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Major UK supermarket puts thousands at risk from pig virus
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Pork products sold by a leading British supermarket may have infected thousands of people with a form of hepatitis that can cause liver cirrhosis, according to health officials.

Public Health England (PHE) researchers attempting to pinpoint a link between 60 people with hepatitis E (HEV) found that they had all eaten own-brand sausages and ready-to-eat sliced ham from an unnamed retailer known as Supermarket X, The Times reported. The research was carried out between 2014 and 2016.

The study found that between 150,000 and 200,000 people in the UK are infected with HEV each year.

“Only Supermarket X, especially own brand, was significantly associated with HEV G3-2,” the report said, according to The Times. The report follows a 2011 PHE study, which also found that Supermarket X’s pork products contained the virus.

In response to the findings, NHS Blood and Transplant has tested blood donations for HEV and plans to screen donated organs and tissue for the virus found in pigs.

Pigs in the UK do not have HEV, but the virus has been detected in pork products from Holland, Germany and other mainland European countries.

Sources told The Times that they believe Supermarket X was Tesco. However, a spokesperson for the supermarket told The Independent that it works closely with the FSA and PHE to ensure customers can be confident in the safety and quality of the food they buy.

“This particular research was carried out six years ago on a small number of people, and although it provided no direct link between specific products and hepatitis E, we always take care to review research findings such as this. Food quality is really important to us and we have in place an expert team to ensure the highest possible standards at every stage of our supply chain, as well as providing clear information to customers on how to handle and cook pork in the home to minimise the risk of hepatitis E,” the spokesperson added.

HEV is spread when faeces infected with the virus finds its way into the mouth, usually through food and water, according to the British Liver Trust website. Transmitting the virus from person to person is rare, but it is possible to be infectious for up to two weeks after symptoms show.

The majority of people infected with HEV experience mild flu-like symptoms, fatigue, abdominal pain, vomiting and aching joints and muscles, which last for a month. However, those with suppressed immune systems may struggle to fight the virus and can experience a chronic infection, liver cirrhosis and neurological damage.

Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Show all 6 1 / 6 Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Six healthy breakfast recipes to try You will need: 1 onion, 1 red pepper, 1 stick of celery, 1 cup of mushrooms, 4 to 6 eggs, 1 habanero chilli (optional), 1 tablespoon of oil, 25g of grated low-fat cheese, 150 ml of skimmed milk, 50g of turkey breast. Add some spinach for an extra boost. Method: 1) Cook your turkey breast so that it’s ready to add to the mix later on. Best to grill it and then chop it up as it’s healthier than shallow frying. 2) Meanwhile, heat the oil and add your onion, pepper, chilli, mushrooms and celery to your pan. Cook these for around five minutes until your veg is nice and soft. 3) Whisk your eggs and milk together in a separate bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper. 4) Add the egg mixture, veg, cooked turkey and cheese to a high-sided baking pan or tin and cook in your oven for around 15 minutes at 170C. 1) Cook your turkey breast so that it’s ready to add to the mix later on. Best to grill it and then chop it up as it’s healthier than shallow frying. 2) Meanwhile, heat the oil and add your onion, pepper, chilli, mushrooms and celery to your pan. Cook these for around five minutes until your veg is nice and soft. 3) Whisk your eggs and milk together in a separate bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper. 4) Add the egg mixture, veg, cooked turkey and cheese to a high-sided baking pan or tin and cook in your oven for around 15 minutes at 170C. DW Fitness Clubs Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Be careful when you buy your porridge, as some brands will cram a lot of sugar in there. Porridge is a good breakfast option as it is renowned for releasing energy slowly, which means you can get to lunch without suffering from a lull. A great source of fibre, potassium and vitamins, bananas are always a good accompaniment to your morning oats. DW Fitness Clubs Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Ingredients: 2 full eggs, 3 egg whites, asparagus, peppers, 50g of smoked salmon Method 1) Boil your asparagus in water for around five minutes. 2) Meanwhile, mix your eggs and egg whites in a jug, and add a splash of skimmed milk. Chop some peppers up and throw them in too. 3) Once your asparagus is cooked, drain it and chop into smaller chunks. Add these to your egg mixture. 4) Whisk your mixture and season with salt and pepper. 5) Pour the mix into a hot pan with a small knob of butter or a teaspoon of quality olive oil. 6) Cook the omelette for around 90 seconds to two minutes. 7) Once the bottom is cooked, take the pan off the hob and place under the grill for another 30 seconds to a minute in order to cook the top. 8) Serve with your smoked salmon. 1) Boil your asparagus in water for around five minutes. 2) Meanwhile, mix your eggs and egg whites in a jug, and add a splash of skimmed milk. Chop some peppers up and throw them in too. 3) Once your asparagus is cooked, drain it and chop into smaller chunks. Add these to your egg mixture. 4) Whisk your mixture and season with salt and pepper. 5) Pour the mix into a hot pan with a small knob of butter or a teaspoon of quality olive oil. 6) Cook the omelette for around 90 seconds to two minutes. 7) Once the bottom is cooked, take the pan off the hob and place under the grill for another 30 seconds to a minute in order to cook the top. 8) Serve with your smoked salmon. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Greek yoghurt has vast nutritional benefits. Regardless of where you stand on the superfood debate, Greek yoghurt’s credentials speak for themselves. A good source of potassium, protein, calcium and essential vitamins, this food forms an ideal base for a healthy breakfast, especially if you’re trying to lose weight. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Eggs Florentine is not only a tasty breakfast, it also carries a hefty nutritional punch, particularly when you throw some spinach into the equation. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try So fast and easy to make, yet so effective. Wholemeal toast can be a good breakfast choice, as long as you are sensible with your toppings. Peanut butter is perfect. A good source of “healthy fats”, as well as protein and Vitamin E among other nutrients, a liberal spreading of peanut butter can set you up for the day. DW Fitness

The report comes after products including salads and sandwiches were recalled from Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Asda and Morrisons after eggs from Dutch and Belgian farms were found to contain the insecticide Fipronil.

However, the Food Standards Agency stressed that Fiprinol is only harmful in large quantities.

FSA chairwoman Heather Hancock said at the time: “The number of eggs involved is small in proportion to the number of eggs we eat, and it is very unlikely that there is a risk to public health.

“Based on the available evidence there is no need for people to change the way they consume or cook eggs. However, Fipronil is not legally allowed for use near food-producing animals and it shouldn’t be there.”

Output: A major UK supermarket's own brand of sausages and ready-to-eat ham may have infected thousands of people with Hepatitis E which can result in liver cirrhosis, according to Public Health England. Pigs in Britain do not have Hepatitis E, however, the virus has been found in pork products from the Netherlands, Germany and other European nations.The supermarket has not been named.


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UK councils have ‘democratic deficit’ due to gender imbalance
 A gender imbalance across local government has been exposed in a damning report that suggests councils – especially the new mayoral authorities – are lagging behind even Westminster in taking steps to improve equality.

The study, published on Sunday by the Institute for Public Policy Research, reveals that only 33% of councillors and 17% of council leaders in England are women, something the thinktank suggests is causing a “democratic deficit”.

In the new mayoral combined authority boards, only 4% of constituent members – those with full voting rights – are women and all six bodies are led by men. The West Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the Liverpool City Region and the West of England authorities are all without any female constituent members.

The IPPR calculates that, to achieve equal numbers of male and female councillors in England, 3,028 more women need to be elected, an increase of more than 50% on the 5,800 or so currently in power. The thinktank estimates that, to achieve parity in gender balance, more than 12,000 women would have to apply for elected positions on councils. The shortfall means many policies that have a direct impact on women’s lives are being drafted at the local level by male councillors with little practical experience of the issues at stake.

The report, Power to the people? Tackling the gender imbalance in local government & combined authorities, finds that women face a number of barriers to entering local government and progressing into leadership roles.

Despite calls from politicians on all sides for more women to enter politics, the percentage of female candidates selected by parties to stand in council ward elections has flatlined, at around a third, since 2007. By contrast, there have been much faster gains in parliament – the number of female MPs elected rose by 9% in the 2017 general election compared with 2015. In the past 20 years, the proportion of women councillors has grown by 5%, but at this rate it will take another 68 years to reach equal representation.

Jess Phillips MP: ‘Without a target or a quota, nothing is going to change.’ Photograph: Fabio De Paola/REX/Shutterstock

Labour MP Jess Phillips said it was time to consider a change to the law. “Councils and public bodies in the future need to look at whether they want to have targets that lead to local action. Without a target or a quota, nothing is going to change.”

Despite a new generation of young women participating in politics, with voter turnout among women aged 18 to 24 reaching 53% at the last election compared with just 44% in 2015, the report finds that political parties are failing to engage more women, with the result that they are less likely to go on to become local councillors.

Women make up only 38% of Labour party members and only 36% of Conservative party members.

“It cannot be right in 2017 that there are barely any women represented in the leadership of our newest democratic institutions, the combined authorities,” said Clare McNeil, IPPR associate director. “Efforts made to address this in Greater Manchester and elsewhere are to be welcomed, but radical change is needed if devolution is to be about bringing power to the people, rather than consolidating it among white middle-aged men.”

