Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK petrol stations may be forced to host EV charging points
 Motorway services and petrol stations may be forced to install electric charging points as part of Government plans to ensure the UK "remains a world leader in new industries".

An Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill will be introduced to encourage the use of electric and self-driving cars, the Government announced in the Queen's Speech.

The first all-electric car to be built in the UK rolled off of the production line in 2013, and the Government wants "almost every car and van to be zero-emission by 2050".

Of more than 36.7 million licensed vehicles in the UK, just over 100,000 have been purchased with help from a government plug-in car grant.

The speed of adoption has been slowed by a number of factors, including the perceived cost of electric vehicles, according to Dr Ben Lane, a director at charging-point company Zap-Map.

However, the perception of their expense is not always accurate, Dr Lane told Sky News, as the relative newness of most of the electric car models made their price seem higher than other vehicles.

The availability of second-hand electric cars is making them more affordable.

The distance electric cars are able to travel on a single battery charge has also discouraged consumers, as has the availability of charging points and the speed of recharging.

Dr Lane said he "strongly welcomed" the Government's proposed law.

Advertisement

"Together with more open access, it's exactly what the market needs and electric vehicle drivers will welcome this development," he said.

Registrations of electric vehicles are increasing, with 13,800 being registered in the first quarter of 2017, a 17% rise on the same period the year before.

Plans to fund the additional electric charging points have not yet been announced, although the Government said it was committed to spending £600m during this Parliament to support the ultra-low emissions market.

The new law also aims to support British manufacturing and innovation by allowing self-driving cars to operate in the country.

Earlier this year, tests of electric self-driving cars by manufacturer Nissan took place on public roads in London.

Official research has indicated the market for automated vehicles in the UK could be worth £28bn by 2035.

This would be supported by making it compulsory for motor vehicle insurance to cover automated vehicles so that compensation claims can be paid quickly in the event of any accidents.

Output: The UK government has promised to introduce legislation that could force motorway services and petrol stations to install recharging equipment for electric vehicles (EVs) as part of a drive to make cars and vans zero-emission by 2050. Announced in the Queen's Speech, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill will also extend compulsory motor insurance to autonomous cars to ensure claims are paid easily and efficiently. The government said it will invest £200m ($253m) in the development of self-driving technology, and plough £600m into low-emission vehicles.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Electric aircraft with 600-mile range unveiled at Paris Air Show
 At the 52nd International Paris Air Show, Eviation Aircraft, a member of NASA’s on-demand mobility program, unveiled the first prototype of a new all-electric aircraft concept with a range of up to 600 miles (965 km) – pictured above.

While it was the prototype’s debut this week, Eviation says that they are already flying proof of concept missions, and they plan to move into certification and commercialization as soon as next year.

Omer Bar-Yohay, CEO of Eviation Aircraft, made the announcement:

“At a time when we are more connected than ever, our mobility options must adapt to reflect this new, efficient future. Whether it is a zero emissions, low-cost trip from Silicon Valley to San Diego, or Seoul to Beijing, our all-electric aircraft represents a chance for people to move with the speed and impact our global economy now demands.”

We have recently seen several new efforts to deliver electric aircraft, especially small VTOL aircraft like Lilium’s which got its first maiden flight earlier this year, but Eviation has the most aggressive timeline for commercialization for a plane that could fly 6 to 9 passengers plus 2 crew on long distances.

Electric air transport has been limited by the energy density of batteries, but it looks like several new companies are seeing the recent advancements and they are getting ready to act on it.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who revealed having his own design for a VTOL electric plane, says that such a system becomes possible once battery energy density reaches over 400 Wh/kg, while his Tesla vehicles are believed to be currently powered by battery cells with 250 to 300 Wh/kg.

Eviation claims that its electric aircraft is made possible by a new aluminum air battery:

“Based on an aerial application of Phinergy Ltd’s Aluminum air battery, coupled with a high power rechargeable battery buffer, and managed by a clever mission specific power analytic algorithm, EViation’s energy system is unique. Providing a true solution to both energy density and utilization, at a cost that beats gas, and with zero emissions.”

Furthermore, the company seems to be positioning itself as a Uber-like on-demand transport service.

Mark Moore, Uber Engineering Director of Aviation, also commented on Eviation’s tech:

“We are witnessing a new age in aviation as advances in energy storage and aircraft design bring electric, on-demand air transit within reach. Our focus at Uber is in galvanizing the ecosystem necessary for urban VTOL electric vehicles to thrive for 20-60 mile trips that can provide massive time savings over ground transportation for long trips in cities. In parallel, we are encouraged to see bold new players like Eviation tackling challenges in different sectors using electric aviation; these players will help catalyze demand for new battery and rapid recharging technologies that are crucial to enable electric flight.”

Despite the aggressive timeline, it seems to still be in the early stages, but it’s fun to see more companies looking at electrifying air transport.

Output: A prototype for an all-electric aircraft with a 600-mile range was debuted by Eviation Aircraft at the 52nd International Paris Air Show. The vehicle is already flying in proof-of-concept missions, with Eviation expecting to gain certification and begin commercialisation in 2018. Eviation Aircraft is part of NASA's on-demand mobility programme.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
TalkTalk TalkTalk customers unable to access Amazon
 Certain UK TalkTalk customers have been unable to load Amazon's website since last week.

The issue emerged on TalkTalk's community page on Monday. The original poster wrote: "Hi for two days now i have had an issue with amazon not loading on three browsers IE, Chrome and Edge."

Other users commented to say they have experienced the same problem reaching the website of the massive online retailer.

Another said: "Sigh, probably yet another issue with their DNS blocking filters, anyhow for now switching to Google DNS fixes the issue. What a cowboy outfit TalkTalk are when they can't sort out access to probably the most used website in the UK. Pull your damn fingers out and fix it."

One customer contacted The Register to report that the issue was still affecting him today. "It's been unreachable now since last Friday."

Customers in North Yorkshire experienced a total loss of service yesterday, but TalkTalk said that issue has now been resolved.

In March, TalkTalk blocked remote desktop management tool TeamViewer from its network following a spate of scammers using the software to defraud customers, only to then unblock it.

A TalkTalk spokesman said: "We can confirm this issue has now been resolved. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused to our customers." ®

Output: Some UK TalkTalk customers have struggled to access Amazon's website since last week, according to comments on the telecommunications firm's community page. One forum member claimed they were unable to load Amazon on three different browsers, and many other customers have also experienced problems. The issue has now been resolved, according to a statement from a TalkTalk spokesperson.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Redrow Redrow wins 27 accolades at the Pride in the Job Quality Awards
 Redrow has achieved a record 27 awards at the Pride in the Job Quality Awards. The accolade, established by the National House Building Council, celebrates the exceptional contribution site managers make in creating homes of outstanding quality.

The winners of the prestigious industry award are selected from a pool of 16,000 site managers across the UK. The 12-month selection and judging process identifies site managers who encapsulate skills such as leadership, technical expertise and attention to detail. Not only has Redrow outdone its 2016 tally of 24, the company’s 2017 awards count is more than double the average in the competition, which stands at 12. The number of successful site managers at Redrow has increased every year since 2013.

The Redrow winners come from some of the housebuilder’s most crucial UK sites, including Ebbsfleet Green in Kent, Lyon Square in London, Oaklands Park in Derbyshire and The Pavilion in Lancashire. The West Country in particular has excelled. This year the region was responsible for five out of 27 awards won by Redrow.

John Tutte, Redrow’s chief executive officer, said:

“We’re very proud of all of our winning site managers, and that a record number have been recognised for the second year running. The fact we count 27 of the industry’s best site managers amongst our colleagues is a reflection of the high standards we uphold across Redrow. “It’s a rigorous judging process and only the best in the business achieve the ‘Quality’ awards. The fact we continue to improve year-on-year demonstrates our commitment to continually improving the high build quality of our homes.”

This year’s achievement is a testament to Redrow’s unwavering commitment to the quality training and retention of its people: 5,000 training days are delivered by the Learning and Development team each year. Redrow has also been recognised as the Construction Industry Training Board’s Apprentice Employer of the Year and one of the National Apprenticeship Service’s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers.

Output: Redrow has been awarded a record 27 accolades at the Pride in the Job Quality Awards, which celebrate the contributions of site managers in creating high-quality homes. The judging process singles out site managers who embody positive qualities, such as technical knowhow, attention to detail and leadership. Redrow received 24 awards last year, with this year's winners coming from some of the housebuilder's key sites, including Oaklands Park in Derbyshire and Lyon Square in London.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Worst recorded coral bleaching event draws to a close
 The latest NOAA forecast shows that widespread coral bleaching is no longer occurring in all three ocean basins – Atlantic, Pacific and Indian – indicating the likely end to the global coral bleaching event. Scientists will closely monitor sea surface temperatures and bleaching over the next six months to confirm the event’s end.

NOAA declared the beginning of the third-ever global coral bleaching event in 2015. Since then, all tropical coral reefs around the world have seen above-normal temperatures, and more than 70 percent experienced prolonged high temperatures that can cause bleaching. U.S. coral reefs were hit hardest, with two years of severe bleaching in Florida and Hawaii, three in the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands, and four in Guam.

Fortunately, some coral reef areas did not bleach despite the damaging conditions. Scientists will be looking into these areas to see if characteristics of the corals or their environment somehow protected these ecosystems from heat stress.

