question
stringlengths 11
149
| article
stringlengths 529
63.5k
| summary
stringlengths 4
444
| model source
stringclasses 3
values | length bucket
int8 0
2
| url
stringlengths 35
310
| qa classifier score
float32 0.1
0.85
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Does the government shutdown affect food stamps in Oregon? | More than 600,000 Oregonians who rely on federal food stamp benefits are safe for now despite a partial government shutdown, a state official said Tuesday. The state has secured funding to cover food stamps through February. Separately, state officials say they have money to continue a different food program for women, children and infants through March. The food stamp program, formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, serves more than 350,000 households statewide. It provides about $75 million monthly to needy Oregonians, with an average household benefit of just over $200. The federal government covers all food stamp benefits for Oregonians, and the state has already received its funding through February, said Dawn Myers, the program manager. I would not say that I am super concerned yet, said Myers, who has experienced other brief federal shutdowns in her 13 years with the Department of Human Services. I think that we have a good amount of time that we can go with benefits for individuals not being affected. Oregon issues food stamp credits to recipients each month, between the first and ninth, depending on a persons Social Security number. That means the earliest the federal shutdown could impact Oregonians would be March 1. The state does not maintain a reserve to fund the food-stamp program, Myers said. If the shutdown were to continue, Myers said the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food and Nutrition Service would likely provide information to state programs. But when such directions would come is unknown. Meanwhile, the state has secured federal funding for a different food program serving about 89,000 people through March, said Robb Cowie, a spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children provides recipients about $4 million a month, or $50 on average. -- Brad Schmidt bschmidt@oregonian.com 503-294-7628 @_brad_schmidt Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. | The federal government covers all food stamp benefits for Oregonians. State officials say they have money to continue a different food program for women, children and infants through March. "I would not say that I am super concerned yet," a state official says. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/01/does-the-government-shutdown-affect-food-stamps-in-oregon.html | 0.248274 |
Does the government shutdown affect food stamps in Oregon? | More than 600,000 Oregonians who rely on federal food stamp benefits are safe for now despite a partial government shutdown, a state official said Tuesday. The state has secured funding to cover food stamps through February. Separately, state officials say they have money to continue a different food program for women, children and infants through March. The food stamp program, formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, serves more than 350,000 households statewide. It provides about $75 million monthly to needy Oregonians, with an average household benefit of just over $200. The federal government covers all food stamp benefits for Oregonians, and the state has already received its funding through February, said Dawn Myers, the program manager. I would not say that I am super concerned yet, said Myers, who has experienced other brief federal shutdowns in her 13 years with the Department of Human Services. I think that we have a good amount of time that we can go with benefits for individuals not being affected. Oregon issues food stamp credits to recipients each month, between the first and ninth, depending on a persons Social Security number. That means the earliest the federal shutdown could impact Oregonians would be March 1. The state does not maintain a reserve to fund the food-stamp program, Myers said. If the shutdown were to continue, Myers said the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food and Nutrition Service would likely provide information to state programs. But when such directions would come is unknown. Meanwhile, the state has secured federal funding for a different food program serving about 89,000 people through March, said Robb Cowie, a spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children provides recipients about $4 million a month, or $50 on average. -- Brad Schmidt bschmidt@oregonian.com 503-294-7628 @_brad_schmidt Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. | The federal government covers all food stamp benefits for Oregonians. State officials say they have money to continue a different food program for women, children and infants through March. "I would not say that I am super concerned yet, says Dawn Myers, the program manager. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/01/does-the-government-shutdown-affect-food-stamps-in-oregon.html | 0.241716 |
Why does food taste different on planes? | (CNN) If you've ever brought a favorite treat along to enjoy on a flight -- a special chocolate bar, stacked-high sandwich, or flaky pastry, say -- you might have noticed it didn't taste as great at 30,000 feet. It's not just you. Flying has a very real effect on the smell and taste of food and drinks for a number of reasons. Herbert Stone, who has a PhD in nutrition, worked on food for the Apollo Moon Mission. He says that says chilly airplane temps are partly to blame. We don't taste flavors as well when it's cold. l e v a r t Remember too, that taste and smell are inextricably combined, so what affects your sense of smell impacts tastes big-time. Pressurized cabins lower blood oxygen levels, and that reduces the ability of olfactory receptors. And the constantly circulating, super-dry air of the airplane cabinan average 12 percent humidity, lower than that of the Sahara Desertdirectly affects the nose. "Low moisture and air movement will dry the nasal passages and this reduces odor and taste sensitivity," says Stone, who adds that when the exact same food is tested at sea level, "it will be rated as stronger and more intense." Then there's the noisethe drone of the airplane's engines, the baby screeching in the back rowalso affects how food tastes. Related content A guerrilla approach to flying with kids Some tastes are affected by these factors more than others. "Salt is perceived to be between 20 and 30 percent less intense and sugar 15 to 20 percent less intense, at high altitude, according to research by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics that was conducted for Lufthansa. The perception of fruity aromas and acids is by contrast more stable," according to research by the Fraunhofer team. And this might be a conservative estimate: "In the air you lose almost 70 percent of your sense of taste," says Antonio Fernandez, AeroMexico's senior vice president for on-board product. Considering all of these factors, it's not a big surprise that the salted caramel macaron that explodes your taste buds with flavor on the ground tastes like a ghost of itself in the air. But savvy airline chefs know that some flavors do better than others in the sky: Spicy and intense flavors remain pretty stable at altitudelike a Thai or Korean curry, and so does fresh fruit, especially citrus. Umami flavors--like those found in mushrooms, seaweed, hard cheeses and meat--lend richness and depth to dishes, and they come through well, too. Related content Scents on a plane: Why the aviation industry is waking up to fragrance "Flavors such as cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, parmesan, tomato, mushrooms, soy, meat and lentils" are the go-to flavor-enhancers for Aeromexico's chefs, says Fernandez. Cuisine that relies on subtle flavors (like how fish, pasta or poultry might normally be prepared) end up the big flavor losers and lead to complaints, food scientists have found. "Typical reactions include words like 'tasteless' and 'cardboard'," says Stone. On top of all the taste-perception challenges, food prep areas aren't exactly restaurant-quality at 30,000 feet. Flight attendants aren't sous chefs, and space is at a premium. There's only one oven and an entire entree must be cooked at the same temperature for the same amount of time. "I actually liked the challenge that this proposed because it allowed me to get creative on how to keep some things crunchy, some soft, and all hot and delicious," says Brad Farmerie, the Executive Chef at New York City's Saxon + Parole. He developed the menu for Mint, JetBlue's premium class of service. l e v a r t He said getting a soft-boiled egg for brunch items or being able to offer a medium-rare burger was a challenge that took some time to successfully crack. Some airline chefs will just ramp up sugar and salt to make up for lost flavors and less-than-ideal cooking circumstances. "This just adds to the dehydration that travelers feel during and after the flight," Farmerie says. When he developed a menu for the airline, "I knew that I needed to incorporate acidity, heat and umami to make up for the muted sense of smell and taste. These elements give the cuisine a 'lift' and brighten the natural flavors of the dish without the need for more salt," he adds. Farmerie cites the airline's popular carrot and ginger soup with chili marshmallow as one that ticks all the boxes: It combines fresh carrot flavor with white miso for umami, lemon juice for acidity, and ginger and chili for sweet spice, all of which provide flavor without extra salt or sweetener. Whether you order on board, buy food at the airport, or bring your meal from home, keep in mind that simple, healthy foods are what most chefs who are frequent fliers choose: Fruit and cheese plates (err on the side of harder cheese when it comes to security restrictions); Asian stir-fries; and vegetable soups like carrot or tomato. | Flying has a very real effect on the smell and taste of food and drinks. We don't taste flavors as well when it's cold. Pressurized cabins lower blood oxygen levels. The drone of the airplane's engines also affects how food tastes. | bart | 1 | https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/why-does-food-taste-different-on-planes/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29 | 0.197661 |
Why does food taste different on planes? | (CNN) If you've ever brought a favorite treat along to enjoy on a flight -- a special chocolate bar, stacked-high sandwich, or flaky pastry, say -- you might have noticed it didn't taste as great at 30,000 feet. It's not just you. Flying has a very real effect on the smell and taste of food and drinks for a number of reasons. Herbert Stone, who has a PhD in nutrition, worked on food for the Apollo Moon Mission. He says that says chilly airplane temps are partly to blame. We don't taste flavors as well when it's cold. l e v a r t Remember too, that taste and smell are inextricably combined, so what affects your sense of smell impacts tastes big-time. Pressurized cabins lower blood oxygen levels, and that reduces the ability of olfactory receptors. And the constantly circulating, super-dry air of the airplane cabinan average 12 percent humidity, lower than that of the Sahara Desertdirectly affects the nose. "Low moisture and air movement will dry the nasal passages and this reduces odor and taste sensitivity," says Stone, who adds that when the exact same food is tested at sea level, "it will be rated as stronger and more intense." Then there's the noisethe drone of the airplane's engines, the baby screeching in the back rowalso affects how food tastes. Related content A guerrilla approach to flying with kids Some tastes are affected by these factors more than others. "Salt is perceived to be between 20 and 30 percent less intense and sugar 15 to 20 percent less intense, at high altitude, according to research by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics that was conducted for Lufthansa. The perception of fruity aromas and acids is by contrast more stable," according to research by the Fraunhofer team. And this might be a conservative estimate: "In the air you lose almost 70 percent of your sense of taste," says Antonio Fernandez, AeroMexico's senior vice president for on-board product. Considering all of these factors, it's not a big surprise that the salted caramel macaron that explodes your taste buds with flavor on the ground tastes like a ghost of itself in the air. But savvy airline chefs know that some flavors do better than others in the sky: Spicy and intense flavors remain pretty stable at altitudelike a Thai or Korean curry, and so does fresh fruit, especially citrus. Umami flavors--like those found in mushrooms, seaweed, hard cheeses and meat--lend richness and depth to dishes, and they come through well, too. Related content Scents on a plane: Why the aviation industry is waking up to fragrance "Flavors such as cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, parmesan, tomato, mushrooms, soy, meat and lentils" are the go-to flavor-enhancers for Aeromexico's chefs, says Fernandez. Cuisine that relies on subtle flavors (like how fish, pasta or poultry might normally be prepared) end up the big flavor losers and lead to complaints, food scientists have found. "Typical reactions include words like 'tasteless' and 'cardboard'," says Stone. On top of all the taste-perception challenges, food prep areas aren't exactly restaurant-quality at 30,000 feet. Flight attendants aren't sous chefs, and space is at a premium. There's only one oven and an entire entree must be cooked at the same temperature for the same amount of time. "I actually liked the challenge that this proposed because it allowed me to get creative on how to keep some things crunchy, some soft, and all hot and delicious," says Brad Farmerie, the Executive Chef at New York City's Saxon + Parole. He developed the menu for Mint, JetBlue's premium class of service. l e v a r t He said getting a soft-boiled egg for brunch items or being able to offer a medium-rare burger was a challenge that took some time to successfully crack. Some airline chefs will just ramp up sugar and salt to make up for lost flavors and less-than-ideal cooking circumstances. "This just adds to the dehydration that travelers feel during and after the flight," Farmerie says. When he developed a menu for the airline, "I knew that I needed to incorporate acidity, heat and umami to make up for the muted sense of smell and taste. These elements give the cuisine a 'lift' and brighten the natural flavors of the dish without the need for more salt," he adds. Farmerie cites the airline's popular carrot and ginger soup with chili marshmallow as one that ticks all the boxes: It combines fresh carrot flavor with white miso for umami, lemon juice for acidity, and ginger and chili for sweet spice, all of which provide flavor without extra salt or sweetener. Whether you order on board, buy food at the airport, or bring your meal from home, keep in mind that simple, healthy foods are what most chefs who are frequent fliers choose: Fruit and cheese plates (err on the side of harder cheese when it comes to security restrictions); Asian stir-fries; and vegetable soups like carrot or tomato. | Flying has a very real effect on the smell and taste of food and drinks. Pressurized cabins lower blood oxygen levels, and that reduces the ability of olfactory receptors. "In the air you lose almost 70 percent of your sense of taste," says AeroMexico's senior vice president for on-board product. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/why-does-food-taste-different-on-planes/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29 | 0.171122 |
Would Steelers trade Mike Tomlin, promote Mike Munchak? | Appearing on local radio stations helps give me a good sense of whats being said about the home team in its own town. On Monday, a visit with Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 the Fan in Pittsburgh caused me to do a spit take. During the segment, Fillipponi suggested this idea for the Steelers: Trade Mike Tomlin, and promote Mike Munchak to head coach. Scroll to continue with content Ad Its a stunning thought, an ultra-aggressive approach for an uber-conservative team that has allowed its insistence on continuity among its coaches to become part of its identity. But with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger publicly stumping for Munchak to stay with the team at a time when hes one of the finalists to coach the Broncos, its an intriguing thought. I pray that fans write as many letters as they can to Mr. [Art] Rooney to keep Coach Munchak around, Roethlisberger recently said. Hes such a special coach. When the linemen are happy and love to play for their coach, they play better. With vacant jobs starting to fill (three have been filled in the past 24 hours or so), it could be hard to find a suitor for Tomlin, if the Steelers were inclined to even try. And the concept knocked me wobbly in large part because, typically, the trade of a coach happens when another team wants to get him, not when his current team wants to unload him. It would be difficult if not impossible. Also, with the three NFC vacancies now filled, the Steelers only remaining options could be within the AFC: Jets, Dolphins, Browns, Bengals, Broncos. Story continues Of course, the notion that Tomlin could be available could prompt a team with a coach currently under contract to inquire about the possibility. And Tomlins minority status would allow the transaction to happen quickly, with no traditional coaching search. The chances of it happening are somewhere between slim and none, but its an intriguing idea, one that should at least prompt interested teams to ask themselves whether its worth making a call. | A Pittsburgh radio host suggested the Steelers trade Mike Tomlin and promote Mike Munchak to head coach. | bart | 0 | https://sports.yahoo.com/steelers-trade-mike-tomlin-promote-234809874.html?src=rss | 0.188209 |
Would Steelers trade Mike Tomlin, promote Mike Munchak? | Appearing on local radio stations helps give me a good sense of whats being said about the home team in its own town. On Monday, a visit with Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 the Fan in Pittsburgh caused me to do a spit take. During the segment, Fillipponi suggested this idea for the Steelers: Trade Mike Tomlin, and promote Mike Munchak to head coach. Scroll to continue with content Ad Its a stunning thought, an ultra-aggressive approach for an uber-conservative team that has allowed its insistence on continuity among its coaches to become part of its identity. But with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger publicly stumping for Munchak to stay with the team at a time when hes one of the finalists to coach the Broncos, its an intriguing thought. I pray that fans write as many letters as they can to Mr. [Art] Rooney to keep Coach Munchak around, Roethlisberger recently said. Hes such a special coach. When the linemen are happy and love to play for their coach, they play better. With vacant jobs starting to fill (three have been filled in the past 24 hours or so), it could be hard to find a suitor for Tomlin, if the Steelers were inclined to even try. And the concept knocked me wobbly in large part because, typically, the trade of a coach happens when another team wants to get him, not when his current team wants to unload him. It would be difficult if not impossible. Also, with the three NFC vacancies now filled, the Steelers only remaining options could be within the AFC: Jets, Dolphins, Browns, Bengals, Broncos. Story continues Of course, the notion that Tomlin could be available could prompt a team with a coach currently under contract to inquire about the possibility. And Tomlins minority status would allow the transaction to happen quickly, with no traditional coaching search. The chances of it happening are somewhere between slim and none, but its an intriguing idea, one that should at least prompt interested teams to ask themselves whether its worth making a call. | A Pittsburgh radio host suggested the Steelers trade Mike Tomlin and promote Mike Munchak to head coach. It's an ultra-aggressive approach for an uber-conservative team. | bart | 1 | https://sports.yahoo.com/steelers-trade-mike-tomlin-promote-234809874.html?src=rss | 0.25566 |
Would Steelers trade Mike Tomlin, promote Mike Munchak? | Appearing on local radio stations helps give me a good sense of whats being said about the home team in its own town. On Monday, a visit with Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 the Fan in Pittsburgh caused me to do a spit take. During the segment, Fillipponi suggested this idea for the Steelers: Trade Mike Tomlin, and promote Mike Munchak to head coach. Scroll to continue with content Ad Its a stunning thought, an ultra-aggressive approach for an uber-conservative team that has allowed its insistence on continuity among its coaches to become part of its identity. But with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger publicly stumping for Munchak to stay with the team at a time when hes one of the finalists to coach the Broncos, its an intriguing thought. I pray that fans write as many letters as they can to Mr. [Art] Rooney to keep Coach Munchak around, Roethlisberger recently said. Hes such a special coach. When the linemen are happy and love to play for their coach, they play better. With vacant jobs starting to fill (three have been filled in the past 24 hours or so), it could be hard to find a suitor for Tomlin, if the Steelers were inclined to even try. And the concept knocked me wobbly in large part because, typically, the trade of a coach happens when another team wants to get him, not when his current team wants to unload him. It would be difficult if not impossible. Also, with the three NFC vacancies now filled, the Steelers only remaining options could be within the AFC: Jets, Dolphins, Browns, Bengals, Broncos. Story continues Of course, the notion that Tomlin could be available could prompt a team with a coach currently under contract to inquire about the possibility. And Tomlins minority status would allow the transaction to happen quickly, with no traditional coaching search. The chances of it happening are somewhere between slim and none, but its an intriguing idea, one that should at least prompt interested teams to ask themselves whether its worth making a call. | A Pittsburgh radio station suggested the Steelers trade Mike Tomlin and promote Mike Munchak. It's a stunning thought for an uber-conservative team that has allowed its insistence on continuity to become part of its identity. The chances of it happening are somewhere between slim and none, but it's an intriguing idea. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://sports.yahoo.com/steelers-trade-mike-tomlin-promote-234809874.html?src=rss | 0.295416 |
Where Will Buckeye Partners Be in 5 Years? | Things haven't been looking so good for oil and refined products pipeline and terminal operator Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL) in recent years. In fact, the master limited partnership (MLP) has lost more than half its value over the last five years, and is now trading in the low $30s. That's much worse than many of its peers. For example, fellow MLP Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP) has seen its unit price -- MLP-speak for share price -- rise more than 20% over the last five years. But Buckeye is making changes to its operations that may have a big impact on the company's future. Although the company -- and its industry -- are in a state of flux right now, Buckeye's bets could set it up to win big...or wipe out. Here's where Buckeye looks to be headed over the next five years. Oil pipelines lead to a refinery in the distance More Buckeye Partners hopes that investments in Permian crude oil will end an era of underperformance. Image source: Getty Images. Big changes For years, Buckeye had been a pretty standard bread-and-butter pipeline and terminal operator. It owned a large domestic pipeline network transporting refined products like gasoline and distillates. The system was centered around Chicago, but stretched as far as New York. Buckeye also operated terminals and some smaller pipeline systems located throughout the U.S. It also either owned outright or had a stake in several international terminals in the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The trouble for Buckeye was that its core assets had begun to underperform. In 2017, throughputs -- the amount of product shipped through and stored in Buckeye's infrastructure -- were up, but net income was down. And even though throughputs were up, capacity utilization at its terminals had dropped from 99% in 2016 to just 92% in 2017. Meanwhile, the company's already-high debt load was increasing, and its coverage ratio for its distribution had fallen below 1, meaning it would need to make up the difference somehow. Things came to a head in Q3 2018, when Buckeye made the strategic decision to slash its dividend. That improved the company's coverage ratio. It also decided to sell off its stake in VTTI, which jettisoned most of its overseas terminal exposure, and sold noncore terminal assets like its far-flung California terminals and small jet fuel pipelines in Florida. It's using the cash it raises to pay down debt and also to focus on its big new bet: oil from the Permian Basin in West Texas. Joining the herd There's no shortage of interest in the Permian Basin these days. Permian crude is comparatively cheap to drill, and there seems to be a lot of it. Drillers flocked to the Permian in 2018 to try to cash in on the lucrative combination of higher oil prices and lower production costs. The trouble for many of those drillers is that there isn't enough infrastructure to transport that crude oil once it's been extracted from the ground. And although numerous pipeline companies are building long-haul pipelines from the Permian to the refineries and ports along the Gulf Coast, a lot of that capacity won't be coming online until late 2019 or 2020. Once those pipelines do come online, though, there's another problem. Many Gulf Coast refineries are set up to process heavy, sour crude of the sort that comes from Canada or Venezuela. The light, sweet crude from the Permian needs to be shipped overseas. But the preferred method of shipping oil -- the Very Large Crude Carrier, or VLCC -- is a heavy craft that sits low in the water when fully loaded, and can't navigate into many of the Gulf Coast ports at Houston or Corpus Christi. Instead, VLCCs need to be fully loaded at offshore "lightering" platforms, with oil that has been transported by smaller craft. | Buckeye Partners has lost more than half its value over the last five years. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://news.yahoo.com/where-buckeye-partners-5-years-023300719.html | 0.133235 |
Where Will Buckeye Partners Be in 5 Years? | Things haven't been looking so good for oil and refined products pipeline and terminal operator Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL) in recent years. In fact, the master limited partnership (MLP) has lost more than half its value over the last five years, and is now trading in the low $30s. That's much worse than many of its peers. For example, fellow MLP Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP) has seen its unit price -- MLP-speak for share price -- rise more than 20% over the last five years. But Buckeye is making changes to its operations that may have a big impact on the company's future. Although the company -- and its industry -- are in a state of flux right now, Buckeye's bets could set it up to win big...or wipe out. Here's where Buckeye looks to be headed over the next five years. Oil pipelines lead to a refinery in the distance More Buckeye Partners hopes that investments in Permian crude oil will end an era of underperformance. Image source: Getty Images. Big changes For years, Buckeye had been a pretty standard bread-and-butter pipeline and terminal operator. It owned a large domestic pipeline network transporting refined products like gasoline and distillates. The system was centered around Chicago, but stretched as far as New York. Buckeye also operated terminals and some smaller pipeline systems located throughout the U.S. It also either owned outright or had a stake in several international terminals in the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The trouble for Buckeye was that its core assets had begun to underperform. In 2017, throughputs -- the amount of product shipped through and stored in Buckeye's infrastructure -- were up, but net income was down. And even though throughputs were up, capacity utilization at its terminals had dropped from 99% in 2016 to just 92% in 2017. Meanwhile, the company's already-high debt load was increasing, and its coverage ratio for its distribution had fallen below 1, meaning it would need to make up the difference somehow. Things came to a head in Q3 2018, when Buckeye made the strategic decision to slash its dividend. That improved the company's coverage ratio. It also decided to sell off its stake in VTTI, which jettisoned most of its overseas terminal exposure, and sold noncore terminal assets like its far-flung California terminals and small jet fuel pipelines in Florida. It's using the cash it raises to pay down debt and also to focus on its big new bet: oil from the Permian Basin in West Texas. Joining the herd There's no shortage of interest in the Permian Basin these days. Permian crude is comparatively cheap to drill, and there seems to be a lot of it. Drillers flocked to the Permian in 2018 to try to cash in on the lucrative combination of higher oil prices and lower production costs. The trouble for many of those drillers is that there isn't enough infrastructure to transport that crude oil once it's been extracted from the ground. And although numerous pipeline companies are building long-haul pipelines from the Permian to the refineries and ports along the Gulf Coast, a lot of that capacity won't be coming online until late 2019 or 2020. Once those pipelines do come online, though, there's another problem. Many Gulf Coast refineries are set up to process heavy, sour crude of the sort that comes from Canada or Venezuela. The light, sweet crude from the Permian needs to be shipped overseas. But the preferred method of shipping oil -- the Very Large Crude Carrier, or VLCC -- is a heavy craft that sits low in the water when fully loaded, and can't navigate into many of the Gulf Coast ports at Houston or Corpus Christi. Instead, VLCCs need to be fully loaded at offshore "lightering" platforms, with oil that has been transported by smaller craft. | Buckeye Partners has lost more than half its value over the last five years. The master limited partnership is now trading in the low $30s. | bart | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/where-buckeye-partners-5-years-023300719.html | 0.177376 |
Where Will Buckeye Partners Be in 5 Years? | Things haven't been looking so good for oil and refined products pipeline and terminal operator Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL) in recent years. In fact, the master limited partnership (MLP) has lost more than half its value over the last five years, and is now trading in the low $30s. That's much worse than many of its peers. For example, fellow MLP Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP) has seen its unit price -- MLP-speak for share price -- rise more than 20% over the last five years. But Buckeye is making changes to its operations that may have a big impact on the company's future. Although the company -- and its industry -- are in a state of flux right now, Buckeye's bets could set it up to win big...or wipe out. Here's where Buckeye looks to be headed over the next five years. Oil pipelines lead to a refinery in the distance More Buckeye Partners hopes that investments in Permian crude oil will end an era of underperformance. Image source: Getty Images. Big changes For years, Buckeye had been a pretty standard bread-and-butter pipeline and terminal operator. It owned a large domestic pipeline network transporting refined products like gasoline and distillates. The system was centered around Chicago, but stretched as far as New York. Buckeye also operated terminals and some smaller pipeline systems located throughout the U.S. It also either owned outright or had a stake in several international terminals in the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The trouble for Buckeye was that its core assets had begun to underperform. In 2017, throughputs -- the amount of product shipped through and stored in Buckeye's infrastructure -- were up, but net income was down. And even though throughputs were up, capacity utilization at its terminals had dropped from 99% in 2016 to just 92% in 2017. Meanwhile, the company's already-high debt load was increasing, and its coverage ratio for its distribution had fallen below 1, meaning it would need to make up the difference somehow. Things came to a head in Q3 2018, when Buckeye made the strategic decision to slash its dividend. That improved the company's coverage ratio. It also decided to sell off its stake in VTTI, which jettisoned most of its overseas terminal exposure, and sold noncore terminal assets like its far-flung California terminals and small jet fuel pipelines in Florida. It's using the cash it raises to pay down debt and also to focus on its big new bet: oil from the Permian Basin in West Texas. Joining the herd There's no shortage of interest in the Permian Basin these days. Permian crude is comparatively cheap to drill, and there seems to be a lot of it. Drillers flocked to the Permian in 2018 to try to cash in on the lucrative combination of higher oil prices and lower production costs. The trouble for many of those drillers is that there isn't enough infrastructure to transport that crude oil once it's been extracted from the ground. And although numerous pipeline companies are building long-haul pipelines from the Permian to the refineries and ports along the Gulf Coast, a lot of that capacity won't be coming online until late 2019 or 2020. Once those pipelines do come online, though, there's another problem. Many Gulf Coast refineries are set up to process heavy, sour crude of the sort that comes from Canada or Venezuela. The light, sweet crude from the Permian needs to be shipped overseas. But the preferred method of shipping oil -- the Very Large Crude Carrier, or VLCC -- is a heavy craft that sits low in the water when fully loaded, and can't navigate into many of the Gulf Coast ports at Houston or Corpus Christi. Instead, VLCCs need to be fully loaded at offshore "lightering" platforms, with oil that has been transported by smaller craft. | Buckeye Partners has lost more than half its value over the last five years. The master limited partnership is now trading in the low $30s. Buckeye is making changes to its operations that may have a big impact on the company's future. | bart | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/where-buckeye-partners-5-years-023300719.html | 0.163825 |
Why is BTs broadband pledge so misleading over outages? | Im really exasperated by the exclusions Ive encountered with the BT Plus Keep Connected Promise. The video and blurb on its website are clear that, within an hour of reporting a broadband outage, it will send a 4G Mini Hub and turn on unlimited data on any BT mobile phones associated with the account. I have experienced two half-day outages and both times BT pointed to the small print which allows it to get out of its promise if the outage is down to planned or unplanned outages on its network. I feel its marketing is highly misleading and it is taking money for a service it doesnt provide. MR, London BTs sales pitch appears unambiguous. It promises: In the unlikely event theres a problem with your broadband and you report a fault, well send you a Mini Hub straightaway, which uses a mobile signal to help your devices go online at no extra cost. If youve got mobile with us, within an hour of reporting the fault, well switch on free unlimited data on all your phones so you can stay connected. Only in the terms and conditions (which you have to cut and paste into the browser since theres no link on the web page) are qualifying faults mentioned. And you have to read more than half way through to clause 10e to discover that planned or unplanned outages on BTs network or any third party service disqualify you from the promise in the 65.99-a-month Plus deal. Faults in the home environment such as wiring issues are also excluded which means a significant proportion of causes arent covered. These crucial caveats should be made clear at the outset, in the same way that insurers highlight essential terms in key facts documents. BT missed the point when it told me: There are some scenarios where sending a 4G Mini Hub might not be possible or the best way to get back online, for example if the fault is likely to be repaired in a few hours, or in the rare event there are broader issues affecting broadband and mobile networks in a specific area. When I pressed the issue it did not respond. This is something customers should report to the Advertising Standards Authority which did not respond to my request for a comment. If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number. Submission subject to our terms and conditions | BT Plus promises to send a 4G Mini Hub within an hour of a broadband outage. But only in the terms and conditions are qualifying faults mentioned. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/09/bt-plus-keep-connected-promise-terms-conditions | 0.144743 |
Why is BTs broadband pledge so misleading over outages? | Im really exasperated by the exclusions Ive encountered with the BT Plus Keep Connected Promise. The video and blurb on its website are clear that, within an hour of reporting a broadband outage, it will send a 4G Mini Hub and turn on unlimited data on any BT mobile phones associated with the account. I have experienced two half-day outages and both times BT pointed to the small print which allows it to get out of its promise if the outage is down to planned or unplanned outages on its network. I feel its marketing is highly misleading and it is taking money for a service it doesnt provide. MR, London BTs sales pitch appears unambiguous. It promises: In the unlikely event theres a problem with your broadband and you report a fault, well send you a Mini Hub straightaway, which uses a mobile signal to help your devices go online at no extra cost. If youve got mobile with us, within an hour of reporting the fault, well switch on free unlimited data on all your phones so you can stay connected. Only in the terms and conditions (which you have to cut and paste into the browser since theres no link on the web page) are qualifying faults mentioned. And you have to read more than half way through to clause 10e to discover that planned or unplanned outages on BTs network or any third party service disqualify you from the promise in the 65.99-a-month Plus deal. Faults in the home environment such as wiring issues are also excluded which means a significant proportion of causes arent covered. These crucial caveats should be made clear at the outset, in the same way that insurers highlight essential terms in key facts documents. BT missed the point when it told me: There are some scenarios where sending a 4G Mini Hub might not be possible or the best way to get back online, for example if the fault is likely to be repaired in a few hours, or in the rare event there are broader issues affecting broadband and mobile networks in a specific area. When I pressed the issue it did not respond. This is something customers should report to the Advertising Standards Authority which did not respond to my request for a comment. If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number. Submission subject to our terms and conditions | BT Plus promises to send a 4G Mini Hub within an hour of a broadband outage. But only in the terms and conditions are qualifying faults mentioned. This means that planned or unplanned outages disqualify you from the promise in the 65.99-a-month Plus deal. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/09/bt-plus-keep-connected-promise-terms-conditions | 0.342643 |
