Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Bats steps up exchanges spat over closing auctions
 Bats Global Markets has hit back at rival exchange operators in the US after they attacked its plans to launch an alternative to closing auctions.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claiming Bats’ proposal could impair price discovery performed by both at closing auctions, fragment the market at close and increase risk.

Bats wrote to the SEC addressing the claims made by its rivals and said the US regulator and other international authorities had granted approval for similar market closing mechanisms to NYSE, Nasdaq and Chi-X.

“[Bats] questions the validity of the NYSE’s and Nasdaq’s concern since both Nasdaq and NYSE Arca, an affiliate of the NYSE, currently conduct closing auctions in securities listed elsewhere on a daily basis,” the letter said.

First announced in May this year, the Bats Markets Close (BMC) was developed following increasing demand from industry participants frustrated by rising closing auction fees on other exchanges.

Closing auction fees have increased between 16% and 60% at NYSE and Nasdaq respectively, as volume executed in those auctions has increased over 70% between 2012 and 2016.

Bats said the BMC process was developed to ‘challenge this dynamic’.

It allows traders to route market-on-close orders to BMC on Bats’ BZX Exchange where they are pre-matched with other market-on-close orders and then executed when the closing price is published.

This method allows market participants to trade at the closing price for a ‘fraction of the cost’.

“Both Nasdaq and NYSE seem to be comfortable with creating duelling closing auctions themselves but they are unwilling to allow for a non-disruptive closing process when it creates competitive pressures on their revenues,” Bats added in its letter to the SEC.

Output: Bats Global Markets has defended its pending market closing product, the Bats Market Close, after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq claimed the proposal could impair the price discovery they perform at closing auctions. Although Nasdaq and NYSE create closing auctions, they are unwilling to allow a non-disruptive closing process that puts competitive pressures on their revenues, Bats said in its letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bats' product allows market participants to route market on-close orders to its BZX Exchange, where they are executed for a "fraction of the cost".


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German broadcasters take on Facebook, Google with unified login
 Broadcasters have become the latest media companies in Germany to challenge the market dominance of tech giants Google, Facebook and Amazon.

Two of the country’s biggest broadcasters, RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, have formed an alliance with an ISP called United Internet to create a unified registration and login service for consumers. The point is to make it easier for people to control what data media and advertising businesses have from them — the rules around which will be much stricter after new European data privacy laws (General Data Protection Regulation) kick in next May. Berlin-based fashion e-commerce giant Zalando has also signed up to join the service.

The founding partners reach a combined 45 million monthly unique users, according to Germany’s online federation of marketers AGOF. Their registered users will be able to create a single ID and use the same details to log in across all four aforementioned sites (and any other company that signs up to be part of the synchronized login), and they can manage all their own settings via a unified data privacy center. That means every time a person visits a site across any of the media company’s online portfolios, they’ll be able to login with the same details or stay logged in.

The consensus among media outlets across Europe is that the new data privacy laws will be advantageous to walled gardens like Amazon, Facebook and Google, but also Apple and Microsoft, which have massive amounts of login data from users across devices. In theory, it’ll be easier for those tech giants to communicate new data-tracking consent requirements than it would any publisher or commerce business that doesn’t have mass logged-in or registered audiences.

“With our alliance, we are adding substantial value for the customer,” said Thomas Ebeling, CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, in a statement announcing the partnership. “At the same time, we are strengthening the German digital market by counterbalancing the monopolistic and unclear algorithms used by U.S. players.”

Mixed history

Publisher alliances have a checkered past, though. In theory, by combining audience data, resources and inventory, premium publishers can better compete for digital ad revenue with the likes of Google and Facebook. But disparate business models and ways of tracking user data, along with internal bureaucracy and external concerns over losing competitive edge have suffocated alliances.

But the German alliance is different from past alliances, at least in theory. For starters, the aim is to create an open standard that any company can use with the added confidence that it is GDPR-compliant. That also means disagreements between partners won’t slow it down. It’ll basically be a self-serve solution that other companies can choose to plug into if they wish but won’t need partners to manage.

“Being composed by the publishers but managed as a separate entity is a really important factor and is what’s usually missing and results in [taped]-together alliances,” said Alessandro De Zanche, head of global product and strategy, data activation at research firm GfK and former News UK exec.

Also, each alliance partner’s data will remain strictly separate, recognizing not every company wants to share their data with everyone, said Valeria Klassen, a member of the alliance’s project team, from RTL Group.

“We won’t create a central data pool. Users will have the total ownership of their data and decide by themselves, which data they want to provide to which partner of the Log-in-Alliance. Therefore, every company will host the provided data separately. That’s why it is so different from other initiatives.” said Klassen. “Every digital service will be able to use the service with the accordant standards, set and developed by the foundation. Companies participating in the alliance will have the opportunity to work on these standards and improve them continuously. It gives an alternative to people who don’t necessarily want Google or Facebook to be tracking their data, an alternative, that is compliant with the GDPR,” she added.

The hurdles

Klassen said the aim is to have the alliance ready by early 2018. But Germany has a vastly different media market from the U.K. and U.S., and big projects can risk not keeping up with market demand. “Germans have a tendency to over-engineer,” said independent publisher consultant Oliver von Wersch. “They’ll need to be quick. They need to get their other partners who are going to join it on board probably by September if they’re to start implementation by May 2018.”

The alliance is also at the mercy of the ePrivacy directive, which affects how easily companies can track cookies, and its terms are still being hammered out in Brussels. “We can only go so fast because of that,” said Klassen.

For now, the alliance is focusing on recruiting other German partners, though some believe it needs international partners if it’s to really challenge the global tech platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon. But other European Union countries, subject to the European Commission, will watch with interest — including the U.K. “There is first-mover advantage in something like this,” said public policy consultant Nick Stringer. “It’s something U.K. publishers will be watching keenly.”

Output: Two of Germany's biggest media companies, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and RTL Group, have joined forces with internet services provider United Internet and fashion site Zalando to create a standardised registration and login service for consumers. The aim is to "counterbalance the monopolistic and unclear algorithms" used by Facebook, Google and Amazon. The  strategy is set to be compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into effect next year, and will not involve pooling user data. However, the project will need to make quick progress to meet its roll-out date of May 2018 and could be delayed by the yet-to-be-finalised ePrivacy directive.


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Alcohol should be banned in supermarkets: New Zealand medics
 The New Zealand Medical Association has called for a ban on selling alcohol in supermarkets, saying that having it next to groceries and food normalises a dangerous drug.

Wine and beer have been widely available in most supermarkets around the country since 1990, although spirits can be bought only in bars and off-licences.

The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) said having alcohol in supermarkets normalised the drug, and made buying it cheap and easy – meaning people put a bottle of sauvignon blanc in their trolley alongside their bread, milk and toilet paper without a second thought.

According to the association well over half a million New Zealanders consume alcohol in a hazardous way, with many emergency rooms filled on Friday and Saturday nights with alcohol-related admissions.

The NZMA believes it is the government that is best placed to crack down on heavy consumption – a position supported by many health and social policy academics and Alcohol Healthwatch.

Dr Kate Baddock, the chair of the association, said evidence suggested alcohol was worse than methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin, because it was a cheap, addictive, psychotropic drug.

“Alcohol contributes to domestic violence, many cancers, and car accidents,” said Baddock, who pointed out supermarket alcohol was an everyday “temptation” for alcoholics trying to stay sober. “If you are putting alcohol next to your bread and milk, you are essentially saying having alcohol is the same as having bread and milk on a daily basis.”

New Zealanders are binge-drinkers who consume 10 litres of pure alcohol a year, says Nicki Jackson, the director of Alcohol Healthwatch. That amount is the same as Australia, but more than the US and Canada and less than the UK and Ireland.

Most supermarkets in New Zealand sell alcohol and competition is stiff. Wine can be bought for as little as NZ$7 (£4) a bottle – or $1 per standard drink.

In Britain, alcohol is also widely available in supermarkets but in Australia there are tougher restrictions, with alcohol only sold in some supermarkets under special circumstances.

Jackson said allowing supermarkets to sell alcohol was an attempt to convert New Zealanders to a Mediterranean drinking culture – having it available “everywhere” – that had backfired badly.

“When wine came into our supermarkets in 1989 you can see this exponential growth in wine consumption ... we are Anglo-Saxon and you can’t change cultures overnight, and having alcohol widely available did not change our culture, it harmed it.”

The cost of “mopping up” alcohol-related harm was NZ$5bn a year, said Jackson, which included police call-outs, injuries and long-term health effects.

Professor Sally Casswell, a professor of public health and social research at Massey University said she supported a ban on alcohol in supermarkets.

“Treating wine in this context as an ordinary part of the shopping experience is a normalising process. There is also some evidence about the impact of alcohol marketing in retail outlets on children ... in New Zealand children are exposed to alcohol marketing on 85% of their visits to supermarkets.”

Caswell said selling alcohol only in specialist stores combined with strong regulation would be an “ideal” situation; as is the case in Norway.

A spokeswoman for Foodstuffs, the parent company of New Zealand’s largest supermarket chains, said there were already strong restrictions in place on purchasing alcohol in its stores.

“The majority of our customers are responsible consumers, and we think buying alcohol with food is a responsible way of shopping.” said Antoinette Laird from Foodstuffs NZ.

