Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Putting Belt Road plan into constitution raises investor risks
 The LanzhouXinjiang High-Speed Railway, a high-speed rail in northwestern China from Lanzhou in Gansu Province to Urumqi along the new Silk road, has been seen as the foundation for the One Belt One Road initiative. Zhang Peng | LightRocket | Getty Images

Politics more than economics

"The [initiative's] place at the heart of China's policy-making process is now unquestionable. It will underpin Beijing's overseas investment strategy and activities long into the future," added Brennan. The "centrality" of the Belt and Road project "serves as a significant bottom-up incentive for Chinese executives to position their business activities within its framework, in order to access state financing, receive diplomatic support abroad and garner political favor at home," Brennan added in a note published Monday. The massive plan — which analysts are still struggling to quantify — aims to connect Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa with a vast logistics and transport network, using roads, ports, railway tracks, pipelines, airports, transnational electric grids and even fiber optic lines. The plan involves 65 countries, which together account for one-third of global GDP and 60 percent of the world's population, or 4.5 billion people, according to Oxford Economics earlier this year. It's all part of China's push to increase global clout — building modern infrastructure can attract more investment and trade along the route. The policy could also boost the domestic economy with demand abroad, and might soak up some of the overcapacity in China's industrial sector.

Is it even economically viable?

One major issue with the Belt and Road project is "really a question of who the end buyers are going to be and whether any of these projects are going to be commercially viable," said Zach Witlin, Eurasia region analyst at geopolitical consultancy Eurasia Group.

watch now

"We have these grandiose visions of railways and other majestic hubs connecting the Eurasian continent. Yet in the longer run, we're not really sure if you can make an economic case for each one of these things there, which means for the time being, it's politics that's going to be driving it at this time," he added to CNBC. The best way to look at it, said Witlin, is that it's a "statement of intention." It is "a vision of connecting these parts of the world and seeing an avenue, especially for Chinese products, to make their way through and beyond these countries here — with the quid quo pro being greater Chinese investment," Witlin added.

Output: The Belt and Road Initiative has been included in the Chinese Communist Party constitution, potentially creating dangers for investors in the logistics and transport project designed to connect Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. The political interest in the initiative may put pressure on investment parties to fall in line with state aims and Beijing's wider overseas strategies. The project will incentivise Chinese executives to work towards the party's position to gain access to state funding, diplomatic support overseas and to curry political favour, risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft has said.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Alibaba joins $335m funding for car dealer tech firm SouChe
 The e-commerce giant led a US$335 million funding round in a start-up that is working to blend online and offline car sales in China

Output: Hangzhou-based start-up SouChe has raised $335m in a funding round led by Alibaba, as part of the e-commerce giant's "new retail" strategy. Alibaba is now SouChe's biggest investor, with Warburg Pincus, Primavera Capital and CMB International also participating; however, no specific amounts have been revealed. SouChe, which provides car dealers with digital sales and marketing technology, aims to create a "seamless new automobile retail platform" by combining online and offline activities, according to CEO Yao Junhong. The latest round of funding brings total investment in SouChe to $635.4m.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Gender pay gap won’t end for 217 years: WEF
 Women around the globe may have to wait more than two centuries to achieve equality in the workplace, according to new research.

The World Economic Forum, best known for its annual gathering in the Swiss resort of Davos, said it would take 217 years for disparities in the pay and employment opportunities of men and women to end. This is significantly longer than the 170 years its researchers calculated a year ago.

Taking other indicators such as access to healthcare and education and participation in politics in account, the overall gender gap will take 100 years to close – also longer than the 83 years the WEF researchers predicted last year.

It is the first time since the WEF began publishing its gender gap report in 2006 that “slow but steady progress” towards parity between men and women has halted.

Saadia Zahidi, the WEF’s head of education, gender and work, said: “In 2017 we should not be seeing progress towards gender parity shift into reverse. Gender equality is both a moral and economic imperative. Some countries understand this and they are now seeing dividends from the proactive measures they have taken to address their gender gaps.”

The research ranks 144 countries on the gap between women and men based on economic, health, education and political indicators.

The UK has risen five places since last year to 15th on the index, largely as a result of improvement in the political indicators after the appointment of Theresa May as prime minister in 2016. When the index started in 2006, the UK was ranked ninth.

The report cites research from the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers showing that, in the UK alone, economic gender parity could add $250bn (£188bn) to GDP.

Iceland is top of the index after closing 88% of its gap, and has been the world’s most gender-equal country for nine years, according to the WEF. It has pulled away from the competition as Norway and Finland, in second and third positions, experienced a widening in their equality ratings.

Output: Workplace gender inequality could exist for another 217 years, up from the 170 years estimated in 2016, according to research by the World Economic Forum (WEF). This is the first time since the WEF published gender gap data in 2006 that figures indicate a halt in progress. The overall gender gap, including education, healthcare and political participation, is expected to last for 100 years, up from last year’s predication of 83 years. Iceland topped the list of the world’s most gender-equal countries for the ninth year. The UK rose five places from last year, to be ranked 15th.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Gender pay gap won’t end for 217 years: WEF
 The key to closing the gender gap? Putting more women in charge

Here's why we need more women in leadership roles to give an impetus to our efforts for closing the gender gap. Some industries have already taken the lead

Output: Workplace gender inequality could exist for another 217 years, up from the 170 years estimated in 2016, according to research by the World Economic Forum (WEF). This is the first time since the WEF published gender gap data in 2006 that figures indicate a halt in progress. The overall gender gap, including education, healthcare and political participation, is expected to last for 100 years, up from last year’s predication of 83 years. Iceland topped the list of the world’s most gender-equal countries for the ninth year. The UK rose five places from last year, to be ranked 15th.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Australian banks join up for mobile P2P payments service
 In the wake of their bitter battle with Apple, three of Australia's big banks have joined forces on a person-to-person mobile payments app.

Commonwealth Bank, National Bank of Australia and Westpac will launch the free Beem app for Android and iOS devices by the end of the year, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

It will be open to customers of all banks, who can send money without entering the recipients' account details.

Although Beem will initially focus on instant P2P payments, it could eventually expand to point-of-sale transactions, bringing it into competition with the likes of Android Pay and Apple Pay.

The three banks are currently refusing to offer Apple Pay to their customers after being denied authorisation to collectively bargain with the US the giant.

ANZ, the only big Oz bank to offer Apple Pay, is not currently involved in Beem but may sign up in the future.

Output: National Bank of Australia, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank have announced the release of a free person-to-person mobile payment app named Beem. The app will be available from the end of 2017 on Android and iOS, and will be open to customers at all banks, enabling payments without recipients' bank details being necessary. In future, the app could develop to include point-of-sale transactions. The technology was created after the banks removed Apple Pay as an option for customers after being told they could not collectively bargain with Apple. ANZ is not currently involved with Beem.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Passive assets could hit $37tn globally by 2025: PwC
 Factor Investing Strategy Briefing - Thursday 29th June 2023 - The Connaught, Mayfair. Please join us for our annual smart beta and factor investing event, featuring Goldman Sachs Asset Management, FlexShares, First Trust, MSCI and WisdomTree. Please register now if you would like to attend.

Global passive assets are set to more than double from $14 trillion in 2016 to $37tn by 2025, according to a recent report from professional services firm PwC. The research indicates that while assets under management (AUM) of both active and passive funds is expected to increase, passive funds are set to see the fastest growth over the next ten years, highlighting the potential for future expansion in the ETF industry.

PwC forecasts that funds under passive management will make large gains in market share, rising from 17% of overall global AUM in 2016 to 25% in 2025. Actively managed funds will grow from $61tn in 2016 to $88tn by 2025, but their share of total AUM will decrease from 71% in 2016 to 60% by 2025, while alternatives’ market share will rise from 12% to 15%.

Olwyn Alexander, global asset & wealth management leader, PwC, commented: “In the ongoing debate of active versus passive investing, we are optimistic for both. While we anticipate a faster pace of growth for passives due to greater allocation than for active, well still predict growth in active investments, which will continue to preserve active management’s dominant market share.

“It is important to remember that in a rising market passive returns are very attractive at low cost but that inevitable market corrections will bring a continued appreciation for the value of active investments. Both will be key building blocks in balanced portfolios to meet specific investor outcomes.”

The report, entitled ‘Asset & Wealth Management Revolution: Embracing Exponential Change’, also details PwC’s expectations for a growth rate of 6.2% per annum in the period to 2025 for total global AUM, with the fastest growth seen in the developing markets of Latin America and Asia Pacific.

PwC also notes that the burgeoning wealth of high-net-worth individuals and the mass affluent, as well as a pronounced shift to defined contribution retirement saving, are propelling huge growth in the asset and wealth management industry. Retail funds, including ETFs, will almost double assets by 2025 according to the report, while institutional mandates will see a similar expansion.

The report goes on to predict significant change in the asset management industry over the next ten years. Alexander continued, “Asset managers can take advantage of this massive global growth opportunity if they’re innovative. But it’s do or die, and there will be a ‘great divide’ between few haves and many have nots. As a result, things will look very different in five to ten years’ time and we expect to see fewer firms managing far more assets significantly more cheaply.”