Who is Louise Linton? | Louise Linton, the actress wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, ignited a firestorm of criticism after she responded to a negative comment on social media. She recently told Elle magazine that she is super-duper apologetic for the drama that she has caused since her husband joined President Trumps Cabinet. Linton, 37, said she felt like a regular person when she saw someones negative comment on Instagram in August 2017 and chose to respond like regular people would. But her knee-jerk reaction, as she described it, earned her unlimited criticism and launched her husband into a sea of controversy. Read on for a brief look at Linton's life, including since Mnuchin became treasury secretary. She got into an Instagram spat Linton posted a photo to her Instagram account which was briefly made private to those who do not follow her of her and Mnuchin disembarking a government plane. In the August 2017 photo, she tagged some of the high-profile designers of the ensemble she was wearing. One user commented, Glad we could pay for your little getaway, and included the hashtag deplorable. Linton responded with a lengthy comment and touted her and her husbands financial success. Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country, Linton said. Im pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day trip than you did, she continued. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than youd be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours. She's an actress Born in Scotland, Linton trained at the Edinburgh Drama Academy as well as the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, according to her IMDB page. She has guest starred in episodes of Cold Case and CSI: NY. Linton has also starred in the movies Cabin Fever and Intruder. Mnuchin and Linton recently married Mnuchin and Linton married in June 2017 with a star-studded guest list. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended the wedding. Vice President Mike Pence officiated the ceremony. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Mnuchin, 55, ran a company that invested in Hollywood movies including "Wonder Woman," "The Lego Movie," "The Accountant" and "Suicide Squad." He is a Goldman Sachs alumnus. Both Mnuchin and Linton were married previously. Mnuchin has children from his earlier marriage. Her controversial memoir is no longer on Amazon Linton wrote and self-published a memoir about her experiences volunteering in Africa as an 18-year-old but her writings ignited controversy. In her book, called In Congos Shadow: One Girls Perilous Journey to the Heart of Africa, Linton described her experiences in Zambia. She detailed hiding from armed rebels and her fear of being found as she was a skinny white muzungu with long angel hair, the Los Angeles Times reported. On Twitter, people accused Linton of lying or exaggerating about the extent of the violence in Zambia and hailed her work as a white savior fantasy. The book is no longer available on Amazon. She posed with new cash Linton again raised eyebrows when she posed with Mnuchin holding a sheet of brand-new $1 bills in November 2017. In the photo, Linton is wearing elbow-length black leather gloves and skirt and top. Because of the controversial photo-op, Linton told Elle magazine that her skirt and gloves remain in her closet. I really hope someday I can wear that outfit again, Linton told the magazine. Because I really liked it. | Louise Linton is the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. In August 2017, she responded to a negative comment on social media. | bart | 0 | https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/who-is-louise-linton | 0.470512 |
Who is Louise Linton? | Louise Linton, the actress wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, ignited a firestorm of criticism after she responded to a negative comment on social media. She recently told Elle magazine that she is super-duper apologetic for the drama that she has caused since her husband joined President Trumps Cabinet. Linton, 37, said she felt like a regular person when she saw someones negative comment on Instagram in August 2017 and chose to respond like regular people would. But her knee-jerk reaction, as she described it, earned her unlimited criticism and launched her husband into a sea of controversy. Read on for a brief look at Linton's life, including since Mnuchin became treasury secretary. She got into an Instagram spat Linton posted a photo to her Instagram account which was briefly made private to those who do not follow her of her and Mnuchin disembarking a government plane. In the August 2017 photo, she tagged some of the high-profile designers of the ensemble she was wearing. One user commented, Glad we could pay for your little getaway, and included the hashtag deplorable. Linton responded with a lengthy comment and touted her and her husbands financial success. Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country, Linton said. Im pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day trip than you did, she continued. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than youd be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours. She's an actress Born in Scotland, Linton trained at the Edinburgh Drama Academy as well as the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, according to her IMDB page. She has guest starred in episodes of Cold Case and CSI: NY. Linton has also starred in the movies Cabin Fever and Intruder. Mnuchin and Linton recently married Mnuchin and Linton married in June 2017 with a star-studded guest list. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended the wedding. Vice President Mike Pence officiated the ceremony. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Mnuchin, 55, ran a company that invested in Hollywood movies including "Wonder Woman," "The Lego Movie," "The Accountant" and "Suicide Squad." He is a Goldman Sachs alumnus. Both Mnuchin and Linton were married previously. Mnuchin has children from his earlier marriage. Her controversial memoir is no longer on Amazon Linton wrote and self-published a memoir about her experiences volunteering in Africa as an 18-year-old but her writings ignited controversy. In her book, called In Congos Shadow: One Girls Perilous Journey to the Heart of Africa, Linton described her experiences in Zambia. She detailed hiding from armed rebels and her fear of being found as she was a skinny white muzungu with long angel hair, the Los Angeles Times reported. On Twitter, people accused Linton of lying or exaggerating about the extent of the violence in Zambia and hailed her work as a white savior fantasy. The book is no longer available on Amazon. She posed with new cash Linton again raised eyebrows when she posed with Mnuchin holding a sheet of brand-new $1 bills in November 2017. In the photo, Linton is wearing elbow-length black leather gloves and skirt and top. Because of the controversial photo-op, Linton told Elle magazine that her skirt and gloves remain in her closet. I really hope someday I can wear that outfit again, Linton told the magazine. Because I really liked it. | Louise Linton is the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. In August 2017, she responded to a negative comment on social media. Her knee-jerk reaction, as she described it, earned her unlimited criticism. | bart | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/who-is-louise-linton | 0.485629 |
Who is Louise Linton? | Louise Linton, the actress wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, ignited a firestorm of criticism after she responded to a negative comment on social media. She recently told Elle magazine that she is super-duper apologetic for the drama that she has caused since her husband joined President Trumps Cabinet. Linton, 37, said she felt like a regular person when she saw someones negative comment on Instagram in August 2017 and chose to respond like regular people would. But her knee-jerk reaction, as she described it, earned her unlimited criticism and launched her husband into a sea of controversy. Read on for a brief look at Linton's life, including since Mnuchin became treasury secretary. She got into an Instagram spat Linton posted a photo to her Instagram account which was briefly made private to those who do not follow her of her and Mnuchin disembarking a government plane. In the August 2017 photo, she tagged some of the high-profile designers of the ensemble she was wearing. One user commented, Glad we could pay for your little getaway, and included the hashtag deplorable. Linton responded with a lengthy comment and touted her and her husbands financial success. Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country, Linton said. Im pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day trip than you did, she continued. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than youd be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours. She's an actress Born in Scotland, Linton trained at the Edinburgh Drama Academy as well as the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, according to her IMDB page. She has guest starred in episodes of Cold Case and CSI: NY. Linton has also starred in the movies Cabin Fever and Intruder. Mnuchin and Linton recently married Mnuchin and Linton married in June 2017 with a star-studded guest list. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended the wedding. Vice President Mike Pence officiated the ceremony. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Mnuchin, 55, ran a company that invested in Hollywood movies including "Wonder Woman," "The Lego Movie," "The Accountant" and "Suicide Squad." He is a Goldman Sachs alumnus. Both Mnuchin and Linton were married previously. Mnuchin has children from his earlier marriage. Her controversial memoir is no longer on Amazon Linton wrote and self-published a memoir about her experiences volunteering in Africa as an 18-year-old but her writings ignited controversy. In her book, called In Congos Shadow: One Girls Perilous Journey to the Heart of Africa, Linton described her experiences in Zambia. She detailed hiding from armed rebels and her fear of being found as she was a skinny white muzungu with long angel hair, the Los Angeles Times reported. On Twitter, people accused Linton of lying or exaggerating about the extent of the violence in Zambia and hailed her work as a white savior fantasy. The book is no longer available on Amazon. She posed with new cash Linton again raised eyebrows when she posed with Mnuchin holding a sheet of brand-new $1 bills in November 2017. In the photo, Linton is wearing elbow-length black leather gloves and skirt and top. Because of the controversial photo-op, Linton told Elle magazine that her skirt and gloves remain in her closet. I really hope someday I can wear that outfit again, Linton told the magazine. Because I really liked it. | Louise Linton is the wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. In August 2017, she responded to a negative comment on social media. Her knee-jerk reaction, as she described it, earned her unlimited criticism and launched her husband into a sea of controversy. | bart | 2 | https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/who-is-louise-linton | 0.462398 |
Is a breath test key to detecting cancer? | Image copyright Owlstone Medical Ltd A clinical trial has been launched to see if a breath test could detect the presence of cancer. Researchers want to find out if signals of different cancer types can be picked up in patterns of breath molecules. The Cancer Research UK team in Cambridge will collect breath samples from 1,500 people, some with cancer. If the technology is proven, the hope is that breath tests could be used in GP practices to decide if patients need to be referred for more tests. They could potentially be used alongside blood and urine tests to help doctors detect cancer at an early stage, the researchers said. But it will be two years before the results of the exploratory trial are known. GPs' leaders said the research was exciting but they warned patients that breath tests to detect cancer were "unlikely to be commonplace at their GP practice anytime soon". Molecules called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released when cells in the body carry out biochemical reactions as part of their behaviour. But if cancer or other conditions are present, the normal behaviour of cells is altered and they appear to produce a different pattern of molecules - and a different signature smell. The research team is trying to find out if this pattern or odour can be identified in people's breath, using breath biopsy technology. Their ultimate aim is to work out if different types of cancer produce different patterns - or signatures - which can be detected at an early stage. This is the start of the trial so we won't know for several years whether or not the initial results are promising. The science behind the test itself is not new. Many researchers around the world have been working on the possibility of breath tests for a number of cancers, including lung, for a number of years. There are some promising signs that breath tests could detect pre-cancerous symptoms, but it is not yet clear how accurate they are. Any breath test used on large numbers of patients would have to be sensitive and accurate to avoid misdiagnoses and false positives. In short, there is a long way to go and much more research needed on more people before a breath test will be appearing in any GP surgeries. It is possible that dogs could be also used to sniff out the odours given off by cancers, and other diseases like Parkinson's. The trial will start with patients with suspected oesophageal and stomach cancers and then widened to include people with prostate, kidney, bladder, liver and pancreatic cancers in the coming months. Healthy people will also be included in the trial. At Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, participants will be asked to breathe into a face mask for 10 minutes so a sample can be collected. The samples will then be sent to a laboratory in Cambridge to be analysed. 'Best chance of surviving' Rebecca Coldrick, 54, was one of the first people to take part in the trial. She has a condition called Barrett's oesophagus and could go on to develop cancer. "I was very happy to take part in the trial and I want to help with research however I can," she said. "I think the more research done to monitor conditions like mine and the kinder the detection tests developed, the better." Prof Rebecca Fitzgerald, lead trial investigator at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, said: "We urgently need to develop new tools, like this breath test, which could help to detect and diagnose cancer earlier, giving patients the best chance of surviving their disease." Dr David Crosby, head of early detection research at Cancer Research UK, said breath tests were a technology that had the potential "to revolutionise the way we detect and diagnose cancer in the future". Cancer Research UK has made research into this area one of its top priorities. | A clinical trial has been launched to see if a breath test could detect cancer. Researchers want to find out if signals of different cancer types can be picked up in patterns of breath molecules. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46746552 | 0.149494 |
What's Prince William doing on Duchess Kate's 37th birthday? | CLOSE The British royal family's Christmas cards have two new additions this year. USA TODAY Prince William arrives at The Royal London Hospital on board the London Air Ambulance on Jan. 9, 2019 in London, England. (Photo: WPA Pool/Getty Images) Duchess Kate of Cambridge turns 37 Wednesday making her the same age as Duchess Meghan for the next eight months but Prince William was on the job early visiting a London air ambulance service. Kate is turning 37 six months before her husband does: the Duke of Cambridge's birthday is in July. Not that Kate looks her age, mind you. Not even after giving birth to three royal babies, the last one in April 2018. For that matter, neither does her sister-in-law, the former Meghan Markle, who turns 38 in August, a few months after she gives birth to her first royal baby. As per usual, Kensington Palace remained mum on what plans, if any, Will and Kate had for celebrating her birthday. With the exception of Will's father, Prince Charles, who turned 70 in November amidst much hoopla, royal birthdays are generally considered private. The official Twitter account for the palace did give Kate a shout-out, posting: "Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages on The Duchess of Cambridges birthday". Will and Kate have occasionally issued new pictures of their three kids, Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and baby Prince Louis, to mark some birthdays, but they don't do it for each other. Whatever their plans, Will spent part of his morning doing what ranking royals (he's second in line to the throne) do: Paying tribute to fellow Brits' charity efforts - in this case, the first responders of London's Air Ambulance who daily deliver life-saving treatment across the massive capital city of 10 million. It's a cause close to Will's heart as he worked for several years as an air ambulance pilot in Norfolk after he and Kate married in 2011. London's Air Ambulance, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London every day, helping to save countless lives. According to the palace, the service in effect delivers cutting-edge medical care and a hospital emergency department to the scene of an incident within minutes. Will arrived at The Royal London Hospital via London Air Ambulance Wednesday. Prior to his arrival, it was revealed he had become patron of the London Air Ambulance Charity 30th Anniversary Campaign. "Through his support, we aim to raise awareness of the life-saving work carried out by us and by air ambulances across the UK," CEO of the charity, Jonathan Jenkins said in a statement from the royal family. "Through funds raised in our 30th year, we plan to improve our facilities to ensure we can respond even faster, enhance our training and ensure our crews have the facilities they need for their mental health and wellbeing. Will is to meet with pilots, clinicians and paramedics about their experiences working as first responders and the challenges they face operating in London. He's to join staff, patients and their families at a tea party marking the service's anniversary. He's also planning to learn more about the work that service is undertaking in the area of mental health support for their staff. Recently, Will spoke out about the difficulties he experienced in coping with the kinds of injuries and disasters that ambulance pilots encounter on their jobs: Sometimes the people they rescue don't make it. More: The Royal Family reveals their favorite moments of 2018: 'Thank you to everyone' More: Duchess Meghan tells well-wisher royal baby is 'nearly' here | Duchess Kate of Cambridge turns 37 Wednesday. Prince William was on the job early visiting a London air ambulance service. | bart | 0 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/01/09/whats-prince-william-doing-duchess-kates-37th-birthday/2515038002/ | 0.321491 |
What's Prince William doing on Duchess Kate's 37th birthday? | CLOSE The British royal family's Christmas cards have two new additions this year. USA TODAY Prince William arrives at The Royal London Hospital on board the London Air Ambulance on Jan. 9, 2019 in London, England. (Photo: WPA Pool/Getty Images) Duchess Kate of Cambridge turns 37 Wednesday making her the same age as Duchess Meghan for the next eight months but Prince William was on the job early visiting a London air ambulance service. Kate is turning 37 six months before her husband does: the Duke of Cambridge's birthday is in July. Not that Kate looks her age, mind you. Not even after giving birth to three royal babies, the last one in April 2018. For that matter, neither does her sister-in-law, the former Meghan Markle, who turns 38 in August, a few months after she gives birth to her first royal baby. As per usual, Kensington Palace remained mum on what plans, if any, Will and Kate had for celebrating her birthday. With the exception of Will's father, Prince Charles, who turned 70 in November amidst much hoopla, royal birthdays are generally considered private. The official Twitter account for the palace did give Kate a shout-out, posting: "Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages on The Duchess of Cambridges birthday". Will and Kate have occasionally issued new pictures of their three kids, Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and baby Prince Louis, to mark some birthdays, but they don't do it for each other. Whatever their plans, Will spent part of his morning doing what ranking royals (he's second in line to the throne) do: Paying tribute to fellow Brits' charity efforts - in this case, the first responders of London's Air Ambulance who daily deliver life-saving treatment across the massive capital city of 10 million. It's a cause close to Will's heart as he worked for several years as an air ambulance pilot in Norfolk after he and Kate married in 2011. London's Air Ambulance, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London every day, helping to save countless lives. According to the palace, the service in effect delivers cutting-edge medical care and a hospital emergency department to the scene of an incident within minutes. Will arrived at The Royal London Hospital via London Air Ambulance Wednesday. Prior to his arrival, it was revealed he had become patron of the London Air Ambulance Charity 30th Anniversary Campaign. "Through his support, we aim to raise awareness of the life-saving work carried out by us and by air ambulances across the UK," CEO of the charity, Jonathan Jenkins said in a statement from the royal family. "Through funds raised in our 30th year, we plan to improve our facilities to ensure we can respond even faster, enhance our training and ensure our crews have the facilities they need for their mental health and wellbeing. Will is to meet with pilots, clinicians and paramedics about their experiences working as first responders and the challenges they face operating in London. He's to join staff, patients and their families at a tea party marking the service's anniversary. He's also planning to learn more about the work that service is undertaking in the area of mental health support for their staff. Recently, Will spoke out about the difficulties he experienced in coping with the kinds of injuries and disasters that ambulance pilots encounter on their jobs: Sometimes the people they rescue don't make it. More: The Royal Family reveals their favorite moments of 2018: 'Thank you to everyone' More: Duchess Meghan tells well-wisher royal baby is 'nearly' here | Duchess Kate of Cambridge turns 37 Wednesday. Prince William was on the job early visiting a London air ambulance service. Kate is turning 37 six months before her husband does: the Duke of Cambridge's birthday is in July. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/01/09/whats-prince-william-doing-duchess-kates-37th-birthday/2515038002/ | 0.379043 |
What's Prince William doing on Duchess Kate's 37th birthday? | CLOSE The British royal family's Christmas cards have two new additions this year. USA TODAY Prince William arrives at The Royal London Hospital on board the London Air Ambulance on Jan. 9, 2019 in London, England. (Photo: WPA Pool/Getty Images) Duchess Kate of Cambridge turns 37 Wednesday making her the same age as Duchess Meghan for the next eight months but Prince William was on the job early visiting a London air ambulance service. Kate is turning 37 six months before her husband does: the Duke of Cambridge's birthday is in July. Not that Kate looks her age, mind you. Not even after giving birth to three royal babies, the last one in April 2018. For that matter, neither does her sister-in-law, the former Meghan Markle, who turns 38 in August, a few months after she gives birth to her first royal baby. As per usual, Kensington Palace remained mum on what plans, if any, Will and Kate had for celebrating her birthday. With the exception of Will's father, Prince Charles, who turned 70 in November amidst much hoopla, royal birthdays are generally considered private. The official Twitter account for the palace did give Kate a shout-out, posting: "Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages on The Duchess of Cambridges birthday". Will and Kate have occasionally issued new pictures of their three kids, Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and baby Prince Louis, to mark some birthdays, but they don't do it for each other. Whatever their plans, Will spent part of his morning doing what ranking royals (he's second in line to the throne) do: Paying tribute to fellow Brits' charity efforts - in this case, the first responders of London's Air Ambulance who daily deliver life-saving treatment across the massive capital city of 10 million. It's a cause close to Will's heart as he worked for several years as an air ambulance pilot in Norfolk after he and Kate married in 2011. London's Air Ambulance, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London every day, helping to save countless lives. According to the palace, the service in effect delivers cutting-edge medical care and a hospital emergency department to the scene of an incident within minutes. Will arrived at The Royal London Hospital via London Air Ambulance Wednesday. Prior to his arrival, it was revealed he had become patron of the London Air Ambulance Charity 30th Anniversary Campaign. "Through his support, we aim to raise awareness of the life-saving work carried out by us and by air ambulances across the UK," CEO of the charity, Jonathan Jenkins said in a statement from the royal family. "Through funds raised in our 30th year, we plan to improve our facilities to ensure we can respond even faster, enhance our training and ensure our crews have the facilities they need for their mental health and wellbeing. Will is to meet with pilots, clinicians and paramedics about their experiences working as first responders and the challenges they face operating in London. He's to join staff, patients and their families at a tea party marking the service's anniversary. He's also planning to learn more about the work that service is undertaking in the area of mental health support for their staff. Recently, Will spoke out about the difficulties he experienced in coping with the kinds of injuries and disasters that ambulance pilots encounter on their jobs: Sometimes the people they rescue don't make it. More: The Royal Family reveals their favorite moments of 2018: 'Thank you to everyone' More: Duchess Meghan tells well-wisher royal baby is 'nearly' here | Duchess Kate of Cambridge turns 37 Wednesday. Prince William was on the job early visiting a London air ambulance service. Kate is turning 37 six months before her husband does: the Duke of Cambridge's birthday is in July. Kensington Palace remained mum on what plans, if any, Will and Kate had for celebrating. | bart | 2 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/01/09/whats-prince-william-doing-duchess-kates-37th-birthday/2515038002/ | 0.414251 |
Did The Xbox One Really Have Zero Positively Reviewed Games In 2018? | According to Metacritic, the Xbox One had zero positively reviewed games in 2018. The PlayStation 4 had 13 games rated 75 or higher on the aggregation site. The Nintendo Switch boasted an even 10. PC took the proverbial cake with 33 (take that console peasants!) The Xbox One fared much worse. "Microsoft failed to offer a compelling case to pick up an Xbox One rather than another console in 2018," writes Metacritic in a post detailing the "great games" and "good exclusives" of 2018. "The best 'console exclusive' titles released for XB1 last year could also be played on your PC, and there wasn't a single game exclusive to Xbox One alone that received positive reviews from critics." I'm not so sure. Microsoft has abandoned traditional Xbox One exclusives almost entirely. The "Play Anywhere" program has meant that for the past couple years, all of Microsoft's big Xbox One exclusives have also launched on PC. This is an incredibly consumer-friendly move, benefiting both Xbox gamers and PC gamers. While there's no doubt at all that Microsoft has been behind the competition when it comes to exclusives, it's also true that releasing Xbox One exclusives on PC (and charging once for both copies) is a practice that many PC gamers wish Sony would also adopt. You'll have to imagine because that's firmly in the realm of wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Microsoft did release an Xbox One exclusive (which also came out on PC) that was one of the best-reviewed games of the year. Claiming that the Xbox One had zero positive exclusives may be factually correct, but it still feels disingenuous. Forza Horizon 4 was the third-best reviewed game of the year with a 93/100 Metacritic score. Red Dead Redemption 2 tied for 1st place on PS4 and Xbox One with 97/100 and God of War and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tied for second place with 94/100. Forza Horizon 4 is an Xbox One exclusive. Just because Microsoft made the right call with Play Anywhere and released the game on PC and Xbox One doesn't mean we should disqualify it. This just makes the Xbox One look worse, casting shade at the console for no good reason and punishing Microsoft for one of its more consumer friendly decisions. In reality, the best-reviewed games of the year were split nicely between PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. If it weren't for Microsoft releasing Forza Horizon 4 on PC, none of the top five games would have been on PC (God of War is PS4 only, Smash is Switch only, and RDR2 only released on PS4 and Xbox One.) So kudos to Microsoft for some solid consumer-friendly practices in 2018 and for releasing at least one very good Xbox One hit. There's still a high mountain to climb before the Xbox One can catch up to the PS4 in terms of quality exclusives (sorry, but Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 just pale in comparison to God of War and Spider-Man) but this is a good start. | According to Metacritic, the Xbox One had zero positively reviewed games in 2018. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2019/01/09/did-the-xbox-one-really-have-zero-positively-reviewed-games-in-2018/ | 0.419455 |
Did The Xbox One Really Have Zero Positively Reviewed Games In 2018? | According to Metacritic, the Xbox One had zero positively reviewed games in 2018. The PlayStation 4 had 13 games rated 75 or higher on the aggregation site. The Nintendo Switch boasted an even 10. PC took the proverbial cake with 33 (take that console peasants!) The Xbox One fared much worse. "Microsoft failed to offer a compelling case to pick up an Xbox One rather than another console in 2018," writes Metacritic in a post detailing the "great games" and "good exclusives" of 2018. "The best 'console exclusive' titles released for XB1 last year could also be played on your PC, and there wasn't a single game exclusive to Xbox One alone that received positive reviews from critics." I'm not so sure. Microsoft has abandoned traditional Xbox One exclusives almost entirely. The "Play Anywhere" program has meant that for the past couple years, all of Microsoft's big Xbox One exclusives have also launched on PC. This is an incredibly consumer-friendly move, benefiting both Xbox gamers and PC gamers. While there's no doubt at all that Microsoft has been behind the competition when it comes to exclusives, it's also true that releasing Xbox One exclusives on PC (and charging once for both copies) is a practice that many PC gamers wish Sony would also adopt. You'll have to imagine because that's firmly in the realm of wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Microsoft did release an Xbox One exclusive (which also came out on PC) that was one of the best-reviewed games of the year. Claiming that the Xbox One had zero positive exclusives may be factually correct, but it still feels disingenuous. Forza Horizon 4 was the third-best reviewed game of the year with a 93/100 Metacritic score. Red Dead Redemption 2 tied for 1st place on PS4 and Xbox One with 97/100 and God of War and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tied for second place with 94/100. Forza Horizon 4 is an Xbox One exclusive. Just because Microsoft made the right call with Play Anywhere and released the game on PC and Xbox One doesn't mean we should disqualify it. This just makes the Xbox One look worse, casting shade at the console for no good reason and punishing Microsoft for one of its more consumer friendly decisions. In reality, the best-reviewed games of the year were split nicely between PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. If it weren't for Microsoft releasing Forza Horizon 4 on PC, none of the top five games would have been on PC (God of War is PS4 only, Smash is Switch only, and RDR2 only released on PS4 and Xbox One.) So kudos to Microsoft for some solid consumer-friendly practices in 2018 and for releasing at least one very good Xbox One hit. There's still a high mountain to climb before the Xbox One can catch up to the PS4 in terms of quality exclusives (sorry, but Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 just pale in comparison to God of War and Spider-Man) but this is a good start. | According to Metacritic, the Xbox One had zero positively reviewed games in 2018. The PlayStation 4 had 13 games rated 75 or higher. Forza Horizon 4 was the third-best reviewed game of the year. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2019/01/09/did-the-xbox-one-really-have-zero-positively-reviewed-games-in-2018/ | 0.494455 |
Did The Xbox One Really Have Zero Positively Reviewed Games In 2018? | According to Metacritic, the Xbox One had zero positively reviewed games in 2018. The PlayStation 4 had 13 games rated 75 or higher on the aggregation site. The Nintendo Switch boasted an even 10. PC took the proverbial cake with 33 (take that console peasants!) The Xbox One fared much worse. "Microsoft failed to offer a compelling case to pick up an Xbox One rather than another console in 2018," writes Metacritic in a post detailing the "great games" and "good exclusives" of 2018. "The best 'console exclusive' titles released for XB1 last year could also be played on your PC, and there wasn't a single game exclusive to Xbox One alone that received positive reviews from critics." I'm not so sure. Microsoft has abandoned traditional Xbox One exclusives almost entirely. The "Play Anywhere" program has meant that for the past couple years, all of Microsoft's big Xbox One exclusives have also launched on PC. This is an incredibly consumer-friendly move, benefiting both Xbox gamers and PC gamers. While there's no doubt at all that Microsoft has been behind the competition when it comes to exclusives, it's also true that releasing Xbox One exclusives on PC (and charging once for both copies) is a practice that many PC gamers wish Sony would also adopt. You'll have to imagine because that's firmly in the realm of wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Microsoft did release an Xbox One exclusive (which also came out on PC) that was one of the best-reviewed games of the year. Claiming that the Xbox One had zero positive exclusives may be factually correct, but it still feels disingenuous. Forza Horizon 4 was the third-best reviewed game of the year with a 93/100 Metacritic score. Red Dead Redemption 2 tied for 1st place on PS4 and Xbox One with 97/100 and God of War and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tied for second place with 94/100. Forza Horizon 4 is an Xbox One exclusive. Just because Microsoft made the right call with Play Anywhere and released the game on PC and Xbox One doesn't mean we should disqualify it. This just makes the Xbox One look worse, casting shade at the console for no good reason and punishing Microsoft for one of its more consumer friendly decisions. In reality, the best-reviewed games of the year were split nicely between PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. If it weren't for Microsoft releasing Forza Horizon 4 on PC, none of the top five games would have been on PC (God of War is PS4 only, Smash is Switch only, and RDR2 only released on PS4 and Xbox One.) So kudos to Microsoft for some solid consumer-friendly practices in 2018 and for releasing at least one very good Xbox One hit. There's still a high mountain to climb before the Xbox One can catch up to the PS4 in terms of quality exclusives (sorry, but Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 just pale in comparison to God of War and Spider-Man) but this is a good start. | According to Metacritic, the Xbox One had zero positively reviewed games in 2018. The PlayStation 4 had 13 games rated 75 or higher on the aggregation site. Forza Horizon 4 was the third-best reviewed game of the year with a 93/100 Metacritic score. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2019/01/09/did-the-xbox-one-really-have-zero-positively-reviewed-games-in-2018/ | 0.535468 |