Output: The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) has said that the sale of alcohol in supermarkets should be banned, arguing that it normalises a damaging drug. Although spirits can only be purchased in the country in bars and off-licences, wine and beer have been sold in most supermarkets since 1990. The NZMA claims that over half a million people in New Zealand consume alcohol in a dangerous manner. at a cost of NZ$5bn ($3.7bn) a year. Chair of the NZMA, Dr Kate Baddock, said that research indicated that alcohol was more dangerous than heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine because of its cheapness.


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Mizuho partners with Nomura to bring AI to derivatives contracts
 Mizuho Bank has completed a project with Nomura Research Institute using artificial intelligence to eliminate certain derivative contract procedures.

Nomura was approached by Mizuho to develop the project and examine the realistic applications of AI, as the standard derivative contract procedure has traditionally included various manual and archiving processes.

The proof-of-concept found optional character recognition can digitise contracts from ISDA and the system can define, extract and archive the data into a format that is more easily accessible.

Both firms said as a result, the time it takes analysts to register ISDA contract information into the system was ‘significantly decreased’.

Masahiro Ueki, SVP of legal and compliance and global markets coordination at Mizuho, also expects the system to maintain a high-level of understanding of ISDA contract operations.

Hiroyuki Nakayama, general manager of financial business planning at Nomura Research Institute, added: “We continue to learn new and exciting applications for the technology that we are seeking to implement further through strong partnerships.”

Mizuho Bank intends to continue working with Nomura to develop a fully-fledged system service for all derivative contract operations.

Output: Japan's Mizuho Bank has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) proof-of-concept platform with Nomura Research Institute that has "significantly decreased" the amount of time needed to register International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) contract information. The project set out to examine the realistic applications of AI to replace the laborious manual processes involved in some derivatives contract procedures. The AI system is also expected to maintain a high level of understanding of ISDA contract operations and the two companies are now working on a fully-fledged system service for all derivatives contract operations.


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Passive investing is 'devouring capitalism', warns hedge fund boss
 Billionaire Paul Singer is warning of a growing and menacing threat: passive investing.

“Passive investing is in danger of devouring capitalism,” Singer wrote in his firm’s second-quarter letter dated July 27. “What may have been a clever idea in its infancy has grown into a blob which is destructive to the growth-creating and consensus-building prospects of free market capitalism.”

Almost $500 billion flowed from active to passive funds in the first half of 2017. The founder of Elliott Management Corp. contends that passive strategies, which buy a variety of securities to match the overall performance of an index, aren’t truly “investing” and that index fund providers don’t have incentive to push companies to change for the better and create shareholder value.

Elliott, whose main hedge funds manage $33 billion, is best known for its high-profile activist and distressed wagers, including leading a group of holdout creditors seeking repayment for positions in Argentine debt. One of Singer’s most recent campaigns — a bid to buy power distributor Oncor Electric Delivery Co. — has pitted him against billionaire Warren Buffett.

“In a passive investing world, small shareholders have little-to-no voice and no realistic possibility of banding together, while the biggest shareholders have no (repeat, no) skin in the game so long as the money manager does not underperform the index by five-hundredths of a percentage point, in which case the customer calls up the money manager and starts yelling,” the letter said. There’s a real likelihood that passive investing “and its apparent stability, is unsustainable and brittle.”

Singer’s Elliott Associates fund rose just 0.4 percent in the second quarter, bringing gains for the first half to 3.5 percent, according to the letter. While it made money in bets on distressed securities during the quarter, the fund lost on commodities and portfolio protection related to interest rates, equities and credit.

In a wide-ranging letter that touched on topics from safe spaces to infrastructure spending, Singer said the fund was trying to navigate “uncharted waters” amid continuing accommodative monetary policy.

The letter said that while economic optimism stemming from the Trump administration’s pro-business agenda may contribute to rising markets, central bankers probably played a bigger role.

A de-linkage of stock and bond prices may be coming soon, if an expanding economy spurs inflation, making yields unsatisfactory to investors. Growth and inflation may climb together if rising rates are seen as a sign of confidence in the economy.

“The Fed’s (and other major central banks’) obvious determination not to let equity markets fall may be the chief underpinning of investors’ willingness to hold (and accumulate more) equities even at current relatively elevated levels,” the firm said.

More highlights from the letter:

• On whether the labor market is tight: “Short answer: no,” Singer wrote. Long-term government benefit programs provide strong disincentives for people to work or even seek employment, and these people often disappear from employment statistics. It’s hard for workers to be retrained, he said. Slow wage growth demonstrates that there’s more slack in the job market than there may appear.

• On Chinese debt: In the event of a Chinese financial collapse, “large flows of capital during any unwind of highly leveraged institutions and structures would go coursing through the global economy and financial system like a wild tsunami,” Singer wrote. Even if the government were successful at instituting capital controls, this would remove China from the demand side of the global economic picture.

• On safe spaces: Singer said in the letter that safe spaces are created so “fragile-as-eggshells students are not ‘assaulted’ by opinions or thoughts that differ from those in their ‘Little Red Books.’” He compares this to central bankers who are “treating every single hiccup and little twitch in global stock markets as worthy of calming words and the promise of action ‘as needed.’”

• On commodity trading: Trading in this area was unprofitable in the second quarter, led by losses in crude oil and U.S. natural gas. Losses were partially offset by gains in European natural gas and power and metals trading.

Elliott’s largest distressed positions, in alphabetical order: Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., Drillships Ocean Ventures Inc., Energy Future Holdings Corp., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp.

The firm’s largest equity positions: Arconic Inc., Bank of East Asia Ltd., BHP Billiton Ltd., Citrix Systems Inc. and Hess Corp.

Output: The founder of Elliott Management hedge fund, Paul Singer, has warned of passive investing "devouring capitalism". Singer stated in his company's Q2 letter that in a world focused on passive investing, "small shareholders have little-to-no voice" and big investors have "no skin in the game", adding that passive investing is "unsustainable and brittle". Almost $500bn have flowed from active to passive funds in the first half of this year.


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Salmonella outbreak spreads across US
 Update 8/4/2017: The CDC reports that after advanced lab testing, the Salmonella strain called Salmonella Thompson is in fact linked to the multi-state outbreak. Therefore, two types of the bacteria found on Maradol papayas — Salmonella Kiambu and Salmonella Thompson — are causing widespread illness.

The number of cases has increased from 47 to 109; included in these cases are 35 hospitalizations (which has nearly tripled from the CDC's last report of 12). The death toll remains at one. Six more states have reported illnesses: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. This now makes a total of 18 across the country.

The CDC still recommends that people don't eat any Maradol papayas.

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Original 7/24/2017: As of Friday, CNN reports that a deadly salmonella outbreak called Salmonella Kiambu, linked to yellow Maradol papayas, has infected 47 people across 12 different states (Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Maryland). Twelve people total have been hospitalized, and there has been one reported death from New York City.

According to the CDC, the government, along with "public health and regulatory officials in several states," and the FDA are investigating the multi-state flare-up.

The first reported cases of the illness began on May 17 and lasted until June 28. Of those infected, the median age is 27 — ages ranged from less than 1 year to 95 — and 67% are female.

The CDC notes that illnesses reported after June 23 might not yet be included in the total count, as it takes an average of two to four weeks for illnesses to be linked to the outbreak. Cases, therefore, are predicted to increase.

The Caribeña brand of Maradol papayas from Mexico, distributed by Grande Produce in San Juan, Texas, is believed to be connected to this surge of salmonella. However, additional brands are expected to be related to the outbreak as well.

This content is imported from twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Outbreak: 47 sick, 12 hospitalized w/ Salmonella linked to yellow Maradol papayas. Do not eat & throw away. https://t.co/6DoGtnyPp5 pic.twitter.com/bXqukEtkKN — CDC (@CDCgov) July 21, 2017

The FDA warns that "Maradol papayas are green before they ripen and turn yellow, so consumers should not eat Caribeña brand regardless of the color."

They posted this Facebook message earlier today, showing what the identifying sticker from the brand looks like:

This content is imported from Third party. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Health officials found that of the five confirmed cases in Maryland, they all claim to have eaten Caribeña brand Maradol papayas from the same store the week prior to symptoms.

Samples collected from these infected people and the grocery store (left unnamed) were reported to test positive for Salmonella Kiambu and Salmonella Thompson. But it's unclear whether or not the Thompson strain is directly linked to the outbreak.

According to the CDC, symptoms — diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps — begin 12 to 72 hours after being exposed to salmonella bacteria. The illness usually lasts from four to seven days and those at highest risk of infection are young children under 5, older adults and those with weakened immune systems.

Maradol papayas are "a large, oval fruit that weighs 3 or more pounds, with green skins that turn yellow when the fruit is ripe. The flesh inside the fruit is salmon-colored," reports the CDC.

It recommends that "consumers not eat, restaurants not serve and retailers not sell Maradol papayas until we learn more." It also recommend to sanitize whenever possible, and when in doubt, throw them out.

If you have any of symptoms related to salmonella, you should seek medical attention immediately.

GoodHousekeeping.com has reached out to Grande Produce, distributor of the Caribeña brand of Maradol papayas, and will update this post if we hear back.

[h/t CNN]

Output: A lethal salmonella strain called Salmonella Kiambu, linked to Maradol papayas, has broken out in 12 different US states, including Massachusetts, New York, and Texas. Since May there have been 109 known cases, 35 hospitalisations and one death resulting from the disease. Mexico's Caribeña, a brand of Maradol papayas, has been specifically linked to the contamination, though other brands are thought to be related to the outbreak. The FDA is investigating.


