Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Having fewer children best way to reduce carbon footprint
 Recycling and using public transit are all fine and good if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, but to truly make a difference you should have fewer children. That's the conclusion of a new study in which researchers looked at 39 peer-reviewed papers, government reports, and web-based programs that assess how an individual's lifestyle choices might shrink their personal share of emissions.

Many commonly promoted options, such as washing clothes in cold water or swapping incandescent bulbs for light-emitting diodes, have only a moderate impact (see chart, below), the team reports today in Environmental Research Letters . But four lifestyle choices had a major impact: Become a vegetarian, forego air travel, ditch your car, and—most significantly—have fewer children.

The top ways to reduce your carbon footprint Credits: (Graphic) J. You/Science; (Data) Seth Wynes and Kimberly A Nicholas, Environmental Research Letters (2017)

Eating no meat cuts an individual's carbon footprint by 820 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) each year, on average, about four times the reduction they'd get by recycling as much as possible. (Emissions generated by eating meat result, in large part, from the large amounts of energy needed to grow, harvest, and process feed crops.) Foregoing one round-trip transatlantic flight each year would cut a person's emissions of CO 2 by 1600 kilograms. Getting rid of their car would reduce emissions by 2400 kilograms, or 2.4 metric tons. And by choosing to have one fewer child in their family, a person would trim their carbon footprint by a whopping 58.6 metric tons—about the same emissions savings as having nearly 700 teenagers recycle as much as possible for the rest of their lives.

Despite the effectiveness of these four measures, neither the textbooks in Canadian schools nor government reports or websites in the European Union, the United States, Canada, or Australia highlight these choices, possibly because most of them require such extreme changes in lifestyle.

Output: The most effective way of reducing one’s carbon footprint is to have fewer children, according to a study published in Environmental Research Letters, which looked at a variety of methods of reducing personal emissions. Four lifestyle choices were found to have a key impact: becoming vegetarian reduced an individual’s footprint by 820kg of CO2 per year, taking one less round-trip transatlantic flight per year caused a 1,600kg reduction, getting rid of one’s car cut emissions by 2,400kg, or 2.4 metric tonnes, and having one less child in a family resulted in a reduction of 58.6 metric tonnes.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Volkswagon and Kuka expand their partnership
 The German auto manufacturer Volkswagen is expanding its partnership with the robot technology firm Kuka, according to recent reports. The expanded partnership will remain focused on developing ways that robots can potentially be used in conjunction with electric vehicle and self-driving vehicle tech to provide owners/drivers with useful services.

The news, which was revealed on Friday in a statement from Volkswagen, is surely related to the auto manufacturer’s growing PR efforts to rehabilitate its image following the diesel emissions cheating scandal.

In relation to these PR efforts, the company is claiming that it will be releasing quite a number of new plug-in electric vehicle models equipped with self-driving vehicle tech over the coming years. Presumably, the partnership with Kuka is a part of these overall plans.

Amongst other things, Volkswagen and Kuka — which was recently acquired by the China-based appliance manufacturer Midea — are working together on the creation of a system that can autonomously hook electric vehicles up to charging ports. You may remember the robot snake tech that Tesla showed off quite a while back (but has yet to commercialize). Presumably, Volkswagen and Kuka have their own snake of sorts in the oven.

The statement from Volkswagen noted on that matter that: “The driver simply has to position the electrically powered automobile in a designated parking space. The robot takes care of connecting up the charging cable for the driver.”

The statement noted that the two companies are cooperating on other, yet to be publicly revealed, concepts as well. It’s not clear exactly what these concepts would be related to. Any ideas?

Sign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps —— grow. So ...

Output: German carmaker Volkswagen has said it will work with robotics firm Kuka to develop a system for autonomously connecting electric vehicles to charging ports, according to a company statement. For the robot to connect the charging cable, the driver will only need to position the electric vehicle in a designated parking space, Volkswagen said. The carmaker is also partnering with Kuka on several projects that are yet to be publicly revealed, its statement said.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ordnance Survey releases digital map of UK green spaces
 Ordnance Survey hopes that its green space data will help improve public sector "planning, analysis, and decision making"

Ordnance Survey (OS) has created a database and a digital map of every green space and outdoor recreation facility in England, Scotland, and Wales.

The organisation has created “comprehensive map of Great Britain’s green spaces” which can be accessed via its OS Maps app and online service.

A data collection, dubbed OS Open Greenspace, is also available for download and use by businesses and individual software developers wishing “to create products and services that will encourage healthier and greener lifestyles”.

OS MasterMap Greenspace, an exclusively public-sector version of the green-spaces map, is also being made available to government bodies via the Public-Sector Mapping Agreement and the One Scotland Mapping Agreement. OS claimed the data, which also includes details of green spaces not currently accessible to the public, could help civil servants and policy makers “improve planning, analysis, and decision making”.

Related content

OS worked with a number of governmental and non-governmental organisations bodies to collate the green-space data. The mapping agency has compiled information on every single public park, garden, playing field, children’s play area, golf course, bowling green, and allotment in England, Wales, and Scotland.

The public can now obtain information on the exact location and breadth of facilities on offer at each site, as well as details of access points for bigger sites.

OS chief executive Nigel Clifford said: “I’m particularly proud of this product as it delivers valuable information to the public, via OS Maps, enabling people and families across Great Britain to discover the green spaces near them.

He added: “I am excited to see how people experiment and work with the data and look forward to seeing new products and services to help encourage an active Great Britain.”

The release of a green-space map for the whole of Great Britain data follows the 2011 launch of a similar initiative from charity Greenspace Scotland. OS claimed that this was the first such project of its kind in the world.

The mapping agency has updated the Scottish green-space map, and brought in additional data for the rest of Great Britain.

Universities and science minister Jo Johnson said: “Green spaces are a vital part of our landscape and this new database and online map will make it easier for people across the country to access green spaces and lead healthier lives.”

Output: Ordnance Survey has created a comprehensive digital map of every green space in England, Scotland and Wales. The mapping agency has invited businesses and software developers to use its data to help create products and services that encourage greener and healthier lifestyles. The map can be accessed and downloaded from the company's website or its OS Maps app. OS has also created a public sector version of the map for use by government bodies to "improve planning, analysis and decision making”.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Social media ads spur rise in property investment scams
 From TRD New York: [TRDSR] Cindy used to dream of barging through the front door of Bar Works West Village, TV crew in tow. She would stride past the bar up to the managing director, a barrel-chested man whom she only knows from online videos, and bombard him with questions. Why didn’t he respond to her emails and calls? What did he do with her money? And where can she find the mysterious “Jonathan Black?”

An Australian in New York, Cindy, who like many other victims only spoke to The Real Deal on the condition that her name be changed, is one of more than a hundred investors from around the globe who lost their savings to a bizarre fraud. On the surface, Bar Works is just another co-working company. Wedged between Seventh Avenue and Morton Street, with large windows and arching brick walls inside, the street-level space could make for a quaint restaurant. Instead it’s got bland desks dotted with telephones, wheely chairs covered in gray velvet, and a fully-stocked bar. It calls itself a “workspace with vibe,” a fair description if the vibe you’re going for is a cross between a WeWork, a dive bar and an airport terminal.

This is the single biggest calamity that’s ever happened to me. And I’m 68.

In reality, however, the space, along with other Bar Works locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Istanbul, served as a front for Renwick Robert Haddow, a British career fraudster. Through a labyrinth of agents and websites, of emails and social media ads, Haddow and his associates orchestrated a global fraud scheme.

The pitch to Cindy was compelling: Bar Works would rent or buy retail spaces, turn them into offices with a bar and sublet desks to the creative class. It needed to raise money to fund its expansion, so it offered investors the chance to buy a desk in one of the spaces and get a slice of the rent. And it guaranteed double-digit returns.

Haddow went through great lengths to mask his involvement, installing his Ukrainian wife as a co-founder under a pseudonym. Most investors were in the dark until TRD exposed Haddow’s role in January, and even then some held out hope until payments started drying up in March and April.

In the world of scams, Bar Works is relatively small. But it is a perfect example of why real estate investment fraud is on the rise around the globe, bolstered by the spread of e-commerce and social media, the lack of an international enforcement authority, the complex nature of development projects, and investors’ thirst for outsized returns.

In hindsight, Sarah*, who lives in North Carolina and works in the technology department at a major insurer, isn’t sure how a London-based company called United Property Invest got her email address. But that didn’t matter at the time. What mattered was the lure.

“Investors like you are generating a monthly income of up to 16% pa from our two CoWorking spaces on W39th Street and W46th Street close to Times Square,” the email read. She put in $300,000.

For Ruth*, a British retiree, it began with a “very slick” Facebook ad by an investment agency called Heron Global Partners. First, she invested in a wind power project. Then, she gave the rest of her savings to Bar Works and persuaded several family members to invest as well.

“A burglar who’s come into my house and stolen all my stuff,” is how she described the agent who convinced her to invest. When TRD requested a second phone call, she insisted on the cheapest option, Skype. “I don’t have any money,” she said with a slight laugh.