Can The Record Breaking Number Of FDA New Drug Approvals Continue? | The late 1990s had been thought of as a golden-age for the drug industry. In the five year period of 1996 2000, the FDA approved 183 new drugs (>36/year) many of them becoming foundational treatments in a number of areas including cardiovascular diseases (Lipitor, Diovan), HIV-AIDS (Crixivan, Norvir), respiratory diseases (Accolate, Allegra), cancer (Gemzar, Taxotere), GI disorders (Prilosec, Prevacid) and even erectile dysfunction (Viagra). But, this period could be considered an aberration. In the early 1990s, the U.S. was in the midst of a drug lag in that new medicines were being approved abroad more quickly than here. New Drugs Applications (NDAs) were languishing at the FDA because of a shortage of staff needed to review applications in a timely manner. To deal with this situation, Congress passed the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), a mechanism whereby charges were levied on drug companies for each NDA filed. Revenues from these user fees were then used to hire 600 new drug reviewers and support staff at the FDA. This increase in personnel enabled the FDA to work through the backlog of NDAs leading to the bounty of 96 00 approvals. However, this level of new drug productivity wasnt sustained. Over the next decade (2001 2010), the FDA approved only 229 new drugs. Observers of the pharmaceutical industry took notice, many predicting doom for the industry. Critics believed that the industry faced a productivity crisis. In 2011, a white paper from Wharton opined that: The year 2011 marks the end of an era for the pharmaceutical industry which has long relied on blockbuster drugs to keep it financially healthy. But with best-sellers like Pfizers cholesterol-lowering Lipitor the worlds most prescribed medicine losing patent protection this year, drug makers are feverishly seeking new prescriptions for profit. No fewer than nine of the industrys 10 biggest blockbusters will go off-patent and face low-cost generic competition within five years..(and) there is little in the pipeline to replace these top sellers. Needless to say, the industry wasnt oblivious to the emerging productivity decline. Companies were in the midst of significant environmental changes. 1) Payers were beginning to have a major influence on the types of drugs that could be commercially successful. No longer would the market reward a new drug if it only had modest improvements on existing (and soon to be generic) established medicines. Trying to successfully commercialize the fourth or fifth agent of a known class was no longer feasible. 2) Pharmaceutical companies, which were built on producing small molecule pills as therapies, now needed to retool their R&D organizations to capitalize on the emerging opportunity in biologic drugs, particularly antibodies and therapeutic vaccines. 3) The industry also realized that the existing treatments for reducing blood pressure, lowering LDL cholesterol, reducing gastric acid secretion, etc. were very good and not easy to supercede. Rather than try to engineer incremental improvements in these therapeutic areas, R&D priorities were shifted from traditional fields, like cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, infectious disease, and metabolic disease, to therapeutic areas where emerging science was opening up new opportunities like cancer, rare diseases and immunology. 4) The frenzied activity in industry consolidation (Pfizer- Warner-Lambert, Pfizer Pharmacia, Pfizer- Wyeth, Merck Schering, etc.) proved especially disruptive to R&D organizations, resulting in program delays, loss of talent and the elimination of many projects in order to achieve cost cutting targets. These events all resulted in a dramatic loss in industry productivity. The industry, however, recovered. From 2011 2018, the FDA approved 309 new drugs an average of more than 38 per year - the highest sustained productivity in the modern era. Last year the FDA approved 59 new drug therapies, an all-time high. This is due to a number of factors. First of all, R&D programs in areas like rare diseases and cancer come with the benefit of relatively small and shorter clinical trials. That is because much smaller clinical trials (hundreds of patients) are required to demonstrate safety and efficacy for a rare disease drug as opposed to a new drug to treat heart failure where clinical trials often need thousands of patients to not only show efficacy but also to show superiority over existing paradigms. As a result, companies are able to prosecute R&D programs in rare diseases far more quickly than large patient populations diseases. In fact, 34 of the FDAs 59 approvals were for rare disease drugs. Second, the FDA has become less adversarial with industry particularly under the leadership of Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who has helped to streamline the approval process. As long as a company is willing to work closely with the FDA and heed its guidance, NDA approval time can be enhanced. Finally, the fueling of small biotech companies with venture capital funds is allowing for the generation of early stage new drug opportunities which can then be acquired by bigger companies with the wherewithal to run the necessary, costly full development program for FDA approval. Its unlikely that 59 will become the annual standard for the FDA. However, it is hard to envision a return to the depressed decade of 2001 2010. There are some things to watch for in trying to predict future industry output. For one thing, should a drug that has been approved via the FDAs Accelerated Drug Approval program be found to have serious side effects after it is on the market, it could force a more conservative stance at the FDA. Similarly, if FDA Commissioner Gottlieb were to leave his position, it is possible that his successor would not be as open in bringing new medicines to patients. Price controls on new drugs could also have a negative impact. Venture capital money is flowing into biotech because of the potential of high returns based in part on pricing opportunities for things like new cancer drugs. Any move to curb the price of new medicines will cast a cloud on such investments. Finally, it appears that we are in a new round of major M&A (Takeda- Shire, Bristol-Myers Squibb Celgene) which will cause at least minimal disruption. Despite these possibilities, the boom in new drugs is likely to continue benefiting the industry and more importantly, the patients anxiously waiting for these new treatments. | In the five year period of 1996 2000, the FDA approved 183 new drugs. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2019/01/09/can-the-record-breaking-number-of-fda-new-drug-approvals-continue/ | 0.135544 |
Can The Record Breaking Number Of FDA New Drug Approvals Continue? | The late 1990s had been thought of as a golden-age for the drug industry. In the five year period of 1996 2000, the FDA approved 183 new drugs (>36/year) many of them becoming foundational treatments in a number of areas including cardiovascular diseases (Lipitor, Diovan), HIV-AIDS (Crixivan, Norvir), respiratory diseases (Accolate, Allegra), cancer (Gemzar, Taxotere), GI disorders (Prilosec, Prevacid) and even erectile dysfunction (Viagra). But, this period could be considered an aberration. In the early 1990s, the U.S. was in the midst of a drug lag in that new medicines were being approved abroad more quickly than here. New Drugs Applications (NDAs) were languishing at the FDA because of a shortage of staff needed to review applications in a timely manner. To deal with this situation, Congress passed the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), a mechanism whereby charges were levied on drug companies for each NDA filed. Revenues from these user fees were then used to hire 600 new drug reviewers and support staff at the FDA. This increase in personnel enabled the FDA to work through the backlog of NDAs leading to the bounty of 96 00 approvals. However, this level of new drug productivity wasnt sustained. Over the next decade (2001 2010), the FDA approved only 229 new drugs. Observers of the pharmaceutical industry took notice, many predicting doom for the industry. Critics believed that the industry faced a productivity crisis. In 2011, a white paper from Wharton opined that: The year 2011 marks the end of an era for the pharmaceutical industry which has long relied on blockbuster drugs to keep it financially healthy. But with best-sellers like Pfizers cholesterol-lowering Lipitor the worlds most prescribed medicine losing patent protection this year, drug makers are feverishly seeking new prescriptions for profit. No fewer than nine of the industrys 10 biggest blockbusters will go off-patent and face low-cost generic competition within five years..(and) there is little in the pipeline to replace these top sellers. Needless to say, the industry wasnt oblivious to the emerging productivity decline. Companies were in the midst of significant environmental changes. 1) Payers were beginning to have a major influence on the types of drugs that could be commercially successful. No longer would the market reward a new drug if it only had modest improvements on existing (and soon to be generic) established medicines. Trying to successfully commercialize the fourth or fifth agent of a known class was no longer feasible. 2) Pharmaceutical companies, which were built on producing small molecule pills as therapies, now needed to retool their R&D organizations to capitalize on the emerging opportunity in biologic drugs, particularly antibodies and therapeutic vaccines. 3) The industry also realized that the existing treatments for reducing blood pressure, lowering LDL cholesterol, reducing gastric acid secretion, etc. were very good and not easy to supercede. Rather than try to engineer incremental improvements in these therapeutic areas, R&D priorities were shifted from traditional fields, like cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, infectious disease, and metabolic disease, to therapeutic areas where emerging science was opening up new opportunities like cancer, rare diseases and immunology. 4) The frenzied activity in industry consolidation (Pfizer- Warner-Lambert, Pfizer Pharmacia, Pfizer- Wyeth, Merck Schering, etc.) proved especially disruptive to R&D organizations, resulting in program delays, loss of talent and the elimination of many projects in order to achieve cost cutting targets. These events all resulted in a dramatic loss in industry productivity. The industry, however, recovered. From 2011 2018, the FDA approved 309 new drugs an average of more than 38 per year - the highest sustained productivity in the modern era. Last year the FDA approved 59 new drug therapies, an all-time high. This is due to a number of factors. First of all, R&D programs in areas like rare diseases and cancer come with the benefit of relatively small and shorter clinical trials. That is because much smaller clinical trials (hundreds of patients) are required to demonstrate safety and efficacy for a rare disease drug as opposed to a new drug to treat heart failure where clinical trials often need thousands of patients to not only show efficacy but also to show superiority over existing paradigms. As a result, companies are able to prosecute R&D programs in rare diseases far more quickly than large patient populations diseases. In fact, 34 of the FDAs 59 approvals were for rare disease drugs. Second, the FDA has become less adversarial with industry particularly under the leadership of Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who has helped to streamline the approval process. As long as a company is willing to work closely with the FDA and heed its guidance, NDA approval time can be enhanced. Finally, the fueling of small biotech companies with venture capital funds is allowing for the generation of early stage new drug opportunities which can then be acquired by bigger companies with the wherewithal to run the necessary, costly full development program for FDA approval. Its unlikely that 59 will become the annual standard for the FDA. However, it is hard to envision a return to the depressed decade of 2001 2010. There are some things to watch for in trying to predict future industry output. For one thing, should a drug that has been approved via the FDAs Accelerated Drug Approval program be found to have serious side effects after it is on the market, it could force a more conservative stance at the FDA. Similarly, if FDA Commissioner Gottlieb were to leave his position, it is possible that his successor would not be as open in bringing new medicines to patients. Price controls on new drugs could also have a negative impact. Venture capital money is flowing into biotech because of the potential of high returns based in part on pricing opportunities for things like new cancer drugs. Any move to curb the price of new medicines will cast a cloud on such investments. Finally, it appears that we are in a new round of major M&A (Takeda- Shire, Bristol-Myers Squibb Celgene) which will cause at least minimal disruption. Despite these possibilities, the boom in new drugs is likely to continue benefiting the industry and more importantly, the patients anxiously waiting for these new treatments. | The late 1990s had been thought of as a golden-age for the drug industry. In the five year period of 1996 2000, the FDA approved 183 new drugs. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2019/01/09/can-the-record-breaking-number-of-fda-new-drug-approvals-continue/ | 0.12814 |
Can The Record Breaking Number Of FDA New Drug Approvals Continue? | The late 1990s had been thought of as a golden-age for the drug industry. In the five year period of 1996 2000, the FDA approved 183 new drugs (>36/year) many of them becoming foundational treatments in a number of areas including cardiovascular diseases (Lipitor, Diovan), HIV-AIDS (Crixivan, Norvir), respiratory diseases (Accolate, Allegra), cancer (Gemzar, Taxotere), GI disorders (Prilosec, Prevacid) and even erectile dysfunction (Viagra). But, this period could be considered an aberration. In the early 1990s, the U.S. was in the midst of a drug lag in that new medicines were being approved abroad more quickly than here. New Drugs Applications (NDAs) were languishing at the FDA because of a shortage of staff needed to review applications in a timely manner. To deal with this situation, Congress passed the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), a mechanism whereby charges were levied on drug companies for each NDA filed. Revenues from these user fees were then used to hire 600 new drug reviewers and support staff at the FDA. This increase in personnel enabled the FDA to work through the backlog of NDAs leading to the bounty of 96 00 approvals. However, this level of new drug productivity wasnt sustained. Over the next decade (2001 2010), the FDA approved only 229 new drugs. Observers of the pharmaceutical industry took notice, many predicting doom for the industry. Critics believed that the industry faced a productivity crisis. In 2011, a white paper from Wharton opined that: The year 2011 marks the end of an era for the pharmaceutical industry which has long relied on blockbuster drugs to keep it financially healthy. But with best-sellers like Pfizers cholesterol-lowering Lipitor the worlds most prescribed medicine losing patent protection this year, drug makers are feverishly seeking new prescriptions for profit. No fewer than nine of the industrys 10 biggest blockbusters will go off-patent and face low-cost generic competition within five years..(and) there is little in the pipeline to replace these top sellers. Needless to say, the industry wasnt oblivious to the emerging productivity decline. Companies were in the midst of significant environmental changes. 1) Payers were beginning to have a major influence on the types of drugs that could be commercially successful. No longer would the market reward a new drug if it only had modest improvements on existing (and soon to be generic) established medicines. Trying to successfully commercialize the fourth or fifth agent of a known class was no longer feasible. 2) Pharmaceutical companies, which were built on producing small molecule pills as therapies, now needed to retool their R&D organizations to capitalize on the emerging opportunity in biologic drugs, particularly antibodies and therapeutic vaccines. 3) The industry also realized that the existing treatments for reducing blood pressure, lowering LDL cholesterol, reducing gastric acid secretion, etc. were very good and not easy to supercede. Rather than try to engineer incremental improvements in these therapeutic areas, R&D priorities were shifted from traditional fields, like cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, infectious disease, and metabolic disease, to therapeutic areas where emerging science was opening up new opportunities like cancer, rare diseases and immunology. 4) The frenzied activity in industry consolidation (Pfizer- Warner-Lambert, Pfizer Pharmacia, Pfizer- Wyeth, Merck Schering, etc.) proved especially disruptive to R&D organizations, resulting in program delays, loss of talent and the elimination of many projects in order to achieve cost cutting targets. These events all resulted in a dramatic loss in industry productivity. The industry, however, recovered. From 2011 2018, the FDA approved 309 new drugs an average of more than 38 per year - the highest sustained productivity in the modern era. Last year the FDA approved 59 new drug therapies, an all-time high. This is due to a number of factors. First of all, R&D programs in areas like rare diseases and cancer come with the benefit of relatively small and shorter clinical trials. That is because much smaller clinical trials (hundreds of patients) are required to demonstrate safety and efficacy for a rare disease drug as opposed to a new drug to treat heart failure where clinical trials often need thousands of patients to not only show efficacy but also to show superiority over existing paradigms. As a result, companies are able to prosecute R&D programs in rare diseases far more quickly than large patient populations diseases. In fact, 34 of the FDAs 59 approvals were for rare disease drugs. Second, the FDA has become less adversarial with industry particularly under the leadership of Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who has helped to streamline the approval process. As long as a company is willing to work closely with the FDA and heed its guidance, NDA approval time can be enhanced. Finally, the fueling of small biotech companies with venture capital funds is allowing for the generation of early stage new drug opportunities which can then be acquired by bigger companies with the wherewithal to run the necessary, costly full development program for FDA approval. Its unlikely that 59 will become the annual standard for the FDA. However, it is hard to envision a return to the depressed decade of 2001 2010. There are some things to watch for in trying to predict future industry output. For one thing, should a drug that has been approved via the FDAs Accelerated Drug Approval program be found to have serious side effects after it is on the market, it could force a more conservative stance at the FDA. Similarly, if FDA Commissioner Gottlieb were to leave his position, it is possible that his successor would not be as open in bringing new medicines to patients. Price controls on new drugs could also have a negative impact. Venture capital money is flowing into biotech because of the potential of high returns based in part on pricing opportunities for things like new cancer drugs. Any move to curb the price of new medicines will cast a cloud on such investments. Finally, it appears that we are in a new round of major M&A (Takeda- Shire, Bristol-Myers Squibb Celgene) which will cause at least minimal disruption. Despite these possibilities, the boom in new drugs is likely to continue benefiting the industry and more importantly, the patients anxiously waiting for these new treatments. | In the early 1990s, the U.S. was in the midst of a drug lag in that new medicines were being approved abroad more quickly than here. Critics believed that the industry faced a productivity crisis. From 2011 2018, the FDA approved 309 new drugs an average of more than 38 per year. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2019/01/09/can-the-record-breaking-number-of-fda-new-drug-approvals-continue/ | 0.414966 |
Who Would Pay a 70% Tax Rate on Income Over $10 Million? | Recently elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York went on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and called for a 70% marginal tax rate on income over $10 million, with the added revenues to be earmarked toward a variety of social programs. Republican politicians' and right wing pundits' responses to the idea were swift and (unsurprisingly) outraged. Some asserted that the self-identified democratic socialist's plan would disincentivize success, while others simply lambasted it as anti-business, or worse. In reality, no matter how you feel about the concept of tax hikes in general, it's worth taking a moment to map out what this specific increase would mean, how it would work, and whom it would impact. Let's skip to the best news first: Her proposal, if enacted, would not cost the vast majority of Americans -- nor even the vast majority of the so-called 1% -- a penny. A chart shows tax rates More The United States uses marginal tax rates. Image source: Getty Images. What we mean when say "marginal tax rate" In the United States, we currently have seven tax brackets. As you earn more, your increased income lifts you into brackets for which you pay increasingly higher percentages in taxes -- but only for the money earned in those brackets. Every filer, for example, pays a 10% rate on the first $9,700 they earn, regardless of how much they earn in total. And the current top rate of 37% only applies to the portion of an individual's adjusted gross income (minus any deductions) that is above $510,000. High earners, in short, do not pay the top rate on everything they earn. The Motley Fool's Matthew Frankel laid it out as follows. A hypothetical person with taxable income of $100,000 in 2018 would pay: 10% of their first $9,700 earned ($970) 12% of the amount greater than $9,700 up to $39,475 ($3,573) 22% of the amount greater than $39,475, up to $84,200 ($9,839.50) 24% of the amount in excess of $84,200 ($3,972) Again, everyone pays the same tax rate on dollars earned in each bracket -- before tax breaks and other exemptions, of course. That means that Ocasio-Cortez's proposed marginal tax rate of 70% would not merely only impact people who make more than $10 million, it would only apply to whatever portion of their income was in excess of $10 million. Approximately 16,000 Americans earned over $10 million in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, according to The Washington Post. That's about 0.05% of all households, or 1 in 2,000, Post reporter Jeff Stein noted. One can't pinpoint with precision how much added tax revenue the Ocasio-Cortez proposal would bring in, but Stein did a rough calculation based on available data that the pool of income being taxed would be about $244 billion. At the current 37% top rate, America's wealthiest pay $90 billion in taxes on that money. At 70%, that figure would rise to $170 billion. The actual revenues might be lower, though, depending on what options were available to those individuals for shielding that money from taxes. This proposal would produce around $80 billion in added revenue annually, or $800 billion over the course of a decade. That would equal about half of the roughly $1.5 trillion in Americans owe in college loan debt, which Ocasio-Cortez supports forgiving. And even in the context of a roughly $4.4 trillion annual federal budget, $80 billion remains a significant number. It would, for example, cover a healthy share of the estimated $1.09 trillion spent by federal, local, and state governments on welfare and Medicaid in 2018. | U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for a 70% marginal tax rate on income over $10 million. | bart | 0 | https://news.yahoo.com/pay-70-tax-rate-income-125200535.html | 0.292581 |
Who Would Pay a 70% Tax Rate on Income Over $10 Million? | Recently elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York went on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and called for a 70% marginal tax rate on income over $10 million, with the added revenues to be earmarked toward a variety of social programs. Republican politicians' and right wing pundits' responses to the idea were swift and (unsurprisingly) outraged. Some asserted that the self-identified democratic socialist's plan would disincentivize success, while others simply lambasted it as anti-business, or worse. In reality, no matter how you feel about the concept of tax hikes in general, it's worth taking a moment to map out what this specific increase would mean, how it would work, and whom it would impact. Let's skip to the best news first: Her proposal, if enacted, would not cost the vast majority of Americans -- nor even the vast majority of the so-called 1% -- a penny. A chart shows tax rates More The United States uses marginal tax rates. Image source: Getty Images. What we mean when say "marginal tax rate" In the United States, we currently have seven tax brackets. As you earn more, your increased income lifts you into brackets for which you pay increasingly higher percentages in taxes -- but only for the money earned in those brackets. Every filer, for example, pays a 10% rate on the first $9,700 they earn, regardless of how much they earn in total. And the current top rate of 37% only applies to the portion of an individual's adjusted gross income (minus any deductions) that is above $510,000. High earners, in short, do not pay the top rate on everything they earn. The Motley Fool's Matthew Frankel laid it out as follows. A hypothetical person with taxable income of $100,000 in 2018 would pay: 10% of their first $9,700 earned ($970) 12% of the amount greater than $9,700 up to $39,475 ($3,573) 22% of the amount greater than $39,475, up to $84,200 ($9,839.50) 24% of the amount in excess of $84,200 ($3,972) Again, everyone pays the same tax rate on dollars earned in each bracket -- before tax breaks and other exemptions, of course. That means that Ocasio-Cortez's proposed marginal tax rate of 70% would not merely only impact people who make more than $10 million, it would only apply to whatever portion of their income was in excess of $10 million. Approximately 16,000 Americans earned over $10 million in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, according to The Washington Post. That's about 0.05% of all households, or 1 in 2,000, Post reporter Jeff Stein noted. One can't pinpoint with precision how much added tax revenue the Ocasio-Cortez proposal would bring in, but Stein did a rough calculation based on available data that the pool of income being taxed would be about $244 billion. At the current 37% top rate, America's wealthiest pay $90 billion in taxes on that money. At 70%, that figure would rise to $170 billion. The actual revenues might be lower, though, depending on what options were available to those individuals for shielding that money from taxes. This proposal would produce around $80 billion in added revenue annually, or $800 billion over the course of a decade. That would equal about half of the roughly $1.5 trillion in Americans owe in college loan debt, which Ocasio-Cortez supports forgiving. And even in the context of a roughly $4.4 trillion annual federal budget, $80 billion remains a significant number. It would, for example, cover a healthy share of the estimated $1.09 trillion spent by federal, local, and state governments on welfare and Medicaid in 2018. | U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for a 70% marginal tax rate on income over $10 million. Republican politicians' and right wing pundits' responses to the idea were swift and (unsurprisingly) outraged. | bart | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/pay-70-tax-rate-income-125200535.html | 0.273055 |
Who Would Pay a 70% Tax Rate on Income Over $10 Million? | Recently elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York went on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and called for a 70% marginal tax rate on income over $10 million, with the added revenues to be earmarked toward a variety of social programs. Republican politicians' and right wing pundits' responses to the idea were swift and (unsurprisingly) outraged. Some asserted that the self-identified democratic socialist's plan would disincentivize success, while others simply lambasted it as anti-business, or worse. In reality, no matter how you feel about the concept of tax hikes in general, it's worth taking a moment to map out what this specific increase would mean, how it would work, and whom it would impact. Let's skip to the best news first: Her proposal, if enacted, would not cost the vast majority of Americans -- nor even the vast majority of the so-called 1% -- a penny. A chart shows tax rates More The United States uses marginal tax rates. Image source: Getty Images. What we mean when say "marginal tax rate" In the United States, we currently have seven tax brackets. As you earn more, your increased income lifts you into brackets for which you pay increasingly higher percentages in taxes -- but only for the money earned in those brackets. Every filer, for example, pays a 10% rate on the first $9,700 they earn, regardless of how much they earn in total. And the current top rate of 37% only applies to the portion of an individual's adjusted gross income (minus any deductions) that is above $510,000. High earners, in short, do not pay the top rate on everything they earn. The Motley Fool's Matthew Frankel laid it out as follows. A hypothetical person with taxable income of $100,000 in 2018 would pay: 10% of their first $9,700 earned ($970) 12% of the amount greater than $9,700 up to $39,475 ($3,573) 22% of the amount greater than $39,475, up to $84,200 ($9,839.50) 24% of the amount in excess of $84,200 ($3,972) Again, everyone pays the same tax rate on dollars earned in each bracket -- before tax breaks and other exemptions, of course. That means that Ocasio-Cortez's proposed marginal tax rate of 70% would not merely only impact people who make more than $10 million, it would only apply to whatever portion of their income was in excess of $10 million. Approximately 16,000 Americans earned over $10 million in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, according to The Washington Post. That's about 0.05% of all households, or 1 in 2,000, Post reporter Jeff Stein noted. One can't pinpoint with precision how much added tax revenue the Ocasio-Cortez proposal would bring in, but Stein did a rough calculation based on available data that the pool of income being taxed would be about $244 billion. At the current 37% top rate, America's wealthiest pay $90 billion in taxes on that money. At 70%, that figure would rise to $170 billion. The actual revenues might be lower, though, depending on what options were available to those individuals for shielding that money from taxes. This proposal would produce around $80 billion in added revenue annually, or $800 billion over the course of a decade. That would equal about half of the roughly $1.5 trillion in Americans owe in college loan debt, which Ocasio-Cortez supports forgiving. And even in the context of a roughly $4.4 trillion annual federal budget, $80 billion remains a significant number. It would, for example, cover a healthy share of the estimated $1.09 trillion spent by federal, local, and state governments on welfare and Medicaid in 2018. | U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a 70% marginal tax rate on income over $10 million. Her proposal would not cost the vast majority of Americans -- nor the so-called 1% -- a penny. But it would raise $800 billion over the course of a decade. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/pay-70-tax-rate-income-125200535.html | 0.201281 |
Is Vanguard Windsor-II Investor (VWNFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | If you have been looking for Large Cap Value funds, a place to start could be Vanguard Windsor-II Investor (VWNFX). VWNFX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective VWNFX is one of many Large Cap Value mutual funds to choose from. These funds invest in equities with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more, but whose share prices do not reflect their intrinsic value. This strategy can often produce low P/E ratios and high dividend yields; growth levels; however, growth levels are oftentimes cut back. These funds'high growth opportunities are slowed even more since large-cap stocks are usually in more stable industries with low to moderate growth prospects. Thus, investors interested in a stable income stream fund Large Cap Value funds very appealing. History of Fund/Manager Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWNFX. Vanguard Windsor-II Investor made its debut in June of 1985, and since then, VWNFX has accumulated about $12.06 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.78%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.3%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Over the past three years, VWNFX's standard deviation comes in at 10.8%, compared to the category average of 9.19%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 10.82% compared to the category average of 9.47%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, VWNFX lost 52.87% and underperformed its peer group by 2.17%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market. Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VWNFX has a 5-year beta of 1.01, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. With a negative alpha of -3.93, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Holdings Examining the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is primarily on equities that are traded in the United States. This fund is currently holding about 89.08% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $172.74 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors: Finance Technology With turnover at about 52%, this fund is making fewer trades than comparable funds. Expenses As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VWNFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.34% compared to the category average of 1.03%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VWNFX is actually cheaper than its peers. Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $3,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1. Bottom Line Overall, Vanguard Windsor-II Investor ( VWNFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard Windsor-II Investor ( VWNFX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now. | Vanguard Windsor-II Investor (VWNFX) holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) VWNFX is one of many Large Cap Value mutual funds to choose from. | bart | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/vanguard-windsor-ii-investor-vwnfx-120012841.html | 0.290852 |
Is Vanguard Windsor-II Investor (VWNFX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | If you have been looking for Large Cap Value funds, a place to start could be Vanguard Windsor-II Investor (VWNFX). VWNFX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective VWNFX is one of many Large Cap Value mutual funds to choose from. These funds invest in equities with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more, but whose share prices do not reflect their intrinsic value. This strategy can often produce low P/E ratios and high dividend yields; growth levels; however, growth levels are oftentimes cut back. These funds'high growth opportunities are slowed even more since large-cap stocks are usually in more stable industries with low to moderate growth prospects. Thus, investors interested in a stable income stream fund Large Cap Value funds very appealing. History of Fund/Manager Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWNFX. Vanguard Windsor-II Investor made its debut in June of 1985, and since then, VWNFX has accumulated about $12.06 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.78%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.3%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Over the past three years, VWNFX's standard deviation comes in at 10.8%, compared to the category average of 9.19%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 10.82% compared to the category average of 9.47%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, VWNFX lost 52.87% and underperformed its peer group by 2.17%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market. Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VWNFX has a 5-year beta of 1.01, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. With a negative alpha of -3.93, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Holdings Examining the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is primarily on equities that are traded in the United States. This fund is currently holding about 89.08% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $172.74 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors: Finance Technology With turnover at about 52%, this fund is making fewer trades than comparable funds. Expenses As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VWNFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.34% compared to the category average of 1.03%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VWNFX is actually cheaper than its peers. Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $3,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1. Bottom Line Overall, Vanguard Windsor-II Investor ( VWNFX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard Windsor-II Investor ( VWNFX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now. | Vanguard Windsor-II Investor (VWNFX) holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) VWNFX is one of many Large Cap Value mutual funds to choose from. These funds invest in equities with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more. | bart | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/vanguard-windsor-ii-investor-vwnfx-120012841.html | 0.291713 |
Is Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | If you have been looking for Sector - Precious Metal fund category, a potential starting could be Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX). FGDAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective We note that FGDAX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. Sector - Precious Metal funds typically invest in companies that are involved in the mining and production of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Because stocks in this environment often trade as leveraged bets of the underlying commodity--they are tied to the prices of the metal--these equities tend to be volatile. History of Fund/Manager Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FGDAX. Since Fidelity Advisor Gold A made its debut in December of 2006, FGDAX has garnered more than $42.23 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by Joe Wickwire who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2007. Performance Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of -2.2%, and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.94%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of FGDAX over the past three years is 33.77% compared to the category average of 14.08%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 34.39% compared to the category average of 14.12%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. FGDAX lost 29.7% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 6.14%. This makes the fund a possibly better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment. Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. FGDAX has a 5-year beta of -0.08, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 3.73, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, FGDAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.19% compared to the category average of 1.36%. So, FGDAX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective. While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment. Bottom Line Overall, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, worse downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity Advisor Gold A ( FGDAX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now. For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Sector - Precious Metal, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (FGDAX): Fund Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research | Fidelity Advisor Gold A (FGDAX) has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold) FGDAX is a Sector - Precious Metal option, and this area is loaded with different options. The fund lost 29.7% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 6.14%. | bart | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/fidelity-advisor-gold-fgdax-strong-120012778.html | 0.126096 |
Is Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) is a potential starting point. TAAIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective TAAIX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds. History of Fund/Manager Thrivent is based in Appleton, WI, and is the manager of TAAIX. The Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S made its debut in June of 2005 and TAAIX has managed to accumulate roughly $299.80 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.07%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 9.36%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. TAAIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 9.4% compared to the category average of 7.56%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 9.81% compared to the category average of 7.77%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, TAAIX lost 49.34% and underperformed its peer group by 13.1%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market. Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.93, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -2.94. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, TAAIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.90%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, TAAIX is actually cheaper than its peers. This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50. Bottom Line Overall, Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S ( TAAIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now. For additional information on the Allocation Balanced area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into TAAIX too for additional information. We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (TAAIX): Fund Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) TAAIX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/thrivent-aggressive-allocation-taaix-strong-120012405.html | 0.247581 |