“Coral reefs are not beyond help,” said Jennifer Koss, director of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program. “Many proactive steps to make coral reef ecosystems more resilient are being taken around the world. We are reducing local threats to coral, and are looking into innovative ways to increase coral populations and species that are more resilient to rising ocean temperatures and acidified waters.”

NOAA uses ocean temperature data from geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites operated by it and its international partners to identify areas at risk for coral bleaching. The outlook also uses NOAA’s operational climate models to forecast potential bleaching months in advance. Both of those systems just underwent major upgrades, with enhanced versions released this May.

Despite what appears to be the end of the third global event, some U.S. coral reefs are still not completely in the clear. NOAA’s four-month coral bleaching outlook shows some risk to coral reefs in Hawaii, Florida and the Caribbean later this summer. Earlier this year, ocean temperature conditions also brought severe bleaching to the Great Barrier Reef for the second year in a row, and to American Samoa, which was also heavily affected in early 2015.

“This global coral bleaching event has been the most widespread, longest and perhaps the most damaging on record,” said C. Mark Eakin, NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch Coordinator. “NOAA is working with scientists, resource managers and communities around the world to determine what the true impacts of this event will be on coral reefs.”

The first global bleaching event was in 1998, during a strong El Nino that was followed by an equally very strong La Nina. A second one occurred in 2010.

Healthy coral reefs protect shores from storms and offer habitats for fish and other marine life, including ecologically and economically important species. After corals die, reefs quickly degrade and the structures corals build erode. While corals can recover from mild bleaching, severe or long-term bleaching is often lethal.

Output: The world’s worst recorded coral bleaching event, which has affected every major coral region since 2014, is ending, according to the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The event began in 2014 when a pattern of warming resembling El Niño began to heat waters in the Pacific Ocean. An actual El Niño occurred in 2015, intensifying the bleaching. Although the El Niño provided the trigger, researchers said the underlying cause of such bleaching is climate change. Coral reefs need 10 to 15 years to recover and scientists fear that another bleaching event may occur before recovery is complete.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Worst recorded coral bleaching event draws to a close
 The worst coral bleaching event in recorded history, which has hit every major coral region on Earth since 2014, appears to be coming to an end, with scientists now worrying how long reefs will have to recover before it happens again.

After analysing satellite and model data, and finding bleaching in the Indian ocean no longer appeared widespread, the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has announced the event is no longer occurring on a global scale, and appears to be coming to an end.

Over an unprecedented period of three years, unusually warm water spread around the world, bleaching and killing coral.

Coral bleaches when the water is too warm for too long. The coral polyps get stressed and spit out the colourful algae that live in inside them, leaving them white. Since the algae provides the coral with 90% of its energy, the coral starves and – unless the temperatures quickly return to normal – dies.

In Australia, the Great Barrier Reef suffered the worst bleaching event in recorded history in 2016 and then again in 2017. It was estimated about half of its coral was killed between the two events.

In the Indian Ocean, reefs were badly hit. One survey in the Maldives found all reefs there were affected, with between 60% to 90% of coral colonies bleached. Christmas Island had virtually all its coral bleached, and 85% of its coral died.

In some other reefs, virtually all the coral was killed, with 98% of the coral around Jarvis dying, for example. Japanese reefs were badly hit, as were reefs in every other coral region.

“We know it has been the longest-lasting event and it has been the most widespread,” said Mark Eakin, coordinator of Noaa’s coral reef watch program. “And it probably has been the most damaging. In some places it definitely has been.”

Eakin said the data on total reef damage had not yet been analysed, so he could not say for sure whether it had been the worst but he said he would bet it had been.

The event started in 2014 when waters in the Pacific Ocean started to warm, in a pattern that resembled El Niño. The El Niño never fully kicked in, but the warming caused widespread bleaching.

In 2015 an El Niño did occur, which spread the bleaching even further, and the effects continued all the way until now.

Although the El Niño cycle tipped water temperatures over the edge, and triggered the bleaching, Eakin said there was no doubt the underlying cause of the bleaching was climate change. There have been two recorded global bleaching events previously, both of which occurred when strong El Niño events warmed oceans around the world – in 1998 and then 2010.

Eakin said the underlying warming was priming the ocean for coral bleaching, potentially with every El Niño.

“We didn’t even have an El Niño in 2014-15,” Eakin said, adding that a near-El Niño was enough to cause widespread bleaching then. “At this point I’d say any El Niño, even moderate ones, will probably result in widespread, if not global, bleaching.”

That view is backed up by studies with modelling that suggests the conditions causing the most recent global bleaching event would be average conditions within two decades.

Coral reefs need between 10 and 15 years to regain their coral cover, Eakin said. But that assumes they are not hit with too many local problems – such as pollution – or another bleaching event.

“The big fear is just simply that these events keep coming,” Eakin said.

Output: The world’s worst recorded coral bleaching event, which has affected every major coral region since 2014, is ending, according to the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The event began in 2014 when a pattern of warming resembling El Niño began to heat waters in the Pacific Ocean. An actual El Niño occurred in 2015, intensifying the bleaching. Although the El Niño provided the trigger, researchers said the underlying cause of such bleaching is climate change. Coral reefs need 10 to 15 years to recover and scientists fear that another bleaching event may occur before recovery is complete.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Pepsi's Ramadan ad unfolds across three mobile screens
 Five full days of Ramadan remain. For those unfamiliar with the Islamic holy month—or its Catholic cousin, Lent—it’s a period of fasting and cleansing that dramatically impacts Middle East and North African (MENA) markets.

As long as the sun is up, practicians neither eat nor drink. Businesses open late and close early in recognition of the fast’s effect on both customers and employees. Come sundown is Iftar, a moment of gathering when the fast is broken, and family and friends unite to celebrate and stuff their faces before doing it all over again tomorrow.

This

Output: Pepsi and ad agency Impact BBDO Cairo have released a multi-screen mobile ad for Ramadan, comprised of three videos that reflect different frames of the same piece of work. Called "Let's Get Together", the videos encourage viewers to invite two other mobile phone users to play the ad at once. The ad features a group of friends meeting to break their fast, but becoming distracted by their phones. Pepsi then invites users to put down their phones and enjoy the company of friends. The ads can be found on YouTube and Facebook's Carousel feature.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ad protest group urges Amazon to boycott Breitbart
 Self-proclaimed advertising guardians Sleeping Giants is driving a mobile billboard around Seattle to pressure Amazon, one of the world’s largest retailers, into dropping ads it is programmatically serving on rightwing news site Breitbart.

Sleeping Giants' mobile billboard

The group has pressured a reported 2,250 brands from advertising on Breitbart but getting a company the size of Amazon on board would likely be a major blow to the funding of the Conservative blog that has the ear of president Donald Trump.

Output: Anonymous ad protesting group Sleeping Giants has encouraged 2,250 brands to stop advertising on rightwing news site Breitbart, and is now looking to Amazon to get on board. The organisation has driven a billboard — which reads "Amazon, Stop Funding Bigotry. Please Pull Your Ads From Breitbart" — around the e-commerce giant's Seattle headquarters. The protest marks the first time Sleeping Giants has entered the physical world, rather than protesting via social media. The group has claimed that its earlier appeals to Amazon were ignored.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Augmented reality is the new QR code: Ogilvy
 People are always looking at mobile ads, but that doesn’t mean they’re seeing them. Without the widespread ability to track eyeballs—yet—advertisers are looking to add in interactive elements to their campaigns to make sure the $80 billion plus spent on mobile advertising is actually capturing people’s attention.

We asked creative agency execs which new, interactive features they’re using to make sure consumers pay attention to mobile ads, and we found that some formats are faring better than others.

Augmented reality

Verdict: All the mobile rage.

Execs at Huge recognized AR’s advertising potential a year ago, thanks to the success of a Pokémon Go experiment. And at Ogilvy, “we are pushing our clients pretty quickly to that format,” said Mark Himmelsbach, head of digital and innovation. It’s become one of the agency’s “standard offerings.”

While AR as a core element of mobile ad creative itself hasn’t been proven yet, brands have been successful in building AR into apps. Ogilvy recently worked on an AR campaign for IBM to help launch the movie “Hidden Figures” with an app that lets users discover “hidden figures” in physical locations. Next to statues of well-known (read: white, male) historical figures, users could hold up their phones to see AR statues of minority, female movers and shakers in over 150 locations across the US.

When it comes to entertainment, Himmelsbach said AR experiences are popular among his agency peers. “We are huge fans of augmented reality. We are pushing our clients pretty quickly to that format.” He noted that AR can create enduring in-store experiences, such as letting customers compare a product in the store to that of the competition or alerting them to available discounts.

Ogilvy created a series of digital mall posters for Coke Zero, where consumers could use their phones to virtually “drink” the Coke in the poster using an on-screen straw. They could also use the Shazam app to fill empty glasses on their phone screens when the corresponding TV commercial of a pouring Coke Zero aired. Both resulted in free Coke Zero coupons.

The TV ad ended up being the “most Shazamed of all time,” and it showed that viewers were willing to take extra steps to get the experience.

“AR is like the new QR code,” he said.

Virtual reality

Verdict: Not the mobile reality.

