Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
South Australian steel plant to run on renewables and storage
 The new owners of the Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia have made good on their commitment to green energy, announcing the purchase of a majority stake in the Ross-Garnaut chaired Zen Energy, an Adelaide company specialising in solar and battery storage.

The deal was announced less than a month after UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance completed the acquisition of Whyalla, saying it was investment in renewable energy that would make the bankrupt steel-making operation viable again.

RenewEconomy understands that Zen had been in discussions with GFG in the lead-up to the purchase, mostly about the various renewable energy options for the new owner of Australia’s largest integrated steel and mining business, including wind, solar, co-generation and pumped hydro.

Those talks have now resulted in GFG taking a majority stake in Zen and building a strategic alliance led by SIMEC Energy, GFG’s energy unit. The new venture will be called SIMEC Zen.

The alliance has the potential to reshape the debate about renewable energy and its benefits for big business in Australia. Whyalla is not the first major industrial user to turn to renewables to reduce the cost of energy from Australia’s dysfunctional, fossil fuel-dominated grid, and it won’t be the last.

Asked on ABC Radio on Thursday morning if the partnership was based on a “belief” that renewables could power industry, Garnaut responded: “It is not a belief, it is the economic reality.”

(See our interview with Ross Garnaut and his plans for large-scale solar, pumped hydro and battery storage here).

Gupta said on Wednesday the high cost of energy is “debilitating for the economy and a crying shame for a country so rich in resources”, and a step change was needed in the power industry to reduce the cost of dispatchable power.

“Our main focus, as in the UK, will be renewable energy,” he said, adding that the company believed renewable energy would be the basis for a low-carbon industrial future

The commitment by one of the country’s biggest energy users – following the investment in solar by Queensland zinc refiner Sun Metals and telecoms giant Telstra – comes as federal politics attempts to do a u-turn and focus on ageing coal plants rather than new renewables.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott threatened to cross the floor of parliament to vote against the future and any policy that looked to address climate change, however modestly, or encourage new renewable energy.

“You can’t run a steel mill on renewables,” Abbott has said. Yes you can, says Gupta, and he intends to show how, using the combination of wind, solar, pumped hydro, battery storage and co-generation for most of its needs.

The announcement also comes days after Zen made a formal application to the Australian Energy Regulator for a licence to retail electricity to customers using solar and storage and demand management technologies.

Zen has made no secret of its plans to launch a renewable-based retailer, and to service the industrial sector, and it also has plans for large-scale solar plants and large-scale battery storage arrays, despite missing out on a South Australia government tender that was won by Tesla and French company Neoen.

“GFG Alliance has now taken a major step towards realising its Australian energy ambitions,” it said in a statement. “The opportunity to invest in large-scale power projects to meet its own industrial requirements and support the domestic economy was a key driver for GFG’s strategic entry into Australia.”

The venture will also focus on providing “cheaper, more reliable and environmentally sustainable energy” for SIMEC’s mining operations in South Australia and Liberty OneSteel’s operations in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia.

Output: UK-based company GFG Alliance has taken a majority stake in Adelaide firm Zen Energy, with the aim of transforming recent acquisition Whyalla Steelworks into a renewables business. As part of the deal, Zen will form a strategic alliance with its energy unit, SIMEC Energy, creating a new company called SIMEC Zen. GRG CEO Sanjeev Gupta aims to prove that a combination of wind, solar, pumped hydro, battery storage and co-generation, can power Australia's heavy industry without having to rely on fossil fuels.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Engie to build 1 GW wind farm in India with Abu Dhabi's Abraaj
 New Delhi: French energy firm Engie SA and Dubai’s private equity firm Abraaj Group on Wednesday announced a partnership to build a wind power platform in India.

“Together, Abraaj and Engie have identified a robust pipeline of wind power projects representing over 1 GW (gigawatt) in several key states," the companies said in a joint statement.

Foreign investments are crucial for India’s renewable energy industry as the lower cost of foreign capital and the size of the market has helped bring down tariffs.

“Energy demand is growing tremendously in India, and Engie is investing in green energy sources as part of supporting the country with its sustainable development plans," said Sébastien Arbola, chief executive of Engie Middle East, South and Central Asia and Turkey in the note.

The National Democratic Alliance government has set an ambitious clean energy target of 175GW by 2022. Of this, 100GW is to be generated by solar projects and 60GW by wind projects.

Wednesday’s announcement comes in the backdrop of India’s wind sector transitioning from a feed-in tariff regime to tariff-based competitive auctions. While feed-in tariffs ensure a fixed price for wind power producers, wind power tariffs in India followed the solar route and hit a record low of Rs3.46 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in a February auction conducted by Solar Energy Corp. of India.

In such a scenario, obtaining finance at the lowest cost has become key to success, resulting in record low solar and wind energy tariffs.

“In line with our commitment to addressing the Sustainable Development Goals, our partnership with Engie marks Abraaj’s second investment in the clean energy sector in India," said Saad Zaman, partner at Abraaj Group, in the statement while adding, “wind power generation is approaching grid parity and offers a competitive solution to lower average power pool prices."

Prior to this joint venture, both Abraaj and Engie have had a presence in the Indian solar space. While the Abraaj Group with $11 billion under management announced a partnership with the Aditya Birla group in October 2015 to build a renewable energy platform focused on developing solar power plants, Engie with €66.6 billion in revenue has been trying to expand its presence in India’s clean energy space.

After selling its Meenakshi Energy coal-fired thermal plant in Andhra Pradesh last year to India Power Corp. Ltd, a Kanoria family trust entity, Engie (formerly GDF Suez SA) sought to exit all coal-fired projects. It has been actively eyeing the Indian clean energy space. It plans to set up a 2GW capacity by 2019 with its subsidiary Solairedirect actively bidding for solar power projects, and has a 810 megawatt (MW) portfolio.

Engie has been in talks with the country’s largest roof maker Everest Industries Ltd for a partnership for solar-ready roofs, Mint reported on 11 August. The largest independent electricity producer globally with 112.7GW capacity is also exploring the acquisition of projects from Singapore-based renewable energy developer Equis Energy’s India portfolio, which comprises green energy platforms Energon and Energon Soleq.

The group has been active in the Indian deal space. Abraaj’s investments in the country include a majority stake in Hyderabad-based hospital chain Quality Care India Ltd for an estimated Rs1,700 crore. Last year, Abraaj also led a $150 million funding round in online grocer BigBasket.

EY was the transaction advisor for the partnership. “The Indian wind sector today is at an inflection point," said Srishti Ahuja Taneja, director, transaction advisory services, EY. “As the underlying sector economics remain strong, this platform is well poised to add capacity on the ground and create value for both shareholders."

India’s green energy play is expected to grow substantively with federal policy think-tank Niti Aayog projecting a 597-710 GW capacity by 2040 in its draft energy policy.

Output: French utility company Engie is partnering with Dubai's Abraaj Group on a project to develop 1 GW of wind power in India. Abraaj has already built a similar level of solar capacity in the country in another partnership, and has bought a majority stake in the 50 MW Jhimpir Power wind project in Pakistan. India's government has launched a number of initiatives to create new opportunities for private investment in renewables, and the country is aiming at nearly doubling its wind power capacity to 60 GW by 2022.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Hitachi data storage to smooth motor accident claims in the UK
 LAS VEGAS, Sept. 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), announced it is improving the data strategy of motoring accident management company Accident Exchange through the use of Hitachi Content Platform (HCP). The HCP data storage solution helps Accident Exchange to better manage and govern the data it produces, collects and retains in an effort to seamlessly adopt and comply with new industry regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Based in the United Kingdom, Accident Exchange is a subsidiary of the Automotive and Insurance Solutions (AIS) Group, established in 2004. The company hires replacement vehicles for customers involved in accidents, while it manages repairs to their damaged cars. Historically, Accident Exchange relied on a traditional data management approach, whereby the producers and consumers of organizational data were both siloed and based on proprietary technologies. These data and technology silos made the management, governance and location of data very difficult, especially as the number of data producers and consumers continued to grow.

By integrating HCP into their data and business processes, Accident Exchange has simplified the management of insurance claim data, making communication with stakeholders and third parties easier, more accurate and more efficient. The solution abstracts files away from the creating application to ensure that all the data for each claim is stored in one place. This guarantees a quality audit trail for each customer interaction, which, in turn, helps the company stay compliant with legislation, such as the upcoming GDPR.

