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Airbnb will invest $1 million in community-led projects in Africa
 On Tuesday 17 October 2017 Airbnb announced that the company will invest $1 million through to 2020 in an effort to promote and support community-led tourism projects in Africa. The commitment is part of Airbnb’s vision to empower communities through home sharing and to promote people-to-people tourism that benefits local families and their communities.

The announcement was made by Chris Lehane, Airbnb Global Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs, at a press conference in Johannesburg South Africa, together with the Mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, and Hermione Nevill, World Bank Group’ Senior Travel Specialist.

The investments will be put to work in 2018 and will focus on three main areas.

Empowering townships through hosting

As part of Airbnb’s belief that home sharing can support greater economic and social empowerment, Airbnb ran a pilot programme earlier this year, together with local partners, to support training in hospitality and technology for residents from townships across the Western Cape. Given its success, Airbnb will expand the programme, which is especially targeted at women and young people from underserved communities, to 15 more township communities across South Africa and scale the programme to other countries in Africa in 2019.

Promoting sustainable and inclusive tourism through technology

Airbnb’s vision is to use technology to help spread the benefits of tourism, previously kept in the hands of a few, to the many. In May 2018, Airbnb will host the ‘Africa Travel Summit’ and bring together 80 thought leaders from across the Continent, in Cape Town, to share best practices, exchange ideas and co-create a vision for how technology can best be used for inclusive and sustainable tourism growth. Potential attendees, such as governments, tourism boards, development agencies, technology companies, incubators and individuals, can apply to attend the Africa Travel Summit as of today through January 31, 2018. The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) will serve as the Summit’s learning partner and organisations such as The World Bank Group (WBG), The United Nations World Travel Organisation (UNWTO) and The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) will also take part in the event.

Supporting locals and nonprofits through Airbnb travel

As part of Airbnb’s vision to promote people-to-people travel that helps generate new revenue streams for more communities, Airbnb will expand the Airbnb Experiences offer across the Western Cape. This will help more locals to turn their passions into economic opportunities and showcase the best authentic experiences that guests might otherwise miss. Airbnb will particularly focus on increasing Social Impact Experiences – the proceeds of which go directly to a non-profit organization.

Chris Lehane, Global Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs for Airbnb, speaking on the commitment said, “Africa is home to some of the most welcoming communities and breathtaking landscapes on earth. By leveraging technology to boost people-to-people tourism in Africa, we can help build a new economic engine for local families and their communities, while helping more guests enjoy magical travel experiences through the eyes of locals. Airbnb travel is already delivering significant economic benefits for Africa and today’s investment will help kickstart new benefits for more people across Africa.”

Hermione Nevill, Senior Travel Specialist at the World Bank Group, said ‘’Tourism in Africa is expected to continue its rapid growth. It is vital to ensure this growth occurs sustainably and drives poverty reduction across the continent. It is encouraging to see travel technology platforms such as Airbnb investing in Africa, and piloting more inclusive forms of tourism growth.’’

By Dean Workman

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Output: Airbnb will invest $1m over the next three years in community tourism projects in Africa, according to Chris Lehane, Airbnb's global head of public policy and public affairs. Beginning in 2018, Airbnb will expand its hospitality and technology programme into 15 townships across South Africa, and will broaden its Airbnb Experiences across the Western Cape. In addition, Lehane said the firm would help spread the benefits of tourism through the use of technology. In May 2018, Airbnb is set to host the Africa Travel Summit in Cape Town.


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Microsoft announces cloud partnership with Symantec
 Dive Brief:

Microsoft announced its cloud partnership with cybersecurity provider Symantec to bring its Norton products to more than 50 million international consumers, according to a company announcement on Monday.

Symantec is working towards hybrid cloud strategies and enlisting Microsoft's Azure cloud is meant to reduce Symantec's overall operational expenses. Thus far the security software provider has migrated 105 "critical consumer digital safety capabilities" to Azure. It has also set up real-time reports on finances, operations and adoption-related security.

Symantec will eventually move its e-commerce system to the Azure cloud to ease the purchase of Norton products online. There are also plans to implement Azure Container Services, ML and PaaS for Symantec's entire IT strategy and operations.

Dive Insight:

Microsoft is more than familiar provider for the enterprise and a major name adopting its technology is a notable feat. Symantec, known for its security software, has entrusted Microsoft in securing its operational and workload data.

As the second leading global cloud providers, Microsoft is pushing to be the place for enterprises' IT solutions. Last month Microsoft announced a slew of new features at Ignite including hybrid cloud offerings to ease migration efforts. Cloud-based security protocols were added to its platform including a reduction in workload management and anti-phishing solutions for Office 365.

Symantec is aware of the changing landscape of cybersecurity and the aggressive approaches needed to stay relevant and secure. In the midst of its security and reputational reinvention, Symantec's partnership with Microsoft is a clear feather in Azure's cap.

Output: Microsoft has announced a partnership between its Azure cloud network and cybersecurity provider Symantec. Under the deal, Symantec's Norton products will be made available to more than 50 million customers worldwide, and the company will also migrate its payment systems to Azure to make purchasing of its products easier. Microsoft is seeking to enhance its role as a provider of cloud services to businesses, and recently unveiled a range of new cloud-related features.


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Redrow Prime minister to demand that developers build on land they own
 Theresa May will today demand that developers build homes on the land they own amid figures showing the ten biggest companies are sitting on more than 400,000 unused plots.

The Prime Minister will chair a summit with housebuilders at Downing Street to challenge them to construct more properties.

She is expected to raise the controversial practice of ‘landbanking’, which is blamed for hindering housebuilding as private companies sit on plots that have been granted planning permission.

A Government source said Mrs May would be ‘laying down a challenge’ to developers over the issue in a ‘robust but constructive way’.

Theresa May will today demand that developers build homes on the land they own amid figures showing the ten biggest companies are sitting on more than 400,000 unused plots

She will hold discussions on how to tackle the housing crisis with developers, councils and housing associations.

According to recent figures, the ten biggest developers have more than 400,000 plots earmarked for development, according to ousing charity Shelter.

Property developers are accused of sitting on the land while it rises in value before building on it.

But the House Building Federation, which represents the industry, said housebuilders do not make money from landbanking.

The Prime Minister has put housing at the centre of her strategy to win over the younger generation, who are struggling to get on to the housing ladder.

At her conference speech this year, she vowed to fix the ‘broken housing market’ by building more houses, ensuring councils release land and increasing investment in the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.

She also said she would give councils the powers to ensure developers ‘actually build homes once they’re given planning permission to do so’.

Today’s summit will also look at skill shortages in the construction industry and consider whether wider reforms of the planning system are needed.

Companies Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Group, Bellway, Redrow, Bovis, Berkeley Group, Galliford Try, Crest Nicholson and Countryside had a total of 404,040 plots in their current land bank, made up of land which has planning permission for housing or is close to getting it, according to Shelter.

This represents more than six years’ worth of housebuilding at their current build rate, the charity said.

It also estimated that the companies have 481,910 plots in their strategic landbank - land held by them and other organisations in the expectation they will get planning permission.

Companies Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Group, Bellway, Redrow, Bovis, Berkeley Group, Galliford Try, Crest Nicholson and Countryside had a total of 404,040 plots in their current land bank

All the FTSE 100-listed major housebuilders have increased their land bank stock on last year, according to their latest financial reports.

The last study by the Local Government Association (LGA) found there were nearly 500,000 plots in Britain which had planning permission but had not been built on.

Steve Turner, of the Home Builders Federation, denied that housebuilders didn’t make money from sitting on land.

‘Housebuilders do not make money from landbanking unnecessarily. Premises that are being landbanked are at various stages in the planning process,’ he said.

‘The planning process is extremely complex and in many cases it can take three to four years to get a sight to the point where builders can actually build.

‘As the industry looks to increase output, it needs a supply of housing. Builders do not make money from sitting on land.’

Output: The prime minister, Theresa May, will request that developers construct homes on the land they own after data showed that the 10 largest house builders have over 400,000 untouched plots of land. May is hosting a summit for house builders and is expected to ask them to stop “landbanking”, or not developing plots of land that have already been granted planning permission. May is expected to discuss the housing crisis with developers, housing associations and council representatives, and has said she plans to fix the “broken” housing market by constructing more houses, releasing land and increasing support for the Help to Buy Scheme.


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Natural solutions could cut carbon as much as ending oil use

Planting forests and other activities that harness the power of nature could play a major role in limiting global warming under the 2015 Paris agreement, an international study showed on Monday.

Natural climate solutions, also including protection of carbon-storing peatlands and better management of soils and grasslands, could account for 37% of all actions needed by 2030 under the 195-nation Paris plan, it said.

