identity theft case, adopt a specialized model for identity theft victim assistance and issue a personal identification number to victims to use when filing returns so the IRS could properly distinguish the true taxpayer from the identity thief.
The IRS has taken a number of steps to respond to the growing problem of income tax identity theft, including a national crackdown on 105 suspected identity theft perpetrators in 23 states. That sweep, announced by the Justice Department on Jan. 31, resulted in 939 criminal charges and 69 indictments.
"We are aggressively pursuing cases across the nation with the Justice Department, and people will be going to jail," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said in a statement at the time. "This is part of a much wider effort under way at the IRS to help protect taxpayers."
Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock, a company that offers subscription identity theft protection and clean-up services, said tax-filing fraud is a growing concern, and that credit card and other types of fraud have received stronger protection.
Nearly 25 percent of the 1.8 million identity theft complaints the Federal Trade Commission received in 2011 were related to tax- or wage-related fraud, twice the number in 2009, when Greenwood fell victim.
Last month, the FTC reported identity theft complaints again topped the list of the 30 top consumer complaints the agency received in 2011. Of more than 1.8 million complaints filed in 2011, 279,156, or 15 percent, were identity theft complaints. Nearly 25 percent of the identity theft complaints involved tax- or wage-related fraud.
As credit card fraud decreases, "the criminals are going the path of least resistance," Davis told ABC News.
"We caught credit card fraud earlier, and you can't as easily turn that into money," he said. "The IRS isn't set up to authenticate tax returns or W-2 forms."
Greenwood said some of her information may have been stolen in 2006 from a well-known e-commerce site. That led to her first experience with identity theft. Someone opened credit card accounts in her name and made large purchases, even taking out a mortgage in the name of Karen Greenwood. That's when Greenwood signed up for identity theft protection from LifeLock.
Greenwood said she gave LifeLock authorization to speak on her behalf and worked with a company representative to eventually get her tax refund in early December 2009, about 10 months after she'd filed her taxes.
LifeLock found a bank account that had been opened in Greenwood's name at Atlantic Bank and Trust, which was based in Charleston, S.C. That bank was closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in June 2011, and another bank assumed the deposits.
After the theft of her refund check, the IRS gave Greenwood a pin number to use when filing her taxes, identifying her as a former victim of identity theft. Her tax returns would now be hand-processed by 12 different people to ensure their security.
"People really have to pay attention and can't be so naive," Greenwood said. "You really have to be cautious now. I'm extra cautious and trust nobody basically."
Davis, who founded LifeLock seven years ago, said personal information related to filing taxes, including Social Security numbers, could be stolen a number of ways. Many tax filers expose their information when they store their tax return documents in public file-sharing services, such as the recently shut down MegaUpload.
He said some file-sharing networks allow anyone on the network to search a user's hard drive. He said LifeLock once pulled hundreds of thousands of tax returns through one file-sharing service, which included filers' names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, number of children and direct deposit routing numbers for banks.
"A lot of people have no idea that they've exposed themselves," Davis said. "It could have been caused by kids or grandkids downloading music."
The challenge with identity theft is that after your information has been compromised, the most essential data, such as your name, birth date and Social Security number, usually stay the same.
Once thieves have the information, they can commit crimes again.
Davis said LifeLock has "proactive" services that, for example, inform customers when credit card accounts are opened under their identities.
Contrary to what some tax filers wary of online services may think, Davis said people should not be afraid of filing their taxes online.
"Probably one of the safest things you can do is file with an online provider that saves the info into a secure cloud," he said. "When you save information in your own hard drive, unencrypted and not password protected - even if you mail your tax filings in a blue mailbox - criminals know where to look."
The IRS provides guidance on what to do if your tax records fall into the hands of Identity thieves, and tips to prevent it. Those tips include:
1. Don't carry your Social Security card or any documents with your SSN on it.
2. Don't give a business your Social Security number just because it asks.
3. Check your credit report every 12 months.
4. Protect your personal computers by using firewalls, anti-spam/anti-virus software, update security patches, and change passwords for Internet accounts.
5. Don't give personal information over the phone, through the mail or on the Internet unless you have initiated the contact or you are sure you know whom you are dealing with.


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BETHEL, Conn., Feb.17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — FaidClothing today announced their new site launch www.faidclothing.com, a new casual wear brand that donates a $1 from every item sold to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. FaidClothing offers a new way for socially conscious customers to share their values, while bringing attention to social and emotional wellbeing.
“There is no better time than now for this meaningful way to wear our hearts on our sleeves,” says Adrienne Austermann founder of the company. “We need to own our feelings and be mindful not to constantly suppress them as so many societal demands will have us do.”
Features and benefits of FaidClothing include:
- Aids mental health research
- Bold statements in a classic design
- Site offers a “Your Story” page as an available outlet
Our products are available now online, at a very affordable price. For more information on FaidClothing visit: www.faidclothing.com.
Short personal stories can be submitted to the site for consideration to be published. Just the act of sharing a traumatic story can be the most beneficial healing step of all.


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A fried favourite of foodies set for Halton Hills return
Published February 8, 2024 at 4:39 pm
“New Year. New beginning.”
So reads the social media post that has announced the return of Louanne’s Famous Fries to a new Halton Hills location.
Louanne’s trailer has been well-travelled and in the past few months has been searching for a permanent home.
This time it will be stationed in the parking lot of Georgetown FreshCo on Guelph St.
Louanne’s has been without a home since last fall when it had to leave its Trafalgar Rd. location. Another landing spot was found but that deal fell through.
“I want to thank each and every one of you for your business and continued support,” wrote owner Melissa Keith on Facebook. “We look forward to seeing you at our new location this spring”
The bright pink trailer had become something of a local landmark having reinvented itself a few times in almost 30 years and Georgetown residents who lamented its demise are now pleased with its potential return planned for April.
“This is great news, I can’t wait to get my hands on those fries,” said one social media user. “Best fries anywhere. I would travel to get them but luckily I can just walk there.”
Along with the favourite Newfie fries (covered with beef and gravy), Louanne’s also serves up such classics as burgers, hotdogs, sausages, peameal, chicken fingers and onion rings.
inhalton's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising


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A beloved Winnetka institution, known for its old-fashioned interior, has switched up its method of business recently. Rather than selling fish out of its storefront, is now selling fish through nearby Lakeside Foods, a grocery store also in Elm Street.
While there have been bids for the ice equipment, the owners said the cash register will probably go home with them, as the Winnetka Talk reports.
Do you have any memories of the local business? Share them in the comments section below!


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This is all about the fun of reading. Read books at participating libraries and earn a ticket to the circus! Details here! Brought to you by the fine folks at the "Greatest Show On Earth", Ringling Bros And Barnum & Bailey!
Get ready! They are coming to the Show Me Center Aprl 28th & 29th! Tickets on sale now and $1 of every opeing night ticket sold will go to Hoops For Life. Get your tickets here!
Hoops For Life 6 is inbound, July 25th 2015. This is a great 5k run/walk in support of pediatric brain tumor cancer research. Registration starts March 21st. For more info click right here!
Seat installation on the east end of Daytona International Speedway began on Monday morning. Workers began installing the first of 10,000 wider, more comfortable seats that will be available for the upcoming Coke Zero 400 Weekend Powered By Coca-Cola on July 3-5.
It took a little longer than planned for Sunday's rain-delayed Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway to determine the weekend's winners and losers.
Kurt Busch, winner of Sundayâs rain-delayed Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway, will be Tuesday night's featured guest on "NASCAR Live" hosted by Mike Bagley.


