In the wake of this historic retail event, a photo of the store's mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, standing in an empty store with a suitcase, is going viral . In January, it announced plans to close about 180 stores, but then in March it said it would liquidate the rest of the 700-plus stores. This might have been totally a joke but it still shows the impact Toys R Us had on all of us. Read More »
Finance
Iran oil: Pradhan says ‘will go by national interest’
Indian refiners are confident that United States sanctions on Iran will not disrupt crude oil supplies because the global market has abundant supplies and numerous sellers. Most other members of the organisation have only negligible amounts of unused capacity that could be readily and reliably available to the market ("Oil Market Report ", IEA, June 2018). Read More »
Bali flights resume as Denpasar Airport reopens after Mt Agung volcano eruptions
Bali's main airport has reopened after volcanic ash from Mt Agung forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights and derailed tens of thousands of passengers' holiday plans on the eve of the school holidays. It added that winds could carry the ash southwest toward Bali's worldwide airport and Java, Indonesia's most densely populated island. Jetstar advised customers booked to fly to Bali on Friday night to travel to the airport as usual and check their flight status online . Read More »
Mazda Condemns Trump’s Proposed 25 Percent Import Car Tariff
Commerce Department that the threat of auto tariffs "risks undermining GM's competitiveness against foreign auto producers" by driving up the cost of imported components and raises the risk that GM will face retaliation in other countries. The remarks were made to the Department of Commerce, which is investigating whether to recommend the tariffs. GM now has 110,000 employees in the United States. Read More »
"Uncertainty" following Harley Davidson worldwide production plan
President Trump lashed out at Harley-Davidson on Tuesday over the company's decision to move some production outside the United States, calling it "the beginning of the end" for the iconic motorcycle maker and threatening to respond with punishing taxes. Read More »
Cut Iran Oil Imports or Face Sanctions
Meanwhile, three days ago sources told TOI the Indian government is set to revive an alternative payment mechanism to settle a part of its payments for oil imported for Iran over the next few days in a bid to counter the impact of United States sanctions imposed on Tehran. Read More »
Tariffs Push Harley-Davidson to Produce Overseas
In an interview on Morning Edition Tuesday, union leader Joe Capra, who represents workers at the Kansas City plant, said Harley-Davidson has been moving operations out of the USA for some time, and the company is using the new tariffs as an "excuse" to continue that trend. Read More »
Trump planning new curbs on Chinese investment in the US
US President Donald has been complaining since his election campaign that Beijing is taking advantage of the US in terms of trade, while lawmakers have frequently raised concerns over US technology stolen by China. I don't expect fast delivery on all fronts, but first you have to decide whether you are in favour of unilateralism or multilateralism". Scott Kennedy, a Chinese economy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, said the new EU-China ... Read More »
Merkel's CSU allies to gauge European Union migrant deal on July 1
Germany faces a "German Brexit" if Chancellor Angela Merkel buckles to demand from her interior minister who is calling for tougher new curbs on immigration. In addition to calling for more efforts to combat secondary movements, the summit draft statement proposes looking into "regional disembarkation platforms" outside of the European Union where asylum requests could be assessed before claimants reach Europe. Read More »
Trump revs up Harley-Davidson fight into second day
President Trump lashed out at Harley-Davidson on Tuesday over the company's decision to move some production outside the United States, calling it "the beginning of the end" for the iconic motorcycle maker and threatening to respond with punishing taxes. Read More »
Trump tax threats spook Harley investors, shares down again
The EU imposed retaliatory tariffs last week on $3.4 billion worth of USA products like bourbon, motorcycles and orange juice.The new duties are in direct response to President Trump's decision to increase fees on aluminium and steel coming from Europe. Read More »
Mnuchin denies stories on China-specific investment restrictions
With the Trump administration reportedly set to crack down on Chinese investment in certain technologies, American tech giants like Netflix , Amazon, Google , and Facebook shed significant shareholder value today, as the sector bore the brunt of spiraling investor concerns. Read More »
Turkey elections: Early results show Erdogan takes lead in presidential race
Turkey is holding held high-stakes presidential and parliamentary elections that could consolidate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hold on power or curtail his vast political ambitions. The vote ushers in a powerful executive presidency backed by a narrow majority in a 2017 referendum . Fear will continue to reign. Parties will receive votes independent of their alliances, but those included in an alliance will be able to bypass a 10 percent threshold normally needed to enter parliament. Read More »
Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG) Shares Bought by Rampart Investment Management Company LLC
