Author: theparknews

In Hong Kong, retail sales fell in July as consumers traveled abroad for the summer holidays. Sales of jewelry, watches, clocks and luxury gifts fell 25 percent year-on-year to HK$3.75 billion ($480.7 million) this month, the Hong Kong government’s Statistics Department said on Friday. Overall retail sales fell 12 percent to HK$29.13 billion ($3.74 billion). By contrast, luxury goods sales were down 23 percent year-on-year in June, and sales overall were down 10 percent. “Total retail sales fell further in July compared with the same month last year as changing spending patterns and the strengthening Hong Kong dollar continued to…

Daniel Johnson September 1, 2024 Cesta Collective is a sustainable luxury brand that knits handbags in Rwanda. Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, continued her investment in women-owned businesses by investing in Cesta Collective, a sustainable luxury brand that knits basket bags in Rwanda and finishes the bags in Italy. According to The New York Times, Markle first discovered the brand while doing her daily online shopping. “I spend a lot of time on Google looking for brands. I try to find great new designers, especially in different regions, when people are online looking for things and reading,” Markle told the…

Described as a “political rising star” by ABC News in 2015, Tulsi Gabbard was a Hawaii Democrat who wasn’t afraid to criticize President Barack Obama. Gabbard complained at the time, reported by CNN, that the Obama administration “refuses to recognize who our enemy is.” “But what concerns me is that the administration has not yet accurately identified the enemy and clearly laid out a strategy for defeating this enemy. The reality of war is that you cannot defeat your enemy unless you know and understand him,” Gabbard said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Gabbard met with Donald Trump…

Email your business news to Jana Wiersema at jwiersema@news-gazette.com.Sign up for our daily newsletter hereFor Jeff and Dakota Thomas Wilhelm, the idea of ​​starting their own coffee shop was appealing, but with several already in the area, they had to answer an important question: What would make their shop different? The answer was bagels. “That was a niche thing that I came up with to make something special,” Jeff said, “Then I sort of figured out how to make bagels over the last few years and started selling them at farmers markets in Champaign, Urbana and Mahomet.”A little over a…

Naples/Fort Myers/Charlotte Meanwhile, Naples developers Ronto Group and Wheelock Street Capital received a $234 million loan. The funds will be used to build Rosewood Residences, a 42-unit luxury condominium development on Naples’ beach. The Residences are being built at 1601 Gulf Shore Boulevard N., the former site of the Naples Mansion House, which Ronto purchased in 2021. According to Collier County property records, Ronto paid $167.5 million for the land. The new development is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026, according to JLL Capital Markets, which arranged and announced the construction loan. When complete, it will…

WINCHESTER, Va. — The Lynchburg University men’s soccer team opened the regular season with a 0-0 draw against Franklin & Marshall College on Sunday afternoon.The Hornets (0-0-1) and goalkeeper Thomas Viscuso kept a clean sheet in their season debut thanks to a strong backline that was part of last season’s championship squad. Defenders Aiden Cass, William Casey and Benjamin Velazquez all played 90 minutes and limited the Diplomats to just one shot on goal in the match.Lynchburg only managed one shot on goal in the first 45 minutes but had seven shots in the second half that didn’t result in…

Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the failed Afghanistan withdrawal have blasted Vice President Kamala Harris for attacking former President Trump over his controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week.Harris accused Trump of playing politics with his visit on Monday but, in a series of short videos, said eight families had invited Trump and slammed the Biden-Harris administration over the disastrous withdrawal three years ago that left 13 U.S. soldiers dead.The messages, each themed on the parents of a military member killed by ISIS-K terrorists during the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021, were…

In the latest development in Bolt’s aggressive fundraising efforts, the fintech company’s CEO appeared to implicitly threaten legal action against Silver Bear Capital, the investment bank whose involvement in the deal remains controversial. “We believe there was an internal miscommunication at one of our major investors, Silver Bear Capital, which has caused unnecessary confusion,” CEO Justin Grooms said in an email reportedly seen by Forbes. “In fact, they have signed a binding agreement to commit $200 million. Our talented legal team at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher stands ready to represent the company to aggressively enforce our rights.” Bolt, which offers…

After posting scathing comments about the Democratic vice presidential nominee on social media, the brother of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has made it clear to the media that he does not support his brother’s left-wing views but wants to keep a low profile during the election. “I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from friends and old acquaintances who feel the same way as my brother on this issue, so I was just trying to make that clear to friends,” Tim Waltz’s brother, Jeff Waltz, told News Nation this week. “I used Facebook, which is not the right platform to…

Travelers wait to board at Los Angeles International Airport ahead of the Labor Day holiday on Friday. Mario Tama/Getty Images Hide caption Toggle caption Mario Tama/Getty Images This summer’s record-breaking travel season isn’t over yet. This year’s Labor Day weekend is expected to be the busiest holiday ever for airports, with 17 million passengers scheduled to fly through Wednesday, according to the Transportation Security Administration. More than 8,000 delays and 450 cancellations occurred on Friday for flights into and out of the U.S., according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. By Saturday afternoon, there were already 1,800 delays and 180 cancellations. The…