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Businesses are finding it challenging to keep up with the ever-changing trends in digital marketing since it is developing at a quicker rate.
According to Adobe’s 2013 Digital Distress study, 76 percent of managers believe that marketing has changed dramatically in the last two years compared to the preceding fifty years.
Traditional marketing principles and dictums no longer hold water in the face of continuously changing marketing trends and customer expectations.
Marketers in the twenty-first century have a significant obligation to not only be creative in content delivery but also to target relevant customers through effective touchpoints.
With the marketing environment undergoing massive transformations, it would be absurd to believe that the near future will not be dramatically different from where it is now.
According to a Forbes poll, 75 percent of organizations that use AI and machine learning can improve customer satisfaction by ten percent.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have brought huge benefits to the field of marketing, from providing precise, real-time analytics and measurements to refining product line and pricing strategies to boosting customer experience and assistance.
According to a study by Research and Markets, AI-based chatbots now handle around half of all client inquiries.
The worldwide AI-enabled market expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2024, according to estimates.
As a result, AI-powered chatbots will be the next big thing in customer relationship management shortly,
as they are capable of interpreting complicated requests and providing customized replies.
We may anticipate AI strategy to be the new standard in marketing by 2025,
as technology continues to advance tremendously and new applications emerge.
Marketing managers’ primary responsibility is to assess numerous methods to provide consumers with more dynamic, engaging, and personal experiences.
Virtual reality has emerged as the most effective and competent option in recent years.
Virtual reality will become a significant aspect of marketing efforts by 2025,
according to MarketsandMarkets, as the market grows from $7.9 billion in 2018 to $53.6 billion in 2025.
Virtual reality allows people to engage with a company or brand on an emotional level
that is inconceivable when compared to traditional marketing methods.
Virtual reality is already being used by several prominent vehicle and smartphone manufacturers to create 360-degree interactive experiences.
According to PWC, at least once a day,
65 percent of consumers aged 25 to 49 speak to their voice-enabled gadgets.
Voice commerce is expected to generate $40 billion in the United States and $5 billion in the United Kingdom by 2022, according to OC&C Strategy Consultants.
Voice assistants are increasingly being used by organizations of all kinds, which has opened up new options for marketers.
Many marketing professionals believe
that voice assistants are the way of the future since they enable contextual engagement with consumers and clients.
Many businesses are turning to voice-activated technology as a tool to help them take personalization to a whole new level.
Gartner predicts that 30% of all Internet searches conducted without the use of a screen by 2020.
We’ve proven that demand for digital marketing will continue to rise shortly.
‘When there is demand, there must also be an adequate supply,’ states the basic economic law.
As a result, a growing number of educational institutions and platforms are offering realistic digital marketing degree programs.
Digital & Social Media Marketing Strategy (EPDSMMS), which seeks to improve your management abilities so that you are fully prepared to take advantage of the new developing platform.
The demand for digital marketing is growing,
and those that are aware are devising strategies to prepare the next generation for a brighter future.


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Changes to 2021 Honda Lineup Eliminate Low-volume Models
A report by Automotive News claims that Honda is discontinuing three low-volume models in the U.S. market. After the 2020 model year, Honda is eliminating the Fit small car, the Civic 2-door coupe, and the Accord with a manual transmission.
Gary Robinson, assistant vice president of product planning for American Honda, told the industry trade journal: "I get it that there are people who will be disappointed, but I have complete confidence that what we're going to be able to offer people in the marketplace, they're not losing anything."
Consumers seeking a small, affordable Honda gravitate to the company’s HR-V small SUV, which shares plenty of characteristics with the discontinued Fit, including its “Magic Seat” utility configurations that make both vehicles unique in the marketplace. For every Fit Honda sells three customers choose the HR-V, which will become Honda’s least-expensive vehicle. Both vehicles are assembled in a factory in Mexico. Discontinuation of the Fit allows Honda to expand HR-V production.
Only 6% of Civic buyers choose the 2-door coupe model, down from 16% when the car was last redesigned. Honda will continue to offer the increasingly popular Civic 5-door hatchback, and plans to move production of that model from the United Kingdom to the U.S. The next Civic redesign is scheduled for the 2022 model year.
Just 2% of Accords sold in America have a manual transmission. Automotive News reports the automaker stopped building 2020 Accords with a stick-shift late in 2019 and has enough in current inventory to satisfy demand in advance of a 2021 Accord refresh arriving in the fall. Manual gearboxes remain available for the Civic which, according to Robinson, will receive important changes with its next redesign.
The information in this article is based on a report in July 17, 2020 report in Automotive News.


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The future of service encompasses new technologies that change the way manufacturers communicate, share data, educate, and provide valuable in-person or remote service to their customers. Here are some examples.
Tag: Konica Minolta
Shimadzu Medical Systems and Konica Minolta Medical Imaging have joined forces to create the MobileArt Evolution EFX AeroDR, a wireless mobile digital radiography system.Read More
Konica Minolta has announced the release of its SONIMAGE HS1, a portable, handheld ultrasound system that improves workflow efficiency with a customizable touch screen.Read More


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Researchers have come up with an innovative new contact lens that could help people with color blindness.
FREMONT, CA: Color blindness or color vision deficiency is an inherited condition that means it isn't very easy to identify specific colors and differentiate between them. There has never been a cure for color blindness. Options currently available to help include color filtering glasses and special contact lenses.
A research team from the Tel Aviv University in Israel has come up with a way to convert contact lenses into color correcting devices that improve color perception about tenfold. The researchers were able to apply some special metasurfaces, that are in the form of color correcting devices color correcting devices onto conventional contact lenses.
While this study showed that it is possible to address deuteranomaly using newcontact lenses, the research team believes that the same approach can be used to correct other varieties of color blindness and even different types of vision disorders.
While metasurfaces that can manipulate light in exciting ways have existed for years, they have been typically flat and made independent of different other devices. The Tel Aviv University team came up with a method to transfer the metasurfaces from flat to curved surfaces, like the contact lenses.
Surprisingly, even though they were no longer flat, the metasurfaces had the same light manipulation characteristics as in their deflated state. The analyst applied a simulation of color perception through the new contact lenses outfitted with the metasurfaces and showed that the devices are capable of restoring proper color vision permanently.
This is still in the lab stage, and clinical trials will be very necessary to make sure that the technology works well in a real-world setting. Besides, it also seems that soon people with color blindness will be able to achieve the proper vision by merely wearing a pair of contact lenses.


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Despite pandemic, solar capacity increasing massively
A recently published report showcased that the installations of the brand new American solar industry will gain by a third in 2020, as increasing demand by utilities for a need of carbon-free power over outweighs a dramatic drop in place of system orders for houses as well as businesses because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the report by the United States solar Industries Association and energy research company, American solar industry will establish nearly 18 gigawatts in 2020, sufficient to power over three million homes which is considered to be nine percent less than the forecast of the group before the pandemic released construction delays, lowered consumer demand and tricky access to financing.
But the solar’s utility-scale is on path for a record year, along with 14.4 GW of all new capacity anticipated to be implemented in 2020. The targets of state renewable energy and the low cost of solar underpinning the powerful demand of these sectors.
Risks to the medium as well as long-term growth of the sectors, however, contain boosted capital costs because of weak industries, declined demand from both commercial as well as industrial clients experiencing fiscal hardship and delays in the plans of utility procurement. Solar estimated for 40 percent of new American solar industry capacity included in 1st quarter, ahead of natural gas and winds.


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The Super Bowl is the biggest US advertising event each year. How big? In almost two decades, the average cost to run a 30-second Super Bowl ad increased over three times from $2.2M to $7M (🪄 inflation). While some companies get strong returns from their ads (Coinbase QR Code), others don’t live long enough to…Read more
Social media platforms have a common enemy — The Big Apple who’s expanding its ad business
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) — now making up 7.3% of the S&P 500, the highest for any company since 1980 — is testing concepts from electric vehicles to virtual reality in search of its next growth engine. Exciting, but Apple’s developments may involve something a little more vanilla… Hey Siri, how’s the supply chain doing? Supply chains…Read more
10 things wrong with Meta; including decreasing numbers, morale, and happiness
Meta is at an inflection point that could decide the company’s fate, but so far into the transition, it’s only been downhill for the struggling social media (metaverse?) company: Its stock price is down 52% in 2022. Quarterly sales declined for the first time. Facebook users fell for the first time. Here are 10 things…Read more
Is Snap stock a buy after falling nearly 90% from its peak?
We received several emails asking whether $SNAP is a good investment after falling nearly 90% from its peak. Yes, we read them, so keep emailing us with stuff you want to see. Let’s dive in. Good stocks ain’t cheap, and cheap stocks ain’t good …With exceptions. Some investors filter through companies near their 52-week low…Read more
Alphabet joins a growing list of companies cutting employees
Tech companies are turning up the heat on employees, and no one is safe. Alphabet is the latest one to cut jobs amid a slowing advertising market. But among the other ad giants, Alphabet may be the more resilient one… Tech companies are turning up the heat on employees, and no one is safe… Meta…Read more
Twitter’s worst-case scenario has come to life
With Musk abandoning plans to buy Twitter, what becomes of the struggling social media company? Per Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, it’s a “worst case scenario” that makes Twitter look like “damaged goods.” What’s the big deal? Twitter really needed the deal to go through. Growth is declining, the company is burning cash, and another…Read more
Advertising blip expected to hit social media stocks
*Sound switches suddenly from air raid sirens to “Chicken Fried” by the Zac Brown Band*. Terrible timing and placement. Applebee’s ad in February serves as a lesson for advertisers and a warning on the ad market’s outlook this quarter. A war and supply chain crisis has caused advertisers to pull back spending — which could…Read more
What’s the right price for Elon Musk to buy Twitter?
Musk believes he’s the one to unlock Twitter’s potential — and his plan starts with a $43B buyout offer. If he fails, the one to lose the most could be Twitter. The price is not right Here’s the timeline of Elon Musk’s hostile takeover attempt: April 4: It was revealed Musk took a 9.2% stake…Read more
Did the advertising industry just have its strongest year ever?
Advertising is growing faster than expected — but you wouldn’t know from the poor stock returns of social media advertising platforms in 2021. What’s the big deal? According to forecasts from GroupM, global advertising spending is expected to grow 22.5% to $763B this year — higher than the previous 12% growth prediction. And digital is…Read more
Jack Dorsey finally steps down as Twitter’s CEO after 8 years of underperformance
Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey is stepping down, to be replaced by current CTO Parag Argrawal. What’s the big deal? Jack Dorsey is CEO of two publicly traded companies — and their stock performance couldn’t be more different: Twitter (NASDAQ:TWTR) — is up 5% since its IPO in 2013. Square (NASDAQ:SQ) — is up 1,556% since…Read more