The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.16. Harley-Davidson had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 10.31%. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 181,868 shares of the company's stock worth $9,254,000 after buying an additional 4,026 shares during the period. Read More »
Harley-Davidson to shift some production out of USA over European Union tariffs
In late April, Harley said Trump's metal tariffs would inflate its costs by an additional $15 million to $20 million this year on top of already rising raw material prices that it expected at the start of the year. Passing along that cost to consumers would have "an immediate and lasting detrimental impact" to Harley-Davidson's sales in Europe. Trump on Friday further threatened to escalate a trade war with Europe by imposing a 20 percent tariff on all USA imports of EU-assembled cars. Read More »
Erdogan declares victory in Turkish polls as opposition cries foul
Voter turnout was high at nearly 87%, the state broadcaster reported. Last year, Erdogan narrowly won a referendum to convert the country's parliamentary system to a powerful executive presidency . Erdogan, 64, the most popular - yet divisive - leader in modern Turkish history, told jubilant, flag-waving supporters there would be no retreat from his drive to transform Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member and, at least nominally, a candidate to join the European Union. Read More »
Amazon Prime Day 2018 Kicks Off July 16
Prime Day has sparked off something of a bidding war among various retailers, as stores vie for shoppers' attention. Amazon's video streaming service is looking to add more regional content in India as it competes with a host of global and local players for a bigger share of a fledgling online streaming market, Time Leslie, global vice president for Prime Video, told Reuters in March. Read More »
OPEC agrees modest hike in oil supply after Saudi and Iran compromise
Opec's decision confused some in the market as the producers gave opaque targets for the increase, making it hard to understand precisely how much more it will pump. On that same note, U.S. oil stockpiles - whilst lingering near their five-year average from 2013 to 2018 - remain approximately 29 percent above their 2008-2013 five-year averages. Read More »
Canada to allow mail-order marijuana sales
Canada's Senate approved a landmark bill Tuesday to legalize recreational use of marijuana . Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government had hoped to make pot legal by July 1, but he said Wednesday marijuana will be legal nationwide on October 17. Read More »
European Automakers Brace For Trump's Tariffs
Late last month, Trump followed through on a threat to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday (31 May) that the United States would slap tariffs on steel and aluminium from the EU, Canada and Mexico, prompting Europe to say it would respond with "counterbalancing measures within hours" in what amounts to a trade war with Washington. Read More »
Tesla to close a dozen solar facilities in nine states
In a lawsuit filed today, Tesla idenified the employee, Martin Tripp of Sparks, Nevada, who was allegedly sabotaging the production line, and added stealing company data and lying to the media to his other offences. Tripp categorically denied to Ars that he made any such threat to anyone. "Threatening me only makes it worse for you", Musk replied . Thank you for this gift! You're a disgusting human being. Read More »
US top court lets states force online retailers to collect sales tax
Currently, online retailers that have a physical location in Georgia have to collect sales tax when Georgia shoppers use their websites. In making the 5-4 decision , the court acknowledged but largely tossed out the internet companies' arguments. Read More »
What to Expect From the OPEC Meeting
He said Trump had contributed to the rise in prices by imposing sanctions on Opec members Iran and Venezuela, which will likely lead to lower exports. But unexpected outages in Venezuela, Libya and Angola have effectively brought supply cuts to around 2.8 million bpd in recent months. Trump imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran in May and market watchers expect Iran's output to drop by a third by the end of 2018. Read More »
TSX dips with oil ahead of OPEC meeting
Stocks around the world fell on Thursday and the US dollar slipped from a peak as investors flocked to bonds after weak economic data and on worries about a U.S. OPEC takes its decisions by unanimity, so if Iran were to wield its veto Saudi Arabia would be left only with the option of assembling a coalition of willing countries to bypass Tehran's opposition. Read More »
US Supreme Court Rules States Can Tax Online Sales
The suit ( South Dakota v. Wayfair ) was brought by 40 states that claim the old rule had cost them billions in lost tax revenue . States have become emboldened to defy Quill or devise other ways to try and get the use tax owned to them by their residents for their online purchases from out-of-state retailers. Read More »
China calls Trump's new tariff threats "blackmail"
Elsewhere, the S&P 500 lost 26 points to 2,747 while the tech-laden Nasdaq fell close to 87 points to 7,660. US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods in a escalating trade row with Beijing, which on Tuesday accused Washington of "blackmail" and warned it would "strike back hard". Read More »
Burger King says sorry for Russian World Cup pregnancy ad
Each will receive 3 million rubles [$47,500] and a lifetime supply of Whoppers. "Burger King, within the framework of social responsibility , has appointed a reward for girls who become pregnant from the stars of world football", it read. Read More »