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Input:
Dogecoin community continues philanthropic projects
 About The Author

Dariusz has been closely following the world of cryptocurrencies since 2014. He has been somewhat of a crypto-evangelist, trying to educate more people on the exciting realm of cryptocurrency.

Output: Dogecoin, the community that sent the Jamaican bobsled team to the 2014 Winter Olympics, is bucking the gloomy digital currency news trend and continuing with its philanthropic works, all based on donations from community members, according to Reddit. These include an initiative aimed at supplying homeless people with socks, a project which distributes milk to Brazilian homeless shelters, and a scheme in which shibes (users) can buy socks with a dogecoin pattern at a reduced retail price, which they are calling an ESO, or Early Sock Offering.


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E! uses Snapchat Discover for new show with Kylie Jenner
 Maybe it was only a matter of time until E! and a Kardashian made a show together for Snapchat Discover.

On Aug. 12, the NBCUniversal-owned E! will debut a new show on Discover called “Ask Kylie.” “Ask Kylie” will have the Kardashian sister answering fan questions on topics ranging from online bullying to family drama to her cosmetics empire. The show will be a companion to the “Life of Kylie” reality TV series, which was set to debut on E!’s cable channel on Aug. 6. “Ask Kylie” will have six episodes lasting three to five minutes and will air weekly on Saturdays leading into new episodes of Jenner’s TV show on Sundays.

“Ask Kylie” is the second Snapchat show from E!, which also airs the twice-weekly entertainment news show “The Rundown” on the platform. E! has another half-dozen or so Snapchat show ideas and formats in development, said John Najarian, evp and gm of E! News.

“We look at Snapchat as a way to reach an audience that we can’t necessarily reach because they don’t necessarily watch TV,” said Najarian. “It’s a great opportunity to have the E! brand reside on a platform that’s certainly tapping into a new audience.” NBCU is an investor in Snap, parent of Snapchat.

A successful first show on Snapchat Discover with “The Rundown” seems to have validated E!’s decision to create original content for the platform. Since premiering last fall, “The Rundown” has had 70 episodes, and episodes are now averaging 8 million viewers, according to E! Some episodes have topped 10 million viewers, with about 75 percent of viewers between the ages of 13 and 24, Najarian said.

These numbers make “The Rundown” one of the most popular shows on Snapchat Discover, alongside Vertical Networks’ “Phone Swap,” which averaged 11 million viewers per episode during its first season; and A+E Networks’ “Second Chance,” which averaged 8 million viewers per episode.

With E!’s next show centering on a Kardashian, it expects to find an audience for “Ask Kylie.” With 175 million followers across Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, Jenner is one of the most popular celebrities on social media. Snap and E! wouldn’t break out how many followers Jenner has on Snapchat, but the reality TV star is a popular presence on Discover, with many Daily Mail Snapchat Discover editions leading with her on the cover photo.

“The Kardashians grew up on our air, and Kylie’s obviously a big part of the Snapchat ecosystem in terms of her own personal account,” said Najarian. “With the TV show launching on our network on Aug. 6, it made sense to think of doing something that’s dedicated to the Snapchat audience.”

“Ask Kylie” will have more of a reality-TV show feel than the zippy news-rundown style of “The Rundown.” As such, E! hired four people to produce the show. (For comparison, “The Rundown” has six producers.) These are just the people entirely dedicated to the shows, however, as they also receive support from E!’s editorial and production departments when needed.

“We wanted to bring in a producer who was passionate about Kylie and the Kardashians, but they’re all working with the rest of the E! News digital infrastructure,” said Bryce Kristensen, head of NBCU’s digital content lab.

One thing “Ask Kylie” won’t do is aggressively try to drive tune-in for the “Life with Kylie” TV show.

“The audience doesn’t need to be hit over the head,” said Kristensen. “Her presence is so big you don’t need to use traditional tune-in [tactics] that a lot of people use.”

Output: NBC Universal-owned broadcaster E! will air a second show featuring Kylie Jenner on its Discover channel, following this week's premiere of Life of Kylie. Beginning on 12 August and airing every Saturday, Ask Kylie will comprise six episodes in which the reality star answers fans' questions. E! scored a hit on Snapchat with last year's The Rundown, with episodes attracting an average of eight million viewers. "We look at Snapchat as a way to reach an audience we can’t necessarily reach because they don’t watch TV”, said John Najarian, general manager of E! News.


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US talent firm WME-IMG secures $1bn from Canada Pension Plan
 WME-IMG secures $1bn funding

US-based talent management and sales outfit WME-IMG is set to receive more than US$1bn in investment, which will be partly used to fuel further acquisitions.

The US$1.1bn funding, which is coming from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, values the business at around US$6.3bn.

WME-IMG’s majority shareholder Silver Lake Partners revealed the news to investors yesterday and said it would be using the cash injection to fund new acquisitions.

The agency will also buy out minority partners in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which it bought for US$4bn last year, and enable senior management to take cash out of the business.

It is the latest investment in the entertainment and sports agent giant, following injections from Fidelity and Japan’s SoftBank last year. The latter deal valued the company at US$5.5bn.

WME-IMG has been expanding its TV activities over recent years and recently secured international sales rights to BBC America thriller Killing Eve.

It also agreed a deal with Agatha Christie Productions to become international distributor for its forthcoming slate of Christie dramas.

The company, which was formed when WME bought IMG in 2013, also appointed former NBA exec Michael Ma to oversee its recently launched joint venture in China.

The JV was formed in June 2016 with Sequoia Capital China and partners including Tencent in an attempt to expand its entertainment activity in the country.

Output: Talent management business WME-ING has secured $1.1bn of investment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, which will value the agency at $6.3bn. WME-ING plans to use the funds to buy out minority partners in the Ultimate Fighting Championship that it acquired in 2016 for $4bn, fund acquisitions and enable partners to take cash out of the business. WME-ING has also been expanding its TV activities, picking up sales and distribution rights to international programming.


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US Agriculture Department censors use of phrase ‘climate change’
 Staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference “weather extremes” instead.

A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation, show that the incoming Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change.

A missive from Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health, lists terms that should be avoided by staff and those that should replace them. “Climate change” is in the “avoid” category, to be replaced by “weather extremes”. Instead of “climate change adaption”, staff are asked to use “resilience to weather extremes”.

The primary cause of human-driven climate change is also targeted, with the term “reduce greenhouse gases” blacklisted in favor of “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency”. Meanwhile, “sequester carbon” is ruled out and replaced by “build soil organic matter”.

Firefighters battle a wildfire in California. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP

In her email to staff, dated 16 February this year, Moebius-Clune said the new language was given to her staff and suggests it be passed on. She writes that “we won’t change the modeling, just how we talk about it – there are a lot of benefits to putting carbon back in the sail [sic], climate mitigation is just one of them”, and that a colleague from USDA’s public affairs team gave advice to “tamp down on discretionary messaging right now”.

In contrast to these newly contentious climate terms, Moebius-Clune wrote that references to economic growth, emerging business opportunities in the rural US, agro-tourism and “improved aesthetics” should be “tolerated if not appreciated by all”.

In a separate email to senior employees on 24 January, just days after Trump’s inauguration, Jimmy Bramblett, deputy chief for programs at the NRCS, said: “It has become clear one of the previous administration’s priority is not consistent with that of the incoming administration. Namely, that priority is climate change. Please visit with your staff and make them aware of this shift in perspective within the executive branch.”

Bramblett added that “prudence” should be used when discussing greenhouse gases and said the agency’s work on air quality regarding these gases could be discontinued.

Other emails show the often agonized discussions between staff unsure of what is forbidden. On 16 February, a staffer named Tim Hafner write to Bramblett: “I would like to know correct terms I should use instead of climate changes and anything to do with carbon ... I want to ensure to incorporate correct terminology that the agency has approved to use.”

On 5 April, Suzanne Baker, a New York-based NRCS employee, emailed a query as to whether staff are “allowed to publish work from outside the USDA that use ‘climate change’”. A colleague advises that the issue be determined in a phone call.

Some staff weren’t enamored with the new regime, with one employee stating on an email on 5 July that “we would prefer to keep the language as is” and stressing the need to maintain the “scientific integrity of the work”.

In a statement, USDA said that on 23 January it had issued “interim operating procedures outlining procedures to ensure the new policy team has an opportunity to review policy-related statements, legislation, budgets and regulations prior to issuance”.

The statement added: “This guidance, similar to procedures issued by previous administrations, was misinterpreted by some to cover data and scientific publications. This was never the case and USDA interim procedures will allow complete, objective information for the new policy staff reviewing policy decisions.”

Kaveh Sadeghzadeh of the Natural Resources Conservation Service added that his organisation “has not received direction from USDA or the administration to modify its communications on climate change or any other topic”.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the veracity of climate change research, infamously suggesting that it is part of an elaborate Chinese hoax. The president has started the process of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement, has instructed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to scrap or amend various regulations aimed at cutting greenhouse gases, and has moved to open up more public land and waters to fossil fuel activity.

The nomenclature of the federal government has also shifted as these new priorities have taken hold. Mentions of the dangers of climate change have been removed from the websites of the White House and the Department of the Interior, while the EPA scrapped its entire online climate section in April pending a review that will be “updating language to reflect the approach of new leadership”.