“This is the single biggest calamity that’s ever happened to me,” she added. “And I’m 68.”

Haddow and Bar Works did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

On June 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York unsealed separate fraud charges against Haddow. Prosecutors claim he raised more than $36 million from Bar Works investors and wired $16 million to foreign bank accounts that were likely tied to him or his associates. They also allege he ran a separate scheme, Bitcoin Store, that promised high returns from investments in the virtual currency. Haddow faces up to 40 years in prison — if he is caught.

Why join the Navy if you can be a pirate?

“There’s always a type of investment fraud that’s the flavor of the month,” said David Marchant, a journalist who runs the news site OffshoreAlert and has been tracking financial fraud since the 1990s. In the past it was day trading, foreign exchange deals or bank guarantees. But in recent years, Marchant has noticed an increase in real estate scams.

Real estate is an ideal target for con men. It’s easy to explain to lay investors, is popular in major emerging economies like India and China, and has a reputation for stability. But large-scale fraud in the sector could never have taken off were it not for the confluence of two key trends. The first is central banks pumping cash into economies around the world in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. There is now more capital than ever seeking investments while interest rates are near record lows in most countries.

“If you go to the standard investments you really get little value out of your money,” Sarah said, explaining her quest for alternatives.

The second trend is digitalization. In 2010, about 30 percent of the world’s population had internet access. By 2016, that number had hit 47 percent, according to data from the International Telecommunication Union. During the same period, the number of Facebook users rose from 608 million to 1.86 billion, according to Statista, opening up a giant new avenue to market online real estate investment.

In the U.S., dozens if not hundreds of crowdfunding platforms now allow small-time investors to buy properties they have never seen and may not understand within just a few steps online. A global maze of lightly regulated online investment agencies, many of them based in the London, market properties to investors.

Proponents argue that they are democratizing investment, and they have a point. A decade ago, it would have been very difficult for an upper-middle-class saver in India to buy a flat in Hong Kong or a condominium unit in Miami.

But the internet also opened the door to fraudsters. For this story, TRD spoke to victims of U.S. real estate scams from places like the U.K. and Macau who invested after clicking on Facebook ads. Dan Johnson, whose OPP Ventures advises real estate marketing platforms on lead generation, said social media has made it “much easier to get exposure” for scammers. Rather than make cold calls, agents now buy names, email addresses and social media profiles in a “murky world of data acquisitions,” Johnson said. Anyone who has ever so much as clicked on an investment ad or made an email inquiry could see her contact information sold.

In 2016, the media agency Grain was nominated for a digital industries award for an ad campaign on behalf of Heron Global Partners, the firm that Ruth invested through. “By profiling the target audience, Grain was able to collect a granular level of demographic and psychographic information,” the awards website notes. “In just six months, HGP had transformed its customer acquisition strategy, increasing revenue by 578% and achieving an ROI of 3276%.”

Fraudsters often mimic legitimate investments. The image below, for example, shows two online investment offerings. The one on the left is a fix-and-flip property investment, marketed by the California-based crowdfunding platform Patch of Land. It is risky, hence the 12 percent return, but offered by a well-known company with a credible track record. The one on the right, an ad for Bar Works, is fraudulent. To the untrained and return-hungry eye, it’s hard to tell the difference.

In this sense, the rise of online real estate investment fraud is part of a broader phenomenon: the deliberate spread of false information through social media. Much like Russian hackers used Facebook and Twitter to share fake news stories prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, scam artists have increasingly powerful tools to spread and cash in on disinformation. It’s finance for a brave, new, Trumpian world, where facts and numbers can be alternative.

Petter Bae Brandtzaeg, a research scientist at Norway-based SINTEF Digital who specializes in the veracity of online news, said people behind science scams often use the same kind of heavy social media promotion as the people behind fake news, and that these tools are just as useful for other cons.

“People using social media also experience a context collapse of news, fakes and facts which makes them vulnerable to these scams,” he said.

Figuring out how much money is lost to real estate fraudsters around the globe is virtually impossible because most operate in unregulated markets and very few ever get prosecuted. But Google data shows how the potential market for online investment has grown.

The global monthly average number of internet searches for “real estate investing” rose to 33,100 in May 2017 from 18,100 in June 2013, according to data provided by the digital marketing firm Mondovo. Searches for “buy to let” rose to 18,100 from 12,100 during the same interval. The increase is even more dramatic in some developing countries. In China, for example, by far the world’s largest emerging economy, searches for the term “real estate” have grown around tenfold since 2012, Google Trends data indicate. Through targeted ads, fraudsters can lure people who search for these terms to their websites (at least 27 Bar Works victims are from China).

TRD identified 16 different websites that have marketed Bar Works, with names such as FJP Investment, Gateway2enterprise and New World Property Investment. The total number is likely much higher. Most were based in London, but the investors they lured to Bar Works were from countries such as Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and the U.S. Some of these websites served solely to market Bar Works, while others offered it along with hundreds of other real estate deals.

In theory, agents are responsible for vetting investments. But in reality, they are either part of the scam or they don’t care. Fraudsters tend to pay agents unusually high commissions, often as high as 25 percent, according to sources.

“The more ridiculous the scheme, the higher the commission,” OffshoreAlert’s Marchant said.

Cici Cao, a Keller Williams agent in New York who put a local investor in touch with Bar Works for a 15 percent commission last year, said she never suspected the program might be a scam. It was up to the investor to judge the risk, she insists.

“I also feel like I was a victim of this,” she said.

Agents often target overseas customers, which helps shield them from legal liability if an investment turns out to be a scam. At any rate, small-time investors often don’t have the financial means to sue. This means agents have little to lose from selling questionable investments as long as they can credibly deny knowledge of fraud. The result is a culture of don’t ask, don’t tell.

“Real estate fraud doesn’t happen usually without some sort of systemic failure on the part of third parties,” such as banks, brokerages or law firms, “who are supposed to be gatekeepers,” said Joshua Kons, a Chicago-based securities and investment fraud attorney.

Take Square Yards, an Indian online real estate investment platform that recently raised $10 million in venture and debt funding from big names like L’Occitane vice chair André Hoffmann. The firm sold investments in at least two U.S. real estate scams (one being Bar Works) to investors in the U.A.E. and Hong Kong.

Tanuj Shori, CEO of Square Yards, said his agents received an 8 percent commission for selling Bar Works investments, but only dealt with the company through another middleman. Sources said this was a common path for real estate fraudsters, who regularly go through two, three or even four layers of agents.

Shori claimed he had never heard the name Renwick Haddow until he read it in TRD. Asked why Square Yards didn’t do basic due diligence on the offering, such as checking if the supposed principals even exist, he said it was an “honest mistake” by a young company.

“Our entire reputation is at stake because of Bar Works,” he added. But when asked whether he would reimburse the victims, he said that’s an issue between Bar Works and the investor. The company later sent an email to its clients claiming it is “retaining an independent investigator to search for useful information about Barworks and its owners as well as assets that may be recoverable.”

Shori claimed that Square Yards stopped marketing Bar Works shortly after TRD’s January report. He painted himself as a victim of Haddow’s. But emails sent to one investor and reviewed by TRD suggest otherwise.

Kamal Singh, a 32-year old engineer, first invested $60,000 with Bar Works in August 2016. He had moved to the U.A.E. from India in 2012, and Bar Works seemed like a shortcut up the ladder.

As the returns started coming in, Singh decided to up his bet. There was just one problem: he had already spent all his savings. In a mid-February meeting, a Square Yards executive suggested a solution: Singh could take out a $100,000 bank loan to buy up to 10 desks at Bar Works’ planned location in Istanbul (Square Yards denies it suggested the loan, claiming it was Singh’s idea).

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

As Singh waited for bank approval, the executive’s emails gave the impression that the desks were being snapped up fast.

“They had strictly given me a one-week window,” he wrote on March 2. “Pls transfer asap when you get the funds.” Shortly after, Singh got a $90,000 loan and bought more desks. In April, his return payments didn’t come. In May, Square Yards and Bar Works stopped responding to his increasingly exasperated emails. Singh wants to sue both, but said he doesn’t know how. Now his loan payments are due and he has no way of paying them.

“I am in deep trouble,” he wrote in an email. “Don’t know what to do.”

“Nobody gives a shit, that’s the harsh reality of life”

At some point, every fraud unravels. But rarely is the perpetrator held accountable. Few people illustrate this better than Haddow.

Born in 1968 and reportedly educated at Thames Valley University, he first popped up in 2002 up as the operator of so-called Cosmopolitan Spirit cafes in the U.K., borrowing the brand of the well-known magazine for bars geared at women. He began raising money from investors, ostensibly to fund the company’s expansion, but ran into legal trouble. In December 2008, the U.K. insolvency service banned him from running any company for eight years, in part because he had made false statements to investors, didn’t keep proper accounting records and paid investment agents 25 percent commission.