“Operating in a siloed fashion did not give us the data control we needed, with multiple proprietary systems to manage, back up and protect all customer interactions. With a minimum retention period of 10 years, our data volumes were in danger of ballooning,” said Ray Ford, CTO at AIS Group. “The unique capabilities of HCP give Accident Exchange complete control over its business application data, from call recordings to engineers’ crash reports. With HCP, we can prevent changes to evidentiary documentation, defensibly retain and delete data, anonymize customer details, and simultaneously ensure full compliance with insurance and financial industry regulations.”

HCP is the only technology offering that allows organizations to bring together object storage, file sync and share, cloud storage gateways, and sophisticated search and analytics to create a tightly integrated, simple and smart cloud storage solution. HCP provides massive scale, multiple storage tiers, powerful security, cloud capabilities and multitenancy, all backed by legendary Hitachi reliability. Designed to preserve data for long durations, HCP carries built-in data protection mechanisms and fluently evolves as storage technologies change. Furthermore, HCP is able to address a wide range of challenges through a thriving community of third-party software partners as well as traditional and cloud storage protocols. HCP eliminates the need to maintain separate systems for each workload and bridges the gap between traditional applications and modern modes of operation. Customers enjoy faster time to value and service providers accelerate time to market by eliminating the hassles of do-it-yourself integrations or forced-fit interoperabilities.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution that works for everybody. That’s why it was important for us to listen to the business challenges that Accident Exchange faces and continually evolve our portfolio in ways that can address a wide range of data challenges while delivering net-positive business outcomes,” said Peter Sjoberg, vice president, Global Content and Data Intelligence Business, Hitachi Vantara.

“Heavily regulated industries, like insurance and financial services, often have the staff and budgets in place to adapt to new regulations like GDPR, but not all organizations can be so well prepared,” he explained. “The value of our portfolio is steeped in the flexibility of our data architecture and our focus on getting data under management with a focus on quality. This is the key to supporting initiatives like GDPR with minimal disruption to your business – regardless of industry.”

Sjoberg added, “With respect to Accident Exchange, by building their technology foundation on HCP as the centralized data hub, they are able to better service their customers with confidence in how their data is processed and stored. More importantly, the flexibility that HCP affords them means that they are also ready to embrace the next set of industry regulations without overhauling their technology foundation.”

Learn More. Join the Conversation.

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

NEXT 2017 Community

About NEXT 2017 by Hitachi

NEXT 2017 by Hitachi is the premier event for the digital revolution. It's for business leaders who want to win – not just compete – and innovate faster to thrive in the digital economy. And to reinvent their business even if they weren't born in the cloud. You'll experience the latest solutions and services so that you can get the most value in your data. It's all made possible by integrating information technology with the operational technologies of the world's infrastructure through the internet of things. Gain the expertise of Hitachi, one of today's industrial giants. Achieve incredible value when this expertise meets Hitachi's strength in data management and analysis. It's part of our vision of Social Innovation to help businesses succeed and societies be safer, healthier and smarter. NEXT 2017 will be held September 18-20, 2017, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. For more information and to register, please visit HitachiNEXT.com.

About Hitachi Vantara

Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., helps data-driven leaders find and use the value in their data to innovate intelligently and reach outcomes that matter for business and society. We combine technology, intellectual property and industry knowledge to deliver data-managing solutions that help enterprises improve their customers’ experiences, develop new revenue streams, and lower the costs of business. Only Hitachi Vantara elevates your innovation advantage by combining deep information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and domain expertise. We work with organizations everywhere to drive data to meaningful outcomes. Visit us at HitachiVantara.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society’s challenges. The company’s consolidated revenues for fiscal 2016 (ended March 31, 2017) totaled 9,162.2 billion yen ($81.8 billion). The Hitachi Group is a global leader in the Social Innovation Business, and it has approximately 304,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation, Hitachi is providing solutions to customers in a broad range of sectors, including Power / Energy, Industry / Distribution / Water, Urban Development, and Finance / Government & Public / Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

HITACHI is a trademark or registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. All other trademarks, service marks, and company names are properties of their respective owners.

Company Contact:

Stefani Finch

Hitachi Vantara

+1 408 499 7349

Stefani.finch@hitachivantara.com

Output: A data storage system, made by a subsidiary of Hitachi, will be adopted by UK motor-accident management service Accident Exchange, easing the process of insurance claims and bringing the operation in line with data protection laws. Hitachi's Content Platform will enable Accident Exchange to deal with cases more quickly through better data management, according to Hitachi. It will also be compliant with the requirements of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Smart meters to be introduced to every Irish home and business
 Smart electricity meters are to be introduced to every home and business in Ireland, after permission was given for the plan to proceed.

The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) says the initial phase of the rollout will commence in 2019, with all 2.3 million customers receiving the meters by 2024.

The project will cost €1.2 billion, with electricity customers ultimately footing the bill over time.

According to the CER, electricity customers will pay around €5.50 extra on their bill annually over a 20 year period.

However, the regulator estimates that each premises will see savings of three to four times that from use of their smart meter.

Smart meters are next generation internet connected devices for recording and monitoring energy usage and will replace older mechanical meters.

They allow users to monitor their electricity usage closely and switch providers more easily.

They also enable those providers to offer more personalised tariffs, read meters remotely and predict demand for power more accurately.

The meters are also expected to help the environment by reducing the amount of energy used by people.

Other European countries including the UK, Sweden, Norway and Italy have already begun to roll out smart meters to users.

A pilot programme was run in Ireland in 2009 and 2010, during which time around 8,000 homes received network-connected smart meters.

The trial found that, on average, those using the meters saved 3% on their bills.

Now, following a long consultation process and a detailed cost benefit analysis that showed the investment represents value for money, permission has been given for the rollout to proceed.

This means the procurement process for the technology can begin.

Initially, around 250,000 premises will have the meters installed in 2019 and 2020, with 500,000 more receiving them in the four subsequent years.

People who request them, and homes and businesses that need to have older near end of life meters replaced, will be prioritised.

CER Commissioner Aoife MacEvilly described the meters as an upgrade to the next phase of technology, which, she said, will eliminate the need for physical meter reads and deliver better data results.

She said the third phase of the project, sometime around 2024, will see gas meters being upgraded.

Output: The Republic of Ireland plans to roll out a €1.2bn ($1.4bn) smart meter programme in 2019 that will take in every domestic household and business in the country by 2024, according to the Commission for Energy Regulation. The move follows a trial in 2009 and 2010, a lengthy consultation process and a detailed cost benefit analysis, which demonstrated the meters offered value for money. The machines enable customers to monitor their electricity consumption more closely and make it easier to switch providers, among other benefits.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Insurers, brokers seen as vital in helping firms navigate Brexit
 Stuart Ramsden of trade credit insurer Atradius argues that the combined resources of brokers and insurers offer a powerful tool in uncertain times.

In 2017 uncertainty is the name of the game. But despite the uncertainty, businesses need to continue to trade with confidence.

Providing that confidence is the perfect role for credit insurance and the challenge for those that work in the industry, particularly insurers and brokers, is to get that message to the market.

In the present risk climate, there is a need not just for protection against an individual debt or buyer, but against threats to a company’s longer term business strategy.

A

Output: Trade credit insurers and brokers can act as vital bulwarks for businesses as they navigate the economic and geopolitical uncertainties of Brexit, said Stuart Ramsden of trade credit insurer Atradius. They offer the reassurance and knowledge necessary for businesses to continue operating with confidence and to mitigate risks to trade relationships, Ramsden wrote in Insurance Age. "Astute businesses know that they can trade with more confidence if they have strong credit management partners working with them," he said.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Redrow North Cornwall MP opposes plans for 190 homes in Wadebridge
 Something went wrong, please try again later.

Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.

Our weekend morning emails feature the very best news and exclusive content from our team of reporters

The MP for North Cornwall is calling on housing and wind farm developers to abandon their High Court challenges after initial applications were rejected by planners.

Scott Mann, MP, has described his "dismay" at news that Redrow plc and Good Energy Group plc are appealing the rejection of plans for 190 homes in Wadebridge and a £30 million wind farm in Week St Mary respectively.

The two applications were rejected by local councils, Cornwall Council and the Government's Planning Inspectorate upon appeal, with the wind farm scheme also being rejected by the secretary of state for communities and local government this summer.

Both companies have now applied to the High Court for judicial reviews to try to overturn the decisions taken by the Planning Inspectorate.

In response, Mr Mann is calling on the two companies to abandon their High Court legal action and to respect the views of local people.

Writing to the chief executive of Redrow plc, John Tutte, regarding its failed application to build 190 homes on land off Trevanion Road, south of Cleavelands in Wadebridge, Mr Mann said: "The planning application for this proposed development received a fair hearing.