Unions slam Telstra for plans to cut 8000 jobs
Telstra InfraCo will be launched on 1 July as a wholly owned standalone infrastructure business unit with its own CEO reporting to Telstra CEO Andrew Penn. In an earlier statement , Mr Penn said the strategy would fundamentally change the nature of telecommunication products and services in Australia. Read More »
European Union to impose duties on USA imports Friday after Trump tariffs
The European Union will begin charging import duties of 25 percent on a range of US products on Friday, in response to U.S tariffs imposed on EU steel and aluminum early this month, the European Commission said on Wednesday. A separate 10 percent tariff will be imposed on imports of playing cards. In March, Trump made a decision to hit importers with a tariff of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Read More »
Microsoft employees demand company cut ties with ICE
They want contracts with ICE cancelled. In addition, the company distanced its computer software and cloud services from ICE, which has been accused of taking hundreds of children away from their parents. ICE has been at the forefront of news cycles lately, largely because of their detention centers (some of which house thousands of children separated from their parents) and their tendency to separate families at the border. Read More »
Tesla employee sabotaged the company, Musk tells staff
Mr Musk did not name the employee and company spokeswoman Gina Antonini declined to comment on the email. The employee reportedly impersonated other users when accessing parts of the system and programmed changes into core Tesla applications which were deemed to be damaging. Read More »
Macron and Merkel Agree Common Eurozone Budget, Tax Integration
Macron also said Paris and Berlin wanted agreements that would allow European Union member states to reject at their borders asylum seekers already registered elsewhere in the bloc - usually the first port of entry. Moreover, new statistics actually points to a record low in Germany's crime rate. Merkel said eurozone reform was the toughest issue in their talks at her Meseberg retreat outside Berlin , where they also touched on European foreign and defence policy and ... Read More »
China accuses U.S. of 'blackmail' as trade threats intensify
China swiftly rebuked the threat and said it would take strong countermeasures to safeguard itself if new tariffs are indeed announced . The International Business Forum's Stephen Jacobi said the escalation of the tension was worrying for New Zealand in the medium to long term as it threatened to dampen global growth and undermine existing trade rules. Read More »
Tesla's Musk alleges 'extensive' employee sabotage
A Tesla spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the Monday email, which CNBC reported first. Musk went on to say that while the "full extent" of the saboteur's actions were not yet known, it appeared that the employee was disgruntled over not getting a promotion. Read More »
Google announces strategic partnership with Chinese online retailer JD.com
JD.com will also join Google Shopping and expand the product selection there. Google has invested $550m (£415m) in Chinese Amazon rival JD.com as the U.S. Walmart teamed up with Google a year ago as both battle Amazon. The service displays items at the top of Google's search pages, allowing users to compare prices across different websites. Read More »
Audi CEO Rupert Stadler arrested over Dieselgate
A judge in Germany has ordered Stadler be remanded in custody, it said , to prevent him from obstructing or hindering the diesel investigation . "We confirm that Mr Stadler was arrested this morning". They are also investigating Winterkorn and 48 others. At 1325 GMT, VW shares were down 3.6 per cent at 155.30 euros, one of the biggest falls by a European blue-chip stock. Read More »
Tesco posts strong growth after Booker completion
Lewis said food price inflation had dropped to 1.8%-2.4% from more than 3% late a year ago. Group like-for-like sales at Tesco for the first quarter of its financial year were up by 1.8% while Booker reported comparable sales growth of 14.3%. Read More »
Trump blames Comey’s ‘minions’ for starting the Russian Federation investigation
As part of the inspector general (IG) investigation into the the FBI's handling of the 2016 election, the Justice Department has found that Peter Strzok, the former chief of the FBI's counterespionage unit, promised to stop Trump from winning the election. Read More »
Next Move Is Trump's After China Hits Back in Trade-War Opener
USTR said Customs and Border Protection would begin collecting the additional duties on July 6. Progress to avert a back-and-forth of new import taxes seemed to be made in late May, after China agreed to cut tariffs on USA automobiles, and Trump pledged support for ZTE , a Chinese company affected negatively by US sanctions, as NPR's Camila Domonoske reported . Read More »
Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Kellogg’s Honey Smacks Cereal — CDC
Throw it away or return it to the place of purchase", the CDC warned in a tweet. No other Kellogg products are impacted. You should also thoroughly wash the container with warm, soapy water before using it again. NY has reported the highest number of cases - seven - while California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have each reported five cases. Outside of the USA, potentially contaminated products could be lining shelves in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guam, Tahiti, the Caribbean, Mexico and ... Read More »
McDonald's to test alternatives to plastic straws in U.S.