Combined, the suggested “regreening of the planet” would be equivalent to halting all burning of oil worldwide, it said.

“Better stewardship of the land could have a bigger role in fighting climate change than previously thought,” the international team of scientists said of findings published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The estimates for nature’s potential, led by planting forests, were up to 30% higher than those envisaged by a UN panel of climate scientists in a 2014 report, it said.

Trees soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide as they grow and release it when they burn or rot. That makes forests, from the Amazon to Siberia, vast natural stores of greenhouse gases.

Overall, better management of nature could avert 11.3bn tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year by 2030, the study said, equivalent to China’s current carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use.

The Paris climate agreement, weakened by US president Donald Trump’s decision in June to pull out, seeks to limit a rise in global temperature to “well below” 2C above pre-industrial times.

Current government pledges to cut emissions are too weak to achieve the 2C goal, meant to avert more droughts, more powerful storms, downpours and heat waves.

“Fortunately, this research shows we have a huge opportunity to reshape our food and land use systems,” Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, said in a statement of Monday’s findings.

Climate change could jeopardise production of crops such as corn, wheat, rice and soy even as a rising global population will raise demand, he said.

The study said that some of the measures would cost $10 a tonne or less to avert a tonne of carbon dioxide, with others up to $100 a tonne to qualify as “cost-effective” by 2030.

“If we are serious about climate change, then we are going to have to get serious about investing in nature,” said Mark Tercek, chief executive officer of The Nature Conservancy, which led the study.

Output: Natural climate solutions, including planting forests, protecting carbon-storing peatlands and soil and grassland management, could account for 37% of all actions required by 2030 under the Paris Climate Accord, according to an international study. The research claims the combined effect of the “regreening of the planet” would be equivalent to ending all oil burning across the globe, and that nature management could avert the emission of 11.3 billion tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030. The estimates for the potential of such activities were up to 30% higher than those envisaged by a United Nations group of climate scientists in 2014.


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‘Tens of thousands’ living in slavery in UK
 The number of people living in slavery in the UK is likely to be considerably higher than the current estimate of 13,000, according to the independent anti-trafficking commissioner, Kevin Hyland, who has claimed that the “true number is in the tens of thousands”.

Speaking to the Guardian, Hyland said that a better understanding of the real scale of slavery in the UK must become an “absolute priority” for government, if there was a chance of reaching as many potential victims as possible.

“The 13,000 figure is based on old intelligence and we’ve come a long way since then in terms of our understanding of the real scale of the problem we’re facing,” he said. “We know now that slavery here in the UK is far more prevalent than we have ever realised, and building a better response needs to be an absolute priority both domestically and globally.”

The anti-slavery commissioner said that victims are currently being failed by the national referral mechanism (NRM), which was introduced in 2009 to identify cases of slavery and trafficking.

“The NRM is a system designed to deal with hundreds not thousands of victims and needs to be more flexible and accountable,” said Hyland. “At the moment all of the emphasis is on identification but victim support must be at the heart of this process if we are to get people to trust us in coming forward and reporting these crimes.”

However, speaking after the publication on Monday of his annual anti-slavery report (pdf), Hyland pointed out that real progress has been made in tackling slavery crimes. The UK recorded 2,255 modern slavery offences across England and Wales last year, a 159% increase from the previous year.

Hyland – who formerly headed the Metropolitan police’s human trafficking unit and criticised the UK police’s poor efforts to report modern slavery offences last year – was “particularly pleased” by Northern Ireland’s efforts to combat slavery, which has passed on all slavery offences to the referral mechanism for the second year running.

The Met alone this year recorded more than double the number of offences of the previous year, amounting to nearly 500 crimes of modern slavery, the highest figure by far in any police force in the UK.

West Midlands recorded the second highest number of offences this year (215), followed by Kent and Essex (179), West Yorkshire (147) and Greater Manchester (139).

Detective chief inspector Phil Brewer of the Met’s modern slavery and kidnap unit said the increase in offences and referrals was down to clearer pathways for victims to seek help and protection; greater awareness among officers, as well as the public, at recognising potential victims; and better cooperation between agencies at referring potential leads.

More than half of all suspected victims referred to the national mechanism in 2016 were from Albania, Vietnam, the UK, Nigeria and China. The majority of child trafficking victims identified were British citizens. This week, the Church of England is also mobilising its parishes to be the “eyes and ears” of local communities to identify signs of modern slavery and to support its victims in an initiative backed by the prime minister and archbishop of Canterbury.

The three-year project, launched at Lambeth Palace on Tuesday, is called the Clewer Initiative after an order of Anglican nuns funding the project: they were founded in the 19th century to help vulnerable young women.

Ten C of E dioceses have signed up to the initiative, with a further 14 expected to participate by the end of the year. It is hoped that all 42 dioceses will take part. The project will provide training and information on how to spot signs of slavery and victims of labour exploitation in areas including construction and car washing.

Hyland said faith groups had “influence, insight and rare avenues into the community – they are therefore a powerful tool in the fight against modern slavery”.

Output: The number of people in the UK living in slavery is in the tens of thousands, according to the anti-trafficking commissioner. Speaking after the publication of his annual anti-slavery report, Kevin Hyland said that the number was far higher the previous estimate of 13,000. Hyland also said that progress was being made in tackling the issue, with England and Wales seeing a 159% increase in recorded offences last year. This week, the Church of England is launching an initiative, backed by the prime minister and the archbishop of Canterbury, through which parishes aim to identify slavery and support victims.


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Venmo rolls out cashless payments by app at millions of US stores
 PayPal has announced that Venmo users will be able to use the popular mobile app at more than two million US high street retailers.

A big hit with American teens, PayPal believes that Venmo integration at merchants terminals will present new opportunities for retailers to follow the app's social feed, where users share shopping tips with their friends, and tap into the purchasing power of the millennial generation.

In a blog post signalling the move, PayPal COO Bill Ready says: "The investments we’ve made in our platform architecture allow us to enable Venmo as a payment method for millions of PayPal merchants at one time without any additional integration work on the merchant’s part, mirroring the approach we used to successfully launch One Touch."

To avoid confusion at the checkout, PayPal is testing the ability for merchants to offer dynamically-painted payment buttons, which will show Venmo customers a custom dual-branded button that allows selection between PayPal or Venmo payment options.

Says Ready: "Our vision for Venmo is to not only be the go-to app for payments between friends, but also a ubiquitous digital wallet that helps consumers spend wherever and however they want to pay, regardless of device."

Output: More than two million US high street retailers are set to accept Venmo digital payments, in a move mirroring the launch of One Touch by parent PayPal. No "additional integration work" on participating merchants' terminals was needed for the roll-out, PayPal COO Bill Ready said, while tests were being undertaken to allow customers to pay either with Venmo or PayPal, using a choice of "dynamically painted" buttons. "Our vision for Venmo is to not only be the go-to app for payments between friends, but also a ubiquitous digital wallet," Ready said.


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UK government encourages investment in AI
 The U.K. government has just released a thoughtful report on the potential of AI, along with some jolly sensible recommendations for making the most of the profoundly important technology.

The report, coauthored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, concludes that “AI offers massive gains in efficiency and performance to most or all industry sectors, from drug discovery to logistics.”

The technology “can be integrated into existing processes, improving them, scaling them, and reducing their costs, by making or suggesting more accurate decisions through better use of information,” it adds. And this could add a whopping $814 billion to the U.K. economy by 2035.

To benefit from the AI boom, it says, the U.K. should develop “data trusts” so that data can be shared more easily and securely, and it should make research data more accessible to machines. The report also suggests that the U.K. invest heavily in AI education by creating new university and vocational courses, and by creating an AI fellowship program to encourage people from other countries to study in Britain. Here’s an executive summary (pdf) of the document, and here’s the full report (pdf).

It makes a lot of sense to think about the potential economic effects of AI. Governments badly need to be considering the impact of AI and automation on jobs, including the safety risks, and thinking hard about how to realize the technology’s potential to boost economic productivity.

The recommendations of the U.K. report bring to mind the massive commitment China is making in AI (for an in-depth discussion of this, check out our feature “China’s AI Awakening”). Other countries—including the U.S.—would be wise to ramp up their own investments if they don’t want to get left behind by the boom.

Output: The UK government has recommended increasing investment in artificial intelligence (AI), stating that the new technology can offer "massive gains" in the efficiency and performance of most industrial sectors. A report published jointly by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recommends the creation of "data trusts" to enable easier sharing of data, and the creation of new university and vocational courses to strengthen research and development of AI technology and applications.


