Federal Security Service raid over a dozen locations in Moscow and St Petersburg as part of investigation into alleged illegal business dealings

Russias security service has raided over a dozen locations linked to the Church of Scientology in the latest step of a long-running battle between authorities and the US-based organisation.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) said officers conducted simultaneous searches at 14 addresses in Moscow and St Petersburg as part of an apparent investigation into alleged illegal business dealings by the Church of Scientology in Russias second city.

Objects and documents were found and seized that proved the version of the investigators about the marketing functions for goods and services of the Church of Scientology of Saint Petersburg in violation of the law, a statement carried by Russian news agencies said.

Last November a Russian court banned the activities of the Moscow branch of the Church of Scientology after authorities argued in part that since it had registered its name as a US trademark, it cannot call itself a religious organisation.

Russias justice ministry has long been pushing to prohibit the organisation, which some countries treat as a legitimate faith but others consider to be a cult.

The ruling last year by a Moscow city court came after a lower-level district court rejected the churchs appeal against a justice ministrys decision not to register it as a religious organisation.

The Russian justice ministry registers religious organisations as well as NGOs, a requirement for them to operate.

Last August, Moscow investigators said separately that they had opened a criminal inquiry after finding hidden microphones and cameras in the Moscow churchs premises.

The Scientology church was founded in the United States in 1954 by science-fiction writer L Ron Hubbard and was accorded the status of religion there in 1993.

The European Court of Human Rights has several times ruled in favour of the church, saying that Russia violated its rights by refusing to register its churches in various regions.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/21/scientology-russia-church-police

The fast food chain, which has deployed rewards program and free food in months after E coli outbreak, reported second quarter sales 23.6% lower than last year

Five months and millions of free burritos into its sales recovery plans, Chipotle is still struggling to lure back its once-loyal customers. On Thursday, the Mexican food chain reported that its sales for the second quarter came in at 23.6% lower than they did a year ago.

Last quarter, as Chipotle began its recovery, it posted its first quarterly loss since going public. Chipotles troubles all started in October of last year, when an E coli outbreak and a series of norovirus cases scared off its loyal customer base.

This quarter, Chipotle posted a net loss of $0.8m for the six months ending in June. Last year, during that same period, the company posted a net income of $262.8m.

We returned to profitability, Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-chief executive officer, pointed out. On a call with investors, Ells noted that he wished for the sales recovery to move at quicker pace. During the second quarter, he said, it continued at a modest pace.

The company is making more efforts to win back its customers including the addition of chorizo to its menu and a new rewards program through which customers can earn free chips and burritos.

The first phase of the sales recovery plan was launched back in February, when Chipotle closed all of its stores for a company-wide meeting on food safety. After the meeting, its staff gave out coupons for free meals. As part of those efforts, Chipotle gave out more than 6m free burritos and 1m free orders of chips and guacamole.

At the beginning of July, just as the third quarter began, Chipotle announced a new rewards program, Chiptopia. The program is temporary and is scheduled to end in September. The company hopes that by rewarding customers for coming in more frequently with burritos and free chips, it will facilitate restoring of their trust. Especially, since most of its loyal customers who used to come three to four times a week prior to last October, now only come once or twice.

According to Ells, 30% of all transaction were part of Chiptopia and the store traffic numbers for July were improving.

Chipotles officers view every visit as an opportunity to further restore trust. Chiptopia has 3.6 million participants so far. Results from the current program will be analyzed in order to devise another rewards program, which the company said will be introduced after Chiptopia ends in September. It has not yet been decided whether that program will be temporary or not.

The company said that Chiptopia and A Love Story, a short film released by Chipotle, were part of the strategy to create new news that would allow the company to reclaim the its voice and introduce Chipotle to new customers.

Unfortunately for Chipotle, the same day that it added chorizo to its menus in select cities and rolled out Chiptopia, its chief creative and development officer Mark Crumpacker was indicted for allegedly purchasing drugs. His arrest was part of a cocaine delivery service bust in New York.

Crumpacker, who joined Chipotle in 2009 and was one of the executives leading the marketing efforts to restore the companys image, has since been placed on leave.

Ells noted that the company was surprised to learn of Crumpackers personal issues. Chipotle has the utmost confidence in the teams he has established, Ells said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/21/chipotle-quarterly-sales-free-burritos-e-coli

The people behind Coachella are putting on a festival starring Kendrick Lamar and LCD Soundsystem. In a crowded market, is it enough to lure New Yorkers?

After months of controversy including a turf war and a petition to block it from happening, the Panorama music festival will finally debut in this weekend.