The more ridiculous the scheme, the higher the commission.

The ban didn’t stop Haddow from building a vast global Ponzi scheme around the sale of carbon credits, African land, Eastern European hotel rooms and other so-called alternative investments. A 2015 investigation by the World Policy Journal found the scheme sucked up an estimated $180 million from investors, many of them retirees.

In February 2014, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority won a court ruling that Haddow’s schemes broke the law, paving the way for a potential future criminal case. Later that year, Haddow and his girlfriend (now wife) Zoya Kiselova moved to New York, renting an apartment at 3 Lincoln Center, company records and StreetEasy data indicate.

In 2015, Bar Works launched. Haddow was careful to keep his name out of any advertising documents and news reports. Officially the company’s co-founders were “Jonathan Black” (there is no evidence he exists and Bar Works’ managing director Franklin Kinard later told journalists that Haddow made the name up) and “Zoe Miller” (Haddow’s wife, Zoya Kiselova). But TRD traced Haddow’s involvement through sources, liquor licenses signed by him and Bar Works entities registered to his apartment.

That Haddow was able to run scam after scam for 15 years, first in London and then in New York, is far from unusual. “In the real world most fraudsters get away over and over again,” Marchant said. Regulators tend to be understaffed, fraud can be difficult to prove, and there are simply too many schemes going on at any given time to investigate them all. In her 2012 book “The Ponzi Scheme Puzzle,” legal scholar Tamar Frankel claims that Ponzi schemes, most of them small, cause about as much financial damage each year in the U.S. as shoplifting. And they are about as tough to eradicate.

Investors can use the courts, but first they have to figure out whom to sue, and where. Take Singh, the U.A.E. resident. His investment in Bar Works was made through an India-based agency, which in turn dealt with Bar Works through a mysterious middleman with a British accent who went by the name Julian Tzanev, according to Shori. To complicate matters further, Singh received a “certificate of ownership” from a Delaware company called Bar Works Inc., signed an investment agreement with Istanbul-based Bar Works Istanbul LLC, but signed a separate contract to receive his monthly returns from yet a third company, Bar Works Management Inc. And when it came to returns, investors received them from a U.K.-based account. Much of Singh’s money may be with Haddow, who has denied involvement in any of the above entities and is known to stash his wealth in offshore tax havens like the British Virgin Islands or Anguilla.

Even when regulators do get involved, investors are unlikely to get their money back, as the case of a recent North Dakota real estate scam illustrates.

In April 2015, the SEC filed a complaint against North Dakota Developments LLC, alleging that it stole $62 million from more than 970 investors in a Ponzi scheme. Starting in 2012, the company raised money to build temporary housing for oil workers in North Dakota, but most of the buildings were never completed. According to the SEC, the company used payments from later investors to pay off earlier ones. Like Bar Works, NDD had marketed its investments through online portals, such as a U.K.-based company called United Property Connect, which appears to be connected to United Property Invest, the company that Sarah had invested through.

The SEC put NDD under receivership and froze its assets, but there was little left to freeze. The people behind the scam, a U.K. resident named Daniel Hogan and Malaysia resident named Robert Gavin, were safely out of the country with their loot.

In July 2015, investors filed a class action lawsuit against a U.S. based law firm that had worked as an escrow agent for NDD (another suit had been filed in June). They managed to win around $5.1 million in a settlement — a fraction of the $62 million lost. According to Kons, who represented the investors, that still compares favorably to other international frauds – victims generally get little to nothing back.

“The SEC only has so much jurisdiction and when the money’s overseas there’s little they can do,” Kons said. “It’s just very difficult to bring these guys to justice. White-collar crimes and white-collar fraud are just under-prosecuted.”

There is no global authority to fight financial fraud. When U.S. prosecutors issue arrest warrants for suspected fraudsters, they can share them with Interpol but have to rely on other countries’ co-operation. Michael Goldberg, an attorney at Akerman LLP, said he has seen financial fraudsters extradited to the U.S., but doing so is “challenging” and they are typically U.S. citizens. He said he has unearthed funds from places like the Cayman Islands, in part because tax havens have become more cooperative in recent years amid U.S. pressure, but conceded that it’s not easy.

To Marchant, cases like NDD show that the global offshore financial markets are tilted in favor of debtors. They allow tax evaders and fraudsters to hide, leaving their victims in the cold.

“Nobody gives a shit,” he said. “That’s the harsh reality of life.”

“I think he was really surprised I knew what hotel he was in”

One of NDD’s victims is Lam, a 45-year-old schoolteacher in Macau who only agreed to share his surname. Shortly after investing in the scheme, he decided to double down and find more real estate investments.

In mid-2014, he saw an online ad for high-yield real estate investments in the Chicago area. The company, KRI Property, claimed to have relationships with U.S. lenders allowing it to buy foreclosed homes on the cheap and flip them. It guaranteed 30 percent returns.

Unlike NDD’s risky ground-up developments, this seemed like a safer bet to Lam. He would be buying an existing home, and even if the flip didn’t work out he’d still own a property. He borrowed $60,000 from his sister and invested.

KRI turned out to be tied to InvestUS, a scheme run by James Jervis, a 39-year-old U.K. native and Dubai resident who was an old hand at the game of global real estate fraud. His victims claim he never actually bought any properties with their money. They received deed documents signed by Chicago-based attorney Alex Ogoke, but they appear to be fake. One document reviewed by TRD references a sale that doesn’t appear in Chicago property records. Ogoke initially agreed to an interview, but later changed his mind, citing a death in the family. Jervis did not respond to an email seeking comment.

While Haddow took pains to keep a distance from his investors, Jervis did the opposite, sometimes meeting them in person to assure them money was coming. One of the victims, a 72-year-old South African former merchant ship captain named Al Viljoen, said Jervis even stayed at his home on several occasions. Viljoen says he lost his retirement savings, around $130,000, and had to go back to work full-time to make ends meet.

Regular facetime with his victims could prove to be Jervis’ undoing. Earlier this year, a friend of Oman-based Ahmed*, who says he invested $300,000 with InvestUS after clicking on a Facebook ad, came up with a plan to lure Jervis into the country to face prosecution. The friend offered Jervis a follow-up meeting with a prospective investor in Oman. Jervis took the bait, hopped in a car and drove to Muscat from the U.A.E. Meanwhile, Ahmed filed a fraud complaint with the Omani government. As soon as Jervis entered Oman, the authorities slapped him with a travel ban.

Stuck in Oman while his case moves through the justice system, Jervis has been bouncing from hotel to hotel, according to Ahmed, who is keeping track of his movements. One day this spring, Ahmed confronted him at the door of his room. “I think he was really surprised I knew what hotel he was in,” he said. “He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.” Their conversation was brief and Jervis looked away whenever he said he had no money, according to Ahmed.

Omani government agencies did not respond to several emails and phone calls seeking confirmation of the travel ban and fraud case against Jervis.

Whether Ahmed’s case succeeds is far from certain. And even if it does, it likely won’t help Lam, whose situation is far beyond Oman’s jurisdiction.

After finally losing patience with Jervis last year, Lam, like Ahmed, decided to take matters into his own hands. But he soon discovered his options were slim.

First, Lam called the police in Ireland, where the agent who had sold him his investment was supposedly from. The police told him it could only help him if he was an Irish citizen or traveled to Ireland to file a complaint in person. In November 2016, Lam went to the Macau police. The officer told him there was little they could do since Jervis and the company that had allegedly defrauded him were both overseas. He then filed a complaint with the FBI but never heard back. At one point he called the Chicago police, who told him they couldn’t help him because he’s not a U.S. citizen.

Lam said he has lost around $400,000 to dubious online investments — more than his life savings — and is currently paying off his sister’s loan with his modest teaching salary. He considered hiring a lawyer, but is loath to throw more money down the drain. “Other than being depressed, what else can I do?” he said. “I have no idea how to get help.”

Exit Renwick

While Jervis was trapped in Oman, the noose started tightening around Haddow in New York. After two months of missed payments, a group of Chinese investors filed a lawsuit against Haddow, Black and nine Bar Works entities on June 16 in state court, alleging he defrauded them out of more than $3 million. On June 21, another investor, Plentium Capital Group, filed a fraud lawsuit in Florida federal court. On June 28, New York attorney Jared Stamell told Crain’s he is considering filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 200 investors who gave $30 million to Bar Works.

The audience is investors as well as engineers so a mixed level of expertise but let’s try to avoid the jargon.

By that point, the FBI was already investigating Bar Works. And worse for Haddow: Kinard, who had left the firm in May, appears to be cooperating. He told attorneys that FBI agents called him in mid-June and that he “communicated vigorously” with them. He claimed to have no involvement in investor negotiations or knowledge of where the money went. “My electronic signature was placed on investor contracts without my knowledge,” he wrote in an email filed in court records. Kinard and an FBI agent working on the case did not respond to TRD’s calls.

