wolfy casino askgamblers
The Online 'Apologies' To Putin—Real Or Russian Disinformation?Article content One of the main hurdles for many customers considering an all-electric vehicle is the total driving range available – or lack thereof – on a fully charged battery. The distance of roughly 450 kilometres seems to be a pretty good baseline these days, at least without installing enormous batteries the size of Vancouver Island (ahem, Chevrolet Silverado EV, ahem). Numerous companies have been working on so-called solid-state batteries, units which do a much better job in the field of energy density than the technology currently available, such as liquid-state lithium-ion batteries. This week, researchers from Honda outlined their desires in this arena, hoping to use solid-state tech to double the range of the automaker’s EVs by the end of this decade. Keiji Otsu, president of Honda R&D, has been bullish on the prospect. “It’s a game-changer of the EV era,” he told Reuters reporters during a tour of the company’s solid-state battery pilot production line late November. The assembly in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, is pencilled to crank out all-solid-state batteries beginning January 2025, following an investment of 43 billion yen (CDN$388 million) , nearly half of which was furnished through subsidies from the Japanese government. Over the next five years, Honda hopes to cut battery sizes in half while chopping at least 25% of the cost from the things. Basic math tells us doubling the energy density of a battery and halving its size means a company could package a much smaller and lighter battery into an EV without sacrificing any range; or, as would likely be preferred in this market, retain the approximate size of today’s cells whilst cranking total driving range to 900 kilometres or more. This would handsomely address concerns about range anxiety, especially if cost and weight are kept under control. Toss in a charging capability that’s at least as good as what is on the market today, and it is likely electric vehicles would become more appealing to a wider variety of shoppers. Of course, EVs aren’t right for everyone, no matter the range or recharge stats — the quicker car companies and governments get that through their heads, the better off we’ll all be. Honda is open to sharing the tech for a price, saying it has “no reason to refuse” the external sale of its solid-state batteries if such a path is mutually beneficial to it and its partners. Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on X , Tiktok and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.Trump's lawyers rebuff DA's idea for upholding his hush money convictionThere’s no escaping gold in Tarkwa. It’s in the forest. It’s under your feet as you walk the streets of Ghana’s biggest mining town. It’s the economy. Exposed holes in the ground bear witness to attempts at illegally digging out some of the precious metal and a polluted river on the edge of town shows the consequences of the boom in semi-industrial scale mining. The environmental damage has triggered a wave of protest in the capital Accra demanding a ban on all small-scale mining operations in places like Tarkwa. In turn, anxious local politicians—ahead of national elections on December 7—have tried to reassure registered mines that they will be shielded from the government’s threat to crack down on illegal activities, which it calls “galamsey”. “In Accra, they want to ban you, but I’m here to tell you that I support miners,” George Mireku Duker, the deputy mining minister and a local legislator, told managers at four underground mines during site visits in October. Duker acknowledges that illegal mining is a “worry”, but he knows that a voter backlash against the New Patriotic Party government which he is part of could cost him his job on December 7. He won the seat by just 101 votes in 2020. “The small-scale mining sector employs more than 1 million Ghanaians and large-scale mines employ less than 10,000,” Duker told Bloomberg News. “You want to take their livelihood from them?” The mines visited by Duker have existed since colonial times and are now operated either privately or for community use by Ghanaians to counterbalance the foreign grip on large-scale mining in the indebted West African country. These artisanal and small-scale (ASM) mines—defined as operations on an area smaller than 25 acres—produced more than a quarter of the four million ounces of gold Ghana officially mined in 2023, estimated to be worth $10.6 billion at today’s prices, up from 10 percent in 2012. Equipped with heavy machinery and turbocharged by lax regulation, the ASM