Output: The popularity of passive investment products could push global assets in index-tracking offerings to $37tn by 2025, according to PwC. Passive offerings accounted for $14tn worth of global assets in 2016. PwC also predicted passive funds' market share will also rise from 17% to 25%, in part because of the popularity of index-tracking exchange traded funds. The market share of active funds is forecast to drop from 71% to 60% by 2025.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Franklin Templeton go ultra-cheap with single-country ETF launch
 It seems no part of the ETF marketplace is safe from the downward pressure that is perpetually pushing fees lower.

The latest category of exchange-traded funds where expense ratios have seen an abrupt move down is single-country funds, which offer exposure to the equity markets of individual countries.

Franklin Templeton Investments on Monday announced a new suite of 16 ETFs that will debut on the NYSE Arca on Nov. 6. The funds will track a number of both developed and emerging markets, and do so at a significantly reduced fee compared with their most widely traded rivals.

Developed-market funds—including for such countries as Germany, Hong Kong, France, Canada, and Japan—will charge nine basis points, or 0.09% of assets, which amounts to $9 for every $10,000 invested. BlackRock’s iShares line of ETFs, which has offered similar funds for more than 20 years in some cases, charge substantially higher. The $17.39 billion iShares MSCI Japan ETF EWJ, +0.42% charges 0.48%, as do other developed-market funds.

For emerging markets like China, Brazil, and Mexico, Franklin Templeton funds will charge 0.19%. The iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF EWZ, +0.33% charges 0.63% while the iShares MSCI China ETF MCHI, +0.36% goes for 0.64%. The iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF EWW, -0.43% has an expense ratio of 0.48%.

The Franklin Templeton funds will track a FTSE index, while the iShares products track MSCI indexes.

IShares currently offers 65 single-country funds, including some currency-hedged products and funds that track subsections of specific regions—for example, the iShares China Large-Cap ETF FXI, +0.09% . The 65 funds have a total of about $72.77 billion in assets, according to an analysis of BlackRock data.

Don’t miss:ETF fee war expands, bringing more pain to active managers

And also: Here’s how much ETF fees have dropped since the financial crisis

The news is just the latest in a series of falling ETF fees. In early September, the GraniteShares Gold Trust BAR, -0.08% was launched with an expense ratio of 0.2%, half the fee charged by the SPDR Gold Shares ETF GLD, -0.11% , by far the biggest gold fund on the market. Separately, Goldman Sachs filed for a fund that tracks an equally weighted index of large-cap stocks. The ETF will only cost 0.09%, dramatically lower than the similar Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF RSP, +0.23% , which carries a fee of 0.2%.

Earlier this month, State Street Global Advisors cut expense ratios on more than 15 funds in a bid to court retail investors and advisers. While some of the cuts were relatively minor, with the fees dropping by just a few basis points, others represented substantial changes. The SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF SPEM, +0.20% (previously the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets ETF) had its fee cut from 0.59% to 0.11%. Another, the SPDR Portfolio World ex-US ETF SPDW, +0.12% , is being reduced to a fee of 0.04% from 0.34%, a cut of nearly 90%.

GLD, -0.11% Read more:Why the latest round of rock-bottom ETF fees may be a nonevent for investors

And also:Vanguard’s Bogle says asset-management giant he founded 42 years ago is almost too big and successful

Franklin Templeton’s suite of funds represent the firm’s first foray into passive ETFs, which attempt to mimic the performance of an underlying index by holding the same components it does, and in the same proportion. Investors have been heavily trending toward these products for years, adopting them as they drop actively managed funds, where the components are handpicked by a manager.

Few firms have felt the sting of this trend to passive as much as Franklin Templeton. According to data from Morningstar Direct, the firm has seen more than $19 billion in outflows across its funds thus far this year, the highest outflows of any fund family it tracks. Franklin had about $753 billion in assets as of September.

Output: Franklin Templeton has launched a suite of single-country exchange-traded funds, with expense ratios well below the average for such offerings. The firm's developed-market ETFs will be available for nine basis points, well below BlackRock's iShares suite, which charges upwards of 40 basis points for similar exposure. Franklin Templeton will also be offering a suite of emerging-market single-country ETFs for 19 basis points for each fund, again lower than BlackRock's comparable single-country offerings, which charge investors over 60 basis points in some instances.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Fortescue Metals Group looks for lithium in West Australia
 Iron ore heavyweight Fortescue Metals Group is looking for lithium in the vast Pilbara region of Western Australia, in response to the strengthening outlook for lithium and electric vehicles worldwide.

Fortescue's chief executive, Nev Power, confirmed the exploratory work on Tuesday, saying the tenements it held were "next door" to the current lithium operations of Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources.

"So we're in the right area. We're looking for elephants in elephant country, but whether you find the elephant, I don't know," he said.

Asked if Fortescue's interest in lithium was driven by the strengthening outlook for lithium and electric vehicles, he said: "Yeah, absolutely."

Output: Major iron ore company Fortescue Metals Group is prospecting for lithium in the Pilbara area of Western Australia, as the outlook for the lithium and electric vehicle market improves globally. Fortescue is looking for lithium "next door" to other sites in Pilbara that have been shown to be rich in the mineral. The move into lithium would only be cemented if it proved valuable, and the company is also seeking copper, the company said.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Security firm survey finds consumers lack confidence in IoT
 Gemalto survey confirms that Consumers lack confidence in IoT device security Share this article

LinkedIn

Amsterdam, October 31, 2017 – Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today reveal that 90% of consumers lack confidence in the security of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This comes as more than two-thirds of consumers and almost 80% of organizations support governments getting involved in setting IoT security.

"It's clear that both consumers and businesses have serious concerns around IoT security and little confidence that IoT service providers and device manufacturers will be able to protect IoT devices and more importantly the integrity of the data created, stored and transmitted by these devices," said Jason Hart, CTO, Data Protection at Gemalto. "With legislation like GDPR showing that governments are beginning to recognize the threats and long-lasting damage cyber-attacks can have on everyday lives, they now need to step up when it comes to IoT security. Until there is confidence in IoT amongst businesses and consumers, it won't see mainstream adoption."

The current state of play in IoT security

Consumers' main fear (cited by two thirds of respondents) is hackers taking control of their device. In fact, this was more of a concern than their data being leaked (60%) and hackers accessing their personal information (54%). Despite more than half (54%) of consumers owning an IoT device (on average two), just 14% believe that they are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the security of these devices, showing education is needed among both consumers and businesses.

In terms of the level of investment in security, the survey found that IoT device manufacturers and service providers spend just 11% of their total IoT budget on securing their IoT devices. The study found that these companies do recognize the importance of protecting devices and the data they generate or transfer with 50% of companies adopting a security by design approach. Two-thirds (67%) of organizations report encryption as their main method of securing IoT assets with 62% encrypting the data as soon as it reaches their IoT device, while 59% as it leaves the device. Ninety two percent of companies also see an increase in sales or product usage after implementing IoT security measures.

Support for IoT security regulations gains traction

According to the survey, businesses are in favor of regulations to make it clear who is responsible for securing IoT devices and data at each stage of its journey (61%) and the implications of non- compliance (55%). In fact, almost every organization (96%) and consumer (90%) is looking for government-enforced IoT security regulation.

Lack of end-to-end capabilities leading to partnerships

Encouragingly, businesses are realizing that they need support in understanding IoT technology and are turning to partners to help, with cloud service providers (52%) and IoT service providers (50%) the favored options. When asked why, the top reason was a lack of expertise and skills (47%), followed by help in facilitating and speeding up their IoT deployment (46%).

While these partnerships may be benefiting businesses in adopting IoT, organizations admitted they don't have complete control over the data that IoT products or services collect as it moves from partner to partner, potentially leaving it unprotected.

"The lack of knowledge among both the business and consumer worlds is quite worrying and it's leading to gaps in the IoT ecosystem that hackers will exploit," Hart continues. "Within this ecosystem, there are four groups involved – consumers, manufacturers, cloud service providers and third parties – all of which have a responsibility to protect the data. 'Security by design' is the most effective approach to mitigate against a breach. Furthermore, IoT devices are a portal to the wider network and failing to protect them is like leaving your door wide open for hackers to walk in. Until both sides increase their knowledge of how to protect themselves and adopt industry standard approaches, IoT will continue to be a treasure trove of opportunity for hackers."

Related Resources:

Output: 90% of consumers do not have confidence in internet of things (IoT) devices, a fear that could hamper widespread adoption of the technology, according to a survey by Gemalto. It revealed more than two thirds of people were worried about their devices being hacked, while 60% were concerned about data leakage. 14% considered themselves extremely knowledgeable about IoT security. The study also found that 96% of companies and 90% of consumers wanted government to enforce IoT security regulations.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Bitcoin-related jobs become fastest growing employment category
 Bitcoin -related jobs are the fastest growing category of role on international employment marketplace Freelancer, the company said Wednesday.

With 82 percent growth in the third quarter, work related to cryptocurrency is skyrocketing, the data showed. The company's periodic report tracks top trends in online jobs based on the listings on its Freelancer.com platform.

"People are getting freelancers to design new types of cryptocurrencies," Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer, told CNBC. One of the main skills for which companies are looking is the ability to manage an initial coin offering — when a new digital token is first sold to outside speculators in a bid to raise money.

