Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
British banks will lose 'passporting rights': says Barnier
 Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}

British banks will lose “passporting rights” to do business in the European Union after Brexit, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has said.

Speaking in Brussels on Monday, Michel Barnier said that “Brexit means Brexit” – and that there could be no opt-ins to parts of the single market for certain industries.

“On financial services, UK voices suggest that Brexit does not mean Brexit. Brexit means Brexit, everywhere,” Mr Barnier said in a major speech to a think-tank.

“The legal consequence of Brexit is that the UK financial service providers lose their EU passport. This passport allows them to offer their services to a market of 500 million consumers and 22 million businesses.”

The pronouncement is bad news for the City, where over 5,400 British firms rely on passporting rights to bring in £9bn in revenue every year to Britain. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has said the loss of passporting would be “disruptive, costly and time-consuming”.

It also comes the same day as the EU announces where it will relocating the European Banking Authority, an EU agency currently based in London, after Brexit.

The chief negotiator said the EU might judge some UK rules as “equivalent” to EU passporting rights, but ruled out the City of London having access to EU financial markets under the same passporting deal as now.

Brexit trade talks to be pushed back by another four months, says Manfred Weber

Mr Barnier told the audience at the Centre for European Reform: “Those who claim that the UK should pick parts of the single market must stop this contradiction. The single market is a package, with four indivisible freedoms, common rules, institutions, and enforcement structures.

“The UK knows these rules very well, like the back of its hand. It has contributed to defining them over the last 44 years with a certain degree of influence. We took note of the UK decision to end free movement of people, and this means clearly that the UK will lose the benefits of the single market.

Michel Barnier speaking at the Centre for European Reform in Brussels (CER)

“This is a legal reality; the EU does not want to punish, it simply draws the logical consequence of the UK’s decision to take back control.”

As well as ruling out a carve-out for the financial sector, Mr Barnier appeared to suggest there could be no special deal for the UK’s car manufacturers to stay in the single market, as proposed by industry bodies.

In the same speech, the senior EU official also expressed disappointment at what he suggested as a fixation in some British circles on “no deal” being a viable option for the UK.

“We have a shared history and this started long before the last 44 years. This is why the no deal is not our scenario, even though we will be ready for it,” he said.

“I regret that this ‘no deal’ option comes up so often in the UK public debate. Only those who want to ignore the current benefits of EU membership can say that no deal would be a positive result.”

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 / 8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said the decision was a “major blow” to the Government’s Brexit plans.

“Loss of this access risks blowing a hole in the budget at a time when our public services are already seriously underfunded,” he said.

“All of this could be avoided if the Government chose to stay in the single market.

“Instead, ministers seem intent on killing the golden goose by choosing an extreme form of Brexit that will seriously damage the financial sector.”

Output: After leaving the EU, British banks will lose the "passport" set out in the single market directive, and with it the right to offer their services to an EEA market of 500 million consumers and 22 million businesses, according to Michel Barnier, European Chief Negotiator for Brexit. Speaking in Brussels on Monday, Barnier said that no industry would be given special treatment. "Brexit means Brexit, everywhere" he said to the audience at the Centre for European Reform. Over 5,400 British firms rely on these rights to bring in an annual revenue of £9bn ($12bn).


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Britain loses seat on International Court of Justice
 The UK will not have a judge on the bench of the international court of justice for the first time in its 71-year history after the British candidate withdrew following an acrimonious competition.

Minutes after an 11th round of voting was scheduled to begin in New York on Monday, a letter was released by the UK mission to the UN announcing that Sir Christopher Greenwood would accept defeat and allow the rival Indian candidate, Dalveer Bhandari, to fill the final vacancy on the ICJ.

The decision to bow to mounting opposition within the UN general assembly is a humiliating blow to British international prestige and an acceptance of a diminished status in international affairs.

Quick Guide What is the international court of justice? Show The international court of justice is the United Nations’ principal tribunal for dealing with legal disputes and border disagreements between nations. Known as the "world court", its is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague. The loss of Sir Christopher Greenwood from the ICJ bench is not only a blow to the UK’s standing in the diplomatic and legal worlds, but may have an impact on its deliberations because judges have the right to hear cases involving their own countries. “Losing our ICJ judge is an extraordinary, sad illustration [of] how we [the UK] are shrivelling on the world stage,” the former head of the government’s legal service, Sir Paul Jenkins, has said. Photograph: Fred Ernst/AP Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.

That the runoff for the last place on what is known as the world court was between Britain and India, a nation likely to feature as a more significant trading partner post-Brexit, may have been a contributory element in the final calculations.

There have been calls in Indian media for the country to leave the Commonwealth if the UK exploited its position as one of the five permanent members of the security council to defend its weakened position.

The ICJ is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by the UN general assembly and the UN security council.

Four other judges, from Brazil, France, Lebanon and Somalia, had already been elected to the ICJ in the earlier rounds.

In the last round of voting at the UN a week ago, Greenwood secured only 68 votes in the general assembly against Bhandari’s 121 votes. The British candidate, however, had nine votes in the UN security council against the Indian’s five. A majority in both the general assembly and security council was required to win a place on the ICJ bench.

The race for the last place involved weeks of diplomatic lobbying and, in the end, the UK was partially the victim of residual international resentment in the UN general assembly of the dominance and privileges of the permanent five members of the security council – the US, Britain, France, China and Russia.

Other factors also torpedoed UK efforts. Greenwood, a highly experienced and capable lawyer, was tainted in some eyes because of his advice to the Blair government in the run-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003.

He was instructed by the then attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, to examine the arguments over the legality of using force against Saddam Hussein and concluded that use of force was justified.

This is the second time the UK has been humiliated at the UN in recent months, amid signs that some EU nations no longer feel the need to automatically support an isolationist former partner.

The outcome was seen as a significant moment in the history of the court. Dr Damian Gonzalez Salzburg, of Sheffield University’s centre for International and European Law, said: “It will be the first time in UN history where less than five judges from the most powerful regional group will sit at the ICJ. This may indicate the will of non-Western States to challenge Western privileges enshrined in customary rules for ICJ elections”.

Another factor may have been continuing resentment of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and his undiplomatic put-downs of other countries.

In a separate vote at the UN general assembly last June, the UK was defeated 94-15 when a Mauritian-backed resolution questioning the disputed legal status of the UK’s hold over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean was referred to the ICJ.

The world court, which is based at The Hague, hears disputes over sovereignty and international borders from all over the globe. Greenwood had served one nine-year term as a judge there.

The letter from Matthew Rycroft, the UK’s permanent representative at the UN, said: “The current deadlock is unlikely to be broken by further rounds of voting.

Dalveer Bhandari. Photograph: Hindustan Times/Getty Images

“We have therefore consulted our candidate, Sir Christopher Greenwood, who has confirmed that his candidature for re-election to the international court of justice should be withdrawn.

“In taking this step, we have borne in mind the close relationship that the United Kingdom and India have always enjoyed and will continue to enjoy, and the fact that both candidates fulfil the requirements for election and have already served the court diligently with impartiality and independence.”

The letter added that had voting been stalemated again, there is a mechanism for resolving disputes – a joint conference between the UN security council and general assembly - but it acknowledged that “some thought needs to be given to this procedure before the next ICJ election in order that it might be used when it is clearly needed”.

Rycroft added: “The UK has concluded that it is wrong to continue to take up the valuable time of the security council and the UN general assembly with further rounds of elections.

“The UK congratulates the successful candidates, including Judge Bhandari of India. We are naturally disappointed, but it was a competitive field with six strong candidates.

“If the UK could not win in this runoff, then we are pleased that it is a close friend like India that has done so instead. We will continue to cooperate closely with India, here in the United Nations and globally.”

Output: This week Britain withdrew its candidate, Christopher Greenwood, from the running for a seat on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Indian judge Dalveer Bhandari. The move is thought to be a "blow to British international prestige", and marks the first time Britain is not represented since the ICJ's inception in 1946. Greenwood secured only 68 votes to Bhandari's 121 in the General Assembly. However, in the Security Council the British candidate won nine votes to Bhandari's five. Reasons for Greenwood's withdrawal range from his assistance to Blair in the Iraq war, to recent tensions around Brexit.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Japan, India seen close to signing moon exploration pact
 New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are working on a joint lunar mission, which will be the third for both countries. According to ISRO Chief AS Kiran Kumar, the two space agencies have enhanced collaboration in the recent years.

"We are looking at a possible joint lunar mission which is still in a very preliminary stage. We are working on the details at the moment. The relationship between India and Japan in terms of the space agencies has had a visible change. We are working together for possible future cooperative missions," ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar said during the 24th Session of Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) held in the Indian city of Bangalore.

The president of JAXA, Naoki Okumura, also expressed optimism.

Output: The Indian Space Research Organisation and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are said to be close to agreeing a joint mission to the moon, the first of many potential collaborations in the future. The two countries are also discussing the possibility of using their space technology for weather monitoring and gathering data for climate-change studies. Japan and India have both previously carried out successful moon missions, and analysts have dismissed suggestions the joint venture is aimed negatively at China.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Theresa May wins approval from ministers on £40bn Brexit offer
 Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}

Theresa May has cleared the way for Britain to pay the EU a hefty Brexit ‘divorce bill’ of some £40bn in a bid to break the deadlock in withdrawal negotiations.