Is Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now? | Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) is a potential starting point. TAAIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective TAAIX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds. History of Fund/Manager Thrivent is based in Appleton, WI, and is the manager of TAAIX. The Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S made its debut in June of 2005 and TAAIX has managed to accumulate roughly $299.80 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.07%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 9.36%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. TAAIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 9.4% compared to the category average of 7.56%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 9.81% compared to the category average of 7.77%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In the most recent bear market, TAAIX lost 49.34% and underperformed its peer group by 13.1%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market. Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.93, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -2.94. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, TAAIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.66% compared to the category average of 0.90%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, TAAIX is actually cheaper than its peers. This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50. Bottom Line Overall, Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S ( TAAIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now. For additional information on the Allocation Balanced area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into TAAIX too for additional information. We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (TAAIX): Fund Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Thrivent Aggressive Allocation S (TAAIX) is a potential starting point. TAAIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types like stocks, bonds, and cash. | bart | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/thrivent-aggressive-allocation-taaix-strong-120012405.html | 0.346325 |
Do we say 'I'm sorry' so much that it's lost its meaning? | Although sometimes you have good reason to apologize, overusing the words "I'm sorry" might be doing more harm than good. According to one life coach, apologizing for more than necessary makes your words lose impact. Plus, research points out that overly-polite people aren't to be trusted. But some still feel that the words "I'm sorry" carry weight, no matter how often they are uttered. PERSPECTIVES It's no secret that a genuine apology makes a huge difference when someone has wronged another. Perhaps rather than apologize less, everyone should hear the words on a deeper level. Apologies mean different things to different people, but everyone can agree that "I'm sorry" is one of the most important phrases available in order to maintain relationships. As Symmetry Counseling puts it: ...not all apologies are created equal, and it is important to understand what the hurt partner is looking for when you make an apology or seek forgiveness. Otherwise, you may find yourself caught in a cycle where you that feel your sincere efforts to apologize are rejected and your partner feels neglected and disrespected. There's no need to cut down the amount of "I'm sorry's" you dole out every day if the people around you respond well to the effort. Say "I'm Sorry": The Importance of Apologizing in Relationships There are so many things people apologize for when they shouldn't. Oftentimes "I'm sorry" acts as a filler for other phrases like "excuse me" or even "thank you." As Little Things's Kate Taylor points out, frequent apologizing makes the words lose impact. And depending on the setting, it can also make the apologizer seem weak and cause unnecessary guilt. For women, in particular, over-apologizing can be especially dangerous. According to TEDX speaker and professional women's coach Melody Wilding, saying "I'm sorry" too often can break professional trust and set employees back in achieving their goals. Entrepreneur's Nicolette Amarillas adds: Most people can admit that they've used the phrase 'I'm sorry' as an easy way out. Sometimes rushing to admit fault makes it easier to ignore mistakes, because you feel like you've made amends by quickly acknowledging you were wrong. Some people saying 'I'm sorry'-whether they mean it or not-wash their hands of the issue, and move on. Everyone has. But, apologizing does not course correct, or offer a solution. Many times, we'd be better served by removing the 'I'm sorry' and replacing it with something more valuable. Imagine the difference it would make to replace "I'm sorry I'm late" with "thank you for waiting." "I'm sorry" can and should be exchanged for more meaningful words. 8 Good Reasons Why We Should All Stop Saying 'Sorry' So Much Apologizing is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of strength. It's incredibly difficult to muster up an apology to anyone no matter what your relationship is with them. Plus, knowing when to apologize is a crucial interpersonal skill. The words "I'm sorry" should not be used to beg pardon or to soften a question, but they remain essential to building relationships. According to Psychology Today's Richard B. Joelson, although some might see apologizing as a weakness when they do it themselves, many still find value in an apology when they are on the receiving end: It seems that some people experience an apology as a sign of weakness. Interestingly, when asked if they view it that way when the apology comes from another, they do not see it as weakness at all, but rather the 'right' or 'responsible' thing to do. Remarkably, some will say it is a sign of strength or maturity when the apology is offered by the other person, but still feel that it is an unacceptable admission of defeat--or weakness--when the apology is theirs to give to someone else. Saying "I'm Sorry" It's too late to take back the meaning of the "I'm sorry" apology. No matter what setting you're in-business, at home or with friends-you'd be better off rephrasing your apologies in order to let the other person know that you are truly sorry, and not just using a filler phrase. Plus, research shows that overly-polite people (you know the ones-they apologize non-stop) shouldn't be trusted. Lifehack'sBrad Johnson reports: The Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in Beijing (AMACL) just released their findings that those who are 'excessively polite' are considerably more likely to betray peers or comrades than those who are not effusively polite. Elite Daily's Dan Scotti adds: In life, a lot of the times, hearing the truth sucks. Whether it be pertaining to the girlfriend or boyfriend that you've been suspecting is cheating or waiting for the results of some test you didn't really prepare for. Hence, if you want the truth-try to avoid people who are considered 'nice.' Many people perceive apologizing as a way to be polite. In doing so, you are reflecting a dishonest version of yourself-are you actually sorry for interrupting?-and make yourself inauthentic and less trustworthy as a result. Science Says You Need To Be Aware Of Overly Polite People, Here's Why The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. | Overusing the words "I'm sorry" might be doing more harm than good. According to one life coach, apologizing for more than necessary makes your words lose impact. For women, in particular, over-apologizing can be especially dangerous. | bart | 1 | https://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2019/01/do_we_say_im_sorry_so_much_tha.html | 0.352076 |
Do we say 'I'm sorry' so much that it's lost its meaning? | Although sometimes you have good reason to apologize, overusing the words "I'm sorry" might be doing more harm than good. According to one life coach, apologizing for more than necessary makes your words lose impact. Plus, research points out that overly-polite people aren't to be trusted. But some still feel that the words "I'm sorry" carry weight, no matter how often they are uttered. PERSPECTIVES It's no secret that a genuine apology makes a huge difference when someone has wronged another. Perhaps rather than apologize less, everyone should hear the words on a deeper level. Apologies mean different things to different people, but everyone can agree that "I'm sorry" is one of the most important phrases available in order to maintain relationships. As Symmetry Counseling puts it: ...not all apologies are created equal, and it is important to understand what the hurt partner is looking for when you make an apology or seek forgiveness. Otherwise, you may find yourself caught in a cycle where you that feel your sincere efforts to apologize are rejected and your partner feels neglected and disrespected. There's no need to cut down the amount of "I'm sorry's" you dole out every day if the people around you respond well to the effort. Say "I'm Sorry": The Importance of Apologizing in Relationships There are so many things people apologize for when they shouldn't. Oftentimes "I'm sorry" acts as a filler for other phrases like "excuse me" or even "thank you." As Little Things's Kate Taylor points out, frequent apologizing makes the words lose impact. And depending on the setting, it can also make the apologizer seem weak and cause unnecessary guilt. For women, in particular, over-apologizing can be especially dangerous. According to TEDX speaker and professional women's coach Melody Wilding, saying "I'm sorry" too often can break professional trust and set employees back in achieving their goals. Entrepreneur's Nicolette Amarillas adds: Most people can admit that they've used the phrase 'I'm sorry' as an easy way out. Sometimes rushing to admit fault makes it easier to ignore mistakes, because you feel like you've made amends by quickly acknowledging you were wrong. Some people saying 'I'm sorry'-whether they mean it or not-wash their hands of the issue, and move on. Everyone has. But, apologizing does not course correct, or offer a solution. Many times, we'd be better served by removing the 'I'm sorry' and replacing it with something more valuable. Imagine the difference it would make to replace "I'm sorry I'm late" with "thank you for waiting." "I'm sorry" can and should be exchanged for more meaningful words. 8 Good Reasons Why We Should All Stop Saying 'Sorry' So Much Apologizing is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of strength. It's incredibly difficult to muster up an apology to anyone no matter what your relationship is with them. Plus, knowing when to apologize is a crucial interpersonal skill. The words "I'm sorry" should not be used to beg pardon or to soften a question, but they remain essential to building relationships. According to Psychology Today's Richard B. Joelson, although some might see apologizing as a weakness when they do it themselves, many still find value in an apology when they are on the receiving end: It seems that some people experience an apology as a sign of weakness. Interestingly, when asked if they view it that way when the apology comes from another, they do not see it as weakness at all, but rather the 'right' or 'responsible' thing to do. Remarkably, some will say it is a sign of strength or maturity when the apology is offered by the other person, but still feel that it is an unacceptable admission of defeat--or weakness--when the apology is theirs to give to someone else. Saying "I'm Sorry" It's too late to take back the meaning of the "I'm sorry" apology. No matter what setting you're in-business, at home or with friends-you'd be better off rephrasing your apologies in order to let the other person know that you are truly sorry, and not just using a filler phrase. Plus, research shows that overly-polite people (you know the ones-they apologize non-stop) shouldn't be trusted. Lifehack'sBrad Johnson reports: The Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in Beijing (AMACL) just released their findings that those who are 'excessively polite' are considerably more likely to betray peers or comrades than those who are not effusively polite. Elite Daily's Dan Scotti adds: In life, a lot of the times, hearing the truth sucks. Whether it be pertaining to the girlfriend or boyfriend that you've been suspecting is cheating or waiting for the results of some test you didn't really prepare for. Hence, if you want the truth-try to avoid people who are considered 'nice.' Many people perceive apologizing as a way to be polite. In doing so, you are reflecting a dishonest version of yourself-are you actually sorry for interrupting?-and make yourself inauthentic and less trustworthy as a result. Science Says You Need To Be Aware Of Overly Polite People, Here's Why The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. | Overusing the words "I'm sorry" might be doing more harm than good. According to one life coach, apologizing for more than necessary makes your words lose impact. The words "I'm sorry" should not be used to beg pardon or to soften a question. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2019/01/do_we_say_im_sorry_so_much_tha.html | 0.394771 |
Is The Popular Narrative Harming Development Of AI? | Discussions of artificial intelligence in the public domain are often framed in the language of science fiction, with dystopian pictures from the Terminator franchise or 2001: A Space Odyssey used to chronicle how technology will enslave us. Whilst this may be entertaining, it does little to actually inform the public about what AI can, and cannot do. The failure of this narrative was discussed in a recent paper published by the Royal Society, which explored not only the prevailing narrative around AI, but also previous narratives around controversial technologies and concepts, such as GM food, nuclear power and climate change. "Both fictional and many non-fictional narratives focus on issues that form either a very small subset of contemporary AI research, or that are decades if not centuries away from becoming a technological reality," the authors say. "This disconnect between the narratives and the reality of the technology can have several major negative consequences." This inaccurate narrative operates at both extremes, with utopian fantasies fueling a bubble of hype that the technology cannot possibly meet. This bubble is not purely the fault of commentators, but also many in the industry who wish to puff up the capabilities of their technology. This can be damaging as when the reality fails to match the hype, it can damage public confidence in the technology. Similarly, false fears can also be hugely damaging, as much of the debate around the impact of AI on the workplace has been thus far. This form of narrative has some similarities with the hype-driven form, as both place far too much credibility in outlandish claims of what AI can do. What's more, they also distract us from discussions that do need to be had, but which are often harder to sell. "With major social and economic questions at stake, such as the future of work and distribution of wealth, it is important for public debate to be well-founded," they continue. "Debate needs evidence and insight into the disruptive potential and opportunities created by new forms of business or social networks, as well as attention to the direct impact on particular tasks or jobs." Obviously understanding why distorted narratives emerge plays a key role, but the report also makes a number of recommendations for practitioners to adopt to improve matters: Take lessons from the discussion of previous emerging technologies, so that discourse can reflect the differing levels of confidence or uncertainty in different types of technologies and over different periods. Reshape AI narratives to encapsulate a wider range of analogies that almost always revolve around the extremes of utopian and dystopian fantasies. If these stories can contain richer social and cultural diversity then even better. These narratives could also emerge in new ways. The authors highlight a number of spaces that have emerged in recent years to support informed dialogue around AI, with the Royal Society themselves hosting a regular public lecture series, called You and AI. This could also involve greater efforts to train and educate the public on AI and the technologies behind it. It's not an exhaustive list, but the paper is interesting in that it not only draws on practitioners from the AI field, but also those from other fields that have suffered the slings and arrows of controversy and earned the battle scars to prove it. As such, it provides some valuable lessons on not only how important the narrative around any new technology is, but how it can be guided such that the public are both informed and involved. "Attempting to control public narratives is neither achievable nor desirable, but present limitations may be at least partly addressed by communicating uncertainty through learning from narratives about other disruptive technologies; widening the body of available narratives, drawing in a wider range of authors and protagonists; and creating spaces for public dialogues," the authors conclude. Time will tell whether society sufficiently heeds their advice and we get a slightly more realistic narrative forming about the pluses and minuses of artificial intelligence. | The Royal Society published a paper on the failure of the popular narrative around AI. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2019/01/09/is-the-popular-narrative-harming-development-of-ai/ | 0.115274 |
Is The Popular Narrative Harming Development Of AI? | Discussions of artificial intelligence in the public domain are often framed in the language of science fiction, with dystopian pictures from the Terminator franchise or 2001: A Space Odyssey used to chronicle how technology will enslave us. Whilst this may be entertaining, it does little to actually inform the public about what AI can, and cannot do. The failure of this narrative was discussed in a recent paper published by the Royal Society, which explored not only the prevailing narrative around AI, but also previous narratives around controversial technologies and concepts, such as GM food, nuclear power and climate change. "Both fictional and many non-fictional narratives focus on issues that form either a very small subset of contemporary AI research, or that are decades if not centuries away from becoming a technological reality," the authors say. "This disconnect between the narratives and the reality of the technology can have several major negative consequences." This inaccurate narrative operates at both extremes, with utopian fantasies fueling a bubble of hype that the technology cannot possibly meet. This bubble is not purely the fault of commentators, but also many in the industry who wish to puff up the capabilities of their technology. This can be damaging as when the reality fails to match the hype, it can damage public confidence in the technology. Similarly, false fears can also be hugely damaging, as much of the debate around the impact of AI on the workplace has been thus far. This form of narrative has some similarities with the hype-driven form, as both place far too much credibility in outlandish claims of what AI can do. What's more, they also distract us from discussions that do need to be had, but which are often harder to sell. "With major social and economic questions at stake, such as the future of work and distribution of wealth, it is important for public debate to be well-founded," they continue. "Debate needs evidence and insight into the disruptive potential and opportunities created by new forms of business or social networks, as well as attention to the direct impact on particular tasks or jobs." Obviously understanding why distorted narratives emerge plays a key role, but the report also makes a number of recommendations for practitioners to adopt to improve matters: Take lessons from the discussion of previous emerging technologies, so that discourse can reflect the differing levels of confidence or uncertainty in different types of technologies and over different periods. Reshape AI narratives to encapsulate a wider range of analogies that almost always revolve around the extremes of utopian and dystopian fantasies. If these stories can contain richer social and cultural diversity then even better. These narratives could also emerge in new ways. The authors highlight a number of spaces that have emerged in recent years to support informed dialogue around AI, with the Royal Society themselves hosting a regular public lecture series, called You and AI. This could also involve greater efforts to train and educate the public on AI and the technologies behind it. It's not an exhaustive list, but the paper is interesting in that it not only draws on practitioners from the AI field, but also those from other fields that have suffered the slings and arrows of controversy and earned the battle scars to prove it. As such, it provides some valuable lessons on not only how important the narrative around any new technology is, but how it can be guided such that the public are both informed and involved. "Attempting to control public narratives is neither achievable nor desirable, but present limitations may be at least partly addressed by communicating uncertainty through learning from narratives about other disruptive technologies; widening the body of available narratives, drawing in a wider range of authors and protagonists; and creating spaces for public dialogues," the authors conclude. Time will tell whether society sufficiently heeds their advice and we get a slightly more realistic narrative forming about the pluses and minuses of artificial intelligence. | The Royal Society published a paper on the failure of the popular narrative around AI. The report suggests ways to improve the public's knowledge of AI. It also suggests how to create a more realistic narrative around the technology. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2019/01/09/is-the-popular-narrative-harming-development-of-ai/ | 0.13712 |
Is The Popular Narrative Harming Development Of AI? | Discussions of artificial intelligence in the public domain are often framed in the language of science fiction, with dystopian pictures from the Terminator franchise or 2001: A Space Odyssey used to chronicle how technology will enslave us. Whilst this may be entertaining, it does little to actually inform the public about what AI can, and cannot do. The failure of this narrative was discussed in a recent paper published by the Royal Society, which explored not only the prevailing narrative around AI, but also previous narratives around controversial technologies and concepts, such as GM food, nuclear power and climate change. "Both fictional and many non-fictional narratives focus on issues that form either a very small subset of contemporary AI research, or that are decades if not centuries away from becoming a technological reality," the authors say. "This disconnect between the narratives and the reality of the technology can have several major negative consequences." This inaccurate narrative operates at both extremes, with utopian fantasies fueling a bubble of hype that the technology cannot possibly meet. This bubble is not purely the fault of commentators, but also many in the industry who wish to puff up the capabilities of their technology. This can be damaging as when the reality fails to match the hype, it can damage public confidence in the technology. Similarly, false fears can also be hugely damaging, as much of the debate around the impact of AI on the workplace has been thus far. This form of narrative has some similarities with the hype-driven form, as both place far too much credibility in outlandish claims of what AI can do. What's more, they also distract us from discussions that do need to be had, but which are often harder to sell. "With major social and economic questions at stake, such as the future of work and distribution of wealth, it is important for public debate to be well-founded," they continue. "Debate needs evidence and insight into the disruptive potential and opportunities created by new forms of business or social networks, as well as attention to the direct impact on particular tasks or jobs." Obviously understanding why distorted narratives emerge plays a key role, but the report also makes a number of recommendations for practitioners to adopt to improve matters: Take lessons from the discussion of previous emerging technologies, so that discourse can reflect the differing levels of confidence or uncertainty in different types of technologies and over different periods. Reshape AI narratives to encapsulate a wider range of analogies that almost always revolve around the extremes of utopian and dystopian fantasies. If these stories can contain richer social and cultural diversity then even better. These narratives could also emerge in new ways. The authors highlight a number of spaces that have emerged in recent years to support informed dialogue around AI, with the Royal Society themselves hosting a regular public lecture series, called You and AI. This could also involve greater efforts to train and educate the public on AI and the technologies behind it. It's not an exhaustive list, but the paper is interesting in that it not only draws on practitioners from the AI field, but also those from other fields that have suffered the slings and arrows of controversy and earned the battle scars to prove it. As such, it provides some valuable lessons on not only how important the narrative around any new technology is, but how it can be guided such that the public are both informed and involved. "Attempting to control public narratives is neither achievable nor desirable, but present limitations may be at least partly addressed by communicating uncertainty through learning from narratives about other disruptive technologies; widening the body of available narratives, drawing in a wider range of authors and protagonists; and creating spaces for public dialogues," the authors conclude. Time will tell whether society sufficiently heeds their advice and we get a slightly more realistic narrative forming about the pluses and minuses of artificial intelligence. | The Royal Society published a paper on the failure of the popular narrative around AI. The report suggests ways to improve the public's knowledge of AI. It also suggests how to create a more realistic narrative about the technology. The paper was published by the Royal Society of London. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2019/01/09/is-the-popular-narrative-harming-development-of-ai/ | 0.117657 |
What Does David Wright's Release Mean For The 2019 New York Mets? | The long goodbye to David Wrights major league career continued Monday, when the Mets released their longtime captain and the best position player ever employed by the franchise. That should be the final act in a farewell whose highlight act took place during the final weekend of the 2018 season, when Wright made what he acknowledged will be the last three plate appearances as a baseball player. But because of the nature of Wrights forced exit, and because these are the Mets, the financial implications of Wrights long goodbye will continue until long after 2020, which is the final season on the eight-year deal he signed following the 2012 season. Wright, who can no longer play due to a litany of neck, shoulder and back injuries, finished last season with $27 million remaining $15 million in 2019 and $12 million in 2020 on his contract. He could not collect that money if he officially retired, so the release of Wright means the Mets reached a settlement agreement with their insurance company that alleviates the short-term burden on the Mets while ensuring Wright gets most of the money he was guaranteed. According to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, the Mets restructured Wrights 2019 salary as follows: Wright, who was named a special assistant to owner Jeff Wilpon and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen on Monday, will receive $4 million by Thursday. He will receive another $5 million during the season. In addition, Wright will receive $6 million deferred, at 2.5 percent interest compounded monthly. Hell receive three payments of $2 million apiece on July 1 (i.e. Bobby Bonilla Day) each year from 2021 through 2023 before receiving the interest of about $800,000 on Dec. 31, 2023. So in the end, for Wright, the $15 million he would have made this season turns into just shy of $16 million. The big questions now are how will the restructured Wright contract impact the Mets in 2019. The next six weeks will tell that tale. But heres something to remember: Way back in late 1999, the Mets followed up their most infamous deferral of the $5.9 million due to Bonilla by acquiring pitcher Mike Hampton, who was signed for 2000 at $5.75 million. Awfully neat coincidence. In addition, Wilpon has said the money the Mets spent on Wrights insurance policy counts against the budget. We had to pay for the policy, which is not cheap, Wilpon told reporters in January 2018. In other words, while Wrights career might officially be over, the drama regarding the impact the Mets will allow his salary to have on their payroll is far from complete. Theres another $12 million to restructure and parse for 2020. | David Wright was released by the New York Mets on Monday. The Mets restructured Wright's 2019 salary as follows: Wright will receive $4 million by Thursday, $5 million during the season and $6 million deferred. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybeach/2019/01/09/what-does-david-wrights-release-mean-for-the-2019-new-york-mets/ | 0.424289 |
What Does David Wright's Release Mean For The 2019 New York Mets? | The long goodbye to David Wrights major league career continued Monday, when the Mets released their longtime captain and the best position player ever employed by the franchise. That should be the final act in a farewell whose highlight act took place during the final weekend of the 2018 season, when Wright made what he acknowledged will be the last three plate appearances as a baseball player. But because of the nature of Wrights forced exit, and because these are the Mets, the financial implications of Wrights long goodbye will continue until long after 2020, which is the final season on the eight-year deal he signed following the 2012 season. Wright, who can no longer play due to a litany of neck, shoulder and back injuries, finished last season with $27 million remaining $15 million in 2019 and $12 million in 2020 on his contract. He could not collect that money if he officially retired, so the release of Wright means the Mets reached a settlement agreement with their insurance company that alleviates the short-term burden on the Mets while ensuring Wright gets most of the money he was guaranteed. According to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, the Mets restructured Wrights 2019 salary as follows: Wright, who was named a special assistant to owner Jeff Wilpon and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen on Monday, will receive $4 million by Thursday. He will receive another $5 million during the season. In addition, Wright will receive $6 million deferred, at 2.5 percent interest compounded monthly. Hell receive three payments of $2 million apiece on July 1 (i.e. Bobby Bonilla Day) each year from 2021 through 2023 before receiving the interest of about $800,000 on Dec. 31, 2023. So in the end, for Wright, the $15 million he would have made this season turns into just shy of $16 million. The big questions now are how will the restructured Wright contract impact the Mets in 2019. The next six weeks will tell that tale. But heres something to remember: Way back in late 1999, the Mets followed up their most infamous deferral of the $5.9 million due to Bonilla by acquiring pitcher Mike Hampton, who was signed for 2000 at $5.75 million. Awfully neat coincidence. In addition, Wilpon has said the money the Mets spent on Wrights insurance policy counts against the budget. We had to pay for the policy, which is not cheap, Wilpon told reporters in January 2018. In other words, while Wrights career might officially be over, the drama regarding the impact the Mets will allow his salary to have on their payroll is far from complete. Theres another $12 million to restructure and parse for 2020. | David Wright finished last season with $27 million remaining on his contract. He could not collect that money if he officially retired. The release of Wright means the Mets reached a settlement agreement with their insurance company. The big questions now are how will the restructured Wright contract impact the Mets in 2019. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybeach/2019/01/09/what-does-david-wrights-release-mean-for-the-2019-new-york-mets/ | 0.541783 |
Will Sirius XM Move Higher For 11 Years in a Row? | This is going to be a big month -- and a big year -- for Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRI). The satellite radio provider offered up a sneak peek of some of its fourth-quarter performance metrics and initiated guidance for the year ahead shortly after Tuesday's market close. Pandora (NYSE: P) investors are also set to vote on Sirius XM's acquisition offer in three weeks, on the morning of Jan. 29. Sirius XM closed out 2018 with 28.9 million self-pay subscribers, 1.4 million more than it had when the year began. Total paid subscribers rose 1.3 million over the past 12 months to hit 34 million. Sirius XM didn't blurt out its actual financial metrics, but it did announce that it expects to meet or exceed its earlier guidance for revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. In short, there shouldn't be any bombshells going off when it makes the numbers official in a few weeks. Katy Perry at a Sirius XM Hits 1 interview. More Image source: Sirius XM Holdings. These go to eleven Sirius XM shares have been surprisingly resilient. Investors have been treated to 10 consecutive years of positive returns, and 2019 is off to a strong start. The stock has moved 11% higher through the first five trading days of the new year. 2009: Up 383.3% 2010: 170.7% 2011: 12.1% 2012: 58.5% 2013: 22.9% 2014: 0.3% 2015: 16.3% 2016: 9.5% 2017: 21.5% 2018: 7.3% 2019: 11.2% (so far) It's fair to say that the first five years of this rally were far more lucrative than the last five years. The stock's biggest year over the past five is the rather modest 21.5% it scored in 2017. Only one of the first five years delivered a lower return than that. However, there's a creature comfort to the stock's stability these days. The stock's five-year beta clocks in at a yawn-inducing 1.07, with its one-year beta checking in at an even more pedestrian 0.91. Sirius XM sees another year of slow-yet-steady growth on all fronts in 2019. The guidance it initiated on Tuesday afternoon is calling for $6.1 billion in revenue, $2.3 billion in adjusted EBITDA, and $1.6 billion in free cash flow, rising 6.6%, 2.5%, and 6.7%, respectively, off its latest 2018 outlook. Sirius XM also said it expects self-pay net additions to approach 1 million in 2019, a number that may be disheartening to anyone who doesn't have a sense for how things tend to play out for the media giant. Sirius XM was also targeting net additions of self-pay accounts to decelerate to 1 million in 2018 when the year began. It wound up blasting through that target by 40% to hit 1.4 million. Conservative guidance has been the default setting at the satellite radio monopoly over the years, and it's paid off for investors who haven't experienced a down year in more than a decade now. The odds favor another winning year for Sirius XM, and it's already taken a few big steps in that direction this young month. More From The Motley Fool Rick Munarriz owns shares of Pandora Media. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Pandora Media. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. | Sirius XM Holdings ( NASDAQ: SIRI) is off to a strong start to the new year. The satellite radio provider has seen 10 consecutive years of positive returns. Sirius XM sees another year of slow-yet-steady growth in 2019. | pegasus | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/sirius-xm-move-higher-11-143000441.html | 0.106195 |
Are Investors Undervaluing Honda Motor (HMC) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today. Honda Motor (HMC) is a stock many investors are watching right now. HMC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.35, while its industry has an average P/E of 7.68. HMC's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.71 and as low as 6.35, with a median of 8.48, all within the past year. Investors should also recognize that HMC has a P/B ratio of 0.65. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 0.91. HMC's P/B has been as high as 0.88 and as low as 0.59, with a median of 0.72, over the past year. Finally, our model also underscores that HMC has a P/CF ratio of 2.94. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 2.97. Over the past year, HMC's P/CF has been as high as 4.16 and as low as 2.69, with a median of 3.30. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Honda Motor is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, HMC feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Honda Motor (HMC) is a great value stock right now. | pegasus | 0 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-honda-motor-hmc-141002495.html | 0.507967 |
Are Investors Undervaluing Honda Motor (HMC) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today. Honda Motor (HMC) is a stock many investors are watching right now. HMC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.35, while its industry has an average P/E of 7.68. HMC's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.71 and as low as 6.35, with a median of 8.48, all within the past year. Investors should also recognize that HMC has a P/B ratio of 0.65. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 0.91. HMC's P/B has been as high as 0.88 and as low as 0.59, with a median of 0.72, over the past year. Finally, our model also underscores that HMC has a P/CF ratio of 2.94. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 2.97. Over the past year, HMC's P/CF has been as high as 4.16 and as low as 2.69, with a median of 3.30. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Honda Motor is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, HMC feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Honda Motor (HMC) is a great value stock right now. It has a P/E ratio of 7.35, a P/B ratio of 0.65, and a forward P/E of 10.71. | pegasus | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-honda-motor-hmc-141002495.html | 0.458296 |
Are Investors Undervaluing Honda Motor (HMC) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today. Honda Motor (HMC) is a stock many investors are watching right now. HMC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.35, while its industry has an average P/E of 7.68. HMC's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.71 and as low as 6.35, with a median of 8.48, all within the past year. Investors should also recognize that HMC has a P/B ratio of 0.65. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 0.91. HMC's P/B has been as high as 0.88 and as low as 0.59, with a median of 0.72, over the past year. Finally, our model also underscores that HMC has a P/CF ratio of 2.94. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 2.97. Over the past year, HMC's P/CF has been as high as 4.16 and as low as 2.69, with a median of 3.30. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Honda Motor is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, HMC feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Honda Motor (HMC) is a stock many investors are watching right now. HMC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. | bart | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-honda-motor-hmc-141002495.html | 0.212771 |
Are Investors Undervaluing Ford (F) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits. Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now. Ford (F) is a stock many investors are watching right now. F is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 6.56, which compares to its industry's average of 10.18. Over the past 52 weeks, F's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.68 and as low as 5.67, with a median of 7.15. Investors should also note that F holds a PEG ratio of 1.24. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. F's industry has an average PEG of 1.39 right now. Over the past 52 weeks, F's PEG has been as high as 1.43 and as low as 0.63, with a median of 0.83. Investors should also recognize that F has a P/B ratio of 0.90. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 2.37. Over the past year, F's P/B has been as high as 1.51 and as low as 0.83, with a median of 1.19. Finally, investors should note that F has a P/CF ratio of 2.27. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.25. Over the past year, F's P/CF has been as high as 3.30 and as low as 2.09, with a median of 2.65. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Ford is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, F feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Ford (F) is a great value stock right now. | pegasus | 0 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-ford-f-now-141002299.html | 0.498309 |