An increasing number of businesses are removing plastic straws from their operations in a bid to stem plastic waste which pollutes oceans and harms marine wildlife such as turtles and fish. This comes as many multinational food companies are facing pressure from environmental groups to reduce the amount of plastic waste they produce. McDonald's isn't the first food corporation to buck the plastic trend in the UK; JD Wetherspoon, Burger King, and Costa Coffee have all phased out plastic ... Read More »
Bitcoin and Ether are Not Securities According to SEC Official
After news of Hinman's comment broke, the price of ether spiked around $70 to over $520, though by press time it had returned to $494. "If a startup is offering something that depends on the efforts of others, it should be regulated as security", he said and provided the example of a laundry shop using tokens for transactions within its branches or selling it to investors at a price to finance future expansion plans. Read More »
ECB Leaves Rates Steady, Plans To Halt QE At End Of 2018
Canada is also contending with new USA tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as well as slow-moving talks to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement. The currency shared by 19 countries fell from $1.1820 to $1.1725 within minutes of the central bank's announcement. The purchases, which pump newly created money into the financial system, have driven down longer-term interest rates for borrowers such as governments and home buyers but have reduced returns for savers and made it ... Read More »
Trump Approves Tariffs On $50B In Chinese Goods
USTR said Customs and Border Protection would begin collecting the additional duties on July 6. " It has also seriously damaged China's legitimate rights and interests and has harmed the interests of China and its people , " Xinhua reported. Read More »
Feds Indict Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes For Wire Fraud
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and former Theranos president Sunny Balwani have been charged with wire fraud. "Today's indictment alleges that through their company, Theranos, CEO Elizabeth Holmes and COO Sunny Balwani not only defrauded investors, but also consumers who trusted and relied upon their allegedly-revolutionary blood-testing technology", acting US Attorney Alex Tse said in a statement . Read More »
Deputy killed, another wounded in shooting in Kansas City
He was undergoing surgery. Authorities say they are not searching for any other suspects at this time . The shooting is under investigation. Police Capt. The wounded deputy, who is female, was in critical condition, Bailiff said. When they pulled into a parking lot outside the county courthouse, the deputies were "overcome", Bailiff said. Read More »
Supply rise hits price
A weekly market report from US motor club AAA said the national average retail price for a gallon of gasoline was at a point where consumers may be changing their habits. India's crude imports were 4.57 million bpd in the January-May period, up 272,000 bpd from the same period a year ago, according to vessel and port data and industry sources. Read More »
Toyota investing $1 billion in ride-hailing company Grab
The spokesman told The New Paper: "We are not disclosing our other investors at this point but are excited by the quality of investors who are interested in partnering with Grab in this Series H funding round". Grab really has its goals in perspective". The carmaker first invested an undisclosed amount in Grab in August past year, after it invested in US-based Uber in 2016 in a partnership for a financing programme that allowed Uber drivers to lease vehicles from Toyota and drive for Uber to ... Read More »
Trump’s leadership will level the US-China trade imbalance: Rep. Diane Black
The White House, U.S. trade representative and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests to comment. That list would put more focus on items that China could promote for export in future years as part of its Made in China 2025 plan, sources said. Read More »
New Report Blames Tether for Bitcoin's Bull Run
The prices of so-called "alt-coins" tend to be strongly correlated to the price of Bitcoin, meaning that if the manipulation described in the paper is found to be accurate, it has bitter ramifications for the market as a whole. It has since collapsed to below $US7,000. Tether has always been accused of being insolvent, as they have been unable to provide legitimate audits, breaking off their relationship with their auditor earlier this year . Read More »