As courts began freezing assets, lawyers for the plaintiffs searched for any money they can recover. There may not be much. According to Kinard, Bar Works only had one U.S. bank account, with Valley National Bank, which held less than $30,000 as of mid-May.

On June 20, Adam Birnbaum, one of the attorneys representing the Chinese investors, walked into the lobby of 160 West 66th Street, where public records indicated Haddow rented an apartment, to serve him with the lawsuit. The receptionist told him Haddow had recently moved from an apartment on the 33rd floor to a unit on the 19th floor but abandoned that apartment at the end of May. Haddow called in mid-June to tell the receptionist he would come to pick up his mail, but never showed up.

A day later, on June 21, a legal server rang the doorbell at a Greenwich, Connecticut, home that Haddow appeared to rent. A woman opened the door. She refused to give her name and said Haddow was away. When Birnbaum showed the server a photo of Kiselova, the server identified her as the person who answered the door. Ten days later, the SEC and the U.S. attorney’s office unveiled their fraud charges.

At the time of writing, Haddow remains on the run. But wherever he is, he appears to be already thinking about his next venture. In mid-May, a person who called himself Robert and used the email address info@barworks.nyc hired a New York-based IT consultant to write a report on the “future of email services.” Robert wanted the report to include research on “how email of the future can charge for their services and make money and also get a good take up.”

“The audience is investors as well as engineers so a mixed level of expertise but let’s try to avoid the jargon,” Robert added in emails the consultant later shared with TRD on condition of anonymity. Robert paid the first half of the $2,000 fee up-front — in Bitcoin. That’s when the consultant grew suspicious.

Through a tracker in a shared document, the consultant traced Robert’s phone to a location somewhere in Brooklyn and found that he also used the email address roberthaddow100@gmail.com. On June 6, he sent an email asking Robert for his Linkedin profile. Robert referred him to the website of his company, Bar Works. Then the consultant suggested he use PayPal rather than Bitcoin to pay the second half of the fee. He also asked for Robert’s full name. Haddow responded: “We are done here.”

Output: Real estate investment scams have become more prevalent across the world thanks to e-commerce and social media platforms, according to reports by property-industry news outlet The Real Deal. Fraudsters can target victims using advertisements on sites like Facebook, and encourage them to invest using the promise of monthly income. Earlier this year, The Real Deal exposed a co-working space scam orchestrated by career fraudster Renwick Robert Haddow. Under the scheme, Haddow convinced people to invest in a venture called Bar Works, which promised double-digit returns. More than 100 investors were defrauded as part of the scam.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
AI could be used to determine treatment plans for stroke victims
 After a stroke, each patient faces a unique path to recovery — a precision medicine approach could help them receive better, customized care. Credit: Virginia Tech

Studying human diseases is the equivalent of solving a massive and dynamic jigsaw puzzle with pieces that are constantly changing shape.

A team of researchers from the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML), a leading laboratory at the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech, and the Department of Biomedical and Translational Informatics at Geisinger Health System are now working together to find precise methods to treat stroke patients using computer algorithms, clinical data, and advanced computational methods.

In a new study, the collaborative team of experts has developed new computational methods to stratify stroke patients in an emergency setting, paving the way to data-driven triage process with higher fidelity.

"Advanced machine-learning methods will be driving the next generation of personalized medicine at the clinical and genomic levels; however, these methods and their outcomes will have an added value if we let models actively learn from experts and experts learn from models. Our team has applied AI successfully to develop a data-driven triage process for classifying stroke patients. Ongoing collaborative studies are also applying these same AI methods successfully in infectious and immune-mediated diseases," said Vida Abedi, a researcher at Geisinger Health System and adjunct faculty member in NIMML.

The rich, longitudinal data warehouse of the Geisinger Health System has detailed electronic health records with tens of millions of legacy clinical data and more than 3 million active participants. This data is one of the major strengths that allowed Geisinger to be selected to participate in the national Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program with the goal of improving the ability to prevent and treat diseases based on individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and genetics.

"My resolve to implement a revolutionary vision for precision medicine is the driving force that defines and underpins this successful collaboration. As opposed to the one-size-fits-all approach that dominates health care today, by focusing on a unique iterative integration of large-scale clinical record mining using new AI systems, informatics analyses, and computer modeling, NIMML and Geisinger Health System are partnering effectively to make tangible progress toward the personalized, individual treatment of human diseases," said Josep Bassaganya-Riera, director of NIMML and CEO of BioTherapeutics.

At its core, AI is a complex computer algorithm that replaces the traditional rule-based strategy with a data-driven approach capable of learning from positive and negative experiences. AI algorithms are driving the future of precision medicine and provide better health-care support for diverse and dynamic patient populations.

On average, the electronic health records of a four-year patient contains about 32 petabytes of data. The application of AI in medicine will leverage the volume and exponential growth of clinical data to translate clinical information into new unforeseen insights for safer, more-effective and cost-efficient personalized healthcare.

More information: Vida Abedi et al. Novel Screening Tool for Stroke Using Artificial Neural Network, Stroke (2017). DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.017033 Journal information: Stroke

Output: Researchers from the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory have been working on a treatment for stroke patients using a combination of artificial intelligence, algorithms and clinical data. By developing computational techniques for accurately triaging stroke patients in emergencies, the team believes that that the data-driven system could form a core element of the next wave of personalised medicine, informed by machine-learning.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK's Carillon hits financial difficulties following Brexit
 The chief executive of construction and support services company Carillion has stepped down as the firm warned on profits and scrapped its dividend following a Brexit-related slowdown in orders, news which sent its shares plunging almost 40%.

The company, which maintains roads, railways, government buildings and military bases, said worsening cash flow and rising debts had prompted a “comprehensive review of the business and the capital structure”. Shares in the FTSE 250 firm crashed, closing down 39% at 117p.

Carillion has worked on the £400m Battersea power station revamp in London, the £335m Royal Liverpool University hospital, Birmingham’s flagship library and the expansion of Liverpool FC’s main stand at Anfield.

But some of these projects have run into problems, and the firm announced a writedown of £845m related to three big public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the UK, including the Royal Liverpool, and the cost of pulling out of construction projects in the Middle East and Canada. The National Audit Office has highlighted soaring costs on the tram-train link between Sheffield and Rotherham built by Carillion.

The company said it would no longer bid for big construction projects and will instead focus on providing support services in rail, road, telecoms and power networks as well as central and local government buildings.

Richard Howson, who has run the company for the past five years, has been replaced by Keith Cochrane, a senior independent director, until a new chief executive is found. Howson will stay on for up to a year to help with the transition.

Philip Green, the chairman, said urgent action was needed to pay down debts and generate more cash. The firm is battling rising debts, which have hit £695m, compared with £587m a year ago.

The Wolverhampton-based company, which employs nearly 50,000 people in the UK, Canada and the Middle East, has blamed upheaval in Whitehall departments after last year’s Brexit vote and change of government for a slowdown in orders. Carillion has also been affected by cuts in spending by governments in the Middle East prompted by low oil prices.

Cochrane will lead the review, which will explore all options, including a sale of part or all of the business. The outcome will be announced in September. Analysts said a big share sale was likely.

Analysts at Liberum said: “The £845m provision is huge however we look at it. No clearer what exactly has gone wrong. Carillion will get into trouble way before it breaches its [banking] covenants. No quick fixes for the balance sheet. Hard to see a solution without equity.”

The worsening performance means that Carillion now expects 2017 revenues to total £4.8bn-£5bn, less than the estimated £5.03bn. Annual pre-tax profits will also fall short of the £179m forecast.

Carillion said it would withdraw from construction PPP projects and pull out of building projects in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It will only undertake future construction work “on a highly selective basis”. It has also sold half its stake in its Oman joint venture.

The asset sales will raise £125m in the next 12 months. The firm has also scrapped this year’s dividend payments to save £80m, and is looking to slash other costs.

Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Carillion looks like it’s trying to bail out a supertanker with a soup spoon. Despite the group’s best efforts, debt is continuing to climb, and at an increasing rate, while the construction business seems to be hitting one hurdle after another.

“Judging by this announcement, the board are prepared to do everything it takes in order to save the ship. But talk of a review of capital structure, and the ongoing debt problem, will leave investors worried that a significant rights issue could be on the horizon.”

Ian Forrest, an investment research analyst at UK retail stockbroker The Share Centre, said: “Carillion’s problems are not new as can be seen by the fact that the shares have underperformed the market for two years. Despite the group continuing to win new contracts I think it is fair to say it has a lot of work to do to regain the market’s confidence.”

Output: Construction and support services firm Carillon has issued a profit warning and ended its dividend, precipitating a 40% dip in its share price. CEO Richard Howson has also resigned from his post. The Wolverhampton-based company said declining cash flow and mounting debts mean it will cease bidding for large building projects and instead concentrate on supplying support services in telecoms, rail, road, power networks and property. Carillon pointed to the disruption arising from the Brexit vote and the shifts in government as the chief reasons for the slowdown in the awarding of contracts.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Identified cases of UK insurance claim fraud down 5% in 2016
 This signifies a 5% fall on the amount identified in 2015, and a 3% reduction in value, with the industry increasingly clamping down on organised fraud-like 'crash for cash' staged motor insurance claims.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department carries out this work, successfully exposing criminal gangs often linked to more serious crimes like money laundering and human trafficking.