The report states: “Many local government policy areas have a much greater impact on women than on men. For example, local government has oversight of childcare provision as well as responsibility for delivering and funding social care. Women, who in 2017 still shoulder the greatest burden of caring responsibilities in the family, are simply more affected by decisions on who gets state-funded care, and how it is delivered.”

The IPPR wants leaders of political parties to commit to achieving a 50:50 balance in male-female party membership. And it wants authorities to make a commitment that at least 45% of those on combined authority boards are women. If significant progress towards greater gender balance in local government and combined authorities cannot be achieved through these changes, then it says legislation should be introduced requiring elected positions to be filled equally by genders, or with a split of 60:40 or better.

“Political institutions and parties must introduce more ambitious quotas to improve representation in the short term,” McNeil said. “And local government should do more to encourage women to stand and support them effectively once they have been selected. Without these measures representation will continue to be deeply unequal. Leaders of political parties should back our call to recruit the 12,000 women needed to stand for election to achieve a better gender balance in local government by 2025. This would be a fitting way to mark next year’s anniversary of 100 years since the first women got the vote.”

Marianne Overton, vice-chair of the Local Government Association, believes that “change will only come about through a mix of support programmes and direct action from political parties to encourage and sustain aspiring female councillors”.

Output: UK local government has a “democratic deficit” due to its gender imbalance, according to a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). The report shows that just 33% of councillors and 17% of council leaders in England are female. On mayoral combined authority boards, just 4% of constituent members with full voting rights are women, whereas all six boards have male leaders. To achieve equal gender representation, the IPPR estimates that a further 3,028 women must be elected, an increase of over half on the current figures.


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Trump lifts ban on plastic water bottle sales in national parks
 The Trump administration’s decision to reverse a ban on the sale of plastic water bottles in some of America’s most famous national parks, including the Grand Canyon, shows “the corporate agenda is king and people and the environment are left behind”, campaigners have said.

The comments come after the administration ended a policy that allowed parks to ban the sale of plastic bottled water in an effort to curb pollution.

That policy “was a win-win for everyone except the bottled water industry, which is only interested in its bottom line”, said Lauren DeRusha Florez, a campaign director for Corporate Accountability International, a group that campaigns against corporate abuses.

The change means national parks will no longer be allowed to ban plastic bottled water, after Trump administration officials ended a six-year-old policy put in place to curb pollution.

The National Park Service, responsible for America’s most celebrated wilderness areas, announced the change in a press release that closely echoed lobbyists’ arguments against the ban.

“It should be up to our visitors to decide how best to keep themselves and their families hydrated during a visit to a national park, particularly during hot summer visitation periods,” said the acting National Park Service director, Michael Reynolds. He said parks would continue to encourage people to use free bottle filling stations, “as appropriate”.

The same argument was used by the bottled water industry’s main mouthpiece, the International Bottled Water Association, last year. Members of the lobbying organization include representatives of bottled water giants such as Nestlé, which sells brands including Poland Springs, Perrier and San Pellegrino in North America.

Six years ago, the parks service encouraged America’s 417 federal parks to end bottled water sales where practical, arguing that the system needed to be “an exemplar of sustainability”. Parks that did ban bottled water only did so after installation of water bottle filling stations and a campaign to inform visitors where those filling stations were.

Since 2011, 23 of America’s most famous parks had ended bottled water sales. Those included the Grand Canyon and Zion national park, which together drew 10.2 million visitors in 2016. Last year, 331 million people visited America’s national parks.

Plastic bottles at the Grand Canyon alone comprised 20% of waste, and 30% of the park’s recyclable waste.

Plastic bottles were also a major contributor to trash that ended up along walkways and “below the rim” of the landmark canyon.

Already, the world consumes more than 1m plastic water bottles per minute, or roughly 20,000 per second. Environmentalists fear the impact of the growth in plastic water bottle sales could rival the effect of climate change, as recycling efforts fail to keep up with demand, and plastic ends up littering coastlines in particular.

Some of the national parks that had made the change included seaside areas, such as Cape Hatteras national seashore in North Carolina and Biscayne national park outside of Miami, Florida.

The policy change came after just a few months of lobbying by the International Bottled Water Association, which began its campaign in January, after Donald Trump’s inauguration, and spent $80,000 arguing against the “bottle ban”. National parks fall under the Department of Interior’s umbrella, an agency now headed by the Trump appointee Ryan Zinke.

One of Trump’s most recent appointments to the Department of the Interior is the deputy secretary David Bernhardt, a Colorado-based lawyer, previously with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, who specialized in water-related litigation. Some lawmakers raised concerns about Bernhardt during his confirmation hearings, just a few weeks ago.

“He is another conflict-ridden, climate-dismissing Trump appointee who favors profits over people,” said the liberal Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren during his confirmation hearing. “I am alarmed by his willingness to serve as the corporate rubber stamp that President Trump wants. Mr Bernhardt is a walking conflict of interest.”

Bernhardt’s law firm recently represented Nestlé in a dispute over a bottling plant in Colorado. Nestlé denied even knowing Bernhardt.

“No one in the General Counsel’s office at Nestlé … has ever met or spoken to Mr Bernhardt and frankly was not familiar with him until these irresponsible claims were made,” the company told the Washington Post.

Several of Zinke’s actions have also concerned conservationists. The Department of the Interior is “reviewing” rules that govern oil and gas drilling in national parks, such as inside Florida’s Everglades. State officials have also begun lobbying Zinke’s department to allow uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.

In June, Zinke defended a proposed $400m cut to national parks in Trump’s budget, a slash that would have required staff cuts at 90% of the country’s parks. Zinke’s department is also reviewing whether to cut 27 national monuments declared since 1996, which together encompass 1bn acres of public land.

Output: President Trump’s administration has reversed a ban on selling water in plastic bottles in national parks. Since the ban was introduced in 2011, 23 parks had already ended the sale of bottled water, which had been responsible for 20% of total waste and 30% of recyclable waste at the Grand Canyon park alone. Environmental groups criticised the decision, which followed an $80,000 campaign by the International Bottled Water Association. Trump recently appointed David Bernhardt, a specialist in water-related lobbying, to the Department of the Interior.


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UK consumers may have contracted hepatitis from imported pork
 Pork products sold at a leading supermarket may have infected British shoppers with a virus that can cause liver failure and death, it has emerged.

Researchers at Public Health England (PHE) probed the shopping habits of those infected with hepatitis E and found the consumption of ham and sausages from one store, identified only as “supermarket X”, was a recurring feature.

In a report published last month, the government agency said the virus strain has not been detected in British pigs, and infections could be the result of eating products made outside the UK.

PHE stressed that this “does not infer blame on the supermarket” and along with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said they will not be naming the store.

Since 2010 PHE said there has been an “increase in the number of non-travel cases” of the hepatitis E virus – with figures showing infections have risen from from 368 in 2010 to 1243 in 2016.

Caused by the hepatitis E virus, the disease generally results in a mild and short-term infection unless the person has a pre-existing liver disease or is pregnant.

Symptoms of the virus can include feeling flu-like, yellowing of the skin and eyes, tiredness, fever, vomiting and loss of appetite. In rare cases it can cause liver failure and prove fatal.

In the face of the increasing infection figures, the PHE study looked at 60 individuals with no history of travel outside the UK.

The Sunday Times reports the research was carried out between 2014 and 2016, and that it is estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Britons are infected with the virus by imported pork every year.

According to the newspaper, PHE’s report states: “The implicated products are pork sausages, which require cooking prior to consumption, and ready-to-eat pre-packed ham.”

Researchers found the unnamed supermarket’s “own brand” sausages were significantly associated with infection.

An FSA spokeswoman said they are aware of the report’s findings and are reviewing all aspects of hepatitis E infection with other government departments and industry.

“The risk from acquiring hepatitis E virus (HEV) from eating thoroughly cooked pork or pork products is low,” she said. “As a precaution, the FSA advises consumers that all whole cuts of pork, pork products and offal should be thoroughly cooked until steaming hot throughout, the meat is no longer pink and juices run clear.”

Output: Pork products sold by a major supermarket may have infected UK consumers with hepatitis E, which can be fatal, according to Public Health England (PHE). Researchers discovered that of ham and sausages from the store, reported only as “supermarket X”, were consumed by almost all of the infected. The virus has not been identified in UK pigs, implying that the infections may have resulted from eating imported pork. PHE stated that they do “not infer blame on the supermarket”, which neither they nor the Foods Standards Authority have identified.


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Mumbai firm closed after industrial waste turns dogs blue
 The state pollution control board shut down the Navi Mumbai-based private company that was releasing untreated industrial waste into the Kasadi river at Taloja, and was discharging residual dye powder into the air and in the water, which was turning dogs in the area blue. HT first reported on August 11 about the dogs mysteriously turning blue, after residents spotted the canines(HT Photo)

HT first reported on August 11 about the dogs mysteriously turning blue, after residents spotted the canines. After local activists filed a complaint with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), it was discovered that a private company was releasing blue dye into the air and the river water.

Officials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) told HT that a closure notice was issued on Friday night and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has been asked to cut water supply to the firm.

The pollution board issued a show-cause notice on Wednesday. However, after witnessing that there were no pollution abatement measures being followed by the firm, it was shut down.

