Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
US researchers use industrial waste to produce hydrocarbons
 Faculty Highlight

August 17, 2017 - Applied Innovation

In a high-ceiling room in professor Markus Ribbe’s lab, a giant still emits pungent vapors from fermenting bacteria. Ribbe, chancellor’s professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at the UCI School of Biological Sciences, and his colleague and wife Yilin Hu, assistant professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, are brewing fuel. They are harnessing nitrogenase, an enzyme derived from a common soil bacteria, to create hydrocarbons from carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The goal is to produce an affordable, truly renewable biofuel, as well as essential industrial products.

Brewing up a better biofuel

The world economy still relies on carbon-based fossil fuels. Developing renewable alternatives that can compete with the cheap cost and energy density of fossil fuels is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Continued use of fossil fuels is unsustainable because of their steep and growing environmental costs, and for strategic reasons as well. Newer generations of alternative fuels are becoming more efficient and cost-effective to produce, but they still have technical and scale-up issues, as well as their own environmental costs. Currently, the main gating factor hobbling innovation in alternative fuels is the relatively low price of oil, but that will not always be the case.

Ribbe terms his lab’s bacterial fuel factory concept a “fourth generation” solution. The discovery came about quite accidentally. Ribbe, a microbiologist, did his Ph.D. on microbes that can use carbon monoxide as a feedstock. In 2010, his lab was researching the properties of nitrogenase, a catalyst produced by Azotobacter vinelandii, a “completely harmless” common soil bacteria that has the ability to affix nitrogen in the soil to plant roots. Nitrogenase is a metalloenzyme, meaning it is metal based; the enzyme can be molybdenum or vanadium-dependent. The nitrogenase enzyme family catalyzes the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia, an important step in the global nitrogen cycle.

In 2010, Ribbe and his students were performing some simple kinetic experiments with an enzyme variation of nitrogenase. “We added carbon monoxide, which has always been believed in the field to be an inhibitor of ammonia formation,” Ribbe said. “The electrons got sucked up by carbon monoxide.” When the students injected some of the enzyme mixture in a gas chromatograph, they saw that it produced ethylene and propane. “At this point none of us believed it,” Ribbe said. So they did another experiment, labeling the carbon atoms with a specific isotope. Under the chromatograph they found the labeled carbon atoms in the ethylene and propane. “We were not really looking for this,” Ribbe said. “I would say it was a side discovery which was really the best of our lab.”

Ribbe and his students found that this nitrogenase enzyme family could catalyze the reduction of carbon monoxide (CO) or carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to produce certain hydrocarbons under moderate conditions: normal pressure and ambient temperature—without requiring hydrogen; it can also use waste feedstocks like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to do so. “A very important aspect is that it is very environmentally friendly,” Ribbe said.

A bacterial fuel factory?

Ribbe hypothesized that the ability to reduce carbon monoxide could be an evolutionary relic of this particular enzyme family, and perhaps, this ancestral nitrogenase could be a link between the carbon and nitrogen cycles on earth. But whatever its antecedents, this peculiar property of Azotobacter vinelandii could potentially be harnessed to generate fuel and essential industrial products.

Currently, most hydrocarbon products for energy or the production of industrial plastics and rubber—including methane, ethylene, propylene, propane and butane—are synthesized via the Fischer-Tropsch process, a series of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons and requires high temperatures and pressures, and lots of hydrogen to work. Hydrogen is energy-intensive to synthesize, requiring fossil fuels. The Fischer-Tropsch process makes an excessive amount of the greenhouse gas methane as a waste product.

Another essential industrial process, the Haber-Bosch method, is an artificial nitrogen fixation process. Using high temperatures and extremely high pressure, this process combines hydrogen and nitrogen derived from air over a catalyst to produce ammonia, critical for the fertilizer that enables modern large scale agriculture—and warfare. The Haber-Bosch method also requires a lot of energy, high temperatures and high pressures to work.

Next step: Scale-up and industrialization

Ribbe envisions growing the Actinobacter vinelandii bacteria on industrial carbon waste to generate hydrocarbons. He and Hu found that the A. vinelandii strain that expresses the nitrogenase enzyme can produce methane (CH 4 ), ethylene (C 2 H 4 ), ethane (C 2 H 6 ), propylene (C 3 H 6 ), propane (C 3 H 8 ) and butane (C 4 H 10 ).

So far Ribbe and Hu have optimized the bacteria to pump out the catalyst in greater amounts. Their lab is now engineering the enzyme to make longer-chain hydrocarbons for liquid fuel, with the goal of getting seven to eight chain carbon products. “Ideally, if you could get carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide as feedstocks, you could make them convert this into hydrocarbons,” Ribbe said. The researchers showed that nitrogenase can convert carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into products like propane and butane. “This enzyme catalyzes at moderate conditions, room temperature and ambient pressure, and doesn’t need hydrogen,” Ribbe said.

Currently Ribbe and Hu are ramping up a process conducted in small flasks to a pilot bioreactor of perhaps five liters, and running continuous cultures to figure out how long it takes to produce hydrocarbons efficiently.

According to Ribbe, the next steps towards eventual large scale production of fuel and industrial products will be optimizing the reaction and developing bioreactors that can hold large quantities of immobilized nitrogenase enzyme, eventually leading to the manufacture of reactors driven by catalysts that mimic the action of the active site of the enzyme.

“What we envision is to build up a bacterial system where we can introduce an enzyme to carbon monoxide that is feedstock-free,” Ribbe said. “Bottom line, it is fairly different compared to other approaches to make biofuels.”

“It is amazingly simple,” Ribbe said. “At this early stage it works at low rates, 1% to 2% conversion of carbon monoxide.” Ribbe noted that the enzyme does this as a secondary reaction. To derive products such as propane, butane and ethylene, it is not necessary to do lipid extraction as with algae-based biofuels, which will save a step in production.

Scalability of the process to mass production will be the biggest challenge. “So far the catalytic numbers are fairly comparable to some Fischer-Tropsch methods,” Ribbe said. “One question is, how efficient is the catalyst? Industry wants a full conversion of substrate. While the Fischer-Tropsch process does a full conversion, our enzyme currently does a low percentage of conversion at a comparable efficiency.”

“I think this is really a different approach compared to other process that are out there,” Ribbe said. “The first generation, second generation, all other approaches are limited to fermentation processes. This system can directly convert carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons without going through a fermentation process. That is one big advantage.”

Output: University of California researchers have created hydrocarbons from industrial carbon waste, by applying an Actinobacter vinelandii bacteria catalyst. The bacteria is commonly found in soil, and could be used to create affordable, renewable biofuel. The application of the bacteria to waste carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide creates methane, ethylene, ethane, propane, propylene and butane. Scale is the largest challenge for adapting the system to large-volume production.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
US researchers use industrial waste to produce hydrocarbons
 In California, researchers at the University of California, Irvine envision growing the Actinobacter vinelandii bacteria on industrial carbon waste to generate hydrocarbons. They found that the A. vinelandii strain that expresses the nitrogenase enzyme can produce methane (CH 4 ), ethylene (C 2 H 4 ), ethane (C 2 H 6 ), propylene (C 3 H 6 ), propane (C 3 H 8 ) and butane (C 4 H 10 ).

So far they have optimized the bacteria to pump out the catalyst in greater amounts. Their lab is now engineering the enzyme to make longer-chain hydrocarbons for liquid fuel, with the goal of getting seven to eight chain carbon products.

Output: University of California researchers have created hydrocarbons from industrial carbon waste, by applying an Actinobacter vinelandii bacteria catalyst. The bacteria is commonly found in soil, and could be used to create affordable, renewable biofuel. The application of the bacteria to waste carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide creates methane, ethylene, ethane, propane, propylene and butane. Scale is the largest challenge for adapting the system to large-volume production.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Enel signs $340m tax equity agreement over US wind plant
 Enel Green Power North America Inc. (EGPNA), acting through subsidiary Red Dirt Wind Holdings LLC, has signed a tax equity agreement worth approximately $340 million with MUFG and Allianz Renewable Energy Partners of America LLC for the Red Dirt wind farm in Oklahoma.

Under the agreement, MUFG and Allianz will pay the above amount to the wind farm owner, Red Dirt Holdings, by purchasing 100% of Class B equity interests in the project.

This interest will allow the two investors to obtain, under certain conditions set by U.S. tax laws, a percentage of the fiscal benefits of the project. In turn, EGPNA, through Red Dirt Holdings, will retain 100% ownership of the Class A interests and, therefore, management control of the project.

The agreement also secures the funding commitment by the two investors, while the closing of the funding is expected upon start of the wind farm’s commercial operations. The tax equity partnership will be supported by a parent company guarantee from Enel S.p.A.

The 300 MW Red Dirt wind project, whose construction started in April, is expected to begin operations by the end of this year. The investment in Red Dirt amounts to approximately $420 million, which is part of the investment outlined in Enel’s current strategic plan.

Once fully up and running, Red Dirt will be able to generate approximately 1,200 GWh of renewable energy annually, which is equivalent to the energy consumption needs of more than 97,000 U.S. households.