“It underwent significant scrutiny at a local level through the normal planning procedures at Cornwall Council, whereby many local residents lodged their objections alongside the evidence produced by the planning officer as to why planning permission had to be refused.

"Nearly one year later in July 2017, after receiving initial refusal from Cornwall Council, the application was again rejected by the Planning Inspectorate.

"This first appeal action was met with much disapproval locally, and I am astonished that Redrow continue to pursue this matter as far as the High Court.

"Of course, Redrow is well within their rights to seek a judicial review if it believes the Planning Inspectorate did not properly scrutinise and analyse the appeal.”

Mr Mann said he could not stress "the level of anger and disappointment" caused locally by Redrow's legal action.

Writing to Juliet Davenport, the CEO of Good Energy Group plc, which owns the Delabole wind farm, Mr Mann said: "The proposed wind farm was opposed by a number of parish and town councils during the original planning process and it also received widespread opposition from local residents.

“I would like to register my dismay on behalf of local communities that Good Energy is pursuing this proposal through the High Court, even though it has received a high level of objection from local people and official rejection by planning officials.

"This proposal has also been rejected by the communities and local government secretary himself. I therefore find it astonishing and alarming that Good Energy is ignoring this – particularly the will of local people – and is pursuing the matter in the High Court."

Mr Mann reminded the chief executive in his letter that the appeal for the wind farm went under extensive scrutiny by the Planning Inspectorate, including a public inquiry in Launceston Town Hall where local people and representatives were able to give their views.

Local communities will now have to wait and hear whether the legal action for either proposal will be allowed to continue in the High Court.

Cornwall Live has contacted both companies for comment.

Output: North Cornwall MP Scott Mann has called on UK housebuilder Redrow to abandon its application to the High Court, where it is seeking a judicial review after its plans to develop 190 homes in Wadebridge were rejected upon appeal by local councils, Cornwall Council and the government's Planning Inspectorate. In a letter to Redrow CEO John Tutte, Mann said the planning application had received a "fair hearing" and that he was "astonished Redrow continues to pursue this matter as far as the High Court".


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Facebook updates Collection Ads with Canvas templates
 The social network announced in a blog post that it will introduce a new Canvas template for Collection ads, which will be available to all advertisers next month.

Facebook debuted its e-commerce-driven Collection ads in March, consisting of a video on top and four recommended products below.

Canvas, Facebook’s full-screen, immersive mobile ad units, was introduced in February 2016.

Facebook said in its blog post that it hopes the combination of lifestyle images ads tagged with products within an immersive mobile experience will give brands the opportunity to “showcase their products in context and create a more meaningful branded experience.”

The new templates focus on three business objectives:

Acquiring new customers

Showcasing a business

Selling products

The social network added in its blog post, “Advertisers that have a Facebook product catalog can easily use the template to create a rich browsing experience, encouraging product discovery and...

Output: Facebook will improve its Collection feature, which displays a number of products beneath a video advertisement, with the addition of Canvas, the company's full-screen immersive ad units. The company said that combining the features will give brands the opportunity to “showcase their products in context and create a more meaningful branded experience”. Brands can also now re-target people who have clicked on Collection ads, use ads to drive in-store sales and track which products are driving traffic to their sites.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Blended learning continues to grow in the US
 Teaching with Technology Survey

Survey: Blended Learning on the Rise

Most faculty in our second annual Teaching with Technology Survey said they employ a mix of online and face-to-face instruction, and many are using the flipped model in their courses.

In a nationwide survey on the use of technology for teaching and learning, an increasing number of higher education faculty members said they employ a mix of online and face-to-face learning in their courses. A full 73 percent of respondents said they use the blended model — that's up from 71 percent in 2016. And while 15 percent of faculty are still teaching exclusively face-to-face, 12 percent have gone fully online (an increase from 10 percent teaching online in 2016).

Those findings came out of Campus Technology's 2017 Teaching with Technology Survey, in which we asked faculty to dish on their approach to teaching, use of technology, views of the future and more.

Diving deeper into the topic, we asked faculty both about the extent of their use of blended learning and about their plans for exploring that mode in the future. Seventy-six percent of respondents said all or some of their classes are blended (a notch up from 75 percent last year), while 9 percent plan to use the blended model in the next year or are considering the option.

One faculty member in West Virginia brought up a particular issue that could discourage some from moving to blended or online instruction: cheating. "The biggest challenge I see to technology in the classroom, especially with online classes, is the verification of the identity of the individual doing the work. In my online classes — and even the on-campus classes — cheating has become increasingly found among students."

In a related question, we asked faculty if they are flipping their classrooms — having students review recorded lectures or course content on their own and using class time for hands-on, active learning activities. Sixty-one percent of respondents said all or some of their classes are flipped (up from 55 percent in 2016). Twenty-four percent plan to use the flipped model in the next year or are exploring the idea.

A faculty member in Connecticut pointed to the flipped model as a way to make learning more engaging: "Technologies that will improve learning will engage students in doing more thinking. So much of what we see now is making learning more convenient, but not really increasing student engagement in and responsibility for their own learning. Flipped classroom models are moving in the right direction, asking students to engage with course content in creative and productive ways."

The full results of the Teaching with Technology Survey appear in the July digital issue of Campus Technology. Highlights from the survey will also be posted on this site over the coming months. You can check back for ongoing coverage in our Research section.

Who Responded Our survey polled 232 faculty members across the country about their use of technology in the classroom, their likes and dislikes, their predictions for the future and more. The majority of respondents (68 percent) come from public institutions, with 28 percent from private nonprofits and 4 percent working at for-profit schools. Seventy-two percent work at four-year colleges or universities; 26 percent are at community colleges (the remaining 2 percent designated their institutional level as "other"). Respondents represent institutions of a range of sizes, with about one-third (32 percent) working in colleges or universities with 2,500 to 9,999 students. Just under half (45 percent) of respondents are from institutions with 10,000 students or more. Our respondents are veterans of higher education: The largest group (47 percent) has more than 20 years of experience, with 81 percent logging at least 11 years in the field. The top three most common school and college types among our respondents are education (22 percent), business/business administration (17 percent) and liberal arts (12 percent). But overall, respondents work in a wide range of disciplines, from engineering and medicine to humanities and fine arts. The top 10 states with the most survey respondents are New York, Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Output: Online publication Campus Technology’s 2017 Teaching with Technology Survey found that across the US, 73% of higher education faculties are using blended learning on their courses, which combine online with face-to-face education. The figure is 2% up on 2016. Other findings include that 15% of faculty members still teach exclusively in person, while 12% are now fully teaching through online means. Of those surveyed, 76% stated that all or some of their classes are blended, with 9% considering using it. However, concerns were raised about cheating and identifying the individuals completing coursework using digital methods.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
African lender Ecobank adds cardless banking to its mobile app
 Ecobank in its financial inclusion drive to address the needs of the unbanked and the general populace has introduced Xpress Cash functionality as part of its upgraded mobile banking app. The application is aimed at transforming a mobile phone into an all-in-one bank account and payment/cash withdrawal tool.

Xpress Cash the bank said allows customers to withdraw cash from any Ecobank ATM using e-Tokens generated from the Ecobank Mobile app. The e-token generated can also be redeemed at agent locations within any of Ecobank’s 33 territories across middle Africa. Additionally, customers can send e-tokens to third parties via SMS, email or social media.

Ecobank CEO Ade Ayeyemi said “Innovating for customer convenience is in our DNA at Ecobank. We have developed this fast, convenient and innovative mobile banking solution – cardless Xpress Cash at our ATMs and Agencies to embed our digital platforms within the lifestyle of our customers and improve the uptake of digital financial solutions by both banked and unbanked in Africa.”

World Bank data indicates that in Sub-Saharan Africa only 34 per cent of adults had a bank account in 2014, up from 24 per cent in 2011. However according to the GSMA report – The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2017, at the end of 2016, there were 420 million unique mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa. This accounts for almost 10 per cent of the global mobile subscriber base, and is expected to exponentially grow.

“Ecobank is known across Africa for leveraging the mobile phone to deliver instant bank accounts, transfers and payments to our customers. We are taking this to another level by giving our customers the opportunity to withdraw cash on our ATMs using their phones. What this means is that your phone is your access to cash. It is your bank in your pocket. That’s powerful. That’s freedom. That’s inclusion for all.” said Patrick Akinwuntan, Ecobank’s Group Executive for Consumer Banking.