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Data centre REITs post 30% returns amid surging digital demand
 Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo (Brazzaville) Congo (Kinshasa) Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong, S.A.R., China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau, S.A.R., China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan, China Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu U.S. Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican Venezuela Vietnam Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Output: Real estate investment in the US data storage sector reportedly surged to $18.2bn in the first half of 2017 -- more than double all of last year. That helped spur returns of 30% in the past 12 months on the stock of real estate investment trusts (REITs) that specialise in data centres, compared with 6% for the wider REIT market. Companies in the sector are investing heavily in new facilities, with demand for digital storage being driven by increases in cloud computing, e-commerce and other data-reliant technologies.


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PBoC complete trial of digital currency supply algorithms
 The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is seen in this photo taken on June 12 in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, has completed trial runs on the algorithms needed for digital currency supply, taking it a step closer to addressing the technological challenges associated with digital currencies, according to a top official associated with the project.

Yao Qian, director-general of the Institute of Digital Money at the PBOC, said China's central bank has successfully designed a prototype that can regulate the supply of its future digital fiat currency.

The successful simulation of money supply paves the way for the central bank to become the future sole regulator and policymaker governing the value of digital fiat currency, said Yao.

Digital fiat currencies are the digital forms of a sovereign currency that is backed by the central bank.

Unlike Bitcoin or other digital money issued by the private sector, the digital fiat currency has the same legal status as the Chinese yuan, the only fiat currency issued by the People's Bank of China.

There is no timetable for the introduction of the currency, but once introduced, China is likely to become the first country that would deploy a digital fiat currency.

China's central bank has been actively preparing for digital fiat currencies since last year.

Earlier in June, the central bank finished several digital money trials involving fake transactions between it and some of the country's commercial banks.

"China has been at the forefront in digital payment technology development," said Di Gang, a senior engineer of the institute.

"However, it would still be some time before the currency goes public," said Di, adding that, "the central bank is proceeding very cautiously."

Apart from solving the technology challenges, there are a number of other concerns that are yet to be solved such as managing risks and improving efficiency, according to Di.

The government also needs to factor whether the public would use the new currency, he added.

"The central bank might be able to start trials in some developed regions such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province, and see how citizens respond to the digital currency," he said.

The development of a digital currency comes at an opportune time for China, said Yao.

The rapid development of the electronic payment sector and thriving private digital currencies have made it imperative for China's central bank to move quickly in digital finance.

Looking ahead, deploying the digital fiat currency is expected to be smarter and more intelligent compared to the payment providers using existing currencies, such as Alipay, according to Yao.

Output: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has successfully completed a trial of algorithms needed for digital currency supply. China's central bank has designed a prototype that can regulate the money supply, paving the way for PBOC to be the future sole regulator governing the value of digital fiat currency, said Yao Qian, director-general of the Institute of Digital Money at the PBOC. China has no timetable for the introduction of the currency.


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Parliamentary committee to investigate private rented sector
 A British Parliamentary Committee has launched an inquiry into the role of local authorities in dealing with rogue landlords in the Private Rented Sector (PRS).

The Communities and Local Government Committee decided to look at whether councils have enough clout to deal with bad practices in the PRS as more and more people are now renting homes.

The inquiry will also examine barriers to intervention in the PRS, whether landlord licensing schemes are promoting higher quality accommodation and the effectiveness of complaint mechanism for tenants.

‘With a big rise in the number of people renting over the last decade, there are real concerns about the ability of local authorities to protect tenants by tackling bad landlords and practices,’ said the committee chairman, MP Clive Betts.

‘Our inquiry will examine how local authorities can carry out enforcement work to deal with rogue landlords as well as looking at approaches used by councils to provide private rented accommodation in their areas,’ he added.

The PRS has grown from one in 10 households in 2004 to one in five households in 2016 with the under 40s making up 70% of households. The closing date for submissions to the inquiry is Friday 24 November 2017 at midday.

The inquiry follows on from a committee report published in 2013 which highlighted five key areas in which the Government should take action including reviewing and simplifying the legislation covering the sector, giving local authorities the tools they need to enforce the law and raise standards, better regulation of letting agents, a cultural shift towards longer tenancies and a renewed effort to boost housing supply.

Local authorities are set to be granted new powers to seek banning orders against rogue landlords and agents and other changes being introduced by the Government include a ban on letting fees.

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) welcomed the inquiry as a great opportunity to review enforcement in the PRS. ‘With what appears to be a coherent strategy on the regulation of the PRS coming from the Government, it is an ideal time to review what has worked and what hasn’t,’ said chief executive David Cox.

In particular the inquiry will look at whether local authorities have the powers and capacity required to enforce standards and deal with rogue landlords and seek to find out what the main obstacles are to effective intervention in the PRS.

It will also look at how effective landlord licensing schemes are in promoting higher quality accommodation, what approaches local authorities have taken to promote affordable private rented sector accommodation in their areas and the effectiveness of complaint mechanisms for tenants.

Output: The UK communities and local government committee has begun an inquiry into how local authorities deal with rogue landlords in the private rented sector (PRS). The inquiry will focus on whether local authorities have the powers required to enforce high standards, the effectiveness of complaint mechanisms for tenants and what obstacles prevent effective PRS intervention. In 2016, one in five households were in the PRS, with 70% of tenants aged under 40. The deadline for inquiry submissions is noon, 24 November.


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Biotech, pharma shares drop after Trump says ‘drug prices are out of control’
 President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Washington.

President Donald Trump is criticizing high drug prices again, sending health-care stocks lower Monday.

The iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF erased its gains for the day after Trump's comments, which were released around 11:50 a.m. EDT.

iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF intraday chart

Source: FactSet

Pharmaceutical company shares such as Pfizer , Merck and Eli Lilly also dropped slightly after the remarks.

"Prescription drug prices are out of control," Trump said in a Cabinet meeting on Monday. "The drug prices have gone through the roof."

"You look at the same exact drug by the same exact company, made in the same exact box and sold some place else, sometimes it's a fraction of what we pay in this country. Meaning as usual the world is taking advantage of the United States."

Trump said American consumers are paying multiples of what other countries are paying for the same drugs.

"The drug companies frankly are getting away with murder. We want to bring our prices down to what other countries are paying," he added.

This isn't the first time Trump has commented on drug prices. He promised in March he would bring pricing down.

Tweet Link

The iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF is up 27 percent through midday Monday this year compared with the S&P 500's 14 percent return.

Output: President Donald Trump is criticizing high drug prices again, sending health-care stocks lower Monday. The iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF erased its gains for the day after Trump's comments, which were released around 11:50 a.m. EDT.


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Patents for Restasis Are Invalidated, Opening Door to Generics
 A federal judge in Texas invalidated four key patents for the dry-eye treatment Restasis on Monday, dealing a blow to its manufacturer, Allergan, which had sought to protect its patents by transferring them to a Native American tribe.

The ruling, by United States Circuit Judge William C. Bryson of the Eastern District of Texas, does not mean that generic versions of the drug will be available soon, however. Allergan said that it would appeal the decision, and the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved copycat versions of the drug.

Still, the decision was a setback for the company, whose stock dipped more than 5 percent on the news. Restasis is Allergan’s second best-selling product, behind the wrinkle treatment Botox, bringing in nearly $1.5 billion in 2016.

In September, Allergan took the highly unusual step of paying the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in upstate New York to take possession of the patents, which then were leased back to the company. The tactic was a way to protect the company from a patent challenge — separate from the federal court case — that is underway in an administrative proceeding before a unit of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Output: A federal judge in Texas invalidated four key patents for the dry-eye treatment Restasis on Monday, dealing a blow to its manufacturer, Allergan, which had sought to protect its patents by transferring them to a Native American tribe.


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Trump renews attacks on high drug prices
 His remarks echo claims, largely discredited by researchers, that U.S. drug prices are high because other countries pay less for medicines and don’t contribute as much toward research and development.

It’s unclear whether Trump’s renewed criticism of the drug industry signals any forthcoming action. Even though he has repeatedly lashed out at drugmakers, there’s been little indication he will crack down on prices.

A leaked draft of a still-pending executive order on drug prices this summer was favorable to the industry. The White House has also abandoned key pledges to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and expand importation of cheaper medicines from overseas. The administration has also appointed industry insiders to key posts.

Trump tied his harsh comments on drug prices to his broader criticism of Obamacare and his desire to remake the country’s health care system. However, neither the White House nor Congress ever put forward drug pricing reform as part of efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, though Trump sometimes suggested they should be linked.

Trump also attacked the drug industry for contributing “massive amounts of money” to politicians and campaigns. He suggested that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was standing beside him in the Rose Garden, may receive pharmaceutical industry donations.