VR, on the other hand, has proven too clunky to get the same traction on mobile. “We found that when people have to put something on their heads…it really limits participation,” said Himmelsbach.

Apple recently acknowledged this at its Worldwide Developers Conference by putting AR capabilities on its mobile devices, while relegating VR to desktop. VR proved difficult to adapt to on-the-go habits that drive mobile advertising. Instead of trying to force that behavior on consumers, advertisers are better off trying to take the best parts of VR (allowing consumers to truly immerse themselves in content) and express that in different ways.

Interactive video

Verdict: Turn passive viewers into active participants? Yes, please.

Video is a proven tactic for top of funnel awareness and brand building, but when you add in interactive elements you create an immersive environment that can push consumers closer to a purchase.

Simple interactive features in mobile video ads can be all it takes to sway consumer behavior. While “most people these days reject paper coupons,” said Himmelsbach, they’ll take a coupon or other reward that is delivered to them after interacting with a mobile video.

Automotive brands can use features like zooming in on a speeding car in motion, feeling its engine rumble through haptic effects, or tapping on the ad to switch the view from the outside of the vehicle to the inside. These interactive elements can help trigger lower funnel post-video actions – scheduling a test drive, for instance.

For Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Disney released a custom trailer for their mobile campaign where viewers took part in an on-screen ‘treasure hunt’ and were rewarded with exclusive video content from the film for each “treasure” they found.

And at Essence, consumer surveys have shown that the focus on personalizing interactive mobile video ads has resulted in better brand recall, said Schmitt. These personalized experiences could be as simple as surfacing multiple products based on visits to other sites or making inferences based on context; for instance, serving a video ad for headphones in a music app.

Interactive dynamic display

Verdict: Works across the board.

At Essence, creatives focus on interactive dynamic display—ads personalized based on users and their environments—to “create shoppable moments” on mobile, said Garrick Schmitt, global director of experience design.

Carousel ads, which rotate products users can buy with a tap, “turn a unit into almost a store,” he described. Users are more likely to shop from these “stores” because they’re feeding consumers products based on their digital histories, locations and actual items that the consumer taps on the screen to select themselves.

Though the appeal of dynamic display for retailers is clear, Schmitt said, “You don’t have to be a retailer to take advantage of it…it works great for every brand.”

Output: Advertisers have increasingly added augmented reality (AR) to their campaigns to ensure they are being noticed by viewers. For example, ad agency Ogilvy worked on an AR campaign to help launch the film "Hidden Figures". Users could hold up their phones to 150 statues of white, male historical figures in the US to see AR statues of notable female figures. The level of interaction AR offers is "like the new QR code", said Mark Himmelsbach, head of digital and innovation at Ogilvy. Unlike AR, virtual reality requires extra hardware, and will not prove as useful to advertisers, Himmelsbach added.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Lyft trials shuttle bus service in Chicago and San Francisco
 Imagine riding in a vehicle that, for a small fee, picks you up at a predetermined location and drops you off at another predetermined location, making stops on the way and dropping off others who might be in the vehicle with you.

This sounds an awful lot like a city bus, right? But it’s exactly how ride-sharing giant Lyft is selling its new ride scheme, Lyft Shuttle. “Ride for a low fixed fare along convenient routes, with no surprise stops,” the company’s marketing declares.

Commenters around the internet roundly mocked the hubris of Lyft and its boosters in marketing an everyday public service as a faux-innovative private one.

http://twitter.com/surfbordt/status/876805235863408641

http://twitter.com/MikeBeauvais/status/876855568409014272

Private buses have become relatively common in Silicon Valley, though so far access to such commuter options has been largely restricted to tech companies' employees. Like Silicon Valley's notorious private commuter shuttles, the Lyft Shuttle competes with public transit. But as a venture-backed startup, Lyft, like Uber, has the power to undersell its competitor until its venture capital runs dry. Except in this case the “competitor” is a public good, and "underselling" it could further harm the efficacy of public transit in cities like San Francisco.

http://twitter.com/hayesdavenport/status/876846531676000256

If you study Lyft Shuttle's San Francisco routes, you can see clearly that its shuttles are designed to move people from the wealthier parts of town — like the Marina, Alamo Square, Pacific Heights and the rapidly gentrifying Mission District — to SoMa and the Financial District, where the bulk of the city's professional jobs are. Since Lyft Shuttle rides are comparable in price to that of a city bus, the main draw seems to be that you can avoid being near poor people; the Shuttle doesn't even approach working-class neighborhoods like the Richmond, Bayview or Outer Sunset and it strategically skirts poverty-stricken neighborhoods like the Tenderloin and Civic Center.

Some of those enticed by Lyft’s scheme seem to agree that this is the point. One commenter on a Lifehacker article about Lyft Shuttle praised the service: “Took a Lyft Shuttle this morning (SF.) It was $o.25 more expensive than the bus, required 0.4 miles less of a walk, and I rode in a Prius and not on a plastic seat next to someone who may or may not be actively exorcising their own demons. I’d say it’s a win.”

Output: Ride-hailing firm Lyft has commenced trials of its shuttle bus service aimed at offering convenient pick-ups and fixed-rate routes to commuters, according to TechCrunch. The service, which is currently available in Chicago and San Francisco, is intended to provide reliability to people who travel the same routes everyday.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK Fraud Office charges Barclays executives over Qatar funds
 Four former Barclays executives could face lengthy jail sentences after the Serious Fraud Office charged them and the bank with fraud over the way Barclays raised billions of pounds from Qatar at the height of the financial crisis.

The SFO charged former Barclays chief executive John Varley and three former colleagues – Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath – with offences after a five-year investigation into the events surrounding the £11.8bn emergency fundraising conducted by the bank in 2008.

This is the first time criminal action has been taken against any senior bankers for events dating to the 2008 financial crisis. At the time, Barclays raised billions of pounds from Qatar in a move that allowed the bank to avoid taking a taxpayer bailout.

The SFO said the charges related to the two fundraisings the bank embarked on in June and October 2008 with two investment vehicles related to Qatar, including one used by the prime minister at the time, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, and a $3bn (£2.3bn) loan advanced to Qatar in November 2008.

The individuals and a bank representative are scheduled to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on 3 July. Jenkins and Boath said they would contest the charges; there has not been any comment from Varley and Kalaris.

The charging decision has been postponed on a number of occasions, initially to the end of March, then the end of May and then to mid-June, and comes as the SFO faces abolition under plans set out in the Conservative election manifesto.

“This is the most significant charging decision for the SFO in recent times, if not ever,” said Sarah Wallace, a partner and head of regulatory and criminal investigations at law firm Irwin Mitchell. “In the past few years, Barclays faced an unprecedented number of investigations by worldwide regulators but this SFO criminal prosecution is the most serious.

“Taking on Barclays, one of the largest banks in the world, and its most senior officials who literally were at the very top, sends a very strong message that the SFO is now fearless in terms of the companies and individuals it pursues.”

The four and the bank are charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to a fundraising in June 2008. If convicted these offences carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine for the bank.

Varley, Jenkins and the bank are also charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to the fundraising that took place in October 2008. Technically this also carries a maximum 10-year jail term if convicted. Varley, Jenkins and the bank face a further charge of providing unlawful financial assistance through the loan, which carries a jail term of up to two years or a fine, or both.

Barclays said it was considering its position in relation to these developments and awaiting further details of the charges.

Jenkins, who left Barclays in 2009, was known as the executive who was paid £40m in one year and credited with finding the Middle Eastern investors who poured billions into the bank at the height of the crisis. The Briton, who is now based in Malibu, California, said through his lawyer he would defend himself.

“As one might expect in the challenging circumstances of 2008, Jenkins sought and received both internal and external legal advice on each and every topic covered by the SFO’s accusations,” Brad Kaufman of law firm Greenberg Traurig said.

Varley was chief executive of Barclays until the end of 2010. Kalaris, a London-based US citizen, ran the wealth management arm of Barclays. They did not immediately comment, although Varley resigned as a director of mining group Rio Tinto just after the charges were revealed. He had been on the board of the group for six years. In a statement, the Rio Tinto chairman, Jan du Plessis, said: “The board holds him in the highest regard and will miss his valuable insight.”

Boath is the former head of the bank’s European financial institutions group and has brought an employment tribunal claim against Barclays alleging he was unfairly dismissed when the SFO shared the transcript of his interview with the bank.

He said: “The SFO’s decision to charge me is based on a false understanding of my role and the facts. I was not a decision-maker and had no control over what the bank did in 2008.”

Civil action: adviser Amanda Staveley. Photograph: Silverhub/Rex/Shutterstock

Boath said he had cooperated with the SFO and the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. “The evidence I have supplied is very clear, there is no case for me to answer. I will contest these charges vigorously,” he said.

The bank said the charges related to two advisory services agreements entered into with Qatar Holding, an investment vehicle for the Gulf state, in June and October 2008.

Barclays said on Tuesday that the US justice department and Securities and Exchange Commission had also been conducting investigations relating to these agreements, and that the FCA had investigated.

The FCA said: “We are pleased that this matter, which led to the stay of our own case, is now in the public domain. We welcome a fair and transparent hearing on the basis of the charges set out today by the SFO. We work closely with the SFO across a range of matters, in pursuit of our distinct objectives.”

