The peak season is renowned for Christmas cheer, retail opportunity, in store shopping, bustling shopping centres and queues. Additionally, shoppers and restaurant clientele are busy. They detest queues. Their time is precious. They have places to go and people to see.

By Adrian Stokes, freelance writer.

In the fast-paced world of retail, simply offering quality products is no longer enough to stay competitive. To thrive, retailers must adopt a strategic approach to pricing. Price optimisation is not just a tool for boosting profits; it's a matter of survival and growth. Here are three reasons why retailers need to embrace price optimisation and the benefits of automating pricing operations.

Brother UK has been named as a 'leader' in sustainability programs and services in the most recent IDC Sustainability MarketScape assessment.

Epson, the printing technology solutions provider, has introduced its latest breakthrough in the signage printing market, the SC-S9100.

Russian military social media began to promote the Sever (North) group of troops of the Russian Armed Forces. The group is known for its tactical sign N and its goal is an offensive on Kharkiv. North military grouping created for Kharkiv operation The creation of the group of troops North (N) means that the Russian forces are preparing personnel in the Belgorod region for an offensive on Kharkiv. Ukrainian sources say that the Russian Army does not need to capture Kharkiv, but this is not true to fact. Taking the city will let the Russian forces ensure the collapse of the entire eastern front of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In addition, keeping Kharkiv under control will ensure security for the Belgorod region of Russia that Ukraine has been shelling regularly. The Russian authorities can no longer ignore civilian casualties. There are other signs that indicate preparations for an offensive:

Both Russian soldiers and Ukrainian military personnel believe that there is very little time left before the Russian forces take total control of Chasiv Yar, a city in the Bakhmut area of the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian military are thus forced to retreat to the strategic center of Donbass, the settlement of Konstantinovka. The Russian Armed Forces take Chasiv Yar's highest microdistrict The Russian Armed Forces have knocked out the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the Kanal microdistrict in Chasiv Yar, the easternmost and highest part of the city. Last night, paratroopers of the 98th Airborne Division took control of the last high-rise building. The Russian troops were pushing through for more than two months to crush AFU's defense in the area. Bogdan Khodakovsky, the commander of "Revenge" tactical group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote on Telegram that "the Russians succeeded" "and the loss of Chasiv Yar was getting closer."

The actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia produced a bombshell effect in media space. Yet, Armed Forces of Ukraine are doomed to lose. The operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region came as a surprise for Russia. Ukraine was competent in conducting it tactically with quick breakthroughs and deployment of second echelons under the protection of electronic warfare. Ukrainian soldiers managed to dig in in a number of settlements, and it will take the Russian troops some time to annihilate the enemy there. The Russian Armed Forces have no other option but to create a sanitary zone in the Sumy region.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that Kyiv was not interested in appropriating the territories of the Kursk region of Russia. This means that the march of the Ukrainian Armed Forces "to Kursk and Voronezh" is over with. "Ukraine is not interested in appropriating the territories of the Kursk region" — Ukrainian Foreign Ministry 'Ukraine does not need what is foreign' Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykhy said that the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region was needed "to protect the lives of our people" rather than to capture Russian territories.

The crews of Uragan multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) of the Vostok group of forces of the Russian Army obliterated armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of ​​the Vremevsky salient. Artillery crews of the group of forces in the South Donetsk direction of hostilities struck a fortified area of ​​the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of ​​the Vremevsky salient. A salvo of 16 Uragan rockets (300 kilograms each) covers an area of ​​42 hectares — this is equivalent to six football fields. High-explosive shells are capable of piercing through concrete shelters 1.5 meters thick.

The eruption of the Shiveluch volcano in Kamchatka has intensified. In the village of Ust-Kamchatsk, kindergartens and a school have been closed, sports and music classes have been cancelled. According to Oleg Bondarenko, the head of the Ust-Kamchatsk District, the amount of volcanic ash that fell in the village on the night of November 8 is insignificant as most of the ash cloud is moving towards the sea. However, it was decided to suspend the work of two kindergartens and three schools. Transport services in the settlement operate as usual. Click here to see more pictures and videos of the eruption.

In anticipation of the upcoming Retail Technology Show 2024 in London, scheduled between April 24th and the 25th, Advantech is showcasing the next generation of products targeted to this industry.

The Retail Technology Show (RTS), the leading industry event that connects retail’s changemakers and leading tech providers, has announced the shortlist of its 2024 Innovation Awards, which champion progressive, best-in-class technologies and solutions.

Fashion businesses can transform their fulfilment operations by visiting Ferag (stand G50) at this year’s IWLEX Conference, 14th – 15th May, NAEC, Stoneleigh Coventry.

In the recent 2-3 years, an increasing number of malls and retail chains have adopted real-time video analytics and facial recognition to enhance security, customer experience and footfall analysis.

Some of these technologies are showcased this week at the NRF Protect Conference in Long Beach, California.

PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips Professional Displays and complementary hardware and software solutions, has announced the latest evolution of its multi-award-winning ePaper with Android SoC signage range, launching the new 13” Philips Tableaux 4150 at InfoComm 2024. 