The energy and renewable energy credits generated from Red Dirt will be sold under two long-term agreements: T-Mobile USA Inc. for 160 MW and the Grand River Dam Authority for 140 MW.

Output: Acting through subsidiary Red Dirt Wind Holdings, Enel Green Power North America has signed a tax equity agreement for their wind farm in Oklahoma. Worth roughly £340m, the agreement was made with Allianz Renewable Energy Partners of America and MUFG. Allianz and MUFG will purchase 100% of Class B equity interests in the project, allowing them, under certain conditions, a percentage of its fiscal income.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Taiwan looks to Tesla Powerpacks in wake of devastating blackouts
 By

The government of Taiwan is reportedly planning to approach Tesla about setting up lithium ion battery facilities on the heels of Tuesday’s blackout, the island nation’s biggest power outage since 1999. The facilities would be aimed at storing renewable energy on the island.

Tesla is using its lithium ion battery technology to help Australia and California to implement smart grid and grid storage, and we can learn from them in the future,” Taiwan’s Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee told reporters.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen’s has pledged to make Taiwan nuclear energy free by 2025, and the talks of battery facilities with Tesla would be a crucial step in her plans of utilizing more green energy.

Chen told reporters that the Taiwanese government would look to potentially form a joint venture with Tesla for the battery project as the government doesn’t have prepared a budget for the project.

Tuesday’s blackout reportedly came after “government-run petroleum company CPC Corporation ran into difficulties while replacing the power supply for a control system responsible for sending natural gas to a power plant.”

The plan is for Taiwan send a team of officials to the U.S. to talk with Tesla in the near future, although Chen would not be leading the talks.

“We will try to check out whether there is a suitable solution…we will get in touch with them,” Chen said.

Taiwan is just the latest area that is looking to strike a deal with Elon Musk and Tesla.

Tesla secured a contract back in July to install the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage system in South Australia.

The Australia deal is for a 100-megawatt (129 mWh) Powerpack system to be paired with Neoen’s Hornsdale wind farm.

The deal first came to a head in March when Musk committed to solving South Australia’s power crisis in 100 days through a Tesla Energy product or the system would be free.

Tesla has not commented on the potential Taiwan talks just yet, but if they go well, another area will be joining Tesla’s energy revolution.

Taiwan explores using Tesla Powerpack battery system after blackouts

Output: The Taiwanese government is reportedly approaching Tesla with a proposal that would see the company setting up lithium-ion battery facilities, after the country suffered its worst power outage since 1999 on 15 August. Tesla's lithium-ion battery technology, which allows for smart energy storage and grid management, is already in use in Australia and the US. Tesla has not yet commented on the situation.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Taiwan looks to Tesla Powerpacks in wake of devastating blackouts
 Taiwan recently suffered from a massive blackout that affected millions of households on the island, resulted in millions in damages, and ended up with the economy minister resigning.

Now the Taiwanese government says that it is reaching out to Tesla to consider a similar solution as the massive 100 MW/129 MWh Powerpack system that Australia ordered from Elon Musk’s company after they had their own power outage issues.

Taiwan’s power outages came after government-run petroleum company CPC Corporation’s natural gas supply system failed at a power plant.

They now believe that a large energy storage system could help in those situations.

Taiwan’s Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee told reporters at his office in Taipei today (via Nikkei):

“Tesla is using its lithium ion battery technology to help Australia and California to implement smart grid and grid storage, and we can learn from them in the future. We will try to check out whether there is a suitable solution…we will get in touch with them.”

He added that they plan on sending a team of government officials to the U.S. to talk with Tesla soon.

They also could use the energy storage capacity to ease their transition to renewable energy. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s energy plan includes entirely replacing nuclear power with green energy by 2025. A combination of solar and wind power with energy storage will be needed to make it happen.

Tesla entered the Taiwanese market earlier this year when it delivered its first batch of vehicles and opened its first Supercharger in the country.

It was only selling its automotive products, but now it looks like the company has an opportunity to enter the market with its energy products.

Output: The Taiwanese government is reportedly approaching Tesla with a proposal that would see the company setting up lithium-ion battery facilities, after the country suffered its worst power outage since 1999 on 15 August. Tesla's lithium-ion battery technology, which allows for smart energy storage and grid management, is already in use in Australia and the US. Tesla has not yet commented on the situation.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Macarthur Minerals to buy 15% of Australian gold and lithium mine
 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 14, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Macarthur Minerals Limited (TSX-V:MMS) (the “Company” or “Macarthur Minerals”) is pleased to announce that it will acquire 15% of Yalgoo Exploration Pty Ltd (“Yalgoo Exploration”), which owns the Melville Gold Project in Western Australia1.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4a7e47cc-811e-4bbe-822b-adcb29045e5a.

David Taplin, President, CEO and Director of Macarthur Minerals commented:

“Macarthur Minerals is excited about acquiring a 15% interest in Yalgoo Exploration which holds tenements prospective for both gold and lithium. The tenements contain the Melville Gold Project with a historical indicated resource of approximately 1.28Mt @ 1.81 g/t for 75,377 ounces of gold and an historical inferred resource of 692,900 tonnes @1.83 g/t for 41,740 ounces of gold. The price of gold is currently at a two-month high, with the today’s spot price at USD$1,288.91 per ounce. Having a stake in a gold project, brings further value to the Company. In addition, the results of the rock chip sampling up to 3.75% Li 2 O show excellent potential for lithium at those tenements.”

Yalgoo Exploration Pty Ltd

Yalgoo Exploration owns two granted exploration licences (E59/2077 and E59/2140), covering an area of 191 square kilometres (47,161 acres) in the Murchison region of Western Australia (“Yalgoo Tenements”). The Yalgoo Tenements are located approximately 500 km north-east of Perth and 220 km east of Geraldton (Figure 1).

Yalgoo Exploration is a private company which has been focussed on the exploration and development of the Melville Gold Project, which is located on the Yalgoo Tenements.

Melville Gold Project

The Melville Gold Project located on exploration licence E59/2077 was previously owned by Australian Securities Exchange listed Prosperity Resources Limited (ASX:PSP) (“Prosperity Resources”). In 2004 Prosperity Resources defined a mineral resource for the Melville Gold Project in accordance with The Australasian Code for the Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code), 2004 (the “JORC Code”).

Table 1 sets out a historical estimate of the Mineral Resource, which was prepared by Ravensgate Mining Consultants for Prosperity Resources in a scoping study dated 30 November 2004.

Table 1 – Historical Mineral Resource Statement of Melville Gold Project

Historical Mineral Resources – 1.0 g/t cut-off grade Category Tonnes Grade g/t Ounces Measured Resource Nil Indicated Resource 1,281,400 1.81 75,377 Inferred Resource 692,900 1.83 41,740

The Mineral Resource for Macarthur Mineral’s purposes, these estimates for the Melville Gold Project are considered to be historical estimates under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) as they were prepared by Prosperity Resources prior to Macarthur Minerals’ involvement with the Melville Gold Project. In addition, these historical estimates do not conform to NI 43-101 for reporting purposes and use categories other than those set out in NI 43-101.

There are no material differences between the definitions of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources under NI 43-101 (as defined in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) and the equivalent definitions in the JORC Code. Other than as reported in the scoping study dated 30 November 2004, the key assumptions, parameters, and methods used to prepare the historical estimate are not known. There have not been any more recent estimates or data available to the Company with respect to the Melville Gold Project. A review of the geological information needs to be conducted in order to verify or update the historical estimate.

A Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101 has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve and Macarthur is not treating the historical estimate as a current Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve. As such, the historical estimates should not be relied upon.

Acquisition of 15% of Yalgoo Exploration Pty Ltd

Macarthur Lithium Pty Ltd (“MLi”) has agreed indicative terms of settlement for its proceedings in the Supreme Court of Western Australia against Mining and Metallurgy Process Solutions Pty Ltd (“MMPS”) regarding the first right of refusal granted to MLi in respect of the shares in Yalgoo Exploration under the Mineral Rights Deed between MLi and Yalgoo Exploration (“MMPS Proceedings”). MMPS currently owns 100% of Yalgoo Exploration.

MLi and Mining and MMPS have agreed to settle the MMPS Proceedings, on the following indicative key terms:

Negotiate and enter into a formal deed of settlement.

MLi and MMPS enter into a Shareholders Agreement for Yalgoo Exploration whereby MLi be issued 15% of the issued capital of Yalgoo Exploration, which is a non-contributing interest and cannot be diluted until after there is a decision to mine.

MLi, MMPS and Yalgoo Exploration have agreed to terminate the Mineral Rights Deed 2 , at no cost to MLi, so that Yalgoo Exploration owns all minerals on the Yalgoo Tenements.

, at no cost to MLi, so that Yalgoo Exploration owns all minerals on the Yalgoo Tenements. MMPS to pay MLi $100,000 within 5 days of execution of Shareholders Agreement and satisfaction of conditions precedent, unless waived by the party for who it benefits.

The acquisition of the 15% interest in Yalgoo Exploration may be subject to regulatory approval.