“There are a set of norms that every industry needs to follow. After our sub-regional officers confirmed media reports that dogs were indeed turning blue due to air and water pollution, we conducted a detailed survey at the plant,” said Anil Mohekar, regional officer, MPCB Navi Mumbai, adding that once they found out that none of the directions under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, were being followed by the private company, closure directions were issued.

“Ducol Organics Pvt Ltd. is harming animals and birds in the area. We cannot let such an industry function. We will ensure that the plant does not function from Monday and the decision sets an example for other polluting industries, which may not be following pollution abatement measures,” he said.

According to MPCB, the fur of five dogs from the industrial area had turned blue. Veterinarians from a hospital examined all five dogs and admitted one of them to the hospital for pathology tests. A blood report revealed that the dog was healthy, did not have any infection and the blue dye was water soluble.

However, animal welfare activist Arati Chauhan from Navi Mumbai Animal Protection cell, who first identified the problem through the pictures of a dog, said shutting down the industry was not a solution as it was not addressing the larger issue of other polluters in the area. “Shutting down one industry, as MPCB has done, only results in daily wage labourers losing their bread and butter. There are many other industries in the area that pose a threat to the flora, fauna and a threat of more such cases is a possibility,” she said. “There is a need for pollution monitoring of all plants and development of adequate green cover around industrial sites.”

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Output: Ducol Organics, a chemical company based in Mumbai, has been closed by local authorities after untreated industrial waste and dye released by the firm into the Kasadi river turned dogs in the area blue. According to tests on five dogs by veterinarians, the blue dye was water soluble and the animals were healthy. Local animal welfare activist Arati Chauhan called for greater pollution monitoring of all plants in the area.


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New York Governor to put congestion pricing on political table
 The need for congestion pricing is greater than ever. New York City’s subway system has degenerated into a stupendous mess after years of neglect and maladministration. It is becoming clear to commuters and politicians alike that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs to spend much more money to upgrade its antiquated signaling system, replace dilapidated trains and refurbish worn-down stations, not to mention extend the system to transit-starved neighborhoods.

That’s where congestion pricing, specifically a proposal known as Move NY Fair Plan, comes in. It is based on the ideas of Sam Schwartz, a former New York City traffic commissioner, and it operates on the principle that everybody who travels to Manhattan should share the burden of easing traffic and improving the transportation system.

Move NY, which Mr. Cuomo is considering, would impose fees on cars and trucks heading south across 60th Street and vehicles that enter Manhattan from the four East River bridges that are currently free. It would lower tolls on outer bridges like the Robert F. Kennedy (still known as the Triborough) and the Verrazano-Narrows that serve areas with few transit options. And it would increase fees on taxi and ride-share trips in much of Manhattan during the busiest times of day. The fees and tolls would be higher on weekdays and during rush hours, and lower at other times. The plan would raise nearly $1.5 billion a year for improving transit services in the city and the suburbs. Cities like London and Singapore have used similar policies effectively.

Mr. Cuomo has provided few details about his congestion pricing plan, and it is not clear how closely it will resemble Move NY. The governor says he has been thinking about the idea for months and has been encouraged to move ahead with congestion pricing by the success of a recent experiment in which the M.T.A. lowered some bridge and tunnel tolls at night to prod truckers to shift deliveries to less busy times. Ideally, Mr. Cuomo would borrow heavily from Move NY, rather than adopt just one or two components of that proposal.

The governor will also need to work hard to win over skeptical elected officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has previously criticized congestion-pricing proposals and has proposed a tax on the wealthy that would raise much less money than Move NY. But Mr. Cuomo doesn’t have to start from square one. More than two dozen state lawmakers in the Assembly and the Senate have sponsored congestion-pricing legislation. And several local chambers of commerce, labor unions, segments of the for-hire car industry, truckers, transit riders’ organizations and environmental groups have supported Move NY.

Output: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his staff are considering the implementation of fees and tolls for using Manhattan streets, according to the New York Times. Known as the Move NY Fair Plan, the project would impose fees on vehicles crossing several key points in the city, including the four bridges into Manhattan over the East River. The plan is expected to raise $1.5bn every year, which would be dedicated to improving the city's transport infrastructure.


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Biofuel-run buses launched in Goa
 PANAJI: The Goa government today launched three biofuel-powered buses here on a pilot basis.The project is a part of the state government's comprehensive mobility plan announced in the recent budget.Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar launched the project by taking the first ride in the bus, which will be operated by Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL), a state-run body.Talking to reporters later, Parrikar said, "We had announced that the state will introduce a comprehensive mobility plan for the entire state. Total Rs 150 crore have been earmarked for the purpose in the state budget, which was tabled recently."The state government has taken three buses on a trial basis, and depending upon the success their number will increase in the days to come, he added.The buses, which run on bio-gas or ethanol, have been manufactured by Scania Commercial Vehicles India Private Ltd."The company will be required to maintain the bus for 15 years. The state government will only operate the bus and collect the ticket and pay the company on per-kilometre basis," Parrikar said."The ticketing would be done through automated system. The bus will have swiping machines. One can enter the bus after swiping the card," he said.The chief minister said the ticket prices would be as per the general rates applicable in the state.

Output: The Goa government has launched three biofuel-powered buses in a pilot scheme examining the use of the technology. The service will be run by the state-run Kadamba Transport Corporation, and is part of wider state plans concerning mobility.


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Car loan market is in danger of bursting, says Bank of England
 A shock fall in new car sales is forcing dealers to offer increasingly high-risk finance deals in a desperate bid to keep the flagging market moving, Bank of England economists warn today.

Forecourt saleman are being told by manufacturers to offer bigger discounts to customers as they try to reverse a fall in sales.

The economists fear the car finance market is now dangerously exposed to a downturn - particularly if car sales start to fall – and face catastrophic damage if there is an economic shock.

Forecourt saleman are being told by manufacturers to offer bigger discounts to customers as they try to reverse a fall in sales

It is the latest warning that the finance bubble that has spurred the sale of new cars to record levels in the UK, may be about to burst.

Demand for new vehicles has dropped sharply amid a squeeze on living standards and road tax hikes.

The £58billion car finance industry is now being forced to offer special discounts at flagging dealers, longer loans and lower monthly payments to lure in new buyers.

The Mail has previously warned of how salesmen were offering cars worth up to £20,000 without asking for a deposit.

An undercover investigation revealed that a salesman told a 24-year-old how to write a credit check form to ensure he was approved, and another tried to sell a £15,000 Audi to a young man who said he was out of work.

Now, three Bank experts fear car finance companies are playing with fire and their system could crumble if economic conditions take a turn for the worse.

‘Although weakening, UK new car sales remain at historically high levels,’ they said.

‘That is partly because car manufacturers and their finance houses are increasingly stimulating private demand by offering cheaper (and new) forms of car finance.

The economists fear the car finance market is now dangerously exposed to a downturn - particularly if car sales start to fall

‘As amounts of consumer credit increase, so do the risks to the finance providers.

‘These developments make the industry increasingly vulnerable to shocks.’

Car finance has exploded since the economic crisis, fuelled by personal contract purchases deals (PCPs) which appear to give customers a risk-free way of buying a new car on the cheap.

In these deals, the customer puts down an initial deposit of several thousand pounds and then makes monthly payments for the next three or four years.

They can then pay a ‘balloon’ lump sum at the end of the term if they want to own the car, based on its projected value on the second-hand market.

Most drivers instead hand the car back and take out a new contract.

But after years of surging growth, there are now signs PCPs may have run into trouble.

New vehicle registrations are expected to fall 2.6 per cent this year, according to industry body SMMT, and by another 4.1 per cent in 2018.

At the same time, manufacturers are feeling the pain from the fall in the pound, which has driven up the cost of imported cars and components.

But they feel unable to pass these price rises on because of intense competition, meaning their profits are taking a hit.

PCPs also depend on the value of used cars – and there are signs that these have fallen slightly in the last year, according to the Bank’s researchers.

The Old Lady has previously warned that a 30 per cent fall in second-hand prices could cost banks £1.7billion.

And last month Alex Brazier, a senior figure who sits on the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee, said firms risk losing money if used car prices fall.

Warning that companies ‘will want to think very carefully about the risks’, he added: ‘It’s not difficult to see hwo this could be self-reinforcing. If used car prices were to fall, and PCP purchasers opt to give back their cars as their contracts expire, the supply of used cars onto the market could increase substantially, pushing prices down further.’

In an effort to shore up the industry, car companies are now offering special deals to get wavering drivers signed up, Bank economists found.

These so-called variable marketing programmes see dealers which are struggling to hit their targets given leeway to reduce the deposits they ask for, or to cut the interest they charge.

‘Manufacturers often vary the amount of cash support to car dealers in order to meet sales,’ the Bank’s researchers said.

‘If a manufacturer is falling behind its (typically quarterly) sales budget, cash incentives may be offered to dealerships to meet more demanding targets in the following quarter, in order to clear surplus inventory and get back on track.

‘Our intelligence suggests that dealership incentives have increased over the past year.’

Another trick finance companies are pulling is slashing consumers’ monthly payments by inflating what they expect their car to be worth second-hand when it is given back.

Although it makes the deals more attractive, it also increases the risk that these businesses will lose money if used prices suddenly plummet.

And there are fears this could happen in coming years because of plans to ban diesel vehicles and a fresh push for electric cars.

