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GSMA cancels MWC 2020 due to coronavirus health concerns |
GSMA has officially announced that MWC 2020 is canceled. The world's largest mobile trade was expected to take place Feb. 24-27 in Barcelona, attracting more than 100,000 visitors. With the coronavirus outbreak instilling fear across the globe, the MWC hosts decided to shut down the show.
SEE: Coronavirus having major effect on tech industry beyond supply chain delays ( free PDF) ( TechRepublic)
`` With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event, '' said John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA Limited, in a press statement.
Concerns over attending MWC were already surfacing, as many major vendors and exhibitors decided to withdraw. Last week, LG became the first major company to announce it wouldn't attend. Many other tech giants followed, including Sony, Nvidia, ZTE, Ericsson, Amazon, and Intel.
The pneumonia-like disease surfaced in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. Since its outbreak, the coronavirus has spread around the world, reaching Russia, Thailand, the UK, the US, Australia, Spain and more, according to the CDC.
Not only is MWC Barcelona hosted in a country where cases of the coronavirus have been cited, but it also brings in techies from around the world, including other infected regions.
The decision to cancel the show comes after a meeting on Wednesday by the GSMA council, reported CNET.
For more, check out Coronavirus: How companies can handle employee travel in wake of deadly virus on TechRepublic.
We deliver the top business tech news stories about the companies, the people, and the products revolutionizing the planet. Delivered Daily | tech |
IBM at CES: Quantum breakthrough news | Hi, what are you looking for?
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According to IBM, the 2020s are set to become the decade of commercial quantum computing. The global computing and research firm has announced three pioneering quantum research breakthrough.s.
IBM Q Network expands
The first key announcement from IBM concerns the expansion of the IBM Q Network, which has reached a milestone of nearly 100 organizations working with IBM. Various companies are helping to advance the technology and explore practical applications. The companies involved include Delta Airlines, Anthem, and the Los Alamos National Lab. The grouping forms part of the largest commercial quantum computing program available, comprised of Fortune 500 companies, startups, academic institutions and research labs with access to the world’ s largest fleet of quantum computing systems.
In joining the network, Delta becomes the first airline to explore the potential capabilities of quantum computing. The airline is examining how the technology can be used to transform experiences for customers and employees and address challenges across the day of travel. The project will involve accessing technology via the IBM Q Hub, which is located at NC State University.
Developing automotive batteries
With the second piece of news, IBM and Daimler have unveiled initial research into next-generation automotive batteries. This is in recognition that electric vehicles have an Achilles Heel: the capacity and speed-of-charging of their batteries.
Together, the two companies are using a quantum computer to simulate the chemical make-up of lithium-sulfur batteries, which is believed to offer higher energy densities than its predecessor, lithium-ion. The goal is to use a quantum computer to one day help design an entirely new, more powerful and rechargeable battery.
Doubling quantum power
With the third development, IBM has unveiled news that the company has reached a new scientific milestone, announcing its highest quantum volume to date, doubling the performance metric from 16 to 32. Quantum Volume is a measurement that determines how powerful a quantum computer is and will be key to achieving “ Quantum Advantage, ” — a point when quantum applications deliver a significant, practical benefit beyond what classical computers alone are capable.
The news items were announced by Dario Gil, Director of IBM Research, who hosted a session at CES 2020, joined by leaders from Daimler AG and ExxonMobil. This fed into a discussion about how quantum computing is set to radically change computing and the world as we know it and why many believe quantum is the next big thing in technology.
Areas where quantum computing is set to drive industry forwards includes the development of new drugs and materials, batteries that are 1000x better, efficient supply chains and new transportation systems, to name a few.
Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Chechnya, said Monday that he was in Ukraine alongside Russian forces.
Bermuda says it is suspending certification of Russian planes licenced in the British overseas territory due to sanctions on Moscow.
China, the country where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019, is among the last remaining devotees to a zero-Covid approach.
Russia and Ukraine were set for a third round of talks Monday as Moscow's invading forces maintain their devastating assaults.
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Pope Francis repeats support for celibacy after Benedict outburst | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Pope Francis on Monday repeated his support for celibacy after his predecessor pope Benedict XVI urged him not to open the Catholic priesthood up to married men, in a plea that stunned Vatican experts.
`` The pope's position on celibacy is well known, '' the head of the Vatican's press centre, Matteo Bruni, told journalists at the Vatican on Monday, citing Francis on his return from a trip to Panama in January 2019.
`` I remember something that Pope Paul VI said: ' I 'd rather give my life than change the law on celibacy ', '' Bruni quoted the pope as having said.
The pope also said `` Personally I think that celibacy is a gift to the Church. Secondly, I don't think optional celibacy should be allowed. No. ''
At the time, the pope nevertheless conceded `` some possibilities for far flung places '', such as Pacific islands or the Amazon where `` there is a pastoral necessity ''.
The ex-pontiff Benedict, who retired in 2013, issued his defence of clerical celibacy in a book written with arch-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah, extracts of which were published by France's Le Figaro.
`` I can not keep silent! '' Benedict wrote in the book, which follows an extraordinary meeting of bishops from the Amazon at the Vatican last year that recommended the ordination of married men in certain circumstances.
The pope emeritus, 92, and Cardinal Sarah from Guinea weighed in on the controversial question of whether or not to allow `` viri probati '' -- married `` men of proven virtue '' -- to join the priesthood.
Francis is currently considering allowing it in remote locations, such as the Amazon, where communities seldom have Mass due to a lack of priests, and is expected to publish his decision in the coming weeks.
Benedict, who was the first pontiff to resign in almost 600 years, at first withdrew to a life of quiet contemplation in the Vatican, but has increasingly begun to speak out on key Catholic issues.
Pope Francis on Monday repeated his support for celibacy after his predecessor pope Benedict XVI urged him not to open the Catholic priesthood up to married men, in a plea that stunned Vatican experts.
“ The pope’ s position on celibacy is well known, ” the head of the Vatican’ s press centre, Matteo Bruni, told journalists at the Vatican on Monday, citing Francis on his return from a trip to Panama in January 2019.
“ I remember something that Pope Paul VI said: ‘ I’ d rather give my life than change the law on celibacy’, ” Bruni quoted the pope as having said.
The pope also said “ Personally I think that celibacy is a gift to the Church. Secondly, I don’ t think optional celibacy should be allowed. No. ”
At the time, the pope nevertheless conceded “ some possibilities for far flung places ”, such as Pacific islands or the Amazon where “ there is a pastoral necessity ”.
The ex-pontiff Benedict, who retired in 2013, issued his defence of clerical celibacy in a book written with arch-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah, extracts of which were published by France’ s Le Figaro.
“ I can not keep silent! ” Benedict wrote in the book, which follows an extraordinary meeting of bishops from the Amazon at the Vatican last year that recommended the ordination of married men in certain circumstances.
The pope emeritus, 92, and Cardinal Sarah from Guinea weighed in on the controversial question of whether or not to allow “ viri probati ” — married “ men of proven virtue ” — to join the priesthood.
Francis is currently considering allowing it in remote locations, such as the Amazon, where communities seldom have Mass due to a lack of priests, and is expected to publish his decision in the coming weeks.
Benedict, who was the first pontiff to resign in almost 600 years, at first withdrew to a life of quiet contemplation in the Vatican, but has increasingly begun to speak out on key Catholic issues.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Omicron's rise has heralded another pandemic-tinged Christmas for billions, with Santa's arrival overshadowed by Covid restrictions.
At a time when hospitals and patients are strained due to increasing COVID numbers, threat actors will continue to attack.
Millions of Americans are traveling before Christmas even as national Omicron Covid-19 infections surpass Delta's peak.
Hong Kong university students paid solemn tribute to two campus statues marking Beijing's 1989 suppression of Tiananmen Square protesters.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Oscar nominees emerge as awards row rages over female snubs | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The Oscar nominations will Monday reveal which stars and movies have a shot at Hollywood's ultimate prize, as the industry nervously awaits the number of women and minorities selected.
The pre-dawn Academy Award announcement caps months of ceaseless campaigning by A-listers and studios, with only the chosen few progressing to next month's show-stopper.
Favorites for best picture include Quentin Tarantino's 1960s Tinseltown homage `` Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, '' and Sam Mendes's World War I odyssey `` 1917. '' Both won major honors at the recent Golden Globes.
Martin Scorsese's crime epic `` The Irishman '' and South Korean class satire `` Parasite '' are also expected to feature. Up to 10 films can be nominated for the top prize.
Much of the focus so far this award season has been on the lack of women and ethnic minority filmmakers honored.
Neither the Globes nor the influential Directors Guild Awards included any female-helmed films in their top categories, with Greta Gerwig's acclaimed `` Little Women '' adaptation notably absent.
Controversy over those omissions, in an industry criticized for its lack of diversity, was fueled at last week's Bafta nominations, which were also condemned for overlooking ethnic minorities.
One Academy voter who asked not to be named said he was `` anticipating that it's likely going to be very controversial '' again Monday because `` a lot of male directors '' will be nominated.
`` Unfortunately there are just five nominees '' for best director in an `` incredibly strong year, '' he told AFP, pointing to the revered track records of Scorsese, Tarantino and Mendes.
The Academy `` want to choose the best but they also want to be sensitive to women and minorities, '' said Chris Beachum, of award tracking website Gold Derby.
Non-white stars such as Lupita Nyong ' o, Cynthia Erivo and Awkwafina could feature alongside best actress frontrunners Renee Zellweger and Charlize Theron, he predicted, while Eddie Murphy is in the running for best actor.
`` Greta ( Gerwig) certainly has a shot at becoming the first woman to get in for ( best) director twice, '' Beachum added, referring to her nomination for 2017's `` Lady Bird. ''
- Competitive best actor field-
Voting for Oscar nominees ended last Tuesday, two days after the Golden Globes, meaning success there could have provided a late bump for borderline candidates.
Taron Egerton, who plays Elton John in `` Rocketman, '' faces a tough challenge to crack into a competitive best actor field expected to feature the likes of Joaquin Phoenix ( `` Joker. '')
But he may be aided by his Globes success, Beachum said.
Renee Zellweger, who won best actress at the Globe, is widely seen as a shoo-in for the Oscars shortlist, thanks to her acclaimed turn as showbiz legend Judy Garland in `` Judy. ''
Awards pundits will also be checking to see how the best picture frontrunners fare in other Oscars nominations categories.
`` 1917 '' has relative unknowns in its main roles, meaning acting nods would be a strong indicator of overall success, said Beachum.
An editing nomination for the film, shot to appear as it were almost one continuous shot, would also speak volumes, he added.
- 'Theatrical experience ' -
Despite its disappointment at the Globes, where it won just one movie award, Netflix still has more contenders than any other studio -- and is likely to bag plenty of nominations.
`` They 'll win some Oscars, '' said Beachum. `` Every year that they 've been in the Oscar race they 've improved on nominations and wins. ''
As well as `` Irishman, '' the small-screen streaming giant should grab nods for divorce drama `` Marriage Story, '' Vatican-set `` The Two Popes '' and Murphy's blaxploitation biopic `` Dolemite Is My Name. ''
But one Academy voter warned that `` some members will, as filmmakers, want to preserve the theatrical experience '' by choosing films from traditional studios which have long, exclusive runs in movie theaters.
Some 9,000 Academy members vote for the Oscars.
In the round of voting just closed, members were asked to rank their top choices only for best picture, and for the specific Academy branch to which they belong.
Voting for winners -- in which members can vote in every category -- begins January 30, closing five days later.
The Oscars will be handed out in Hollywood on February 9.
The Oscar nominations will Monday reveal which stars and movies have a shot at Hollywood’ s ultimate prize, as the industry nervously awaits the number of women and minorities selected.
The pre-dawn Academy Award announcement caps months of ceaseless campaigning by A-listers and studios, with only the chosen few progressing to next month’ s show-stopper.
Favorites for best picture include Quentin Tarantino’ s 1960s Tinseltown homage “ Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, ” and Sam Mendes’ s World War I odyssey “ 1917. ” Both won major honors at the recent Golden Globes.
Martin Scorsese’ s crime epic “ The Irishman ” and South Korean class satire “ Parasite ” are also expected to feature. Up to 10 films can be nominated for the top prize.
Much of the focus so far this award season has been on the lack of women and ethnic minority filmmakers honored.
Neither the Globes nor the influential Directors Guild Awards included any female-helmed films in their top categories, with Greta Gerwig’ s acclaimed “ Little Women ” adaptation notably absent.
Controversy over those omissions, in an industry criticized for its lack of diversity, was fueled at last week’ s Bafta nominations, which were also condemned for overlooking ethnic minorities.
One Academy voter who asked not to be named said he was “ anticipating that it’ s likely going to be very controversial ” again Monday because “ a lot of male directors ” will be nominated.
“ Unfortunately there are just five nominees ” for best director in an “ incredibly strong year, ” he told AFP, pointing to the revered track records of Scorsese, Tarantino and Mendes.
The Academy “ want to choose the best but they also want to be sensitive to women and minorities, ” said Chris Beachum, of award tracking website Gold Derby.
Non-white stars such as Lupita Nyong’ o, Cynthia Erivo and Awkwafina could feature alongside best actress frontrunners Renee Zellweger and Charlize Theron, he predicted, while Eddie Murphy is in the running for best actor.
“ Greta ( Gerwig) certainly has a shot at becoming the first woman to get in for ( best) director twice, ” Beachum added, referring to her nomination for 2017’ s “ Lady Bird. ”
– Competitive best actor field-
Voting for Oscar nominees ended last Tuesday, two days after the Golden Globes, meaning success there could have provided a late bump for borderline candidates.
Taron Egerton, who plays Elton John in “ Rocketman, ” faces a tough challenge to crack into a competitive best actor field expected to feature the likes of Joaquin Phoenix ( “ Joker. ”)
But he may be aided by his Globes success, Beachum said.
Renee Zellweger, who won best actress at the Globe, is widely seen as a shoo-in for the Oscars shortlist, thanks to her acclaimed turn as showbiz legend Judy Garland in “ Judy. ”
Awards pundits will also be checking to see how the best picture frontrunners fare in other Oscars nominations categories.
“ 1917 ” has relative unknowns in its main roles, meaning acting nods would be a strong indicator of overall success, said Beachum.
An editing nomination for the film, shot to appear as it were almost one continuous shot, would also speak volumes, he added.
– ‘ Theatrical experience’ –
Despite its disappointment at the Globes, where it won just one movie award, Netflix still has more contenders than any other studio — and is likely to bag plenty of nominations.
“ They’ ll win some Oscars, ” said Beachum. “ Every year that they’ ve been in the Oscar race they’ ve improved on nominations and wins. ”
As well as “ Irishman, ” the small-screen streaming giant should grab nods for divorce drama “ Marriage Story, ” Vatican-set “ The Two Popes ” and Murphy’ s blaxploitation biopic “ Dolemite Is My Name. ”
But one Academy voter warned that “ some members will, as filmmakers, want to preserve the theatrical experience ” by choosing films from traditional studios which have long, exclusive runs in movie theaters.
Some 9,000 Academy members vote for the Oscars.
In the round of voting just closed, members were asked to rank their top choices only for best picture, and for the specific Academy branch to which they belong.
Voting for winners — in which members can vote in every category — begins January 30, closing five days later.
The Oscars will be handed out in Hollywood on February 9.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Hypersonic missiles could be the crystal meth of future conflicts.
Sarah Weddington, who successfully argued the landmark Roe v. Wade case that enshrined abortion as a legal right in the U.S., died aged 76.
Environment Canada says all of Alberta and most of British Columbia and Saskatchewan are under extreme cold weather warnings.
The locked-down Chinese city of Xi'an on Monday tightened Covid-19 controls to the `` strictest '' level, banning residents from driving cars.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Alicia Leigh Willis talks 'The Bay, ' acting career, being a mom ( Includes interview) | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Willis plays the role of Avery Garrett on the hit digital drama series The Bay.
Now, the show is in its fifth season, and several new episodes have been released. “ It was super fun. We are one big family on The Bay. Any time we come together at work is so much fun, ” she said. “ Overall, we have great material to work on since it has been good. ”
She is drawn to her character, Avery, due to her good nature. “ Avery is just a good person to her core, ” she said. “ At times, she can be judgmental but it comes to a good place. She likes to pick on her brother a lot, ” she said with a sweet laugh.
“ Avery is a no-nonsense girl. You don’ t want to mess with her. She definitely looks out for her family and she is there whenever they need her, ” added.
On the impact of technology and streaming services on the entertainment business, she said, “ Technology is great. It gives a lot of different shows a chance to show what they can do. It’ s a completely different business than when I first started in my teens. I don’ t even have cable anymore. I just stream everything. ”
Willis had nothing but the nicest remarks about working with co-star Erik Fellows on The Bay, who plays her love interest, Damian Blackwell. “ I love Erik. He is so talented and so sweet, and I am thrilled every time I get to work with him. Not only are we friends off-camera but we love working together. I am very fortunate to be working with such great and talented co-stars. I am extremely lucky, ” she said.
When asked how she handles being dialogue-heavy on the show, she said, “ I got so used to it when I was doing soaps. I don’ t really have a hard time memorizing dialogue. I can probably memorize 30 pages of dialogue in an hour. When you know your character, you have an idea about what they are going to say. It’ s about developing the character and making interesting choices, that’ s how you get creative. ”
Aside from her acting work, she is a mother to a “ beautiful ” seven-year-old. “ My daughter, Simone, is an amazing kid and she is my whole world. She amazes me every day, ” she said. “ I am also training to get my pilot’ s license on the side. I love flying, it has been a passion for a while. I am juggling a lot of things at once but it’ s all good. ”
“ I love acting since I’ ve done it since I was a kid. I try not to let myself be defined with my work. The most important thing that defines me is my life outside of the business, and that’ s being a mom, ” she said. “ My work life has always been very separate from who I am in my personal life. My daughter defines me. ”
For young and aspiring actors, she encourages them to “ not take ‘ no’ as an answer. ” “ Also, it is important to believe in yourself, ” she said.
Viewers can binge The Bay on Amazon Prime by clicking here. “ Thank you to the fans for being on this journey. Without the fans, we wouldn’ t have a job. I am looking forward to many more years of it. The fans have been so loyal, ” she said.
To learn more about The Bay, check out its official homepage.
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 16,000 original articles over the past 15 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a five-time consecutive `` Best of Long Island '' winner, and in the past two years, he was honored as the `` Best Long Island Personality '' in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.
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COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Mystery China pneumonia outbreak likely caused by new human coronavirus | In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia cases was reported in Wuhan, eastern China. The pneumonia is associated with a previously unidentified coronavirus related to the deadly Sars virus.
The virus has now spread to other cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guandong. There have also been confirmed individual cases in other countries, including Thailand, Japan and South Korea.
The World Health Organization has urged countries around the world to enhance their surveillance of severe acute respiratory infections, although no travel restrictions have been advised. There is no licensed vaccine or specific treatments for the new virus.
The new coronavirus outbreak is linked to a market in Wuhan, which sold meat and live animals. Following the outbreak, the market was closed. There is no clear evidence of the virus spreading between humans, and it is thought that it originated in animals.
Scientists investigating the outbreak – including those from China – have reported complete virus genome sequences found in patients. The virus is not closely related to any human virus currently in circulation.
The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak bears similarity to the 2002-03 epidemic of Sars ( severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus ( Sars-CoV). The Sars-CoV outbreak, which started in south China, lasted for over nine months. It spread to 37 countries, causing 8,098 people to become ill and 774 to die.
Nearly 10% of those confirmed to be infected went on to die. The deadly nature of the disease, the frequent human-to-human spread, and infection of front-line clinical staff, contributed to the seriousness of the outbreak.
Sars-CoV was traced to several animals, including civet cats and raccoon dogs, being sold as food in markets. The infected animals had no symptoms. Closure of the markets with animal culling alongside treatment and containment of patients led to the outbreak being halted.
Further investigations traced Sars-like viruses to horseshoe bats found in a cave in China. It is thought that civet cats could have picked up the infection from bats and then spread it to humans in city markets.
Sars has not been seen since 2003 and it is thought that the virus is now extinct. The new Wuhan coronavirus is not the Sars-CoV, but it is similar to viruses thought to be precursors of Sars in bats.
Coronaviruses are so named because of the crown-like appearance of their virus particles when seen under an electron microscope ( corona, meaning crown). Coronaviruses are a diverse group of viruses that infect and cause disease in humans and other animals, including pigs and chickens.
There are seven coronaviruses known to infect people, including the novel Wuhan coronavirus and Sars-CoV already mentioned. Other human coronaviruses are those that cause the common cold like 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1 viruses, as well as the deadly zoonotic Mers virus.
Mers-CoV is a camel common cold virus that often jumps to humans in the Middle East. Mers-CoV can cause severe pneumonia in people and spread from person to person. Mers-CoV was only identified in 2012 and continues to be a significant problem in the Middle East. Nearly 2,500 cases of Mers have been identified, causing 858 deaths.
Coronaviruses appear to jump easily between species, and the Wuhan virus could be the third incidence in humans in the last 20 years. In 2016, another coronavirus was responsible for 24,000 pig deaths in southern China. Later named swine acute diarrhoea syndrome or Sads-CoV, it jumped from bats to pigs but did not spread to humans before it was contained.
Looking further back, close animal counterparts have been found for three of the common cold coronaviruses, suggesting zoonotic origins. Also, for Sars and Mers-CoVs it appears that an intermediate host was needed – either civet cats or camels, respectively – for this jump to be successful. The reasons why aren’ t exactly clear.
Virus hunting and mass genome sequencing efforts across the world have associated much of the known coronavirus diversity to bat species. Many of these CoV-infected bats are found in south-east Asia, but other hotspots include South America, central Europe and Africa.
1) Sequencing more virus strains to better understand their diversity and evolution. This will allow scientists to develop much needed tests and track virus spread, assessing whether human-to-human transmission is occurring.
2) Provide robust evidence that the new coronavirus is associated with pneumonia either through detailed clinical investigation or experimental assessment of causation in lab animal.
3) Find the origin of the outbreak, determining the role of bats and intermediate animal hosts in the spread of infection.
Outbreaks of new viruses, such as the Wuhan coronavirus, are a constant reminder of the need to invest in research into emerging virus biology and evolution, and ultimately to identify safe and effective drugs to treat – or vaccines to prevent – serious disease. | business |
US wants to reduce presence in Africa, warns top officer | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The United States wants to reduce its military presence in Africa, Washington's top military officer said, as France hosts Sahel leaders as it seeks to bolster the fight against jihadists in the region.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said resources `` could be reduced and then shifted, either to increase readiness of the force in the continental US or shifted to '' the Pacific.
As he flew in for talks with NATO counterparts in Brussels, Milley said Defense Secretary Mark Esper, had not made up his mind what changes to make.
`` We're developing options for the secretary to consider, and we are developing those options in coordination with our allies and partners, '' he said.
The announcement follows President Donald Trump's call last week for NATO to do more in the Middle East and comes just as French President Emmanuel Macron gathers his counterparts from Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania.
France and its five Sahel partners agreed Monday to step up military cooperation to combat the jihadist insurgency, leaders said after a summit in Pau, southwest France.
The Sahel countries also said they hoped Washington would maintain its `` crucial support '' in combating the Islamist extremists.
`` If the Americans decided to leave Africa, this would be very bad news for us, '' Macron commented. `` I hope to convince President Trump that the fight against terrorism is playing out in this region as well. ''
After 13 French soldiers were killed in a helicopter collision in Mali last month, Macron also won public support from the Sahel leaders for France's 4,500-strong military presence, after local demonstrations against it. He pledged to send another 200 soldiers to the Sahel.
The United States wants to reduce the number of its troops deployed across Africa over the next few years to focus more on responding to the threats posed by Russia and China.
Washington has some 7,000 special forces on rotation in Africa carrying out joint operations with national forces against jihadists, particularly in Somalia.
Another 2,000 soldiers are conducting training missions in some 40 African countries and taking part in cooperative operations, in particular with France's Operation Barkhane in Mali, to which they provide mainly logistical assistance.
- French concerns -
One option would be to close a drone base in Agadez, northern Niger, which gives the US a major surveillance platform in the Sahel but has been estimated to cost around $ 100 million.
Milley said no decisions had been made yet and insisted Washington was not pulling out of Africa completely. `` Economy of forces does not mean zero, '' he said.
French officials are nevertheless alarmed, with a presidency source saying the US made `` irreplaceable '' contributions to Sahel operations -- particularly in surveillance and air-to-air refuelling.
`` We would not be able to get these from other partners, especially when it comes to intelligence, '' the presidency official said. Paris would be sharing its concerns with the US `` at all levels '', the source added.
NATO military chiefs will use this week's meeting to debate the future of the alliance's training mission in Iraq, suspended over security fears after the US killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad.
The Iraqi parliament voted on January 5 to oust foreign forces, including some 5,200 American troops, who have helped local troops beat back the Islamic State group, angering Trump and throwing international operations there in doubt.
`` I can't guarantee anything about the future and I don't make the policy decisions, '' Milley said.
`` I can just say what our current policy is and what our current plans are. And my current guidance from the secretary of defense and the president is that we will stay in Iraq. ''
The United States wants to reduce its military presence in Africa, Washington’ s top military officer said, as France hosts Sahel leaders as it seeks to bolster the fight against jihadists in the region.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said resources “ could be reduced and then shifted, either to increase readiness of the force in the continental US or shifted to ” the Pacific.
As he flew in for talks with NATO counterparts in Brussels, Milley said Defense Secretary Mark Esper, had not made up his mind what changes to make.
“ We’ re developing options for the secretary to consider, and we are developing those options in coordination with our allies and partners, ” he said.
The announcement follows President Donald Trump’ s call last week for NATO to do more in the Middle East and comes just as French President Emmanuel Macron gathers his counterparts from Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania.
France and its five Sahel partners agreed Monday to step up military cooperation to combat the jihadist insurgency, leaders said after a summit in Pau, southwest France.
The Sahel countries also said they hoped Washington would maintain its “ crucial support ” in combating the Islamist extremists.
“ If the Americans decided to leave Africa, this would be very bad news for us, ” Macron commented. “ I hope to convince President Trump that the fight against terrorism is playing out in this region as well. ”
After 13 French soldiers were killed in a helicopter collision in Mali last month, Macron also won public support from the Sahel leaders for France’ s 4,500-strong military presence, after local demonstrations against it. He pledged to send another 200 soldiers to the Sahel.
The United States wants to reduce the number of its troops deployed across Africa over the next few years to focus more on responding to the threats posed by Russia and China.
Washington has some 7,000 special forces on rotation in Africa carrying out joint operations with national forces against jihadists, particularly in Somalia.
Another 2,000 soldiers are conducting training missions in some 40 African countries and taking part in cooperative operations, in particular with France’ s Operation Barkhane in Mali, to which they provide mainly logistical assistance.
– French concerns –
One option would be to close a drone base in Agadez, northern Niger, which gives the US a major surveillance platform in the Sahel but has been estimated to cost around $ 100 million.
Milley said no decisions had been made yet and insisted Washington was not pulling out of Africa completely. “ Economy of forces does not mean zero, ” he said.
French officials are nevertheless alarmed, with a presidency source saying the US made “ irreplaceable ” contributions to Sahel operations — particularly in surveillance and air-to-air refuelling.
“ We would not be able to get these from other partners, especially when it comes to intelligence, ” the presidency official said. Paris would be sharing its concerns with the US “ at all levels ”, the source added.
NATO military chiefs will use this week’ s meeting to debate the future of the alliance’ s training mission in Iraq, suspended over security fears after the US killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad.
The Iraqi parliament voted on January 5 to oust foreign forces, including some 5,200 American troops, who have helped local troops beat back the Islamic State group, angering Trump and throwing international operations there in doubt.
“ I can’ t guarantee anything about the future and I don’ t make the policy decisions, ” Milley said.
“ I can just say what our current policy is and what our current plans are. And my current guidance from the secretary of defense and the president is that we will stay in Iraq. ”
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during the telematic press conference called after the meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 17,...
An Irishman who refused to wear a Covid mask during a flight from Dublin to New York faces up to 20 years in prison.
Geneva, the neutral turf that was once host to so much Cold War bargaining, is again welcoming Russian and US officials.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are postponing the glittering parades that are the highlight of carnival festivities due to a surge in the...
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Suspect admits killing Slovak journalist as trial opens | Hi, what are you looking for?
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One of four suspects charged in the 2018 murder of Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak pleaded guilty in dramatic court testimony on Monday in a case that has rocked the nation.
But the main suspect, Slovak businessman Marian Kocner who is accused of ordering the assassination, refused to comment about his murder indictment, citing `` objections '' to the contents.
According to the indictment, Kocner decided `` to get rid of Jan Kuciak physically and thus prevent further disclosure of his ( Kocner's) activities '' after failing to find `` any dirt '' to discredit the journalist.
Kocner had previously pleaded not guilty to ordering the hit on Kuciak who had been probing his business activities.
The shooting triggered mass protests that toppled then-premier Robert Fico and has become a lightning rod for outrage against high-level corruption in the country.
Former professional soldier Miroslav Marcek admitted to gunning down Kuciak and fiancee Martina Kusnirova at their home near the capital Bratislava in a gangland-style hit in February 2018.
- ' I 'm sorry ' -
`` I am guilty, '' Marcek, 37, told the jury at the Special Criminal Court in the western city of Pezinok, 20 kilometres ( 12 miles) outside the capital Bratislava.
`` I knocked on the door, Mr. Kuciak opened, I shot him in the chest, '' Marcek told the court.
`` Unfortunately, I saw that there was one more person, she ran into the kitchen and I shot her there, '' he added, referring to Kusnirova, before apologising to the victim's families.
`` Seeing them on TV and seeing their pain made me tell what happened, '' he said. `` I 'm sorry, but I can't undo it. ''
Tomas Szabo, another suspect charged in the murder, denied any wrongdoing.
`` When Marcek came back to the car he said he found two dead bodies, '' Szabo said, adding that Marcek, who is his cousin, rejected his suggestion to report the bodies to the police.
`` I have nothing to do with the murders, '' Szabo told the court before refusing to submit to questioning.
- Plea bargain -
Masked, armed police officers provided tight security at the court building where the parents of both Kuciak and Kusnirova attended the trial.
`` If convicted, the accused face a minimum 25 years to life imprisonment, '' Jana Tokolyova, a spokeswoman for the special prosecutor's office, told AFP.
Last month, Zoltan Andrusko, one of the accused who was an intermediary in the murder plot, was sentenced to 15 years in jail on a plea bargain. He will be testifying at this trial.
Prosecutors argue that Andrusko served as a go-between in the murder, hiring gunmen Marcek and his cousin Szabo at the request of his friend Alena Zsuzsova, who was in turn following orders from mastermind Kocner.
Zsuzsova denied arranging the hit with Ardrusko as she testified before the court on Monday, insisting that she had `` not ordered any murder in my life '' and called any such allegations `` an absolute lie ''.
The protests triggered by the murder that forced populist Fico to quit as prime minister, paved the way for the election of liberal anti-corruption activist Zuzana Caputova as president last March.
One of four suspects charged in the 2018 murder of Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak pleaded guilty in dramatic court testimony on Monday in a case that has rocked the nation.
But the main suspect, Slovak businessman Marian Kocner who is accused of ordering the assassination, refused to comment about his murder indictment, citing “ objections ” to the contents.
According to the indictment, Kocner decided “ to get rid of Jan Kuciak physically and thus prevent further disclosure of his ( Kocner’ s) activities ” after failing to find “ any dirt ” to discredit the journalist.
Kocner had previously pleaded not guilty to ordering the hit on Kuciak who had been probing his business activities.
The shooting triggered mass protests that toppled then-premier Robert Fico and has become a lightning rod for outrage against high-level corruption in the country.
Former professional soldier Miroslav Marcek admitted to gunning down Kuciak and fiancee Martina Kusnirova at their home near the capital Bratislava in a gangland-style hit in February 2018.
– ‘ I’ m sorry’ –
“ I am guilty, ” Marcek, 37, told the jury at the Special Criminal Court in the western city of Pezinok, 20 kilometres ( 12 miles) outside the capital Bratislava.
“ I knocked on the door, Mr. Kuciak opened, I shot him in the chest, ” Marcek told the court.
“ Unfortunately, I saw that there was one more person, she ran into the kitchen and I shot her there, ” he added, referring to Kusnirova, before apologising to the victim’ s families.
“ Seeing them on TV and seeing their pain made me tell what happened, ” he said. “ I’ m sorry, but I can’ t undo it. ”
Tomas Szabo, another suspect charged in the murder, denied any wrongdoing.
“ When Marcek came back to the car he said he found two dead bodies, ” Szabo said, adding that Marcek, who is his cousin, rejected his suggestion to report the bodies to the police.
“ I have nothing to do with the murders, ” Szabo told the court before refusing to submit to questioning.
– Plea bargain –
Masked, armed police officers provided tight security at the court building where the parents of both Kuciak and Kusnirova attended the trial.
“ If convicted, the accused face a minimum 25 years to life imprisonment, ” Jana Tokolyova, a spokeswoman for the special prosecutor’ s office, told AFP.
Last month, Zoltan Andrusko, one of the accused who was an intermediary in the murder plot, was sentenced to 15 years in jail on a plea bargain. He will be testifying at this trial.
Prosecutors argue that Andrusko served as a go-between in the murder, hiring gunmen Marcek and his cousin Szabo at the request of his friend Alena Zsuzsova, who was in turn following orders from mastermind Kocner.
Zsuzsova denied arranging the hit with Ardrusko as she testified before the court on Monday, insisting that she had “ not ordered any murder in my life ” and called any such allegations “ an absolute lie ”.
The protests triggered by the murder that forced populist Fico to quit as prime minister, paved the way for the election of liberal anti-corruption activist Zuzana Caputova as president last March.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
The Omicron variant that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up genetic material from another virus.
Hundreds of environmentalist demonstrators gathered on South African beaches to protest against oil and gas exploration by Shell.
In 2022 'the supply chain of a major vaccine manufacturer will be halted by ransomware '.
The world's biggest weapons manufacturers largely avoided the economic downturn caused by Covid-19 and recorded a growth in profits.
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Essential Science: Earth-size habitable-zone world detected | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The new object has been located via NASA’ s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ( TESS), which has detected its first Earth-size planet in a star’ s habitable zone. The planet is located at the appropriate distance from its star, suggesting that conditions could well be suitable to allow the presence of liquid water on the surface. Where liquid is present, there could be life.
New planet discovered
The new find is called TOI 700 d and it has got astronomers excited. TOI 700 is a small, cool M dwarf star located just over 100 light-years away in the southern constellation Dorado.
The fourth planet from the star – TOI 700 d – falls within a theoretical habitable zone. The planet measures twenty times larger than Earth and it orbits the star every 37 days. Another identified fact is that the planet receives from its star 86 percent of the energy that the Sun provides to Earth.
According to lead researcher, Dr. Joseph Rodriguez: “ Given the impact of this discovery — that it is TESS’ s first habitable-zone Earth-size planet — we really wanted our understanding of this system to be as concrete as possible…It’ s a great addition to the legacy of the mission. ”
Could the planet support life?
Although the exact conditions on TOI 700 d are unknown, astrophysicists and biologists can take the available information, such the planet’ s size and the type of star it orbits, to generate computer models and make predictions. In addition, 3D climate models have been used to assess a variety of surface types and atmospheric compositions on the newly discovered world. Environment simulations created by researchers data revealed the planet could has some similarities with Earth, such as cloud formation.
Based on this there is the possibility of the planet being able to support some type of life-form.
TESS: Looking into space
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ( TESS) is a space telescope for NASA’ s Explorers program, designed to search for exoplanets ( a planet outside the Solar System). TESS is performing an all-sky survey to discover transiting exoplanet ranging from Earth-sized to gas giants.
The instrumentation on board has spent the past two years survey the brightest stars near the Earth for transiting exoplanets. To date, TESS has identified only about 1400 candidate exoplanets, of which only 34 have been confirmed so far. This rate of progress is less than NASA anticipated.
TESS is a NASA Astrophysics Explorer mission led and operated by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and managed by NASA’ s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Video report
More about the discovery is shown in the following NASA video:
NASA findings
The scientific findings about the new planet have been presented to the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society ( AAS) in Honolulu. The mission of the AAS is to enhance and share humanity’ s scientific understanding of the universe.
Can life exist on other planets?
There is a good chance that life has evolved elsewhere in the universe. There are more planets than there are stars, and it is estimated that around one quarter of these are Earth-size planets in their star’ s so-called habitable zone.
Many astronomers suggest that a type of dwarf star, called K dwarfs, may offer a “ sweet spot ” for hosting life-friendly planets. In terms of worlds being potentially life supporting, space biochemists focus on the likelihood of the presence of the six main elements associated with life on Earth. These are: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, sulfur and hydrogen.
Essential science
This article is part of Digital Journal’ s regular Essential Science columns. Each week Tim Sandle explores a topical and important scientific issue.
Last time we looked at why earlier attempts to develop a vaccine against the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus have failed. The research indicates that a new approach for vaccine design is required. This approach is one where an untapped set of immune cells need to be activated.
The week before we considered a newly discovered fungus which is causing havoc to American fir trees ( which also serve as Christmas trees), together with some possible treatments.
Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.
There is no stated power in the US Constitution to regulate human reproduction.
A small dog looking at a christmas tree which has colored lights. Source - Trogain, CC SA 4.0.If you are having trouble finding a...
The hunt for answers - like whether the Omicron variant will trigger new waves of infection.
The new Omicron coronavirus variant has a high number of mutations which the WHO believes may make it more transmissible or resistant to vaccines...
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Healing powers of Manuka honey explored in new study | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The antimicrobial properties in the honey appear to be due to a compound found within the honey called methylglyoxal, according to an investigation conducted at Newcastle University in the U.K.. Having identified the specific compound, this could enable researchers to use the compound in medical devices in order to promote wound healing.
An example of such a device is a surgical mesh. The reason for focusing on devices like a mesh is while a mesh is needed to provide support for tissue regeneration, the design of the mesh also provides opportunity for bacterial biofilms to develop, which increases the chances of a patient becoming infected.
Mānuka honey is a monofloral honey produced from the nectar of the mānuka tree, Leptospermum scoparium.
To assess the compound, a study was set up whereby nanolayers of Manuka honey were carefully inserted between layers of a polymer. Following this, an electrostatic nanocoating was produced ( with the field created between the honey, which has a negative charge, and the polymer, which carries a positive charge). A simulation of wound healing was conducted, whereby the honey was allowed to be slowly released over a three week period. This was demonstrated to inhibit bacterial growth over the study period.
Further work trying different layers of the honey were attempted, with the most effective quantity found to be what the researchers are calling a 16-layered ‘ charged sandwich’.
Commenting on the study, lead researcher Dr. Piergiorgio Gentile states: “ These results are really very exciting. Honey has been used to treat infected wounds for thousands of years but this is the first time it has been shown to be effective at fighting infection in cells from inside the body. ”
The researcher also states that the use of the honey in this way represents one of the most effective antimicrobial materials that have been tried to date. While effective, the properties have, so far, only been tested out in culture against the bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Further work will need to conducted against an animal model.
The research, outing the success of combining a naturally occurring antimicrobial material with nanotechnology, has been reported to the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. The research paper is titled “ Potential of Manuka Honey as a Natural Polyelectrolyte to Develop Biomimetic Nanostructured Meshes With Antimicrobial Properties. ”
Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.
There are two confirmed cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in Ottawa, the Ontario government announced Sunday.
Sweden's first female prime minister Magdalena Andersson, leader of the minority Social Democrats, was reappointed on Monday.
Scammers are using a technique called “ like-farming, ” where they ask you to like or comment on their post for a chance to win a...
Aerial view from a helicopter of a group of Burchell's plains zebras ( Equus quagga burchellii), Okavango Delta, Botswana. Source - Diego Deiso. CC SA...
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IBM Files Amicus Brief in Support of Preserving Open Public Interfaces | IBM today submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of preserving the open public interfaces at issue in the case of Google v. Oracle America. IBM issued the following statement:
“ Subjecting open public interfaces to copyright law would hurt business and impede innovation. We must continue to foster an environment where companies of all sizes can use openly available interfaces to fuel the research and innovation that has reshaped our world. These are important points of legal principle, which is why we have filed an amicus brief in this case. ” – Michelle H. Browdy, Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, and General Counsel, IBM Corporation
Media Contact: Sarah Minkel sarah.minkel @ ibm.com
Today, IBM submitted the following letter to Congressional leaders advocating for the creation of a Science Readiness Reserve, underscoring a key pillar of IBM CEO Arvind Krishna’ s letter to President-elect Biden. # # # November 25, 2020 Dear Members of Congress, As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage across the country, IBM believes that America needs a [ … ]
IBM today welcomed two significant increases that are included in the Administration’ s FY 2021 budget proposal. The budget would expand investment in training for New Collar Jobs and accelerate U.S. innovation in artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Quote on Doubling Investment in Quantum & AI “ IBM applauds the administration’ s commitment to double down on artificial [ … ] | tech |
Musicians 'play Ghosn ' by squeezing into instrument cases in web craze | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Yamaha has warned musicians in Japan against stuffing themselves into their instrument cases to mimic the escape technique allegedly used by fugitive ex-tycoon Carlos Ghosn.
Ghosn, who faces financial misconduct charges in Japan, managed to slip past authorities at the end of December reportedly by smuggling himself on board a plane inside an audio equipment box.
The 65-year-old has refused to shed light on how he ghosted out of Japan to Lebanon, but that has not stopped a string of internet users `` playing Ghosn '' by posing in cases usually meant to protect big instruments.
In one picture posted to Twitter, a young woman curled up inside a padded green harp case, while another post appeared to show somebody standing in a double bass gig bag.
The stunts have not chimed with Japanese instrument manufacturer Yamaha, however, who sounded a note of caution warning people against the trend.
`` There have been a large number of tweets showing people climbing into large instrument cases, '' tweeted Yamaha Wind Stream, the company's account for information on wind instruments.
`` To avoid the possibility of a tragic accident, please do not do this... Musical instrument and audio equipment cases are designed to hold musical instruments and audio equipment. Please use them correctly. ''
Ghosn, arrested on financial misconduct charges in 2018, jumped bail and fled in mysterious circumstances to Lebanon, where he gave a rambling press conference last week.
The Wall Street Journal reported that he was snuck on to a private jet in Osaka in a large case for audio equipment, which was later found at the back of the cabin.
The newspaper cited unnamed sources close to the investigation in Turkey as saying that holes had been drilled into the container to ensure the businessman could breathe.
The report was accompanied by a picture of a large black case which The Wall Street Journal claimed was the one used by Ghosn.
Yamaha has warned musicians in Japan against stuffing themselves into their instrument cases to mimic the escape technique allegedly used by fugitive ex-tycoon Carlos Ghosn.
Ghosn, who faces financial misconduct charges in Japan, managed to slip past authorities at the end of December reportedly by smuggling himself on board a plane inside an audio equipment box.
The 65-year-old has refused to shed light on how he ghosted out of Japan to Lebanon, but that has not stopped a string of internet users “ playing Ghosn ” by posing in cases usually meant to protect big instruments.
In one picture posted to Twitter, a young woman curled up inside a padded green harp case, while another post appeared to show somebody standing in a double bass gig bag.
The stunts have not chimed with Japanese instrument manufacturer Yamaha, however, who sounded a note of caution warning people against the trend.
“ There have been a large number of tweets showing people climbing into large instrument cases, ” tweeted Yamaha Wind Stream, the company’ s account for information on wind instruments.
“ To avoid the possibility of a tragic accident, please do not do this… Musical instrument and audio equipment cases are designed to hold musical instruments and audio equipment. Please use them correctly. ”
Ghosn, arrested on financial misconduct charges in 2018, jumped bail and fled in mysterious circumstances to Lebanon, where he gave a rambling press conference last week.
The Wall Street Journal reported that he was snuck on to a private jet in Osaka in a large case for audio equipment, which was later found at the back of the cabin.
The newspaper cited unnamed sources close to the investigation in Turkey as saying that holes had been drilled into the container to ensure the businessman could breathe.
The report was accompanied by a picture of a large black case which The Wall Street Journal claimed was the one used by Ghosn.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
A growing number of Western nations and cybersecurity groups have issued digital surveillance warnings for next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Cloud ERP leader Acumatica to host annual summit on digital transformation success.
A man gets a Covid-19 jab at a vaccination station in Vienna on August 25, 2021; from February 2022, vaccinations against the virus will...
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the US embassy in Kyiv amid a standoff with Russia - Copyright AFP/File Mladen ANTONOVShaun TANDONThe...
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Mosa Meat gets investments and support to bring cultured meat to Europe in 2022 | The Dutch company that made the first lab-grown hamburger is receiving funds from Lowercarbon Capital and animal nutrition company Nutreco, which also will help create the nutrients to grow the cells.
When Mosa Meat presented the world's first cell-cultured hamburger in 2013, the Dutch scientists were at the beginning of a long journey of trying to use technology to cultivate meat without animals and use it to help feed the world.
The company is still on that path, but is nearing the end of the phase that CEO Maarten Bosch described to Food Dive as working through the scientific challenges to make that happen. Now, the company is ready to move to the next step: accepting that cultured meat will be a reality and getting Mosa Meat ready to provide products to consumers.
To help Mosa Meat on the next phase of development, the company announced two new partnerships last week. The company will be working with animal nutrition company Nutreco, which will help provide the nutrient-filled liquid to grow the meat. Nutreco also pledged an undisclosed amount of money to the company, as did climate-minded investment firm Lowercarbon Capital.
Mosa Meat is aiming to get cultured hamburgers on the market in Europe in the first half of 2022, Bosch said.
`` We're able to make a few hamburgers, but we need to make millions or billions of hamburgers, '' Bosch said. `` It's about scaling up the process and bringing down the costs. And that's something that's not going to happen overnight, obviously.... We're hoping to enter the market in a couple of years with a relatively small scale and relatively still a high price.
`` But that's not the big vision. The big vision is that we want to have a global impact and want to offer delicious meat at a very competitive price, '' he said.
Mosa Meat's first hamburger cost about $ 280,000 to make, but that price point mainly came from the components needed to make it. The Dutch researchers used pricey fetal bovine serum, which is actually drawn from fetal calves, to grow the meat cells. Fairly recently, Bosch said, Mosa Meat found a replacement that does not come from an animal. He didn't specify its composition, but said it was a major breakthrough, performing as well as the animal-derived serum — and sometimes better.
However, Mosa Meat has been relying on pharmaceutical companies to make some of the components needed for culturing meat, Bosch said. These companies made high quality materials, but not necessarily in the large quantities Mosa Meat needs, and at a higher price point than a company trying to reduce consumer costs would want. Now Mosa Meat will instead work with Nutreco, which will use its supplies and expertise to make some of what the meat company needs at a lower price.
`` To really realize a global supply of good raw ingredients to feed to our ourselves and at a price level that is enabling us to be truly competitive, we need a company that's set up like Nutreco, and we 've been talking to them for awhile, '' said Bosch. `` They see the opportunity and also really believe in our mission and in the positive impact we can make on some truly big problems in the world. ''
Bosch said Nutreco and Mosa Meat are continuing to work together on developing solutions. Exact formulas and needs are still being engineered, but both companies will research it together.
The support from Lowercarbon Capital — an investment firm started by Lowercase Capital founders Chris and Crystal Sacca, as well as Clay Dumas, a former advisor to President Barack Obama — came because of Mosa Meat's mission. As its name implies, Lowercarbon Capital is dedicated to putting money toward sustainability and helping the planet.