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Real-time Strategy games are very busy games to play; you’re constantly micromanaging everything, and then you’ll have to address something new that popped up. Stormgate, which was previously announced earlier this year, is yet another real-time strategy game coming to the market but has an exciting twist up its sleeve.
Remember back in August when we covered Dragon Ball FighterZ finally receiving rollback netcode after four and a half years? Or how about Guilty Gear Xrd getting its rollback beta back in October? Stormgate looks to incorporate that technology by using an engine that has rollback as part of its infrastructure.
This is a rather interesting overlap with the fighting game community, as the idea of rollback netcode has been a sore spot for the community for the past couple of years. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s remaster shipped without it, and online play was particularly dreadful until August. Anyways, back to Stormgate, Frost Giant’s Chief Architect, James Anhalt, offered some comments on the rollback implementation.
He said, “Rollback allows us to reduce the lag a player feels playing the game over the internet. Rollback works by allowing us to simulate the game, even in the absence of player input. And if we receive input later, we can roll back to that time that the input happened and then simulate forward really quickly to catch back up. It'll be the most responsive RTS game I've ever worked on, and I've worked on a few great ones.”
Anhalt has been seen in several Blizzard projects, working on the online play for Diablo 2, World of Warcraft, and Warcraft 3, before eventually becoming a lead engineer on Starcraft 2 and its expansions, so it’s not like he’s relatively new to online structure and programming. We’ll continue to update as more information on Stormgate is released. Stormgate is currently in development and is set to have an open beta sometime next year.


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Following a 43-year recording history, the classical label Hyperion Records has started streaming 200 albums, with 2000 more to be released by Spring 2024
200 albums from the 43-year-old catalog of Hyperion Records have recently been made available to listeners on streaming services, after the label was acquired by Universal Music Group (UMG) in March 2023.
The record label will also have its entire catalog of over 2000 albums streaming by Spring 2024 — beginning with collection releases every fortnight from September 15, 2023. These will include choral music, string quartets, Baroque music, early music, and solo vocal music.
Hyperion’s first 200 streaming albums feature artists such as Alina Ibragimova, Steven Isserlis, Steven Osborne, Polyphony, Howard Shelley, and the Takács Quartet, among others.
Its subsequent catalog releases, including 45 Gramophone Award-winning albums, will feature Hyperion’s pianists Danny Driver, Stephen Hough, Pavel Kolesnikov, Steven Osborne, and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, among others in over 70 albums.
As each featured artist’s complete discography becomes available on all streaming platforms, all future Hyperion titles will be accessible via streaming, physical purchase, and download.
Additionally, Hyperion’s cover artwork, digital booklets (usually available in English, French, and German), plus sung texts for choral and vocal music, will be made available on those streaming platforms with the capacity to host them.
Notably, through its wide-ranging repertoire spanning 900 years of Western art music from the 12th century to today, Hyperion offers the world’s first complete edition of the songs of Schubert over 40 discs. The complete piano music of Liszt is also available across 100 discs, as are more than 200 Romantic piano concerti across 87 individual records.
Hyperion was founded in 1980 in South London by the late Ted Perry MBE, who drove a mini-cab on numerous nights to fund the label’s earliest recordings. Its move to streaming marks a major milestone.
“I am enormously excited to be part of this moment in Hyperion’s history,” said pianist and long-standing Hyperion recording artist Sir Stephen Hough. “I’ve made over 40 albums for the company, pouring my heart, soul and fingers into each one, and now, thirty years after my first, they are to be made available through streaming to a much wider, indeed Universal, audience. It delights and touches me to be able to reach a vast new family of music lovers in this way.”
“I have always been thrilled to be part of the Hyperion family,” added Angela Hewitt OBE. “The recordings I have made for the label over the past thirty years have been highlights of my life and career and I am happy that my albums will be enjoyed by even more music lovers around the world.”
As an acquisition of UMG, Hyperion joins the latter’s portfolio of renowned classical labels, including Decca and Deutsche Grammophon — enabling UMG to preserve Hyperion’s back catalog, while continuing and developing its future work.
“We searched for and found a long-term home that is committed to our values, artists, recordings and editorial style and we are delighted that our entire back catalog as well as new and future releases will be available on streaming platforms in the coming months,” said Simon Perry, son of label founder Ted Perry and Hyperion’s managing director for over 20 years.
“These first 200 albums tell our story, and we look forward to presenting all our work from the past four decades to a new global streaming audience artist-by-artist, series-by-series,” he continued. “Each had their challenges and now they come together to tell a narrative, hopefully a powerful one, of what can happen when you make space for musicians to thrive: it’s why Hyperion has worked.”
“The arrival of Hyperion on the world’s streaming platforms offers a special moment of discovery for this precious and pioneering label,” said Dickon Stainer, UMG’s President of Global Classics and Jazz.


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- 2 min read
GST waiver on Covid jabs, drugs will backfire: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
In a set of 16 tweets on Sunday, she argued why a nominal GST was in the interest of manufacturers and citizens. GST rates vary from 5% on vaccines to 12% on Covid drugs and oxygen concentrators. It is applicable to domestic supplies and commercial import of these items.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said exempting vaccines, Covid-related drugs and oxygen concentrators from goods and services tax (GST) would actually raise their prices, as domestic producers of these items would be unable to claim credit for taxes on inputs used.
In a set of 16 tweets on Sunday, she argued why a nominal GST was in the interest of manufacturers and citizens. “If full exemption from GST were given, the domestic producers of these items would be unable to offset taxes paid on their inputs and input services and would pass these on to the end consumers by increasing their price,” Sitharaman said in one of the posts, responding to a demand from West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee.
GST rates vary from 5% on vaccines to 12% on Covid drugs and oxygen concentrators. It is applicable to domestic supplies and commercial import of these items.
Banerjee has sought the exemption of GST, customs duties and other taxes on items such as remdesivir injections, oxygen cylinders, concentrators, cryogenic storage tanks and containers donated by various organisations.
The chief minister had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about this on Sunday.
Sitharaman said full exemption from all duties had been provided to remdesivir injections, the remdesivir active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), and a chemical used in the manufacture of the drug, with effect from May 3.
Exemption Available for Medical Oxygen
This exemption is also available for medical oxygen, and equipment used for the manufacture, storage and transportation of oxygen. It’s also applicable on equipment used for providing oxygen therapy to Covid patients such as oxygen concentrators, ventilators, non-invasive oxygen masks, inflammatory diagnostic kits, reagents for testing and vaccines among others.
The exemption is also available when items are imported free of cost for free distribution in the country by any entity, state government, relief agency or autonomous body on the basis of a certificate issued by a state government. “In order to augment the availability of these items, the government has also provided full exemption from basic customs duty and health cess to their commercial imports,” the minister said.
Full exemption from customs duties, including IGST, is already available to all Covid relief material imported by the Indian Red Cross for free distribution in the country, she added.
Sitharaman argued that much of the integrated GST collected went to the states. “States end up receiving almost 70% of the total revenue collected from vaccines. In fact, a nominal 5% GST is in the interest of the domestic manufacturer of vaccine and in the interest of the citizens,” she said.
She added that Covid vaccines were being provided free of cost by the Centre to citizens over 45 years of age and to all frontline workers.