The Independent understands Ms May won the backing of key cabinet figures to almost double the amount being offered by the UK to settle its financial obligations in Brussels.

But the Prime Minister agreed with her ministers that the extra money must be conditional on securing an acceptable transition deal and a good free trade agreement.

Recommended Britain loses two major EU agencies to France and Netherlands

The move marks a key development in the UK’s approach and opens the way for EU leaders to approve in December the start of talks on a trade deal that would be critical to Britain’s post-Brexit prosperity.

With the clock ticking until the UK drops out of the EU in March 2019, Ms May has been under intense pressure to ensure Brussels agrees to allow trade talks to begin at the summit of the European Council on 14 and 15 December.

But while the EU has been demanding more money as its price, Ms May knows Brexit-backing members of her Cabinet, like Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, and some hard-line Tory backbenchers will not forgive handing Brussels a huge pay-off.

A proposal agreed at Monday’s Brexit cabinet sub-committee meeting, to be fleshed out this week, will see a “something for something” approach, with a bigger divorce bill accepted in return for concrete movement on trade and transition.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 / 8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

Ms May will not make an open offer yet or set out a clear figure when she does. Instead it is likely to see her give more detail to EU leaders on how the UK believes the final bill for the UK’s liabilities should be calculated – amounting to a further £20bn.

This comes on top of indications given in her speech in Florence in September that would see the UK pay an initial £20bn.

There were also reports that the UK Government could still allow the European Court of Justice a role in protecting the rights of three million EU citizens.

A Downing Street source underlined the importance of the EU agreeing to allow trade and transition talks at the same time as the offer from the UK being made.

Hammond signals Britain to increase Brexit 'divorce bill' offer to Brussels: "We want to make progress in the discussions"

He said: “It remains our position that nothing's agreed until everything's agreed in negotiations with the EU.

“As the Prime Minister said this morning, the UK and the EU should step forward together.”

Ms May is set to meet European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday and will be able to discuss the development on the divorce bill as well as the future of the Irish border and EU citizens right – the three key issues on which progress is needed.

Ms May had emphasised the need to synchronise moves forward with Brussels during a trip to Birmingham with two cabinet ministers taking a more cautious approach to Brexit, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark.

David Davis blames Germany and France for Brexit talks deadlock: "They are the most powerful players on the European continent"

She said: “What I want to see is developing that deep and special partnership with the EU for the future and I want to see us moving together because as I’ve always said, a deal that’s good for the UK will be good for the European Union.”

Mr Hammond underlined the urgent need to secure a post-Brexit implementation period in the next few months, acknowledging it was a “wasting asset” that would have less value the later it was agreed.

The Chancellor said it would be “much less useful” in a year's time as businesses would have started making alternative arrangements and government agencies would have begun putting in place contingency plans ahead of the expected Brexit date on 29 March 2019.

But Conservative ex-minister Robert Halfon said the public would go “bananas” if the UK offered £40 to £50bn at a time of constraints on public spending.

Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg urged the Government not to fall into a “trap” on the divorce bill, and argued the UK should use the EU’s need to fill holes in its budget as leverage.

Output: The prime minister, Theresa May, has won the backing of senior members of her cabinet to raise her offer to settle the Brexit "divorce bill" to about £40bn ($53bn). She has sought approval from colleagues to almost double the original offering in order to try to move on to formalising a trade deal with the EU. Rumours of the increased offer have worsened the already fraught relationships among contingents of the Conservative party.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK start-up Bio-bean to power London buses with coffee-based fuel
 There's a new buzz powering public buses in London.

British startup bio-bean has partnered with Shell (RDSB) and Argent Energy to create a coffee-based biofuel that will be used in London's diesel buses.

The company has produced 6,000 liters of coffee oil for the pilot project with London's transportation authority -- enough to help power the equivalent of one city bus for a year.

"It's a great example of what can be done when we start to reimagine waste as an untapped resource," bio-bean founder Arthur Kay said in a statement.

The startup collects used coffee grounds from cafes, restaurants and factories, and transports them to its recycling facility. There, the grounds are dried before coffee oil is extracted.

The coffee oil is then blended with other fuels to create B20 biofuel, which can be used in diesel buses without modification.

"Spent coffee grounds are highly calorific and contain valuable compounds, making them an ideal feedstock from which to produce clean fuels," the company says on its website.

Bio-bean estimates that Britain produces 500,000 tonnes of coffee grounds a year, most of which are discarded in landfills where they can emit harmful greenhouse gases.

The company also sells "coffee logs," which are used in fireplaces and stoves as an alternative to wooden logs.

Related: Tiffany's opens first-ever cafe

Bio-bean said there is "no formal agreement" to continue using its coffee oil in London, but it hopes to quickly find new markets and applications.

"There is huge potential for this project to expand in the U.S., which drinks the most coffee on the planet, 400 million cups of per day," the company said in a written statement.

Output: UK start-up Bio-bean, in a partnership with Shell and Argent Energy, has created a coffee-based biofuel to power London buses in a pilot project. Bio-bean collects coffee grounds from restaurants, cafes and factories and takes them to its recycling facility, where the coffee is dried and coffee oil extracted, which is blended with other fuels to create B20 clean biofuel. This can then be used in buses without the need for engine modifications. "There is huge potential for this project to expand in the US, which drinks the most coffee on the planet, 400 million cups per day," said the company.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Silver and zinc among 44 elements that could be in short supply
 Until recently, humanity has treated the Earth as an infinite resource. As the Earth's population has exploded over the past century however, we've learned in many different ways that that's untrue. We've overfished the ocean, pumped too much carbon into the atmosphere and oceans, driven thousands of species into extinction, and terraformed much of the planet's land. This periodic table produced by the American Chemical Society shows that there are also 44 chemical elements that will face supply limitations in the coming decades. Among those under a "serious threat in the next 100 years" are silver, helium, zinc, and gallium. Robert Silverberg wrote about The Death of Gallium back in 2008:

Gallium's atomic number is 31. It's a blue-white metal first discovered in 1831, and has certain unusual properties, like a very low melting point and an unwillingness to oxidize, that make it useful as a coating for optical mirrors, a liquid seal in strongly heated apparatus, and a substitute for mercury in ultraviolet lamps. It's also quite important in making the liquid-crystal displays used in flat-screen television sets and computer monitors.

As it happens, we are building a lot of flat-screen TV sets and computer monitors these days. Gallium is thought to make up 0.0015 percent of the Earth's crust and there are no concentrated supplies of it. We get it by extracting it from zinc or aluminum ore or by smelting the dust of furnace flues. Dr. Reller says that by 2017 or so there'll be none left to use. Indium, another endangered element-number 49 in the periodic table-is similar to gallium in many ways, has many of the same uses (plus some others-it's a gasoline additive, for example, and a component of the control rods used in nuclear reactors) and is being consumed much faster than we are finding it. Dr. Reller gives it about another decade. Hafnium, element 72, is in only slightly better shape. There aren't any hafnium mines around; it lurks hidden in minute quantities in minerals that contain zirconium, from which it is extracted by a complicated process that would take me three or four pages to explain. We use a lot of it in computer chips and, like indium, in the control rods of nuclear reactors, but the problem is that we don't have a lot of it. Dr. Reller thinks it'll be gone somewhere around 2017. Even zinc, commonplace old zinc that is alloyed with copper to make brass, and which the United States used for ordinary one-cent coins when copper was in short supply in World War II, has a Reller extinction date of 2037. (How does a novel called The Death of Brass grab you?)

Zinc was never rare. We mine millions of tons a year of it. But the supply is finite and the demand is infinite, and that's bad news. Even copper, as I noted above, is deemed to be at risk. We humans move to and fro upon the earth, gobbling up everything in sight, and some things aren't replaceable.

Output: A periodic table created by the American Chemical Society has revealed that 44 elements will be in short supply in the coming decades, with helium, gallium, silver and zinc being under "serious threat in the next 100 years". Hafnium, which is also endangered, is needed for computer chips and in the control rods of nuclear reactors. Gallium, which strongly resists oxidisation, is used in optical mirrors, ultraviolet lamps and LCD displays for televisions and computers.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Société Générale asks Front National to close accounts
 France’s second largest bank has asked the Front National to close all its accounts and take its business elsewhere. The bank, Société Générale, told the far-right party, led by Marine Le Pen, that it wished to end its 30-year “banking relationship”. It gave no specific reason for the decision.

FN officials said they were fighting the move and claimed that the party was being persecuted. The party headquarters in Nanterre, outside Paris, and local FN federations, have all been targeted, the news website Mediapart and France Inter radio reported on Tuesday.

According to an internal party communication leaked to Mediapart, the bank is seeking to close all current and savings accounts held by the party.

An FN spokesman, David Rachline, told Sud Radio on Tuesday morning: “It’s a real scandal. We will resist and fight to overcome this persecution.”