Yalgoo Lithium Project

In October 2016, MLi conducted a reconnaissance field trip on the Yalgoo Tenements with promising results for lithium. Lithium mineralisation was confirmed in at least two of the pegmatites, with their core quartz zones exposed by small scale mining. Grab rock samples returned up to 3.75% Li 2 O associated with lepidolite in one of these pegmatites and lithium muscovite containing up to 2% Li 2 O in another pegmatite. During this visit, several additional pegmatites, largely composed of blocky feldspar and quartz were noted within a corridor some 1.5 km wide and extending over some 5 km in a NNW-SSE direction, located within a broader corridor some 3 km wide and likely extending over 10 km.

QUALIFIED PERSONS

Mr Andrew Hawker, a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, is a full-time employee of Hawker Geological Services Pty Ltd and is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. Mr Hawker has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

ABOUT MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED (TSX-V: MMS)

Macarthur Minerals Limited is an exploration and development company that is focused on developing its lithium exploration interests in Australia and Nevada. Macarthur Minerals is the majority shareholder of Macarthur Australia Limited, which owns significant iron ore and lithium projects in Western Australia.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED

“ Cameron McCall ”

Cameron McCall, Chairman

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements in this press release reflect the current expectations, assumptions or beliefs of the Company based upon information currently available to the Company. With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this press release, assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the timely receipt of required approvals, the reliability of information, including historical mineral resource or mineral reserve estimates, prepared and/or published by third parties that are referenced in this press release or was otherwise relied upon by the Company in preparing this press release. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct as actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include fluctuations in exchange rates and certain commodity prices, uncertainties related to mineral title in the project, unforeseen technology changes that results in a reduction in iron ore demand or substitution by other metals or materials, the discovery of new large low cost deposits of iron ore, uncertainty in successfully returning the project into full operation, and the general level of global economic activity. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Such statements relate to future events and expectations and, as such, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and except as may otherwise be required pursuant to applicable laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

________________

1 Subject to negotiating and entering to formal documentation.

2 Refer to the Company’s news releases dated August 15, 2016 and October 12, 2016.

Output: Macarthur Minerals said it will acquire 15% of Yalgoo Exploration, which owns the Melville Gold Project in Western Australia, which has lithium deposits as well as gold. Yalgoo Exploration owns two granted exploration licences covering an area of 191 sq km in the Murchison region of Western Australia.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Etiqa launches accident policy for Singapore's army of maids
 Employers can apply for their maid work permit in Singapore either themselves (in person or online), or through an employment agency. We suggest you do this yourself since the process is relatively straightforward, quick, and you won’t have to pay for maid agency fees. Online applications take just 1 day to be processed and can be done from the comfort of your house.

HelperChoice works with ethical employment agencies to make sure FDWs will not be overcharged. You can contact us at contact@helperchoice.com to get a quotation if you have found a maid you want to hire but are not familiar with the steps of FDW work permit applications.

At the same time, employers need to check with their domestic helper’s embassy in Singapore whether any additional documents or procedures are required from the sending government.

Employers must also follow several preparatory steps before they are allowed to legally hire their maid. They will have to take out a $5,000 security bond (which amount they stand to lose if employment rules are broken), in addition to buying medical and personal accident insurance for their maids.

New employers must attend a brief employer orientation program, while maids should be registered for the Settling-in Programme, which they must attend shortly after arriving in Singapore.

If your initial work permit application is successful, you will receive an In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter – which the worker needs to enter Singapore.

Output: Etiqa Insurance has unveiled an insurance policy that covers Singapore's thousands of domestic helpers against accidental injury. The company's offering, called ePROTECT maid, comes as the government's Ministry of Manpower urges employers to provide personal accident insurance for their in-home foreign domestic workers. Singapore is home to more than 200,000 foreign domestic workers, comprising around 20% of the city's population.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Etiqa launches accident policy for Singapore's army of maids
 SINGAPORE--(Marketwired - Aug 15, 2017) - Etiqa Insurance has increased the Personal Accident coverage for all the plans under its maid insurance plan ePROTECT maid. This is following the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) guidelines to implement changes to the Personal Accident Insurance requirements for Foreign Domestic Workers which will take effect from 1 October 2017.

From today, Etiqa customers can enjoy higher coverage for Personal Accident cover on their maid insurance plans while enjoying the same competitive premium rates. The Minimum Sum Assured for Accident Death and Permanent Disablement has been revised to $60,000 from the previous $40,000, allowing customers and their helpers to benefit from this added protection.

ePROTECT maid by Etiqa enables customers to choose from three options with different premium rates for each plan. Customers can benefit from the highest Personal Accident cover of up to $60,000 for Accidental Death or Permanent Disablement and up to $2,500 for Medical Expenses. In addition, they can claim up to $15,000 per year for Hospitalisation and Surgical Expenses.

"We are one of the first few players in the industry that provide increased insurance coverage for maids before the changes to MOM's guidelines. By implementing the changes earlier, our customers can benefit from increased coverage, without having to pay additional premiums," said Mr. Sue Chi Kong, Chief Executive Officer of Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd.

Different insurers provide different coverage for Personal Accident Insurance, with some having a narrower definition of accidents and imposing more exclusions. As such, the amount of compensation for accidents may differ even though the circumstances and injuries are the same. MOM requires that Personal Accident Insurance coverage includes all sudden, unforeseen and unexpected incidents that result in the death or permanent disability of the Foreign Domestic Worker.

For more information, visit www.etiqa.com.sg.

Etiqa Insurance - A Singapore Insurance Company with Asian and International Expertise

Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd. is a licensed life and general insurance company registered in the Republic of Singapore and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In July 2017, Fitch affirmed the company's "A-" rating for its financial strength and stable outlook.

Etiqa has been protecting Singaporeans since 1961 with a range of general insurance solutions that constantly evolve to meet their ever-changing needs. As the appointed insurer for the Housing Development Board (HDB) Fire Insurance Scheme in Singapore, we have been protecting homes since 2009. In August 2014, we added a comprehensive suite of life insurance solutions to our stable of products.

Etiqa is owned by Maybank Ageas Holdings Berhad, a joint venture company that combines local market knowledge with international insurance expertise. The company is 69% owned by Maybank, one of Asia's leading banking groups with more than 22 million customers worldwide in 20 countries; and 31% by Ageas, an international insurance group with 33 million customers across 16 countries and a heritage that spans over 180 years, with a focus to provide world class insurance solutions to consumers in Europe and Asia through market leading joint ventures.

At Etiqa, we believe in our brand promise of humanising insurance, by placing people over policies in everything we do. We are passionate about helping Singaporeans protect themselves and their loved ones today and helping them plan for a financially secure tomorrow.

Output: Etiqa Insurance has unveiled an insurance policy that covers Singapore's thousands of domestic helpers against accidental injury. The company's offering, called ePROTECT maid, comes as the government's Ministry of Manpower urges employers to provide personal accident insurance for their in-home foreign domestic workers. Singapore is home to more than 200,000 foreign domestic workers, comprising around 20% of the city's population.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Researchers develop fast-charging 'candycane' supercapacitor
 Credit: Queen Mary, University of London

Supercapacitors promise recharging of phones and other devices in seconds and minutes as opposed to hours for batteries. But current technologies are not usually flexible, have insufficient capacities, and for many their performance quickly degrades with charging cycles.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the University of Cambridge have found a way to improve all three problems in one stroke.

Their prototyped polymer electrode, which resembles a candy cane usually hung on a Christmas tree, achieves energy storage close to the theoretical limit, but also demonstrates flexibility and resilience to charge/discharge cycling.

The technique could be applied to many types of materials for supercapacitors and enable fast charging of mobile phones, smart clothes and implantable devices.

The research was published in ACS Energy Letters.

The solution

Pseudocapacitance is a property of polymer and composite supercapacitors that allows ions to enter inside the material and thus pack much more charge than carbon ones that mostly store the charge as concentrated ions (in the so-called double layer) near the surface.

The problem with polymer supercapacitors, however, is that the ions necessary for these chemical reactions can only access the top few nanometers below the material surface, leaving the rest of the electrode as dead weight. Growing polymers as nano-structures is one way to increase the amount of accessible material near the surface, but this can be expensive, hard to scale up, and often results in poor mechanical stability.

The researchers, however, have developed a way to interweave nanostructures within a bulk material, thereby achieving the benefits of conventional nanostructuring without using complex synthesis methods or sacrificing material toughness.

Project leader, Stoyan Smoukov, explained: "Our supercapacitors can store a lot of charge very quickly, because the thin active material (the conductive polymer) is always in contact with a second polymer which contains ions, just like the red thin regions of a candy cane are always in close proximity to the white parts. But this is on a much smaller scale.

"This interpenetrating structure enables the material to bend more easily, as well as swell and shrink without cracking, leading to greater longevity. This one method is like killing not just two, but three birds with one stone."

The outcomes

The Smoukov group had previously pioneered a combinatorial route to multifunctionality using interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) in which each component would have its own function, rather than using trial-and-error chemistry to fit all functions in one molecule.