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“These records reveal Trump’s active censorship of science in the name of his political agenda,” said Meg Townsend, open government attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“To think that federal agency staff who report about the air, water and soil that sustains the health of our nation must conform their reporting with the Trump administration’s anti-science rhetoric is appalling and dangerous for America and the greater global community.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is currently suing several government agencies, including the EPA and state department, to force them to release information on the “censoring” of climate change verbiage.

While some of the changes to government websites may have occurred anyway, the emails from within the USDA are the clearest indication yet that staff have been instructed to steer clear of acknowledging climate change or its myriad consequences.

US agriculture is a major source of heat-trapping gases, with 15% of the country’s emissions deriving from farming practices. A USDA plan to address the “far reaching” impacts of climate change is still online.

However, Sam Clovis, Trump’s nomination to be the USDA’s chief scientist, has labeled climate research “junk science”.

Last week it was revealed that Clovis, who is not a scientist, once ran a blog where he called progressives “race traders and race ‘traitors’” and likened Barack Obama to a “communist”.

Output: Officials at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to use the term “weather extremes” instead of “climate change” in their work, according to emails seen by The Guardian.  An email from the director of soil health, Bianca Moebius-Clune, lists terms to be avoided.  Among the other phrases blacklisted are “reduce greenhouse gases,” which is to be replaced by  “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency,” and “sequester carbon,” which is to be replaced by “build soil organic matter”.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Shell to sell electricity directly to large UK enterprises
 Fossil giant Shell has entered the UK industrial and commercial (I&C) power supply market.

Ofgem’s register of supply licence applications alerted market participants to the move some weeks ago.

Since then the company had refused to comment on its plans, citing a close period due to financial results. However the company today confirmed the move via a statement.

“The decision to offer power supply directly to end users in Great Britain’s industrial and commercial sector reinforces our strategy to boost our position in Europe’s electricity market,” said Jonathan McCloy, general manager North West Europe, Shell Energy Europe. “In addition to supplying Shell’s assets in Great Britain, we intend to supply power to other large industrial complexes from early next year.”

The firm has been active in power trading and wholesale markets in Great Britain for several years and said it will continue to provide wholesale gas and power to existing independent energy retail counterparties.

Shell’s move follows that of Vattenfall into the industrial and commercial markets, where some incumbents are struggling to turn a profit.

Related stories:

Swedish giant Vattenfall enters UK business energy market

British Gas business energy supply profits wiped out

Power prices to remain low to 2020: Moody’s

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Output: Royal Dutch Shell has confirmed that it has joined the UK industrial and commercial (I&C) power supply market. “The decision to offer power supply directly to end users in Great Britain’s industrial and commercial sector reinforces our strategy to boost our position in Europe’s electricity market,” said Jonathan McCloy, general manager North West Europe, Shell Energy Europe. Shell has been active in power trading and wholesale markets in the UK for several years. Its shift into retail energy follows a similar move by Vattenfall.


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Ethnic pay gap obscured by BBC gender row: The Guardian
 As the row over the BBC’s gender pay gap escalated last month, I found it fitting that most of my conversations were taking place in a very specific forum. A few years ago, in response to the paucity of senior female journalists of colour, and the sense we were being excluded from other gender-focused networks, we set up our own group. It’s informal – not limited to ethnic minority women, but women of all backgrounds who are committed to equality – and for the last few weeks it has been abuzz.

The main debate has not been the existence of a gender pay gap – that came as a surprise to no one – but how a renewed focus on gender inequality can still leave questions of race inequality languishing in the dark. Take, for example, the fact that so many senior BBC women felt content to sign their name to a letter calling for immediate action on gender disparity by the BBC without so much as mentioning the ethnic pay gap. This felt like feminism taking one gigantic leap backwards – to the 1980s, perhaps, when Kimberlé Crenshaw so famously coined the term “intersectionality” to highlight the fact that “women of colour are invisible in plain sight”.

Ethnic minority journalists are in a specifically bad place when it comes to BBC pay parity. Among those earning the top 24 salaries there was not a single ethnic minority person. Of the 10 who did make the list, none were in the top 24. The extent of inequality will be further revealed, no doubt, when World Service salaries are revealed.

An internal review of pay disparity between the domestic BBC and its World Service was due in the spring, but is yet to be published. The Guardian reported earlier this week that not a single presenter at the World Service is expected to earn over £50,000. If that sounds like a perfectly decent salary for a star news anchor, compare it with the £600,000 Huw Edwards takes home every year.

The apparently low pay of World Service journalists needs to be taken in the context not just of a service that, over the past five years, has increased its global audience by 80 million, but also one that is regularly drawn upon to give more credibility to the BBC’s poor performance on increasing diversity. Every time the BBC is asked for its diversity stats, it rolls out the relatively high number of BME staff at the World Service, bumping its overall figure up to 14%. This looks and feels like bulking up diversity on the cheap. “Fake diversity”, as Lenny Henry said.

One of the best articles about this was published in the Financial Times by leader writer Abhishek Parajuli, who I had the pleasure of meeting, coincidentally, at the BBC recently. He and I were on the sofa discussing various Sunday morning issues with two talented anchors, Sean Fletcher – who is black – and Emma Barnett – who is female, and whose names, incidentally, were both conspicuously absent from the list of best-paid presenters.

Yet as it emerged this week that FT journalists – men and women – are threatening strike action in response to their own gender pay gap, I can’t help but wonder how many non-white journalists are included in their activism, the state of the ethnic pay gap included in their cause.

Part of the problem with all this is that the media organisations reporting the problems of pay equality and intersectional disadvantage have their own crosses to bear. The industry as a whole has intractable problems around diversity. As of 2016, British journalism remained 94% white. There is evidence that things have got worse, not better, that the industry remains “sorely lacking diversity” and that people from non-privileged backgrounds are being priced out.

The number of minority journalists is increasing at entry level, but there are major issues with retention. This is why, when Tony Hall points to entry-level statistics in response to the poor diversity figures at the Corporation, those of us further up know that is not a solution in itself. Who can forget Panorama reporter Raphael Rowe’s farewell email, after being – he said – “pushed out” after 15 years, claiming that diversity at the Corporation was “the worst he had ever known”.

You have to be the greatest athlete of all time, apparently, to garner any significant attention towards the dire state of race equality in the media, and society as a whole. Enter Serena Williams, who in a personal essay this week lamented that black women in America earn 17% less than their white female counterparts. “Even black women who have earned graduate degrees get paid less at every level. This is as true in inner cities as it is in Silicon Valley,” wrote Williams. “We are going to have to fight for every penny.”

There are similar data for the UK – black African women, for example, have seen virtually no progress in closing the gender pay gap between them and white men since the 1990s, which according to the Fawcett Society, still stands at 19.6%.

I noticed that Williams made her remarks about the US pay gap on “Black Women’s Equal Pay Day”. The fact that, in the UK, most of us have never even heard of such a thing, says it all really.

******

One of the most powerful arguments in favour of diversity in journalism is the contribution that people with a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives make to the quality of media output. I seriously doubt, for example, that anyone versed in the social politics of post-imperial India could have produced a piece of journalism as nauseating as the Daily Mail’s recent ode to “A Corner of Wiltshire Where The Raj Never Died”. It tells the story of a “highly intelligent Countess” and her “loyal Indian houseman”. This Indian man, known as “Muthu”, has spent 60 years in servitude to his white, aristocratic mistress, a vocation without which “his life would have little purpose”. I’m confident that anyone with either lived, or learned, experience of the problematic legacy of Empire would have imploded at the sight of this article. It’s one of the best examples of the radical need to diversify newsrooms I think I have ever seen.

Output: The ethnic pay gap has been obscured by discussions of gender pay disparity, including those resulting from the recent controversy around BBC salaries, writes Afua Hirsch in The Guardian. When senior BBC women signed a letter calling for action on the gender pay gap, they failed to mention the equivalent ethnicity gap, despite the fact that there was not one person of colour in the list of those receiving the top 24 salaries. An internal review of pay disparities between the World Service and the UK-based BBC is expected to show that not a single World Service presenter earns over £50,000.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Biomethane and gas-powered lorries to be tested in UK
 The trucks in trial range from 12 to 44 tonnes, and are all new to the UK market. The trial will road test the HGVs across 10 different vehicle configurations, generting data on vehicle performance, fuel efficiency, reliability and cost.

Cenex—the UK’s first Center of Excellence for low carbon technologies— announced its involvement in the UK’s largest trial of biomethane-fueled trucks. Led by Air Liquide and funded in part by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK via the recently launched Low Emission Freight and Logistics Project ( earlier post ), the “Dedicated to Gas” trial will see large fleet operators—including Kuehne + Nagel; Wincanton; ASDA; Brit European, Howard Tenens and Great Bear—test the effectiveness of 81 dedicated gas-powered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

Trial vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are expected to reduce CO 2 emissions by up to 8%, and those run on biomethane can expect to see a 70% reduction in CO 2 emissions, compared to a similarly sized diesel HGV.

The trial will also test the effectiveness of a new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology. The liquid nitrogen cooling system promises to reduce the high energy demands of refrigeration units, further reducing HGVs CO 2 and air quality emissions.

The project aims to demonstrate lower-emissions technology innovation into the UK’s logistics industry and HGV fleets, which account for 17% of all UK road transport emissions.

Working in partnership with Air Liquide, the project lead Cenex will manage all data analysis and project dissemination, update a dedicated gas vehicle hub website, and organize informational workshops for participating fleet operators and interested members of the industry. Participating fleets will be supported by technical experts who will collate comprehensive data via telematics systems provided by Microlise and PEMS testing by Emissions Analytics, providing a complete analysis of the potential benefits of dedicated gas technology compared to diesel.