SocGen has refused to comment on the row, citing client confidentiality. The bank stated: “We can only say that as part of the relationship we have with all our customers, whether it be for the opening or closing of an account, we follow the current regulations and requirements required of a banking establishment to the letter.”

On Tuesday FN officials denied that the decision had been made because the party accounts were in the red. “If that was the case why hasn’t Société Générale closed the UMP - Les Républicains’ accounts when they owe the considerable sum of €50m?” said Wallerand de Saint Just, the FN treasurer. “The Front National’s situation is perfectly healthy and there’s no reason for any banker to use that as an excuse to so brutally throw out a long-standing customer that has always behaved according to the banking rules.”

The FN was reported to have been asked to close its SocGen accounts several months ago, but it had challenged the decision with the banking mediator without success. On Monday the party had asked its federations to send monthly contributions by cheque because it had encountered difficulties with direct debits.

An anonymous FN official told Mediapart the party had no debts with SocGen and said the decision was “a political challenge”.

Louis Aliot, the FN vice-president and Le Pen’s partner, also said the party had no direct financial problems. “A certain number of financial institutions have difficulty with democracy and pluralism,” Aliot told BFMTV. “I’ve noticed that Société Générale is very generous with Les Républicains, especially when it comes to renegotiating their debts, when they own €50m, which is not our case. The French need to know that democracy is in the hands of the banks and those with money.”

During France’s presidential campaign Le Pen claimed that French banks were refusing to lend money to finance her leadership bid, which cost about €12.5m. This sum will be reimbursed out of state coffers but only after the party’s accounts have been inspected and approved.

FN federations took a second hit after failing to do as well as expected in the legislative elections in June, which were reported to have cost a further €15m.

The FN had appeared to be struggling to raise campaign funds in January after Le Pen was asked to repay a €9m loan from a Russian-based bank that had been dissolved. Le Pen met the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, at the Kremlin in March, two months before the presidential vote.

Le Pen has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday on the theme “French democracy threatened by financial oligarchs”.

Output: Société Générale, France’s second-largest bank, has requested that the far-right political party Front National (FN) closes its accounts with the institution. The bank told Marine Le Pen’s party that it wanted to bring the 30-year “banking relationship” to a close, but gave no reason for the request. Officials from the FN are challenging the decision. An anonymous representative stated that the party had no debts with the bank and that the move was “a political challenge”.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK's pollution-fighting agency bought 2.5 million disposable cups
 More than 2.5m disposable cups have been purchased by the UK’s environment department for use in its restaurants and cafes over the past five years – equivalent to nearly 1,400 a day.

The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesman, Tim Farron, said the revelation, obtained through a freedom of information request, showed Michael Gove “needs to get his own house in order” in light of his public pledges to tackle the growing scourge of plastic pollution.

The Lib Dems revealed that 516,000 disposable cups had been purchased by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) catering contractors in the last year alone, under two separate outsourced contracts for use in catering outlets across its sites. The figure was 589,700 in 2016 and 785,100 the previous year.

The catering contractors did not previously provide any reusable cups, but purchased 200 reusable cups on 31 October 2017.

Separate figures uncovered by the Lib Dems have revealed the House of Commons itself is also failing to get to grips with disposable cup waste, using almost 4m disposable cups in the past five years.

They reveal that 657,000 disposable cups have been purchased by the Commons’ catering service in the last year alone – equivalent to 1,000 per MP – but down from 918,700 in 2013. In addition, 500 reusable or so-called “keep cups” were purchased in 2013, but only four of these have been sold in the last three years.

An estimated 3bn paper cups are thrown away in the UK every year, but it was revealed last year that less than one in 400 is recycled, meaning that millions end up in landfill. The plastic lining in cups means they cannot be recycled in normal depots and have to be put in special bins and sent to one of three dedicated recycling mills.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the introduction of a 5p charge on disposable coffee cups in the budget, following the success of the plastic carrier bag charge which has reduced usage in England by 85% since it was introduced in October 2015.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, is expected to announce in Wednesday’s budget a “call for evidence” on how taxes or other charges on single-use plastics such as takeaway cartons and packaging could reduce the impact of discarded waste on marine and bird life. Under Defra’s litter strategy launched in April, a working group has been set up drawing together industry and retailers to develop further practical steps to tackle plastic waste.

“It’s astounding that the department which is supposed to be protecting our environment is responsible for such a colossal amount of waste” said Farron. “Millions of plastic cups have been thrown away by the government, some of which will now be polluting our seas, rivers and countryside. Michael Gove needs to get his own house in order. A coffee cup charge should be introduced in the budget to tackle waste and encourage the use of reusable cups, including in the civil service and parliament.”

A spokesperson for Defra said: “We are committed to reducing unnecessary waste within the department and these figures show the number of disposable cups used has fallen by more than half since 2013. We are working with our suppliers to see what more can be done to further cut their use and promote recycling.”

A House of Commons spokeswoman added that they were “committed to reducing the amount of waste across the parliamentary estate including plastic and [to] operate a mixed recycling scheme to ensure as much as possible of our waste is recycled.”

Output: The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs -- which is seeking to tackle plastic pollution -- has purchased more 2.5 million disposable cups for its cafes and restaurants over the past five years. The figure, equivalent to almost 1,400 per day, was revealed by the Liberal Democrat Party. The party also revealed the House of Commons used nearly 4 million disposable cups within the past five years. It's is calling for a 5p (7¢) charge on such vessels, three billion of which are discarded in the UK each year, with fewer than one in 400 recycled.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Harvard’s affirmative action rules trigger investigation
 Story highlights The Justice Department's interest in Harvard's policies stems from a 2015 federal complaint It has concluded the school is "out of compliance" with federal law

Washington CNN —

The Justice Department is actively investigating Harvard University’s use of race in its admissions policies and has concluded the school is “out of compliance” with federal law, according to documents obtained by CNN.

The Justice Department’s battle with Harvard potentially sets the stage for the first major legal test of affirmative action policies under the Trump administration. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled that race can be one among many factors universities use in making admission decisions.

Two letters from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division indicate that Harvard has challenged the department’s authority to investigate, and further state that if the school fails to provide documents to the department by December 1, the agency may file a lawsuit against the school.

“As we have repeatedly made clear to the Department of Justice, the university will certainly comply with its obligations under Title VI. In the process, we have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of student and applicant files and other highly sensitive records, and we have been seeking to engage the Department of Justice in the best means of doing so,” Anna Cowenhoven, Harvard’s associate dean of communications, said in a statement to CNN.

Harvard DOJ investigation

Additional correspondence obtained by CNN shows that the Justice Department formally notified Harvard it was under investigation on September 20 and since that time, lawyers for the agency and the school have been trading letters over the scope of the department’s document requests, despite what Harvard noted were “its concerns about the highly unusual nature of this investigation.”

The Justice Department’s interest in Harvard’s policies stems from a 2015 federal complaint that accuses the school of discriminating against Asian-Americans in admissions. When The New York Times reported in August that the Justice Department was looking for lawyers to work on “possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,” the department said that the posting was related to an ongoing case rolled over from the Obama administration.

“The posting sought volunteers to investigate one administrative complaint filed by a coalition of 64 Asian-American associations in May 2015 that the prior administration left unresolved,” Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement at the time.

“The complaint alleges racial discrimination against Asian-Americans in a university’s admissions policy and practices. This Department of Justice has not received or issued any directive, memorandum, initiative, or policy related to university admissions in general. The Department of Justice is committed to protecting all Americans from all forms of illegal race-based discrimination,” she had said.

But these more recent letters from the Justice Department, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, mark the first confirmation that the school is currently under investigation.

Supporters of affirmative action in college admissions say that it levels the playing field in higher education by welcoming traditionally excluded groups like minority students, whereas its critics say the practice favors one group over another based on race instead of academic achievement.

“The Department of Justice takes seriously any potential violation of an individual’s civil and constitutional rights, but we will not comment at this time,” Justice Department spokesperson Devin O’Malley told CNN in a statement.

Yet former Justice Department officials told CNN the Harvard case marks a sign of what’s to come.

“The Justice Department clearly appears to be on the hunt for a case to bring a significant challenge to affirmative action,” said Vanita Gupta, former head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division under President Barack Obama who now leads the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Gupta noted several factors making the Harvard case somewhat unusual for the Justice Department’s intervention, including the fact that private attorneys are already aggressively litigating the case and the Department of Education dismissed a complaint against the school back in 2015.

“The Justice Department is going out of its way to scoop this case up and get involved,” Gupta said.

Output: Harvard University is under investigation by the US Justice Department in relation to the role of race in its admissions policies. The department has resolved that the school is “out of compliance” with federal law. Last year, the country’s Supreme Court determined that race could be included as a factor in university admission decisions. The interest in Harvard’s policies dates to a 2015 federal complaint that saw the university accused of discrimination against Asian-Americans. The case could potentially become the first key legal challenge to affirmative action policies under the Trump administration.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Xiaomi commits $1bn to Indian internet and smartphone start-ups
 As it continues to assert its place in the mobile marketplace, Xiaomi is now turning to India to build a strong app ecosystem.