Trump said he doesn’t need or want industry money, but he also benefited from the sector on the campaign trial and after his election. For instance, U.S. drug giant Pfizer made a $1 million contribution to Trump’s inaugural committee, and Amgen donated $500,000, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

Output: President Donald Trump took two swings at drugmakers over the high cost of medicines on Monday, bringing attention back to an administration priority that he has largely ignored for the past few months.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Cleanup From California Fires Poses Environmental and Health Risks
 SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Dr. Karen Relucio has heard reports of people digging into the ashes of their burned homes in recent days without gloves, wearing only shorts and T-shirts, looking for sentimental items that might have survived California’s horrific wildfires. And as the chief public health officer in Napa County, one of the hardest-hit places, she has used her office as a bully pulpit to urge them to stop, immediately.

“Just think of all the hazardous materials in your house,” she said in an interview. “Your chemicals, your pesticides, propane, gasoline, plastic and paint — it all burns down into the ash. It concentrates in the ash, and it’s toxic,” said Dr. Relucio, who declared a public emergency over the hazardous waste from the fires, as have at least two other counties.

California’s fires are far from out. They have killed at least 41 people and burned about 5,700 structures and over 213,000 acres since they exploded in force on Oct. 8 and 9 — record totals for a state that is used to wildfires. Thousands of firefighters are still at work fighting blazes and tens of thousands of people remain under mandatory evacuation from their homes, though fire officials have expressed cautious optimism about bringing the fires into containment.

But even as the smell of smoke still wafts through this area north of San Francisco, public health officials and environmental cleanup experts are starting to think about the next chapter of the disaster: the huge amount of debris and ash that will be left behind.

Output: Dr. Karen Relucio has heard reports of people digging into the ashes of their burned homes in recent days without gloves, wearing only shorts and T-shirts, looking for sentimental items that might have survived California’s horrific wildfires. And as the chief public health officer in Napa County, one of the hardest-hit places, she has used her office as a bully pulpit to urge them to stop, immediately.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Pearson profit adjustment hints at recovery
 Pearson 's underlying revenues fell 2% in the first nine months of the year, largely as expected, but the educational publisher improved its earnings guidance and promised a £300m share buyback.

As expected, the FTSE 100 group faced declines in the North American market for school and higher education courseware, though sales in US higher education courseware declined by only 1% on an underlying basis, which was on the better half of management's expectations as US digital revenue increased 11% and the division rallied from last year's unprecedented slump.

So while the structural pressures in US higher education are not going away, trading has not been as bad as it could be, so full year operating profits are expected to be in the upper half of the range set at the start of the year.

Adjusted operating profit are now expected to be between £576m and £606m, fine-tuned from the prior £546-606m range, feeding through to an earnings per share range of 51-54p, tightened up from 45.5-52.5p.

Net debt at the end of September had shrunk slightly over the year to £1.31bn from £1.36bn, as the balance sheet benefitted from good cash generation and the sale of a 22% stake in Penguin Random House and the offloading of the Global Education business.

Chief executive, John Fallon said: "We continue to invest in growing market opportunities, gaining share with our digital transformation, and becoming simpler and more efficient. With good cash generation and a strong balance sheet, we are going to return £300m in surplus capital through a share buyback.

"We expect tough market conditions in our biggest business to continue over the next couple of years. We're focused on being the long term winner in digital learning and creating sustainable value for our shareholders."

The digital focus has seen higher education digital courseware revenue grew 11%, with an 89% increase in institution-wide Direct Digital Access contracts signed this year to bring the total to 477, while cutting rental prices eBook titles saw revenues increase more than 20% and a print rental pilot had a "successful start".

Output: Pearson has improved its earnings guidance, despite its underlying revenues falling by 2% in the first three quarters of 2017. The educational publisher promised a £300m ($394m) share buyback, as the North American market for school and higher education software dropped by just 1% on an underlying basis after last year's slump. Adjusted operating profit is now predicted to be between £576m and £606m, up from the previous estimate of between £546m and £606m.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Trump predicts 'long-term fix' for Obamacare by March or April
 “In my opinion, what’s happening is as we meet, Republicans are meeting with Democrats because of what I did with the CSRs, because I cut off the gravy train,” Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “If I didn’t cut the CSRs, they wouldn’t be meeting. They’d be having lunch and enjoying themselves, all right? They’re right now having emergency meetings to get a short-term fix of health care, where premiums don’t have to double and triple every year like they’ve been doing under Obamacare.”

Obamacare, the president declared, “is finished,” “dead” and “gone.” “You shouldn’t even mention” it, he said, arguing that “there is no such thing as Obamacare” anymore and adding that it was a policy that never could have worked.

Trump predicted a short-term bipartisan fix for Obamacare will come “fairly soon,” and he claimed Republicans have the votes to pass the health care reform that has eluded them for the past nine months.

“Soon as we have the next reconciliation, I think we’ll get the vote for health care. I feel very confident of that,” Trump said. “I think we already have the vote for health care. Sadly, the Democrats can’t join us on that, which will be the long-term fix, but I do believe we’ll have a short-term fix because I think the Democrats will be blamed for the mess. This is an Obamacare mess.”

“When the premiums go up, that has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that we had poor health care, delivered poorly, written poorly, approved by the Democrats,” the president continued. “It was called Obamacare. But I think we’ll have a short-term fix, and then we’ll have a long-term fix, and that will take place probably in March or April. We will have a very solid vote. It’ll be probably 100 percent Republican, no Democrats, but most people know that’s gonna be a very good form of health insurance.”

Output: President Donald Trump insisted Monday that Democrats will be blamed for their “Obamacare mess,” despite executive actions he took last week to undercut the law, while also expressing confidence that there will be a "long-term fix" for the law by March or April.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Trump said to want bipartisan Senate Obamacare deal
 Alexander, the chairman of the Senate health Committee, has been working with ranking Democrat Patty Murray for weeks on an Obamacare stabilization bill with similar parameters. But the talks had stalled over how to define state flexibility: Republicans want to let states modify their health systems under Obamacare, and Democrats are wary of anything that could unwind any of the consumer protections in the law.

The discussions sped up over the weekend after the White House on Oct. 12 said Obamacare’s cost-sharing reduction payments would end as soon as next week, according to Republican and Democratic sources. The cost-sharing program, which reimburses insurers to help low-income people pay out-of-pocket health costs, was the centerpiece of a 2014 lawsuit by House Republicans that contended the payments were illegal because they had not been authorized by Congress.

Alexander wants to craft a deal that has the support of a “significant number of Republicans and Democrats.” His goal is to hand the legislation off to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Alexander said Monday he wants to pass a bill as soon as possible so that consumers could see premium relief in 2018.

It’s unlikely that such a bill would pass on its own, particularly if it is poised to get more Democratic support than Republican votes. Democrats have already suggested attaching it to a larger bill, or even folding it into a year-end spending deal, but some worry that would come too late to have an effect on 2018 rates.

A White House official stressed the effort would have to deliver changes to the health law.

“We are willing to work with Congress to reach a legislative solution,” a White House spokesman said. “We will not provide bailouts to insurance companies until we provide the American people with relief from the Obamacare disaster.”

Alexander said he won’t agree to a deal that lacks expanded flexibility for states because he wouldn’t be able to get significant support from other Republicans.

Senate Republicans on Monday said they are open to seeing what Alexander and Murray can come up with.

“I’ve been encouraging Sen. Alexander to work with Sen. Murray all the way throughout the process, but there absolutely has to be some give on the part of the Democrats — the flexibility we need at the state level to lower the cost of premiums for families,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he wants to “see some reforms” in a bill.

There is more skepticism about a bipartisan Obamacare deal in the House, where Republicans were able to pass an Obamacare repeal bill only to see the Senate fail at the task.

Alexander and Murray have been discussing a deal since the summer. But Trump on Monday suggested that lawmakers were holding “emergency meetings” on a bipartisan bill because of him.

“Republican are meeting with Democrats because of what I did with the CSRs — because I cut off the gravy train,” Trump told reporters.

Output: President Donald Trump urged Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander to seek out an Obamacare deal with Democrats — encouragement that might help sway Republicans who are skeptical of a bipartisan agreement.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Family members play important role in managing chronic illness
 Family members often play an important role in managing chronic illnesses, and a family approach may produce more effective, long-term benefits for the patient, according to a Penn State researcher.

Lynn Martire, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State and affiliate of the Center for Healthy Aging, says family intervention approaches—such as working together to make dietary changes—can be an effective strategy for improving chronic illness management.