`` They have a long horizon. Their interests are truly aligned, which is very important also to me, '' Bosch said. `` And they have a great network and a great reputation, which will help us to attract similar-minded investors. Because, to be honest, we will need more capital in the future if we really want to see our ambitions turn into reality — and that's... impact on a global level. ''
Mosa Meat has been steadily working toward that goal. The company has a new facility in Maastricht — a few minutes from Maastricht University, where its research started. Bosch said he anticipates as the year continues, the facility will become busier. Later this year, the company will present its plans for a pilot plant where meat is to be produced, which will be part of the same complex.
Bosch said the company is also starting to think through regulations so that when there is a product to sell, there will be a market for it.
`` It's... uncharted territory, so it's kind of tricky on how to approach this, '' he said. ``... We want to be as transparent as possible. We truly believe in the benefits of our technology. So we want to help move the field forward. And that also involves helping regulatory bodies to figure out on how to approach their approval process. ''
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As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
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As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach. | general |
China virus outbreak linked to seafood market not currently spreading: WHO | LONDON/BEIJING – An outbreak of pneumonia that has killed one person in China and infected 40 others appears to be linked to a single seafood market in the central city of Wuhan and has not so far spread beyond there, the World Health Organization said Sunday.
The cluster of infections had raised fears of a potential epidemic after China said last week that the virus causing it was a previously unknown type but came from the same family of viruses that caused the SARS and MERS epidemics.
However, the WHO said the outbreak had not spread. The seafood market in Wuhan — a major domestic and international transport hub — is now closed and no cases have been reported elsewhere in China or internationally, it said.
“ The evidence is highly suggestive that the outbreak is associated with exposures in one seafood market in Wuhan, ” the WHO statement said, adding that the market was closed on Jan. 1. “ At this stage, there is no infection among health care workers, and no clear evidence of human to human transmission. ”
The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a separate statement late on Sunday that four additional patients have been released and that no new cases have been discovered as of Saturday.
Another 717 people deemed to be in close contact with the patients remain under medical observation, the authority said.
The WHO said last week that a newly emerging member of the coronavirus family of viruses that caused the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS) outbreaks was the likely cause of the outbreak.
Coronaviruses can cause infections ranging from the common cold to SARS. Some types cause less serious disease, while others can be far more severe.
Among 41 people confirmed as infected with the new viral pneumonia, one — a 61-year-old man with serious underlying medical conditions — died last week. Seven others are in critical condition, the Wuhan health authorities said on Saturday.
The WHO said preliminary epidemiological investigations had found most cases were in people who either worked at or were frequent visitors to Wuhan’ s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.
“ To date, investigations are still under way to assess the full extent of the outbreak, ” it added. | tech |
Appalachian Heavyweight EQT Warns of $ 1B-Plus Impairment for Fourth Quarter | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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EQT Corp. said in a regulatory filing on Monday it may incur a steep one-time impairment of up to $ 1.8 billion for the fourth quarter due to a new development plan and low natural gas prices.
Under a new management team that took over last July, the nation’ s largest natural gas producer is aiming to aggressively cut debt and realign operations to boost performance and value. Management has outlined plans to cut debt by $ 1.5 billion by mid-2020, which it expects to achieve with a mix of initiatives, including asset sales.
The monetization, along with a decrease in the value of its reserves and the writedown of unproven properties no longer in the development plan, is likely to result in a 4Q2019 impairment of $ 1.4-1.8 billion, the company said in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The figure could change as year-end results are finalized.
EQT also said that it would spend between $ 1.25-1.35 billion this year, or $ 50 million less than the budget issued in October, “ reflecting continued operational efficiencies. ” That would put the producer on track to spend nearly $ 600 million less than in 2019. The company also slightly tweaked priorities for the year, indicating 65% of capital expenditures would be for the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, 20% would go toward the Utica Shale in Ohio and 15% would be spent in the West Virginia Marcellus.
Fourth quarter production is expected to average 370-375 Bcfe, or toward the high-end of previously announced guidance, according to preliminary estimates. The company produced 394 Bcfe in the year-ago period and 381 Bcfe in 3Q2019. It is guiding for 1.45-1.50 Tcfe of production this year, roughly flat to 2019 levels.
Averaged realized prices are also expected to average $ 2.51-2.56/Mcfe in 4Q2019, or below the 4Q2018 average of $ 3.13/Mcfe.
EQT also said Monday it would offer two new series of fixed rate senior notes. Moody’ s Investors Service downgraded the company following Monday’ s filing.
“ EQT’ s significantly weakening cash flow metrics in light of the persistent weak natural gas price environment and the company’ s intent to refinance its 2020 maturities in lieu of debt reduction through repayment drives the ratings downgrade, ” said Moody’ s senior analyst Sreedhar Kona. “ Although the company is pursuing several avenues to reduce debt and enhance its cash flow, the execution risk involved in those initiatives is reflected in the negative outlook. ”
Operators across Appalachia are expected to slash spending this year and curb output in the years ahead as prices are earthbound on a glut of natural gas. Range Resources Corp., another Appalachia-focused operator, last week said it would cut year/year spending by nearly 30% and said a “ significant noncash impairment charge ” is likely for properties in North Louisiana.
Chevron Corp. also said last month that it expects up to an $ 11 billion impairment for the fourth quarter, with more than half related to its Appalachian assets. The company also said it’ s evaluating strategic alternatives for its properties in the Northeast.
Other operators such as Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. with leading positions in Appalachia have cautioned that their preliminary outlooks for 2020 could be revised lower if the natural gas strip doesn’ t improve.
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Natural gas futures managed a rebound from the prior day’ s massive sell-off, even as the persistently warm December outlook trimmed gains from early in the session. After touching a $ 3.829/MMBtu intraday high, the January Nymex gas futures contract settled Tuesday at $ 3.708, up 5.1 cents on the day. February climbed 4.9 cents to $ 3.674. Spot…
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Mexico’ s private oil and gas industry has maintained a diplomatic tone as it defends itself from now familiar criticism by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Local oil and gas trade association Asociación Mexicana de Empresas de Hidrocarburos ( Amexhi) said Wednesday that its private sector members “ have fulfilled 100% ” of their contractual commitments and invested $ 11 billion to date, reiterating the findings of a report published by the group in late 2018.
The statement was presumably in response to accusations made by López Obrador earlier that day to the opposite effect. He has suspended the awarding of further upstream contracts, alleging that operators are not fulfilling their commitments or reaching production fast enough.
A total of 111 exploration and production contracts awarded under Mexico’ s 2013-2014 constitutional energy reform are currently in effect.
Prior to the reform, only national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos ( Pemex) was allowed to hold oil and gas acreage.
In addition to the $ 11 billion invested, upstream regulator Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos has approved investment commitments from private operators totaling $ 36 billion, Amexhi said.
To read the full article and gain access to more in-depth coverage including natural gas price and flow data surrounding the rapidly evolving Mexico energy markets, check out NGI’ s Mexico Gas Price Index.
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Natural gas futures faltered again Tuesday despite a huge day/day decline in production. The losses reflected changes in the latest weather outlook, which had been colder over the weekend but then warmed in the last couple of runs. The January Nymex gas futures contract fell 4.7 cents to $ 3.747/MMBtu. Spot gas prices, meanwhile, came crashing…
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Soft drink sugar drops by 29% in the UK | Or wait...
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By Rachel Arthur contact
13-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 13-Jan-2020 at 11:49 GMT
Related tags: sugar tax, Uk function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` sugar tax, Uk ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
Published in BMC Medicine, the study notes that there has been considerable pressure on the industry to reduce sugar in soft drinks - including the introduction of a sugar tax ( the Soft Drinks Industry Levy or SDIL) in April 2018.
The two biggest companies, Coca-Cola and Britvic, have reduced the overall quantity of sugars in drinks they sell by 17% and 26% respectively ( although the sugar content of flagship brands Coca-Cola and Pepsi remained unchanged).
Meanwhile, six of the top 10 soft drinks companies in the UK have reformulated 50% or more of their products subject to the sugar tax.
The researchers undertook an annual cross-sectional study using nutrient composition data for 7,377 products, alongside volume sales data for 195 brands offered by 57 companies.
They found that, between 2015 and 2018, the volume of sugars sold per capita per day from soft drinks declined by 30%, equivalent to a reduction of 4.6g per capita per day. ( This was against a backdrop of an increased in total volumes sales of soft drinks of 5%).
The average sugar content of soft drinks fell from 4.4 g/100 ml in 2015 to 2.9 g/100 ml in 2018.
Over the four year period, the total volume sales of soft drinks that are subject to the SDIL ( those that contain more than 5 g/100 ml of sugar and thus deemed 'high sugar ' in the study) fell by 50%. Volume sales of low- and zero-sugar ( < 5 g/100 ml) drinks, meanwhile, rose by 40%.
“ Action by the soft drinks industry to reduce sugar in products and change their product portfolios, coupled with changes in consumer purchasing, has led to a significant reduction in the total volume and per capita sales of sugars sold in soft drinks in the UK, ” write the researchers.
Products with more than 5g sugar /100ml are taxed at 18p per litre; those with more than 8g sugar / 100ml are taxed at 24p per litre.
Pure fruit juice and flavoured milk drinks are exempt.
“ The rate of change accelerated between 2017 and 2018, which also implies that the implementation of the SDIL acted as an extra incentive for companies to reformulate above and beyond what was already being done as part of voluntary commitments to reformulation, or changes in sales driven by consumer preferences. ”
The researchers drew on Euromonitor data to identify soft drinks manufacturers and brands; alongside product-level nutrient data from analytics company Brand View.
It found that total volume sales of high and mid sugar soft drinks ( ie those with more than 5g of sugar per 100ml) fell from 31% in 2015 to 15% in 2018 – equivalent to 106ml per person per day in 2015 to 50ml per person per day in 2018.
The combined low- and zero-sugar category ( drinks under 5g sugar per 100ml), meanwhile, increased from 43 to 48%. The total volume sales of bottled water and products exempt from the SDIL rose by 23%.
2015: volume sales ( million litres)
2018: volume sales ( million litres)
High-sugar ( > 8 g/100 ml)
66
39
Mid-sugar ( 5–8 g/100 ml)
40
11
Low-sugar ( 0.1–5 g/100 ml)
98
138
Zero-sugar ( < 0.1 g/100 ml)
52
74
Exempt products
33
31
Bottled water
62
75
There was a decrease in the total volume sales of sugars for eight of the top ten companies ( defined by their total contribution to total volume sales of sugars).
The largest soft drinks company in terms of total volume sales of sugars in all four years was Coca-Cola; volume sales increased while the sugar content of products fell, leading to a 17% decrease in the total volume of sugars sold over time.
The authors warn the study is not intended as an assessment of the impact of the SDIL: but note that the rate of change ‘ seems to have been accelerated by the announcement of the SDIL in March 2016 and its implementation in April 2018’.
The researchers therefore credit the SDIL for spurring reformulation efforts: finding that three-quarters ( 73%) of overall sugar reduction was as a result of reformulation or the introduction of new lower sugar drinks by manufacturers and retailers. Meanwhile, 27% was due to changes in purchasing behaviour.
“ Some companies reformulated all products, while others chose to maintain the sugar content of key brands. There was no change in the sugar content of brands excluded from the SDIL. This evidence suggests that the implementation of the levy acted as an extra incentive for companies to reformulate above and beyond what was already being done as part of the voluntary or consumer driven reformulation. ”
2015: total sugars ( tonnes)
2018: total sugar ( tonnes)
Total volume sugar sold in drinks
367,965
261,324
High-sugar ( > 8 g/100 ml)
170,541 ( 46%)
102,553 ( 39%)
Mid-sugar ( 5–8 g/100 ml)
61,273 ( 17%)
13,948 ( 5%)
Low-sugar ( 0.1–5 g/100 ml)
58,739 ( 16%)
72,894 ( 28%)
Zero-sugar ( < 0.1 g/100 ml)
0 ( 0%)
0 ( 0%)
Exempt products
77,411 ( 21%)
71,927 ( 28%) | general |
Alcohol brands are making billion-dollar ecommerce mistakes | Or wait...
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13-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 13-Jan-2020 at 11:04 GMT
Related tags: ecommerce, Alcoholic beverages, Rabobank function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` ecommerce, Alcoholic beverages, Rabobank ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
Last year, Americans bought their alcohol digitally through online liquor stores ( $ 1.1bn), direct-to-consumer wine online ( $ 950m), online grocery ( $ 295m) and alcohol marketplaces ( $ 265m). A new report from Rabobank examines each avenue and how they are lacking.
In 2019, online beer sales in grocery grew by more than 120%, wine sales grew by nearly 100% and spirits grew by nearly 150%. But alcohol still accounts for less than 1% of online grocery revenue, while it has a 5% -6% share of in-store revenue.
More than 10% of grocery sales are expected to move online over the next four years, and the report predicts that alcohol through online grocery has the potential to grow to $ 3.7bn by 2023. But many grocers still aren’ t selling it digitally to avoid complex state alcohol regulations.
Rabobank said that the ‘ click and collect’ style of purchasing alcohol is legal in 39 US states and third-party delivery is legal in 30 states, making sales tricky. Grocers also haven’ t put much effort into the user experience of online alcohol shopping, deterring customers.
Designing experiential product pages, listing tasting notes, including third-party ratings and allowing filters like price can all help close a digital sale, according to Rabobank.
Online alcohol marketplaces like Drizly, Instacart and Vivino act as third party digital storefronts that partner with liquor and grocery stores. They have succeeded while grocers have failed to sell alcohol directly online.
But now that alcohol is growing more prevalent in online grocery, the third party marketplaces have to face the new competition and stay relevant to consumers.
“ Despite the strong growth of ecommerce sales, the penetration of the online alcohol category remains abysmally low, ” Rabobank said.
“ The industry must take assertive action to address the challenges facing alcohol e-commerce. A failure to act could have profound consequences. ”
The majority of the direct-to-consumer ( DtC) wine landscape comes from wine clubs, subscription services, and consumers shopping directly from winery websites. Rabobank said most smaller and mid-sized wineries rely heavily on DtC sales, which are influenced by good tasting room traffic.
The report recommends that ecommerce sales in DtC wine can improve significantly with better email marketing and cheaper shipping, rather than investments in innovative tech.
Online liquor stores are more of a rogue, ‘ old school’ channel, according to Rabobank. Though they claim the largest share of digital alcohol sales, it’ s a fragmented channel that deals with a lot of restrictions.
Most sell alcohol through their own website, and will ship orders anywhere, even when crossing state lines may be illegal. They also rely on local delivery, pickup and customer loyalty. Prices are higher, and liquor stores may soon be facing new regulations for their ecommerce practices.
Across the board, online alcohol sellers need to improve their content, organization and distribution operations. Rabobank said high-quality digital copy and better consumer focus will go a long way in bringing alcohol up to speed in ecommerce.
Bourcard Nesin, the report’ s author, said “ Alcohol brands are losing billions of dollars in online sales opportunities every year, and they are missing a critical opportunity build digital relationships with millions of omni-channel consumers. ”
“ If alcohol companies are not able to effectively participate in the online ecosystem, ecommerce could become a wedge that separates alcohol brands from their consumers. ”
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Malta PM hands over to colleague after resignation | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat resigned Monday, handing over to Labour Party colleague Robert Abela, who promised better times without mentioning either the murder of a blogger or the corruption the slain reporter highlighted before paying with her life.
Abela, 42, won a solid 58 percent in a weekend party vote to succeed 45-year-old Muscat, who announced last month he was cutting short a mandate running to September 2022 owing to the public blowback surrounding the 2017 car bomb death of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The government investigation into the killing of the anti-corruption campaigner caused a storm and Muscat bowed out after finding himself confronted with ever growing public protests which started out monthly then became a daily occurrence.
After taking the oath of office, Abela promised to `` improve the quality of life '' for Maltese but had no comment either on the killing of Caruana Galizia, known as a `` one-woman WikiLeaks, '' or the corruption she denounced.
Three men are on trial for allegedly detonating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia. A fourth -- powerful businessman Jorgen Fenech -- was charged as an accomplice after being detained as he tried to leave the country on his yacht.
Demonstrators forced out Muscat, accusing him notably of shielding his chief of staff and childhood friend Keith Schembri, who has been implicated in the murder.
Fenech's arrest in November sparked the resignation of tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, who formerly served as energy minister, and Schembri.
Caruana Galizia accused both Mezzi and Schembri of corruption.
Abela has promised to uphold the rule of law, but Caruana Galizia's sister Corinne Vella earlier remarked to AFP in an interview: `` How can you have good governance and you're taking the place of a man who's leaving because of a murder? ''
She added that Malta's criminal justice system is `` broken ''.
After Muscat formally handed over to Abela, some party supporters were in tears as he left the Castille palace which houses the Maltese government.
- Handshakes, selfies, hope -
Around 200 people gathered nearby to salute Abela as he emerged to shake hands and pose for selfies with lawyer wife Lidia and their daughter Giorgia, seven.
`` I just hope that he will be an alright person, and that he will do some good for Malta, right? We look forward and we move forward. Let's see, '' Mario, a barworker, told AFP.
Housewife Natalia Busuttil said she hoped Abela would lift the wages of the least well-off in the half million-strong island.
`` Now, I am relieved that we have change. Because with the things that were happening in Malta, Malta was not in a good state. So, I think it is a good change now, '' Busuttil said, adding the government had not delivered either on tackling corruption or low wages.
`` I think there are a lot of problems, some people say that there aren't, but if you measure things, there are.
`` In this person, Robert Abela, I believe. I like how he talks, how he expresses himself, and I hope for the good of Malta ''.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat resigned Monday, handing over to Labour Party colleague Robert Abela, who promised better times without mentioning either the murder of a blogger or the corruption the slain reporter highlighted before paying with her life.
Abela, 42, won a solid 58 percent in a weekend party vote to succeed 45-year-old Muscat, who announced last month he was cutting short a mandate running to September 2022 owing to the public blowback surrounding the 2017 car bomb death of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The government investigation into the killing of the anti-corruption campaigner caused a storm and Muscat bowed out after finding himself confronted with ever growing public protests which started out monthly then became a daily occurrence.
After taking the oath of office, Abela promised to “ improve the quality of life ” for Maltese but had no comment either on the killing of Caruana Galizia, known as a “ one-woman WikiLeaks, ” or the corruption she denounced.
Three men are on trial for allegedly detonating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia. A fourth — powerful businessman Jorgen Fenech — was charged as an accomplice after being detained as he tried to leave the country on his yacht.
Demonstrators forced out Muscat, accusing him notably of shielding his chief of staff and childhood friend Keith Schembri, who has been implicated in the murder.
Fenech’ s arrest in November sparked the resignation of tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, who formerly served as energy minister, and Schembri.
Caruana Galizia accused both Mezzi and Schembri of corruption.
Abela has promised to uphold the rule of law, but Caruana Galizia’ s sister Corinne Vella earlier remarked to AFP in an interview: “ How can you have good governance and you’ re taking the place of a man who’ s leaving because of a murder? ”
She added that Malta’ s criminal justice system is “ broken ”.
After Muscat formally handed over to Abela, some party supporters were in tears as he left the Castille palace which houses the Maltese government.
– Handshakes, selfies, hope –
Around 200 people gathered nearby to salute Abela as he emerged to shake hands and pose for selfies with lawyer wife Lidia and their daughter Giorgia, seven.
“ I just hope that he will be an alright person, and that he will do some good for Malta, right? We look forward and we move forward. Let’ s see, ” Mario, a barworker, told AFP.
Housewife Natalia Busuttil said she hoped Abela would lift the wages of the least well-off in the half million-strong island.
“ Now, I am relieved that we have change. Because with the things that were happening in Malta, Malta was not in a good state. So, I think it is a good change now, ” Busuttil said, adding the government had not delivered either on tackling corruption or low wages.
“ I think there are a lot of problems, some people say that there aren’ t, but if you measure things, there are.
“ In this person, Robert Abela, I believe. I like how he talks, how he expresses himself, and I hope for the good of Malta ”.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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Quorn displaying carbon footprint data on some labels | Quorn is not the first plant-based manufacturer to emphasize its lower carbon footprint to appeal to sustainability concerns and potentially enhance its market share. According to the Carbon Trust, 61% of consumers are more likely to purchase from firms working to reduce their climate change impact.
Last year, Impossible Foods released a science-based life-cycle assessment of its Impossible Burger recipe. The data indicated it was 89% less than a burger made from real beef. The company's product reduced environmental impacts in every category studied, the company said, resulting in use of 87% less water, 96% less land, 89% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and 92% fewer aquatic pollutants.
Canada's Maple Leaf Foods, which makes both plant-based and regular meat products, said late last year it had become the first major food company to go carbon-neutral. The company committed to setting science-based targets and is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and throughout its supply chain.
It's not just meat and plant-based meat companies that have made the commitment. Danone recently pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions for its Evian water brand by 2020, Lanjarón and Volvic by 2025 and Font Vella by 2030.
However, Quorn may be the first global meatless brand to put third party-certified carbon footprint data on selected product labels. The company's website states that 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food, and more than half of the industry's emissions are due to animal products.
The labels indicate a range of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions ( CO2e) per kilogram for certain online products. For example, the label on a 300-gram package of frozen Quorn mince — about 10.5 ounces — shows 1.3 kg CO2e per kilogram of product. In contrast, the company says beef mince contains 27, pork has 8.3, chicken has 5.9 and fish contains 3.9 kg CO2e per kg of product.
Meanwhile, makers of conventional meat and poultry products also have been doing more to tout their achievements in this area in a bid to keep pace with plant-based upstarts and respond to an issue important to consumers. The industry has been working on sustainability best practices as more studies emerge recommending consumers eat less meat to help combat climate change.
Last year, the board of the North American Meat Institute unanimously agreed to make the environmental impact of meat and poultry production a noncompetitive issue among members. NAMI, which represents 95% of red meat processors and 70% of turkey products, is encouraging companies to share sustainability best practices.
Publicizing positive carbon footprint information and life-cycle assessments help to underscore the sustainability benefits of plant-based products versus those from traditional animal-based agriculture. For consumers looking to reduce their meat consumption, lighten their carbon footprint and support cleaner labels and transparency, such action could boost the appeal of these brands.
But that assumes consumers will notice the new labels like those from Quorn, let alone be able to calculate what the information means. At the same time, label overload from too many symbols and claims on product packaging — including non-GMO, gluten-free, low salt, natural, kosher and heart-healthy — could turn off shoppers or simply go unnoticed by even the savviest of them. Plus, not everyone understands what the information and symbols stand for, so manufacturers and retailers might have to expand their marketing efforts to explain anything new.
Other protein companies are likely to wait and see how successful this move on Quorn's part turns out to be before they invest in assessing the carbon footprint impact of individual products and add the information on their labels. But if consumers respond by bumping up the company's sales, there could be more such efforts coming before long.
As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
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With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation. | general |
Cell-based food maker New Age Meats raises $ 2.7M in funding | As consumers look for meat and meat-like products produced from nontraditional sources, lab-grown products have grabbed the attention of investors eager to profit from their growth. According to a report from The Good Food Institute released last May, investors have put more than $ 16 billion into U.S. plant-based and cell-based meat companies during a 10 year period — with $ 13 billion of it coming in 2017 and 2018 alone.
This influx in cash coincides with increased interest from consumers for `` clean meat. '' A survey done in early 2018 from Surveygoo found 40% of Americans are willing to try lab-grown meat. Months later, a study done by Kadence International showed 66% of consumers would be willing to try lab-grown protein.
While consumers appear to be willing to embrace lab-grown meat, its future is far from certain. Much like GMO products did not concern consumers until they proliferated through the marketplace, cell-based meat remains a largely unfamiliar concept for many people. A recent poll found four in 10 consumers think lab-grown food is `` scary '' and they have no interest in trying it. This could be a problem for New Age Meats and other companies in the space.
Already, the FDA has held hearings to head off this growing tension surrounding a product that is still largely unavailable for widespread consumption. A large barrier to commercialization remains price. To make cell-cultured meat affordable to the average consumer, a handful of companies are racing to be first to market with affordable beef, chicken, fish or crustacean products.
Israeli startup Aleph Farms recently announced it had developed a cell-grown minute steak. Memphis Meats, which has received investments from Tyson Foods and Cargill, is working on lab-cultured meat and poultry, while Finless Foods is producing algae-based shrimp. Just also is creating lab-grown chicken nuggets and has partnered with Japanese meat producer Toriyama to produce lab-grown wagyu beef.
According to Crunchbase, New Age Meats has raised a total of $ 5.7 million in three funding rounds. Even though it hasn't raised as much capital as other cultivated meat companies, New Age Meats has produced a cell-cultured pork sausage last year that got positive reviews, according to The Spoon. The latest funding could help it develop the product for market.
However, it may require either a partnership with a bigger company that has access to distribution or a larger influx in capital to make it more competitive with established cell-cultured purveyors. New Age Meats ' leading investor this round, ff Venture Capital, has funded other technology and AI companies that aim to streamline and automate production, but this appears to be the first cell-based producer it has invested in.
Many VC firms are making investments in the cell-cultured meat space. The Good Food Institute found that global cell-cultured meat companies saw a flurry of activity in 2018 with 12 firms raising $ 50 million in 14 deals. This influx is likely in response to the prediction that alternative meat sales — which includes cell-cultured meat — could hit $ 140 billion during the next 10 years.
Although there is excitement in the space, the cell-based meat industry is going to have to put a substantial amount of funding to develop the product and widely produce it at a price attractive to consumers — along with millions more to educate and market it to shoppers to get them to buy in. If these companies can convince people that the product is tasty and safe, there is a good chance the futuristic promise of lab-grown meat will put modern-day pressure on the traditional meat industry.
As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
Subscribe to Food Dive to get the must-read news & insights in your inbox.
Topics covered: manufacturing, packaging, new products, R & D, and much more.
Discover announcements from companies in your industry.
With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation. | general |
COVID-19: Are Your Warehouse Workers Getting Too Close To One Another? | Zebra offers technologies that give a virtual voice to an organization’ s assets, people and transactions, enabling organizations to unlock greater business value. The company’ s extensive portfolio of marking and printing technologies, including RFID and real-time location solutions, illuminates…
Social distancing is a core tenant of safe workplaces in the age of COVID-19.
However, it’ s not always easy for workers to stay 6 feet ( 2 meters) away from one another all day long.
This is particularly true in manufacturing plants, warehouses, distribution centers, and other highly-trafficked facilities in which workers are navigating miles of tight aisles, dense postponement work stations, blind corners, and busy loading docks.
As a result, many workers may opt to call out to avoid what they feel are unsafe situations, and those who do report in might find themselves more distracted than usual.
That’ s precisely why companies are doing everything they can right now to identify and mitigate all potential “ close contact ” scenarios that could facilitate the spread of COVID-19 and ensure employees feel safe coming into work…Zebra included.
As an essential business, we have been challenged by increasing the physical distancing of our warehouse and repair depot workers around the world without disrupting productivity.
We have also been charged with managing workforce notifications of positive COVID-19 cases reported by employees while maintaining privacy. We understand how hard it can be to maintain operational continuity without compromising worker safety.
Overall, we’ re looking at all possible ways to keep our workforce safe and healthy at the same time that we’ re asking them to show up each day.
We also know that we can’ t keep our workforce at 25 or 50% capacity forever, either. At the same time, there is a significant cost and resource burden associated with manual contact tracing as well as shutting down entire facilities due to the inability to identify and contain potential exposures. We – along with our partners and customers – must find a way to make it easier for workers to maintain social distancing and peak efficiency.
That’ s why a team of Zebra engineers and supply chain operations leaders from around the world went to work in late March to adapt software from our existing real-time location system ( RTLS) portfolio into a seemingly simple mobile device application that could effectively and accurately monitor the distance and time spent between employees during the course of the day.
Oh, and we wanted ( or should I say, needed) to do all of this without violating employee’ s privacy rights or requiring anyone to be on-site to help install the solution.
With a little bit of ingenuity and a lot of long hours working through weekends and holidays, this team drove a lightning-fast development sprint for what was aptly named the Zebra MotionWorks® Proximity solution. In less than four weeks, it evolved from a vision to a viable worker distancing and contact tracing tool that was ready for real-world use.
( It did help that we have extensive expertise developing and deploying solutions that use Bluetooth® Low Energy technology. Gartner recently named Zebra Technologies a Leader in the * 2020 Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services, Global. We have also been recognized as a Visionary for each of the two prior years. You can download a complimentary copy of the latest full Gartner report here until December 31, 2020.)
In times of extreme uncertainty, it is imperative that technology innovators be certain about the efficacy of new solutions they bring to the market. The last thing anyone wants is to further disrupt workers or introduce new safety, privacy, or security risks for the sake of convenience or efficiency. That is why Zebra decided to put the MotionWorks Proximity concept to the test in the real world in our own warehouses and repair depots before bringing it to the mass market.
We solicited and scoured through daily rounds of feedback from our front-line employees to understand how various wearable configurations for mobile computing hardware and facility environments impacted the software application’ s ability to effectively detect and alert employees when they are in close ( and unsafe) proximity to one another. We also ran countless simulations of a variety of social distancing and approach conditions to ensure the solution would be effective without being disruptive.
We also verified the accuracy of reported proximity events in our dashboards with employees to ensure the accuracy of the solution’ s distance and time monitoring algorithm so that we ( and other companies down the road) could quickly identify employees’ history of high-risk contacts with others in the building to facilitate more targeted notifications of confirmed COVID-19 case exposures.
After additional testing and refinement, we were confident that MotionWorks Proximity – originally intended for in-house use – could significantly benefit companies of all sizes and in all industries as they prepare to re-open and/or rebuild. On June 4, 2020, we were ready to roll it out to the world ( and you).
That’ s it. Since MotionWorks Proximity can be remotely loaded onto devices, customers ( who already have a fleet of compatible Zebra devices deployed) can be operational as soon as the application is pushed out to workers. No one from Zebra has to be on site to install this solution. Companies that need to order new – or more – Zebra mobile computers to ensure every worker has a compatible device can be up and running in a matter of minutes once the pre-configured devices are distributed by your own IT or management team to workers.
We appreciate that privacy rights are a big point of contention when it comes to contact tracing applications. That is why we designed the MotionWorks Proximity solution to strictly maintain workers’ privacy during data collection and storage.
Unlike many public contact tracing solutions, MotionWorks Proximity gives businesses the ability to associate employee identities with employee IDs or other unique identifiers for app login, device linking, and contact monitoring purposes. This anonymizes all proximity event data collected and made visible in the Zebra-hosted cloud application. We do not store personal or medical information. Should contact tracing need to be initiated, only those in your organization with permission to access employees’ personal information will be able to correlate the unique ID numbers with names.
Furthermore, contact time and distance monitoring stops the second that workers complete their shifts, log out of the MotionWorks Proximity app, and turn in their devices for recharging. In addition, the app can not be downloaded to consumer/personal devices. It is exclusively offered on secure enterprise-grade Zebra mobile devices that are purchased and owned by organizations and given to workers for business use only – and only while on the clock. As such, you can rest assured that your proximity monitoring and contact tracing efforts are compliant with industry and government privacy regulations.
However, since the solution is not active when workers are off the clock, it is recommended that you implement measures to help maintain social distancing at device recharging stations, breakrooms, building access points, and other locations where proximity events could go undetected during shift changes.
Contact the Zebra team to learn more about how MotionWorks Proximity can help you increase workforce social distancing compliance and implement more targeted contact tracing with minimal time and resource investment.
* Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services, Global, 13 January 2020, Tim Zimmerman, Annette Zimmermann. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’ s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Jennifer Springer is currently the Senior Director of Distribution Center Operations & Logistics + Zebra4Zebra. In this role, she is responsible for global warehouse fulfillment and postponement activities supporting over $ 3B in annual revenue; forward and reverse global transportation connecting Zebra’ s manufacturing, distribution, repairs, and customer supply chains; and infusing the best of Zebra’ s Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics ( MTL) hardware and software technologies into Zebra’ s global Supply Chain operations.
Warehousing Vision Study Zebra Technologies commissioned a global research study to analyze the trends and challenges that are transforming warehousing operations. Download Now!
ConverSight.ai’ s comprehensive platform empowers supply chain organizations… | general |
Improving the costs and yields of lab-grown meat | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Meat consumption continues to increase globally, despite the popularism of veganism in some societies. Currently, a typical person is consuming some 20 more kilograms of meat per year, when compared to 1961. The current level of consumption stands at 43 kilograms per person per year. Behind this statistic is the fact that providing for this growing demand is proving challenging, as are the environmental challenges associated with meat production ( including loss of rainforests and the issues surrounding antimicrobial resistance). For these reasons, various research projects have been established to improve so-termed ‘ lab-grown’ meat.
There are two approaches with ‘ meat substitutes’. The first is creating proteins that resemble meat in taste and texture, but which are not meat based. The second approach involves creating meat through culturing techniques. It is with this second approach that the new research relates.
A concern with culturing meat is that the end product either doe snot look or taste like meat, or where a satisfactory product is created it can not be produced to scale.
The new development sets out to create a good tasting product and on a larger scale. This development, which comes from Harvard University, deploys edible gelatin scaffolds. According to Laboratory Roots, these scaffolds have been used to effectively grow rabbit and cow muscle cells. The use of the scaffolds allowed the researchers to create appropriately long fibers of fat and muscle cells, which are key to giving the cultured meat the appropriate texture.
The meat is made by taking a muscle sample from an animal. Scientists then collect stem cells from the tissue, using biological processes to multiply the cells dramatically and allow them to differentiate into primitive fibers that then bulk up to form muscle tissue.
The researchers demonstrate how their use of extruded gelatin microfibers recapitulated the structural and biochemical features of natural muscle tissues.
The research has been published in the journal npj Science of Food. The research paper is titled “ Muscle tissue engineering in fibrous gelatin: implications for meat analogs. ”
Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.
The hunt for answers - like whether the Omicron variant will trigger new waves of infection.
Crime is raging across the country, from violent attacks to brazen shoplifting to mob “ smash and grab ” attacks.
The Omicron variant that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up genetic material from another virus.
At its core, Zero Trust is all about authenticating and authorizing access policies that have been designed to provide the least privilege, for the...
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Nissan denies reported plans to split with Renault | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Nissan is `` in no way '' planning to end its partnership with Renault, the Japanese auto giant insisted Tuesday after a report suggested a divorce was possible in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal.
Britain's Financial Times, citing `` several people with knowledge of the matter '', said Monday that said senior executives at the scandal-hit firm were speeding up work on secret plans for a potential parting of ways with France's Renault.
But in a statement, Nissan firmly denied the claims. `` Nissan is in no way considering dissolving the alliance, '' the statement said.
`` The alliance is the source of Nissan's competitiveness, '' the firm said, adding that it will look to continue delivering `` win-win results for all member companies. ''
The partnership, which also includes Japan's Mitsubishi Motors, has been troubled since the shock arrest of its former chief Ghosn on charges of financial misconduct.
Ghosn, who last month jumped bail in Japan and fled to Lebanon, claims the charges against him were cooked up by disgruntled Nissan executives hoping to block his plans to more closely integrate the automaker with Renault.
In a news conference in Lebanon, he claimed the alliance was now on the rocks and directionless.
The alliance's new chief, Jean-Dominique Senard, earlier hit back at the reports of a planned split, telling Belgian daily L'Echo the claims had `` no connection to the current situation of the alliance ''.
`` The Renault-Nissan alliance is not dead! Soon we will show you why, '' he said in an interview published Tuesday.
`` I ask myself, where does this sort of information come from? I am not sure it comes from a place of goodwill, '' Senard said.
At the close on the Tokyo market, Nissan dropped 2.96 percent to 618 yen despite the firm company denial.
The 20-year partnership between Nissan and Renault, whose alliance is based on cross-shareholdings without a joint structure, has been badly shaken by the Ghosn scandal.
But Senard said the alliance was `` nowhere near '' the point of collapse and insisted its leaders were busy `` recreating its original spirit '' and planning future investments.
A source close to Nissan told AFP that the leaks probably came from `` a few disgruntled souls '' inside the company who wanted to `` vent their frustration '', adding that rebuilding trust between the two firms `` will take time ''.
burs-sah/ric/dan
Nissan is “ in no way ” planning to end its partnership with Renault, the Japanese auto giant insisted Tuesday after a report suggested a divorce was possible in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal.
Britain’ s Financial Times, citing “ several people with knowledge of the matter ”, said Monday that said senior executives at the scandal-hit firm were speeding up work on secret plans for a potential parting of ways with France’ s Renault.
But in a statement, Nissan firmly denied the claims. “ Nissan is in no way considering dissolving the alliance, ” the statement said.
“ The alliance is the source of Nissan’ s competitiveness, ” the firm said, adding that it will look to continue delivering “ win-win results for all member companies. ”
The partnership, which also includes Japan’ s Mitsubishi Motors, has been troubled since the shock arrest of its former chief Ghosn on charges of financial misconduct.
Ghosn, who last month jumped bail in Japan and fled to Lebanon, claims the charges against him were cooked up by disgruntled Nissan executives hoping to block his plans to more closely integrate the automaker with Renault.
In a news conference in Lebanon, he claimed the alliance was now on the rocks and directionless.
The alliance’ s new chief, Jean-Dominique Senard, earlier hit back at the reports of a planned split, telling Belgian daily L’ Echo the claims had “ no connection to the current situation of the alliance ”.
“ The Renault-Nissan alliance is not dead! Soon we will show you why, ” he said in an interview published Tuesday.
“ I ask myself, where does this sort of information come from? I am not sure it comes from a place of goodwill, ” Senard said.
At the close on the Tokyo market, Nissan dropped 2.96 percent to 618 yen despite the firm company denial.
The 20-year partnership between Nissan and Renault, whose alliance is based on cross-shareholdings without a joint structure, has been badly shaken by the Ghosn scandal.
But Senard said the alliance was “ nowhere near ” the point of collapse and insisted its leaders were busy “ recreating its original spirit ” and planning future investments.
A source close to Nissan told AFP that the leaks probably came from “ a few disgruntled souls ” inside the company who wanted to “ vent their frustration ”, adding that rebuilding trust between the two firms “ will take time ”.
burs-sah/ric/dan
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
A growing number of Western nations and cybersecurity groups have issued digital surveillance warnings for next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Cloud ERP leader Acumatica to host annual summit on digital transformation success.
A man gets a Covid-19 jab at a vaccination station in Vienna on August 25, 2021; from February 2022, vaccinations against the virus will...
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the US embassy in Kyiv amid a standoff with Russia - Copyright AFP/File Mladen ANTONOVShaun TANDONThe...
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2022 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
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14-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 14-Jan-2020 at 10:29 GMT
Related tags: Beer, M & A function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` Beer, M & A ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
The total number of food and drink transactions around the world broke records in 2019, with 789 registered on the database. This shows a considerable increase in activity when compared to 559 in 2014.
In beverages, beer and spirits both saw an increase in activity in 2019. In the beer category, 38 acquisitions were recorded, with just under half of these in the craft sector.
Notable acquisitions in the beer category in 2019 included: | general |
Chinese coronavirus found in Thailand | The recent viral pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan China has spread to Thailand.
The patient is a 61 year old woman who is a Chinese national and had a fever when she arrived in Thailand. She was diagnosed with mild pneumonia and lab testing confirmed it was a novel coronavirus.
The outbreak has been traced back to a market in Wuhan, which sold meat and live animals. There is currently no clear evidence that it can spread between humans and it is believed to have originated in animals.
No media reports so far have connected the patient to the Wuhan market, or to any other people infected with the virus. The World Health Organisation said that Thai officials had identified the infection on 8 January and the patient was taken to hospital that day.
Matthew Frieman, a coronavirus expert and a Professor at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, said: “ Viruses find a way to spread. Whether it is this virus or the next, humans can transmit these viruses around the world very fast and very easily. Since we don't know what the next virus will be or if this virus will spread further, therapeutics that work across a wide range of viruses are required to protect us in the future. ” | tech |
BlackRock Shifting Capital Allocation to Sustainable Projects, Fewer Fossil Fuels | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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BlackRock Inc., the world’ s No. 1 asset manager with nearly $ 7 trillion in investments, plans to shift how funds are allocated, which could include exiting stocks that “ present a high sustainability-related risk, ” including for some fossil fuels projects.
In his annual letter marking what could be a watershed moment for the investment community, BlackRock founder and CEO Larry Fink pledged the firm would vote against management teams that are not making progress on sustainability.
Nearly five years ago, Blackrock had noted how the rising impact of climate change was impacting investments. However, the firm’ s estimable sponsorship of global oil and natural gas projects is not ending in the near term, and it will in fact remain one of the top investors in energy projects.
“ Under any scenario, the energy transition will still take decades, ” Fink wrote. “ Despite recent rapid advances, the technology does not yet exist to cost-effectively replace many of today’ s essential uses of hydrocarbons. We need to be mindful of the economic, scientific, social and political realities of the energy transition.
“ Governments and the private sector must work together to pursue a transition that is both fair and just; we can not leave behind parts of society, or entire countries in developing markets, as we pursue the path to a low-carbon world. ”
However, the reasoning to withdraw from riskier investments has become clear, Fink said in the letter.
“ Climate change is almost invariably the top issue that clients around the world raise with BlackRock, ” he wrote. “ From Europe to Australia, South America to China, Florida to Oregon, investors are asking how they should modify their portfolios. And because capital markets pull future risk forward, we will see changes in capital allocation more quickly than we see changes to the climate itself…
“ In the near future — and sooner than most anticipate — there will be a significant reallocation of capital, ” he said. “ The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance…Even if only a fraction of the science is right today, this is a much more structural, long-term crisis. ”
More fund offerings also are to focus on environmental, social and governance ( ESG) initiatives.
BlackRock intends to double ESG exchange-traded fund offerings to 150 over the next few years, “ including sustainable versions of flagship index products, so that clients have more choice for how to invest their money. ”
The dynamic “ will accelerate as the next generation takes the helm of government and business ” as CEOs and chief investment officers ( CIO), Fink wrote. “ As trillions of dollars shift to millennials over the next few decades, as they become CEOs and CIOs, as they become the policymakers and heads of state, they will further reshape the world’ s approach to sustainability. ”
BlackRock earlier this month joined Climate Action 100+, a group of asset managers pushing fossil fuel producers to detail how they plan to meet carbon dioxide reduction targets laid out in the 2015 United Nations ( UN) global climate accord. In 2019, the group pressured BP plc to describe how its strategy aligned with those goals, and last May, almost all shareholders ( 99%) voted in favor to mesh goals with the UN agreement.
BlackRock’ s “ investment conviction is that sustainability and climate-integrated portfolios can provide better risk-adjusted returns to investors, ” Fink said. “ And with the impact of sustainability on investment returns increasing, we believe that sustainable investing is the strongest foundation for client portfolios going forward. ”
The world is “ facing the ultimate long-term problem, ” wrote Fink. “ We don’ t yet know which predictions about the climate will be most accurate, nor what effects we have failed to consider. But there is no denying the direction we are heading. Every government, company and shareholder must confront climate change. ”
Also Tuesday, the Global Association of Risk Professionals ( GARP) said it has launched a certificate in sustainability and climate risk to help professionals understand and manage the potential economic and operational impacts of a changing climate on their organizations.
“ As businesses start to recognize climate change as a financial risk, managers will increasingly need to add climate risk management to their skill sets — not only those working in finance but also in disciplines such as supply chain management, operations and technology, ” said GARP Risk Institute Co-President Jo Paisley.
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Saudi Arabian Oil Co., aka Aramco, on Tuesday agreed to take $ 15.5 billion for a 49% interest in its natural gas pipeline infrastructure to a consortium led by BlackRock Inc. In the transaction, newly formed Aramco Gas Pipelines Co. would have lease and leaseback usage rights of the network over a 20-year period. BlackRock clinched…
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Wyoming Firm Plans to Repurpose Produced Water from Energy Operations for Farmlands | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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With the intention of being the nation’ s first midstream energy-agriculture company, a privately held Wyoming company on Monday obtained permits to use produced water from oil and natural gas operations on the state’ s agricultural lands.
Encore Green Environmental ( EGE) officials said exploration and production ( E & P) companies are taking a “ show me ” attitude about whether produced water can prove valuable to the agricultural sector and cut wellsite costs.
EGE’ s first project is on private land near Pine Bluff in the southeast corner of the state and is using proprietary “ conservation by design ” methods and best available water purification technology.
“ From the E & Ps’ perspective, we’ re just disposing of the water, but by re-purposing the water we’ re putting it to use to grow vegetation and improve arid soils, ” said general manager Jeff Holder.
Former Petroleum Association of Wyoming executive John Robitaille recently became EGE’ s president in charge of Wyoming operations. He said the state Department of Environmental Quality ( DEQ) is taking a leadership position to transform produced water into a useful product.
“ Our business model is set up to produce operator savings, ” Robitaille said. “ As we are supporting agriculture and industry, we believe we can create value in the produced water, while cutting costs for the operator, and thus, keeping the wells operating for a longer period of time. ”
Robitaille said EGE’ s business model is a chance for the state to be the first to unleash value in produced water.
Water purifying equipment can be moved “ onsite very quickly as it is trailer-mounted; we do not own any of the equipment nor do we want to due to the ever-changing technology. We prefer to use the best technology for the specific job, so we use vendors to treat the water for us. ”
EGE also is looking at prospects in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. Following legislation in New Mexico last year, a collaborative is looking at produced water, and EGE is part of the state-led effort.
Under New Mexico House Bill 546, the Oil Conservation Division has the primary regulatory authority for oil and gas protections, including “ clarifying and improving ” produced water regulations in the state.
© 2021 Natural Gas Intelligence. All rights reserved.
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Even as demand and prices soared, leading North American natural gas marketers posted uneven results and lower collective sales volumes for the third quarter. The downward slide continued a trend dating to production curtailments imposed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, according to NGI’ s quarterly tally. Several marketers reported robust gains in the quarter, however, …
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Corridor Resources Rebrands with Mission to Revive Natural Gas Output in Eastern Canada | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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New Alberta management will take over Atlantic Canada’ s lone natural gas producer with plans to revive east coast supply development and shop for bargain-priced western oilfield assets under a transaction announced on Monday.
After a two-month “ strategic review ” Halifax-based Corridor Resources Inc. unveiled its rebirth as Headwater Exploration Inc. led by Calgary industry veterans. The deal includes up to C $ 50 million ( $ 37.5 million) in private share sales.
The Calgary group’ s credentials include building three western oil and gas growth firms that attracted profitable takeovers: Raging River Exploration Inc., Wild Stream Exploration Inc. and Wild River Resources Inc.
Corridor’ s directors and managers recommended shareholder acceptance of the corporate rebirth, with CEO Steve Moran calling the deal a “ transformative ” combination of current assets and proven industry growth expertise.
“ The Headwater management team is energized and truly believes that the Corridor platform can lead us into becoming a leading Canadian energy producer, ” said Alberta group leader and engineer Neil Roszell, who will replace Moran as CEO.
The Alberta team predicts “ unabated growth ” in east coast gas supply development if the Conservative government of New Brunswick succeeds with a plan to allow horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing ( fracking) on Corridor’ s resource leases.
A regulation enabling exemptions from the former Liberal administration’ s fracking ban was enacted in mid-2019 but no permits have been issued. The move prompted native and environmentalist protests. The Conservatives’ freedom of action is limited by their modest stature as only the largest minority in the New Brunswick legislature.