With China now accounting for almost half of the global smartphone marketshare, companies such as Xiaomi are trying to assert dominance in the hotly contested market.

While one of the fastest-growing brands year on year, Xiaomi is now seeking to build its own app ecosystem to take on the might of its biggest rival, Huawei.

According to Livemint, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that in order to do this, it will turn to the next-nearest smartphone market giant, India, with a planned investment of $1bn in start-ups in the country. This investment would cover 100 Indian start-ups over the course of five years.

Xiaomi has already begun by buying stakes in six major internet companies, including Hungama and KrazyBee, both directly and through its sister company, Shunwei Capital.

The Xiaomi business model

Lei said that the plan will be to replicate what it has done in China, where it has invested $4bn in 300 different companies.

“We will have all types of services and products and integrate them. That is the Xiaomi business model,” Lei said.

“We focus on a few key things and everything else, we let our partners provide. We’ve reached just a huge scale in seven years because of this partnership/affiliation model.”

The focus for Xiaomi’s funding will be on companies that could provide smartphone apps to keep people glued to their phones, such as entertainment content.

Should everything go as planned, Xiaomi would become one of the biggest investors in the Indian internet market. However, it said that it will only be involved in minority stakes, rather than outright takeovers.

While the company’s phones remain highly popular in China and India, its sales are increasing gradually elsewhere, most recently seen in Russia, where it is now the fifth-largest smartphone provider.

A Xiaomi sign. Image: testing/Shutterstock

Output: China's Xiaomi is planning to invest $1bn in Indian start-ups and create an ecosystem of mobile apps for use on its smartphones, taking on its main rival, Huawei. It is also looking to set up more factories around the country. "We as a company are 100% committed to 'Make in India'. This is something we started thinking in the beginning of this year, that can we extend the same programme to other categories [of products] also," said Manu Jain, the vice-president and managing director of Xiaomi India. Xiaomi has already bought stakes in six major Indian internet companies.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
NASA develops shape-retaining alloy wheels for Mars rovers
 NASA has developed chainmail tires with a memory and thinks they'll do the trick for future rovers.

As readers of The Register's coverage of the Curiosity Rover may recall, the vehicle has experienced considerable wheel damage that has led to changes to its route in 2014 and a 2017 software update to preserve the wheels and provide better grip.

Throw in the fact that it's not yet possible to send a spare wheel to Mars and have it fitted, and NASA has a clear need for more robust tires.

Enter a technology called “spring tires” that use a tubular structure of steel mesh – think tire-shaped chainmail - to cushion rovers as they roll. Spring tires have many fine qualities as the mesh forms a pattern that provides good grip on many surfaces. Mesh is also light by nature and can survive some damage. But spring tires don't deform well: if one rolls over a sharp rock, it can acquire a dent - or “plastic deformation” as NASA boffins put it.

As it happens, some metals can endure plastic deformation and return to their original shape. An accidental meeting between two NASA boffins – one working on wheels, the other a material scientist – led to a discussion in which the two discussed that Nickel Titanium has exceptional “shape memory”.

The alloy was quickly pressed into service for test tires. The result, as the video below shows, is a tire that can roll right over razor-sharp rocks without ill-effects.

Youtube Video

NASA has not outlined an immediate plan to use Nickel Titanium spring tires, but the agency is chuffed enough to have released its videos of the tech and to cheekily suggest it may have re-invented the wheel. ®

Output: NASA has developed a metal alloy tyre that can hold its shape in rough terrain better than existing wheels. The space agency has been experimenting with steel mesh tyres for vehicles such as the Mars rover, whose wheels have been seriously damaged on its current mission. The latest test involved using nickel titanium, an alloy with much better "shape memory" than other metals. The results showed the tyre was highly resilient, returning to its original shape after rolling over sharp rocks and obstacles.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Tencent moves beyond gaming to focus on monetising content
 Gaming and entertainment continue to line Tencent’s pocket, with the internet giant posting third-quarter revenues of RMB65.2 billion (US$9.83 billion) a 61% increase year-on-year.

Tencent's third quarter revenues surged off the back of strong gaming and video revenues

Tencent, which is valued at $472 and is Asia’s most valuable company, has continued to focus on digital content to drive growth for the company as it moves beyond gaming to focus on monetising its content to grow advertising revenues.

Tencent’s online gaming revenues grew 48% to RMB26.8bn largely driven by the continued success of Honour of Kings, as well as new titles such as a Chinese version of Contra Return. Smartphone games continued to dominate, increasing 84% to represent RMB18.2bn in revenue while PC games grew 27% to RMB14.6bn.

Tencent Video's fee-based subscriptions passed 43 million, which Tencent claims is the largest video streaming services subscriber base in China. Meanwhile, live streaming broadcasts and subscription video on-demand helped boost revenue from social networks, including Weixin and WeChat, which increased 56% to RMB15.3bn.

Monthly active users (MAU) for WeChat and Weixin reached 980 million, up 15.8% year-on-year, and higher advertising revenues from Weixin Moments and Weixin Official Accounts helped social and others advertising revenue surge 63% to RMB6.9bn.

Tencent’s online advertising business grew 48% to RMB4.1bn driven by increased revenues from Tencent Video, however the year-on-year growth was offset by the high base from last year’s Olympic Games.

Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said, “During the third quarter of 2017, we recorded strong business and revenue growth across multiple business lines including games, digital content, online advertising and payment related services. In particular, our video platform gained audience and revenue market share, we believe it has become China’s top online video platform in terms of mobile daily active users and subscriptions.

“We believe this success reflects our increasing investment in self-commissioned video content, our improved selection of licensed video content, and our scheduling and audience management initiatives. We believe our multi-faceted digital content businesses are synergistic with each other, and allow us to deliver unique content to our users.”

Output: Chinese internet giant Tencent has reported a 61% increase in Q3 revenues as it continues to focus on monetising content. The firm, Asia's most valuable, posted Q3 revenues of CNY65.2bn ($9.8bn) after moving beyond gaming in a bid to grow its advertising income. The company's online gaming revenues also rose 48% to CNY26.8bn, largely driven by its key title Honour of Kings. Meanwhile, fee-based subscribers to Tencent Video, the company's streaming service, passed 43 million, which it claims is the largest video subscriber base in China.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Historic England urges conversion of old mills to homes, offices
 Historic England has launched a campaign to save the country’s historic textile mills after finding that nearly half of Greater Manchester’s once-bustling factories had been demolished.

About 45% of the region’s 971 mills have been destroyed since the 1980s, a study by the University of Salford found, while hundreds more stand empty and neglected.

Historic England condemned the destruction of the buildings and called for the surviving mills to be restored and turned into housing, offices or public amenities.

The heritage body said it had identified space for 25,000 new homes among the more than 500 former mills still standing in Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

Catherine Dewar, Historic England’s planning director in the north-west, said: “With their ability to accommodate wonderful homes, workplaces and cultural spaces, our historic mill buildings deserve a future and should not be destroyed.

“They helped make us who we are in the north of England and have a profound impact on the physical and cultural landscape.”

While Greater Manchester’s skyline has changed beyond recognition in the past century, the destruction of mills has had the biggest impact on Salford, where 66% of its 47 factories have been torn down.

Holmes Mill in Clitheroe, Lancashire, has been converted into a brewery, restaurant, hotel and leisure venue. Photograph: The Historic England Archive/PA

In Rochdale, once one of the world’s most productive cotton spinning towns, 96 textile mills have been demolished in the past 30 years, according to the University of Salford study. In the town’s 102 surviving mills, experts identified nearly 205,000 square metres of vacant or underused space that was ripe for redevelopment.

Historic England said there was overwhelming public support for saving the country’s once-booming powerhouses instead of leaving them to fall into ruin.

A YouGov survey of more than 2,000 adults found that 85% were against their demolition, with 70% saying they should be seen as a potential solution to Britain’s housing crisis.

The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “It’s a real shame that half of Greater Manchester’s historic mills have been lost. These buildings are an important part of our industrial legacy – the original northern powerhouse.

“But equally they are an important part of our future, whether that’s creating new jobs for local people by investing in the industries of the future, providing much-needed affordable housing, or transforming these unique spaces into cultural destinations. I fully support Historic England’s plea to ensure our remaining mills have a key place in the developing fabric of our region.”

Pendle Village Mill in Lancashire has been converted into a shopping emporium. Photograph: The Historic England Archive/PA

The heritage agency said it wanted to galvanise mill owners and developers to fulfil the potential of the historic buildings, citing successful conversions such as the Cotton Works in Bolton – a former cotton spinning mill dating back to 1926 that is now home to 276 apartments.

In a bid to kickstart the renovation of the north’s mills, Historic England has announced a £252,000 grant to carry out vital repairs on the Grade II-listed Leigh Spinners mill in Leigh, Lancashire. The building is considered one of the last great textile mills to be built in the UK and is one of the largest and most complete mills remaining in Greater Manchester.