Output: Jobs involving Bitcoin on employment platform Freelancer have seen 82% growth in Q3 2017, the fastest of all job types. Roles include designing new cryptocurrencies, said CEO Matt Barrie, with the most sought-after skill being the ability to arrange an initial coin offering. Employers are also seeking candidates able to write proposals for new blockchain-based technology. Cryptography listings increased 59% in the same period.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Streamr offers IoT data-sharing on blockchain
 The need to create a secure, scalable, trusted IoT Ecosystem is growing ever more urgent.

As time progresses, we are becoming more and more dependent on the IoT for everything in our lives. We use it every single day – from taking care of our family to getting to and from work, and even to regulate our health.

The problem is, it’s becoming clear that our current model won’t be sustainable forever and we’re going to have to find an alternative solution.

The Problem with Our Current Centralized Model

Right now, current IoT systems are relying on centralized, brokered communication models.

Unfortunately, the centralization of the existing data infrastructure has left current systems vulnerable, inefficient, and ultimately unsuitable for the technological advances that are upon us.

In this model, devices are identified, authenticated, and connected through cloud servers. As a result, even if the devices are just a few feet apart, the connection between them will have to go exclusively through the Internet.

While the centralized method has been successful for the past few decades, it’s becoming increasingly clear that it will be unable to cope with the growing needs of the enormous IoT Ecosystems of the future.

As a result of the massive expansion of the IoT, the price of our already expensive solutions is about to rocket even higher due to the expensive infrastructure and maintenance costs associated with centralized clouds, large server farms, and networking equipment.

The enormous volume of communications that will need to be handled as we create more and more IoT devices will only force prices up even further.

The recent explosion of centralized apps and technologies is highlighting how outdated our current systems are. If we want to keep up, something must change.

Using Blockchain to Decentralize Data Streaming

One of the platforms at the forefront of the innovative data sharing concept is Streamr.

Founded in 2017, it can be described as ‘the real-life marketplace’ for data sharing, by enabling a new way for machines and people to trade data on a decentralized P2P network.

Transferring data in a P2P fashion between users is an extremely efficient alternative to storing all gathered IoT data on a blockchain. The P2P network will prevent bloating the blockchain with unnecessary data that doesn’t necessarily require saving.

How Decentralized Data Streaming Would Work

Imagine a self-driving car that constantly requires data from other machines for optimal optimization. Such information could include electricity prices, traffic congestion information from other cars, and even weather forecasts.

The car would know when it would be getting low on gas, and where would be the cheapest gas station to go to fill up. If something went wrong, it would know that it needed repairs. It would even be able to call the repair services itself!

Not only would this make driving far more convenient – but it would also be substantially safer.

A platform such as Streamr will provide a single interface for real-time data delivery and payment, and make these data streams tradeable by people and machines using a cryptographic token; DataCoin.

The vehicle can get the data it requires, and pay for it using DataCoin. If the car has data that is required by other cars, it can also sell it to them in exchange for DataCoin.

And it doesn’t end there – self-driving cars is only one of the possible concepts. In the future, Streamr will also be compatible with other innovations, such as drones and smart cities.

Using the IoT to Save the Planet

Even industries that historically didn’t fit well with computers have been transformed by the increasing number of IoT devices connected to the internet.

There’s no denying that global warming is on the rise. Just take a look at the erratic weather conditions we’ve been experiencing all over the world. These events are becoming too frequent for us to write them off as a mere coincidence.

The change in our climate is exactly what inspired the team at Streamr to first consider how the IoT might be used for to create monitoring devices that can aid us in our battle against global warming.

Some examples include; installing agricultural sensors, using data to estimate the amount of carbon sequestered, and rewarding farmers and companies with carbon tokens for the amount of carbon which has been provably sequestered.

These are only a few examples of the potential uses of a decentralized streaming service. We are living in the most exciting, fast-paced periods ever known to man. As time progresses, we only expect more opportunities to open up.

Follow Us on Google News

Output: Data-sharing platform Streamr allows data to be traded across a decentralised P2P network, an example of internet of things (IoT) data-sharing being enabled on the blockchain. The method is efficient and prevents data bloat that could hamper IoT device operation. Platforms like Streamr can offer a single interface for multiple data stream access points, as well as enabling trade via cryptographic tokens, in this case datacoin. The streaming system can be used across various IoT devices and sectors.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Crypto-funds now total 124, with over 90 opening this year
 More than 90 funds focused on digital assets like bitcoin have launched this year, bringing the total number of such "crypto-funds" to 124, according to financial research firm Autonomous Next.

Data shared exclusively with CNBC Friday showed that the largest share of the funds, 37 percent, used venture capitalist-type strategies and had about $1.1 billion in assets under management. Funds focused on trading digital assets came second at 32 percent, with about $700 million in assets under management.

Funds specifically using machine learning, data science or statistical arbitrage on digital currencies came in third at 10 percent and $100 million in assets under management, the data showed.

Total assets under management by crypto-funds now stands at $2.3 billion, according to Autonomous Next's estimates.

Source: Autonomous Next

This year's surge in the price of bitcoin and another digital currency, ethereum , have drawn attention to the cryptocurrencies and the potential of their blockchain technology. Proponents say blockchain could transform the world as much as the internet did, and several major banks are researching or developing blockchain projects.

Digital currency enthusiasts also attribute much of the latest surge in bitcoin to record highs above $6,100 to increased interest from institutional investors. While several leading Wall Street banking executives remain skeptical about bitcoin, more seasoned money managers are moving into digital assets management.

Notably, former Fortress hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz is launching a $500 million digital assets fund through his new firm, Galaxy Investment Partners. The fund is expected to be the largest of its kind.

Output: The total number of crypto-funds has reached 124, with 90 launching in 2017 alone, according to data from research firm Autonomous Next. It revealed the sector's total assets under management were $2.3bn, a fraction of the $3.15tn held by hedge funds, but digital currency funds remain a growth market. Despite continued scepticism from Wall Street, the surge in bitcoin's price has attracted veteran money managers, including Michael Novogratz, who is raising $500m through his new firm, Galaxy Investment Partners, to launch the biggest digital assets fund of its kind.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Governments and businesses failing on Paris climate goals: UN
 There is still a large gap between the pledges by governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the reductions scientists say are needed to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, the UN has said.

Current plans from national governments, and pledges made by private sector companies and local authorities across the world, would lead to temperature rises of as much as 3C or more by the end of this century, far outstripping the goal set under the 2015 Paris agreement to hold warming to 2C or less, which scientists say is the limit of safety.

The UN’s findings come in its latest assessment of progress on climate change, published on Tuesday ahead of the COP23 conference, a follow-up to the Paris agreement, to be held in Bonn next week.

There was some good news, however: the report found that carbon dioxide emissions had held steady globally since 2014. Against that, emissions of other greenhouse gases, notably methane, had increased.

The “emissions gap” uncovered by the UN does not include the consequences of a US withdrawal from the Paris agreement. If the US president, Donald Trump, presses ahead with plans announced this summer to take the US out of the agreement, the picture would become “even bleaker”, the report found. The US is the world’s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China.

Erik Solheim, the UN’s environment chief, called for urgent action: “We still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future. This is unacceptable. If we invest in the right technologies, ensuring that the private sector is involved, we can still meet the promise we made to our children to protect their future. But we have to get on the case now.”

There are signs that the world is moving away from its high-emissions trajectory. For instance, growing investment in renewable energy has caused the price of low-carbon power to plunge around the world, making it more attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels.

However, there is also a danger that if buildings and other infrastructure, such as transport, are built along current lines, they will “lock in” high greenhouse gas emissions for the future. Instead, cities should be designed to avoid the need for cars in favour of public transport, to make room for renewable energy generation, and to cut down on the need for air conditioning.

Private sector companies could also do more, according to the UN report. The world’s 100 highest-emitting publicly traded companies account for a quarter of global emissions, showing the scope for reducing the prospective dangers of global warming if they were to make changes to their business practices and efficiency.

The report also noted several potential short-term wins in staving off the worst effects of climate change, such as reducing the amount of soot entering the atmosphere, and phasing out the production of hydrofluorocarbons, used in air conditioning and refrigeration. The latter are powerful greenhouse gases, which when they reach the atmosphere cause warming many times greater than carbon dioxide, but there are alternatives which can be used instead.

Separately, the UN reported this week that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide had reached record levels, in part owing to a strong El Niño weather system.

Output: Pledges by governments to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases are falling significantly short the reductions recommended by scientists to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, according to the latest report by the United Nations on climate change progress. The findings reveal that plans by governments and pledges made by private sector firms would still lead to temperature increases of 3C or more by the end of the century. The 2015 Paris Climate Accord aims to hold warming to 2C or less, which is the limit established as safe by climate scientists.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Governments and businesses failing on Paris climate goals: UN
 Paris pledges only a third of what is needed to avoid worst impacts of climate change

Adopting new technologies in key sectors, at investment of under US$100/tonne, could reduce emissions by up to 36 gigatonnes per year by 2030, more than sufficient to bridge the gap

Kigali Amendment to Montreal Protocol, action on short-lived climate pollutants, and increased pre-2020 G20 ambition on Cancun pledges can also help minimize climate impacts

Geneva, 31 October 2017 – Governments and non-state actors need to deliver an urgent increase in ambition to ensure the Paris Agreement goals can still be met, according to a new UN assessment.

The eighth edition of UN Environment’s Emissions Gap report, released ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, finds that national pledges only bring a third of the reduction in emissions required by 2030 to meet climate targets, with private sector and sub-national action not increasing at a rate that would help close this worrying gap.