Corridor-Headwater estimates demand for new gas supply at about 140 MMcf/d in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia alone since offshore production ended in 2018 and markets resorted to imports from the United States and Western Canada. The projection excludes potential sales to natural gas export terminals proposed on Nova Scotia’ s Atlantic coast.
The firm’ s new management pledged to join the New Brunswick Conservatives in native tribe consultations on exemptions from the six-year-old fracking ban. Multiple supply growth opportunities have been identified, said the Calgary group.
In the West. where British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan allow fracking, the Corridor-Headwater group said, “ Current market conditions in the Canadian energy sector provide an ideal entry point for a well capitalized company. ” From its Calgary vantage point the firm’ s new management team said “ the market price for assets relative to net asset value has only been this low twice in the last 20 years. ”
Financial resources in Corridor-Headwater “ will allow the company to first, take advantage of mispriced assets and second, unlock the value of the assets through disciplined capital allocation and greenfield development, ” management said.
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Natural gas futures faltered again Tuesday despite a huge day/day decline in production. The losses reflected changes in the latest weather outlook, which had been colder over the weekend but then warmed in the last couple of runs. The January Nymex gas futures contract fell 4.7 cents to $ 3.747/MMBtu. Spot gas prices, meanwhile, came crashing…
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Micky Dolenz to perform with Tucson Symphony Orchestra in Arizona | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Dolenz will be joined by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. He is known for being the distinguished voice and drummer of The Monkees. This iconic pop-rock group helped shape the sound of a generation.
Aside from their hit TV sitcom on NBC, The Monkees, The Monkees are known for such smash singles as “ Last Train to Clarksville, ” “ Pleasant Valley Sunday, ” “ Daydream Believer ” and “ I’ m A Believer. ”
The Monkees had four No. 1 albums, and they sold in excess of 75 million records.
This past October, as Digital Journal reported, Dolenz paid homage to Mister Rogers with “ Perfectly Beautiful Day, ” which was featured on the Thank You, Mister Rogers: Music & Memories album.
Dolenz will also be touring with Michael Nesmith in April of 2020, as part of a show that is called “ An Evening with the Monkees. ”
To learn more about his upcoming shows at the Tucson Music Hall in Arizona, check out the venue’ s official website.
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 16,000 original articles over the past 15 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a five-time consecutive `` Best of Long Island '' winner, and in the past two years, he was honored as the `` Best Long Island Personality '' in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.
Omicron's rise has heralded another pandemic-tinged Christmas for billions, with Santa's arrival overshadowed by Covid restrictions.
At a time when hospitals and patients are strained due to increasing COVID numbers, threat actors will continue to attack.
Millions of Americans are traveling before Christmas even as national Omicron Covid-19 infections surpass Delta's peak.
Hong Kong university students paid solemn tribute to two campus statues marking Beijing's 1989 suppression of Tiananmen Square protesters.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
A photographer's search for his mother in Nazi concentration camps | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Piles of skeletal bodies, the doors to a crematorium, emaciated faces -- an AFP photographer documents the full horror of the Nazi extermination camps in the spring of 1945, as he searches for his deported mother.
One-time fashion photographer and having escaped as a prisoner from a train bound for Germany, later joining the Resistance, Eric Schwab was one of the first photographers to work for AFP after it was refounded in August 1944 in a liberated Paris.
As a war correspondent, he follows the Allied troops as they advance, becoming a witness to the horrors discovered as the forces progressively liberate the German death camps.
A painful quest to find his mother drives him. Elsbeth, a Jewish German, was deported in 1943. Since then, he has not heard anything.
One of Schwab's first published photographs is of the entrance gate to Buchenwald, bearing the terrible inscription `` Jedem das Seine '' ( `` To each what he deserves '').
A few days earlier, Heinrich Himmler has given the order to liquidate the camp. The braziers are still smoking, and the bodies of prisoners executed by a bullet to the head are strewn across the site.
At Dachau, another concentration camp, Schwab takes portraits that lay bare the inhumanity suffered. He photographs the number tattooed on the bone-thin arm of a Jewish prisoner.
Another shot shows a man in striped prison garb talking through barbed wire to a woman held in the camp's brothel.
There are also captured moments of hope, as with a group of French prisoners listening to the Marseillaise national anthem. Or another of Polish, German and French priests celebrating mass for the camp's dead in the chapel.
Schwab's journey takes him to the camp at Terezin ( Theresienstadt), in what is today the Czech Republic. A few days from the end of the war, the region is in chaos as vast numbers flee advancing Soviet troops towards US-controlled territory.
Here, the photographer's dream comes true. In May 1945, he discovers a frail woman with white hair, wearing a nurse's cap: his mother.
Then aged 56, Elsbeth has managed to escape death and has been looking after child survivors at the camp. It is, naturally, an intensely emotional reunion but it appears that, out of respect, he refrains from photographing his mother, or at least from publishing the images.
After the war, Eric Schwab and his mother leave France, settling in New York in 1946.
Photographic evidence of the concentration camp horrors was widely disseminated as early as 1945, but Schwab's work did not earn him the renown of some of the other photographers.
As often happens with news agency photos, his images were printed in the media but not attributed to him by name.
It would take several years for his talent to be fully recognised, particularly the powerful portraiture and composition found throughout his now iconic works.
Schwab died in 1977 aged 67.
Piles of skeletal bodies, the doors to a crematorium, emaciated faces — an AFP photographer documents the full horror of the Nazi extermination camps in the spring of 1945, as he searches for his deported mother.
One-time fashion photographer and having escaped as a prisoner from a train bound for Germany, later joining the Resistance, Eric Schwab was one of the first photographers to work for AFP after it was refounded in August 1944 in a liberated Paris.
As a war correspondent, he follows the Allied troops as they advance, becoming a witness to the horrors discovered as the forces progressively liberate the German death camps.
A painful quest to find his mother drives him. Elsbeth, a Jewish German, was deported in 1943. Since then, he has not heard anything.
One of Schwab’ s first published photographs is of the entrance gate to Buchenwald, bearing the terrible inscription “ Jedem das Seine ” ( “ To each what he deserves ”).
A few days earlier, Heinrich Himmler has given the order to liquidate the camp. The braziers are still smoking, and the bodies of prisoners executed by a bullet to the head are strewn across the site.
At Dachau, another concentration camp, Schwab takes portraits that lay bare the inhumanity suffered. He photographs the number tattooed on the bone-thin arm of a Jewish prisoner.
Another shot shows a man in striped prison garb talking through barbed wire to a woman held in the camp’ s brothel.
There are also captured moments of hope, as with a group of French prisoners listening to the Marseillaise national anthem. Or another of Polish, German and French priests celebrating mass for the camp’ s dead in the chapel.
Schwab’ s journey takes him to the camp at Terezin ( Theresienstadt), in what is today the Czech Republic. A few days from the end of the war, the region is in chaos as vast numbers flee advancing Soviet troops towards US-controlled territory.
Here, the photographer’ s dream comes true. In May 1945, he discovers a frail woman with white hair, wearing a nurse’ s cap: his mother.
Then aged 56, Elsbeth has managed to escape death and has been looking after child survivors at the camp. It is, naturally, an intensely emotional reunion but it appears that, out of respect, he refrains from photographing his mother, or at least from publishing the images.
After the war, Eric Schwab and his mother leave France, settling in New York in 1946.
Photographic evidence of the concentration camp horrors was widely disseminated as early as 1945, but Schwab’ s work did not earn him the renown of some of the other photographers.
As often happens with news agency photos, his images were printed in the media but not attributed to him by name.
It would take several years for his talent to be fully recognised, particularly the powerful portraiture and composition found throughout his now iconic works.
Schwab died in 1977 aged 67.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during the telematic press conference called after the meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 17,...
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Geneva, the neutral turf that was once host to so much Cold War bargaining, is again welcoming Russian and US officials.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are postponing the glittering parades that are the highlight of carnival festivities due to a surge in the...
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2022 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
K-pop pioneers BTS unveil global modern art initiative | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Korean pop superstars BTS helped launch a global public art project in London on Tuesday inspired by their message of inclusivity and involving renowned artists including Antony Gormley and Tomas Saraceno.
The K-pop septet has teamed up with an array of artistic talent from around the world to help forge a series of contemporary exhibits going on display in five cities across four continents.
The project -- `` Connect, BTS '' -- used the boy band's support for `` diversity, love and care for the periphery '' as the starting point for the series of disparate multi-disciplinary artworks.
They will be complemented by video messages introducing the piece recorded by BTS.
`` We're very excited and really happy to be part of this project, '' said band member RM -- real name Kim Namjoon -- at a launch event at London's Serpentine Galleries, where one of the exhibits was unveiled.
`` We have always been inspired by the ability of music to communicate across borders and barriers which is not very different from what art does, '' added band mate Suga, as they joined via live video-link from the South Korean capital Seoul.
BTS, the first K-pop group to top charts in the US and Britain, has seen its global profile surge in recent years.
They completed a lucrative world tour in 2019 before performing in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve.
The floppy-haired musicians, all in their 20s and often sporting earrings and lipstick, have built a predominantly youthful fan base on a message of self-acceptance and tolerance.
The curators of `` Connect, BTS '' hope to tap into their huge online profile and tens of millions of followers on social media sites like Instagram and Twitter.
`` This project will encourage appreciation of diversities and establish ground for great new synergies to be born, '' said its art director Daehyung Lee.
- 'Out of their silos ' -
The various artworks will go on show in the Korean and British capitals, as well as in Berlin, Buenos Aires and New York.
The London offering, `` Catharsis '', by Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen, features an audio-visual simulation of a re-imagined old-growth forest portrayed in a single continuous camera shot.
It can be seen at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park until March 15.
Meanwhile in New York's Brooklyn Bridge Park, British artist Gormley has crafted 18 kilometres ( 11 miles) of looping and coiling aluminium into a vast `` drawing in space '' which will be unveiled on February 4 and remain there until March 27.
`` This is a really wonderful example of, in a way, people jumping out of their silos and in a sense making something that could just be an idea a reality, '' Gormley said.
Berlin's Gropius Bau venue will host its offering, a series of performance works by over 17 international artists, from Wednesday until February 2.
Buenos Aires is set to showcase Argentine artist Saraceno's `` synthesis of art, science and environmental activism '' from January 21 for two months.
Meanwhile two works will be unveiled in Seoul at the city's Dongdaemun Design Plaza between January 28 and March 20.
Korean pop superstars BTS helped launch a global public art project in London on Tuesday inspired by their message of inclusivity and involving renowned artists including Antony Gormley and Tomas Saraceno.
The K-pop septet has teamed up with an array of artistic talent from around the world to help forge a series of contemporary exhibits going on display in five cities across four continents.
The project — “ Connect, BTS ” — used the boy band’ s support for “ diversity, love and care for the periphery ” as the starting point for the series of disparate multi-disciplinary artworks.
They will be complemented by video messages introducing the piece recorded by BTS.
“ We’ re very excited and really happy to be part of this project, ” said band member RM — real name Kim Namjoon — at a launch event at London’ s Serpentine Galleries, where one of the exhibits was unveiled.
“ We have always been inspired by the ability of music to communicate across borders and barriers which is not very different from what art does, ” added band mate Suga, as they joined via live video-link from the South Korean capital Seoul.
BTS, the first K-pop group to top charts in the US and Britain, has seen its global profile surge in recent years.
They completed a lucrative world tour in 2019 before performing in New York’ s Times Square on New Year’ s Eve.
The floppy-haired musicians, all in their 20s and often sporting earrings and lipstick, have built a predominantly youthful fan base on a message of self-acceptance and tolerance.
The curators of “ Connect, BTS ” hope to tap into their huge online profile and tens of millions of followers on social media sites like Instagram and Twitter.
“ This project will encourage appreciation of diversities and establish ground for great new synergies to be born, ” said its art director Daehyung Lee.
– ‘ Out of their silos’ –
The various artworks will go on show in the Korean and British capitals, as well as in Berlin, Buenos Aires and New York.
The London offering, “ Catharsis ”, by Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen, features an audio-visual simulation of a re-imagined old-growth forest portrayed in a single continuous camera shot.
It can be seen at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park until March 15.
Meanwhile in New York’ s Brooklyn Bridge Park, British artist Gormley has crafted 18 kilometres ( 11 miles) of looping and coiling aluminium into a vast “ drawing in space ” which will be unveiled on February 4 and remain there until March 27.
“ This is a really wonderful example of, in a way, people jumping out of their silos and in a sense making something that could just be an idea a reality, ” Gormley said.
Berlin’ s Gropius Bau venue will host its offering, a series of performance works by over 17 international artists, from Wednesday until February 2.
Buenos Aires is set to showcase Argentine artist Saraceno’ s “ synthesis of art, science and environmental activism ” from January 21 for two months.
Meanwhile two works will be unveiled in Seoul at the city’ s Dongdaemun Design Plaza between January 28 and March 20.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Omicron's rise has heralded another pandemic-tinged Christmas for billions, with Santa's arrival overshadowed by Covid restrictions.
In Bethlehem's Manger Square, visitors in Santa hats and scouts beating drums marked Christmas Eve on Friday, but fewer people attended.
The U.S. sees many flight cancellations on Christmas Day, with numbers swelling to triple digits.
It's a moment that has been decades in the making. The James Webb Space Telescope successfully launched on Christmas morning.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Ex-pope Benedict seeks to end storm over controversial book | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Retired former pope Benedict XVI sought to calm a dispute within the Vatican on Tuesday, claiming his name was erroneously attributed as co-author to a new book with a conservative cardinal.
Publication of extracts from the book, `` The Depth of our Hearts, '' by French newspaper Le Figaro on Sunday set off a storm within the Vatican, with some questioning why the 92-year-old Benedict would come out of retirement to co-author a book with ultra-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah.
On Tuesday, the ex-pontiff's private secretary, Georg Gaenswein, clarified that although Benedict had given Sarah passages he had written to use as the cardinal saw fit, `` he hadn't approved any plans for a double signature book nor had he seen and authorised the cover. ''
`` It was a misunderstanding, without questioning the good faith of Cardinal Sarah, '' Gaenswein told Italian newswire ANSA.
In the book, which will hit bookshelves in France on Wednesday, Benedict is quoted as saying he `` can not keep silent '' about the divisive issue of whether or not to allow married men to become Catholic priests -- and coming down firmly against it.
Pope Francis is currently considering allowing it in remote locations, such as the Amazon, where communities seldom have Mass due to a lack of priests. He is expected to publish his decision in the coming weeks.
Vatican experts had expressed astonishment that the retired pope would speak out in a public way on such a sensitive topic, and sources late Monday said Benedict had never authorised the book.
`` Benedict XVI... never saw, nor authorised the cover, nor did he authorise the publication of a co-authored book, '' a Vatican source `` very close '' to the former pope told Elisabetta Pique, Vatican correspondent for Argentina's La Nacion.
- 'Attacks ' -
Cardinal Sarah took to Twitter on Tuesday to defend himself, saying Benedict knew their collaboration would be a book, and that they had sent proofs back and forth for corrections.
He later issued a statement affirming his `` affection '' for Benedict and `` obedience '' to Pope Francis, and appeared to have been forced to row back on the issue.
`` Considering the polemics caused... it has been decided that the author of the book will be for future publications: Card Sarah, with the contribution of Benedict XVI, '' he said in a tweet.
`` However, the complete text remains absolutely unchanged, '' he insisted.
The book features an essay by Benedict and another by Sarah, with a co-authored introduction and conclusion. It has both the former pope and cardinal on the cover.
Vatican expert Christopher Lamb said the controversy was not about the book's content, but rather over `` the use of a retired pope's authority to make the point. ''
`` No-one is doubting that Benedict agrees with the premise of the book, '' Lamb said on Twitter.
Nicolas Seneze of the French Catholic daily La Croix reported a flurry of exchanges Monday between Benedict's abode and Francis's, `` where the danger of a book that erects the pope emeritus as a parallel magisterium ( Catholic authority) was clearly understood ''.
Italian daily Repubblica also weighed in on the controversy.
At the former monastery in the Vatican gardens, Benedict's home since becoming the first pontiff to resign in almost 600 years, the fear was `` that the emeritus pope has been used without his knowledge '', it reported.
It warned of `` the real risk that there are those... who use Benedict to advance their own battles ''.
Retired former pope Benedict XVI sought to calm a dispute within the Vatican on Tuesday, claiming his name was erroneously attributed as co-author to a new book with a conservative cardinal.
Publication of extracts from the book, “ The Depth of our Hearts, ” by French newspaper Le Figaro on Sunday set off a storm within the Vatican, with some questioning why the 92-year-old Benedict would come out of retirement to co-author a book with ultra-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah.
On Tuesday, the ex-pontiff’ s private secretary, Georg Gaenswein, clarified that although Benedict had given Sarah passages he had written to use as the cardinal saw fit, “ he hadn’ t approved any plans for a double signature book nor had he seen and authorised the cover. ”
“ It was a misunderstanding, without questioning the good faith of Cardinal Sarah, ” Gaenswein told Italian newswire ANSA.
In the book, which will hit bookshelves in France on Wednesday, Benedict is quoted as saying he “ can not keep silent ” about the divisive issue of whether or not to allow married men to become Catholic priests — and coming down firmly against it.
Pope Francis is currently considering allowing it in remote locations, such as the Amazon, where communities seldom have Mass due to a lack of priests. He is expected to publish his decision in the coming weeks.
Vatican experts had expressed astonishment that the retired pope would speak out in a public way on such a sensitive topic, and sources late Monday said Benedict had never authorised the book.
“ Benedict XVI… never saw, nor authorised the cover, nor did he authorise the publication of a co-authored book, ” a Vatican source “ very close ” to the former pope told Elisabetta Pique, Vatican correspondent for Argentina’ s La Nacion.
– ‘ Attacks’ –
Cardinal Sarah took to Twitter on Tuesday to defend himself, saying Benedict knew their collaboration would be a book, and that they had sent proofs back and forth for corrections.
He later issued a statement affirming his “ affection ” for Benedict and “ obedience ” to Pope Francis, and appeared to have been forced to row back on the issue.
“ Considering the polemics caused… it has been decided that the author of the book will be for future publications: Card Sarah, with the contribution of Benedict XVI, ” he said in a tweet.
“ However, the complete text remains absolutely unchanged, ” he insisted.
The book features an essay by Benedict and another by Sarah, with a co-authored introduction and conclusion. It has both the former pope and cardinal on the cover.
Vatican expert Christopher Lamb said the controversy was not about the book’ s content, but rather over “ the use of a retired pope’ s authority to make the point. ”
“ No-one is doubting that Benedict agrees with the premise of the book, ” Lamb said on Twitter.
Nicolas Seneze of the French Catholic daily La Croix reported a flurry of exchanges Monday between Benedict’ s abode and Francis’ s, “ where the danger of a book that erects the pope emeritus as a parallel magisterium ( Catholic authority) was clearly understood ”.
Italian daily Repubblica also weighed in on the controversy.
At the former monastery in the Vatican gardens, Benedict’ s home since becoming the first pontiff to resign in almost 600 years, the fear was “ that the emeritus pope has been used without his knowledge ”, it reported.
It warned of “ the real risk that there are those… who use Benedict to advance their own battles ”.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Omicron's rise has heralded another pandemic-tinged Christmas for billions, with Santa's arrival overshadowed by Covid restrictions.
At a time when hospitals and patients are strained due to increasing COVID numbers, threat actors will continue to attack.
Millions of Americans are traveling before Christmas even as national Omicron Covid-19 infections surpass Delta's peak.
Hong Kong university students paid solemn tribute to two campus statues marking Beijing's 1989 suppression of Tiananmen Square protesters.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Scientists want to know why Thwaites Glacier is melting so fast | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Since the 1980s, the Thwaites glacier, a part of the West Antarctic ice sheet, has lost an estimated 54 billion tons of ice. And recent studies have shown that the melting of the glacier is speeding up.
In January 2019, a massive cavity that is two-thirds the size of Manhattan and nearly the height of the Chrysler Building was found growing at the bottom of Thwaites Glacier – a discovery that NASA scientists called “ disturbing. ” The hole was said to be big enough to contain 14 billion tons of ice, most of which had melted over the preceding three years.
A July 2019 NASDA-funded study found that Antarctica faces a tipping point where glacial melting will accelerate and become irreversible even if global heating eases.
They also found increasing instability in the Thwaites glacier, meaning there would probably come a point when it was impossible to stop it flowing into the sea and triggering a 50 centimeter ( 19.6 inches) sea-level rise. All this attention gave rise to the expedition that will look at the underbelly of the glacier.
Studying the grounding line In just a few days, scientists will be lowering a torpedo-shaped robot, dubbed Icefin, into a nearly 2,000-foot-long ( 600 meters) borehole in the ice of Thwaites Glacier. The same icefin robots were also used to study the sea life beneath the ice in the Ross Sea off Antarctica, but this time they will be used for a slightly different purpose.
A key aspect of this mission will be to study the glacier’ s “ grounding line. ” Simply put, the grounding line marks the boundary between floating and grounded sections of a marine-terminating ice sheet. A good example of this is the Ross Ice Shelf.
The Thwaites glacier covers more than 74,000 square miles ( 192,000 square kilometers) and is more than 900 miles ( 1,500 km) from the nearest U.S. and British Antarctic research bases – so it is not easy to reach.
For the longest time, scientists thought that loss of the ice mass was due to pieces of the seaward ice shelf breaking off, or calving icebergs. Sometimes, it can take years before an ice shelf will have a calving event, so the loss of ice mass would not be noticed as quickly.
However, a 2013 NASA study found that ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent’ s ice shelf mass loss.
The mission Thwaites Glacier could be “ a keystone to triggering ice loss from neighboring portions of West Antarctica, ” said Paul Cutler, program director of glaciology, ice core science and geomorphology at the National Science Foundation. “ The question is, how much sea-level rise, and how fast? ”
Cutler is also the U.S. program director for the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration ( ITGC), a $ 50 million, five-year study involving more than 60 international scientists divided into nine project teams. All this is supported by the U.S. Antarctic Program and the British Antarctic Survey.
Icefin, the robotic submarine is equipped with high-definition video cameras, sonar and instruments for monitoring water flow, salinity, oxygen, and temperature. Once deployed into the borehole, scientists will have only a few days before they will have to retrieve the sub before the hole freezes shut.
Once at the grounding line of the glacier, the submarine will take sediment samples and measure the amount of freshwater flowing out to sea from the glacier as it melts. Overall, the scientists have only a few weeks left before winter sets in in the Southern Hemisphere, according to Live Science.
The last part of the mission this season will take place in late January when a U.S. research ship leaves Chile for the Amundsen Sea to collect data from the ocean floor near Thwaites Glacier, Cutler said.
Karen Graham is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for environmental news. Karen's view of what is happening in our world is colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in man's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, `` Journalism is merely history's first draft. '' Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.
As of mid-November 2021, about 68 percent of the US popuation, and 81 percent of adults, had received at least one dose of a...
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COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Madonna brings her 'Madame X ' European Tour to Lisbon, Portugal | Hi, what are you looking for?
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She performed at the Lisbon Coliseum in Portugal, which has a seating capacity of nearly 4,300 people. Madonna expressed her gratitude to her fans for showing up in Lisbon to support her. “ It’ s so nice to have Madame X back where she belongs, ” she tweeted.
The “ Material Girl ” teased images of her dress rehearsal, a short video clip of her soundcheck, and her countdown to her first show at the Lisbon Coliseum.
In a tweet to her followers and fans, Madonna announced her return to Lisbon, which she described as a full circle moment and “ the place it all began. ”
She will be playing in Portugal until January 23, and then she is headed to The London Palladium in London, where she will be performing until Sunday, February 16.
As she rung in the New Year “ 2020, ” she revealed that she is ready for “ another decade of dreams. ”
For a complete list of Madonna’ s 2020 “ Madame X ” European Tour dates, check out her official website.
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 16,000 original articles over the past 15 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a five-time consecutive `` Best of Long Island '' winner, and in the past two years, he was honored as the `` Best Long Island Personality '' in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.
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Kroger, the country’ s biggest traditional grocery chain, is ending some benefits for unvaccinated workers.
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Nearly 10 years after Imad al-Hisso fled the civil war in Syria, he remains trapped in Gaza, a place he calls `` a prison. ''
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
How the world discovered the Nazi death camps | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Images of what the Allies found when they liberated the first Nazi death camps towards the end of World War II brought the horror of the Holocaust to world attention.
Many of the ghastly pictures were at first held back from the broader public, partly out of concern for those with missing relatives.
The concentration and extermination camps were liberated one by one as the Allied armies advanced on Berlin in the final days of the 1939-1945 war.
The first was Majdanek in eastern Poland, which was freed on July 24, 1944 by the advancing Soviet Red Army.
But it was only the following year that media coverage was encouraged by the provisional government led by General Charles De Gaulle set up after the liberation of France.
- 'Death Marches ' -
In June 1944, as it became clear that Germany was losing the war, Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler ordered that camps be evacuated before they were reached by Allied troops, and that their prisoners be transferred to other camps.
This mainly concerned camps in the Baltic States that were most exposed to advancing Soviet troops. Officers of the SS paramilitary in charge were ordered to cover up all traces of crimes before fleeing.
The sprawling Auschwitz-Birkenau complex in southern Poland, liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945, was gradually dismantled from mid-1944 and its more than 60,000 prisoners evacuated.
When the Soviets arrived, only 7,000 prisoners remained, unable to walk and to follow their comrades on what became known as `` Death Marches '' to other camps.
- Images not widely shared -
The discovery of the first camps had little impact on the public at large because the images were not widely shared.
Russian and Polish investigators photographed the camps at Majdanek and Auschwitz, and US army photographers made a documentary on Struthof, the only Nazi concentration camp based in what is now France.
But France in particular did not want them broadcast to avoid alarming people with relatives who were missing after being deported, captured or conscripted.
A turning point came on April 6, 1945 with the discovery of Ohrdruf, an annex of the Buchenwald camp in Germany.
- 'Indescribable horror ' -
When American forces -- accompanied by US war correspondent Meyer Levin and AFP photographer Eric Schwab -- entered Ohrdruf, they came across a still-blazing inferno and skeletal prisoners executed with a bullet to the head.
The Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, Dwight Eisenhower, visited the camp on April 12, describing afterwards `` conditions of indescribable horror ''.
The Allied leadership decided immediately that all censorship should be lifted so the world could see evidence of the Nazi atrocities.
That evening France's communist daily Ce Soir published on its front page a picture of a mass grave.
Days later Eisenhower said journalists should visit camps `` where the evidence of bestiality and cruelty is so overpowering as to leave no doubt in their minds about the normal practices of the Germans ''.
Images of what the Allies found when they liberated the first Nazi death camps towards the end of World War II brought the horror of the Holocaust to world attention.
Many of the ghastly pictures were at first held back from the broader public, partly out of concern for those with missing relatives.
The concentration and extermination camps were liberated one by one as the Allied armies advanced on Berlin in the final days of the 1939-1945 war.
The first was Majdanek in eastern Poland, which was freed on July 24, 1944 by the advancing Soviet Red Army.
But it was only the following year that media coverage was encouraged by the provisional government led by General Charles De Gaulle set up after the liberation of France.
– ‘ Death Marches’ –
In June 1944, as it became clear that Germany was losing the war, Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler ordered that camps be evacuated before they were reached by Allied troops, and that their prisoners be transferred to other camps.
This mainly concerned camps in the Baltic States that were most exposed to advancing Soviet troops. Officers of the SS paramilitary in charge were ordered to cover up all traces of crimes before fleeing.
The sprawling Auschwitz-Birkenau complex in southern Poland, liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945, was gradually dismantled from mid-1944 and its more than 60,000 prisoners evacuated.
When the Soviets arrived, only 7,000 prisoners remained, unable to walk and to follow their comrades on what became known as “ Death Marches ” to other camps.
– Images not widely shared –
The discovery of the first camps had little impact on the public at large because the images were not widely shared.
Russian and Polish investigators photographed the camps at Majdanek and Auschwitz, and US army photographers made a documentary on Struthof, the only Nazi concentration camp based in what is now France.
But France in particular did not want them broadcast to avoid alarming people with relatives who were missing after being deported, captured or conscripted.
A turning point came on April 6, 1945 with the discovery of Ohrdruf, an annex of the Buchenwald camp in Germany.
– ‘ Indescribable horror’ –
When American forces — accompanied by US war correspondent Meyer Levin and AFP photographer Eric Schwab — entered Ohrdruf, they came across a still-blazing inferno and skeletal prisoners executed with a bullet to the head.
The Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, Dwight Eisenhower, visited the camp on April 12, describing afterwards “ conditions of indescribable horror ”.
The Allied leadership decided immediately that all censorship should be lifted so the world could see evidence of the Nazi atrocities.
That evening France’ s communist daily Ce Soir published on its front page a picture of a mass grave.
Days later Eisenhower said journalists should visit camps “ where the evidence of bestiality and cruelty is so overpowering as to leave no doubt in their minds about the normal practices of the Germans ”.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Citigroup is prepared to fire employees at the end of the month who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 14 deadline.
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Sailor kidnappings surge off West Africa: watchdog | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The number of sailors kidnapped off West Africa surged by more than 50 percent last year, a maritime watchdog said Tuesday, urging greater international cooperation to reduce piracy.
The abductions took place in the Gulf of Guinea, waters stretching thousands of kilometres ( miles) from Angola in the south to Senegal in the north, which are considered among the world's most dangerous for piracy.
The number of crew snatched there jumped from 78 in 2018 to 121 last year -- amounting to over 90 percent of kidnappings reported at sea worldwide, the International Maritime Bureau ( IMB) said in its annual piracy report.
`` This region has recorded an unprecedented rise in crew kidnaps, '' said Michael Howlett, director of the Kuala Lumpur-based IMB
He called for `` increased information exchange and coordination between vessels, reporting and response agencies in the Gulf of Guinea ''.
Overall, however, reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships worldwide fell in 2019 to 162 from 201 a year earlier, the watchdog said.
The Gulf of Guinea has now eclipsed the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, as Africa's piracy hotspot, and countries in the region have been trying for some years to bolster means of intervention and to increase cooperation.
Attacks in the gulf, home to Sub-Saharan Africa's two main oil producers Nigeria and Angola, have seriously disrupted international shipping routes and had huge economic costs.
In 2017 alone, the cost to West Africa was estimated at over $ 818 million, including naval activities and contracting security services, according to a report from Oceans Beyond Piracy, a programme that studied maritime attacks.
Criminal gangs in the past used to steal cargoes of oil, but have switched tactics over the past decade to kidnapping sailors for ransom as crude prices have fallen.
Much of the problem originates in the Niger Delta, in Nigeria, a base for pirates who use high-powered speedboats to raid passing ships and kidnap crews.
The Singapore Straits, the gateway for shipping to the trading hub, also experienced a jump in piracy, with 12 armed robberies from vessels reported in 2019, the watchdog said.
But it added the incidents were `` low-level '' and usually limited to robbery.
The number of sailors kidnapped off West Africa surged by more than 50 percent last year, a maritime watchdog said Tuesday, urging greater international cooperation to reduce piracy.
The abductions took place in the Gulf of Guinea, waters stretching thousands of kilometres ( miles) from Angola in the south to Senegal in the north, which are considered among the world’ s most dangerous for piracy.
The number of crew snatched there jumped from 78 in 2018 to 121 last year — amounting to over 90 percent of kidnappings reported at sea worldwide, the International Maritime Bureau ( IMB) said in its annual piracy report.
“ This region has recorded an unprecedented rise in crew kidnaps, ” said Michael Howlett, director of the Kuala Lumpur-based IMB
He called for “ increased information exchange and coordination between vessels, reporting and response agencies in the Gulf of Guinea ”.
Overall, however, reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships worldwide fell in 2019 to 162 from 201 a year earlier, the watchdog said.
The Gulf of Guinea has now eclipsed the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, as Africa’ s piracy hotspot, and countries in the region have been trying for some years to bolster means of intervention and to increase cooperation.
Attacks in the gulf, home to Sub-Saharan Africa’ s two main oil producers Nigeria and Angola, have seriously disrupted international shipping routes and had huge economic costs.
In 2017 alone, the cost to West Africa was estimated at over $ 818 million, including naval activities and contracting security services, according to a report from Oceans Beyond Piracy, a programme that studied maritime attacks.
Criminal gangs in the past used to steal cargoes of oil, but have switched tactics over the past decade to kidnapping sailors for ransom as crude prices have fallen.
Much of the problem originates in the Niger Delta, in Nigeria, a base for pirates who use high-powered speedboats to raid passing ships and kidnap crews.
The Singapore Straits, the gateway for shipping to the trading hub, also experienced a jump in piracy, with 12 armed robberies from vessels reported in 2019, the watchdog said.
But it added the incidents were “ low-level ” and usually limited to robbery.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
A growing number of Western nations and cybersecurity groups have issued digital surveillance warnings for next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Cloud ERP leader Acumatica to host annual summit on digital transformation success.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the US embassy in Kyiv amid a standoff with Russia - Copyright AFP/File Mladen ANTONOVShaun TANDONThe...
A man gets a Covid-19 jab at a vaccination station in Vienna on August 25, 2021; from February 2022, vaccinations against the virus will...
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7 bn years: Scientists say oldest solid material found | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Researchers said Monday that new techniques have allowed them to identify the oldest solid material ever found on earth.
The stardust, formed five to seven billion years ago, came from a meteorite that fell to Earth 50 years ago in Australia, they said in a paper published in the journal PNAS.
It came down in 1969 in Murchison, Victoria state, and scientists from Chicago's Field Museum have possessed a piece of it for five decades.
Philipp Heck, curator of meteorites at the museum, examined pre-solar grains, which are bits of stardust that become trapped in meteorites, making them time capsules of the period before the sun was born.
`` They're solid samples of stars, real stardust, '' Heck said in a statement.
When the first stars died after two billion years of life they left behind the stardust, which formed into the block which fell to earth as the meteorite in Australia.
Although researchers first identified the grains in 1987 their age could not be determined.
But Heck and other colleagues recently used a new method to date these grains, which are microscopic in size. They are from silicon carbide, the first mineral formed when a star cools.
To separate the ancient grains from the relatively younger ones, scientists crushed fragments of the meteorite into a powder. Then they dissolved it in acid, which left only the pre-solar particles.
`` It's like burning down the haystack to find the needle, '' says Heck.
When dust is in space it is exposed to cosmic rays which slowly change its composition. This allows researchers to date it.
A decade ago, only 20 grains from the meteorite were dated by a different method. Now, researchers have been able to determine the age of 40 grains, most of which are between 4.6 billion and 4.9 billion years old.
These ages correspond to the moment when the first stars began to break up, and since that type of star lived for two to 2.5 billion years, the stardust can be as old as seven billion years.
`` These are the oldest solid materials ever found, and they tell us about how stars formed in our galaxy, '' Heck said.
The new dating by this team confirms an astronomical theory which predicted a baby boom of stars before the formation of our sun, instead of a constant rhythm of star formation.
`` We basically came to the conclusion that there must have been a time in our galaxy when more stars formed than normal, and at the end of their lives they become dust producing, '' Heck told AFP.
The task now is to apply the same method on other meteorites.
But according to Heck, there are fewer than five known to be in collections and big enough to give up such secrets.
Researchers said Monday that new techniques have allowed them to identify the oldest solid material ever found on earth.
The stardust, formed five to seven billion years ago, came from a meteorite that fell to Earth 50 years ago in Australia, they said in a paper published in the journal PNAS.
It came down in 1969 in Murchison, Victoria state, and scientists from Chicago’ s Field Museum have possessed a piece of it for five decades.
Philipp Heck, curator of meteorites at the museum, examined pre-solar grains, which are bits of stardust that become trapped in meteorites, making them time capsules of the period before the sun was born.
“ They’ re solid samples of stars, real stardust, ” Heck said in a statement.
When the first stars died after two billion years of life they left behind the stardust, which formed into the block which fell to earth as the meteorite in Australia.
Although researchers first identified the grains in 1987 their age could not be determined.
But Heck and other colleagues recently used a new method to date these grains, which are microscopic in size. They are from silicon carbide, the first mineral formed when a star cools.
To separate the ancient grains from the relatively younger ones, scientists crushed fragments of the meteorite into a powder. Then they dissolved it in acid, which left only the pre-solar particles.
“ It’ s like burning down the haystack to find the needle, ” says Heck.
When dust is in space it is exposed to cosmic rays which slowly change its composition. This allows researchers to date it.
A decade ago, only 20 grains from the meteorite were dated by a different method. Now, researchers have been able to determine the age of 40 grains, most of which are between 4.6 billion and 4.9 billion years old.
These ages correspond to the moment when the first stars began to break up, and since that type of star lived for two to 2.5 billion years, the stardust can be as old as seven billion years.
“ These are the oldest solid materials ever found, and they tell us about how stars formed in our galaxy, ” Heck said.
The new dating by this team confirms an astronomical theory which predicted a baby boom of stars before the formation of our sun, instead of a constant rhythm of star formation.
“ We basically came to the conclusion that there must have been a time in our galaxy when more stars formed than normal, and at the end of their lives they become dust producing, ” Heck told AFP.
The task now is to apply the same method on other meteorites.
But according to Heck, there are fewer than five known to be in collections and big enough to give up such secrets.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
There is no stated power in the US Constitution to regulate human reproduction.
A small dog looking at a christmas tree which has colored lights. Source - Trogain, CC SA 4.0.If you are having trouble finding a...
The hunt for answers - like whether the Omicron variant will trigger new waves of infection.
The new Omicron coronavirus variant has a high number of mutations which the WHO believes may make it more transmissible or resistant to vaccines...
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Middleman claims Slovak entrepreneur ordered journalist's murder | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The intermediary in the February 2018 double murder of a Slovak investigative journalist and his fiancee on Tuesday accused wealthy entrepreneur Marian Kocner of having ordered the hit that shook the nation.
Zoltan Andrusko, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail on a plea bargain last month, was testifying in court against his alleged co-conspirators in the shooting of reporter Jan Kuciak, who had been probing Kocner's business activities, and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova at their home near the capital Bratislava.
The double murder triggered mass protests that toppled then-premier Robert Fico -- who is however still the head of the Smer-SD party poised to win the February general election -- and has become a lightning rod for outrage against high-level corruption in the EU member state.
`` I mediated the murder of Jan Kuciak between ( suspected co-conspirators) Alena Zsuzsova and ( Tomas) Szabo at the direction of Mr Kocner, '' Andrusko testified at the Special Criminal Court in the western city of Pezinok, 20 kilometres ( 12 miles) outside Bratislava.
`` I 'm so sorry about what happened. I don't know how to fix it, I guess I can't, but I 'll do everything I can to set things right. With my testimony, of course, '' Andrusko told the parents of the murdered couple.
He claimed Zsuzsova, a friend of Kocner's, handed him 50,000 euros ( $ 55,000) the morning after the killings to give to confessed gunman Miroslav Marcek and his cousin and alleged sidekick Tomas Szabo, who denies involvement.
Andrusko added that Zsuzsova, who on Monday denied arranging the hit, had been `` furious '' when he told her the fiancee had also been killed.
`` She was angry... but she said okay, that she would go meet Mr Kocner and then we would talk. She then met me in the morning and gave me money. ''
The hit was also botched in another way: Andrusko testified that Zsuzsova had originally requested that `` the boys were to take Jan Kuciak somewhere and assassinate him so that his body was not found. ''
According to Andrusko, when Marcek and Szabo asked who had ordered the hit, `` we agreed with Alena that I should not mention Kocner in any way. Rather, I should say that there was a certain Russian person who has problems with the media in Slovakia. ''
- 'Political murder ' -
On Monday, Kocner refused to comment on his murder indictment, citing `` objections '' to the contents.
According to the indictment, Kocner decided `` to get rid of Jan Kuciak physically and thus prevent further disclosure of his ( Kocner's) activities '' after failing to find `` any dirt '' to discredit the journalist.
Kocner had previously pleaded not guilty to ordering the hit on Kuciak.
The parents of the murdered couple testified earlier Tuesday, with Kusnirova's mother Zlatica telling the court that `` from the first moment I said it was a political murder ''.
After the mother asked `` who gave you the right to take our children's lives? ``, Zsuzsova rejected the accusation and invoked the presumption of innocence.
Jozef Kuciak, the father of the late journalist, said he had once voted for the Smer-SD party.
`` I regarded myself a Social Democrat and believed in all that gibberish. That is why I was not afraid of Mr. Kocner's threats, because I thought that nothing like this could happen in our country, '' he told the court.
`` I thought we had a functioning prosecutor's office, police, courts. But Jan had warned me that I shouldn't believe everything politicians say, '' he added.
The protests triggered by the murder that brought down the government paved the way for the election of liberal anti-corruption activist Zuzana Caputova as president last March.
The intermediary in the February 2018 double murder of a Slovak investigative journalist and his fiancee on Tuesday accused wealthy entrepreneur Marian Kocner of having ordered the hit that shook the nation.
Zoltan Andrusko, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail on a plea bargain last month, was testifying in court against his alleged co-conspirators in the shooting of reporter Jan Kuciak, who had been probing Kocner’ s business activities, and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova at their home near the capital Bratislava.
The double murder triggered mass protests that toppled then-premier Robert Fico — who is however still the head of the Smer-SD party poised to win the February general election — and has become a lightning rod for outrage against high-level corruption in the EU member state.
“ I mediated the murder of Jan Kuciak between ( suspected co-conspirators) Alena Zsuzsova and ( Tomas) Szabo at the direction of Mr Kocner, ” Andrusko testified at the Special Criminal Court in the western city of Pezinok, 20 kilometres ( 12 miles) outside Bratislava.
“ I’ m so sorry about what happened. I don’ t know how to fix it, I guess I can’ t, but I’ ll do everything I can to set things right. With my testimony, of course, ” Andrusko told the parents of the murdered couple.
He claimed Zsuzsova, a friend of Kocner’ s, handed him 50,000 euros ( $ 55,000) the morning after the killings to give to confessed gunman Miroslav Marcek and his cousin and alleged sidekick Tomas Szabo, who denies involvement.
Andrusko added that Zsuzsova, who on Monday denied arranging the hit, had been “ furious ” when he told her the fiancee had also been killed.
“ She was angry… but she said okay, that she would go meet Mr Kocner and then we would talk. She then met me in the morning and gave me money. ”
The hit was also botched in another way: Andrusko testified that Zsuzsova had originally requested that “ the boys were to take Jan Kuciak somewhere and assassinate him so that his body was not found. ”
According to Andrusko, when Marcek and Szabo asked who had ordered the hit, “ we agreed with Alena that I should not mention Kocner in any way. Rather, I should say that there was a certain Russian person who has problems with the media in Slovakia. ”
– ‘ Political murder’ –
On Monday, Kocner refused to comment on his murder indictment, citing “ objections ” to the contents.
According to the indictment, Kocner decided “ to get rid of Jan Kuciak physically and thus prevent further disclosure of his ( Kocner’ s) activities ” after failing to find “ any dirt ” to discredit the journalist.
Kocner had previously pleaded not guilty to ordering the hit on Kuciak.
The parents of the murdered couple testified earlier Tuesday, with Kusnirova’ s mother Zlatica telling the court that “ from the first moment I said it was a political murder ”.
After the mother asked “ who gave you the right to take our children’ s lives? ”, Zsuzsova rejected the accusation and invoked the presumption of innocence.
Jozef Kuciak, the father of the late journalist, said he had once voted for the Smer-SD party.
“ I regarded myself a Social Democrat and believed in all that gibberish. That is why I was not afraid of Mr. Kocner’ s threats, because I thought that nothing like this could happen in our country, ” he told the court.
“ I thought we had a functioning prosecutor’ s office, police, courts. But Jan had warned me that I shouldn’ t believe everything politicians say, ” he added.
The protests triggered by the murder that brought down the government paved the way for the election of liberal anti-corruption activist Zuzana Caputova as president last March.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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Barry Schwartz's Top Picks: Jan. 14, 2020 | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
As we look forward to 2020, we believe that conditions are ripe for our clients’ portfolios to continue to improve. You can hardly ask for a better investing environment: Corporate profits for U.S. companies are at record levels, employment is near record levels and interest rates are low ( and probably not going higher any time soon). Also, the signing of the phase 1 trade agreement between U.S. and China will add much needed confidence to the global economy. For those skeptical about investing when the market is at an all-time high, we have good news for you: historically after hitting a high, the market is higher six months later more than 80 per cent of the time.
We know that many challenges lay ahead in 2020. The North American economy is still suffering from the aftereffects of a prolonged trade dispute and has yet to find its footing. In addition, we expect to see volatility as we get closer to the U.S. presidential election.
As always, we take our cues from the companies in which we invest. We saw significant dividend increases and material share-buyback announcements from our portfolio companies. We expect higher earnings from our portfolio companies in 2020, and our research team continues to hunt for better investment ideas.
We look forward to the opportunities and the challenges that 2020 will bring and we are optimistic that the current highs in the stock market will beget new highs.
Barry Schwartz shares his top picks: TMX Group, Activision Blizzard and Amazon.
TMX Group is at the beginning stages of its journey to transform itself from an operator of the TSX and TSX Venture stock exchanges to a global business with a focus on data analytics. We see many positive tailwinds for its business, including record index levels, significant global liquidity and a balance sheet that has been significantly de-risked. At 18 times earnings, TMX trades at a discount to U.S. peers while offering a rising dividend stream to shareholders.
Activision Blizzard is one of the largest video gaming companies in the world, responsible for popular games such as Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush. The company benefits from the long-term tailwinds to the video game industry, including e-sports, microtransactions and mobile gaming. We believe the upcoming releases of Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 as well as further unannounced games will demonstrate the resilience of Activision Blizzard’ s brands. There are also opportunities for strategic acquisitions given Activision’ s strong balance sheet.
We believe that Amazon shares are a good buy after underperforming the S & P 500 last year. In 2019, Amazon invested heavily in initiatives that should add a significant amount of value for its Prime members such as free one-day shipping and streaming video content. We see a massive runway of growth for Amazon.
Barry Schwartz reviews his past picks: Delta Air Lines, CN Rail and Magna.
TWITTER: @ BarrySchwartzBW WEBSITE: baskinfinancial.com
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The two-year COVID crisis put many markets on a wild ride—just look at U.S. treasuries—but few have had a crazier time than crude oil: from total collapse in 2020 to the brink of US $ 100 a barrel today.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked emergency powers to quell protests over COVID restrictions that have brought gridlock to Canada’ s capital and blocked key trade corridors, citing the need to restore public order.
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Four Chinese sailors kidnapped in Gabon are free | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Four Chinese sailors who were kidnapped last month in the port of Libreville, the capital of Gabon, have been released, the Chinese consulate in Lagos said.
A Nigerian security source separately told AFP Tuesday that the four had been freed in a military operation.
`` The consulate general in Lagos cooperated with the relevant embassies and local Chinese enterprises and overseas Chinese groups to carry out rescue efforts, and the hostages were released safely, '' according to a statement posted on the consulate's website.
Consul-general Chu Maoming visited the freed sailors before they went home, said the statement, dated Sunday.
The four had been seized by pirates in Libreville harbour on December 22. A Gabonese captain was also killed.
The statement did not give details of their release, but a source in the Nigerian security services said Tuesday they had been rescued by a `` combined team of ( the Nigerian) Joint Task Force ''.
The forces took part in a mission, codenamed Operation Delta Safe, it said.
The rescue unfolded in seas off the estuary of the Escravos River in Warri South West, a district in Nigeria's Delta State, the source said.