"For some family groups, setting goals together for making lifestyle changes such as healthier eating habits and regular exercise, helps patients to stay on track and may benefit family members as well," she said.

Martire said this approach could have positive implications on health care costs as well as the treatment of patients.

"The vast majority of health care spending is for treatment of chronic health problems in children and adults. Self-management of chronic illness can reduce these health care costs, and close family members such as a parent or the spouse play an important role in helping patients to manage their illness," Martire said. "Therefore, psychological or behavioral treatments that target the patient-family member dyad may decrease health care costs or have more long-lasting effects than treatments that target only the patient."

Martire is co-author of "Close Relationships and the Management of Chronic Illness: Associations and Interventions," a paper that appears in the September issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the American Psychological Association. Vicki Helgeson, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, is co-author of the paper.

According to the authors, patients and family members can work together to monitor patients' illness symptoms, keep medical appointments, and help the patient stick to medication regimens as a strategy for chronic illness management. "A key feature of these programs is improving communication around health issues and identifying obstacles to good self-management," Martire said.

The use of technology to maintain behavior change may also be a promising approach, Martire said. Some treatment programs require frequent travel on the part of patients and families, which limits their accessibility. Technology-supported approaches such as web- or mobile phone-based programs could reach a broader population of patients and family members.

Increasing internet usage across broad segments of the U.S. population offers an especially appealing method for delivering programs to large numbers of patients and families at low cost. Moreover, web-based interventions for health and illness management could be modified for dyads, she said.

"There is certainly more to learn about the influence of family on patient illness management," Martire said. "However, it is not too soon to develop theory-based interventions that aim to change specific health-related behaviors of family members to see if patients' illness management improves."

Output: Family members often play an important role in managing chronic illnesses, and a family approach may produce more effective, long-term benefits for the patient, according to a Penn State researcher.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
The fight against senior scams
 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might be best known for its efforts to combat obesity, or Zika, or the H1N1 flu virus. But last year, it drew new attention to a hazard that doesn’t sound like a disease at all.

The hazard is “senior financial abuse,” meaning the theft of older people’s resources by someone they trust. Alarmed by the growing cost of the problem and the lack of a clear strategy to combat it, the CDC included in a first-of-its-kind report a definition for what constitutes the financial exploitation of old people. It includes fraud, breach of personal trust, poor investment advice, or improper use of power of attorney.

Defining the problem is an important step that the agency hopes will make senior financial abuse more measurable and preventable. No complete numbers exist, but it’s safe to say financial abuse costs older Americans billions of dollars annually. In New York alone, the state estimated its seniors lost as much as $1.5 billion over 12 months from misappropriation of funds. A 2016 survey from the Investor Protection Trust said almost 1-in-5 seniors, some 7 million Americans, report that they have been victims of exploitation. Most cases don’t come to the attention of authorities, so experts believe the actual number could be a lot higher.

In one sense, the CDC move simply added a new a layer of protection to its monitoring of the elderly, the same way it tries to track physical harm and neglect. But in targeting financial abuse, it also was shining a light on a big and growing problem: An increasing quantity of American assets are held by elderly people, who are more vulnerable to being exploited.

Rapidly evolving technology, decreased cognitive capacity and social isolation make older people especially vulnerable to being scammed. And their assets are becoming a bigger and bigger honeypot. The median wealth of families headed by someone at least 62 years of age rose 40 percent from 1989 to 2013, according to a working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. (During the same period, the median wealth of families headed by someone between ages 40 and 61 dropped 31 percent.)

The growing alarm over financial abuse, however, is colliding with the Trump administration’s push to ease regulations on the banking industry and loosen consumer protections, both of which could disproportionately affect older Americans. In August, the administration proposed to delay key parts of an Obama-era rule that requires financial brokers to put their customers’ interests ahead of their own compensation when offering retirement advice.

In Congress, Republicans are seeking to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has an office dedicated to older Americans. Legislation has stalled that would encourage financial professionals to report suspected senior fraud. And lawmakers have even failed to fund a safeguard for seniors that’s already on the books: the Elder Justice Act, enacted as part of Obamacare in 2010. As a result, “the federal government has not substantially developed and expanded its role in addressing the prevention, detection and treatment of elder abuse,” the Congressional Research Service said in a January report.

With Washington relaxing its protections, states have begun taking matters into their own hands—including several senior-heavy Republican states led by those that were among Donald Trump’s biggest backers in 2016. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota and Texas have all passed legislation protecting seniors from financial abuse. Others are supporting former President Barack Obama’s so-called fiduciary duty rule guiding investment advice for retirement savers, drawing the ire of big financial firms. America appears to be headed toward a conflict over just what kinds of protections older people should enjoy — and who is supposed to protect them.

THE CDC MOVE follows the work of Robert Roush, a doctor who runs the Texas Consortium of Geriatrics Education Center in Houston. After reading about how the parents of a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman were pestered by aggressive financial brokers, Roush in 2009 started training medical professionals to screen for financial abuse in older patients.

It might seem far afield for a doctor, but he had found that financial woes could have a powerful effect on people’s health. When older people lose so much money that they have to choose between health care costs and routine living expenses, he said, “it becomes a clinical issue."

The SEC helped connect Roush to a little-known group of state-level financial-sector watchdogs, the North American Securities Administrators Association, and he began working with them on the issue. Now, 33 states have teamed up with him in his education program, and the NASAA is lobbying states and Congress to adopt legislation protecting seniors from financial abuse. The group has drafted model legislation requiring financial professionals to report suspected financial abuse of seniors to both state securities regulators and adult protective services. It also gives professionals authority to temporarily delay disbursement of money in instances where they suspect misconduct.

A woman sits in her dining room as mail stacks up on her kitchen stool. Isolation can make seniors especially susceptible to financial fraud. | Getty

Their goal is to put the ball in the court of the financial industry, so brokers, as well as banks and credit unions, learn to watch for the signs an older customer is being taken advantage of. (Roush is also pleased with the CDC effort, though he considers it only a first step: “It is just like when we first started screening for cancer," he said. "The more you look for cancer, the more cancers you find.")

Oversight from government watchdogs is important because financial abuse is often carried out by someone seniors trust. Thomas Clement of Foley, Alabama, lost more than a half-million dollars on an investment before he recognized it as a scam. In 2005, at the age of 65, Clement started investing in a tire-recycling business with a man he met on a trip to Australia. Four years and $650,000 later, when he tried to collect returns he was owed, Clement realized he had become a victim.

He reported his case to the Alabama Securities Commission and was able to recoup about $500,000. The people he gave money to eventually were indicted for fraud.

But his case is rare in one respect: Researchers say elderly victims usually do not report their own potential financial exploitation, making them even more alluring targets. They may not detect it; they may be embarrassed to admit it, or they might want to shield their children and caregivers from law enforcement when a crime has been committed.

“I was reluctant to do that,” Clement admits about reporting his own abuse.

In addition, state regulators and adult protective services agencies are often operating with insufficient funding, which limits the scope of what they can do, said Corey Carlisle, executive director of the ABA Foundation, affiliated with the American Bankers Association.

“There just aren’t enough resources to combat this problem,” he said.

MODERN TECHNOLOGY OFFERS new and insidious ways for abuse to occur—though it can also offer tools to detect it. Judith Shaw, Maine’s securities administrator, said many people 80 or older don’t manage their finances electronically and are vulnerable to people who offer to help them set up online accounts. The elderly individuals go to their banks, she said, “only to find that their accounts have been drained.”

Regulators trying to solve the problem see a handful of promising approaches. One is proactive: The Texas State Securities Board, for example, is trying to address the dangers posed by online scammers by implementing a “market surveillance program” where employees look for scams, such as investment opportunities advertised through Craigslist. The agency also does undercover investigations.

“That’s what law enforcement and regulators need to be doing, because the senior population is growing, but [agencies] are not getting many more resources,” said Joe Rotunda, director of enforcement at the state securities board. “They have to be innovative.”

Another tactic is data analysis. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, issued an advisory in 2011, urging financial institutions to flag potential abuse in a suspicious activity report, a database that’s made available to law enforcement. That type of monitoring is typically used to combat financial crimes like money laundering or terrorism financing, but can be a key tool for combating exploitation of seniors as well.

Last month, FinCEN and the CFPB put out a joint memo to emphasize that financial institutions and law enforcement need to work together to combat elder exploitation. “Timely reporting of suspicious activity, regardless of whether reporting is mandatory or voluntary under state or federal law, is critical in engaging entities that may have complementary information on the victim or the perpetrator from other sources and may be well positioned to collaborate on investigations,” they said.