Output: African lender Ecobank has added cardless banking functionality to its mobile app, enabling customers to use their phones to make digital payments, withdraw cash from ATMs and manage their accounts. Xpress Cash is aimed at attracting new savers, including unbanked Africans, said CEO Ade Ayeyemi. World Bank data from 2014 indicates only a third of sub-Saharan African adults held bank accounts. The app means "your phone is your access to cash", said Patrick Akinwuntan, group executive for consumer banking. "It is your bank in your pocket. That’s inclusion for all.”


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
E-commerce in India valued at $1.7bn in run-up to Christmas
 What funding crunch and pressure for profits? It’s India’s biggest festive season and, as usual, e-commerce players are splurging.

Between September and December, the cash burn—the amount companies spend to run their businesses—is estimated to reach up to $400 million, according to research firm RedSeer Consulting. This is up to 60% higher than the $250 million spent last year.

Advertisement

The good news, however, is that it may result in more business. RedSeer estimates the total GMV (gross merchandise value, or the total value of goods sold from a marketplace) of the Indian e-commerce sector this festival season to be about 60% higher than a year ago at $1.7 billion (Rs11,309 crore).

Festive season sales make for a huge share of the total annual sales in segments like apparel, consumer goods, and home decor. So companies go on advertising sprees during this time.

Ahead of this year’s season, India’s e-commerce posterboy Flipkart raised its biggest-ever funding round of $2.5 billion.

The cash burn “could pay off if the industry is able to deliver a top-class experience to the millions of new shoppers this time around and retain them going forward,” Anil Kumar, CEO of RedSeer Consulting, said.

Advertisement

Where’s the cash going?

Like every year, companies are likely to spend on discounts. It will be higher than the previous year, RedSeer Consulting said, without putting any figure to it.

Price-sensitive Indians love discounts and lower prices have been key to online shopping. According to a 2015 report by Goldman Sachs, 30% of an Indian e-commerce company’s expenses go towards discounts.

“With the latest funding firepower, this time around, market leader Flipkart would most likely increase discounting spends to acquire new customers as well as to gain momentum over rival Amazon,” RedSeer Consulting said in the report. Amazon India and Paytm Mall are likely to follow suit, it said.

The other area where online retailers will spend more than last year is logistics and supply chain management.

Advertisement

“Customer demographics have changed compared to (the) past year with tier-II becoming a more important share (of the customer base)…E-tailers are more dependent on third-party logistics players for delivery (to tier II areas) which adds to the overall expenses,” RedSeer said.

The one area where spending is seen flat or marginally lower this year is advertising. For companies are now increasingly spending on low-cost channels such as digital marketing.

Flipkart is focusing on “personalised digital push,” Moneycontrol.com reported earlier this month. ”The Big Billion Days sale was the only big sale event online when we started. Now it is more of festive season sale, given many other players offer the same. In this scenario, we need to cut through the clutter and innovate ways to reach out to our potential users,” Flipkart’s director for marketing, Kartikeya Bhandari, told the news portal.

Output: The total value of the Indian e-commerce sector this festive season is expected to be around $1.7bn, up 60% from last year. Companies' total spend for the holiday period is also set to rise by 60%. A 2015 report by Goldman Sachs found that 30% of an Indian e-commerce company’s expenses goes towards discounts, to encourage new customers and maintain market competitiveness. Online retailers are expected to spend more on logistics and supply chain management, but less on total advertising, favouring low-cost digital channels.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Mahindra mobile PV testing lab to tackle waning performance
 Mahindra Susten has launched what it claims to be India’s first mobile PV lab as quality standards are set to be brought in and some third-party solar projects see significant module performance drops across the country.

Speaking to PV Tech at the REI Expo near Delhi, Satish Pandey, head, performance analytics and PV testing, Mahindra Susten, said: “The main reason behind this is after one year or two years the module performance is degraded drastically, particularly in India.”

He said that the quality of modules coming into India even today can be low. During field testing as a third-party, the firm has observed some projects with supplied modules degrading up to 10% just in the first year. Meanwhile, several other projects have seen modules operate within the warranty limit for two years before degrading as much as 8% just in the third year and these are all modules supplied by tier-one manufacturers.

The new test lab has three main applications:

Flash test – or Sun Simulator – to record the module power in similar conditions to that of the module manufacturer Elector luminescence (EL) testing to find micro-cracks and cell cracks Thermal inspection to test the module for hotspots or diode defects

The company has just one lab to date, but depending on market response, will consider developing more to cover the whole of India.

Pandey said response from industry has been good so far and the Lab has applied for accreditation from NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories – an autonomous body under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology), and has also approached the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for the empanelment of the laboratory, which would allow Indian solar industry asset owners to make the most of the lab results. Pandey was confident that Mahindra will see positive results on both shortly.

MNRE also recently confirmed that new quality standards would be brought in in 12 months’ time, which will make it mandatory for every EPC player to do onsite testing. The mobile lab, which is compatible for all technologies, allows for onsite testing and removes damage from transportation risks as well as giving transparency to the owner who can witness the tests.

This article has been updated to clarify the accreditations that were applied for.

Output: Indian renewable energy firm Mahindra Susten, part of the Mahindra Group, has launched a mobile photovoltaic testing lab in response to the number of modules from Tier I suppliers that are degrading by up to 10% in their first few years of use. The lab tests for micro-cracks and cell cracks, hotspots or diode defects, and can also perform a flash test. Mahindra Susten has applied for accreditation for the lab from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories, and is considering increasing its number of mobile labs.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Germany clears online ransom to be covered by cyber insurance
 In the September 2017 edition of its monthly journal, the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) published a statement on the insurability of cyber extortion payments. BaFin decided to allow coverage for cyber extortion payments in combination with general cyber policies. Following this clarification, there is now legal certainty that from now on, cyber extortion payments can be covered under cyber policies.

In the past, cyber extortion payments were subject to the general BaFin provisions on the insurability of kidnap and ransom insurance (K&R). Until 1998, K&R insurance was inadmissible due to the German regulator’s strict approach finding that the insurance of K&R claims would foster the risk of kidnapping and would therefore violate public policy. While none of the BaFin publications on this subject are technically legally binding, they can be deemed as a clear indication of the regulator's expectations. Moreover, such publications will usually constitute a self-commitment of BaFin with the effect that BaFin has to treat similar cases alike.

In 1998, BaFin changed its opinion by publishing a circular letter and stating that under certain conditions the provision of product extortion and ransom insurance does not violate public policy. However, BaFin still considered K&R insurance only admissible under strict requirements such as: no combination with other coverage, no advertisements, contract term not to exceed one year, confidentiality as regards coverage (information of no more than three persons). BaFin has adjusted the requirements for K&R insurance three times since the circular letter was published. In 2000, BaFin stated that a separate K&R license was no longer required and, since 2008, has accepted automatic policy renewals as admissible under certain circumstances. In 2014, BaFin stated that in certain scenarios more than three persons may be informed about the K&R policy but also stressed that the other strict requirements for K&R insurance would remain applicable.

Following these strict requirements also for cyber insurance purposes, insurers were to provide German policyholders with two separate cyber policies: the main policy to cover the standard cyber risks and the separate policy to cover cyber extortion payments.

Therefore, besides providing legal certainty, the recent BaFin statement simplifies the business for insurance companies providing comprehensive cyber coverage. From now on, they can provide one cyber policy that covers general cyber risks as well as ransom payments. However, it should be noted that the ransom coverage can only be combined with cyber policies and not with any other insurance policies, such as crime policies for instance.

Moreover, BaFin underlines in its recent statement that the other strict requirements established in the circular letter of 1998 are, in general, still applicable. If an insurer decides to offer comprehensive cyber coverage including ransom payments, in particular the following restrictions are still relevant:

The cyber policy can still be advertised but it is not admissible to advertise the ransom component. It has to be ensured that the ransom coverage does not interfere with police investigations. The insurers have to ensure high data protection standards which have to be adapted to the ongoing technical developments.

The new BaFin publication is addressed to insurers that have a licence to conduct property and casualty insurance business in Germany. It is also applicable for insurers from other member states of the European Union and the European Economic Area conducting business in Germany on a freedom of services or freedom of establishment basis.

Output: German property and casualty insurance companies can, for the first time, offer a single policy covering ransom payments as well as general cyber risks, following a clarifying statement from the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). It said that, in addition to existing kidnap and ransom restrictions, ransom cover can only be combined with cyber policies, may not be advertised as part of a cyber policy and must not interfere with police investigations. BaFin's ruling also covers companies from European Union member states and the European Economic Area that are working in Germany.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Uber loses London licence over corporate responsibility failings
 Uber has been stripped of its London licence in a surprise move that dealt a serious blow to one of Silicon Valley’s fastest rising companies and sparked an outcry from a coalition of customers, government ministers and drivers at the ride-hailing company.