Pirate attacks are unusual in Libreville port, but are notoriously frequent in the surrounding Gulf of Guinea.
A vast expanse which stretches some 5,700 kilometres ( 3,500 miles) from Senegal to Angola, the Gulf of Guinea has eclipsed the notorious waters off Somalia to become the world's epicentre for pirate attacks, lootings and kidnappings for ransom.
Much of the problem originates in the Niger Delta, a base for pirates who use high-powered speedboats to raid passing ships and kidnap crews.
- Rising numbers abducted -
The number of sailors abducted in the Gulf of Guinea rose by 50 percent last year, the International Maritime Bureau ( IMB) reported on Tuesday.
The tally jumped from 78 in 2018 to 121 last year, amounting to over 90 percent of kidnappings reported at sea worldwide, it said in its annual piracy report.
In November, two Filipinos, a Greek and a Georgian, crew members on an oil tanker, were abducted off of the Togolese capital Lome and nine Filipino seamen were snatched off of Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin.
On January 8, the Nigerian navy said three foreign sailors -- two Russians and an Indian -- who had been kidnapped the previous week were saved by a navy team in the coastal state of Ondo.
Criminal gangs in the past used to steal cargoes of oil, but have switched tactics to kidnapping sailors for ransom as crude prices have fallen.
The attacks have seriously disrupted international shipping routes and had huge economic costs.
In 2017 alone, the cost to West Africa was estimated at over $ 818 million ( 735 million euros), including naval activities and contracting security services, according to a report from Oceans Beyond Piracy, a programme that studied maritime attacks.
Four Chinese sailors who were kidnapped last month in the port of Libreville, the capital of Gabon, have been released, the Chinese consulate in Lagos said.
A Nigerian security source separately told AFP Tuesday that the four had been freed in a military operation.
“ The consulate general in Lagos cooperated with the relevant embassies and local Chinese enterprises and overseas Chinese groups to carry out rescue efforts, and the hostages were released safely, ” according to a statement posted on the consulate’ s website.
Consul-general Chu Maoming visited the freed sailors before they went home, said the statement, dated Sunday.
The four had been seized by pirates in Libreville harbour on December 22. A Gabonese captain was also killed.
The statement did not give details of their release, but a source in the Nigerian security services said Tuesday they had been rescued by a “ combined team of ( the Nigerian) Joint Task Force ”.
The forces took part in a mission, codenamed Operation Delta Safe, it said.
The rescue unfolded in seas off the estuary of the Escravos River in Warri South West, a district in Nigeria’ s Delta State, the source said.
Pirate attacks are unusual in Libreville port, but are notoriously frequent in the surrounding Gulf of Guinea.
A vast expanse which stretches some 5,700 kilometres ( 3,500 miles) from Senegal to Angola, the Gulf of Guinea has eclipsed the notorious waters off Somalia to become the world’ s epicentre for pirate attacks, lootings and kidnappings for ransom.
Much of the problem originates in the Niger Delta, a base for pirates who use high-powered speedboats to raid passing ships and kidnap crews.
– Rising numbers abducted –
The number of sailors abducted in the Gulf of Guinea rose by 50 percent last year, the International Maritime Bureau ( IMB) reported on Tuesday.
The tally jumped from 78 in 2018 to 121 last year, amounting to over 90 percent of kidnappings reported at sea worldwide, it said in its annual piracy report.
In November, two Filipinos, a Greek and a Georgian, crew members on an oil tanker, were abducted off of the Togolese capital Lome and nine Filipino seamen were snatched off of Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin.
On January 8, the Nigerian navy said three foreign sailors — two Russians and an Indian — who had been kidnapped the previous week were saved by a navy team in the coastal state of Ondo.
Criminal gangs in the past used to steal cargoes of oil, but have switched tactics to kidnapping sailors for ransom as crude prices have fallen.
The attacks have seriously disrupted international shipping routes and had huge economic costs.
In 2017 alone, the cost to West Africa was estimated at over $ 818 million ( 735 million euros), including naval activities and contracting security services, according to a report from Oceans Beyond Piracy, a programme that studied maritime attacks.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
New York's weaknesses in the face of climate change, the city is erecting a $ 1.45-billion system of walls and floodgates.
Kroger, the country’ s biggest traditional grocery chain, is ending some benefits for unvaccinated workers.
Australia will push ahead with plans to ease Covid restrictions before Christmas.
Nearly 10 years after Imad al-Hisso fled the civil war in Syria, he remains trapped in Gaza, a place he calls `` a prison. ''
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Natural Gas to Trail Wind, Solar in New Electricity Generation This Year, EIA Says | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report | Infrastructure | NGI All News Access
The United States will add 42 GW of new electricity capacity to commercial operations this year, with 9.31 GW ( 22%) coming in the form of natural gas-burning facilities, but the largest additions will be wind and solar generation, according to the Energy Information Administration ( EIA).
Wind is expected to account for 18.46 GW ( 44%), the largest share of the additions, followed by solar at 13.48 GW ( 32%) and natural gas, EIA said Tuesday. The remaining 2% is expected to come from hydroelectric generators and battery storage.
The planned gas capacity additions include 6.7 GW of combined-cycle plants and 2.3 GW of combustion-turbine plants. More than 70% of the gas additions would be in Pennsylvania, Texas, California and Louisiana, said EIA.
At the same time, EIA expects 3.7 GW of natural gas retirements in 2020, primarily older units that came online in the 1950s or 1960s, more than two-thirds of them steam turbine plants. Most of the retiring capacity, 2.2 GW, would come from the closings of California’ s Alamitos, Huntington Beach and Redondo Beach plants. Also scheduled for retirement is the 10-year-old Inland Empire Energy Center, a natural gas-fired baseload generation plant in Southern California using turbine technology that has never taken hold commercially.
If operators were to achieve the 18.46 GW of wind capacity scheduled to come online this year it would easily surpass the record level of 13.2 GW set in 2012, EIA said.
“ More than 60%, or 11.2 GW, of wind capacity is scheduled to come online at the end of the year, in November and December of 2020, which is typical for solar and wind applications, ” the agency said. “ Expiration of the U.S. production tax credit ( PTC) at the end of 2020 is driving the large wind capacity addition. The phase-out of the PTC extension is also reflected in the amount of wind capacity additions that came online in 2019, which EIA expects will total 11.8 GW. Texas accounts for 32% of the wind capacity additions expected in 2020, followed by Oklahoma at 6% and Wyoming, Colorado, and Missouri at 5% each.
EIA expects 13.5 GW of solar capacity to come online in 2020, surpassing the previous annual record addition of 8 GW in 2016. States expected to experience the largest utility-scale electric power sector solar photovoltaic ( PV) capacity additions this year are Texas ( 22%), California ( 15%), Florida ( 11%), and South Carolina ( 10%). “ The residential and commercial sectors will also experience record growth as a result of new distributed PV or rooftop systems, ” EIA said.
Scheduled capacity retirements ( 11 GW) for 2020 will primarily be driven by coal ( 51%), followed by natural gas ( 33%) and nuclear ( 14%). Both Indian Point Unit 2 in New York and the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa, totaling 1.6 GW, are scheduled to retire in 2020.
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By Guan Yu Lim contact
14-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 14-Jan-2020 at 01:17 GMT
Related tags: Japan, Asahi, Beer, Renewable energy function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` Japan, Asahi, Beer, Renewable energy ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
The firm will procure the same renewable energy from Japan Natural Energy Company Limited, which is mainly derived from biomass and wind.
This move is part of Asahi Group’ s vision to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions in all its business activities by 2050. A shorter-term target is to reduce emissions by 30% by 2030.
Using renewable energy in producing Dry Zero is one of the ways to achieve the target.
Kristin Chiu, manager of the public relations section at Asahi Group Holdings said 9,300 tons of CO2 emissions would be reduced annually from the three products ( Super Dry cans, Super Dry gift package, Dry Zero can).
She told FoodNavigator-Asia, the firm expects to procure 20.15 million kWh of green energy to manufacture the above products in 2020, which was a 119% increase compared to the previous year.
The packaging of Asahi Dry Zero will display the green energy mark, established by the Japan Quality Assurance Organization ( Green Energy Certification Center) which indicates that the product is manufactured using green power. The mark will be present on all packaging materials including outer packaging as well as on the can itself.
The new Asahi Dry Zero ( 350mL can) with the green energy mark will go on sale at the end of January 2020.
So far, no other products from Asahi are manufactured using renewable energy. Although, the firm is still working on its plan to contribute to a sustainable business as part of the Asahi Group Environmental Vision 2050 which was renewed in February 2019.
Chiu told us one example was Asahi’ s lightweight beer can ( 350mL) which weighed 13.9g, 1g less than the existing 14.9g can. By using less aluminium, it is expected to help reduce annual Co2 emissions by 11,000 tons.
In Asahi’ s soft drink business, it is also using rice ink to print the labels of Mitsuya Cider ( 1.5L PET bottles) instead of conventional petroleum-based inks.
The rice ink uses resin made of the waste produced when oil is squeezed from Japanese rice brans. This initiative is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by around 10 tons. Asahi is also planning to use more plant-derived materials for the labels ( 80%) as well as bottles and caps ( 30%). | general |
How banks can protect their customers from coronavirus-themed phishing emails | Cybercriminals who deal in spam and phishing emails like to pounce on any topic in the news, especially ones that are of concern and worry to a vast number of individuals. The coronavirus, which has already led to the deaths of more than a thousand people, has become an area that scammers are corrupting for their own purposes.
Knowing the topic is critical for many, spammers are sending phishing emails with malicious attachments masquerading as instructions around the coronavirus. A blog posted Thursday by OneSpan offers tips to banks and financial institutions for protecting themselves, their employees, and their customers against this latest scam.
SEE: Phishing attacks: A guide for IT pros ( free PDF) ( TechRepublic)
Researchers at IBM X-Force have pointed to attackers sending out infected email attachments disguised as coronavirus instructions, OneSpan pointed out. If the unsuspecting recipient opens the attachment, the file silently installs an Emotet downloader to infect the computer. Most of the phishing messages seen so far are in Japanese since the coronavirus has been focused in Asia. But these messages are expected to spread to other countries and likely other languages.
In a recent blog post, security provider Kaspersky found malicious PDF, MP4, and Microsoft Word DOCX files disguised as documents relating to the coronavirus. The scammers imply that the files contain instructions for detecting and protecting against the virus.
These coronavirus-themed phishing emails could affect businesses due to China's role in the world economy, according to OneSpan. As one example, many companies are being asked if their supply chains will be disrupted because of shipping issues with China. Further, OneSpan said it expects to see the following types of phishing emails trying to take advantage of the virus.
SEE: Coronavirus having major effect on tech industry beyond supply chain delays ( free PDF) ( TechRepublic)
Such phishing attacks can affect both corporate and retail banking customers. As such, banks and financial institutions can better protect their customers from these phishing emails by using the right types of fraud detection and prevention systems, as described by OneSpan.
Most fraud detection and prevention systems rely on rules engines to manage fraud. But not all anti-fraud systems are alike. Expert rules engines can help financial institutions with extra rules during greater periods of risk such as certain holidays and natural disasters when customers are more likely to be hit. Dynamic fraud prevention tools can better help companies respond to fast changes in fraud.
Fraud detection systems should also offer specific controls so they can switch to a lower level of trust during periods of higher risk. Temporarily changing thresholds for the scoring model to allow for a larger number of false positives in favor of fewer false negatives is a worthwhile process. Once these coronavirus-themed phishing emails decrease, financial institutions can always dial back the detection to lessen the workload on the fraud team.
`` Financial institutions can take steps to better protect themselves, their employees, and even their customers from these threats, '' Will LaSala, Senior Director of Global Solutions, Security Evangelist for OneSpan, said in the blog post. `` The first step is to be aware of the heightened risk at this time and deploy enhanced safety precautions. Banks and other financial institutions should adjust the rules engines on their fraud detection and prevention systems, monitor user behavior throughout the entire online banking session, and leverage machine learning and advanced risk analytics to identify abnormal user behavior in real time. ''
Strengthen your organization's IT security defenses by keeping abreast of the latest cybersecurity news, solutions, and best practices. Delivered Tuesdays and Thursdays
| tech |
Cybercriminals flooding the web with coronavirus-themed spam and malware | There has been a sustained effort by cybercriminals to use the global concern about coronavirus to spread malware, steal credentials and perform massive spam operations since the end of January.
As the death toll has risen well past 1,000 and the virus continues to spread to more countries, hackers have expanded and evolved their coronavirus-themed attacks in a variety of ways.
A blog post from Proofpoint's senior director of threat research and detection, Sherrod Degrippo, on Thursday said hackers were now using conspiracy theories about the virus to sell fake cures or convince people to click on malicious links.
Cybercriminals were already using convincing but fake emails from the WHO, CDC and Japanese government to trick people into downloading PDF, MP4 and Microsoft Word DOCX files.
As the weeks have gone by, hackers have also expanded their attacks to include malware like Emotet and AZORult as well as information stealing malware like AgentTesla Keylogger and the NanoCore RAT.
Degrippo said Proofpoint researchers have also seen attacks targeting other industries like construction, education, energy, healthcare, retail, and transportation. Many of these attacks are targeting people in the United States as well as populations in Japan, Australia and Italy.
SEE: 10 ways to minimize fileless malware infections ( free PDF) ( TechRepublic Premium)
The shipping and manufacturing industry have taken massive hits because of the quarantines in China, and cybercriminals have sought to exploit that by bombarding companies with malware, spam and fake emails with links to sites like Office 365, Adobe and DocuSign hoping to steal emails and passwords.
One of the ways hackers have sought to attack enterprises is through emails purporting to come from an organization's president or someone's boss. The emails come with company letterhead and can generally seem like something a company's leader would send out. `` We have seen a campaign that uses a coronavirus-themed email that is designed to look like an internal email from the company's president to all employees shown. This email is extremely well-crafted and lists the business ' president's correct name, '' Degrippo wrote. `` The messages contain a Microsoft Word attachment with an embedded URL that leads to a fake Microsoft Office website to enter credentials. Once the credentials are entered, the user is then redirected to the legitimate World Health Organization coronavirus information site, making the phishing transaction seem legitimate. '' Proofpoint also found emails coming from fake Australian healthcare companies attempting the same scams. Avishay Zawoznik, security research manager at Imperva, released a detailed report on spam operations centered around coronavirus fears and showed how cybercriminals were exploiting online interest in the virus to spread misinformation or lure people into buying fake cures. The report includes two graphs showing clear links between the rise in Google searches for coronavirus and the number of bot requests for the term. `` For people searching for genuine information on coronavirus, this is polluting their online search results with fake and meaningless results. Not only does the content of this spam do nothing to help people in their quest to educate themselves on this global health risk, but bot operators are using technology to exploit the public's need for medical information in order to gain a few more clicks to their fake pharmacies, '' Zawoznik wrote. Hackers are spamming the comment sections of popular websites hoping to trick people into clicking on links and to improve the ranking of websites related to the term `` coronavirus. '' The expansion in diversity of cyberattacks against industries like manufacturing, retail and transportation have prompted the government to step in with guidelines. On Monday, a consumer education specialist for the Federal Trade Commission, Colleen Tressler, wrote that scammers are `` setting up websites to sell bogus products, and using fake emails, texts, and social media posts as a ruse to take your money and get your personal information. '' `` The emails and posts may be promoting awareness and prevention tips, and fake information about cases in your neighborhood. They also may be asking you to donate to victims, offering advice on unproven treatments, or contain malicious email attachments, '' she wrote. Tressler detailed a number of ways people can keep themselves safe from attacks, including up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware software. She also said people should be wary of links to sources you don't know, any emails about vaccinations or cures and donation websites. `` The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC) is warning people about online promotions, including on social media, claiming that the products or services of publicly traded companies can prevent, detect, or cure coronavirus and that the stock of these companies will dramatically increase in value as a result, '' Tressler added.
Strengthen your organization's IT security defenses by keeping abreast of the latest cybersecurity news, solutions, and best practices. Delivered Tuesdays and Thursdays
| tech |
The continuing 2019-nCoV epidemic threat of novel coronaviruses to global health — The latest 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China - International Journal of Infectious Diseases | The city of Wuhan in China is the focus of global attention due to an outbreak of a febrile respiratory illness due to a coronavirus 2019-nCoV. In December 2019, there was an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, Hubei province in China, with an epidemiological link to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market where there was also sale of live animals. Notification of the WHO on 31 Dec 2019 by the Chinese Health Authorities has prompted health authorities in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan to step up border surveillance, and generated concern and fears that it could mark the emergence of a novel and serious threat to public health ( WHO, 2020aWHO Emergencies preparedness, response. Pneumonia of unknown origin – China.Disease outbreak news. 2020https: //www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/Google Scholar, Parr, 2020Parr J. Pneumonia in China: lack of information raises concerns among Hong Kong health workers.BMJ. 2020; 368 ( Published 8 January 2020): m56https: //doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m56Crossref PubMed Scopus ( 16) Google Scholar).
The Chinese health authorities have taken prompt public health measures including intensive surveillance, epidemiological investigations, and closure of the market on 1 Jan 2020. SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, avian influenza, influenza and other common respiratory viruses were ruled out. The Chinese scientists were able to isolate a 2019-nCoV from a patient within a short time on 7 Jan 2020 and perform genome sequencing of the 2019-nCoV. The genetic sequence of the 2019-nCoV has become available to the WHO on 12 Jan 2020 and this has facilitated the laboratories in different countries to produce specific diagnostic PCR tests for detecting the novel infection ( WHO, 2020bWHO Emergencies preparedness, response. Pneumonia of unknown origin – China.Disease outbreak news. 2020https: //www.who.int/csr/don/12-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-china/en/Google Scholar). The 2019-nCoV is a β CoV of group 2B with at least 70% similarity in genetic sequence to SARS-CoV and has been named 2019-nCoV by the WHO.
SARS is a zoonosis caused by SARS-CoV, which first emerged in China in 2002 before spreading to 29 countries/regions in 2003 through a travel-related global outbreak with 8,098 cases with a case fatality rate of 9.6%. Nosocomial transmission of SARS-CoV was common while the primary reservoir was putatively bats, although unproven as the actual source and the intermediary source was civet cats in the wet markets in Guangdong ( Hui and Zumla, 2019Hui D.S.C. Zumla A. Severe acute respiratory syndrome: historical, epidemiologic, and clinical features.Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2019; 33: 869-889Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus ( 233) Google Scholar). MERS is a novel lethal zoonotic disease of humans endemic to the Middle East, caused by MERS-CoV. Humans are thought to acquire MERS-CoV infection though contact with camels or camel products with a case fatality rate close to 35% while nosocomial transmission is also a hallmark ( Azhar et al., 2019Azhar E.I. Hui D.S.C. Memish Z.A. Drosten C. Zumla A. The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS).Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2019; 33: 891-905Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus ( 122) Google Scholar). The recent outbreak of clusters of viral pneumonia due to a 2019-nCoV in the Wuhan market poses significant threats to international health and may be related to sale of bush meat derived from wild or captive sources at the seafood market.
As of 10 Jan 2020, 41 patients have been diagnosed to have infection by the 2019-nCoV animals. The onset of illness of the 41 cases ranges from 8 December 2019 to 2 January 2020. Symptoms include fever ( > 90% cases), malaise, dry cough ( 80%), shortness of breath ( 20%) and respiratory distress ( 15%). The vital signs were stable in most of the cases while leucopenia and lymphopenia were common. Among the 41 cases, six patients have been discharged, seven patients are in critical care and one died, while the remaining patients are in stable condition. The fatal case involved a 61 year-old man with an abdominal tumour and cirrhosis who was admitted to a hospital due to respiratory failure and severe pneumonia. The diagnoses included severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock and multi-organ failure. The 2019-nCoV infection in Wuhan appears clinically milder than SARS or MERS overall in terms of severity, case fatality rate and transmissibility, which increases the risk of cases remaining undetected. There is currently no clear evidence of human to human transmission. At present, 739 close contacts including 419 healthcare workers are being quarantined and monitored for any development of symptoms ( WHO, 2020bWHO Emergencies preparedness, response. Pneumonia of unknown origin – China.Disease outbreak news. 2020https: //www.who.int/csr/don/12-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-china/en/Google Scholar, Center for Health Protection and HKSAR, 2020Center for Health Protection HKSAR Press Release.2020https: //www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202001/11/P2020011100233.htmGoogle Scholar). No new cases have been detected in Wuhan since 3 January 2020. However the first case outside China was reported on 13th January 2020 in a Chinese tourist in Thailand with no epidemiological linkage to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.
The Chinese Health Authorities have carried out very appropriate and prompt response measures including active case finding, and retrospective investigations of the current cluster of patients which have been completed; The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market has been temporarily closed to carry out investigation, environmental sanitation and disinfection; Public risk communication activities have been carried out to improve public awareness and adoption of self-protection measures. Technical guidance on novel coronavirus has been developed and will continue to be updated as additional information becomes available.
However, many questions about the new coronavirus remain. While it appears to be transmitted to humans via animals, the specific animals and other reservoirs need to be identified, the transmission route, the incubation period and characteristics of the susceptible population and survival rates. At present, there is however very limited clinical information of the 2019-nCoV infection and data are missing in regard to the age range, animal source of the virus, incubation period, epidemic curve, viral kinetics, transmission route, pathogenesis, autopsy findings and any treatment response to antivirals among the severe cases. Once there is any clue to the source of animals being responsible for this outbreak, global public health authorities should examine the trading route and source of movement of animals or products taken from the wild or captive conditions from other parts to Wuhan and consider appropriate trading restrictions or other control measures to limit. The rapid identification and containment of a novel coronavirus virus in a short period of time is a re-assuring and a commendable achievement by China’ s public health authorities and reflects the increasing global capacity to detect, identify, define and contain new outbreaks. The latest analysis show that the Wuhan CoV cluster with the SARS CoV.10 ( Novel coronavirus - China ( 01): ( HU) WHO, phylogenetic tree ProMED, 2020ProMED “ Novel coronavirus - China ( 01): ( HU) WHO, phylogenetic tree ”. Archive Number: 20200112.6885385. Accessed 13 Jan 2020. https: //www.ecohealthalliance.org/2020/01/phylogenetic-analysis-shows-novel-wuhan-coronavirus-clusters-with-sars.Google Scholar).
This outbreak brings back memories of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, the severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) in China in 2003, caused by a novel SARS-CoV-coronavirus ( World Health Organization, 2019aWorld Health Organization SARS ( Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).2019https: //www.who.int/ith/diseases/sars/en/Google Scholar). SARS-CoV rapidly spread from southern China in 2003 and infected more than 3000 people, killing 774 by 2004, and then disappeared – never to be seen again.
However, The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS) Coronavirus ( MERS-CoV) ( World Health Organization, 2019bWorld Health Organization MERS situation update.2019http: //applications.emro.who.int/docs/EMROPub 2019 MERA apr EN 23513.pdf? ua=1Google Scholar), a lethal zoonotic pathogen that was first identified in humans in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ( KSA) in 2012 continues to emerge and re-emerge through intermittent sporadic cases, community clusters and nosocomial outbreaks. Between 2012 and December 2019, a total of 2465 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection, including 850 deaths ( 34.4% mortality) were reported from 27 countries to WHO, the majority of which were reported by KSA ( 2073 cases, 772 deaths. Whilst several important aspects of MERS-CoV epidemiology, virology, mode of transmission, pathogenesis, diagnosis, clinical features, have been defined, there remain many unanswered questions, including source, transmission and epidemic potential. The Wuhan outbreak is a stark reminder of the continuing threat of zoonotic diseases to global health security. More significant and better targeted investments are required for a more concerted and collaborative global effort, learning from experiences from all geographical regions, through a ‘ ONE-HUMAN-ENIVRONMENTAL-ANIMAL-HEALTH’ global consortium to reduce the global threat of zoonotic diseases ( Zumla et al., 2016Zumla A. Dar O. Kock R. et al.Taking forward a’ One Health’ approach for turning the tide against the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus and other zoonotic pathogens with epidemic potential.Int J Infect Dis. 2016; 47: 5-9Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus ( 51) Google Scholar). Sharing experience and learning from all geographical regions and across disciplines will be key to sustaining and further developing the progress being made.
All authors have a specialist interest in emerging and re-emerging pathogens. FN, RK, OD, GI, TDMc, CD and AZ are members of the Pan-African Network on Emerging and Re-emerging Infections ( PANDORA-ID-NET) funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. AZ is a National Institutes of Health Research senior investigator. All authors declare no conflicts of interest. | tech |
What The Big-Bank Earnings Mean For Consumer Stocks |
The peak of earnings just kicked off with reports from three of the nation’ s largest financial institutions. In ordinary times these reports are closely watched as bellwethers of the economy and these are hardly ordinary times. International trade relations have dampened global economic activity and yet the U.S. consumer has thrived.
JP Morgan ( JPM) topped the headlines with its stunning results. Revenue and earnings fell slightly from the third to the fourth quarter but only slightly and much less than expected. Year over year, revenue grew 8.4% and drove a $ 0.22 beat on the bottom line. As a bellwether, these numbers suggest underlying strength in U.S. businesses but there’ s more to it.
JP Morgan’ s results are driven by the consumer. Strength in consumer segments juiced results across all segments and those trends are not expected to end soon. The labor data continues to show tight markets and high demand for labor which equates to business for consumer banks. If anything, consumer trends will continue to strengthen in 2020.
`` The U.S. consumer continues to be in a strong position and we see the benefits of this across our consumer businesses, '' said JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.
Citigroup ( C) is equally upbeat on the consumer. The bank beat on the top and bottom lines and saw EPS grew sequentially as well as YOY. CEO Michael Corbat notes “ continued strong growth in branded Cards and momentum in attracting digital deposits to the U.S. consumer business ”
The Signs Are Clear, The Consumer Is Strong
News from Lululemon ( LULU) helps drive home the point that consumers are strong, if not where they will spend their money. The company raised its guidance for the second time in under five weeks due to unexpectedly strong results in the holiday quarter. Foot-traffic at the brick and mortar stores was up 10% but direct-to-consumer is the real story. Lululemon increased its online sales by nearly 30% proving two things. People have money to spend on things they value and it’ s possible to compete with Amazon.
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Others, like Target ( TGT) and Walmart ( WMT), are poised to show similar strength. Both have been taking market share from malls and big retailers, as well as Amazon, so expect them to exceed consensus when they report.
Consumer Discretionary Under Pressure
The consumer discretionary sector has been under pressure, at least regarding the earnings outlook. While the estimates for 4th quarter earnings have been steadily declining, the price of discretionary stocks has been rising, a situation not typical in a sector with negative earnings growth on tap.
Over the last quarter, the average estimate for earnings growth among consumer discretionary stocks at the sector level has fallen more than 15%, from 2.5% to -13.5%. At the same time, the Consumer Discretionary ETF ( XLY) has risen 8.5%, a major disconnect from earnings. This may be because growth is expected to rebound in 2020, to 12.5% versus this years -1.5%, or because the analyst’ s estimates are overly cautious, but we may never know.
Much of the weakness in earnings can be attributed to the automotive industry. GM and Ford are among the handful of companies with downward revisions greater than 10% but they are not alone. Amazon, Gap, and Hasbro are also on the list, showing a broad-based expectation for weakness in consumer spending for the 4th quarter.
With so much gloom among the analysts, the hurdle for consumer stocks to beat is very low indeed.
Better than expected earnings may cause the consumer stocks to pop but it will be the guidance that keeps them there. Because earnings growth is expected to rebound in the 1st quarter what the bulls need to see is upward revisions to current outlook and consensus estimates. Based on results from the banks, the estimates for 2020 EPS growth could begin to tick higher as the consumer discretionary companies begin to report.
Consumer Discretionary: The Technical Outlook
The technical outlook for the Consumer Discretionary Sector ETF ( XLY) is precarious. The daily charts show an ETF sitting at fresh all-time highs and not supported by the indicators. The way things are set up now, it looks like the market is waiting for earnings to be released and investors are ready to sell if they don't get what they want.
The worst thing about high expectations is they can be easily disappointed so there is more than a little risk. A round of bad reports and the ETF could sell-off by the end of the reporting cycle. The indicators are consistent with weakening markets which adds another element of risk, so I would be cautious with new entries until the earnings reports begin to come out. If the consumer companies beat consensus and begin to raise guidance we may see the XLY rally to new highs very soon.
5 Oil Stocks That May Not Survive the Current Crisis
What would you think of the long-term prospects of a business that paid you to buy their products? That’ s an oversimplification of what occurred to the May futures contract for oil on April 20. The price for that contract sold for a negative price for the first time in history. The crisis befalling the oil companies at this time can best be described as “ only the strongest survive. ” There’ s just no way the oil companies can possibly handle month after month of rock-bottom oil prices. The problem is almost comically simple to understand. There is a massively reduced demand for oil as millions of Americans are following mitigation orders ranging from social distancing guidelines to more restrictive shelter in place orders. At the same time, the market is trying to absorb the oversupply of oil that came from Russia and Saudi Arabia. However, when the year started, things looked like it might be business as usual for oil producers. The U.S. economy was humming along and there was talk that the second half of the year might finally bring the boost to oil prices that many companies badly needed. However, since the middle of February, the bottom has dropped out of the market in general, and oil prices have been one of the main sectors to feel the impact. Initially, investors tried to remain optimistic. A month ago, investors thought that the economy might be reopening sooner rather than later. However, the exact timing of the reopening is about as fluid as a barrel of oil. And with it looking more likely that there will be more demand destruction at least through May, there’ s very little to prop up the stock of any oil companies. And that means that, in all likelihood, there will not be room left for some oil companies. We’ ve highlighted five oil stocks that have a strong probability of not surviving the chaos surrounding the coronavirus and our nation’ s response.
View the `` 5 Oil Stocks That May Not Survive the Current Crisis ''.
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Wedbush: Apple ( AAPL) Could Break $ 2 Trillion Market Cap By 2021's End | Did you think that the era of optimism for Apple ( NASDAQ: AAPL) was over? If you did, you're in excellent company. Plenty of analysts—casual and professional alike, like Paul Meeks—out there thought that Apple's salad days might be behind it as smartphone penetration approached totality and the chances of people buying a new phone every year plummeted. That's not the case at Wedbush, meanwhile, as analyst Dan Ives has a new projection for Apple: the possibility of a $ 2 trillion market cap by 2021's end.
Pinch Me, Wedbush Must Be Dreaming
Apple is already the biggest US company as measured by market capitalization, reports note, but there's a distinct possibility that Apple could go even higher. High enough to get it to that magic $ 2 trillion, which would represent a record-breaking move in and of itself. If Apple managed to achieve such a feat, it would be the first US corporation to reach the $ 2 trillion mark ever.
Naturally, for Apple to achieve such a target, it's going to take a real push in Apple's share prices. Ives has that covered as well, putting forth one of the most bullish projections around. Ives has a price target of $ 350 per share over the next 12 months, and his bull case calls for Apple shares to hit $ 400. That's nearly a third more than they sat at the close of trading on Monday.
The Fundamentals Lend a Hand
A big Apple push isn't exactly out of line; 2019 featured a major push for the company as the share price nearly doubled over the course of the year, up 86% according to reports. That gave Apple a cool $ 1.389 trillion in market cap, by itself a record.
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To suggest that Apple could have another bellwether year might seem a bridge too far, but Ives has some noteworthy theories behind what could drive such a move. One of the biggest, of course, is the rise of 5G and the attendant phones that will need to be released to take advantage of this new connectivity. Ives refers to 2019 as the start of a complete market super cycle, which should help drive future sales in 2020 and 2021.
What's more, it's not as if demand has been slack for the current generation of iPhones; the iPhone 11 did brisk business, stronger than many saw coming. Throw in Apple's burgeoning services package—which are set to approach the $ 650 billion mark in sales—and that gives Apple an extra edge.
Ives isn't even alone in bullish Apple projections; UBS bumped up its own price target on Apple shares from a pessimistic $ 280—which would actually require a drop from current levels—to a much more optimistic $ 355. D.A. Davidson recently rolled up its Apple price target to a healthy $ 375, which certainly doesn't hurt. Even Piper Jaffray was spotted boosting price targets, although slightly, from $ 290 to $ 305 back in late December.
Does Wedbush Dream of Electric Everything?
This isn't the first time we 've seen Dan Ives bullish on a tech proposition. Just after Christmas, Ives came out with a price target of $ 370 on Tesla. Sure, that projection was shattered like a Cybertruck window meeting a rock, but it's still a point to consider.
There are other points to consider in Ives ' bullish Apple projections, too. Remember just over a week ago, when Susquehanna brought out projections that said Apple's year ahead could be hamstrung thanks to a slow rollout for 5G phones, as well as the 5G network in general. Apple traditionally holds off on new product launches until September, so there's still plenty of ground that could be gained in the interim.
The problem, in a nutshell, is 5G. Since Ives is projecting out to 2021, the speed of the rollout may not even matter. If Susquehanna proves right and Apple's 2020 is hamstrung because there's not much of a 5G network to use 5G phones on, then the now-pent-up demand can comfortably slide into 2021 instead and Apple can do land-office business then. This could be enough to push Apple up to Ives ' projected levels. Throw in steady, possibly growing, demand for services like Apple TV, the App Store, and Apple Pay, and that's new hoses of cash coming into Apple's vault.
While Ives ' projections might be a bit too optimistic, their comparatively long-term nature lends them credence. Instead of looking for short-term bumps in the road that could hamper Apple's progress, this looks at an Apple that, like its namesake, just gets bigger the longer it's on the tree.
10 Great Cheap Stocks to Buy Now for Under $ 10
As the P/E ratios of most S & P 500 companies look very expensive and the stock market continues to regularly hit new all-time highs, it's very difficult for investors to find cheap stocks to buy now. This goes for both share price, since most stocks are trading higher on a per-share basis, and valuation relative to earnings. Right now, the typical S & P 500 company is trading at about 25 times forward-looking earnings. Historically, S & P 500 companies have traded at about 15 times earnings in more normal markets. While the S & P 500 as a whole is expensive, there are still a handful undervalued stocks that are trading at less than $ 10.00 per share. Value investing opportunities for value exist if you know where to look. Putting together a list of cheap stocks to buy now requires looking into some smaller, riskier, unloved or undiscovered parts of the market. These low-priced stocks might not look especially attractive today, but long-term investors stand to profit if they are willing to be patient and hold onto shares of these companies through multiple market cycles. Some of these companies are great investing ideas because they're too small and too risky to attract the interest of most mutual funds and Wall Street money managers. Others have been beaten up by the market after a period of slowing earnings and profits, but are now trying to turn around and bounce back. In this list, you might find marijuana stocks, dividend-paying stocks, large-cap stocks, growth stocks, small-cap stocks, and even some bitcoin stocks. While these low-priced stocks have a lot of differences, these 10 stock picks all share a common characteristic, a super-low share price of $ 10.00 or less.
View the `` 10 Great Cheap Stocks to Buy Now for Under $ 10 ''.
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14-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 14-Jan-2020 at 10:21 GMT
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Both the US and the EU are each other’ s largest export markets, with total trade reaching $ 5.33bn ( €4.66bn) in 2018, creating jobs and investment on both sides of the Atlantic.
But tariffs – such as those introduced over the Boeing / Airbus subsidies battles and those threatened over France’ s tech tax – are a concern for the industry.
Signed by Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins ( CEEV) in Europe and Wine Institute in the US, the statement of principle on trade and tariffs asks governments refrain from targeting wine with retaliatory tariffs in unrelated trade disputes.
It calls on the governments of the EU and US to preserve and strengthen the EU-US wine partnership by completely eliminating tariffs ( a concept known as “ zero for zero ”) and refraining from targeting wine in unrelated trade disputes ( “ wine for wine ”).
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( GATT) embraced “ zero for zero ” for certain products more than 20 years ago, leading to increased trade for those products that benefited from a zero tariff.
Jean-Marie Barillère, President of CEEV, said: “ A free wine trade environment is essential to preserve the longstanding efforts and investments of our wine companies.
“ We urge authorities to protect our sector from being caught in the crossfire in unrelated trade disputes. ”
Robert P. “ Bobby ” Koch, President and CEO of Wine Institute, said: “ Export markets are a key growth opportunity for US wineries, but tariffs of any kind stand in the way. It is time for all governments to recognize the unique benefits of the wine trade and eliminate tariffs once and for all. ”
Additional signatories to the statement of principle will be announced in the future. | general |
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Sake is growing in popularity in the US market, now available in new single-serve sizes. Hiro Sake is in the process of expanding its US footprint with its first 6oz glass cup.
The brand also sells Red, Blue and Gold Sake in 24oz bottles reminiscent of wine. Hiro Sake first launched in 2013, and has been growing in North America with its full size varieties since.
Marco Destefanis and his co-founders saw the sake category growing in the US, without much change in the branding, availability and distribution. They realized they wouldn’ t need to cross many barriers to enter the market, and envisioned a better and more accessible product.
Destefanis told BeverageDaily that the mission of Hiro Sake is ‘ make sake simple.’ Many US consumers find traditional Japanese brands confusing, and are unable to read the labels and distinguish between products. The Hiro team wanted to simplify that with an easy name written in English.
Hiro Sake products are not intended for the Japanese consumer, who are already well integrated with other brands. Hiro targets the American general public, and those with a focus on health and wellness, according to Destefanis.
Sake can be considered a healthier option to several spirits, as it is naturally gluten free, preservative free, and sugar free. It has half the calories of vodka, and a lower ABV content at 15%.
Carlos Arana, co-founder and CEO of Hiro Sake, said `` We developed Hiro Sake in 2011 and have seen the US market grow, develop and mature in the last few years. We concepted the Hiro Sake single serve cup as a way to take sake out of its niche and make it a go-to for consumers that are looking for a drink that is versatile, mixes well in cocktails, is low alcohol and gluten-free – and will allow them to take their sake on the go. ”
“ It is the evolution of a market that supports single serve wine, champagne, prosecco and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages and we think that cup sake is the next single serve trend. ``
Sake has caught on especially well in certain US states because it is taxed and classified like a wine. This means it can be purchased and sold at venues that only have a wine and beer license. A full legal license for spirits is much more expensive and harder to obtain in states like California, New York, Florida and Texas.
This gives back the option of cocktails without spirits, because sake can easily be used as a substitute for many cocktails. Destefanis said that most consumers are open to the swaps, as they tend to choose cocktails based on color, name, smell and taste.
The single serves were a natural progression as the Hiro team noticed the appeal and popularity of portability in alcohol. The prominent millennial and Gen Z consumers respond well to affordable convenience.
Rather than committing to a full bottle, “ it’ s a little cup of something, ” Destefanis said. “ It’ s not the sake necessarily that consumers are looking for, it’ s the convenience. ”
Distribution of the cups started in Florida at the end of 2019, and will expand across the US and into Australia this year. Hiro’ s larger sake bottles are also in Mexico, Canada and Australia, with plans to enter Europe and Russia soon.
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WHO says new China virus could spread, it's warning all hospitals | - There has been `` limited '' human-to-human transmission of a new coronavirus that has struck in China, mainly small clusters in families, but there is potential for wider spread, the World Health Organization ( WHO) said on Tuesday.
A Chinese woman has been quarantined in Thailand with a mystery strain, authorities said on Monday, the first time it has been detected outside China. In all, 41 cases of pneumonia - a symptom of the disease - have been reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, mainly through exposure at a seafood market.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, acting head of WHO's emerging diseases unit, told a Geneva news briefing that the agency had given guidance to hospitals worldwide about infection control in case of spread, including by a `` super-spreading '' event in a health care setting. `` This is something on our radar, it is possible, we need to prepare ourselves, '' she said.
( Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by John Stonestreet) | business |
Wine consumption drops for the first time in 25 years | The fact that sales in the beer industry have been in a long, gradual decline is no surprise. And 2019 was no exception. Beer volumes dropped 2.3%, the fourth straight annual slide, IWSR noted.
But last year also marked a surprising drop in wine, one of the stalwarts of growth for the alcohol industry in recent years that until now has previously posted more than two straight decades of annual increases. The analytics firm found even though sparkling wine in the U.S. grew last year by almost 4%, it wasn't enough to offset the drop in the larger still wine category ( -1.5%), bringing total wine volumes down 0.9%.
Wine represents about 11% of the total beverage alcohol market in the U.S., IWSR says. Similar to beer, however, the drop in wine volume can be associated with what the firm cited as `` changing generational habits. ''
As more millennials and Gen Zers become drinkers, wine succumbs to the same problems that beer has already faced. It stands to reason that as this balance shifts further, with even more more younger drinkers who are more inclined to reach for a beverage like White Claw, wine could be in for a period of prolonged declines as well.
`` Millennials are just not embracing wine with open arms compared to previous generations, '' Brandy Rand, chief operating officer for the Americas at IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, told The Wall Street Journal. `` With the rise in low and no-alcohol products and general consumer trends toward health and wellness, wine is in a tough place. ''
Some alcoholic beverage companies are overhauling their wine portfolios. Constellation Brands announced last year the sale of some of its lower-end wine brands to E. & J. Gallo Winery for $ 1.1 billion, a much-lower price than the $ 3 billion initially expected. The fact that the maker of Modelo and Cornona beers sold the products for less could be indicative of the problems wine is facing.
Wine will likely need to innovate in a similar way that the beer industry has, expanding further into new flavors, premium or craft. It's possible the category will soon come to the realization that introducing a wine and expecting a large segment of the population to enjoy it simply won't work. Younger consumers want different flavors and varieties, and what works for one segment of the population may not last or could fail to take hold with consumers who might have embraced it before.
After employing much the same tactic, beer companies have been turning to hard coffee, kombucha, hard ciders, spiked seltzers, craft beers and flavored versions of already-popular brews in efforts to attract consumers. But it hasn't been enough. Simply latching on to a hot trend doesn't necessarily mean success. IWSR noted in 2019 the once-popular hard cider category dipped 3.8%.
Increases in volumes for craft, low- and no-alcohol and imported beers haven't been enough to offset the broader drop in the beer category, which still commands the lion's share of revenue for major companies such as AB InBev and Molson Coors. Still, these beer giants have little choice but to try to latch on to as many trends as they can in hopes that one sticks and consumers ultimately decide to gravitate to their products. The dominance of White Claw and Boston Beer Company's Truly have prompted beer companies to debut their own offerings or give more attention to other brands in the space they own.
It's possible that wine and beer companies, suffering from the same trends, could soon decide to merge in an effort to tap into synergies they have as alcohol companies when it comes to restaurants, supermarkets or convenience stores that carry both of their products. For now, it will likely fall to each side to innovate, and fast, to enable them to at the very least minimize the decline.
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As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
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With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation. | general |
Security is key for retailers. But it can't stand in the way of efficiency, CIO says | Across industries, security is often seen as a barrier for innovation, and Santimaw, who previously served as the retailer's VP of information security, ran into similar issues.
Rent-A-Center `` was running with a security mindset, and while that's important, it stopped the business from being effective, '' said Santimaw. It interfered with him trying to build more computer vision and data-intensive initiatives at Rent-A-Center locations.
`` The business model has to go where the customers are. Security can not stand in the way of moving forward, '' he said. Overcoming the existing model was a `` horrific tollgate to get through '' and now it's a conversation about innovation.
While the main business model is not entirely security-centric anymore, there's an `` open area '' in the headquarters for the security organization to collaborate across IT teams. It's not a `` basement; '' non-security employees are welcome.
Rent-A-Center's open concept for security collaboration went hand-in-hand with overhauling its connectivity solution to the cloud-based option.
Retailers treat their cybersecurity organizations as the default internet of things security team, said Robert Eastman, research manager at IDC Retail Insights, speaking on the panel.
Instead, retailers must rethink what the smart store concept means for customers and associates. Operational and information technology converge with cybersecurity, meeting them in the middle.
In retail, networks and infrastructure are a `` black box, '' said Eastman. Senior management and C-suite officials wouldn't really think about it.
Clarification: This article and headline have been updated to add context to comments made by Mike Santimaw.
The COVID-19 pandemic, and ensuing recession, turned security strategies upside down.
Tech leaders must invoke their `` inner Steve Jobs '' to attract AI talent, said Gartner's Arun Chandrasekaran.
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The COVID-19 pandemic, and ensuing recession, turned security strategies upside down.
Tech leaders must invoke their `` inner Steve Jobs '' to attract AI talent, said Gartner's Arun Chandrasekaran. | tech |
M & A Screening: New Strategies Require a Wider View | We have limited Spanish content available. View Spanish content.
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Growth and capability assets are more likely to be found outside traditional business boundaries.
By Les Baird, David Harding, Andrei Vorobyov and Shikha Dhar
Report
This article is Section 4.1 of Bain's 2020 Global Corporate M & A Report. Explore our latest annual M & A report here.
Leadership begets leadership. One of the advantages of being a leader is the information advantage. From a higher vantage point, it is easier to not only spot market trends, emerging technologies and business models but also any acquisition opportunities that come on the market.
Consider this quote: `` If anyone in the world wants to sell a beauty business, the first people they will call is us, ” said L’ Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon. “ So we are looking every year at every opportunity, and continue to. Makeup, skin care, hair care, hair color—everything. ''
However, L’ Oréal does not solely rely on its leadership pull; the company complements this advantage with a rigorous and thoughtful process for finding new acquisition targets.
“ We are always busy studying good potential acquisitions, ” said Agon.
This is common among the most successful companies that we’ ve studied over the past two decades. Sure, they have built a strong M & A capability over time with the right teams and processes. Yet the behavior that trumps it all is their continuous lookout for acquisition opportunities that guides them toward success. It never stops.
In fact, many successful acquirers resemble private equity firms when they scout for and assess potential targets, with a formal investment board and ongoing updates to the target list. That said, the M & A roadmap starts with a defined corporate strategy and investment themes.
Charting out an M & A roadmap for finding and developing new growth engines starts by deeply understanding your unique strategic direction and differentiated capabilities. The M & A roadmap should be derived from corporate strategy. M & A in support of developing new sources of growth also requires a strong in-house capability supplemented by external sources.
Identifying growth and capability assets means widening the aperture on potential sectors and targets, likely venturing beyond existing business boundaries. If not guided by a cohesive strategic direction and done systematically, however, there is a real risk of catching deal fever and buying expensive assets that don’ t fit.
To sum up, a successful M & A screening capability for new growth engines looks something like this:
KLA Corporation’ s moves to expand into adjacent businesses illustrates how successful acquirers operate. KLA is a leading player in the process control systems and solutions industry, serving the semiconductor and related nanoelectronics industries. In this highly consolidated sector, there are limited options to make further scale deals. Therefore, KLA embarked on a strategy to build sustained profitable sources of growth by moving into adjacent markets.
A clear M & A roadmap in service of the broader corporate growth strategy brings cohesion to M & A efforts. KLA defined the objectives for M & A moves across multiple time horizons and the types of M & A deals that would help meet those objectives, and it set the financial targets for each time horizon. For instance, short-term business objectives required tuck-in deals, whereas medium- and long-term objectives relied more on scope deals and venture capital–style investments, respectively. This blueprint guided the entire process for the M & A team.
Most companies take an inside-out approach to M & A. They start with the current business and think about the vectors along which they can expand. Effectively scouting for new growth and capability targets, however, requires an unconstrained view. That means not being bound by historical knowledge and experience.