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A woman stunned staff at a car showroom by making a part payment for a new BMW 730Li using 100,000 yuan ($16,400) in one-yuan banknotes.
It took 20 employees in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, China six hours to count the money – without any rest – SCMP reports.
The unnamed buyer, who owns a food retail business, paid the rest of the cost of her one-million-yuan car with her bank card.
She said people often paid her at work using small denomination notes.
As she was often busy she had decided to keep the banknotes until she was able to spend them all at once when buying a car!


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As tanning beds and sun worshipers drive skin cancer rates ever higher, the number of specialists available to treat them is not keeping pace.
Minnesota currently has 233 practicing dermatologists, or 4.3 for every 100,000 residents, and the University of Minnesota Medical School typically graduates only five new ones each year. Many devote a considerable part of their practice to cosmetic procedures, which tend to pay much better than treating malignant moles or other medical conditions.
The situation is resulting in delays in diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer and other issues, some doctors say. “Cosmetic dermatology takes time away from more important medical issues,” said Dr. Spencer Holmes, a dermatologist at Park Nicollet and adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “It is ethically wrong, in my opinion.”
The cosmetic work has contributed to a noticeable increase in dermatologists’ incomes. From 1995 to 2012, incomes for dermatologists rose nearly 50 percent, while primary care physicians’ income rose about 10 percent. Dermatologists now earn about $471,555 on average, the fourth-highest earners in American medicine, according to the Medical Group Management Association in Colorado.
But some wonder whether skin cancer and malignant moles are taking a back seat to a youth and beauty-obsessed culture wanting Botox, chemical peels and lip augmentation. Cosmetic dermatology now fills 20 to 40 percent of some doctors’ schedules in the Twin Cities.
Meanwhile, the threat of skin cancer is going to get worse. By 2015, it is estimated, one in 50 Americans will develop melanoma in their lifetime, said Dr. Jack Resneck, vice chairman of dermatology at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. In fact, the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer in the U.S. more than doubled from 1994 to 2006 to 3.5 million tumors, according to a 2010 study, Resneck said.
The cosmetic side of the medical specialty came under intense scrutiny in 2007 after a survey by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showed wait times for a Botox appointment at eight days while wait times for a person with a changing mole were 26 days.
Dr. Charles Crutchfield of Crutchfield Dermatology in Eagan said he was contacted by a local TV station in 2007 after it determined that his office had a large discrepancy between wait times for a new patient medical procedure and a cosmetic procedure.
But he disputes the notion that his office focuses on aesthetic dermatology. “Eighty percent of my practice is medical,” he said. “I leave four appointments open each day for emergency appointments when a primary physician contacts me to check someone,” he said. “If four are filled, I stay late.”
Holmes said that the reason for the expansion into cosmetic dermatology is simple — to make more money. “If a dermatologist spends 20 percent of the time on cosmetic issues, that 20 percent will be much more well-compensated than the 80 percent for medicine,” he said.
Typically, a health insurer might reimburse a doctor less than $100 for a full body skin cancer check taking 10 minutes. But the same doctor could receive up to $500 for a 10 minute Botox injection, paid in cash or credit card by the patient on the day of service.
Dr. Brian Zelickson, a dermatologist at Zel Skin and Laser Specialists in Edina and Minneapolis, said he spends three days at his medical office downtown and two days at his Edina clinic, which is primarily cosmetic. He is also launching a new line of 12 skin care products with Target available in stores next month called MD Complete by Dr. Brian Zelickson.
But the idea that the cosmetic side of his business is more lucrative is not true, he said. “I could do just as well with the medical side of the practice,” he said. With the medical side, he said, there are no advertising fees to pay.
Crutchfield argues that advertising, which has long been frowned on by traditional medicine, is important whether it’s for a medical or aesthetic practice. “You can’t serve patients if they don’t know you’re there,” he said.
When he started his solo practice 12 years ago, he was worried about paying off student loans so he took a marketing course. “I learned if you’re going to go in, go big,” he said.
Some have described cosmetic dermatology as entrepreneurial medicine, a label that Crutchfield likes. His office employs 40 people, which he describes as contributing to the health and welfare of the state by paying corporate and other taxes.
Blaming longer wait times on cosmetic dermatology is wrong, according to Crutchfield. Nationwide, dermatologists spend only 8 percent of patient care hours on cosmetic services, according to a nationwide survey.
“There are no published studies indicating that the rise of beauty procedures has caused harm to dermatology patients,” Resneck said.
Many dermatologists say the real culprit is the perennial shortage of skin doctors that goes back more than 30 years. They point to Medicare cutbacks that leave less money to fund residency programs that produce more doctors. But Resneck believes that adding another 50 residencies per year still wouldn’t abate the shortage in many communities.
Dr. Matthew Tsang, a dermatologist at Park Nicollet, said: “The challenge is an inadequate amount of funding to teach young doctors. It’s not just dermatologists. It’s all medical and surgical specialties.”


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Evonik has launched a brand-new podcast dedicated to tackling the sustainability challenges facing the animal protein industry. In monthly episodes, the Sciencing Podcast will feature leading industry experts and explore the key sustainability challenges and opportunities facing the animal protein industry as it looks to reduce its environmental footprint.
“As the world population grows and demand for food increases, global solutions are needed to feed future generations healthily, while protecting our planet,” said Gaetano Blanda, head of the Animal Nutrition business line of Evonik. “We are on fire to develop such solutions, and foster the dialogue within the industry.”
Listeners to the podcast will receive cutting-edge insights on the science of sustainability, the solutions needed to make animal nutrition and protein production more sustainable, and ultimately why it makes good business sense.
The Sciencing Podcast is presented by Evonik Animal Nutrition’s director of sustainability, Faazi Adam. She has her finger firmly on the pulse of the industry, with an extensive background in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks in the global food sector.
“We’re excited to be launching the Sciencing Podcast, which will be drilling down into the critical topic of how we can innovate and collaborate to improve environmental impacts in the animal protein sector,” said Faazi. “Ensuring sustainable global food production is the greatest challenge we face. It is no understatement to say it affects each and every one of us.”
Listeners can follow the podcast for free on various platforms such as Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Find more information here.


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LONDON – Fashion retailer ASOS has signed the Anti-Slavery International Charter, signalling its commitment to eradicating forms on modern slavery within “the dark corners [of supply chains] where exploitation might occur”.
A statement from the e-commerce giant alludes to the partnership, dating back to 2017, that ASOS has with Anti-Slavery International, which serves as a ‘critical friend’ of the company and an advisor on modern slavery work.
“Unfortunately, as the last few months have shown, the modern slavery risks facing the global fashion industry are endemic and deep-rooted,” ASOS CEO, Nick Beighton says. “If we are to achieve real, lasting change, the industry collectively needs to accelerate its efforts to eradicate modern slavery, wherever it might exist. Collaboration is critical to solve the problems we face today, and those we will encounter in the future.”


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Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand
Global shipping giant Maersk has announced a new service called Sirius Star which will use two overseas flagged Maersk ships with an entirely foreign crew rotating through five New Zealand ports and two in Fiji.
Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says Maersk should be crewing these ships with New Zealand seafarers.
The ships will be moving containers around New Zealand ports to assist with the port congestion at Ports of Auckland after a series of management failures.
Mr Harrison says under the Maritime Transport Act, overseas flagged vessels can carry domestic goods between New Zealand ports, as long as it is part of an international service.
He says Maersk are using the Fiji leg of the operation to get around the intent of the law, because most of the cargo involved will be domestic New Zealand freight.
“Maersk makes a large profit out of its international shipping operations to and from New Zealand, and has a social responsibility to ensure New Zealand has a trained and skilled seafaring workforce.”
He says there is now only one New Zealand flagged and crewed coastal container ship, Moana Chief, which is operated by Pacifica Shipping, part of the Swires Group.
Mr Harrison says the Government has committed to rebuilding New Zealand coastal shipping, which is a low-carbon transport mode that would contribute to reducing emissions, but there needed to be immediate action.
He says it is unreasonable that New Zealand domestic shipping was levied under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme for carbon credits and that international shipping working on the New Zealand coast was not.
The Maritime Union is campaigning to rebuild the New Zealand domestic coastal shipping fleet.