The firm’s application for a new licence in London was rejected by Transport for London on the basis that the company is not a “fit and proper” private car hire operator.

Uber’s cars will not disappear immediately as its current licence expires on 30 September and it plans to challenge the ruling by London’s transport authority in the courts immediately. The firm can continue to operate in the capital – where it has 3.5 million users – until it has exhausted the appeals process, which could take months..

Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, wrote to staff on Friday confirming that the company would appeal against the ruling. He said he disagreed with the decision but it was based on past behaviour.

“The truth is that there is a high cost to a bad reputation,” he wrote. “It really matters what people think of us, especially in a global business like ours.

“It’s critical that we act with integrity in everything we do, and learn how to be a better partner to every city we operate in. That doesn’t mean abandoning our principles – we will vigorously appeal TfL’s decision – but rather building trust through our actions and our behaviour. In doing so, we will show that Uber is not just a really great product, but a really great company that is meaningfully contributing to society, beyond its business and its bottom line.”

Khosrowshahi, who was brought in to run the firm after a series of scandals, also tweeted an appeal to Londoners to “work with us” in solving the issue.

Dear London: we r far from perfect but we have 40k licensed drivers and 3.5mm Londoners depending on us. Pls work w/us to make things right — dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) September 22, 2017

The decision by TfL was backed by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, employment rights campaigners, and the trade body for the capital’s black-cab drivers, who have been staunch opponents of the US-based company.

However, it drew immediate criticism from Uber users, drivers and Greg Hands, the trade minister.

One of Uber’s 40,000 drivers in the capital, James Farrar, who has campaigned for better working conditions at the firm, said TfL’s decision was a “devastating blow”.

TfL said it had rejected the company’s application to renew its licence because “Uber’s approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility” in relation to reporting serious criminal offences, obtaining medical certificates and driver background checks.

The licensing body also said it was concerned by Uber’s use of Greyball, software that can be used to block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to its app and undertaking regulatory or law enforcement duties.

The decision to remove Uber from one of its biggest markets is the latest blow for a company that has shot to a $70bn (£52bn) valuation since it was founded in 2009 but has been hobbled by opposition from national and municipal governments around the world – including in Italy and Rio de Janeiro – due to concerns over safety or the threat to existing taxi businesses.

Prof Andre Spicer, from Cass Business School in London, said the decision was a “potentially mortal blow” to Uber. “In the past Uber operated at the edge of the law with new technology as an alibi. Now its rogue business model is proving to be a big liability.”

Khan said he fully supported TfL’s decision, saying all companies needed to “play by the rules”.

He said: “I want London to be at the forefront of innovation and new technology and to be a natural home for exciting new companies that help Londoners by providing a better and more affordable service.

“However, all companies in London must play by the rules and adhere to the high standards we expect – particularly when it comes to the safety of customers.”

But Hands, who is also minister for London, said: “At the flick of a pen Sadiq Khan is threatening to put 40,000 people out of work and leave 3.5 million users of Uber stranded.

“Uber must address safety concerns and it is important there is a level playing field across the private hire market.

“But a blanket ban will cause massive inconvenience to millions of Londoners, all while showing that the Mayor of London is closed to business and innovation.”

Sam Gyimah, a Conservative justice minister and MP for East Surrey, said it was “possible to have effective regulation of Uber without

penalising the consumers who benefit from more choice and lower

prices”.

Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, which represents black-cab drivers, said the mayor had made the right decision.

“Since it first came on to our streets Uber has broken the law, exploited its drivers and refused to take responsibility for the safety of passengers. This immoral company has no place on London’s streets,” he said.

Uber said in a statement the decision would “show the world that, far from being open, London is closed to innovative companies”.

“3.5 million Londoners who use our app, and more than 40,000 licensed drivers who rely on Uber to make a living, will be astounded by this decision,” the company added.

The company wrote to users on Friday asking them to “defend the livelihoods” of its drivers and sign a petition asking the mayor to reverse TfL’s decision.

Help ensure Londoners have more, not fewer, transportation options—sign the petition. https://t.co/nheuOcYjQH — Uber (@Uber) September 22, 2017

Farrar, a co-claimant in a landmark employment tribunal decision against Uber and chair of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain’s private hire drivers’ branch, said TfL should have stepped in earlier to protect drivers.

“To strip Uber of its licence after five years of laissez-faire regulation is a testament to a systemic failure at TfL,” he said.

The majority of Uber users responding to a Guardian request for comment opposed the decision to revoke the company’s licence.

Helen, from Walthamstow in east London, criticised the decision and said TfL should be working more closely with Uber. “With a lack of staff and police visible [on public transport], I often feel unsafe travelling alone and Uber has given me an affordable alternative to get home safely,” she said.

Leo, a wheelchair user, said less than 30% of the tube network was accessible to him and buses were slow. “Uber has been a lifesaver for me. It has got me to visit family at short notice when the nearest accessible station was miles away and the bus took two hours,” he said.

In London, Uber has faced criticism from unions, lawmakers and traditional black-cab drivers over working conditions. Unions including the IWGB and GMB called on TfL to insist Uber guaranteed basic employment rights under the terms of its new five-year licence.

Employment rights campaigners said TfL’s decision was a warning shot to so-called gig economy companies, which include apps such as Deliveroo and delivery firms such as Hermes who argue their drivers and riders are self-employed.

Frank Field, the Labour MP who led a parliamentary inquiry which found that Uber drivers were treated as Victorian-style “sweated labour” said: “This is a gamechanger for the gig economy. Uber must now respond to TfL’s decision by totally resetting its business model.”

Output: Uber has had its application for a new London licence rejected on the grounds that the company is not a “fit and proper” private car hire operator. The firm’s current licence expires on 30 September, but Uber, which plans to appeal, can continue to operate during the 21-day appeal process. Transport for London (TfL) argued that Uber’s behaviour showed “a lack of corporate responsibility” with regard to reporting criminal offences, obtaining medical documentation and checking the backgrounds of drivers. TfL also expressed concern about Uber’s use of the Greyball software, which can block regulators from accessing the company’s app.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Aldi stores across US to accept Apple Pay
 If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy

Article Hero Image

iPhone and Apple Watch users shopping at Aldi grocery stores can now check out with Apple Pay at nearly 1,700 locations across the U.S., marking a significant expansion for Apple's tap-to-pay service.

Beyond the iPhone, Aldi's expansion also includes Android Pay, meaning most anyone with an NFC-based payment system on their phone will be able to check out conveniently without swiping or inserting a credit card.

Payment terminals at checkout will also support contactless bank and credit cards, as well as NFC-enabled wearable devices like the Apple Watch.

"We're continually innovating to provide our customers a faster, more efficient shopping experience that saves them time and money," Aldo Chief Executive Jason Hart said. "Shoppers love ALDI because we build and run stores they can shop quickly. Contactless payment makes shopping at ALDI that much faster and more convenient."

As of 2016, Aldi had 1,602 stores across the U.S. Recent expansions have brought the chain close to 1,700 locations in America.

Apple Pay support has gradually expanded since the feature launched on the iPhone 6 nearly 3 years ago. One recent popular addition was the Citi Bike bicycle sharing service in New York City.

The capabilities will further expand this fall with the launch of Apple Pay Cash, allowing for person-to-person money transfers direct from an iPhone or Apple Watch.

Output: Aldi’s almost 1,700 US stores are set to accept payments through Apple Pay and Android Pay, enabling anyone with NFC-enabled payment options on their phone to shop without cash or card. Payment will also be possible with contactless cards and wearable devices, such as smartwatches. It is hoped the new payment methods will make checking out quicker and easier.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
California Nervously Awaits U.S. Senate’s Verdict On Obamacare
 About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.

Congressional Republicans are giving repeal of Obama’s signature health law one more try.

They have until the end of the month to garner enough votes to pass the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill, which would fundamentally change how health care is funded nationwide. Its effects would be especially far-reaching in California and other states that bought heavily into the Affordable Care Act.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania who been working with GOP leaders to craft the latest measure, told Breitbart News that four states — Massachusetts, California, New York and Maryland — receive a disproportionate share of Obamacare funding. The Graham-Cassidy bill, he said, would “redistribute this money that has been heaped upon these four ultra blue, very wealthy states by the way, and don’t need a lot of federal support because they’re very wealthy states.”

Other Republicans who favor the bill argue it would provide states with increased flexibility while controlling costs.