sector remains largely informal: by some estimates, as many as 70 percent of these mines—which have mushroomed in places like Tarkwa—are unregulated. The illicit gold rush is being powered by surging prices—up by more than a third this year to a record-high of $2,787 an ounce in October—and willing buyers in Dubai and beyond. The impact in Tarkwa is visible: tents at the top of slopes, with threadbare clothes hanging over wood panels hide the activities of a mine at the heart of the town while young men loiter outside Chinese machinery shops, offering their services as operators in exchange for a share of what is found in the rivers. The line between legal and illegal operators is often blurred. “A lot of people do have a license,” says Ishmael Quaicoe, head of the environmental and safety engineering department at Tarkwa’s University of Mines and Technology, “but their operations don’t conform with what the law asks them to do.” Demonstrations in September and October focused on the impact of galamsey miners. But when the Trades Union Congress threw its weight behind the campaign it raised the stakes, calling for an outright ban on all small-scale gold mining to halt activity blamed for polluting rivers—one Ghana Water Company facility said in August that 60 percent of the raw water it treated was affected by illegal mining, depressing cocoa production and destroying forests. Both main political groups—the governing NPP and the opposition National Democratic Congress—have traded accusations over the mining issue. And with elections around the corner President Nana Akufo-Addo responded to the calls for a ban by threatening to send soldiers to mining towns to crack down on galamsey operations. He has yet to follow through on that pledge, but the announcement triggered memories of a heavy-handed effort to close down illegal mining in 2017. The ban on ASM mining lasted about two years, but the move backfired on the government, with allies citing it as one of the reasons for the loss of its parliamentary majority in the 2020 elections. At least 4.5 million people—workers and dependents—rely on gold for their livelihood, according to a 2020 government estimate. So the timing of the protests has created a dilemma for the NPP which polls suggest could be headed for its worst-ever election results on December 7, according to the Accra-based Global Analytics. For all its mineral wealth, almost 20 percent of people in Tarkwa-Nsuaem municipality—Duker’s constituency—live in acute poverty, facing multiple deprivations from a lack of clean water to decent shelter, according to the Ghana Statistical Service. A shortage of educational opportunities means young people often gravitate toward the ASM sector’s low-skilled and often dangerous jobs. “They are already dying from poverty so they don’t hear you when you talk about the dangers of mercury or cyanide,” says Elorm Ama Governor-Ababio who was arrested while participating in a protest by Democracy Hub—the activist organization—in Accra. “You put them through so much trauma that when they see a literal threat to their life they see it as a beacon of hope,” adds Governor-Ababio, who denies any wrongdoing. Making the good delivery list School children in Ghana are taught that their country—known as the Gold Coast since British colonial rule—is so rich in the precious metal that the sand glistened as the first Europeans approached shore in the 15th century. In those early days, Akan traders bartered their gold dust for European alcohol, copper and even clothing. Centuries later Ghana remains Africa’s biggest producer, with major operators such as the UK-based Anglogold Ashanti Plc, Gold Fields Ltd. from South Africa, American miner Newmont Corp and China’s Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining Co. all active. At the other end of the scale are the ASM operators. Adwoa Pokuaa Boaduo, a mining engineer who wrote a doctoral thesis on the potential for artisanal and small-scale mining reform in Ghana, says a lack of compliance checks makes it relatively easy for licensed gold buyers to purchase from illegal mines, legitimizing their output. Rosemary Addico, who leads the responsible gold program at Solidaridad’s West Africa—an NGO which encourages miners to follow global best practices—believes the onus should be on the buyers to scrutinize the source: “Once international buyers insist on some requirements, the traders will be more careful about where they are sourcing gold from and how it’s mined.” For gold to be accepted by the world’s most demanding buyers, including central banks, institutional investors and luxury brands, it must come from refiners on the