Corriere della Sera 23 April 2025.
This, for me, is a political operation, which does not take into account the reality of the facts:
department stores are like dinosaurs, on the verge of extinction,
due to e-commerce and the cost of facilities (too high rents, among other factors).
Many consumers anticipated purchases of durable goods such as household appliances and clothing, fearing price increases.
The monitoring shows that 'core' sales (excluding restaurants, cars and fuel) rose by 0.4 % month-on-month and 5.07 % year-on-year. The most dynamic sectors in March were digital products ( 27.6% year-on-year), sport, hobby and book shops ( 6.6%) and department stores ( 7.6%). By contrast, sales of household appliances and personal care products declined slightly.
In Q1 2025, total retail sales grew by 4.52% annually, while core sales rose by 4.96%. However, the NRF points out that the economic uncertainty generated by duties could dampen consumer confidence, causing consumers to save more than spend.
Italy applies a 3 per cent levy on Internet transaction revenues for digital companies with a turnover of at least €750 million ($853.35 million), which is worth less than €500 million in revenue to the state each year.
"We agreed that a non-discriminatory environment in terms of taxation of digital services is necessary to allow investment by cutting-edge technology companies," Rome and Washington ... Reuters
But Europe's weak point is the Irish tax haven, which, as of September 2024, has a tax revenue surplus of €8.6 billion from multinationals and Meloni should, in my opinion, have concerted on this sensitive subject with her European partners (also because big tech regulations also have other implications concerning, possible e-commerce dumping by Chinese companies, privacy, etc.).
Updated 22 April 2025
The best product - according to the Altroconsumo test - is Riomare's pole-fished tuna in olive oil with a rating of 74/100.
In second place, with 73/100, is Angelo Parodi's tuna steak in olive oil, followed by AsdoMar's whole tuna steak in olive oil and Coop Fior Fiore's yellowfin tuna fillets, both with 72/100.
The recommendation for the best buy, which indicates the reference with the best quality/price ratio, goes to tuna fillets in olive oil from Ondina, Eurospin's seafood brand.
Is the presence of a discount chain a bit surprising? I must say that, in tasting, Lidl products do not disfigure. Quite the contrary. And Eurospin has made great strides on the road to quality.
The sector is down (-4%) due to Shrinkinflation
updated 22 April 2025
"Customers have mostly remained loyal to the luxury chocolate manufacturers who have largely refused to reduce cocoa content and instead increased prices"...
... Consumer brands also held up well: Nestlé said the KitKat recipe had not changed, adding that the popularity of the chocolate bar demonstrated "the continued appeal of established brands offering tasty products."
Below: a Swiss luxury brand
Source. There can be no more talk of climate change (which there is, of course there is).
The problems of Japanese rice come from afar.
Below : Le Monde September 2024, on the subject.
The harsh consequences of withdrawal are evident in few places as clearly as in Sudan, where a brutal civil war intersects with a staggering humanitarian catastrophe:
Clashes between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces have already claimed more than 150,000 lives in two years.
Almost 13 million people have been displaced and half of Sudan's 44 million people are on the brink of famine.
On Trump's cuts to Usaid read here
Global fruit prices rise by a third as cream-filled viral bars are offered. The bars, a combination of pistachio cream, grated shortbread and milk chocolate, were a modest success after their launch in 2021 by Emirati boutique chocolate maker FIX, until a TikTok video turned them into a global phenomenon.
The clip, released in December 2023, amassed more than 120 million views and fuelled a worldwide craze for pistachio chocolate, spawning a series of imitations. Because of the craze, prices of pistachio nuts have increased from $7.65 a pound a year ago to about $10.30 a pound now.
'Wine-tasting event' and 'Diplomatic dinner' were the subjects of e-mails sent by a leading European foreign ministry
The cybercriminal group called APT29, but also known by the name Cozy Bear, which is linked to the Moscow government, is behind a new wave of phishing attacksagainst European diplomats, which once again aims to exploit their cultural inclination towards wine consumption in order to spread a new backdoor malware.
The new attack is similar in modalities to last year's WineLoader campaign. It uses emails to invite recipients to wine tastings, in an attempt to induce them to click on malicious links, as revealed by Check Point Research researchers in a recently published report. However, this time there are two new elements: the target audience and the malware lurking in the back-end of the campaign...
This campaign seems to focus on European diplomatic entities, including embassies of non-European countries located in Europe.
The Red Prawn