Perhaps the most significant changes in the bill: allowing states to opt out of the “essential health benefits” guaranteed by the ACA and using lump sums, or “block grants,” to pay for Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) and federal subsidies for the Obamacare exchanges, including Covered California. The bill also would remove the individual mandate for all Americans to obtain coverage. Critics say that could result in a riskier insurance pool dominated by sicker patients, making coverage less affordable for everyone.

In this radio segment, Emily Bazar of California Healthline and Kaiser Health News discussed the potential impact of the proposal in California and Nevada with Capital Public Radio host Beth Ruyak. The interview preceded a conference Thursday in Sacramento in which Bazar moderated a panel discussion titled “The ACA: What Happens Under Trump.”

One point Bazar underscored in her remarks about the future of the ACA: “I will not make any predictions.”

Output: Congressional Republicans are giving repeal of Obama’s signature health law one more try. They have until the end of the month to garner enough votes to pass the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill, which would fundamentally change how health care is funded nationwide. Its effects would be especially far-reaching in California and other states that bought heavily into the Affordable Care Act.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
The push for single-payer health care just went national. What does that mean for the California effort?
 Last May, Sen. Bernie Sanders lauded California’s proposed single-payer healthcare plan. (Sept. 22, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Beverly Hills last May, he made a full-throated appeal for California to “lead the country” and pass a pending state proposal to establish single-payer healthcare.

On Friday, he’ll return here for a San Francisco speech trumpeting his own higher-stakes plan — a bill to drastically overhaul the nation’s health-care system by covering everyone through Medicare .

The push for single-payer, in which the government pays for residents’ medical care, has already rattled California’s political landscape. Now, the Sanders measure brings an additional jolt, elevating the issue to a national debate that has implications for the future direction of the Democratic Party and early jockeying in the 2020 presidential race .

The Sanders plan has left proponents of state Senate Bill 562, the California proposal, elated, viewing the buzz in Washington, D.C., as an unequivocal boon to their efforts in Sacramento, which faltered this summer when the measure was shelved in the state Assembly.

“It phenomenally buttresses SB 562,” said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Assn./National Nurses United, the bill’s most fervent supporter. “The fact is, it’s in the national narrative now.”

But the parallel state and federal proposals could also make an already thorny issue more difficult by laying bare the challenges facing California should it embark on the single-payer route alone — and ramping up the pressure for the state to establish itself as a national model.

Sanders, who has a huge liberal following in California from his presidential bid, has been an enthusiastic proponent of the state’s proposal, casting it as a head start for his national single-payer ambition.

“Please make my life easier,” he pleaded in May, endorsing the bill by state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) that was then winding its way through committee hearings. It was abruptly halted by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) several months later, but is still eligible for consideration next year. At the time, Rendon called the plan “woefully incomplete.”

For now, the two bills face vastly different political terrains. Sanders’ measure, which was rolled out last week, would have to clear a Republican Congress and survive President Trump ’s veto pen, an almost unimaginable scenario. In California, the prospect is theoretically less futile with Democrats dominating the state Capitol, although this year’s stumble showed how resistance to single-payer is not simply partisan.

Policy-wise, Sanders’ bill echoes California’s. Both proposals would do away with nearly all out-of-pocket health-care costs for residents, including premiums and co-pays. Both would dramatically reduce the role of private insurance companies, with government filling that role instead.

While proponents of each bill have floated potential financing schemes, neither piece of legislation includes tax hikes or a specific way to cover costs.

Both measures have been framed by supporters as a rejoinder to the repeated attempts by Republicans in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act , including a new Obamacare overhaul poised for a Senate vote next week.

The debate over single-payer healthcare in California isn't going away. Here's why »

Lara, the author of SB 562, backs the Sanders plan. But despite the bills’ similarities, other California politicians have reacted differently to the two proposals.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is one of 16 Democratic senators to co-sponsor Sanders’ bill.

“United States taxpayers deserve a better return on their investment, and that's why I'm supporting Medicare for All,” Harris said in a statement. “It is about saying that healthcare is a right for all, not a privilege for a few.”

Harris did not take a position on the California bill, and her office did not address a reporter’s specific questions on the state-level effort this week.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom , a 2018 gubernatorial hopeful who, along with Sanders, will address the nurses’ union Friday, has been unequivocal in his support for the Sanders bill.

But he has been more circumspect on his thoughts on SB 562, explaining in an interview that he wanted to see the legislative process in Sacramento “run its course.”

“The bill's not perfect. It's not complete,” Newsom said. “The end result would hardly look like it looks today had it had a chance to process through the Legislature.”

One of Newsom’s Democratic rivals in the governor’s race, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa , said he supports the concept of having national single-payer health-care coverage, but he opposed SB 562.

“I don’t support it because it doesn’t have a funding plan,” Villaraigosa said. “The notion that we would just transfer to a single-payer system on our own with the price tag of $400 billion is not something people see as feasible.”

Single-payer backers such as DeMoro expressed little patience with distinguishing support for a state proposal versus a national one.

“If you're a single-payer advocate, you're going to support SB 562. If you're just politically posturing, you might not,” DeMoro said. She added she has “confidence” that Newsom, whom her group endorsed nearly two years ago, sufficiently backs the state bill.

A state-level single-payer system in California is attainable, according to health-care experts.

“We are large enough to do what needs to be done,” said Gerald Kominski, director of UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research. “We've got a large enough pool of people. We've got a strong economy. So we could go it alone.”

As long as there’s a Republican Congress and a Republican president, everyone knows this is an organizing tool rather than an immediate threat to pass. — Eddie Kurtz, president of Courage Campaign, on Sen. Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill

Still, there are unique snags to a state-only system. Most significantly, California would need to get permission from the federal government to repurpose dollars from Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. That prospect appears hazy under Trump, who called single-payer a “curse on the U.S.” in a recent tweet. And California’s state constitution has spending limits and rules on how revenue must be spent that serve as obstacles to using new taxes for increased healthcare spending.

A California single-payer system could also be more vulnerable to “medical tourists” from other states establishing residency here — a relatively easy step under the proposal — to take advantage of free care.

Sanders’ proposal essentially expands Medicare, a single-payer system already in place. California, however, has no equivalent program; it would have to build one from scratch.

Medicare “is a framework that, I think, most people can get their arms around. It’s a process that provides for at least some understanding and familiarity,” Newsom said. “At the state level, the requirements are very different …. It’s a more challenging frame.”

Single-payer advocates in the state said while they’re thrilled by Sanders’ proposal, their primary efforts will still be in California where such a plan is more politically possible.

The progressive group Courage Campaign convened liberal activists this week in Sacramento to strategize on how to push ahead with a state-level health-care overhaul.

“As long as there’s a Republican Congress and a Republican president, everyone knows this is an organizing tool rather than an immediate threat to pass,” said Eddie Kurtz, the group’s president. “It’s wonderful to have that goalpost out there.”

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), a co-author of SB 562 who nonetheless called the bill not “ready for prime time,” said he didn’t expect lawmakers to cede the issue to Congress.

“The best way to do it and the most viable is to have a national plan for this,” McCarty said. “Does that mean California should sit around and wait for the nation to do it? No. I think we'll be evaluating how to do it.”

The national debate underscores how high the stakes will be. Proponents are hoping California will serve as Massachusetts did for the Affordable Care Act, establishing a model the country can follow.

The potential of being an archetype also comes with more responsibility to craft the best policy, said Rendon, who has urged broadening the healthcare overhaul debate beyond SB 562. He is facing a recall effort for deciding to shelve that bill.

“The possibilities of a national system changes the conversation,” Rendon said. “If we're going to do universal healthcare in California — whatever manifestation that may take — there may be more of a need to get it right than there would have been otherwise.”

Times staff writer Phil Willon in Sacramento contributed to this report.

melanie.mason@latimes.com

Follow @melmason on Twitter for the latest on California politics.

California Assembly leader Anthony Rendon's decision to shelve single-payer healthcare angers progressive activists

Q&A: What would California's proposed single-payer healthcare system mean for me?

Updates from Sacramento

UPDATES:

9:20 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about how single-payer faces potential constitutional challenges.

This article was originally published at 12 a.m.

Output: When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Beverly Hills last May, he made a full-throated appeal for California to “lead the country” and pass a pending state proposal to establish single-payer health care.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Mercedes to invest $1bn in EV/Battery plant in Alabama
 Mercedes is investing more than $1 billion to upgrade a U.S. plant for assembling batteries and electric SUVs -- putting a big bet on the market for larger battery-powered vehicles.