London Bullion Market Association’s Good Delivery List. The influential trade body doesn’t certify mines, but does make the refiners it accredits responsible for the gold in their supply chains, leaving many loath to accept anything directly from small-scale producers that could jeopardize their place on the list. There are, however, plenty of other willing buyers of Ghanaian gold with few questions asked. Nana Akwuasi Awuah, the head of the state-owned gold marketing company—and a number of market participants—say metal from the smaller illegal mines often ends up with Dubai refineries. None of these are on the LBMA’s Good Delivery List, though the emirate does have rules requiring refiners to check that gold has been sourced responsibly. Once imported, the gold can be re-refined and sold as “recycled” bullion to jewelers in India and other markets further east, and even LBMA-accredited refiners, without reference to its origin. The LBMA requires refiners to conduct checks to ensure gold is sourced responsibly, but the reality is that the provenance of recycled gold can be very difficult to determine, according to a 2022 study published on the trade association’s website. Illegal mining also carries an economic cost for Ghana, which is wrestling with more than $30 billion of external debt and secured a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund last year. If the industry was formalized, Ghana would earn more than double its revenue from gold this year, according to Martin Ayisi, the chief executive officer of Ghana’s Minerals Commission, which regulates large and small miners. At least three-quarters of the country’s artisanal and small-scale gold output isn’t captured in export figures at all, he estimates. That’s because it’s either smuggled out by land to neighboring Ivory Coast, Togo and Burkina Faso, which have a lower withholding tax on unprocessed gold, or it’s treated as a transshipment from one of these countries through Ghana, even though it was mined in Ghana all along. “There are all sorts of schemes to smuggle out the gold,” says Ayisi. “There’s one way to stop it, by further dropping the tax,” which was cut to 1.5 percent from 3 percent in 2022, driving an immediate spike in Ghana’s output. The Dubai connection In 2023, the United Arab Emirates reported that $3.2 billion of gold (52.9 metric tons net weight) was imported from Ghana. That same year, Ghana reported exporting just $1.7 billion of the metal to the UAE (27.8 metric tons net weight), according to the United Nations’ Comtrade Database. That amounts to a shortfall about $1.5 billion. Dubai—one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE—has no gold mines, and has positioned itself as a hub for the metal. The LBMA considers the UAE a high-risk jurisdiction and imposes additional checks for any gold sourced from there. But Safeya AlSafi, the UAE’s acting assistant undersecretary for commercial control and governance at the Ministry of Economy, told Bloomberg News that the shortfall could be due to incorrect information from the country of origin, adding, “I don’t know exactly if there is any actual smuggling. We have a very strict system.” At the Minerals Commission, Ayisi acknowledged challenges recording what leaves Ghana. Ghana was one of the first countries in Africa to legalize artisanal and small-scale mining, a sector which globally contributes about a fifth of the world’s gold supply, according to a World Gold Council report. Today, most officials agree that further formalization is essential to curb smuggling and reverse the environmental fallout. The country has now joined a pilot program—along with Peru, the Philippines and Tanzania— to pre-approve some small-scale mines and sell their gold directly to refiners certified by the LBMA. But the lack of financial incentives to operate responsibly gives the miners little reason to join the pilot, critics say. The LBMA is partly motivated by a desire to secure more “clean” gold for its refiners, who are effectively losing out on a fifth of the global supply because of its stringent sourcing requirements. For governments it means they can sell directly to LBMA refineries, opening up a more formal market for their gold. “Will we solve all of the evils of the world?” asks Neil Harby, the LBMA’s chief technical officer. “No, but we’ve got to start somewhere.” Back in Accra, one of just three of Ghana’s 16 regions that doesn’t produce gold, the anti-galamsey movement is gaining momentum even if the protests have died down as the election focus has shifted to the economy—with inflation above 20 percent for more than a year—and a lack of jobs, in the country of 34 