Banks, credit unions and brokers have plenty of clues that something might be going wrong and should adjust their fraud-monitoring systems to detect those signs, said Naomi Karp, a senior policy adviser at the CFPB.

“If a person in their 20s goes to an ATM at 3 a.m., that’s not going to set off any red flags,” Karp said. “But if you know this is an 80-year-old person at an assisted living facility … the alarm should go off.”

Federal bank regulators in 2013 issued guidance assuring the institutions they supervise that they won’t run afoul of privacy laws by reporting suspicious activity related to financial abuse of elderly adults.

Some of this monitoring seems like common sense. But some anti-abuse measures have met with serious friction in Washington—none more so than the "fiduciary rule," a regulation adopted by the Obama administration in April 2016 for brokers who offer retirement investing advice.

LEFT: A woman embraces her father, who was a victim of financial fraud. He goes only by Mr. W. in public, fearful of being targeted for fraud again. RIGHT: Mr. W testifies at a hearing on scams against the elderly before the Senate Special Committee on Aging in 2014. | AP Photos

The product of six years of debate with the financial industry, it would have regulated advisers more like doctors or lawyers, by exposing them to the threat of litigation if they put their own interests ahead of their clients.

The rule was strongly backed by the AARP, which says the fiduciary rule will protect seniors from hidden fees buried in investment products. But financial companies fought hard to stop it and the threat to their sales; amid intense lobbying, Trump signed an executive order in February that asked the Labor Department to review the rule.

But with Washington now on the sidelines, states are plowing ahead with their own such regulations. In June, Connecticut and Nevada passed laws that created statewide fiduciary rules for brokers. Other states are considering similar legislation.

Those are hitting friction too: The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, one of the largest lobbying groups for financial companies, has opposed legislation modeled after NASAA’s proposal in Alabama and Louisiana; it wants the job to fall to Wall Street’s self-regulator, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. A FINRA rule that goes into effect in February will require brokers to stop cash disbursements to a senior if financial abuse is suspected.

“The states probably are going forward because they want to show they are engaged on this issue,” said Lisa Bleier, a managing director at SIFMA. But now with the FINRA rule, she argues, “there is really no need.”

NASAA’s members aren't sure a voluntary industry rule offers seniors the protection they need. Ultimately, as long as seniors are isolated, they’re going to be vulnerable—and given the ambitions of scammers at every level, seniors will likely need more than one layer of protection.

“I grew up in a small town in northern Maine,” said Shaw, the state’s securities administrator. “If my great-grandparents needed something they could turn to my grandparents, or my parents, or my aunts or uncles. Those types of communities are becoming more and more rare.”

“That social isolation contributes to making our population more vulnerable, certainly to scam artists, because they just sit there and answer the phone all day,” she said. “If I had one wish, it would be that we all call our parents at least as frequently as the scam artists do.”

Victoria Guida and Patrick Temple-West are financial services reporters for POLITICO Pro.

Authors:

Output: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might be best known for its efforts to combat obesity, or Zika, or the H1N1 flu virus. But last year, it drew new attention to a hazard that doesn’t sound like a disease at all.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Novartis gene therapy drug treatment may cost $1.5m
 Liz Szabo

Kaiser Health News

The total costs of the country’s first gene therapy will be far higher than many have imagined, reaching $1 million or more per patient, according to leading cancer experts.

The therapy, a leukemia drug from Novartis called Kymriah, was approved in August with an eye-popping sticker price of $475,000 for a one-time treatment.

But that price doesn’t include other essential parts of treatment, such as hospitalizations or the costs of managing side effects, said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, a leukemia specialist and professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who estimates the total cost of care could be $1.5 million.

And Kymriah is just one of 21 similar drugs in development, known as CAR T-cell therapies. The next drug in the pipeline could be approved as soon as November.

Although Kymriah’s price tag has “shattered oncology drug pricing norms,” the drug cost is “just the starting point,” said Leonard Saltz, chief of gastrointestinal oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

For this class of drugs, Saltz advised consumers to “think of the $475,000 as parts, not labor.”

CAR T-cell therapy is expensive because of the unique way that it works. Doctors harvest patients’ immune cells, genetically alter them to rev up their ability to fight cancer, then re-infuse them into patients.

Taking the brakes off the immune system can lead to life-threatening complications that require lengthy hospitalizations and expensive medications, Kantarjian said, which are prescribed in addition to conventional cancer therapy, rather than in place of it.

Keith Eaton, a Seattle oncologist, said he ran up medical bills of $500,000 when he participated in a clinical trial of CAR T cells in 2013, even though all patients in the study received the medication for free. Eaton, who suffered from leukemia, spent nearly two months in the hospital.

Like Eaton, nearly half of patients who receive CAR T cells develop a severe or life-threatening complication called “cytokine storm,” in which the immune system overreacts, causing dangerously high fevers and sudden drops in blood pressure. These patients are typically treated in the intensive care unit. Other serious side effects include stroke-like symptoms and coma.

The cytokine storm felt like “the worst flu of your life,” said Eaton, now 51. His fever spiked so high that a hospital nurse assumed the thermometer was broken. Eaton replied, “It’s not broken. My temperature is too high to register on the thermometer.”

Although Eaton recovered, he wasn’t done with treatment. His doctors recommended a bone-marrow transplant, another harrowing procedure, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Eaton said he feels fortunate to be healthy today; tests show no evidence of leukemia. His insurer paid for almost everything.

More:Revolutionary gene therapy approved for leukemia — at $475,000 price tag

More:'Major advance': Leukemia treatment could be first U.S. gene therapy

Kymriah’s sticker price is especially “outrageous” given its relatively low manufacturing costs, said Walid Gellad, co-director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh.

The gene therapy process used to create Kymriah costs about $15,000, according to a 2012 presentation by Carl June, who pioneered CAR T-cell research at the University of Pennsylvania. June could not be reached for comment.

To quell unrest about price, Novartis has offered patients and insurers a new twist on the money-back guarantee.

Novartis will charge for the drug only if patients go into remission within one month of treatment. In a key clinical trial, 83% of the children and young adults treated with Kymriah went into remission within three months. Novartis calls the plan “outcomes-based pricing.”

Novartis is “working through the specific details” of how the pricing plan will affect the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which pays for care for many cancer patients, company spokeswoman Julie Masow said. “There are many hurdles” to this type of pricing plan, but “Novartis is committed to making this happen,” she said.

Masow said Kymriah’s manufacturing costs are much higher than $15,000, although she didn’t cite a specific dollar amount. She noted that Novartis has invested heavily in the technology, designing “an innovative manufacturing facility and process specifically for cellular therapies.”

As for Kymriah-related hospital and medication charges, “costs will vary from patient to patient and treatment center to treatment center, based on the level of care each patient requires,” Masow said. “Kymriah is a one-time treatment that has shown remarkable early, deep and durable responses in these children who are very sick and often out of options.”

Some doctors said Kymriah, which could be used by about 600 patients a year, offers an incalculable benefit for desperately ill young people. Kymriah is approved for children and young adults with a type of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and already have been treated with at least two other cancer therapies.

“A kid’s life is priceless,” said Michelle Hermiston, director of pediatric immunotherapy at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco. “Any given kid has the potential to make financial impacts over a lifetime that far outweigh the cost of their cure. From this perspective, every child in my mind deserves the best curative therapy we can offer.”

Other cancer doctors say the Novartis plan is no bargain.

About 36% of patients who go into remission with Kymriah relapse within one year, said Vinay Prasad, an assistant professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. Many of these patients will need additional treatment, said Prasad, who wrote a recent editorial about Kymriah’s price in Nature.

“If you’ve paid half a million dollars for drugs and half a million dollars for care, and a year later your cancer is back, is that a good deal?” asked Saltz, who co-wrote a recent editorial on Kymriah’s price in JAMA.

Steve Miller, chief medical officer for Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, said it would be more fair to judge Kymriah’s success after six months of treatment, rather than one month.

Prasad goes even further. He said Novartis should issue refunds for any patient whose leukemia relapses within three years.

A consumer advocate group called Patients for Affordable Drugs also has said that Kymriah costs too much, given that the federal government spent more than $200 million over two decades to support the basic research into CAR T-cell therapy, long before Novartis bought the rights.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, wrote a letter to the Medicare program’s director last month asking for details on how the Novartis payment deal will work.

“As Big Pharma continues to put price gouging before patient access, companies will point more and more proudly at their pricing agreements,” Doggett wrote. “But taxpayers deserve to know more about how these agreements will work — whether they will actually save the government money, defray these massive costs and ensure that they can access lifesaving medications.”