Anthropics Technology has announced that its AI-powered fashion virtual try-on, Zyler, has won an award by Retail Systems.

A specialist logistics recruiter is celebrating, following its debut at industry trade show Multimodal. Innovate Freight Talent exhibited and also presented a key seminar on finding the best logistics talent for your business, at the UK’s leading supply chain conference and logistics expo at the NEC.

Avantra, provider of AIOps and automation solutions for SAP environments, was a prominent participant at the recent SAP Sapphire events held in Orlando and Barcelona. The company unveiled its latest AI capabilities and highlighted its pivotal role in enabling organizations to transition from manual operations to advanced automation.

The UK's largest eCommerce and marketing event, eCommerce Expo & Technology for Marketing, will take place on 18-19 September 2024, at ExCeL, London. 

The International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), the industry developer of pre-shipment performance testing standards for packaged products, has announced programming for its annual European Packaging Symposium, which will be held 8-9 October at the Le Méridien Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany.

KEENON Robotics presented its latest smart service solutions with embodied intelligence at the 2024 World Robot Conference, held at the Beijing Etrong International Exhibition and Convention Center, from 21-25 August 2024.

London is gearing up for one of the most significant events for all things eCommerce. Scheduled for September 18-19, the eCommerce Expo 2024 is set to welcome over 12,000 participants, key industry speakers and more than 300 technology providers.

Minority Supplier Development UK (MSDUK) and the European Supplier Diversity Program (ESDP) have announced the final opportunity to register for 2024 Business Diversity Connect, the ethnic minority business (EMB) supplier diversity conference.

We Mean Business Coalition’s chief executive officer Maria Mendiluce, Zapmap’s co-founder and chief operating officer Melanie Shufflebotham, and co-leader of the Green Party England and Wales Carla Denyer are among those to have been awarded an inaugural Women in Green Business Award celebrating their work driving the UK's net zero transition.

PPDS is participating at EquipHotel 2024 (3-7 November), with the latest innovations in its portfolio of hospitality display solutions, plus the launch of a brand new ‘all inclusive’ streaming partnership for Philips MediaSuite TVs.

Oleksandr Syrsky, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) wants to withdraw troops from the Kursk region of Russia, but is unable to do so, military correspondent Marat Khairullin believes. In addition, the AFU is covering up its desire to retreat from the Kursk region with Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, although in fact, Ukrainian troops are forced to retreat because they are losing, the correspondent noted. According to him, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have found themselves in an extremely deplorable situation in the Kursk region of Russia. In this regard, they are looking for at least some justification to leave, Khairullin said.

Two Russian servicemen were sentenced for life for the mass murder of civilians in the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk People's Republic. On October 28, 2023, contract soldiers Stanislav Rau and Anton Sopov shot the Kapkanets family of nine people, including two children. Two days later, law enforcement officers detained the suspects. The men were found guilty of illegally entering a home and murdering two or more people, including minors, in a generally dangerous manner. The servicemen were sentenced to life terms.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine blew up the Ternovskaya dam of the Kurakhovo Reservoir, strana.ua said in its Telegram channel. Russian military pages reported the same.  "Apparently, the AFU decided to blow up the facility in order to slow down the advance of the Russian army,” authors of War Correspondents of the Russian Spring Telegram channel said.

Russia will continue military operations if Western countries let the Armed Forces of Ukraine to strike deep into the country, Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, TASS reports. "This once again demonstrates that European leaders (…) continue to seek the strategic defeat of the Russian Federation. We, in turn, continue the special military operation until all set goals are achieved," the Kremlin representative said. Sending any new types of weapons to Ukraine will not let Kyiv take an advantage of the situation on the front, Peskov added.

Nikolai Patrushev, Chairman of the Russian Naval Board, said that he personally assess the combat capability of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Responding to reports in Western media about the scale of damage that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have caused to the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the course of the special military operation, Patrushev assured that the Black Sea Fleet was as strong as before. "There is no defeat of our fleet in the Black Sea at all, even though it is NATO specialists that coordinate Kyiv's aggressive actions in this region," he said.

A Ukrainian truck driver was killed in Germany because of his words about Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bild wrote. "During a fight on a parking lot in front of a sawmill in Oberroth [in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg], three truck drivers apparently killed a colleague of theirs on Saturday evening at around 8:15 p.m. They were arguing about Russia's role in the conflict in Ukraine,” the newspaper said. The Ukrainian citizen was 34 years old. The men were drinking alcoholic beverages at the time when the incident occurred. The police detained three of his colleagues, each of whom is suspected of the murder. One of them is a citizen of Uzbekistan, two others are from Eastern European countries.

A lynx that climbed a power line support was rescued in Khakassia (a republic in Southern Siberia, Russia). The pole was not connected to power supply. The incident took place near the town of Chernogorsk on November 8.  The animal was transported for quarantine at the Wildlife Center, the Ministry of Natural Resources said.  Rescuers assumed that the big cat was someone’s house pet as the feline was not afraid of humans. 

