While Prime Day brings in more revenue for Amazon, too, it also helps boost its Prime memberships. It had more sign-ups during the 2017′s event than any other day in the company’s history, Amazon said at the time, without providing specific numbers. Among them, a Fingerlings unicorn doll whose horn lights up and a Delta kitchen faucet that can be turned on through Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.
And at its more than a dozen Amazon Books stores, discounts will expand beyond devices.’s retail and consumer products practices. Online furniture seller Wayfair introduced Way Day in April, becoming its biggest revenue day ever.Here’s a look at what’s new for this year’s Prime Day:WHOLE FOODS IN THE MIX: Expect discounts on groceries as well as in-store events, such as cooking demonstrations, says Jamil Ghani, the global vice president of Amazon Prime."They want Prime to be a must-have membership," says Suzanne Tager, who heads Bain & Co.
IT’S LONGER: After extending the daylong event to 30 hours in 2017, this year’s Prime Day will be 36 hours long, starting the afternoon of July 16 and running through July 17.NEW PRODUCT LAUNCHES: Several companies have agreed to launch new products on Prime Day, Amazon says. Amazon hopes to keep Prime attractive for current and would-be subscribers after raising the annual membership fee by 20 per cent to $119 and to $12.Amazon’s Prime Day deals are coming to the aisles of Whole Foods as the online retailer seeks to lure more people to its Prime membership after a recent price hike.PRIVATE LABEL PUSH: Amazon has been increasing its line of store brands, and it’ll be offering deals such as 25 per cent off its Rivet furniture brand, which didn’t exist a year ago.
This year’s sales event, which starts July 16, will be six hours longer than last year’s and will launch new products. Outside of Prime Day, Amazon has added special discounts for Prime members at its more than 460 Whole Foods US stores and has been adding new TV shows and movies on its video streaming service.MORE COUNTRIES: Amazon has been expanding its Prime membership around the world, and four new countries will be a part of Prime Day this year: Australia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Singapore.99 rapier loom for the month-to-month option. Other deals include 30 per cent off its Mama Bear diapers and baby products.Prime Day, created by Amazon in 2015 to mark its 20th anniversary, has inspired other e-commerce companies to invent their own shopping holidays. Amazon disclosed for the first time this year that it had more than 100 million paid Prime members worldwide.
British police are investigating as a "terrorist incident" the stabbing of three people at a London Underground train station on Saturday, which left a pool of blood in the ticket hall.A later clip shows the man being pinned to the ground by police as passers-by are told to get back.Britain's Counter-Terrorism Command is investigating the stabbings.
Footage shows an officer shouting "Drop the knife!" and firing a Taser electric stun gun."The patient was taken to hospital escorted by the weft feeder doctor from London's Air Ambulance. Two other people have sustained minor injuries.Amateur video circulating on the Internet showed a pool of blood and bloody footprints at the Tube station ticket gates."The male suspect was reportedly threatening other people with a knife," Scotland Yard police headquarters said."One man has sustained serious knife injuries; these are not believed at this stage to be life-threatening.One man was arrested following the incident at the suburban east London station."A man was arrested at 7:14pm and taken to an east London police station where he remains in custody."The London Ambulance Service said: "We have treated one patient for stab wounds this evening at Leytonstone Underground station."Walton said: "I would urge the public to remain calm, but alert and vigilant.Some commuters continued on their journey while others briskly jogged away from the scene.
"The Central Line, which runs across the capital, was shut for several stops east from Liverpool Street Station the main overground London railway terminus serving eastern England and London Stansted Airport."We are treating this as a terrorist incident," CTC leader Commander Richard Walton said in a police statement.One eyewitness at Leytonstone station shouted "You're no Muslim" at the lone male suspect as he was pinned down by police officers, amateur video footage showed.
The attack came at the end of a week in which the British parliament voted to extend air strikes on the Islamic State jihadist group from Iraq into Syria.Shouts are heard as the suspect is seen remonstrating with people before swinging at one of them.One man at the scene shouted: "You ain't no Muslim, bruv! You're no Muslim, bruv! You ain't no Muslim!"Police said they were called at 7:06pm (1906 GMT) to reports of a number of people being stabbed at the suburban station on the Central Line
Industry insiders tell us that the buzz of Hate Story 3 is more than that of Tamasha — a comparison that hasn’t gone down too well with the makers. Rahman. Producer Sajid Nadiadwala, we hear, isn’t pleased with the buzz — or the lack of it so far — and is contemplating alternative PR strategies with his team to set things right. The numbers were also less as compared to Dippy-Ranbir’s last film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. According to sources, the team is biting its nails, thanks to the little ripple it has created over the past few weeks regarding the film’s publicity. No share in this pieThe one talking point that the film created with its video of Imtiaz and Ranbir engaging in a funny conversation was the brainchild of producer Sajid Nadiadwala’s team.