Some firms are already struggling to make the money they need from second-hand cars, the Bank staff said.

These companies are offering longer and longer PCP deals so they get more months of income and need to raise less money when the vehicles are sold.

The report into car finance was written by Bank employees Tim Pike, Phil Eckersley and Alex Golledge, and published on a website which features research by staff.

It is not official Bank policy.

Adrian Dally of industry body The Finance & Leading Association said there was no cause for concern.

He pointed out that total car finance was ‘pretty insignificant’ when compared to the rest of Britain’s debt pile.

‘In an extremely competitive market, it’s good to see operators continuing to react by making offers attractive to buyers,’ he said.

Output: A sudden drop in new vehicle sales is leading dealers to offer higher-risk finance deals to keep the market alive, Bank of England economists have said. In an attempt to gain customers, sales staff are being asked by manufacturers to offer larger discounts, but economists are warning that the car finance market would be highly vulnerable in the event of an economic downturn. Car finance is usually based on personal contract purchase deals that can allow customers to buy a car without even paying a deposit.


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Redrow Research suggest UK buyers will pay a premium for eco-homes
 Making energy saving improvements to homes could increase values by up to 38% in the UK as the majority of buyers would pay more for an environmentally friendly property.

Studies find that 82% per cent of home buyers would pay more for eco features at a time when housing alone generates 29% of UK emissions, with younger people more willing to do so.

A new report published by leading global real estate advisors CBRE Residential reveals the true environmental impact of residential property. The report also suggests how to create truly eco-friendly homes and considers the long term premiums attached.

‘A green home is designed to be environmentally friendly and sustainable. The underlying design focusses on using as little water, energy resources and building materials as possible, and thereby creating a smaller impact on the environment,’ said Jennet Siebrits, Head of Residential Research at CBRE UK.

‘The benefits of going green are clear from an environmental perspective. The earth’s resources are limited and we are using more than the earth can regenerate. In 2016, we used around 1.6 times the earth’s resources, with the construction and running of a residential property having a significant impact on the environment,’ she pointed out.

‘In most developed nations, household electricity use generally makes up about a third of total electricity consumption. Energy from fossil fuels consumed in the construction and operation of buildings accounts for approximately half of the UK’s emissions of carbon dioxide. Housing alone generates 29% of UK emissions, of which 82% is used for space and water heating,’ she added.

The report suggests that a fabric first approach to building design would involve using materials and design to maximise the performance of a building. Construction methods and materials used should aim to maximise air tightness, create high levels of insulation, make good use of natural light and solar gain and use the buildings thermal mass to advantage.

It also suggests that the consideration of the life cycle of materials and products used in the building and their impact on the environment is also becoming increasingly important. Particularly in heavily built-up urban areas, green roofs can form part of an effective sustainable drainage solution by reducing run-off at peak times, and lessening the need for underground drainage at site boundary level.

Looking ahead the development of rechargeable lithium-ion battery packs for in-home use will boost the usage of solar energy but small scale home improvements affecting the fabric of a home can be one of the most effective ways of reducing energy consumption.

The report points to research conducted by house builder Redrow which found that 63% of home buyers want to purchase a green, environmentally friendly home, and 82% would pay more for a home that allows them to fulfil this ambition to ‘go green’.

The study found that more than 25% of buyers would pay at least a 6% premium for a home with sustainable features. Further, a recent UK report by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) found that making energy saving improvements to a home ‘could increase its value by 14% on average and up to 38% in some regions’.

Output: Building environmentally friendly homes isn't just good for the climate, 82% would pay more for a 'green' home, while more than a quarter of all UK buyers would pay a 6% premium for a house with sustainable features, according a study by house builder Redrow. Housing is responsible for 29% of UK emissions, and a report from CBRE UK said taking a fabric first approach to building design, and considering the life cycle of materials and products at the construction stage are becoming increasingly important


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New players take a big chunk of Japan's retail power markets
 TOKYO -- New players are climbing the ranks in Japan's deregulated retail power market, collectively surpassing four out of 10 major utilities in household electricity sales.

Since the market's liberalization in April 2016, a swarm of newcomers entered the industry such as oil and gas companies and even telecom businesses. The new players began offering rates about 5% lower on average than major providers, helping them attract households, especially those with heavy power usage.

Output: Deregulation in the Japanese retail power market has allowed new suppliers to climb the ranks of providers. Since April 2016, when the market was liberalised, companies such as Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas and JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy have taken up new electricity contracts. About 4.55 million users are understood to have switched to new providers by the end of July, which number about 230 as against the big four major utilities.


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Australian windfarm set for construction following $40m funding
 Construction is set to begin on a world-leading wind, solar, and battery storage hybrid project in north Queensland, after the company behind the 1200MW Kennedy Energy Park, Windlab, raised $50 million through an initial public offer.

In a statement on Thursday, Windlab said that the successful capital raising meant that financing arrangements for the first 60MW of the project were able to be finalised, and the project was expected to reach financial close and begin construction over the coming few months.

The capital raising marks a dual win for Windlab, with the Canberra-based CSIRO spin-off set to begin trading on the ASX next week, after closing its IPO “fully underwritten and oversubscribed” on Thursday.

The company floated 25 million shares at $2 each, the proceeds of which will be divided between existing investors, and phase one of the Kennedy Energy Park.

It also marks a second win for wind energy this week, which continues to woo private sector investors with its increasingly low cost of power. On the same day as Windlab’s revealed the success of its stock market float, AGL Energy managed to secure a PPA of below $60/MWh for the 453MW Coopers Gap Wind Farm, to be built in Queensland by 2019 after reaching financial close Thursday.

Kennedy Phase 1 is a 60MW wind, solar and storage hybrid plant located near Hughenden in Far North Queensland – a location chosen for its high and consistent wind resource using Windlab’s proprietary Windscape technology.

“Hughenden is almost unique in that it enjoys one of the best wind resources in Australia, co-located with one of the best solar resource,” Windlab project director Geoff Burns said in comments last year.

“The (wind and solar) resources are highly consistent and complementary; when the sun sets the wind ramps up and continues through to the morning after the sun rises. It is this unique characteristic that will allow Kennedy to provide a near base load generation profile.”

Phase one of the project – which is intended to prove the effectiveness of the wind and solar solution – will cost around $120 million.

This is hoped to garner support for a much larger deployment which could include more than 1,000MW of wind and solar of disptachable power to the energy-hungry north of the state..

“We are delighted with the level of interest and support we have received from investors,” said Windlab chairman and CEO Roger Price in a statement on Thursday.

“It seems clear that investors understand that renewable energy will quickly become a very significant component of our energy generation mix.”

Windlab said that the configuration, control and energy export characteristics of Kennedy would demonstrate many of the findings and recommendations of the recent Finkel Review, including dispatchable renewable capacity, improved network reliability, and fast frequency response and synthetic inertia.

Windlab identified the location in 2013 and along with its joint venture partner, Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation, has secured all necessary development approvals, and now financial close. Phase one of the project is expected to commence operations in late 2018.

Output: Energy company Windlab will use AUD$50m ($40m) of funding it raised through an initial public offering to finance the first 60 MW of a wind, solar and battery storage hybrid project in northern Queensland, Australia. The company issued 25 million shares at $1.60 each, the proceeds of which will be divided between the construction of the Kennedy Energy Park's first phase and existing investors. Developed in partnership with Eurus Energy Holdings, phase one of the project will cost around $95m.


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ReNew Power Ventures raises $50m to refinance wind projects
 Mumbai: Renewable energy company ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd has raised around $50 million in debt from Yes Bank Ltd to refinance the debt of one of its wind power projects, said two people aware of the development.

“Yes Bank has lent approximately $50 million (Rs321 crore). The money will be used by ReNew to refinance the debt of its Amba wind power project in Madhya Pradesh, which has an installed capacity of around 44 megawatts (MW)," said one of the two people cited above, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to reporters.

The project has been commissioned recently and is generating cash flows, thus the company decided to refinance the debt of the project, which will help reduce the interest cost being paid by the company, he added.

“As part of our cost reduction strategy, we keep exploring multiple alternatives like INR bonds, Masala bonds, bank refinancing, etc., and to this effect, to refinance one of our projects in Madhya Pradesh, have tied up with Yes Bank to be the exclusive arranger through the issue of non-convertible debentures," said Kailash Vaswani, deputy chief financial officer at ReNew Power, one of the largest renewable energy producers in the country, with operational and under-development projects worth over 3 gigawatts (GW).

Yes Bank has been, in the recent times, one of the more active lenders to the renewable sector in India.

In 2015, the bank announced that it would finance 5GW of green projects over the next five years across renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, including solar power, wind power, biomass, and small hydel projects.

It also raised capital in 2015 for lending to the renewable sector by issuing green infrastructure bonds worth Rs1,000 crore.

Subsequently the bank issued two more tranches of green bonds. In August 2015, it raised Rs315 crore from International Finance Corp. (IFC), the private sector financing arm of the World Bank, through green bonds. Last year, it raised Rs330 crore through a similar route from Dutch development finance institution FMO.

Several other private sector lenders too have taken the green bonds route to raise capital for the renewable sector. In May, Axis Bank raised $500 million through green bonds from the international market.

