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WARSAW, Poland (AP) – A massive fire that destroyed a large shopping center in Warsaw last year was the result of arson ordered by Russian intelligence services, Polish officials said Sunday on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the blaze. The fire broke out May 12, 2024, in the Marywilska 44 shopping that housed some 1,400 shops and service points. Many of the vendors were from Vietnam, and it inflicted tragedy on many in Warsaw’s Vietnamese community. “We now know for certain that the massive fire on Marywilska was the result of arson commissioned by Russian services,” Prime Minister...

If you've ever stepped foot in an Aldi supermarket, it probably didn't take you very long to realize why it's recognized as one of the most affordable grocery chains both in the United States and overseas. From fancy cheese to bakery staples to a range of healthy snacks, the retailer's shelves are stocked with plenty of high-quality grocery items at impressively wallet-friendly prices. To keep overheads (and therefore, prices) low, Aldi employs a number of unique strategies. For one thing, you'll never hear music playing in an Aldi store, as it saves money by avoiding licensing fees. It costs a...

<p>The Communist country of 1.3 billion people has shifted that much cash into amping up its factories in just four years in an effort to overwhelm manufacturers around the world with an influx of cheap goods.</p><p>President Trump’s 125% tariff on all Chinese imports into the US...is actually just the latest protective measure against China.</p>

Understanding why China has a chokehold on the US and many multinational companies has a lot to do with the government’s creation of special economic zones (SEZs)... For example, the city of Shenzhen was once a small fishing village of 30,000 before it was designated as one of the first SEZ in 1980. Now, Shenzhen,..a top ten global finance center in 2024...home to multinational tech companies like Huawei and Tencent (maker of Wechat)...The Shenzhen experiment illustrates what happens when you bring together dense clusters of suppliers, logistical infrastructure (including highways, railroads, and ports), skilled workers, economic investment and tax incentives....

..With these three rounds of additional tariffs and other measures, the effective U.S. rate on Chinese goods is about 65 percent. If he goes ahead with the 50 percent levy, the rate hits 115 percent. China this year added retaliatory tariffs of 10 percent and 15 percent on certain American products... Xi, despite best advice from around the world, has continually rejected consumption as the basis of the Chinese economy. .. Xi Jinping certainly does not believe in empowering citizens. Moreover, as Zongyuan Zoe Liu writing in Foreign Affairs notes, the Communist Party leadership also abhors consumer spending, believing "consumption...

Coming out of the Second World War, the US was the king of production,” says William B Bonvillian, a lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an expert in US innovation policy.... by 1945, more steel was produced in the state of Pennsylvania alone than in Germany and Japan combined.... By the turn of the millennium, the US’s global domination in mass-scale industrial production, technology and efficiency was lost. Long-standing issues culminated between 2000 and 2010, when the US lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs.... Between 2000 and 2010, nearly six million jobs in US manufacturing were lost, with...

Popular e-commerce companies, including giants Shein and Temu, use the so-called “de minimis” exemption to ship tens of millions of packages — everything from end tables and lamps to shoes and underwear — to U.S. consumers every year. So long as each individual package is worth $800 or less, they aren’t required to pay import fees or go through typical customs inspections. But under an executive order signed by Trump Wednesday, that loophole will close on May 2. These lower-value shipments will now face a tariff of 30% of the “value of the postal item containing goods for merchandise” with...

Retiring President Biden hit the shops on Black Friday and surprised onlookers by picking up a copy of a book describing the establishment of Israel as “colonialism” that’s been met with Palestinian “resistance” — an acquisition its author bemoaned was “4 years too late.” Biden, 82, left Nantucket Bookworks holding in full view of the press a copy of “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017” by Columbia University professor emeritus Rashid Khalidi. The book argues that “the modern history of Palestine can best be understood in these terms: as a colonial...

A former Target executive and retail expert is warning of a not-so-jolly holiday shopping season as Americans struggle in President Joe Biden (D) and Vice President Kamala Harris’s (D) economy. Former Target Vice Chairman Gerald Storch said during an interview on Fox Business Thursday, “It’s very clear that consumers are running out of money.” “They’re increasingly stressed by inflation and the exhaustion of their pandemic-era savings. When you take a look over the last several years, what you see month after month, everyone talks about, the consumer’s still spending. They might be, but they’re spending less than the growth of...