This time they applied the method to energy storage, specifically supercapacitors, because of the known problem of poor material utilization deep beneath the electrode surface.

This interpenetration technique drastically increases the material's surface area, or more accurately the interfacial area between the different polymer components.

Interpenetration also happens to solve two other major problems in supercapacitors. It brings flexibility and toughness because the interfaces stop growth of any cracks that may form in the material. It also allows the thin regions to swell and shrink repeatedly without developing large stresses, so they are electrochemically resistant and maintain their performance over many charging cycles.

The researchers are currently rationally designing and evaluating a range of materials that can be adapted into the interpenetrating polymer system for even better supercapacitors.

In an upcoming review, accepted for publication in the journal Sustainable Energy and Fuels, they overview the different techniques people have used to improve the multiple parameters required for novel supercapacitors.

Such devices could be made in soft and flexible freestanding films, which could power electronics embedded in smart clothing, wearable and implantable devices, and soft robotics. The developers hope to make their contribution to provide ubiquitous power for the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which is still a significant challenge ahead.

More information: Kara D. Fong et al. Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Networks for Enhanced Supercapacitor Electrodes, ACS Energy Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.7b00466

Output: Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Cambridge University have developed a prototype polymer electrode that could provide long-lasting charging for batteries. The prototype, which resembles a candy cane, has capacity storage for energy close to the theoretical limit, but is flexible and resilient enough to handle charge and discharge cycling. The polymer could be used for supercapacitors designed to fast charge mobile phones and for use in implant devices and “smart” clothing technology.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Influencer marketing set to become more costly on Facebook
 Brands and influencers need to prepare to spend more money on Facebook.

This week, Facebook started letting social stars turn their paid content into sponsored posts by tagging the brands they are working with and then letting advertisers boost those posts directly without sharing them first. Brands can choose to authorize which creators can tag them in their page settings, and they will also be able to have stats around reach, engagement, total spend and CPM to determine the effectiveness of influencer posts.

At first glance, it seems like Facebook is simply making it easier for advertisers to run paid promotion for influencer marketing, but the worry from execs is that Facebook’s algorithm will gradually suppress influencer posts if brands don’t boost them.

And if brands do boost posts, it would be very expensive for them to run influencer marketing on Facebook, said agency executives.

“Most brands are using influencers on Facebook to rely on their following base for organic reach,” said Matt Britton, CEO for influencer marketing company Crowdtap and former CEO for agency MRY. “But now, in order for brands to support influencer posts, they have to pay to play. This means that organic reach doesn’t matter anymore, and influencer marketing will not be the same.”

Britton also believes that with this update, an influencer’s audience size will no longer be important on Facebook, which will push brands to work with celebrities rather than 20 individuals who have big followings, for instance. “At least, celebrities are well-known everywhere, so brands can do influencer marketing with them on Facebook, the same way they run TV ads,” he said. “Facebook just eradicated influencer marketing.”

This isn’t really unprecedented: Essentially, Facebook is bringing influencer marketing in line with the rest of its ads strategy, one that has largely spurned advertisers’ “organic” postings and asked them to pay to get the results they want. It is also bringing some rigor to influencer marketing.

Megan Jones, senior director of strategy and service for agency January Digital, agreed that with this update, social stars’ “influence” is becoming less important number-wise, and influencer marketing on Facebook will ultimately be more expensive for advertisers. But at the same time, Facebook is also returning media control to advertisers because brands can now only pay social stars for their content, not media distribution.

“Facebook influencers need to rethink their business model beyond followers,” said Jones. “Now, they also need to consider how much media spend a brand is willing to place behind their post. They may even need to take some money out of their own pocket to promote themselves.”

From an influencer’s perspective, Sarah Peretz, an Instagram creator, thinks that although both brands and social stars now need to allocate more budget to this feature, with a slight increase in budget, social stars now have the ability to reach out to other friends or Pages. “This feature combines the specificity of audience targeting and the pre-existing reach of influencers, so it is definitely a tool that influencers should consider using as an ‘add-on’ in campaigns, especially for companies that may be newer to influencer marketing on Facebook,” she said.

Chelsea Naftelberg, associate director of content and partnerships for agency Attention, doesn’t believe this update will affect how she approaches influencer marketing on Facebook much because she rarely recommends Facebook alone as a platform for influencer posts. Instead, she recommends it as part of a media mix that often involves a small investment in paid promotion.

But she said this update helps simplify her workflow. In the past, an influencer would have to add someone from her team as an advertiser on their Page in order to promote with client funds, or her team had to educate the influencer on targeting and reimburse them later. Either way, it was somewhat arduous and complicated, she said. But now, her team can just run the media campaign on its own.

“With each update, we see ease as well as drawbacks, but in the end, we’re just watching a new industry grow and evolve,” Naftelberg said. “Next year, I would love to see Facebook — and Instagram — get a better handle on detecting fake followers and activity on their platforms.”

Output: Facebook’s latest algorithm update could lead to more expense for brands, as paid content by social media influencers can now be turned into posts to be boosted by tagged advertisers. Brands no longer have to share posts before boosting; however, there is concern that influencer posts will not be pushed if brands do not pay to boost them. By turning organic reach into paid reach, influencer marketing could be diminished. Megan Jones at agency January Digital said: “Facebook influencers need to rethink their business model beyond followers. They also need to consider how much media spend a brand is willing to place behind their post."


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
New Zealand's South Island gets first cyber liability underwriter
 South Island gets its first liability underwriter

South Island gets its first liability underwriter

August 15, 2017

The technology sector is booming in the South Island, especially Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson and Queenstown, Delta Insurance’s Karl Samson, the only liability underwriter on the ground in the South Island, says.

“Delta offers much more than insurance for technology risks, they are recognised as market leaders in the broad Liability Insurance market and this ranges from very standard coverages such as Public Liability and Statutory Liability right through to more niche products such as UAV (Drone) insurance,” Samson says.

“But in particular, Delta’s offerings for technology and cyber liability are a great fit for key South Island technology companies. We are looking to really establish ourselves as a key partner for the technology sector and we’ve just signed up as member of Canterbury Tech to better get to know some of our customers and prospective customers.

“As well as being a leader in the technology sector, we were also the first in New Zealand to offer a local environmental and pollution risk solution which, covers increasing and problematic risks such asbestos and meth. This type of innovation sets us apart from the rest.

“This point of difference is leading to a better understanding of South Island businesses and brokers. We want to provide more effective solutions to South Island businesses – one example is the technology sector,” he says.

Delta is also New Zealand’s only risk management-led cyber insurance provider with a comprehensive panel of IT experts to help clients manage their cyber security risk. This includes access to a free pre-loss cyber risk assessment as well as access to experts in the event of a cyber-attack.

Delta director Ian Pollard says its vital they have someone on the ground such as Samson who is 100 percent aware of the requirements and issues facing brokers in the South Island.

Samson has 12 years’ industry experience, with recent roles at multinational brokerages dealing with a wide range of clients across the South Island, including sole traders, listed companies and government departments. He has a Bachelor of Commerce and Management from Lincoln University.

ends

© Scoop Media

Output: New Zealand's South Island, home to growing tech hubs including Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson, has just got its first technology and cyber liability underwriter. Delta Insurance’s Karl Samson, an industry veteran with over a decade's experience, will also handle pollution and environmental risks in the region. While the company claims to be New Zealand's only risk management-led cyber insurance provider, Samson said it also manages broader liability insurance.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Insurtech start-ups urged to seek partners instead of cash
 Startup insurtechs need partnerships more than they need money from insurance carriers, according to one leading venture capitalist actively funding insurance technology firms.

Venture firm XL Innovate’s Martha Notaras told Super Regional property/casualty insurer executives looking to get involved in the insurtech movement that there is plenty of venture capital available already for insurtechs, noting that they got $2 billion in 2016.

“I would really focus on partnering. Part of the reason is, investment is a different set of decisions. There are some very large funds available. I don’t think that’s what the insurtech ecosystem needs most from you,” Notaras advised Super Regional executives at the 2017 Super Regional P/C Insurer Conference last month in Lake Geneva, Wis.

“To me it feels like that’s a lot harder to defend to your board of directors but when you go down to really becoming a partner to a startup, which you can do on a case‑by‑case basis — you find an interesting startup, they’re solving a problem that is a problem that you have.”

Notaras was one of the insurtech panelists at the conference that was sponsored by actuarial services firm Demotech Inc. and Wells Media Group’s Insurance Journal and Carrier Management.

According to Notaras, startups are beginning to gain some traction and the interest from venture capitalists (VCs) shows no sign of waning.

“There’s VC money from traditional VCs. There are very large funds from insurers and reinsurers. There’s a lot of money still going in,” she said “There has started to be some exits. When you see some exits, that is an indication that there will be a continuation of money going in, so I don’t see any slowdown from the front end, in terms of the investments.”

Open to Partnerships

Notaras, who in 1998 led the DMGT acquisition of RMS, which some consider the first insurtech, has invested in Lemonade, Cape Analytics and Notion among other startups at XL Innovate. She suggested that insurtechs are open to partnering, having come to the realization that they don’t know everything about the industry they are entering.

