Latest news with #Kallner
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hot dog production ramps up ahead of Memorial Day weekend, summer season
Memorial Day weekend is what kicks off the start of a busy time of the year for one local company best known for its hot dogs. Representatives from Smith's Provisions said they got off to a bit of a late start this year due to producing hams for Easter, but they've ramped up hot dog production ever since. Presque Isle beaches set to open for season Memorial Day Weekend Five weeks ago, they started building up a massive inventory of hot dogs for people to enjoy on holiday weekends and throughout the summer. 'Obviously, Memorial Day is about those who have served and sacrificed, and at Smith's here, we just hope as part of that celebration, when you're celebrating those people, you choose to serve Smith's to your family and friends at that time,' said Ray Kallner, vice president of sales, marketing and business administration for Smith's. 'Right now, the stores are jam-packed with product, so you shouldn't have trouble finding us.' Kallner said they produce anywhere from 20 to 25 million hot dogs in a year, and about 60%-70% are sold between now and the end of July Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Daily Maverick
08-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
How to outsmart rising subscriptions so they don't break the bank
It pays to get on top of them before they blow your budget. I'm used to my annual Microsoft 365 Family subscription increasing by a nominal amount each year, but the 33% increase this year was a bit of a shocker. That's when I tapped into the genius of my loyal Money Cents readers – and found an alternative for just R1,199. According to the Discovery SpendTrend 2025 report, AI subscriptions saw the highest growth in share of spend, growing more than three times in 2024 compared with the previous year. Discovery Bank chief executive Hylton Kallner points out that the bank offers a subscription management feature that allows users to manage card links to subscriptions and services. 'This includes creating and managing virtual cards, viewing transactions grouped by card or device and suspending or deleting card links no longer needed. Users can also manage where their card information is stored digitally by merchants,' Kallner told me after reading last week's Money Cents newsletter. How to access the feature Log in to the Discovery Bank app. Select the 'cards' option and tap on 'digital cards'. Choose the digital card you want to view and then scroll to view all linked subscriptions and transactions. From there you can tap on a specific subscription to either suspend or delete it, managing your recurring payment. Lineshree Reddy, country manager for Visa South Africa, said there had been increasing take-up of e-commerce subscriptions such as TakealotMORE. 'Our research [the Discovery SpendTrend 2025] shows that 62% of South Africans subscribe to three or more streaming services, and 29% of South Africans are willing to pay for subscription services that offer discounts or exclusive offers,' she said. Examples of typical offers or services could include next-day delivery and early access to offers such as Black Friday sales. With the growth in subscriptions, Reddy said Visa had looked at ways to enable consumers to have a single view of payments across various merchants and where they are making payments. 'For example, kids today can subscribe to games on devices. The Visa subscription manager gives you a full view of where those transactions are happening and you have the ability to stop recurring payments,' she said. Here are five ways to manage your subscriptions, regardless of which bank you're with: Keep track: Go through your bills from the past six months or even as far back as a year, making a note of the subscriptions you are being charged for and the amounts. Make a note of this in your monthly budget and keep track as payments are debited. Look at the bigger picture: The monthly subscription that is 'just R50 a month' works out to R600 a year and if you have four subscriptions of that amount, that's R2,400 a year. It adds up faster than you can blink. Re-evaluate monthly: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Showmax, DStv… You are spoilt for choice in terms of streaming subscriptions, but the beauty of these is you can cancel them and resubscribe at a moment's notice. Plan which series or shows you want to watch and unsubscribe from the services you are not using each month. Watch out for auto-renewals: Visit the sites you are subscribed to and uncheck 'automatic renewal' under payment options. Bundle it or share it: In this financial environment, sharing is caring. Consider sharing subscriptions with a friend or sibling. For example, one of you pays for Press Reader and the other for DStv. You get both benefits at a reduced cost. What you said Money Cents readers shared the following advice: Colleen said she contacted service providers to negotiate the annual increases. Gavin had interesting feedback: he makes monthly payments into a separate savings account, which then covers annual costs such as his motor vehicle licence, vehicle service, holiday club contribution and TV licence. 'The transfer is made early in the month so I'm only really aware of the remaining balance within which to handle normal monthly living costs. On the due date the funds are readily available,' he said. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Boston Globe
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Israel moves to tighten control of aid and rights groups
