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Automatic milking system could save farmers 20 hours a week
 Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Frances Fitzgerald with Enterprise Ireland chief executive Julie Sinnamon at the Robotics and Drives stand at the National Ploughing Championships in Offaly. Photograph: Karl Hussey/Fennells

What would you do with an extra two days off per week? This was the question posed to Irish dairy farmers this week by Dutch agri-robotics company Lely at the National Ploughing Championships in Offaly. It claims its systems, which include a futuristic automatic milking machine called the Astronaut, could knock 20 hours off the average working week of a farmer.

On Tuesday, the Lely shed was one of the busiest trade areas I visited at the event. People milled around it all day. The exhibit comprised a pen with about 20 cows who spent the day lazing around, munching fresh grass and blithely expelling methane at a fantastic rate. Every few minutes, one of them would saunter over to the Astronaut for feed.

Without human intervention, a small brush appeared beneath the animal to stimulate its udders, before the robot milked it in a flash. At the same time, it collected data on the animal’s health and the quality of the milk. The cows couldn’t have cared less.

Along with another Lely system powered by a unit hanging around the cow’s neck like a high-tech bell, the Astronaut fed its data into a web-based management system. The information was then collated on a smartphone app, where farmers can view a tailored health report on each animal. Is she in heat? Has she mastitis? Is she sick?

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Each time a cow went to the Astronaut, the process was witnessed by up to a hundred people – mostly men – leaning against the fence in that way that Irish men tend to lean against things: arms folded, backside out, leg propped up against the bottom rung of the fence. They looked fierce impressed altogether.

You can forget any urban misconceptions about agriculture being a conservative, low-tech industry. Irish farming is now cutting edge.

And despite the looming threat of Brexit and the current economic difficulties of some tillage and beef farmers, confidence appears to be surging through much of the rest of the industry. A sense of elan was palpable at “the Ploughing”. Agriculture is on the march.

The huge focus on technology and innovation, including robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), was one the most striking aspects of the event. Around every corner, it seemed, there was a new high-tech offering: robot shed cleaners or feed pushers, soil monitoring devices, geo-mapping systems, drones.

I didn’t see any driverless tractors. “But they’re coming someday soon,” mused one farmer, as he sat surveying the €50 million worth of high-tech machinery plonked in one section of the sprawling festival campus.

The apparent feeling of economic confidence wasn’t confined to the industry zones. There were queues of people, for example, waiting to talk to the some of the large group of wealth management and stockbroking firms among the 1,700 exhibitors. Not all farmers are wealthy, but some of them clearly feel wealthy again.

“It’s taken a while for the recovery to ripple down to my part of the country,” said one Corkman. “But there’s no doubting it is there now.”

The Dome – the indoor retail zone – was bursting with purveyors of consumer luxury and indulgence that fare well in any vibrant economy: chocolatiers, jewellers, beauty product stalls. Outside, a garden furniture company was selling a kid’s wooden playhouse in the shape of a tractor: a snip at €4,000.

Gratuitous Irish consumerism

But just when you thought the Ploughing was morphing into yet another modern display of gratuitous Irish consumerism, something would pop into view to remind you that rural Ireland, thankfully, still retains its sense of idiosyncrasy.

An enthusiastic stallholder captivated his audience, mostly women, with his spiel for Coole Swan, a whiskey liqueur business that morphed out of a family farm. Where is it made, one woman asked. “’Tis made in heaven, but bottled in Cavan,” he replied.

Around the corner, sandwiched between a stall selling pet foods and another selling skincare products, there was a stall selling salvation: the Legion of Mary was handing out miraculous medals. Nearby, the Franciscans were recruiting, close to a sign that read: “God is calling you”. A man sat beneath it, talking into his mobile. Surely God wasn’t calling on a Samsung?

Clearly it’s not all milk and honey for the agriculture industry. Margins for crop farmers are wafer thin and beef farmers are also struggling to break even.

Some parts of rural Ireland, however, are faring far better than others. The undeniable buzz in the air at the Ploughing bodes well for the recovery in counties outside of the Dublin belt.

Towards the end of the day, a large crowd gathered to chat outside the Irish Farmers Association section at the heart of the campus. One of the most pressing issues for the agriculture in the upcoming budget, one of the IFA men told me, is the introduction of a new State scheme to give low-cost loans for farmers.

“Last year’s scheme was maxed out in about a month,” he told me.

But if farmers are looking for sources of capital for fresh investment, isn’t that a sure sign that confidence is once again flowing through the industry?

Footnotes . . .

Friday night is Culture Night in Dublin, so a trip to see your accountant is unlikely to be top of the agenda. Consider, however, dropping down to the Pearse Street headquarters of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) this evening. If you are interested in singing beancounters, it could, quite literally, be music to your ears.

The accountants have teamed up with the Sound Check exhibition from the nearby Science Gallery for a music-themed event for Culture Night. Distressed Assets, a rock band of staff members from the CAI, will be making an appearance.

There will also be a series of talks on the business of music, including from Ciarán Conroy, co-founder of music agency Milestone Management; Sarah Sweetman, finance director of the Irish Music Rights Organisation; and Eoin Connolly from Deloitte, who will discuss the potential impact of blockchain on the economics of the music industry.

There will also be talks on the accountants’ art collection, and a series of unusual instruments for children to try.

It all sounds like fun. Always be wary, however, if an accountant starts singing the blues.

Ryanair's incredible cock-up regarding the raft of flight cancellations due to pilot rostering has left a golden opportunity for the airline to be ridiculed by its rivals. Thankfully for Michael O'Leary, Aer Lingus appeared to have pulled its punch.

Aer Lingus has launched "rescue sales", which are obviously targeting stranded Ryanair passengers, but, beyond that, it has made little hay out of its main rival's difficulties. Can you imagine how much O'Leary would crow if the shoe was on the other foot?

O'Leary owes Willie Walsh, chief executive of Aer Lingus parent IAG, a pint. Walsh, too, remembers what it is like to oversee an operational disaster. Remember the mess that was British Airways' ground operations at Heathrow T5? Walsh was chief executive of BA at the time. He and O'Leary now have more in common than just a chippy approach to business.

Output: Dutch agri-robotics firm Lely believes its product offering, including its automatic milking device the Astronaut, could shorten the average working week of farmers by 20 hours. The Astronaut machine stimulates milk production, milks cows, and collects data on cow health and milk quality. Another device is a cow wearable device that feeds data into a digital system viewable on smartphones. In Ireland, the devices may prove popular as the country undergoes an agricultural revolution, with robotics and AI playing a large part in high-tech, automated farming.


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Lucozade Ribena Suntory starts to create its own adverts
 Ad agencies’ existential crisis isn’t subsiding anytime soon, as Lucozade Ribena Suntory becomes the latest advertiser to create its own ads. The soft-drink maker says its own in-house creative team won’t replace its agencies anytime soon, but it’s taking on much of what they used to do.

LRS plans, creates and launches half of its U.K. ads using TED (tech, entertainment and design), the creative team it assembled last July. Now, the company is considering having the same team purchase its display and social media.

The global soft-drinks maker is adamant that it won’t take programmatic in-house anytime soon, as brands like Pernod Ricard and Procter & Gamble have done in part. LRS just doesn’t spend enough on digital display to warrant its own ad tech stack, said Rick Oakley, head of digital marketing.

A large part of the company’s £50 million ($67.3 million) ad budget goes to TV, outdoor and sampling, which is why TED has found itself trying to outdo its creative teams. “Having strong creative partners like Grey and JWT really help us, but at the same time, we look at them and think, ‘How can we beat them?’” he said.

TED plans to spend the next 18 months experimenting with marketing and sales data to better understand the efficacy of its ads, said Oakley, something an agency couldn’t do. For example, TED plans to do small A/B tests that mix live point-of-sale data, supply-chain information and geotargeted media by region to see which creative works best.

“An agency can be heavily involved in delivering great value upfront, but they don’t always get close to what’s going to be executed on the shop floor, for example,” he said. “Our team, however, can, and so they’re thinking about those cases from day one.”

It took six months for the creative team to build trust among LRS’s marketing teams, but now they come to TED directly. “They were saying, ‘Why would we go to our agencies when you guys understand our brands better?’” Oakley said.

Feedback like that has given TED’s marketers the confidence to pursue the other half of LRS’s ads in the U.K. it doesn’t already produce, as well as other marketing work.

Other marketers are going this route. Unilever has taken more of its creative production in-house over the last 12 months, while a recent ISBA study found that nearly half (44 percent) of advertisers want to erect their own in-house ad team.

Cost savings is one benefit. Oakley would not disclose how much LRS has saved by using TED but said the team has freed up money for additional marketing, such as a sampling campaign that gave out bottles of Lucozade Energy to 10 million people earlier this year.

But the TED team isn’t just a way to cut costs. The company hasn’t cut its annual ads and promotion budget; it’s just changed how it spends it. “We’re coming up with ideas in-house that are as good as our agencies — often better — because we’re working with the brand teams every day versus the ad hoc or project-by-project way an agency would work with them,” Oakley said.

It sounds like the stuff of nightmares for agencies, but Oakley insists TED isn’t out to replace LRS’s agencies, rather freeing them up to focus on its broader marketing strategy.