The German automaker, owned by Daimler, made the announcement Thursday at its Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant, which makes its SUV models GLE, GLS and GLE Coupé.

Along with a nearby battery factory, Mercedes will upgrade factory lines to build its EQ brand electric SUV, the EQ C, starting sometime around 2020.

The move comes as Mercedes prepares to launch its broader EQ line of EVs, starting with the EQ A midsize hatchback, and now the EQ C. Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said earlier this month that Mercedes will offer electric versions of all of its models by 2022, plus a new series of plug-in hybrids, for about 50 new models in all.

All told, Daimler plans to invest $11 billion in EVs over the next five years.

The company told investors that profit margins may suffer in coming quarters as it ramps up sales of EVs -- which come with roughly half the profit margins of its internal combustion engine vehicles -- in order to prepare for a world market more focused on reducing vehicle emissions.

Daimler’s moves are being matched by automakers around the globe, and not just early EV entrants like Nissan and General Motors.

Volvo announced in July that every new vehicle model released starting in 2019 will be either a hybrid or electric. Audi is scaling up EV production at its Brussels plant. Volkswagen has committed to investing $10 billion over the next five years to bring 25 new EV models to market by 2025. And Ford plans to invest $4.5 billion in electrification by 2020.

Meanwhile, the electric SUV market is mainly defined by Tesla’s Model X -- a gull-winged, poorly reviewed vehicle. CEO Elon Musk described it as the “technology bandwagon of everything cool we could imagine all at once."

The Model X received Consumer Reports’ second-worst ranking in midsize luxury SUVs, and analysts report that vehicle registrations in the U.S. have been slipping over the past few quarters. Tesla recently dropped the price from $82,500 to $79,500.

Musk took a moment during a May earnings call to address the next SUV concept, the more fleshed-out Model Y. That vehicle, supposedly featuring a “genuine step change” in manufacturing, will “aspirationally” be out in 2019, or more likely in 2020, he said.

Battery prices are one of the most critical determinants in EV pricing, which has turned automakers into battery manufacturers.

Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada, as well as its foray into behind-the-meter energy storage through its Powerwall and Powerpack systems, has gotten much of the press attention.

But Mercedes has also launched a U.S. energy storage company making use of its automotive manufacturing capacity -- in fact, the battery plant it’s building in Tuscaloosa will be its fifth around the world.

Output: Mercedes is investing more than $1bn to upgrade its US plant for assembling batteries and electric SUVs based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Mercedes is preparing to launch its EQ line of EVs, starting with the EQ A midsize hatchback followed by the the EQ C SUV from 2020. Daimler said earlier this month that Mercedes will offer electric versions of all of its models by 2022, plus a new series of plug-in hybrids, for about 50 new models in all. The battery plant in Tuscaloosa will be its fifth globally. Earlier this year, it launched a US energy storage company.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Believe it or not, Graham-Cassidy socializes the cost of health insurance
 Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) speaks to the media about his proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare, accompanied by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

There are plenty of things wrong with the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson proposal to overhaul Obamacare (and Medicaid, while it’s at it), from its cockamamie approach to helping people not insured by their employers to its blithe indifference to the rising cost of medical care.

But give sponsoring Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) credit for doing something remarkable: They got even the most conservative of their Republican colleagues to agree to socialize more of the cost of health insurance.

Wait, they did what?

Unlike previous GOP proposals to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, Graham’s legislation would leave in place almost every new tax and tax increase the Affordable Care Act imposed, including those on high-income Americans, health insurers, tanning salons and drugmakers. Doing so would raise about $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years; the Graham-Cassidy proposal would put that money into block grants for states, replacing various subsidies in the ACA for health insurance and care for low-income Americans.

Advertisement

Republicans and Democrats can, and will, disagree sharply over the wisdom of the change. But what’s being missed here is that Republicans are proposing to use a metric megaload of federal tax dollars to do the same thing Democrats did through the ACA: make health insurance more available and affordable. After all, under Graham-Cassidy, the block grant funding would have to be spent to help provide health insurance to high-cost individuals, or to help insurers cover losses (presumably from such individuals), or to help low-income residents obtain coverage and care.

Put another way, the Graham-Cassidy proposal would socialize some of the cost of healthcare for millions of Americans, to the tune of more than $1 trillion per decade.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has cited this spending as the reason why he’s adamantly opposed to the proposal. But no other Republican has; instead, a few GOP senators have complained that the bill may not provide enough money for their states, or that it has been force-marched through the Senate with no hearings or vetting.

It should be noted that this country already socializes a large percentage of healthcare costs through the tax exemption for employee insurance premiums as well as Medicare, Medicaid and other public health insurance programs. The Affordable Care Act pushed that percentage a bit higher; Graham-Cassidy would dial it back a little.

I suspect the proposal’s supporters don’t look at it as a way to perpetuate the transfer of wealth from taxpayers to insurance buyers (or, less directly, to insurance companies and healthcare providers). But that’s what they would be voting for.

And that’s something Democrats and Republicans could build on, should Graham-Cassidy fail to pass the Senate. Granted, it would require both sides to step out of their ideological bunkers. Democrats would have to accept the idea that Obamacare didn’t come up with the perfect solution to insuring people not covered by large employer plans — in fact, it piled too much cost on too few people. And Republicans would have to agree that the federal government can play a bigger role in helping Americans with healthcare costs that are too great for those of limited or even ordinary means to afford.

If the two sides can agree on those points, it shouldn’t take a herculean effort to come up with an approach to insuring the 20 million or so Americans in the non-group market that both sides can embrace. Because all of the sturm und drang about preserving or repealing Obamacare essentially comes down to this: How do we enable those people to be insured? Once both sides are willing to answer that question with federal tax dollars, it’s just a matter of figuring out how best to control the costs.

By supporting Graham-Cassidy, Republicans would be anteing up $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years to help bring coverage to folks in the non-group market, as well as to low-income Americans not eligible for Medicaid. That would be quite a step toward a bipartisan agreement, if only they recognized what they were doing.

jon.healey@latimes.com

Twitter: @jcahealey

Output: There are plenty of things wrong with the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson proposal to overhaul Obamacare (and Medicaid, while it’s at it), from its cockamamie approach to helping people not insured by their employers to its blithe indifference to the rising cost of medical care.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Graham-Cassidy Has One Great Idea
 The idea of turning more power over to the states has long been advocated by conservatives, but there are compelling reasons for liberals to get behind devolving power from the federal government.

When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, it left many of the details to the discretion of the Department of Health and Human Services, giving vast powers to the secretary to determine everything from fast-food menu labeling requirements to when individuals could purchase insurance. During the Obama years, the administration used its regulatory discretion — pushing and arguably exceeding the limits of the law — to prop up the president’s signature legislative accomplishment as the program ran into implementation problems.

When President Trump took office, he appointed Tom Price, a longtime foe of Obamacare during his time in Congress, to run H.H.S. In the past several months, liberals have shouted “sabotage” as they have witnessed Mr. Price take actions such as slashing Obamacare’s advertising budget, tweaking the rules on the types of plans insurers are allowed to offer and cutting in half — to six weeks — the program’s open enrollment period. Mr. Trump himself has created uncertainty over whether he will continue to authorize payments to insurers that congressional Republicans sued Mr. Obama over.

Any national health care system that assumes one party will control Washington for all eternity is doomed to fail. New Yorkers would have much less to fear about a Trump presidency if the president didn’t control agencies that set policies for the entire country.

From the perspective of somebody who wants to see genuine federalism in health care, Graham-Cassidy leaves a lot to be desired. Because it keeps many of Obamacare’s regulations on the books at the national level, it limits the amount of innovation that can occur at the state level. The fact that it keeps most of Obamacare’s taxes means that states preferring to take a more free market approach will still be paying for a big government footprint in other states. Under one scenario, for instance, Texans could be subsidizing single-payer health care in Vermont.

But the idea of giving states more control over their health care systems should survive no matter what happens with Graham-Cassidy.

Output: The latest Republican stab at overhauling the Affordable Care Act manages to be both more timid and more sweeping than previous efforts to replace Obamacare. Known as Graham-Cassidy, it was written by a quartet of Republican senators led by Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
The G.O.P. Bill Forces States to Build Health Systems From Scratch. That’s Hard.
 In 2003, health care policy makers in Massachusetts agreed that the state should build a system to expand coverage to its uninsured residents.

It took four years before Romneycare was fully up and running.

In between, politicians had to think hard about how they wanted the system to work: how money would be raised and spent, what benefits would be offered, whether and how markets should be used to distribute coverage, whether people who didn’t buy coverage should be penalized. They had to build a computer system to help people check their eligibility and understand their options. They had to recruit insurers to participate. And they needed to find uninsured residents and persuade them to enroll.