Dedicated to Gas is part of the Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial, funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK. In January 2017, OLEV announced that 20 trial projects were to receive funding of £20 million to demonstrate new technologies and to encourage the widespread introduction of low and zero emission vehicles to UK commercial fleets.

This study follows on the Low Carbon Truck Demonstration Trial, which wrapped up in December 2016, and was led by a Cenex-Atkins study team. That £23.4-million (US$30.5 million) program funded 12 discrete projects with 35 participating companies (including fleets, emission testing companies, station providers, universities and product developers).

By July 2016, 371 vehicles were deployed and 15 refueling stations were commissioned or upgraded. The majority of the trucks (96.5%) operated on dual fuel diesel/gas, 3% operated on dual fuel diesel/UCO and the remainder (1.5%) were dedicated gas vehicles. 82% of the trucks had retro-fit systems and the remaining trucks either had Volvo factory fitted dual fuel systems or were Scania dedicated gas trucks. 95% (353) of the trucks were Euro V, with the remaining 5% (18) being Euro VI.

Output: The largest trial of biomethane-fuelled trucks is set to take place in the UK, led by Air Liquide and with the involvement of Cenex, the country's first centre of excellence for low-carbon technologies. Major British fleet operators, including retailer Asda, will test 81 gas-powered heavy goods vehicles in 10 different configurations, with Cenex managing all data analysis and project information dissemination. Emissions from a biomethane-powered lorry could be about 70% less than from a diesel-engined one. The programme will also study new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Biomethane and gas-powered lorries to be tested in UK
 Part of Office for Low Emission Vehicles and Innovate UK’s Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trials, six major UK fleet operators will road test the latest gas-powered heavy goods vehicles

Loughborough, UK – 2 August 2017: Cenex – the UK’s first Centre of Excellence for low carbon technologies – today announced its involvement in the UK’s largest trial of biomethane-fuelled lorries. Led by Air Liquide – world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health – and funded in part by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles in partnership with Innovate UK via the recently launched Low Emission Freight and Logistics Project, the ‘Dedicated to Gas’ trial will see large fleet operators including Kuehne + Nagel, Wincanton, ASDA, Brit European, Howard Tenens and Great Bear, trial the effectiveness of 81 dedicated gas-powered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

The five lorries being trialled range from 12 to 44 tonnes, and are all new to the UK market. The trial will road test the HGVs across 10 different vehicle configurations, creating a wealth of valuable data on vehicle performance, fuel efficiency, reliability and cost. Trial vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are expected to reduce CO 2 emissions by up to 8 per cent, and those run on biomethane can expect to see a 70 per cent reduction in CO 2 emissions, compared to a similarly sized diesel HGV.

The trial will also test the effectiveness of a new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology. The liquid nitrogen cooling system promises to reduce the high energy demands of refrigeration units, further reducing HGVs CO 2 and air quality emissions.

The project aims to demonstrate lower-emissions technology innovation into the UK’s logistics industry and HGV fleets, which account for 17% of all UK road transport emissions. Working in partnership with Air Liquide, the project lead, Cenex will manage all data analysis and project dissemination, update a dedicated gas vehicle hub website, and organize informational workshops for participating fleet operators and interested members of the industry. Participating fleets will be supported by technical experts who will collate comprehensive data via telematics systems provided by Microlise and PEMS testing by Emissions Analytics, providing a complete analysis of the potential benefits of dedicated gas technology compared to diesel.

Steve Carroll, Head of Transport at Cenex, said: “Cenex have a long history of supporting natural gas and biomethane use in the transport sector, and we are excited to be part of such an innovative trial demonstrating and assessing the performance of the latest advancements.”

“As a world leader in sustainable, reliable, and safe gas power, Air Liquide is hopeful that this trial can bring much needed new fuel sources to the UK’s HGV fleets,” said Daniel Lambert, Commercial Director, at Air Liquide Advanced Business & Technologies UK. “OEMs are working hard to bring promising zero emissions technologies to the new lorries they design, but without real life road testing by big fleet customers, these technologies will not be able to impact CO 2 emissions in a big way. We look forward to leading this innovative trial, and sharing the results with other HGV fleet operators across Europe and the globe.”

John Rogerson, Fleet Operations Manager, ASDA, concluded: “As a company committed to sustainable, low emissions transportation, ASDA is proud to be part of the select group of operators trialling new low emissions HGVs in the UK for the first time. We are excited to work with Cenex, Air Liquide and our other project partners to hopefully demonstrate the impact low-emissions HGV technology can have on the entire industry, while infusing the latest technology into our fleet and reducing our overall carbon footprint.”

Notes to editors:

Dedicated to Gas is part of the Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial, funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK.

In January 2017, OLEV announced that 20 trial projects were to receive funding of £20m to demonstrate new technologies and to encourage the widespread introduction of low and zero emission vehicles to UK commercial fleets. The Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial will help the UK meet its CO2 reduction targets – and represents another step towards the government’s target for all new cars and vans to be zero emission by 2040.

About Cenex

Cenex, the UK’s first Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell technologies, operates as an independent not-for-profit consultancy and research organisation. It specialises in the delivery of projects which support innovation and market development to accelerate the shift to a low emission economy.

By encouraging the early market adoption of low emission and fuel cell technologies in automotive applications, Cenex aims to assist the UK automotive supply chain with competing in global markets, as well as showcasing UK expertise to encourage inward investment.

Cenex has an established track record of delivering multi-year programmes and shorter-term projects associated with low carbon vehicles and infrastructure, working with a range of public and private sector clients.

About Air Liquide

The world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 80 countries with approximately 67,000 employees.

As part of its contribution to the energy transition challenge, Air Liquide advanced Business & Technologies (aB&T) drives innovation in clean transportation and offers natural energy sources to replace fossil fuels.

Air Liquide aB&T has over 100 years’ experience in the storage, piping, dispensing, vaporisation, engineering, manufacturing & maintenance of gas systems. The combination of biomethane & station supply creates a complete end-to-end solution for our customers, increasing competitiveness and sustainability.

Air Liquide aB&T already owns & operates more than 50 bio-LNG/CNG refuelling stations in Europe, and our network is growing rapidly, with the UK one of the key target markets.

Cenex

Sue Glanville/Cate Bonthuys

Catalyst Communications

Tel: +44 (0)771 581 7589/ +44 (0)774 654 6773

sue@catalystcomms.co.uk / cate@catalystcomms.co.uk

Output: The largest trial of biomethane-fuelled trucks is set to take place in the UK, led by Air Liquide and with the involvement of Cenex, the country's first centre of excellence for low-carbon technologies. Major British fleet operators, including retailer Asda, will test 81 gas-powered heavy goods vehicles in 10 different configurations, with Cenex managing all data analysis and project information dissemination. Emissions from a biomethane-powered lorry could be about 70% less than from a diesel-engined one. The programme will also study new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Contaminated alfalfa made into biomass fuel
 In Idaho, researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory are taking alfalfa contaminated with inorganic bromide and figuring out what farmers can do with the otherwise useless bales, like biomass fuel. The alfalfa was contaminated from methyl bromide, a highly toxic pesticide after a potato pest issue led to its spraying on fields, but that meant the alfalfa can’t be fed to cattle as it was causing them to have lesions, stillbirths and other health issues. Researchers are hoping to help farmers with bales and tons of alfalfa that can’t be used by converting it into biomass fuel that local potato processing companies can use for daily operations in their coal-fired plants.

However, locals wanted to make sure it was safe to burn since they wondered if it was hurting cows, what would it do to people when burned. Researchers burned alfalfa at their facility and monitored the air to ensure bromide wasn’t being released. The results showed bromide in the ash but not in the air making it a good candidate for biomass fuel instead of destined for a landfill.

Output: Researchers at the Biomass Feedstock National User Facility of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL are studying how farmers can use contaminated alfalfa as a combustible fuel. After bromide-filled alfalfa began to contaminate livestock, farmers were left with a glut of the crop. State officials asked the facility to explore uses for the crop as a fuel. Burning alfalfa releases a similar quantity of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as coal, but unlike fossil fuels, it returns freely available carbon to the air, said INL Advisory Engineer Michael Clark.


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Farmers Insurance puts fleet of assessment drones to the sky
 Farmers Insurance disclosed it has started using a fleet of drones to help facilitate the claims process for customers reeling from roof damage after major storms.

The drone launch follows a series of field test that helped determine the best way to use drones along with Farmers’ existing claims operation. Plans call for using the technology now to help with residential property damage enhancements.

An initial rollout will focus on areas most impacted by hailstorms and other severe weather events.

“We believe our new drone program will help improve response time and safety for our claim representatives during their evaluations, and ensure Farmers maintains a leadership position in the insurance industry,” Keith Daly, chief claims officer for Farmers Insurance, said in prepared remarks.

Kespry is supplying Farmers’ initial squadron of drones. The company is based in California and focused on technologies such as fully-automated industrial drone systems. Farmers said the Kespry drones will help it move more quickly and safely to gather rooftop imagery and data, generate analytic reports, supplement ladder assist capabilities and resolve more claims with greater efficiency and accuracy.

Farmers added it will use its own FAA-licensed drone operators for the drone claims process. These individuals are also Farmers-trained claim representatives, the insurer added.