Output: UK soft drinks company Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) has revealed half of its ads are created by in-house unit TED (tech, entertainment and design), and could expand that figure to 100%. Although the company has no plans to take programmatic advertising in-house, it is considering having TED purchase display and social media. Rick Oakley, head of digital marketing said: "We’re coming up with ideas in-house that are as good as our agencies - often better - because we’re working with the brand teams every day".


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Publishers concerned over gaining consent to cookies with EU law
 While media attention has focused on the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union’s new data protection laws, another privacy measure is stoking publishers’ fear: the ePrivacy regulation, known as the EU cookie law.

Many European publishers are up in arms about the current draft of the new ePrivacy law, which is far stricter than the existing one. In May, 12 publishers, including the Financial Times, the Guardian, The Telegraph, Le Monde and Spiegel, wrote to the European Parliament, arguing that the proposed law will make it harder to gain consent to use cookies for site analytics, reporting and advertising, limiting their ability to earn digital revenue.

Here are some of the proposal’s main points of tension:

Browsers as gatekeepers

To eliminate those annoying banners that ask people for their consent to use cookies, the European Commission has suggested users opt in or out of cookies in their browser settings. For example, if a user visits a publisher’s site and a banner appears that asks for permission to use cookies, even if the user clicks yes, that publisher still cannot use cookies unless the user’s browser settings reflect that choice — a proposal that doesn’t sit well with publishers.

Given there is no line of direct communication between publishers and browsers, some publishers fear they will be held ransom. For example, browsers could offer publishers the chance to whitelist their sites for a price.

“We are pretty worried. We would fully support any legal framework that gives back control and data transparency to the user,” said Stefan Betzold, managing director of Axel Springer title Bild. “But the current discussions in Brussels are about cookie technology and gateway control and unfortunately not about giving transparency to the user. The ‘browser supremacy’ will give a gatekeeper role to browser providers, who mainly come from the U.S. or belong to U.S. platforms. This might have major effects on the open and free advertising-financed internet in the long term.”

The platform effect

Whether the proposed ePrivacy law will hurt or help the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon is debated. German publishers, who are particularly outspoken when it comes to the duopoly, argue that the proposal will advantage walled gardens further over publishers because it’s easier for Google, Facebook and Amazon to get consumers to opt-in at scale because they have masses of user login data (and don’t rely on third-party data like publishers) and the ability to directly communicate with users of their products.

“Google and Facebook may lose some capacity for collecting data, but compared to publishers, which are far more reliant on third-party cookies, they will still be much better off,” said Christoph Fiedler, head of legal affairs at the European Magazine Media Association.

Digital Content Next, a U.S. trade association for premium publishers, takes the opposite view, arguing that Google and Facebook’s ability to collect and use consumer data will be “dramatically curbed” — a message Digital Content Next has circulated to its members. The argument is that Google and Facebook would be restricted from targeting ads based on data from services such as WhatsApp, Gmail and Messenger unless they have consent from all parties. Monetizing messaging apps and email isn’t an area where publishers compete with the duopoly directly, but when it comes to online advertising, where they do, Google and Facebook will face the same challenges as them.

Output: The new stricter draft of the EU ePrivacy regulation, known as the “EU cookie law”, has raised concerns amongst publishers. The draft includes a proposal that users opt in or out of cookies in their browser settings rather than individually on each visited webpage. Major publishers including the Financial Times, the Guardian, The Telegraph, Le Monde and Spiegel, however wrote to the European Parliament back in May, arguing that the proposed law will make it harder for publishers to gain consent to use cookies for site analytics, reporting and advertising, thereby limiting their ability to earn digital revenue.


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TV industry could follow streaming services into ad-free programming
 TV viewers have long accepted a simple trade-off: To watch your favorite shows, you’re going to have to sit through commercials. Even though you’re paying a fee for every channel as part of your cable TV bundle subscription, commercials are part of the ballgame.

The rise of DVRs put a dent in this bargain, showing that people were willing to take matters into their own hands to avoid ads. Now, with the rise of Netflix and others, people can just pay to avoid TV spots. Networks are noticing. This summer, AMC, the network behind “The Walking Dead,” “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men,” launched AMC Premiere, a $5-per-month streaming channel that allows you to watch current shows commercial-free. Less than two months later, FX, home of “American Horror Story” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” launched a similar ad-free subscription streaming channel, FX+.

Of course, there’s a catch: Both streaming channels are sold as add-ons by Comcast, which means Comcast customers still have to pay for the regular AMC and FX channels in order to level up to the commercial-free add-on. With $70 billion in annual ad revenue at stake, it’s going to take a lot more than shifting consumption habits to force linear TV distributors and networks to change.

But if one cable distributor and two high-profile networks are willing to experiment with ad-free options, what if the entire industry did the same and gave viewers the option to pay for an entirely ad-free cable bundle? TV ads would go from a reliable mass reach vehicle to a tax on poor people.

Not linear, but streaming

For an ad-free cable bundle to exist, the TV industry would need to follow in the footsteps of HBO, AMC and FX, which release new episodes of their shows on their digital streaming channels at the same time that they air them on traditional TV. These channels also offer full libraries of previous seasons and shows, which essentially replace the reruns that populate many cable networks’ programming lineups.

“There are people like Amazon, Hulu and Netflix, which are effectively doing versions of that today,” says Bernard Gershon, president of GershonMedia.

It’d be hard to apply this model to live programming like the Oscars, sports and news, he added. Many live events are designed to include commercial breaks. In football, for instance, commercial breaks give teams the chance to review plays or switch from offense to defense. Advertisers are also willing to pay higher premiums to reach attentive viewers.

But when it comes to most of the TV guide, an ad-free option is plausible, especially as more cable networks offer ad-free streaming channels. Long term, people won’t want to have 10 different logins and 10 different monthly billing statements.

Revenue implications

The challenge for TV networks is making up for the lost revenue. Networks don’t typically break down their revenue by source, but advertising can account for anywhere from a third to two-thirds of a cable network’s monthly revenues, says Brian Wieser, senior analyst at Pivotal Research.

“Assume that the network would want to be made whole before they commit to anything,” Wieser says. “They might say, ‘We just have to accept lower revenues and lower profits.’ Theoretically, that does happen in different industries from time to time, but I’m highly skeptical.”

AMC and FX can offer ad-free streaming channels because they’re sold as add-ons through Comcast, an existing major cable distributor, so while the additional revenue is minimal, so are the costs. Otherwise, networks run the risk of cannibalizing their still-lucrative advertising businesses. Cable networks could choose to offset this by charging enough on the subscription side to make up for losses in ad revenue, but that assumes enough customers would be willing to pay steeper prices for an ad-free experience.

One potential benefit is that such options could decrease costs at smaller cable networks, which have to find programming to fill 24 hours of air time. “A lot of smaller cable channels can go video-on-demand only — there’s no reason for them to be live for 24 hours,” says Alan Wolk, TV industry analyst for TVRev.

Not everyone will pay

There’s clearly a market for people willing to pay more to avoid ads. Hulu, for instance has an ad-free tier priced at $11.99 per month, which is $4 more than the regular tier. Earlier this spring, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said nearly half of Hulu’s revenue comes from advertising, with about 41 percent of Hulu viewers seeing ads, according to Hulu.

Wolk estimates that roughly 10-15 percent of TV viewers would be willing to pay for ad-free streaming channels. “[AMC and FX] are banking on that; otherwise, it will seriously cut into ad sales,” he says.

The wrinkle for the networks is that the people most willing to pay up for subscriptions are also the affluent spenders that advertisers want to reach the most.

“If you lost 30 percent of your audience to an ad-free channel, then your remaining ad-supported audience is not worth as much anymore,” Wolk says. “It will require a balancing act to figure out where the ideal position is for the networks, and throwing in other tricks such as native ads and branded integrations to make up the gap.”

Highly unlikely, but not impossible

For all these reasons, TV analysts agree that the entire cable bundle is unlikely to go ad-free anytime soon. But there is evidence beyond Comcast, AMC and FX that some form of ad-free bundle will eventually happen. Hulu, for instance, is already selling subscriptions to HBO Now and Showtime’s streaming channel, in addition to its own two subscription tiers. With Showtime, Hulu also offers a $2 discount for those who subscribe to both channels. The rise of internet-based live TV service, including those from DirecTV, Dish Network, Hulu and YouTube, also offers the chance to distribute ad-free video channels.

“Whether it’s offered by a traditional player such as DirecTV or some new player, it’s definitely viable,” Gershon says.

Output: Linear US TV networks could emulate streaming services Netflix and Amazon by offering ad-free packages to viewers and make up revenue with subscriptions. Recently, AMC FX both launched commercial-free channels costing a few dollars per month, but analysts don't believe the entire industry is ready to make the leap just yet. TV advertising is worth $70bn annually, and insiders believe networks face a delicate balancing act, as the people most advertisers want to target would be the ones who could afford to pay for ad-free TV.


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First ever amphibious commercial UAV created in China
 A U650 unmanned amphibious aircraft undergoes tests in Central China at the end of 2016. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A Chinese company has produced the world's first unmanned, amphibious commercial aircraft, with plans to use it to deliver goods, transport supplies to islands and detect submarines, according to the manufacturer.

Liu Jiandong, founder and chairman of UVS Intelligence System, a privately owned drone-maker in Shanghai, said mass production of its U650 seaplane has begun and will enter commercial operation this year with a Chinese express delivery company and a client in Southeast Asia.