Retail expert Gerald Storch says the 2024 election will weigh on an already weak holiday shopping season.. Former Target Vice Chairman Gerald Storch painted a sobering picture of consumer sentiment while speaking to FOX Business on Thursday, anticipating a subdued holiday shopping season weighed down by economic and political uncertainties. "It's very clear that consumers are running out of money. They're increasingly stressed by inflation and the exhaustion of their pandemic-era savings. When you take a look over the last several years, what you see month after month, everyone talks about, the consumer's still spending. They might be, but they're...

The Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, was caught shopping for luxury clothing as North Carolina continues to face the devastating fallout from its recent hurricane. Mayorkas, whose sub-agency FEMA is responsible for handling the response to the extreme weather event, was snapped by a reporter for the Washington Free Beacon strolling through the mens section of Sid Mashburn, a high-end menswear store, surrounded by his extensive security detail.

There are plenty of good web browsers to use, and Firefox and its Waterfox spinoff, most of the time, are good. But I noticed something the other day about both of them. I was trying to log onto this Conservative shopping site called “Patriot Depot”, and when I would put the web address in, it would automatically re-direct to Google. This was true for both of them. I tried this with my other browsers, and the site came on just fine with them. Perhaps some lefty programmer at Firefox put a re-direct as a practical joke. If true, given that...

Dollar General's stock plunged nearly 30% after it reported worse-than-expected quarterly results. It's a sign of how dire things have become for low-income shoppers. It also challenges a widely held assumption about dollar stores. Things are getting worse for US consumers, and Dollar General is suffering as a result. The dollar store chain reported second-quarter comparable sales below analysts' expectations on Thursday. Dollar General also cut its sales growth expectations for the rest of the year, warning that its low-income customers have pulled back spending — and that things could get even worse. The quarter included a "weaker sales environment...

Amid Friday afternoon’s heat, the five posh floors of Saks Fifth Avenue in San Francisco’s Union Square offered a cool elegance that belied the jarring news from the day before: the store is transitioning to an appointment-only model and laying off staff. What will it feel like to go on pre-arranged shopping trips inside a sprawling department store? That is an open question for customers and staffers. As part of the transition slated for Aug. 28, the store will lay off an unspecified number of employees, according to the Chronicle, which first reported the changes. The news comes at a...

Grocery store prices are changing faster than ever before — literally. This month, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce it’s replacing the price stickers in its aisles with electronic shelf labels. The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds.“If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there's something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst. Apps like Uber already use surge pricing, in which higher demand leads to higher prices...

Still no sticker shock, Janet? Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was spotted stocking up on groceries on Saturday — after dismissing a question about inflation and rising food prices earlier this week. Yellen, 77, and her husband, economist George Akerlof, stopped by a Giant Food store in Washington, DC, after grabbing lunch at Japanese restaurant Raku. The millionaire couple had six security people in tow but pushed their own carts full of reusable Fresh Direct grocery bags out of the store after stocking up. Yellen — who is worth an estimated $20 million — drew criticism this week when she appeared...

All of the more than 300 99 Cents Only stores across the country are closing down. This doesn't just affect the shoppers who depend on low prices but it will be a loss of jobs for the workers in the stores. Right now everything is 30% off and business is brisk in the California-based chain. Shoppers are stocking up and many are waiting in line to get inside a store. Economists say this is a scary sight."Sad. I can't buy my apples and bananas anymore," said one man walking into the store."I think people are going to miss it," said...

There’s this meme that’s been cracking everyone up online. It jokes that AI isn’t some next-level tech marvel. Instead, picture this: 5,000 people in India, just sitting around, answering all our queries. It’s a funny take on the whole AI scene and pokes fun at the idea that maybe, just maybe, the big players like Big Tech, Big Pharma, and the government are pulling one over on us.

Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times following the state’s implementation of a strict ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, a study found. "Following New Jersey’s ban of single-use bags, the shift from plastic film to alternative bags resulted in a nearly 3x increase in plastic consumption for bags," Freedonia Custom Research (FCR), a business research division for MarketResearch.com, reported in a study published this month. New Jersey implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags in 2022, the strictest ban on bags in the nation at the time, billing it as an effort to cut back on...

The Biden regime allegedly flagged transactions using terms like “MAGA” and “TRUMP” for financial institutions. This is a direct violation of the US Constitution. Individuals who shopped at stores like Cabela’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, or purchased religious texts like a Bible, may also have had their transactions flagged. This is a shocking report. The House Weaponization Committee reported on Wednesday night that the Biden regime was targeting Americans who were shopping at Cabela’s and Dick’s and those Americans who may have recently bought a Bigle! We are clearly witnessing the MOST GODLESS ANTI-CHRISTIAN regime in US history! (letter from Jim...