Kaiser Health News, a non-profit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Output: Leukaemia patients taking Kymriah, a gene therapy drug developed by Novartis, could face total costs of $1.5m. The drug costs around $15,000 to manufacture. The one-time treatment costs $475,000, but dealing with side-effects incurs additional charges, said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian. More than one-third of Kymriah users relapse within a year. Novartis said it is working on an "outcomes-based pricing" plan, and won't charge for the drug if patients go into remission within the first month of treatment.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Australian fintech firms pitching to create tokenised AUD
 Last month, a consortium of Japanese banks — with the backing of that country's central bank and regulators — was reported to be working on a digital currency to launch in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The new J-Coin would be exchanged at a one-to-one rate to the Japanese yen, and is being created to push a population still very much in love with coins and notes towards a cashless society.

One of the Australian start-ups that put its case forward, Sydney's FlashFX, is the first company in the country to be granted a financial services licence to move money internationally using blockchain.

For this purpose, the business now issues its own digital representation of the Australian dollar — but said an official cryptocurrency would have in-built trust that no privately launched digital dollar could ever match.

"A government-endorsed digital Australian dollar has the potential to lead to increased trust and certainty, particularly to grow the digital currency marketplace," said FlashFX chief enabling officer Nicolas Steiger.

"It would also stop multiple private parties creating a confusing array of 'Australian dollars' with no official backing."

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For similar purposes, a group of big-name banks are developing a blockchain currency to settle international payments between themselves. The Utility Settlement Coin project, which is aiming to go live by the end of next year, was founded by UBS, BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, Santander, NEX and blockchain start-up Clearmatics, with Barclays, CIBC, Credit Suisse, HSBC, MUFG and State Street joining the action in August.

Another start-up that presented its use-case to the RBA, AgriDigital, uses blockchain to facilitate grain transactions between farmers and buyers. But despite the sophisticated technology, payments still happen outside of the blockchain, using physical money because of the volatility and lack of trust in existing cryptocurrencies among its users.

'Strong and globally competitive'

"A centrally issued Digital Australian Dollar, backed by fiat [physical] currency, would enable payments to be made between participants in real time and 24/7 along the supply chain," said AgriDigital co-founder Emma Weston.

"It would also put the Australian agricultural technology industry in a strong and globally competitive position."

The third fintech that pleaded the case for the DAD, Othera, uses blockchain to facilitate digital loan contracts, manage their risk and tokenise the repayment cashflow.

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Othera chief executive John Pellew said his company would like to use an official digital Australia dollar to tie payments to the contract blockchain for automated "immutable record keeping and full audit trail".

"Currently to make our technology work we are forced to integrate back into the legacy payment rails of the banking system in order to facilitate and process repayments from borrowers and then forward payments on to the token holders," he said.

"This is a slow and expensive process and does not utilise the built-in capability of the blockchain smart contracts to auto process these repayments… A DAD would unlock the full potential of our blockchain and smart contract technology."

The Australian government has not publicly mentioned the idea of creating an Australia dollar cryptocurrency, but it has this year made legislative changes to make digital money ownership less burdensome and more mainstream.

In the May budget, Treasurer Scott Morrison removed the GST on purchases of cryptocurrency, bringing it in line with traditional currencies. Previously, a digital currency user paid GST twice – first on the purchase of the cryptocurrency, then a second time when spending it on goods and services.

According to FinTech Australia, Australia then became one of just "a handful" of nations to remove such a double tax from digital currencies.

Then in August, the federal government introduced legislation that will require cryptocurrency exchange businesses be compliant with money laundering and terrorism financing controls. That bill has been referred to the senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Business Insider Australia is the media partner for Intersekt, the annual FinTech Australia festival discussing leadership and innovation in the nation's financial technology sector. It begins on October 27 in Melbourne, culminating in the Collab/Collide Summit on November 2 and 3. The Australian digital dollar will be discussed on Blockchain Day on November 1 at the Intersekt fintech festival in Melbourne, as well as at the headline Collab/Collide Summit held on November 2 and 3. You can book tickets at intersektfestival.com.

This story first appeared in Business Insider. Read it here or follow BusinessInsider Australia on Facebook.

BusinessInsider.com.au

Output: A group of fintech firms are seeking to create a government-backed Digital Australian Dollar (DAD). Presenting their case to the Reserve Bank of Australia and the federal treasury, the companies argued that a DAD pegged to the Australian dollar could compete against cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum. The country's government has not publicly mentioned the idea of creating an Australian cryptocurrency, but has introduced legislative changes to make digital money more mainstream.


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News UK branded-content team uses data to show its ads work
 News UK is taking inspiration from agencies on how to create branded content. In the last year, the publisher’s branded-content arm, Bridge Studio, has worked closely with agencies to build a framework around how it creates content.

Most publishers’ branded-content arms think audience first, rather than through the lens of their own brands. Bridge Studio believes it differentiates itself by overlaying emotion profiles onto the target audience, partly through tools from companies acquired by News UK, like video distribution company Unruly and social news agency Storyful. In the last year, Bridge Studio has started running post-campaign analysis on every campaign to prove the ads work.

Bridge Studio’s revenue has increased each quarter in the last year, with 25 percent of revenue now coming from digital, according to Mark Field, director of Bridge Studio. “That’s more than doubled from the same period last year because our approach is leaning more toward a central idea,” he said. The publisher couldn’t share specific figures.

Over the next few weeks, Bridge Studio is explaining its approach to U.K. agencies to try to show how it can compete in a crowded branded-content arena. It hopes to create more effective work by aligning with the way agencies plan and brief campaigns.

“There’s always been a connection between content and emotion, but we’re connecting that with understanding the user journey,” said Field. “We can bring layers of data together and proprietary tools to direct the travel of the creative. It’s incumbent on us as content teams not just to create content but to show the client how we got there and give them more confidence this idea will work.”

Bridge Studio has access to first-party data from The Sun and The Times of London, data from Unruly’s emotion-tracking tool Pulse, social sentiment data from Storyful, other proprietary tools as well as more easily available data sets like Google Analytics. For a campaign in May for car brand Škoda and Omnicom agency Phd, Bridge Studio identified the important emotions in the target audience were knowledge, pride and inspiration.

It then created The Alternative Rich List, a spin on the Sunday Times’ Rich List, featuring people who were wealthy in non-monetary ways, like a living organ donor. The campaign ran in print, video, online and audio, and because it was published in the Sunday Times’ Rich List, it needed a standard of journalistic integrity, said Field. Post-campaign analysis found a 41 percent uplift in the perception of Škoda as an inspiring brand, according to News UK, and 11 percent increase in purchase consideration.

As demand for branded content has increased, with more brands embedding content in their communications strategies, publishers have spotted additional revenue opportunities and been more vocal about solutions they offer.

When Field joined News UK in November 2016 from Trinity Mirror, his responsibility was to restructure and simplify News UK’s branded-content offering. Last year, three areas of News UK’s commercial team — Method, where commercial journalists worked with advertisers; the campaign management team, consisting of project managers tasked with pricing campaigns; and the creative solutions account management team — all operated separately. Unsurprisingly, branded content lacked a consistent look and tone, and it sometimes led to overpromising on what campaigns it could deliver, said Field. “We were thinking very brand-centric internally first, so perhaps not stretching the creative opportunity.”

Besides print and digital, News UK’s portfolio has expanded to include audio after its acquisition of audio media company Wireless Group in September 2016. Field is also in the process of hiring seven people since last year across editorial and strategic planning, an additional fourth area in Bridge Studio’s team, bringing Bridge Studio’s head count to 42.

Bridge Studio receives roughly 25 briefs a week, up 25 percent from 12 months ago. This could be due to increased demand in the market, but Bridge Studio appears to be winning more business, too: Field said it’s signing more seven-figure campaign deals, including a 12-month campaign with Barclays bank in March 2017. Bridge Studio works with roughly 50 clients a month, including car brand Kia and Pilgrims Cheese, up 10 percent from last year, although this varies by season.

The increased competition in the market has put more emphasis on proving ads work, and the need is growing for more longer-term partnerships and repeat clients. “All media owners say, ‘We want to work further upstream with agencies,'” said Field. “We are getting closer to the strategy and to clients directly, but 98 percent of our work is through media agencies; it’s not for us to disintermediate agencies.”

Field said the industry as a whole must work together to prove branded content’s effectiveness, as it’s common for no one to win the pitch. “Proving the value and worth is what we’re trying to figure out.”