"Fraud is harmful in a number of ways, including the real and present physical risk posed day in and day out to road users, alongside the financial impact on individuals and business alike," IFB director, Ben Fletcher, said.

"These reductions reflect the general trend that we have seen in organised motor scams and are a welcome reflection of the industry's efforts to tackle the problem year on year."

The level of organised fraud fell by around 30% last year, with 15,000 individual cases detected, while the number of motor frauds identified decreased 4% to 69,000.

There was also a slight reduction in cases of property insurance fraud found, dropping by 4% from 2015 to 26,000, however there was a rise in the amount of opportunistic motor insurance frauds detected.

These fraudsters are thought to generally be law-abiding citizens, but are often encouraged by disreputable claims management companies, with the increase thought to reflect a resurgence in whiplash-style claims.

This comes after the government announced a new Civil Liability Bill in the Queens Speech last month, which will ban offers to settle personal injury claims without the support of medical evidence.

"Opportunistic fraud has shown a small rise as people continue to be pestered by disreputable claims management firms that are helping fuel the compensation culture," ABI director of general insurance policy, James Dalton said.

"This makes it imperative that the government tightens regulation of claims management companies, and presses ahead with its further reforms on whiplash."

Sign up to our free newsletter here and receive a weekly roundup of news concerning the actuarial profession

Output: Last year, the UK's Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department helped to cut claims abuse by 3% in value terms compared to 2015, identifying £1.3bn ($1.7bn) worth of dishonest claims for the year, according to the Association of British Insurers. Detected cases of organised fraud fell roughly 30% and motor and property cases identified both fell by 4%, however, cases of opportunistic motor fraud detected increased slightly. Organised gangs linked to human trafficking and other more serious crimes were often behind the incidents, while some individuals were encouraged by unscrupulous claims management firms, the ABI said.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Why Single-Payer Health Care Saves Money
 By analogy, suppose that your state’s government took over road maintenance from the county governments within it, in the process reducing total maintenance costs by 30 percent. Your state taxes would obviously have to go up under this arrangement.

But if roads would be as well maintained as before, would that be a reason to oppose the move? Clearly not, since the resulting cost savings would reduce your county taxes by more than your state taxes went up. Likewise, it makes no sense to oppose single-payer on the grounds that it would require additional tax revenue. In each case, the resulting gains in efficiency would leave you with greater effective purchasing power than before.

Total costs are lower under single-payer systems for several reasons. One is that administrative costs average only about 2 percent of total expenses under a single-payer program like Medicare, less than one-sixth the corresponding percentage for many private insurers. Single-payer systems also spend virtually nothing on competitive advertising, which can account for more than 15 percent of total expenses for private insurers.

The most important source of cost savings under single-payer is that large government entities are able to negotiate much more favorable terms with service providers. In 2012, for example, the average cost of coronary bypass surgery was more than $73,000 in the United States but less than $23,000 in France.

Despite this evidence, respected commentators continue to cite costs as a reason to doubt that single-payer can succeed in the United States. A recent Washington Post editorial, for example, ominously predicted that budget realities would dampen enthusiasm for single-payer, noting that the per capita expenditures under existing single-payer programs in the United States were much higher than those in other countries.

Output: Lingering uncertainty about the fate of the Affordable Care Act has spurred the California legislature to consider adoption of a statewide single-payer health care system.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Facebook to build social housing ‘village’ for staff
 Facebook is to build its own “village” of 1,500 homes for workers struggling to pay soaring rents as the housing crisis in Silicon Valley deepens.

The social networking company has submitted plans to the local council to create a new neighbourhood of homes, shops and a public plaza across the street from its global headquarters.

Mark Zuckerberg’s company said it was being forced to build the “mixed-use village” called Willow Campus in Menlo Park, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, because the regional government’s “failure” to invest in infrastructure has led to sky-high rents and hours-long commutes to work.

“Our goal for the Willow Campus is to create an integrated, mixed-use village that will provide much-needed services, housing and transit solutions as well as office space,” John Tenanes, Facebook’s vice-president for global facilities, said after the company submitted plans to Menlo Park officials. “Part of our vision is to create a neighbourhood centre that provides long-needed community services. The region’s failure to continue to invest in our transportation infrastructure alongside growth has led to congestion and delay.”

Kirsten Keith, the mayor of Menlo Park, welcomed Facebook’s plan to help address the rent-price-rise crisis caused by the rapid growth of west-coast technology companies. More than 640,000 new jobs have been created in the San Francisco Bay area since 2010 but house-building has failed to keep even close to that pace of growth.

“Peninsula cities have a housing crisis,” Keith tweeted. “I hope more tech companies come forward with affordable housing proposals as Facebook has done.”

However, just 15% of the Facebook homes will be offered below market rates. The apartment block homes, which the company hopes will be built by 2021, will be available to Facebook employees and those working elsewhere.

The average monthly rent in Menlo Park has more than tripled to $3,349 (£2,600) since 2011 when Facebook announced it would move to the city, according to property data site Rent Jungle. Menlo Park’s rents, which rise to an average of $3,934 for a two-bed apartment, are some of the highest in the country and considerably higher than in New York City.

The median house price across Silicon Valley has jumped from $535,000 in 2012 to $888,000 last year, according to real estate agency Trulia.

Zuckerberg, 33, who is the world’s fifth-richest person with a $64.7bn fortune, owns several homes worth tens of millions of dollars. He spent $30m buying up four houses surrounding his Palo Alto home in an effort to protect his privacy. He’s also spent $100m on a 700-acre plot on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and $10m on a home in San Francisco’s Dolores Heights.

More than 9,000 people work at Facebook’s offices in Menlo Park, according to the city. The number of staff has increased by 54% over the past year and is expected to continue to rise quickly as a larger office campus opens.

The huge influx of staff at Facebook and other large tech companies has forced thousands of key workers out of the area and many teachers, cleaners and support staff battle through miles of congested highways to work each morning. Tech workers are often bussed to offices in company-branded vehicles, angering local people who are concerned about growing inequality in the area.

The San Francisco board of supervisors declared a state of emergency in relation to homelessness last year. “It is not a natural disaster, it is man-made,” San Francisco supervisor David Campos said. “But it’s a disaster nevertheless.”

Facebook, which made profits of $12.4bn last year, has previously been criticised for exacerbating the housing crisis in Menlo Park by offering its staff a $10,000 bonus to move closer to its head office.

John Liotti, chief executive of Able Works, a charity representing key workers, said at the time of previous iniative in 2015: “A lot of local families are going to get hurt.” Facebook said that scheme was “to support our employees and the people who matter most to them at all stages of life”.

Facebook’s proposals for the Willow Park development, which will include a grocery store and pharmacy, have been welcomed by Diane Bailey, executive director of community group Menlo Spark. “We feel that Facebook genuinely wants to be a good neighbour,” she said. “They appear to have heard the requests of the community and they want to meet those requests. The area has not had a grocery store or pharmacy for a long time.” It can take more than half an hour to drive to the nearest supermarket four miles away due to traffic jams.

The social network has also committed to spending $1m exploring the idea of reopening an old railway line that runs through the company’s campus and is “investing tens of millions” to improve a highway – US 101 – that runs from the office to San Francisco. There are no plans to build a new school.

Facebook is not the only company seeking to tackle the housing crisis. Last month a spokesperson for Google said it would spend $30m on 300 prefabricated apartments for workers at its campus headquarters in nearby Mountain View.

Apple, which is in the process of moving 12,000 staff into its new Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, is paying a roughly $5m “housing mitigation fee” to the city in compensation for the burden it is placing on the city’s housing. The company estimates that its new office will lead to a 284% increase in demand for housing in the city.

Carol Galante, faculty director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation and a former federal housing commissioner, said: “We’ve reached a tipping point where costs are just so high that people are desperate to figure out a solution.”

Tenanes said Facebook’s planning application was “only the beginning … Going forward we plan to continue to work closely with local leaders and community members to ensure Facebook’s presence is a benefit to the community,” he said. “It’s one we’re lucky to call home.”

Output: Facebook has submitted plans to build a social housing “village” of 1,500 homes for staff opposite its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Average monthly rents in Menlo Park have more than tripled since Facebook announced its move to the area in 2011. However, just 15% of the new homes will be offered at below market rates. Last month Google announced that it would spend $30m on 300 prefab apartments for staff near its headquarters in Mountain View, while Apple is paying $5m to Cupertino city to compensate for the pressure it is causing on local housing by opening its new Apple Park headquarters.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Dandelion aims to bring cheap geothermal piping to homes
 A reliable and renewable energy source is right under our feet – literally – in the form of geothermal energy. After funding a study a few years back to map underground hotspots, Google's parent company, Alphabet, has now spawned Dandelion, a new startup that aims to tap into that resource. The company's signature technology is a geothermal heating and cooling system that pumps heat from the ground into the home in winter, or out of it during summer.