The Paris Agreement looks to limit global warming to under 2oC, with a more ambitious goal of 1.5oC also on the table. Meeting these targets would reduce the likelihood of severe climate impacts that could damage human health, livelihoods and economies across the globe.

As things stand, even full implementation of current unconditional and conditional Nationally Determined Contributions makes a temperature increase of at least 3 oC by 2100 very likely – meaning that governments need to deliver much stronger pledges when they are revised in 2020.

Should the United States follow through with its stated intention to leave the Paris Agreement in 2020, the picture could become even bleaker.

The report does, however, lay out practical ways to slash emissions through rapidly expanding mitigation action based on existing options in the agriculture, buildings, energy, forestry, industry and transport sectors.

Strong action on other climate forcers – such as hydrofluorocarbons, through the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and other short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon – could also make a real contribution.

“One year after the Paris Agreement entered into force, we still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.

“This is unacceptable. If we invest in the right technologies, ensuring that the private sector is involved, we can still meet the promise we made to our children to protect their future. But we have to get on the case now.”

CO 2 emissions have remained stable since 2014, driven in part by renewable energy, notably in China and India. This has raised hopes that emissions have peaked, as they must by 2020 to remain on a successful climate trajectory. However, the report warns that other greenhouse gases, such as methane, are still rising, and a global economic growth spurt could easily put CO 2 emissions back on an upward trajectory.

The report finds that current Paris pledges make 2030 emissions likely to reach 11 to 13.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO 2 e) above the level needed to stay on the least-cost path to meeting the 2oC target. One gigatonne is roughly equivalent to one year of transport emissions in the European Union (including aviation).

The emissions gap in the case of the 1.5oC target is 16 to 19 GtCO 2 e, higher than previous estimates as new studies have become available.

“The Paris Agreement boosted climate action, but momentum is clearly faltering,” said Dr. Edgar E. Gutiérrez-Espeleta, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, and President of the 2017 UN Environment Assembly. “We face a stark choice: up our ambition, or suffer the consequences.”

Investing in technology key to success

To avoid overshooting the Paris goals, governments (including by updating their Paris pledges), the private sector, cities and others need to urgently pursue actions that will bring deeper and more-rapid cuts.

The report lays out ways to do so, particularly in agriculture, buildings, energy, forestry, industry and transport. Technology investments in these sectors – at an investment cost of under $100 per tonne of CO 2 avoided, often much lower – could save up to 36 GtCO 2 e per year by 2030.

Much of the potential across the sectors comes from investment solar and wind energy, efficient appliances, efficient passenger cars, afforestation and stopping deforestation. Focusing only on recommended actions in these areas – which have modest or net-negative costs – could cut up to 22 GtCO 2 e in 2030.

These savings alone would put the world well on track to hitting the 2oC target, and unlock the possibility of reaching the aspirational 1.5oC target.

Non-state action and other initiatives

Actions pledged by non-state and sub-national bodies (such as cities and the private sector) could reduce the 2030 emissions gap by a few GtCO 2 e, even accounting for overlap with Nationally Determined Contributions. The world’s 100 largest emitting publicly traded companies, for example, account for around a quarter of global greenhouse emissions, demonstrating huge room for increased ambition

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol aims to phase out the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons – chemicals primarily used in air conditioning, refrigeration and foam insulation. If successfully implemented, it kicks-in too late to impact the 2030 gap, but can make a real contribution to reaching the longer-term temperature goals.

By mid-century, reductions in short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon and methane, could help reduce impacts that are based on cumulative heat uptake and help to ensure a steady and lower temperature trajectory towards the long-term Paris goals.

“Enel is committed to achieve 100% CO2-free power generation by 2050 and the pathway we’ve chosen to reach this target is to create self-sustaining ecosystems where renewable generation is combined with storage and electric mobility within intelligent networks capable of operating and balancing power flows autonomously."

"Reducing the global emissions gap on the way to achieving a zero emission society requires a faster implementation of this new vision of the electricity system through sustainable innovation driven by the open cooperation of all relevant stakeholders, from utilities to research, startups, governments, international bodies and the civil society. This transition is proving to be financially as well as environmentally sound and we at Enel are glad to have embarked upon this journey and always looking forward to the future opportunities it will entail.” (Ernesto Ciorra, Enel Group’s Head of Innovation and Sustainability)

Also, while the G20 is collectively on track to meet its Cancun climate pledges for 2020, these pledges do not create a sufficiently ambitious starting point to meet the Paris goals (see attached analysis of Cancun pledges). Although 2020 is just around the corner, G20 nations can still carry out actions that lead to short-term reductions and open the way for more changes over the following decade.

Avoiding new coal-fired power plants and accelerated phasing out of existing plants – ensuring careful handling of issues such as employment, investor interests and grid stability – would help. There are an estimated 6,683 operating coal-fired power plants in the world, with a combined capacity of 1,964 GW. If these plants are operated until the end of their lifetime and not retrofitted with Carbon Capture and Storage, they would emit an accumulated 190 Gt of CO 2 .

In early 2017, an additional 273 GW of coal-fired capacity was under construction and 570 GW in pre-construction. These new plants could lead to additional accumulated emissions of approximately 150 Gt CO 2 . Ten countries make up approximately 85% of the entire coal pipeline: China, India, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea.

The report also looks at CO 2 removal from the atmosphere – through afforestation, reforestation, forest management, restoration of degraded lands and soil carbon enhancement – as an option for action.

Additionally, a new report released by the 1 Gigaton Coalition on the same day shows that partner-supported renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in developing countries can cut 1.4 GtCO 2 e by 2020 – provided the international community meets its promise to mobilize US$100 billion per year to help developing countries adapt to climate change and reduce their emissions.

“As renewable energy and energy efficiency bring other benefits – including better human health and jobs – I urge the international community to deliver on the funding they promised to support developing nations in their climate action,” said Ms Ine Eriksen Søreide, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. “Partner-supported renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and policies are vital for global decarbonization, as they provide key resources and create enabling environments in critical regions.”

The 1 Gigaton Coalition is supported by UN Environment and the Norwegian Government.

The benefits of a low-carbon society on global pollution – by, for example, cutting the millions of air pollution-related deaths each year – are also clearly illustrated in Towards a pollution-free planet, a report by the UN Environment Executive Director that will be presented at the upcoming United Nations Environment Assembly. The report lays out an ambitious framework to tackle pollution, including through political leadership, moving to sustainable consumption and production and investing big in sustainable development.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Emissions Gap Report, analysis of the G20 Cancun pledges, and the 1 Gigaton Coalition Report can be downloaded here once the embargo lifts.

For more information and to arrange interviews, please contact:

Shereen Zorba, Head of Science-Policy, UN Environment: shereen.zorba@unep.org, +254 788 526000 (Kenya), +44 777 007 2978 (UK), Skype: shereen.zorba

UN Environment News & Media, unepnewsdesk@unep.org

Output: Pledges by governments to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases are falling significantly short the reductions recommended by scientists to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, according to the latest report by the United Nations on climate change progress. The findings reveal that plans by governments and pledges made by private sector firms would still lead to temperature increases of 3C or more by the end of the century. The 2015 Paris Climate Accord aims to hold warming to 2C or less, which is the limit established as safe by climate scientists.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Carbon Recycling International is making fuel from CO2
 Life on an island alive with active volcanoes can have its downsides. But it can also have many benefits. Iceland, an island country located where the North Atlantic meets the Arctic Circle, is in the enviable position of getting all its electricity and district heating from renewable geothermal, hydro and wind energy.

Given the complete absence of fossil fuel power stations, Iceland might seem an unlikely spot for the world’s first facility for recycling CO 2 emissions into fuel. But that’s exactly what Icelandic company Carbon Recycling International (CRI) has been doing for the past five years.

Thanks to the geochemistry of hot rock, CO 2 naturally vents into the atmosphere from geothermally active areas. It’s also dissolved in the local groundwater. When this free source of hot water is channelled through a geothermal power plant, the result is a concentrated stream of CO2 that is ripe for capture.

To the captured CO 2 , CRI adds hydrogen over a heterogeneous catalyst, making methanol. The company sells this versatile molecule – at a premium over fossil fuel derived methanol – for use as a renewable fuel and chemical feedstock (see Hydrogen economies).

CRI is far from the only company committed to making commercial products by recycling CO 2 emissions. Even big industry players such as Covestro– formerly Bayer MaterialScience – are embracing the idea. A rapidly expanding number of academic labs, meanwhile, are exploring new ways to rehabilitate the troublesome greenhouse gas – and showing there is a surprisingly rich chemistry to be had from what was long-dismissed as a dead-end molecule. Far from a compromise, designing chemical production around using CO 2 as a feedstock can have advantages over traditional routes.

Catalysing change

University of Oxford, UK, chemist Charlotte Williams had been developing ways to make green polymers from plant-derived materials when the idea of using CO 2 as a polymer feedstock came to her in the early 2000s. ‘I became fascinated by the idea of using CO 2 as a resource because it overcame some of the problems you see with a typical biorefinery,’ she says. Solid plant material can be quite a challenge to process. ‘But CO 2 is a gas, so its properties and physical chemistry are much more similar to monomers that are used today to make polymers. I thought what an interesting idea to take CO 2 and try to put that into the polymer backbone.’