Dewar said: “Mills have so much to offer in terms of space, character and identity. By shining a light on successful regeneration projects, we hope to inspire others to recognise the potential of our former industrial buildings and start a conversation about their future.”

Output: The heritage protection authority for England has launched a campaign to save historic textile mills by converting them into homes and offices. A study by the University of Salford found that nearly half of the 971 mills built in Greater Manchester have been destroyed since the 1980s, and hundreds more are empty and unused. Historic England says the remaining buildings could provide 25,000 new homes if they were converted. It cited polling figures that show public opposition to their demolition and support for redevelopment.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
AIB invests €30m in cross-border payments company TransferMate
 AIB makes a strategic bet on the digital future as Brexit storm clouds gather.

AIB has invested €30m in cross-border B2B payments player TransferMate, in a move aimed at reducing international payments costs for business customers.

TransferMate was founded in 2010 and has since developed a wide regulatory footprint.

‘This partnership is a great example of how a leading bank and a fintech company can work together to improve their customers’ experiences’

– COLIN HUNT

Informed sources say that the deal values TransferMate at between €250m and €300m.

So far, more than $10bn has been sent to more than 100 countries over the TransferMate platform.

TransferMate and AIB have also agreed to a strategic partnership focused on providing Irish businesses with international payments and receivables capabilities.

Preparing for business post-Brexit

“Cross-border B2B payments can be complex, time-consuming and expensive for businesses,” explained TransferMate CEO Terry Clune.

“At TransferMate, we aim to provide the most convenient and cost-effective way for businesses to move money around the globe. B2B payments represent 98pc of the $138trn of currencies traded annually cross-border.

“TransferMate has built a unique technology platform, and we are delighted to welcome AIB as an investor and partner.”

Clune said the investment will enable TransferMate to invest in its commercial teams across the US, Canada, Australia and Europe, and grow its head-office, commercial and technology functions in Ireland.

“This partnership is a great example of how a leading bank and a fintech company can work together to improve their customers’ experiences,” Clune added.

Co-founder and CFO of TransferMate, Sinead Fitzmaurice, added: “Our partnership with AIB aims to combine the bank’s forward-looking digital strategy with our technology and global reach to bring business customers of the bank a truly convenient and cost-effective solution when sending or collecting funds globally.”

TransferMate has broad regulatory approval in major markets. Post-Brexit, it will become the only EU payment institution regulated throughout the EU and United States.

“This €30m investment demonstrates our commitment to deploying our capital and expertise in support of leading enterprises such as TransferMate,” explained AIB’s managing director of wholesale, institutional and corporate banking, Colin Hunt.

“The investment is in line with AIB’s strategic priority to increase the pace of innovation to serve changing customer needs by working with both dedicated internal teams and with external partners and start-ups. We will work with TransferMate and other digitally innovative partners to continue to ensure AIB business customers have access to the some of the best digital banking capabilities in the world.”

AIB branch in Galway. Image: Martin Good/Shutterstock

Output: Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has invested €30m ($35m) in cross-border payments platform TransferMate in a deal that gives the latter firm an estimated valuation of between €250m and €300m. The two firms will also form a strategic partnership to offer Irish businesses international payments and receivables capabilities ahead of Brexit. TransferMate CEO Terry Clune said the funds would allow the company to expand its head office and technology functions in Ireland, as well as support its commercial teams around the world.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Mobile crypto-wallet users at risk from screen capture software
 Mobile Android cryptocurrency wallet users are at risk for hacking because of a new vulnerability that allows the MediaProjection service to capture the user’s screen and audio content. More than three-quarters of all Android users are at risk, as the bug affects the Lollipop, Marshmallow and Nougat platforms.

Google has accidentally created the risk, since the release of Lollipop 5.0. Prior to this release, the MediaProjection functionality was only available to system-level applications and through release keys. All new systems since have been vulnerable to this type of data attack.

Popup coverup

Apparently, when a hacker seeks to start recording screen information, a popup will appear, informing the user. However, hackers are able to cover that popup with a second popup in a process called ‘tapjacking.’ According to experts on the topic:

"Furthermore, the SystemUI pop-up is the only access control mechanism available that prevents the abuse of the MediaProjection service. An attacker could trivially bypass this mechanism by using tapjacking this pop-up using publicly known methods to grant their applications the ability to capture the user’s screen.”

Google has offered a patch in the Oreo (8.0) version, but all previous versions are at risk. Cryptocurrency users who access private wallets on mobile devices could very easily have their wallets hacked via this system and are encouraged to upgrade to the latest system for protection.

Output: Users of mobile cryptocurrency wallets could be at risk of data theft after a bug was discovered in Android operating systems. Hackers can use the MediaProjection service to capture screen and audio content from the phone, potentially revealing login details. Activating the function generates a pop-up, but this can be disguised by so-called "tapjacking". Google has offered a patch to fix the problem on its Oreo (8.0) operating system, but all previous systems remain at risk.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Havas reports improvement in Q3 organic revenue growth
 by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, November 16, 2017

Havas reported modest improvement in organic revenue growth in the third quarter to 0.1%, a full percentage point over Q2’s -0.9%. For the first nine months the firm remains in negative territory at -0.3%.

But company CEO Yannick Bollore said he was particularly pleased with what he termed "the recovery in North America" where organic growth rose to 2.9% in Q3 from -1.7% in the second quarter.

The company attributed the improvement to a turnaround at Boston-based Arnold and improved results at Havas New York, particularly in the healthcare business.

“US agencies also benefitted from the effects of recent account wins and increased spending on the part of certain clients,” the company stated in an earnings release. During the third quarter Havas Media was appointed as Sanofi’s U.S. media agency partner for its Rx business and as strategic media planning partner for the Consumer Healthcare business.

advertisement advertisement

Consolidated third quarter revenue for the French holding company in Q3 was down around 2% to 525 million euros (about $618 million at today’s exchange rate). The company cited exchange rate fluctuations as a key reason for the decline.

For the first nine months of the year, consolidated group revenue was essentially flat at 1.6 billion euro ($1.9 billion).

Commenting further on the results Bollore stated, “Despite an ever more challenging sector environment, we remain positive over the mid-term because we believe firmly in the positive effects of our strategy and in our client-centric organization.”

Output: Global communications firm Havas Group has reported a modest rise in Q3 organic revenue growth. The 0.1% growth is a full percentage point over the -0.9% reported in Q2, but over the first three quarters of this year Havas has stayed in negative territory at -0.3%. Meanwhile, the company saw a recovery in the North American market, reporting an increase in organic growth to 2.9% in Q3, up from -1.7% in Q2. Overall, Havas' consolidated group revenue for the first nine months of the year remained flat at €1.6bn ($1.9bn).


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
BuzzFeed and Vice reportedly miss revenue goals for the year
 Forget the pivot to video; the pivot to reality is in full swing in digital media.

The culprits are well-known. Google and Facebook have an iron grip on digital ad revenue. Publishers are trying to save themselves by making wholesale shifts in their business models, but they can’t transition fast enough. Last week brought an avalanche of the results: BuzzFeed and Vice reportedly missed revenue goals for the year; Mashable was sold for a fifth of its one-time valuation; and Oath, the Verizon unit containing Yahoo, AOL and HuffPost, laid off more than 500. The list goes on.

There are a number of things going on. At a high level, digital publishing has failed to diversify, having put all its eggs in the advertising basket. Then, the platforms came for advertising. Most digital ad spending today is going to a handful of tech companies, leaving just a few scraps for publishers to fight over. Facebook has hurt in other ways, cutting back the referral traffic it sends publishers, and has only started to help publishers monetize their content there. Publishers that took a distributed approach, thinking the revenue would follow, have found otherwise.

But it’s too simplistic to say this is simply a story of the big, bad platforms. What’s happening now is more of a correction than an upheaval. Just a year ago, Mashable took a round of venture capital at a $250 million valuation. Selling for a fifth of that price a mere 12 months later says more about the expectations venture-funded digital media eagerly embraced when capital was cheap and plentiful.

“It’s a story about runaway valuations for content startups,” said Todd Sawicki, CEO of Zemanta, a programmatic native ad platform. “If a startup had been valued based on more traditional methods and multiples, many of these valuations would never have happened.”

When it came time to build a sustainable business, many of the publishers that were adroit at spinning rosy growth scenarios on paper were less successful. The now-lampooned pivot to video is a case in point. It’s easy to talk about audiences moving to mobile, expertise in “snackable” content and distributed media strategies built around millennials. It’s quite another to execute those strategies profitably.

Take video. Too often, publishers create the video but don’t design their sites with it in mind, cramming pages with other ads that compete for attention and bandwidth, said Brian Rifkin, co-founder of digital video player company JW Player. Then, there are all the things to get right on the sales and ad operations side, such as matching the right video format to the right device and making sure the ad meets the advertisers’ specs for viewability. Success in digital media is about nailing the details, not getting the headlines.

“A lot of it is the grind-it-out execution,” Rifkin said. “We’ve been through a lot of advertising executions, and this one is the most difficult. How many times have you gone to a website and clicked ‘play’ and bailed out? The business is there. Publishers need to create good content, make sure there’s intent to watch, focus on the user experience.”