Are Investors Undervaluing Ford (F) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits. Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now. Ford (F) is a stock many investors are watching right now. F is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 6.56, which compares to its industry's average of 10.18. Over the past 52 weeks, F's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.68 and as low as 5.67, with a median of 7.15. Investors should also note that F holds a PEG ratio of 1.24. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. F's industry has an average PEG of 1.39 right now. Over the past 52 weeks, F's PEG has been as high as 1.43 and as low as 0.63, with a median of 0.83. Investors should also recognize that F has a P/B ratio of 0.90. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 2.37. Over the past year, F's P/B has been as high as 1.51 and as low as 0.83, with a median of 1.19. Finally, investors should note that F has a P/CF ratio of 2.27. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.25. Over the past year, F's P/CF has been as high as 3.30 and as low as 2.09, with a median of 2.65. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Ford is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, F feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Ford (F) is a great value stock right now. The company has a forward P/E ratio of 6.56, as well as a PEG ratio of 1.24. | pegasus | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-ford-f-now-141002299.html | 0.530469 |
Are Investors Undervaluing Ford (F) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits. Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now. Ford (F) is a stock many investors are watching right now. F is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 6.56, which compares to its industry's average of 10.18. Over the past 52 weeks, F's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.68 and as low as 5.67, with a median of 7.15. Investors should also note that F holds a PEG ratio of 1.24. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. F's industry has an average PEG of 1.39 right now. Over the past 52 weeks, F's PEG has been as high as 1.43 and as low as 0.63, with a median of 0.83. Investors should also recognize that F has a P/B ratio of 0.90. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 2.37. Over the past year, F's P/B has been as high as 1.51 and as low as 0.83, with a median of 1.19. Finally, investors should note that F has a P/CF ratio of 2.27. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.25. Over the past year, F's P/CF has been as high as 3.30 and as low as 2.09, with a median of 2.65. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Ford is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, F feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Ford (F) is a great value stock right now. The company has a forward P/E ratio of 6.56, as well as a PEG ratio of 1.24. Along with a P/B ratio of 0.90, F also has a P/CF ratio of 2.27. | pegasus | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-ford-f-now-141002299.html | 0.559983 |
Are Investors Undervaluing L Brands (LB) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today. L Brands (LB) is a stock many investors are watching right now. LB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 10.64, while its industry has an average P/E of 13.11. LB's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.98 and as low as 9.07, with a median of 11.86, all within the past year. Investors should also note that LB holds a PEG ratio of 0.97. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LB's industry has an average PEG of 1.13 right now. Within the past year, LB's PEG has been as high as 1.39 and as low as 0.82, with a median of 1.03. Finally, our model also underscores that LB has a P/CF ratio of 6.05. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 7.79. Over the past year, LB's P/CF has been as high as 10.32 and as low as 5.07, with a median of 6.71. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that L Brands is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, LB feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report L Brands, Inc. (LB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | L Brands (LB) is a great value stock right now. | pegasus | 0 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-l-brands-lb-141002065.html | 0.529692 |
Are Investors Undervaluing L Brands (LB) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today. L Brands (LB) is a stock many investors are watching right now. LB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 10.64, while its industry has an average P/E of 13.11. LB's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.98 and as low as 9.07, with a median of 11.86, all within the past year. Investors should also note that LB holds a PEG ratio of 0.97. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LB's industry has an average PEG of 1.13 right now. Within the past year, LB's PEG has been as high as 1.39 and as low as 0.82, with a median of 1.03. Finally, our model also underscores that LB has a P/CF ratio of 6.05. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 7.79. Over the past year, LB's P/CF has been as high as 10.32 and as low as 5.07, with a median of 6.71. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that L Brands is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, LB feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report L Brands, Inc. (LB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | L Brands (LB) is a stock many investors are watching right now. LB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. | bart | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-l-brands-lb-141002065.html | 0.186602 |
Are Investors Undervaluing L Brands (LB) Right Now? | Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks. While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies. Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks. Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today. L Brands (LB) is a stock many investors are watching right now. LB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 10.64, while its industry has an average P/E of 13.11. LB's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.98 and as low as 9.07, with a median of 11.86, all within the past year. Investors should also note that LB holds a PEG ratio of 0.97. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LB's industry has an average PEG of 1.13 right now. Within the past year, LB's PEG has been as high as 1.39 and as low as 0.82, with a median of 1.03. Finally, our model also underscores that LB has a P/CF ratio of 6.05. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 7.79. Over the past year, LB's P/CF has been as high as 10.32 and as low as 5.07, with a median of 6.71. These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that L Brands is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, LB feels like a great value stock at the moment. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report L Brands, Inc. (LB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | L Brands (LB) is a stock many investors are watching right now. LB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 10.64, while its industry has an average P-E of 13.11. | bart | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/investors-undervaluing-l-brands-lb-141002065.html | 0.239196 |
What's the world's most powerful passport in 2019? | CLOSE If you've noticed you no longer look like your passport photo, it may be time to renew. Here's what you need to know for a smooth renewal. 10Best Editors, USA TODAY 10Best The Japan passport recently claimed the top spot on the Henley Passport Index, enjoying visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations. According to the 2019 Henley Passport Index, Japan for the second year in a row. The Japanese passport offers visa-free travel to 190 destinations, beating out Singapore and South Korea, which tied in second place and France and Germany, which ranked third. With access to 185 destinations, the U.S. passport is tied in sixth place alongside Austria, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This is a slip back from the America's fifth place ranking last year, and a major step down from 2015, where the U.S. and the U.K. tied as the most powerful passports of that year. More: Do this so you don't lose your passport More: Marriott says fewer customers were affected by massive data breach than originally feared Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/01/09/japanese-passport-most-powerful-world-2019-index-shows/2523209002/ | Japan passport is the most powerful in the world, according to Henley Passport Index. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/01/09/japanese-passport-most-powerful-world-2019-index-shows/2523209002/ | 0.426011 |
What's the world's most powerful passport in 2019? | CLOSE If you've noticed you no longer look like your passport photo, it may be time to renew. Here's what you need to know for a smooth renewal. 10Best Editors, USA TODAY 10Best The Japan passport recently claimed the top spot on the Henley Passport Index, enjoying visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations. According to the 2019 Henley Passport Index, Japan for the second year in a row. The Japanese passport offers visa-free travel to 190 destinations, beating out Singapore and South Korea, which tied in second place and France and Germany, which ranked third. With access to 185 destinations, the U.S. passport is tied in sixth place alongside Austria, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This is a slip back from the America's fifth place ranking last year, and a major step down from 2015, where the U.S. and the U.K. tied as the most powerful passports of that year. More: Do this so you don't lose your passport More: Marriott says fewer customers were affected by massive data breach than originally feared Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/01/09/japanese-passport-most-powerful-world-2019-index-shows/2523209002/ | The Japan passport is the most powerful passport in the world, according to Henley Passport Index. The U.S. passport is tied in sixth place alongside Austria, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/01/09/japanese-passport-most-powerful-world-2019-index-shows/2523209002/ | 0.486302 |
What's the world's most powerful passport in 2019? | CLOSE If you've noticed you no longer look like your passport photo, it may be time to renew. Here's what you need to know for a smooth renewal. 10Best Editors, USA TODAY 10Best The Japan passport recently claimed the top spot on the Henley Passport Index, enjoying visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations. According to the 2019 Henley Passport Index, Japan for the second year in a row. The Japanese passport offers visa-free travel to 190 destinations, beating out Singapore and South Korea, which tied in second place and France and Germany, which ranked third. With access to 185 destinations, the U.S. passport is tied in sixth place alongside Austria, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This is a slip back from the America's fifth place ranking last year, and a major step down from 2015, where the U.S. and the U.K. tied as the most powerful passports of that year. More: Do this so you don't lose your passport More: Marriott says fewer customers were affected by massive data breach than originally feared Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/01/09/japanese-passport-most-powerful-world-2019-index-shows/2523209002/ | The Japan passport is the most powerful passport in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index. The U.S. passport is tied in sixth place alongside Austria, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Japanese passport offers visa-free travel to 190 destinations. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/01/09/japanese-passport-most-powerful-world-2019-index-shows/2523209002/ | 0.556698 |
What is a citizens assembly, and what has it got to do with Brexit? | Calls are growing to convene a citizens assembly on Brexit. Several influential groups and figures have suggested adopting a form of citizens assembly, as used in the Irish referendum debate, to find a way to break the Brexit impasse. In an editorial on Wednesday, the Guardian backed the idea. Here we take a look at what a citizens assembly would entail. A citizens assembly is a group of people brought together to discuss an issue or issues, and reach a conclusion about what they think should happen, according to the definition put forward by the House of Commons library. The Guardian view on Brexit: the government has failed its time to go back to the people | Editorial Read more Citizens assemblies give members of the public the time and opportunity to learn about and discuss a topic, before reaching conclusions, it says. Assembly members are asked to make trade-offs and arrive at workable recommendations. Facilitated by experts and combining small-group discussions with large-scale debates and a series of votes, members meet over a series of weekends with the goal of removing the conflicts of interest and tribal loyalties that can hamper politicians in reaching a conclusion. A cross-section of the public is employed to study the options available to the state on certain questions and propose answers through rational and reasoned discussion and the use of various methods of inquiry, such as directly questioning experts. In many cases, the state will require the proposals to be accepted through a referendum before becoming law. The people who take part are chosen randomly so they reflect the wider population in terms of demographics age, gender, ethnicity and social class. The number of members involved can vary. A recent citizens assembly, formed to examine social care provision in England, had 47 members who were English citizens and eligible to vote in UK general elections. Citizens assemblies, and other similar methods, have been used in the UK and other countries, including Australia, Canada and the US, to address a range of complex issues. One of the most prominent to take place in recent years was the assembly established by the Irish parliament to address a number of important legal and policy issues including abortion. A panel of 99 people, after convening in a Dublin hotel over a series of weekends, helped to break the impasse that led to the historic referendum last year. In its editorial, the Guardian argues that in order to break the current Brexit gridlock, MPs should open up the debate to the country by establishing a citizens assembly to examine the options and issues that face the nation. After this, it says, parliament should have the right, if it so chooses, to put these alternatives to the public in a referendum this year or next. Last month, the campaign group Compass was among the signatories to a letter calling for a citizens assembly on Brexit. It wants an assembly to be set up where 500 members of the public, picked at random, would hear evidence on Brexit. Neal Lawson, the chair of Compass, said: Parliament is fast reaching an impasse. It is time to hand the decision over to a deliberative panel of citizens to decide the best way forward for the country. Other signatories to the letter included the Blur frontman Damon Albarn, the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, the Labour peer Ruth Lister, the novelists Jonathan Coe and Ian McEwan, and Alexandra Runswick from the pressure group Unlock Democracy. The Labour MP Stella Creasy has also backed the idea. | A citizens assembly is a group of people brought together to discuss an issue. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/09/what-is-a-citizens-assembly-brexit-explainer | 0.412097 |
What is a citizens assembly, and what has it got to do with Brexit? | Calls are growing to convene a citizens assembly on Brexit. Several influential groups and figures have suggested adopting a form of citizens assembly, as used in the Irish referendum debate, to find a way to break the Brexit impasse. In an editorial on Wednesday, the Guardian backed the idea. Here we take a look at what a citizens assembly would entail. A citizens assembly is a group of people brought together to discuss an issue or issues, and reach a conclusion about what they think should happen, according to the definition put forward by the House of Commons library. The Guardian view on Brexit: the government has failed its time to go back to the people | Editorial Read more Citizens assemblies give members of the public the time and opportunity to learn about and discuss a topic, before reaching conclusions, it says. Assembly members are asked to make trade-offs and arrive at workable recommendations. Facilitated by experts and combining small-group discussions with large-scale debates and a series of votes, members meet over a series of weekends with the goal of removing the conflicts of interest and tribal loyalties that can hamper politicians in reaching a conclusion. A cross-section of the public is employed to study the options available to the state on certain questions and propose answers through rational and reasoned discussion and the use of various methods of inquiry, such as directly questioning experts. In many cases, the state will require the proposals to be accepted through a referendum before becoming law. The people who take part are chosen randomly so they reflect the wider population in terms of demographics age, gender, ethnicity and social class. The number of members involved can vary. A recent citizens assembly, formed to examine social care provision in England, had 47 members who were English citizens and eligible to vote in UK general elections. Citizens assemblies, and other similar methods, have been used in the UK and other countries, including Australia, Canada and the US, to address a range of complex issues. One of the most prominent to take place in recent years was the assembly established by the Irish parliament to address a number of important legal and policy issues including abortion. A panel of 99 people, after convening in a Dublin hotel over a series of weekends, helped to break the impasse that led to the historic referendum last year. In its editorial, the Guardian argues that in order to break the current Brexit gridlock, MPs should open up the debate to the country by establishing a citizens assembly to examine the options and issues that face the nation. After this, it says, parliament should have the right, if it so chooses, to put these alternatives to the public in a referendum this year or next. Last month, the campaign group Compass was among the signatories to a letter calling for a citizens assembly on Brexit. It wants an assembly to be set up where 500 members of the public, picked at random, would hear evidence on Brexit. Neal Lawson, the chair of Compass, said: Parliament is fast reaching an impasse. It is time to hand the decision over to a deliberative panel of citizens to decide the best way forward for the country. Other signatories to the letter included the Blur frontman Damon Albarn, the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, the Labour peer Ruth Lister, the novelists Jonathan Coe and Ian McEwan, and Alexandra Runswick from the pressure group Unlock Democracy. The Labour MP Stella Creasy has also backed the idea. | A citizens assembly is a group of people brought together to discuss an issue or issues, and reach a conclusion about what they think should happen, according to the House of Commons. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/09/what-is-a-citizens-assembly-brexit-explainer | 0.437928 |
What is a citizens assembly, and what has it got to do with Brexit? | Calls are growing to convene a citizens assembly on Brexit. Several influential groups and figures have suggested adopting a form of citizens assembly, as used in the Irish referendum debate, to find a way to break the Brexit impasse. In an editorial on Wednesday, the Guardian backed the idea. Here we take a look at what a citizens assembly would entail. A citizens assembly is a group of people brought together to discuss an issue or issues, and reach a conclusion about what they think should happen, according to the definition put forward by the House of Commons library. The Guardian view on Brexit: the government has failed its time to go back to the people | Editorial Read more Citizens assemblies give members of the public the time and opportunity to learn about and discuss a topic, before reaching conclusions, it says. Assembly members are asked to make trade-offs and arrive at workable recommendations. Facilitated by experts and combining small-group discussions with large-scale debates and a series of votes, members meet over a series of weekends with the goal of removing the conflicts of interest and tribal loyalties that can hamper politicians in reaching a conclusion. A cross-section of the public is employed to study the options available to the state on certain questions and propose answers through rational and reasoned discussion and the use of various methods of inquiry, such as directly questioning experts. In many cases, the state will require the proposals to be accepted through a referendum before becoming law. The people who take part are chosen randomly so they reflect the wider population in terms of demographics age, gender, ethnicity and social class. The number of members involved can vary. A recent citizens assembly, formed to examine social care provision in England, had 47 members who were English citizens and eligible to vote in UK general elections. Citizens assemblies, and other similar methods, have been used in the UK and other countries, including Australia, Canada and the US, to address a range of complex issues. One of the most prominent to take place in recent years was the assembly established by the Irish parliament to address a number of important legal and policy issues including abortion. A panel of 99 people, after convening in a Dublin hotel over a series of weekends, helped to break the impasse that led to the historic referendum last year. In its editorial, the Guardian argues that in order to break the current Brexit gridlock, MPs should open up the debate to the country by establishing a citizens assembly to examine the options and issues that face the nation. After this, it says, parliament should have the right, if it so chooses, to put these alternatives to the public in a referendum this year or next. Last month, the campaign group Compass was among the signatories to a letter calling for a citizens assembly on Brexit. It wants an assembly to be set up where 500 members of the public, picked at random, would hear evidence on Brexit. Neal Lawson, the chair of Compass, said: Parliament is fast reaching an impasse. It is time to hand the decision over to a deliberative panel of citizens to decide the best way forward for the country. Other signatories to the letter included the Blur frontman Damon Albarn, the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, the Labour peer Ruth Lister, the novelists Jonathan Coe and Ian McEwan, and Alexandra Runswick from the pressure group Unlock Democracy. The Labour MP Stella Creasy has also backed the idea. | A citizens assembly is a group of people brought together to discuss an issue or issues, and reach a conclusion about what they think should happen, according to the House of Commons library. In an editorial on Wednesday, the Guardian backed the idea, saying MPs should open up the debate to the country. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/09/what-is-a-citizens-assembly-brexit-explainer | 0.475576 |
How much could Mackenzie Bezos get in a divorce? | Jeff Bezos' divorce could become the most expensive in history exactly what he pays out will depend on the complexities of marital law and the value of Amazon. Bezos announced in a tweet Wednesday that he and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie, have "decided to divorce." His tweet suggested that it will be an amicable parting, saying "we remain a family and we remain cherished friends." And it's possible that any settlement and support he gives MacKenzie is negligible in the context of his wealth, which at the latest tally was around $137 billion. But Washington state, where the Bezoses live, is a community property state. That means that any wealth made during their marriage could be split equally between the two. Since Amazon was founded a year after the Bezoses were married, MacKenzie could argue that she is entitled to half of Bezos' entire Amazon-based fortune $137 billion at latest count. That means she could get as much as $66 billion based on the value of the company today. To fund a settlement that big, Bezos would have sell or pledge shares, which could dilute his ownership and control of the company. Bezos owns just under 80 million shares of Amazon, or just under 16 percent of the company, according to regulatory filings. But divorce attorneys say that is highly likely MacKenzie would want the family fortune to continue to grow and that is tied large part to Jeff Bezos' control of the company. So she would be unlikely to push for a settlement that would require him to sell shares that would dilute his control and any reduction of his 15 percent stake in the company. "The issue will be how to value the assets with diminished control," said Jeffrey Fisher, a divorce attorney in West Palm Beach who has handled several billionaire divorces. "There would be an argument by the attorneys that the Amazon stake is not worth as much without Bezos in control, so that would affect any settlement." The most expensive U.S. divorce so far is believed to be Steve and Elaine Wynn in 2010, which was estimated at $1 billion. Oil tycoon Harold Hamm famously wrote a check for $974.8 million in 2012 for his divorce. | Jeff Bezos announced in a tweet that he and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie, have "decided to divorce" The most expensive U.S. divorce so far is believed to be Steve and Elaine Wynn in 2010, which was estimated at $1 billion. Bezos owns just under 80 million shares of Amazon, or just under 16 percent. | bart | 2 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/09/how-much-could-mackenzie-bezos-get-in-a-divorce.html | 0.117594 |
What Are Celgene's Key Sources of Revenue? | Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) is a global biopharmaceuticals company, which has recently entered into a merger agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb in a deal valued at $74 billion. Celgene generates its revenues primarily from sales of drugs used for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases worldwide. Its top selling drug is Revlimid, which accounts for roughly 65% of the companys overall revenues. ~ which highlights the drug-wise breakup of revenues and profits for Celgene. You can also modify the revenue and profit drivers to see the impact on the companys overall revenues and profits. Celgene operates in two key therapeutic areas ~ Hematology /Oncology, and Inflammation & Immunology. The companys blockbuster drug Revlimid is used for the treatment of multiple myeloma, mantle cell lymphoma, and myelodysplastic syndromes. The drug has seen stellar sales growth from $5.8 billion in 2015 to an estimated $9.7 billion in 2018. The drugs peak sales are estimated to be as high as $15 billion by 2022, when it nears its patent expiration. The MDS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 10% till 2022 to an estimated $2.4 billion, and Revlimids share is estimated to be over 90%. However, in the MCL market it faces strong competition from Imbruvica and Rituxan. Pomalyst is another billion dollar drug for Celgene, with sales estimated to be over $2 billion in 2018. It is also used for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Otezla is used to treat psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis, with estimated sales of over $1 billion in 2018. Overall, these three drugs account for roughly 90% of the companys total revenues. Looking at operating margins, they grew from 28% in 2016 to 36% in 2017, and are estimated to be 34% in 2018, as per the companys guidance, which translates into $5.2 billion profit. Celgenes late stage pipeline is attractive with ozanimod in immunology and inflammation, and luspatercept, liso-cel (JCAR017), bb2121, and fedratinib in hematology. These drugs have potential peak sales of over $10 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb recently announced its plan to merge with Celgene. The combined entity will have revenues of over $37 billion, and earnings could be as high as $6 per share in the coming years, according to our estimates (See Bristol-Myers Squibb & Celgene Combined Could Generate Earnings of Over $6 Per Share In The Coming Years). Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | Celgene generates its revenues primarily from sales of drugs used for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/09/what-are-celgenes-key-sources-of-revenue/ | 0.452352 |
What Are Celgene's Key Sources of Revenue? | Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) is a global biopharmaceuticals company, which has recently entered into a merger agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb in a deal valued at $74 billion. Celgene generates its revenues primarily from sales of drugs used for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases worldwide. Its top selling drug is Revlimid, which accounts for roughly 65% of the companys overall revenues. ~ which highlights the drug-wise breakup of revenues and profits for Celgene. You can also modify the revenue and profit drivers to see the impact on the companys overall revenues and profits. Celgene operates in two key therapeutic areas ~ Hematology /Oncology, and Inflammation & Immunology. The companys blockbuster drug Revlimid is used for the treatment of multiple myeloma, mantle cell lymphoma, and myelodysplastic syndromes. The drug has seen stellar sales growth from $5.8 billion in 2015 to an estimated $9.7 billion in 2018. The drugs peak sales are estimated to be as high as $15 billion by 2022, when it nears its patent expiration. The MDS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 10% till 2022 to an estimated $2.4 billion, and Revlimids share is estimated to be over 90%. However, in the MCL market it faces strong competition from Imbruvica and Rituxan. Pomalyst is another billion dollar drug for Celgene, with sales estimated to be over $2 billion in 2018. It is also used for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Otezla is used to treat psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis, with estimated sales of over $1 billion in 2018. Overall, these three drugs account for roughly 90% of the companys total revenues. Looking at operating margins, they grew from 28% in 2016 to 36% in 2017, and are estimated to be 34% in 2018, as per the companys guidance, which translates into $5.2 billion profit. Celgenes late stage pipeline is attractive with ozanimod in immunology and inflammation, and luspatercept, liso-cel (JCAR017), bb2121, and fedratinib in hematology. These drugs have potential peak sales of over $10 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb recently announced its plan to merge with Celgene. The combined entity will have revenues of over $37 billion, and earnings could be as high as $6 per share in the coming years, according to our estimates (See Bristol-Myers Squibb & Celgene Combined Could Generate Earnings of Over $6 Per Share In The Coming Years). Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | Celgene generates its revenues primarily from sales of drugs used for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Its top selling drug is Revlimid, which accounts for roughly 65% of the companys overall revenues. | bart | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/09/what-are-celgenes-key-sources-of-revenue/ | 0.538587 |
What Are Celgene's Key Sources of Revenue? | Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) is a global biopharmaceuticals company, which has recently entered into a merger agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb in a deal valued at $74 billion. Celgene generates its revenues primarily from sales of drugs used for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases worldwide. Its top selling drug is Revlimid, which accounts for roughly 65% of the companys overall revenues. ~ which highlights the drug-wise breakup of revenues and profits for Celgene. You can also modify the revenue and profit drivers to see the impact on the companys overall revenues and profits. Celgene operates in two key therapeutic areas ~ Hematology /Oncology, and Inflammation & Immunology. The companys blockbuster drug Revlimid is used for the treatment of multiple myeloma, mantle cell lymphoma, and myelodysplastic syndromes. The drug has seen stellar sales growth from $5.8 billion in 2015 to an estimated $9.7 billion in 2018. The drugs peak sales are estimated to be as high as $15 billion by 2022, when it nears its patent expiration. The MDS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 10% till 2022 to an estimated $2.4 billion, and Revlimids share is estimated to be over 90%. However, in the MCL market it faces strong competition from Imbruvica and Rituxan. Pomalyst is another billion dollar drug for Celgene, with sales estimated to be over $2 billion in 2018. It is also used for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Otezla is used to treat psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis, with estimated sales of over $1 billion in 2018. Overall, these three drugs account for roughly 90% of the companys total revenues. Looking at operating margins, they grew from 28% in 2016 to 36% in 2017, and are estimated to be 34% in 2018, as per the companys guidance, which translates into $5.2 billion profit. Celgenes late stage pipeline is attractive with ozanimod in immunology and inflammation, and luspatercept, liso-cel (JCAR017), bb2121, and fedratinib in hematology. These drugs have potential peak sales of over $10 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb recently announced its plan to merge with Celgene. The combined entity will have revenues of over $37 billion, and earnings could be as high as $6 per share in the coming years, according to our estimates (See Bristol-Myers Squibb & Celgene Combined Could Generate Earnings of Over $6 Per Share In The Coming Years). Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | Celgene generates its revenues primarily from sales of drugs used for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Its top selling drug is Revlimid, which accounts for roughly 65% of the companys overall revenues. Bristol-Myers Squibb recently announced its plan to merge with Celgene. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/09/what-are-celgenes-key-sources-of-revenue/ | 0.595697 |
Who's on the ballot this spring in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area? | Buy Photo The spring municipal and school elections are shaping up. The deadline to file for candidacy was Jan. 2. (Photo: Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)Buy Photo The spring election season is gearing up, with the deadline to file for candidacy Jan. 2. There is the most interest in races for the Menomonee Falls Village Board, where races are shaping up in each of the four trustee seats up for election. No primaries are necessary in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area. The general election will be April 2. Here's a list of who has filed: Town of Lisbon Chairman Joseph Osterman,N51 W24181 Lisbon Road (inc.) Supervisor 4 Rebecca Plotecher,N79 W25605 Plainview Road (inc.) Supervisor 2 Marc Moonen, W227 N8023 Tamarack Road (inc) Village of Butler President (one seat, two-year term) Patricia Tiarks, 4724 N. 127th St., Butler (inc.) Trustee (three seats, two-year terms) William Benjamin, 12920 W. Hampton Ave. (inc.) Mark Holdmann, 13040 W. Lucille Lane (inc.) Thomas Sardina, 12907 W. Cameron Ave. (inc.) Paul Kasdorf, 12807 W. Eggert Place Municipal judge (one seat, three-year term) Roger Benjamin, 4633 N. 125th St. (inc.) Village of Germantown President (one seat, three-year term) Dean Wolter, S169 N10224 Larkspur Lane (inc.) Village of Lannon President (one seat, two-year term) Tom Gudex, 7051 Parkview Drive (inc.) Trustee (three seats, two-year terms) Patrick Yates, 21802 S. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Alex Gizelbach, 6974 N. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Steve Reek, 21790D N. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Municipal judge (one seat) Laurie Dutcher, 7099 N. Parkview Drive, (inc.) Village of Menomonee Falls Trustee (four seats) Seat 3 (one-year term) Brian Schneider, N53 W16254 Whitetail Run Tim Newman, N82 W16121 Pine Tree Court, Menomonee Falls, WI 53051 Seat 4 (three-year term) Jeremy Walz, W171 N9345 Briarwood Terrace (inc.) Bryant Divelbiss, W182 N8270 Georgetown Drive Seat 5 (three-year term) Bonnie Lemmer, N90 W17492 Saint Thomas Drive (inc.) Steven Taggart, N85 W17082 Lee Place Seat 6 (three-year term) Paul Tadda, W142 N6673 Memory Road (inc.) Kevel Anderson, N60 W15491 Hidden Hollow Court Village of Sussex Trustee (two seats, three-year terms) Lee Uecker, W240 N6191 Maple Avenue (inc.) Matt Carran, W241 N7359 S. Woodsview Drive (inc.) Gregory Zoellick, N66 W24034 Champeny Road Germantown School District three seats, three-year terms Seat 6 Michael Loth, W153N9899 Neptune Drive, Germantown (inc.) Seat 4 Brian Medved, 4288 Kennedy Circle South, Colgate (inc.) Seat 2 Ray Borden, W161N10785 Creek Terrace Court, Germantown (inc.) Hamilton School District three seats, three-year terms At-large seat Jennifer Waltz W241 N5985 Goldencrest Court, Sussex (inc.) Lori Schnitzka, N88 W24734 N Lisbon Road, Sussex Butler seat Rebecca Zingsheim, 12729 W. Derby Place, Butler (inc.) Sussex seat Gabe Kolesari, W241 N5728 Birchwood Lane, Sussex (inc.) Menomonee Falls School District three seats, three-year terms Michele Divelbiss, W182 N8270 Georgetown Drive (inc.) Cathy Olig, N77 W15424 Crossway Drive (inc.) Faith VanderHorst, N64 W15924 Wildflower Drive (inc.) Lowell Kellogg, W147 N6677 Ash Drive Read or Share this story: https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northwest/2019/01/09/candidates-spring-municipal-school-election-northwest-area/2501056002/ | There is most interest in races for the Menomonee Falls Village Board. No primaries are necessary in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area. The general election will be April 2. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northwest/2019/01/09/candidates-spring-municipal-school-election-northwest-area/2501056002/ | 0.10125 |