There is also a civil case in relation to the events of 2008 brought by Amanda Staveley, an adviser to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, who put more than £3bn into the October 2008 financing. Staveley has brought a civil action claiming fees for her PCP advisory vehicle.

Output: The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has charged Barclays and four of its former executives, including former CEO John Varley, with fraud in relation to the bank’s raising of billions of pounds from Qatar during the financial crisis. The charges, which carry the possibility of long prison sentences, come after a five-year investigation into the £11.8bn ($15bn) emergency fundraising carried out by the bank in 2008 in order to avoid a bailout by taxpayers. The charges of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation are the first criminal action against any senior bankers for events relating to the financial crisis.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Chinese firms attracted to infrastructure investment in India
 Attracted by India’s infrastructure development programme, state-run Chinese firms, including China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd and China Datang Corp. (CDC), are looking to buy Indian companies in the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and power generation space, respectively to drive their business, said two people aware of the Chinese firms’ interest.

While CDC, one of China’s largest power generation utility, has been attracted by India’s stressed power projects, another government-owned firm—China Southern Power Grid is in discussions with Essel Infraprojects Ltd for jointly bidding for power transmission projects, said one of the two people cited above.

This comes in the backdrop of India’s plan to invest as much as Rs3.96 trillion in the current financial year to bankroll its new integrated infrastructure plans comprising roads, railways, waterways and civil aviation.

However, the domestic industry has been raising concerns about Chinese firms’ participation in India’s infrastructure projects given their strategic importance. There have been instances in the past when India stopped giving clearances to telecom equipment imported from China over security concerns.

“China Harbour Engineering is looking for acquisition in the EPC space across sectors. CDC has also become interested in acquiring stressed power projects," said the first person aware of the company’s India strategy, requesting anonymity.

CDC’s interest comes at a time when the government is trying to address the problem of stressed assets in the power sector. JM Financial Research, in an 8 March note, wrote that its 2016 study of stressed power assets had concluded that of the total 28 gigawatts (GW) generating capacity in question, assets accounting for 14GW were at high risk.

The second person who also didn’t wish to be identified said that Chinese firms have been trying to explore an India piece to their growth strategy.

China Harbour Engineering is a unit of China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. Chinese firms’ interest stems from ambitious plans such as Sagarmala and Bharatmala. While the total road length to be developed as expressways under Bharatmala will be around 51,000km, the Sagarmala programme envisages construction of new ports to harness the country’s 7,517km coastline and setting up as many as 142 cargo terminals at major ports.

“China Southern Power Grid has been looking to bid for power transmission projects in India and is in discussions with Essel Infraprojects for the same," said the first person cited above.

Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group has been trying to ramp up its energy sector plans, including exploring a solar module manufacturing facility with one of China’s largest solar equipment maker GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd, Mint reported on 22 March. Essel Infraprojects Ltd, an Essel Group firm, has a presence across sectors such as green energy, transportation, electricity transmission and distribution, and urban infrastructure.

Experts say there may be some traction on the EPC part of the Indian infrastructure play by the Chinese firms but remain cautious about those projects which may involve asset ownership.

“On the EPC part, it is an equal opportunity for everyone to come in. On others, there is a question on how much of fruition will happen because of issues over ownership of the asset. It depends on their interest and the risks associated," said Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, director, transport and logistics at Crisil Infrastructure Advisory.

Queries emailed to the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, China Communications Construction Co., China Datang, China Southern Power Grid and Essel Infra remained unanswered.

There has been growing interest among overseas investors in the Indian infrastructure space, particularly in sectors such as energy. A case in point is Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp. which is planning to enter India’s renewable energy sector by acquiring wind energy projects, Mint reported on 12 June.

Output: State-run Chinese companies such as China Harbour Engineering, China Southern Power Grid and China Datang Corp are looking to buy Indian companies in the engineering, procurement, construction and power generation sectors, sources have said. However, the domestic industry has been raising concerns about Chinese firms participating in India’s infrastructure projects given their strategic importance and there have been instances where India has stopped giving clearances to telecoms equipment imported from China because of security fears.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Fox adopts six-second ad format used by YouTube
 Fox Networks Group is adopting the six-second, “unskippable” ad, following in YouTube’s footsteps as it tries to cater to its growing number of online viewers.

FNG announced the move at the Cannes Lions conference, alongside executives from YouTube, which instituted the six-second ad format last year. FNG’s first such ads will debut on its streaming services and then eventually on linear television, the company said.

“One of our biggest priorities at Fox Networks Group is figuring out the best way for a brand to reach a consumer that captures the right kind of attention,” said David Levy, FNG’s executive vice president of non-linear revenue. “We’re excited to deploy this new format.”

FNG said that it was the first time a television broadcaster had adopted the new ad format.

Advertisers and digital platforms have struggled to come up with ways to keep viewers’ eyeballs on ads as attention spans shorten and more and more people watch videos on their mobile devices. YouTube says that an ad lasting six seconds hits the sweet spot.

“Since we piloted this format last fall, we’ve seen on YouTube that six seconds is both long enough and short enough,” said Tara Walpert Levy, vice president of agency and media solutions at YouTube and its parent company, Google. “It’s great for on-the-go users who appreciate the succinct message, for creatives who appreciate the constraint, and for brands who value the consistent results.”

Output: Fox Networks Group (FNG) is adopting the six-second “unskippable” ad format used by YouTube in a bid to increase its online ad revenue. FNG will launch the format on its streaming services before it is rolled out to linear television. It is the first time that a television broadcaster has used the format, according to FNG.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Neva Aerospace to unveil flying-car concept
 The Paris Airshow kicks off Monday, offering the denizens of the aviation world their biennial chance to gather round. They'll ogle the latest aerospace innovations, close deals for defense drones, and check out private jets. Airbus and Boeing will go head-to-head over over sales numbers as aircraft new and old—including the F35A fighter jet, making its public debut—roar overhead, flaunting their flying skills.

Oh, and because at some point in the past few months everyone decided personal aircraft are a real thing, Paris will feature flying cars.

One early reveal comes from Neva Aerospace, a UK-based consortium made up of five European companies that focus on all sorts of electric aviation, from drones to aerial robotic platforms.

Now these folks want to build a passenger-carrying vehicle. The AirQuadOne is just a concept at this stage, but you can tell it’s the future because it’s made of shiny white plastic, and the rider is in a spandex suit.

Neva Aerospace

Yet the specs are refreshingly realistic. The aircraft uses four electric turbofans, which the consortium members have already proven in other vehicles like drones. The whole thing will weigh in at a little over 1,000 pounds, including 330 pounds for the batteries and 220 for the pilot and his funky purple suit.

That setup should yield a flight time of 30 minutes at 50 mph, Neva promises. Its 25-mile range is plenty to get from one side of a congested city to the other, it will take off and land vertically, and you'll charge it the way you power up an electric car—just plug it in. Longer term, Neva might add a small engine to run a generator and extend the range, but that plus the fuel it would burn comes with a big weight penalty, and weight is the enemy when it comes to electric powered flight.

The AirQuadOne is just the latest in a long string of "flying car" concepts that, rather suddenly, are being taken seriously by big name, global firms. Airbus is involved with Vahana, and the modular Pop.Up. Google cofounder Larry Page's Kitty Hawk is working on the Flyer, a concept apparently ripped from a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. Uber wants to launch flying cars in Dubai (where else?) in just three years.

Output: Neva Aerospace, a UK-based consortium of five European companies interested in a range of electric aviation, is set to unveil plans for a small passenger-carrying aircraft at the Paris Airshow. Currently at the concept stage, the AirQuadOne's design includes four electric turbofans, much like a drone, and will weigh around 1,000 pounds, with the batteries amounting to 330 pounds of this. Neva aims to offer a flight time of 30 minutes at 50 mph, with a range of 25 miles. It will have vertical take off and landing, and incorporate a plug-in charging system similar to electric cars.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
IMF explores ICOs and central bank coins in blockchain note
 Author/Editor:

Celine Rochon ; Dong He ; Hervé Tourpe ; Mikari Kashima ; Nigel Jenkinson ; Ross B Leckow ; Tanai Khiaonarong ; Tommaso Mancini Griffoli ; Vikram Haksar

Publication Date:

June 19, 2017

Electronic Access:

Free Full text (PDF file size is 2846 KB).Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file

Summary:

A new wave of technological innovations, often called “fintech,” is accelerating change in the financial sector. What impact might fintech have on financial services, and how should regulation respond? This paper sets out an economic framework for thinking through the channels by which fintech might provide solutions that respond to consumer needs for trust, security, privacy, and better services, change the competitive landscape, and affect regulation. It combines a broad discussion of trends across financial services with a focus on cross-border payments and especially the impact of distributed ledger technology. Overall, the paper finds that boundaries among different types of service providers are blurring; barriers to entry are changing; and improvements in cross-border payments are likely. It argues that regulatory authorities need to balance carefully efficiency and stability trade-offs in the face of rapid changes, and ensure that trust is maintained in an evolving financial system. It also highlights the importance of international cooperation.

Output: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is exploring how digital ledger technology can be used for cross-border payments and as part of a central bank-backed currency. An IMF staff discussion note, called Fintech and Financial Services: Initial Considerations, touched on how digital tokens are being used to represent securities and ownership rights through initial coin offerings (ICOs). It stopped short of making a formal statement about blockchain, but raised questions about the legal effects of digital token transfers and the possibility of future regulation.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
ExxonMobil algae biofuel partnership claims breakthrough
 IRVING, Texas – ExxonMobil today announced the successful startup of its Beaumont refinery expansion project, which adds 250,000 barrels per day of capacity to one of the largest refining and petrochemical complexes along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Supported by the company’s growing crude production in the Permian Basin, the largest refinery expansion in more than a decade will help meet growing demand for affordable, reliable energy.

News News releases •

Output: ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics have claimed a significant breakthrough from their eight-year partnership aimed at producing biofuels from algae. Using advanced cell engineering, the research team enhanced the oil content of their algae strain from 20% to more than 40%, and identified ZnCys, a biological switch that regulates the conversion of carbon to oil in Nannochloropsis gaditana, the species of algae.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Lone Star tick that gives people meat allergy is spreading
 As tick season enters full swing in the United States, disease ecologists have already warned that 2017 is expected to be one of the worst years for the parasites in quite some time.

A boom in the population of white-footed mice, which often carry Lyme disease, will increase the number of bites and cases in regions of the country where the rodents carry ticks into areas of likely contact with humans.

But while the dangers of Lyme disease are well known, the black-legged ticks that serve as its most common carrier may not be the only concern of Americans enjoying the outdoors in the coming years.

A spreading tick species whose bite carries severe allergic symptoms could be coming to a habitat near you—and spoiling your dinner if you wind up in its path, according to a report from Wired.

The lone star tick, named for the white mark on its back side, has gradually grown in population since the turn of the century as thousands of Americans find themselves suddenly unable to eat red meat without breaking out in hives and feeling their stomachs twist into a knot.

Although native to the southeastern United States, the lone star tick has been popping up in places like Minnesota, New Hampshire and even the eastern tip of Long Island.

Immunologists have been scrambling to log as many cases as possible and determine the cause of such peculiar symptoms. Researchers believe the red meat allergy is traceable to a protein-linked sugar called alpha-gal, short for galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose.

As cases of the "meat sweats" rose throughout the 1990s, University of Virginia immunologist Thomas Platts-Mills began investigating the causes of a such a drastic reprogramming of the immune system. Oddly enough, his early research pointed to a cancer drug that caused patients in the Southeast to experience itching, swelling, low blood pressure and meat intolerance.

It turned out the patients most affected by the drug had developed antibodies to an ingredient in the cancer drug: alpha-gal. Despite its effectiveness, the drug was rife with alpha-gal picked up from the genetically modified mice used to develop it.

With limited data and no official tracking by the CDC, Platts-Mills' research team largely builds its meat allergy incidence map using local news reports. Reserchers believe something in the lone star tick's saliva causes a flood of histamines to be released, although it's not yet clear whether the cause is alpha-gal related or some type of virus-carrying microbe.

Most concerning about lone star ticks is that there is no predisposition to the allergies caused by their bites.

As a next step, researchers will look to determine whether the rise in these allergies is limited to the lone star tick or, worse, whether other species have developed the same capacity to influence the human immune system.

Output: A fast spreading tick species in the US named Lone Star has a bite that carries severe allergic symptoms including the inability to eat red meat. Immunologists are struggling to determine the cause of such peculiar symptoms, although it is believed the red meat allergy is traceable to a protein-linked sugar called alpha-gal. The tick season is just starting in the US with disease ecologists warning that 2017 will be one of the worst years for the parasites. Also, a surge in the white-footed mice population, which often carry Lyme disease, is carrying ticks into areas of likely contact with humans.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Mindstrong Health gets $14m to develop mental illness monitoring
 Mindstrong Health, the mental health startup that former NIMH director Dr. Thomas Insel left Verily for last month, has raised $14 million. Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners led the round, with additional participation from Optum Ventures, Berggruen Holdings, and the One Mind Brain Health Impact Fund.

Although it has been reported that Insel left Verily to start Mindstrong, the startup was actually founded in 2014 by Dr. Paul Dagum. Insel is taking on the title of cofounder, in addition to his role of president, but wasn't involved the actual founding of the company.

Mindstrong is working on a project similar to what Insel was working on before leaving Verily. The company is developing objective measures of brain function based on patterns of interaction with a smartphone. Digital biomarkers Mindstrong measures include processing speed, attention, memory and executive function.

"All modern medicine is based on objective measurement, yet tracking mental health has been limited to subjective reports in a clinical environment," Dagum, the company's CEO, said in a statement. "To improve outcomes for people with mental disorders, we need the kind of objective measures we have for other chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Mindstrong's technology delivers continuous, objective measures of behavior and cognition at a level of resolution and insight that has never been possible."

The company, which is still largely stealthy, may well have more up its sleeve. The funding is going into large-scale research and development to determine how Mindstrong's digital phenotyping can be used to transform mental health care.

"What excites me about Mindstrong is the transformation of an individual's patterns of typing or scrolling on a smartphone into precise measures of cognitive function," Insel said in a statement. "This new, powerful approach to assessment serves as the foundation for developing better interventions to improve mental health care. Mental disorders are global health problems. With smartphones we have a potential global solution."

Output: Mindstrong Health has raised $14m for its mental health monitoring project. The start-up is developing a method of objectively measuring brain function through people's interaction with a smartphone. The technology measures biomarkers such as attention, memory, and processing speed, and aims to improve treatment outcomes for patients with mental health problems. The company will use the funds to invest in large-scale research and development. "All modern medicine is based on objective measurement, yet tracking mental health has been limited to subjective reports in a clinical environment," said Mindstrong CEO Dr Paul Dagum. Foresite Capital and Arch Venture Partners led the round, with several others participating.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Alibaba visits Detroit to woo business leaders
 Alibaba is selling the Chinese dream this week—in Detroit.

The Chinese e-commerce giant is pulling out all the stops to impress America at Gateway ’17, its biggest-ever public event in the United States, which opened Tuesday, June 20. On Wednesday morning (US time), founder Jack Ma is scheduled to take the stage for an address in which he’ll lay out the opportunity for US small businesses to tap into China’s growing middle-class.

Advertisement

The mayor of Detroit and the lieutenant governor of Michigan will be there. Even Martha Stewart will show up, giving a fireside chat titled “Exporting the Martha Stewart Lifestyle.”

The goal of it all? To show how Alibaba can help small- and medium-sized businesses make money and create jobs—1 million, specifically, as Ma committed to in January.

“In the past thirty years, USA domestic consumption was the engine of the global economy. And I told people at that time, if you miss the opportunity of selling your products to the world, to the USA, to Europe, you might miss the chance,” said Ma in a chat with acclaimed interviewer Charlie Rose Tuesday. “Today I want to tell people that if you miss the opportunity of selling your products to China, you will miss the future.”

It’s a noble cause. But people knowledgeable about e-commerce in China suggest the event is also, at heart, about something else: boosting Alibaba’s political positioning.

Advertisement

There’s business, and there’s politics

Alibaba has been courting more international vendors to its e-commerce sites like Taobao, open to vendors of all types, and Tmall, for approved brands, to help keep revenue growing at gasp-inducing levels (paywall). In past years, the focus has been on large brands like Costco and Gerber. Small businesses mark a new target for the company and present an opportunity to reach the “long-tail” of e-commerce: vendors that don’t have world-renowned brand names but do have niche loyal followings.

Investors remain as confident in Alibaba as ever—its stock price has skyrocketed this year, jumping more than 50% since the first close in January.

There’s business, though, and then there’s politics. And the event in Detroit is perfectly timed to send signals both to Beijing and Washington.

Staying in Beijing’s good graces is an ongoing challenge for all Chinese companies. Right now, Alibaba is involved in a few businesses that could potentially go awry should the government intervene. The company has launched a money-market fund, a mobile payments app, and a social credit system—all of which are sectors that the government wants to control tightly. (And when business moguls run afoul of the government, their fates can hang in limbo.)

Advertisement

One way to keep Beijing happy is to openly appear to support its vision. As Alibaba’s business grows, “inevitably there will be more tensions in areas strongly dominated by state-owned enterprises, like financial services, media, health care, etcetera,” says Duncan Clark, author of Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built. “If Alibaba can emphasize its utility to the government—in driving consumption, boosting the profile of Chinese companies overseas, et cetera—then that can’t hurt.”

Meanwhile, in the US, Alibaba is embattled in a regulatory spat with the office of the country’s trade representative, which in December placed Taobao on a list of “notorious markets” due to the prevalence of counterfeit goods. Ma has disputed the criticism he doesn’t do enough to weed out knockoffs, saying the company has “zero tolerance” (paywall) for counterfeit goods. Alibaba is also facing scrutiny from the SEC regarding accounting methods for its Cainiao logistics arm.

All these factors make it worthwhile for Alibaba to publicly depict itself as a net good for the American economy. The company has spent millions (paywall) lobbying the US government since 2012. At least one person is listening: In January, Jack Ma met in person with Donald Trump, who, fresh off a campaign filled with anti-China rhetoric, called the founder a “great, great entrepreneur, one of the best in the world.” The meeting prompted White House spokesman Sean Spicer to tweet about an “Alibaba job boom.”

Advertisement

Will the job boom be real?

Spicer’s enthusiasm is probably too optimistic.