The roots of the Dandelion system are what the company calls ground loops. These U-shaped plastic pipes are buried a few hundred feet under the yard, and water is pumped through them to provide the heating or cooling effects. In winter, water running through the loops will absorb heat from the ground and pipe it into the home, while the system will run in the opposite direction to keep things cool during the scorching summer months. The pipes are connected to a heat pump and water heater inside the house, and users can control the indoor climate through a smart thermostat.

Dandelion says that installation is relatively painless. To put in the ground loops, the company's own "clean drilling technology" will be used to dig a few small holes in the yard, each only a few inches wide. Then a technician will install the other components inside the house, and the system should be up and running in two to three days. After that, the only regular maintenance is an air filter change every six to 12 months.

The system reportedly costs US$20,000, but Dandelion is making it available to homeowners on a monthly payment plan with no upfront costs. If the system is as efficient as the company says it is, a user should be able to make some of those repayments through the savings it cuts off the household energy bill.

Dandelion was spun out of X, Alphabet's incubator for ambitious "moonshot" ideas. After securing $2 million in seed funding, Dandelion is currently rolling out the technology to viable homes in upstate New York.

Source: Dandelion

Output: Google’s parent firm Alphabet has created Dandelion, a start-up focused on harnessing geothermal energy. Dandelion has produced a heating and cooling system for homes using geothermal energy, collecting heat and returning it to the earth using U-shaped pipes that are buried underground. The system is straightforward to install and only requires a few small holes to be drilled, with air filters needing be changed every six to 12 months. The technology costs $20,000 but can be bought on a monthly payment plan.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
100 companies caused 71% of emissions: Carbon Majors Report
 Just 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, according to a new report.

The Carbon Majors Report (pdf) “pinpoints how a relatively small set of fossil fuel producers may hold the key to systemic change on carbon emissions,” says Pedro Faria, technical director at environmental non-profit CDP, which published the report in collaboration with the Climate Accountability Institute.

Traditionally, large scale greenhouse gas emissions data is collected at a national level but this report focuses on fossil fuel producers. Compiled from a database of publicly available emissions figures, it is intended as the first in a series of publications to highlight the role companies and their investors could play in tackling climate change.

The report found that more than half of global industrial emissions since 1988 – the year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established – can be traced to just 25 corporate and state-owned entities. The scale of historical emissions associated with these fossil fuel producers is large enough to have contributed significantly to climate change, according to the report.

ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron are identified as among the highest emitting investor-owned companies since 1988. If fossil fuels continue to be extracted at the same rate over the next 28 years as they were between 1988 and 2017, says the report, global average temperatures would be on course to rise by 4C by the end of the century. This is likely to have catastrophic consequences including substantial species extinction and global food scarcity risks.

While companies have a huge role to play in driving climate change, says Faria, the barrier is the “absolute tension” between short-term profitability and the urgent need to reduce emissions.

A Carbon Tracker study in 2015 found that fossil fuel companies risked wasting more than $2tn over the coming decade by pursuing coal, oil and gas projects that could be worthless in the face of international action on climate change and advances in renewables – in turn posing substantial threats to investor returns.

CDP says its aims with the carbon majors project are both to improve transparency among fossil fuel producers and to help investors understand the emissions associated with their fossil fuel holdings.

A fifth of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions are backed by public investment, according to the report. “That puts a significant responsibility on those investors to engage with carbon majors and urge them to disclose climate risk,” says Faria.

Investors should move out of fossil fuels, says Michael Brune, executive director of US environmental organisation the Sierra Club. “Not only is it morally risky, it’s economically risky. The world is moving away from fossil fuels towards clean energy and is doing so at an accelerated pace. Those left holding investments in fossil fuel companies will find their investments becoming more and more risky over time.”

There is a “growing wave of companies that are acting in the opposite manner to the companies in this report,” says Brune. Nearly 100 companies including Apple, Facebook, Google and Ikea have committed to 100% renewable power under the RE100 initiative. Volvo recently announced that all its cars would be electric or hybrid from 2019.

And oil and gas companies are also embarking on green investments. Shell set up a renewables arm in 2015 with a $1.7bn investment attached and a spokesperson for Chevron says it’s “committed to managing its [greenhouse gas] emissions” and is investing in two of the world’s largest carbon dioxide injection projects to capture and store carbon. A BP spokesperson says its “determined to be part of the solution” for climate change and is “investing in renewables and low-carbon innovation.” And ExxonMobil, which has faced heavy criticism for its environmental record, has been exploring carbon capture and storage.

But for many the sums involved and pace of change are nowhere near enough. A research paper published last year by Paul Stevens, an academic at think tank Chatham House, said international oil companies were no longer fit for purpose and warned these multinationals that they faced a “nasty, brutish and short” end within the next 10 years if they did not completely change their business models.

Investors now have a choice, according to Charlie Kronick, senior programme advisor at Greenpeace UK. “The future of the oil industry has already been written: the choice is will its decline be managed, returning capital to shareholders to be reinvested in the genuine industries of the future, or will they hold on, hoping not be the last one standing when the music stops?”

Output: Over 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 have been caused by just 100 companies, according to The Carbon Majors Report from environmental nonprofit CDP and the Climate Accountability Institute. The report, which departs from the usual practice of recording emissions at a national level in order to focus on producers, inaugurates a publication series designed to consider the role of companies and investors in combating climate change. BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell were some of the highest emitting companies, with over 50% of emissions since 1988 caused by a mere 25 corporate and state-owned entities.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
ABI warns payout code may further lift record-high car premiums
 Drivers are paying record amounts for their car insurance and could face further increases, an industry body has warned.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) found that between 2015 and 2016, all age groups except those aged under 21 saw increases in their average premium.

People in their late 50s and late 80s have experienced the highest annual rises of an average of £35.

The ABI found that the average price paid for comprehensive motor insurance across all ages is £462, a rise of 8% in the last year.

Drivers aged under 21 were found to be paying the highest premium with an average of £973.

However due to the younger group of drivers increasingly using "black box" technology, which tracks driving habits, insurance premiums fell by 2.3%.

The ABI is warning car insurance premiums could be set to rise again. Credit: PA

The group said further waves of increases could take place between now and the start of next year, as insurers look to re-insure against large risks, such as catastrophic personal injury claims, during this period.

There will be a particular spike in reinsurance renewals around January 2018, it said.

The ABI said a decision announced by the Government in February to cut the personal injury discount rate "massively increases claims costs" and "will inevitably lead to higher premiums".

The rate helps to set compensation payouts when people suffer serious injuries, for example following a car crash.

When victims of life-changing injuries accept lump sum compensation, the rate is applied when calculating the payout, to take into account the potential returns that they could expect to receive from their money over time from investing the cash.

The ABI also said recent increases to insurance premium tax (IPT) will also have had an impact as premiums have pushed upwards.

The ABI's director general Huw Evans said while the ABI is pleased with Government plans to reform whiplash-style personal injury compensation, "the benefits could be wiped out if they don't defuse the discount rate bombshell".

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "We have consulted on whether there is a better or fairer framework for claimants and defendants in cases of serious personal injury. We will respond to the consultation in due course."

Output: Motor premiums that are already at record levels may rise again between now and January, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). An increase in insurance tax helped send premiums 8% higher to £462 in the past year, the ABI said. It warned that the changes made by the government to the way compensation payouts are calculated could see insurers pay more in accident claims. Those extra costs have so far been absorbed by insurers' backstop contracts with reinsurers. But with many of those contracts set for renewal in January and the changes to the so-called Ogden Rate likely to make them more expensive, insurers will pass those costs on to customers.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Clark raises $2.2m to expand its tutor-parent connection service
 TUTOR TAKEOVER: Clark, an online tool for tutors and the families they work with, has raised $2.2 million in a seed round led by Lightspeed Ventures, an early investor of Snapchat. Rethink Education, Flatworld Partners and Winkelvoss Capital also participated. Parents can find and pay tutors through the mobile app, which also offers features such as session reminders, scheduling assistance and weekly progress reports.

Clark secured its seed round last month after appearing on Apple’s first original series, “Planet of The Apps.” The company had to deliver a 60-second elevator pitch—while actually riding an elevator—to celebrity judges including Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk, and will.i.am. The team was later paired with Vaynerchuck, an angel investor in companies such as Uber and Facebook, who will be mentoring the company going forward.