Indeed, the emerging approach is outside in. It starts with identifying high-growth sectors in a broader addressable market, involving an assessment of how profit pools may shift in the future and where the smart money is heading ( see Figure 4.1). You then narrow it down to sectors that have a strong match with your existing differentiated capabilities that define your right to win in these newer businesses. Sectors and targets identified using the outside-in approach still need to be relevant to the existing portfolio of assets. You are likely to be more successful going after attractive businesses in which you can deploy your unique capabilities to create joint value.
KLA’ s distinct technical and go-to-market expertise provided the guardrails to evaluate worthy segments and categories in the broader ecosystem. To validate the short list, the company also tracked the career paths of former employees to confirm prioritized sectors, using publicly available data from a professional networking database.
Traditional M & A screening is quickly evolving into broader market sensing. Several market leaders have set up their own corporate venture capital units to bring them closer to grassroots innovations that they might miss when using a traditional M & A lens. Some have CVC units operating within their M & A teams, offering M & A as a service to business units. While direct M & A resulting from a company’ s own CVC unit is modest, the broader market-sensing capabilities it offers for a minimal capital investment is fully justified. Everyone recognizes that CVCs are a route to the long game and that they enable executives to have a broader perspective on things they may want to own outright in the future.
Companies are also increasingly adding founder and start-up scans and immersions to their M & A screening. For example, a retail company wanted to understand the robotics space to evaluate potential investments. But since this was outside its existing business boundaries, the company partnered with the Bain Innovation Exchange ( BIE) to conduct an ecosystem scan and assess various use cases. ( BIE is a global community of change-makers, entrepreneurs, futurists, venture capitalists and innovation experts who connect with one another to push the boundaries of digital transformation.) BIE performed a robust global screening to lay out the robotics market, evaluate key start-ups and assess strategic fit with the retailer. BIE also enabled the retail company to connect with founders in the space to get a firsthand look at robotics solution developments and the requisite talent pool.
Target screening was traditionally conducted using a funnel approach in which acquirers would create a long list, narrow it down to a short list based on defined screening criteria and then proceed with further target profiling. Ideas from investment banks would typically flow into the long list or be evaluated opportunistically.
The canvas needs to be broader in a search for scope targets. Companies are required to expand their view of the sectors in which to invest, the investment themes ( single play or multitarget play) and the sequence of these investments.
KLA managed these dynamics by using an Agile approach that not only enabled faster decision making but also helped the company prioritize the most valuable efforts ( see Figure 4.2).
Most companies are slow to act on target short lists. In scope deals, and particularly capability deals, in which the level of familiarity tends to be low, target engagement needs to start earlier so that an acquirer can learn more about the capabilities over time. The best acquirers start a dialogue with targets and keep it going to prepare the ground for an eventual deal.
This was the case in lockmaker Assa Abloy’ s recent acquisition of August Home, a smart lock company. The acquisition grew out of an ongoing relationship. Assa Abloy had participated in August’ s access program, which introduced investors to an open software platform that enables in-home delivery. For Assa Abloy, learning more about the development of August’ s capabilities in the smart lock space and identifying the complementary capabilities to Assa Abloy’ s existing Yale brand hardware was a key reason behind its investment in August Home.
Companies that develop the capabilities to search outside immediate business boundaries create a proprietary deal flow and get differentiated assets earlier than anyone else. That gives them a massive advantage in today’ s competitive deal market.
This article is part of Bain’ s 2020 Global Corporate M & A Report. Explore the contents of the report here or download the PDF to read the full report.
Read the Next Section
Due Diligence: Evolving Approaches Boost the Odds of Success
Poor diligence is the root cause of deal failure.
Many corporate executives are uncomfortable taking the levels of risk that VC requires.
Companies are increasingly using scope deals to add capabilities and supplement organic innovation.
Covid-19 will spur further consolidation, and the most active acquirers have a leg up.
More companies are forming joint ventures and partnerships to share capabilities and minimize M & A risk.
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French priest admits 'caresses ' in boy scout abuse trial | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Accused of sexually abusing dozens of boy scouts in the 1970s and 80s, a French Catholic priest confessed in court Tuesday to `` caresses '' he knew were forbidden, and said for 20 years `` it happened every weekend ''.
At scout camps, `` it could be four or five children a week, '' Bernard Preynat, 74, told a court in Lyon on the first day of his trial for preying on boys.
`` For me, at the time, I was not committing sexual assault but giving caresses, hugs. I was wrong. ''
Sitting up straight in the dock, Preynat's voice quavered as he admitted the interactions `` did bring me sexual pleasure. ''
But while he knew the actions were forbidden, he said he only finally understood that they were illegal thanks to `` the accusations of the victims ''.
The accusers were aged seven to 14 when the alleged crimes were committed between 1971 and 1991, when Preynat was a scout leader in Lyon.
The allegations against him sparked the biggest crisis in the French Church in decades and last year saw a cardinal convicted of covering up the alleged crimes.
Preynat was defrocked by the Church last July.
Former scouts have claimed he touched and kissed them and forced them into reciprocal fondling while they were in his care, including at camps. He denies ever kissing the boys on the mouth.
Francois Devaux, one of Preynat's accusers and the founder of a victims ' organisation, spoke of the `` hell '' his parents, who had alerted church authorities about his experience, had lived through, and his own `` very difficult, very complicated '' adolescence as a result.
He said he had tried to commit suicide.
`` I think I used to be a bright child. After, I lived a very dark life... flirted with dangerous things, '' Devaux testified. He was ten when it happened.
`` Pain, anger... Whatever the court decides, the harm and the trauma suffered in my childhood will continue. My responsibility is that this must never happen again, '' said Devaux.
Ten accusers and several victims ' associations are civil parties to the proceedings.
- Cardinal appeals -
Emmanuelle Haziza, a lawyer for complainant Pierre-Emmanuel Germain Thill, said the court was `` faced with the biggest sexual predator of the Lyon region, '' and said he has admitted to `` having touched hundreds and hundreds of children. ''
The case first came to light in 2015 when a former boy scout went public with allegations that Preynat had abused him as a child 25 years earlier.
A trickle of initial testimony soon turned into a deluge, with more than 80 other people coming forward with allegations of abuse.
In March last year, a Lyon court found French cardinal Philippe Barbarin guilty of failing to report the claims against Preynat.
Barbarin, the city's archbishop and the most senior French cleric to get caught up in the global paedophilia scandal, was handed a six-month suspended sentence.
During the trial, the cardinal said he had confronted Preynat about the abuse `` rumours '' in 2010 but let the matter go after the priest insisted he had changed.
In 2014, after meeting one of the victims, Barbarin contacted the Vatican about the affair. Preynat was suspended until September 2015.
Civilian authorities charged him with sexual abuse in 2016. He risks ten years in prison.
Pope Francis rejected Barbarin's offer to resign, saying he would await the outcome of an appeal by the cardinal, who has stepped back from Church duties.
Two other senior French religious figures have been convicted of failing to report child abuse in the past: the archbishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, Pierre Rican, in 2001, and the former bishop of Orleans, Andre Fort, last year.
Accused of sexually abusing dozens of boy scouts in the 1970s and 80s, a French Catholic priest confessed in court Tuesday to “ caresses ” he knew were forbidden, and said for 20 years “ it happened every weekend ”.
At scout camps, “ it could be four or five children a week, ” Bernard Preynat, 74, told a court in Lyon on the first day of his trial for preying on boys.
“ For me, at the time, I was not committing sexual assault but giving caresses, hugs. I was wrong. ”
Sitting up straight in the dock, Preynat’ s voice quavered as he admitted the interactions “ did bring me sexual pleasure. ”
But while he knew the actions were forbidden, he said he only finally understood that they were illegal thanks to “ the accusations of the victims ”.
The accusers were aged seven to 14 when the alleged crimes were committed between 1971 and 1991, when Preynat was a scout leader in Lyon.
The allegations against him sparked the biggest crisis in the French Church in decades and last year saw a cardinal convicted of covering up the alleged crimes.
Preynat was defrocked by the Church last July.
Former scouts have claimed he touched and kissed them and forced them into reciprocal fondling while they were in his care, including at camps. He denies ever kissing the boys on the mouth.
Francois Devaux, one of Preynat’ s accusers and the founder of a victims’ organisation, spoke of the “ hell ” his parents, who had alerted church authorities about his experience, had lived through, and his own “ very difficult, very complicated ” adolescence as a result.
He said he had tried to commit suicide.
“ I think I used to be a bright child. After, I lived a very dark life… flirted with dangerous things, ” Devaux testified. He was ten when it happened.
“ Pain, anger… Whatever the court decides, the harm and the trauma suffered in my childhood will continue. My responsibility is that this must never happen again, ” said Devaux.
Ten accusers and several victims’ associations are civil parties to the proceedings.
– Cardinal appeals –
Emmanuelle Haziza, a lawyer for complainant Pierre-Emmanuel Germain Thill, said the court was “ faced with the biggest sexual predator of the Lyon region, ” and said he has admitted to “ having touched hundreds and hundreds of children. ”
The case first came to light in 2015 when a former boy scout went public with allegations that Preynat had abused him as a child 25 years earlier.
A trickle of initial testimony soon turned into a deluge, with more than 80 other people coming forward with allegations of abuse.
In March last year, a Lyon court found French cardinal Philippe Barbarin guilty of failing to report the claims against Preynat.
Barbarin, the city’ s archbishop and the most senior French cleric to get caught up in the global paedophilia scandal, was handed a six-month suspended sentence.
During the trial, the cardinal said he had confronted Preynat about the abuse “ rumours ” in 2010 but let the matter go after the priest insisted he had changed.
In 2014, after meeting one of the victims, Barbarin contacted the Vatican about the affair. Preynat was suspended until September 2015.
Civilian authorities charged him with sexual abuse in 2016. He risks ten years in prison.
Pope Francis rejected Barbarin’ s offer to resign, saying he would await the outcome of an appeal by the cardinal, who has stepped back from Church duties.
Two other senior French religious figures have been convicted of failing to report child abuse in the past: the archbishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, Pierre Rican, in 2001, and the former bishop of Orleans, Andre Fort, last year.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Omicron's rise has heralded another pandemic-tinged Christmas for billions, with Santa's arrival overshadowed by Covid restrictions.
At a time when hospitals and patients are strained due to increasing COVID numbers, threat actors will continue to attack.
Millions of Americans are traveling before Christmas even as national Omicron Covid-19 infections surpass Delta's peak.
Hong Kong university students paid solemn tribute to two campus statues marking Beijing's 1989 suppression of Tiananmen Square protesters.
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The Trade Desk Takes Investors Back to Cloud Nine ( TTD) |
However, many an astute investor would have seen this pullback as a perfect buying opportunity for a company that’ s been nothing but a dream to hold since they IPO’ d back in 2016. Indeed, RBC were out with an upgrade around this time, highlighting the buying opportunity that the seemingly inefficient pullback had created and investors were listening. Shares started finding buyers around the same support line that they’ d bounced off of in May. They trading sideways and consolidated for a few weeks and then turned north.
By the close of Monday’ s session, they’ d retaken the previous highs after a 60% run in less than four months and the future is bright for one of the world’ s most popular digital advertising platforms.
Their Q2 report in August showed revenue increasing 42% year on year while management also raised guidance. Q3’ s report came out in November and told a similar story. EPS and revenue both comfortably beat analyst expectations again even after management had raised guidance going into it, while the latter number registered 38% jump year over year. Net income rose 20% and management was confident enough to raise forward guidance yet again.
The company has shown investors that they’ re able to continuously adapt to and innovate in what’ s still a fairly young industry. As CEO and founder, Jeff Green remarked, “ the world’ s leading brands and agencies are increasingly using our platform to apply data-driven strategies to drive precision and value across their campaigns. More data-driven choices by advertisers led to record revenue of $ 164.2 million and a net income of $ 19.4 million in Q3. Connected TV, audio and mobile-led our channel growth. As more broadcasters make their content available via streaming services, we are better positioned than anyone to take advantage of this significant shift. ”
document.write ( ' < a style= '' text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: # 696969; '' target= '' blank '' rel= '' nofollow '' href= '' https: //www.ame ' + 'ricanconsumernews.net/scripts/click.aspx? NativeDisplayAdID=584 & ImpressionID=0 & UserID=0 & Placement=PlaceOnArticlePage '' > '); Buffett is notoriously “ anti technology. ” Which is why this Wall Street Legend's recent discover is so shocking: 21 of Buffett’ s 25 current favorite companies are going “ all in ” one hot new technology… To the tune of $ 1.7 billion!... After decades of being anti-tech... what is making Buffett going all in now? And what is this new technology that America's biggest companies are in a race to implement?
With these kinds of numbers still being pumped out and this level of forward-looking confidence from their founder even as their market cap surpasses the $ 13 billion mark, is it any wonder that shares are up almost 1000% in a little over three years?
Going forward, they’ ll have to contend with Amazon as a potential competitor in the near future as the e-commerce behemoth begins to move into the ad selling space. Amazon seems intent on having some skin in the game in multiple industries and considering they’ ve already pushed into cloud computing, digital streaming and artificial intelligence, this latest move should come as no surprise. If anything it confirms how ripe the digital ad market is. However, Rosenblatt is confident that this is more of a potential long term worry for The Trade Desk versus a short term concern and streaming companies like Roku ( NASDAQ: ROKU) will be more nervous. Interestingly, Amazon’ s previous VP of Finance for their International Consumer business recently became The Trade Desk’ s CFO.
For now, at least, investors look to only have one thing on their mind and that’ s being able to say they got in somewhere at least close to the ground floor. As the stock enters blue sky territory around the $ 290 mark, there are some sell-side price targets dangling as high as $ 340 in front of it. And given the stock’ s ability to move hard and move fast, you wouldn’ t bet against it justifying these figures in the coming months. To be fair, that’ s less than a 20% move away from where shares closed on Monday.
With the MACD on the weekly chart still in a healthy bullish condition and the RSI only at 67, there’ s plenty of room for The Trade Desk to stretch its legs into 2020.
10 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks to Buy Now
The stock market is having its worst week since the financial crisis. For some investors, a flight to safety has them getting out of the market. But other investors are taking a flight to quality. And when it comes to quality in equities, these are the moments when dividend stocks shine. Already JPMorgan Chase ( NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley ( NYSE: MS) and Goldman Sachs ( NYSE: GS) are projecting that the coronavirus may wipe out corporate earnings growth for 2020. If investors can’ t count on their equities to provide capital gains, they look to dividends to boost their total return. But like any investment, not all dividend stocks are alike. Some of the best dividend stocks are the dividend aristocrats. By definition, for a company to become a dividend aristocrat, they must have at least 25 consecutive years of dividend growth ( not just issued a dividend). These companies have a proven track record of weathering market turbulence and delivering solid performance. And, right now, there are only 64 of these companies. In this presentation, we’ ll give you 10 dividend aristocrat stocks you can invest in right now.
View the `` 10 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks to Buy Now ''.
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Krave embraces plant-based craze with new jerky product | Krave has introduced two varieties of plant-based jerky and two flavors of pork rinds. The Texas-based protein snacks maker, owned by Hershey, said the new products will be available on store shelves and online this month.
The plant-based jerky — the brand's first meatless product — contains peas and fava beans and provides 8 grams of protein per serving. It comes in Smoked Chipotle and Korean BBQ flavors, Krave said in a release. The pork rinds are made with hormone-free pork and are available in Chili Lime and Al Pastor Taco varieties.
Jimmy McClain, Krave's brand manager, said in the release that consumers are looking for additional plant-based products for more snacking opportunities. They also are adopting specialized diets such as keto and paleo, he noted, and these new products offer more portable snacks tailored to them. `` With the growing number of snacking occasions and evolving nutritional expectations placed on those snacks consumers are dramatically altering the way we think about innovation, '' McClain said.
This is Krave's first foray into plant-based jerky, and the company is hoping the new item will appeal to flexitarians and those who want more plant-based foods in their diet. That hope also fueled the debut last fall of Kellogg's Leaf Jerky, a soy-based snack containing 80 calories and 11 grams of protein per serving.
Other plant-based jerky products featuring sun-dried tomatoes, eggplant, apples and even pineapple have been appearing on store shelves — all marketing themselves as healthier, non-GMO and vegan alternatives to traditional beef jerky.
Krave seems to be taking a different tack by offering both plant-based and meat-based snacks, although the company comes from a foundation in gourmet meat and poultry products. While it sources peas and fava beans for its new jerky, Krave is aiming for a taste and texture similar to its meat items by using the same proprietary production process.
This positioning fits well with the current direction of Hershey, which has been aggressively expanding into snacks outside of its core candy business through M & A. Most recently, it purchased protein bar maker One Brands for $ 397 million. After the Pennsylvania-based CPG maker acquired Krave in 2015 for about $ 220 million, the jerky manufacturer began innovating with better-for-you snacks containing protein, dried fruit and quinoa and also a stick with protein, sweet potatoes or whole beans.
It's likely the market will see even more of these plant-based jerky snacks due to the overall push away from conventional animal-sourced products. According to SPINS data commissioned by The Good Food Institute, the U.S. market for plant-based jerky hit $ 3.9 million for the year ending April 2019.
While plant-based options are growing in popularity, conventional jerky products are not going away anytime soon. Meat snacks are one of the fastest-growing categories in snack foods today because of their high protein content and intriguing flavors — while at the same time providing a quick energy hit for the on-the-go snacker. Sales of jerky topped $ 1 billion in 2017, and the market is expected to grow 4.2% on an annualized basis through 2022, according to Project NOSH.
Krave's pork rind product could draw a different type of consumer than the plant-based jerky due to its meat-based status. They are more likely to appeal to consumers looking for crunchy snacks without carbs and those who may be flexitarian in their dietary choices.
Since Krave is pitching the pork rind as hormone-free and made from all-natural pork, that combination could dovetail with what The Wall Street Journal last year called a `` golden age '' of gourmet pork rinds made with premium ingredients such as humanely raised pork and Himalayan pink salt. This debut, along with the plant-based jerky, shows Hershey is cognizant of the trends impacting the broader food space and how it needs to expand Krave's offerings to address more consumer preferences.
With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
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As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach. | general |
WHO says new China coronavirus could spread, warns hospitals worldwide | GENEVA – There may have been limited human-to-human transmission of a new coronavirus in China within families, and it is possible there could be a wider outbreak, the World Health Organization ( WHO) said on Tuesday.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause infections ranging from the common cold to SARS.
A Chinese woman has been quarantined in Thailand with a mystery strain of coronavirus, Thai authorities said on Monday, the first time the virus has been detected outside China.
In all, 41 cases of pneumonia have been reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, which preliminary lab tests cited by state media showed could be from a new type of coronavirus, and one patient has died. There have since been no new cases or deaths, Wuhan health authorities said on Tuesday.
“ From the information that we have it is possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families, but it is very clear right now that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission, ” said Maria Van Kerkhove, acting head of WHO’ s emerging diseases unit.
The WHO is, however, preparing for the possibility that there could be a wider outbreak, she told a Geneva news briefing. “ It is still early days, we don’ t have a clear clinical picture. ”
Some types of the virus cause less serious diseases, while others — like the one that causes MERS — are far more severe.
The U.N. agency has given guidance to hospitals worldwide about infection prevention and control in case the new virus spreads. There is no specific treatment for the new virus, but anti-virals are being considered and could be “ re-purposed, ” Van Kerkhove said.
With Chinese New Year approaching on Jan. 25, when many Chinese tourists visit Thailand, the WHO called on Thai authorities, the public and holidaymakers to be on alert.
Richard Brow, the agency’ s representative in Thailand, said anyone with a fever and cough who had spent time in Wuhan should get checked out by a health worker. | tech |
Why Financial Services Providers Are Turning to Hybrid Cloud | Fintech leader Broadridge Financial announced this week that it is moving a significant portion of its digital infrastructure to a private cloud managed by IBM. For this $ 4 billion-dollar global Fintech organization, it highlights a larger industry-wide trend where the growing reliance on a cloud-first strategy — one where the cloud is primary, prioritized and promoted — is the new normal and those who don’ t achieve this will fall behind the competition.
Gartner reported that by 2022, a cloud shift across key enterprise IT markets will increase to 28%, up from 19% in 2018. For financial institutions, a hybrid cloud approach that offers a mix of public cloud flexibility and private cloud security are a necessary tool for this highly regulated and sensitive market. With a hybrid architecture the financial industry has the freedom to extend beyond their data centers and into cloud services.
By powering digital transformation with the cloud, banks are also preparing for a dynamic, mobile-first future. This week, Broadridge joins a growing list of global financial service providers, including Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Santander and Royal Bank of Canada, that are choosing the hybrid cloud model to continue the evolution of the industry.
Banks can’ t necessarily predict what new services customers will demand, or, more importantly, when they’ ll demand them. For example, if a critical mass of banking customers is logging onto the site at the same time it could over exhaust the servers, slowing down customer interactions and ultimately hurting the overall brand experience.
This is part of the promise of hybrid cloud. It lets institutions scale up and down as needed, providing both instant and long-term flexibility that enables institutions to adapt and move with constantly changing conditions.
It doesn’ t just stop there, in fact there are several significant benefits to a sophisticated hybrid cloud strategy. Here are some of the way’ s hybrid cloud is already helping financial institutions:
It’ s reducing costs – Hybrid cloud helps banks scale their data needs in real-time, which avoids the expensive proposition of maintaining a lot of unused digital capacity.
It’ s making banks more efficient – Hybrid cloud enables banks to move digital resources where they are needed quickly, enabling them to respond to shifting customer demands.
It’ s sparking innovation – Hybrid cloud speeds up innovation because it’ s not limited to a specific geographical location or even organization.
It’ s safer – Hybrid cloud can keep data more secure. Security threats change constantly, and hybrid cloud gives banks access to tools like AI that will be critical to identifying and addressing cyberthreats.
Westpac, Australia’ s oldest bank, migrated banking services and took on a new cloud approach in order to improve its customer service. As a result, it reduced the time it takes to set-up new applications from 19 days to just 3-5, and saw a more than 30 percent reduction in set-up costs.
When Royal Bank of Canada adopted a more sophisticated cloud solution the organization become more agile, and shortened time-to-market for new products and services, while making it easier to adopt new emerging technologies.
Recently, Bank of America launched a hybrid cloud specifically for the financial industry, with cloud services tailored to the legal, regulatory and compliance needs of the industry.
It’ s not just customer expectations that are driving banks’ digital transformation. New regulatory and compliance frameworks – like GDPR and varying regional consumer privacy acts – are also compelling banks to adopt hybrid cloud.
Changes such as these in the financial landscape are one of the many reasons trusted organizations are turning to IBM hybrid cloud. Notably because Big Blue has a proven track record supporting many global financial institutions around the world as they look to improve their speed to market, flexibility, resiliency and security.
More digital disruption is on the way for financial services, whether companies are ready for it or not. The Broadridge announcement is further validation that the hybrid cloud model is the way forward for banks.
The recent promising news about Covid-19 vaccines is in sharp contrast to the absence of a vaccine for HIV, despite decades of research. Unlike Covid-19 with a single viral isolate that shows minimal diversity, HIV circulates in a wide range of strains that so far have proven impervious to a single vaccine. Fortunately, more people [ … ]
IBM has never avoided taking on big challenges. At IBM, we are privileged to drive impact at scale. We take on challenges that transform our clients, impact people’ s lives and innovate for future generations as we strive to effect systematic societal change. Over the course of our 109-year history, the evidence has become clear that [ … ]
Humans have been plying the seas throughout history. But it wasn’ t until the late 19th century that we began to truly study the ocean itself. An expedition in 1872 to 1876, by the Challenger, a converted Royal Navy gunship, traveled nearly 70,000 nautical miles and catalogued over 4,000 previously unknown species, building the foundations for modern [ … ] | tech |
Panama Canal adds fees, changes booking as it fights drought | UPDATE: Feb. 19, 2020: The Panama Canal water surcharges took effect Saturday at the following levels, a Panama Canal Authority spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive:
As the new fees take effect, the carrier community has voiced opposition.
`` The industry is currently facing increased price pressures globally, as demand has been hit hard by coronavirus and markets are adjusting to the new regulations on sulphur levels, '' Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping said in a statement.
The lakes that feed the canal locks are struggling after `` several years '' of below-average rain and a 10% increase in evaporation resulting from warmer weather. Last year, rainfall around the Panama Canal was 20% below average and added up to the fifth driest year in the last 70 years, the authority said in a recent report.
The canal implemented draft restrictions on carriers to reduce the amount of cargo carried. A spokesperson for Maersk told Supply Chain Dive last year that the restrictions resulted in the carrier being `` unable to serve all the prospective end-customers, who otherwise would be utilising the canal as a route to the [ U.S. East Coast ] as well as Europe. ''
The authority plans to increase its investment in projects that address the sustainability of the water supply.
The Panama Canal is also changing the number of daily reservation slots available. There will be six slots for regular ships, 13 slots for supers and eight slots for Neopanamax ships.
`` Together, the new measures will allow the Panama Canal to better anticipate the number and type of ships transiting the waterway, and therefore allocate water resources accordingly, '' the release said.
The canal outlined four steps it is currently using to combat water shortages.
`` As for long-term solutions, the Canal is considering various options, which include, but are not limited to water desalination systems and the optimization of water distribution networks to minimize water loss, '' a spokesperson for the Panama Canal Authority told Supply Chain Dive. `` The Canal also expects to finish a series of studies around midyear on proposals to build new reservoirs or channel water from other sources to the lakes. ''
Starting Feb. 15, the authority will make real-time data on Gatun Lake levels available on the canal's website, since the new fees are partially determined by this information, a spokesperson for the canal told Supply Chain Dive.
The drought has taken a financial toll. A canal spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive last year it expects to lose $ 15 million, which is about.5% of the canal's total annual revenue, as a result of this year's drought.
If the canal continues to deal with the drought with cargo reduction measures then it could risk losing market share to either the Suez Canal or West Coast ports, experts said.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
The information the FTC will solicit is at the forefront of supply chain managers ' day-to-day operations, such as the disruptions to obtaining and transporting products.
Businesses have stockpiled product, used fewer materials and bolstered internal manufacturing to cope in a tight market.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
The information the FTC will solicit is at the forefront of supply chain managers ' day-to-day operations, such as the disruptions to obtaining and transporting products.
Businesses have stockpiled product, used fewer materials and bolstered internal manufacturing to cope in a tight market.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more. | general |
China's new SARS-like coronavirus has spread to Japan, but we still know very little about it |
Fears are mounting across Asia over the cross-border spread of a
new coronavirus
identified in China that has killed one patient and sickened dozens, as health authorities race to identify the source of the pathogen.
The new strain of coronavirus, in the same family as the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS), originated in Wuhan, the largest city in central China.
It was confirmed Thursday to have been detected in Japan, a few days after Thailand confirmed its first case of infection.
The outbreak has cast a shadow over Lunar New Year celebrations and
put the rest of Asia on alert
. Virologists around the world are now studying its genome sequence shared by Chinese researchers, but many questions still remain.
Researchers have yet to rule out the possibility that the virus could be transmitted from person to person, and on Wednesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Watch Level 1 Alert -- the lowest of a three-tier travel health notices that warns visitors of Wuhan to `` be aware and practice usual precautions. ''
Two cases detected outside China
Read More
On Thursday, Japanese authorities confirmed that a man who had traveled to Wuhan was infected with the virus.
The man, in his 30s, lives in the coastal Kanagawa Prefecture just south of Tokyo. He developed a high fever on January 3 while in Wuhan, and returned three days later to Japan, where he was tested positive for the virus, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
He has since recovered and was discharged from hospital on Wednesday, the ministry said. He said he had not visited the seafood market linked to the outbreak while in Wuhan.
The confirmation comes just days after Thai authorities said a Chinese tourist arriving from Wuhan had been quarantined with the new virus, the first time it had been detected outside China.
According to the World Health Organization, the 61-year-old woman also said she had not been to the seafood market in Wuhan. But she did report `` a history of visiting a local fresh market in Wuhan on a regular basis prior to the onset of illness '' on January 5, the WHO said in a statement.
The first, and the majority, of the infected cases in Wuhan have been traced to the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, which has been shut down for disinfection since January 1. Wuhan health authorities said on Wednesday that some `` environmental samples '' taken from the market tested positive for the virus.
Apart from fish, the market also sold other live animals, including birds, rabbits and snakes -- sparking concerns that the virus might have been transmitted to humans from animals, just like SARS and MERS.
The seafood market at the center of China's pneunomia outbreak has been closed down.
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Leo Poon, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong who was among the first to decode the SARS coronavirus, said the Thai case suggests two possibilities: the woman was either infected by an animal in another market, or by another person.
The first possibility would mean that the source of the new virus is more widespread than authorities previously believed, and the second would indicate its ability to transmit between humans -- which could turn a local outbreak into a global pandemic.
`` I think the first possibility is more likely, '' Poon said. `` This also reiterates the issue of food safety -- the risk of selling exotic animals in markets should be assessed now and new policy should be established as soon as possible. ''
China -- and the world -- has paid a heavy price for the consumption of wild animals. The SARS epidemic from November 2002 to July 2003
killed 774 people
after spreading to 37 countries. The coronavirus was traced to the civet cat, a wild animal considered a delicacy in parts of southern China, where the epidemic began.
But Professor Poon and other experts in Hong Kong said the possibility of human-to-human transmission can not be excluded.
Can it be transmitted between humans?
The question of transmission between humans is particularly crucial as China's busy Lunar New Year travel season has recently begun. Hundreds of millions of Chinese are expected to be crammed into trains, buses and planes for family reunions. Millions of Chinese are also expected to travel overseas around Lunar New Year, which falls on January 25.
Chinese health authorities and the WHO had long maintained that there is no `` obvious evidence '' of human-to-human transmission, and that no health care workers have been infected by the new coronavirus. But early on Friday, while maintaining the lack of clear evidence of such a transmission, Wuhan health authorities said in an announcement that `` the possibility of human to human transmission can not be excluded. ''
It reported a case where a couple were infected by the new coronavirus. The husband, who caught the illness first, worked at the Nanhua Wholesale Seafood Market, but the wife said she had no direct exposure to the market. A few other infected patients also denied they had any exposure to the market.
Migrant workers wait outside the Guangzhou train station before returning home because of the worry over SARS during the deadly epidemic in 2003.
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To gain more understanding of the outbreak, a group of Hong Kong experts traveled to Wuhan this week to meet with Chinese authorities and visit the hospital where those infected were quarantined.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Communicable Disease department at Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection, said that it is possible that the husband had transmitted the disease to his wife a few days after he was infected, and therefore human-to-human transmission can not be ruled out.
But the risk of sustained transmission between humans is low, given that no medical workers have been infected, Chuang said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Not as lethal as SARS
For now, the new coronavirus appears to not be as lethal or contagious as SARS or MERS. Its symptoms are mainly fever and coughing, with a number of patients having difficulty breathing.
A mysterious virus is making China ( and the rest of Asia) nervous. It's not SARS, so what is it?
As of Thursday, six patients remain in critical condition. Among them, some have renal and liver failures, and two are relying on life support, said Raymond Lai Wai-man, the chief infection control officer of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, who is among the group that visited Wuhan.
Compared with 2003, when Chinese officials initially covered up the extent of the SARS outbreak, authorities in the country have been more open and timely in sharing information this time around.
Apart from inviting experts from Hong Kong and Taiwan to visit Wuhan, Chinese researchers have also shared the genome sequence of the new coronavirus with the WHO.
`` Additional investigation is needed to ascertain the presence of human-to-human transmission, modes of transmission, common source of exposure and the presence of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic cases that are undetected, '' the WHO said in the statement. `` It is critical to review all available information to fully understand the potential transmissibility among humans. ''
CNN's Junko Ogura contributed to this report. | general |
China's new SARS-like coronavirus has spread to Japan, but we still know very little about it | The new strain of coronavirus, in the same family as the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS), originated in Wuhan, the largest city in central China. It was confirmed Thursday to have been detected in Japan, a few days after Thailand confirmed its first case of infection.
The outbreak has cast a shadow over Lunar New Year celebrations and put the rest of Asia on alert. Virologists around the world are now studying its genome sequence shared by Chinese researchers, but many questions still remain.
Researchers have yet to rule out the possibility that the virus could be transmitted from person to person, and on Wednesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Watch Level 1 Alert -- the lowest of a three-tier travel health notices that warns visitors of Wuhan to `` be aware and practice usual precautions. ''
Two cases detected outside China
On Thursday, Japanese authorities confirmed that a man who had traveled to Wuhan was infected with the virus.
The man, in his 30s, lives in the coastal Kanagawa Prefecture just south of Tokyo. He developed a high fever on January 3 while in Wuhan, and returned three days later to Japan, where he was tested positive for the virus, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
He has since recovered and was discharged from hospital on Wednesday, the ministry said. He said he had not visited the seafood market linked to the outbreak while in Wuhan.
The confirmation comes just days after Thai authorities said a Chinese tourist arriving from Wuhan had been quarantined with the new virus, the first time it had been detected outside China.
According to the World Health Organization, the 61-year-old woman also said she had not been to the seafood market in Wuhan. But she did report `` a history of visiting a local fresh market in Wuhan on a regular basis prior to the onset of illness '' on January 5, the WHO said in a statement.
The first, and the majority, of the infected cases in Wuhan have been traced to the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, which has been shut down for disinfection since January 1. Wuhan health authorities said on Wednesday that some `` environmental samples '' taken from the market tested positive for the virus.
Apart from fish, the market also sold other live animals, including birds, rabbits and snakes -- sparking concerns that the virus might have been transmitted to humans from animals, just like SARS and MERS.
Leo Poon, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong who was among the first to decode the SARS coronavirus, said the Thai case suggests two possibilities: the woman was either infected by an animal in another market, or by another person.
The first possibility would mean that the source of the new virus is more widespread than authorities previously believed, and the second would indicate its ability to transmit between humans -- which could turn a local outbreak into a global pandemic.
`` I think the first possibility is more likely, '' Poon said. `` This also reiterates the issue of food safety -- the risk of selling exotic animals in markets should be assessed now and new policy should be established as soon as possible. ''
China -- and the world -- has paid a heavy price for the consumption of wild animals. The SARS epidemic from November 2002 to July 2003 killed 774 people after spreading to 37 countries. The coronavirus was traced to the civet cat, a wild animal considered a delicacy in parts of southern China, where the epidemic began.
But Professor Poon and other experts in Hong Kong said the possibility of human-to-human transmission can not be excluded.
Can it be transmitted between humans?
The question of transmission between humans is particularly crucial as China's busy Lunar New Year travel season has recently begun. Hundreds of millions of Chinese are expected to be crammed into trains, buses and planes for family reunions. Millions of Chinese are also expected to travel overseas around Lunar New Year, which falls on January 25.
Chinese health authorities and the WHO had long maintained that there is no `` obvious evidence '' of human-to-human transmission, and that no health care workers have been infected by the new coronavirus. But early on Friday, while maintaining the lack of clear evidence of such a transmission, Wuhan health authorities said in an announcement that `` the possibility of human to human transmission can not be excluded. ''
It reported a case where a couple were infected by the new coronavirus. The husband, who caught the illness first, worked at the Nanhua Wholesale Seafood Market, but the wife said she had no direct exposure to the market. A few other infected patients also denied they had any exposure to the market.
To gain more understanding of the outbreak, a group of Hong Kong experts traveled to Wuhan this week to meet with Chinese authorities and visit the hospital where those infected were quarantined.
Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Communicable Disease department at Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection, said that it is possible that the husband had transmitted the disease to his wife a few days after he was infected, and therefore human-to-human transmission can not be ruled out.
But the risk of sustained transmission between humans is low, given that no medical workers have been infected, Chuang said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Not as lethal as SARS
For now, the new coronavirus appears to not be as lethal or contagious as SARS or MERS. Its symptoms are mainly fever and coughing, with a number of patients having difficulty breathing.
As of Thursday, six patients remain in critical condition. Among them, some have renal and liver failures, and two are relying on life support, said Raymond Lai Wai-man, the chief infection control officer of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, who is among the group that visited Wuhan.
Compared with 2003, when Chinese officials initially covered up the extent of the SARS outbreak, authorities in the country have been more open and timely in sharing information this time around.
Apart from inviting experts from Hong Kong and Taiwan to visit Wuhan, Chinese researchers have also shared the genome sequence of the new coronavirus with the WHO.
`` Additional investigation is needed to ascertain the presence of human-to-human transmission, modes of transmission, common source of exposure and the presence of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic cases that are undetected, '' the WHO said in the statement. `` It is critical to review all available information to fully understand the potential transmissibility among humans. '' | business |
Federal judge blocks Trump refugee resettlement order | Hi, what are you looking for?
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U.S. District Court Judge Peter Messitte in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction to three national refugee resettlement agencies that filed suit on November 21, 2019, challenging the president’ s executive order, according to The Hill.
Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and HIAS — a Jewish nonprofit are three of the nine national organizations that have agreements with the federal government to provide housing and other services for refugees.
In their lawsuit, the group of faith-based agencies contended the executive order “ violates federal law, which requires federal agencies to make decisions about where refugees are to be placed within the United States according to a detailed list of factors, leaving no room for state and local governments to veto decisions related to refugee policy. ”
The agencies also argue the order illegally conflicts with the 1980 Refugee Act. At least 41 states have publicly agreed to accept refugees, but a governor’ s decision wouldn’ t preclude local officials from refusing to give their consent.
Today the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland heard arguments in HIAS v Trump, the lawsuit challenging the president’ s EO giving state+local officials the power to block refugees from being resettled in their jurisdictions.Learn more. January 8, 2020
Federal court decision “ Lest there be any doubt, giving States and Local Governments the power to consent to the resettlement of refugees — which is to say veto power to determine whether refugees will be received in their midst — flies in the face of clear Congressional intent, as expressed in the legislative history of the statute, ” Messitte, who was appointed by former President Clinton, wrote in his 31-page opinion.
“ Granting the preliminary inductive relief Plaintiffs seek does, ” he continued. “ Refugee resettlement activity should go forward as it developed for the almost 40 years before Executive Order 13888 was announced. ”
“ What authority allows you to do that? ” Noting that the executive order effectively gives the states veto power over admitting refugees, the judge said that “ states don’ t have the authority to make these kinds of decisions. ” # NoRefugeeBans January 8, 2020
Messitte also questioned Justice Department attorney Bradley Humphreys on why the president wanted to change the refugee law, asking, “ Is it purely a political thing? ” Humphreys said it was meant to “ enhance the involvement of state and local officials in the process of resettling refugees, per the Associated Press.
Messitte said it “ borders on Orwellian Newspeak ” for the administration to claim that the order is meant to merely “ enhance the consultation ” between the federal governments and the states and localities. “ It grants them veto power. Period, ” he wrote in his order.
Trump’ s executive order President Donald Trump issued his Executive Order on September 26, 2019, which slashed the number of people being admitted into the U.S. to no more than 18,000, the lowest number since the US began its refugee program in 1980.
In a press release, the state department said that over 350,000 people are expected to seek asylum over the next year. It added that “ the current burdens on the US immigration system must be alleviated before it is again possible to resettle a large number of refugees. ”
Karen Graham is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for environmental news. Karen's view of what is happening in our world is colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in man's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, `` Journalism is merely history's first draft. '' Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.
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A Breakdown of the Most Common Order Types | So, the day has finally come for you to place an order to buy a stock. Your account is funded, you’ ve identified the company you want to buy, and you are ready to make the trade. The only problem appears when you begin to notice all of the different order types you can choose to buy with. This is a very common occurrence for people that are new to the markets or simply have never traded stocks before. Believe it or not, the order type that you choose to buy or sell a stock is very important.
There are a variety of different order types that brokers offer, which is why it can be overwhelming to decide on one if you aren’ t familiar with each option and what it has to offer. That’ s why we are going to walk you through the most common order types below and let you know a little bit more about what they mean. Keep in mind that the order type that you decide to go with will have a lot to do with your trading or investing strategy. Hopefully, this article will help to clear up any confusion about order types and allow you to always choose the one that fits into your game plan.
Order Type # 1 – Market Orders
One of the most common order types is a Market Order. This is an order to buy or sell a security immediately at the current market price. A Market Order guarantees that the order will be executed, but it doesn’ t guarantee the execution price. Taking a moment to really think through what that means will reveal a major downside to using market orders.
Using this order type will get you in or out of a position immediately, but you won’ t know at what price. Market Orders will usually get filled right around the current bid or ask price, depending on whether you are buying or selling. However, if the market is moving quickly, it can leave you buying or selling at a price that you weren’ t expecting. Using market orders when you are buying or selling stocks for long-term investing won’ t really have a huge impact on you. However, if you are day trading or scalping, using market orders can end up costing you a lot of money.
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Order Type # 2 – Limit Orders
The next common order type that you should know about is Limit Orders. These are orders that guarantee that the security will be bought or sold at a specified price or better. However, there is no guarantee that the order will get filled. The important thing to note with a Limit Order is that you will have to specify a price you want when you enter the order. If you want to purchase a security right away with a Limit Order, you can enter the order at the Ask price or a few pennies above it. If you want to sell a security immediately with a Limit Order, you can enter the price at the latest Bid price or a few pennies lower. Limit Orders are a great choice for buying or selling securities because you will always know the price that you will buy or sell them for.
Order Type # 3 – Stop Orders
A Stop Order is similar to a Limit Order in that you are required to input a specified price during order entry. However, it differs in the fact that with a Stop Order, it is triggered when the stock price moves above or below your price, depending on if you are buying or selling. After the Stop Order is triggered, it instantly becomes a market order and executes at the next available price. Stop Orders are commonly used by active traders to protect against losses or to lock in profits after a successful trade.
Order Type # 4 – Stop Limit Orders
The final common order type we will mention are Stop Limit Orders. These orders function the same way as Stop Orders but differ in that instead of becoming Market Orders after the stop price is reached, they become Limit Orders. This order type allows you to control exactly what price you end up buying or selling a security at after the stop price is reached, but does not guarantee execution.
Each of these order types can be found on the order entry screen of most online brokers. It’ s up to you to decide which one works best for your investing and trading goals. Just remember that there aren’ t too many things that you have control of while you are trading, but the order type you use is one of them. Use order types to your advantage whenever possible to avoid losing money to market makers and bad fills.
10 Oversold Stocks That Are Ready For a Comeback
A fundamental concept of investing is to buy stocks at a value. One strategy used by investors is to focus on stocks that are oversold. Fundamental analysis can give investors an idea of certain stocks to look at. However, momentum is also important. For that reason, investors look for technical indicators to help them find oversold stocks that might be ready for a comeback. One of the most popular tools is the Relative Strength Index ( RSI). The RSI is a momentum indicator that measures the velocity and magnitude of price movements. The index also compares them with the magnitude of average gains and average losses. The formula for calculating RSI is as follows: RSI = 100 - ( 100 / 1 + RS) Where RS ( Relative Strength) is the average gain divided by the average loss. Investors can use virtually any timeframe they wish. One of the most common is a 14-day RSI. Decreasing the number of days makes the RSI more sensitive to price changes. Conversely increasing the number of days makes the indicator less sensitive to price changes. Investors may have different overbought or oversold indicators, but standard benchmarks are a stock may be overbought if its RSI exceeds 70 and may be oversold if its RSI exceeds 30. The stocks in this presentation are chosen for a variety of fundamental and technical indicators. And all the stocks have been affected in one form or another by the Covid-19 pandemic.
View the `` 10 Oversold Stocks That Are Ready For a Comeback ''.
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Bushfire smoke disrupts Australian Open build-up | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Bushfire smoke disrupted the Australian Open build-up Wednesday for a second straight day, with qualifying rounds delayed following a barrage of complaints about safety from international tennis players.
The toxic haze that has descended on Melbourne, where the year's first Grand Slam is due to begin next week, has drifted down from out-of-control blazes that have endured for months in eastern and southern Australia.
The bushfires, unprecedented in their duration and intensity, have claimed 28 lives while raising awareness about the type of disasters that scientists say the world will face due to global warming.
In Melbourne, a picturesque bayside city famed as one of the most liveable in the world, the bushfire smoke raised pollution levels to `` hazardous '' at the start of the week.
Australian Open organisers pushed ahead with qualifying rounds on Tuesday.
But dramatic scenes of players dropping to their knees and choking, and one retiring due to the smoke, led to complaints about them being forced to stay out on court.
With the air still tasting and smelling of smoke on Wednesday morning, organisers suspended qualifying rounds until 1:00 pm ( 0200 GMT).
Play then resumed under better but still hazy conditions.
- Cool change hopes -
A cool change, bringing thunderstorms and heavy rain, was due to sweep across southeast Australia from Wednesday afternoon and was expected to help clear the air in Melbourne.
There were also hopes that the forecast rain would help contain or even extinguish some of the dozens of fires still raging out of control and threatening to devastate many more rural towns.
The fires have already destroyed more than 2,000 homes and burnt 10 million hectares ( 100,000 square kilometres) of land -- an area larger than South Korea or Portugal.
The official death toll rose to 28 on Wednesday when authorities said they had confirmed a firefighter who died in late November in a traffic incident had at the time been trying to contain a blaze.
The fires have dominated headlines around the world and led to an international outpouring of aid for victims, as well as animals that have been injured in the blazes.
About one billion animals may have died in the fires and driven many species closer to extinction, according to environmental groups.
Australia's koala population has taken an `` extraordinary hit '' and could be listed as endangered for the first time, Environment Minister Sussan Ley has said.
- Tennis disruptions -
In Melbourne, the smoke has raised the prospect of interruptions and delays for the two-week Australian Open, which is due to begin on Monday.
Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic was forced to retire while leading in her qualifying match on Tuesday because of the smoke.
`` I was really scared that I would collapse, '' she said.
Former Australian Open semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard also had problems on Tuesday and needed a medical time-out after complaining of a sore chest.
`` Like the heat rule, there should be an air quality rule, '' the Canadian told reporters.
Other players, including world number five Elina Svitolina, hit out at organisers for allowing qualifying to go ahead on Tuesday.
`` Why do we need to wait for something bad to happen to do an action, '' she tweeted.
- Climate change debate -
Meanwhile, a debate about the attitudes of Australia's political and media establishment to climate change continued on Wednesday with a rare intervention from one of Rupert Murdoch's sons.
James Murdoch hit out at his father's media empire, which includes the News Corp group that dominates Australia's press landscape as well as Fox News in the US, for climate change `` denial ''.
James his wife Kathryn released a statement via the Daily Beast voicing frustration at the coverage by News Corp and Fox about climate change.
`` They are particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the news outlets in Australia given obvious evidence to the contrary, '' the statement said.
News Corp publishes eight of the top 10 newspapers in Australia and operates the 24-hour Sky News satellite channel.
The conservative government led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also been heavily criticised by environmentalists and others for failing to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming.
Morrison has insisted his government is doing enough, and that he must protect jobs in the lucrative coal export industry.
Bushfire smoke disrupted the Australian Open build-up Wednesday for a second straight day, with qualifying rounds delayed following a barrage of complaints about safety from international tennis players.
The toxic haze that has descended on Melbourne, where the year’ s first Grand Slam is due to begin next week, has drifted down from out-of-control blazes that have endured for months in eastern and southern Australia.
The bushfires, unprecedented in their duration and intensity, have claimed 28 lives while raising awareness about the type of disasters that scientists say the world will face due to global warming.
In Melbourne, a picturesque bayside city famed as one of the most liveable in the world, the bushfire smoke raised pollution levels to “ hazardous ” at the start of the week.
Australian Open organisers pushed ahead with qualifying rounds on Tuesday.
But dramatic scenes of players dropping to their knees and choking, and one retiring due to the smoke, led to complaints about them being forced to stay out on court.