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Microsoft was surprised by the amount of negative reaction to Xbox One's DRM features, according to director of product planning Albert Penello.
After revealing plans to one day bring back digital trading and family sharing, Penello told Rev3Games (via CVG) that while a digital future is inevitable, Microsoft may have tried to introduce it before consumers were ready.
"People got in their minds that what we were trying to do was evil or anti-customer when, in fact, we were looking at what Steam does, we were looking at what iOS is doing, we were looking where the customers were going and saying, 'I think we can actually give you a better all-digital experience'," Penello explains.
"So was I surprised that people had a reaction to it? No. I mean, we knew it was going to be a controversial decision. Was I surprised how negative the reaction was going to be? Yes.
"We were surprised at how vocal it was, we were surprised at the reaction and the assumptions that people had about what we were trying to do. So we did the famous '180'."
He added: "Nobody debates there's going to be a world, whether it's this gen, or next-gen, that discs are going to go away, it's gone away in just about every medium.
"I think if anything we thought it was going to happen sooner than the customer. We took a hard stance on it."
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the Xbox One launch date.
The console will be available from November 22 in 13 markets, including the UK and North America. The launch takes place between the PS4's November 15 release date in North America and its November 29 launch in Europe.
Watch a controller demonstration video of Xbox One:


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The country’s current account deficit (CAD) is likely to widen to a 13-quarter high of $ 23.6 billion or 2.8 per cent of GDP in October-December 2021-22 due to higher commodity prices following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said in a report.
The report said although the Omicron-led COVID wave has subsided, the geopolitical risks to the global recovery have increased due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“We expect the CAD to come in at the second-highest level of $ 23.6 billion (2.8 per cent of GDP; 13-quarter high) in Q3 FY22 as against a deficit of $ 9.6 billion (1.3 per cent of GDP) in Q2 FY22,” the agency said.
In Q3 FY21, the deficit was $ 2.2 billion (0.3 per cent of GDP).
The direct effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict have pushed commodity prices and freight and transportation costs higher; crude oil prices have been on a boil, it said.
In addition, the Indian rupee, which averaged at 75 against the dollar in February 2022, is expected to average around 76 this month which might result in a depreciation of 0.29 per cent in fourth quarter over the previous three-month period, the report said.
The agency said that despite the adverse effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the merchandise imports are likely to recover further due to the normalising domestic economy, higher commodity prices and depreciation of the rupee, pushing the merchandise imports bill to over $ 166 billion in Q4 FY22.
The FY22 merchandise import bill is estimated at an all-time high of over $ 606 billion, it said.
However, the agency believes that merchandise exports might be constrained to $ 101.3 billion in Q4 FY22, taking it to $ 406 billion in FY22.
As a result, the merchandise trade deficit is likely to come at $ 200 billion in FY22.
All in all, CAD is expected at over $ 25 billion in Q4 FY22, the report said.
To achieve the export target of $ 400 billion in FY22, exports will have to attain the level of $ 22.61 billion in March 2022, the report said.
Given the trend so far in this fiscal year, the exports appear to be on track to breach the $ 400 billion target, despite the heightened geopolitical risk due to the Russia Ukraine conflict, it added.


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PepsiCo has made an announcement that the company’s current CEO, Indra Nooyi will step down from the position in October. The Indian born executive has spent 12 years as the CEO and has completed 24 years with the food and beverage multinational giant.
“Leading PepsiCo has truly been the honor of my lifetime, and I'm incredibly proud of all we have done over the past 12 years to advance the interests not only of shareholders but all our stakeholders in the communities we serve,” said Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo
Ramon Laguarta will be the new CEO of the company. But, Indra Nooyi will continue to serve as the chairman till 2019 to ensure a smooth and seamless transition. And Laguarta was also selected to the company’s board of directors.
According to PepsiCo, the revenue of the company grew more than 80 percent under the leadership of Indra Nooyi. The company took over peers and added a new a billion dollar brand every year. The shareholders who have invested $1000 in 2006 during Nooyi’s tenure will enjoy the benefits now because the share price is more than two and a half times that amount today.
According to Nooyi, Laguarta is the perfect replacement for the company’s growing success. Ramon Laguarta is a phenomenal executive with a long and established a track record of growing business. He has got the perfect knowledge about the tastes and preferences of the consumers and other critical trends that unfold around the globe and has shown that he knows how to navigate them successfully.


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Today’s Business News Headlines – 29th May 2017 – Tentaran.com
Here are the Business News Headlines as on 29th May 2017:
- With the permission from Court to auction, Bankers have valued Hotel Taj Mansingh at Rs 1,000 crore. The actual bids for the luxury property are expected to reach around Rs 3,000 cr.
- IT Sector Job Cuts : FITE, Union for employees in IT Sector, has filed cases with the Labour Departments in Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai against firms such as Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Cognizant, saying engineers were wrongly terminated by these companies.
- New York-based investment firm Berggruen Holdings Inc., which owns Keys hotel chain in India, shall invest around Rs200 crore to expand its presence in the country. It has so far invested $80 million in Berggruen Hotels Pvt. Ltd, which runs 21 hotels and operates only in India.
- Anil Ambani owned Reliance Communications has been marked SMA (Special Mention Account) by the Banks for non-payment of interest on loans given to the Company. The account may be marked NPA after 15 days. Shares of Rel Comm have already fallen by 20% in the last 2 weeks.
- To ramp up its payment play, Amazon Pay is working on tying up with Government Institutions and Insurance Companies. It has already launched payments on online food delivery players like Faasos and Box8 and home services application – Housejoy .
- ePayLater, a Mumbai-based fintech company, has tied-up with IRCTC to offer the ‘buy now, pay later’ service. This will allow eligible customers to purchase railway tickets without making a payment at the time of the transaction and pay within the next 14 days.
- Rahul Chandra, co-head at VC firm Helion Venture Partners, is launching an early-stage fund, Unitary Helion to raise $100 million (almost Rs 650 crore) from investors. Many other partners of Helion; Kanwaljeet Singh, Ritesh Banglani, Alok Goyal, Rahul Chowdhri & Sanjeev Agarwal have also launched their own funds.
- Oyo Rooms will hire 5,000 people over the next eight months as it shall soon run on a full-stack hotelier model.
- The Fund of Funds (FoF) created by the Government for pumping money into startups requires fresh infusion and asked for an additional allocation of Rs 1,600 crore.
For more updates, do Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.


