Last year marked Costco’s third consecutive year of record sales and record earnings. The Washington state-based company brought in billion in sales in 2012 and .7 billion in profits, making it the seventh-largest retailer in the world. The company sells consumer goods in bulk and makes a point of relentlessly driving down prices (18 bags of Pop Chips go for .89). That price-cutting has won loyalty among Americans increasingly strapped for cash. Even Vice President Joe Biden was recently seen shopping in one of the company’s cavernous stores. Shortly after the election he stopped by to pick up a few books, Duraflame logs, and some pie.
Last week, a Twitter user posted satellite photos allegedly taken by Google Maps showing a deformed dam and warned the dam might break and harm people living downstream. The post eventually got reposted on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, prompting fierce rebuttals from netizens.
Last year, courts nationwide resolved 225,020 such lawsuits, known as administrative cases, an annual increase of 13.2 percent, according to the Supreme People's Court. More than half were related to the plaintiff's livelihood, such as disputes over demolitions.
Last year, Yang became an art promoter for Douyin to make the instrument more accessible.
Last week, Plymouth Housing, another local nonprofit, announced it raised .8 million to build five new affordable housing buildings over the next four years. Microsoft and Amazon each donated million to the effort, as did former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie.
Last month, Amazon and Best Buy struck a deal to make the electronics retailer a third-party seller on Amazon for the first time and sell a line of Fire TV Edition smart TVs together. The alliance between the retailers was surprising as the Minneapolis-based chain has stood out?as a comeback story?after Amazon led the charge in e-commerce that upended many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers.
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Last week, the Massachusetts state Senate approved a bill to impose a 75 percent tax on e-cigarettes, to impose a first-in-the-nation ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes and to improve access to smoking-cessation programs. The governor has not yet signed the bill into law.
Last year, China's foreign currency reserves sustained a sharp drop due to capital outflow and government sales from currency reserves to prevent the yuan from falling. The reserves have stabilized this year.
Last month's increase was a result not only of the higher bond prices but also a strengthened US dollar, Wang Chunying, a spokeswoman for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said on Friday.
Last year, sports-related consumption in China reached 2.4 trillion yuan (0 billion), up 9.09 percent year-on-year. By 2020, it is expected to exceed 3 trillion yuan. The added value of the sports industry accounts for about 1 percent of the GDP, compared with 2 percent to 3 percent for developed countries, it said.