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2025-01-08   

Agricultural Biotechnology Market Forecast: Size, Share, Growth, Key Drivers and Regional Trends for 2024 to 2031 |Western Michigan beats Eastern Michigan 26-18 to become bowl eligibleBitcoin’s soaring value has caught the attention of high-end fashion brands and retailers, prompting further interest in offering cryptocurrencies as a means of payment to tap in to fresh pockets of wealth and build loyalty with crypto investors. Until recently, only a handful of luxury brands including LVMH LVMH.PA watch labels Hublot and Tag Heuer as well as Kering-owned PRTP.PA fashion brands Gucci and Balenciaga have experimented with crypto payment offers. In recent weeks, upscale French luxury department store Printemps announced it was teaming up with the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance and French financial tech company Lyzi to accept cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum in its stores in France — becoming the first European department store to do so. The move, coming as bitcoin rises, has been noticed by other brands and retailers who are showing interest in joining in. "There have been quite a few calls — it's generated interest," said David Princay, president of Binance France, who said the company is in talks with other luxury labels. Luxury lighter and pen maker S.T. Dupont told Reuters it aims to accept cryptocurrency payments in two Paris stores before the holidays. Earn rewards on your spending: Best credit cards for shopping In the realm of experiences, cruise company Virgin Voyages began this month offering its first product accepting bitcoin as a payment option — a $120,000 annual pass for up to a year of sailing on its cruise ships. Regulators have long warned that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are high-risk assets, with limited uses in the real world. High volatility has been another barrier to wide adoption as a means of payment. But pledges of support from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to bring in more friendly e-currency regulation, have fueled record-breaking rises for bitcoin. S&P analysts say the narrative is starting to shift, noting that blockchain innovation in financial markets could increase predictability for cryptocurrencies. Seeking innovative branding Luxury labels have long sought to cater to affluent shoppers from the tech industry by opening stores in upscale Silicon Valley malls and issuing products like the Hermes HRMS.PA Apple Watch, for example, which combines signature, stitched leather straps of the French Birkin bag maker with tech giant Apple’s AAPL.O connected timepiece. Now, new wealth generated by bitcoin's recent highs — topping $107,000 on Monday — comes as the luxury industry faces its biggest slump in years and searches for new sources of growth. Offering cryptocurrency payments can be a way for companies to brand themselves as innovative rather than “a stuffy old brand that's only selling to the boomers,” said Andrew O’Neill, digital assets lead analyst at S&P Global Ratings. The payment option remains largely symbolic. Retailers usually reconvert the funds to euros or dollars to offset risks of volatility, while for most shoppers, payment methods are seen overall as “something that’s been solved” already by such transaction platforms as PayPal PYPL.O or Venmo, said O'Neill. But for bitcoin investors who have seen a strong rise in the value of their investment, luxury goods — a designer handbag or high-end watch — are an obvious choice for diversifying one's portfolio, analysts say. In a sign of growing interest from designer labels, Balenciaga recently issued a leather card holder designed to hold “Stax” hardware from crypto wallet company Ledger. The black leather accessory, which retails for 350 euros ($368), includes a keychain and Eiffel Tower charm and an NFC chip fitted underneath the brand logo. Ledger’s Stax Crypto hardware, its recently developed higher-end hardware with a curved touch screen, sells for $399 at Best Buy BBY.N. The company’s “Flex” hardware, which resembles a mini Amazon Kindle, sells for $249 while the “Nano” version, which looks like a USB key, sells for $79. Reaching younger clientele Gregory Boutte, chief client and digital officer for luxury conglomerate Kering, has described the group’s strategy when it comes to technology as “test and learn” rather than “wait and see." He emphasized the embrace of new technologies as key to reaching younger and Asian clientele. Kering’s star label, Gucci, has since 2022 made purchases available through 10 cryptocurrencies for most of its products in the United States. Printemps is working to expand its crypto payments service to New York City, where it plans to open a multibrand retailer in the Wall Street district in March. Bitcoin's rise in late 2021 prompted an initial flurry of interest from luxury brands with Tag Heuer, headed at the time by LVMH luxury scion Frederic Arnault, as well as Gucci, accepting payments in cryptocurrency the following year for some purchases in the United States. One crypto advocate who recently used digital assets to make luxury purchases is Eunice Wong, an investor and influencer known as "Eunicorn." Wong said she used cryptocurrency to buy several high-end watches this year including an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak model. But she is not interested in being drawn in by high end brands seeking to build a closer client relationship, preferring to bypass traditional retail stores and sales routines. That takes too much time, in her view. “If I will buy, I'll buy on the secondary market, not through them,” she told Reuters. “I want it now.” Reporting by Mimosa Spencer in Paris; Editing by Matthew Lewis7xm live 。