Alibaba’s promise to create a million jobs in the US in five years is a goal that remains “astoundingly implausible,” according to Christopher Balding, who teaches economics at Peking University HSBC Business School in Shenzhen. For starters, he calculates it would imply a startling 150% increase in US exports to China, currently at $169 billion, assuming the new jobs generate Walmart-comparable US revenues per employee.

For reference, Walmart has 1.5 million employees in the United States, against some $368 billion in revenue from the US (pdf, page 59) in its financial year ended January. Alibaba, meanwhile generated nearly $23 billion in total revenue in its fiscal year ended in March, and has yet to hit anywhere near a million employees even in China. At present, it has some 50,000 employees.

And, given the long presence of e-commerce in the US, listing on Taobao or Tmall “will be additive to the [US vendors’] business and in net there will be some job growth, but it won’t be creating jobs the way it has in China, where it is essentially creating a new industry,” says Balding.

Advertisement

Alibaba, meanwhile, remains optimistic about boosting jobs in the US.

“Our goal is to help 1 million American businesses and farmers access the China market over the next five years,” said Jennifer Kuperman, vice president of international corporate affairs at Alibaba, via email. “We believe this will on average enable each of those businesses to hire one additional person.”

Going online won’t eliminate hurdles to selling in China

For one thing, the tools Alibaba provides to list products, manage storefronts, and communicate with customers are in Chinese. Marketing and advertising for the brand also has to be in Chinese, done by someone familiar with WeChat, Weibo, or other channels. Alibaba didn’t respond to all Quartz’s queries regarding translation of its dashboards and other tools.

Advertisement

“With cross-border trade there are language and cultural differences that merchants face, whether online or offline. We work hard to make this as easy as possible,” said Alibaba’s Kuperman, adding, “Managing a store can require additional support.”

Boutique shoe vendor Stadium Goods, for example, hired a handful of Chinese-speaking staff at its headquarters in New York to oversee sales on Tmall. Founder Jed Stiller says his experience selling on Alibaba has been positive, with revenue in China growing 20% monthly. But, he adds, it would not be possible without having staff hired specifically to manage the China business.

“It would definitely be hard to operate if we didn’t have a team here interfacing with our team there,” he says. “I’d say it’s a necessity to have some Mandarin-speaking and -reading staff.”

Vendors selling vitamins, cosmetics, or food items also must receive special licenses, which can sometimes take years to obtain. Alibaba says that while it can provide a checklist and “advice” for companies regarding licensing, it can’t help with the actual process. “Until Alibaba can address those problems for small businesses, a lot of them are probably just going to walk away,” says Balding.

Advertisement

A number of consultancies have emerged to handle store management for foreign brands, including customer service, regulation, and warehousing, via some combination of flat fees and revenue sharing. These include US firms ExportNow and VoyageOne, and China’s Web2Asia. Alibaba brands some of these companies as “Taobao Partners,” and requires them to go through mandatory training in order to earn the title.

“To maintain and monitor the quality of services provided, we set specific standards that our third-party service providers must meet in order to be eligible to offers services to our sellers and maintain their certification” as partners, said Kuperman.

But an employee at one such company told Quartz that the small businesses Alibaba is courting for the Detroit event are too small to take seriously as clients.

Advertisement

Unless a brand is doing triple-digit millions in annual revenue, “we won’t even entertain the opportunity of working with them, just because of the costs involved in setting up an operation, and doing a China-entry strategy right,” he says, speaking on condition of anonymity because his company is participating in Gateway ’17.

He adds that selling in China is not as simple as showing up and raking in cash simply because you’re foreign. Brands must either already have cachet with Chinese consumers or offer something genuinely differentiated that a Chinese company cannot produce—because if they can, it will likely be much cheaper, ship much faster, and be just as high-quality.

“If you come [to China] and you’re not a brand that people are waiting for, or going abroad and looking for… when you get here, you’re starting a new brand from scratch,” he adds.

This story was updated on June 21 with details from the event’s opening day. It was also updated June 20 to include an additional quote, on jobs, from an earlier communication with Alibaba.

Output: Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is looking to woo business leaders in Detroit as it hosts its largest ever US event, Gateway '17, a two-day conference on opportunities for small businesses to reach China's growing middle class. “The Chinese market presents tremendous opportunities for US small businesses and farmers to grow their businesses and, in turn, create more US jobs,” said founder Jack Ma. Some have suggested this event is also about boosting Alibaba’s political positioning in both China and the US.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Ayondo adds bitcoin trading for clients
 Source: Ayondo

Financial technology group ayondo has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of Bitcoin trading, allowing its clients easy access to the price movement of Bitcoin without the need to open up an e-wallet to purchase bitcoin in the internet.

Bitcoin is a type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

The digital currency has experienced rapid growth recently and can now be traded at ayondo via spread betting/CFD trading. Bitcoin is also available to signal providers on the ayondo Social Trading platform WeTrade.

Commenting on the launch, Raza Perez, Chief Product Officer ayondo says: “The recent development of Bitcoin and the associated interest in Bitcoin is immense. In times of low volatility at the financial markets, the high variation in price offers an excellent trading opportunity. With the launch of Bitcoin we follow the demand of our clients and further strengthen our product range.”

Output: Swiss financial technology group Ayondo has launched bitcoin trading via spread betting and contract for difference trading on its platform, and the cryptocurrency has also been made available to signal providers on Ayondo's WeTrade platform. "In times of low volatility at the financial markets, the high variation in price offers an excellent trading opportunity," said chief product officer Raza Perez.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Driverless ambulances and drones to assist emergency services
 The revolution in driverless vehicles will make many jobs obsolete.

In the US alone, it is estimated that driverless vehicles will wipe out 4.1m jobs.

Truck drivers, delivery drivers, taxi drivers and Uber drivers will be out of work, and sooner than you might think.

Driverless ambulances and other technology could take some of the strain off the emergency services, freeing paramedics to deal with high-risk patients where each minute waiting for treatment significantly reduces a patient's chance of surviving

But automation can be a force for good, doing jobs more cheaply, safely and efficiently.

In fact, there's one service that's crying out for more automation: the ambulance service.

Demand for ambulance services is growing rapidly in developed countries due to a combination of a growing and ageing population, an increase of chronic diseases, and a scarcity of primary care clinics and providers.

WORKPLACE ACTIVITIES WITH HIGH POTENTIAL FOR AUTOMATION In a 2016 McKinsey report, researchers looked at many factors of workplace automation, including the 'technical feasibility' of certain activities. Based on this factor, certain jobs were at greater risk, including: 59 per cent of manufacturing activities could be automated. Within this field, the researchers say 90 per cent of the activites of welders, cutters, solderers and brazers could be done by a robot.

73 per cent of activities in food service and accommodations could be automated.

53 per cent of retail work could be automated; 47 percent of the salesperson’s job could be automated, while 86 percent of bookkeepers, accountant and auditing clerks has this potential. They also detailed the activities with low potential for automation: Education

Healthcare, especially those which require expertise and direct contact with patients, like dental hygienst

'Knowledge work,' including management jobs Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->

This leaves the emergency services overburdened, with a dismal outlook for the future.

With driverless vehicles already on the road, some governments are looking into the possibility of driverless ambulances.

Driverless ambulances and other technology could take some of the strain off the emergency services, freeing paramedics to deal with high-risk patients where each minute waiting for treatment significantly reduces a patient's chance of surviving.

This would include cardiac arrest patients, where brain damage typically starts within four to six minutes.

Initially, health services could introduce a fleet of driverless ambulances alongside their current manned models to deal with low-risk patients – essentially starting out as 'medical taxis'.

Low-risk patients would be picked up by a driverless ambulance and transported to the nearest hospital or clinic for treatment.

With the introduction of these ambulances, the need for paramedics to respond to every call – regardless of severity – would be greatly reduced.

However, not everyone is in favour of automated ambulances.

One survey of just over 1,000 people in the US found that around half said they would be comfortable riding in one.

As well as delivering Amazon packages, spying on neighbours and conducting military strikes, drones could also be used by health services to take the pressure off the ambulance service.

They would be especially useful for delivering medical equipment to remote locations. In fact, a start-up called Zipline is already successfully delivering blood and medicine across Rwanda.

But these services could also be used in developed countries.

For example, if a doctor in a remote rural location has to treat a patient with a rare condition, but she lacks the necessary medical supplies at her GP clinic or local hospital, a drone could deliver the supplies.

Alternatively, drones could be used to deliver vital medical equipment to a drop point prior to the manned ambulance's arrival.

This would allow the patient to be treated as soon as the paramedics arrive.

Drones could also be used to transport specialised equipment, medication or even blood products between hospitals.

ervices to take the pressure off the ambulance service. They would be especially useful for delivering medical equipment to remote locations. In fact, a start-up called Zipline is already successfully delivering blood and medicine across Rwanda

This would reduce the need for ambulances to drive further distances to find somewhere that can treat their patient.

For several years, police forces around the world have been using sophisticated algorithms to predict areas where crime is most likely to occur.

This allows police departments to deploy officers to areas of 'high demand'.

While these Minority Report-style systems have proven to be controversial, a similar system that predicts illness hotspots is less likely to raise eyebrows.

A similar system could be used by ambulance services.

It would collect previous trip data from the ambulances (both manned and unmanned).

The software would take into consideration the time of year, weather, public events (such as concerts and protests), populations (such as elderly or deprived) and past emergencies that ambulances have responded to.