The other appeal, she adds, was the sheer challenge of trying to do chemistry on a molecule that is the thermodynamic endpoint of many processes including combustion and metabolic processes. CO 2 is what you’re left with when you take a hydrocarbon and wring out all the energy. Turning it back into something useful is an uphill battle. ‘But this is a great opportunity for catalysis, to find pathways to reduce the activation barrier,’ Williams says. ‘Currently there is rather a limited range of catalysts that are effective.’

One CO 2 catalysis project William is working on is a long term collaboration with chemists and engineers at Imperial College London, UK, making CO 2 into methanol. Like CRI in Iceland, the team aims to use renewably generated electricity to electrolyse water, then combine the resulting hydrogen with CO 2 through catalysis to make methanol. Their point of difference is the copper zinc oxide catalyst they have developed.1 ‘What’s rather different about our approach is we’ve come up with well-defined ways to make very small nanoparticles, stabilised as colloids,’ Williams says.

One advantage of using stabilised nanoparticles is that you maximise the surface area of the catalyst available for driving the reaction. The system’s other appeal is that by modifying the nanoparticle’s synthesis, it is possible to alter – and hopefully optimise – the interface between the catalyst’s two components. ‘That’s the hypothesis we’re working on – that finding better ways to control the interface between the copper and zinc oxide will allow you to improve efficiency,’ Williams says.

Christian Doonan at the University of Adelaide in Australia and his colleagues have applied a similar philosophy to improve a closely related reaction, the catalytic conversion of CO 2 and hydrogen to make methane gas.

A metal organic framework (MOF) chemist by background, Doonan had been working on ways to use these porous materials to capture CO 2 emissions when he was drawn into the CO 2 recycling side of the story – and he suspected MOFs could help here, too.

‘The commercial catalysts for CO 2 methanation are made of nickel. But nickel has issues with lifetime, stability and poisoning,’ Doonan says. In the lab, ruthenium-based catalysts on a metal oxide support have proven to be very stable and active catalysts for the reaction, he adds.

Despite the name, support materials do more than hold the catalytic metal in place. They’ve been shown to play an active role in the catalytic process. ‘The theory is that there will be site defects on the metal oxide that activate carbon dioxide molecules and facilitate catalysis by the ruthenium nanoparticles,’ Doonan says.

The only current downside to these catalysts is the high cost of ruthenium. ‘We thought, could you develop a porous metal oxide catalyst that uses less of the ruthenium?’

The answer? Yes and no. Although the material the team got by combining ruthenium with a zirconium oxide based MOF wasn’t actually porous, it was a highly effective CO 2 methanation catalyst,2 even when 1wt% of ruthenium was used. The MOF’s surface acts as a template for the formation of ruthenium nanoparticles, highly dispersed across the surface. The result is that essentially all the ruthenium is exposed on the surface and available for catalysis. ‘MOF templating gives you a very unique structure you can’t achieve by any other synthetic route,’ says Doonan. A back of the envelope calculation suggests you could make about 168 tonnes of methane a week from a catalyst containing 75g of ruthenium, he adds.

One avenue to explore is the possibility the same templating trick could work for other catalysts. It could slash the cost of the palladium catalysts the petrochemical industry uses for hydrogenation reactions, for example.

And the team is already in talks with prospective industry partners to develop their CO 2 methanation process. Although the catalyst works well with pure CO 2 and hydrogen, with no dropoff in activity after 200 hours, one of the companies Doonan is in talks with is keen to collaborate on a project to test the catalyst on real world gas streams.

Life imprisonment

Though incorporating CO 2 into a molecule that’s burned as a fuel offsets the fossil fuel that would otherwise be burned, the CO 2 is soon out into the atmosphere again.

A more permanent solution would be to incorporate the CO 2 into a chemical that could be used as a feedstock for making materials. And there’s another reason for taking this approach to CO 2 recycling – feedstock chemicals command a much higher price than fuels. ‘My opinion is you have to be able to make chemicals competitively before you can think about making fuels competitively because chemicals are much more valuable than fuels,’ says Matthew Kanan, a synthesis and catalysis chemist at Stanford University, US.

Not that making chemicals from CO 2 is easy. ‘I teach organic chemistry, and we teach that you can take a Grignard reagent or an organolithium reagent and combine that with CO 2 and make a carboxylate,’ Kanan says. ‘From the synthetic chemistry perspective that’s a fine method for making a carboxylate, but from a CO 2 utilisation perspective those methods are totally worthless.’ The energy and emissions involved in generating these reagents would be so high they would completely negate the benefit of using CO 2 .

So Kanan has tried to come up with the simplest possible way to achieve this carbon–carbon bond forming transformation with CO 2 .3 ‘What we landed on was, if we could take C–H bonds and deprotonate them with carbonate, a really abundant base with a small footprint, then we could generate a carbanion we could trap with CO 2 ,’ he says.

And the chemistry works. ‘The trick is to get away from solution phase chemistry,’ Kanan says. Rather than using a solvent, the team runs the reaction in a mixture of alkali metal carbonate salts heated to around 200°C. ‘In that medium the acid-base properties of molecules are totally different to what you observe in water or organic solvents,’ he adds. ‘You are able to do a lot of deprotonations you couldn’t do otherwise.’

The application the team has developed the furthest is the synthesis of furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a bio-based molecule with many applications including as a feedstock for polyethylene furandicarboxylate (PEF), a green substitute for the very widely used non-renewable polymer polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

At the moment, FDCA is made from fructose, via a ‘pretty nasty oxidation step’, Kanan says. His alternative route takes furoate, a molecule produced industrially from lignocellulosic plant waste, and adds CO 2 to give FDCA.

‘If your target is a commodity scale carboxylic acid, most of the methods for making those involve oxidations – and those oxidations are a liability, they are expensive because they are typically under very corrosive conditions,’ Kanan says. ‘There are many reasons why the chemical industry would like to avoid those oxidations if they had an alternative.

‘That’s where we think there’s the first major opportunity. If you can provide routes to carboxylic acids and dicarboxylic acids where you’re using a C–H bond and CO 2 and carbonate, then regardless of whether you care about carbon footprint or not it could be just a really compelling synthesis of those targets compared to what’s done today.’ Kanan’s team is currently in discussions with several potential industrial partners.

When Williams first moved into CO 2 reuse research in 2003, incorporating the molecule into the carbon backbone of a large scale commercial polymer was also her initial aim. Rather than PEF, Williams’ target was renewable polycarbonate polyols, valuable polymers used to make polyurethanes.

Traditionally, polyols are made by the ring-opening polymerisation of fossil fuel derived epoxides. Williams and her team came up with a catalyst that could form a polymer in which every second monomer in the polymer chain is a CO 2 molecule.

‘One of the things that we’ve found to be a successful strategy has been to develop what we call dinuclear catalysts,’ Williams says. ‘These are homogeneous catalysts that contain two metals in close proximity to one another.’ Inexpensive metals such as zinc and magnesium work well, and the best catalysts are the ones that contain one atom of each metal. ‘We’ve carried out quite a lot of kinetic studies over the years and we believe both metals are integral in the catalytic cycle – the polymer chain shuttles between the two metals.’

Not only is the catalyst efficient. Just as importantly, it works at low pressures of CO 2 , even as low as 1 bar. That makes it compatible with the existing infrastructure for making polyols, and far simpler to retrofit. In 2011, Williams formed a spin-out company, Econic Technologies, to commercialise her polyol catalyst technology.

‘We’re working with a number of partners in the industry,’ says Rowena Sellens, company chief executive. ‘There are others in the industry area working on CO 2 based polyols, but one of the unique features we offer is that ability to retrofit.’

The chemical industry doesn’t really know what to do with CO 2 , but that’s the job of chemists Matthew Kanan, Stanford University

The company’s other advantage is the unique ability to tailor the amount of CO 2 incorporated into the final polymer, Sellens argues. Williams’ original catalyst system gave maximum CO 2 incorporation, with every other monomer unit in the polymer chain replaced by CO 2 . That soaks up the most CO 2 , but introduces the biggest change to the original polymer’s properties. ‘We’ve evolved the latest generation of the technology where you can actually tune the amount of CO 2 content, so you are able to tailor the polymer properties for the application,’ Sellens says. ‘We believe that will give a much greater reach into the market.’

Econic hopes its industry partners will take their first products to market within the next two to three years, lowering carbon emissions. ‘For every tonne of CO 2 you use, because you need to use less propylene oxide you are avoiding 2 tonnes of CO 2 emissions,’ says Sellens. ‘I think that’s a really powerful argument for this technology.’

Get just one such CO 2 recycling processes up and running in industry, and the floodgates will open, Kanan argues. ‘If anybody can pull that off I think it would really change the mentality in industry,’ he says.

‘The chemical industry don’t really care what their feedstock is,’ Kanan adds. ‘They grew up on hydrocarbons and got really good at processing that. They don’t really know what to do with CO 2 but that’s the job of chemists, if we can show them what to do they are brilliant at scaling things and making them hyper-efficient.

‘I’m hopefully someone in the community can demonstrate it is possible to use CO 2 , and to make a very compelling synthesis, something that’s better than what can be done with traditional methods,’ Kanan says. ‘That would be a real watershed moment.’