The head of the Sudzha district of the Kursk region of Russia, Alexander Bogachev, was dismissed from his post. The official was fired on November 12 at a meeting of the regional leadership with the local population. According to Mash Telegram channel, the reason for the decision was Bogachev's unwillingness to communicate with displaced residents. Since August 6, the head of the municipality has not communicated with those who had to leave their homes in Sudzha after the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the area. Residents of the district gathered on Red Square in Kursk last weekend demanding officials answer their questions about social support measures, since many were left without housing and means of subsistence. The head of the Sudzha district of the Kursk region, Alexander Bogachev, was fired as a result of the meeting. The people met the news about his dismissal with applause.

Ukraine showed a video of the explosion of the Kurakhove water reservoir dam in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The video that was published by Ukraine's TSN TV military correspondent Yulia Kiriyenko shows the moment and aftermath of the explosion on the reservoir near the village of Starye Terny. The dam itself, the road passing through it, and a technical structure located nearby were partially damaged in the explosion. At the same time, the video does not show a possible artillery or air strike on the dam. This confirms that the Russian army was not involved in the destruction of the dam.

Friedrich Merz, candidate for Chancellor of Germany from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said that he would be ready to issue Russia a 24-hour ultimatum. He also said that he could talk to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. "If there is a reason for this and an agreement is reached among European and transatlantic partners, then, of course, yes, I will call him," Friedrich Merz said. According to Merz, he will demand hostilities in Ukraine to end. Moscow will be given 24 hours to do this. If the ultimatum is not fulfilled, Merz will transfer Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv and lift the ban on long-range strikes deep into Russian territory.

A car exploded on Taras Shevchenko Street in Sevastopol, Crimea. The driver, a Russian serviceman, died from his injuries. The victim is believed to be captain of the first rank of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy. The car exploded as a result of the detonation of an improvised bomb that was attached to the bottom of the vehicle.

In my misquotes page, I documented an erroneous quote by Jerry Bergman in a 1993 article on Nebraska Man in the journal Creation Research Society Quarterly (CRSQ). Bergman has responded, disputing my interpretation, in a new article in the CRSQ: "A misrepresentation by Jim Foley: a correction". Here is my response.

Some new information about Homo floresiensis, from a talk given by Colin Groves at the National Museum of Australia on Feb 12th.

Three new hominid skulls from Dmanisi cover the gap that creationist Marvin Lubenow claims separates humans from apes. How does Lubenow handle them in the new edition of his book Bones of Contention?

There's an interesting story in Time about some modern inhabitants of the Indonesian island of Flores who are extremely small and live near the Liang Bua cave where Homo floresiensis was found. Interestingly, they seem to think their ancestors lived in the Liang Bua cave. The scientists who think that the hobbit was merely a microcephalic small modern human are of course greatly heartened by this development, but the scientists who discovered the hobbit are standing firm that it is a new species, and presumably find it merely coincidental. A quote from one of them: "Of course, there are small-bodied people on Flores, but they don't have brains one-third the size of ours, or unusually shaped pelvises or very long arms like H. floresiensis. This controversy doesn't look like ending any time soon.

My thoughts about Jason Rosenhouse's report on a talk about hominid fossils from the creationist Mega Conference

The latest rounds have been fired in the war over the interpretation of the "Hobbit" fossils from Indonesia that were announced in 2004. The hobbit discoverers have published details on some new fossils: more arm bones from the original skeleton, another jaw bone, and many pieces from other individuals. According to them (and some other commentators), the new fossils confirm that the hobbit was a typical member of its population, and not an aberrant individual (in fact, some bones come from an individual smaller than the first hobbit). ...

Added January 10, 2006: A classic and often-referenced 1984 paper by G. Brent Dalrymple. The paper contains short but accurate expositions of radiometric dating methods and discussions of creationist criticisms and attempts to date the Earth as young. It includes material difficult to find elsewhere, such as the discussion of mixing isochrons and the effect of neutron-capture reactions. Dr. Dalrymple is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a winner of the National Medal of Science, a former president of the American Geophysical Union, and the author of The Age of the Earth

Added January 24, 2006:

Added April 13, 2006:

Added May 11, 2006:

Updated July 25, 2006: Young-Earth creationists consider the helium diffusion studies of D. Russell Humphreys and others to be one of their greatest achievements in arguing for a 6,000 year old Earth. A geologist shows that these studies are extensively flawed and include: serious miscalculations in their data, sampling the wrong rock type, failing to eliminate possible contamination, using equations that are based on invalid assumptions and relying on questionable data. Appendices C and D have been added in response to Dr. Humphreys' most recent statements in his January 2006 "Trueorigins" essay.

Added August 20, 2006: A 1977 decision of an Indiana superior court ruling against a textbook produced by the Creation Research Society. In some respects this case resembles a young-earth creationist version of the 2005 Kitzmiller case. Introductory material, links, as well as the full text of the judge's memorandum opinion are provided.

Added September 18, 2006:

Added October 19, 2006: