A street slaying, a ghost gun and a six-day manhunt that ended at McDonald's
Learning a new language can feel like a huge challenge. Fortunately, there are some great language learning apps to help you, and one of our favorites happens to be on sale today. This Cyber Monday you can get a lifetime subscription to Rosetta Stone, which can help you learn up to 25 different languages, for just $149 . Rosetta Stone is our favorite language learning app for auditory learners and this membership gives you access to 25 different languages, from Spanish to Korean, allowing you to better communicate with locals on your travels and increase your comfort level in international settings. Even if you don't plan on traveling far from home, improving your language skills has plenty of benefits. Whether you want to speak with international neighbors or enjoy movies and TV shows from other places, hobbyists can get a lot out of this deal, too. Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money . Every single lesson — no matter the language — is broken up into manageable chunks, both online and offline. You also have access to an immersive learning environment that will keep you interested throughout the course to keep your mind on perfecting your studies. Plus, you can even practice your accent using speech recognition technology. Since this deal is on a lifetime license, you can learn at your own pace without worrying about racking up monthly fees.
The Consumer Protection Directorate (CPD) of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is organising a special end-of-year programme for residents of the South-South region of the country. The Directorate is inviting air travellers, airline operators, and other aviation service providers to a two-day consumer awareness event in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State. The awareness programme aims to sensitise the travelling public on their rights and obligations as passengers. “There has been a great need, more than ever, to adopt a more robust and inclusive regulatory approach and strategic intervention mechanism in the discharge of the Authority’s mandate,” an NCAA official stated. Studies conducted by the NCAA revealed that many passengers are unaware of their rights and obligations. The studies also noted that flight delays can sometimes result from natural phenomena, meaning that neither the airline nor airport management should be held accountable in such cases. The program, organised in collaboration with various organisations, includes a Consumer Awareness Roadshow themed “Effective and Efficient Travel Experience Management for Increased Participation and Enhanced Regulation.” The roadshow, coordinated by Janvier Technologies Ltd., will be held on December 4, 2024, starting at 10:00 a.m. at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa. Following the roadshow, a Town Hall meeting themed “Repositioning the Nigerian Aviation Industry for Operational Efficiency, Service Excellence, and Economic Viability” will take place. The event, organised by GPC Limited, will adopt an interactive format to encourage passengers to share their air travel experiences in Nigeria. It will be held at LA Kings Event Centre, 31 Stadium Road, Port Harcourt. These two events, according to the organisers, will culminate in a conference on December 5, 2024. The conference, themed “Enhancing Global Prominence and International Competitiveness of the Nigerian Aviation Sector,” is organised by Pliance Global Aviation and will be held at Osborn La-palm Royal Resort, 3 Olaka Street, off Abacha Road, GRA Phase 2, Port Harcourt. The sensibilization campaign aligns with the renewed commitment of the NCAA’s executive management, under the leadership of Captain Chris Ona Najomo, to foster a civil aviation sector that maximally contributes to the country’s economic growth and development. “The regulatory authority is determined to close this gap through this sensitisation campaign,” the NCAA emphasised. One key objective of the town hall interaction is to inform consumers of their rights, build a more informed customer and air travel community, and entrench a culture of service excellence across the civil aviation value chain. “There is a greater need, more than ever, to adopt a more robust and inclusive regulatory approach and strategic intervention mechanism in discharging the authority’s mandate,” an NCAA representative reiterated. For effective feedback from air travellers, the programme will feature random customer interviews, stakeholder engagements, and a town hall interface. This initiative aims to bridge the knowledge gap between air travellers, airlines, and aviation agencies, which in the past has led to misunderstandings and poor consumer experiences for both domestic and international passengers. Experts will deliver papers at the conference to enhance the knowledge of air travellers and airport users on innovative ideas introduced by the current NCAA management regarding consumer protection. The conference will also shed light on passengers’ rights as outlined in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (NCAR). Fundamentally, this series of stakeholder engagements and public awareness programmes aim to set a roadmap for achieving a more efficient civil aviation and air transportation system in Nigeria. The dialogue will involve critical stakeholders and key actors in the country’s civil aviation and air transportation value chains. READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE Get real-time news updates from Tribune Online! Follow us on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive stories and interviews, and much more. Join our WhatsApp Channel now
Thermo Fisher’s Accelerator Expands CRO, CDMO Services
After lackluster spending at U.S. stores on a deals-heavy Black Friday, retailers are pulling out all the stops with steep promotions and discounts on their websites and apps to entice people to buy holiday gifts and other merchandise after the long Thanksgiving weekend. Retailers have been coaxing cautious U.S. shoppers on Cyber Monday — traditionally America’s biggest internet shopping day — with push notifications, emails and other ads touting heavily discounted cosmetics, electronics, toys, clothing and other products. With just 23 days before Christmas, the discounts this year have been deeper, with shoppers waiting for promotion-heavy days, experts have said. For instance, Target said it was offering 50% off thousands of items including video games, home decor and other technology items with a “two-day Cyber Monday” sale that started on Sunday. The moves follow a mixed holiday season so far, with muted spending in stores on key shopping days such as Black Friday. Sales at brick-and-mortar stores on Friday grew just 0.7% year over year, according to preliminary estimates by payments processor Mastercard. Meanwhile, data firm Facteus said sales were actually lower. Online, retailers like Walmart and Amazon have relied on generative AI customer service and search features to make it easier for shoppers to find products on websites and mobile apps. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, resident Cheyenne Berens, 29, has been using Amazon’s generative AI chatbot Rufus to track prices of baby merchandise and electronics this holiday season. Amazon launched Rufus in February to give customers product recommendations and details based on its entire catalog of merchandise. “I have found that using Rufus on Amazon has been extremely helpful in determining whether a ‘deal’ is actually a ‘deal’,” Berens said. She’s been tracking the fluctuating prices of a Pack ‘n’ Play portable playpen and waiting for the right time to buy. The price started at $90 before the holidays, briefly rose to $120 and dropped back to $90, she said. Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce, a cloud-computing company that tracks global shopping data from more than 1.5 billion consumers, said that GenAI tools such as chatbots to answer online shoppers’ basic questions, such as queries about products, helped retailers protect their profit margins despite rising costs. On Saturday, retailers using GenAI tools for customer service saw a 15% higher purchase rate by users, according to estimates by Salesforce. Schwartz said the higher so-called conversion rate “is a game changer.” Spending online today in the United States is expected to reach $13.2 billion, 6% more than on Cyber Monday a year earlier, according to preliminary estimates from Adobe Inc. That outlay would follow the roughly $10.8 billion Americans spent online on Black Friday, according to Adobe. Traffic to retail sites from chatbots or shoppers clicking on a link to a website rose 1,800% from Black Friday through the weekend, Adobe said. With many Americans recently carrying more debt, many are using third-party “buy now, pay later” services, with spending on the services likely to approach $1 billion, according to projections by Adobe, which keeps track of devices that use its software to help power more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites.
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