million. Billboard-sized images of brown rivers and reports of birth defects, allegedly linked to galamsey, have left voters with graphic images of the damage. Yet neither of the two main parties is in a position to fully capitalize on the anti-ASM anger. Both have at different times clamped down on illegal mining but have also have financially benefitted from “illegalities in the small-scale mining sector,” according to a 2021 report by a former environment minister, Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng. In 2022 Ghana passed a law that authorized mining in forest reserves earmarked for conservation. Out of these mining licenses, at least four have been granted by the government in reserves given special status due to their rare flora and fauna, according to The Fourth Estate, an investigative project by Ghanaian journalists. The Frimpong-Boateng report, which accused politicians on both sides of having a conflict of interest, was dismissed by the presidency as lacking evidence. But it prompted a probe by Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice that is continuing. “For about two decades now, parties have been rewarding their loyalists with concessions,” says E. Gyimah-Boadi, founder of the Accra-based non-partisan research network, Afrobarometer. “They are not going to expose themselves by committing to doing anything that will tie their hands.” Richard Ahiagbah, the director of communications at the NPP rejects the claim, saying that the 2017 ban, shows the government is committed to clamping down on the ASM sector. The NDC also denies any conflict of interest during their own time in office. Samuel Gyamfi, the party’s national communications officer, described the environmental crisis as “unprecedented” and blamed the NPP for it. For Dora Kowfia, a 54-year-old former artisanal miner, it is a confusing moment. She has has previously backed the NPP, but says that this time she doesn’t know who to vote for. She now sells textile at a roadside stall outside Tarkwa, overlooking the Bonsa River, where the impact of illegal mining is visible in the brown waters. Asked if she was concerned about the pollution, Kowfia, echoing a widely held view in mining communities in Ghana, says: “Accra is saying ‘stop galamsey’. I want leaders who will either protect it or bring us new jobs.” With assistance from Verity Ratcliffe, Ekow Dontoh and Michael Ovaska/Bloomberg
AI fraud a growing concern for APAC marketers – reportFlorida pulls upset on Ole Miss, 24-17, clinches 6th win and bowl-game berth Premium Content is available to subscribers only. Please login here to access content or go here to purchase a subscription.
League fines Hawks $100,000 for Young missing NBA Cup gameLowe's Cos. stock underperforms Thursday when compared to competitorsBN stock soars to all-time high of $60.22 amid robust growth
Turkish Airlines to Begin Operations at The New Terminal One at JFK and Unveil World-Class LoungeI'M A Celeb fans have predicted a popular celeb will leave tonight - as she boasted about buying a Porsche after becoming rich overnight. Viewers have two of the show's stars form an unlikely friendship as they open up to one another. However, they think GK Barry will be next to go after boasting about her success. It came Reverend Richard Coles asked the social media star about her overnight fame - which included buying a flashy Porsche. Taking to X, one wrote: "I reckon GK is going tonight. Lots of envious people won’t have bought into that Porsche chat. #ImACeleb." Another added: "did GK earn a Porsche just through influencing?" Read more on I'm A Celeb In camp, Richard quizzed GK on her overnight fame and social media success. He asked: " So Grace did you go from working in Costa to all of a sudden being able to buy a house?” The podcaster replied: "Yeah." Continuing, Richard queried: “So you didn’t go from poor, poor, poor, a little less poor, a bit more money , you went from poor to rich?” Most read in I’m A Celebrity 2024 To which GK answered: “Yeah, pretty quick. "And I remember being like, ‘I’m making enough money to buy a new car now’ and I remember a Porsche drove past me as I had that thought. "I remember thinking, ‘I could buy a Porsche and it would not be an issue.’ "I went to the centre, I was looking at an old one that was cheaper, but the one that I wanted was next to it and it was so nice . "I rang my accountant and I was like, ‘Can I do it?’ "And he was like, ‘Yeah’, so I bought it. i'm A Celebrity is back for its 24th series, with a batch of famous faces living in the Aussie jungle. The Sun's Jake Penkethman takes a look at the stars on the show this year.. Coleen Rooney - Arguably the most famous name in the camp, the leading WAG, known for her marriage to Wayne Rooney , has made a grand return to TV as she looks to put the Wagatha Christie scandal behind her. The Sun revealed the mum-of-four had bagged an eye-watering deal worth over £1.5million to be on the show this year making her the highest-paid contestant ever. Tulisa - The popstar and former X Factor judge has made her triumphant TV comeback by signing up to this year's I'm A Celeb after shunning TV shows for many years. Known for being a member of the trio, N-Dubz , Tulisa became a household name back in 2011 when she signed on to replace Cheryl on ITV show The X Factor in a multi-million pound deal. Alan Halsall - The actor, known for playing the long-running role of Tyrone Dobbs on ITV soap opera Coronation Street , was originally signed up to head Down Under last year but an operation threw his scheduled appearance off-course. Now he has become the latest Corrie star to win over both the viewers and his fellow celebrities. Melvin Odoom - The Radio DJ has become a regular face on TV screens after rising to fame with presenting roles on Kiss FM, BBC Radio 1 and 4Music. Melvin has already been for a spin on the Strictly dancefloor and co-hosted The Xtra Factor with Rochelle Humes in 2015 but now he is facing up to his biggest challenge yet - the Aussie jungle . GK Barry - The UK's biggest social media personality, GK, whose real name is Grace Keeling, has transformed her TikTok stardom into a lucrative career. Aside from her popular social media channels, she hosts the weekly podcast, Saving Grace, and regularly appears on ITV talk show, Loose Women . She has even gone on to endorse popular brands such as PrettyLittleThing, KFC and Ann Summers. Dean McCullough - A rising star amongst this year's bunch of celebs , Dean first achieved notability through his radio appearances on Gaydio and BBC Radio 1. He was chosen to join the BBC station permanently in 2021 and has featured prominently ever since. He has enjoyed a crossover to ITV over the past year thanks to his guest slots on Big Brother spin-off show, Late & Live. Oti Mabuse - The pro dancer has signed up to her latest TV show after making her way through the biggest programmes on the box. She originally found fame on Strictly Come Dancing but has since branched out into the world of TV judging with appearances on former BBC show The Greatest Dancer as well as her current role on ITV's Dancing On Ice . Danny Jones - The McFly star was drafted into the programme last minute as a replacement for Tommy Fury. Danny is the second member of McFly to enter the jungle , after Dougie Poynter won the show in 2011. He is also considered a rising star on ITV as he's now one of the mentors on their Saturday night talent show, The Voice , along with bandmate Tom Fletcher . Jane Moore - The Loose Women star and The Sun columnist is braving the creepy crawlies this year. The star is ready for a new challenge - having recently split from her husband . It will be Jane's first foray into reality TV with the telly favourite having always said no to reality shows in the past. Barry McGuigan - Former pro boxer Barry is the latest fighting champ to head Down Under following in the footsteps of Tony Bellew and Amir Khan . It comes after a tough few years for Irish star Barry, who lost his daughter Danika to bowel cancer . He told The Late Late Show in 2021: "She was such an intrinsic part of the family that every day we ache." Maura Higgins - The Irish TV beauty first found fame on Love Island where she found a brief connection with dancer Curtis Pritchard . Since then, she has competed on Dancing On Ice as well as hosting the Irish version of the beauty contest, Glow Up. Since last year, she has been working on building up her career in the US by being the social media correspondent and host of Aftersun to accompany Love Island USA. She even guest hosted an episode of the spin-off, Love Island Games, in place of Maya Jama last year. Rev. Richard Coles - Former BBC radio host the Rev Richard Coles is a late arrival on I’m A Celebrity , and he's ready to spill the beans on his former employer. The former Communards and Strictly star , said the BBC did not know its a**e from its elbow last year. An insider said: "Rev Coles will have a variety of tales to tell from his wild days as a pop star in the Eighties, through to performing on Strictly and his later life as a man of the cloth." "I picked it up two days later.” GK added that it was: “Black, with a red interior.” READ MORE SUN STORIES Who will be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle? I'm A Celebrity continues on ITV1 and ITVX .