“A year ago, the insurtechs were saying, ‘Well, maybe I can go this on my own, and I’m going to be like the fintechs that launched 10 years ago, where they told us that all banks were idiots and they weren’t going to exist anymore,” she recalled.

But she says the new crop of fintechs is singing a different tune that goes, “‘Hey, I can cooperate with banks. This is cool.’ That’s what we’re seeing with the insurtechs. The ecosystem is turning out to be a lot more intertwined than what we expected.”

Robert Mozeika, Munich Re’s Innovation Executive, also an early Lemonade investor, said carriers should recognize that there are many more startups than the ones that get media attention and not all are out to replace carriers.

According to Mozeika, it’s unfortunate that attention has focused on a few direct models like Lemonade while there are hundreds of other types of insurtech companies out there looking to help the industry. “They’re not looking to be a carrier. They don’t have paper. They really want to come in and it’s great opportunity for a partner,” Mozeika said. “There are many, many more of those type of companies to work with, rather than one or two that seem to be getting all the press.”

Mozeika got Munich Re involved in investing in insurtechs including Trov, Lemonade, Root and Slice. He now works with the reinsurance division to match up Munich Re’s client needs with startups in technology, and helps them integrate the insurtech into their operations.

For pioneer Mozeika, insurtech is more about solving real problems than it is about disruption.

“Even my board of managers, when I was out in Silicon Valley said, ‘Bob, try to find the truly disruptive things.’ To be quite honest …I don’t believe in just total disruption. If anything, disruption is little incremental things that change over time. Then you look back over the five years, whatever, it morphed into something totally disruptive,” he said. “You have to work on those little things that improve your process, improve the connection to the customer, make it easier, make it more accessible, make it better to understand and transparent.”

Mozeika told the carriers it’s not too late for them to get involved but that they should start sooner rather than later.

“That’s part of the reason why I’m in my new position, is to help our clients get moving in this innovation market and hopefully we can find something we can co‑create, co‑collaborate together with our clients. That’s why we specifically made this. It doesn’t take much to get started but you really have to get yourself into this. ”

He said joining an accelerator is also an option. His firm is part of the Plug and Play Tech Center accelerator in Silicon Valley.

Start with Data

The panelists offered some advice for partnering with insurtechs, pointing to data as a good place to start coming to terms with the role of new technologies.

“Data is the new oil in this world right now and you need to start accumulating your data,” Mozeika said. “One of the things I see, many carriers, they don’t even have these new forms of data yet. You’ve got to build a history of these datasets.”

Notaras cautioned that sometimes a discussion around data between traditional carriers and new technologists can get bogged down on what data a carrier is willing to or capable of sharing.

“What we’ve often seen is that startups will come and say, ‘What I need is your claims data,’ and there’s a huge deep breath. But very often what they need is something quite pinpointed within that and there is often a common ground that you can reach.”

That can be one of the language issues that bear watching in partnerships, she said.

“There are multiple ways in which people speak different languages. Absolutely one of the biggest ones is the concept of time,” she said. “I can’t overemphasis this. For an entrepreneur, if I call you and I want to talk to you, I meant maybe we could talk tomorrow if you’re not available today. Within the insurance world it definitely feels to me like, ‘So how is three weeks out next Tuesday? Does that kind of work for you?’ I think that has been a real mismatch.”

It also helps for the carrier to understand where the startup really is in its development. “Not what they tell you but where are they in terms of their problem definition?” Notaras said. “You can help them with the problem definition because they are very often super smart people, great experience in technology, not very much knowledge about insurance. So they really do need a depth of understanding about what’s the problem?”

Notaras agreed with Mozeika that data is key but she maintained that some of the upstarts in this area are indeed disruptive. She cited two of her portfolio companies, property data firm Cape Analytic and home telematics firm Notion, both of which provide insurers with better underwriting data.

Cape Analytics is disruptive in how it derives its data— through machine learning from imagery. “You tell me that’s not disruptive? That feels pretty disruptive to me because it’s absolutely a new channel, but it is the same type of information you’ve used before and, amazingly enough, when you get better property data, you can make a better analysis of your risk management,” she said.

Notion offers insurers information they have not had before. Using telematics it captures activities in the home and lets insurers look inside the home.

“When you are a homeowner insurer, you have no idea. From the day that I sign you up, all I know is where you live and, depending on the state, your credit rating, very little else. Now there are a whole bunch of things that I can know and I can understand whether this person is an appropriate risk and a risk I might put in a different bucket,” Notaras added.

Need to Know Insurance

Insurtechs want the industry’s help to improve their technology, agreed Laird Rixford, president of agency technology firm Insurance Technology Corp., or ITC.

“A lot of these technology startups, they don’t understand insurance,” he said.

He cited an example of a startup looking at homeowners’ insurance. “[T]hey were like, ‘We can do it just off the address.’ I’m like, ‘No you can’t.’ Dogs, pools, trampolines — things you can go buy tomorrow and install — drastically affect rate,” he said. “They’re deer in the headlights for a moment and I’m like, ‘There are ways to get around this,’ telling them about services that view Google Maps and find pools and as well as supplementary data that is available from companies like CoreLogic.

He also said carriers can educate startups on how insurance laws and regulations fit into the picture.

Insurtech Investing

According to Brian Cohen, an operating partner at Altamont Capital, one of the exciting features of today’s environment for regional and small carriers in particular is that the cost of technology has dropped dramatically.

“You can literally leapfrog your technology from where it is today to being state of the art, and to do it on a software-as-a-service basis, which is really more of a leasing way to do it, and is a much more efficient and a much more inexpensive way,” said Cohen, who is also chairman of an MGA, Arden Insurance, sits on the board of Access Insurance Co. and previously served as CEO of Pacific Specialty.

“To me, that would be one thing, if you’re talking in general about insurtech. All of you now can look at things to do what just a few years ago would have been outrageously too expensive for you.”

For carriers deciding they want to invest, Cohen advised they find entrepreneurs in their very early stages—before people like Notaras and Mozeika get to them. “Figure out what you want,” he advised. “What is it that you think you could do a better way?” Perhaps, for example, it is using more and better data for underwriting homeowners. “You have a lot more data on water issues because they’re your biggest claims. What would you do?”

After a carrier figures out what it wants, whether data analytics or something else, it’s time to reach out to insurtechs.

“You want to look for the ones in the example that I used that are data analytics focused, that are focused on maybe water claims,” he said. “Then start looking for them and find the ones that don’t have a lot of VC money in them and don’t have a lot of PR. Find the ones that are looking for someone like you to get them to where a Martha [Notaras] will get interested, but get in there where you can drive their agenda, where you can have more control.”

Approaching them this way will give a carrier a lot more out of any insurtech innovation “than just waiting for guys to come to you and try to sell you on what their product is.”

Opportunity or Threat?

Panelists agreed that insurtech is mostly an opportunity rather than threat for agents.

“Consumers are demanding a new way to purchase their insurance. There are new ways to do things. That’s what really I see as insurtech as really doing. The real disruption is the disruption of your lead channel. Traditionally, agencies have been the lead channel for carriers, agreed? That’s where a lot of carriers get their customers, is from the agents,” Rixford said.

“Now these alternative channels are creating a way for those leads to be distributed, either to new ways of selling insurance, or to carriers who have chosen to invest in insurtech, or invest in their future to make sure they’re meeting the needs of when and where a consumer wants to reach them.”

Cohen was bullish on what insurtech means for agents and brokers:

“What I’d say is insurtech for the agent and for the agent‑based distribution channel, this is the golden age. There are things that are coming down the pike that are already here, that are going to allow an agent to be able to do everything that they thought that they couldn’t do before. That is be able to engage with their local customer immediately.”

Cohen cited the example of a startup named Engage that simplifies putting online buyers in touch with an agent right from the results of their Google, Bing or other search. “What Engage does is, if somebody goes online and they search insurance, auto insurance or commercial insurance, an agent’s face pops up and, if the customer clicks on that agent’s face, they’re immediately connected to that agent,” he said. “It’s been done in the travel business, and it’s being done right now starting in the insurance space.”

Mozeika noted that the early hype around insurtech was that insurers had to be “digital and direct” and the agent was in the way. But that’s not the way it is turning out.

“What clearly you saw over the last two years is that the agent’s not going really away anytime soon at all, but you still need to be digital. You still need that better access. If agents want to work with something digital, easier, or less questions, whatever makes their job easier, it’s still going to be worthwhile today,” Mozeika said.

Rixford said much of the insurtech that’s available to carriers is also available to agencies and maintained that agencies that adopt new technologies grow because they have more time to sell.

The ITC executive referred to his own company experience with Google, which dropped its insurance sales venture.

“One of the things we really pushed for them is that we wanted them to have agents in the mix because single carriers don’t have the pivot. Whenever they’re doing self‑fulfillment, they can’t pivot to a different product, can’t pivot, but agents can,” Rixford said.

“Google went down, and when they walked away from, and one thing they said, “We looked at it wrong,” is that having the ability to pivot and have multiple markets and choice for them to sell insurance was really a key benefit of it. I was going, ‘Well, that’s what agents are.'”