Many digital media companies with sky-high valuations based on a bad set of assumptions also hungrily eyed TV deals, where the real money supposedly is. This looks increasingly like a Hail Mary strategy. In most cases, the production costs for doing TV shows are pretty equal to licensing costs, and unless you have a syndication deal, the profit is fairly low, said Bernard Gershon, president of GershonMedia, a publishing consulting firm. There are also lots of studios already quite good at making TV programming. The only thing digital media companies would bring unique to the table is strong brands, but even there, much of digital media has outsourced its connection to its audience to platforms.

Rich Antoniello, CEO and founder of Complex Media, looks at the current pivots to video as rushed and reactive. The men’s lifestyle publisher took its time introducing video, starting in 2012 and getting to 65 percent video over five years and emphasizing long-form shows that are better at building a brand than short clips that blur by in people’s newsfeed. “You have to condition your audience and the advertising community,” he said. “You can’t just say, ‘Hey, we’re in video now.’”

It’s not just startups that are sweating it out. Even publishers with strong brands and diverse revenue streams find themselves struggling in a rough market — and this is when the economy is going great. “This is not my favorite year,” grumbled one publisher in the former camp.

If there’s one overarching truism, it may be that just about everything about publishing is going to be a slow grind. Publishers won’t necessarily give up on video, but 2018 will see a fine-tuning of their approaches and a recognition that they can’t live on advertising alone.

“Mobile video will be a great business opportunity one day, but that day has not fully arrived,” said Bryan Goldberg, founder of Bustle. “This is a marathon. Digital media companies need to pace themselves.”

Goldberg said Bustle limited video to about 10 percent of total head count, up from about 5 percent in 2016, recognizing that mobile video doesn’t easily monetize. (Compare that to Mic, where almost everyone touches video in some way.) Bustle also focused on formats it could more immediately monetize, like Instagram Stories, and on taking ad dollars away from legacy magazine publishers. “For a digital media startup to challenge TV in the year 2017 is premature. That is a battle for 2020 and beyond, but magazines are sitting ducks right now,” Goldberg said.

The business model pivot has already started. BuzzFeed is pushing hard into commerce content, with a staff of 19 people cranking out posts designed to drive people to purchase. Vox Media gave in to selling ads programmatically. Publishers like The Atlantic and The New York Times that already have established subscription businesses are pushing even harder into those areas.

“While we are still optimistic in our ability to continue to grow advertising revenue next year, we are also seeing success in some of our paid content experiments of late, like The Atlantic’s [membership program] Masthead and Quartz’s Global Economy book,” said Michael Finnegan, president of Atlantic Media. “I think this squares with the increasing willingness of consumers to pay for content today.”

“We’re already seeing a pivot away from pure advertising-supported businesses that have multiple revenue streams, including subscriptions,” Gershon said. “They’re going to have to double and triple down on truly high quality video. People are not going to pay to watch people sitting around a table talking about the news. There’s going to be a pivot to real business models.”

Output: Digital publishers Buzzfeed and Vice Media are both set to miss their revenue targets for the year, according to reports. Buzzfeed had been aiming for revenue of $350m in 2017, but is now expected to fall short by as much as $70m. The disappointing performance makes it unlikely that the company will go public in the near future. Meanwhile, Vice will miss its $800m target, though it's not known by how much. Other digital publishers are also struggling, with Mashable recently being sold for $50m, a fifth of its valuation in 2016.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Twitter cracks down on hate speech 'on and off the platform'
 Twitter is cracking down on hate speech and not just by looking at its own site.

In what amounts to a major shift in Twitter policy, the company announced on Friday that it will be monitoring user's behavior "on and off the platform" and will suspend a user's account if they affiliate with violent organizations, according to an update to Twitter's Help Center(opens in a new tab) on Friday.

"You also may not affiliate with organizations that — whether by their own statements or activity both on and off the platform — use or promote violence against civilians to further their causes," the update reads.

Twitter isn't taking action immediately. Rather, it's given users until December 18, 2017 when it will then begin enforcing the rule. The month-long wait is due to regulations in the European Union that require companies to inform users of a new policy change 30 days prior to enforcement.

The Dec. 18 deadline also applies to using "hateful images or symbols" in profile images or profile headers. Twitter will also monitor for hate speech in usernames, display names, and profile bios.

This new rule closes a loophole that Twitter's critics had long pointed out: That known white supremacists and others affiliated with hate groups could still use the platform to send a sanitized version of their message and use their followers to bolster their overall profile.

It's unclear how exactly Twitter will prioritize taking action and how much will come from user reports versus its own monitoring.

"The updates to the rules today will be enforced starting December 18. We'll also have more details on these policies to share that day," a Twitter spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.

These changes comes amid aggressive moves by Twitter to curb abuse and harassment on the site after more than a decade of essentially letting the abusers operate freely.

Over the last week, Twitter has taken action against the accounts of white supremacists. Twitter permanently banned Tim "Treadstone" Gionet, a prominent alt-right troll more widely known as Baked Alaska, earlier this week. It also removed the verification badges of Jason Kessler, one of the organizers of the racist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, and of alt-right activist Richard Spencer.

Twitter's decision to monitor users off site sparked concern from free speech advocates such as Andrew Torba, founder of social network Gab. "This is a scary precedent to set," he wrote in an email to Mashable. "Rules like this will only force dissidents and those who are speaking truth to power to silence themselves or risk being silenced by Twitter."

Output: Twitter is set to close a loophole that enables users affiliated with hate groups to be active on its site by monitoring behaviour "both on and off the platform", according to a company statement. The clampdown, which also covers images and usernames, comes into effect on 18 December, a delay brought about by European Union regulations which require companies to give a month's notice before implementing changes. Free speech advocates have criticised the move, calling it a "scary precedent". Twitter also recently revoked the verification badges of Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler, and banned prominent troll Tim Gionet.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Facebook algorithm hinders advertisers by removing content
 Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More

There are a number of disturbing elements to the Russian election hacking scandal — most notably the fact that a foreign entity was somehow able to use Facebook and other social networks to influence an already stressful U.S. election.

But what has baffled me most about the hacking scandal is that the Russians were able to proceed with their agenda with such ease, while my influencer marketing agency (which has no interest in nefarious global domination) struggles on a daily basis to do even the most basic tasks on the platform.

As the Wall Street Journal noted recently, “Relying on AI can lead to false positives, as when [a] company pulls down legitimate content that its algorithms think might be offensive.”

My firm does a high volume of work on Facebook to amplify our influencers’ content. Brands often hire us to create programs with quick turnarounds and tight deadlines, such as a one-day event or a short-term giveaway. Having that (legitimate) content pulled down because an algorithm suspects it is offensive can throw an entire program off the rails.

We have had to develop an entire document to detail the various “watch-outs” we need to keep in mind in order to take advantage of Facebook’s reach without raising the ire of its finicky and overly critical computer algorithms. These trigger-happy software programs can be incredibly problematic. It has been our experience that Facebook’s software doesn’t hesitate to remove content first and ask questions later.

VentureBeat reached out to Facebook on this, and Facebook maintains that it’s not the case that it will remove content before properly reviewing it. It said it reviews all advertisements before they go live, as per the ad review process posted on its site and that, for other content, it will only pull something down if violates Facebook policies.”

It has been my firm’s experience that while non-ad content can be posted without review, it will indeed get automatically pulled if it flags the algorithm. It will then often be re-posted following an appeal. We’ve seen the same thing on Facebook-owned Instagram. An influencer we work with once had her entire Instagram account shut down following the posting of a piece of sponsored content. It was reinstated after a couple of weeks of desperate emails and phone calls to Instagram headquarters.

You can find the full list of Facebook’s prohibited content here. While the vast majority of these restrictions are understandable — certainly we don’t want people posting ads that promote illegal activities, discrimination, or weapons — many are not that clear cut. The machinations our team goes through in order to get clients’ brands boosted on Facebook are borderline overwhelming. Let’s look at a couple of examples:

1. The tricky word “you”

Facebook prohibits the use of personal attributes within a boosted post. This can be really tricky when promoting a product intended to relieve an ailment. Here are excerpts from two posts that we were looking to boost in one of our programs:

Post A: Do you suffer from dandruff? It’s a common problem….

Post B: Laura is preventing dandruff now and during the colder months…

Given the strict algorithm, we were only allowed to boost Post B. Post A would almost certainly be pulled down because of the word “you.”

Facebook’s spokesperson said that while the company does allow ads for services that treat medical conditions, they don’t allow ads to imply the reader suffers from those medical conditions (that falls under the company’s “Personal Attributes” policy). Facebook noted that our Post A example wouldn’t make the cut because it implies the reader has dandruff, which is a medical condition.

What frustrates my team in this situation is that our content wasn’t implying anything. It was simply asking the question. If an influencer with thousands of followers poses a question, how is that an implication of anything? These restrictions impact the creativity of our influencers’ content.