The technology itself includes high-resolution, 3D imagery that can detect granule loss and other physical damage data of residential roofs. Farmers claim representatives will get access to comprehensive roof dimensions and automated damage detection, with onsite availability of rooftop imagery made possible in minutes.

Insurers including Munich Re’s Hartford Steam Boiler, Erie Insurance, AIG, USAA and State Farm have tested the use of commercial drones for property inspections, underwriting and loss prevention work.

Source: Farmers

Output: A fleet of drones armed with high-resolution 3D-imagery cameras has been deployed by Farmers Insurance to assess the roofs of homes damaged in major storms. Farmers said it had put the Kespry vehicles into operation sooner than planned after field tests proved their capabilities. The drones are being operated by FAA-licensed drone pilots who are also trained in damage assessment. Farmers said the deployment will speed up the claims process and make assessments quicker and safer. The drones also generate analytic reports and supplement ladder assist capabilities.


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Redrow Redrow's intentions for Shropshire site opposed by former Verve guitarist
 But after settling in to a home overlooking green fields in Newport, Mr McCabe and his partner Caron were horrified to learn that up to 300 homes were being planned for the land next to them.

The site, between the Beechfields estate and the A41 Newport Bypass, is one of 100 areas supposed to be protected from development by Telford & Wrekin Council.

But that has not stopped developers Redrow from consulting the estate's residents on a scheme for two, three and four bedroom houses.

Last week they distributed leaflets to residents setting out their aims.

Mr McCabe said if the development went ahead the new homes would destroy one of the reasons people the very reason people chose to live in Newport - the green spaces.

"When I was growing up I would be climbing trees and playing outside with friends, rather than sat at home watching TV and that is what I want for my son," said Mr McCabe, 44.

"This is one of the many reasons we came to Newport from London, but that could be under threat.

"My son is only five, and he is really getting behind us, as he doesn't want to see any of the wildlife hurt or disturbed by these houses.

"As a member of the junior branch of the RSPB he is particularly worried for the future on the rich and varied bird population the area supports.

"If the plans do go ahead, it would be solid housing from the canal right up to the Chetwynd area of the town.

"We want to ensure that Newport does not succumb to the fate of many towns where indiscriminate greenfield development has been allowed to destroy the very qualities that originally made those areas special."

Telford & Wrekin's Local Plan for development says 3,499 homes will be built in Telford & Wrekin between now and 2031 on 17 sites.

However 100 green sites are to be avoided, with "green guarantees".

Mr McCabe's partner, Caron Malcolm, 49, said: "From what we now understand the proposed site is part of the green area under the local plan, which is pretty much the trump card as regards opposing planning permission.

"So we feel much more optimistic than when we received the leaflets last week.

"However, we need to show a solid opposition to this that is not in the interest for the locality, the environment or Newport as a whole.

"Despite the Local Plan these once people have an investment in development they will try to exploit any loopholes possible so it is important to keep active and show that from all sections of the Newport community this is a firm no."

Mr McCabe has set up a Facebook page to oppose the plans and residents have until October 23 to take part in the public consultation.

Linda Bright, spokeswoman for Redrow said: "We are inviting comment from local people on two proposed planning applications for land either side of Plough Lane.

"This is in advance of us submitting an outline application to Telford and Wrekin Council for up to 170 new homes at Oak View, off Kestrel Close, and up to 110 homes at Heritage Fields, off Forton Road.

"We envisage providing a wide range of homes to suit everyone from first time buyers to families. Should these schemes go ahead then they would bring with them a proportion of affordable homes, employment and other community benefits as yet to be negotiated with the local authority.

"It's a sustainable location, just off the A41 and with easy access to the local amenities of Newport. We hope to submit an application by the end of October and it will include a masterplan for the whole site and a traffic assessment report.

Output: Former Verve guitarist Nick McCabe is rallying support to oppose a proposal from Redrow, which is said to have distributed leaflets to residents in Newport, Shropshire setting out intentions to build up to 300 homes on the site between the Beechfields estate and the A41 Newport Bypass, which is next to McCabe's home. The area is supposed to be one of 100 protected by "green guarantees" from Telford & Wrekin Council. "We are inviting comment from local people on two proposed planning applications for land either side of Plough Lane," said Linda Bright, spokeswoman for Redrow.


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Input:
Six-figure claims not unusual when Brits fall ill overseas: ABI
 Travel insurers say six-figure medical bills are "not uncommon" when British holidaymakers need emergency medical treatment while abroad.

Nearly 3,000 travellers needing treatment in another country are helped by insurers every week typically, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Around £200 million is paid out each year to help people who fall seriously ill overseas.

The ABI said a claim for treating a stroke in the United States cost £768,000 - a figure that would take someone more than a quarter of a century to earn on an average UK salary. The bill included £60,000 for an air ambulance back to the UK.

The US, which attracts 3.8 million UK visitors a year, has some of the highest medical costs, the ABI said.

In another case, £252,000 was spent treating a brain haemorrhage and broken shoulder suffered by a traveller when he fell off a bicycle.

The ABI said: "Six-figure medical bills are now not uncommon."

Elsewhere around the world, examples of emergency medical bills faced by British travellers which have been paid out by travel insurers include:

:: £136,000 for treating complications following an insect bite in Chile. This included paying for a nurse to escort the traveller home.

:: £125,000 to pay for surgery following a jet-ski accident while holidaying in Turkey.

:: £81,000 to cover ongoing costs of treating a holidaymaker who contracted pancreatitis in Greece.

:: £74,000 paid to treat a brain haemorrhage in Cuba.

:: £60,000 to treat injuries suffered in a road accident in El Salvador. This included £33,000 for an air ambulance back to the UK.

The ABI said the cost of the average medical claim, at £1,300, increased by 40% between 2011 and 2016.

It has launched a new guide to travel insurance at www.abi.org.uk to help travellers ensure they have the right insurance to cover any "sky high" overseas medical bills and emergency repatriation to return home.

When travelling in Europe, the free European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) gives holidaymakers access to state-provided healthcare available to a resident.

But it is not a substitute for having travel insurance because it will not cover all medical costs, or the cost of emergency repatriation back to the UK. For example, from Spain, an air ambulance can cost £25,000, the ABI said.

Mark Shepherd, assistant director, head of property, commercial and specialist lines at the ABI, said: "Incredibly an estimated one in four travellers still travel without insurance, despite the fact that the average cost of a single trip policy can be less than what a family spends on snacks at the airport.

"With a wide range of competitively priced policies available, shop around, don't forget to disclose any pre-existing medical conditions, and remember that the cheapest policy may not be best for your needs."

Output: UK holidaymakers are filing health insurance claims that occasionally reach six figures, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), as it warned tourists to ensure their protection covers "sky high" medical bills. One stroke victim was charged £768,000 ($1m) after treatment in the US, the ABI said. The claim was one of about 3,000 made each week by UK travellers, which have pushed the UK's annual claims total to approximately £200m. The average travel insurance claim has risen 40% in the past five years to £1,300, the ABI claimed.


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Input:
China insists Indian soldiers must leave disputed border region
 China has demanded India immediately remove troops from the border amid an increasingly tense stand-off in the remote frontier region beside the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

The Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday said India had been building up troops and repairing roads along its side of the border next to the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim.

The stand-off ratchets up tension between the neighbours, who share a 2,175 mile (3,500km) frontier, large parts of which are disputed.

“It has already been more than a month since the incident and India is still not only illegally remaining on Chinese territory, it is also repairing roads in the rear, stocking up supplies, massing a large number of armed personnel,” said a foreign ministry statement from Beijing.

“This is certainly not for peace.”

Early in June, according to the Chinese interpretation of events, Indian guards crossed into China’s Donglang region and obstructed work on a road on the plateau.

The two sides’ troops then confronted each other close to a valley controlled by China that separates India from its close ally, Bhutan, and gives China access to the so-called Chicken’s Neck, a thin strip of land connecting India and its remote north-eastern regions.

India has said it warned China that construction of the road near their common border would have serious security implications.

No country should underestimate the Chinese military’s confidence Chinese defence ministry

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, is to visit China early in September for a summit of leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Indian officials say about 300 soldiers from either side are facing each other about 150 meters (yards) apart on the plateau.

They have told Reuters that both sides’ diplomats have quietly engaged to try to keep the stand-off from escalating, and that India’s ambassador to Beijing is leading the effort to find a way for both sides to back down without loss of face.

Chinese state media have warned India of a fate worse than the defeat it suffered in a brief border war in 1962. China’s military has held live fire drills close to the disputed area, it said last month. On Friday the official China Daily said in an editorial that China was not in the mood for a fight, noting how the stand-off had been “unusually restrained”.

“However, if good manners do not work, in the end it may be necessary to rethink our approach. Sometimes a head-on blow may work better than a thousand pleas in waking up a dreamer,” the English-language paper added.

Output: China has demanded that India remove troops from a plateau next to the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim, which borders China. The nations share a 2,175 mile frontier, of which large sections are disputed. China's foreign ministry has said that "India is still not only illegally remaining on Chinese territory, it is also repairing roads in the rear, stocking up supplies, massing a large number of armed personnel". Indian officials said about 300 soldiers from either side are facing each other 150 metres apart on the plateau. This followed accusations by China that Indian guards had crossed into China and obstructed work.