While insurtech may not be a threat to agents, what it means for carrier employees is less clear.

It depends on the line of insurance, according to Mozeika.

“Some of the simpler commodity type, everyone’s looking at auto‑underwriting,” he told the carriers. “But I believe that more complex risks, commercial properties, once you get into that, I think a lot of this is only going to help your employees.”

he said carriers are always going to need underwriters but their skill set may need to change. “Think about it, in today’s day and age, it’s not just insurtech that’s changing, our industry — our world is changing. There are new forms of data out there all over the place. If you’re not looking to get that new data in through like Cape Analytics and so on, you’re going to be falling behind the eight ball. But you’re still going to need the underwriting skill there at the end of the day.”

Cohen agreed underwriters will still be needed.

“I don’t think the human underwriter’s going away. I think the tools the human underwriter is going to use are going to be based on AI [artificial intelligence] and machine learning, but they’re going to have a different role. The different role is going to be, they’re going to be an arbiter of last resort. They’re not going to be doing the front end underwriting for risks that are fairly easy to be able to be done,” according to Cohen.

“Humans have a way of screwing things up,” Rixford said. “We’re forever changing. We’re changing at a rapid pace. You’ve got to keep up with times.”

Future Insurers

In the end, they see insurtech making insurers better in the future.

Mozeika sees insurtechs helping insurers develop new products to address new risks.

“There’s still a lot more to go in product development. I think partly, with all the new data sets available. Our world is changing,” he said. “Our risk is actually going to change and you have to be at that forefront on that change. That’s what’s going to see on the long haul. ”

Notaras sees insurers of the future becoming focused more on risk reduction.

“I would say actually one of the things is they’ll become better insurance companies, where they literally are identifying risks that can be taken out of the system, sharing with the insured knowledge about how to reduce that risk. That could end up that you end up with lower premiums in certain areas, and yet better loss ratios,” she said.

“Then you have availability to insure other risks, so I actually think that when you think about the noble purpose of insurance, of enabling business to happen and protecting people, you actually have the potential to close much more of the protection gap.”

For Cohen the promise of insurtech is in great part that it can help the industry address its recrutiment challenge.

“What’s exciting to me about insurtech is that finally we have platforms and capabilities and challenging opportunities for young people looking to come into the insurance industry, and we really are fulfilling what insurance is,” Cohen said. “It’s an information and data analytics business where you get to make decisions and make decisions on taking risks, and if you’re right and you do it well, you can make a lot of money.”

Related:

Topics Carriers Agencies InsurTech Tech Underwriting Data Driven Property Casualty Artifical Intelligence Google

Output: Insurtech start-ups should be developing partnerships rather than taking more funding from insurance carriers, Martha Notaras of venture firm XL Innovate has said, after insurtech start-ups received $2bn in venture capital in 2016. Notaras, a partner at the firm, said insurtechs are realising they sometimes need the help and expertise of established carriers so partnerships can be more helpful to them than investment. She recommended that carriers "find an interesting startup, they’re solving a problem that is a problem that you have” and said the insurance ecosystem had turned out to be more intertwined that she had expected.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Apple earmarks $1bn to spend on original video content
 Apple dipped a toe into TV. Now it's preparing to do a cannonball.

Apple has set aside $1 billion for original video over the next year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The money would go to as many as 10 different shows in an attempt to put Apple on the map alongside Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and many other companies that are making high-end internet-delivered video.

Just where those shows would appear is not immediately clear, as Apple doesn't have a dedicated video platform... yet. The two original shows it has made so far ("Planet of the Apps" and "Carpool Karaoke") were in Apple Music.

What is clear is Apple's growing ambition to create original content, signaling a new era for the hardware-focused company. Apple still derives the vast bulk of its revenue from iPhone sales, with a growing chunk coming from the apps on its devices.

Apple's presence in livings rooms has also grown thanks to the success of its Apple TV box, which streams video over the internet.

Apple's $1 billion is a huge step toward competing with other tech and media giants, but only about half as much as HBO spent last year, the Journal noted. Netflix will spend around $7 billion on content in 2018.

Output: Apple has earmarked $1bn to buy or create original video content over the next 12 months, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The funding could support up to 10 shows, as Apple attempts to compete with video-streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix and HBO. The content could be offered on Apple Music or a new service entirely dedicated to video, the people said. While Apple's $1bn is around half of HBO's and a fraction of Netflix anticipated $6bn spend this year, it is suggested Apple could easily increase its budget.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK will throw away barbecue food worth £428m in August
 It’s symbolised by dismal burgers and carbonised sausages served on paper plates with a splatter of ketchup. Yet with the great British summer well under way, Britons are this month set to throw away a staggering £428m worth of barbecue food, research reveals.

In August the nation will brave the changeable weather to enjoy nearly 12m barbecues, with people on average either hosting or attending at least two of the seasonal gatherings. The new research from supermarket chain Sainsbury’s shows that hosts typically over-cater to impress friends and family, with more than half (49.2%) putting on a larger than necessary spread.

Salad leaves, burger rolls, hot dog buns, coleslaw and potato salad are the top five food items most likely to be wasted during barbecue season, the research found, amounting to £36.47 worth of food waste at each event. The total does not include drink.

The most binned item is half a bag of salad – contributing to the 178m bags thrown away every year in the UK, according to official figures published recently by the government’s food waste advisory body Wrap.

With strict new advice from the Food Standards Agency for consumers about staying safe when preparing food for picnics as well as barbecues, consumers may be preferring to chuck it out rather than take risks.

About 26.6% of people said they throw away uneaten salad if it’s been left uncovered outside, even for a short time, while 22% complained that “fussy eaters” accounted for some of their leftovers. Another reason for the waste is catering for the “no carbs” brigade; 15% said they ended up with leftover bread rolls and buns because of guests’ dietary choices.

“Britons want to give their guests a fantastic barbecue experience with enough options to please everyone’s tastes,” said Paul Crewe, head of sustainability, engineering, energy and environment at Sainsbury’s. “However, a good plan for leftovers will mean hosts can still offer their friends a feast fit to remember without … food ending up in the bin.” Crewe also suggested hosts could set menus, create doggy bags for guests and make plans to use leftovers to help reduce waste.

The new report into barbecue food waste is part of Sainsbury’s’ Waste Less, Save More initiative aiming to help customers reduce food waste. As part of the scheme, the supermarket has introduced a new range of packaging for some barbecue essentials such as sausages and added tips on reducing waste to 70 products.

Output: The UK will throw away £428m ($550m) worth of barbecue food in August, according to research from supermarket Sainsbury’s. The study shows that 49.2% of barbecue hosts will over-cater, with burger and hot dog rolls, coleslaw, potato salad and salad leaves being the most wasted items. Each of the country’s nearly 12 million barbecues will generate £36.47 of food waste, excluding drink. The most frequently wasted food item is salad, 178 million bags of which are discarded in the UK each year. As part of its Waste Less, Save More initiative, Sainsbury’s has introduced new packaging for some barbecue items.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Facebook releases Messenger AI assistant in four more countries
 How often do you use Facebook? For many people, Facebook is part of their daily routine. They pick up their phone or open their laptop and go straight to Facebook to learn more about what’s going on in the world around them. In fact, Facebook has ingrained itself into our lives so effortlessly that it’s the most visited website in the world, according to Hootsuite.

Further consider that the average Facebook user spends around 19.5 hours on the platform each month, according to the research. What's more, having a Facebook business page can become a powerful tool for customer acquisition.

Why your business needs a Facebook page

With more than two billion monthly active users and Facebook clicks on searches for local businesses increased 23% from February to May, 2020, the reasons for having a Facebook page for your business are almost endless. From connecting with your business’ target market to determining the most effective ad strategy for selling your product or service to your consumers, your business can’t really afford to be without a Facebook page.

Facebook offers a wealth of tools for business owners. Each tool focuses on providing businesses with the opportunity to reach their target audiences and engage with their customers while solidifying their overall presence across the platform.

Business Manager

Business Manager brings together all of a business’ team members, pages and ad accounts. This puts all this into an easy-to-access and secure place. Plus, Business Manager is free to use.

Ads Manager

Ads Manager provides you with the tools you need to manage and determine the success of your Facebook page’s ad campaigns. When using Ads Manager, you can also access useful campaign tools such as audience insights.

Page Insights

Never underestimate the power of analytics. Facebook certainly hasn’t.

Page Insights serves as a valuable analytics tool for Facebook business users. Not only do insights allow you to keep up to date on comments, but it also provides valuable data, including your content’s reach and the types of posts and content your followers respond to the most.

Messenger

Your customers crave connection. Facebook Messenger gives them just that. Over 20 billion messages are exchanged between businesses and users monthly on Facebook Messenger and the platform even has over 300,000 active bots on Messenger.

Facebook Pixel

Facebook pixel is a piece of code that works in concert with your business’ website and Facebook page. When a customer takes action on your website after visiting its Facebook page, Facebook pixel reports this action to your account.

The more conversions Facebook pixel tracks, the better it is at delivering ads to your target audience.