He declined to name the buyers, citing business confidentiality, but said both contracts had "considerable value".

"We are working with the domestic client to apply for approval from air traffic management authorities of our plan to open a freight route next year using the amphibious drone," he said.

The U650 was developed based on Spain's Colyaer Freedom S100 amphibious ultralight aircraft, whose intellectual property rights were wholly acquired by the Shanghai company, according to UVS.

The amphibious drone carried out its maiden flight from waters in Central China in December 2015, the company said.

The 5.85-meter-long unmanned seaplane, made of carbon fiber, is able to stay aloft 15 hours with a cruising speed of 180 kilometers per hour and a flight range of 2,000 km. It is capable of takeoffs and landings from short unpaved airstrips, grassland or water.

The drone can carry up to 250 kilograms of cargo and its wings can also carry four payloads, such as inflatable life rafts.

Liu said his company sees domestic and foreign couriers as the U650's primary users. It expects the model to be a commercial success because "it is the only civilian drone in the global market that is capable of ferrying cargo with a total weight of 200 kg or even heavier".

Express delivery enterprises along China's eastern and southern coastal regions will find the U650 useful, he said. Those areas are densely populated and have busy airline operations that lead to many restrictions when it comes to drone flights.

"Our aircraft can fly above, and land on, water. Its range is much longer than those of small types, so it doesn't need to make stops during a delivery mission. It will not risk the safety of people or airliners," Liu said.

Almost all of China's large couriers, such as China Post and SF Express, have begun to invest in research and development on delivery drones. Analysts have said drones will play an increasingly important role in the country's skyrocketing online shopping industry.

Globally, Amazon and DHL Express have deployed drones for delivery service on a small and experimental scale, and are continuing to design new models.

In addition to couriers, U650 will also be able to benefit Chinese troops and residents on islands and reefs in the South China Sea, Liu said.

"It can be used to transport supplies to those islands and reefs many times a day at a low cost while ships and manned planes are subject to weather and expenditure considerations," he said. "Meanwhile, the deployment of such drones will make it possible for those living there to have access to online shopping, which they are unable to do now because of the absence of delivery service."

The U650 is capable of carrying out reconnaissance and strikes for the military thanks to its ability to carry radar, sonar or missiles.

"For instance, the drone can remain afloat at sea to tow sonar to detect submarines and move rapidly to other areas to continue the search," Liu said.

Output: Chinese drone manufacturer UVS Intelligence System has created the world's first amphibious unmanned commercial aircraft. The U650 can either be used for cargo deliveries or to detect submarines, according to UVS. The company has begun to mass produce the U650 and expects it to be put into commercial operation this year through its first two clients, an express delivery company in China and an unnamed Southeast Asian firm. "It is the only civilian drone in the global market that is capable of ferrying cargo with a total weight of 200 kg or even heavier", said Liu Jiandong, founder and chairman of UVS.


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Shell joint venture completes first LNG bunkering in Singapore
 The ship-to-truck transfer was carried out in batches from 22 July to 23 September 2017 by FueLNG a joint venture between Keppel and Shell Eastern Petroleum.

"This is an exciting milestone for FueLNG as we establish ourselves as a safe, cost-efficient and reliable LNG bunker supplier. The development of proven LNG bunkering infrastructure will give confidence to the industry that LNG can be widely adopted as a marine fuel and is sustainable for the long-term,” said FueLNG chairman Michael Chia.

The bunkering was conducted in accordance with the Singapore Chemical Industry Council (SCIC) Technical Reference for LNG Bunkering (TR 56).

FueLNG also has contracts with Keppel Smit Towage and Maju Maritime to provide LNG bunkering services for two dual-fuel LNG harbour tugs from 2018.

"This successful operation by FueLNG attests to Singapore's ability to provide safe, efficient, and reliable LNG bunkering in the Port. Furthermore, we are pleased to note that the operation was carried out based on the recently launched Singapore Technical Reference for LNG Bunkering (TR56),” said Andrew Tan, chief executive of the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

Output: A truck-to-ship bunkering has been carried out by LNG supply company FueLNG, a joint venture between Shell and Keppel, in batches between July and September at Singapore's shipping port, the first such transfer to take place there. The port of Singapore completed its LNG trucking infrastructure earlier this year and is seeking to position itself as an LNG storage and supply hub for Asia. FueLNG has contracts to supply two dual-fuel harbour tugs due to enter service this year.


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Suit on defective heart device claims recall too slow
 Lawsuit claims St. Jude acted slow on defective heart device recall

St. Jude Medical and its parent company, Libertyville Township-based Abbott Laboratories, are the subjects of a class-action lawsuit claiming St. Jude failed to act quickly in the recall of defective cardiac defibrillator devices. COURTESY OF Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against St. Jude Medical and parent company Abbott Laboratories, claiming St. Jude failed to act quickly on a defect that led to a 2016 recall of some of its cardiac defibrillator devices.

The complaint, filed in Chicago by law firms DiCello Levitt & Casey and Tousley Brain Stephens on behalf of third party insurance payers, alleges Minnesota-based St. Jude knew of a significant battery depletion defect as early as 2011, but failed to adequately investigate and report the risk, instead waiting nearly five years before issuing a recall of the defective devices.

The medical products -- the Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator -- provide pacing therapy to support slow heart rhythms and electrical shock or pacing therapy to treat fast heart rhythms. The products were recalled on Oct. 10, 2016 due to defects related to a fast depletion of its lithium-based battery.

The lawsuit claims that, between the time St. Jude discovered the defect and the time the devices were recalled, the brunt of the economic impact from the defective devices fell on the shoulders of public and private health insurance payers.

Several models of ICDs and CRT-Ds are at issue, including the Fortify, Fortify Assura, Quadra Assura, Unify, Unify Assura and Unify Quadra models, according to a statement from the law firms. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of ASEA/AFSCME Local 52 Health Benefits Trust and similarly-situated plaintiffs nationwide, seeks restitution and damages related to third party payers' coverage of these defective ICDs and CRT-Ds, and related medical costs.

"Physicians, patients and payers were deliberately kept in the dark by St. Jude with respect to ongoing battery issues," said Kim Stephens, a partner at Tousley Brain Stephens. "Defendants have purportedly agreed to reimburse patients for their out-of-pocket costs associated with the implantation of these devices, but what about the health insurance payers who have shelled out millions of dollars on these defective pacemakers?"

Libertyville Township-based Abbott acquired St. Jude in January for approximately $25 billion. While the acquisition was seen as a boost to Abbott's cardiovascular business portfolio, the recall occurred during the time Abbott began the acquisition process.

St. Jude at the time was also fighting a battle with investment firm Muddy Waters Capital, which claimed its devices could be targets of cyberattacks. St. Jude called the allegations "false and misleading."

Output: US-based Abbott Laboratories subsidiary St Jude Medical is alleged to have acted too slowly when recalling heart defibrillator devices during a 2016 recall, according to a lawsuit filed against the company. The suit claims St Jude knew of a battery defect affecting the devices as early as 2011, but only recalled the defibrillators in October 2016. The lawsuit is claiming the economic impact of the faulty devices was placed on health insurance payments from both public and private plans.


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Eloplay settles on blockchain to decentralise e-sport tournaments
 Last week, EloPlay announced plans to integrate blockchain technology into its popular eSports platform.

The Current eSports Market

eSports is a form of competitive gaming. It is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that has really caught fire and managed to spawn a booming industry. It has become so popular, in fact, that it has already been added to the 2022 Asian Games and there is even talk about it being included in the 2024 Olympics.

In terms of revenue, eSports is growing by leaps and bounds. In 2017 alone, eSports will have generated an estimated $696 million – an increase of over 41% from the previous year. Furthermore, with the number of online gaming platforms steadily increasing, the overall revenues of the industry is predicted to reach $1.5 billion by 2020.

eSports’ audience is expanding as well, with nearly 400 million people tuning into events in 2017 alone, of which 191 million consider themselves to be devoted enthusiasts. This is particularly impressive when you consider that baseball, basketball, and football (American), three of the world’s Top 10 sports, have audiences of 500, 400, and 390 million people, respectively.

As for players themselves? The Global eSports Market Report has estimated their number to reach 58.4 million by the end of 2017.

Blockchain: Taking eSports to the Next Level

While major online gaming platforms like Steam are quick to jump on the eSports bandwagon, most have chosen to ignore the promise that blockchain technology brings. Fortunately, their smaller competitors are hearing the call, and there are now several online gaming platforms that have already embraced blockchain-powered solutions or at least have expressed their intent to do so in the near future.

One such example is FirstBlood, which has been operating for more than a year. The platform offers its users an opportunity to play, compete, place bets, and earn rewards. Currently, the platform hosts only Dota 2, however, it has announced that it will also add Counter Strike: Global Offensive, FIFA 18, Hearthstone, League of Legends, and Call of Duty.

Another notable example is Gilgam.es, which has recently held an ICO. With the project scheduled to enter beta in late 2017, the platform will offer individual smart contracts for each match, as well as betting functionality. The platform will use artificial intelligence which, while it does not determine the winner, confirms that a certain player or a team has won, and over time, will detect and ban cheaters. The platform will offer a set of games similar to that of FirstBlood.