With the air still tasting and smelling of smoke on Wednesday morning, organisers suspended qualifying rounds until 1:00 pm ( 0200 GMT).
Play then resumed under better but still hazy conditions.
– Cool change hopes –
A cool change, bringing thunderstorms and heavy rain, was due to sweep across southeast Australia from Wednesday afternoon and was expected to help clear the air in Melbourne.
There were also hopes that the forecast rain would help contain or even extinguish some of the dozens of fires still raging out of control and threatening to devastate many more rural towns.
The fires have already destroyed more than 2,000 homes and burnt 10 million hectares ( 100,000 square kilometres) of land — an area larger than South Korea or Portugal.
The official death toll rose to 28 on Wednesday when authorities said they had confirmed a firefighter who died in late November in a traffic incident had at the time been trying to contain a blaze.
The fires have dominated headlines around the world and led to an international outpouring of aid for victims, as well as animals that have been injured in the blazes.
About one billion animals may have died in the fires and driven many species closer to extinction, according to environmental groups.
Australia’ s koala population has taken an “ extraordinary hit ” and could be listed as endangered for the first time, Environment Minister Sussan Ley has said.
– Tennis disruptions –
In Melbourne, the smoke has raised the prospect of interruptions and delays for the two-week Australian Open, which is due to begin on Monday.
Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic was forced to retire while leading in her qualifying match on Tuesday because of the smoke.
“ I was really scared that I would collapse, ” she said.
Former Australian Open semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard also had problems on Tuesday and needed a medical time-out after complaining of a sore chest.
“ Like the heat rule, there should be an air quality rule, ” the Canadian told reporters.
Other players, including world number five Elina Svitolina, hit out at organisers for allowing qualifying to go ahead on Tuesday.
“ Why do we need to wait for something bad to happen to do an action, ” she tweeted.
– Climate change debate –
Meanwhile, a debate about the attitudes of Australia’ s political and media establishment to climate change continued on Wednesday with a rare intervention from one of Rupert Murdoch’ s sons.
James Murdoch hit out at his father’ s media empire, which includes the News Corp group that dominates Australia’ s press landscape as well as Fox News in the US, for climate change “ denial ”.
James his wife Kathryn released a statement via the Daily Beast voicing frustration at the coverage by News Corp and Fox about climate change.
“ They are particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the news outlets in Australia given obvious evidence to the contrary, ” the statement said.
News Corp publishes eight of the top 10 newspapers in Australia and operates the 24-hour Sky News satellite channel.
The conservative government led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also been heavily criticised by environmentalists and others for failing to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming.
Morrison has insisted his government is doing enough, and that he must protect jobs in the lucrative coal export industry.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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Satellites have become invaluable as an added technology in man’ s quest to understand and expand the scope of global climate observation.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned of a bleak winter ahead as the Covid-19 Omicron variant spurs a new wave of infections globally.
The EU's drug regulator will decide Monday whether to approve a Covid jab by Novavax, which uses a more conventional technology.
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Nancy Lee Grahn to host 2020 'Vegas Penthouse Party ' fan events | Hi, what are you looking for?
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These events are a part of her “ Vegas Penthouse Party. ” Grahn is known for her portrayal of Alexis Davis on the hit ABC daytime drama, General Hospital. She is a two-time Emmy award-winning actress.
In October of 2019, Grahn revealed to her fans and followers that she is busy writing her first memoir. In her personal life, the actress is engaged and ready to wed.
This past May, Grahn hosted an intimate fan event in New York’ s Emerald Inn for an intimate group of fans, which was well-received.
For more information on her “ Vegas Penthouse Party ” events, check out Nancy Lee Granh’ s official website.
To learn more about Nancy Lee Grahn, follow her on Twitter and her Facebook page.
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 16,000 original articles over the past 15 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a five-time consecutive `` Best of Long Island '' winner, and in the past two years, he was honored as the `` Best Long Island Personality '' in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.
The startlingly rapid spread of Covid-19's Omicron variant has raised grave concern across the US.
Gas will soon be a thing of the past in New York City, thanks to a bill passed on Wednesday by the City Council.
Guillermo del Toro’ s ‘ Nightmare Alley’ is not a horror movie as some may expect, but it is a dark, suspense thriller.
A US federal appeals court reinstated a Biden administration mandate that large companies require Covid-19 vaccines for their employees.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
European garment brands to end Bangladesh factory inspections | Hi, what are you looking for?
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A monitoring group set up by top European clothing brands to check worker safety standards in Bangladesh said Wednesday it will wrap up in May, more than six years after the collapse of a garment factory prompted the intervention by retailers.
The multi-storey Rana Plaza factory complex, where workers were making clothes for top global brands, collapsed in April 2013 killing at least 1,134 people and injuring another 2,000.
The tragedy, triggered by issues such as flagrant disregard of building codes and safety regulations, prompted global fashion brands to set up two monitoring agencies to inspect Bangladesh's 4,500 apparel factories.
Accord, the bigger of the two groups and established by some 200 European brands including H & M, Tesco and Carrefour, inspected some 1,650 factories.
With its five-year mandate long expired, Bangladeshi manufacturers have been demanding Accord shut up shop, as as they feared the group would widen its scope to areas such as workers rights.
Another group, called Alliance, was made up mostly of North American retailers and wound up operations after inspecting nearly 1,000 factories.
On Wednesday, Accord and Bangladeshi garment manufacturers signed an agreement to set up a new Ready-made Garment Sustainability Council ( RSC) to take over the work of the Accord by May 31.
`` We are taking over from Accord all of its resources and will follow their protocols along with inserting a national context '' said Rubana Huq, the president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
`` It is an important milestone, '' Accord spokesman Joris Oldenziel told AFP.
He said retailers, unions and manufacturers will have representatives on the council, a national initiative, which will carry forward the work of Accord to ensure safety in factories.
`` Accord has been very successful in preventing factory accidents... but still a lot of work needs to be done, '' Oldenziel said.
Union leader Babul Akter gave the new RSC a guarded welcome.
`` We 'll be observing how it performs. We hope it can work independently just like the Accord and its work will be legally-binding, '' he told AFP.
Bangladesh is the world's second-biggest garment maker after China, with $ 35 billion dollars of exports a year.
A monitoring group set up by top European clothing brands to check worker safety standards in Bangladesh said Wednesday it will wrap up in May, more than six years after the collapse of a garment factory prompted the intervention by retailers.
The multi-storey Rana Plaza factory complex, where workers were making clothes for top global brands, collapsed in April 2013 killing at least 1,134 people and injuring another 2,000.
The tragedy, triggered by issues such as flagrant disregard of building codes and safety regulations, prompted global fashion brands to set up two monitoring agencies to inspect Bangladesh’ s 4,500 apparel factories.
Accord, the bigger of the two groups and established by some 200 European brands including H & M, Tesco and Carrefour, inspected some 1,650 factories.
With its five-year mandate long expired, Bangladeshi manufacturers have been demanding Accord shut up shop, as as they feared the group would widen its scope to areas such as workers rights.
Another group, called Alliance, was made up mostly of North American retailers and wound up operations after inspecting nearly 1,000 factories.
On Wednesday, Accord and Bangladeshi garment manufacturers signed an agreement to set up a new Ready-made Garment Sustainability Council ( RSC) to take over the work of the Accord by May 31.
“ We are taking over from Accord all of its resources and will follow their protocols along with inserting a national context ” said Rubana Huq, the president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
“ It is an important milestone, ” Accord spokesman Joris Oldenziel told AFP.
He said retailers, unions and manufacturers will have representatives on the council, a national initiative, which will carry forward the work of Accord to ensure safety in factories.
“ Accord has been very successful in preventing factory accidents… but still a lot of work needs to be done, ” Oldenziel said.
Union leader Babul Akter gave the new RSC a guarded welcome.
“ We’ ll be observing how it performs. We hope it can work independently just like the Accord and its work will be legally-binding, ” he told AFP.
Bangladesh is the world’ s second-biggest garment maker after China, with $ 35 billion dollars of exports a year.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
New York's weaknesses in the face of climate change, the city is erecting a $ 1.45-billion system of walls and floodgates.
Kroger, the country’ s biggest traditional grocery chain, is ending some benefits for unvaccinated workers.
Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. Source - NOAA - Earth System Research Laboratories Global Monitoring LaboratoryToday, hardly a week goes by without some sort...
Australia will push ahead with plans to ease Covid restrictions before Christmas.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Honduran migrants in new US-bound caravan enter Guatemala | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Hundreds of people in the vanguard of a new migrant caravan from Honduras forced their way across the border with Guatemala on Wednesday, intent on reaching the United States.
Thousands of Central American migrants have been braving the risk of extortion, kidnap and even murder as they flee poverty and gang violence in their homelands in a bid to reach the American dream, much to the annoyance of US President Donald Trump.
Around 400 men, women and children who set out from the northern Honduran town of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday, massed near the border town of Corinto on Wednesday.
The crowd refused to register with the migration services and forced their way through a line of border police to the Guatemalan side.
`` There is no work here, the government has abandoned us, '' 26-year-old Honduran Antony Gomez told AFP.
Other migrants who arrived later in small groups were temporarily blocked at the border. Police allowed some of them through, though they prohibited families with small children from passing.
Hundreds later regrouped to march northwards behind a blue and white Honduran flag.
Nearly 1,000 people had assembled in San Pedro Sula the night before, a human rights activist told AFP.
`` Right now we're close to 1,000 people but there are buses arriving from different parts of the country, '' Bartolo Fuentes, a journalist, human rights defender and former lawmaker told AFP on Tuesday night.
The government accused him of organizing the first such caravan in October 2018, a charge he denies.
The fresh caravan formed despite recent immigration agreements imposed by the Trump administration on Guatemala and El Salvador to curb northwards migration.
Under a deal with Guatemala, migrants who want to seek asylum in the United States but travel through Guatemala must first request protection in the Central American country.
The agreement designated Guatemala a `` safe third country '' -- allowing US authorities to deport some El Salvadoran and Honduran asylum seekers there -- and was condemned by international human rights groups
Many international observers say the country -- with 60 percent poverty -- is in no shape to welcome refugees but simply signed the agreement under intense US pressure.
Washington has reached a similar deal with El Salvador.
The migrants congregated in parks and the central metro station in San Pedro Sula, which is located around 180 kilometers ( 110 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa, under a light drizzle
Would-be migrants, `` mostly from rural areas, '' according to Fuentes, were alerted to the caravan through social media messages, which were then picked up by television channels.
`` Here there's no work for anyone. I was studying... but for nothing because there are many graduates with the diploma under their arm but without finding work, '' Yoly Sabillon, 28, told AFP.
Before joining the caravan she left her three children aged three, seven and 13 with her mother.
More than 2,000 Hondurans took part in the original caravan which headed north through Guatemala and then Mexico.
At least three more caravans formed during the first few months of 2019, leading Trump to threaten punitive measures against Central American governments if they did not stem the tide.
Trump sent 6,00 troops to the southern border with Mexico and warned of an `` invasion '' of `` gang members '' and `` criminals. ''
Around 30,000 Honduran migrants remain in Mexico waiting for a response to their US asylum requests.
Hundreds of people in the vanguard of a new migrant caravan from Honduras forced their way across the border with Guatemala on Wednesday, intent on reaching the United States.
Thousands of Central American migrants have been braving the risk of extortion, kidnap and even murder as they flee poverty and gang violence in their homelands in a bid to reach the American dream, much to the annoyance of US President Donald Trump.
Around 400 men, women and children who set out from the northern Honduran town of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday, massed near the border town of Corinto on Wednesday.
The crowd refused to register with the migration services and forced their way through a line of border police to the Guatemalan side.
“ There is no work here, the government has abandoned us, ” 26-year-old Honduran Antony Gomez told AFP.
Other migrants who arrived later in small groups were temporarily blocked at the border. Police allowed some of them through, though they prohibited families with small children from passing.
Hundreds later regrouped to march northwards behind a blue and white Honduran flag.
Nearly 1,000 people had assembled in San Pedro Sula the night before, a human rights activist told AFP.
“ Right now we’ re close to 1,000 people but there are buses arriving from different parts of the country, ” Bartolo Fuentes, a journalist, human rights defender and former lawmaker told AFP on Tuesday night.
The government accused him of organizing the first such caravan in October 2018, a charge he denies.
The fresh caravan formed despite recent immigration agreements imposed by the Trump administration on Guatemala and El Salvador to curb northwards migration.
Under a deal with Guatemala, migrants who want to seek asylum in the United States but travel through Guatemala must first request protection in the Central American country.
The agreement designated Guatemala a “ safe third country ” — allowing US authorities to deport some El Salvadoran and Honduran asylum seekers there — and was condemned by international human rights groups
Many international observers say the country — with 60 percent poverty — is in no shape to welcome refugees but simply signed the agreement under intense US pressure.
Washington has reached a similar deal with El Salvador.
The migrants congregated in parks and the central metro station in San Pedro Sula, which is located around 180 kilometers ( 110 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa, under a light drizzle
Would-be migrants, “ mostly from rural areas, ” according to Fuentes, were alerted to the caravan through social media messages, which were then picked up by television channels.
“ Here there’ s no work for anyone. I was studying … but for nothing because there are many graduates with the diploma under their arm but without finding work, ” Yoly Sabillon, 28, told AFP.
Before joining the caravan she left her three children aged three, seven and 13 with her mother.
More than 2,000 Hondurans took part in the original caravan which headed north through Guatemala and then Mexico.
At least three more caravans formed during the first few months of 2019, leading Trump to threaten punitive measures against Central American governments if they did not stem the tide.
Trump sent 6,00 troops to the southern border with Mexico and warned of an “ invasion ” of “ gang members ” and “ criminals. ”
Around 30,000 Honduran migrants remain in Mexico waiting for a response to their US asylum requests.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Kyiv next week to reaffirm support for Ukrainian sovereignty.
Dozens of freight cars are broken into every day on LA's railways by thieves who take advantage of the trains ' stops to loot packages...
Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Arizona on Saturday to hear a raft of speakers claim the 2020 US election was stolen.
About 200 million Americans now likely have access to a COVID-19 digital vaccine card.
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Private Capital: Financial Sponsors Make Good Partners | Bookmark content that interests you and it will be saved here for you to read or share later.
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Removed from Red Folder
The corporate and financial sponsor buyer dynamic continues to evolve.
By Les Baird, David Harding, Andrei Vorobyov and Shikha Dhar
This article is Section 2.3 of Bain’ s 2020 Global Corporate M & A Report. Explore the contents of the report here or download the PDF to read the full report.
Let’ s be clear at the outset: 85% of all M & A is the domain of corporate acquirers—of which about 70% involves publicly listed firms ( see Figure 2.5). Financial sponsors, including PE firms, account for the rest. Private equity is sitting on almost $ 2.5 trillion in dry powder, nearly an all-time high. These firms are highly motivated to put that money to work.
Cash-rich financial sponsors offer a source of capital and risk sharing for corporates. Financial sponsors generally have better transaction capabilities—finding deals, providing validation given their strong diligence capabilities, and structuring and closing deals. For their part, corporates bring strong industry knowledge and experience. The complementary offerings are fueling a steady flow of coinvestments with a variety of objectives:
As an example of financial support, consider how LEGO, through its owner Kirkbi ( single-family office for the Kristiansen family), partnered with US PE firm Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to acquire a majority of UK theme park operator Merlin Entertainments for $ 5.7 billion. This coinvestment deal will provide Merlin with the long-term investment it needs to execute on its growth plans. In another such deal, Suez partnered with CDPQ, a pension fund, to acquire GE Water for $ 3.4 billion in 2017.
For an example of coinvestment in new technologies, Volkswagen, BMW, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and other investors made a $ 1 billion coinvestment in Northvolt, Europe’ s biggest lithium-ion battery plant.
While the corporate–financial sponsor marriage makes sense on paper, these partnerships are structurally complex. It can be a worthwhile effort, as a PE partner can structure and close the deal faster for the corporate partner as well as provide validation for the investment—all while sharing the financial risk. Aligning on the objectives, sources of value creation and exit path with a PE partner, however, are better resolved before the deal is inked. It is an easier ride when the partner is a pension fund or sovereign wealth fund with similar long-term investment horizons as corporates.
Over the past three years, the number of publicly traded companies taken private by PE firms has sharply increased ( a trend first highlighted in Bain’ s Global Private Equity Report 2019). In 2018, these deals amounted to about $ 227 billion in value, which represents some 40% of all PE global buyout deal value ( including add-on deals). The trend continued in both count and value terms in the first half of 2019. A recent example is KKR taking the $ 5.6 billion German digital publisher Axel Springer private. Axel Springer completed the first stage of a remarkable transformation from traditional media to digital media and intends to chart out the rest of its path as a private company.
Linked to this public-to-private trend is the rise in activist takeovers—that is, activist hedge funds acquiring control in a company or even taking it private with a full-stake acquisition. Activist capital is another form of private capital, and the activist takeover thesis accounted for around 20% of M & A activism in the year ended September 2019, an increase from about 14% in 2018, according to Activist Insight. For example, Elliott Management Corporation has aggressively pursued the activist takeover strategy and, after a protracted campaign, ended up taking the keys to bookseller Barnes & Noble in June 2019.
Most corporates’ interaction with private equity will be in portfolio management, either by selling noncore assets to a corporate sponsor or by buying new assets from them. At times, coinvestments will work favorably for both.
This article is part of Bain’ s 2020 Global Corporate M & A Report. Explore the contents of the report here or download the PDF to read the full report.
Read the Next Section
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It’ s more important than ever to be guided by fundamental strategic principles.
Deal count declines, but value jumps to a five-year record.
Bain Partner Kara Murphy discusses the five disruptive trends that are reshaping the healthcare landscape.
PE leaders are scrambling to keep up with the Covid-19 crisis. What they need is a practical way to assess risk company by company and prioritize the most effective response.
Bain Partner Kara Murphy discusses the macro and micro forces that will change the investing landscape over the coming decade.
Stay ahead in a rapidly changing world. Subscribe to Bain Insights, our monthly look at the critical issues facing global businesses.
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Islamic State replaces al-Qaeda as Enemy No. 1 in Sahel | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Brutal attacks that have killed nearly 300 people in less than two months have propelled the Islamic State to the status of the Sahel's most-feared jihadist group, eclipsing al-Qaeda, experts say.
The vast fragile region on the southern rim of the Sahara has been battling an escalating insurgency by violent Islamists, beginning in Mali in 2012 and then spreading to Niger and Burkina Faso.
Until recently, groups under the banner of al-Qaeda were in the forefront of the bloodshed.
But their position has now been overtaken by an Islamic State ( IS) affiliate, providing the group with an image of resurgence in West Africa after its decline in Syria and Iraq.
`` The priority is the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara ( ISGS), '' French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Monday at a summit gathering France and its five Sahel allies -- Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
The ISGS `` has emerged as our main enemy, against whom we should focus our struggle, '' Burkina President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on Facebook.
`` Everyone has probably underestimated the ISGS, '' said Mahamoudou Savadogo, a Burkinabe researcher at a Senegal-based think tank, CERADD.
`` There has been a major rise in ( its) power. ''
- Rise of ISGS -
The ISGS leapt to world prominence after an ambush near the village of Tongo Tongo in Niger in 2017 that claimed the lives of four US special forces and four Nigerien troops.
Its leader is Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, whose nom de guerre derives from his birthplace in the Western Sahara.
His history of militancy dates back to fighting in the Polisario Front, which aims to end Moroccan control over the Western Sahara.
He became a leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa ( MUJAO), which then merged with a group led by one-eyed Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, forming Al-Mourabitoun.
He then broke with Belmokhtar to declare allegiance to IS, which the group recognised in 2016.
Savadogo said that from then until 2018, the ISGS prepared the groundwork, recruiting followers and raising funds -- and putting down roots in a region where the borders of Burkina, Mali and Niger meet.
`` In 2019, they were ready, '' he said.
That time spent in training has led to the bloodiest attacks in the history of the insurgency in the Sahel, all of which have been carried out in a range of 200 kilometres ( 120 miles).
- Mounting toll -
In November, two clashes in Mali, at Tabankort and Indelimane, claimed the lives of 92 soldiers. In December, 42 people -- 35 of them civilian -- were killed in Arbinda in Burkina, and 71 in Inates, Niger. And on January 16, 89 troops were killed in Chinegodar, Niger.
According to UN figures, jihadist attacks in the three countries last year left 4,000 dead.
Defence experts say that spectacular ISGS strikes use the same tactics.
The target is typically a remote military base, which is attacked by dozens of jihadists arriving on swarms of motorbikes.
They cut off the camp's communications, pound the site with mortars, kill as many soldiers as possible and then disappear before the army can fully respond.
`` The latest attacks seem to show that the group has acquired skills in command, control and coordination that it didn't have before, with group leaders able to carry out major operations, '' a French military source said with concern.
- Hard core -
A security expert in the Malian capital Bamako said the ISGS, like other jihadist groups in the Sahel, uses `` ad hoc '' fighters to beef up its ranks.
`` For every trained, radicalised fighter, there are two or three proxies ( allies) who are hired just for the operation, '' the source said.
The hard core of ISGS is probably no more than 200- or 300-strong, specialists say.
`` They use poachers, criminals, traffickers '' with deep knowledge of the local terrain, Savadogo said.
The ISGS gets technical help from another IS affiliate, the Islamic State's West Africa Province ( ISWAP), said Matteo Puxton, an independent analyst who spoke on condition of using a pseudonym after receiving threats.
According to IS propaganda outlets, the ISGS was incorporated into ISWAP in mid-2019. ISWAP also has a dissident faction of Nigeria's ruthless Boko Haram.
`` IS headquarters has taken over the ISGS. You can see that in the propaganda, the technical skills, '' Puxton said.
`` The level of ISGS attacks which were carried out in 2015 has been transformed. Their operations are sophisticated, and for the first time in ( ISGS's) history, there are long videos, put together by IS's central propaganda unit, '' he said.
Jean-Herve Jezequel, head of the Sahel project at the International Crisis Group ( ICG) think tank, said IS was `` easy to flag as an enemy, given its reputation for violence -- in terms of image, you really have a perfect foil there. ''
But, in fact, this reflects the situation on the ground, where IS affiliates are on the rise, `` including in the former strongholds of al-Qaeda, '' he said.
The IS `` is flying high '' in the Sahel, he said.
`` The reasons are complex and hard to decipher, but stem in part from the fact that it gives lots of autonomy to the groups that join it. ''
Brutal attacks that have killed nearly 300 people in less than two months have propelled the Islamic State to the status of the Sahel’ s most-feared jihadist group, eclipsing al-Qaeda, experts say.
The vast fragile region on the southern rim of the Sahara has been battling an escalating insurgency by violent Islamists, beginning in Mali in 2012 and then spreading to Niger and Burkina Faso.
Until recently, groups under the banner of al-Qaeda were in the forefront of the bloodshed.
But their position has now been overtaken by an Islamic State ( IS) affiliate, providing the group with an image of resurgence in West Africa after its decline in Syria and Iraq.
“ The priority is the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara ( ISGS), ” French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Monday at a summit gathering France and its five Sahel allies — Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
The ISGS “ has emerged as our main enemy, against whom we should focus our struggle, ” Burkina President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on Facebook.
“ Everyone has probably underestimated the ISGS, ” said Mahamoudou Savadogo, a Burkinabe researcher at a Senegal-based think tank, CERADD.
“ There has been a major rise in ( its) power. ”
– Rise of ISGS –
The ISGS leapt to world prominence after an ambush near the village of Tongo Tongo in Niger in 2017 that claimed the lives of four US special forces and four Nigerien troops.
Its leader is Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, whose nom de guerre derives from his birthplace in the Western Sahara.
His history of militancy dates back to fighting in the Polisario Front, which aims to end Moroccan control over the Western Sahara.
He became a leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa ( MUJAO), which then merged with a group led by one-eyed Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, forming Al-Mourabitoun.
He then broke with Belmokhtar to declare allegiance to IS, which the group recognised in 2016.
Savadogo said that from then until 2018, the ISGS prepared the groundwork, recruiting followers and raising funds — and putting down roots in a region where the borders of Burkina, Mali and Niger meet.
“ In 2019, they were ready, ” he said.
That time spent in training has led to the bloodiest attacks in the history of the insurgency in the Sahel, all of which have been carried out in a range of 200 kilometres ( 120 miles).
– Mounting toll –
In November, two clashes in Mali, at Tabankort and Indelimane, claimed the lives of 92 soldiers. In December, 42 people — 35 of them civilian — were killed in Arbinda in Burkina, and 71 in Inates, Niger. And on January 16, 89 troops were killed in Chinegodar, Niger.
According to UN figures, jihadist attacks in the three countries last year left 4,000 dead.
Defence experts say that spectacular ISGS strikes use the same tactics.
The target is typically a remote military base, which is attacked by dozens of jihadists arriving on swarms of motorbikes.
They cut off the camp’ s communications, pound the site with mortars, kill as many soldiers as possible and then disappear before the army can fully respond.
“ The latest attacks seem to show that the group has acquired skills in command, control and coordination that it didn’ t have before, with group leaders able to carry out major operations, ” a French military source said with concern.
– Hard core –
A security expert in the Malian capital Bamako said the ISGS, like other jihadist groups in the Sahel, uses “ ad hoc ” fighters to beef up its ranks.
“ For every trained, radicalised fighter, there are two or three proxies ( allies) who are hired just for the operation, ” the source said.
The hard core of ISGS is probably no more than 200- or 300-strong, specialists say.
“ They use poachers, criminals, traffickers ” with deep knowledge of the local terrain, Savadogo said.
The ISGS gets technical help from another IS affiliate, the Islamic State’ s West Africa Province ( ISWAP), said Matteo Puxton, an independent analyst who spoke on condition of using a pseudonym after receiving threats.
According to IS propaganda outlets, the ISGS was incorporated into ISWAP in mid-2019. ISWAP also has a dissident faction of Nigeria’ s ruthless Boko Haram.
“ IS headquarters has taken over the ISGS. You can see that in the propaganda, the technical skills, ” Puxton said.
“ The level of ISGS attacks which were carried out in 2015 has been transformed. Their operations are sophisticated, and for the first time in ( ISGS’ s) history, there are long videos, put together by IS’ s central propaganda unit, ” he said.
Jean-Herve Jezequel, head of the Sahel project at the International Crisis Group ( ICG) think tank, said IS was “ easy to flag as an enemy, given its reputation for violence — in terms of image, you really have a perfect foil there. ”
But, in fact, this reflects the situation on the ground, where IS affiliates are on the rise, “ including in the former strongholds of al-Qaeda, ” he said.
The IS “ is flying high ” in the Sahel, he said.
“ The reasons are complex and hard to decipher, but stem in part from the fact that it gives lots of autonomy to the groups that join it. ”
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during the telematic press conference called after the meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 17,...
An Irishman who refused to wear a Covid mask during a flight from Dublin to New York faces up to 20 years in prison.
Geneva, the neutral turf that was once host to so much Cold War bargaining, is again welcoming Russian and US officials.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are postponing the glittering parades that are the highlight of carnival festivities due to a surge in the...
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Fear of climate breakdown tops the list at World Economic Forum | Hi, what are you looking for?
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This year’ s WEF Global Risks report finds that for the first time in its 15-year history, the environment filled the top five places in the list of concerns likely to have a major global impact over the next decade.
In the last decade, economic and financial crises topped the list of the most dangerous risks to the planet, but with the horrendous fires in Australia, extreme weather, biodiversity loss, and other environmental disasters, public opinion has seen a marked shift, reports Deutsche Welle.
Børge Brende, the president of the World Economic Forum, said: “ The political landscape is polarised, sea levels are rising and climate fires are burning. This is the year when world leaders must work with all sectors of society to repair and reinvigorate our systems of cooperation, not just for the short-term benefit but for tackling our deep-rooted risks. ”
This year at Davos This year’ s gathering of business leaders, government policymakers and representatives of civil society marks the 50th anniversary of the WEF’ s meetings at the Swiss ski resort at Davos.
This year, the WEF has chosen “ sustainability ” as its main theme, reports The Guardian, and even though the WEF describes our world today as rife with “ geopolitical and geoeconomic uncertainty, ” attendees will have to work around the powerful economic, demographic, and technological forces that are shaping a new balance of power in the world.
Overshadowing the meeting of the world’ s elite is the report on “ global risks, ” defined as risks that could cause major harm to several countries or industries within the next 10 years, according to Reuters. They are: * Extreme weather events with major damage to property, infrastructure, and loss of human life. * Failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation by governments and businesses. * Human-made environmental damage and disasters, including environmental crime, such as oil spills and radioactive contamination. * Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse with irreversible consequences for the environment, resulting in severely depleted resources for humankind as well as industries. * Major natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and geomagnetic storms. “ The visibility of the impact of extreme weather events, wildfires, flooding, has heightened awareness, ” said Emily Farnworth, WEF Head of Climate Change Initiatives. “ What we are now seeing is the reality of what it means. ”
Karen Graham is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for environmental news. Karen's view of what is happening in our world is colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in man's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, `` Journalism is merely history's first draft. '' Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.
There are two confirmed cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in Ottawa, the Ontario government announced Sunday.
Drug and alcohol addiction treatment experts blame treatment services closing their doors to addicts during the pandemic.
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New York's Empire State Building lit up in the French national colors on Monday evening to honor Josephine Baker.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Bezos promises $ 1 billion in bid to see off Indian e-commerce storm | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos promised Wednesday a new billion-dollar investment in India, just two days after authorities launched an anti-trust investigation into the e-commerce giant.
A three-day visit by Bezos, whose worth has been estimated at more than $ 110 billion, sparked protests in New Delhi and other cities by traders who accuse Amazon and its main US-owned rival Flipkart of killing off India's army of street traders.
Bezos, who has spent heavily to make his company an e-commerce titan in the world's second most-populous nation, sought to head off critics by promising one billion dollars to digitise small and medium-sized Indian businesses.
`` We will use our global footprint to export $ 10 billion worth of 'Make in India ' products across the world by 2025, '' he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign to boost national production.
Bezos highlighted India's growing importance, saying `` the 21st century will be the Indian century '' and that the US-India alliance will be the most important.
Amazon and Flipkart -- founded in India but taken over by Walmart in 2018 for $ 16 billion -- face increasing scrutiny and resentment despite their popularity among customers.
The Competition Commission of India announced Monday that it was investigating both companies over accusations they undermine traditional traders by favouring `` preferred sellers '' on their platforms.
- 'Unfair subsidies ' -
Media reports said Bezos has sought a meeting with Modi, but neither the government nor Amazon would confirm if talks would be held.
Amazon has said it will cooperate with the investigation and was `` confident '' it was operating legally.
The commission, which last year fined Google $ 21 million for abusing its dominant position, said it will report in 60 days, but its inquiries normally take a lot longer.
`` We are not against e-commerce, '' said Sumit Agarwal, national secretary of the Confederation of All India Traders, which says it represents 70 million small businesses.
`` We just want the commission and the government to set up a fair and equitable playing field where the Amazons and Flipkarts can not abuse the system with unfair subsidies and their favoured traders. ''
The Hindu nationalist government is to announce a new e-commerce policy by March, and is under pressure to help small businesses because of a slowdown in the economy and high unemployment.
The merchants accuse Amazon and Flipkart of flouting India's tough foreign investment rules and pouring billions of dollars into discounts that harm traditional traders.
Agarwal highlighted special deals with mobile phone makers under which they are sold online, often at discount, before they reach high street shops.
He said 55,000 of the 100,000 small traders who have gone out of business in the past six months -- when Amazon and Flipkart have fought a merciless price cutting war -- were mobile phone sellers.
About 50 traders held a rally in Delhi chanting `` Jeff Bezos - Go Back! ''
After arriving Tuesday, Bezos paid tribute to India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, dressing in an Indian kurta to lay flowers at a memorial in Delhi.
Bezos will also visit India's financial capital Mumbai, where he will reportedly attend a party with Bollywood celebrities on Thursday.
Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos promised Wednesday a new billion-dollar investment in India, just two days after authorities launched an anti-trust investigation into the e-commerce giant.
A three-day visit by Bezos, whose worth has been estimated at more than $ 110 billion, sparked protests in New Delhi and other cities by traders who accuse Amazon and its main US-owned rival Flipkart of killing off India’ s army of street traders.
Bezos, who has spent heavily to make his company an e-commerce titan in the world’ s second most-populous nation, sought to head off critics by promising one billion dollars to digitise small and medium-sized Indian businesses.
“ We will use our global footprint to export $ 10 billion worth of ‘ Make in India’ products across the world by 2025, ” he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ s campaign to boost national production.
Bezos highlighted India’ s growing importance, saying “ the 21st century will be the Indian century ” and that the US-India alliance will be the most important.
Amazon and Flipkart — founded in India but taken over by Walmart in 2018 for $ 16 billion — face increasing scrutiny and resentment despite their popularity among customers.
The Competition Commission of India announced Monday that it was investigating both companies over accusations they undermine traditional traders by favouring “ preferred sellers ” on their platforms.
– ‘ Unfair subsidies’ –
Media reports said Bezos has sought a meeting with Modi, but neither the government nor Amazon would confirm if talks would be held.
Amazon has said it will cooperate with the investigation and was “ confident ” it was operating legally.
The commission, which last year fined Google $ 21 million for abusing its dominant position, said it will report in 60 days, but its inquiries normally take a lot longer.
“ We are not against e-commerce, ” said Sumit Agarwal, national secretary of the Confederation of All India Traders, which says it represents 70 million small businesses.
“ We just want the commission and the government to set up a fair and equitable playing field where the Amazons and Flipkarts can not abuse the system with unfair subsidies and their favoured traders. ”
The Hindu nationalist government is to announce a new e-commerce policy by March, and is under pressure to help small businesses because of a slowdown in the economy and high unemployment.
The merchants accuse Amazon and Flipkart of flouting India’ s tough foreign investment rules and pouring billions of dollars into discounts that harm traditional traders.
Agarwal highlighted special deals with mobile phone makers under which they are sold online, often at discount, before they reach high street shops.
He said 55,000 of the 100,000 small traders who have gone out of business in the past six months — when Amazon and Flipkart have fought a merciless price cutting war — were mobile phone sellers.
About 50 traders held a rally in Delhi chanting “ Jeff Bezos – Go Back! ”
After arriving Tuesday, Bezos paid tribute to India’ s independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, dressing in an Indian kurta to lay flowers at a memorial in Delhi.
Bezos will also visit India’ s financial capital Mumbai, where he will reportedly attend a party with Bollywood celebrities on Thursday.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
There is no stated power in the US Constitution to regulate human reproduction.
A small dog looking at a christmas tree which has colored lights. Source - Trogain, CC SA 4.0.If you are having trouble finding a...
The hunt for answers - like whether the Omicron variant will trigger new waves of infection.
We now know government COVID-19 policy should not be based on meteorological conditions
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State of M & A: Momentum amid Caution |
Bookmark content that interests you and it will be saved here for you to read or share later.
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Removed from Red Folder
M & A stayed surprisingly strong, but cracks are beginning to show.
By Les Baird, David Harding, Andrei Vorobyov and Shikha Dhar
This article is Section 1 of Bain’ s 2020 Global Corporate M & A Report. Explore the contents of the report here or download the PDF to read the full report.
Worries about the global economy and a potential downturn dominated executive discussions in 2019. There were major geopolitical issues to deal with, too, headlined by the chaotic path to Brexit and US-China trade tensions. Executives also grappled with rising regulator intervention in dealmaking that dampened spirits, most notably in Europe. While it has never been easy being an M & A decision maker, the past year introduced multiple layers of unease.
The numbers bear this out. The expectation going into 2019 was that a moderation in deal volumes would resume. The year, however, turned out to be surprisingly resilient. The deal count for 2019 was only 2% lower than 2018, and deal values increased by 1% year over year ( see Figure 1.1). Strong megadeal activity in the US in the first half of 2019 was balanced out by a slower second half. In Europe and Asia, the opposite occurred: The year started slowly and then started to pick up.
In a bit of a surprise, at least to us, transaction multiples are now on par with the 15-year average ( see Figure 1.2). This is true across all industries except technology and consumer products, where multiples are still higher than the long-term average—a situation that could change in a world of slowing economic growth.
Amid trade wars and higher regulatory scrutiny on grounds of national interest, cross-regional deal value declined by 31% during the first nine months of 2019 vs. the same period in 2018 and continued a three-year decline in volume.
Despite slowing economic growth in 2019, capital conditions remained favorable, with low interest rates. We expect the interplay of economic growth and cost of capital to continue to determine the fate of deal volumes in the year ahead.
Within this moderate M & A environment, the nature of dealmaking continues to evolve. Historically, the biggest deals were rooted in scale economics, capturing the benefits of cost and customer overlap by becoming a larger player in an industry. As we introduced in last year’ s report, the fundamental justification for many deals has now shifted to a scope orientation—that is, more deals are predicated on getting into faster-growing lines of business or acquiring new capabilities. That trend intensified in 2019. Often the intent is to garner both growth and capabilities.
Scope deals comprised nearly 60% of all large deals in the year ended September 2019 vs. 40% in 2015 ( see “ About the methodology ” for more details on Bain’ s approach to classifying approximately 1,200 strategic deals). Among deals with disclosed values of more than $ 1 billion, the absolute dollar amount spent on scope deals rose 50% from 2015 to 2018, while the dollar amount spent on scale deals halved.
This rise in scope M & A is a response to business model disruption and low growth. Top-line growth rates continue to trend downward for the leading publicly traded companies ( see Figure 1.3).
The trend toward scope M & A also indicates that most executives are engaged in a strategic shuffling of portfolios. Many are grappling with the need to migrate their portfolios from successful but slower-growing legacy businesses to new growth engines.
With economic concerns top of mind, it is good to remind ourselves that recessions are a moving target and that for most of us, market timing has not been a winning strategy. What we do know for sure is this: Every downturn produces its winners and losers. The winners prepare by using scale and scope M & A and divestitures proactively to reshape their portfolios.
This article is part of Bain’ s 2020 Global Corporate M & A Report. Explore the contents of the report here or download the PDF to read the full report.
To understand the nature of M & A activity, we first identified the top 250 strategic deals of each year ( top 165 strategic deals for 2019 year-to-date until September, since the analysis was concluded in October). From the initial list of deals with values greater than $ 1 billion, as reported by Dealogic, we excluded nonstrategic deals. These include asset or property acquisitions, financial investments, internal reorganizations, and minority stake acquisitions.We then classified the strategic deals into scale or scope deals based on our proprietary framework applied consistently across the years. The proprietary framework uses the stated strategic rationale by the acquirer at the time of announcement to identify the key elements of the deal thesis. Based on these elements, the deals were categorized as scale or scope deals.
Scale deals are intended to strengthen market leadership and lower cost position through the benefits of scale, such as cost synergies. Scope deals are intended to accelerate top-line growth by entering or expanding into faster-growing market segments, or by bringing in new capabilities. In reality, some deals are a blend of both scale and scope; however, the vast majority lean toward one or the other ( see chart).
In partnership with the Gerson Lehrman Group, we conducted a survey of 247 senior executives on the topic of corporate M & A and divestitures. The survey ran throughout July 2019 in the US, UK, Germany, France, China, Australia and Japan. Survey participants were from companies with greater than $ 500 million in annual revenue and held senior executive roles in the capacity of CEO, CFO or head of strategy/business development/M & A.
The survey covered the topics of portfolio management best practices, divestiture decision making and keys to success as well as M & A success drivers for scale and scope deals.
Read the Next Section
M & A Regulation: Scrutiny of Deals Expands
Regulators are raising new concerns beyond market consolidation.
Bain’ s review of 2018 examines the changing role of M & A in a year of uncertainty and growth challenges.
The winners are laying bold plans now to turn a downturn to their advantage.
Scratch the surface of Japan’ s outbound buying spree and you find some lingering challenges.
Mergers and acquisitions that began before the coronavirus pandemic face a new reality. Here’ s how teams can respond.
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How to Create a Reliable Trading Plan |
If you are serious about becoming a successful trader, one of the most important tools that you need is a reliable trading plan. Without one, you will essentially be setting yourself up for failure and financial loss. There are quite a few reasons why you should spend a lot of time creating a trading plan. Since trading is often a mental game, a trading plan can allow you to perform at a high level without letting your emotions take control. Trading plans also help us execute on our strategy and prevent huge losses. It will take a lot of time and effort to create a trading plan that works for you, especially since every trader is different, but in the long run, it will help you make progress towards continued success.
Keep in mind that there is no perfect trading plan, the key is to work on improving your plan as you get more experience with trading it. Most beginner traders go into their first trade without a plan at all. It doesn’ t matter if they make money or lose money on their first trades, without a plan, they won’ t go far. If you are having trouble creating a trading plan or you simply don’ t know where to begin, this article is for you. Below, we are going to walk you through how to create a reliable trading plan and why it is essential for trading success.
One of the first things that you need to do in order to construct a trading plan is to figure out the strategy that works for you. That means deciding what types of stocks you want to trade, what time of the day you plan to trade, how long you will keep a trade open, and what trade catalysts you are looking to identify. Finding the setups you like and practicing your strategy are key. After you have created a strategy, you must test and tweak it with paper trading to gain confidence. If you are truly confident in your proposed strategy and have mastered its mechanics, you can move on to the next step.
document.write ( ' < a style= '' text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: # 696969; '' target= '' blank '' rel= '' nofollow '' href= '' https: //www.ame ' + 'ricanconsumernews.net/scripts/click.aspx? NativeDisplayAdID=565 & ImpressionID=0 & UserID=0 & Placement=PlaceOnArticlePage '' > '); Pro trader Alan Knuckman has been saying it for years... “ DON’ T BUY STOCKS! ” And right now could be the best time for you to listen. Luckily, Alan just released details on a brand-new opportunity for anyone savvy enough to hear him out.
A trading plan isn’ t just about setups and strategy, it’ s also about putting yourself in the best position to succeed. You need to focus on preparing yourself mentally so that you can execute each trade at a high level. Developing a solid trading routine should be the next part of your plan. Consider things like the time you wake up each day, how much time you spend analyzing charts before trading, and what your emotional state is prior to market open. Make sure you take care of the small details and put yourself in a position to win every day that you plan on trading.
Perhaps the most important part of a reliable trading plan is working through risk management. In trading, you should always think about the downside of each trade. Getting your position sizing wrong due to poor risk management will lead to huge mistakes. This is where you should really focus on risk-reward ratios, specific entry points, stop losses, profit targets, and your position size for a trade. Many traders commit to a certain percentage that they are willing to risk on each trade. Their maximum loss will never exceed that amount, which prevents them from suffering huge losses. For example, you might commit to a 2% max loss on each trade. That means your total loss on any trade will not exceed 2% of your total account value. One of the most important things to do when creating a trading plan is to think about how much you are willing to lose on a trade. Most beginner traders will instead think about how much they plan to gain. The downside risk is always present on every single trade, so don’ t neglect to include it in your trading plan.
The idea behind creating a trading plan is that when the time comes to actually execute the trade, you’ ve already done all of the hard work. Your entry and exit should already be defined so that all you need to do is trade your plan. This allows you to have better control of your mental state and avoid making any emotional mistakes. Keep in mind that once your trade is live, things change a lot. The more parameters and rules you can set up for yourself to follow before the trade goes live, the quicker you will be able to react. Always trade your plan and record your progress each day so that you can continuously refine and improve your trading plan.
We hope this article has helped you gain some valuable insight into how to create a reliable trading plan. Remember that if you don’ t have a trading plan you are confident in, don’ t trade!
10 Best Tech Stocks to Buy After the Market’ s Historic Sell-Off
Technology stocks are among the most volatile in the market. The allure of big gains comes with the risk of sharp downturns. When the market is trending upwards, these stocks have a tendency to lead the way. Conversely, when the market is selling off, tech stocks post some of the largest losses. And in the coronavirus crash tech stocks took their usual beating. But an interesting dynamic is happening. As stocks are trying to stage a comeback, many tech stocks are being left behind. Many of the leading tech stocks trade on the NASDAQ exchange. However, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DJIA) and S & P 500 posted gains on March 25, the NASDAQ stayed down. And that’ s an opportunity for investors who know where to look. We’ ve put together this presentation to give you ten technology stocks that look to be solid bets no matter which way the market moves. Some of the stocks you’ ll see are companies that have a business model that is perfectly suited for today’ s social distancing environment.
View the `` 10 Best Tech Stocks to Buy After the Market’ s Historic Sell-Off ''.
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Tips for Trading in Volatile Markets |
As traders, we love when a big price movement works in our favor. However, being on the other side of a huge price swing can also decimate your account. That’ s why it’ s so important to understand market volatility and factor it into your decision-making process. The term volatility essentially refers to the degree of change in the prices of a security over a specific period of time. It’ s a consideration that every trader needs to make whenever they are planning out their trades.
The thing to understand about volatility is that there are many different factors that can weigh into what causes it. Huge price swings can be caused by the latest news headlines, good or bad economic data, geo-political issues, earnings reports, and more. The trading strategy that you use in a low-volatility bull market will likely be a lot different than your approach during times of extreme market volatility. It really helps to rethink elements of your trading strategy when the market is experiencing high levels of volatility, which is why we’ ve put together the following list of tips to provide you with some actionable insight.
One of the best ways to determine market volatility is to look at the price of the VIX, or the Volatility Index. It was first introduced by the Chicago Board Options Exchange ( CBOE) as a means of gauging the market’ s expectations of forward-looking volatility. You might have heard the VIX referred to as the “ fear index ” or the “ fear gauge ” since high levels of market volatility tend to scare investors. One of the best ways you can trade market volatility is to use the VIX. You can get an instant reading on perceived market volatility simply by looking at the current price and a chart of the VIX. If you think that market volatility will be increasing or decreasing dramatically in the near future, trading the VIX might be a good approach to profiting off of the movement.
document.write ( ' < a style= '' text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: # 696969; '' target= '' blank '' rel= '' nofollow '' href= '' https: //www.ame ' + 'ricanconsumernews.net/scripts/click.aspx? NativeDisplayAdID=499 & ImpressionID=0 & UserID=0 & Placement=PlaceOnArticlePage '' > '); Eric Fry, one of America’ s top Investment Strategists, provides his latest report 5 Tech Stocks Set for 1,000% Gains after the Coronavirus Sell off. You can’ t afford to miss out on the once in a decade chance to buy after the recent 25% dip in the markets.
Another great tip for trading during volatile periods in the market is to size down. By sizing down, or reducing the position size of your trades, you are limiting the amount of risk you take on. We all know just how important risk management is for traders. It makes a lot of sense during times of high market volatility to reduce your position size and lower the amount of risk you take on until the market becomes easier to read. When market volatility is at a high and news headlines are dramatically swinging the prices of stocks, you can always size down on your trades in order to limit your losses.
If you are interested in trading during times of high market volatility, you might want to explore using options. There are quite a few options trading strategies out there, but one tends to stand out during times of market volatility. The Straddle Option strategy, which involves buying a call option and a put option with the same strike price and expiration date, can be very powerful. As long as the underlying financial instrument experiences a large price move and one of your options contracts is in-the-money, you can profit. There are plenty of other advanced options trading strategies that can be applied to volatile market environments, so make sure you keep them in mind if you are looking to profit on huge price swings caused by uncertainty.
As traders, we tend to gravitate towards volatility thanks to the massive profit potential it can offer. However, sometimes the market simply gets too volatile to have confidence trading. With extreme market volatility comes increased risk, which is why sometimes the best thing for traders to do during volatile markets is to sit on the sidelines. Remember that those periods of high market volatility will not last forever. That means instead of trying to force trades during these time periods, you can always wait it out. If you aren’ t able to get a read on the market or don’ t like the current volatile environment you are trading in, perhaps you should avoid trading until you are more confident in the conditions.