Separate new regulations for international aid groups announced in March require them to submit detailed information about their Palestinian staff and families, and allows officials to disqualify aid groups where the organization, or its employees, have voiced support for boycotting Israel or, potentially, accused Israel of violating international law. Advertisement On Tuesday, more than 50 international aid organizations signed a letter protesting the new registration rules, calling them 'a grave threat to humanitarian operations and international law.' The groups, including Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, and the Norwegian Refugee Council, have to reapply under the new system by September, or have their registration revoked. Advertisement 'By framing humanitarian and human rights advocacy as a threat to the state, Israeli authorities can shut out organizations merely for speaking out about conditions they witness on the ground, forcing INGOs to choose between delivering aid and promoting respect for the protections owed to affected people,' the 55 nonprofit groups wrote in the letter Tuesday, adding that the regulations appeared to be 'based on vague, broad, politicised, and open-ended criteria.' Aid groups have expressed particular concern over the requirement to share the names, contact details, and identification numbers for their Palestinian staff. Israel has argued this is necessary to vet employees for potential ties to militants, but aid groups fear this could endanger their teams, pointing to how hundreds of humanitarian personnel have been killed in the conflict. 'There's no reason to believe that that data would be held and treated in good faith, given the arbitrary nature of staff arrests and extrajudicial killings' of humanitarians, Joseph Belliveau, executive director of the US-based medical charity MedGlobal, said in an interview. Meanwhile, draft legislation under debate in the constitution committee of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, would tax foreign governmental contributions to Israeli nonprofits at 80 percent and prohibit those that receive foreign funding from appearing in court. Israeli rights organizations have conducted strategic litigation throughout the war to challenge the government's secret detentions of Palestinians from Gaza and their conditions of detention. The bill's sponsor, Ariel Kallner from Netanyahu's Likud party, named as the bill's targets Israeli organizations such as Breaking the Silence, a group that supports whistle-blowers serving in the Israeli armed forces, saying it received disproportionate funding from abroad and was working to 'delegitimize' the state of Israel. Advertisement Kallner had introduced a similar bill in 2023 calling for a 65 percent tax but shelved it following sharp criticism from the Biden administration, France, and Germany. At a committee hearing on Monday in the Israeli parliament, Kallner said the Biden administration's sanctions against armed West Bank settlers in 2024 'came as a result of vile blood libel by organizations [that delegitimize Israel], such as Breaking the Silence.' (The Trump administration reversed those sanctions in January.) Kallner described the legislation as 'part of the struggle for the Zionist project and in support of the soldiers fighting on the front lines,' while citing other examples of foreign government-funded Israeli groups that recently pressured the Israeli government to allow more food into Gaza. 'I have no problem with NGOs. I have a problem with FGOs — Foreign Governmental Organizations,' Kallner said. 'These organizations do not represent Israeli society. They target our soldiers, discredit Israel around the world, and defend murderers.' Avner Gvaryahu, a former director of Breaking the Silence, said the tax measure would cripple many of these organizations, and the proposed ban on appealing in Israeli courts was unprecedented. Although the bill's sponsors have offered to exempt certain Israeli organizations from the 80 percent tax on a case-by-case basis, that would lead to a politicized atmosphere, he warned. 'This doesn't just pinpoint and destroy every organization that is vocally critical of the government,' Gvaryahu said. 'It also creates a dependency of every other organization on the government and eliminates their ability to critique the government.' Advertisement A position paper submitted to the Knesset in December by the Institute for Law and Philanthropy at Tel Aviv University estimated that 96 Israeli nonprofits that received roughly $32 million in foreign state donations in 2022 would be affected by the proposed bill. Many of those organizations, though not all, are 'human rights organizations advocating against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and/or the rights of Palestinians and Palestinian citizens of Israel.' Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
Reuters
05-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Israel debates 80% tax on foreign donations to NGOs
JERUSALEM, May 5 (Reuters) - An Israeli parliamentary committee on Monday began debate on a law that would impose an 80% tax on non-government organisations that receive the majority of their funding from foreign entities in a bid to reduce foreign influence on the state. Under the proposed law, these NGOs would not be able to petition Israeli courts, including the Supreme Court. Israel's finance minister, though, would be able to grant an exemption from the tax. The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here. Organisations funded by the Israeli state and those with an annual turnover of below 100,000 shekels ($27,668.64) would be exempted. The debate in the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee was at times heated and divided along coalition lines. The panel is preparing the bill for a first reading in the main plenum. "This law will preserve a Jewish state and a democratic regime, and will block improper foreign interference," said Ariel Kallner, the bill's sponsor, during the debate. Kallner noted that between 2012 and 2024, 1.3 billion shekels was transferred from overseas to 83 Israeli organisations, or an average of about 300,000 shekels per day. "These funds are not designated for social, educational, or peripheral development projects, but primarily for influencing Israeli policy through the judicial system, media, and international arena," he said, adding "the future of the State of Israel should be shaped by Israeli citizens, not foreign governments." Opposition lawmakers criticised the proposed law, saying the state was trying to stifle voices, including the media, that don't agree with Israel's policies. Some said that if the government sought to prevent foreign influence, then companies should also be targeted. Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, sent a letter signed by nine NGOs to the head of the committee, urging the bill be halted. "This bill is a direct assault on civil society, the rule of law, and the basic constitutional structure of Israel's democracy," the letter said. "It threatens the rights of individuals and communities and seeks to silence legitimate dissent under the guise of sovereignty." ($1 = 3.6136 shekels) ($1 = 3.6142 shekels) Reporting by Steven Scheer Additional reporting by Nuha Sharaf; Editing by Sharon Singleton Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Zawya
17-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa: Discovery CEO Hylton Kallner on the future of spending
There is a declining brand loyalty and a shift towards value as consumers seek brands that deliver quality at competitive prices rather than paying premium prices for established names. CEO Discovery Bank and Discovery South Africa, Hylton Kallner talks about the SpendTrend 2025 report findings (Image supplied) This is one of the predictions for the SpendTrends for 2025. The report also found that AI will begin to inform purchasing decisions. Already AI subscriptions have increased as consumers directly access these tools. Taking a deeper dive into these and other trends at the recent report launch at Discovery Place in Sandton, CEO Discovery Bank and Discovery South Africa, Hylton Kallner emphasises three key insights driving these trends: - How much people spend? - What people spend? - How people spend? Drivers Kallner highlighted the drivers of spending behaviour in 2024: - Sustained high interest rates - Shift to digital real-time payment - Changing safety and security risks - Increased return to office mandates - Broader consumption choices of digital services - Sustained high interest rates High interest rates are straining finances, and in the last year, many consumers accessed their retirement savings to make ends meet. Seventy percent (70%) of spend is on groceries, retail, travel, eating out and fuel, but this varies in the different South African cities. 'While groceries is the highest across all cities, in Johannesburg retail and eating out is also high, while in Cape Town travel is high,' says Kallner. A demand for convenience Busy lifestyles have led to a demand for convenience, showing growth in the spend on eating out and takeout, with spend on food overall exceeding inflation. Groceries are seeing smaller baskets but more frequent shopping. Cape Town spend is the most on groceries out of the South African cities surveyed, while for Johannesburg, eating out is the biggest spend. However, the differentiator between eating out and grocery spend is very small. The shift to convenience is across all age groups with an increase in online food spend with R1 out of every R5 spent is on convenience is spent online. 'Interesting this shift is not at the expense of healthy shopping. However, while healthy food comprise 40% of a basket at the start of the week, this falls to 29% by the weekend,' expands Kallner. Online shop still healthier than physical store shopping. Travel taper off Travel growth has tapered off with an average spend stabilising around post-pandemic levels. The most expensive route is George to Johannesburg. The flights most booked are on Monday and Sunday, which reflects the semigration. Later in the evenings (7 pm) are the cheapest Johannesburg to Cape Town flights, with Friday afternoon most expensive to Cape Town from Johannesburg. Johannesburg to Paris is the most expensive route internationally. International visitors to South Africa love Cape Town with half of visitors flying into Cape Town. The top five countries' visitors are the US, UK, UAE, Germany and Canada. - Shift to digital real-time payment The reliance on and usage of cash have declined and have been replaced by real-time digital payments. 'While cash has not disappeared, the rate of the use of digital payments has been rapid. 'Since PaySnap launched in 2023, it has seen 136 million transactions at a value of R100bn,' says Kallner. - Changing safety and security risks Convenience and security are driving the digital wallet and virtual card adoption, with 60% of Discovery Bank clients saying they are more worried about banking security than a year ago. - Increased return to office mandates Fuel spend has increased as motorists heeded the back-to-the-office call. Sixty percent (60%) of Discovery Bank clients are back in the office five days a week. 'Discovery Bank clients are spending 35 hours a month in their car doing an average of 1,100 km in a month,' adds Kallner. - Broader consumption choices of digital services Omni-channel shopping is still growing, with spend on international platforms increasing significantly. This trend is set to continue. Ninety-five 95) percent of South Africans buy off local platforms, and 77% buy from overseas platforms. South African consumers are also adopting a variety of new streaming services, including AI. 'Last year saw the rapid emergence of AI subscriptions and an accelerated rate of adoption as these services are directly accessed by consumers,' says Kallner.