Last, but certainly not least, there is EloPlay. Already on the market for almost two years, EloPlay made the recent decision to introduce blockchain to its ecosystem. The project’s team came up with what they call ‘smart tournaments’ that are essentially regular tournaments with decentralized prize pools gathered by the players themselves, or by sponsors of a tournament which, in this case, is free to participate.

Other blockchain-enabled options of the EloPlay platform include betting, gamer stats, and advertising. However, those are yet to be deployed. Games available at EloPlay include Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Dota 2 and other popular games.

The EloPlay team explained their decision to embrace blockchain tech:

In our opinion, blockchain technology is the perfect solution for most of the problems that the entire industry has to face. […] In our case, the technology can promote decentralized prize pools, a system for game results accounting, and even automatize the betting mechanism. […] As more and more players and sponsors join us, we will be able to hold major eSports events, while blockchain-based technologies will make everything easy to use and completely transparent.

EloPlay has announced that it will hold an ICO to raise funds for the further development and integration of additional blockchain-based features. The ICO will begin on October 16, 2017. For more information, please visit the official ICO website.

The eSports Revolution Will Be Decentralized

These are not the only projects that directly integrate blockchain solutions in their platforms. There are others which offer a specialized token to buy skins across the internet, while others focus on the gambling side of the industry offering advanced betting experiences.

With more and more projects coming online and integrating blockchain-powered elements in their platforms, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before the eSports industry becomes the most tokenized and smart contract driven of them all.

And, at its current pace, it’s likely that it won’t take very long.

Are you an eSports player? How do you think blockchain tech will change the eSports industry? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Shutterstock

Output: EloPlay has become the latest e-sports platform to turn to blockchain, revealing plans to create decentralised tournaments using smart contracts and tokens. The company said that, as well as underpinning the prize pools, blockchain could promote "a system for game results accounting, and even automate the betting mechanism". The company will hold an initial coin offering to fund the platform's expansion, the addition of new games and ad campaigns to reach US, Chinese and European markets.


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US growers associations begin to offer recall coverage
 The United Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers (WG) have entered into a formal marketing agreement to jointly promote the Western Growers Shield, a first-of-its-kind insurance programme specifically designed to protect food companies from recall liability.

“This programme represents an innovative solution to a critical bottom line issue facing our members,” said Tom Stenzel, United Fresh president and chief executive. “Our Finance & Business Administration Council was very impressed with this programme, and we look forward to working with the WG team to bring recall insurance to every segment of the fresh produce supply chain.”

Under the terms of the agreement, United Fresh will exclusively endorse and promote the proprietary programme encompassing property, contamination, recall, liability and non-physical damage loss of income.

“United Fresh and Western Growers have a long history of working together to promote the competitiveness and profitability of the fresh produce industry,” said Tom Nassif, Western Growers president and CEO. “With United’s reach into states not currently served by WG, and relationships with food companies from farm to fork, this partnership is the next logical step in protecting the long-term viability of our collective memberships.”

United Fresh and WG will also work together to provide several other proprietary WG solutions to the fresh produce industry.

Output: Two agricultural associations have teamed up to provide producers with an insurance policy covering the cost of product recall. The insurance coverage is being promoted by United Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers. The coverage, dubbed Western Growers Shield, covers risk presented by factors such as property, contamination, recall, liability and non-physical damage loss of income.


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Australian food industry recall coverage inadequate
 While many food companies are relatively well prepared to deal with product recall, they are under-prepared in the event of a crisis, according to a new survey.

The Food and Grocery Product Recall Survey Report by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and Victual also found that insurance cover across the industry is inadequate, leaving organisations vulnerable to potential costs of over $10 million in the event that something goes wrong.

Additional key findings include that recalls have steadily increased in recent years, largely due to the detection of undeclared allergens and microbial contamination.

While all respondents said they have a recall plan in place, only 59 per cent frequently review it. In addition, one third of businesses surveyed have either no nominated spokesperson or have not trained their spokesperson in the event of a recall or crisis

“The results of the survey highlight the need for industry to better prepare themselves for a crisis situation. We have seen time and time again that a poorly managed recall has the potential to turn quickly into a crisis, affecting a company’s reputation and bottom line. This is especially relevant with the advent of social media, where issues are rapidly amplified,” said Director of Victual Recall and report co-author, Peter McGee.

“An essential component of protecting an organisation’s balance sheet is to transfer the risk of a product recall escalating in to a crisis through the purchase of specialist recall insurance. Added to this is the need for access to specialist resources to guide the recall process.”

The report states that there are many direct and indirect costs incurred when a recall occurs. These include not only tangible costs such as logistics, cleansing and legal fees, but more importantly costs relating to a damaged brand. The report notes that the average global cost of a recall is US $10 million. The fact that 62 per cent of respondents purchase insurance that covers significantly less than this amount is concerning.

“An insurance policy is complex, but it is a critical contract that needs to be understood so that it responds in the way you expect it to,” said David Goodall, Director of Victual Recall and a report co-author.

“For example, understanding the difference between a stand-alone contaminated products insurance policy and a product recall extension under Public & Products Liability policies is essential to ensure that you are not exposed to all the major costs relating to a recall.

“Specialised recall insurance, combined with carefully-executed preparedness planning could be the difference between the end of a business and its ongoing viability.”

The survey made these recommendations to industry:

Output: Australian grocery producers are under-insured against losses caused due to a product recall, according to a study from the Australian Food and Grocery Council. The average global cost of a recall is $10m, according to the study, with the majority of companies surveyed purchasing insurance covering damages valued lower than this. Companies are also under-prepared for the event of a recall, with just 59% reviewing their recall plans regularly, the study found.


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Dublin chosen as XL Group looks to move from UK after Brexit
 XL Group is the latest property/casualty insurer to make plans to move its European insurance company headquarters from the United Kingdom in response to its vote to leave the European Union.

The insurer and reinsurer (parent company of XL Catlin) said it will shift its main EU operations to Dublin, Ireland in 2018, once it obtains the required regulatory approvals. This will be accomplished by moving its main EU insurance company, XL Insurance Co. SE, which will allow its clients and brokers to continue being serviced through its European branch network once the Brexit process is complete.

XL Group’s post-Brexit decision to relocate follows similar moves by other P/C insurers and reinsurers. Chubb Limited has said it intends to relocate its European Union headquarters to France if the United Kingdom leaves the EU as expected in March 2019. CNA Hardy decided in June to launch a European subsidiary in Luxembourg beyond its London headquarters in order to keep open access to the EU market. FM Global is also shifting its EU headquarters from the UK to Luxembourg. American International Group will open a Luxembourg subsidiary but keep its main EU headquarters in London. MS Amlin plans to re-domicile its European business, Amlin Insurance Societas Europaea (AISE), to Belgium in response to Brexit.

The Lloyd’s of London insurance market, meanwhile, plans to address Brexit concerns by opening a Brussels subsidiary.

In the case of XL Group, choosing Dublin as its EU headquarters makes sense on multiple levels. It has had operations there since 1990 after opening its first European insurance company in the city’s International Financial Services Center. XL Group noted in its Brexit announcement that it established XL Re Europe (today XL Re Europe SE) in 2006 and that it remains an Irish-domiciled insurer.

Also, XL Group’s parent company was domiciled in Dublin between 2010 and 2016 before its new holding company XL Group Ltd. was formed in Bermuda after XL Group acquired Catlin Group that year. The combined company continues to have insurance and reinsurance operations in Dublin.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, XL Group said it will keep Catlin Insurance Co. in place (the division is a UK-regulated insurance company). Its Lloyd’s operations – Syndicate 2003 and 3002 – will also remain.

Related:

Topics Carriers Europe London Uk AXA XL

Output: Insurance company XL Group will move its European headquarters to Dublin next year, following the UK's vote to leave the EU. The parent company of XL Catlin announced it will make the move once it gains the necessary regulatory approvals, in order to allow its customers to continue having access to its European branch network. Other insurance companies are also relocating from the UK in anticipation of Brexit, with Chubb moving to France and FM Global to Luxembourg. Lloyd's of London is meanwhile opening a subsidiary in Brussels.


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Canadian court to re-examine gallery workplace death claims
 An Ontario court finding, that Intact Insurance Company has a duty to defend an organization sued in connection with a worker killed on the job, lacked “analysis of the critical issues that had to be addressed,” the Court of Appeal for Ontario recently ruled.

Court records indicate that in August, 2013, Conrad Lafrenière, “suffered fatal injuries in the course of his employment” while carrying out maintenance work on a vehicle ramp at the National Gallery of Canada.

“When a vehicle approached to enter the underground garage, Mr. Lafrenière stepped back towards the ledge of the ramp and fell,” wrote Justices Paul Rouleau, Katherine Rensburg and Lois Roberts of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in a decision released Sept. 6, 2017.

Lafrenière worked for Lafleur de la Capitale Inc., which provided landscaping and maintenance services for the National Gallery.

Lafleur had a liability policy with Intact providing coverage of up to $5 million per occurrence of bodily injury or property damage. The National Gallery was a named insured, “only insofar as [its] Legal Liability arises vicariously out of the operations of [Lafleur] in connection with [its landscaping and snow removal services],” wrote the Court of Appeal for Ontario judges hearing Intact’s appeal.