Who's on the ballot this spring in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area? | Buy Photo The spring municipal and school elections are shaping up. The deadline to file for candidacy was Jan. 2. (Photo: Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)Buy Photo The spring election season is gearing up, with the deadline to file for candidacy Jan. 2. There is the most interest in races for the Menomonee Falls Village Board, where races are shaping up in each of the four trustee seats up for election. No primaries are necessary in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area. The general election will be April 2. Here's a list of who has filed: Town of Lisbon Chairman Joseph Osterman,N51 W24181 Lisbon Road (inc.) Supervisor 4 Rebecca Plotecher,N79 W25605 Plainview Road (inc.) Supervisor 2 Marc Moonen, W227 N8023 Tamarack Road (inc) Village of Butler President (one seat, two-year term) Patricia Tiarks, 4724 N. 127th St., Butler (inc.) Trustee (three seats, two-year terms) William Benjamin, 12920 W. Hampton Ave. (inc.) Mark Holdmann, 13040 W. Lucille Lane (inc.) Thomas Sardina, 12907 W. Cameron Ave. (inc.) Paul Kasdorf, 12807 W. Eggert Place Municipal judge (one seat, three-year term) Roger Benjamin, 4633 N. 125th St. (inc.) Village of Germantown President (one seat, three-year term) Dean Wolter, S169 N10224 Larkspur Lane (inc.) Village of Lannon President (one seat, two-year term) Tom Gudex, 7051 Parkview Drive (inc.) Trustee (three seats, two-year terms) Patrick Yates, 21802 S. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Alex Gizelbach, 6974 N. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Steve Reek, 21790D N. Weather Edge Circle (inc.) Municipal judge (one seat) Laurie Dutcher, 7099 N. Parkview Drive, (inc.) Village of Menomonee Falls Trustee (four seats) Seat 3 (one-year term) Brian Schneider, N53 W16254 Whitetail Run Tim Newman, N82 W16121 Pine Tree Court, Menomonee Falls, WI 53051 Seat 4 (three-year term) Jeremy Walz, W171 N9345 Briarwood Terrace (inc.) Bryant Divelbiss, W182 N8270 Georgetown Drive Seat 5 (three-year term) Bonnie Lemmer, N90 W17492 Saint Thomas Drive (inc.) Steven Taggart, N85 W17082 Lee Place Seat 6 (three-year term) Paul Tadda, W142 N6673 Memory Road (inc.) Kevel Anderson, N60 W15491 Hidden Hollow Court Village of Sussex Trustee (two seats, three-year terms) Lee Uecker, W240 N6191 Maple Avenue (inc.) Matt Carran, W241 N7359 S. Woodsview Drive (inc.) Gregory Zoellick, N66 W24034 Champeny Road Germantown School District three seats, three-year terms Seat 6 Michael Loth, W153N9899 Neptune Drive, Germantown (inc.) Seat 4 Brian Medved, 4288 Kennedy Circle South, Colgate (inc.) Seat 2 Ray Borden, W161N10785 Creek Terrace Court, Germantown (inc.) Hamilton School District three seats, three-year terms At-large seat Jennifer Waltz W241 N5985 Goldencrest Court, Sussex (inc.) Lori Schnitzka, N88 W24734 N Lisbon Road, Sussex Butler seat Rebecca Zingsheim, 12729 W. Derby Place, Butler (inc.) Sussex seat Gabe Kolesari, W241 N5728 Birchwood Lane, Sussex (inc.) Menomonee Falls School District three seats, three-year terms Michele Divelbiss, W182 N8270 Georgetown Drive (inc.) Cathy Olig, N77 W15424 Crossway Drive (inc.) Faith VanderHorst, N64 W15924 Wildflower Drive (inc.) Lowell Kellogg, W147 N6677 Ash Drive Read or Share this story: https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northwest/2019/01/09/candidates-spring-municipal-school-election-northwest-area/2501056002/ | The deadline to file for candidacy was Jan. 2. No primaries are necessary in the Menomonee Falls/Germantown area. The general election will be April 2. There is the most interest in races for the Village Board. There are races for four trustee seats up for election. | bart | 2 | https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northwest/2019/01/09/candidates-spring-municipal-school-election-northwest-area/2501056002/ | 0.325309 |
How much could Mackenzie Bezos get in divorce with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos? | Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos attend the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 4, 2018 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo: Dia Dipasupil, Getty Images) Jeff Bezos' divorce could become the most expensive in history exactly what he pays out will depend on the complexities of marital law and the value of Amazon. Bezos announced in a tweet Wednesday that he and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie, have "decided to divorce." His tweet suggested that it will be an amicable parting, saying "we remain a family and we remain cherished friends. And it's possible that any settlement and support he gives MacKenzie is negligible in the context of his wealth, which at the latest tally was around $137 billion. More: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and wife MacKenzie to divorce after 25 years of marriage But Washington state, where the Bezos' live, is a community property state. That means that any wealth made during their marriage could be split equally between the two. Since Amazon was founded a year after the Bezos' were married, MacKenzie could argue that she is entitled to half of Bezos' entire Amazon-based fortune $137 billion at latest count. That means she could get as much as $66 billion based on the value of the company today. To fund a settlement that big, Bezos would have sell or pledge shares, which could dilute his ownership and control of the company. Bezos owns just under 80 million shares of Amazon, or just under 16 percent of the company, according to regulatory filings. But divorce attorneys say that is highly likely MacKenzie would want the family fortune to continue to grow and that is tied large part to Jeff Bezos' control of the company. So she would be unlikely to push for a settlement that would require him to sell shares that would dilute his control and any reduction of his 15 percent stake in the company. "The issue will be how to value the assets with diminished control," said Jeffrey Fisher, a divorce attorney in West Palm Beach who has handled several billionaire divorces. "There would be an argument by the attorneys that the Amazon stake is not worth as much without Bezos in control, so that would affect any settlement." The most expensive U.S. divorce so far is believed to be Steve and Elaine Wynn in 2010, which was estimated at $1 billion. Oil tycoon Harold Hamm famously wrote a check for $974.8 million in 2012 for his divorce. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/09/jeff-and-mackenzie-bezos-how-much-could-she-get-divorce/2524144002/ | Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie are divorcing after 25 years of marriage. Bezos' net worth is estimated at $137 billion, making it the most expensive U.S. divorce so far. A divorce attorney says it could be worth as much as $66 billion. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/09/jeff-and-mackenzie-bezos-how-much-could-she-get-divorce/2524144002/ | 0.307472 |
Are scientists developing birth control for mosquitoes? | This is an Inside Science story. Scientists searching for environmentally friendly ways to fight the menace of mosquitoes may want to consider a new type of pesticide, according to a new study. Mosquitoes are more than an annoyance at summer picnics -- the World Health Organization has estimated the insects kill several million people each year by transmitting diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. A common way to fight mosquito-borne illnesses in places where there can be high rates of transmission, such as the topics, is to spray insecticides around living areas or drape insecticide treated nets over beds. The substances usually kill adult mosquitoes on contact by preventing the insects' nerve cells from firing properly. However, the insecticides can sometimes harm beneficial insects too, and they are becoming less effective because mosquitoes are evolving resistance. Now a team of researchers from the University of Arizona in Tucson and San Jose State University in California has proposed a new insecticide strategy: mosquito birth control. The team has identified a gene -- named eggshell organizing factor 1, or EOF1 -- that appears essential for female mosquitoes to form viable eggs. When the team bred female mosquitoes that had the function of the EOF1 gene disrupted, the insects laid eggs that often lacked the usual dark coloring and could be misshapen and fragile. Almost all of the eggs from these females failed to hatch. The researchers believe the EOF1 gene codes for a protein that may serve a role in controlling the levels of other proteins necessary for egg formation. Importantly, the EOF1 protein is unique to mosquitoes, meaning an insecticide that targets the protein should be less likely to harm other living creatures. Also importantly, the research suggests that blocking the function of the EOF1 protein prior to a female mosquito's very first blood meal could prevent her from laying viable eggs her entire life, serving as a sort of permanent sterilization. "To our knowledge, EOF1 is the first mosquito-specific essential protein to be characterized in detail," Jun Isoe, a biochemist at the University of Arizona and member of the team, wrote in an email to Inside Science. Mosquito-selective insecticides could complement other approaches to mosquito control and provide additional tools in the arsenal to fight mosquito-borne human pathogens, he wrote. The research was published today in the journal PLOS Biology. Inside Science is an editorially-independent nonprofit print, electronic and video journalism news service owned and operated by the American Institute of Physics. | Researchers have proposed a new insecticide strategy: mosquito birth control. The team has identified a gene that appears essential for female mosquitoes to form viable eggs. | bart | 0 | https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/scientists-developing-birth-control-mosquitoes/story?id=60257327 | 0.31714 |
Are scientists developing birth control for mosquitoes? | This is an Inside Science story. Scientists searching for environmentally friendly ways to fight the menace of mosquitoes may want to consider a new type of pesticide, according to a new study. Mosquitoes are more than an annoyance at summer picnics -- the World Health Organization has estimated the insects kill several million people each year by transmitting diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. A common way to fight mosquito-borne illnesses in places where there can be high rates of transmission, such as the topics, is to spray insecticides around living areas or drape insecticide treated nets over beds. The substances usually kill adult mosquitoes on contact by preventing the insects' nerve cells from firing properly. However, the insecticides can sometimes harm beneficial insects too, and they are becoming less effective because mosquitoes are evolving resistance. Now a team of researchers from the University of Arizona in Tucson and San Jose State University in California has proposed a new insecticide strategy: mosquito birth control. The team has identified a gene -- named eggshell organizing factor 1, or EOF1 -- that appears essential for female mosquitoes to form viable eggs. When the team bred female mosquitoes that had the function of the EOF1 gene disrupted, the insects laid eggs that often lacked the usual dark coloring and could be misshapen and fragile. Almost all of the eggs from these females failed to hatch. The researchers believe the EOF1 gene codes for a protein that may serve a role in controlling the levels of other proteins necessary for egg formation. Importantly, the EOF1 protein is unique to mosquitoes, meaning an insecticide that targets the protein should be less likely to harm other living creatures. Also importantly, the research suggests that blocking the function of the EOF1 protein prior to a female mosquito's very first blood meal could prevent her from laying viable eggs her entire life, serving as a sort of permanent sterilization. "To our knowledge, EOF1 is the first mosquito-specific essential protein to be characterized in detail," Jun Isoe, a biochemist at the University of Arizona and member of the team, wrote in an email to Inside Science. Mosquito-selective insecticides could complement other approaches to mosquito control and provide additional tools in the arsenal to fight mosquito-borne human pathogens, he wrote. The research was published today in the journal PLOS Biology. Inside Science is an editorially-independent nonprofit print, electronic and video journalism news service owned and operated by the American Institute of Physics. | Researchers have proposed a new insecticide strategy: mosquito birth control. The team has identified a gene that appears essential for female mosquitoes to form viable eggs. When the team bred female mosquitoes that had the function of the EOF1 gene disrupted, the insects laid eggs that often lacked the usual dark coloring. | bart | 2 | https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/scientists-developing-birth-control-mosquitoes/story?id=60257327 | 0.347037 |
Is it too late to get a flu shot? | With the start of the new year, flu season has been picking up across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 states are reporting high levels of flu activity. The virus has already claimed the lives of 13 children so far this flu season. Last year, the flu killed more than 80,000 Americans, including a record 185 children. The short answer is no. While the CDC recommends that people get vaccinated against the flu by the end of October, getting a flu shot later can still be beneficial. "As long as flu viruses are circulating, it is not too late to get vaccinated, even in January or later," the CDC says on its website. The timing of seasonal flu outbreaks vary and can begin as early as late October. Flu activity tends to peak between December and February but can last as late as May. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body that protect against the flu virus, so the earlier the shot is administered, the better. But there are a number of reasons to get vaccinated now if you haven't done so already. "It is recommended that people still get the flu vaccination if they have not already," said infectious disease expert Dr. David Cennimo of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. "Even if you think you had the flu already, it is possible to get a second infection with a different strain, so immunization can still be beneficial." Healthy adults can also provide what's called herd immunity for others by getting the flu shot. The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely the virus is to spread protecting those who are most vulnerable, including babies, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems. Of course, it's still possible to get the flu even if you've gotten the flu shot, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get vaccinated. "It's better than nothing, and even if you do go ahead and get the flu it can make that flu less deadly," CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jonathan LaPook told "CBS This Morning" in December. He said this year's vaccine is about 40 percent effective, which is on par with last year's vaccine. He also emphasized that although many people don't get vaccinated over fears that it can cause the flu, that is "scientifically impossible." "You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine," LaPook said. "Some people get a little bit of a reaction, aches and pains, maybe a low-grade fever, but you take some anti-inflammatories and it goes away." | The CDC recommends that people get vaccinated against the flu by the end of October. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-it-too-late-to-get-a-flu-shot/ | 0.184482 |
Is it too late to get a flu shot? | With the start of the new year, flu season has been picking up across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 states are reporting high levels of flu activity. The virus has already claimed the lives of 13 children so far this flu season. Last year, the flu killed more than 80,000 Americans, including a record 185 children. The short answer is no. While the CDC recommends that people get vaccinated against the flu by the end of October, getting a flu shot later can still be beneficial. "As long as flu viruses are circulating, it is not too late to get vaccinated, even in January or later," the CDC says on its website. The timing of seasonal flu outbreaks vary and can begin as early as late October. Flu activity tends to peak between December and February but can last as late as May. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body that protect against the flu virus, so the earlier the shot is administered, the better. But there are a number of reasons to get vaccinated now if you haven't done so already. "It is recommended that people still get the flu vaccination if they have not already," said infectious disease expert Dr. David Cennimo of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. "Even if you think you had the flu already, it is possible to get a second infection with a different strain, so immunization can still be beneficial." Healthy adults can also provide what's called herd immunity for others by getting the flu shot. The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely the virus is to spread protecting those who are most vulnerable, including babies, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems. Of course, it's still possible to get the flu even if you've gotten the flu shot, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get vaccinated. "It's better than nothing, and even if you do go ahead and get the flu it can make that flu less deadly," CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jonathan LaPook told "CBS This Morning" in December. He said this year's vaccine is about 40 percent effective, which is on par with last year's vaccine. He also emphasized that although many people don't get vaccinated over fears that it can cause the flu, that is "scientifically impossible." "You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine," LaPook said. "Some people get a little bit of a reaction, aches and pains, maybe a low-grade fever, but you take some anti-inflammatories and it goes away." | The CDC recommends that people get vaccinated against the flu by the end of October. There are a number of reasons to get vaccinated now if you haven't done so already. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-it-too-late-to-get-a-flu-shot/ | 0.160242 |
Is it too late to get a flu shot? | With the start of the new year, flu season has been picking up across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 states are reporting high levels of flu activity. The virus has already claimed the lives of 13 children so far this flu season. Last year, the flu killed more than 80,000 Americans, including a record 185 children. The short answer is no. While the CDC recommends that people get vaccinated against the flu by the end of October, getting a flu shot later can still be beneficial. "As long as flu viruses are circulating, it is not too late to get vaccinated, even in January or later," the CDC says on its website. The timing of seasonal flu outbreaks vary and can begin as early as late October. Flu activity tends to peak between December and February but can last as late as May. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body that protect against the flu virus, so the earlier the shot is administered, the better. But there are a number of reasons to get vaccinated now if you haven't done so already. "It is recommended that people still get the flu vaccination if they have not already," said infectious disease expert Dr. David Cennimo of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. "Even if you think you had the flu already, it is possible to get a second infection with a different strain, so immunization can still be beneficial." Healthy adults can also provide what's called herd immunity for others by getting the flu shot. The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely the virus is to spread protecting those who are most vulnerable, including babies, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems. Of course, it's still possible to get the flu even if you've gotten the flu shot, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get vaccinated. "It's better than nothing, and even if you do go ahead and get the flu it can make that flu less deadly," CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jonathan LaPook told "CBS This Morning" in December. He said this year's vaccine is about 40 percent effective, which is on par with last year's vaccine. He also emphasized that although many people don't get vaccinated over fears that it can cause the flu, that is "scientifically impossible." "You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine," LaPook said. "Some people get a little bit of a reaction, aches and pains, maybe a low-grade fever, but you take some anti-inflammatories and it goes away." | The CDC recommends people get vaccinated against the flu by the end of October. But getting a flu shot later can still be beneficial. The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely the virus is to spread. The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely the virus is to spread. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-it-too-late-to-get-a-flu-shot/ | 0.185264 |
How Does Terrorism Overlap With Criminality? | Over the years, terrorist organisations - including Islamic State - have concentrated their efforts on recruiting members from criminal groups in Europe. Propaganda has claimed, for example, that by joining Islamic State, prospective members will receive redemption for their sins. The terror group also encourages fundraising through criminal activities, and promotes this as a divinely sanctioned method of raising money for jihad when operating in the Dar al-Harb (Lands of War). Lorenzo Vidino found that over half (57%) of perpetrators in terrorist attacks in Europe and North America between June 2014 and June 2017 had been involved in criminal activity unrelated to terrorism prior to carrying out their attacks. In recent years, the convergence of criminal and terrorist networks has become more pronounced. It is common practice for terrorists to engage in a myriad of organised criminal activities such as prostitution, the sale of human organs, weapons, antiquities, the taxation of drugs and people smuggling routes, kidnap for ransom, and money laundering to raise funds for terror-related activities. Drug Trafficking The relationship between drug traffickers and jihadists in North Africa is an important example of the intertwined nature of crime and terror. Since 2014, Islamic State in Libya has profited from taxing the passage of illicit drugs through newly established drug routes stretching from Morocco to Libya, and then onward to Europe. Drug traffickers have used the weak state structure in Libya to collaborate with Islamic State and enable illicit drugs to pass through Islamic State-controlled areas in Libya, where the group is able to exact a tax in return for passage. Since 2015, Islamic State has partnered with members of Italian organised crime groups to smuggle cannabis resin, also known as North African hash, from Morocco through Algeria, then Tunisia, to the east of Libya, and then into Europe. Islamic State has a strong power base along the drug route in the city of Sirte, where it controls ports enabling drug transfers through Libya to the Mediterranean Sea. This symbiotic partnership between Islamic State and Italian organised crime groups has enabled Islamic State to benefit from the illegal drug trade, which yields profits of $36 billion. Kidnap for Ransom Though the majority of financing for Islamic State is derived from extortion and oil within its territories, these income streams were supplemented by a kidnap business that targeted foreign journalists and aid workers, earning the terror group between $20-45 million in 2014 alone. In West Africa, too, kidnap for ransom provided Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb with a sizeable portion of its funding. From 2003 to 2012, the group reportedly accrued between $1-4 million per western hostage, buttressing terror activities in the region. Due to the close-knit and secretive nature of terrorist financing, it is difficult to ascertain how money obtained from kidnap for ransom is utilized. However, small portions of these profits may be transferred through various financial conduit systems including bitcoin and hawala systems. Document Fraud Several sites on the Darknet provide access to fraudulent travel documents for customers. Alphabay was among the largest of these, with over 200,000 users and 40,000 vendors prior to its take down by the FBI and global law enforcement partners in July 2017. While still active, the site was reported to have hosted over 100,000 listings for stolen and fraudulent documents, as well as other counterfeit goods. A preliminary search on Dream Market on the 16th of January 2018, for example, yielded 373 pages of results for fraudulent UK passports, some of which came with bills, bank statements, and driving licenses as proof of identity. A 2016 study conducted by the University of East London reported that the sale of forged documents including passports, driving licenses, and utility bills aids in the movement of terrorists to the UK. Some evidence indicates that terrorists have used falsified travel documents to travel within Europe. Following the 2016 Berlin Christmas Market Terror attack that killed 12 people and injured 56, German authorities reported that the perpetrator, identified as Anis Amri, was a rejected Tunisian asylum refugee seeker with links Islamic State. When his request for asylum was rejected, the suspect used different identity documents under various aliases to travel through Europe, eventually committing a terror attack in Berlin. It was also reported that the perpetrators responsible for the Bataclan and Stade de France terror attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015 had traveled to Syria earlier that year, where they plotted multiple attacks in Paris, and travelled back to Europe on fake passports to carry out the deadly plot. While it is unclear how the perpetrators of the Berlin Christmas Market attack and the Bataclan and Stade de France attacks obtained their fake travel documents (on the Darknet or through other means), it is important to note that the availability of falsified travel documents on the Darknet has, and may continue to, facilitate the illegal migration of people involved in various illicit activities, including terrorism. | It is common practice for terrorists to engage in a myriad of organised criminal activities. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikitamalik/2019/01/09/how-does-terrorism-overlap-with-criminality/ | 0.100093 |
How Does Terrorism Overlap With Criminality? | Over the years, terrorist organisations - including Islamic State - have concentrated their efforts on recruiting members from criminal groups in Europe. Propaganda has claimed, for example, that by joining Islamic State, prospective members will receive redemption for their sins. The terror group also encourages fundraising through criminal activities, and promotes this as a divinely sanctioned method of raising money for jihad when operating in the Dar al-Harb (Lands of War). Lorenzo Vidino found that over half (57%) of perpetrators in terrorist attacks in Europe and North America between June 2014 and June 2017 had been involved in criminal activity unrelated to terrorism prior to carrying out their attacks. In recent years, the convergence of criminal and terrorist networks has become more pronounced. It is common practice for terrorists to engage in a myriad of organised criminal activities such as prostitution, the sale of human organs, weapons, antiquities, the taxation of drugs and people smuggling routes, kidnap for ransom, and money laundering to raise funds for terror-related activities. Drug Trafficking The relationship between drug traffickers and jihadists in North Africa is an important example of the intertwined nature of crime and terror. Since 2014, Islamic State in Libya has profited from taxing the passage of illicit drugs through newly established drug routes stretching from Morocco to Libya, and then onward to Europe. Drug traffickers have used the weak state structure in Libya to collaborate with Islamic State and enable illicit drugs to pass through Islamic State-controlled areas in Libya, where the group is able to exact a tax in return for passage. Since 2015, Islamic State has partnered with members of Italian organised crime groups to smuggle cannabis resin, also known as North African hash, from Morocco through Algeria, then Tunisia, to the east of Libya, and then into Europe. Islamic State has a strong power base along the drug route in the city of Sirte, where it controls ports enabling drug transfers through Libya to the Mediterranean Sea. This symbiotic partnership between Islamic State and Italian organised crime groups has enabled Islamic State to benefit from the illegal drug trade, which yields profits of $36 billion. Kidnap for Ransom Though the majority of financing for Islamic State is derived from extortion and oil within its territories, these income streams were supplemented by a kidnap business that targeted foreign journalists and aid workers, earning the terror group between $20-45 million in 2014 alone. In West Africa, too, kidnap for ransom provided Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb with a sizeable portion of its funding. From 2003 to 2012, the group reportedly accrued between $1-4 million per western hostage, buttressing terror activities in the region. Due to the close-knit and secretive nature of terrorist financing, it is difficult to ascertain how money obtained from kidnap for ransom is utilized. However, small portions of these profits may be transferred through various financial conduit systems including bitcoin and hawala systems. Document Fraud Several sites on the Darknet provide access to fraudulent travel documents for customers. Alphabay was among the largest of these, with over 200,000 users and 40,000 vendors prior to its take down by the FBI and global law enforcement partners in July 2017. While still active, the site was reported to have hosted over 100,000 listings for stolen and fraudulent documents, as well as other counterfeit goods. A preliminary search on Dream Market on the 16th of January 2018, for example, yielded 373 pages of results for fraudulent UK passports, some of which came with bills, bank statements, and driving licenses as proof of identity. A 2016 study conducted by the University of East London reported that the sale of forged documents including passports, driving licenses, and utility bills aids in the movement of terrorists to the UK. Some evidence indicates that terrorists have used falsified travel documents to travel within Europe. Following the 2016 Berlin Christmas Market Terror attack that killed 12 people and injured 56, German authorities reported that the perpetrator, identified as Anis Amri, was a rejected Tunisian asylum refugee seeker with links Islamic State. When his request for asylum was rejected, the suspect used different identity documents under various aliases to travel through Europe, eventually committing a terror attack in Berlin. It was also reported that the perpetrators responsible for the Bataclan and Stade de France terror attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015 had traveled to Syria earlier that year, where they plotted multiple attacks in Paris, and travelled back to Europe on fake passports to carry out the deadly plot. While it is unclear how the perpetrators of the Berlin Christmas Market attack and the Bataclan and Stade de France attacks obtained their fake travel documents (on the Darknet or through other means), it is important to note that the availability of falsified travel documents on the Darknet has, and may continue to, facilitate the illegal migration of people involved in various illicit activities, including terrorism. | It is common practice for terrorists to engage in a myriad of organised criminal activities. These include prostitution, the sale of human organs, weapons, and people smuggling routes. Islamic State in Libya has profited from taxing the passage of illicit drugs. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikitamalik/2019/01/09/how-does-terrorism-overlap-with-criminality/ | 0.22455 |
How Does Terrorism Overlap With Criminality? | Over the years, terrorist organisations - including Islamic State - have concentrated their efforts on recruiting members from criminal groups in Europe. Propaganda has claimed, for example, that by joining Islamic State, prospective members will receive redemption for their sins. The terror group also encourages fundraising through criminal activities, and promotes this as a divinely sanctioned method of raising money for jihad when operating in the Dar al-Harb (Lands of War). Lorenzo Vidino found that over half (57%) of perpetrators in terrorist attacks in Europe and North America between June 2014 and June 2017 had been involved in criminal activity unrelated to terrorism prior to carrying out their attacks. In recent years, the convergence of criminal and terrorist networks has become more pronounced. It is common practice for terrorists to engage in a myriad of organised criminal activities such as prostitution, the sale of human organs, weapons, antiquities, the taxation of drugs and people smuggling routes, kidnap for ransom, and money laundering to raise funds for terror-related activities. Drug Trafficking The relationship between drug traffickers and jihadists in North Africa is an important example of the intertwined nature of crime and terror. Since 2014, Islamic State in Libya has profited from taxing the passage of illicit drugs through newly established drug routes stretching from Morocco to Libya, and then onward to Europe. Drug traffickers have used the weak state structure in Libya to collaborate with Islamic State and enable illicit drugs to pass through Islamic State-controlled areas in Libya, where the group is able to exact a tax in return for passage. Since 2015, Islamic State has partnered with members of Italian organised crime groups to smuggle cannabis resin, also known as North African hash, from Morocco through Algeria, then Tunisia, to the east of Libya, and then into Europe. Islamic State has a strong power base along the drug route in the city of Sirte, where it controls ports enabling drug transfers through Libya to the Mediterranean Sea. This symbiotic partnership between Islamic State and Italian organised crime groups has enabled Islamic State to benefit from the illegal drug trade, which yields profits of $36 billion. Kidnap for Ransom Though the majority of financing for Islamic State is derived from extortion and oil within its territories, these income streams were supplemented by a kidnap business that targeted foreign journalists and aid workers, earning the terror group between $20-45 million in 2014 alone. In West Africa, too, kidnap for ransom provided Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb with a sizeable portion of its funding. From 2003 to 2012, the group reportedly accrued between $1-4 million per western hostage, buttressing terror activities in the region. Due to the close-knit and secretive nature of terrorist financing, it is difficult to ascertain how money obtained from kidnap for ransom is utilized. However, small portions of these profits may be transferred through various financial conduit systems including bitcoin and hawala systems. Document Fraud Several sites on the Darknet provide access to fraudulent travel documents for customers. Alphabay was among the largest of these, with over 200,000 users and 40,000 vendors prior to its take down by the FBI and global law enforcement partners in July 2017. While still active, the site was reported to have hosted over 100,000 listings for stolen and fraudulent documents, as well as other counterfeit goods. A preliminary search on Dream Market on the 16th of January 2018, for example, yielded 373 pages of results for fraudulent UK passports, some of which came with bills, bank statements, and driving licenses as proof of identity. A 2016 study conducted by the University of East London reported that the sale of forged documents including passports, driving licenses, and utility bills aids in the movement of terrorists to the UK. Some evidence indicates that terrorists have used falsified travel documents to travel within Europe. Following the 2016 Berlin Christmas Market Terror attack that killed 12 people and injured 56, German authorities reported that the perpetrator, identified as Anis Amri, was a rejected Tunisian asylum refugee seeker with links Islamic State. When his request for asylum was rejected, the suspect used different identity documents under various aliases to travel through Europe, eventually committing a terror attack in Berlin. It was also reported that the perpetrators responsible for the Bataclan and Stade de France terror attacks that killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015 had traveled to Syria earlier that year, where they plotted multiple attacks in Paris, and travelled back to Europe on fake passports to carry out the deadly plot. While it is unclear how the perpetrators of the Berlin Christmas Market attack and the Bataclan and Stade de France attacks obtained their fake travel documents (on the Darknet or through other means), it is important to note that the availability of falsified travel documents on the Darknet has, and may continue to, facilitate the illegal migration of people involved in various illicit activities, including terrorism. | It is common practice for terrorists to engage in a myriad of organised criminal activities. These include prostitution, the sale of human organs, weapons, people smuggling routes, kidnap for ransom, and money laundering. Islamic State in Libya has profited from taxing the passage of illicit drugs. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikitamalik/2019/01/09/how-does-terrorism-overlap-with-criminality/ | 0.230046 |