One would assume that if a film has Imtiaz Ali as its director, Deepika-Ranbir as co-stars with their electric onscreen/off-screen chemistry and heavyweight producers, then promoting it would be a cakewalk. Low-key music launchMuch like the trailer launch, the music launch of the film was a dull affair despite having a name like A. Root of the problemSources also say that the public relations company that is known to have handled big films air jet loom earlier has undergone a major shift. Silence isn’t always golden.
Since Imtiaz was busy with the film’s edits, Ranbir was away and Deepika was shooting for Bajirao Mastani, the PR team was expected to push the envelope, but there are loud whispers that the team was busy pandering to another film with bigger stars.R. But that’s not quite the case, as publicists of Tamasha will tell you. Even the relatively lesser star-studded film, Sooraj-Athiya-starrer Hero had more media in attendance than Tamasha’s trailer launch. The key players have quit and those that are running the show at the moment are battling a rough patch too. Lack of communication with the media may be the reason behind the poor turnout.. What could’ve worked against the film Fizz-free trailer launchThe much awaited trailer launch of Tamasha was a dull affair
The development comes barely few months after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told that the government will soon launch the Bharatmala project to build over 20,000 km of highways in the first phase.The official said the highway projects approved on Tuesday also include economic corridor developments aimed at faster movement of cargo.The corridors included Mumbai-Cochin-Kanyakumari, Bengaluru-Mangaluru, Hyderabad-Panaji and Sambalpur-Ranchi, to name a few.
The government had earlier planned to develop economic corridors with a length of about 21,000 km besides 14,000 km of feeder routes. PIB, chaired by the expenditure secretary had later approved it.Road, Transport Minister Gadkari had earlier said detailed project reports (DPRs) are being prepared for the Bharatmala project..A study under the proposed Bharatmala project by global consultancy firm AT Kearney had identified 44 economic corridors.Other members of PIB included secretaries of economic affairs, Niti Aayog, statistics and programme implementation, environment and forests, besides the secretary of the administrative ministry concerned.
The Prime Ministers Office, earlier in 2017, had asked for Public Investment Boards (PIB) clearance to the first phase of the project.New Delhi: The government on Tuesday approved Rs 7 lakh crore worth highway projects including the ambitious Bharatmala, an official said.Bharatmala is water jet loom a mega plan of the government and the second-largest highways project after NHDP that saw development of about 50,000 km, and aims at improving connectivity in border and other areas.The Cabinet on Tuesday gave the go ahead to highway projects worth about Rs 7 lakh crore for development of over 80,000 km of highways including Bharatmala project in the next five years, an official who did not wish to be quoted, told PTI
The Chief Minister further encouraged the state farmers to adopt micro irrigation and stated that farmers would be given solar energy unit and they would utilize the energy generated during the daytime, and incentive amounting to Rs 1 per unit would be given to farmers for maintenance purpose.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh on Thursday, the Chief Minister said that a target has been set to issue 50,000 new solar energy connections of which tenders have been floated for 15,000 connections."The 468 Super ELF G2 agricultural tube wells falling under Vayama Feeder of Karnal block and Saspur Feeder of Yamunanagar block would be changed into solar energy at an estimated cost of about Rs 25 crore," he added.
The additional power would be sold to power grid.Highlighting the efforts of his government in improving power grid set up in the state, Khattar said that the State government has improved the losses being caused by monthly payment of Rs 30 crore to Power Grid for Inter-State Transmission and saved about Rs 300 crore by National Thermal Power Project at Jhajjar and pending cases of inter-state transmission.
payment amounting to about Rs 1120 crore has so far been sent to the power grid.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced that about 44,000 tube well connections pending since January 1, 2014 by March 31, 2019, will be issued to farmers of the state in the next six months..While giving the details of the reforms and achievements of the Power Department during the last four years, Khattar said that use of solar energy in tube wells reduces power consumption by 30 per cent
The BEST’s two power plant weft feeder suppliers projects at Satara and Ahmednagar have been in the works for a long time and the latter is closer to completion. Although Tata Power has asked MERC for permission, we have written to the Appellate Tribunal For Electricity (APTEL) and the Supreme Court, saying that this should not be allowed," said Mr Patil.