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Wolf Warriors 2 dominates Chinese box amid Hollywood blackout
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Blockbusters like "Dunkirk" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" may have received the thumbs up from moviegoers around the world this summer, but they aren't yet making any waves in China. That's because of China's annual "Hollywood blackout," which is when the country initiates an undeclared ban on the release of all foreign films during specific periods of the year. A summer tradition of sorts, the blackout usually takes place during the lucrative holiday months when students go on vacation. The blackout also tends to be enforced during China's week-long Lunar New Year national holiday in the first half of the year. While the Hollywood blackout is unofficial, the absence of foreign films scheduled for release in the country around the middle of July to late August this year suggests the regulation is already in effect. Neither a representative for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor its State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television immediately replied to a request for comment on the practice.

$134 billion in U.S. wages

How China consumes — or doesn't — American entertainment is of major importance to the U.S. film and television industry, which is the world's largest and supports around 2 millions jobs in the country with a reported $134 billion in wages. Although box office growth decelerated in China in 2016, Reuters calculations showed the country contributed $1.8 billion in revenues to the 20 highest grossing Hollywood films. For comparison, all U.S. box office sales stood at $11.4 billion in 2016. And while it is challenging to determine whether the blackout significantly decreases Hollywood blockbusters' revenues on the mainland, the most obvious impact is the delay in China release dates for some major films.

I suspect (the blackout) keeps the Chinese film industry buoyant, which then allows its players to have more negotiating power with Hollywood. Felicia Chan senior lecturer at the University of Manchester

One of the affected films this year is Marvel's "Spider-Man: Homecoming," which is slated for a Sept. 8 release in China, according to movie review site Douban. That's around two months after the film's July 7 U.S. debut. The movie has reportedly grossed more than $633 million globally. Other foreign films, such as war drama "Dunkirk" and science fiction " Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" are expected to be screened on the mainland more than a month after their releases stateside. Typically, major Hollywood pictures open on the mainland either on the same date as in North America or slightly after their U.S. releases, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While there is little official documentation available on the Hollywood blackout, the Chinese government first enacted the regulation in 2004, China Market Research Group Principal Ben Cavender told CNBC.

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The action had been taken to give the Zhang Yimou-directed "House of Flying Daggers" a boost at the local box office and was a new form of regulation compared to the foreign film quota, which had been in existence for much longer, said Cavender. Naturally, the blackout serves to boost the performance of domestically produced films in the mainland market as competition from foreign titles is reduced. Data from research firm EntGroup showed that local titles like "Wolf Warrior 2," "The Founding of an Army" and "Brotherhood of Blades 2" dominated the Chinese box office in the week that ended on July 30. The only Hollywood film on the top-grossing list is "Despicable Me 3," which had been released in China on July 7, likely before the blackout on foreign film releases began. In comparison, five foreign films occupied the top-10 spots in the week that ended on June 25 — before the Hollywood blackout. Success for domestically produced titles, however, is not guaranteed even when the foreign competition is removed. The trend in historical box office records show that, when there is no ban in effect, the one or two foreign films released in China tend to absorb up to 90 percent of revenues from ticket sales during a given week, Cavender said. In comparison, when the blackout is enforced, several domestic films tend to share relatively even portions of the market. The blackout is sometimes framed as an ideologically driven piece of regulation, but its existence is likely linked to more pragmatic thinking. That could include giving China-made films more of a chance to be seen, according to Felicia Chan, a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester. "I'm not sure if 'preventing too much Western influence' is an argument any more at the Chinese box office, given the numbers Hollywood blockbusters are hitting in China ... I suspect (the blackout) keeps the Chinese film industry buoyant, which then allows its players to have more negotiating power with Hollywood," Chan added.

'The Founding of an Army'

This year, there's an additional dimension to the summer Hollywood blackout: the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army on Aug. 1. Given the occasion, most domestically produced films released the week before the event at least paid lip service to themes such as patriotism and self-sacrifice. To illustrate: Even though audiences might have flocked to the cinema for its well-choreographed fight scenes, the plot of action flick "Wolf Warrior 2" revolved around a Chinese special forces agent who comes out of retirement to fight American mercenaries.

Actors Zhu Yawen, Liu Ye and Huang Zhizhong attend a press conference for "The Founding of an Army" in Beijing, China. VCG | Getty Images

The state-backed "The Founding of an Army" ー a historical epic set in 1927 about events that led to founding of the PLA ー was described in glowing terms by Xinhua as an inspiration to local youth across the country. The film is the final installment of the "Founding of New China" trilogy. While official coverage of the film by the Chinese media was positive ー a moviegoer told Xinhua that it motivated young people in China to "strive for (their) Chinese dream" ー media outlets outside of the mainland adopted a different tone. Notably, the South China Morning Post called the film "tone-deaf" in its review, and others deemed it a propaganda film. In addition to the blackout in place, cinema chains in China were reportedly directed by media regulators to screen "Founding" on a minimum of 45 percent of their screens for the film's opening day, The Hollywood Reporter said, citing sources. Despite those extra regulations, "Wolf Warrior 2" beat "Founding" at the box office, taking in $142 million in its opening week. The latter grossed just $28.9 million, data from EntGroup reflected.

Why foreign studios aren't running scared

Still, even the ad hoc nature of the Hollywood blackout is unlikely to spook foreign studios from wooing Chinese audiences. While the specter of piracy remained — Chinese moviegoers could turn to less-than-legal means of watching films yet to be released on the mainland — foreign production houses are, by now, largely accepting of the blackout. The appeal of the market centers on a shift in behavior in the world's second-largest economy. Over the last two years, Cavender said, consumers have gradually transitioned from aspirational consumption to focusing on experiences. That is, activities like going to the movies now make up major budget items for Chinese consumers, Cavender said, adding that they're more willing to spend if there are quality movies.

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Output: Wolf Warriors 2 has become a Chinese box office hit, making £181m in one week, and beating Hollywood blockbuster Dunkirk to the global box office no.1. The film is set in an African war zone, and focuses heavily on Chinese patriotism, with the tagline: "Anyone who offends China will be killed no matter how far the target is". Indeed, the film hits cinemas during the annual "Hollywood blackout" in which an undeclared ban on all foreign films is enacted.


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GE and Engie plan 119 MW South Australian windfarm
 Two of the world’s largest energy companies, French giant Engie and American conglomerate GE, have announced plans to build a 119MW wind farm in South Australia, 160km north of Adelaide.

The two companies announced the agreement on Friday, to supply and install 32 wind turbines at the Willogoleche Wind Farm, adding yet another project to a state already shooting above 50 per cent renewable energy.

Jérôme Pécresse, President & CEO of GE Renewable Energy, said the company was working on nearly $2 billion in wind farm projects, representing more than 900MW generation capacity.

“This is an incredibly important region for GE globally, and we are committed to supporting Australia to achieve its renewable energy goals while maintaining reliable and affordable electricity supplies to businesses and households across the country,” he said in a statement.

The wind farm is the third major project to be announced for the state recently, alongside Reach Solar’s 220MW PV project at Bungala, near Port Augusta, and the Nexif Energy’s 212MW Lincoln Gap wind farm, also near Port Augusta.

“We have seen tremendous momentum in the Australian wind industry this year,” said GE Australia chief Geoff Culbert in a statement.

“This will be our fourth wind farm to begin construction in 2017, with more than 300 GE turbines either operating or under construction across the country, capable of powering the equivalent of more than 500,000 Australian homes with renewable energy.

“It is encouraging to see more projects like this reach financial close, and we look forward to continuing to bring the best renewables technology to Australia.”

For Engie, the wind farm at Willogoleche will be its second wind project in Australia, and the first time it has worked with GE on a renewables project in Australia. It also mirrors the shift the company is undertaking globally, from fossil fuels to renewable energy generation.

In March, Engie shut down one of Australia’s largest coal-fired generators, the Hazelwood brown coal power plant it majority owns in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, in line with its company-wide strategy to gradually end all coal activities.

“This is a key project for ENGIE as it tackles the major challenges in the energy transition and moves us towards a decarbonised, decentralised and digitised energy system,” said acting Engie Australia CEO Matt Donaldson.

“It’s great to be working with GE, a company with a similar mindset where digital is at the heart of everything it does. This ensures solutions are future-proofed and our customers enjoy world-leading technology that meets their energy needs.”

The project will use a a combination of GE’s 3.8MW turbines (24) and its 3.4MW turbines (8), with a tip height of 150m above ground level and a blade rotor diameter of 130m.

Output: French energy company Engie and American firm General Electric have declared their intention to construct a wind farm in South Australia. Located 160km north of Adelaide and capable of providing 119MW, the facility will be made up of 32 wind turbines, installed at the Willogoleche Wind Farm. This comes amid increasing global pressure to develop effective means of generating sustainable, renewable energy.


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Experts disagree over Musk's Hyperloop hyperbole
 Elon Musk’s plans for magnetically-levitated pods are back in the news after South Korea signed an agreement to develop a full-scale Hyperloop testbed, with the intention of ultimately building a system to zip across the country in 20 minutes.

Slovakia, Abu Dhabi, the Czech Republic, France, Sweden and Indonesia are also interested in building their own Hyperloops.

Musk claims Hyperloop pods will be faster than trains, safer than cars and much less damaging to the environment than aircraft. But is building an entirely new “fifth mode” of transport (after planes, trains, cars and boats), complete with its own unique infrastructure, the most sustainable solution to our transportation problems?

“Musk always talks about how to change the world’s energy systems as much as its transportation systems,” said Bent Flyvbjerg, an economist specialising in mega-projects at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. “The Hyperloop fits in well in that respect, shifting transport away from carbon to renewables.”