NoneIndiana encouraged by 'total team effort' with Miami (OH) up next
Nebraska will be trying to preserve its perfect in-state record when it hosts South Dakota on Wednesday night in a nonconference game in Lincoln, Neb. The Cornhuskers (4-1) are 3-0 at home and also won Friday at then-No. 14 Creighton, beating their in-state rivals on the road for the second straight time. But the last time they did that, in 2022, they followed that win with a 16-point loss at Indiana to open Big Ten Conference play. "Believe me, we've addressed a lot of things," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. "A lot of people are saying some really positive things. You've got to find a way to put that behind you. I've liked how our team has responded and come back to work after that great win at Creighton." Brice Williams leads the Cornhuskers with 18.2 points per game and was one of five players in double figures against Creighton. Juwan Gary topped the list with 16. South Dakota (6-2) comes to town off a 112-50 home win Monday night over Randall, the third non-Division I school it has beat. The Coyotes' last game against a D1 opponent was Friday at Southern Indiana, resulting in a 92-83 loss. This will be South Dakota's second nonconference game against a Big Ten opponent, after a 96-77 loss at Iowa on Nov. 12. In December, the Coyotes also visit Santa Clara, hovering near the top 100 in KenPom adjusted efficiency, before jumping into Big Sky play. "The schedule is very good and that should help us," third-year South Dakota coach Eric Peterson said before the season. "We have some good nonconference games that should help prepare us for the end of the season." Nebraska has held four of its opponents to 67 or fewer points, with Saint Mary's the only one to top that number in the Cornhuskers' lone loss. Opponents are shooting 38.1 percent this season. South Dakota shot below 40 percent in its two previous games before shooting 62 percent against Randall. Isaac Bruns, who scored 20 to lead South Dakota in the Randall game, paces the Coyotes with 12.9 points per game. --Field Level MediaNebraska plans not to get caught sleeping vs. South Dakota
In an Edmonton Oilers news and rumors update, Zach Hyman returns for the Edmonton Oilers, while Viktor Arvidsson remains out. Meanwhile, the 4 Nations teams were announced and while a few names made it, several Oilers didn’t make the final cut. Who did make the team? And, for those who didn’t, will it light a fire under them to start upping their production and contributing more to prove a point they were overlooked? Hyman Returns vs. Blue Jackets on Thursday Zach Hyman is confirmed to return to the Edmonton Oilers lineup after missing five games due to injury. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug posted on Thursday morning , “Hyman back and on top line with 97 and 93.” Hyman said he was excited to get back into the lineup and is confident in his ability to start putting goals on the board, which is something the Oilers desperately need. Hyman was asked if he’s hoping to still make Team Canada if there’s an injury. He responded that he hopes everyone stays healthy and that Canada does great. He doesn’t want to get on the team that way. Rishaug observed notable line combinations at practice, with Leon Draisaitl skating alongside Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen, while Jeff Skinner was paired with Mattias Janmark and Adam Henrique. Derek Ryan joined Corey Perry and Connor Brown. Each line features a mix of speed and skill, but the standout takeaway is players are positioned in roles that better align with their strengths and expected contributions. Calvin Pickard gets the start for the Oilers in goal. Question Marks Surrounding Viktor Arvidsson’s Injury The Daily Hive asked head coach Kris Knoblauch for a status update and the bench boss didn’t have one. “It’s obviously gone on longer than we anticipated,” Knoblauch said. “We thought it would be just a couple of days off, but it hasn’t healed as expected.” As of now, there is no timeline for his return. This is clearly not a good thing for the Oilers, who were expecting that Arvidsson might not miss any games at all. That he’s now missed several games, isn’t skating, and there is no indication about when he might return, there has to be growing concern that the Oilers signed a player who isn’t going to be nearly as productive as they might have hoped. Interestingly, Arvidsson was still selected for his 4 Nations team. McDavid Excited About the 4 Nations Tournament “Nowhere else I’d rather be than in Montreal and Boston on those two weeks,” said Connor McDavid when asked about his being named to Team Canada. His selection was not a surprise, but the fact that no other Oilers were picked to be on the team might have come as a bit of a shock. Evan Bouchard, Hyman, and Stuart Skinner were also believed to have a good shot of making the team before the season started. None of them were selected, and likely because they have all struggled to start the 2024-25 campaign. Skinner might have been among the more interesting