According to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), the BEST is the only body to have legal rights to distribute power in the island city even though the undertaking does not generate its own power but purchases it from Tata. BEST general manager Jagdish Patil said that according to the law, Tata Power cannot enter into the city as a distributor.
"We are protected under the law and no other competitor can enter the market as distributor.The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) committee is apprehensive that Tata Power may encroach upon its territory by supplying power to the island city. "We have to see to it that we do not lose any consumers to Tata Power as we have already lost our commuters due to two consecutive hikes this year," said Mr Hombalkar.Mr Hombalkar has asked the management to look into the possibility that consumers might try to get connections illegally..Committee member Kedar Hombalkar has asked the management to look into if Tata Power is supplying electricity to consumers within the Mumbai city limits. Members of the committee have asked the management to look out for consumers trying to make the shift to Tata Power
The collection from pollution cess will go in the State EV Fund to counter the subsidy bill that will go towards encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles.com).The draft policy mentions that a greater Super ELF G2 degree of pollution cess will be levied on diesel compared to petrol as it is a known carcinogen (a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue).
It has been developed to promote the sale of electric vehicles in the capital city. The government has proposed the existing diesel cess (25p per litre) to be included in this new pollution cess.The Delhi government has suggested a new ‘pollution cess’ on the sale of petrol and diesel in the city starting from April 2019.The electric vehicle draft policy is currently in public forum and up for discussion.
The move will make petrol and diesel more expensive.Over and above, the government has cited that this pollution cess will be reviewed and revised once every year, which means we can only expect the prices of petrol and diesel to go up
The supervisory board of Europe’s largest carmaker voted on far-reaching capital spending plans to begin mass production of electric vehicles in Europe, the most radical strategy shift since VW’s diesel cheating scandal in 2015.Volkswagen expects to become the most profitable manufacturer of electric cars thanks to a multi-billion euro expansion plan to mass produce battery-driven vehicles, Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Friday.
VW plans to increase the productivity of its factories by 30 per cent by 2025 by building more vehicles from different brands on the same production line. It wants to lower the carmaker’s research and development ratio at the group’s automotive division to six per cent of revenues from 2020 onward.Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett told Reuters this week that the company was open to investment in its autonomous vehicle business by automakers and others, but cautioned that expanding partnerships with VW was a "delicate dance.VW will spend almost 44 billion euros (USD 50 billion) on developing electric cars, autonomous driving and new mobility services by 2023 and explore further areas of cooperation with US automaker Ford.
VW expects significant synergy effects from this alliance, which may allow the potential for developing a next-generation Amarok pickup truck series and further sports utility vehicles, Diess said.Around 436,000 industrial jobs in Germany are tied to building petrol and diesel engined vehicles.Volkswagen’s management this week outlined plans for converting car plants in Zwickau, Emden and Hannover to build electric cars, providing job guarantees to workers until 2028."Volkswagen must become more efficient, more productive and more profitable in order to finance the high expenditure in the future and stay competitive," Diess said. Zwickau currently builds the VW Golf and the Golf Estate."Very emotional vehicles, high economies of scale, I think we will be the most profitable company in electric vehicles.
"Diess said, responding to a question in English.Mass producing electric cars will help the carmaker reduce the cost to the same level as current water jet loom diesel vehicles, Diess said at a news conference in Wolfsburg, VW’s hometown."(Source).Volkswagen’s MEB electric vehicle platform is also being eyed by Ford as the two companies continue exploratory talks about an alliance to develop self-driving and electric vehicles.Diess said he hoped to have an outline agreement on cooperation with Ford fleshed out by the end of the year, with the initial focus on commercial vehicles.The first ID electric car is due to roll off the production line in Zwickau in 2019, as the plant ramps up to a production capacity of 330,000 electric vehicles. The joint development and manufacture of a range of light commercial vehicles are at the core of the envisaged cooperation," Diess said. He added that a merger with Ford was not on the agenda and also said there were no plans to take a stake in the American company.
Volkswagen will retool three of its German plants to build electric cars and to explore alliances with battery partners and rival carmakers."Our two companies complement each other very well in terms of both products and regions.Labour unions, who control half the seats on Volkswagen's supervisory board, need to sign off on the plan to create global production capacity for 1 million electric vehicles by 2025 amid their concerns that assembling battery driven cars will require fewer workers.Jobs are under threat because a combustion-engined car has 1,400 components in the motor, exhaust system and transmission, while an electric car’s battery and the motor has only 200 components, according to analysts at ING