India has a target of installing 100GW of solar power capacity and 60GW of wind power capacity by 2022. The total installed capacity of renewable energy stands at 30GW, of which wind energy projects account for 24GW, solar contributes 5GW and the rest comes from smaller sources such as biomass.

ReNew Power, founded by Sumant Sinha, is one of the largest renewable energy producers in the country with operational and under-development projects worth over 3GW.

In February, JERA Co. Inc. bought a 10% stake in ReNew Power for around $200 million. Set up in 2015, JERA is an equal joint venture between Japan’s largest utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power Co.

ReNew Power’s earlier backers include Goldman Sachs, sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Global Environment Fund.

ReNew Power’s recent debt financing transactions include a long-term $390 million debt funding from ADB, a $250 million credit line from Overseas Private Investment Corp. It also raised $475 million through masala bonds earlier this year.

Output: Renewable energy company ReNew Power Ventures has raised around $50m to refinance the debt of its 44 MW Amba wind power project in Madhya Pradesh, two sources familiar with the matter said. The recently commissioned project has become cash flow positive, which enabled the New Delhi-based company to refinance its debt and reduce the interest cost being paid by the company, a source said. Yes Bank funded ReNew as part of its commitment to finance 5 GW of green projects from 2015 to 2020.


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HCL Deadly Japanese fungus outbreak in UK hospitals
 T he outbreak of a potentially deadly fungus at a major London hospital was blamed on “low nursing levels”, the Standard can reveal.

A total of 31 patients were colonised with the so-called “Japanese fungus” Candida auris at King’s College hospital, in Denmark Hill, after it was passed on from a woman patient admitted from the Royal Brompton, the specialist heart and lung hospital in Chelsea, in April 2016.

Today it emerged that more than 200 patients in 20 NHS trusts and private hospitals had been affected, with the intensive care units at the two London hospitals among the worst affected.

The outbreak at King’s lasted a year and only ended in April. In six cases, the fungus entered the bloodstream, causing an infection.

Board papers for the hospital’s parent NHS trust in March stated: “While the trust is implementing infection prevention and control protocols, it was noted that the spread of the pathogen is affected by low nursing levels.”

Candida auris was first detected in the ear of a patient in Japan in 2009 and has been reported sporadically in England since 2013.

The rare fungus, or yeast, lives on the skin or inside the body. Some patients carry it without becoming unwell but it can cause infections if it gets into surgical wounds or when urinary catheters or drips are inserted.

Last year the US warned that the fungus, which has a high mortality rate and is resistant to infection control measures, was spreading in US health facilities.

Public Health England, which this week updated its guidance on dealing with an outbreak, said it appeared to be “highly transmissible” between patients but none of this country’s cases had proved fatal.

Patients who develop an infection are normally isolated but King’s said it had problems identifying it quickly and finding single rooms. Laboratory tests took “eight to nine days”.

Across the NHS, 35 patients known to be carrying the fungus have been transferred between hospitals. A pilot scheme testing all patients admitted to intensive care was launched in five hospitals last month.

About a quarter of detections have been clinical infections, including 27 patients who developed blood stream infections, Public Health England said. It recommends washing patients with chlorohexidine, a disinfectant used before surgery, to treat colonisation.

Kings said its critical care units, liver and cardiac wards were the worst hit. Board papers revealed: “The first case was a patient admitted from the Royal Brompton in April 2016 who was known to be positive on admission and isolated in a side room on the critical care unit and cardiac wards during her hospital stay.”

The Brompton said its outbreak ended last December. It caused 12 patients to develop an infection. The fungus is believed to have originated from a seriously ill patient admitted to its intensive care unit who was carrying it on the skin.

A spokesman said: “A number of patients have been found to be colonised (carriers) without experiencing any symptoms or harm, and we will continue with the steps we are taking to minimise any possible risks.”

Output: King’s College Hospital experienced an outbreak of a potentially lethal Japanese fungus outbreak due to “low nursing levels”, according to the facility’s NHS parent trust. Over 200 patients across 20 NHS trusts and private hospitals were affected by the Candida auris fungus, which lasted 12 months and was only eradicated in April 2017. The fungus can cause serious infections if it enters the bloodstream via surgical wounds, catheters or drip applications. The potential for the further spread is high, with 35 patients known to be carrying the fungus having been transferred between hospitals.


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RhythmOne Google to move all app install ads to Universal Ad Campaigns
 by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, August 14, 2017

Google says Universal App Campaigns now deliver half of all app downloads across its network, so it is moving all app install advertisement under the umbrella of UAC.

As of October 16, 2017, all app-install campaigns will run as UAC ads, but its current app-install campaigns will not stop running until November 15, 2017.

Google introduced UAC about two years ago to help developers drive app downloads. UAC uses Google’s machine-learning technology to help find customers across Google Play, Google.com, YouTube and the millions of sites and apps in the Display Network based on a marketer's business goals.

The ads are distributed across multiple Google networks such as Search, GDN and AdMobi, and use a CPA model.

Bill Riddell, digital media manager at Chacka Marketing, has been testing UAC with a couple of clients. He says UAC and machine-learning algorithms allow Google to use a variety of signals to identify certain consumers and drive them to complete an in-app action.

advertisement advertisement

With the new change, Riddell says Google is releasing two new variants of UAC. One focuses on target cost per acquisition where the marketer tells Google how much they are willing to pay. Google identifies the consumers based on many signals to drive more qualified users at or below the CPA set in the platform.

The second new version is based on Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). It works in a similar way to the target cost per acquisition, but rather than a CPA target it focuses on revenue and is geared more toward retailers.

The ability to bid and optimize against a range of goals like CPI, CPA or ROAS has become the major advantage to performance in UAC.

Google says advertisers that optimize for in-app actions with UAC, on average, drive about 140% more conversions per dollar than other Google app promotions products.

Developers and publishers need to convert their campaigns, so in a post Google details guidelines to help them make the move.

Output: Google is moving all app install adverts to its Universal Ad Campaigns (UAC) programme. From 16 October, all app install campaigns will run as UAC ads, but existing campaigns will not stop until 15 November. UAC uses machine-learning technology to help app developers find customers across Google Play, Google.com, YouTube and sites in the Display Network, based on a marketer's targets, and was introduced two years ago. Advertisers can bid and optimise against a range of goals, for example, cost per acquisition, using UAC, which enhances ad performance.


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BAT accused of exploiting instability to sell in war zones
 British American Tobacco (BAT) has promoted sales of its cigarettes in some of the most fragile, war-torn and unstable countries of Africa and the Middle East, documents seen by the Guardian show.

While civilians were being killed and cities ravaged by violence, BAT pursued opportunities to grow its markets.

The documents describe how cartons of cigarettes were distributed to traders hidden in black bags in Somalia after Al-Shabaab banned sales and threatened punishments under Sharia law between late 2008 and early 2009.

They also show that BAT made plans to launch in South Sudan just two days before it gained independence from the north after years of destruction from a civil war that left 4 million people displaced.

And they tell of a town in eastern DRC that is not on any map, created by BAT to produce and process tobacco leaf, where, according to a whistleblower, millions of dollars were delivered to pay farmers and staff, carried in secretly.

Paul Hopkins and hired gunmen protecting BAT management and local staff in Mogadishu, Somalia. Photograph: Paul Hopkins

The documents were shown to the Guardian by Paul Hopkins, who was employed by BAT in Africa for 13 years, until he blew the whistle internally on what he describes as unethical conduct; he was later made redundant and left in December 2015. Hopkins tried suing BAT for unfair dismissal but an employment tribunal in London ruled that his employment contract was governed by Kenyan rather than English law preventing him from further pursuing his claim in the UK.

The Serious Fraud Office said earlier this month that it was investigating his allegations.

The details of BAT’s promotion of cigarettes in troubled countries, come as BAT works to raise financing to conclude its purchase of Reynolds American, which will make it the biggest tobacco company in the world. The revelations also follow a Guardian investigation revealing that BAT and other multinationals have used threats against at least eight African nations, demanding they axe or dilute the kind of tobacco control measures that have saved millions of lives in the west.

Hopkins says that fragile states were of interest to BAT, in spite of the practical difficulties and dangers involved in moving cartons of cigarettes and money about.

“If you have no government, you have nobody annoying you about health warnings and nicotine content,” he told the Guardian. “No customs. You basically pay your tax to the local militias on the airfield where you are landing.”

Asked by the Guardian if it had avoided local customs duties and paid cash to local militias, particularly in the DRC, BAT insisted that it observes all “relevant laws and regulations” in the 200 countries in which it operates and that it had pre-paid excise duty to the DRC government.

Millions of dollars

One of the smaller cash drops, worth $2.5 million, which Paul Hopkins says was taken over the Ugandan border to the BAT town of Auzi in DRC Photograph: Paul Hopkins

Hopkins, a former soldier in the Irish Army’s special forces unit, says he was required on several occasions to take millions of dollars in cash into the DRC. He says it was destined for the town of Auzi in the northeast, unnamed on maps.

Auzi had been built by BAT in the 1950s with a church and a school. It was run by the subsidiary company BAT Leaf. Usually an outside security company took cash into the DRC to pay for the leaf, which was graded in Auzi but then transported through Uganda to Kenya for manufacturing. But while the usual couriers were on leave, Hopkins says he was told to do the run.