2. Medical conditions

The Facebook algorithm is also triggered by mentions of specific medical conditions. Understandably, Facebook prohibits the paid promotion of pharmaceutical products. Unfortunately, this can cause the algorithm to mistakenly flag a post that is related to a medical condition but not related to pharmaceuticals. We recently did a program for a medication-free treatment for depression. The post below, promoting this new treatment, would surely be flagged due to the mention of depression (with bonus flagging for the use of the word “you”):

“Let’s talk about depression. If you deal with depression, you are not alone. It is a very real condition that affects people in all stages of life, myself included.”

Facebook told VentureBeat the above post was not allowed because the statement “you are not alone” implies the reader has depression. Our firm feels that the use of the qualifier “if” should make this okay. We do see how the text is off-limits given Facebook’s guidelines, but it still feels like we’re running into roadblocks left and right when trying to do our job — and it’s not as if we’re hacking an election, promoting guns, or selling drugs.

Though the post was honest and authentic, and written by one of our influencers, we couldn’t take the risk of a flag, so instead we had our influencer post the following (less engaging, highly sanitized) statement:

“My commitment to wellness has me focusing on happiness this month. One thing that helps is reading inspirational stories about other people who are living their best life.”

3. Pictures with words

Images that contain words have also become problematic. Facebook’s spokesperson said it limits words in images in order to create the best possible user experience and that research shows too much text in images damages the experience. While that’s helpful insight, we have seen a marked lack of consistency on the amount of text that works. Additionally, even if the algorithm doesn’t pull down one of our images, too many words can also impact the performance of the post. As Facebook details here, it has “recently implemented a new solution that allows ads with greater than 20 percent text to run, but with less or no delivery.” Certainly this is not any kind of solution for our clients, all of whom expect better performance than “less or no delivery.”

We are all big fans of Facebook at my firm, for both personal use and for its tremendous ability to get the word out on behalf of our clients. But we can’t help but feel frustrated when we repeatedly run into roadblocks as a result of an overactive algorithm.

Facebook serves as a vital piece of our marketing mix. We just wish it would become a bit more reliable. What do the Russians know that we don’t?

Danielle Wiley is CEO of Sway Group, an influencer marketing agency.

Output: Facebook's algorithm is frustrating advertisers by removing content it deems has violated the social media site's rules, according to Danielle Wiley, CEO of influencer marketing agency Sway Group. "It has been my firm’s experience that while non-ad content can be posted without review, it will indeed get automatically pulled if it flags the algorithm", she said. Facebook said all ads were reviewed before posting, and content was only pulled following that process. The restrictions "impact the creativity of our influencers’ content", said Wiley.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Sizmek to close Rocket Fuel brand and disclose media buying fees
 After acquiring ad-tech company Rocket Fuel for $145 million in July, Sizmek is folding Rocket Fuel’s brand and said it will start disclosing the fees included in media buying to instill more trust and transparency for advertisers about how they purchase digital ads.

Output: Independent buy-side advertising platform Sizmek has shut down the Rocket Fuel brand, after purchasing the business for $145m in July. As part of the move, Sizmek plans to disclose its media buying fees in hopes of providing greater advertising transparency, and to challenge Facebook and Google's market dominance, though the Financial Times' accusations that Rocket Fuel placed ads on fraudulent websites have hindered its progress. It is hoped that Sizmek's rebrand towards "radical transparency" and AI capabilities will attract advertisers.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Confido website disappears days after raising $420,000 in ICO
 A little known project that raised half a million to develop a new goods tracking service so that you pay through a smart contract only after delivery, has today closed shop.

“We are in a tight spot, as we are having legal trouble caused by a contract we signed,” Joost van Doorn, the project founder and a former eBay employee says before adding:

Output: A tech start-up that claimed to offer a new payment and goods tracking service has deleted its website days after raising $420,000 from investors through an initial coin offering (ICO). Confido had earlier posted an announcement on the site referring to "legal trouble" as a result of a contract they had signed, but provided no further details. The statement from founder Joost van Doorn also contained an apology for the financial damage the announcement would cause. The cryptocurrency lost 80% of its value on exchanges after the announcement.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Tiny cheap satellites to shake-up everything from ships to spies
 Hundreds of tiny, inexpensive satellites are being sent into orbit every year. Here’s how they’ll change our relationship with the world around us.

Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email

Nanosatellites – tiny satellites you can hold in your hand – are being launched into space at unprecedented rates.

As the pace of technological development speeds up, making it less and less expensive to send a “nanosat” into orbit, these machines could provide a value to society that extends far beyond space exploration.

In the future, nanosatellites will transform a variety of industries that utilize space information – from more accurate weather and climate predictions to better monitoring (and safety) of air and sea traffic to smarter forecasting of crop yields and commodities.

get the 51-page Google in TELECOM report Learn how Google is quickly expanding its global reach in telecommunications. Email

What are nanosatellites?

The International Space Station, currently the largest satellite in orbit around the earth, measures ~356 feet by ~240 feet.

Nanosatellites, on the other hand, are small satellites with a mass between 1 kg and 10 kg, or just 2.2 lbs to 22 lbs. Some nanosatellites are as small as just ten cubic centimeters. Yet they possess many of the same antennas, sensors, and control systems that make larger satellites so useful for space exploration and monitoring.

Nanosats that take a 10×10×10-unit cubic structure are known as CubeSats. A single-unit (or 1U) CubeSat has a mass no greater than 1.33 kg (2.93 lbs), but can be stacked with others to create 2U, 3U, or 6U rectangular models.

Until a few years ago, it cost at least $2M to build a functional satellite, regardless of size. Now, students and scientists can create nanosats using DIY kits and off-the-shelf components – allowing the machines to be made with budgets in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Launching a nanosat is also far cheaper than sending a normal satellite to space, which can cost many millions of dollars. These tiny “sats” can be launched en masse via ride-sharing on rockets, though the costs vary drastically based on satellite mass, distance into space, and nature or “payload” of the space mission.

Startup Open Cosmos, for example, provides “enabling services” for taking customers’ satellite plans from design to launch (in under 10 months) at prices starting around $630,000. Their one-stop-shop offering includes things like mission simulation, testing, and insurance.

Spaceflight, on the other hand, offers straightforward commercial pricing for ride-shares that can be booked within weeks of a pre-scheduled rocket launch – making it possible to send a 3U CubeSat to “low earth orbit” (LEO) for as little as $295,000.

As more and more nanosatellites are sent to space by universities, tech companies, government entities, and private citizens alike, they’ll provide comprehensive “coverage” of earth at an incredibly low cost – leading to game-changing transformations across each of the sectors discussed below.

Education, Research & Academia

Just as the decreasing costs of computers have rapidly changed the way we learn about our world, the growing volume of small satellites circling the planet (and sending data back to earth) will change the way we learn about our universe.

Nanosatellites affixed with cameras have already sent never-before-seen images down to earth: Russian cosmonauts, for example, recently gave us the world’s first panoramic, 360-view video shot in open space.

But the educational value extends much further than replacing textbooks (or PBS documentaries) with live-streams from space. Researchers will also benefit from sending lab projects into orbit.

Conducting research in space is important for many scientific objectives – which is partly why the International Space Station (ISS) has served as a full-time low-gravity research lab for years.

Since fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, for example, nanosatellite experiments can help scientists understand fluids that do not mix well on Earth.

In addition, gravity can diminish the conductivity of certain materials, so scientists looking to create “superconductive” synthetics also use low-gravity environments to understand materials interactions at the molecular level.

Biologists are already using nanosatellites to understand how gravity impacts biological processes: The SporeSat project, for example, which was sent to space through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), studied the effect of gravity on the reproductive spores of the fern.

Weather Forecasting

Space weather – which is concerned with things like solar or cosmic radiation, and interactions among magnetic fields in the atmosphere – has historically been onerous and costly to measure with traditional satellites.

A 2016 European Geosciences Union General Assembly report called nanosatellites “a paradigm change for space weather studies.”

For now, organizations like the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have less-than-perfect space weather information, which limits their ability to predict our weather here on Earth.

With thousands of sensor-equipped nanosatellites in orbit, however, detailed space weather data can be used to help us better predict hurricanes, flooding, and heavy precipitation from tropical or non-tropical storms.

To help us reach a more weather-smart future, the NOAA granted a 2016 contract to Spire, another startup in the nanosat space. Spire currently operates at least 40 “multi-sensor nanosatellites” that collect global GPS-RO weather data, which measures certain atmospheric properties that are increasingly seen as crucial to understanding storm-related weather patterns.

Air/Sea Monitoring & Insurance

The NOAA granted the GPS-RO contract to Spire as part of the agency’s objective of reducing “average track and intensity errors” by 50% in 10 years. Predicting the trajectory and intensity of storms is crucial to mitigating the impact of future natural disasters.

Weather forecasting has a particularly big impact on marine and aerospace safety. With better information from nanosatellites on atmospheric conditions, aero- and marine-industry stakeholders and insurers will be able to conduct better risk analyses around hurricanes and storms – ultimately minimizing liabilities (and insurance premiums) and disruptions.