Output: Edtech start-up Clark has raised $2.2m in a seed round led by Lightspeed Ventures – one of Snapchat's early investors – alongside Rethink Education, Flatworld Partners and Winklevoss Capital. Clark's app is a virtual tool that connects tutors and families, and features session reminders, scheduling assistance, weekly progress reports and more. Funding was secured after Clark's founders presented a 60-second "elevator pitch" to Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuck, and will.i.am, who were among the celebrity judges of Apple’s first original series, "Planet of the Apps." Vaynerchuk, an angel investor in firms including Facebook and Uber, will guide the company forward.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Cybersecurity start-up Accel fully acquired by StarHub for $19m
 Singaporean telecommunications provider StarHub has announced that it will acquire the remainder of cybersecurity provider Accel Systems & Technologies for a maximum of SG$26.22 million.

StarHub, which in May acquired a 51 percent controlling stake in Accel for SG$19.38 million, will acquire the remainder of the company in two stages: 29.4 percent in phase 2 in July, and 19.6 percent in phase 3, which will take place by the first quarter of 2020.

"Accel's cybersecurity solutions complement our network-based capabilities, making us well placed to compete in major government and commercial cybersecurity tenders," StarHub CEO Tan Tong Hai said.

"This acquisition further demonstrates our confidence in growing the enterprise business as we execute on our growth strategy."

The acquisition is subject to the fulfilment of mutual conditions, and will take place via a full cash payment.

StarHub's purchase is aimed at boosting its cybersecurity offerings in order to offer the "full spectrum" of cybersecurity products and services, as well as augmenting the research and development capacity of its Cyber Security Centre of Excellence.

On launching the centre in May 2016, StarHub had signed partnerships with Blue Coat, Fortinet, Wedge Networks, Republic Polytechnic, and Singapore University of Technology and Design, co-investing SG$200 million over five years to undertake initiatives aimed at boosting cybersecurity skills development and industry collaboration across Singapore.

StarHub also said it would be training more than 300 professionals in cybersecurity skills over the five-year period, in addition to working on R&D projects with its partners and with Singapore's Cyber Security Agency.

At the time, StarHub also launched a security operations centre (SOC) for 24/7 monitoring and threat detection across its core network.

"Cybersecurity is a top national and commercial security priority for Singapore as our smart nation vision takes shape, touching many aspects of our personal and business lives," Tan said at the time, adding that telcos have a "unique role" in cybersecurity via developing capabilities across their infrastructure.

StarHub in May announced a quarterly net profit of SG$73.1 million, down 21.3 percent year on year, on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of SG$160.7 million, down 12.4 percent.

Revenue remained stagnant, at SG$590.9 million, with the company making SG$296.2 million from mobile, SG$88.4 million from pay TV, and SG$53.7 million from broadband.

With enterprise fixed the only business making a significant gain during the first quarter of the year, contributing SG$98.7 million in revenue, which was SG$2.9 million more than Q1 last year, Tan said StarHub is focusing on expanding this segment.

"Driving growth in the enterprise business remains our priority, and we are on track to introduce new cybersecurity, IoT, and smart retail solutions to the market," the chief executive said.

"We will grow our enterprise digital services offerings."

Output: Singapore telecoms firm StarHub will acquire the remaining shares of Accel Systems & Technologies for no more than SGD26.22m ($18.9m). Majority shareholder StarHub is purchasing 29.4% of the cyber-security provider in July in the two-stage cash deal and will acquire the final tranche by Q1 2020. The purchase forms part of StarHub's move to offer a full range of cyber-security products and services, with the introduction of new cyber-security, IoT and smart retail solutions.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
eText allows Indiana University to save $3m per year on textbooks
 Students at Indiana University are saving over $3 million every single year thanks to a digital textbook initiative called eText.

eCampusNews reports that more than 40,000 IU students have used at least one eText that they have downloaded to a digital device thanks to IU’s direct partnerships with a number of publishers.

“Digital textbooks and course materials should cost less and do more for learning,” says IU Vice President for IT Brad Wheeler in the article. “We see that happening in IU’s rapidly growing eText program as it is growing 50 percent year-over-year in 2,600 course selections.”

SIGN UP: Get more news from the EdTech newsletter in your inbox every two weeks!

Digital Textbooks Expand Access, Streamline Class Time

IU’s eText initiative supports a model called “Day One Access,” which means students are getting access to course material from the very first day of class, reports eCampusNews.

“I do a lot of active learning in my courses, and if you don’t have the textbook you can’t really participate,” says IU professor Nancy Evans, an early adopter of the digital tool.

With the digital textbooks, IU students and teachers can integrate notes and collaborate with classmates and instructors. IU reports to eCampusNews that in March 2017, the university saw over 100,000 annotations in the texts by students and faculty.

On the off chance that students don’t have access to a personal digital device, eTexts can also be printed and accessed from campus computers as long as students are enrolled at the school.

Digital Courseware Lets Students Learn How They Want

Digital course materials like IU’s eText and Oregon State University’s adaptive learning texts are tapping into a demand from students themselves.

A recent study found that while 82 percent of students, teachers and administrators believe that digital course materials are the future, only 56 percent said more than half of their institutions’ courses are using them.

Another survey found that online students, in particular, are getting a lot of use of their mobile devices — 81 percent use them for research and 66 percent use them to complete course activities — and universities would be wise to make courses more mobile-friendly.

Traditional textbook publishers have even found that students are learning better with digital components to their textbooks, the Association of American Publishers reports.

“Education publishers and learning companies have heard college students loud and clear and are offering them more of what they want — more affordable materials without sacrificing high-quality content,” says David E. Anderson, executive director of higher ed with AAP. “Publishers are able to do that, in large part, because of this transition to interactive and engaging digital materials.”

Output: Indiana University's (IU) eText initiative, offering high-quality digital textbooks to students and teachers, has saved students $3m per year, according to eCampusNews. The programme has grown 50% year-on-year, in 2,600 course choices. By March 2017, IU's eText, which facilitates collaboration and sharing of notes between classmates and teachers, saw more than 100,000 annotations made by students and faculty.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Koda makes £100,000 micro-home available in the UK
 The Koda is an interesting micro-home that boasts a very small footprint, quick assembly, and an attractive modern style. Estonian creator Kodasema has now officially launched it in the UK for a starting price of £100,000 (roughly US$130,000) and has big plans in store for the tiny dwelling.

For those unfamiliar with the Koda, it's built from concrete and ships in prefabricated sections, so can be assembled, and for that matter dismantled, very quickly – or within a working day, to be precise. No foundations are required so all you'd need to get started is a suitable surface like gravel, or asphalt (not to mention a patch of land to put it on).

Inside the two-story home, there's a total floorspace of 26.4 sq m (284 sq ft), which is split between a living room, kitchen, bathroom with toilet and bath/shower, and a bedroom and laundry room upstairs. It looks pretty roomy and there are some nice high-end goodies available too, including solar power, digital door lock, and programmable LED lighting, which can bump up the starting price.

Indeed, with all the bells and whistles, you could end up spending up to £150,000 ($194,000) for a Koda home.

Inside the Koda Tõnu Tunnel

A Koda show home is installed in the UK's BRE Innovation Park and those interested can go and check it out in person. If purchased, delivery time is promised to be speedy once all the paperwork has been sorted.

Kodasema also offers the Koda in café, office, workshop/studio, store, and classroom configurations, each with different interior layouts and prices. It's being used in Estonia as rental apartments and complementary classrooms (pictured below), while a residence will be installed in August.

The Koda units installed in an Estonian school Mairi Hüüdma

A new stackable version of the Koda is planned for 2018 and other future plans include a small "village" of seven Koda units to be installed in Tallinn in August. In addition, the firm is currently researching affordable housing ideas for London. More details on this will be available in Q3.

Source: Kodasema

Output: Estonian firm Koda is launching its 284 sq ft micro home in the UK, with prices ranging from £100,000 ($130,000) up to £150,000. The prefabricated, two-storey concrete module includes living and kitchen space, as well as a bedroom, bathroom and laundry room, while solar power, digital door lock and programmable LED lighting are additional extras. A Koda showhome has been installed at the UK's BRE Innovation Park, and the company is planning to introduce a stackable version next year.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Sadiq Khan seeks digital officer for smart city collaboration
 “Can you spout digital bollocks? London is hiring a chief digital officer,” wrote IT website The Register the day mayor Sadiq Khan launched his search for a digital guru for the capital.

The successful candidate (expected to be appointed later this summer) will earn £106,952 a year and according to the job announcement posted online in May, Khan is looking for someone who can turn London into “the world’s leading smart city – with digital technology at the heart of making the capital an even better place to live, work and invest”.

But with London already topping the European Digital City Index 2016 and a technology sector made up of more companies valued at more than $1bn than any other city in Europe, what will the new chief digital officer (CDO) do, joking aside?

Getting London’s local councils to work together will be a focus, says Martyn Wallace, CDO for the Scottish local government’s digital office. Appointed to the newly-created role in September 2016, part of his brief is to get Scotland’s local authorities to collaborate and one of his challenges is in changing their mindset around technology.

“One council said they had ‘done’ digital transformation, and I asked them and they said ‘well we’ve got a website’,” he says. Other councils are further ahead, telling Wallace they want to be able to use technology such as Amazon Dash to deliver repeat prescriptions to elderly people, for example. Wallace also advocates helping councils work in “agile” ways, a means by which digital products are created and go live quickly.