Intact was appealing a ruling by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordering Intact to fund defences of two lawsuits – one by Lafrenière’s wife and the other by other family members of Lafrenière under the Family Law Act.

The National Gallery of Canada had asked for a declaration that Intact and Lafleur “are obliged to provide and fund its full defence in the underlying actions, relying on the terms of the maintenance contract and the CGL policy.”

The policy that Intact wrote excluded obligations under a workers’ compensation law and for bodily injury to an employee of arising from employment. The applications judge ruled that the allegations made in the lawsuits “could relate to issues of maintenance or of measures that should have been taken in the cause of maintenance.”

But the ruling ordering Intact to defend the National Gallery has been set aside. In its Sept. 6, 2017 decision – cited as National Gallery of Canada v. Lafleur de la Capitale Inc. – the Court of Appeal for Ontario ordered that National Gallery’s application be re-heard by a different judge.

The judge hearing that National Gallery’s application “had to undertake a detailed analysis” of the pleadings by the plaintiffs, the insurance policy and the maintenance contract, in the context of three questions, the appeal court ruled. One was whether the plaintiffs showed that the loss at issue is covered under the terms of the policy. The second was whether Intact demonstrated that an exclusion applies. The third was – if an exclusion did apply – whether the plaintiffs established that there is an exception to the exclusion.

The applications judge “did not conduct the necessary analysis of the pleadings, maintenance contract and policy, which were essential in this complex case, to address the coverage issue,” the Court of Appeal for Ontario found.

In Canada, workers’ compensation began when Sir William Ralph Meredith was appointed in 1910 to recommend a scheme for Ontario, Justice John Sopinka noted in the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Pasiechnyk v. Saskatchewan, released in 1997.

“The bar to actions against employers is central to the workers’ compensation scheme as Meredith conceived of it: it is the other half of the trade-off,” Justice Sopinka wrote. “It would be unfair to allow actions to proceed against employers where there was a chance of the injured worker’s obtaining greater compensation, and yet still to force employers to contribute to a no-fault insurance scheme.”

In a ruling released in 2016, the Court of Appeal of Yukon allowed a lawsuit against a construction worker as well as two corporations, arising from a workplace injury, to proceed.

In Whitehorse in 2012, federal employee Linda Hill was struck on the head by a piece of wood that had fallen from the roof at the Elijah Smith Building.

Named as defendants in her lawsuit were construction worker Jason Tomandl Ketza Construction Corp. and SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. The defendants had argued that “the whole point of a universal scheme of compensation is to avoid lawsuits where employers and employees are involved,” Justice John Vertes of the Supreme Court of Yukon wrote in 2015 in his ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

The Government Employees Compensation Act “extends benefits analogous to those under provincial and territorial workers’ compensation legislation to federal government employees,” and also “bars an employee who is eligible to receive compensation from bringing a civil claim against the federal Crown, its officers, servants, and agents,” wrote Justice Harvey Groberman of the Court of Appeal of Yukon.

But when GECA was revised in 1955, there was “no suggestion that the new legislation would curtail an employee’s right to sue an employer or worker other than the Crown and its servants,” Justice Groberman added.

An Ontario company that was sued by a worker injured on the job was Sam’s Auto Wrecking Co. Ltd., carrying on business as Wentworth Metal, in Hamilton. A Wentworth Metal vice-president had his right leg severed below the knee after he was run over by a crane. He was not covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario because in 1989 or 1990, Wentworth Metal opted to purchase private insurance for executives.

In 2013 the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a 2011 finding that Lombard General Insurance Company did not have a duty to defend Wentworth.

One exclusion in the Lombard policy was for “bodily injury to an employee of the Insured arising out of and in the course of employment by the Insured.”

Output: A Canadian court has asked for the re-examination of a case in which insurer Intact was told it had a duty to defend a client over a workplace death in 2013. Judges had earlier ruled against Intact, which said its policy didn't cover the National Gallery of Canada's defence against claims from the family of maintenance worker Conrad Lafreniere, who died while working at the cultural centre. The order was set aside on appeal in Ontario because the original hearing “did not conduct the necessary analysis" of the case, the higher court said.


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Educational app instantly checks maths homework
 Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-25 18:21:47|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HANGZHOU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A tech company in east China's Zhejiang Province has developed the software which can free parents from checking math assignments.

The app, "Love Homework," was developed by Hangzhou Dana technology company. By simply taking a photo, it can check arithmetic problems in one second, with over 95 percent accuracy.

The free app has gained widespread high praise from parents and teachers alike since its launch in early September, with more than 400,000 downloads in three weeks.

"I have never seen an app receiving such a warm, enthusiastic reception in my 20 years of career," said Luo Huan, co-founder of Dana.

The idea of the app came from Mao Lihui, who works at Dana. Father of a primary school student, Mao spent a lot of time and energy checking his kid's assignments every day.

"There are about 60 math questions a page, sometimes 100. I hate checking homework after a long day at work," Mao said.

"Some parents said they spent at least an hour checking these questions," said Chen Mingquan, another co-founder.

The Dana team analyzed the handwriting of Chinese children and trained the computers to recognize the figures even when the handwriting was careless, with overlapping corrections or on thin paper.

A mother surnamed Xu downloaded the app on the recommendation of other parents. "It saved me a lot of time and the accuracy was better than my own. Plus, my kid and I don't quarrel about the questions when we come up with different answers," she said. "I hope they come up with more, similar homework-checking apps."

Feng Dingying, a math teacher, said artificial intelligence can replace humans in repetitive work. "It allows educators and parents to put more effort in motivating the students," said Feng.

Output: An app developed by Chinese software company Hangzhou Dana could free up parents' and teachers' time by checking children's maths homework. The "Love Homework" app takes a photo of the assignment, which it then checks for arithmetic problems in a single second, with a reported 95% accuracy. It has been met with widespread praise by parents and educators in China, with over 400,000 downloads in the three weeks since its launch. Artificial intelligence could replace humans in repetitive work, allowing "educators and parents to put more effort in motivating the students", said maths teacher Feng Dingying.


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China extends property-price taming measures to hinterland
 Eight big cities in China have rolled out further property tightening measures in the latest efforts to rein in housing price rises.

Since Friday, the second-tier cities of Xi'an, Chongqing, Nanchang, Nanning, Changsha, Guiyang, Shijiazhuang and Wuhan have tightened housing controls, with most banning home sales within two to three years after purchases.

In Shijiazhuang, houses newly bought as of Sunday will be banned from being sold within five years.

In Wuhan, real estate developers were told not to have prejudice against those home buyers who plan to use mortgages rather than making full payments.

Analysts said the ban on sales is an effective measure in fighting market speculation.

The new round of housing tightening started by the eight cities showed that there will be no respite in a rather long term and the authorities will not change their determination in controlling housing prices, said Yang Xianling, research chief of real estate agency Homelink.

The measures taken ahead of the National Day holiday can better guide market expectations, said Yang.

In March, Xiamen became the first city nationwide to introduce a sales ban. More than 40 cities have followed suit, according to the China Index Academy.

Yang said this time the tightening mainly targeted the provincial capitals as the housing markets there still face inflationary pressures from expected growth in population in the future.

Zhang Dawei, chief analyst with Centaline Property, said the housing tightening was moving down to the second- and third-tier cities and more are expected to follow suit.

The property markets in bigger cities like Beijing have lost steam after tough tightening measures including higher mortgage rates and down payment. However, the smaller cities saw price rises with money moving in with fewer restrictions.

Banks in many major cities have raised the mortgage rates.

In Beijing, nearly 20 banks have raised the mortgage rates for first-home purchases by 5 or 10 percent. Some even declined to accept mortgage applications.

The banking regulators in cities like Beijing and Shenzhen have also ordered banks to check consumer loans to prevent the money flowing into the property market.

Output: Cities in China are introducing further restrictions on housing transactions, banning the resale of properties for periods of up to five years after purchase, as they seek to curb speculators driving up property prices. Metropolises including Xi'an and Chonqing have brought in the measures as efforts to dampen China's property market expand from the largest population centres to so-called second-tier cities. The policy's extension shows Chinese leaders are determined to control spiralling house prices, said Yang Xianling, head of research at real estate agency Homelink.


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Lagos forces builders to insure against collapsing properties
 Ebere Nwoji examines the recent move by the Lagos State Government to make the builders’ insurance policy compulsory to stem the rising incidence of crumbling buildings in the state

The Lagos State Government recently intensified efforts to check rising incidence of building collapse in Nigeria as well as ensuring that where it occurs, victims are provided with necessary mitigations against associated huge losses.

The state did this through recent move to enforce compulsory builders insurance on owners of buildings across the state. It also established a safety institute where stakeholders in construction work can be trained and certified to prevent frequent cases of collapse buildings in the state. Lagos has in recent times recorded the highest number of building collapses.

The Director General of Lagos State Safety Commission, Hakeem Dickson, who disclosed this at a press Conference held as part of preparation for the â€˜Naija Safe Awards 2017â€™, organised at Alausa, Ikeja, said the state government would synergise with a consortium of insurance companies and the National Insurance Commission, (NAICOM) to achieve this.

Dickson was disgusted with the rate at which Lagosians pass blames on the state government whenever there is incidence of building collapse especially for not compensating victims.

He was of the view that if Lagosians embrace building insurance policy, it would save them from untold hardship, losses and hopelessness associated with unforeseen emergency situations,stressing that insurance companies have the financial capabilities to compensate and pay claims to victims of disasters than government.