Police forces around the world have been using sophisticated algorithms to predict areas where crime is most likely to occur. A similar system could be used by ambulance services. It would collect previous trip data from the ambulances (both manned and unmanned)

This would enable the driverless ambulances to locate themselves within high-risk areas when they are not in use, allowing them to respond much faster to calls.

As these systems log more and more information, they will become increasingly more accurate at predicting medical emergencies, in the same way that data mining tools, used by social media and advertising companies, get better at figuring out what food, clothes, movies and so on you like best, and what you might like in the future.

These new methods may seem far off, but depending on how fast healthcare systems invest and adopt these technologies, they could be changing the way we receive medical treatment within decades.

In the face of ever rising demand, technology is likely to be the saviour of ambulance services, making it faster, more effective and safer.

However, it may take a while before the public are comfortable with the idea.

Output: Studies suggest that driverless ambulances and drones could help take the strain off emergency services. Self-driving ambulances could transport low-risk patients to a hospital, freeing up paramedics to deal with more serious cases. Swedish researchers have launched drones carrying defibrillators from a local fire station to reach simulated cardiac arrest sites in an average of just over five minutes, around 16 minutes faster that the median response time of the ambulance. This could dramatically boost survival rates, which research shows decrease by 10% for every minute that passes between cardiac arrest and defibrillation. Developers expect paramedics could explain how to use the defibrillator via a speaker system on the drone.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Snapchat and Time Warner to create original shows in $100m deal
 Snap signed a $100 million deal with Time Warner on Monday to create as many as 10 original shows for its disappearing-message app.

The shows will come from all corners of the Time Warner empire — including its HBO and Turner TV networks and Warner Bros. movie studio — and will help Snapchat increase its daily output from one show to three.

Snap shares, which lately have taken a beating on worries about sluggish user growth, on Monday rose 1.9 percent to close at $17.88.

Time Warner executives in Cannes, France, declined to discuss how ad revenue will be shared between the two, or how long content would be windowed at Snapchat.

The newly public owner of Snapchat recently had been offering advertisers discounts to get into bed with its disappearing content. Time Warner said Monday it is developing short-form shows, typically lasting between three and five minutes, and will commit ad spending to the youthful messaging platform.

Snap is in Cannes to sign as many new advertisers and partners as possible to juice its quarterly earnings. Video partners say that Snapchat has been easier to work with than rival Facebook because it is able to execute more quickly.

Snapchat’s chief strategy officer Imran Khan was in Cannes meeting advertisers this week and attended a Hearst dinner. Hearst’s chief content officer, Joanna Coles, is on the board of Snapchat.

The deal is yet another sign of tech-based companies looking for premium video from traditional outlets to fuel their ad revenue. Snapchat’s sales unit is run by Jeff Lucas, a former ad sales boss at Viacom.

Snap has deals with several media outlets including Turner Networks, NFL, BBC, Discovery Networks, Scripps Networks, MGM Television, A+E Networks, Vertical Networks and VICE.

Output: Shares in social media site Snapchat rose 1.9% to $17.88 following the announcement of a deal between parent company Snap and broadcaster Time Warner to create up to 10 original shows for the site. The move will triple Snap's daily show output to three, with content to come from HBO and Turner TV networks, as well as Warner Bros's movie studio. The shows will include scripted drama, daily news bulletins, documentaries and comedy, and will run for three to five minutes. Time Warner executives gave no details of how ad revenue would be divided or how long the content could be viewed for.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
China investigates academic fraud in cancer research
 China is investigating claims of academic fraud involving mostly Chinese cancer researchers after more than 100 articles were withdrawn from a foreign medical journal.

German publisher Springer announced in April the retraction of 107 articles from Tumor Biology after finding evidence the "peer review process was compromised".

The papers had been produced by Chinese medical institutions and universities and published between 2012 and 2016.

It is standard practise for scholars to submit their research to peers for scrutiny before publishing to ensure the integrity of their work, but fraud is a growing problem.

China's Ministry of Science and Technology said it had "zero tolerance" for such behaviour and pledged to investigate "each and every paper retracted".

Researchers involved in the mass retraction have had their projects and funding suspended, it added.

"The incident has had a very bad influence, seriously tarnishing the international reputation of China's scientific circle and hurting the self-esteem of Chinese scientists," the ministry said Wednesday.

"But it also shows we need to strengthen punishment for academic fraud and to improve the academic atmosphere."

The blog Retraction Watch said it had been told by Springer that "the reviews were submitted under the names of real researchers with faked emails. Some of the authors may have used a third-party editing service, which may have supplied the reviews."

Tumor Biology is now published by SAGE Publications in the United States.

It is not the first time Chinese medical experts have been caught faking peer reviews—in 2015 London-based BioMed Central pulled 43 articles, which the Global Times said were mostly by Chinese researchers.

In 2016 Springer retracted 64 articles from 10 journals, many written by Chinese contributors, the newspaper added.

The latest incident highlighted the pressure on Chinese doctors in public hospitals to "publish a certain number of papers in national or international journals just to secure promotion or salary rises", Xinhua news agency said.

© 2017 AFP

Output: Chinese investigators have looked into allegations of academic fraud surrounding Chinese cancer researchers after more than 100 articles were withdrawn from the journal Tumor Biology. In April, the journal's German publisher revealed that 107 articles, all published by Chinese academic institutions between 2012 and 2016, were removed after finding that the peer-review process had been compromised. The fraud concerns have had a negative impact on the country's scientific community, "seriously tarnishing the international reputation of China's scientific circle and hurting the self-esteem of Chinese scientists," said the country's Ministry of Science and Technology.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Alibaba's Tmall World targets overseas Chinese consumers
 China’s largest online retailer is looking outward with a new initiative called “Tmall World” that targets Chinese consumers living overseas with localized payment solutions, logistics, and marketing campaigns.

Alibaba announced its plan on Monday to target the 100 million overseas Chinese consumers in its “priority markets,” Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, giving them easier access to purchasing products on Tmall. Tmall World will kick off with a “Mid-Year Mega Sale” from June 18 to 20.

Many Chinese consumers in these countries are already familiar with Tmall, but Tmall World is designed to make the e-commerce experience more efficient and localized. Alibaba will work with local e-commerce players, including Southeast Asian retailer Lazada Group, to deliver the logistics and payment needs unique to each market. In a precursor to these efforts, Alibaba bought a controlling stake in Lazada last year.

Any brand that currently has a shop on the Tmall platform will now have the option to sell to markets outside of mainland China through this initiative. Although the company confirmed this was optional.

While it’s unlikely that international luxury brands coming into China through Tmall will benefit from this initiative, local mainland Chinese luxury brands on the platform or brands that still don’t have a presence outside of the mainland will now have a channel for expanding their reach.

Chinese luxury brands are already much more open to embracing Tmall, according to the findings from Digital intelligence firm L2’s 2017 Digital IQ Index: China Luxury, which benchmarks 89 luxury brands’ digital performance in China. Currently, there is a presence of mainland and Hong Kong jewelry brands on the platform, including Hong Kong’s Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang, Zbird from Shanghai, and Bloves from Shenzhen.

“Tmall World will likely be a benefit to any kind of Chinese brand because it’s giving them a wider, global market,” Liz Flora Editor of Asia Pacific Research at L2. “It will give Chinese brands a global advantage.”

Aside from Chinese luxury brands, companies on Tmall that do off-brand “luxury” goods, ones that look nearly identical to the real thing but don’t adopt the brand name, will also potentially have access to more markets. Already, international luxury brands are wary of this category of fake goods on Tmall and several have thus adopted alternative online retail platforms for selling to mainland Chinese consumers.

Currently, Tmall World is only focused on parts of Southeast Asia and Greater China, but Alibaba said it planned to launch the service in other parts of the world as well. The group’s affiliate company, Ant Financial, which oversees mobile payment solution company Alipay, is already expanding in the United States and Europe, which could set the foundation for further building upon an online retail economy.

Output: Alibaba-owned online retailer Tmall has launched an initiative to target Chinese consumers living abroad in its priority markets, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Tmall World will offer consumers localised payment, marketing and logistics solutions, as well as giving brands the option to sell outside of mainland China. The platform will debut with a mid-year sale from 18 to 20 June.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
London issues emergency air pollution alerts during heatwave
 The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has triggered the capital’s emergency air quality alert as soaring temperatures combined with southerly winds are expected to bring dangerously toxic air to large parts of England and Wales on Wednesday.

The emergency alerts will see warnings displayed at bus stops, on road signs and on the underground.

A spokesman said: “Due to the continued warm and sunny weather conditions, high levels of pollution are forecast tomorrow, particularly near busy roads. As a result of this the mayor has triggered a London-wide air quality alert this afternoon on the transport system to ensure Londoners are fully aware and able to take any extra precautions needed.”

Air quality researchers at King’s College London issued a statement on Tuesday warning of high pollution levels as southerly winds bring in toxic air from the continent during the day. A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs air quality analysis shows moderate or high pollution is likely to affect large parts of England and Wales on Wednesday.

Experts warn that anyone with lung or heart problems should avoid or reduce strenuous physical exertion, particularly outdoors. Older people or those with asthma should take particular care. They say the worst air quality in the capital is likely to coincide with temperatures of 34C in late afternoon.

