Black Friday is becoming more about self-gifting, which is why practical items such as kitchen appliances and vacuum cleaners dominate sales this year. Black Friday used to be the kickoff for the holiday shopping season, but a combination of a late Thanksgiving and anxiety about tariffs — and Amazon — have erased all but the symbolic significance of the day after Thanksgiving as retail bellwether. “I think we’ll start with a bang. I think this will be a good start to the season because it’s shorter,” said Rod Sides, vice…
Read MoreDay: November 27, 2019
IOC calls for “toughest sanctions” due to deleted doping tests in Russia
The International Olympic Committee has demanded the “toughest sanctions” against those responsible for deleting Russian doping tests in data handed over to the World Anti-Doping Agency – calling it “an attack on the credibility of sport and an insult to the sporting movement worldwide”. However, the IOC left the door open for Russian athletes to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics – provided they can show that they are clean. That provoked a hostile reaction from the US Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart, who urged Wada to ban all…
Read MoreMPs ready to fight member states for EU budget
The European Parliament will not accept a “take it or leave it” agreement on the EU’s next long term budget (2021-2027), co-rapporteurs Jan Olbrytch and Margarida Marques have told EURACTIV. Olbrytch, a Polish lawmaker from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), and Marques, a social democrat (S&D) from Portugal, responded to EURACTIV in separate interviews. But even though the two weren’t in the same room, there was no major divergence between them, reflecting – with some nuances – the strong unity lawmakers have kept on budgetary matters. Last week, the…
Read MoreAirlines prepare to launch jet biofuel in Norway
Airlines are confident of having sufficient supplies of biofuel-infused jet fuel to comply with Norway’s looming requirement, which takes effect next year, although they warn of additional costs. From January, jet fuel suppliers in Norway must blend 0.5% of biofuel in all their aviation fuel, a policy Oslo hopes will boost supply and demand and lead to lower CO2 emissions. Although aviation biofuel suppliers say it can cut the carbon footprint of airlines by up to 80%, it costs four times as much as normal jet fuel, which has so…
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