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ZTE (000063): Turning losses into profit in the first three quarters of 19
Summary and recommendations: The company issued a 19th and 3rd quarter results announcement to achieve revenue of 642.
4 billion, a year-on-year increase of +9.
32%; net profit attributable to mother is 41.
2.8 billion, net profit after returning to mother 7.
One billion US dollars, turned a year into profit, EPS is 0.
Among them, the third quarter achieved revenue of 196.
3.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of +1.
55%; net profit attributable to mother is 26.
5.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of +370.
74%, the performance is near the median of the forecast range in line with expectations.
In addition, the company released its 2019 annual performance forecast, which is expected to achieve net profit attributable to mothers of RMB 4.3-5.3 billion, of which net profit attributable to mothers is 1.
7.2 billion US dollars, previously turned a profit.
5G has begun large-scale commercialization this year. The company is one of the world’s major communications major equipment manufacturers and will obviously benefit from 5G investment and construction.
The company’s performance continues to improve, and maintains a “Buy” rating.
In the first three quarters of 2019, the company’s performance continued to improve, and its business gradually returned to track: in the first three quarters of 19, revenue increased by 9%.
32% to 642.
40 million, we think is mainly driven by the rapid growth of operator business and government and business revenue.
Net profit attributable to mother is 41.
At 28 ppm, the company realized a year of losses, which was mainly due to the company’s transfer of land use rights to Vanke to confirm related benefits26.
In a single quarter, 3Q’s revenue growth rate was 1.
55%, we think that the current 5G construction is still in the growth period, the company’s related business has not yet started, and the release of performance takes time; 3Q net profit after deduction is 0.
9.8 billion, down 18 a year.
6%, mainly due to the increase in profits during the period resulting in increased expenses and minority shareholders’ profits and losses.
The company’s business is gradually on track, and its performance has gradually recovered to the level of 2017.
In addition, the company’s 3Q net cash flow from operating activities was 29.
05 ppm, which has been normalized since the fourth quarter of last year and gradually increased, indicating that the company’s cash flow situation has continued to improve.
The gross profit margin was flat in the third quarter, and the expense ratio decreased. In terms of gross profit margin, the company’s comprehensive gross profit margin in the third quarter of 2019 was 36.
46%, basically the same every year.
In terms of expense ratio, 3Q’s overall expense ratio fell by 1.
27 up to 27.
57%, of which the sales expense ratio fell by 1.
41 up to 8.
48%; management expense ratio increased by 2.
19 up to 5.
00%, mainly due to the increase in the cost of legal affairs; the rate of research and development expenses fell 3.21 up to 14.
71%; financial expense ratio increased by 1.
16 excellent to -0.
62%, mainly due to the decrease in exchange gains due to exchange rate fluctuations.
The company’s cost management and control capabilities have been improved, and the cost end has been gradually optimized.
5G construction is rapidly advancing the continuous layout, and the progress is significant: at the end of September 2019, the company won 35 5G commercial contracts around the world and launched 5G deep cooperation with 60 operators worldwide; 5G bearer end-to-end products were gradually delivered to 20,000; 5G end-to-end commercial products and solutions, full series of NR products to achieve full overlap, full scene coverage; 5G NSA & SA dual-mode base station supports flexible selection and smooth layout of operator network architecture.
ZTE’s Axon 10 Pro 5G versions have been released globally, and 5G indoor routers have been officially delivered to businesses in multiple markets around the world.
Key chip design standards, the company’s next-generation 5G wireless system chip and bearer switching network chip, its performance has been verified in field tests.
In addition, as of June 15, the company submitted 1,424 3GPP 5G SEPs (standard essential patents), ranking among the top three in the world.
The company continued to make arrangements in various fields and made significant progress.
Profit forecast: 5G network construction has been launched, driving the prosperity of the communications industry, and the company, as the world’s leading communications master equipment manufacturer, will be the first to make a profit.
We expect the company to achieve a net profit of 48 in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
86 and 夜来香体验网 80.
830,000 yuan, +169 compared with the same period last year.
25% and +30.
67%, equivalent to 1, respectively.
46 and 1.
91 yuan, the current corresponding PE of A shares is 30, 23 and 18 times.
Maintain “Buy” rating.
Risk reminders: 1. The 5G investment progress is less than expected; 2. The intensified competition in the communications industry has caused the company’s gross profit margin and market share to decline; 3. The Sino-US trade friction has escalated.


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Critics have met Days Gone very welcoming, but it didn’t prevent the biker zombie apocalypse from climbing to the first line of sales in the UK and getting around a serious (and multiplatform!) competitor – Mortal Kombat 11.
We need to emphasize — we are talking only about physical copies and only in the UK.
As GamesIndustry.biz reports, the first sales of Days Gone were 27% lower than last year’s God of War. However, on the side of Kratos, there was already a familiar and popular franchise, and Days Gone is a new game, thanks to which its debut still looks impressive.
In general, GamesIndustry.biz calls sales in the reporting week “leisurely”: most games have been sold less than in the previous week. For example, the leader of the previous chart, World War Z, collapsed by 70% and now has caught only in tenth place. But there are also upgrades – Metro: Exodus grew by 130% thanks to a discount in retail and in the current list it took the 14th place.
Reporting week ended April 27. Ten leaders look like this (in brackets – the place a week before):
- Days Gone
- Mortal Kombat 11
- FIFA 19 (2)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (5)
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (3)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (4)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (8)
- Forza Horizon 4 (16)
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (10)
- World War Z (1)


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The Mac App Store Steve Jobs talked about in his keynote 90 days back is opening up tomorrow. And it will not be launched empty for sure. There is evidence that the popular twitter client for mac – Tweetie, which is now owned by Twitter will be available for download in the Mac App Store tomorrow. And in all likelihood, it will be free!
The app is expected to have native retweeting support, real time updates and drag and dropping of tweets. And also, apparently, a new icon.
The evidence? Here is a screenshot that razorianfly.com was able to procure:
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Gov. Janet Mills announced on Thursday new, last-minute restrictions on businesses to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Maine. Starting Friday, Nov. 20 and lasting until Dec. 6, all outdoor and indoor amusement venues, including casinos, movie theaters, performing arts venues, tasting rooms, social clubs, restaurants and bars will be required to close by 9 p.m. The decision comes abruptly for businesses just before the holidays, when there’s typically an increase in social gatherings.
Under a standing executive order, Commissioners Heather Johnson and Jeanne Lambrew of the state’s economic development and health and human services departments, respectively, have the authority to tailor requirements to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the private sector, delivered to the business community in the form of COVID-19 prevention checklists. The checklist for seated food and drink service establishments was updated Thursday to reflect the change.
Johnson spoke this morning on the WGAN Morning News regarding the impact this change will have on restaurants, which are already struggling to survive due to the existing coronavirus restrictions that have upended the livelihoods of owners and employees alike.
“It is our goal to keep business capacity as open as possible, and I think this is a step toward that without making any bigger impact than we need to,” Johnson said.
Jaime LaCasse, front of house manager at Samuel’s Bar and Grill in Portland, explained the effect this measure will have on her business and employees. She recognizes the governor’s good intentions, but cannot deny the negative consequences of the new mandate.
“Overall, for our small staff, we are losing maybe 70 business hours, and that’s only if it lasts the two weeks that we are anticipating,” LaCasse said. “Our businesses really thrive on late night food and drink. We are very industry heavy. We serve other people who work in the industry, and that’s a large part of our business that we’re going to completely lose.”
Like many bars and restaurants, Samuel’s will have to cut the hours of staff who are already part-time due to lack of work.
“Certain employees who are part time will probably be laid off temporarily, and all of our full-time employees will definitely be seeing their hours cut back,” LaCasse said.
Steve Hewins, president and CEO of HospitalityMaine, attributes the comparably low virus rate in Maine to the diligence and safety measures of the hospitality industry, especially during the busier summer and fall season.
With over 4,000 restaurants in the state employing thousands of Mainers, concerns are increasing over the sudden nature of this measure, leaving many critics to question the arbitrary, last-minute decision making of the Mills administration and the lack of science behind such orders.
“Where is the science that shows that eating dinner or having a drink after 9 p.m. is an added danger?” Hewins asked Friday on the WGAN Morning News.
Critics are also concerned about what patrons will do when indoor and outdoor dining services cease at 9p.m. Many fear patrons will leave to gather in settings where masking, social distancing and sanitation measures are not practiced, undermining the administration’s attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19 through the new business curfew.
Servers and bartenders are equally affected by the governors mandates.
“Well, I lost my job,” said Anthony DeRice, a bartender at Legends Rest Taproom in Westbrook. “I obviously knew it was coming, I just am not sure how closing a few hours earlier will help. It only hurts those of us relying on those hours to make a living.”
“Here I used to feel differently, thinking curfews and shutdowns would be helpful, but I now think that it is not feasible to keep small businesses, like the one I work at, open with these restrictions,” he said. “And of course, personally, I am even more affected, especially since there are no safeguards in place to help those who are now out of a job due to this decision.”


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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. plans to add more than 20 million pounds of capacity for low-viscosity polyalphaolefin (PAO) fluids at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas, said Plasticsnews.
The expansion will help the firm, based in The Woodlands, Texas, meet increasing customer demand for sustainable products, PAO global business manager Miles Oberton said in a Nov. 4 news release.
Chevron Phillips also has filed notifications for the project with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. A request for final approval for the project would be filed in the second quarter of 2015, with project completion targeted for 2016.
At Cedar Bayou, Chevron Phillips currently has annual capacity of about 100 million pounds of PAO. The firm recently began construction of a 220 million-pound capacity normal alpha olefin (NAO) expansion there. NAO materials are used as a feedstock for PAO.
PAO materials made by Chevron Phillips are sold under the Synfluid brand name. They’re used in many automotive and industrial applications, including gear oils, greases and lubricants.
As MRC informed earlier, in July 2014, Chevron Phillips Chemical received approval from its board of directors and obtained an environmental permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to expand normal alpha olefins (NAO) production capacity at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas.
Chevron Phillips Chemical, headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston), US,l is one of the world’s top producers of olefins and polyolefins and a leading supplier of aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, piping, and proprietary plastics. Chevron and Phillips 66 each own 50% of Chevron Phillips Chemical.