Marketing your business using Facebook

Facebook has over 2.74 billion active users. An increasing number of those users visit the social networking site hoping to connect with useful products, services, and brands.

In 2020, an estimated 87.1% of U.S. marketers used Facebook marketing to reach their customers. Fortunately, Facebook offers plenty of opportunities for businesses to reach their target audiences using strategically designed Facebook ads.

RELATED RESOURCE From B2B to D2C online sales Create a direct-to-consumer web store with the potential to transform your business FREE DOWNLOAD

Local awareness ads

For brick-and-mortar businesses, local awareness ads are key. Simply choose the proximity you’d like to reach around your business and the target audience you want to reach, and Facebook will target those people.

You can also send people straight to your front door, by adding a ‘Get Directions’ button to this ad.

Slide show ads

These are quick and easy video-like ads using marketing collateral you may already have. Unlike most video ads, slide show ads are affordable and take only minutes to create.

Carousel ads

With a carousel ad, you can give your customers the information they need by showcasing multiple products and services in a single post. If your marketing team’s goal is to showcase a product effectively or highlight a one-of-a-kind service, consider using a carousel ad.

Dynamic ads

To launch a dynamic ad on Facebook, you must have not only a Facebook business page but also a Business Manager account and a Facebook pixel. Dynamic ads allow you to promote products to those who may have browsed your website when they migrate to Facebook, encouraging them to revisit your website and become a paying customer.

Lead ads

In need of a solid email list so you can reach out to your customer’s on additional platforms? Use a lead ad to create contact forms that are pre-populated with a user’s contact information. Gather this information and continue to build connections with your customer base.

Canvas ads

Full-screen, instant-loading mobile ads are known as canvas ads. Think of them as an artificial landing page for your organization.

These ads aren’t only highly engaging, but they are great for segments of your audience that visit Facebook regularly and also consume a large amount of content while using the platform.

Keep your customers engaged using Facebook

Although the social media ecosystem is one that is constantly changing, there is one thing that remains the same: It takes a substantial amount of time and effort to transform your Facebook business page into a completely developed online community.

At the end of the day, however, ensuring you keep your customers engaged through a Facebook business page can make a huge difference.

Customize your audience

From lookalike audiences that aid organisations to discover more customers, to custom audiences that specifically target those customers you already know of, Facebook provides no shortage of opportunities to customize your business page’s audience and constantly engage with your customer base.

Create a community of super fans

If you are talented at real-time communication with your customers, it may be worthwhile considering having a Facebook group associated with your organization’s page. This could be your chance to create a powerful community of super fans, as more than one billion people use Facebook groups regularly, providing your customers with a chance to talk to each other and interact with the brand itself.

Focus on quality

Social media moves pretty fast, as Ferris Bueller might attest, so if your brand isn’t able to constantly publish eye-catching content or ads, your customers won’t stop and look. Furthermore, when it comes to platforms like Facebook, there’s no time for sub-par content. You’re more likely to keep your core customer base engaged if you put out higher quality content as consistently as possible. Obviously, the more engaged your customer base is, the better your business will be.

Output: Facebook Messenger’s AI assistant M is now available to users in Australia, South Africa, Canada and the UK. M scans conversations in the messaging service for potential actions or services to recommend to users. In the United States, M is able to show third-party chat extensions that can help with ordering food, choosing music or suggesting recipes. Facebook intends to make the feature, which was launched in 2015, available globally in due course.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Traditional media ad revenues still ahead of digital in India
 Despite massive digital penetration, print, press and TV have been the mainstay for marketers in India for many years. It is mainly because of the mass reach they offer and the tried and tested effectiveness.

eMarketer’s recently forecasted that estimated TV ad spending will account for 39.3% of total media ad outlays this year, with newspapers making up 33.9%.

To add on to that, by 2018, TV ad revenue will exceed print's, according to a KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) research.

It further reported that print advertising generated INR201.3 billion ($3.0 billion) in revenues in 2016, newspapers generated INR289.9 billion ($4.3 billion) in overall revenues, while TV was responsible for INR201.2 billion ($3.0 billion) in 2016.

null null

To find out how newspapers and TV drive revenue today in India, and why they still lead investment from brands, The Drum spoke with marketing experts from across the industry.

Joy Chakraborthy, president of revenue at TV18 and CEO of Forbes India, commented on the trend: “For both TV and print, basic revenue is through display sales, innovation/high impact position & non-free commercial time and branded content. There is also a revenue in TV through the syndication model. In addition, there is very stable subscription revenue in TV, as well as in print, which is negligible in digital."

Even organisations like Amazon and Flipkart , although fully digital businesses, still use traditional media to get their point across.

According to PwC report, titled ‘India- strong growth in digital segments while traditional media remain resilient’, circulation of newspapers in India has boomed from an average daily unit circulation total of 109.9mn copies in 2009, to 130.6mn in 2013, and is forecasted to keep rising to 161.6mn copies in 2018.

The report further predicted the rise of CAGR of 7.5% over the five years to 2018, reaching US$5.3bn of spending on newspapers – for both circulation and advertising. As a result, India’s share of the global newspaper market will increase from 2.4% in 2013 to 3.4% in 2018.

The Drum spoke with Benedict Hayes, Sociomantic managing director for South East Asia and India, who believes that out of home, print and press are still the largest mediums in terms of ad spend in India, but they are not the main drivers of revenue .

He added that digital is there to "compliment" both the tv and newspaper revenue. He said, “Digital is very much a viable option to deliver revenue to a business, its ability to reach and drive frequency of media exposure, is very much on par with the other advertising channels, and to be frank, will surpass the other mediums in no time at all, as it has done in major western markets.”

According to Chakraborthy, while TV and print still drove revenue, thinking about how platforms work together the most effective strategy. He said, "Yes, today integrated media platforms solutions do help in psychographic targeting as all media platforms co-exist. Thus keeping each medium’s nature in view and marrying a brand’s communication objective accordingly, is how media plans leverage the best from each media platform. “

He also emphasized on how broadly print and TV still remain favourites for product launches, while for brand building TV is the first choice, backed by digital, print and out of home.

While the consumption of digital media may be on the rise for Indian people, and a more integrated approach to channel planning is being adopted be brands, traditional media still stands strong in India, and may do for some time.

Output: Print, press and TV are the first port of call for Indian advertisers, with digital seen as a complementary service. In 2016, print advertising generated INR201.3bn ($3bn) in revenues, newspapers INR289.9bn, while TV generated INR201.2bn, according to data from KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce. It is also expected that India's share of the global newspaper market will rise from 2.4% in 2013 to 3.4% in 2018. Despite this, experts have predicted that digital will follow the western model and eventually overtake traditional media.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Fish seek out ocean plastic they believe is food
 Fish may be actively seeking out plastic debris in the oceans as the tiny pieces appear to smell similar to their natural prey, new research suggests.

The fish confuse plastic for an edible substance because microplastics in the oceans pick up a covering of biological material, such as algae, that mimics the smell of food, according to the study published on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Scientists presented schools of wild-caught anchovies with plastic debris taken from the oceans, and with clean pieces of plastic that had never been in the ocean. The anchovies responded to the odours of the ocean debris in the same way as they do to the odours of the food they seek.

The scientists said this was the first behavioural evidence that the chemical signature of plastic debris was attractive to a marine organism, and reinforces other work suggesting the odour could be significant.

The finding demonstrates an additional danger of plastic in the oceans, as it suggests that fish are not just ingesting the tiny pieces by accident, but actively seeking them out.

Matthew Savoca, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and lead author of the study, told the Guardian: “When plastic floats at sea its surface gets colonised by algae within days or weeks, a process known as biofouling. Previous research has shown that this algae produces and emits DMS, an algal based compound that certain marine animals use to find food. [The research shows] plastic may be more deceptive to fish than previously thought. If plastic both looks and smells like food, it is more difficult for animals like fish to distinguish it as not food.”

Plastic debris in the oceans, ranging from the microscopic to large visible pieces, is recognised as a growing problem as it does not readily degrade and hundreds of thousands of tonnes are dumped in the sea annually. Larger pieces have been found in the intestines of whales and seabirds, where they are thought to be potentially fatal, while the smallest pieces have been detected in the guts of even juvenile fish and molluscs. Numerous species of fish eaten by humans have been found to contain plastic, and the effect of eating these on human health is still unknown.

Efforts to reduce marine plastic have so far had little effect: microbeads widely used in cosmetics and other products have been banned in the US, the UK and other countries, but they only solve part of the problem, which is mainly caused by dumping of plastic rubbish. There could be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, campaigners have warned.

Scientists have struggled to understand exactly how the massive increase in plastics may be affecting the behaviour of fish and marine ecosystems, and how to contain the problem.

A previous paper published in the journal Science that alleged juvenile fish were attracted to microplastics “like teenagers after junk food” was withdrawn earlier this year after controversy. The scientists involved in that paper, who have no relation to the authors of today’s study, were suspected of having exaggerated their data or failed to carry out the purported experiments properly. The new paper did not draw on that publication.