Staying profitable or breaking even during times of increased market volatility is the sign of a true trader. One thing you can always count on is market volatility increasing and decreasing in the future. With these tips, you will be much better suited to make smart decisions when the market is experiencing huge price swings on a regular basis.
6 Stocks That Will Benefit From a Dovish Federal Reserve
The quaint correction that was labeled the “ tech wreck ” of 2018 seems like a distant memory to investors. What also seems like a distant memory is any thought of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. At the end of 2018, the Federal Reserve had raised its benchmark federal funds rate. With the trade dispute with China dragging on, there was increasing pressure on the Fed to lower interest rates. When interest rates are lower, stocks will generally rise as investors have no other option for growth. In July 2019, the doves got their wish. But in a move that now seems to be a “ what did they know move ”, the Fed dropped rates again in October. The market soared to record highs in January and early February. Since mid-February however, the market has fallen dramatically, and the Fed juiced the market one more time by cutting rates down to levels not seen since the financial crisis. None of us know for sure when the U.S. economy will be opened up. And while stocks are still a good investment, not every stock is a smart investment at this time. But some stocks perform well when interest rates are falling and that’ s why we’ ve prepared this presentation. These six stocks stand to benefit from both low-interest rates and the unique economic conditions being brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
View the `` 6 Stocks That Will Benefit From a Dovish Federal Reserve ''.
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BlackRock to Allocate Less to Fossil Fuels, More to Sustainable Prospects | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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BlackRock Inc. founder and CEO Larry Fink this week said the company will shift how investments are allocated and exit stocks that “ present a high sustainability-related risk, ” including from some fossil fuel projects.
The overhaul by the No. 1 asset manager in the world, with nearly $ 7 trillion in investments, was announced in Fink’ s annual letter, which could be a watershed moment for the investment community. Fink also pledged BlackRock would vote against management teams that are not making progress on sustainability.
Nearly five years ago, BlackRock had noted how the rising impact of climate change was impacting investments. However, the firm’ s estimable sponsorship of global oil and natural gas projects is not ending in the near term, and it will in fact remain one of the top investors in energy projects.
“ Under any scenario, the energy transition will still take decades, ” Fink wrote. “ Despite recent rapid advances, the technology does not yet exist to cost-effectively replace many of today’ s essential uses of hydrocarbons. We need to be mindful of the economic, scientific, social and political realities of the energy transition.
“ Governments and the private sector must work together to pursue a transition that is both fair and just; we can not leave behind parts of society, or entire countries in developing markets, as we pursue the path to a low-carbon world. ”
However, the reasoning to withdraw from riskier investments has become clear, Fink said in the letter.
“ Climate change is almost invariably the top issue that clients around the world raise with BlackRock, ” he wrote. “ From Europe to Australia, South America to China, Florida to Oregon, investors are asking how they should modify their portfolios. And because capital markets pull future risk forward, we will see changes in capital allocation more quickly than we see changes to the climate itself…
“ In the near future — and sooner than most anticipate — there will be a significant reallocation of capital, ” he said. “ The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance…Even if only a fraction of the science is right today, this is a much more structural, long-term crisis. ”
More fund offerings also are to focus on environmental, social and governance ( ESG) initiatives.
BlackRock intends to double ESG exchange-traded fund offerings to 150 over the next few years, “ including sustainable versions of flagship index products, so that clients have more choice for how to invest their money. ”
The dynamic “ will accelerate as the next generation takes the helm of government and business ” as CEOs and chief investment officers ( CIO), Fink wrote. “ As trillions of dollars shift to millennials over the next few decades, as they become CEOs and CIOs, as they become the policymakers and heads of state, they will further reshape the world’ s approach to sustainability. ”
BlackRock earlier this month joined Climate Action 100+, a group of asset managers pushing fossil fuel producers to detail how they plan to meet carbon dioxide reduction targets laid out in the 2015 United Nations ( UN) global climate accord. In 2019, the group pressured BP plc to describe how its strategy aligned with those goals, and last May, almost all shareholders ( 99%) voted in favor to mesh goals with the UN agreement.
BlackRock’ s “ investment conviction is that sustainability and climate-integrated portfolios can provide better risk-adjusted returns to investors, ” Fink said. “ And with the impact of sustainability on investment returns increasing, we believe that sustainable investing is the strongest foundation for client portfolios going forward. ”
The world is “ facing the ultimate long-term problem, ” wrote Fink. “ We don’ t yet know which predictions about the climate will be most accurate, nor what effects we have failed to consider. But there is no denying the direction we are heading. Every government, company and shareholder must confront climate change. ”
Also Tuesday, the Global Association of Risk Professionals ( GARP) said it has launched a certificate in sustainability and climate risk to help professionals understand and manage the potential economic and operational impacts of a changing climate on their organizations.
“ As businesses start to recognize climate change as a financial risk, managers will increasingly need to add climate risk management to their skill sets — not only those working in finance but also in disciplines such as supply chain management, operations and technology, ” said GARP Risk Institute Co-President Jo Paisley.
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Saudi Arabian Oil Co., aka Aramco, on Tuesday agreed to take $ 15.5 billion for a 49% interest in its natural gas pipeline infrastructure to a consortium led by BlackRock Inc. In the transaction, newly formed Aramco Gas Pipelines Co. would have lease and leaseback usage rights of the network over a 20-year period. BlackRock clinched…
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New Alberta management will take over Atlantic Canada’ s lone natural gas producer with plans to revive east coast supply development and shop for bargain-priced western oilfield assets under a transaction announced on Monday.
After a two-month “ strategic review ” Halifax-based Corridor Resources Inc. unveiled its rebirth as Headwater Exploration Inc. led by Calgary industry veterans. The deal includes up to C $ 50 million ( $ 37.5 million) in private share sales.
The Calgary group’ s credentials include building three western oil and gas growth firms that attracted profitable takeovers: Raging River Exploration Inc., Wild Stream Exploration Inc. and Wild River Resources Inc.
Corridor’ s directors and managers recommended shareholder acceptance of the corporate rebirth, with CEO Steve Moran calling the deal a “ transformative ” combination of current assets and proven industry growth expertise.
“ The Headwater management team is energized and truly believes that the Corridor platform can lead us into becoming a leading Canadian energy producer, ” said Alberta group leader and engineer Neil Roszell, who will replace Moran as CEO.
The Alberta team predicts “ unabated growth ” in east coast gas supply development if the Conservative government of New Brunswick succeeds with a plan to allow horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing ( fracking) on Corridor’ s resource leases.
A regulation enabling exemptions from the former Liberal administration’ s fracking ban was enacted in mid-2019 but no permits have been issued. The move prompted native and environmentalist protests. The Conservatives’ freedom of action is limited by their modest stature as only the largest minority in the New Brunswick legislature.
Corridor-Headwater estimates demand for new gas supply at about 140 MMcf/d in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia alone since offshore production ended in 2018 and markets resorted to imports from the United States and Western Canada. The projection excludes potential sales to natural gas export terminals proposed on Nova Scotia’ s Atlantic coast.
The firm’ s new management pledged to join the New Brunswick Conservatives in native tribe consultations on exemptions from the six-year-old fracking ban. Multiple supply growth opportunities have been identified, said the Calgary group.
In the West. where British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan allow fracking, the Corridor-Headwater group said, “ Current market conditions in the Canadian energy sector provide an ideal entry point for a well capitalized company. ” From its Calgary vantage point the firm’ s new management team said “ the market price for assets relative to net asset value has only been this low twice in the last 20 years. ”
Financial resources in Corridor-Headwater “ will allow the company to first, take advantage of mispriced assets and second, unlock the value of the assets through disciplined capital allocation and greenfield development, ” management said.
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Opal Fuels LLC, which produces and distributes renewable natural gas ( RNG) with ambitious expansion plans, said Tuesday it has a joint venture ( JV) to develop facilities that would capture landfill methane emissions for conversion to transportation fuels. Opal, which aims to grow production volumes to more than 125 million gasoline gallon equivalents ( GGE) in 2024, …
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Djotodia Returns to the Central African Republic | Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work
Former President’ s Time Marked by Anarchy, Misrule, and Abuse
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Two former leaders accused of serious abuse have recently returned to Central Africa Republic.
Only two weeks after the return of former Central African Republic president Francois Bozizé to the country, former rebel, turned self-appointed president, Michel Djotodia landed in the capital, Bangui, last Friday.
Under Djotodia’ s leadership, the Seleka, a mostly Muslim rebel coalition from the country’ s north, ousted Bozizé in 2013. The Seleka then launched a looting and killing spree in the capital, specifically targeting areas where people close to Bozizé’ s government lived.
We documented how, during the weekend of April 13, 2013, Seleka forces’ pickup trucks entered the Boy-Rabe neighborhood and shot indiscriminately at civilians to make them flee before Seleka men looted their homes. Scores were killed trying to run or plead with the Seleka.
Outside Bangui the situation was worse. Djotodia’ s fighters killed civilians as they fled their homes, destroyed villages, looted schools and medical centers, and stole grain stocks. People fled to the bush where they suffered from disease, hunger, and exposure. That year, we drove through burned out villages and towns, only to be met along the road by starving civilians, living and dying in the bush.
When we shared evidence of crimes committed by the Seleka with Djotodia and his top commanders, we were met with a collective shrug. The consequences of their actions on civilians appeared to be of no concern. During Djotodia’ s brief time as president, the country descended into a chaos that continues to have ramifications today. When he fled in 2014, he left behind a country in ruins.
Djotodia is reported to have stayed in close contact with some Seleka factions. His return, along with Bozizé’ s, shows that those responsible for serious crimes feel, for now, untouchable. But their presence could give the government and its partners an opportunity to break with the past. A Special Criminal Court, established in June 2015, has a mandate to cover crimes committed by the Seleka. Additionally, an International Criminal Court investigation is ongoing. Prosecuting alleged crimes by the Seleka, and holding leaders like Djotodia accountable, could end the impunity that has driven so much violence and death over the past seven years.
The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on People Living in Poverty in Lagos, Nigeria | general |
Six Flags is in For a Wild Ride ( SIX) |
It hasn’ t been a great start to 2020 for the theme park operator Six Flags ( NYSE: SIX). Back in November, I wrote that investors could pick up the stock for its dividend, which got paid in December. The company still looks good as a dividend stock, but there’ s a lot more for investors to consider. And it just goes to show investors the difference a quarter can make.
Six Flags is facing stiff headwinds from China
First, there is some good news as it relates to Six Flags. As I pointed out in my prior article, Six Flags is trying to learn from its mistakes. Under the leadership of a new CEO, the company is taking an asset-light approach to international expansion. This is encouraging investors in large part because it is keeping the company free from the debt that was crippling its balance sheet in recent years.
One of the company’ s initial forays was into China. Here’ s where the news becomes as bumpy as one of Six Flags’ roller coasters.
As it turns out, the Chinese economy is affecting theme park operators as well. With this approach, the company is licensing its brand to local companies within the countries and collecting revenue as the parks come online.
In theory, it’ s a sound plan. However, the company is discovering that being a landlord can be a pain. Due to the softening real estate market in China, the company that Six Flags is partnering with, Riverside Investment, is currently in default of its obligations. This was reflected in SIX’ s most recent earnings statement. The company said Riverside’ s challenges were “ due to the macroeconomic environment and China’ s declining real estate market. ”
document.write ( ' < a style= '' text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: # 696969; '' target= '' blank '' rel= '' nofollow '' href= '' https: //www.ame ' + 'ricanconsumernews.net/scripts/click.aspx? NativeDisplayAdID=565 & ImpressionID=0 & UserID=0 & Placement=PlaceOnArticlePage '' > '); Pro trader Alan Knuckman has been saying it for years... “ DON’ T BUY STOCKS! ” And right now could be the best time for you to listen. Luckily, Alan just released details on a brand-new opportunity for anyone savvy enough to hear him out.
As a result, Six Flags does not expect to receive any revenue from its Chinese investments. Six Flags does expect to receive a one-time revenue adjustment and one-time charges of $ 10 million.
What is more concerning is that the company is not sure if one or any of its projects in China will go forward as scheduled. In its SEC filing, the company said, “ While the Company continues to work with Riverside and each of Riverside’ s governmental partners, the eventual outcome is unknown and could range from the continuation of one or more projects to the termination of all the Six Flags-branded projects in China. ”
What about the 9% dividend?
Like its rival Cedar Fair ( NYSE: FUN), Six Flags pays out a generous dividend. That makes sense since these companies are not growth-oriented. However, right now the yield of over 9% is large even by its standards. That is attracting investor attention. It should also be raising their caution flags.
Dividend yields go up when a company’ s stock price goes down. Six Flags’ stock price has been on a downward trajectory for the last 12 months and is down 20% since the beginning of the year. At this point, analysts don’ t foresee the dividend being in danger even with a payout ratio of over 100% ( which means the company is theoretically paying out more in its dividend than it is realizing as profit).
However, investors would feel better if China was the company’ s only headache. It’ s not. The company is issuing guidance that its fourth-quarter revenue may come in far lower than prior expectations in large part due to softening demand. Even for a seasonal, cyclical stock that is causing concern for investors.
Analysts are souring on SIX stock, should you?
Investors frequently use analysts’ ratings as a data point for making decisions. And the news for SIX stock has not been good on that front. The fourth quarter is one of low expectations anyway for a seasonal stock like SIX. However, as news about the company’ s China problems broke it prompted one analyst, Timothy Conder of Wells Fargo, to downgrade the stock twice in the same day.
Conder first lowered his price target from $ 49 to $ 42 and moved the company from overweight to neutral. When he did so, Six Flags had not yet issued the lowered fourth-quarter revenue estimates. When that happened, Conder issued a second downgrade. This time he lowered his price target to $ 38 and rated the company as underweight.
Said Conder, in his note supporting the downgrade, “ Based on our revised estimates, the dividend appears secure, but investors will not give SIX any near-term credit until clarity on domestic demand emerges. We see no near-term upside catalysts. ”
If the events weren’ t announced on the same day, the China news and lower revenue forecast would be viewed perhaps a bit more favorably by investors. And the stock has stabilized since its plunge on January 10. But investors have been seeing the stock go downhill for some time now. Six Flags could use some good news, and there isn’ t any forthcoming. For now, the stock looks like a hold.
6 Stocks That May Not Survive the Coronavirus
Companies that are in a shaky financial position may sometimes attract investors in a bull market. Traders seeking a short-term profit can often use an oversold condition to capture a quick gain. But in a bear market, these companies frequently are left on the sidelines. But a declining stock price by itself should not be enough to scare investors off. What investors really need to pay attention to is the company’ s ability to finance existing debt or take on additional debt. Companies with low credit ratings face the problem of having too much debt on their books and an inability to finance it at more favorable rates. That’ s one reason we’ ve put together this presentation that highlights 6 companies that may not survive the coronavirus. These companies have low stock prices. In fact, many of them are, or will be, in danger of being delisted if they can not bring their stock above the $ 1 threshold. And on top of that, these companies each carry credit ratings of CCC+ or lower and are at risk of seeing those ratings even go lower. Each of the companies presented here are considered to be among the weakest, if not the weakest, in their sector. If you have any of these falling knives in your portfolio now is the time to cut your losses and walk away.
View the `` 6 Stocks That May Not Survive the Coronavirus ''.
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Russell Stover announces 400 layoffs and 300 new jobs | With so many personnel announcements in such a short period of time, it's difficult to do the math on how these moves affect Russell Stover and its employees.
Simple subtraction shows that the company is losing a net of more than 100 jobs, but considering the locations of plant closures and expansions, plus the hazy announcement from the parent company of 300 layoffs — which only seems to have been reported by Kansas City media — it's unclear how deep these cuts are. Neither Russell Stover nor its Swiss parent company Lindt & Sprungli make many company announcements that aren't marketing-related or dealing with the full company's financials, so there are many gray areas.
However, it's clear that business is sweet for Russell Stover and Lindt & Sprungli, which bought the Kansas City-based chocolate company in 2014 for $ 1.6 billion. The Swiss confectioner also owns chocolate brands Ghiradelli and Lindor, and is the United States ' third largest chocolate maker. Lindt & Sprungli released its 2019 global sales report on Tuesday, reporting organic sales growth in North America of 5.4%. All three of the chocolate maker's brands, the company said, contributed to the increase. Russell Stover's press release says fiscal year 2019 was `` strong. ''
It has taken time for Russell Stover to get settled in as part of the Swiss chocolatier's portfolio. When the company was purchased, many consumers thought of it as a boxed chocolate brand. After sales volumes of the brand fell 20% in six months in 2016, Lindt & Sprungli started repositioning Russell Stover as a brand that makes `` everyday '' chocolate in pouches and bags. Russell Stover also launched a stevia-sweetened sugar-free line of chocolates in 2017.
Sales have picked up for Russell Stover, and Lindt & Sprungli has the financial opportunity to make big changes now. According to Lindt & Sprungli's 2019 sales report, these changes will cost 60 million Swiss francs ( $ 62.2 million), but the cost will be offset by a one-time Swiss tax benefit. The company states this will support future growth in the U.S.
And it's all about modernizing. The Colorado plant that is closing next spring was Russell Stover's fourth factory and built in 1973. The Kansas and Texas factories that will be expanded are state-of-the-art factories totaling more than 1.2 million square feet, according to a case study from the engineering and construction firm that worked on them. They all have specialized equipment and were designed for eventual expansion and easy transport of candy both in the United States and abroad.
It's also important to be prepared for what's next, David Abbott, Lindt & Sprungli USA's senior director of supply chain planning, told Supply Chain Best Practices.
“ We need to stay ahead of it because of the scale, ” Abbott told the website. “ For example, when we run out of capacity to make our Lindor truffles, buying a new machine has a long lead time from designing, to buying, installing and producing Lindor truffles from it. ”
Several other food companies are investing in improving manufacturing and logistics as a way to improve sales and delivery. Kellogg and Nestlé have both made the shift to warehouse distribution in the name of cost savings. For Kellogg, that resulted in more than 4,499 jobs lost, while Nestlé's layoffs will add up to around 4,000.
It remains to be seen how these changes will impact Russell Stover, which began as a family-owned and local company. However, considering the tax-related windfall Russell Stover's parent company is receiving from the Swiss government, now may be a good time to make those shifts.
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With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
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With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation. | general |
State of M & A: Momentum amid Caution |
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M & A stayed surprisingly strong, but cracks are beginning to show.
Di Les Baird, David Harding, Andrei Vorobyov and Shikha Dhar
This article is Section 1 of Bain’ s 2020 Global Corporate M & A Report. Explore the contents of the report here or download the PDF to read the full report.
Worries about the global economy and a potential downturn dominated executive discussions in 2019. There were major geopolitical issues to deal with, too, headlined by the chaotic path to Brexit and US-China trade tensions. Executives also grappled with rising regulator intervention in dealmaking that dampened spirits, most notably in Europe. While it has never been easy being an M & A decision maker, the past year introduced multiple layers of unease.
The numbers bear this out. The expectation going into 2019 was that a moderation in deal volumes would resume. The year, however, turned out to be surprisingly resilient. The deal count for 2019 was only 2% lower than 2018, and deal values increased by 1% year over year ( see Figure 1.1). Strong megadeal activity in the US in the first half of 2019 was balanced out by a slower second half. In Europe and Asia, the opposite occurred: The year started slowly and then started to pick up.
In a bit of a surprise, at least to us, transaction multiples are now on par with the 15-year average ( see Figure 1.2). This is true across all industries except technology and consumer products, where multiples are still higher than the long-term average—a situation that could change in a world of slowing economic growth.
Amid trade wars and higher regulatory scrutiny on grounds of national interest, cross-regional deal value declined by 31% during the first nine months of 2019 vs. the same period in 2018 and continued a three-year decline in volume.
Despite slowing economic growth in 2019, capital conditions remained favorable, with low interest rates. We expect the interplay of economic growth and cost of capital to continue to determine the fate of deal volumes in the year ahead.
Within this moderate M & A environment, the nature of dealmaking continues to evolve. Historically, the biggest deals were rooted in scale economics, capturing the benefits of cost and customer overlap by becoming a larger player in an industry. As we introduced in last year’ s report, the fundamental justification for many deals has now shifted to a scope orientation—that is, more deals are predicated on getting into faster-growing lines of business or acquiring new capabilities. That trend intensified in 2019. Often the intent is to garner both growth and capabilities.
Scope deals comprised nearly 60% of all large deals in the year ended September 2019 vs. 40% in 2015 ( see “ About the methodology ” for more details on Bain’ s approach to classifying approximately 1,200 strategic deals). Among deals with disclosed values of more than $ 1 billion, the absolute dollar amount spent on scope deals rose 50% from 2015 to 2018, while the dollar amount spent on scale deals halved.
This rise in scope M & A is a response to business model disruption and low growth. Top-line growth rates continue to trend downward for the leading publicly traded companies ( see Figure 1.3).
The trend toward scope M & A also indicates that most executives are engaged in a strategic shuffling of portfolios. Many are grappling with the need to migrate their portfolios from successful but slower-growing legacy businesses to new growth engines.
With economic concerns top of mind, it is good to remind ourselves that recessions are a moving target and that for most of us, market timing has not been a winning strategy. What we do know for sure is this: Every downturn produces its winners and losers. The winners prepare by using scale and scope M & A and divestitures proactively to reshape their portfolios.
This article is part of Bain’ s 2020 Global Corporate M & A Report. Explore the contents of the report here or download the PDF to read the full report.
To understand the nature of M & A activity, we first identified the top 250 strategic deals of each year ( top 165 strategic deals for 2019 year-to-date until September, since the analysis was concluded in October). From the initial list of deals with values greater than $ 1 billion, as reported by Dealogic, we excluded nonstrategic deals. These include asset or property acquisitions, financial investments, internal reorganizations, and minority stake acquisitions.We then classified the strategic deals into scale or scope deals based on our proprietary framework applied consistently across the years. The proprietary framework uses the stated strategic rationale by the acquirer at the time of announcement to identify the key elements of the deal thesis. Based on these elements, the deals were categorized as scale or scope deals.
Scale deals are intended to strengthen market leadership and lower cost position through the benefits of scale, such as cost synergies. Scope deals are intended to accelerate top-line growth by entering or expanding into faster-growing market segments, or by bringing in new capabilities. In reality, some deals are a blend of both scale and scope; however, the vast majority lean toward one or the other ( see chart).
In partnership with the Gerson Lehrman Group, we conducted a survey of 247 senior executives on the topic of corporate M & A and divestitures. The survey ran throughout July 2019 in the US, UK, Germany, France, China, Australia and Japan. Survey participants were from companies with greater than $ 500 million in annual revenue and held senior executive roles in the capacity of CEO, CFO or head of strategy/business development/M & A.
The survey covered the topics of portfolio management best practices, divestiture decision making and keys to success as well as M & A success drivers for scale and scope deals.
Read the Next Section
M & A Regulation: Scrutiny of Deals Expands
Regulators are raising new concerns beyond market consolidation.
Bain’ s review of 2018 examines the changing role of M & A in a year of uncertainty and growth challenges.
The winners are laying bold plans now to turn a downturn to their advantage.
Scratch the surface of Japan’ s outbound buying spree and you find some lingering challenges.
Mergers and acquisitions that began before the coronavirus pandemic face a new reality. Here’ s how teams can respond.
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PepsiCo to use 100% renewable energy in US operations | Or wait...
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By Rachel Arthur contact
15-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 15-Jan-2020 at 16:15 GMT
Related tags: Pepsico function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` Pepsico ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
The company’ s US operations account for nearly half of its global electricity consumption.
PepsiCo – which counts Pepsi, Gatorade, Tropicana and bubly among its brands – expects to see a 20% reduction in US greenhouse gas emissions relative to a 2015 baseline.
It will create a portfolio of Power Purchase Agreements ( PPAs) and Virtual Power Purchase Agreements ( VPPAs), which finance the development of new renewable electricity projects such as solar and wind farms. These will be alongside renewable energy certificates ( RECs), which are independently certified credits that support existing green electricity generation from renewable sources.
In 2020, PepsiCo’ s portfolio will use a number of RECs; then gradually shift towards PPAs and VPPAs by 2025.
PepsiCo also continues to expand its onsite renewable electricity: with solar panels recently installed at its global headquarters in Purchase, N.Y. Other solar installations in the US include Frito-Lay facilities in Modesto, CA and Casa Grande, AZ, as well as PepsiCo beverage facilities in Fresno, CA and Tolleson, AZ.
PepsiCo says its efforts in the US build upon commitments elsewhere. Its direct operations in nine European countries already source 100% of their electricity from renewable sources; while 76% of electricity needs in its Mexico Foods business are sourced from wind energy.
“ We have entered a decade that will be critical for the future of our planet’ s health, ” said Ramon Laguarta, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo. “ PepsiCo is pursuing 100% renewable electricity in the U.S. because the severe threat that climate change poses to the world demands faster and bolder action from all of us. ”
Across its global business, it has set targets to reduce absolute GHG emissions across its value chain by 20% by 2030.
| general |
New Starbucks, Nestlé coffee: cold brew, turmeric & essential vitamins | Or wait...
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By Rachel Arthur contact
15-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 16-Jan-2020 at 09:03 GMT
Related tags: Starbucks, Nestlé, Coffee function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` Starbucks, Nestlé, Coffee ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
The products – which will hit US shelves next month - seek to offer consumers at home ‘ a little more than their average cup of coffee’.
Essential Vitamins contains five B vitamins; Golden Turmeric contains turmeric, ginger and cinnamon; and 2x Caffeine contains twice as much caffeine as one Starbucks K-Cup pod of black coffee.
The new range of products also includes:
Starbucks and Nestlé created a ‘ global coffee alliance’ in 2018, giving Nestlé the perpetual rights to market Starbucks packaged goods and foodservice products worldwide outside of Starbucks coffee shops.
Representing Nestle's third biggest acquisition ever, it gives the Swiss giant a step up in the premium coffee market both in North America and globally. For Starbucks - the world's largest coffee chain - the alliance opens the door for global expansion in retail.
Last year, Nestlé launched four coffee platforms globally under the Starbucks brands, including Starbucks Creamers in the US.
New products: Cold Brew Concentrate, Fresh Brew Coffee, Starbucks Coffee with Essential Vitamins, Starbucks Coffee with Golden Turmeric and Starbucks Coffee with 2X the Caffeine.
Existing products: Starbucks packaged coffee and tea brands, such as Starbucks, Seattle’ s Best Coffee, Teavana, Starbucks VIA Instant, Torrefazione Italia coffee, Starbucks-branded K-Cup pods, Starbucks by Nespresso and Starbucks creamers. | general |
hellowater, RISE Brewing Co., and UPTIME Energy to join Nestlé Waters North America's ReadyRefresh portfolio of brands | Or wait...
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ReadyRefresh is Nestlé Waters North America’ s direct-to-consumer delivery service where customers can order and set up beverage deliveries on a weekly to three-month basis through an easy-to-shop website. ReadyRefresh’ s delivery network is capable of reaching more than 80% of the US population.
Outside of its regional bottled water brands ( e.g. Poland Springs and Ice Mountain) ReadyRefresh currently delivers Nestlé Waters North America’ s other brands including Perrier and San Pellegrino. In November 2019, ReadyRefresh started to offer Vita Coco's original and pressed coconut water.
Addressing the fact that 97% of Americans do not meet their recommended daily intake of fiber, hellowater is a line of fiber-infused ( from inulin) flavored waters with 0g of sugar and 5g of fiber.
“ We ask our customers frequently, ‘ What would you like us to do for you?’, ” Henrik Jelert, executive vice president, ReadyRefresh, told FoodNavigator-USA. According to Jelert, the top requests that come up are convenience and a variety of healthy beverages beyond bottled water that consumers are starting to purchase on a more frequent basis, such as coconut water and cold brew coffee.
This past week, the delivery service announced a major expansion to its portfolio of healthy beverages available for nationwide delivery.
In the coming months, ReadyRefresh will start carrying fast-growing beverage brands including hellowater fiber-infused flavored waters, RISE Brewing Co. nitro cold brew coffee cans, and UPTIME energy drinks.
“ For us, it’ s breakthrough to distribute products that we don’ t produce ourselves, ” said Jelert.
`` Launching with ReadyRefresh is one of RISE's most exciting partnerships to date, '' said Grant Gyesky, RISE Brewing Co. cofounder and CEO.
`` Not only does it allow RISE to be accessible to the majority of the U.S. population, but it also brings us full circle from our founding when we would order 5-gallon containers from ReadyRefresh to brew our nitro cold brew coffee. ``
But why order weekly to monthly deliveries of beverages exclusively through ReadyRefresh? According to Jelert, ReadyRefresh feels closer to a white glove service than an anonymous face dropping off a package on your stoop.
“ A big difference between us and many others is we have about 2,000 service representatives, and their primary objective is to build relationships, ” explained Jelert.
Building shopper loyalty and repeat orders is a tricky business, and things like knowing the name of your customer and greeting them with your delivery go a long way, he argued.
“ For Nestlé Waters North America, this is a critical component of the future. To build that relationship and be closer to our customers. It allows us to understand them better and provide a better service and better products that meet their needs, '' he said.
Nestlé Waters North America also has the logistics muscle to ensure that the other crucial elements of a direct-to-consumer business are in place such as on-time delivery, the ability to track a shipment in real time, and flexible delivery windows.
And according to Jelert, once a customer starts ordering their beverages with ReadyRefresh, they tend not to seek out other direct-to-consumer options.
“ When we ask our customers, they say that we actually don’ t compete a lot with Amazon, ” he said. | general |
Marriott: A Fresh Start W Hotels Announces New Eco-Conscious In-Room Amenity | Originally published on marriott.com.
Heads are about to turn. W Hotels Worldwide today unveils its new unisex amenity line with Italy-based, luxury sustainable beauty brands, Davines and /skin regimen/ of the Davines Group. Together, W and the Davines Group – brands with cult followings – will be shaking up self-care routines from Chicago to Chengdu with sustainable skin and hair care products available at all W locations in 2020.
Unbound by traditional definitions of beauty, both W and the Davines Group are champions of self-expression and individuality, encouraging people to act consciously, and feel fabulous wherever they go. From sink to spa, the new line-up of in-room hair and skin care ( which replaces the brand’ s long-time amenity partner, bliss) will now include Davines and /skin regimen/ best-sellers as well as exclusive new formulas, available only to W guests:
“ W takes a bold approach to self-care and this new brand collaboration is no exception, ” said Anthony Ingham, Global Brand Leader, W Hotels. “ In choosing a new amenity line, we road tested many brands and formulations and not only love the way the Davines Group products look, smell and feel, but the values they stand for as a company. We are very excited to bring these products to all of our guest rooms across the globe. ”
From a shampoo and blowout at W’ s AWAY Spa to an in-room shower after a long FUEL workout, W guests will now have access to an elevated line of luxury beauty products with a highly sustainable edge. From natural ingredients like yellow melon extract found in their signature “ MOMO ” products, to their world class research lab in Parma, Italy, Davines Group artfully blends science and nature, harnessing the power of both to offer products that are as effective as they are refreshing.
“ We are thrilled to be collaborating with one of the most dynamic, contemporary hotel brands in the world, ” says Jorge Blanco, Creative Director, Davines North America. “ We found a kindred spirit in W as we both have made a name for ourselves by doing things differently, and this amenity project is no different. We look forward to seeing how our self-care collaboration will inspire people from around the world to seek a deeper extension of the in-room amenity experience we are now proudly offering with W. ”
In addition to being the in-room and in-suite brand of choice at W hotels globally, /skin regimen/ and Davines products will also be used at all W Away Spas starting in 2020 alongside sister brand, [ comfort zone ]. Davines is a certified B Corporation and CO2 neutral company that supports reforestation to offset its carbon emissions. In addition, all products are sulphate- and paraben-free. As part of Marriott International’ s initiative to reduce its hotels’ environmental impact worldwide, W plans to offer the new amenities in waste-reducing, full-size bottles by the end of 2020.
All Davines and /skin regimen/ products that make up the exclusive W Hotels line are available for sale online at W Hotels The Store or visit whotels.com for more information.
Originally published at corporate.dow.com. Dow ranked No. 19 on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list in 2021. Dow has invested in Mr. Green Africa – the first recycling company in Africa to be a Certified B Corporation – to enable further diversion of plastic waste from informal dumpsites and the…
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Following news that employees at two of its locations have successfully formed unions after years of organizing, Starbucks fans have more to feel good about when it comes to where the money from their daily java habit is actually going. Hilary Russ of Reuters has reported that following a recent…
In a disturbing example of domestic violence, a Michigan man has been accused of killing his longtime boyfriend over a fight involving a video game. Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News reported that Docquen Jovo Watkins “ is being held without bond in the Oakland County Jail on a second-degree murder charge. ” …
Popular image-sharing and social media company Pinterest has announced that Nichole Barnes Marshall will be joining the organization as its new Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity. Marshall joins the San Francisco-based company, founded in 2009, with more than 20 years of experience in the DEI and recruitment fields. Prior…
Originally published on LinkedIn. KeyBank ranked No. 23 on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list in 2021. Hunger continues to be a serious problem in the United States, which is why KeyBank is proud to contribute to the fight against food insecurity. As part of their $ 40 billion Community…
Originally published at mediacenter.adp.com. ADP ranked No. 8 on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list in 2021. On Jan. 11, ADP announced that it has been named a winner in Business Intelligence Group’ s 2022 BIG Innovation Awards for its Return to Workplace solution. The robust solution offers…
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Danone US yogurt chief 'bullish ' despite segment's broader struggles | The French company is unveiling products in 2020 that address demand for lower sugar or alternative sweetener options, different textures and more plant-based varieties.
As the $ 7.2 billion U.S. yogurt space aims to rediscover the long-term growth that buoyed the dairy treat for much of the last decade, Pedro Silveira, president of yogurt for Danone North America, said he remains `` very bullish '' on his company's prospects as it rolls out new products addressing trends popular with consumers.
Danone's market share in the North American yogurt category grew from 27% in 2007-2008 when the company was the No. 2 player, to more than 33% in 2019, positioning it as the market leader, according to the company. While its share dipped slightly to 32.9% in the third quarter ending Sept. 30 before rebounding recently to 33.1% at the end of 2019, Silveira expressed optimism that its latest product launches are setting Danone up for future growth in a crowded U.S. yogurt market.
`` You might look at one specific date within this kind of long-time frame and then you might not get or see the results that you want, but in the long run we start to see the results coming into the right place, '' Silveira told Food Dive. `` This is exactly because some of the seeds that we planted at the beginning of the year, end of ( 2018) are now kind of happening and that’ s what makes me feel very bullish for 2020. ''
Danone is unveiling yogurt products this year that address consumer demand for lower sugar or alternative sweetener options, different textures, as well as more plant-based varieties. Unlike other yogurt companies, Danone has focused on having each of its yogurt brands define a specific subcategory, such as probiotics with Activia, Oikos for Greek yogurt and Danimals for kids. Now it's taking those brands and incorporating other popular trends such as plant-based, low sugar and portability into them without losing the defining characteristic.
In 2020, Oikos is tapping into the nut butter trend with almond butter — an offering that uses honey and maple for its sweeteners instead of sugar — and a drinkable energy option high in protein, potassium and calcium and as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. For its Activia brand, it's rolling out versions with less sugar and new flavors, a drinkable smoothie and a dairy-free option made with almond milk. And Two Good, the yogurt with two grams of sugar that posted $ 68.4 million in sales during its first year on the market in 2019, will debut a Greek low-fat product.
`` There is always something new '' in yogurt, Silveira said. `` You see this kind of portfolio transforming over time and the important thing is to keep this thing moving. You can not take your eye off the ball. ''
Danone is not the only company expanding its yogurt offerings into more trendy niches. Greek yogurt giant Chobani recently paired its low-fat Greek yogurt with nut butters, introduced a non-dairy version and rolled out oat-based products. In recent years, General Mills ' struggling Yoplait brand has introduced a French-style variety in glass jars called Oui by Yoplait and YQ by Yoplait, made with ultra-filtered milk and less sugar. Last summer, the cereal giant announced plans to work with GoodBelly to distribute a line of lactose-free yogurts and a single probiotic-infused cereal.
The yogurt industry as a whole knows it needs to keep innovating, especially when once hot categories such as traditional and Greek have struggled. Sales have fallen nearly $ 384 million in traditional yogurt since November 2015 to about $ 3 billion annually, according to data provided by Nielsen. Greek has faced even sharper declines of about $ 460 million to almost $ 3.2 billion.
The bright spots in yogurt are Icelandic and non-dairy varieties, which each posted a compound annual growth rate of about 45% during the last four years. But despite their strong growth, Nielsen said Icelandic only commands 2.4% of total yogurt sales while plant-based varieties control 2.9%, making it difficult for them to offset the declines in other areas.
Ioannis Pontikis, a Morningstar analyst, said in an email to Food Dive that intensifying competition in yogurt overall has led to a downward push in pricing as companies seek to gain an advantage. As a result, companies such as Danone are focusing their efforts in kids yogurt, probiotic and plant-based, which are still growing.
`` We expect Danone to sharpen its focus on those more trendy segments going forward, with a strategy of introducing and distributing more of the most successful yogurt products/innovations nationwide, '' Pontikis said.
Silveira told Food Dive that despite some struggles in recent years for the category, the yogurt segment remains vibrant as innovation helps attracts consumers to the popular dairy and plant-based product. IRI data provided by Danone showed that in the last 13 weeks ending Dec. 29, sales in the yogurt category grew 0.9% while Danone's jumped 1.5%.
`` The key thing is that the ones that are going to win are the ones that will be true to the yogurt need, which is it needs to be healthy, it needs to be tasty, '' Silveira said. `` We can not compromise on taste. Consumers, they will not repeat if you go in those growth spaces... ( and if) we fail to deliver taste. I think this will be the key element that is going to ( determine) who's going to win and who's going to lose in this game. ''
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As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
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For Beyond Meat No News Can be Good News | In one regard, Beyond Meat ( NASDAQ: BYND) has already won. The manufacturer of plant-based burgers and pork was one of the first to establish proof of concept. And as any failed startup can tell you, the victory does not always go to the company that’ s first through the door.
But the ride has been anything but smooth for BYND investors. When Beyond Meat issued its initial public offering ( IPO) in 2019, its stock quickly soared above $ 200. At that time, the stock looked destined to fail against the weight of expectations. And sure enough, as 2019 drew to a close, BYND had given back virtually all of its post-IPO gains.
Nevertheless, Beyond Meat has successfully moved past the awareness stage. Plant-based protein is gaining traction and is quickly becoming more of a trend than a fad. If you need evidence of this, just look at the increasing number of companies that are trying to enter the space. But it seems that every time there is news about Beyond Meat, good or bad, it has the effect of drawing attention to the limitations of the company.
When good news is bad news
A new year has brought new interest in BYND stock and Beyond Meat has risen to over $ 100 per share. One reason for the stock price increase is that the category is attracting attention from “ flexitarians ”. Flexitarians are neither vegetarian nor vegan. They are simply consumers who are making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of meat in their diet usually to help manage their personal health or based on their concern for the environment.
document.write ( ' < a style= '' text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: # 696969; '' target= '' blank '' rel= '' nofollow '' href= '' https: //www.ame ' + 'ricanconsumernews.net/scripts/click.aspx? NativeDisplayAdID=524 & ImpressionID=0 & UserID=0 & Placement=PlaceOnArticlePage '' > '); He helped save America from a $ 1.3 trillion banking crisis… I predicted the Great Recession of 2008… I predicted Trump’ s 2016 election… But now I’ m issuing my most urgent warning yet.
In fact, according to NPD Group, 18% of consumers are actively trying to eat more plant-based foods. That’ s the good news. The bad news is that these consumers have a plethora of options available to them. And not all of these restaurant chains serve the Beyond Meat brand of plant-based burger.
But the run-up in the company stock is being considered unsustainable. One reason is that Beyond Meat is still not profitable, at least not on a consistent basis. The company did post a profit in its last two quarters, but on a yearly basis, they have not yet recorded positive earnings.
Quint Tatro, chief investment officer at Joule Financial, said in the same “ Trading Nation ” interview that Beyond Meat is an interesting story, but not much more.
“ From a fundamental standpoint, it’ s very difficult for us to get behind this name. It’ s not profitable. Exceptional sales growth, but pure speculation, ” Tatro said. “ I’ m a fan of the company. I’ ve tried the burgers. I’ ve tried the sausages. I mean, it’ s great. But from a fundamental investment standpoint, they’ ve got to be profitable. They’ ve got to have positive cash flow. It’ s just going to take time. ”
Does the company have room to grow?
Another example where good news is not always good for Beyond Meat comes in its high profile contract with McDonald’ s ( NYSE: MCD). McDonald’ s recently announced that it would be expanding its test marketing of its plant-based burger ( the P.L.T.) to a larger amount of Canadian stores. Good news, right? Maybe and maybe not.
When its deal with McDonald’ s was first announced, skeptics cited the fact that McDonald’ s was not beholden to Beyond Meat as their sole provider of plant-based protein. So an expanded trial would not necessarily generate proportional sales growth. However, Impossible Brands, the company behind the Impossible Whopper, issued a statement that it does not have the capacity to service a market as large as McDonald’ s.
That’ s the good news. The bad news is that even expanding to 52 Canadian stores ( the original deal was for 28 stores exclusively in Ontario), is already factored into the BYND stock price. And according to Bernstein’ s Alexia Howard, the current stock price is even factoring in the potential for sales gains in a best-case scenario where McDonald’ s begins to sell the P.L.T. in the United States.
And this is leading some to question whether Beyond Meat has the resources itself to keep up with that kind of production. Analysts are suggesting that such a rollout would increase Beyond Meat’ s sales nearly three times by 2021. In fact, Howard has downgraded the stock from outperform to market perform as she says, reaching such a level of sales would “ likely test the high end of Beyond Meat’ s capacity ” based on the company’ s current expansion plans.
What can investors expect from Beyond Meat?
If the company can meet analysts’ expectations and stay on track to post positive yearly earnings, the stock may have room to go up from its current level. But the company is not expected to post positive earnings in the first quarter and so I believe it will take until the second half of the year to really see where BYND stock can go. For now, traders can trade BYND on the news. Investors may want to stay on the sidelines.
7 Gun Stocks to Buy During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Socially conscious investors may want to stop reading. But the fact is that gun stocks were some of the best-performing stocks at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. And they continue their positive momentum. Some of that may be historical. Firearms sales tend to increase during an election year. But of course, this has not started out as a normal election year. In March, the nation was gripped by pictures of long lines outside gun stores in several U.S. states. The website Ammo.com reported that bullet sales increased by 222% in the period from February 23 through March 15 as opposed to the first three weeks in February. And according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’ s ( FBI) National Instant Criminal Background Check System ( NICS), there was a 73% year-over-year increase in background checks in February. “ The world has never seen anything like this and people want to make sure they're prepared for whatever lies ahead, whether that be food shortages, government shutdown, or worse, '' a spokesperson for Ammo.com said in an emailed statement. `` When everything around you is uncertain, having a supply of ammunition can make our customers feel safer. '' Given the likelihood of increased firearms sales, we’ ve created this presentation that highlights seven gun stocks that you should consider for your portfolio.
View the `` 7 Gun Stocks to Buy During the Coronavirus Pandemic ''.
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15-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 15-Jan-2020 at 13:16 GMT
Related tags: Coffee, Tea, Starbucks, Dunkin ' donuts, Peet's, oat milk, Almond milk function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` Coffee, Tea, Starbucks, Dunkin ' donuts, Peet's, oat milk, Almond milk ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
The holiday and Christmas drinks have disappeared from store shelves and shop menus, making way for winter. Peppermint, spice and eggnog flavors are being replaced by honey, horchata and caramel at Starbucks, Dunkin’, Peet’ s and the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
Starbucks is kicking off the new decade with a few permanent additions to its US menu. The coffee giant has offered soymilk since 2004, coconutmilk since 2015 and almondmilk since 2016. It’ s now expanding those plant-based ingredients by incorporating them into designated hot and cold drinks.
The new Almondmilk Honey Flat White and Coconutmilk Latte will be available nationally and year-round starting this week, while the Oatmilk Honey Latte is now testing regionally in the midwest.
Raegan Powell, product developer at Starbucks, said “ We started with the coffee. Starbucks Blonde Espresso pairs well with the lighter texture of milk alternatives, especially almond milk. It’ s a little bit nuttier, so it complements the almond-based milk. ”
Oatmilk has been offered at Starbucks stores in Europe since January 2018 and at select Starbucks Reserve locations since March 2019. It’ s now available as an ingredient at about 1,300 midwest locations.
“ Customers are looking for more ways to personalize their beverages. We love how the nuanced flavor you get with plant-based milks pairs with espresso, either hot or iced. It’ s a new way to start your new year, ” Powell said.
This season, Peet’ s Coffee is bringing back its annual Ethiopia Super Natural coffee. It is sourced from the Hambela region and features freshly harvested, ripe coffee cherry dried in the African sun. It’ s available at cafe locations and bagged for retail for a limited time.
Doug Welsh, roastmaster at Peet's, said `` This sun-dried coffee from Ethiopia tasted so other-worldly good, we dubbed it super natural. This spectacular single-origin brews a sweet and full cup that is memorably, fragrantly fruity, with a whiff of white flower, a concentrated dose of dried blueberry, and a shot of candied citron. ``
Also on tap this winter are new handcrafted drinks -- the Oat Milk Horchata Latte, Vanilla Cinnamon Latte and Iced Vanilla Cinnamon Latte. They are available at Peet’ s locations until early March.
Patrick Main, beverage innovator at Peet's, said `` As far as dairy-free alternatives go, oat milk has transcended from a trend into a staple. With its creamy body and natural sweetness, it is a perfect ingredient base for espresso. We love how it blends with Madagascar vanilla and ground cinnamon to elevate our new Oat Milk Horchata Latte. ”
Taking cues from the health and wellness-driven landscape every new year, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is introducing a Lightened collection of beverages. It’ s an option for customers to modify their existing favorite beverages with fewer calories and less sugar.
The Lightened platform includes Coffee Bean’ s Vanilla Latte, Mango Cold Brew Tea, Mocha Ice Blended drink and Matcha Iced Latte. They can be altered and made with nonfat milk, half-powder, less syrup or with no whipped cream.
Customers can also add Dulce de Leche syrup to Coffee Bean’ s signature espresso drinks this winter, creating the Dulce de Leche Latte and the Dulce de Leche Ice Blended drink.
Nurit Raich, senior director of product innovation at Coffee Bean, said `` Lightened allows our customers to enjoy many of the delicious flavors we offer, but with fewer calories and sugar. We created this after listening to our guests who wanted lighter options without sacrificing their favorite The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf drink. ``
Dunkin’ s winter menu brings back its popular Girl Scout Cookie flavors for a third year, in partnership with the Girl Scouts of the USA. The Coconut Caramel and Thin Mints flavors coincide with Girl Scout Cookie season in the US.
They can be incorporated into Dunkin’ s handcrafted espresso experience, and in the full lineup of hot and iced coffee, Cold Brew, frozen coffee and frozen chocolate.