“When the weather is not bad, you can drive,” said Hopkins. “It’s about an hour from Arua in Uganda, across wooden bridges and along dirt roads.”

Hopkins has a photograph of a huge stack of notes, totalling $2.5m, that he says he picked up in Kampala and took with him on a Cessna plane that took off from a private airfield outside of the city.

He says he flew to Arua, where a security company employed by BAT supplied him legally with a pistol. Once on the other side of the Congolese border, he said, “I would rent an AK47 for a couple of days.”

But, he said, “your best protection was the 40,000-plus farmers [in eastern Congo]. They didn’t want the rebels to get you because you were carrying their money.” He said he would camouflage the dollars in bags of promotional items, such as BAT hats and pens, which he would give away to the rebels.

In Somalia, the documents show BAT had a strategy to continue selling its cigarettes in spite of warnings by the fundamentalist group Al-Shabaab that it would punish those who sold them under Sharia law.

A slide from a powerpoint presentation from 22 June 2011 says: “Market Assumptions. Somalia. The No-Smoking ultimatum made by Al-Shabaab now in effect. Cigarettes are now a black market commodity. Distribution is being made in black paper bags. This resulted in about 16% decrease in IMS in May, with 1st week of June already 23% down compared to plan.”

Paul Hopkins says BAT brand cigarettes were hidden in plastic in Somalia after al-Shabaab banned sales. Photograph: Paul Hopkins

A second slide shows pictures of cartons of BAT brands Sportsman and Royals, packed into unidentifiable gunny bags (hessian sacks) and delivered for sale.

Hopkins tells of supplying security for the visits of BAT staff to Mogadishu, where they would check the prominence of BAT branded cigarettes on sale in the war-torn city. He has photographs of them posing with local militiamen, hired to protect them.

Somalia is a profitable market for BAT, he says, because people like the more expensive brands. “The whole strategy of the marketing department is to get people smoking cheap brands like Sportsman and migrate them up to the global brands like Dunhill that are more profitable. You go into a market with a value-for-money brand that the poor people can afford,” he said.

That was the strategy in impoverished South Sudan, a new state created after years of war and with millions of people displaced and in dire poverty. Two days before independence was declared on 9 July 2011, BAT met to plan the launch of its cheapest brands in the new state.

“Our strategic intent for this market is to develop sustainable volume initially and the value will come later. The intention is to enter the market with Sportsman and Safari brands which are already widely recognised. The majority of the market is in the Low and Very Low segments,” said the minutes of the Project South Sudan Kick Off Meeting.

A February 2012 document from BAT’s Group Portfolio Management Office – Strategy & Planning stated that the break-even point would be the sale of 75m sticks for year one. “The overriding objective of this project was to enter the South Sudan market in Q4 2011 and establish a viable business model with a consumer relevant brand portfolio that delivers a sustainable month on month organic volume growth with the lowest possible investment,” it says.

In the Middle East also, BAT has nurtured sales in what it describes as “volatile markets” – countries emerging out of war or even in the middle of conflict, like Syria. An October 2011 internal BAT publication called ezine says: “The Middle East continues to deliver outstanding results in a volatile environment. Dunhill has driven strong share growth in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council region], and both Iraq and Iran have achieved impressive volume increases…

“In Iraq, [the BAT brand] Kent is growing at a spectacular 80% and consolidating its leading position in the premium segment. In Syria, despite very difficult trading circumstances, Kent has doubled its monthly running rate.”

“For BAT every person is a potential smoker and every country is potentially exploitable. Fragile states are particularly so because the normal rules do not apply, taxes can be avoided, and cigarettes can still be sold profitably. In other words – as long as money can be made, anything goes,” said Anna Gilmore, Professor of Public Health at the University of Bath and UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies. “Plus at some point many of the ‘fragile’ markets will formalise. BAT’s aim is generally to get in there early, get smokers addicted to its products before its competitors and, where relevant, get the best deals on local manufacturing options.”

‘As long as money can be made, anything goes’

Paul Hopkins in Somalia. Photograph: Paul Hopkins

Matthew L Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said: “The allegations against British American Tobacco reflect a company willing to ... exploit any vulnerable population in order to make money – no matter the consequences.

“As cigarette sales decline around the world, British American Tobacco sees fragile states as one of the few remaining growth markets for its deadly products. For a company that doesn’t care how it makes its money or what laws need to be broken to ensure future profits, countries experiencing instability present a unique opportunity.”

The Guardian asked BAT if it had promoted sales of its cigarettes in a number of fragile, war-torn and unstable countries including through under-cover operations, while civil war were ongoing, and if this had allowed them to ignore health warnings and nicotine content.

In a statement, a British American Tobacco spokesperson said:“We take our commitment to the responsible marketing of our products very seriously. We have strict, company-wide marketing principles in place to ensure that our products are marketed responsibly, in addition to adhering to all relevant laws and regulations in the 200 markets where we operate.

“Specifically, we comply fully with the regulations for tobacco products in the DRC – which have been in place in this country since 2007 – that prescribes health warnings and health warning sizes, and sets limits for tar and nicotine content. Additionally, in other African countries, including South Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland, where there is no tobacco regulation in place, we voluntarily apply a side panel health warning on all of our products sold in those markets.

“We fully comply with the relevant tax law in every country in which we operate. Specifically, in DRC, excise on tobacco products is prepaid to the government at the time of ordering excise/tax stamps. This is a process that BAT adheres to strictly for all products it sells in this country.

“In each market where we are present, we offer consumers a choice of products, which can include local brands, international brands and our global drive brands. Our strict international marketing principles apply, and are adhered to, in each of the 200 markets around the world where we operate.”

Output: British American Tobacco (BAT) has exploited instability in some of the most war-torn countries in Africa and the Middle East to promote its products, according to material seen by The Guardian. The documents reveal that cartons of cigarettes were smuggled into Somalia following their prohibition by jihadist group Al-Shabaab, between late 2008 and early 2009. BAT’s plans to launch in South Sudan after a civil war that displaced 4 million people were also revealed, as were the company’s attempts to boost sales in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq and Syria.


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Investor group led by Jack Ma to take over Asian unit of insurer
 Yunfeng Financial Group Ltd., co-founded by Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma and Target Media’s founder Yu Feng, plans to acquire a 60% stake in MassMutual Asia in a cash and new-share placement deal. Photo: IC

A group of investors led by a company backed by Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma agreed to acquire the Hong Kong and Macau operations of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) for $1.7 billion.

Yunfeng Financial Group Ltd., co-founded by Ma and Target Media’s founder Yu Feng, said in a statement released on Thursday that it will acquire a 60% stake in MassMutual Asia in a cash and new-share placement deal. The remaining 40% will be acquired by seven other Asian investors including Ant Financial, SINA Corp. and the Singapore government-backed City-Scape Pte. Ltd., the statement said.

The deal will help Yunfeng expand into insurance and annuity products, and gain immediate access to MassMutual’s much-bigger customer network in Asia, which could facilitate more cross-selling of Yunfeng’s other financial services, such as securities brokering.

The news sent Yunfeng’s Hong Kong-listed shares up by more than 30% during Friday trading. They ended at HK$6.62, up 5.4% from the previous session.

“This transaction is a milestone step of Yunfeng Financial Group becoming a financial conglomerate, integrating its existing fintech focused financial services with traditional insurance business,” said co-founder Yu, who is also the chairman.

Yunfeng said it will pay MassMutual HK$2.66 billion in cash and notes, and issue HK$5.2 billion worth of new shares — equivalent to a 25% stake in the company — to MassMutual. The deal will make MassMutual the second largest shareholder of Yunfeng, after a company indirectly owned by the co-founders.

MassMutual Asia is among the top 10 life insurers in Hong Kong by premium income. In 2016, MassMutual’s income from insurance premiums reached nearly HK$6.9 billion, with assets totaling HK$44.5 billion.

With a net profit of HK$1.12 billion in 2016, MassMutual Asia’s price-to-earnings ratio is approximately 11.7, making the company slightly cheaper than most other listed insurers in Hong Kong.

MassMutual Asia’s strong distribution capacity and existing customer base will be an asset to Yunfeng’s businesses, Yu said.

The acquisition may also be a boost to China’s largest internet financial-services provider Ant Financial, which will acquire another 5% stake in MassMutual Asia under the deal. Ant Financial, which is preparing for a public listing, has been forging global partnership in a bid to connect its payment service, Alipay, with more customers.

Eddie Ahmed, chairman, president and CEO of MassMutual International, said: “As part of this transaction, MassMutual, Yunfeng Financial Group and Ant Financial Services Group have agreed to enter into a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly explore future business opportunities.”

Contact reporter Liu Xiao (liuxiao@caixin.com)

Output: Investor group Yunfeng Financial, co-founded by Jack Ma and Target Media’s founder Yu Feng, will acquire a 60% stake in the Hong Kong and Macau operations of Massachusetts-based insurer MassMutual. Asian investors including Ant Financial, SINA and City-Scape, will acquire the remaining 40%. Yunfeng will pay MassMutual HKD2.66bn ($330m) in cash and issue HKD5.2bn in new shares as part of the deal. The investor group will use the deal to expand into insurance and annuity products and access MassMutual's customer network in Asia.