Output: Fish appear to be confusing plastic debris with food and actively seeking it out, according to new research. The confusion results from the fact that microplastics in the oceans become covered by biological material, including algae, that smells similar to the natural prey of fish. The study, which saw anchovies responding to ocean debris in the same manner as they do to food, provides the first behavioural evidence that plastics’ chemical signature can be attractive to marine organisms. Fish consumed by humans has frequently been shown to contain plastic, with as yet unknown effects on human health.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
London's appeal to new graduates is declining
 Dick Whittington, Vic Brown, the Three Girls and the crowd in London Irish all moved to the capital to seek their fortunes. Or to escape from the places they grew up in. Either way, as our films and literature tell us, the young and restless tend to up sticks and move and they usually head to London.

The data we have on movements of people back this up. A report by ONS in 2014 contained this fascinating graph which shows the northern English regions losing their young people. Some move after A-levels but their number is more than offset by an influx of students. As everybody knows, the coolest universities are in the north of England so lots of people want to study there. But, as soon as they get their degrees, they are off back down south, along with their fellow students who grew up in the north. In the year to 2013, there was a net loss of 24,000 21-30 year olds to the rest of England.

A report by Centre for Cities last autumn drew similar conclusions. It shows young people with A-Levels moving to the large and medium-sized cities and graduates moving away again, with London as the main beneficiary.

Net inflow by age and qualification for city groups, 2010-2011

Chart by Centre for Cities based on 2011 Census

Once into their 30s, people start moving out of London. The graduates don’t tend to go back home though. Most of them stay close to London. As the Centre for Cities report notes:

While overall London loses older degree-holders to the rest of the country, the majority of these do not tend to go very far. Of the older degree-holders who left London, 69 per cent remained in the Greater South East.

Chart by Centre for Cities based on ONS data

This has been the story of many people I have known. Off to university, somewhere exciting. Swear you’ll never move to London. Move to London because there’s no interesting work locally, vowing that you’ll not stay long. 10 years later still there because you’ve gotten used to the lifestyle and the money. Marry, think about having kids. Move out of London because the schools are better and the houses cheaper. Stay within commuting range because your money-earning potential is still in London.

It’s a classic English graduate trajectory which sees graduates moving from other regions to London and then to the South-East. As housing market analyst Neil Hudson put it:

London imports the young, extracts their value, and then exports their typically middle-aged remains to the provinces! — Neal Hudson (@resi_analyst) June 22, 2017

But there are signs that more recent generations don’t want to play this game any more. A report by the Resolution Foundation this week found that the proportion of graduates moving for work has declined over the past decade.

Chart by Resolution Foundation

This map, from the report, is particularly interesting. London still has a net gain of graduates from the rest of the UK but the region with the highest net gain is the South-East.

Chart by Resolution Foundation

Chart by Resolution Foundation

The reason for this is that London isn’t attracting graduates from elsewhere in the UK in the same numbers that it once did. As the report cautiously notes:

Although net graduate migration to the capital appears to be lower than it was two decades ago – with last year’s gures showing that it may even have turned negative for the first time since 2004 (we can’t be definitive because the change was statistically insignificant) – it is too soon to determine if London is becoming a less attractive place for highly-qualified young people. Current trends appear to be pointing that way however.

So one explanation for this map might be that older generations of graduates who moved to London are still moving out to the South-East but they are not being replaced by new graduates from elsewhere in the UK. The plug hole is still open but the taps are being turned off.

Those who stay in the places where they studied are more likely to join the increasing proportion of graduates that are in non-graduate jobs.

But perhaps more people are deciding that is a reasonable trade-off. The Resolution Foundation’s living standards report showed the effect that London’s brutal housing costs have on household incomes.

Even with their higher salaries, graduates in London can find that, once they have paid for their housing, they are worse off than some of their friends who stayed at home. Might it be, therefore, that more young people are deciding that the aggro of moving to London just isn’t worth it?

If there ever was any truth in the stereotype of the freewheeling job-hopping millennial, I suspect it dates from before the recession. Nowadays, as the Resolution Foundation’s Stephen Clarke says, they are spearheading the decline in regional mobility. Perhaps after Brexit, when it will probably become more difficult to recruit graduates from elsewhere in Europe, employers might be forced to offer higher salaries or even move some of their operations to where the graduates are.

This summer, another cohort of graduates will move to London and start work. It’s a well-trodden path but one that, for whatever reason, fewer young people want to take. Perhaps they have decided that the view just isn’t worth the climb.

Advertisement

Output: The number of UK graduates staying in London after their studies have finished is shrinking, largely due to high housing costs, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation. Moreover, millennial graduates are discovering that, even with higher salaries, they can be worse off than if they lived in the north of the country using the measure of net income after housing costs. Increasing numbers of over 30s are leaving London although they tend to stay close to the capital. Analysis of the report suggested that following Brexit, employers may have to raise salaries to attract graduates or relocate to find employees.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Navigators appoints new president to professional liability line
 James L. Rhyner has been appointed president of the Navigators Pro division of Navigators Management Co., the U.S. underwriting operation. In this role, Rhyner will lead Navigators’ U.S. directors and officers (D&O) and errors and omissions (E&O) businesses. This appointment reflects Navigators’ continued commitment to its U.S. management and professional liability product lines as part of our global portfolio of offerings.

Rhyner will be based in Iselin, New Jersey.

Rhyner, who has worked in the industry for 30 years, has experience in both insurance brokerage and underwriting. He joins Navigators from Chubb, where he was for more than 13 years, serving as senior vice president, Professional Liability. Prior to Chubb, Rhyner was a partner in Avreco, a professional liability wholesale broker and managing general agent, for almost 15 years, and before Avreco he was at American International Group (AIG).

Vincent C. Tizzio, president, U.S. Insurance for Navigators, said Rhyner will play a major role in expanding the firm’s product and service capabilities to continue to differentiate the carrier in the market.

Topics USA Chubb

Output: Underwriter Navigators is bolstering its management and professional liability lines in the US with the appointment of James Rhyner as president of its Navigators Pro division. Rhyner will head up the firm's directors and officers (D&O) and errors and omissions (E&O) businesses in the US. The former Chubb vice president for professional liability will be based in Iselin, New Jersey.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Over 150 EV charge points to be installed in Richmond, London
 Over 150 electric vehicle charge points are set to be installed across Richmond as part of plans to make electric vehicles more practical.

The points are being rolled out with the help of £285,000 from the government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles, which is being distributed as part of the London mayor’s Go Ultra Low City investment programme.

The funding will provide residential charge points to assist those without access to off-street parking.

The location of each charge point will appear on commercial charge point maps as well as a dedicated app from the provider, Ubitricity.

Richmond council is also working to install 70 fixed charging units across 21 locations later in the year.

Output: More than 150 electrical vehicle (EV) charging ports will be installed across the borough of Richmond, London, as part of Richmond Council's scheme to encourage EV adoption. Government funding of £285,000 ($367,000), under the Go Ultra Low City investment programme, will go toward the installations. Locations will be shown on commercial charge point maps as well as the Ubitricity app; the funding will also provide residential charge points for those without off-street parking. The 150 are additional to the 70 fixed-charging points the council is looking to install across 21 locations by year end.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
San Leon George Soros investing funds into occupied territories
 I recently received this press release from the Kohelet Policy Forum:

Memo: Geroge Soros’s Investments in Occupied Territories

San Leon Energy, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is an oil and gas exploration company with assets and operations in Albania, France, Ireland, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, and Morocco.

As part of its Morocco operations, San Leon drills in Western Sahara. In 2015, the company reported finding gas in its Laayoune-4 well, and announced that it would be applying, in conjunction with Morocco’s Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM), for a new eight-year license to continue exploration. When asked about the company’s operations in Western Sahara, San Leon’s lawyer, Daniel Martin, said the company has not talked with the Saharawis since they are “not a representative people.”

Related coverage New York’s Celebrate Israel Parade Made Me Proud to Be an Israeli Jew The annual Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City marched down Fifth Avenue this year with a theme of "Renewing...

George Soros’s investment management companies have held significant shares in San Leon at least since 2010 and till 2016 (latest full Annual Report). Quantum Partners LP is “a private investment fund that’s operated by Soros Fund Management.”

Since 2011, when it managed USD 24.5 billion , Quantum is Soros’s family private wealth management fund. In 2011, Quantum Partners LP, was the single largest significant shareholder of San Leon energy with 19% of companies shares. In mid-2015, Quantum Partners LP held 8.52% of San Leon, and a year later in 2016, 3.5% .

It is clear that Soros Fund Management [was] completely aware of San Leon’s massive Western Sahara business activity from the very start. San Leon never hid its Western Sahara business. Further, as early as in 2010, San Leon’s extraction preparations and construction at its Western Sahara sites were completely public .

Output: George Soros’ stance on investing in occupied territories is challenged by Algemeiner, which pointed to Qantum Partners, a “private investment fund” operated by Soros Fund Management and the Soros family private wealth management fund, investing in the Western Sahara via a holding in San Leon, which found natural gas at its Laayoune-4 well in Morocco. The fund was said to have held a 19% stake in San Leon Energy in 2011, which reduced to 3.5% by 2016.