James Mitchell Crow is a science writer based in Melbourne, Australia

Output: An Icelandic renewables company is using natural CO2 emissions to create fuel. Carbon Recycling International (CRI) uses excess CO2 gas from a geothermal power plant and combines it with hydrogen to make methanol, which can be sold as a renewable fuel and a chemical feedstock. CRI was established in 2006, and its facility uses renewable electricity to electrolyse water into oxygen and hydrogen, with the latter gas being used to produce the methanol.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Walmart chases affluent customers to capture market share from Amazon
 Since its creation, Walmart has been a discount retailer that serves middle- and lower-income consumers. Yet, the company’s future might depend on affluent consumers.

Walmart is spending big to attract affluent customers in an effort to capture market share from Amazon.

Walmart’s acquisition of Jet.com in September 2016 for $3.3 billion was its initial step to reach a more affluent demographic. Since then, the retail giant, known for its “every day low prices,” has been on a shopping spree, buying higher-end e-commerce platforms like Bonobos, ModCloth and Moosejaw.

Walmart has mostly used Jet.com as a channel to sell these higher-end brands, marketing it as a separate channel for a millennial, metropolitan audience. The company launched a new private-label business called Uniquely J on Oct. 20 to further serve those consumers with everyday essential yet premium products.

Walmart has also increasingly partnered with premium brands like Godiva and makeup brand Kiss to sell their items directly on walmart.com. One can find a box of 18 assorted candy bars for $11.84 on Walmart.com but also a six-pack of Godiva truffles for $32.58.

The recent reports that Walmart is close to a deal with Lord & Taylor on a designated spot for the department store to sell on walmart.com is even more of an indicator that Walmart is increasingly using the luxury industry to extend its reach. On Oct. 19, The Wall Street Journal described the approach as an effort to “turn Walmart.com from a discount shopping site to an online mall.”

All these moves are part of Walmart’s efforts to capture online market share from Amazon. Amazon’s e-commerce sales are estimated to grow 32 percent to $196.8 billion dollars by the end of 2017, according to eMarketer, accounting for nearly half of all online sales in the U.S. Comparatively, Walmart will sit at $11 billion in e-commerce sales at the end of 2017, according to eMarketer.

“It’s shaping up as the Godzilla versus King Kong battle of retailers,” said Jason Goldberg, svp of commerce and content at SapientRazorfish. “Walmart’s core shoppers are less affluent than Amazon’s core shoppers, so to grow, it’s important for [Walmart] to offer more premium products.”

Goldberg likens the approach to Target’s strategy 12 years ago when the brand worked to shed its cheap image for a more aspirational one. “You started to see Target upmarket luxury brands and informally get called ‘Targé.’” It was a shift to becoming a “surprise-and-delight brand,” said Goldberg. Consumers would be surprised to come in and find discounted premium products, a tactic that grew the Target brand, he added. At the time, Walmart was Target’s main competitor and took the opposite approach, focusing on reducing prices.

Now that Target is no longer as formidable a competitor, at least in comparison to Amazon, said Goldberg, Walmart can change its strategy. “Walmart is now looking at Amazon and saying, ‘OK, what [are] its weaknesses? Where can I win?’”

Attracting and retaining luxury brands is certainly one of Amazon’s weaknesses. Luxury brands have shied away from the platform, worried about ceding control to Amazon. “When a product shows up on Amazon and Amazon sees it discounted anywhere in the world, they drop the price down,” said Goldberg. “It quickly becomes this vicious spiral race to the bottom.”

Walmart has also struggled to maintain relationships with luxury brands. In June, angry Bonobos customers showed their disapproval of the Walmart acquisition by attacking Bonobos on Facebook and Reddit with sarcastic comments. Many believe the new acquisition might change or cheapen the Bonobos product. “How are you adjusting the fit options for the standard Walmart customer?” wrote one commenter on the brand’s Facebook page.

Traditionally, high-end brands and shopping outlets like Lord & Taylor wouldn’t conceive of selling their products through a discount outlet like Walmart for fear of brand erosion, but attitudes are changing with the degradation of department stores and the shift to online shopping. Lord & Taylor’s need for a new sales channel became clear a few days after the reports on the Walmart deal. On Oct. 24, the department store’s parent company, Hudson’s Bay, announced it would sell Lord & Taylor’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Walmart isn’t the only e-commerce platform trying to attract affluent shoppers. On Oct. 9, JD.com, one of China’s largest retailers, announced the launch of Toplife, a shopping platform only for high-end global brands. “People with high incomes naturally tend to move more money online,” said Yory Wurmser, eMarketer analyst.

Mimi Chakravorti, executive director of strategy at Landor, said attracting more affluent consumers by partnering with the brands they prefer could be a fruitful strategy for Walmart. “It’s not just discounters or people looking for deals who are shopping online anymore,” she said.

So far, Walmart’s efforts seem to be paying off. Walmart’s e-commerce sales growth has improved significantly in the company’s last two quarters. At its annual investor meeting on Oct. 10, the company said it is forecasting 40 percent growth in the coming year in its U.S. e-commerce business.

Output: US retailer Walmart is targeting more affluent customers in its e-commerce strategy, seeking to win customers back from Amazon. The company, which built is business as a discount store, has recently bought a number of high-end online retailers, including Bonobos, ModCloth and Moosejaw. It is promoting premium brands such as Godiva and Kiss through Jet.com, which it bought last year for $3.3bn, and is reportedly in talks with department store Lord & Taylor. The strategy appears to be succeeding, with Walmart's e-commerce sales growth improving during the last two quarters.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Robotics and aerospace technology raise wave energy efficiency
 Sandia National Laboratories water power engineers Giorgio Bacelli, left, Dave Patterson, center, and Ryan Coe with Sandia’s wave energy converter buoy. Credit: Randy Montoya

Compared to wind and solar energy, wave energy has remained relatively expensive and hard to capture, but engineers from Sandia National Laboratories are working to change that by drawing inspiration from other industries.

Sandia's engineering team has designed, modeled and tested a control system that doubles the amount of power a wave energy converter can absorb from ocean waves, making electricity produced from wave energy less expensive. The team applied classical control theory and robotics and aerospace engineering design principles to improve the converter's efficiency.

During a multiyear project funded by the Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office, engineers from Sandia's Water Power program are using a combination of modeling and experimental testing to refine how a wave energy converter moves and responds in the ocean to capture wave energy while also considering how to improve the resiliency of the device in a harsh ocean environment.

"We are working to create methodologies and technologies that private companies can harness to create wave energy devices that will enable them to sell power to the U.S. grid at a competitive price," Sandia engineer Ryan Coe said. "By getting more energy out of the same device, we can reduce the cost of energy from that device."

Advanced control of wave energy converters yields increased energy absorption

Sandia's wave energy converter is a large 1-ton ocean buoy with motors, sensors and an onboard computer built at a scaled down size for a testing environment. Commercial wave energy converters can be large and are generally part of a group of devices, like a wind farm with multiple turbines.

"These devices can be in open ocean and deep water, maybe 50 to 100 miles off the coast," Coe said. "An array of wave energy converters, maybe 100 devices, connected to an underwater transmission line would send the wave energy back to shore for consumption on the grid." Credit: Sandia National Laboratories

To capture energy from the ocean's waves, a wave energy converter moves and bobs in the water, absorbing power from waves when they generate forces on the buoy. Sandia's previous testing focused on studying and modeling how the devices moved in an ocean-like environment to create a numerical model of their device.

Using the model they developed and validated last fall, the team wrote and applied multiple control algorithms to see if the converter could capture more energy.

"A control algorithm is a set of rules you write that prompts an action or multiple actions based on incoming measurements," Sandia engineer Giorgio Bacelli said. "The sensors on the device measure position, velocity and pressure on the hull of buoy and then generate a force or torque in the motor. This action modifies the dynamic response of the buoy so that it resonates at the frequency of the incoming waves, which maximizes the amount of power that can be absorbed."

The control system uses a feedback loop to respond to the behavior of the device by taking measurements 1,000 times per second to continuously refine the movement of the buoy in response to the variety of waves. The team developed multiple control algorithms for the buoy to follow and then tested which control system would get the best results.

"Controls is a pretty big field," Sandia engineer Dave Patterson said. "You can operate anything from planes to cars to walking robots. Different controls will work better for different machines, so a large part of this project is figuring out which control algorithm works and how to design your system to best take advantage of those controls."

Bacelli said that while the primary objective of the control algorithm is to maximize energy transfer between the wave and the buoy, the amount of stress being applied to the device also must be considered.

"Resonance also stresses the entire structure of the device, and to expand the longevity of the device, we need to balance the amount of stress it undergoes," Bacelli said. "Designing and using a control system helps find the best trade-off between the loads and stress applied to the buoy while maximizing the power absorbed, and we've seen that our systems can do that."

Theory becomes reality in the Navy's world-class wave tank

Sandia National Laboratories robotics researchers Clint Hobart, left, Kevin Dullea, center, and Steven Spencer prepare the wave energy converter’s actuator for testing. Credit: Randy Montoya

Results from numerical modeling with the control algorithms showed a large potential, so the team took the converter to the U.S. Navy's Maneuvering and Sea Keeping facility at the Carderock Division in Bethesda, Maryland, in August to test the new control methods in an ocean-like environment. The wave tank facility is 360 feet long and 240 feet wide and has a wave maker that can generate precisely measured waves to simulate various ocean environments for hours at a time. Sandia used the wave tank to simulate a full-size ocean environment off the coast of Oregon, but scaled down to 1/20th the size of typical ocean waves to match their device.

