Walmart surrenders to Amazon, decides to close down 269 stores in the US and Latin America

Walmart is in trouble - unable to compete with online giants Amazon, it has decided to close down 269 outlets in the United States and Latin America. Walmart has admitted that it was reviewing its store network as it faced stiff competition especially from online rival Amazon. The closures will affect 16,000 workers and a majority of them (nearly 10,000) are in the US, where 154 locations. These would be the small format stores called Walmart Express.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 15 January 2016.

The remaining 115 sites out of the 269 are in Latin America - most of them in Brazil.
Walmart, which in the UK owns third-biggest supermarket Asda, has a total of 11,600 stores worldwide and it has indicated that it would open more than 300 stores around the world next year. As Chief executive Doug McMillon said - it is necessary to maintain a healthy business. While closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future.
There was a time when people in the US looked upon the local Walmart as the go-to destination for certain products, mainly because of an absence of alternatives. However, the growth of online marketing has changed that perspective because of inline entities like Amazon, one has a greater choice of products before him.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Some more interesting links -

Abhi Shake for industries to boost Bengal’s image (satire)

Rum Mudda reminds Moody about temples (satire)

Lord Shiva’s solution for global warming – go under water (satire)


Beautiful diners get tables near windows or high visibility areas in restaurants

Ahmedabad hosts 13th edition of 'Sattvik' - the pan-India food festival

53-year-old British woman flew 13000-mile in 1942 bi-plane from Farnborough to Sydney


Shah Rukh Khan’s fond wish - to see Ethan Hunt and James Bond in one movie

'Avatar 2', sequel to 'Avatar' of 2009 expected to release in Dcember 2017

Aamir Khan no longer the face of Incredible India


Motorcycle riding gunmen open fire upon tourists as they boarded bus in Cairo

Woman with fake passport in a British Airways flight from Ibiza leads to panic

German police hunting for seven suicide bombers who planned to blow up Munich railway stations

Son of a Boston police captain arrested for planning terrorist activities

A 23-year-old youth Alexander Ciccolo of Boston was held on 4 July for unlawful receipt of two Glock handguns, a Colt AR-15 rifle and a SigArms high-powered rifle from an undercover witness who was working with terrorism investigators.
The youth is the son of a Boston police captain and has been arrested for allegedly planning to detonate pressure-cooker bombs at a US university in a terror plot that had been inspired by the Islamic State.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 15 July 2015.

It seems the father Captain Robert Ciccolo had alerted the FBI last year that his son had a long history of mental illness and was talking about joining IS. The youth was, then, put under surveillance by the FBI based on some of his posts on social media. Subsequently, he was watched as he was buying at least one pressure cooker at a Walmart store in North Adams, Massachusetts.
He had, reportedly, confided to an informant that he wanted to build bombs similar to those used in the attacks on the 2013 Boston Marathon, in which three people died and 264 others were injured. Moreover, partially built bombs were found in his apartment.
These incendiary devices or bombs contained shredded Styrofoam soaked in motor oil.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

A few more must reads -
Revolution in the skies - Airbus flies electric plane E-Fan across the English Channel

CBSE to check cheating in AIPMT exams – examinees can wear only T-shirt and jeans

Nine-year-old boy of Philippines studies in the light from a McDonald’s restaurant

Drone hovering over TISS campus in Mumbai sets off alarms

Typhoon Chan-hom strikes eastern coast of China with wind speeds of 173-Kmph


Boko Haram going the way of ISIS – releases first beheading video

US drone strike has killed top ISIS leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Parents of 14-year-old girl arrested for forcing her to live in the woods for eating Pop-Tart


Where are the stamp collectors and pen friends?

Religion on Indian television