Patty Healy, Dunkin’ s senior director of integrated marketing, said “ Girl Scout Cookie season is as welcomed and anticipated as the ball dropping on New Year’ s Eve, and we’ re thrilled to celebrate by bringing two smile-eliciting Girl Scout Cookie inspired flavors back to guests’ coffees in 2020. ”
“ We are proud to support Girl Scouts of the USA’ s mission to build the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders, as it’ s the leadership and entrepreneurialism of small business owners that has fueled the success of our own brand, too. ”
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3-D chess with ex-presidents back in war-torn C.Africa ahead of polls | Hi, what are you looking for?
By
Published
The unexpected return of two former presidents to the Central African Republic, the main figures in a civil war that still bloodies the country despite an 11-month-old peace accord, has set the stage for high-stakes political chess ahead of elections in December.
Francois Bozize, who is under an international arrest warrant for his role in the conflict, returned from exile in Uganda in mid-December -- timing that would enable him to mount a presidential run under electoral rules.
Thousands of supporters from a section of the opposition to President Faustin-Archange Touadera turned up at a rally urging Bozize to run for the top job.
He has yet to meet with Touadera. Government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui said Bozize had returned `` in obscure conditions and has set conditions for a meeting '' with the president.
Meanwhile the man who overthrew Bozize in 2013, Michel Djotodia, is also back in the country.
Even though Djotodia may also have his sights set on the presidency, Touadera greeted him at the airport upon his arrival in Bangui on Friday.
These machinations are potentially explosive in a country where fighting is still claiming lives despite a peace accord signed last February.
More than two-thirds of the former French colony is still under the control of armed rebel groups fighting over its rich mineral resources.
Nathalia Dukhan, a CAR expert with the US anti-corruption group The Sentry, described Djotodia's return as `` planned and negotiated ''.
She added: `` The current government, already very unpopular, is showing that it has just one goal: ( Touadera's) re-election at any cost. ''
Bozize `` is still very popular... which directly threatens this re-election, '' Dukhan said.
Another analyst, who heads the Association of Central African Bloggers ( ABCA), goes further, seeing Djotodia's return as a deliberate move by Touadera.
`` This way, Touadera ensures he has the support of voters in areas under the influence of ( former rebels) thanks to Djotodia's support, '' Rosmon Zokoue said.
- Arrest warrant -
Bozize took power following a 2003 coup before being overthrown 10 years later by Djotodia, head of the mainly Muslim Seleka rebellion in the predominantly Christian country.
Vicious sectarian violence ensued between the Seleka and vigilante militias dominated by Christians and animists known as the anti-Balaka.
Djotodia resigned in January 2014, a month after a French-led military intervention ousted the Seleka from power.
After a transitional period, Touadera was elected president in 2016 but was unable to stop the fighting, despite the presence of a multinational UN force.
While Djotodia has avoided prosecution by Central African or international justice, Bozize's is a different story.
The UN imposed sanctions against him and CAR issued an international arrest warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity for allegedly stoking the violence.
Analyst Thierry Vircoulon said `` Bozize's legal situation is a lot more complicated '' and it was uncertain whether he would be eligible to run for president.
Moreover, the Touadera camp may not look kindly on a Bozize candidacy if the president's re-election is threatened -- a scenario that could inflame the campaign.
- 'Race against time ' -
`` With less than a year before the presidential election, all the political clans are engaged in a race against time, '' Dukhan said.
Some observers warn that while Bozize's ambitions are clear, Djotodia's intentions are anyone's guess.
He has said simply: `` The future belongs to God. ''
Meanwhile, Djotodia remains the political head of the CAR's main armed rebel group, the Popular Front for the Rebirth of the Central African Republic ( FPRC).
The group maintains control over the northeast of the country with violence including killings, looting and rapes, according to Lewis Mudge, Human Rights Watch's CAR director.
The run-up to the December elections is thus potentially explosive in a country still embroiled in a conflict despite a relative calm since the Khartoum accord last February.
`` It's a bad sign that Bozize can return to the political landscape despite the sanctions, '' Mudge said.
`` The same for Djotodia, who was head of the Seleka which committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. It shows that the cycle of impunity has not been broken. ''
The unexpected return of two former presidents to the Central African Republic, the main figures in a civil war that still bloodies the country despite an 11-month-old peace accord, has set the stage for high-stakes political chess ahead of elections in December.
Francois Bozize, who is under an international arrest warrant for his role in the conflict, returned from exile in Uganda in mid-December — timing that would enable him to mount a presidential run under electoral rules.
Thousands of supporters from a section of the opposition to President Faustin-Archange Touadera turned up at a rally urging Bozize to run for the top job.
He has yet to meet with Touadera. Government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui said Bozize had returned “ in obscure conditions and has set conditions for a meeting ” with the president.
Meanwhile the man who overthrew Bozize in 2013, Michel Djotodia, is also back in the country.
Even though Djotodia may also have his sights set on the presidency, Touadera greeted him at the airport upon his arrival in Bangui on Friday.
These machinations are potentially explosive in a country where fighting is still claiming lives despite a peace accord signed last February.
More than two-thirds of the former French colony is still under the control of armed rebel groups fighting over its rich mineral resources.
Nathalia Dukhan, a CAR expert with the US anti-corruption group The Sentry, described Djotodia’ s return as “ planned and negotiated ”.
She added: “ The current government, already very unpopular, is showing that it has just one goal: ( Touadera’ s) re-election at any cost. ”
Bozize “ is still very popular… which directly threatens this re-election, ” Dukhan said.
Another analyst, who heads the Association of Central African Bloggers ( ABCA), goes further, seeing Djotodia’ s return as a deliberate move by Touadera.
“ This way, Touadera ensures he has the support of voters in areas under the influence of ( former rebels) thanks to Djotodia’ s support, ” Rosmon Zokoue said.
– Arrest warrant –
Bozize took power following a 2003 coup before being overthrown 10 years later by Djotodia, head of the mainly Muslim Seleka rebellion in the predominantly Christian country.
Vicious sectarian violence ensued between the Seleka and vigilante militias dominated by Christians and animists known as the anti-Balaka.
Djotodia resigned in January 2014, a month after a French-led military intervention ousted the Seleka from power.
After a transitional period, Touadera was elected president in 2016 but was unable to stop the fighting, despite the presence of a multinational UN force.
While Djotodia has avoided prosecution by Central African or international justice, Bozize’ s is a different story.
The UN imposed sanctions against him and CAR issued an international arrest warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity for allegedly stoking the violence.
Analyst Thierry Vircoulon said “ Bozize’ s legal situation is a lot more complicated ” and it was uncertain whether he would be eligible to run for president.
Moreover, the Touadera camp may not look kindly on a Bozize candidacy if the president’ s re-election is threatened — a scenario that could inflame the campaign.
– ‘ Race against time’ –
“ With less than a year before the presidential election, all the political clans are engaged in a race against time, ” Dukhan said.
Some observers warn that while Bozize’ s ambitions are clear, Djotodia’ s intentions are anyone’ s guess.
He has said simply: “ The future belongs to God. ”
Meanwhile, Djotodia remains the political head of the CAR’ s main armed rebel group, the Popular Front for the Rebirth of the Central African Republic ( FPRC).
The group maintains control over the northeast of the country with violence including killings, looting and rapes, according to Lewis Mudge, Human Rights Watch’ s CAR director.
The run-up to the December elections is thus potentially explosive in a country still embroiled in a conflict despite a relative calm since the Khartoum accord last February.
“ It’ s a bad sign that Bozize can return to the political landscape despite the sanctions, ” Mudge said.
“ The same for Djotodia, who was head of the Seleka which committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. It shows that the cycle of impunity has not been broken. ”
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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An Irishman who refused to wear a Covid mask during a flight from Dublin to New York faces up to 20 years in prison.
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EU Parliament Calls for Release of Burundi Journalists | Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work
Ongoing Crackdown Undermines Credibility of Upcoming Elections, Say MEPs
@ ClaFrancavilla
The European Parliament today adopted a resolution condemning the continued deterioration of the human rights situation in Burundi ahead of the May 2020 elections. It also called on authorities to drop charges and immediately and unconditionally release four journalists working for Iwacu, one of the country’ s last remaining independent newspapers, and all others arrested for exercising their fundamental rights.
Christine Kamikazi, Agnès Ndirubusa, Egide Harerimana, and Térence Mpozenzi, and their driver, Adolphe Masabarakiza, were arrested on October 22, 2019 while on a reporting trip to Bubanza Province, and later charged with being complicit in “ threatening the security of the state. ” Their judgment is due by the end of January.
The 15-year sentence requested by the prosecutor in this case is a warning to the few remaining journalists who dare to stay in Burundi: report on sensitive issues at your peril.
The European Union reacted to widespread human rights abuses triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza’ s controversial decision in 2015 to run for a third term by suspending direct budgetary support to the government, and imposing targeted sanctions against four individuals alleged to be involved in the subsequent crackdown on dissent. But these measures have had little impact.
One of those sanctioned, Col. Gervais Ndirakobuca, was recently appointed as director of the country’ s national intelligence service.
Tensions continue to rise as Burundi’ s polls approach. Local authorities and the ruling party’ s notorious youth league members have beaten, threatened, and restricted people’ s access to basic services to force them to “ donate ” money to fund the elections, and committed rampant abuses against the opposition.
These arrests, which followed several politically motivated prosecutions of human rights defenders, have already triggered an international outcry. In December 2019, 39 MEPs wrote to the Burundian government calling for the journalists’ release.
Today’ s resolution goes one step further. Burundian authorities should immediately restore conditions for free and fair elections, which includes ensuring the media can work without fear of ending up in jail. And the first necessary step should be the unconditional release of the Iwacu journalists who appear to have been prosecuted simply for doing their jobs.
The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on People Living in Poverty in Lagos, Nigeria | general |
Scientists find powerhouses that fight tumours from within | Hi, what are you looking for?
By
Published
Lurking deep inside some tumours are `` factories '' full of immune cells that help the body fight a rearguard action against cancer and are key to helping some patients recover, new research has shown.
In recent years, doctors have turned to a new treatment for cancer, immunotherapy, which works by leveraging the body's immune system to fight tumours.
The technique has largely focused on white blood cells called T-cells, which are `` trained '' to recognise and attack cancer cells.
But the innovative treatment only works well for around 20 percent of patients, and researchers have been trying to understand why some people respond better than others.
Three papers published on Thursday in the journal Nature point the way, identifying a key formation inside some tumours: tertiary lymphoid structures ( TLS).
These structures function like `` factories or schools '' for immune cells that help the body fight cancer, said Wolf H. Fridman, a professor emeritus of immunology at the Cordeliers Research Centre of the Paris Descartes University medical school, who helped lead one of the studies.
`` The cells need to be educated in schools, which are the tertiary lymphoid structures, '' where they effectively learn to recognise and attack cancer cells, Fridman told AFP.
- No longer 'innocent bystanders ' -
Key to the findings is that T-cells are far from the only immune cells capable of taking the fight to cancer, with researchers finding the TLS were full of B-cells, a kind of immune cell that produces antibodies.
`` We have been T-cell addicts for 15 years in cancer, '' Fridman said with a laugh.
`` We analysed these sarcomas to see what groups they had and what's striking is that these B-cells appeared. ''
Beth Helmink, a fellow in surgical oncology at the University of Texas's MD Anderson Cancer Center who worked on a second study, said the research changed perceptions of the role of B-cells in immunotherapy.
`` Through these studies, we find that B-cells are not just innocent bystanders, but are themselves contributing in a meaningful way to the anti-tumour immune response, '' she said in a statement issued by the Center.
The discovery is something of a surprise, as an abundance of B-cells in cancer patients has sometimes been seen as a marker for poor prognosis.
But the studies found that patients with high levels of B-cells inside TLS in their tumours were more likely to respond well to immunotherapy.
`` This series of studies are exciting because they represent real progress in the treatment of different types of cancer, '' said Louisa James, a lecturer in immunology at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.
`` In the short term, these results provide a new tool to help predict which patients are likely to benefit from treatment with immunotherapy and may also pave the way for improved treatments in the future, '' added James, who was not involved in the studies.
- Improving cancer treatment -
There are still many unanswered questions, including why the structures form in some tumours and not others.
And while it now seems clear that B-cells inside the structures play a key role in the success of immunotherapy, scientists are not sure precisely how.
It may be that the B-cells are on the frontlines, producing antibodies that attack cancer cells efficiently.
Or they may be bolstering T-cells, or perhaps doing both.
And not all TLS are created equal: the researchers found three categories, but only one type was `` mature '' enough to churn out cancer-fighting immune cells.
The research opens several promising avenues, the authors said.
Initially, it could help doctors screen patients to see which are most likely to respond well to immunotherapy.
And eventually, the research could mean more patients are successfully treated with the technique, said Goran Jonsson, a professor of oncology and pathology at Lund University in Sweden who worked on a third study.
`` If we come up with a treatment that could enhance TLS formation, we could combine this with current immunotherapy regimens, '' he told AFP.
`` Most likely this would lead to more patients responding to immunotherapy. ''
Lurking deep inside some tumours are “ factories ” full of immune cells that help the body fight a rearguard action against cancer and are key to helping some patients recover, new research has shown.
In recent years, doctors have turned to a new treatment for cancer, immunotherapy, which works by leveraging the body’ s immune system to fight tumours.
The technique has largely focused on white blood cells called T-cells, which are “ trained ” to recognise and attack cancer cells.
But the innovative treatment only works well for around 20 percent of patients, and researchers have been trying to understand why some people respond better than others.
Three papers published on Thursday in the journal Nature point the way, identifying a key formation inside some tumours: tertiary lymphoid structures ( TLS).
These structures function like “ factories or schools ” for immune cells that help the body fight cancer, said Wolf H. Fridman, a professor emeritus of immunology at the Cordeliers Research Centre of the Paris Descartes University medical school, who helped lead one of the studies.
“ The cells need to be educated in schools, which are the tertiary lymphoid structures, ” where they effectively learn to recognise and attack cancer cells, Fridman told AFP.
– No longer ‘ innocent bystanders’ –
Key to the findings is that T-cells are far from the only immune cells capable of taking the fight to cancer, with researchers finding the TLS were full of B-cells, a kind of immune cell that produces antibodies.
“ We have been T-cell addicts for 15 years in cancer, ” Fridman said with a laugh.
“ We analysed these sarcomas to see what groups they had and what’ s striking is that these B-cells appeared. ”
Beth Helmink, a fellow in surgical oncology at the University of Texas’ s MD Anderson Cancer Center who worked on a second study, said the research changed perceptions of the role of B-cells in immunotherapy.
“ Through these studies, we find that B-cells are not just innocent bystanders, but are themselves contributing in a meaningful way to the anti-tumour immune response, ” she said in a statement issued by the Center.
The discovery is something of a surprise, as an abundance of B-cells in cancer patients has sometimes been seen as a marker for poor prognosis.
But the studies found that patients with high levels of B-cells inside TLS in their tumours were more likely to respond well to immunotherapy.
“ This series of studies are exciting because they represent real progress in the treatment of different types of cancer, ” said Louisa James, a lecturer in immunology at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.
“ In the short term, these results provide a new tool to help predict which patients are likely to benefit from treatment with immunotherapy and may also pave the way for improved treatments in the future, ” added James, who was not involved in the studies.
– Improving cancer treatment –
There are still many unanswered questions, including why the structures form in some tumours and not others.
And while it now seems clear that B-cells inside the structures play a key role in the success of immunotherapy, scientists are not sure precisely how.
It may be that the B-cells are on the frontlines, producing antibodies that attack cancer cells efficiently.
Or they may be bolstering T-cells, or perhaps doing both.
And not all TLS are created equal: the researchers found three categories, but only one type was “ mature ” enough to churn out cancer-fighting immune cells.
The research opens several promising avenues, the authors said.
Initially, it could help doctors screen patients to see which are most likely to respond well to immunotherapy.
And eventually, the research could mean more patients are successfully treated with the technique, said Goran Jonsson, a professor of oncology and pathology at Lund University in Sweden who worked on a third study.
“ If we come up with a treatment that could enhance TLS formation, we could combine this with current immunotherapy regimens, ” he told AFP.
“ Most likely this would lead to more patients responding to immunotherapy. ”
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Canadian police on Saturday began clearing a key bridge of truckers protesting Covid-19 restrictions.
‘ Parallel Mothers’ follows two single mothers who meet by chance at the hospital and become unexpectedly intertwined as they both confront deep traumas.
The Swiss head to the polls Sunday to decide whether to ban almost all advertising of tobacco products.
`` Schroeder is a burden to Germany's foreign policy and to his old party, '' Der Spiegel weekly wrote.
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David Burrows ' Top Picks: Jan. 16, 2020 | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
We are in the midst of a secular bull market in equities that is getting stronger. People think about the market being the S & P 500, which broke out to new highs in 2013 and has been making its way higher since, but interestingly, many markets around the world are just breaking out of multi-year sideways, choppy markets. This includes many of the European markets, like France and Switzerland. Taiwan has made the first new high since 1997; Japan has made the first new high since 1991. So the breadth of the advance in stocks globally is expanding and more and more markets have joined the rally.
I 'm not saying the market can't pull back. I would fully expect you will see two to five per cent correction at some point over the next few weeks … But I do think the global economy is slowly beginning to reaccelerate. Markets have been anticipating over the last little while and I think 2020 is probably a pretty good year for stocks.
David Burrows, president and chief investment strategist at Barometer Capital Management, discusses his top picks: Kansas City Southern, Novagold Resources, T. Rowe Price Group.
David Burrows, president and chief investment strategist at Barometer Capital Management, discusses his past picks: Canadian Apartment REIT, Mastercard, ServiceNow.
SERVICENOW ( NOW NYSE) Sold on July 29 at $ 276.74.
WEBSITE: barometercapital.ca TWITTER: @ BarometerCap
David Rosenberg says the BoC will be “ playing with fire if they raise rates more than a few times ” and risk inverting the yield curve — which would flash warning signals about a looming economic contraction.
Canadian consumer price inflation accelerated to a new three-decade high in January, adding to pressure on the Bank of Canada to start raising interest rates as early as March 2.
The two-year COVID crisis put many markets on a wild ride—just look at U.S. treasuries—but few have had a crazier time than crude oil: from total collapse in 2020 to the brink of US $ 100 a barrel today.
A Bank of Canada deputy may have signaled the central bank is on track to raise interest rates in two weeks’ time.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked emergency powers to quell protests over COVID restrictions that have brought gridlock to Canada’ s capital and blocked key trade corridors, citing the need to restore public order.
A decade from now, offices shall be used for one thing and one thing only: quality time with colleagues.
Elon Musk gifted almost US $ 6 billion worth of Tesla Inc. stock to charity late last year in one of the largest philanthropic donations in history.
A combined audience of 112.3 million people watched the Super Bowl on various outlets, a 16 per cent jump from last year’ s diminished viewership. | general |
Why Morgan Stanley’ s Earnings Report Matters | On January 16, Morgan Stanley ( NYSE: MS) was the last of the “ big banks ” to report fourth-quarter earnings. In some ways, investors could say Wall Street saved the best for last. Morgan Stanley reported an impressive beat on both revenue and earnings.
In terms of revenue, the company posted $ 10.9 billion which beat analysts’ expectations for $ 9.8 billion. Morgan Stanley also posted $ 1.30 in fourth-quarter earnings, which was significantly greater than the consensus forecast for $ 1.02 per share.
Was this earnings report simply more of the same?
Analysts must have been excited to hear Gorman’ s announcement of a goal to increase the firm’ s tangible equity ( a measure of profitability) to a range of 13% to 15% by 2021. Gorman also says the company will seek to raise this metric as high as 17% in the future. Such a move would put the bank in rarified air. Only JPMorgan has hit that level among major U.S. banks.
document.write ( ' < a style= '' text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: # 696969; '' target= '' blank '' rel= '' nofollow '' href= '' https: //www.ame ' + 'ricanconsumernews.net/scripts/click.aspx? NativeDisplayAdID=499 & ImpressionID=0 & UserID=0 & Placement=PlaceOnArticlePage '' > '); Eric Fry, one of America’ s top Investment Strategists, provides his latest report 5 Tech Stocks Set for 1,000% Gains after the Coronavirus Sell off. You can’ t afford to miss out on the once in a decade chance to buy after the recent 25% dip in the markets.
An additional line item in the company’ s earnings report was an 11% increase in its already large wealth management division. Morgan Stanley is synonymous with wealth management. However, in terms of the industry, it is considered more of a niche player.
That may be changing. Morgan Stanley is making this division part of its long-term strategy. This point was made abundantly clear on the conference call for the earnings report. Company management issued an improved two-year outlook for its wealth management division. The new projections are calling for the company’ s pretax margin to be in a range of 28-30%. This is greater than the 27.2 range the division had for all of 2019.
This is significant because the wealth management field is starting to get more crowded. In late 2019, Charles Schwab ( NYSE: SCHW) and TD Ameritrade ( NASDAQ: AMTD), among others, announced they would be moving to a commission-free trading structure. The rationale for these companies to kill these respective cash cows was that they would make up for the revenue loss, in part, by replacing trading commissions with advisory fees.
Compared to many of its peers, Morgan Stanley is undersized in fixed-income offerings and has declined to get involved in the trend towards passive exchange-traded funds ( ETFs) that try to mirror the market’ s performance rather than beat it.
Morgan Stanley has historically taken the view that when it comes to money management clients pay for expertise, not automation. That is a view that will be tested as the discount brokers attempt to enter the field. But it may play out well particularly if the markets begin to return to a more “ normal ” level of growth. 2019 was like fishing in a barrel for most investors. There is nothing like a market correction to test the mettle of less experienced investors.
To that end, Morgan Stanley is counting on the firm’ s $ 2.7 trillion in assets to carry it forward. The company rolled out a digital platform in the fourth quarter. While there’ s nothing particularly impressive about that ( digital is table stakes these days) it puts the company in the game. The firm will also attempt to leverage its $ 900 million acquisition, Solium, into the wealth management division. Solium manages the share compensation for 1 million employees at over 3,000 companies that include startups such as Stripe Inc. and Instacart Inc. These workers tend to be younger and do not necessarily have a banking relationship.
6 Stocks That May Not Survive the Coronavirus
Companies that are in a shaky financial position may sometimes attract investors in a bull market. Traders seeking a short-term profit can often use an oversold condition to capture a quick gain. But in a bear market, these companies frequently are left on the sidelines. But a declining stock price by itself should not be enough to scare investors off. What investors really need to pay attention to is the company’ s ability to finance existing debt or take on additional debt. Companies with low credit ratings face the problem of having too much debt on their books and an inability to finance it at more favorable rates. That’ s one reason we’ ve put together this presentation that highlights 6 companies that may not survive the coronavirus. These companies have low stock prices. In fact, many of them are, or will be, in danger of being delisted if they can not bring their stock above the $ 1 threshold. And on top of that, these companies each carry credit ratings of CCC+ or lower and are at risk of seeing those ratings even go lower. Each of the companies presented here are considered to be among the weakest, if not the weakest, in their sector. If you have any of these falling knives in your portfolio now is the time to cut your losses and walk away.
View the `` 6 Stocks That May Not Survive the Coronavirus ''.
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Pakistan says Taliban show 'willingness ' to reduce Afghan violence | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Pakistan's foreign minister on Thursday said the Taliban has shown `` a willingness '' to reduce violence in war-torn Afghanistan after more than 18 years fighting the US, sparking speculation that a potential breakthrough in talks with the Americans may be near.
Negotiations between the Taliban and the US have repeatedly stalled, with Washington calling on the insurgent group to reduce violence before they can resume.
`` Today, positive progress has been made, the Taliban have shown their willingness to reduce the violence, which was a demand... it's a step towards the peace agreement, '' said Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a video statement.
He gave no further details.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the official Taliban spokesman, told AFP the Taliban was looking into the comments.
The Taliban and the US were on the brink of announcing a withdrawal deal in September last year when President Donald Trump abruptly declared the process `` dead '', citing Taliban violence.
Talks were later restarted between the two sides in December in Qatar, but were paused following an attack near the Bagram military base in Afghanistan.
Islamabad has helped facilitate the talks between the militants and Washington in Qatar over the past year, seeking an agreement that would pave the way for a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in return for various security promises from the insurgents.
Pakistan was one of only three countries to recognise the Taliban regime, and its shadowy military establishment -- particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence ( ISI) -- is widely believed to back the bloody insurgency in Afghanistan.
Islamabad denies the accusation.
Any agreement with the Taliban is expected to have two main pillars -- an American withdrawal from Afghanistan and a commitment by the insurgents not to offer sanctuary to jihadists.
The Taliban's relationship with Al-Qaeda was the main reason cited for the US invasion nearly 18 years ago.
The Taliban have until now refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, which they consider an illegitimate regime, raising fears that fighting will continue regardless of any deal ironed out with the Americans.
Pakistan’ s foreign minister on Thursday said the Taliban has shown “ a willingness ” to reduce violence in war-torn Afghanistan after more than 18 years fighting the US, sparking speculation that a potential breakthrough in talks with the Americans may be near.
Negotiations between the Taliban and the US have repeatedly stalled, with Washington calling on the insurgent group to reduce violence before they can resume.
“ Today, positive progress has been made, the Taliban have shown their willingness to reduce the violence, which was a demand… it’ s a step towards the peace agreement, ” said Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a video statement.
He gave no further details.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the official Taliban spokesman, told AFP the Taliban was looking into the comments.
The Taliban and the US were on the brink of announcing a withdrawal deal in September last year when President Donald Trump abruptly declared the process “ dead ”, citing Taliban violence.
Talks were later restarted between the two sides in December in Qatar, but were paused following an attack near the Bagram military base in Afghanistan.
Islamabad has helped facilitate the talks between the militants and Washington in Qatar over the past year, seeking an agreement that would pave the way for a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in return for various security promises from the insurgents.
Pakistan was one of only three countries to recognise the Taliban regime, and its shadowy military establishment — particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence ( ISI) — is widely believed to back the bloody insurgency in Afghanistan.
Islamabad denies the accusation.
Any agreement with the Taliban is expected to have two main pillars — an American withdrawal from Afghanistan and a commitment by the insurgents not to offer sanctuary to jihadists.
The Taliban’ s relationship with Al-Qaeda was the main reason cited for the US invasion nearly 18 years ago.
The Taliban have until now refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, which they consider an illegitimate regime, raising fears that fighting will continue regardless of any deal ironed out with the Americans.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
A growing number of Western nations and cybersecurity groups have issued digital surveillance warnings for next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Cloud ERP leader Acumatica to host annual summit on digital transformation success.
A man gets a Covid-19 jab at a vaccination station in Vienna on August 25, 2021; from February 2022, vaccinations against the virus will...
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the US embassy in Kyiv amid a standoff with Russia - Copyright AFP/File Mladen ANTONOVShaun TANDONThe...
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Honduran migrant caravan rumbles on through Guatemala | Hi, what are you looking for?
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More than 1,000 Honduran migrants broke through a police barrier on the border with Guatemala on Thursday in a bid to join hundreds of others heading for the United States.
The migrants, many fleeing poverty and gang violence at home, passed through a police cordon without difficulty and without going through migration protocol at the southeastern city of Agua Caliente, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
The latest Central American migrant caravan formed despite increased attempts by President Donald Trump to keep them out of the US.
Last year the US signed a deal with Guatemala that obliges migrants traveling through it and seeking asylum in the US to first request protection in the Central American nation.
Dozens of Guatemalan security forces were deployed at border areas to check that Hondurans had passed through immigration control.
They also checked that children were traveling with either a parent or guardian.
Around 3,000 migrants were believed to be heading through the country towards its border with Mexico, Guatemalan immigration authorities said.
Several US Customs and Border Protection officers were assisting local authorities, the US Embassy in Guatemala told AFP.
Before the migrants were allowed to cross into Guatemala, local and US officials took part in joint ID checks, also aimed at detecting gang members.
The migrants, including some children, left San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras on Tuesday night and from Wednesday began entering Guatemala.
Authorities in Guatemala say more than 2,200 people passed through either the Agua Caliente checkpoint in the southeast or El Cinchado in the northeast.
- 'It's better to flee ' -
`` We're heading on towards the American dream, '' Kelvin Ramos told AFP from a migrant center at the border town of Esquipulas.
`` I 've heard they pay well in the United States to paint houses, '' he added. That was his job in Honduras.
Many migrants that pass the El Cinchado border split up at that point, the local human rights department spokeswoman, Aleida Serrato, told AFP.
`` It's better to walk ( and) flee the country, '' said Mariano de Jesus as he waited to cross into Guatemala, while blaming Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez for his country's troubles.
De Jesus used to work as a builder's assistant but said his job `` is worth nothing. ''
Thousands of Central Americans from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala started forming migrant caravans heading for the US towards the end of 2018.
It angered Trump -- who, while campaigning for election, vowed to build a wall along the southern US border with Mexico to keep out migrants -- so much that he threatened punitive measures against Central American governments if they did not stem the tide.
Last year, Trump sent 6,000 troops to the southern border with Mexico and warned of an `` invasion '' of gang members and criminals.
Around 30,000 Honduran migrants remain in Mexico waiting for a response to their US asylum requests.
New Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei, who was sworn in on Tuesday, said on Wednesday that he would not allow the Honduran migrants to cross into Mexico.
More than 1,000 Honduran migrants broke through a police barrier on the border with Guatemala on Thursday in a bid to join hundreds of others heading for the United States.
The migrants, many fleeing poverty and gang violence at home, passed through a police cordon without difficulty and without going through migration protocol at the southeastern city of Agua Caliente, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
The latest Central American migrant caravan formed despite increased attempts by President Donald Trump to keep them out of the US.
Last year the US signed a deal with Guatemala that obliges migrants traveling through it and seeking asylum in the US to first request protection in the Central American nation.
Dozens of Guatemalan security forces were deployed at border areas to check that Hondurans had passed through immigration control.
They also checked that children were traveling with either a parent or guardian.
Around 3,000 migrants were believed to be heading through the country towards its border with Mexico, Guatemalan immigration authorities said.
Several US Customs and Border Protection officers were assisting local authorities, the US Embassy in Guatemala told AFP.
Before the migrants were allowed to cross into Guatemala, local and US officials took part in joint ID checks, also aimed at detecting gang members.
The migrants, including some children, left San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras on Tuesday night and from Wednesday began entering Guatemala.
Authorities in Guatemala say more than 2,200 people passed through either the Agua Caliente checkpoint in the southeast or El Cinchado in the northeast.
– ‘ It’ s better to flee’ –
“ We’ re heading on towards the American dream, ” Kelvin Ramos told AFP from a migrant center at the border town of Esquipulas.
“ I’ ve heard they pay well in the United States to paint houses, ” he added. That was his job in Honduras.
Many migrants that pass the El Cinchado border split up at that point, the local human rights department spokeswoman, Aleida Serrato, told AFP.
“ It’ s better to walk ( and) flee the country, ” said Mariano de Jesus as he waited to cross into Guatemala, while blaming Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez for his country’ s troubles.
De Jesus used to work as a builder’ s assistant but said his job “ is worth nothing. ”
Thousands of Central Americans from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala started forming migrant caravans heading for the US towards the end of 2018.
It angered Trump — who, while campaigning for election, vowed to build a wall along the southern US border with Mexico to keep out migrants — so much that he threatened punitive measures against Central American governments if they did not stem the tide.
Last year, Trump sent 6,000 troops to the southern border with Mexico and warned of an “ invasion ” of gang members and criminals.
Around 30,000 Honduran migrants remain in Mexico waiting for a response to their US asylum requests.
New Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei, who was sworn in on Tuesday, said on Wednesday that he would not allow the Honduran migrants to cross into Mexico.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Kyiv next week to reaffirm support for Ukrainian sovereignty.
Dozens of freight cars are broken into every day on LA's railways by thieves who take advantage of the trains ' stops to loot packages...
Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Arizona on Saturday to hear a raft of speakers claim the 2020 US election was stolen.
About 200 million Americans now likely have access to a COVID-19 digital vaccine card.
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Bose closes stores in Europe, Japan, North America and Australia | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The store closures mean hundreds of employees will lose their jobs. Bose, based in Framingham Mass. is privately held and is not saying how many employees will lose their jobs because of the store closures.
Bose Wikipedia describes Bose as follows: “ Bose Corporation ( /boʊz/) is a manufacturing company which predominantly sells audio equipment. The company was established by Amar Bose in 1964 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts. Bose is best known for its home audio systems and speakers, noise-cancelling headphones, professional audio products and automobile sound systems. [ 3 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Bose has a reputation for being particularly protective of its patents, trademarks, and brands. The majority owner of Bose Corporation is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which receives cash dividends through the non-voting shares donated by the founder in 2011. According to the company annual report in the 2019 financial year, Bose Corporation received revenue of US $ 4.0 billion and employed more than 9,000 people. [ 2 ] ”
History of Bose retail stores
Bose opened its first retail store back in 1993. It currently has locations in many shopping centers and malls throughout the US. The stores showcase the company’ products which as well as their famous noise-canceling headphones now includes smart speakers, and sunglasses that also serve as ear-buds.. The company also sets up demo areas in such outlets as Best Buy. Colette Burke, Bose vice-president of global sales notes: “ Originally, our retail stores gave people a way to experience, test, and talk to us about multi-component, CD and DVD-based home entertainment systems. At the time, it was a radical idea, but we focused on what our customers needed, and where they needed it – and we’ re doing the same thing now. It’ s still difficult, because the decision impacts some of our amazing store teams who make us proud every day. They take care of every person who walks through our doors – whether that’ s helping with a problem, giving expert advice, or just letting someone take a break and listen to great music. Over the years, they’ ve set the standard for customer service. And everyone at Bose is grateful. ”
Stores in Europe, North America, Europe, Australia and Japan will close over the next few months according to the company. In total 119 stores will be closed according to a company spokesman who added: “ In other parts of the world, Bose stores will remain open, including approximately 130 stores located in Greater China and the United Arab Emirates; and additional stores in India, Southeast Asia, and South Korea. ” The company is offering outplacement help and severance pay to employees who are losing their positions.
Many Bose products are now sold through the Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Apple stores or other third-party retailers and even the company’ s own website.
Other retailers are closing stores
Bose is not alone in closing stores. 2019 saw a big jump in store closings that is likely to continue as e-commerce takes an even larger bite out of the retail market: “ If it has seemed like going-out-of-business sales are around every corner, there’ s a startling reason: Forever 21, Walgreens, Dressbarn, GameStop, Gap and other chains shut down more than 9,300 stores in 2019 — making it the biggest year ever for store closings.That’ s according to Coresight Research, which says closures jumped about 60% from the 5,844 the firm tracked in 2018. You think that’ s bad? As online shopping continues to grow, another 75,000 stores could be lost by 2026, says investment bank UBS. “
The hunt for answers - like whether the Omicron variant will trigger new waves of infection.
Crime is raging across the country, from violent attacks to brazen shoplifting to mob “ smash and grab ” attacks.
The Omicron variant that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up genetic material from another virus.
At its core, Zero Trust is all about authenticating and authorizing access policies that have been designed to provide the least privilege, for the...
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Japan confirms first case of new China coronavirus strain | Japan has confirmed its first case of infection from the new China coronavirus that has killed one person and prompted a travel alert from the US state department.
A man in his 30s from Kanagawa prefecture, next to Tokyo, tested positive after being treated for pneumonia, Japan’ s health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The man had been to Wuhan, in central China, where there has been an outbreak of pneumonia believed to be caused by the new coronavirus strain, it said.
Officials in Wuhan said last weekend that 41 people had pneumonia caused by the virus and a 61-year-old man had died.
The US state department issued a health alert update on Wednesday about travel to the Wuhan region, urging citizens travelling in the region to avoid contact with animals and animal markets or products, among other precautions.
On Wednesday Thai health authorities said they were stepping up monitoring passengers arriving at airports ahead of the lunar new year holiday, when 800,000 Chinese tourists are expected to visit.
But officials said the virus was not considered highly contagious and just passing by or talking to patients would not be a concern.
However, the World Health Organisation has said the new virus could spread and has warned hospitals around the world.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause infections ranging from the common cold to severe acute respiratory syndrome, Sars. Some of the virus types cause less serious disease, while some – such as the one that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome, Mers – are far more severe.
The Japanese patient returned from Wuhan this month with a fever and was hospitalised. He was released yesterday after the symptoms subsided, the health ministry said.
Common symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever. Shortness of breath, chills and body aches are associated with more dangerous kinds of coronaviruses. | general |
We Are Family Foundation announces Global Teen Leaders for 2020 | Hi, what are you looking for?
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The 2020 Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leaders ( GTLs), represent 18 countries on six continents. These 35 young leaders were carefully selected and curated from hundreds of applicants.
These leaders are involved in such projects as engineering sustainable skyscrapers, developing urban gardens, healing relationships between communities and the police, and developing tools to detect serious illnesses, as they demand a lead role in shaping our future. Three Dot Dash is celebrating its 12th anniversary.
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Nile Rodgers, the co-founder of chairman of the WAFF, stated that he is inspired to meet and work with the new class of Global Teen Leaders. “ Just listening to their voices and their ideas gives me a huge amount of hope. It’ s one of the most amazing parts of my life, ” Rodgers stated in a press statement.
The 35 Global Teen Leaders for 2020 are Andile Mnguni from South Africa, Ahn Ngo from Vietnam, Arunima Sen from India, Brandon Griggs from the United States, Britton Masback from the United States, Carolina Lindquist from Brazil, Casey Sherman from the United States, Chander Payne from the United States, Christopher Kleynhans from South Africa, Daniel Dake, Jr. from Nigeria, Doreen Michael from Tanzania, Forsi Ferdinand from Cameroon, Harsh Agrawal from India, as well as Hayat Muse from the United States and Ishaan Brar from the U.S.A.
In addition, Jeremiah Thoronka from Sierra Leone, Joshua Oluwaseyi from Nigeria, Justin Hu from the United States, Kasyap Chakravadhanula from India and the USA, Katherine Heath from the USA, Laalitya Acharya from the USA, Laya Pothunuri from India, Lea Sandoz-May from Germany and Switzerland, Liam McLeavy from New Zealand, Limber Iván Herrera Delgado from Peru, Malavika Kannan from the U.S.A., Michelle Oyoo Abiero from Kenya, Neil Deshmukh from the USA, Olivia Seltzer from the United States, Polly Chesnokova from Ukraine, Raphaele Godinho from Brazil, Reuben Reeves from Liberia, Saoi O’ Connor from Ireland, Shaan Baig from Canada and the United States, and Shreya Ramachanran from the U.S.A.
The 2020 Global Team Leaders will meet in New York City from March 27 to April 3, 2020, for the We Are Family Foundation’ s 12th Three Dot Dash Just Peace Summit.
Particularly impressive about the We Are Family Foundation is that it empowers youth from all over the globe who are changing the game with their ideas, innovations and social good solutions.
To learn more about the We Are Family Foundation, check out its official homepage, as well as the Three Dot Dash website.
Read More: This past November, as Digital Journal reported, country queen Dolly Parton and acclaimed fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier were honored at the 2019 We Are Family Foundation ( WAFF) Gala.
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 16,000 original articles over the past 15 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a five-time consecutive `` Best of Long Island '' winner, and in the past two years, he was honored as the `` Best Long Island Personality '' in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.
There are two confirmed cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in Ottawa, the Ontario government announced Sunday.
Sweden's first female prime minister Magdalena Andersson, leader of the minority Social Democrats, was reappointed on Monday.
Australia on Monday halted a plan to relax border restrictions imposed last year to fight the Covid pandemic.
The hotel near the airport is where most of the 61 people who tested positive for coronavirus after arriving from South Africa are in...
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'PigeonBot ' brings aircraft closer to feathered-flight | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Since the dawn of the aviation era, inventors have strived to build aircraft that fly as nimbly as birds, whose morphable wings allow for faster, tighter turns and more efficient gliding.
That dream was a step closer to reality Thursday after researchers at Stanford University announced they had studied the wings of common pigeon cadavers, then used their findings to build a radio-controlled `` PigeonBot '' with wings made with 40 real feathers.
`` Aerospace and materials engineers can ( now) start rethinking how they can design, manufacture and control materials and wings that morph as deftly as birds do, '' said David Lentink, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford and the senior author of two papers describing the results in the journals Science and Science Robotics.
All four-limbed animals, including dinosaurs, evolved from an ancestor that had five digits at the end of its limbs, which became hands, paws, flippers, or wings over time.
Modern birds retained three digits, or fingers. By studying the pigeon wings in a wind tunnel, the researchers found that wrist and finger action provided fine control over feather placement, wing span, and area.
In flight tests, manipulation of the wrist and fingers initiated stable turn maneuvers at tight angles, which the researchers said provided some of the first evidence that birds primarily use these digits to steer in flight.
The teams also drilled into the mechanics of how birds morph their wings, finding that adjacent flight feathers stick together to form a continuous wing using a hook-like microstructure that acts like Velcro.
It locked together as the wing expanded, then slipped loose again as the wing contracted, strengthening the extended wing and making it resistant to turbulence.
And they found the structures were present in most other bird species except owls, which allowed them to fly more silently.
Lentink added that the Velcro-like structures, known by their technical name as `` lobate cilia, '' could have a wide range of fashion, medical and aerospace applications which he and colleagues were looking at as an area of future research.
Since the dawn of the aviation era, inventors have strived to build aircraft that fly as nimbly as birds, whose morphable wings allow for faster, tighter turns and more efficient gliding.
That dream was a step closer to reality Thursday after researchers at Stanford University announced they had studied the wings of common pigeon cadavers, then used their findings to build a radio-controlled “ PigeonBot ” with wings made with 40 real feathers.
“ Aerospace and materials engineers can ( now) start rethinking how they can design, manufacture and control materials and wings that morph as deftly as birds do, ” said David Lentink, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford and the senior author of two papers describing the results in the journals Science and Science Robotics.
All four-limbed animals, including dinosaurs, evolved from an ancestor that had five digits at the end of its limbs, which became hands, paws, flippers, or wings over time.
Modern birds retained three digits, or fingers. By studying the pigeon wings in a wind tunnel, the researchers found that wrist and finger action provided fine control over feather placement, wing span, and area.
In flight tests, manipulation of the wrist and fingers initiated stable turn maneuvers at tight angles, which the researchers said provided some of the first evidence that birds primarily use these digits to steer in flight.
The teams also drilled into the mechanics of how birds morph their wings, finding that adjacent flight feathers stick together to form a continuous wing using a hook-like microstructure that acts like Velcro.
It locked together as the wing expanded, then slipped loose again as the wing contracted, strengthening the extended wing and making it resistant to turbulence.
And they found the structures were present in most other bird species except owls, which allowed them to fly more silently.
Lentink added that the Velcro-like structures, known by their technical name as “ lobate cilia, ” could have a wide range of fashion, medical and aerospace applications which he and colleagues were looking at as an area of future research.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
There are two confirmed cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in Ottawa, the Ontario government announced Sunday.
Sweden's first female prime minister Magdalena Andersson, leader of the minority Social Democrats, was reappointed on Monday.
G7 health ministers on Monday called for `` urgent action '' to combat the highly transmissible new Omicron Covid-19 strain.
Drug and alcohol addiction treatment experts blame treatment services closing their doors to addicts during the pandemic.
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USMCA will enter into force July 1 | UPDATE: April 27, 2020: The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will enter into force on July 1, 2020, according to a press release from the U.S. Trade Representative. The U.S. is the third and final party to the USMCA to complete the domestic preparations required for implementation.
`` The crisis and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrates that now, more than ever, the United States should strive to increase manufacturing capacity and investment in North America, '' U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.
UPDATE: March 13, 2020: The Canadian parliament ratified the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Friday, the third and final country in the trade deal to do so, according to a statement from the U.S. Trade Representative.
Canadian lawmakers made the decision to `` rush through ratification '' before the parliament adjourns due to the COVID-19 outbreak until at least April 20, according to an Agence France-Presse report.
UPDATE: Jan. 29, 2020: President Trump signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement ( USMCA) into law Wednesday. Mexico has already ratified the deal and the Canadian government is expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.
Retail industry representatives celebrated the agreement's signing, expressing optimism about continued free trade between the three countries.
`` This deal is particularly important to grocers who rely heavily on trade with Mexico to supply affordable produce to American families, and its enactment will ensure those trade relationships continue, '' Retail Industry Leaders Association ( RILA) President Brian Dodge said in a statement.
`` We hope to see the Canadian Parliament ratify the USMCA as soon as possible so the benefits of free trade in North America can continue uninterrupted, '' NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement.
The trade deal expands U.S. access to duty-free agricultural, manufacturing and technology markets in Canada and Mexico while creating more robust enforcement mechanisms to protect labor rights, the environment, pharmaceutical consumers and, in a key upgrade from the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA), digital trade.
The digital trade provisions in the USMCA prohibit `` customs duties and other discriminatory measures from being applied to digital products distributed electronically '' such as e-books and software, according to a U.S. Trade Representative factsheet. They also include cybersecurity and free data transmission and storage rules to protect the flow of commercial data. Part of this section ensures `` suppliers are not restricted in their use of electronic authentication or electronic signatures, '' which could enable more seamless digital transactions throughout the supply chain.
In another win for shippers, the USMCA raises de minimis and duty-free thresholds in Canada and Mexico. The de minimis thresholds determine the value at which parcels can ship across borders tax- and duty-free and with simplified customs forms.
Canada will raise its de minimis level from 20 Canadian dollars ( $ 15.29) to 40 Canadian dollars ( $ 30.59), and provide duty-free shipments for items valued up to 150 Canadian dollars ( $ 194.66).
Likewise, Mexico's de minimis level will remain at $ 50 and its duty-free limit will be $ 117.
The changes reduce the cost shippers can incur for small- to medium-sized cross-border shipments, which have begun to include a growing number of e-commerce orders in recent years.
`` The [ USMCA ] will be great for America and our allies by improving customs regulations, spurring the growth of e-commerce and supporting the participation of more small businesses in regional and global supply chains, '' Laura Lane, president of UPS Global Public Affairs, said in a statement.
The National Retail Federation also applauded the Senate's passage of the trade deal. `` This updated agreement will modernize trade among our closest trading partners and pave the way for continued prosperity across the borders of North America, '' NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement.
In addition to labor, environmental and consumer protections, lawmakers expressed relief at not seeing a tariff-forward trade policy from the administration. The USMCA preserves the free trade provisions in NAFTA.
`` I believe the president’ s stated goal of ‘ zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies’ is exactly the right goal for Tennessee’ s auto industry, manufacturers and farmers, and a welcome movement away from piling tariffs on top of tariffs that threaten to destroy jobs and lower family incomes, '' Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a statement. `` Tariffs are taxes, plain and simple — and USMCA is fundamentally a zero tariff trade agreement. ''
While free trade with Mexico and Canada is crucial to the U.S. economy, external assessments of the USMCA's impact have produced middling results. A study from the International Trade Commission ( ITC) conducted last year found the USMCA would increase U.S. real GDP by $ 68.2 billion ( 0.35%) and add 176,000 jobs to the U.S. economy ( a 0.12% increase).
The International Monetary Fund called the impact `` negligible, '' saying the key benefits of the new deal come from removing existing tariffs that the administration put in place to pressure new trade negotiations.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
Global supply and demand shocks have disrupted just-in-time practices.
Europe will also lift the 25% retaliatory tariffs that upended global supply chains for companies that make liquor, motorcycles and jeans.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
Global supply and demand shocks have disrupted just-in-time practices.
Europe will also lift the 25% retaliatory tariffs that upended global supply chains for companies that make liquor, motorcycles and jeans.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more. | general |