omissions, if only because he wasn’t even listed on insider’s alternates team. Canada’s goaltending isn’t exactly elite, and the fact Skinner took the Oiler to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and has been one of the better Canadian netminders over the past couple of seasons, he still didn’t get much consideration among analysts. The hope for Oilers fans is that being snubbed will light a fire under all three players. Mattias Ekholm was selected for Team Sweden. This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.The dam at Greene Mountain Lake just south of Stanardsville in Greene County is at risk of failure. While there is no immediate threat, all residents downstream of the 60-acre lake are urged to make the necessary arrangements in the event evacuations are ordered. Greene Mountain Lake is a 60-acre lake sitting roughly a mile south of the town of Stanardsville and 23 miles north of the city of Charlottesville in Greene County. Greene County officials announced a Level 2 emergency at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. A Level 2 emergency is defined as a rapidly developing situation that may lead to significant downstream flooding if not immediately addressed. Nearby residents are encouraged to follow local media as well as official Greene County social media accounts for the latest developments. Anyone with questions is encouraged to contact Greene County Emergency Services at (434) 985-5232. Those who would like to receive emergency alerts directly from the county can register online at greenecountyva.gov/343/alerts-notifications . Greene Mountain Lake sits about a mile south of the town of Stanardsville and 23 miles north of the city of Charlottesville. It is surrounded on all sides by residential properties. Get local news delivered to your inbox!SHOPPERS are gutted to see another major high street shop close for good, with the retailer shifting "all stock" before Christmas. This seductive store will shut shop on Christmas eve so customers have been urged to get their naughty stocking fillers now. Ann Summers in Doncaster city centre has been a staple on the high street for several decades and residents are devastated to see it go. Known for its provocative lingerie and collection of risque bedroom toys, the shop is now offering a "warehouse clearance event" and a 70 per cent off sale. An Ann Summers spokesperson said "As part of the normal course of business, we regularly review the location of our stores, which occasionally results in new site openings, renovations, relocations, and store closures. "Unfortunately, the lease on our Doncaster store will come to an end in December 2024 and we will be closing the store." Read more Money "Any employees affected by the closure have been consulted and informed throughout the process, as their welfare is a priority for us." Thankfully, Doncaster city residents can get their hands on some in-store closing down deals as a final farewell. An online post stated: “All stock must go. "Head down for your final chance and shop for amazing products at discounted prices.” Most read in Money For those who will sorely miss the racy retailer, the next nearest shop is in Sheffield which is a half an hour drive away from Doncasters' Baxter Gate store. The closure follows other big changes within the popular chain, which boasts 130 UK branches. Shoppers were disappointed when Ann Summers on Glasgow's Argyle street closed down last year. It was another high street favourite that was forced to shut after the landlord closed three units in the area. However the brand promised to pop back up nearby and vowed that they weren't gone for good but simply "relocating." Luckily, lovebirds also had another branch in the city if they couldn't wait for the relocation name to drop. Alternatively, fantasies can be fulfilled on the retailers website which can deliver directly to your home for an extra cost. This December, Ann Summers super fans have been getting their Christmas fix through their three naughty advent calendars . READ MORE SUN STORIES As one of the only calendars you open before you go to bed, rather than when you wake up, it's caused quite a stir on social media. The 12 Nights of Exploration, 12 Nights of Paradise, and 12 Nights of Wonder sold from £80 to £200. EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline. The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors. In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping. Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed. The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing. Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns. Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead. Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent. In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few. What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online. They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places
Ancelotti says Bellingham is 'fine' after Real Madrid midfielder substituted with apparent leg issue
- Previous: wolfy casino app
- Next: wolfy casino belgium