“We keep iterating, we ban the word pilots. Quite frankly there are more pilots than in British Airways in [the] public sector across the UK, so lets keep ... moving forward,” he says.

Whoever Khan appoints will need to lead London’s 26 borough councils and coordinate digital services, and a priority should be making public transport more efficient, according to Jacqueline de Rojas, president of industry body techUK.

“When you are thinking about smart cities and smart traffic management, you can’t really have cross-border issues. If you are going to have a better transport system, people don’t want to know they are going from Greenwich [borough] to Hackney. You’ve got to make sure everyone is working together and that is going to be part of a big skill set,” she says.

Transport for London has led the way with its Oystercard contactless technology, and making travel information open for others has meant apps such as Citymapper are available in London. Opening up data in this way will allow further digital progress, de Rojas adds.

She also advocates faster broadband to encourage flexible working so people won’t have to travel around the city as much, and would like to see council homes fitted with more efficient kit such as smart boilers that can predict which parts will be needed to fix them. Focusing on the needs of people will be key, she adds.

Dylan Roberts, chief digital and information officer at Leeds city council, agrees. “If I was Sadiq Khan, I’d be thinking what’s really important for any CDO. The focus is not on technology, the focus is absolutely around how you can facilitate, provide some leadership, provide the glue of pulling people together to effect better outcomes through the use of that information technology.”

Better outcomes means thinking about the effect on people’s lives, especially in the face of public sector cuts, and in Leeds this has included an emphasis on health, with the council aiming for the city to be “the best city to grow old in”. Roberts’ team discovered that transport is the number one problem for older people, and one way it helped people get around was by producing a countdown clock to alert people when their bus was due, based on pooling data from transport companies. Public services such as GP surgeries have used it to make sure older people can get around efficiently, resulting in the use of buses going up by 18%.

“People being able to get about means they are more active [and] getting to health appointments means there are fewer ‘did not attends’ and that is affecting a better outcome,” Roberts says. “But it’s also potentially helping a digital company in Leeds or anywhere develop a capability it can test with real cohorts of people.” London’s new digital head is also expected to work with the city’s startups.

London’s CDO will need to help the capital compete digitally on a global scale. Los Angeles, for example, has had a chief technology officer since 2014 resulting in a shift “from one of the poorest performers to one of the top cities in the world for open data, and bringing with it significant improvements to public services,” according to a paper scoping the London role published last year.

The role will undoubtedly be complex – with new regulations coming into force next year and digital adoption at varying stages in local councils, according to Camden councillor Theo Blackwell – and whoever gets the job will have to get their hands dirty. “The CDO job will be about setting standards,” de Rojas says. “It’s not about ego, it’s about efficiency.”

Sign up for your free Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with comment and sector views sent direct to you every Thursday. Follow us: @Guardianpublic

Output: London mayor Sadiq Khan has advertised the position of a chief digital officer (CDO) to help transform the capital into a smart city. Insiders have said the recruit will focus on getting London's councils to work together and be more agile. Based on the experience of Dylan Roberts, chief digital and information officer at Leeds City Council, better public transport for older people is a must. Khan's CDO will also have to ensure faster broadband to encourage flexible working and follow Los Angeles' open data model, which turned it into one of the world's top cities, with major advancements in its public services.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Local government debt is huge risk for China's economy
 Xingyang’s Communist Party school was one of the buildings used as collateral for the 800 million yuan bond. Photo: Simon Song

Output: Local government debt continues to be a major risk for China's economy, despite attempts to contain it. Yi Xianrong of Qingdao University warned “local officials often play with the rules, collude with agencies and get their pet projects funded. They try their best to leverage the financial market and get financed, exposing investors and ultimately ordinary people to risks of default.” Local government financial vehicles (LGFV) have surged, with the outstanding amount of LGFV bonds totalling over CNY6tn ($767bn) in 2016, 20 times more than in 2008, with LGFV bonds only part of local government debt, which was estimated at CNY15.32tn at the end of 2016.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Procedural reasons to blame for late publication of accounts: San Leon
 London-listed Irish oil and gas explorer San Leon energy is blaming "procedural reasons" for its failure to publish its accounts on time.

Shares in the company, headed by former Smart Telecom chief executive Oisin Fanning, were suspended on Monday after it had failed to publish the financial statements before the end of June.

Last year, San Leon executed what Fanning called a "transformational deal" to take an interest in an oil-producing asset in Nigeria.

It said the accounts were being delayed by the need to incorporate the consolidated financial statements of a company called Midwestern Leon Petroleum, which was used to hold its interest in the Nigerian asset.

It was also used to hold another company's interest in the asset and so San Leon is using a technique called "equity accounting", which companies use to measure the value of their investments in other companies.

"The consolidation process involves several jurisdictions and has taken longer than expected for what is the first such consolidation and equity-accounted investment in Nigeria for San Leon," a statement from San Leon said.

"When this process is completed, it will be followed by a number of normal audit confirmatory and technical review matters which, when completed, will then put the company in a position to finalise and publish its financial statements."

The company added: "Dealings in San Leon's ordinary shares will remain temporarily suspended until such time as the accounts have been duly published."

In April, San Leon said it was due around $58m (€51m) in principal and interest repayments from its Nigerian deal.

At that time, it had received $5m from its Nigerian partners.

Less than two weeks ago, the company said it had received a conditional takeover offer, valuing it at £305m-£347m (€347m-€395m).

A company called China Great United Petroleum (Holding) is behind the offer, according to San Leon. It is conditional on the Chinese company completing due diligence to its satisfaction.

The offer has not been formally tabled and there is no certainty that it will be tabled. It gives an indicative value of 67p-76p per share. San Leon's shares were suspended at 34.75p, valuing it at £158m.

The company's biggest shareholder is Toscafund, founded by London hedge fund manager Martin 'the Rottweiler' Hughes.

Output: Shares in Irish oil and gas explorer San Leon were suspended on Monday after the company failed to publish its accounts on time. The London-listed firm said it was incorporating consolidated financial statements of companies used to hold an oil-producing asset in Nigeria, and in a statement said: "the consolidation process involves several jurisdictions and has taken longer than expected for what is the first such consolidation and equity-accounted investment in Nigeria for San Leon."


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Chinese-made taps sold in Aldi contain 15 times safe lead limit
 A Chinese-made tap sold at Aldi may be poisoning tens of thousands of Australians after tests found water coming from it contained 15 times the safe level of lead.

The toxic taps, sold for just $79.99, have been installed in more than 12,000 households all over Australia.

People who own the spiral spring mixer tap are being warned not to use water run through it for drinking or cooking.

The toxic mixer tap (pictured, right) was sold at Aldi stores for just $79.99 and is made in China

Aldi (pictured, stock image) is believed to have sold 12,000 of the potentially poisonous taps

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission was responsible for testing the taps, The Courier-Mail reported.

Tests were conducted by Queensland Health's Forensic and Scientific Services unit on a single faucet, and will be followed by more comprehensive testing.

The results came as a surprise to the Melbourne's IAPMO R&T Oceana, which had previously cleared the tap as returning water 9.5 times under the lead limit.

'Everything we have on file indicates the product fully complies. It looks 100 per cent kosher,' IAPMO technical adviser Glenn Tate said.

Water run through the Spiral Spring Mixer Tap (pictured) showed lead levels 15 times the safe limit

Authorities have warned people using the tap not to drink or cook with water from the suspect faucet

But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has begun their own investigation and warned against using the suspect faucet.

'If there is a risk that consumer goods may cause injury the ACCC expects suppliers and manufacturers to put voluntary recalls in place to protect consumers,' a ACCC spokesman said.

The spiral spring mixer tap is manufactured by a Chinese company called Zhejiang Keen Faucet Co Ltd, located in a small city south of Shanghai.

They claim to export to dozens of countries, including Italy and Spain, and use German manufacturing equipment.

Queensland Minister for Housing and Public Works Mick de Brenni has demanded the federal government do more to prevent 'non-conforming products entering the country'.

Lead can be harmful to people of all ages, but unborn babies, infants and young children under five are at the highest risk.

Exposure to high levels of lead while pregnant can also cause miscarriage or decreased birth weight, and lead can be passed through the bloodstream to babies.

Lead can also be stored long term in bones and teeth, and extremely high levels can even be fatal.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Aldi and Zhejiang Keen Faucet Co Ltd for comment.

Output: The public is being warned about Chinese-made taps sold by Aldi after tests found water coming from them contained 15 times the safe level of lead. These toxic taps have been installed in more than 12,000 households in Australia. The discovery was a surprise for Melbourne's water and gas appliance certifier, which had cleared the tap as returning water 9.5 times under the lead limit. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has started its own investigation into the taps. The taps are manufactured by Zhejiang Keen Faucet in Shanghai, which exports to dozens of countries, including Italy and Spain, and uses German manufacturing equipment.