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Obesity is the major reason for deaths in America and it has great impact on the medical cost, infrastructure and personal cost.Every 2 out of 3 Americans are overweight with body mass index (BMI) of more than 25. In 2010, it was reported that United States has the second highest obesity rate after Mexico.
According to 2010 estimate, it was reported that medical care costs in America has increased to $ 160 billion annually. Reports depicts that overweight Americans consume 938 million of additional gas due to increased weight in the cars.
It is estimated that more than 72 million Americans are on diet since 2007 to reduce the weight and a amount of $40 billion was spent by the United States individuals to buy diet products. Survey forecasts that by the end of 2030, 86% of Americans will be overweight of which 42% will suffer from obesity.


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Facebook will share you location with businesses if you are near their stores
Everyone who uses Facebook knows that it is the worst when it comes to the FB users privacy. It has been at the brunt of attacks from privacy advocates for revealing important user data to its advertisers. Now it will go one step further and reveal your location to the businesses without your explicit consent.
Earlier this month, Facebook announced a new feature that will share your location with businesses when you’re near their stores. For this purpose, Facebook will use your geolocation data to find out what percentage of passersby have seen a brand’s ad, and to help stores custom-tailor their ads to promote more traffic to physical stores.
This feature called “local insights” tab will be available for free to any business with a Facebook page, though paid advertisers will get to see the share of people passing a store’s locations that have seen their ads.
The saving grace is that Facebook wont share your personal information and just your geo-location. However even then this feature feels awfully creepy and invasive to your privacy. This is especially so as a vast majority of Facebook users probably don’t even know such a feature actually exists.
Luckily for Facebook users you can protect yourself from Facebook’s prying eyes.
In the Facebook mobile app, click on the “More” tab, and then “Account Settings.” Then go to “Location Settings” and then turn of the toggle for location tracking.


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Singer-turned-designer Victoria Beckham is adamant there will never be another full Spice Girls reunion, insisting it's time they all moved on.... ...http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/everybody-needs-to-move-on-victoria-on-spice-girls-reunion-117031900099_1.html
Victoria Beckham grinned as she stocked up on groceries Credit: Jackson Lee / Splash News V ictoria Beckham is known for her pout, and the fact she... ...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/14/victoria-beckham-flashes-rare-smile-stocks-storm-stella/
Memphis Depay has been compared to David Beckham and even Pele following his wondergoal for Lyon against Toulouse. Memphis Depay celebrates a Lyon... ...https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/im-not-david-beckham-depay-reacts-to-lyon-wondergoal?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=sportskeeda
Singer-turned-designer and former Spice Girls band member Victoria Beckham believes the fashion industry is not a "clock-in clock-out" industry, as... ...http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/working-in-fashion-not-clock-in-clock-out-says-victoria-beckham-117031300069_1.html
Serial fraudster Caron Westbrook, 53, spent years funding a lavish lifestyle by forging vast cheques from showbusiness photographer David Hogan,... ...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/10/parasitic-personal-assistant-swindled-565000-celebrity-photographer/
This page is dedicated to the one and...
Sale on beckham perfumes. Discounted...
I am very simple boy, I intersected...


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BoxWay Packaging has designed new packaging for Butlers’ online cheese store. The new packaging is made from paper-based corrugated cardboard that is FSC certified. It is a more sustainable product that informs consumers and builds anticipation about new products from the cheese brand. Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses will use the boxes for online and delivery orders for its cheese stores.
Matthew Hall, a fourth-generation owner at Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses, added: “Our direct-to-consumer packaging must protect as well as reflect the quality British farmhouse cheese inside. We also wanted it to align with our range of recyclable cheese packaging, which is an area of ongoing innovation and development.”
The company claims that the new packaging aligns with its functionality, sustainability, and excitement values.
Image Credit: Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses


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New rules for FDIC insurance representation on digital channels include specifying that crypto assets are not deposits.
The interest-bearing accounts can help Wise compete with money transfer rivals, but it might struggle to get mainstream adoption.
The large sums that flowed out of Binance this week caused some in the community to question whether its collapse would end crypto altogether.
Central bank Gov. Philip Lowe outlined four goals and initiatives to help improve Australia’s payments system.
Bank of America is giving consumers the capability to seamlessly switch between its AI-powered chatbot and a human agent.
Cost challenges associated with a new reimbursement policy have spooked community banks—but customers’ love for the service could make it hard to shed.
The government hopes sweeping changes for Britain's banks will give the sector a lift. But it could expose lenders to more risk.
Visa has recorded double-digit increases in global friendly fraud incidents so far in 2022—a concerning trend for merchants and issuers.
The retailer’s reported plans to launch its own BNPL product through its fintech, ONE, could help boost customer spending.
We delve into six trends to watch as banks fight for top-notch employees from an ever-shrinking talent pool.
They’re saving in accounts at bigger banks and avoiding other high-yield options. It’s not clear if that’s brand loyalty or inertia.
The expanded partnership with Mastercard can help Paysend serve more customers and compete more aggressively.
In a first, 62.1% of adults in the US will use mobile banking, surpassing the 61.5% who will use in-branch banking, per our forecast. This is a marked shift from 10 years ago, when 78.8% of adults used bank branches and 18.6% used mobile.
Major bank executives are now more united in predicting a recession next year, but the degree is uncertain.
It will use Mastercard’s Track Instant Pay solution, which automates B2B payments, to attract new business.
They aren’t too far off, but they’ll need to overcome a few challenges and implement new ways of banking.
A growing number of migrants in the US and a lack of formal remittance channels are creating an opening for US-based remittance firms in the country.
The AI-powered client portal combines the bank’s services and products in one place. All eyes will be on the customer transition.
The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce introduced an ad campaign in opposition of the Credit Card Competition Act.
Banks, FIs, and fintechs must work together to quickly identify scams and to build stronger preventative controls.
11 Times SquareNew York, NY 100361-800-405-0844


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Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has smashed the English Premier League’s goalscoring record, banging in a remarkable 35 goals in his 32 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side.
To celebrate Haaland’s rapacious appetite for the onion bag, Nike flooded the sky above Manchester with a homage to the Aurora Borealis.
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Using hologram technology, Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, Nike’s agency, projected the “Aurora of Haaland” across the clouds.
“Outside the historic National Football Museum in Manchester, we recreated the Aurora Borealis. For real. Using an interactive outdoor light show, with smoke, lasers, projections and innovative Hologauze,” said the agency.
The activation projected pictures of Haaland volleying a presumably goal-bound ball, sitting in his famous meditation goal celebration and the Nike logo into the sky.
It’s also handy that Nike manufactures Manchester City and Norway’s kit, Haaland’s boots and the Premier League’s match ball.