The Biden administration imposed export controls to limit the ability of China and Russia ability to access U.S.-made chips after Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. The agency's Bureau of Industry and Security, according to the report, does not have the resources to enforce export controls and has been too reliant on U.S. chip makers voluntarily complying with the rules. But the push for bolstering Commerce's export control enforcement comes as the incoming Trump administration says it is looking to dramatically reduce the size and scope of federal government . President-elect Donald Trump has tapped entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” to dismantle parts of the federal government. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. BIS’s budget, about $191 million, has remained essentially flat since 2010 when adjusted for inflation. “While BIS’ budget has been stagnant for a decade, the bureau works diligently around the clock to meet its mission and safeguard U.S. national security,” Commerce Department spokesperson Charlie Andrews said in a statement in response to the report. Andrews added that with “necessary resources from Congress” the agency would be "better equipped to address the challenges that come with our evolving national security environment.” In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, chair of the subcommittee, pointed to an audit of Texas Instruments that showed the Russian military continued to acquire components from Texas Instruments through front companies in Hong Kong to illustrate how the export controls are failing as an effective tool. The committee's findings, Blumenthal said, suggest that Texas Instruments “missed clear warning signs” that three companies in its distribution chain had been diverting products to Russia. Texas Instruments did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “While Congress must provide BIS more resources to undertake its critical mission, it is long past time for BIS to make full use of the enforcement powers Congress has conferred upon it and take aggressive steps to cut the flow of U.S. semiconductors into the Russian war machine,” Blumenthal wrote. It's not just Texas Instruments that's the issue. The subcommittee in September published a report that found aggregated exports from four major U.S. advanced chip manufacturers nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022 to Armenia and Georgia. Both of those countries are home to front companies known to assist Russia in acquiring advanced chips made in the U.S. despite export controls. China, meanwhile, has created “vast, barely disguised smuggling networks which enable it to continue to harness U.S. technology,” the subcommittee report asserts. Washington has been gradually expanding the number of companies affected by such export controls in China, as President Joe Biden’s administration has encouraged an expansion of investments in and manufacturing of chips in the U.S. But Chinese companies have found ways to evade export controls in part because of a lack of China subject matter experts and Chinese speakers assigned to Commerce's export control enforcement. The agency's current budget limits the number of international end-use checks, or physical verification overseas of distributors or companies receiving American-made chips that are the supposed end users of products. Currently, Commerce has only 11 export control officers spread around the globe to conduct such checks. The committee made several recommendations in its report, including Congress allocating more money for hiring additional personnel to enforce export controls, imposing larger fines on companies that violate controls and requiring periodic reviews of advanced chip companies’ export control plans by outside entities. Boak reported from West Palm Beach, Florida.

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insightsoftware Receives Top Rating in Dresner Advisory Services' Embedded Business ...Even as massive improvements are on the way for Windsor's transit garage, the union representing drivers and mechanics says equipment failures mean their members are having trouble keeping buses on the road and on time. But the City of Windsor says the union's claims aren't true, and no one will be left out in the cold. "They're the frontline people when the passengers get on and they're angry because they've been waiting out in the cold and some buses aren't showing up," said Manny Sforza, the international vice-president of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), which represents Windsor workers through Local 616. "When they get on the bus, the bus is really crowded because ridership is up. Ridership revenue for Windsor Transit's cross-border tunnel bus is $566K in the hole Overtime, portable hoists solve Transit Windsor service interruptions as city warns of costly long-term fix "The members just kept telling us the general public gets on and they're angry at us because that's the first person they see and they believe it's the operator's fault. Our members are really tired of taking the brunt of the frustration and the anger." Riders told CBC Windsor they had noticed people being rude to drivers in their daily travels. "It happens from time to time. Someone's angry about having to pay their fare, about what they can and can't bring on the bus. It all depends," said Zander Kelly, who says he rides the bus at least once or twice a week. The Transit Windsor sign on the downtown bus terminal. (Dalson Chen/CBC) But another rider says he feels individuals have to do more to use the transit system well. "I've heard people complain, 'Well, buses take forever,' Well, you're not checking your app. You're not putting in the effort," said AJ Szwed. "You know, it's just not gonna fall in your lap, right?" This week, the ATU said that three more of the hoists used to lift buses for repair are out of service. Combined with the six hoists already out of service, an issue the union says goes back a couple of years, and the hoist for transit support vehicles also not working, there are just five hoists to service 117 buses. With fewer buses able to be repaired, that means fewer buses on the street. That means cancelled routes and late or overcrowded buses, the union says. But the City of Windsor says that's not the case: 14 maintenance bays are available. And, a statement says, the city has invested in mobile lift technology. "The city has made continued investments in the maintenance facilities at Transit Windsor, including new state-of-the-art mobile hoists and associated lifting devices," a statement read. "These new lifting devices have resulted in improved efficiency, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, and have moved Transit Windsor away from reliance on outdated technology to meet the current industry standard of mobile lifts." The union representing Transit Windsor drivers says the city has brought in mobile hoists, but some are still in shrink wrap and not in use. The city says 14 maintenance bays are available and that mobile lifts are the current industry standard. (Submitted by Manny Sforza) Sforza acknowledges that temporary hoists have been brought in. But those, he says, are inefficient and make some repairs more challenging, because they lift the bus by its wheels instead of the axles. Some of those hoists, he said, remain on pallets and shrink wrapped. And a representative from the hoist company recently met with their members. "[The representative] himself confirmed some health and safety concerns that our members have been bringing up," Sforza said. "They said — this is the hoist company — it's unsafe to do certain tasks on those temporary hoists. "So that is actually making this problem even more complicated." The city has recently awarded an initial request for proposals worth about $35 million for renovations and repairs to the Transit Windsor garage, with work expected to be complete by spring 2027 without service interruptions. Transit Windsor leader selected as new Lakeshore CAO Bus shortage at Transit Windsor leaving some riders to wait twice as long The city has also hired a consultant, to the tune of about $2.4 million to oversee and design the project. The hoist issue came up during the latest round of contract negotiations with the city earlier this year Earlier this year, the then-executive director of Transit Windsor said that between 80 and 90 of the fleet's 117 buses need daily service. "Our members do a great job, but they just don't have the tools to provide the reliable and efficient transit to the taxpayers of City of Windsor," Sforza said. "It's just unbelievable that we're even in this situation."

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