This decision by the state government is in line with long standing crusade by both the insurance industry regulator, NAICOM and the umbrella body of insurance underwriters, the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) and other stakeholders in the industry on enforcement of compulsory insurance nationwide.

They have for many years been agitating for implementation of sections of 2003 insurance Act on compulsory insurances.

Builders insurance, especially public buildings and buildings under construction is one of the compulsory insurance policies stipulated by insurance Act of 2003.

Its enforcement since then has been lying low until in 2008, when NAICOM in collaboration with the industry operators kicked off campaign on the enforcement in the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The expectation was that by now, everybody would have embraced this policy and all buildings in Nigeria covered by insurance policies but this has not happened for lack of enforcement.

While insurance underwriters look upon NAICOM as government agency charged with the responsibility of doing that, NAICOM, on its part looks upon federal government for empowerment and deployment of its various enforcement agents for that purpose.

The Commission is also looking forward that the proposed amendment of 2003 Insurance Act would vest on it the necessary powers for enforcement and punishment of offenders.

The compulsory insurance policies slated by the commission for enforcement include statutory Group Life Insurance as required by Section 9(3) of the Pension Reform Act, 2004.

Employeeâ€™s Compensation (which replaced Workmen Compensation) as required by Section 33 of the Employeeâ€™s Compensation Act, 2010.

Occupierâ€™s Liability Insurance as required by Section 65 of the Insurance Act, 2003.

Motor Third-Party Insurance as required by Section 68 of the Insurance Act, 2003.

Builderâ€™s Liability Insurance as required by Section 64 of the Insurance Act.

Health Care Professional Indemnity Insurance as required by Section 45 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1999.

Section 65 of insurance act of 2003, states that every public building shall be insured with a registered insurer against the hazards of building collapse, fire, earthquake, storm and flood.

The act defined public building as including tenement house, hostel, and building occupied by a tenant, lodger, or licensee.

At the flag off of the enforcement in Abuja, insurers described the exercise as the best thing that has happened to the industry projecting that at least it would yield the industry as much as N10 billion premium annually if effectively enforced .

Indeed, considering the number of buildings in major cities in the country where there are more public buildings than in the villages, one would conclude that the builders insurance holds much opportunity for the insurance industry and is capable of tripling the projected amount by the insurers.

But instead of this, the policy is being affected by a lot of issues that have hampered its successful enforcement.

Among the issues as pointed out by the Managing Director of Niger Insurance Mr. Kola Adedeji are inadequate and ineffective frame work for insurance industry.

According to him, insurance law makes provision for NAICOM as the regulator to enforce the insurance laws but provides no means of enforcement against the public. According to him, the commission lacks the power to arrest law breakers in the industry.

According to the Niger insurance boss, whereas section 17 of the 2003 Act on third party motor insurance empowers the police to ask any one driving a motor vehicle to produce his or her certificate of insurance and section 40 of the workmenâ€™s compensation act gave the minister of labour power to enforce the compulsory insurance provision of the act. In the case of compulsory building insurance, there is no separate enactment for compulsory insurance of public buildings.

He noted that this inadequate legal framework makes it completely difficult to enforce the provisions.

He therefore suggested a separate act of parliament for each of the compulsory insurance policies adding that each of the acts would provide relevant enforcement agencies through the benefits on the long run accrue to the insurance industry in form of increasing patronage and growth.

He particularly suggested the empowerment of all states and physical planning authorities for the enforcement of the act.

â€˜â€™It is equally important to note that the provisions for insurance of public buildings even as they are in the insurance act are quite confusing, the law provides that either the owner or the occupier of the premises can insure public buildingsâ€™â€™, he noted.

Pointing out its other pitfalls, Adedeji queried: “The policy is meant to cover legal liabilities of either owner or occupier at what point in time does the occupier have legal liabilities or insurable interest in the building he or she is occupying?

Despite these pitfalls, Lagos State government have taken the bull by the horns to enforce the law by ensuring that owners of buildings in the state put in place insurance cover for the third party.

The state government has already set up enforcement and monitoring team to ensure compliance.

Members of the team, THISDAY gathered were selected from insurance practitioners and outside insurance as the government was disgusted with high level of abuses by environmental workers in the state.

But Lagosians who commented on the development expressed diverse opinions on the matter. While some said it is a good development, others said what Lagosians need is solution to problem of building collapses not compensation.

They also feared that it will increase cost of building in the state which will in turn increase the already high cost of house rent in the state.

Insurance industry observers said the decision by the state government is a good one but to make it more effective, the government should have used only the law enforcement agents to effect the enforcement.

They argued that using the insurance operators for enforcement would not yield much result because the insurers themselves have often said they were handicapped in enforcing the policy because they find it difficult going into any standing building or building under construction and to ask for insurance policy paper.

The insurers have always wished the law enforcement agents would be assigned to act on their behalf.

The observers therefore want the state government to restrict the enforcement to security and law enforcement agents of government.

At the lunch of the compulsory insurance in Abuja, the then Commissioner for Insurance Mr. Fola Daniel had explained that the enforcement was meant not only to boost the industry’s premium, but most importantly to protect lives and properties which are often lost in building collapses.

He had listed structures covered under the Act to include all buildings occupied by government ministries; extra-ministerial departments; statutory bodies; tenement houses; hostels; lodges; or licences and any building to which members of the public have access for the purpose of obtaining educational or medical service or for recreational purposes or for business transaction.

Apparently, the industry regulator hoped to use the proceeds from the compulsory builders insurance to transform the industry into trillion naira market this year from below N400 billion currently.

Daniel, had said that the trillion naira market transformation of the industry projected by his regime in NAICOM was based on the assumption that if all the houses and motor vehicles in Lagos and Abuja alone were insured, the figure would be met.

Section 64 of Insurance Act of 2003 makes mandatory the insurance of buildings under construction where more than two floors are envisaged. The section says that insurance must cover the liability of the owner of the building in respect of the negligence of his servants, agents or consultant.

Section 65 of the same Act makes the insurance of public building mandatory.

Section 65 (4) of the Act specifies that 0.25 per cent of the premium collected is to be paid into a Fire Services Maintenance Fund to be administered and disbursed by NAICOM for the purpose of providing grants or procurement of equipment to institutions engaged in fire fighting services in the country.

The Act also provides that where there is a violation of this order, which derives from the provision of Sections 64 and 65 of the Insurance Act 2003, such offenders are liable to three yearsâ€™ imprisonment or a fine of N250,000 or both.

Also, the law prescribes a fine of N100, 000 for a tenant or owner of such insured building in respect of loss of, or damage to property, or bodily injury or death suffered by any user of the premises and third party but it failed to state the right or power of the NAICOM to punish any offender.

Output: The state government of Lagos will work with a consortium of insurance companies to enforce the law requiring building owners to have cover against collapse, as stipulated in the 2003 Insurance Act. The move, which has been welcomed by the insurance sector, follows attempts by regulator the National Insurance Commission and the Nigeria Insurers' Association to enforce the law. If properly implemented, building insurance could boost industry revenues to the tune of NGN10bn (approx $28m) annually.


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InfoWatch unveils 'surveillance-proof' smartphone
 A man holds a TaigaPhone, a brand new smartphone created by InfoWatch Group, during a presentation in Moscow on September 22, 2017

For Russians who fear that someone may be eavesdropping on their phone conversations, leading IT entrepreneur Natalya Kaspersky says she has a solution.

At a business forum in Moscow on Friday she presented "TaigaPhone", a brand new smartphone created by InfoWatch Group, her software development company, costing around 15,000 rubles ($260).

The TaigaPhone is entirely green to represent the Russian northern forest after which it is named and has a five-inch touch screen.

"We have created it for the corporate market," said Kaspersky, president of InfoWatch Group and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab, Russia's leading antivirus software development company which some believe may have links to Russian intelligence.

Kaspersky Lab has over the past months been at the centre of controversy in the United States.

In July, the US government removed Kaspersky from its list of approved vendors, weeks after top US intelligence agency and law enforcement officials expressed concerns about the safety of its software.

But no evidence has been presented to back up vague assertions that it might be a tool of Moscow, offering Russian spies back-door entry into computers worldwide.

The company has repeatedly denied working with any government agency.

The TaigaPhone is not the first Russian-made smartphone. YotaPhone, which first appeared on the market in 2013, is back this year with a new device: the YotaPhone 3.

InfoWatch wants to sell TaigaPhone to Russian companies at a cost of between 12,000 and 15,000 rubles, almost five times cheaper than the cost of an iPhone in Russia.

"Half of all data loss in Russia happens on mobile devices, we intend to fix that problem with the TaigaPhone," company representative Grigoriy Vasilyev told investors at the forum.

InfoWatch says the device can guarantee the confidentiality of all TaigaPhone users, track the location of each device and prevent information leakage.

© 2017 AFP

Output: Russian software development company InfoWatch has unveiled a smartphone it claims is “surveillance-proof”. The TaigaPhone, developed with the Russian corporate market in mind, will retail at around RUB15,000 ($260), significantly cheaper than an iPhone in the country. "Half of all data loss in Russia happens on mobile devices, we intend to fix that problem", said company representative Grigoriy Vasilyev. InfoWatch claims that the TaigaPhone guarantees user confidentiality, a valuable trait for those that fear eavesdropping and data leakages.