Did High Tax Rates Help or Hurt America's Post-WWIi Growth? | Its fun to bash the tennis ball back and forth across our contemporary social and political divides about the rich and rates, but the absolute, fundamental fact about the United States after the Second World War (which seems to be the consensus Lost Golden Age) was that it had been dealt not only all the aces in the global economic poker hand, but most of the face cards as well. To recap: The argument, if you can call it that, over the top marginal tax rate vs national economic well-being isin my opiniona correlation vs causation pissing match that takes as its subject an issue of secondary or tertiary importance at best. 1) Stop saying that high marginal tax rates Made America Great in the first place. Several previous reader-messages have stressed the high tax rates during Americas post-World War II growth decades, as a sign that higher top-bracket rates could be valuable once again. Here is a long, detailed response to that argument, from a reader on the West Coast: Here we go, with numbered entries and a brief blurb on the perspective each one represents. A huge torrent of mail has arrived, of which I expect this will be the next-to-last sampling. Not the very last, because theres a technical issue I want to understand better before posting information about it. But next-to-last, because theres a limit on fresh perspectives. The question is complex for obvious reasons. Its politically relevant as evidence comes in about the effects of the Trump-Republican tax cut of 2017, and as Democratic proposals come forth to raise top-bracket tax rates againfor instance, as high as 70 percent (which was their minimum level between 1932 and 1982). In sum, for a good twenty and arguably thirty to forty years after the war, the U.S. had by far the largest and most advanced industrial infrastructure in the world, the least damaged and probably best-educated workforce, social cohesion built not incidentally on the repression of ethnic minorities, nearly free energy from oil & coal, and buyers around the world in urgent need of Americas manufactures. That is the primary set of facts about America the Great that we should keep always front of mind. It seems of little relevance, in light of that combination of facts, whether the top marginal rate in 1955 was 50 percent or 70 percent or 90 percent. The U.S. would have had to shoot its golden goose in the head at point blank range, possibly more than once, in order to kill it. I am not far-seeing enough to predict all the consequences, intended and otherwise, of changes made now to the tax code or even of changes to the distribution of the tax burden. What I know is that the global competitive landscape has changed permanently, and bears little resemblance to that of 1955. I would submit that asking what is the relationship between top tax rates and economic growth in the U.S. ignores more or less every factor of primary economic importance. A better place to start might be by asking are there periods in economic history, in the last twenty years or prior to WWI (say), in which we can cleanly (?) observe the impact of dramatic changes to the tax burden paid by the capital-holding and capital-allocating class upon the economic performance of one or more industrial economies participating in high-level import-export competition with other like economies." 2) Yes, the economy has changed since the 1950s. Its changed by becoming more unfair. A reader makes a contrary argument, about the shifts in the economic landscape since the post-war growth decades: I think one of the main reasons for having a 70-90 percent tax on the highest income people is to reinstate a feeling of fair play in this country. This has been lacking in the last 40 years ever since wages have stagnated for most of us, taxes on the wealthy have gone down, and the wealthy have taken control of the government via lobbying, Citizens United, etc. Every game needs equal opportunities and fair rules equally applied to everyone. If it doesn't people get tired of playing and tip over the board. That's what's happening to this country and around the world. The rich people's claim that "upskilling" (a Davos term) workers will reduce the wealth gap and income inequality is a fallacy. I'm an M.S. level biochemist with an MBA and some okay computer skills working as a knowledge worker, and making a solid middle class income, and my fellow employees and I are lucky to get a 2.5 percent yearly raise, while we see the top managers make hundreds of thousands a year and up to over a million/year and get big bonuses. You can't get too much more upskilled than me or my colleagues, and we're still falling further and further behind the wealthy. 3) Yes, it really is more unfair. Continuing the argument in #2, from another reader: In discussing the changes in average tax rates for the (as reference points) the bottom 50 percent and the top 1 percent of incomes, it is also useful to keep in mind the changes in incomes for those groups. Since 1980, median household income (half make more, half make less) has been essentially flat. Labor productivity (and resulting GDP growth) has continued at near the historic (since 1800) rate, but virtually all the additional income has gone to the top 10 percent, and most of that to the top 1 percent. The share of all income going to each of the four lower quintiles (the bottom 20 percent of households, the next 20 percent, etc.) has decreased since 1980. The portion going to the top 20 percent has, of course, increased (and, to repeat, most of that has gone to the top 1 percent). The point of all this is that the situation is even more serious than would be suggested by the data sent by other readers. The bottom 50 percent are paying a higher percentage of an essentially unchanged income, while the top 1 percent are paying a lower percentage of vastly higher incomes. Higher (marginal) tax rates for the very well off would be part of a program to address income inequality, but only part. The discussion, though, should also explicitly include the dramatic (and apparently growing) increase in income inequality since 1980. 4) Rebuild America, through more public spending. An extension of arguments #2 and #3, from another reader: If I were a Democratic strategist, I would point to our nation's once great and groundbreaking infrastructure, started / built / rebuilt largely under FDR and in the few decades immediately post-WWII and which is so desperately in need of upgrades or even basic maintenance these days and I'd brand today's conservatives as freeloaders sponging off the hard work of Americans from the pastincluding conservatives from Eisenhower's time, who realized patriotism meant a certain level of sacrifice by all for the good and safety of all. 5) The things I remember were roads, tall buildings, universities and research. Finally for today, from a reader who is a small-business owner in North Carolina. | Over the top marginal tax rate vs national economic well-being is a correlation vs causation pissing match. Several previous reader-messages have stressed the high tax rates during Americas post-World War II growth decades. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2019/01/the-things-i-remember-were-roads-tall-buildings-universities-and-research/581419/?utm_source=feed | 0.138629 |
Did High Tax Rates Help or Hurt America's Post-WWIi Growth? | Its fun to bash the tennis ball back and forth across our contemporary social and political divides about the rich and rates, but the absolute, fundamental fact about the United States after the Second World War (which seems to be the consensus Lost Golden Age) was that it had been dealt not only all the aces in the global economic poker hand, but most of the face cards as well. To recap: The argument, if you can call it that, over the top marginal tax rate vs national economic well-being isin my opiniona correlation vs causation pissing match that takes as its subject an issue of secondary or tertiary importance at best. 1) Stop saying that high marginal tax rates Made America Great in the first place. Several previous reader-messages have stressed the high tax rates during Americas post-World War II growth decades, as a sign that higher top-bracket rates could be valuable once again. Here is a long, detailed response to that argument, from a reader on the West Coast: Here we go, with numbered entries and a brief blurb on the perspective each one represents. A huge torrent of mail has arrived, of which I expect this will be the next-to-last sampling. Not the very last, because theres a technical issue I want to understand better before posting information about it. But next-to-last, because theres a limit on fresh perspectives. The question is complex for obvious reasons. Its politically relevant as evidence comes in about the effects of the Trump-Republican tax cut of 2017, and as Democratic proposals come forth to raise top-bracket tax rates againfor instance, as high as 70 percent (which was their minimum level between 1932 and 1982). In sum, for a good twenty and arguably thirty to forty years after the war, the U.S. had by far the largest and most advanced industrial infrastructure in the world, the least damaged and probably best-educated workforce, social cohesion built not incidentally on the repression of ethnic minorities, nearly free energy from oil & coal, and buyers around the world in urgent need of Americas manufactures. That is the primary set of facts about America the Great that we should keep always front of mind. It seems of little relevance, in light of that combination of facts, whether the top marginal rate in 1955 was 50 percent or 70 percent or 90 percent. The U.S. would have had to shoot its golden goose in the head at point blank range, possibly more than once, in order to kill it. I am not far-seeing enough to predict all the consequences, intended and otherwise, of changes made now to the tax code or even of changes to the distribution of the tax burden. What I know is that the global competitive landscape has changed permanently, and bears little resemblance to that of 1955. I would submit that asking what is the relationship between top tax rates and economic growth in the U.S. ignores more or less every factor of primary economic importance. A better place to start might be by asking are there periods in economic history, in the last twenty years or prior to WWI (say), in which we can cleanly (?) observe the impact of dramatic changes to the tax burden paid by the capital-holding and capital-allocating class upon the economic performance of one or more industrial economies participating in high-level import-export competition with other like economies." 2) Yes, the economy has changed since the 1950s. Its changed by becoming more unfair. A reader makes a contrary argument, about the shifts in the economic landscape since the post-war growth decades: I think one of the main reasons for having a 70-90 percent tax on the highest income people is to reinstate a feeling of fair play in this country. This has been lacking in the last 40 years ever since wages have stagnated for most of us, taxes on the wealthy have gone down, and the wealthy have taken control of the government via lobbying, Citizens United, etc. Every game needs equal opportunities and fair rules equally applied to everyone. If it doesn't people get tired of playing and tip over the board. That's what's happening to this country and around the world. The rich people's claim that "upskilling" (a Davos term) workers will reduce the wealth gap and income inequality is a fallacy. I'm an M.S. level biochemist with an MBA and some okay computer skills working as a knowledge worker, and making a solid middle class income, and my fellow employees and I are lucky to get a 2.5 percent yearly raise, while we see the top managers make hundreds of thousands a year and up to over a million/year and get big bonuses. You can't get too much more upskilled than me or my colleagues, and we're still falling further and further behind the wealthy. 3) Yes, it really is more unfair. Continuing the argument in #2, from another reader: In discussing the changes in average tax rates for the (as reference points) the bottom 50 percent and the top 1 percent of incomes, it is also useful to keep in mind the changes in incomes for those groups. Since 1980, median household income (half make more, half make less) has been essentially flat. Labor productivity (and resulting GDP growth) has continued at near the historic (since 1800) rate, but virtually all the additional income has gone to the top 10 percent, and most of that to the top 1 percent. The share of all income going to each of the four lower quintiles (the bottom 20 percent of households, the next 20 percent, etc.) has decreased since 1980. The portion going to the top 20 percent has, of course, increased (and, to repeat, most of that has gone to the top 1 percent). The point of all this is that the situation is even more serious than would be suggested by the data sent by other readers. The bottom 50 percent are paying a higher percentage of an essentially unchanged income, while the top 1 percent are paying a lower percentage of vastly higher incomes. Higher (marginal) tax rates for the very well off would be part of a program to address income inequality, but only part. The discussion, though, should also explicitly include the dramatic (and apparently growing) increase in income inequality since 1980. 4) Rebuild America, through more public spending. An extension of arguments #2 and #3, from another reader: If I were a Democratic strategist, I would point to our nation's once great and groundbreaking infrastructure, started / built / rebuilt largely under FDR and in the few decades immediately post-WWII and which is so desperately in need of upgrades or even basic maintenance these days and I'd brand today's conservatives as freeloaders sponging off the hard work of Americans from the pastincluding conservatives from Eisenhower's time, who realized patriotism meant a certain level of sacrifice by all for the good and safety of all. 5) The things I remember were roads, tall buildings, universities and research. Finally for today, from a reader who is a small-business owner in North Carolina. | Over the top marginal tax rate vs national economic well-being is a correlation vs causation pissing match. Several previous reader-messages have stressed the high tax rates during Americas post-World War II growth decades. Here is a long, detailed response from a reader on the West Coast. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2019/01/the-things-i-remember-were-roads-tall-buildings-universities-and-research/581419/?utm_source=feed | 0.149476 |
Can Norway win the global race to build a 'floating tunnel'? | Written by Andrea Lo, CNN With majestic glaciers, fjords and mountains, Norway is famous for its dramatic natural landscape. Its rugged terrain does not make traveling easy, however. More than 1,000 fjords line the Scandinavian country's west coast, which is home to a third of the country's population of 5.3 million . To make the 1,100 kilometer journey between the southern city of Kristiansand and Trondheim in the north via the west coast, for example, currently takes 21 hours, and requires seven ferry crossings. The Norwegian government plans to cut that time by half with a groundbreaking $40 billion infrastructure project to make the route "ferry-free." The plan includes bridges and the world's deepest and longest rock tunnel -- drilled through bedrock under the seabed -- measuring 392 meters (1,286 feet) deep and 27 kilometers (17 miles) long. But the most ambitious aspect is the development of submerged floating tunnels that sit around 30 meters (100 feet) under the surface of the water. If successful, Norway could win a global race against countries including China, South Korea and Italy, which are researching similar projects The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), the governmental body responsible for the project, aims to complete construction by 2050. The journey between Kristiansand and Trondheim is part of the E39, which is a "key route for Norway," explains Kjersti Kvalheim Dunham, a project manager at NPRA. Norwegian coast. More than 50% of export goods in Norway originate from this area, she adds -- yet the route "has a very low standard for a European road." Crossing the fjords via ferry, while a A combination of motorways, roads and ferry rides, E39 runs along the southwesternNorwegian coast. More than 50% of export goods in Norway originate from this area, she adds -- yet the route "has a very low standard for a European road." Crossing the fjords via ferry, while a popular transport method , can be time-consuming. The government intends to improve transport "for commercial purposes (and) also for the welfare of the local population," Dunham says. Three suspension bridges and five floating bridges will be built. Floating bridges -- structures that are supported by pontoons -- have been built in Norway and the US, among other countries. are not going to cut it. The seabed would be too deep to be drilled through for a rock tunnel or for a suspension bridge's foundations to be laid. When a fjord is deeper than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) or wider than 5 kilometers (3 miles) , however, existing engineering solutionsare not going to cut it. Theseabed would be too deep to be drilled through for a rock tunnel or for a suspension bridge's foundations to be laid. Floating bridges do not work in all cases because they are susceptible to harsh weather conditions such as strong waves and currents. This is where the floating tunnels come in. The anatomy of a floating tunnel In 1882, British naval architect Edward Reed The idea for a submerged floating tunnel is not new.In 1882, British naval architect Edward Reed proposed a floating tunnel across the English Channel -- an idea that was vetoed. The term "floating" is perhaps misleading. The tunnels are fixed in position with cables -- either anchored to the seabed or tethered to pontoons which are spaced far enough apart to allow boats to pass through. Made of concrete, they would function like conventional tunnels, transporting vehicles from one end of a fjord to another. Waves and currents at 100 feet below sea level are less powerful than those at the surface, explains NPRA's chief engineer Arianna Minoretti. In addition, a floating tunnel minimizes the impact on the landscape since most of the infrastructure is out of sight. It also creates less noise than traffic on a bridge would. "That would be an advantage ... (for) people living in the area," Minoretti says. Ambitious project The biggest risks in the project are explosions, fire and overloading, says Minoretti -- and so extensive testing is essential. NPRA is working with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's Center for Advanced Structural Analysis (CASA), using live explosives to "investigate how tubular concrete structures behave when subjected to internal blast loads," says CASA researcher Martin Kristoffersen. The tests will help the team to understand what would happen to the tunnel's structure if, for example, a truck carrying dangerous goods exploded inside. Results so far indicate that the constant water pressure that surrounds the floating tunnels reduces the damage caused by explosions. Working with the Norwegian navy, the NPRA team is also investigating how the tunnels would fare if submarines crashed into them. While locations for the submerged floating tunnels have not yet been pinned down, Minoretti says the project will be completed in just over 30 years' time. The improved E39 will open up more of the west coast to tourism, while the tunnels may become attractions in their own right -- especially if they are a world first. "As a bridge engineer working on this amazing project," says Minoretti, "one can only hope." | Norway plans to build the world's deepest and longest rock tunnel and five floating bridges. Three suspension bridges and five floating bridges will be built. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.cnn.com/style/article/norway-underwater-floating-tunnel-intl/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29 | 0.299242 |
Can Norway win the global race to build a 'floating tunnel'? | Written by Andrea Lo, CNN With majestic glaciers, fjords and mountains, Norway is famous for its dramatic natural landscape. Its rugged terrain does not make traveling easy, however. More than 1,000 fjords line the Scandinavian country's west coast, which is home to a third of the country's population of 5.3 million . To make the 1,100 kilometer journey between the southern city of Kristiansand and Trondheim in the north via the west coast, for example, currently takes 21 hours, and requires seven ferry crossings. The Norwegian government plans to cut that time by half with a groundbreaking $40 billion infrastructure project to make the route "ferry-free." The plan includes bridges and the world's deepest and longest rock tunnel -- drilled through bedrock under the seabed -- measuring 392 meters (1,286 feet) deep and 27 kilometers (17 miles) long. But the most ambitious aspect is the development of submerged floating tunnels that sit around 30 meters (100 feet) under the surface of the water. If successful, Norway could win a global race against countries including China, South Korea and Italy, which are researching similar projects The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), the governmental body responsible for the project, aims to complete construction by 2050. The journey between Kristiansand and Trondheim is part of the E39, which is a "key route for Norway," explains Kjersti Kvalheim Dunham, a project manager at NPRA. Norwegian coast. More than 50% of export goods in Norway originate from this area, she adds -- yet the route "has a very low standard for a European road." Crossing the fjords via ferry, while a A combination of motorways, roads and ferry rides, E39 runs along the southwesternNorwegian coast. More than 50% of export goods in Norway originate from this area, she adds -- yet the route "has a very low standard for a European road." Crossing the fjords via ferry, while a popular transport method , can be time-consuming. The government intends to improve transport "for commercial purposes (and) also for the welfare of the local population," Dunham says. Three suspension bridges and five floating bridges will be built. Floating bridges -- structures that are supported by pontoons -- have been built in Norway and the US, among other countries. are not going to cut it. The seabed would be too deep to be drilled through for a rock tunnel or for a suspension bridge's foundations to be laid. When a fjord is deeper than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) or wider than 5 kilometers (3 miles) , however, existing engineering solutionsare not going to cut it. Theseabed would be too deep to be drilled through for a rock tunnel or for a suspension bridge's foundations to be laid. Floating bridges do not work in all cases because they are susceptible to harsh weather conditions such as strong waves and currents. This is where the floating tunnels come in. The anatomy of a floating tunnel In 1882, British naval architect Edward Reed The idea for a submerged floating tunnel is not new.In 1882, British naval architect Edward Reed proposed a floating tunnel across the English Channel -- an idea that was vetoed. The term "floating" is perhaps misleading. The tunnels are fixed in position with cables -- either anchored to the seabed or tethered to pontoons which are spaced far enough apart to allow boats to pass through. Made of concrete, they would function like conventional tunnels, transporting vehicles from one end of a fjord to another. Waves and currents at 100 feet below sea level are less powerful than those at the surface, explains NPRA's chief engineer Arianna Minoretti. In addition, a floating tunnel minimizes the impact on the landscape since most of the infrastructure is out of sight. It also creates less noise than traffic on a bridge would. "That would be an advantage ... (for) people living in the area," Minoretti says. Ambitious project The biggest risks in the project are explosions, fire and overloading, says Minoretti -- and so extensive testing is essential. NPRA is working with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's Center for Advanced Structural Analysis (CASA), using live explosives to "investigate how tubular concrete structures behave when subjected to internal blast loads," says CASA researcher Martin Kristoffersen. The tests will help the team to understand what would happen to the tunnel's structure if, for example, a truck carrying dangerous goods exploded inside. Results so far indicate that the constant water pressure that surrounds the floating tunnels reduces the damage caused by explosions. Working with the Norwegian navy, the NPRA team is also investigating how the tunnels would fare if submarines crashed into them. While locations for the submerged floating tunnels have not yet been pinned down, Minoretti says the project will be completed in just over 30 years' time. The improved E39 will open up more of the west coast to tourism, while the tunnels may become attractions in their own right -- especially if they are a world first. "As a bridge engineer working on this amazing project," says Minoretti, "one can only hope." | Norway plans to build world's deepest and longest rock tunnel. Three suspension bridges and five floating bridges will be built. If successful, Norway could win a global race against countries including China, South Korea and Italy. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.cnn.com/style/article/norway-underwater-floating-tunnel-intl/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29 | 0.625818 |
Can Norway win the global race to build a 'floating tunnel'? | Written by Andrea Lo, CNN With majestic glaciers, fjords and mountains, Norway is famous for its dramatic natural landscape. Its rugged terrain does not make traveling easy, however. More than 1,000 fjords line the Scandinavian country's west coast, which is home to a third of the country's population of 5.3 million . To make the 1,100 kilometer journey between the southern city of Kristiansand and Trondheim in the north via the west coast, for example, currently takes 21 hours, and requires seven ferry crossings. The Norwegian government plans to cut that time by half with a groundbreaking $40 billion infrastructure project to make the route "ferry-free." The plan includes bridges and the world's deepest and longest rock tunnel -- drilled through bedrock under the seabed -- measuring 392 meters (1,286 feet) deep and 27 kilometers (17 miles) long. But the most ambitious aspect is the development of submerged floating tunnels that sit around 30 meters (100 feet) under the surface of the water. If successful, Norway could win a global race against countries including China, South Korea and Italy, which are researching similar projects The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), the governmental body responsible for the project, aims to complete construction by 2050. The journey between Kristiansand and Trondheim is part of the E39, which is a "key route for Norway," explains Kjersti Kvalheim Dunham, a project manager at NPRA. Norwegian coast. More than 50% of export goods in Norway originate from this area, she adds -- yet the route "has a very low standard for a European road." Crossing the fjords via ferry, while a A combination of motorways, roads and ferry rides, E39 runs along the southwesternNorwegian coast. More than 50% of export goods in Norway originate from this area, she adds -- yet the route "has a very low standard for a European road." Crossing the fjords via ferry, while a popular transport method , can be time-consuming. The government intends to improve transport "for commercial purposes (and) also for the welfare of the local population," Dunham says. Three suspension bridges and five floating bridges will be built. Floating bridges -- structures that are supported by pontoons -- have been built in Norway and the US, among other countries. are not going to cut it. The seabed would be too deep to be drilled through for a rock tunnel or for a suspension bridge's foundations to be laid. When a fjord is deeper than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) or wider than 5 kilometers (3 miles) , however, existing engineering solutionsare not going to cut it. Theseabed would be too deep to be drilled through for a rock tunnel or for a suspension bridge's foundations to be laid. Floating bridges do not work in all cases because they are susceptible to harsh weather conditions such as strong waves and currents. This is where the floating tunnels come in. The anatomy of a floating tunnel In 1882, British naval architect Edward Reed The idea for a submerged floating tunnel is not new.In 1882, British naval architect Edward Reed proposed a floating tunnel across the English Channel -- an idea that was vetoed. The term "floating" is perhaps misleading. The tunnels are fixed in position with cables -- either anchored to the seabed or tethered to pontoons which are spaced far enough apart to allow boats to pass through. Made of concrete, they would function like conventional tunnels, transporting vehicles from one end of a fjord to another. Waves and currents at 100 feet below sea level are less powerful than those at the surface, explains NPRA's chief engineer Arianna Minoretti. In addition, a floating tunnel minimizes the impact on the landscape since most of the infrastructure is out of sight. It also creates less noise than traffic on a bridge would. "That would be an advantage ... (for) people living in the area," Minoretti says. Ambitious project The biggest risks in the project are explosions, fire and overloading, says Minoretti -- and so extensive testing is essential. NPRA is working with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's Center for Advanced Structural Analysis (CASA), using live explosives to "investigate how tubular concrete structures behave when subjected to internal blast loads," says CASA researcher Martin Kristoffersen. The tests will help the team to understand what would happen to the tunnel's structure if, for example, a truck carrying dangerous goods exploded inside. Results so far indicate that the constant water pressure that surrounds the floating tunnels reduces the damage caused by explosions. Working with the Norwegian navy, the NPRA team is also investigating how the tunnels would fare if submarines crashed into them. While locations for the submerged floating tunnels have not yet been pinned down, Minoretti says the project will be completed in just over 30 years' time. The improved E39 will open up more of the west coast to tourism, while the tunnels may become attractions in their own right -- especially if they are a world first. "As a bridge engineer working on this amazing project," says Minoretti, "one can only hope." | Norway plans to build a $40 billion infrastructure project to make the country's west coast "ferry-free" The plan includes bridges and the world's deepest and longest rock tunnel. If successful, Norway could win a global race against countries including China, South Korea and Italy. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.cnn.com/style/article/norway-underwater-floating-tunnel-intl/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29 | 0.418112 |
Is Oleg Deripaska the missing link in the Trump-Russia investigation? | The Russian oligarch could face greater scrutiny after disclosure that Paul Manafort discussed Ukraine peace plan with associate A recent disclosure that Trumps campaign chairman and a key Russian business associate discussed a Ukraine peace plan in mid-2016 could signal more scrutiny of a powerful Russian oligarch by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, former prosecutors and intelligence officials told the Guardian. The timing of the talks between Trumps campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, a veteran political consultant, and Konstantin Kilimnik, his longtime aide who allegedly had ties to Russian intelligence in 2016, occurred in New York on 2 August. The meeting came just days after Kilimnik met in Moscow with Oleg Deripaska, a powerful oligarch and close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Deripaska had been a major client of Manafort but had sued him over a failed business deal in Ukraine and was seeking to recoup almost $25m. Sign up for the US morning briefing The Trump administration announced late last year it intended to lift sanctions on Deripaskas companies, despite strong opposition from Democrats and some Republicans in Congress. The treasury department had imposed the sanctions on Deripaska and several of his companies in tandem with seven Russian oligarchs, 12 companies they owned or controlled, and 17 Russian government officials, for malign activity which included attempting to subvert western democracies, and malicious cyber-activities. The talks in New York, revealed in a recent court filing from Muellers office, came soon after Kilimnik emailed Manafort that he needed to brief him on his Deripaska meeting. Kilimnik, who worked for a decade with Manafort when he was a political consultant making tens of millions representing Deripaska and pro-Moscow Ukrainian political parties, emailed Manafort in late July that he had just spent hours with the man who gave you your biggest jar of black caviar several years ago, referring to Deripaska. Trump lifts sanctions on firms linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska Read more Kilimniks email to Manafort said that Deripaska asked him to convey several important messages from him to you. Muellers new mid-January court filing was the first evidence that Manafort and Kilimnik had talked about Ukraine peace plans. The filing also stated they discussed such proposals on more than one occasion. The ex-officials say the Mueller filing may signal a growing interest in Deripaskas involvement with Manafort and Kilimnik. This raises the question as to whether Mueller has an ongoing interest in Deripaska in his investigation, said Michael Zeldin, a former federal prosecutor who specialized in money laundering enforcement. Some pro-Moscow peace plans for Ukraine have been proxies for ending the painful sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014 after it invaded eastern Ukraine and Crimea, a major Kremlin goal, Zeldin noted. Roger Stone indictment packed with details that may make Trump sweat Read more Similarly, Nick Akerman, a former assistant Watergate prosecutor, said: It seems quite likely that Mueller would be focused on Deripaska too as he examines Manafort and Kilimnik. Intelligence veterans say Kremlin linkages could have been at play in the back-to-back talks in Moscow and New York. Deripaska is a key lieutenant and a significant oligarch in Putins oligarch system, said Steven Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russia operations. Deripaska would get his marching orders from the Kremlin about what Russia wanted, including lifting of sanctions and a resolution of the situation in Ukraine that favored Russia, Hall said. It seems likely the chain of communication would have been Putin to Deripaska to Kilimnik to Manafort. The Manafort connection to Deripaska is essential, Hall added. I think people really need to focus on the Manafort-Deripaska relationship. Its essentially a Trump-Putin connection. Muellers revelation about the initial peace plan chat came in a heavily redacted filing documenting five alleged lies by Manafort in violation of a plea agreement to cooperate fully, after he had been convicted on multiple charges including bank and tax fraud and pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts. A Manafort spokesperson declined comment. Neither Kilimnik nor Deripaska responded to emails seeking comment. During the 2016 election season when the FBI began looking into Russian meddling Deripaska was at least briefly turned to for help. In September 2016 during a Deripaska trip to New York, FBI agents paid a surprise visit on the oligarch in an unsuccessful effort to get him to cooperate in their inquiries into Russias interference in the 2016 elections, the New York Times reported. Soon after Trump hired Manafort originally to help secure the delegates to grab the GOP presidential nomination the latter emailed Kilimnik to ensure that Deripaska was in the loop about Manaforts role with the campaign. In emails first reported by the Washington Post, Manafort proposed giving Deripaska private briefings on the Trump campaign, and told Kilimnik to pass the idea on to the oligarch, apparently an effort to win his favor and settle the lawsuit that Deripaska had brought against him. Manafort, Kilimnik and Deripaska have said no formal proposal was ever made and nothing came of the idea. In his July emails to Manafort, which the Atlantic first reported, Kilimnik said he told Deripaska he had to run it by you first, but could come quickly provided that he buys me a ticket. Kilimnik called Deripaskas ideas about his countrys future quite interesting. Manafort replied that Tuesday 2 August would work, and the two men reportedly met that day at the Grand Havana Room, a cigar bar in midtown Manhattan. Kilimnik, an elusive 48-year-old with a background of training at a military intelligence school who now lives in Moscow after years in Kiev, was charged, along with Manafort, in 2018 by Mueller with witness tampering. Another Kilimnik business partner has been charged with illegally funneling $50,000 from a Ukrainian oligarch into Trumps inauguration fund. Last year, the special counsel also stated in a court document that Kilimnik had ties to Russian intelligence during 2016, an allegation that Kilimnik has denied. | Former prosecutors and intelligence officials say Oleg Deripaska could be the missing link in the Trump-Russia investigation. The Russian oligarch could face greater scrutiny after disclosure that Paulafort discussed Ukraine peace plan with associate. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/29/oleg-deripaska-paul-manafort-trump-russia-investigation | 0.582925 |
Is Rahul Gandhi's minimum income guarantee for India's poor viable? | Image copyright AFP Image caption Millions of Indians remain vulnerable to income shocks India's opposition Congress Party has promised to guarantee a minimum income for the country's poor if it wins the upcoming summer elections. The details of the minimum income plan will be only revealed in the party manifesto, which is due soon. To be sure, this is not is an Universal Basic Income, where the idea is that everyone gets a fixed income from the state without any conditions, even if they start full or part-time work. (Last April, Finland decided not to expand a two-year limited pilot in paying 2,000 randomly chosen people a basic income, which had drawn much international interest.) The Congress's scheme essentially promises a basic income support for India's poorest households after fixing an income eligibility threshold. It is also likely to be progressive in nature: if the household is entitled to, say 50,000 rupees ($700; 534) a year, and it already earns 30,000 rupees, it will receive 20,000 rupees as income support. So the poorer the family, the more income support it will get. Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, a professor of economics at MIT, told me that there is "a lot of sympathy for the minimum income guarantee in purely ethical terms". But, he says, there will be a lot of challenges in implementing it in a vast and complex country like India. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) also promises a minimum income to every rural household by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year. (There are various estimates on the exact number of poor in India, and the counts have been embroiled in controversy.) "Our research suggests this is where the poor often lose out and the less poor make hay, partly - but probably not mostly - because of corruption, but also because the less poor are better at figuring out how to make claims," says Prof Banerjee. Then there's the problem of what economists call the "moral hazard" - undue risks that people could take if they don't have to bear the consequences of it. 'Lack of incentive' Welfare schemes, many economists believe, can end up trapping people in poverty. One criticism of guaranteed income support is that it reduces the incentive to work - generations of families stay on welfare in the US because there's no incentive to come out of it. Economist Vivek Dehejia wonders whether something similar could happen with this scheme. "If you fix a household income eligibility threshold of 10,000 rupees a month to be eligible for income support, what incentive do you have rise above it," he says. There are also questions about where India will find the money to support such a scheme - we are talking about hundreds of millions of eligible families who will have to be paid. India already has more than 900 federally funded schemes - like cheap food, fertiliser subsidies, rural jobs guarantee, crop insurance, student scholarships - accounting for about 5% of the GDP by budgetary allocation. Many of these schemes are marred by leakage, wastage, exclusion of the eligible, and even fraud. Economists wonder whether the vast amount of money required for the new income scheme will come from pruning subsidies and existing welfare schemes, which are always politically difficult. "A lot thinking and working has gone into the income scheme," Praveen Chakravarty, head of the data analytics department of the Congress party, told me. "It is fiscally doable without drastic reduction of existing welfare schemes". Image copyright AFP Image caption Guaranteed basic income is intended to pull more people out of poverty So the plan is to apparently find money for it through expenditure reduction (trimming wasteful government expenditure?) and "new revenue streams" (new taxes?). Both are going to be daunting tasks. Vivek Dehejia says the scheme would make financial sense if it subsumes other welfare schemes and subsidies. Otherwise, he says, it will "become another handout, and will not help fix India's poorly sorted out welfare architecture". Clearly, the scheme, inspired in part by the Brazil's Bolsa Familia or Family Grant to lift people out of poverty will also reignite the debate over cash transfers to the poorest, who, some believe, often do not have enough fiscal knowledge and information to handle money. However. the Indian scheme will be unique because Bolsa Familia is a conditional transfer of money Test for the state Supporters of cash transfers say they reduce poverty, give the poor the choice to spend as they think best, targets better, and acts as a buffer against shocks. It also improves financial inclusion, and by helping the poor to consume more, boosts the GDP. Other economists, most notably Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, believe that people in a market driven economy will spend more on private education and healthcare if the state gives them a minimum income. Any which way, handing out guaranteed income in a vast and complex country in India will remain a formidable challenge, irrespective of the government in the power. It will be a test for the Indian state. More on India from Soutik: | India's opposition Congress Party has promised to guarantee a minimum income for the country's poor if it wins the upcoming summer elections. The details of the minimum income plan will be only revealed in the party manifesto, which is due soon. The Congress's scheme essentially promises a basic income support for India's poorest households after fixing an income eligibility threshold. | bart | 2 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-47038421 | 0.11504 |