"The accuracy of the wave they can generate and the repeatability is outstanding," Bacelli said. "The ability to recreate the same condition each time allowed us to conduct very meaningful experiments."

The team ran a baseline test to see how the converter performed with a simple control system directing its movements and actions. Then they ran a series of tests to study how the various control algorithms they had designed affected the ability of the device to absorb energy.

"This year, the device can move forward, backward, up and down, and roll in order to resonate at the frequency of the incoming waves," Bacelli said. "All degrees of freedom were actuated, meaning there are motors in the device for each direction it can move. During testing we were able to absorb energy in each of these modes, and we were able to simulate the operating conditions of a device at sea much more accurately." In fact, the tests showed theory did match reality in the wave tank. The control algorithms were able to more than double the amount of energy the wave energy converters were able to absorb without a control system.

The team is analyzing the testing data and considering further options to refine the control systems to maximize energy transfer.

Output: Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories, funded by the US Department of Energy, have used robotics and aerospace technology to improve the performance of a wave energy converter. By using advanced control algorithms to refine the way the converter responds to sea conditions, they were able to double the system’s power output. The team is now working on further improvements to maximise the efficiency of the technology.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Facebook confirms 126 million US users saw Russian content
 Facebook will inform lawmakers this week that roughly 126 million Americans may have been exposed to content generated on its platform by the Russian government-linked troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency between June 2015 and August 2017, CNN has learned.

That estimate, which is equivalent to more than half of the total U.S. voting population, offers a new understanding of the scope of Russia's use of social media to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and in American society generally.

In written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch says that 29 million people were served content directly from the Internet Research Agency, and that after sharing among users is accounted for, a total of "approximately 126 million people" may have seen it.

Facebook does not know, however, how many of those 126 million people actually saw one of those posts, or how many may have scrolled past it or simply not logged in on the day that one of the posts was being served in their News Feed.

Related: Facebook announces new ad transparency efforts

Stretch also says in his testimony that Facebook estimates 11.4 million people saw ads purchased by the Internet Research Agency between 2015 and 2017. But the full, organic reach of content posted by the troll farm-linked pages was more than 10 times higher.

Nevertheless, Facebook says in its testimony that the posts from those pages represented "a tiny fraction of the overall content on Facebook."

"This equals about four-thousandths of one percent (0.004%) of content in News Feed, or approximately 1 out of 23,000 pieces of content," Stretch writes. "Put another way, if each of these posts were a commercial on television, you'd have to watch more than 600 hours of television to see something from the IRA."

Lawyers for Facebook, Twitter and Google will appear in public hearings before a Senate Judiciary subcommmittee and the Senate and House Intelligence Committees this week, where they will face questions over how their platforms were used by Russians to meddle in U.S. politics.

In its own written testimony, also obtained by CNN, Twitter disclosed that it identified 2,752 accounts that were linked to the Internet Research Agency. Those accounts posted a total of 131,000 tweets in the period ranging from September 1, 2016 to November 15, 2016.

During that same period, Twitter found a total of 36,746 accounts that appeared to be associated with Russia -- but not necessarily with the Internet Research Agency -- and which generated automated, election-related content, the testimony states. Those accounts produced approximately 1.4 million tweets which together received 288 million impressions, according to Twitter's testimony as prepared.

Both the Facebook and Twitter written testimonies stress that Internet Research Agency-linked accounts represent an extremely small part of the platforms' overall content.

Both also provide detailed accounts of how the companies' security operations dealt with foreign interference and fake accounts in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, as well as the respective steps they are taking to prevent foreign meddling in the future.

But the key focus for lawmakers will likely be the content and reach of the content posted and promoted by the Internet Research Agency.

In Facebook's testimony, Stretch calls the content of the Russian-bought ads "deeply disturbing," and says it was "seemingly intended to amplify societal divisions and pit groups of people against each other."

"Most of the ads appear to focus on divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights," he writes. "A number of the ads encourage people to follow Pages on these issues, which in turn produced posts on similarly charged subjects."

That characterization of the Russian-bought ads is consistent with what both Facebook representatives and lawmakers have said in the past, as well as with CNN's reporting on the content of specific accounts and ad campaigns.

Facebook first informed lawmakers in September that it had identified 470 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, and that those accounts spent approximately $100,000 on more than 3,000 ads between June 2015 and August 2017.

The new testimony reiterates those numbers while also noting that the IRA-bought ads promoted roughly 120 IRA-generated Facebook Pages, "which in turn posted more than 80,000 pieces of content between January 2015 and August 2017."

Stretch's testimony also discloses that some of the 3,000 ads also appeared on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

The House Intelligence Committee is expected to release the Russian-bought Facebook ads to the public later this week.

In the wake of Facebook's disclosure, Twitter revealed that it had found 201 accounts that were linked to the IRA-backed Facebook accounts, and which also sought to push divisive political content on its platform.

Google later revealed that accounts connected to the Russian government had bought $4,700 worth of search and display ads, and that accounts with Russian internet addresses or using Russian currency purchased another $53,000 worth of ads.

Some Democratic lawmakers have said they believe the findings by Facebook, Twitter and Google thus far represent only a sliver of the full scope of Russia's use of these platforms to meddle in American politics.

Senator Mark Warner, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has criticized all three tech companies for not doing enough, and says what has been made public so far represents "the tip of the iceberg."

In an interview with The Atlantic earlier this month, Warner stressed that "all these companies need to come fully clean about what happened in 2016."

"And don't tell me they found all the ads," he said.

Output: Facebook is set to confirm that approximately 126 million people in the US, equivalent to over 50% of the country’s voting population, may have viewed content on its platform which was generated by an internet troll linked to the Russian government between June 2015 and August 2017, according to CNN. The confirmation appears in written testimony by Facebook General Counsel, Colin Stretch, to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Digital bank Revolut signing 40 new businesses a day
 European app-based banking outfit Revolut is claiming strong uptake of its business account offering, signing up 16,000 firms since June.

UK-based Revolut launched in 2015, initially focusing on current accounts before opening up to companies four months ago. The startup says it hopes to have registered 20,000 firms across the UK and Europe by the end of the year and is busy onboarding about 40 a day.

The service allows companies to sign up for multi-currency accounts in minutes, issue corporate cards, make free money transfers in 26 currencies to pay suppliers or employees overseas - all at the interbank exchange rate.

In addition, Revolut has now launched the Revolut for Business Open API to allow customers to automate these processes from their own systems.

While 16,000 business customers may not yet have the European giants quaking in their boots, Revolut insists it is tapping into a deep seam of unhappiness with traditional lender.

"Revolut for Business was born out of our frustrations with the pains of opening and managing business accounts in the UK and abroad. Businesses were being offered poor deals with hidden exchange fees, coupled with the problems they faced with complicated, slow platform interfaces," says CEO Nikolay Storonsky.

Output: UK-based digital bank Revolut has signed up 16,000 businesses since it extended its services beyond current accounts in June. It said it has been taking on around 40 firms a day since it moved into the corporate accounts market and hopes to have 20,000 businesses across the UK and Europe on board by the end of the year. Revolut enables users to hold, exchange and transfer up to 26 currencies, among other services. CEO Nikolay Storonsky said Revolut was founded in 2015 in response to "poor deals with hidden exchange fees" and "complicated, slow platform interfaces".


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Buzzfeed to launch its popular food-focused web series in the UK
 BuzzFeed is exporting its popular food-focused web series, “Worth It,” to the U.K. on Nov. 5. “Worth It UK,” which is the company’s first original series there, will air weekly on Facebook and YouTube.

In the U.S. version, the show’s hosts travel across America tasting a food item at high and low price points, comparing a high-end $79 ramen with a $3 equivalent, for example. For Brits, the show will focus on fare typically found in the U.K., like tea, curries, kebabs and fish and chips. Executive producer and host Richard Alan Reid hopes the series will expand beyond YouTube and Facebook as BuzzFeed launches more series in the U.K.

A global expansion of “Worth It” wasn’t always in the cards, Reid said. The series started out in Los Angeles before expanding to New York and elsewhere in the U.S., with the finale of the third season occurring in Japan. “At the end of season two, we thought, ‘This is really universal; we have a global audience tuning into it, like a TV show,’” he said. “We knew it was a format we could export.”

BuzzFeed tried to avoid making “Worth It UK,” a collaboration between BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Group — a 40-person unit inside BuzzFeed Entertainment — and BuzzFeed UK’s creative team, seem like a U.S. series with a U.K. offshoot. “Worth It UK” has a few tweaks: There are more hosts who rotate, and each episode happens in a new place, including London, Brighton and Manchester, to show a wider breadth of British cuisine. The tone is also different, Reid said.

“It’s a positive show, but we also wanted to embrace the slightly drier sense of humor,” he said. “There’s a little more cynicism.”

“Worth It,” whose fourth season in the States launches in 2018, has had good numbers. Episodes typically run 12 to 16 minutes and generate 10 million views on YouTube, according to BuzzFeed. The company also said “Worth It” has generated over 360 million views to date, with over 2.5 billion total minutes of watch time.