Output: News UK has restructured its branded-content division, Bridge Studio, to provide a more consistent service to agencies and brands. Mark Field, who joined the division as its director last November, has overseen the reorganisation, bringing together a number of separate teams into one. Bridge has adopted a new approach to its branded content, using data on News UK's audiences and other analysis tools to profile the key emotions of target demographics. It now runs post-campaign analysis on all its campaigns, and will be using the findings to prove to clients that its approach works.


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Incumbent insurers trusted more than insurtech firms: Capgemini
 InsurTechs are changing the face of insurance, Capgemini and Efma said, announcing results of a consumer survey last month in which nearly one-third of respondent said they now rely on InsurTechs.

But while the actual figure—31.4 percent of more than 8,000 consumers surveyed worldwide—represents customers who said they rely on InsurTechs either exclusively or in combination with incumbent relationships to access insurance services, other survey results—in particular, an answer to a question about trust—point to the value of incumbent insurers working together with insurers.

Nearly 40 percent of the customers surveyed—39.8 percent to be exact—say they trust their insurers, compared to only 26.3 percent who trust InsurTechs, Capgemini and Efma said in the 2017 World Insurance Report, published in mid-September.

In addition to their customer trust advantage, insurance firms got higher marks for security and fraud protection (according to 45.9 percent of respondents), brand recognition (43.7 percent) and personal interaction (41.6 percent).

InsurTechs, on the other hand, offer better value for the money (34.6 percent) than incumbents, they are better able to integrate social networking with the financial world (32.3 percent) and they provide timely and efficient service (31.8 percent).

In fact, in a statement announcement the report, Capgemini and Efma define InsurTech as “the application of technology to spur savings and efficiency within traditional insurance industry models. “InsurTech explores innovations such as customized policies, social insurance, and using data from mobile devices to dynamically price premiums,” they say.

Given the complementary strengths of InsurTechs and traditional insurers, the two are natural partners, the report authors assert. Jack Dugan, Executive Vice President and Head of Insurance for Capgemini, said, “Increasingly, partnerships are being viewed as a welcome development in the ongoing effort to address the InsurTech movement. InsurTechs can help incumbents overcome roadblocks such as aging systems and paper-based processes. Meanwhile, incumbents can help InsurTechs face newcomer challenges like high customer-acquisition costs and a lack of risk management experience.”

Insurers agree that InsurTechs shouldn’t be viewed as competitors but that there is a solid case for collaboration instead, the report notes, presenting the results of a separate survey of 100 senior executives to support the idea. Of the executives interviewed from insurance firms in 15 markets, a strong majority—75 percent—said that developing InsurTech capabilities would help them better meet customers’ evolving demands. And more than half—52.7 percent—agreed that having InsurTech capabilities would help them quickly design personalized products.

Executives interviewed were also asked to how insurers should prioritize investments in six emerging technologies.

82.8 percent, identified advanced analytics as an important technology, and 85 percent said they felt insurers were already investing in analytics

as an important technology, and 85 percent said they felt insurers were already investing in analytics 72.4 percent selected connected devices (connected ecosystems and wearables). But here, only half said insurers are already investing in connected systems, with about 36.4 percent expecting the insurance industry to invest in this type of technology in the next one-to-three years.

(connected ecosystems and wearables). But here, only half said insurers are already investing in connected systems, with about 36.4 percent expecting the insurance industry to invest in this type of technology in the next one-to-three years. 69 percent put artificial intelligence on their lists of important emerging technologies, but here again, executives believed industry investments are still to come. Only 36.4 percent said the insurance industry is already investing in AI, while another 45.5 percent said investments will happen in the next three years.

As for the other technologies that Capgemini and Efma asked about, the executives estimated that 79 percent of insurers are already investing in robotic process automation, with just over 63 percent identifying RPA as important.

Blockchain and drones were cited as the least important of the six emerging technologies.

Output: While almost a third of consumers are making use of insurtech services, traditional insurers are still trusted more than start-ups, according to a survey from Capgemini. Almost 40% of consumers trust insurance companies, compared to just 26% trusting insurtech firms, according to the survey. Established insurers also scored higher than insurtech companies when it came to dealing with issues such as fraud protection.


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Insurance license delays Yungfeng's acquisition of MassMutual
 Yunfeng says its YouYu Robo Advisor has so far signed partnerships with 15 asset managers including investment giants BlackRock, Pimco and AXA

Output: Yungfeng, the financial services firm backed by Alibaba's Jack Ma, will have to wait until at least Q3 2018 to close out its acquisition of MassMutual's Asian arm in a deal worth $1.7bn. While the business has obtained most of the licenses it needs to offer a full suite of financial services, it is still waiting to be granted an insurance license from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission. Yungfeng already offers robo-advice services, and has partnerships with the likes of BlackRock, Pimco and Axa. It plans to offer insurance products following the awarding of the license.


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Advertisers now spend more on online video ads than banner ads
 Advertisers spent a record £14m more on video ads than banner ads for the first time this year, as video advertising grew by 46% to become the fastest-growing ad format in the industry, according to the latest Digital Adspend report by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK and PwC.

Advertisers spent more on video ads than banner ads for the first time this year

In the first half of 2017, advertisers spent £699m on video ads – a 46% year-on-year rise – whilst spend on banner ads increased by just under 2% to £685m.

Video is the fastest-growing ad format and now accounts for 35% of all spend going on display advertising.

The figures show that advertisers are chasing the way that consumers are spending their time online, with Zenith's Online Video Forecasts 2017 predicting Brits will watch 20.3 minutes of online video this year, nearly double the amount from last year. This number rises to as much as one hour a day consuming online video according to eMarketer predictions.

YouGov data claims the time people spend watching short video clips has almost trebled over the last three years (Sept 2014 to Sept 2017): from 51 minutes to 2 hrs 21 minutes per week.

The IAB’s chief executive Jon Mew said: “The time people spend watching online video has grown tremendously over the last few years, so it’s little wonder that video is now the fastest-growing ad format as advertisers look to tap into the changing way people consume content.”

Within video advertising, spend on outstream/social in-feed nearly doubled and is now the most popular format, accounting for 52% of video spend (£363m), overtaking pre-and post-roll ads which account for 44% (£309m).

Dave Counsell, digital trading director, the7stars, said: “There’s no doubt that video is digital’s most important and powerful format. Growth in online consumption, improvements in measurement, quality of placements, targeting and creativity are now available alongside its unrivalled effectiveness. It’s an extremely exciting time to witness the strong results video is providing for advertisers.”

Display advertising as a whole grew 18% to £2 billion, whilst search grew 15% to £2.8 billion and classifieds remained flat at £692m. Thus, overall digital ad spend grew 13.8% to £5.56bn in the first half of 2017.

With half of UK internet time now being spent on smartphones, mobile’s share of digital ad spend has risen from 35% to 43%, or £2.37 billion. Mobile’s year-on-year growth was 38% and now accounts for 57% of all display ad spend, 70% of video spend and 83% of social media spend.

Ad spend on social media sites grew 42% to £1.05 billion, accounting for over half (53%) of the display ad market.

Output: During H1 2017, advertisers spent more on video ads than banner ads for the first time. Video ads claimed £699m ($921m) of spend, a rise of 46% on the same period last year, compared with banner ad spend, which increased by 2% to reach £685m, according to a report by the Internet Advertising Bureau. It revealed overall digital ad spend for the first half of the year rose 13.8% to £5.56bn, and highlighted outstream/social infeed as the most popular form of video ad. Video is growing more quickly than any other format and accounts for 35% of display ad spend.


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US's Eagle Prime beats Japan's Kurata in giant robot fight
 Team U.S.A. toppled Japan at the first-ever giant fighting robot showdown.

American robotics company MegaBots and its Japanese rival, Suidobashi Heavy Industries, fought for technological superiority in a battle that was streamed online Tuesday evening.

In the first round, Suidobashi's Kurata robot effortlessly knocked out an older MegaBots robot with a single punch, giving the Japanese team a decisive edge.

But the main fight, between the Kurata and MegaBots' new multi-million dollar, massive Eagle Prime, ended in favor of the Americans.

Eagle Prime, bigger and heavier than the Kurata, produced a chainsaw that systematically took out the Japanese robot until the match was ended and the winner announced.

The MegaBots team expressed hope for a formal fighting robot league in the future after the match.

Output: US and Japanese robot firms went head to head in a battle of the bots recently streamed online, with the US's Eagle Prime emerging victorious against the Kurata robot. The match, which pitted California's MegaBots  against Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industries, came two years after the gauntlet had been thrown down by the US company. It is hoped the clash will pave the way for a fighting robot league and the creation of a billion-dollar sport. Eagle Prime weighs 11 tonnes, is 16-foot tall and is powered by a 430hp V8 engine.