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UK companies urged to reduce calories in children’s food
 As set out in the plan, PHE will now consider the evidence on children’s calorie consumption and set the ambition for the calorie reduction programme to remove excess calories from the foods children consume the most.

Ready meals, pizzas, burgers, savoury snacks and sandwiches are the kinds of foods likely to be included in the programme.

Over the past year, real progress has been made on reducing the level of sugar in many products.

The Soft Drinks Industry Levy has become law and will come into effect in April 2018 and PHE has formulated a comprehensive sugar reduction programme with the aim of a 20% reduction in sugar in key foods by 2020. Leading retailers and manufacturers have also announced they are, or already have, lowered the amount of sugar in their products as a result of these programmes.

Sugar reformulation was a vital first step under the childhood obesity programme, however overconsumption of calories will continue to have a detrimental effect on the health of our children without further action.

Adults currently consume on average between 200 to 300 calories too many each day and children are following suit, with food more readily available than ever before. Reducing calorie consumption from sources other than sugar is critical to reversing the worrying obesity trend, which shows:

1 in 3 children are either overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school

more children in the UK than previously are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, some as young as 7

children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be obese

Philip Dunne, Minister of State for Health said:

Too many of our children are growing up obese, which can lead to serious health complications. We all have a responsibility to help people live healthier lives, but with a third of children leaving primary school obese we must take a comprehensive approach and now focus on excess calories. This can only be done through strong guidance, grounded in evidence – that’s why we have funded a new £5 million dedicated Obesity Research Policy Unit to understand the deeper causes of obesity.

Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE , said:

A third of children leave primary school overweight or obese and an excess of calories – not just excess sugar consumption – is the root cause of this. We will work with the food companies and retailers to tackle this as the next critical step in combating our childhood obesity problem.

PHE will publish the evidence in early 2018. Following this it will then consult with the food industry, trade bodies and health non-governmental organisations to develop guidance and timelines for the calorie reduction programme.

The Department of Health has also funded the £5 million National Institute for Health Research ( NIHR ) Obesity Research Policy Unit at University College London ( UCL ), which will look to develop a deeper understanding on the causes of childhood obesity, including marketing to children and families, social inequalities, and the early years of childhood.

Professor Russell Viner, Policy Research Unit Director and Professor of Adolescent Health, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said:

Obesity is one of the greatest health concerns of our time and we welcome this considerable and very timely investment from the government. We are delighted that the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health will host the new Obesity Policy Research Unit ( OPRU ). Preventing obesity in early life is key to turning the tide on this modern epidemic.

Background

The sugar reduction programme sees Public Health England working with the food and drink industry to remove 20% of the sugar children (up to 18 years of age) consume from the foods that contribute the most sugar to their diets by 2020. Guidelines that set out the approaches the food industry should take to achieve this target were published in March alongside baseline levels of sugar in products. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy comes into effect in April 2018. Drinks with more than 8g of total sugar per 100ml will pay 24p per litre, with drinks between 5g and 8g sugar per 100ml paying 18p. Drink with less than 5g sugar per 100ml are exempt. The free Change4Life Be Food Smart app helps families see the amount of sugar, salt and saturated fat in food and drinks. More information is on the Be Food Smart website. It is estimated 40,000 deaths per year in England are attributable to being overweight or obese (over 10% of all deaths). An estimated 70,000 premature deaths in the UK could be avoided each year if UK diets matched nutritional guidelines.

For further information on the calorie reduction programme, contact:

For more information on the new Obesity Research Policy Unit, contact:

Output: Public Health England (PHE) is calling on companies to reduce the number of calories in foods such as burgers, chips, crisps and pizzas in order to tackle childhood obesity. The call builds on and extends existing efforts to reduce the levels of sugar in food. PHE will investigate the number of calories contained in popular children’s foods and will then issue “strong guidance” on improvements. A third of children in England currently leave primary school overweight or obese. Over one in 10 deaths, equivalent 40,000 a year, are thought to be due to weight issues.


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UK companies urged to reduce calories in children’s food
 Public health bosses are urging food manufacturers to make chips, pizzas, crisps and burgers healthier, opening a second front in efforts to tackle childhood obesity.

Public Health England wants to go further than the focus on cutting sugar by demanding firms that make products eaten regularly by children ensure they are far less fattening by reducing the calories in them.

The new emphasis on sources of calories from ingredients other than sugar has been prompted by growing concern that children’s waistlines are expanding because they are copying adults by consuming 200-300 calories too many per day.

Over 40,000 deaths a year – one in 10 – are linked to people being dangerously overweight, health experts say.

PHE will start by investigating how many calories these types of foods popular with children contain and issue what ministers say will be “strong guidance” on reformulating them, and exhort manufacturers and retailers to act to improve children’s health.

“A third of our children leave primary school overweight or obese and an excess of calories – not just excess sugar consumption – is the root cause of this,” said Duncan Selbie, PHE’s chief executive.

The move marks the latest stage of the government’s bid to reduce childhood obesity, which has been heavily criticised by health and children’s groups as too weak. Within weeks of becoming prime minister in July last year, Theresa May watered down what under her predecessor David Cameron was due to be a more robust strategy on the subject. Under May it became just a “plan for action”.

The initiative follows what PHE says is the “real progress” achieved over the past year in persuading manufacturers of sugary foods and soft drinks to cut the amount of sugar in their products. Nestle, Greggs, Starbucks, Kellogg’s and other firms have all pledged to do that, as have the makers of Lucozade and Ribena, and supermarkets such as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and M&S.

They have done so with nine types of sugary foods, including breakfast cereals, cakes, ice-cream, biscuits and yogurt. But health experts claim that the introduction next April of the sugar levy is as key to why some soft drinks ranges are cutting sugar content as their desire to join the fight against childhood obesity.

However, health campaigners warn that the drive to make such foodstuffs less calorific, which also includes sandwiches and ready meals, may fail because companies do not have to take part.

PHE’s new calorie reduction plan is “welcome in principle but short on detail”, said Malcolm Clark, the coordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign.

“Beyond passing a sugary drinks tax into law, the government has so far provided thin gruel for parents and health professionals keen to see significant progress on tackling childhood obesity.”

Prof Graham MacGregor, chair of the campaign group Action on Sugar, said the sugar tax should be extended to confectionery.

Output: Public Health England (PHE) is calling on companies to reduce the number of calories in foods such as burgers, chips, crisps and pizzas in order to tackle childhood obesity. The call builds on and extends existing efforts to reduce the levels of sugar in food. PHE will investigate the number of calories contained in popular children’s foods and will then issue “strong guidance” on improvements. A third of children in England currently leave primary school overweight or obese. Over one in 10 deaths, equivalent 40,000 a year, are thought to be due to weight issues.


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LendingRobot and NSR Invest form largest alt-lending robo-adviser
 P2P lending robo advisor LendingRobot will join NSR Invest, creating what the company called in a statement “the largest independent robo advisor in the alternative lending space.” LendingRobot explained in its blog that the “websites, operating, and trading systems” of each platform will continue to function as usual for the time being as the companies prepare to combine the two businesses. Formally, the acquisition involves Lend Core, the parent company of NSR Invest, acquiring Algorithmic Inc. and its assets, which include LendingRobot.

The new entity is expected to bring a variety of new innovations to the P2P alternative lending space, and LendingRobot pointed to its Lending Robot Series Fund, as an example of the types of products customers will see more of in the future. As reported in LendAcademy, the combined company will have more than 8,000 clients and $150 million in assets under management. NSR Invest co-founder and CEO Bo Brustkern will serve as CEO, with LendingRobot CEO and co-founder Emmanuel Marot remaining as a special advisor.

“We have long respected the work of the LendingRobot team and recognize that our companies are pursuing a common goal,” Brustkern explained. He added that the combination of the two companies will deliver “enhanced capabilities to our combined client bases today, and big plans for the future.” Marot highlighted the fact that the two companies had “taken different tracts to provide similar services” and that the time had come to marry “complimentary strengths.”

LendingRobot provides investors with the opportunity to invest in P2P loans as an asset class. The company’s platform uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to spot loans with risk and return profiles that suit individual investor preferences. LendingRobot automates loan selection to ensure that investor portfolios remain diversified and can be configured to continually-invest sidelined cash. Alternative lending platforms accessible through LendingRobot include fellow Finovate alums, Lending Club and Prosper.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, LendingRobot demonstrated its LendingRobot Dashboard at FinovateSpring 2016. Prior to its acquisition by NSR Invest, the company had raised $3 million in funding from investors including Runa Capital and Club Italia Investimenti.

Output: P2P lending robo-adviser LendingRobot and NSR Invest will merge to create what they claim will be the largest independent robo-adviser in the alternative lending space. Lend Core, the parent company of NSR Invest, will acquire Algorithmic Inc. and its assets, which include LendingRobot. The combined company will have more than 8,000 clients and $150m in assets under management. LendingRobot provides investors with the opportunity to invest in P2P loans as an asset class, using machine learning to spot loans with risk and return profiles that suit individual investor preferences.


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Reddit releases video uploader tool
 The self-proclaimed “front page of the internet” does not want to be left in the dust by platform giants in the mad dash toward video.

Today, Reddit is releasing a video-uploader tool that lets its users share videos from their personal libraries directly on the platform instead of having to post links or embeds from other social networks. On mobile, users will also be able to record videos directly from their phones and post them to Reddit. The tool also allows users to create and share GIFs.