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Australian food firms poorly covered for product recall crises
 The Lynx UK Trust has announced an agreement that will insure the UK's whole sheep population against lynx attacks throughout a proposed trial to reintroduce the wild cat to the UK.

The agreement, with Lloyds Syndicate ARK Speciality Programs, is seen as an attempt to ease farmers' concerns surrounding the danger of reintroducing the lynx to the British countryside.

If the proposal trial is approved by Natural England, six lynx will be reintroduced for a five year period in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland.

They will be closely monitored with satellite tracking to see how they fit back into the UK ecosystem, where they could become a natural control on the currently overpopulated deer species.

But the National Sheep Association (NSA) has said the proposals would have a "detrimental impact" on farmers' livelihoods.

The NSA said the debate so far has only focused on the positives, with 'little consideration' for evidence which suggests similar projects in Europe have experienced limited success.

"Releasing this predatory species puts at risk all the things that emanate from a successful sheep farmed area – the landscape and its associated ecology and wildlife, local working communities and a vibrant rural economy," the group said.

'Wide-reaching'

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said the impact of it would be 'far wider-reaching than just a few sheep lost'.

"The UK's ecology is built on huge diversity which is dependent on human management and farming in the majority of cases," he said.

"This hierarchy of species interact with each other and we already have many examples where a lack of intervention and predator control result in the collapse of iconic birds and mammals such as the red squirrel and the curlew - two species that Northumberland is renowned for.

"The UK is very different from countries where top level predators such as big cats can survive, in terms of land use, wildlife and our population and infrastructure."

'Natural balance'

However, Lynx UK Trust believes the animal belongs in the UK ecosystem, having been hunted to extinction around 500-700AD.

The Trust believes reintroduction is vital in re-storing a natural balance in the British countryside.

Lynx UK Trust has pledged to establish a sheep welfare programme which will provide grants to build fencing, buy outbuildings for lambing and bring in llamas to act as guardians for sheep flocks.

Chief scientific advisor to the Lynx UK Trust, Dr Paul O'Donoghue told The Telegraph: “There are some really exciting ideas from other countries, such as guardian animals like llamas,” said chief scientific advisor to the Trust, Dr Paul O'Donoghue.

“We've seen these successfully used in the Scottish Highlands keeping off foxes, and in an American study they reduced sheep kills from dogs and coyotes by 66 per cent; half of those farms saw predation stop entirely.

“Those are astounding results, I'm amazed we don't already see them widely in use; we might be able to reduce all sheep predation by two thirds, just by providing farmers with llamas.”

'Criminal offence'

Nevertheless, the NSA said it would therefore be a 'criminal offence' to keep them without a local authority licence.

Currently, these licences are only available for zoo and captive animals, not for those being released into the wild.

The current law would also allow farmers to legally shoot lynx causing distress to their animals.

And since lynx's are natural predators, farmers' see this as a risk to their livestock if a re-introduction were to happen.

NSA's Phil Stocker continued: “This country is a very different place to what it was 1,300 years ago and NSA does not believe we have enough largescale, suitable habitat to support the minimum population of 250 lynx that is needed for true genetic sustainability.

“Animal welfare and disease biosecurity, as well as unconsidered changes in ecology if we were to see pastoral farming decline, also present huge problems.”

Output: Australian food companies are ill-equipped to deal with product recalls, according to a report by the Australian Food and Grocery Council and Victual. It revealed that while the average cost of a global recall was $10m, many firms' insurance "covered significantly less". Additionally, 41% of respondents did not regularly review their recall plans, while a third had no spokesperson, and of those who did, they were not trained to deal with a recall crisis. The report made several recommendations, including the need for more robust ways to track consumer sentiment and reducing batch quantities to minimise recall costs.


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Workplace insurance premium cuts to save Ontario firms $614m
 Small businesses also rewarded for health & safety efforts

TORONTO, Sept. 20, 2017 /CNW/ - For the second year in a row, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is lowering premium rates. The three per cent reduction to the average rate for 2018 was announced at today's Annual General Meeting (AGM) for stakeholders.

"The rate cut we announced today combined with last year's reductions means a nine per cent drop in the average premium rate over the past two years," said Elizabeth Witmer, Chair of the WSIB. "That means $760 million will remain in Ontario's economy that can be invested in jobs, technology and improvements to workplace health and safety."

Over 300,000 businesses and organizations in Ontario pay premiums for the WSIB's workplace injury and illness collective liability insurance coverage.

The WSIB also released its 2017 Economic Statement today which shows continued progress reducing its unfunded liability (UFL), which now stands at $2.6 billion, down from $14.2 billion in 2011.

"Good financial management underpins our ability to keep delivering and expanding the services that help people recover and return to work safely," said Tom Teahen, WSIB President and CEO. "We are focused on always delivering better outcomes across everything we do."

A key focus of the AGM was the first-ever Small Business Health and Safety Leadership Awards, designed to recognized outstanding achievement in health and safety initiatives in businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Nominated businesses were judged on their performance in five categories: safety culture and leadership, inspections, hazard identification and control, quality of return-to-work programs, and employee safety engagement survey results.

"We need to call out the efforts of leaders in small business who make health and safety a priority," said Witmer. "These business leaders are leading by example and can inspire other businesses to make improvements."

The three winners were encouraged to reinvest their cash awards in their health and safety programs. The winners were:

Gold level – JTR & Custom Works Inc., Timmins, $5,000

Silver level – Devolder Farms Inc., Dover Centre, $3,000

Bronze level – Mike Moore Construction Ltd., Sault Ste. Marie, $2,000

SOURCE Workplace Safety & Insurance Board

Output: Canadian agency the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), part of the country's Ministry of Labour, has announced a 3% cut in average premium rates for 2018, saving local firms CAD760m ($614m), according to Chair Elizabeth Witmer. The latest cuts follow a 9% drop in average premium prices over the past two years, and will be a boost to the more than 300,000 Ontario businesses in Ontario paying WSIB for injury and illness collective liability insurance.


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Teens use digital tools to cheat at school
 For K–12 schools, technologies in the classroom can expand access to innovative information and add layers of protection to the digital learning experience. But today’s digital native students might be so savvy with technology that they use it to break the rules.

About one-third of students aged 14 to 18 report they have gone around schools’ online safeguards to access banned content, and another 29 percent indicate that they’ve used digital tools to cheat in school, reports a new survey from security firm McAfee.

Roughly 62 percent of students say they’ve witnessed a friend using a connected device to cheat. eSchool News reports that the students surveyed say that using a mobile device to take a photo of notes or test answers is easy to do.

While these students are tech savvy, some educators believe that the students might not even be aware when their tech use counts as cheating.

“They share information because it’s just available to them,” says Joe Fuertsch, assistant principal at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Calif., in a U.S. News and World Report article about the survey.

Fuertsch recommends that teachers have proactive conversations about cheating and plagiarism and where technology fits into that. Other teachers in the article suggest that educators regularly search the internet for new ways that students might be able to cheat on tests, and teachers should design tests that encourage critical thinking instead of a simple right or wrong answer.

When best practices can’t cut it, technology can help to thwart inappropriate tech use.

Technologies Ensure Proper Tech Use

Digital tools can be particularly effective in addressing attempts to access banned and inappropriate content.

GoGuardian, the company behind content-filtering apps that many schools use, released Admin 2.0, a new tool that applies machine learning to more efficiently flag content.

Using the updated content filter, administrators can set up personalized messages for students trying to access banned content. Instead of just putting up a blocked page, the tool gives students a “you know better” type of message, which has helped to limit the amount of explicit or inappropriate content accessed.

Cheating and accessing banned content aren’t the only cybersecurity issues that schools have to deal with when students become more technologically sophisticated. At Miami-Dade County Public Schools, students conducted repeated distributed denial of service attacks, which flooded schools’ networks with malicious traffic to stop the schools from issuing a standardized test.

The district tells EdTech that now it’s using more network monitoring tools and establishing rules on its routers, switches and firewalls to spurn this kind of bad traffic.

Output: Around 29% of students between the ages of 14 and 18 have used digital technology to cheat at school, according to a survey by security company McAfee, while 62% of students surveyed by the firm say they have seen friends cheating with tech. A further third of students have used technology to circumvent their school's security protocols to access prohibited content, the survey states. Digital tools, like content filters, can act as countermeasures to this behaviour, alongside keeping teachers up-to-date with the latest methods.


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Costa Coffee completes successful drone deliveries in Dubai
 Costa Coffee has successfully delivered its first batch of takeaway coffee to customers on the beach in Dubai using specially engineered drone technology.

The Jumeirah Beach Road branch tested out the technology and took their ‘Frostino’ and ‘Cold Brew’ beverages to customers on Kite Beach.

Beach-goers can be seen in the video released by Costa ordering via mobile phone to the local branch, before the drink arrives right at their location within 15 minutes.

The Drone Drop idea came after 82 percent of customers in the UAE said they would make food and drink orders to be delivered by drone.

“Dubai is known for leading the way with innovative technology, and drones are the next frontier for instant delivery,” Shemaine Jones, Head of Marketing at Costa Coffee UAE, said. “Our customers told us they’d love to have their favorite drinks dropped off by drones, so we’re super excited to have successfully tested this service, enabling beach-goers to enjoy ice cold beverages without leaving the comfort of their sun-loungers.”