Simon Birkett, from the Clean Air in London campaign, said Bournemouth had already breached the EU’s threshold at which instances of ozone pollution must be reported to the European commission, and warned that large parts of England and Wales would be affected on Wednesday.

“This is a very serious episode, which unfortunately combines high levels of ozone with high levels of particulates, so it is very important that people keep an eye on these alerts and follow the health guidelines.”

Researchers said the toxic air was caused by high ozone levels brought up from industrial parts of France by a southerly wind. They also warned that particulate levels – from motor vehicles and other fuel burning – were expected to be “moderate, with high again a strong possibility”.

The government has come under growing pressure over the UK’s air quality. It has had a string of humiliating defeats in the courts over its failure to clean up the nation’s air – the latest of which was last week, when a high court judge said the continued delays were “a significant threat to public health”.

The subsequent report was deemed to have “major flaws” by experts, and environmental lawyers are now taking ministers back before judges.

Nitrogen dioxide emissions, mostly from diesel cars, cause 23,500 of the 40,000 premature deaths from air pollution each year, according to the government’s own data. In April last year MPs said air pollution was a public health emergency.

Output: London mayor Sadiq Khan has issued an emergency air quality alert for the capital as high temperatures, plus southerly winds from industrial areas of France, are predicted to result in toxic air across large areas of England and Wales on 21 June. Alerts will be displayed at bus stops, on the tube network and on road signs. In April 2016, UK MPs stated that the country’s air pollution constituted a public health emergency.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
BP, Exxon and Shell pledge support for carbon tax
 Oil giants ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Total are among a group of large corporations supporting a plan to tax carbon dioxide emissions in order to address climate change.

The companies have revealed their support for the Climate Leadership Council, a group of senior Republican figures that in February proposed a $40 fee on each ton of CO2 emitted as part of a “free-market, limited government” response to climate change.

The fossil fuel companies announced their backing for the plan alongside other major firms including Unilever, PepsiCo, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson.

In a full-page newspaper ad on Tuesday, the companies called for a “consensus climate solution that bridges partisan divides, strengthens our economy and protects our shared environment”. Exxon and the others were listed as founding members of the plan, alongside the green groups Conservation International and the Nature Conservancy.

“Climate change is already impacting our communities, our economy and our environment and those impacts will continue to grow and become worse if we don’t act now,” said Mark Tercek, chief executive of the Nature Conservancy. “We can’t afford to wait to have these conversations.”

However, other green groups dismissed the plan as a stunt designed to insulate fossil fuel companies that have sought to undermine or dismiss the science of global warming.

“ExxonMobil will try to dress this up as climate activism, but its key agenda is protecting executives from legal accountability for climate pollution and fraud,” said Naomi Ages, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace USA. “A nicely worded public relations exercise is no cure for decades of deception.”

Darren Woods, chief executive of Exxon, said his had been “encouraged by the proposal put forth by the Climate Leadership Council as it aligns closely with our longstanding principles”, and would work to develop the policy.

The plan was crafted by a group of conservative elder statesmen that includes former Republican secretaries of state James Baker and George Shultz and Hank Paulson, a former secretary of the treasury. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, and the physicist Stephen Hawking are also members of the group.

Under the proposal, a $40 carbon tax, rising over time, would be levied on emissions in order to encourage a shift towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. All of the proceeds from the tax would be returned to the American public via “carbon dividends” – the group estimates a family of four would receive a payment of $2,000 in the first year.

As further tradeoff for the new tax, the plan would dismantle all major climate regulations, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority over CO2 emissions and an “outright repeal” of the clean power plan.

Exxon, BP and Shell recently voiced support for the Paris climate agreement before Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the pact. All three companies have acknowledged that climate change is real and poses an economic and societal threat.

However, this is the first time they have all publicly backed a price on carbon. Exxon has come closest to doing so in the past, with Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive who is now secretary of state, remarking in 2009 that a “carbon tax strikes me as a more direct, a more transparent and a more effective approach” than other systems.

About 40 countries, including most of Europe, China and South Africa, have a price on carbon or a plan to do so. In the US, California has an emissions trading scheme, which is linked to a similar initiative in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Barack Obama failed to implement a national market-based response to climate change early in his presidency and the chances of the US doing so are now even slimmer under a Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress that is reflexively suspicious of any new tax.

However, backers of the Climate Leadership Council hope that strengthening public support for carbon taxes, along with growing concern over sea level rise, droughts and heatwaves, will start to erode the decade-long impasse in US climate policy.

Output: Companies including BP, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total, have backed the idea of a carbon tax in order to tackle climate change. The firms have pledged support for the Climate Leadership Council, a group of leading Republicans that in February proposed a $40 fee on each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted. Other companies that backed the plan in a full-page newspaper advertisement include General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo and Unilever. The council also includes environmental groups Conservation International and Nature Conservancy, former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg and physicist Stephen Hawking.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Centrica announces closure of UK's largest gas storage site
 The closure of the UK’s largest gas storage plant has prompted warnings that the country faces more volatile winter gas prices and is becoming too dependent on energy imports.

British Gas’s owner, Centrica, said it was permanently closing the Rough facility off the Yorkshire coast because it had become unsafe and uneconomic to reopen the facility, which had been temporarily shut over safety fears.

The loss comes on top of the diplomatic crisis in Qatar, which supplies a third of UK gas imports and has highlighted the UK’s increasing reliance on hydrocarbon imports.

Centrica said Rough, which opened in 1985 and could hold about nine days’ gas supply, will cease to be a storage facility once its remaining gas reserves have been sold over the next four to five years.

The company said tests of the wells at the facility showed it had come to the end of its design life. Rebuilding or refurbishing Rough would not be economical, the firm added, though the cost of closure is expected to be broadly neutral because of the value of the remaining gas.

Experts said it was no surprise Centrica had decided to shutter the depot, because liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Qatar had significantly reduced the economic rationale for this kind of facility.

Analysts at Barclays said the closure would increase the volatility of winter gas prices, a view shared by other industry-watchers. Matt Osborne, a risk manager at energy consultancy Inenco, said: “We anticipate that the decision to close Rough will create uncertainty in terms of energy pricing.

“Though we haven’t seen a material impact on prices yet – most probably because there is still a significant amount of recoverable gas in the field, which could last for years – the pressure could come in the winter months, especially if we experience very cold conditions.”

The fracking industry said the closure would increase the UK’s reliance on Qatari LNG imports, which it said had proved to be politically risky, although there is no evidence yet that the diplomatic crisis engulfing the Gulf state, whose neighbours have severed diplomatic ties, has interrupted UK supplies.

Ken Cronin, the chief executive of the onshore gas and oil industry trade body UKOOG, said: “The solution for the UK in the medium term cannot be to transport gas across oceans and continents. The UK needs to ensure that whatever gas replaces that from Rough comes from sources that can deliver the same high levels of environmental and regulatory standards.”

Gas has become increasingly important in the UK’s power mix as coal plants close and renewables grow, and also provides heating for about 80% of UK homes.

A Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) spokesperson said: “The UK has highly diverse and flexible sources of gas supply through domestic production and extensive import capability. We expect healthy margins this winter as we continue to upgrade the UK’s energy infrastructure.”

On Tuesday, the government announced funding for two projects that could help wean the UK off its reliance on natural gas for heating.

BEIS said £25m would be made available to test using hydrogen to cut greenhouse gas emissions from heat. The money will fund research into whether existing gas pipes can be used for hydrogen, and what impact having a hydrogen boiler would have for consumers. A further £10m is being invested in “smart heating”.

Unlike gas, hydrogen produces no emissions when burned, although it is only considered a green fuel if produced with renewable power.

The newly appointed energy minister, Claire Perry, said: “The UK government is committed to leading the world in delivering clean energy technology and today’s investment shows that we are prepared to support innovation in this critical area.”

Ofgem cuts payments for small power producers

The UK energy regulator has drastically cut £370m of payments for small power producers, in a blow to diesel generators and smaller gas plants.

The decision by Ofgem sparked strong criticism, with claims the move would fail to achieve its aim of saving consumers about £20 a year on their energy bills.

Ofgem said it would reduce payments for small generators from 2018, in what observers said was a victory for lobbying by the big six energy companies – British Gas, EDF, E.ON, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE.

The regulator argued that the payments for generators supplying power at peak times were distorting the market and set to get worse.

“Our role is to protect customers and make sure costs are kept as low as possible. That is why we are taking action by reducing this payment,” said the Ofgem chief executive, Dermot Nolan.

However, the Flexible Generation Group, which represents small generators, mostly gas plants, said the decision would inevitably push up costs to consumers by making prices spikier at times of high demand.

Mark Draper, the group’s chairman, said: “This decision poses a significant challenge to our growing industry and makes it even more difficult for new entrants into the energy market to compete with established players.”

He added the decision would reinforce the perception that big power producers wield “undue influence” with Ofgem.

Output: British Gas owner Centrica  has said it will close the electricity supplier's 30-year-old Rough gas storage site after safety tests found the wells lacked structural integrity, according to a company announcement. The closure of the UK's largest gas storage facility will increase the country's reliance on imported energy, increasing the volatility of wholesale gas prices and making it more vulnerable to price spikes, said Wayne Bryan, an analyst at consultancy firm Alfa Energy. The closure will cause Britain to lose about 70% of its storage capacity.