The tool is part of an effort by Reddit, which recently raised $200 million — at a $1.8 billion valuation — to get deeper into video, and the ad dollars associated with it, with help from a new video product team. The video push also comes at a time when the company hopes to more than double full-time staff — from around 140 people at the beginning of the year to 300 by the end of 2017, according to Recode — as it overhauls its website and mobile apps.

With today’s rollout, advertisers will also be able to upload and promote videos instead of requiring external links or embeds. Right now, advertisers can run promoted posts within the Reddit feeds. On desktop, users have to click on the ad before the video plays, whereas on mobile, the video autoplays with the sound off. There are no plans for a pre-roll product.

“The benefits of hosting video versus relying on third-party embeds are clear from a technology perspective,” said Emma Witkowski, managing director and digital investment lead for the West Coast and Atlanta at Mindshare North America. “It presents an opportunity to enable greater integration with verification and technology partners to deliver viewable, brand-safe experiences on Reddit that can be tracked with deeper analytics.”

But Reddit has something of a minefield to navigate with its new video ad product: On one hand, it has to keep its notoriously ad-averse users happy, and on the other, it needs to convince advertisers to put their ads next to sometimes-risky user-generated content.

“[Reddit’s] very much an afterthought; it’s not something that most of our clients need,” said Greg Smith, managing partner of U.S. digital investment for MEC. “You can do some great subject-matter targeting, but it’s not where we need to be for straight-up advertising. We have plenty of other places to put advertising that are a little more mainstream and brand-safe.”

Reddit hopes that it can lure advertisers by limiting video uploads to communities approved by the company. Beyond that, Reddit’s trying to sell advertisers on the value of “starting conversations,” according to Zubair Jandali, Reddit’s head of ad sales. Rather than straight advertising, promoting text, videos and GIFs that prompt users to respond tend to be received better by users.

“A brand can direct users to their site or a piece of content and disable comments, or treat it as an opportunity to start a conversation,” he said. “When they do the latter, our users are spending an average of over a minute with the ad content.”

That’s an important stat that Reddit is highlighting as many advertisers have historically hesitated to spend money on Reddit.

Jandali said the conversational approach has helped Reddit’s fledgling but growing ad business. While Reddit didn’t disclose revenue figures, the company went from an ad sales team of 10 people a little more than a year ago to 42 today. It expects to grow to 50 by the end of the year, especially now that it has a new native video product to sell.

“What we’re seeing is users are responding and engaging with our ad content in ways that are surprising most people who don’t work here,” Jandali said.

Reddit has gradually rolled out the video uploader within its network of communities, or “subreddits,” starting with a group of 10 “alpha” subreddits chosen to test the product five weeks ago. This allowed Reddit to iron out initial bugs before expanding the test to roughly 200 “beta” partners, which ranged from subreddits for “The Daily Show” to the “hold my beer” meme. Today’s expansion brings video to a majority of “safe-for-work” subreddits, said Alex Le, vp of product at Reddit.

“It was important to lead with those communities first so we could take into account what they wanted to do with the product,” said Le. “No two communities were using video in the same way.”

Reddit’s focus on its users with the video rollout — instead of publishers and other video producers — is intentional. If the company can get a majority of its 300 million monthly visitors to share videos on a daily basis, it would put Reddit on par with video platforms and formats such as Snapchat and Instagram Stories. In the long run, that would make Reddit even more attractive to professional media partners and advertisers.

“This rollout has been more focused on how conversations can organically develop with video,” Le said. “That’s the best way to serve brands, partners and publishers. Figure out the organic side first, and then figure out how to invite them into the conversations.”

Output: Community-based website Reddit has released a video-uploading tool to enable users to share videos directly to the platform, rather than embedding links or social media shares. Reddit recently gained $200m in funding to expand into video and to hire a video product team. Advertisers will also be able to upload and promote videos, and run promoted posts within community feeds on the site.


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AppNexus forms strategic partnership with Adyoulike
 Ad tech company AppNexus has formed a strategic partnership with Adyoulike, an in-feed native ad company, to enable advertisers and agencies to deliver personalised native campaigns on its platform.

The partnership will enable advertisers and agencies to extend their native reach across Adyoulike’s network. Adyoulike’s supply side platform (SSP) will use the OpenRTB 2.3 standard to deliver in-feed native personalised and highly-targeted content programmatically.

“This partnership with AppNexus is another great demonstration of how native advertising is gaining in importance and how advertisers, agencies and brand marketers can benefit from both using programmatic technology to create highly-targeted campaigns with that of in-feed native advertising to reach greater audiences and access more publishers worldwide,” said Francis Turner, US general manager and chief revenue officer at Adyoulike.

Patrick McCarthy, SVP of marketplace partnerships at AppNexus, added: “Adyoulike has established itself as a leader in the native advertising space, and a valuable partner to bring onto our programmatic platform. With this partnership, we look forward to further scaling native into a major marketing channel.”

Earlier this year, Adyoulike entered into a partnership with open omnichannel ad management company Sizmek to deliver native advertising campaigns across its StrikeAd platform.

Output: Multinational ad tech firm AppNexus has struck a deal with in-feed native ad business Adyoulike to allow advertisers and agencies to create tailored native campaigns through its platform. Adyoulike’s supply-side platform will provide programmatic native content and advertising for clients.


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Group M releases global standards for ad viewability
 WPP's media arm GroupM has announced the global rollout of viewability standards which have been backed by clients including Unilever, Campbell Soup, Shell, Subway and Volvo.

It's an update to standards that GroupM set in 2014. Then, it required that 100% of the pixels in a display ad must be in view (for any amount of time) and for video, that 50% of the video must be played at the user’s initiation, with the sound on, while 100% in view.

In what it described as an "evolution" for video ads in social and other newsfeed "environments" (where the is "quick scrolling by users"), it will now require that an ad is 100% of an ad is in view for at least one-second.

GroupM said it will study the performance of ads against this new standard with its global clients and partners, measuring more than 100 data points with DoubleVerify, Moat and IAS across Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Snapchat to see which are most meaningful.

In addition, the global media agency said it is “in active dialogue” with all digital media partners worldwide about viewability measurement and delivery of the new global standards.

"Our ambition is to offer clients the absolute best quality digital media in every market," said John Montgomery, executive vice president of brand safety at GroupM, in a statement.

"By working with clients and progressive media and technology partners, we can help shape the digital marketplace for the better, as we have seen in the US. It was always our goal to operate around a consistent standard globally and following many months of partner dialogue, now is the right time for us move forward with these enhanced standards that consider the evolution in social and mobile platforms, as well as user behaviors."

Aaron Fetters, senior vice president at ComScore added that these enhanced metrics will help also marketers properly evaluate the relative value of each screen, and the context in which a campaign is delivered.

"Only then can media buyers build truly cost-effective campaigns and execute on impactful cross-media strategies," Fetters continued.

According to global verification providers, as much as 50% of all digital ads are not viewable, representing a significant risk to advertising clients.

Unilever's chief marketing officer Keith Weed said it was in full support GroupM's ongoing assessment in this space "to reflect changes in consumer behavior and available ad formats and to ensure full accountability and verification."

Output: WPP media arm GroupM has published global viewability standards, with the support of clients such as Campbell Soup, Shell, Unilever, Volvo and Subway. The standards mandate that 100% of ad pixels must be in view for at least one second and that 50% of the video must be played at users’ initiation, with sound on and while 100% in view. GroupM plans to analyse its clients’ ads against this standard, using tools such as Moat, IAS and DoubleVerify to establish how effective ads are.


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Pearson and Duolingo to support language learning at universities
 Learning Resources

Pearson and DuoLingo Partner on Foreign Language Education

Pearson and DuoLingo have partnered in an effort designed to help college and university students learn foreign languages.

DuoLingo offers small foreign language lessons through a gamified experience. Users can earn points for correct answers, participate in timed challenges, lose hearts until they have to start over for wrong answers, and keep track of how many days in a row they have spent time working on their language skills.

Through the partnership, students at participating institutions will be able to access personalized learning tools built on Pearson content through the DuoLingo platform. The courses will be aligned to the content in Pearson's digital texts and print materials and available to students on iOS or Android devices as well as through the internet.

"Duolingo is a fantastic out of class supplement to any foreign language curriculum," said Anna Szawara, a lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in a prepared statement. "It engages students in a variety of language practice modalities and supports their language learning progress."

"Through our partnership with Duolingo, we will combine complementary expertise to increase access to highly personalized and mobile language learning experiences," said Paul Corey, managing director for higher education courseware at Pearson, in a news release. "Our shared goal is to help improve students' academic performance while preparing them for today's global workforce and opportunities that require multilingual skills."

Courses in Spanish, French, German and Italian will be supported beginning this fall.

For more information about DuoLingo, visit duolingo.com.

Output: Educational companies Pearson and DuoLingo have joined forces to offer college and university students a gamified method for learning languages. The companies will provide personalised learning tools, using Pearson's content delivered on the DuoLingo platform, with point-scoring systems and other game-like features in place to motivate and encourage use. The courses will be delivered through iOS and Android devices, as well as online, for learning Spanish, German, French and Italian.