The coffeehouse has released no exact details yet as to whether it plans to introduce the service or not following the trial.

Output: A branch of Costa Coffee in Dubai has successfully tested a drone delivery service for customers on the beach. A video released by the company shows the order being placed with a mobile phone, and the drone arriving at Jumeirah Beach to make the delivery 15 minutes later. A spokesman for Costa in the UAE said the technology is "the next frontier for instant delivery", but the chain has not confirmed plans to introduce the service.


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ANZ banks look to implement unified biometric authentification
 The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) is looking to implement voice biometrics as the method of authentication in its call centres across all of its front doors, ANZ general manager of Wholesale Digital Nigel Dobson told the FIDO Alliance Seminar in Sydney on Monday.

Voice identification technology was rolled out earlier this month on the bank's Grow by ANZ app, and according to Dobson, the service has experienced "high customer acceptance and success" and as a result, the bank is keen to roll it out across its call centres.

"We will test and learn this capability, and our hope is to have it as a pervasive authentication capability for the bank for all of its front doors, if you like, within 12-24 months," he said.

"What we think we have found with voice biometrics as an addition to authentication is something actually that gives high security and a significant degree of convenience."

Pointing to other institutions in the space that are jumping on the biometrics bandwagon -- such as Barclays, HSBC, and USAA -- Dobson is concerned the market might become too cluttered with disparate methods of authentication. Instead, he wants to see financial institutions in Australia work together to form a unified solution.

"Every bank coming up with their own solution is probably not wise when you can have a standard response that is nationally utilised. Combing strong authentication coupled with secured credentials is the mission," he explained.

"We certainly have common interests as a banking community in implementing framework."

It is a similar approach financial providers in Canada are doing, he explained, with the Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) also including telecommunications providers and government in the conversation with financial services providers.

"I think that's a really interesting combination. Not every country has managed to become that collaborative and I can see enormous benefits of having telcos and financial institutions with complementary datasets trying to solve national identity and security," Dobson said.

"I would hope the same thing might happen here in Australia."

With the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) launching itsNew Payments Platform into trial mode later this year, Dobson is concerned with the increase in fraud the platform may bring with it when it goes live with customer transactions from February next year.

"We're expecting an increase in the success of fraud just simply because of the velocity of transactions," he said.

"Transactions that are set, cleared, and settled and posted within 15 seconds obviously offer you a much greater viability to success in fraud attacks as opposed to slower payment tracks that have been used in the past.

"Coupled with open-data, we believe the market is upon significant innovation, but our collaborative energies need to be brought together to ensure that the customer experience is both convenient and secure."

The new payments platform will allow for near real-time funds transfer between bank accounts, regardless of who people bank with. All a user will require to perform an "instantaneous payment" with the forthcoming system will be the recipient's email address or mobile phone number.

In partnership with speech software firm Nuance, the bank's Grow by ANZ banking app allows customers to make "pay anyone" payments of more than AU$1,000 automatically, bypassing usual security measures such as visiting a branch in person. Voice ID can also be used to make BPAY payments of over AU$10,000.

ANZ announced its voice biometrics trial in April, kicking off the new technology with a pilot running with staff and select customers in May.

At the time, ANZ managing director of customer experience and digital channels Peter Dalton touted voice biometrics as the next step in making banking more convenient for customers while also strengthening security.

"One of the key challenges today for banking as the world becomes more digital is making it easier for customers to do what they want to do in a safe and secure way," he said previously.

Speaking with ZDNet in April, Nuance Australia and New Zealand managing director Robert Schwarz said voice biometrics is a more secure method of identifying and authenticating the user or the account owner in the financial services sector.

"What ANZ Bank has done around implementing voice biometrics is going to have multiple benefits for their customers," Schwarz said. "First and foremost is the security side, by being able to secure some of these larger transactions. They're using it for a step-up authentication process, because voice is a lot more secure than a lot of the other modalities that are out there."

Schwarz also believes there is an important place for voice biometrics to curb the influx of fraud that could emerge in the RBA's instant payments environment.

Output: The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) plans to utilise voice biometrics to authenticate customer data across its call centres. The technology has already been rolled out on the group's Grow app, garnering “high customer acceptance and success”. ANZ hopes that the technology's success will encourage other financial institutions in the region to adopt it, creating a national, unified security solution. The group is expecting a hike in fraudulent activity as a result of the launch of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s New Payments Platform in February.


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Singapore project to test bunkering marine biofuels
 Can biofuels provide a sustainable power alternative to the shipping industry? A new collaborative project in Singapore is going to test the idea.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has signed an agreement with BHP and GoodFuels Marine to run a biofuels pilot project next year. GoodFuels Marine is an international supplier of marine biofuel. It currently supplies fuel to the Port of Amsterdam and this latest initiative will see it lend its expertise to the “largest bunkering port in the world”.

“We are very proud that our ‘biofuel-footprint’ of supply locations and sustainable customers is spreading from Europe to the largest bunkering port in the world and our first Asian partner as well. From now on, sustainable marine biofuels are available in Singapore for those ship and freight owners that want to eliminate their carbon and sulphur emissions,” said Dirk Kronemeijer, Chief Executive Officer of GoodFuels.

Output: GoodFuels Marine and BHP have partnered with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to run a biofuels bunkering pilot project at the port. GoodFuels is an international supplier of marine biofuel that currently services the Port of Amsterdam and the trial at the largest bunkering port in the world will mark the first time it has brought its expertise to Asia. The initiative aims to test whether biofuels can provide a sustainable power alternative to the shipping industry, which is facing increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The project is expected to take place next year.


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India's PM promises a home for every citizen by 2022
 SHAHANSHAHPUR ( VARANASI ): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today lashed out at his political rivals, saying for BJP, politics was not for the sake of votes as it considered the country's development as the top-most priority.Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating a 'Pashu Arogya Mela' (cattle health fair) here on the second day of his two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, he also promised to double farm income and provide homes to the homeless by 2022.He said his government had "waged a war" against black money and corruption, for which the poor have had to suffer because of "the loot" by the dishonest."Our (BJP) politics is not for votes, our culture is different. In politics, people do only that task which yields votes, but our character is different."Some politicians work only when it fetches them votes. But we have been brought up in a different culture. ... For us, the nation is above all and it is our top-most priority, not votes," Modi said.Referring to the mega animal fair being organised for the first time on 1800 acres of land here, he said "these animals don't go to cast their ballot. They are not anyone's voters."He said proper healthcare of the cattle through such initiatives, would help increase milk production in India which is lower than in several countries.Encouraging the farmers to adopt dairy and animal husbandry as alternate sources of income, Modi said such initiatives would lead to "a new path of progress" that would not only raise farmers' income but also the overall income.Maintaining that crores of families are still homeless, he said the government has decided to provide each of the urban and rural poor, a shelter by 2022 when the country celebrates 75th year of independence."When crores of houses are built across the country, it will require bricks, cement, iron and wood. It will generate jobs for thousands and open up new avenues of income and employment," the Prime Minister said.Modi, who distributed Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana certificates to some beneficiaries, said "By 2022, every poor, whether in urban or rural area, will get a home. Building crores of homes will generate jobs and income.""If Modi will not take up such an arduous task, who else will," he posed.He also targetted the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh for not providing to the Centre the list of homeless requiring houses in the state."The previous government had no interest in giving homes to the poor. After mounting pressure, they gave a list of only 10,000. But the current (Yogi Adityanath) government has given a list of lakhs of people to avail benefit," Modi said.Referring to his government's cleanliness drive, he said toilets at home can save up to Rs 50,000 per annum as per a survey.Praising villagers, where he went for laying foundation of a toilet for naming it as "Izzatghar", Modi said, "I liked this word so much. Where there is Izzatghar, there is honour of our mothers and sisters. I also congratulate the state government for recognising it as Izzatghar. In the days to come those who are concerned about their honour, will construct Izzatghar."Thanking Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for organising health treatment for cattle programme, Modi said cattle were brought here from different places and specialist doctors are here to treat them."I hope such programme for health of cattles will be held across the state through which we will take care of cattle of poor. It will be a relief for them," he said.Modi said such camps would help poor farmers who could not afford treatment to their animal because of poverty and pointed out that dairy farming gave them a major economic support.Earlier, he went around the animal shelter and even patted some cows at the 'gau shala'.He spoke to the staff there enquiring about their work.Modi said that the government has kickstarted a big battle against blackmoney, corruption and dishonesty."A common honest man suffers as corrupt used to loot him. The campaign of honesty is going ahead like a festival. The way in which our trader brothers are associating with GST and Aadhar. Every penny of peole will be spent for their welfare. We are moving forward fast," he said.On the first day of his visit, Modi inaugurated 17 infra projects worth over Rs 1000 crore including the Ramnagar-Samne Ghat bridge and the Balua Ghat bridge.He also flagged off the third Mahamana Express train between Varanasi and Vadodara.

Output: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to build a home for every urban and rural family or individual in the country by 2022, when the country marks its 75th year of independence. Speaking at a cattle fair in Varanasi, Modi said his initiative would "generate jobs and income". Modi lashed out at the previous government's attempts to provide housing for India's thousands of homeless people, saying it had "no interest in giving homes to the poor".