Although Hyperloop is still almost entirely theoretical, apart from a few small-scale experiments, academics have been crunching the numbers since Musk first proposed it in 2013, when he offered the technology free for anyone to use.

Faster, cheaper, cleaner

Earlier this year, scientists at Nasa’s Glenn Research Centre in Ohio examined the Hyperloop concept from a technical and cost perspective. They concluded that “estimates of energy consumption, passenger throughput, and mission analyses all support Hyperloop as a faster and cheaper alternative to short-haul flights [of 250 to 500 miles].”

Hyperloop’s benefits really kick in, though, when you consider its environmental benefits. A feasibility analysis by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) estimates that Hyperloop routes could be up to six times more energy efficient than air travel on short routes, and over three times faster than the world’s fastest high-speed rail system.

The high-pods would also be more eco-friendly than road vehicles, according to researchers at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg. Last year, they calculated the effects on road traffic of building a 300km Hyperloop in northern Germany dedicated to freight. They quantified the impact of removing thousands of trucks from the road, including reduced air and noise pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, congestion and road accidents.

Even though a Hyperloop in cloudy Germany could not run solely on solar power, it could still avoid emitting up to 140,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, according to the study, as well as up to 0.2% of Germany’s entire production of air pollutants like methane, nitrous oxides and dust. Overall, the Hyperloop could produce up to €900m (£805m) of value in reduced pollution, accidents and congestion each year – equal to a third of its estimated €2.7bn initial investment.

Too much hype?

However, others think that Musk’s estimates for building a Hyperloop system are, like his confidence in a “verbal approval” for a route between New York City and Washington DC, hopelessly naive.

Musk put a price-tag of about $17m per mile on a Hyperloop in California. But when Nicolas McLean, an engineer at the University of Queensland, analysed the cost of building a similar Hyperloop along the eastern coast of Australia he concluded, “the cost of the overall system was roughly 10 times larger than Musk’s initial prediction … which relied on undeveloped or immature technology”.

A feasibility analysis by DOT last year was similarly sceptical: “Cost estimates for a land-based Hyperloop system may appear lower than other modes, but as the technology is still conceptual and in very initial testing, there is uncertainty in both the underlying infrastructure needed to operate a system and the cost to construct it.”

This may be ignoring the Musk factor, thinks Flyvbjerg: “We know that Musk is very cost conscious, and he has already proven himself capable of getting good engineers to work for him.” Flyvbjerg thinks that Musk could reduce costs by locating Hyperloop stations beneath airports, and by improving tunnelling technologies.

Musk recently launched The Boring Company, a firm that aims to reduce the cost and increase the speed of building tunnels by a factor of 10. “Tunnel boring machines themselves are only a few decades old, and are still very bespoke, slow and expensive,” says Flyvbjerg. “Musk needs to demonstrate that there is another way of doing things that is fast, cheap and modular.”

None of these words is synonymous with public transportation projects, which often take decades and billions of taxpayer dollars to realise. “Nobody has been able to deliver this kind of infrastructure in a way where it’s profitable, so subsidies have always been needed,” says Flyvbjerg.

That could play to Musk’s strengths. In 2015, the LA Times calculated that Musk’s rocket, electric car and solar power companies had benefited from nearly $5bn (£3.8bn) in government funding, in the form of grants, tax breaks, discounted loans, rebates and environmental credits.

“I wouldn’t bet my money on being able to make something like the Hyperloop financially viable,” says Flyvbjerg. “But that’s OK. We subsidise all sorts of other infrastructure so why not the Hyperloop, if we think there’s an environmental or business case for it?”

Output: Nicolas McLean, engineer at the University of Queensland, has disputed Elon Musk's claims that hyperloop technology could be more safe than cars, quicker than trains, less more eco-friendly than air-travel. Scientists at Nasa’s Glenn Research Centre in Ohio concluded that hyperloop offered a faster and cheaper alternative to short-haul flights, and Musk said that a Hyperloop would cost roughly $17m per mile in California. McLean, however, calculated that “the cost of the overall system was roughly 10 times larger than Musk’s initial prediction” when considered on Australia's east coast.


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Bottle deposit scheme would cut marine pollution: Green Alliance
 The scale of plastic pollution plaguing our oceans is alarming. Eight million tonnes of the stuff is being lost to the sea each year. At least 136 species of marine life are affected by plastic entanglement, and many more still – at least 250 species – ingest plastic pieces that can be a million times more toxic than the water around them. We are one of those species, with European shellfish consumers ingesting around 11,000 bits of microplastic every year.

Thankfully, the government is acting. Last month, environment secretary Michael Gove highlighted Defra’s existing 5p carrier bag charge as a success (which we estimate tackles one per cent of the plastic problem) and committed to a microbeads ban for some products (which could tackle a further one per cent, if extended to all products). But, with less than two per cent of plastics addressed by actions so far, more action is clearly needed and Mr Gove has said he is looking for solutions. He announced an exploration of “new methods of reducing the amount of plastic – in particular plastic bottles – entering our seas.”

We think the answers are already here. And that they are simple. At the beginning of the year we published an infographic that highlighted the scale of the problem:

Our new analysis now shows the five actions that could prevent nearly two thirds of the plastic pollution from ever reaching the sea.

A third in one step

The single most effective action would be to recycle all plastic bottles, which account for 33 per cent of marine plastic litter, through a deposit return scheme.

This would involve a small charge being placed on drink containers at the point of sale (between 5p and 20p) that can later be redeemed when the packaging is returned to an authorised centre or the original seller. Such schemes are widely implemented abroad and can virtually eliminate beverage litter. In Germany, for instance, nearly 100 per cent of plastic bottles are returned for recycling, compared to only 57 per cent in the UK.

A few more steps

But the government should not stop with drinks containers. Alongside a deposit return scheme, it could take four other actions that, when added together, would reduce the UK’s contribution to the marine plastic problem by almost a third more. These are:

Enforcing Operation Clean Sweep. This is an international, industry led programme to prevent nurdles – the small pellets used to manufacture nearly all plastic products – from spilling into the environment. In other words, it prevents industrial pollution. At present, this voluntary initiative has no enforcement mechanism. Making it mandatory and enforcing it would prevent a further nine per cent of plastic pollution. And, as it is an industry led initiative, it should be welcomed by businesses for removing a potential source of reputational risk.

This is an international, industry led programme to prevent nurdles – the small pellets used to manufacture nearly all plastic products – from spilling into the environment. In other words, it prevents industrial pollution. At present, this voluntary initiative has no enforcement mechanism. Making it mandatory and enforcing it would prevent a further nine per cent of plastic pollution. And, as it is an industry led initiative, it should be welcomed by businesses for removing a potential source of reputational risk. Enforcing existing maritime waste bans. As the UK leaves the Common Fisheries Policy, it should apply the techniques used by Norway to enforce a ban on fish discards. These can be adapted to stop plastic waste being thrown overboard from ships. In Norway, discarding is deterred through a coastguard patrol presence and a similar catch quota management scheme in the North Sea involves remote electronic monitoring with on board CCTV cameras. These measures could be complemented by mandatory GPS tracking of vessels, mandatory reporting of gear losses and monitoring through aerial footage. This would address a further eleven per cent of plastic pollution.

As the UK leaves the Common Fisheries Policy, it should apply the techniques used by Norway to enforce a ban on fish discards. These can be adapted to stop plastic waste being thrown overboard from ships. In Norway, discarding is deterred through a coastguard patrol presence and a similar catch quota management scheme in the North Sea involves remote electronic monitoring with on board CCTV cameras. These measures could be complemented by mandatory GPS tracking of vessels, mandatory reporting of gear losses and monitoring through aerial footage. This would address a further eleven per cent of plastic pollution. Upgrade waste water treatment plants with sand filters. When synthetic clothes are washed, minute plastic fibres are washed into the waste water. These are too small to be captured by the standard treatment systems. Sand filters, already used in the United States, capture these fibres before they get into the ocean. Fitting these to waste water treatment plants would tackle a further nine per cent of plastic pollution.

When synthetic clothes are washed, minute plastic fibres are washed into the waste water. These are too small to be captured by the standard treatment systems. Sand filters, already used in the United States, capture these fibres before they get into the ocean. Fitting these to waste water treatment plants would tackle a further nine per cent of plastic pollution. Expand the UK’s ban on microbeads to all products. Over 680 tonnes of plastic microbeads are used as exfoliants or abrasives in UK products every year. The government’s proposed ban only covers rinse-off products like face and body washes, and not leave-on products like deodorants and sunscreen. Nor does it address microbeads used in non-cosmetic products. Addressing this loophole would prevent a further one per cent of plastic pollution.

So if Michael Gove wants to move solutions from a drop in the ocean to making a real splash in his first few months as environment secretary, and fulfil his wish to protect the sea from more plastic pollution, the easy answers are already here.

See the infographics and references.

[Image: Bottle bank? by Ben Salter from Flickr Creative Commons]

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Output: The introduction of a bottle deposit scheme would be the most effective way of reducing plastic litter in oceans, according to UK environmental thinktank Green Alliance. The group says that 33% of marine pollution comes from drinks bottles and that a deposit scheme similar to those in Australia, Europe and north America would capture 95% of such items. The group is also calling for enforcement of a voluntary industry initiative to reduce pollution from plastic “nurdles” or pellets, as well as the upgrading of wastewater plants to capture microplastic fibres and the expansion of the ban on microbeads.