Its entrance into the New York festival scene parks its tanks firmly on the lawn of the more established festival Governors Ball, which takes place on Randalls Island each June. The prospect of a new festival entering the city caused such a stir that Governors Ball organizers started a petition to ask Mayor Bill de Blasio to deny a permit on Panoramas original location: Flushing Meadows Park in Queens.

Panorama, which is organized by AEG Live and Goldenvoice, the company behind the huge California festival Coachella, later received a permit to hold the festival on Randalls Island albeit in controversial circumstances the same place as Governors Ball.

The lineups also target a similar demographic, with Kendrick Lamar, Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem headlining Panorama, and Governors Ball boasting Kanye West, the Strokes and the Killers though West didnt play as the final day of the Governors Ball due to bad weather.

Panoramas debut in New York has raised concerns that festivals may be reaching saturation as organisers compete for the same space. It remains to be seen whether New York has the appetite for two large and similar targeted events. While festivals have grown in the US exponentially in the last decade, 2016 has seen some slowdown in ticket sales.

Panorama has not sold out but the events producer Mark Schulman said the organisers were happy with ticket sales. Were really pleased with the ticket sales for the first year, Schulman said. We have surpassed our expectation.

Paul Tollet, the promoter of AEG and Goldenvoice, told the New York Times that they were not promoting the festival aggressively in the first year.

However Larry Miller, the director of music business program at NYUs Steinhardt school said that he had noticed an increase in print and radio promotion in the week leading up to the festival, a traditional last-ditch marketing technique to boost lower than expected sales. Also, at the time of publication three-day passes were available on resale sites for $100 below face value, further indication of a lack of demand.

There is also some warning signs of a national slowdown in the festival boom America has witnessed over the past decade.

In 2014, the market was buoyant. Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza each sold to capacity, moving hundreds of thousands of tickets. Nielsen Music reported that 32 million Americans said they go to at least one US festival per year half of them being millennials, the crown jewel of marketing demographics.

However, Panorama is not the only festival to have suffered slow ticket sales in 2016. Bonnaroos sales were the lowest in the festivals 15-year history and a 46% drop from its peak.

An Eventbrite survey of festival organizers, producers and production companies found that 45% of those who hold large festivals with 50,000 or more attendees were concerned about market saturation. The growth of the number of festivals has also shrunk the pool of sponsorship money, a key factor in making festivals profitable.

Wilson believes there may be a limit on the growth potential of music festivals.

Maybe we are reaching the saturation point, certainly of the mega festivals, Wilson said. I think we are beginning to bump up against the price ceiling.

In New York, the number of small festivals has also grown dramatically over the past 10 years, in line with the national trend.

Folk and jazz festivals have existed in New York since the 1960s, including the Schaefer music festival, which ran in Central Park from 1968 to 1976 and the Kool Jazz festival, which arrived in the city from Newport in 1972. However, Governors Ball gave New York its first mega-festival when it began five-years ago and now attracts 50,000 fans each day for three days. Meanwhile the number of niche festivals such as Afropunk and the Brooklyn hip-hop festival has also grown.

Tom Russell, a partner in Founders Entertainment and founder of Governors Ball, believes there remains a demand for festivals in New York but it is not limitless.

In New York City, its [the appetite] definitely growing, Russell said. I think youll see more and more festivals pop up, but I think youll see the best of the best succeed, and remain and then youll see theres ones that just cant make it, not pan out.

Founders was previously an independent company but recently partnered with the corporate concert organszer Live Nation in order to ensure it can compete with the deep pockets of AEG Live.

Other large US cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles have several large festivals a year but Wilson explains that the New York market is difficult for several reasons. This includes real estate availability, cost of operation, and competing for peoples attention with so many offerings on any given night. Using his students as a sample, he believes that there is still a strong appetite for festivals but that at less than two months apart, Panorama may have been scheduled too close to Governors Ball.

Panoramas organizers contend that there is more than enough room for both festivals in the city. Schulman also said that he doesnt want the event which is inspired by the 1964 World Fair to be described as simply a festival. It will feature installations from local artists and several interactive exhibits as the organizers wanted to fuse the art, technology, and music landscapes of New York.

It remains to be seen if two festivals targeting the same audience on the same grounds can survive in New York City.

If theyre serious about building a lasting festival brand in New York, they need to be prepared to play a long game, Miller said. Not simply judge whether to do a second festival next year on the basis whether they made or lost money this weekend.

• This article was amended on 21 July 2016. The director of the music business programme at NYUs Steinhardt school is Larry Miller, not Wilson.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jul/21/panorama-festival-new-york-randalls-island