BuzzFeed has embraced creating shows for specific platforms, and series encourage more regular viewing. Digiday previously reported that at one time, BuzzFeed had 31 shows in development or production at BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Group. Each show has different distribution partners, including platforms and BuzzFeed investor NBCUniversal. At the beginning of October, BuzzFeed announced its morning news show streamed on Twitter, “AM to DM,” reaches 1 million daily viewers.

Impressive views are one thing, but evidence that people are watching ads will be needed to get more advertisers on board, said John Thomson, group strategic planning director at Carat.

“[BuzzFeed is] setting itself up as a broadcaster in the U.K. now,” Thomson said. “It’s no longer about getting product integrations on Proper Tasty, but carrying mass reach and mass advertising, opening it up to audiovisual budgets where the big brand money is. … It will be interesting to see how this stacks up against TV in the long run.”

Image courtesy of BuzzFeed

Output: Buzzfeed is launching a UK version of its popular series of online food videos, "Worth It". The US version features presenters travelling across America comparing types of food at three different price points, and has proved a hit, with 10 million viewers per video and 2.5 billion minutes of watch time generated to-date. The UK version will have a rotating cast of presenters travelling around the UK, and like the original, will be shown on Facebook and YouTube, although producers hope it may expand beyond those platforms.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
India announces $1.5bn national university redevelopment
 India moves on from branch campus plan

Short on time? Here are the highlights: A high-policy document from the Indian government sets out plans for significant reforms and enrolment targets in Indian higher education and skills training

The government has indicated that it will abandon plan to open up Indian higher education to foreign partnerships

Instead, the focus is shifting to the development of a cohort of “eminent” institutions that can compete with leading institutions around the world, and on improving governance, quality of education, and graduate outcomes

India has effectively turned the page on its plan to open its market to foreign universities. After moving last year to liberalise regulations permitting the market entry of foreign institutions, senior Ministry of Human Resource Development officials have signalled that priorities have changed. Rather than encouraging domestic-foreign partnerships in higher education, a policy direction the government had pursued for some years, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now set out plans for new reforms in tertiary education.

These new proposals are outlined in a Three Year Action Agenda published last month by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog). NITI Aayog functions as a high-level think tank within the Indian government, and, as such, provides important inputs on government policy and direction.

In the new Three Year Action Agenda, NITI Aayog sets out a new focus for higher education reforms in India. In particular, the designation of 20 “world class” universities that will receive additional funding and autonomy to allow them to operate outside of existing governance structures for Indian institutions. Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has since referred to the group of 20 unis as “Indian institutes of eminence.”

In a recent interview with Times Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania Professor Devesh Kapur said that he thought the “institutions of eminence” plan was a more sustainable model for the long-term when compared to opening up the country’s higher education system to foreign institutions. Institutions within that group of 20, he observed, “will themselves form partnerships with good institutions around the world, whether twinning, faculty/student exchanges, [or] joint research projects.”

The idea is to build a cohort of ten private and ten public institutions form the eminent group of 20. To date, a budget of 10,000 crore rupees (US$1.5 billion) has been approved to support the to-be-determined public institutions. The longer-term goal of the eminent institutions programme is to establish a top tier of Indian institutions that can attract greater international recognition along with the best students and faculty from within India and abroad.

Governance reforms

The drive to build a cohort of eminent institutions appears to be part of a broader effort to reform university governance in India. NITI Aayog was unflinching in its critique of existing regulatory structures, and particularly the country’s University Grants Commission, which is states is “in dire need of reform.”

“The UGC’s position as an overarching regulator of every aspect of higher education from student fees to curriculum to teaching and course hours keeps India’s higher education system from responding to the changes and challenges that it faces in a fast evolving world,” says the Three Year Action Agenda. “Various professional councils further complicate the regulatory environment in higher education. We should introduce a system of regulation that focuses on information disclosure and governance rather than micro management of universities. This requires an overhaul of the UGC as a regulatory system and a rationalisation of the role of professional councils.”

The goal behind all of these high-level reforms is to improve the quality of relevance of Indian higher education. The employability of Indian graduates has long been called into question, and NITI Aayog cites a single 2016 assessment of 150,000 engineering graduates as “an indication of the magnitude of the challenge.” Only 18% of those newly minted engineers were found to be employable in the software services sector, and only 4% were deemed suitable work in software engineering start-ups.

This in a country that has seen its university enrolment expand by leaps and bounds over the past decade, to the point where only China has a larger head count. The drive is on to boost India’s tertiary gross enrolment ratio to 30% by 2020, but the system is struggling to keep pace, in terms of budgets, facilities, faculty, and curriculum renewal.

Meanwhile, the limited employability of graduates is clearly a preoccupation for government which aims to capitalise on the “one-off opportunity” of the country’s massive demographic dividend. Along with building its university enrolment and improving graduate outcomes, however, India also needs to dramatically expand its numbers in skill training programmes. With that in mind, the Three Year Action Agenda highlights an established goal to train five million apprentices by 2020. In support of this goal, NITI Aayog appears poised to focus greater attention on national standards frameworks, including the recognition of skills training gained by Indian students abroad.

For additional background, please see:

Output: Indian thinktank the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) has published a series of proposals for the country's tertiary education sector. The Three Year Action Agenda includes the creation of 20 national universities at a cost of $1.5bn, a move which marks a U-turn from an initiative to bring in foreign institutions. The proposals also call for a radical overhaul of the University Grants Commission, which NITI Aayog said was in "dire need of reform", and examines the quality of education, after 2016 figures revealed only 4% of 150,000 engineering graduates were suitable to work in software start-ups.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Google Home Mini discovered listening in on users' conversations
 Google has permanently disabled a button on its Google Home Mini smart speaker ahead of launch, after the device was discovered listening in on users' conversations without consent.

This issue was discovered by Android Police, while a reviewer was testing the device ahead of its launch next week. The reviewer was able to locate files on Google's My Activity portal that turned out to be recordings and transcripts from points when the device was presumed to be inactive.

According to Google, the problem was caused by a fault with the touch button atop the Home Mini , which could be used to activate the device without saying 'Ok Google' out loud. However, in some cases the button would activate on its own, causing the Trigger to listen, waiting for a command.

Google's solution to this problem – which does genuinely seem to be an accident, rather than a calculated attempt to spy on users – is just to disable the button entirely through a software update.

"We take user privacy and product quality concerns very seriously. Although we only received a few reports of this issue, we want people to have complete peace of mind while using Google Home Mini," Google said in a statement. "We have made the decision to permanently remove all top touch functionality on the Google Home Mini. As before, the best way to control and activate Google Home Mini is through voice, by saying 'Ok Google' or 'Hey Google,' which is already how most people engage with our Google Home products. You can still adjust the volume by using the touch control on the side of the device."

Join us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.

Output: One week ahead of launch, Google has permanently disabled all top touch functionality on its Home Mini smart speaker, after it emerged the device was listening to and recording conversations without users' consent. The problem was flagged by publication Android Police, while the manufacturer said the fault lay with a touch button on top of the speaker. A software update had disabled the button, Google noted in a statement.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK sees largest gender pay gap increase in EU
 T he UK's gender pay gap has increased quicker than anywhere else in Europe, official figures show.

Britain recorded the steepest annual increase in the pay imbalance between men and women in 2015, according to new European Commission figures.

The figures showed men earned 20.8 per cent more than women in 2015 compared to 19.7 per cent in 2014.

The growing figure outpaced the EU’s average pay gap of 16.3 per cent and is now the second worst for pay inequality for women among Europe’s largest economies.

The UK is now ranked fifth across all 28 member states.

Germany recorded the highest divide among the big economic players – with a pay gap of 22 per cent. The country ranks third worst across Europe.

Like the UK, Germany and France also registered deterioration in pay equality between the genders in the latest figures. But the overall EU average remained the same.

The gap is the equivalent of women working for no pay for the last two months of the year, Vera Jourova, EU commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality told the Financial Times.

“It is an unacceptable and shocking injustice that women in 21st century Europe work two months a year for free,” she said. “This gender pay gap has remained the same for many years — it is still very similar to in 1995.”

Ms Jourova called for a quicker shift towards equal pay and added progress is coming along “at a stubbornly snail’s pace”.

The gender pay gap in the EU stood at about 25 per cent in 1995. Despite the overall decrease since then, it has been reduced slowly in many countries as male workers still dominate higher paid positions.

When considering elements such as hours worked and career breaks for women, the gap in earnings stands at 39.6 per cent across Europe. In Britain, the gap is shown as 45 per cent.

All UK companies, charities and government departments that employee more than 250 people must publish data on hourly wages and bonuses online as of April 2018.

Brussels is to put forward proposals to put pressure on employers to tackle the gender pay gap this month.

A target has been set for 40 per cent of women in senior and middle management positions across big employers by 2019. It currently stands at 36 per cent of females in middle management and 33 per cent at senior level.

According to the same figures from the commission, only six per cent of chief executives in the EU are female.

Output: The gender pay gap increased more quickly in the UK in 2015 than in any other country in the European Union (EU), according to figures from the European Commission. The data reveals that men in the country earned 20.8% more than women in that year, compared to 19.7% in 2014. The average pay gap in the EU was 16.3%. Overall, the UK was ranked fifth worst out of the 28 member states. Germany had the highest pay gap, at 22%, with the country ranked third worst in Europe overall.