Improved safety will also reduce transport costs by minimizing weather-related losses. Nanosats can also help minimize collisions in our skies and seas, since they can provide views of air or ocean traffic straight from the atmosphere.

And as the maritime industry, in particular, embraces automation, nanosats will be able to monitor the Earth’s seas to minimize piracy risks.

For now, Spire and other startups are using their satellites to offer monitoring data to maritime stakeholders.

Agriculture & Commodities Trading

Nanosats will provide value in commercial activities on land, as well. With better weather and climate intelligence, environmental conditions will become more measurable, predictable, and data-driven.

Agriculture will be one of the first areas transformed.

The Farmer’s Almanac will get a major upgrade with nanosat-secured data: Better predictive data on weather patterns and natural disasters will translate into more accurate forecasts of impact on crops – ultimately informing decisions on what we grow, where we grow it, how, and when.

Startups like Satellogic are already offering satellite-based insights to the agriculture sector, among others. Satellogic’s machines are what’s known as “spectroscopic satellites,” which pick up signals from light to understand the health of environmental organisms at the molecular level.

With better intelligence on space weather and its impact on agriculture, market observers will also better understand anticipated global production yields of crops and other commodities – potentially offering new insights to traders and analysts.

Environmental Monitoring & Protection

According to a New York Times report, researchers have long warned that the US’ climate monitoring capabilities – which include satellites as well as air- and surface-based measuring instruments – are less than adequate, subject to data collection gaps or discrepancies.

Data scientist Dr. Zeke Hausfather, who published satellite-based research in the Journal of Climate in June, commented that in our global satellite temperature record, “only a few satellites are measuring temperatures at any given point of time.”

Some of those large satellites also have “fairly large orbital drifts,” according to Hausfather, which limits their ability to fly over the same spot on Earth at the same time every day, which is a precondition to accurately estimating changes in temperatures over time.

With thousands of tiny satellites tracking changes in much smaller areas of the atmosphere, scientists will unlock new data on climate fluctuations. That information will be crucial to practically all efforts related to environmental preservation — from predicting future temperature changes to pinpointing at-risk habitats and organisms.

Climate visualization using data from NASA satellites. CREDIT: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Telecommunications

Satellites of all sizes have played a role in our global communications infrastructure ever since the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, took flight equipped with a radio transmitter in 1957. Our reliance on satellite communication (aka “satcom”) has grown exponentially ever since: By 1990, 2 out of every 3 intercontinental phone calls were transmitted by communication satellites.

Communication satellites are used to relay and amplify radio signals that transmit information. They essentially create communication channels between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. NASA calls these Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, or TDRS (rendering below).

Even as the internet improves in remote regions, satellites remain crucial to information sharing: Most news agencies still use satellites to distribute text, audio, and video to their affiliates.

Without satellites, many citizens in less developed countries would lack access to news and other information. And even today, huge swathes of our planet still lack telecommunications infrastructure.

Tech-sector stakeholders are already at work using nanosatellites to plug internet coverage caps. Australian company Sky and Space (SAS), for example, is planning to provide telecommunications coverage to millions of people living in a band around the equator – stretching from Darwin to Hong Kong – by 2020. SAS’ first step will be launching up to 200 nano-satellites into space, beginning in 2018, in partnership with Virgin Galactic.

Defense

As our access to space (and space data) continues to accelerate, there will be risks, as well as opportunities.

Private companies are gearing up to use satellites for potential defense contracts. Nanosats could be used to spy on other countries’ satellites, for example, or to collect intelligence on enemy spacecraft.

In addition, nanosatellites will be prime targets for rogue hackers or bad actors working on behalf of hostile governments. These attackers could try to disable telecommunications channels via nanosatellites or disrupt the servicing of other larger satellites by nanosatellites, among many other potenial nefarious applications.

Mindful of potential threats, Lockheed Martin invested in nanosat startup Terran Orbital in summer 2017; Terran and its child company, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, use satellite-secured surveillance data for military/defense intelligence applications.

If you aren’t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.

Output: A new generation of small, cheap satellites is set to have a major influence on the maritime, aerospace, agricultural and environmental sectors as well as those that depend on accurate weather data, according to CBinsights. The off-the-shelf nanosatellites, which are as small as 10 cubic cms, could also help plug gaps in global internet coverage and eavesdrop on foreign countries, CBinsights said. Companies including start-up Open Cosmos and Spaceflight offer design-to-launch packages for as little as $295,000.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Big Property Data runs huge datasets to speed up conveyancing
 A search company called Big Property Data says it is working with 15 major institutions to provide automated property reports aimed at speeding up conveyancing.

The organisations include the Land Registry, the National Land Information Service, the British Geological Survey and Ordnance Survey.

BPD claims to have amassed over 150 different datasets, containing more than three hundred million points of information which are accessible in 60 seconds on average, dropping the resulting reports directly into a client's account or email inbox.

Output: A software company is offering an automated system for creating property reports to speed up the conveyancing process. Big Property Data, based in Manchester, is using data from 15 major organisations including the Land Registry, the British Geological Survey and Ordnance Survey to run the service. Using a total of 150 datasets, the system will generate reports in an average of 60 seconds, instead of the day or more usually taken to compile the searches manually.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Shortlist Media decides against moving to first-price auctions
 Shortlist Media, which publishes weekly, free city magazines Stylist and ShortList, has gone cold on the idea of moving to first-price auctions after talking at length to the buy side of the market.

The publisher planned to introduce first-price auction capabilities to its ad tech stack, which it started rebuilding about four months ago. The publisher approached its top 30 ad agency buyers to ask if they were interested in moving to first-price auction-based bidding. But of those 30, only two were willing to bid in first-price auctions, according to David Hayter, programmatic director of Shortlist Media. Reasons for buyer reluctance: the operational headache of having to switch from the second-price method that’s been used for years. Changing to first-price would mean they’d need to reassess overall campaign strategy.

“Some buyers were telling us that when they came across first auction, they were just turning those publishers and exchanges off,” he said.

Instead, Shortlist Media is betting on a different method, which is more of a middle ground between first- and second-price auctions. This model would involve exchanges pushing their first-price options into the wrapper where the auction occurs, then allowing the bid to close on the second price. For example, if two separate exchanges passed first-price bids of £8.50 ($11.22) and £10 ($13.20) into the wrapper, the winning bid would then close at £8.51 ($11.23). But the initial bids would have been higher than if all were done off second-price.

Shortlist Media is talking to its tech partners about being able to implement this method. Hayter said they predict that using this method will help them gain yield increases of up to 12 percent.

“It’ll be a bit of a leap of faith from exchanges to pass their first prices through, and they’ll have to trust each other to close the auction fairly,” said Hayter. “But it’s more likely than buyers adopting first prices at the moment.”

Hayter said the promise of revenue spikes from the shift to first-price auctions is oversold. In fact, he believes the only reason for a short-term lift would be if buyers aren’t aware they’re bidding in a first-price auction. Once they realize it is not a second-price bidding scenario, they’ll redirect their spend elsewhere, he added.

“You’ll get people who will continue to test it blindly, without talking to the buy side,” said Hayter. “But the legs will fall out of it once someone fully adopts it. They’ll find most of their budgets will be optimized away from them.”

Output: UK publisher Shortlist Media has mothballed its plan to introduce first-price auctions after only two of its top 30 ad buyers gave the notion the green light, according to programmatic director David Hayter. Instead, the company is looking to find a middle ground between first and second auctions, in which first-price options are pushed into the wrapper, and bids close on the second price. "It’ll be a bit of a leap of faith from exchanges to pass their first prices through, and they’ll have to trust each other to close the auction fairly", said Hayter.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK budget to make room for driverless testing and EVs: Report
 The UK doesn't want to sit by the wayside while the US, Japan and other countries streamline the adoption of self-driving cars. The country's finance ministry has revealed that its upcoming budget (due on November 22nd) will include measures intended to spurt the adoption of self-driving and electric cars. There will be rule changes that let automakers test vehicles on public roads without an operator on standby, and a £400 million (about $529 million) fund to help companies establish charging station networks. Officials will also offer £100 million ($132 million) in incentives to lower the cost of buying an EV.

There are a few other tech-related budget measures, such as £160 million ($211 million) for 5G networks, £100 million for computer science teachers, £76 million ($100 million) for skill development and £75 million ($99 million) for the UK's budding AI industry.

The budget contributions may be necessary given the UK's ambitious goals. Finance minister Philip Hammond wants self-driving cars to roam British streets in 3 years -- that's not a lot of lead time when companies like Nissan only recently started conducting public tests. And while EV funding isn't new (that was present in the Spring Budget, for instance), but the additional money could help create the infrastructure needed to keep autonomous vehicles running. There's no guarantee that any of these measures will put the UK ahead of the curve on driverless tech, but it should at least keep the nation from falling behind.

Output: UK Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to announce measures promoting the development of driverless and electric vehicles in this week's budget statement to the House of Commons. The measures are likely to include rule changes allowing manufacturers to test autonomous vehicles on public roads without a backup human driver. £100m ($132m) will be set aside for incentives to buy electric vehicles, while a £400m ($529m) fund will support new charging stations.