| Toymakers, buyers rebuild trust after China safety scares
He estimated that production costs will climb 15 percent this year as demands for stricter quality control, a strengthening Chinese yuan, rising labour and raw material costs and high oil prices hit bottomlines. Samuel Shum, vice president of Hong Kong's 35-year-old Manley Toys Ltd., expects to increase prices by as much as 10 percent this year. "We cannot increase our price too much because no matter how beautiful our products look, we'll scare away customers," he said. Shum however believes fears over Chinese products have begun to fade and predicts better sales this year. Some overseas buyers such as Critti said they felt a 10 percent price rise was acceptable but warned they would consider looking elsewhere if their customers find the increases too much. But one thing buyers and manufacturers can agree on is that the recalls will shake up the industry.
Threat to free banking
On Monday 14 January, the curtain lifts on the long-awaited court battle between the high street banks and consumer champions at the Office of Fair Trading over unauthorised overdraft charges. A victory for the OFT could force banks to cut fees to those customers who pay charges, but might also herald the end of free banking for the millions who pay nothing for their current account services. .
Ponderings from PapaBear
The NFL regular season has come to a close and the Cleveland Browns just missed making the playoffs. A few weeks ago it sure looked like they were in good shape as far as the post season was concerned, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Still, the Browns did register a victory over the San Francisco 49ers in their final game and there will be high hopes for this team entering the 2008 season. The Brownies finished with a 10-6 record, far exceeding expectations for this team entering 2007. This is the first time this franchise has reached a double digit win total since they re-entered the league in 1999. They provided many thrills for their die hard fans this season and belive me it was long overdue. I grew up in Cleveland and have been a life long Browns fan, so the following opinion might be a bit bias.
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