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El Segundo, Calif., July 1, 2010—Following its toughest year in recent memory, the market for Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) automotive sensors will rebound sharply in 2010, but continued high sales might lead to an overheated market that could push the industry back into depression, according to new research from iSuppli Corp.
Global shipments of automotive MEMS sensors are projected to reach 591.2 million units in 2010, up a resounding 17.8 percent from 502.0 million.
Such growth represents a welcome turnaround after a challenging 2009 for MEMS sensors. While early 2009 saw orders to sensor companies all but dry up because of the fallout of the economic recession, shipments picked up rapidly in the fourth quarter, exceeding even the high point reached in 2007—making for a wild, bumpy ride last year. However, the newly strengthened market in 2010 marks the beginning of an upturn that will continue until at least the end of 2014, iSuppli data indicate.
The attached figure presents iSuppli’s forecast for MEMS sensors from 2009 to 2014.
“The revitalized automotive MEMS market in 2010 is being driven by the exceptionally strong performance of MEMS pressure sensors, which are used in key applications to measure tire pressure and engine performance,” said Richard Dixon, senior analyst for MEMS and sensors at iSuppli. “According to reports from at least half of the sensor supply industry, shipments are running at three times the historic average, bolstered by a strong production pickup in passenger vehicles coupled with inventory replenishment.”
About half of the year’s requirement for MEMS pressure sensors was satisfied in the first four months alone of 2010, iSuppli estimates, with major Tier 2 companies now reporting inability to make and ship the sensors quickly enough, and with first-tier suppliers indicating a shortage of parts in many areas of the supply chain.
“As a result of these developments, MEMS suppliers are busy exploiting whatever advantage they enjoy at the moment, even though a healthy skepticism abounds on prospects facing the industry down the road and especially in 2011,” Dixon said. “And should sales continue at this level—with indicators so far not showing signs of the market slowing down—a potential overheating could ensue, raising the specter of a possible second slump later this year following the decline of 2009.”
Among the regions, North America will account for the largest share in the consumption of MEMS, making up 40 percent of the total in 2010. Europe is next, with about one-third share. China and Japan also show up strongly, each counted as a separate market of consumption. A fourth area—an agglomeration known as the “Rest of the World” (ROW) that includes South Korea, Russia and Latin America—is roughly on par with Japan but scores lower than China.
Mandates drive MEMS sensor growth
A number of factors will drive the growth of MEMS sensors in cars—projected to increase from an average of 8.12 per vehicle in 2009 to more than 11.5 by 2014.
Mandates continue to be the main market shaper, with electronic stability systems to become obligatory for vehicles in the United States by 2012 and in the European Union by 2014. Also to become mandatory in Europe by 2014 are tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS). The developments are expected to boost sales overall: ESC mandates will help propel the sales of gyroscopes, accelerometers and high-pressure sensors, while TPMS mandates will spur
MEMS pressure sensor shipments close to 137.9 million by 2014, up from just 42.9 million in 2009.
In the case of powertrain sensors, their use in pressure and flow measurements in the engine combustion control loop is increasingly driven by stringent regulations to reduce emissions. Alongside established markets for manifold air pressure and barometric air pressure management, emerging stop-start systems that turn the engine off at junctions will grow from about 1 million units to 13 million in five years, iSuppli figures show.
In the sensor supply chain, vertically integrated suppliers like Robert Bosch GmbH and Denso Corp. continued to dominate in 2009, pulling in $355 million and $203 million, respectively. Other major revenue earners included Freescale Semiconductor Inc., the foremost independent MEMS sensors supplier, with $139 million; Sensata Technologies, with $115 million; Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), with $95 million; and Panasonic Corp., with $85 million.
Both ADI and Panasonic gained market share with gyroscopes, thanks to their profitable contracts—with Continental AG and TRW Inc. in the case of ADI; and with Autoliv for the Ford Motor Co. in the case of Panasonic.
Learn more about the latest developments in the MEMS market with the report from Dixon, entitled: Market Recovery has Automotive MEMS Sensors on the Fast Track.
Learn more about IHS iSuppli


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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the information technology sector has thrived across the world. Following suit, Pakistan’s IT industry has also seen tremendous growth in its business. The industry is currently in an expansion mode, including aggressive hiring of professionals to meet the local and foreign demand.
The IT industry is rapidly expanding as the local companies received various projects from different markets, including the USA, UK, European Countries, due to the increasing automation in businesses in the wake of COVID-19.
Large and mid-sized companies providing IT and IT-enabled services are looking for professionals in the field of software and mobile app development, digital marketing, e-commerce, cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).
Pakistan’s IT industry needs thousands of workers in different fields to meet the demand of the export-based and local projects from a short-term to a medium-term basis, informed Chairman [email protected], Barkan Syed. The demand for additional human resources is likely to meet long-term projects in the future. However, it depends on various factors, including the performance of the IT companies and the government’s support to facilitate local companies.
As many as 5,000 experienced professionals in the advanced fields such as backend and front end programmers, cloud experts, mobile programmers, etc., could be accommodated immediately in the industry. Whereas more than 5,000 low skilled workers are needed in call centers and the BPO sector, he elaborated.
Recently, the leading service providers of BPO segments had accomplished projects for foreign clients, which were appreciated. Hence, a few long term projects were received by the Pakistan companies, for whom the hiring and training of the fresh people is underway at a handsome pace, he added.
He believed that companies working in sectors like travel have been badly impacted in the recent past. However, the resources from such companies could easily be accommodated in other companies that are growing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
IT industry faced an uncertain period due to the lockdown in the country back in April 2020, fearing retrenchment of sources, including layoffs and pay-cuts. However, major companies and medium-sized software houses bounced back, tapping into the opportunities in local and foreign markets. These companies did not only succeed in securing big business projects but also streamlined their operations based on the work-from-home model to save their expenses.
IT Exports in Q-1
The inflows of IT exports remain optimistic as the first quarter of the current financial year 2020-21 (FY21) recorded the highest-ever quarterly exports remittances of $444.050 million, showing a staggering 40 percent growth on a year-on-year basis.
Listed IT companies also recorded a handsome growth in profitability during the same period. For instance, TRG Pakistan’s profit grew to Rs. 816 million in the first quarter of FY21 compared with the profit of Rs. 17.5 million recorded in the same period of last year.
System Limited recorded a profit of Rs. 1.56 billion in the first quarter of FY21 compared with the profit of Rs. 1.07 billion recorded in the similar period of last financial year, showing 46 percent year-on-year growth.
NetSol Technologies also bounced back with a profit of Rs. 127 million in the period mentioned, even though last year it reported a loss of Rs. 190 million in the first quarter of the financial year.
E-commerce Sector Flourishing at a Local Level
Along with the exports of the IT sector flourishing at a local level, the e-commerce industry is witnessing a staggering expansion in different segments of the retail business, including grocery, pharmacy, footwear, wardrobe, gadgets, and cosmetics.
Pakistan’s e-commerce market is estimated to have expanded to Rs. 234.6 billion in the financial year 2019-20 despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, showing a growth of 55.5 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to a report published by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) recently.
Pakistan’s e-commerce sector witnessed a staggering growth in the past few months owing to COVID-19 and its related lockdown, which restricted operations of many companies for several weeks, said Badar Khushnood, Member National E-commerce Council.
Major companies of the e-commerce sector recorded growth from 200 to 400 percent in sales during the last six months in tandem with the high growth of their services in major cities, he added.
There are various fields in the operations of e-commerce that make the successful case of the services, including the department of warehouse and inventory management, the technology arm, the payment solution, the digital market wing, and the logistic support.
In the past few months, scores of employment were generated in these fields by e-commerce companies, which is still going on mainly in urban areas, to meet the service demand of the large and emerging customers’ base, Badar further said.
Similar to various developed countries, the e-commerce segment retained its increasing pace in Pakistan, which is likely to continue its growth with the growing competition among the market players.


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The company plans to invest Rs 100 crore in the next five years in its retail arm through internal accruals, said founder and chief executive Anil Jindal.
Retailing through SRS Value Bazaar, SRS 7 Days, SRS Fashion Wear, SRS Jewellery, SRS cash & carry, it plans to target India’s tier 2-3 cities. “We have seen 40 per cent of the sales coming from this 70 per cent of population which resides in tier 2 and 3 cities. Tapping the remaining share is our prime aim to be captured through online and offline expansions,” said Jindal.
The group plans to invest Rs 70 crore in offline expansion and Rs 30 crore in online business, he said.
The group, which runs financial services, real estate, retail, mining, hospitals and schools, reported a turnover of Rs 6,000 crore in 2014-15. Of this, retail contributed Rs 400 crore. “We have plans to increase the turnover to Rs 1,000 crore by 2016-17 from our retail arm,” said Jindal.
The decision to open more stores will depend on the response to the online verticals, which could prompt the company to line up back-end investment in warehouses and offline stores in those cities.
“Our online presence will cater to the population of age group 15-45 years, who are tech savvy; and others between 45-55 age group through offline presence,” said Jindal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make In India’ initiatives will lead to improvement in infrastructure, which will further boost the online and offline businesses, he said.
The company has also expanded its B2B business recently by tying up with many hyperlocal players such as Grofers and Peppertap to supply them products through their warehouses.
SRS Retail opened its first mall in 2004 and entered retail in January 2006 by opening SRS Value Bazaar. The group is aiming at a turnover of over Rs 15,000 crore by 2017-18.
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The food giant company Nestlé has accepted that more than half of its products are not healthy.
The company stated that 60 percent of its 2000 products do not meet a “recognized definition of health” and also said that “some of our categories and products will never be ‘healthy’ no matter how much we renovate”.
Nestlé, the maker of KitKats, Maggi noodles, and Nescafé, describes the 3.5-star threshold as a “recognized definition of health”.
Nestlé said it “is working on a company-wide project to update its pioneering nutrition and health strategy. We are looking at our entire portfolio across the different phases of people’s lives to ensure our products are helping meet their nutritional needs and supporting a balanced diet.
The revelations could put Nestlé under pressure as food watchdogs in Britain and around the world impose tighter restrictions on marketing.