A new health care bill before the Senate would require all the states in the country to make a similar soup-to-nuts evaluation of how they’d like their health care systems to work, to build such a system and be ready to open their doors in substantially less time — just over two years. That may not be realistic.

“The answer is absolutely no,” said Jon Kingsdale, who ran Massachusetts Connector, the system that matched Massachusetts residents with health insurance, and is now a public health professor and a consultant. “That’s not enough time for most states to figure it out.”

Output: In 2003, health care policy makers in Massachusetts agreed that the state should build a system to expand coverage to its uninsured residents. It took four years before Romneycare was fully up and running.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Latest Obamacare Repeal Effort Is Most Far-Reaching
 “This is by far the most radical of any of the Republican health care bills that have been debated this year,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “And the reason for that is that this would be the biggest devolution of federal money and responsibility to the states for anything, ever.”

The White House and Senate leaders are now in an intensive final push to repeal the Affordable Care Act by September 30. After that, under Senate rules, they will need 60 votes, which they acknowledge is an impossibility. Senator Graham said in a statement on Thursday that the legislation was gaining “momentum and support” because it would send “money and power back to the states, and closer to patients, to deliver quality health care.”

The legislation would turn over more than $1 trillion that would have been spent on the law known as Obamacare over the next seven years — everything from the funds for the expansion of Medicaid to the subsidies to help people buy private insurance — to states as “block grants” with very few strings attached. They would then use the money to set up their own health care programs. Congress would have to reauthorize the money after 2026 or it would go away.

“The decisions about individual mandates, mandated benefits, and all the other decisions the ACA moved to Washington are best made at the state level by governors who understand the unique needs of their states,” said Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican. Arkansas expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, and would lose roughly $6 billion under the bill, but Governor Hutchinson supports the legislation nonetheless.

“Graham-Cassidy is putting federal spending on a budget,” he said. “That is the fiscal discipline the federal government and states both need to ensure the sustainability of Medicaid and other state health care programs.”

Output: For decades, Republicans have dreamed of taking some of the vast sums the federal government spends on health care entitlements and handing the money over to states to use as they saw best.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Republicans Have a Bill to Repeal Obamacare. They Don't Know Exactly What It Will Do
 Senate Republicans have just days to pass a bill that would repeal major chunks of the Affordable Care Act, scale back federal spending on health care and dramatically change health insurance in the United States.

But they don’t know exactly how it will work.

Named for cosponsors Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, the Graham-Cassidy bill will not be scored by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before the Senate faces an end-of-month deadline to pass it by a simple majority.

While the broad outlines of the bill are known, that means senators will have to make a decision to vote for or against the bill without knowing how many millions of Americans could lose insurance, how much money their state could gain or lose under it and what effects it might have on insurance premiums, according to their own scorekeeper.

Outside groups have made their own estimates, all of which say the bill will lead to millions fewer Americans having insurance. A recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities wagers that more than 32 million people could lose healthcare as a result of Graham-Cassidy, which could slash federal healthcare funding by nearly $300 billion over the next decade.

But for some Republicans, the details of the bill are not as important as the years-long promise they made to repeal Obamacare.

“You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn’t be considered,” said Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. “But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That’s pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill.”

Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas told Vox that the bill needed to be passed regardless of imperfections because of the problems of the Affordable Care Act.

“Look, we’re in the back seat of a convertible being driven by Thelma and Louise, and we’re headed toward the canyon,” he said. “That’s a movie that you’ve probably never seen. So we have to get out of the car, and you have to have a car to get into, and this is the only car there is.”

When the Affordable Care Act was being considered in 2010, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said that lawmakers would have to “pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” She meant that the “fog of controversy” over the famously tortuous legislative process behind the bill had clouded the actual benefits in it, but the quote was seized on by many conservatives over the years to criticize the Democratic law.

But the Affordable Care Act was debated after a rigorous congressional schedule that included hearings before multiple committees, changes to the bill designed to win Republican support and a painful month for Democrats of angry constituents arguing against the bill at town-hall meetings.

The Graham-Cassidy bill, by contrast, is the result of fast-tracked and largely backroom conversations between Senate Republicans. There will only be one day of Senate hearings on the bill next week. At a press conference this week, Senate Minority Leader denounced it as “a hastily constructed piece of legislation put together in back rooms by only one party.”

“It’s quite unprecedented, and it’s very, very bad process on a lot of levels,” Alice Rivlin, the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office, director of the Office Management and Budget under the Clinton Administration and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told TIME. “To pass a major healthcare bill with the votes of only one party is a big mistake. They should wait for the CBO score. It’s bad PR, and it’s bad politics.”

The major impetus for the current push is a deadline to use a process known as reconciliation, which requires just a simple majority of 50 votes (with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie) to pass a bill. Earlier this month, the Senate parliamentarian set Sept. 30 as the deadline.

But earlier this week, the CBO issued a statement saying that it would only provide a “preliminary assessment” of Graham-Cassidy’s impact before the end of the month. Specific estimates of the bill’s impact on the deficit, the number of insured Americans, and the cost of insurance premiums would take “at least several weeks.”

“I would say it’s either never happened or it’s extraordinarily unusual for legislation to be considered without a full CBO score, particularly under reconciliation,” Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, the nonprofit health advocacy organization, tells TIME. “Many Republicans pride themselves on being fiscally conservative, so it’s difficult to understand how they would be comfortable voting on sweeping legislation that will impact at least 90 million Americans without a full accounting from the CBO of all financial and coverage impacts.”

This hasn’t stopped Senate Republicans from moving ahead. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell intends to “consider Graham-Cassidy on the floor next week,” his spokesman David Popp confirmed to TIME on Wednesday. When asked about the lack of a CBO score at a press conference, Senator Graham, the bill’s eponymous co-sponsor, deflected, saying only that “the CBO has told us that they’ll have a score for us, and it’ll be on the cash aspect of it, so we’ll have a chance to look at that.”

But it may yet stop the bill. Republicans can afford only two defections in the Senate to keep the bill from failing, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has already made it clear that he won’t vote for Graham-Cassidy. Three Republicans who voted against the last repeal attempt remain on the fence: Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

In his dramatic late-night speech against that attempt, McCain complained that the bill wasn’t going through the regular legislative process, and Collins has raised similar concerns this time around about Graham-Cassidy.

“I am still looking at it, but I have major reservations,” Collins told reporters this week. “We don’t have a CBO score.”

Contact us at letters@time.com.

Output: Senate Republicans have just days to pass a bill that would repeal major chunksof the Affordable Care Act, scale back federal spending on health care and dramatically change health insurance in the United States.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ted Baker brings ecommerce and payments tech in-store
 British retailer Ted Baker has partnered with e-commerce consultancy Salmon to offer a new payment solution which allows customers to order in a more secure way and pay for products that are unavailable in-store.

The new service enables employees to help customers shop in a more flexible way and have those products delivered to home, work or via Click and Collect at Ted Baker stores.

Currently being piloted in five London locations – Westfield, St. Pancras, Regent Street, Covent Garden and Floral Street – the solution is due to be rolled out across all UK and US stores, helping more than a thousand Ted Baker’s employees.

Sales representatives will also be better empowered with the ability to help customers create new Ted Baker accounts to improve their in-store and online experiences, and to enable a quick, more secure checkout for orders, taking payments via PayPal Here card readers anywhere within the store.

Craig Smith, digital commerce director at Ted Baker, said: “We recently opened our store in St. Pancras with limited storage facilities, so we wanted a solution that ensured our customers could still have the full Ted Baker shopping experience, even in our smaller stores. We wanted a seamless way to sell products to customers that they couldn’t access in store. The solution needed to be slick so as not to jar our customers’ experiences, and was also user-friendly for our employees.”

Neil Stewart, CEO at Salmon, added: “At a time when customers are demanding convenience from retailers, we’re proud to be helping Ted Baker provide a solution for its customers that facilitates a seamless and integrated way of shopping.”

Share Story:

Output: British clothing retailer Ted Baker is piloting an ecommerce and payments approach to in-store shopping. The service enables staff to help customers shop for items that are unavailable in-store, and is aimed at delivering a full shopping experience regardless of store size. A PayPal Here card reader system will help to provide a faster, secure checkout, with purchases delivered or picked up through the click and collect service at Ted Baker stores. Developed in partnership with e-commerce consultancy Salmon, the system is being tested at five stores around London before being rolled out across the UK and US.