What is the periodic table? | Getty Images You might not have used the periodic table, but the chances are you'll have seen it. It's known all over the world and when it was created it was a massive step forward for helping scientists to understand the world around us. 2019 marks 150 years since it was invented. To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. Chemistry teacher Kristy explains what the periodic table is. Elements are the building blocks for everything in the world. Depending on the temperature they can be a solid, liquid or gas. Most occur naturally such as oxygen, gold, copper, carbon and helium. The periodic table is a way of arranging all of these chemical elements and putting similar ones together. Getty Images Each square on the table includes a number and letters. The letters are the chemical name for the element, for example Oxygen is O but gold is actually Au. The number is an atomic number. Atoms are the smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist. There are currently 118 known elements but only 94 of these are thought to naturally exist on Earth. Oops you can't see this activity! To enjoy Newsround at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. If you cannot see the interactive activity on this page, click here. It is called the periodic table because of the way the elements are arranged. You'll notice they're in rows and columns. The horizontal rows (which go from left to right) are called 'periods' and the vertical columns (going from up to down) are called 'groups'. In 1869 a Russian scientist called Dmitri Mendeleev invented the periodic system that we still use today. Before him others had tried to 'order' the elements but their tables were incomplete or grouped elements together which weren't similar. Dmitri's table didn't include all of the elements because not all of them were known at the time. He left gaps for them though and could predict their properties based on the elements around them in his table. SSPL/Print Collector Dmitri Mendeleev invented the periodic table in 1869. Everything - including humans! - are made up of elements so it's really important to understand them. When Dmitri's table was first created it helped scientists to do that, and it still does today. The periodic table also means scientists can predict the properties of matter on Earth - and in the rest of the Universe. It's been described as "one of the most significant achievements in science" by the United Nations which has decided that 2019 is the international year of the periodic table of chemical elements! | Dmitri Mendeleev invented the periodic table in 1869. There are currently 118 known elements but only 94 of these are thought to naturally exist on Earth. The periodic table is a way of arranging these chemical elements and putting similar ones together. | bart | 1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46963919 | 0.153933 |
What is the periodic table? | Getty Images You might not have used the periodic table, but the chances are you'll have seen it. It's known all over the world and when it was created it was a massive step forward for helping scientists to understand the world around us. 2019 marks 150 years since it was invented. To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. Chemistry teacher Kristy explains what the periodic table is. Elements are the building blocks for everything in the world. Depending on the temperature they can be a solid, liquid or gas. Most occur naturally such as oxygen, gold, copper, carbon and helium. The periodic table is a way of arranging all of these chemical elements and putting similar ones together. Getty Images Each square on the table includes a number and letters. The letters are the chemical name for the element, for example Oxygen is O but gold is actually Au. The number is an atomic number. Atoms are the smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist. There are currently 118 known elements but only 94 of these are thought to naturally exist on Earth. Oops you can't see this activity! To enjoy Newsround at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. If you cannot see the interactive activity on this page, click here. It is called the periodic table because of the way the elements are arranged. You'll notice they're in rows and columns. The horizontal rows (which go from left to right) are called 'periods' and the vertical columns (going from up to down) are called 'groups'. In 1869 a Russian scientist called Dmitri Mendeleev invented the periodic system that we still use today. Before him others had tried to 'order' the elements but their tables were incomplete or grouped elements together which weren't similar. Dmitri's table didn't include all of the elements because not all of them were known at the time. He left gaps for them though and could predict their properties based on the elements around them in his table. SSPL/Print Collector Dmitri Mendeleev invented the periodic table in 1869. Everything - including humans! - are made up of elements so it's really important to understand them. When Dmitri's table was first created it helped scientists to do that, and it still does today. The periodic table also means scientists can predict the properties of matter on Earth - and in the rest of the Universe. It's been described as "one of the most significant achievements in science" by the United Nations which has decided that 2019 is the international year of the periodic table of chemical elements! | 2019 is the international year of the periodic table of chemical elements. The table was created by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869 to help scientists predict the properties of matter on Earth - and in the rest of the Universe. The periodic table is a way of arranging all of these chemical elements and putting similar ones together. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46963919 | 0.107328 |
Can Solid Wireless Revenues Buoy Sprint's (S) Q3 Earnings? | Sprint Corporation S is scheduled to release third-quarter fiscal 2018 results before the opening bell on Jan 31. The company is poised to witness solid traction from the impending 5G boom and is likely to record higher year-over-year revenues from the Wireless segment, which accounts for the lions share of total revenues. Whether this will benefit the bottom line of the company remains to be seen. Top-Line Expansion Sprint offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications products and services for individual consumers, businesses, government subscribers and resellers. The companys strategy of balancing growth and profitability while increasing network investments and adding digital capabilities will likely drive its financial performance in the quarter. Also, Sprints multi-year plan to improve cost structure and its "Unlimited for All" plan offer for customers bode well. Moreover, Sprint is coming up with new ideas and solutions to help business enterprises improve their relation with employees and better serve customers. The Sprint MultiLine, an enterprise-grade solution within Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) portfolio, delivers a solution that allows businesses to add a company-owned number to their employees' personal phones for calling and texting on any mobile device and on any underlying carrier. This aids large enterprises as well as small and medium size businesses to overcome challenges in the ever-growing BYOD environment. The company expects demand for BYOD to have grown heavily in the quarter. Sprint continues to build a solid 5G device portfolio so that its users can be among the first to experience Sprint 5G in 2019. During the quarter, Sprint joined forces with HTC to bring a powerful 5G mobile smart hub to customers in an effort to outstrip competition. This breakthrough device will enable customers to experience Sprint 5G on multiple devices for content sharing, mobile gaming and entertainment among others with incredibly fast connectivity. Massive MIMO technology is integral to Sprint's 5G strategy and network build. The technology augments the capacity of the companys LTE Advanced network and is software upgradable to 5G. With this, Sprint is likely to meet customers need for unlimited data and high-bandwidth applications. Notably, 5G will enable faster speeds and low latency wireless connectivity. It is touted to be the primary catalyst for next-generation Internet of Things services, which include connected cars along with augmented reality and virtual reality platform, television in high definition, smart cities and connected devices among others. Buoyed by such tailwinds, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for operating revenues in the Wireless segment in the to-be-reported quarter is currently pegged at $8,237 million, which is relatively higher than the year-ago reported figure of $7,928 million. The higher revenue expectations can be attributed to an uptick in demand and an upgrade to state-of-the-art infrastructure. Total revenues for the company are expected to be $8,403 million. It generated revenues of $8,239 million in the prior-year quarter. Other Key Factors The company has inked a merger deal with T-Mobile US, Inc. in an all-stock transaction. The deal would help to accelerate development of faster 5G wireless networks and result in about $6 billion in annual cost savings. The combined entity would have about 127 million customers. It will be a force to reckon with in the U.S. wireless, video and broadband industries. The new company will have the network capacity to rapidly create a nationwide 5G network with the breadth and depth needed to enable U.S. firms and entrepreneurs to continue leading in the 5G era. Although the transaction is expected to close by the first half of 2019, it has helped the company to attract key investments across the market to maintain a healthy demand curve. Our proven model shows that Sprint is likely to beat earnings in the quarter as it possesses the key components. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is perfectly the case here as you will see below: Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is +13.33%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Sprint Corporation Price and EPS Surprise Sprint Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Sprint Corporation Quote Zacks Rank: Sprint has a Zacks Rank #2. This increases the predictive power of our model and makes us reasonably confident of an earnings beat. Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum. Other Stocks to Consider Here are some other companies that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: AT&T Inc. T is slated to release quarterly numbers on Jan 30. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.39% and a Zacks Rank #3. Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI is scheduled to release results on Feb 7. The company has an Earnings ESP of +1.73% and has a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The Earnings ESP for Arista Networks, Inc. ANET is +2.72% and it carries a Zacks Rank of 3. The company is scheduled to report quarterly numbers on Feb 14. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Sprint Corporation S is scheduled to release third-quarter fiscal 2018 results before the opening bell on Jan 31. The company is poised to witness solid traction from the impending 5G boom. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/solid-wireless-revenues-buoy-sprints-114511446.html | 0.104392 |
Can Solid Wireless Revenues Buoy Sprint's (S) Q3 Earnings? | Sprint Corporation S is scheduled to release third-quarter fiscal 2018 results before the opening bell on Jan 31. The company is poised to witness solid traction from the impending 5G boom and is likely to record higher year-over-year revenues from the Wireless segment, which accounts for the lions share of total revenues. Whether this will benefit the bottom line of the company remains to be seen. Top-Line Expansion Sprint offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications products and services for individual consumers, businesses, government subscribers and resellers. The companys strategy of balancing growth and profitability while increasing network investments and adding digital capabilities will likely drive its financial performance in the quarter. Also, Sprints multi-year plan to improve cost structure and its "Unlimited for All" plan offer for customers bode well. Moreover, Sprint is coming up with new ideas and solutions to help business enterprises improve their relation with employees and better serve customers. The Sprint MultiLine, an enterprise-grade solution within Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) portfolio, delivers a solution that allows businesses to add a company-owned number to their employees' personal phones for calling and texting on any mobile device and on any underlying carrier. This aids large enterprises as well as small and medium size businesses to overcome challenges in the ever-growing BYOD environment. The company expects demand for BYOD to have grown heavily in the quarter. Sprint continues to build a solid 5G device portfolio so that its users can be among the first to experience Sprint 5G in 2019. During the quarter, Sprint joined forces with HTC to bring a powerful 5G mobile smart hub to customers in an effort to outstrip competition. This breakthrough device will enable customers to experience Sprint 5G on multiple devices for content sharing, mobile gaming and entertainment among others with incredibly fast connectivity. Massive MIMO technology is integral to Sprint's 5G strategy and network build. The technology augments the capacity of the companys LTE Advanced network and is software upgradable to 5G. With this, Sprint is likely to meet customers need for unlimited data and high-bandwidth applications. Notably, 5G will enable faster speeds and low latency wireless connectivity. It is touted to be the primary catalyst for next-generation Internet of Things services, which include connected cars along with augmented reality and virtual reality platform, television in high definition, smart cities and connected devices among others. Buoyed by such tailwinds, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for operating revenues in the Wireless segment in the to-be-reported quarter is currently pegged at $8,237 million, which is relatively higher than the year-ago reported figure of $7,928 million. The higher revenue expectations can be attributed to an uptick in demand and an upgrade to state-of-the-art infrastructure. Total revenues for the company are expected to be $8,403 million. It generated revenues of $8,239 million in the prior-year quarter. Other Key Factors The company has inked a merger deal with T-Mobile US, Inc. in an all-stock transaction. The deal would help to accelerate development of faster 5G wireless networks and result in about $6 billion in annual cost savings. The combined entity would have about 127 million customers. It will be a force to reckon with in the U.S. wireless, video and broadband industries. The new company will have the network capacity to rapidly create a nationwide 5G network with the breadth and depth needed to enable U.S. firms and entrepreneurs to continue leading in the 5G era. Although the transaction is expected to close by the first half of 2019, it has helped the company to attract key investments across the market to maintain a healthy demand curve. Our proven model shows that Sprint is likely to beat earnings in the quarter as it possesses the key components. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is perfectly the case here as you will see below: Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is +13.33%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Sprint Corporation Price and EPS Surprise Sprint Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Sprint Corporation Quote Zacks Rank: Sprint has a Zacks Rank #2. This increases the predictive power of our model and makes us reasonably confident of an earnings beat. Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum. Other Stocks to Consider Here are some other companies that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: AT&T Inc. T is slated to release quarterly numbers on Jan 30. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.39% and a Zacks Rank #3. Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI is scheduled to release results on Feb 7. The company has an Earnings ESP of +1.73% and has a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The Earnings ESP for Arista Networks, Inc. ANET is +2.72% and it carries a Zacks Rank of 3. The company is scheduled to report quarterly numbers on Feb 14. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. | Sprint Corporation S is scheduled to release third-quarter fiscal 2018 results before the opening bell on Jan 31. The company is poised to witness solid traction from the impending 5G boom. It is likely to record higher year-over-year revenues from the Wireless segment, which accounts for the lions share of total revenues. | bart | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/solid-wireless-revenues-buoy-sprints-114511446.html | 0.299972 |
What Does Alipay's New EU-License Mean For Banks? | Two big pieces of news for Alipay have been announced within the past fortnight. The first is that the Chinese payments giant have been granted an e-money license in Luxembourg. The second, that the use of mobile payments amongst Chinese tourists abroad has overtaken that of cash. Lets look at these two pieces of news as a whole. Weve known for some time now that China, along with Scandinavia, has led the way when it comes to the adoption and active use of mobile payments. Last year, a Nielsen report found that 90% of Chinese tourists would use mobile payments overseas if they could. China is the most populous country on Earth and their tourist count alone is almost the size of the entire population of Russia. With that demand for mobile payments abroad, its little wonder vendors in tourist hotspots are clambering to take advantage of this desire. Now, in thousands of locations frequented by Chinese tourists, its not uncommon to see the Alipay sticker in the windows of shops and merchants. Up until recently, Alipay relied on partners to address customers in regions outside of China. This partner model has clearly worked for them in terms of building up a massive acceptance network (locations which accept their mobile payment solution). In exchange for enabling Alipay transactions, the international partners of Alipay, banks included, get a piece of the transaction amount as commission. When this commission comes from Chinese tourists paying in local stores, its clearly an additional source of revenue for the banks and local card companies, as well as other Alipay partners who made the payment possible. But now, a strategic move from Alipay changes everything. It may prove to be quite the opposite of what international Alipay partners expected. Alipays new e-money license, in combination with new open banking directive, the second payments services directive - PSD2, will allow the company to independently address the EU/EEA markets. Specifically, they will be able to do two important things that their partners may not appreciate: Offer Alipay to consumers Enrol merchants on their own One of the key success factors of mobile payment initiatives has proven to be the duality of many consumers. Initially brought on to a scheme with an offer of cheap or free person-to-person payment. Once this base grows, an increasing number of merchants start accepting payments with the payments app. What Alipay have managed to do is to build a massive merchant network, internationally, across the EU with the promise of commissions from Chinese tourists bringing the Alipay app to pay. Now, the EU license obtained by Alipay enables them to offer the same service to consumers in the EU. This means that the people who previously paid with their card in their local store, can now pay with their Alipay app, enabling Alipay to control both sides. Meanwhile, the banks who previously made their revenue from card payments, mostly from local domestic customers, will now see more and more of these payments migrating to Alipay. As EU consumers join Alipay, the desire for merchants to accept Alipay will continue to grow past the current demand driven by both tourists and locals paying with the app. For Alipay, with their new EU license, they can enrol and service merchants on their own, without any local partners, leaving the banks who used to control this value chain out in the cold. In China, Alipay has addressed a multitude of payment scenarios, spanning way beyond what card payments can do. There is no reason why Alipay will not bring these types of offerings to Europe and expand their reach and service offering by dealing with payments and commerce opportunities such as public transport, taxi, street vendors and vending. The way I see it, traditional banks and card companies have three options. The first is to try to build and launch their own Alipay for their local market. The major issue with this is that open banking rules come into force in September this year and banks have to lay out their compliance plans under the regulatory technical standards (RTS) governing the implementation six months prior to this - i.e. March 2019. Creating, launching and gaining traction with a brand new mobile payments platform from scratch in this time window before Alipay could theoretically launch in their market would prove to be a challenge even for the most tech-savvy of banks. The second option that banks have is to partner with an existing provider - this way they dont have to spend time building a whole new product and strategy from scratch, they get to share in any revenue and are able to maintain a large degree of customer control. Still though, there is only a limited time to pursue this option in order to truly ensure somethings in market prior to Alipay (or the like) being able to stake a claim on their territory. Several banks have already seen this development and acted in a proactive manner to create their own solutions. Examples are: Vipps in Norway, Swish in Sweden, Mobilepay in Denmark, Keks in Croatia, Blik in Poland and so on. The third option is to do nothing (except become mandatorily PSD2 compliant) and wait and see what happens. This option means that the bank has to take a serious gamble and give over a large degree of control. For some, they might observe whats happening in neighbouring regions and then jump on a scheme that seems to be most advantageous to them at the time. For others, it means that their payments channel will almost certainly be taken over by a nimble tech company or fintech who launch and gain traction with a compelling payments alternative. PSD2 was created in order to shake up traditional banking and payments, bringing innovation to a field which has remained stagnant for too long. Whatever option the banks take, the only certain winners in the EU, for now, will be consumers. | Alipay have been granted an e-money license in Luxembourg. The move will allow the company to independently address the EU/EEA markets. | bart | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/danieldoderlein/2019/01/29/what-does-alipays-new-eu-license-mean-for-banks/ | 0.239735 |
What Does Alipay's New EU-License Mean For Banks? | Two big pieces of news for Alipay have been announced within the past fortnight. The first is that the Chinese payments giant have been granted an e-money license in Luxembourg. The second, that the use of mobile payments amongst Chinese tourists abroad has overtaken that of cash. Lets look at these two pieces of news as a whole. Weve known for some time now that China, along with Scandinavia, has led the way when it comes to the adoption and active use of mobile payments. Last year, a Nielsen report found that 90% of Chinese tourists would use mobile payments overseas if they could. China is the most populous country on Earth and their tourist count alone is almost the size of the entire population of Russia. With that demand for mobile payments abroad, its little wonder vendors in tourist hotspots are clambering to take advantage of this desire. Now, in thousands of locations frequented by Chinese tourists, its not uncommon to see the Alipay sticker in the windows of shops and merchants. Up until recently, Alipay relied on partners to address customers in regions outside of China. This partner model has clearly worked for them in terms of building up a massive acceptance network (locations which accept their mobile payment solution). In exchange for enabling Alipay transactions, the international partners of Alipay, banks included, get a piece of the transaction amount as commission. When this commission comes from Chinese tourists paying in local stores, its clearly an additional source of revenue for the banks and local card companies, as well as other Alipay partners who made the payment possible. But now, a strategic move from Alipay changes everything. It may prove to be quite the opposite of what international Alipay partners expected. Alipays new e-money license, in combination with new open banking directive, the second payments services directive - PSD2, will allow the company to independently address the EU/EEA markets. Specifically, they will be able to do two important things that their partners may not appreciate: Offer Alipay to consumers Enrol merchants on their own One of the key success factors of mobile payment initiatives has proven to be the duality of many consumers. Initially brought on to a scheme with an offer of cheap or free person-to-person payment. Once this base grows, an increasing number of merchants start accepting payments with the payments app. What Alipay have managed to do is to build a massive merchant network, internationally, across the EU with the promise of commissions from Chinese tourists bringing the Alipay app to pay. Now, the EU license obtained by Alipay enables them to offer the same service to consumers in the EU. This means that the people who previously paid with their card in their local store, can now pay with their Alipay app, enabling Alipay to control both sides. Meanwhile, the banks who previously made their revenue from card payments, mostly from local domestic customers, will now see more and more of these payments migrating to Alipay. As EU consumers join Alipay, the desire for merchants to accept Alipay will continue to grow past the current demand driven by both tourists and locals paying with the app. For Alipay, with their new EU license, they can enrol and service merchants on their own, without any local partners, leaving the banks who used to control this value chain out in the cold. In China, Alipay has addressed a multitude of payment scenarios, spanning way beyond what card payments can do. There is no reason why Alipay will not bring these types of offerings to Europe and expand their reach and service offering by dealing with payments and commerce opportunities such as public transport, taxi, street vendors and vending. The way I see it, traditional banks and card companies have three options. The first is to try to build and launch their own Alipay for their local market. The major issue with this is that open banking rules come into force in September this year and banks have to lay out their compliance plans under the regulatory technical standards (RTS) governing the implementation six months prior to this - i.e. March 2019. Creating, launching and gaining traction with a brand new mobile payments platform from scratch in this time window before Alipay could theoretically launch in their market would prove to be a challenge even for the most tech-savvy of banks. The second option that banks have is to partner with an existing provider - this way they dont have to spend time building a whole new product and strategy from scratch, they get to share in any revenue and are able to maintain a large degree of customer control. Still though, there is only a limited time to pursue this option in order to truly ensure somethings in market prior to Alipay (or the like) being able to stake a claim on their territory. Several banks have already seen this development and acted in a proactive manner to create their own solutions. Examples are: Vipps in Norway, Swish in Sweden, Mobilepay in Denmark, Keks in Croatia, Blik in Poland and so on. The third option is to do nothing (except become mandatorily PSD2 compliant) and wait and see what happens. This option means that the bank has to take a serious gamble and give over a large degree of control. For some, they might observe whats happening in neighbouring regions and then jump on a scheme that seems to be most advantageous to them at the time. For others, it means that their payments channel will almost certainly be taken over by a nimble tech company or fintech who launch and gain traction with a compelling payments alternative. PSD2 was created in order to shake up traditional banking and payments, bringing innovation to a field which has remained stagnant for too long. Whatever option the banks take, the only certain winners in the EU, for now, will be consumers. | The Chinese payments giant have been granted an e-money license in Luxembourg. A Nielsen report found that 90% of Chinese tourists would use mobile payments overseas. Alipay's EU license enables them to offer the same service to consumers in the EU. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/danieldoderlein/2019/01/29/what-does-alipays-new-eu-license-mean-for-banks/ | 0.246415 |
What Does Alipay's New EU-License Mean For Banks? | Two big pieces of news for Alipay have been announced within the past fortnight. The first is that the Chinese payments giant have been granted an e-money license in Luxembourg. The second, that the use of mobile payments amongst Chinese tourists abroad has overtaken that of cash. Lets look at these two pieces of news as a whole. Weve known for some time now that China, along with Scandinavia, has led the way when it comes to the adoption and active use of mobile payments. Last year, a Nielsen report found that 90% of Chinese tourists would use mobile payments overseas if they could. China is the most populous country on Earth and their tourist count alone is almost the size of the entire population of Russia. With that demand for mobile payments abroad, its little wonder vendors in tourist hotspots are clambering to take advantage of this desire. Now, in thousands of locations frequented by Chinese tourists, its not uncommon to see the Alipay sticker in the windows of shops and merchants. Up until recently, Alipay relied on partners to address customers in regions outside of China. This partner model has clearly worked for them in terms of building up a massive acceptance network (locations which accept their mobile payment solution). In exchange for enabling Alipay transactions, the international partners of Alipay, banks included, get a piece of the transaction amount as commission. When this commission comes from Chinese tourists paying in local stores, its clearly an additional source of revenue for the banks and local card companies, as well as other Alipay partners who made the payment possible. But now, a strategic move from Alipay changes everything. It may prove to be quite the opposite of what international Alipay partners expected. Alipays new e-money license, in combination with new open banking directive, the second payments services directive - PSD2, will allow the company to independently address the EU/EEA markets. Specifically, they will be able to do two important things that their partners may not appreciate: Offer Alipay to consumers Enrol merchants on their own One of the key success factors of mobile payment initiatives has proven to be the duality of many consumers. Initially brought on to a scheme with an offer of cheap or free person-to-person payment. Once this base grows, an increasing number of merchants start accepting payments with the payments app. What Alipay have managed to do is to build a massive merchant network, internationally, across the EU with the promise of commissions from Chinese tourists bringing the Alipay app to pay. Now, the EU license obtained by Alipay enables them to offer the same service to consumers in the EU. This means that the people who previously paid with their card in their local store, can now pay with their Alipay app, enabling Alipay to control both sides. Meanwhile, the banks who previously made their revenue from card payments, mostly from local domestic customers, will now see more and more of these payments migrating to Alipay. As EU consumers join Alipay, the desire for merchants to accept Alipay will continue to grow past the current demand driven by both tourists and locals paying with the app. For Alipay, with their new EU license, they can enrol and service merchants on their own, without any local partners, leaving the banks who used to control this value chain out in the cold. In China, Alipay has addressed a multitude of payment scenarios, spanning way beyond what card payments can do. There is no reason why Alipay will not bring these types of offerings to Europe and expand their reach and service offering by dealing with payments and commerce opportunities such as public transport, taxi, street vendors and vending. The way I see it, traditional banks and card companies have three options. The first is to try to build and launch their own Alipay for their local market. The major issue with this is that open banking rules come into force in September this year and banks have to lay out their compliance plans under the regulatory technical standards (RTS) governing the implementation six months prior to this - i.e. March 2019. Creating, launching and gaining traction with a brand new mobile payments platform from scratch in this time window before Alipay could theoretically launch in their market would prove to be a challenge even for the most tech-savvy of banks. The second option that banks have is to partner with an existing provider - this way they dont have to spend time building a whole new product and strategy from scratch, they get to share in any revenue and are able to maintain a large degree of customer control. Still though, there is only a limited time to pursue this option in order to truly ensure somethings in market prior to Alipay (or the like) being able to stake a claim on their territory. Several banks have already seen this development and acted in a proactive manner to create their own solutions. Examples are: Vipps in Norway, Swish in Sweden, Mobilepay in Denmark, Keks in Croatia, Blik in Poland and so on. The third option is to do nothing (except become mandatorily PSD2 compliant) and wait and see what happens. This option means that the bank has to take a serious gamble and give over a large degree of control. For some, they might observe whats happening in neighbouring regions and then jump on a scheme that seems to be most advantageous to them at the time. For others, it means that their payments channel will almost certainly be taken over by a nimble tech company or fintech who launch and gain traction with a compelling payments alternative. PSD2 was created in order to shake up traditional banking and payments, bringing innovation to a field which has remained stagnant for too long. Whatever option the banks take, the only certain winners in the EU, for now, will be consumers. | The use of mobile payments amongst Chinese tourists abroad has overtaken that of cash. Alipay's new e-money license, in combination with new open banking directive, the second payments services directive - PSD2, will allow the company to independently address the EU/EEA markets. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/danieldoderlein/2019/01/29/what-does-alipays-new-eu-license-mean-for-banks/ | 0.434928 |
Is Organizational Culture Holding Women Back In The Workplace? | A friend of mine works for an organization that professes to support ambitious female managers. She gets amazing performance reviews and they tell her shes indispensable. Yet she cant get promoted. Never mind the glass ceiling. To her, it feels more like theres a concrete layer between her and the upper echelons of the business. In many ways, women in the workforce have come a long way. Theres increasing commitment to gender diversity, more efforts to get more women on boards and gender pay reporting is gaining ground. Yet, as my friend has discovered, progress can be slow. According to McKinseys 2018 Women in Work report, only 1 in 5 women make it to the C-Suite and there are crucial gaps in the talent pipeline. Some organizations are even beginning to deprioritise gender diversity. Caroline Gosling, Director of Culture and Engagement at Rubica, thinks that organizational culture may be a crucial factor thats hindering womens progress. All too often, diversity training, quotas and development programs for women dont lead to the step change organizations are looking for, she explains. Thats because the existing company culture, which is often unconscious, is putting the brakes on any moves towards greater gender balance. If we want to change our behavior, we first need to understand the beliefs and assumptions in our company culture that underpin that behavior. Then we can change our work practices so they support a different way of doing things. 5 Questions To Kick Start Culture Change To start bringing about meaningful change in gender balance, Caroline recommends asking these questions. You dont need to attach blame, but you do need to uncover these assumptions through debate, conversations and techniques like appreciative inquiry. Its vital for organizations to talk openly about potentially uncomfortable subjects related to gender, rather than simply mentioning the issue once a year in a report. Set up discussion programs, get single and mixed gender groups involved, and ask people to come up with solutions together. (People of all genders will appear somewhere on the spectrum, as defined by Hofstede.) Evaluate how you define good leadership and investigate whether you need to expand your criteria for leaders. There is certainly a place for womens leadership programs and training initiatives, but if there is nothing specifically for male leaders, youre giving the impression that men are fine while women need extra help. One alternative is to offer gender-based programs that highlight the value of both masculine and feminine traits, and support all leaders to develop strengths in the areas that will help the organization to be more successful. If we want a more inclusive and diverse workplace where all genders thrive and are valued, something has to change. And it looks like its organizational culture that needs to shift. | Women in the workforce have come a long way, but progress can be slow. Organizational culture may be a crucial factor that's hindering womens progress. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joyburnford/2019/01/29/is-organizational-culture-holding-women-back-in-the-workplace/ | 0.314712 |
Is Organizational Culture Holding Women Back In The Workplace? | A friend of mine works for an organization that professes to support ambitious female managers. She gets amazing performance reviews and they tell her shes indispensable. Yet she cant get promoted. Never mind the glass ceiling. To her, it feels more like theres a concrete layer between her and the upper echelons of the business. In many ways, women in the workforce have come a long way. Theres increasing commitment to gender diversity, more efforts to get more women on boards and gender pay reporting is gaining ground. Yet, as my friend has discovered, progress can be slow. According to McKinseys 2018 Women in Work report, only 1 in 5 women make it to the C-Suite and there are crucial gaps in the talent pipeline. Some organizations are even beginning to deprioritise gender diversity. Caroline Gosling, Director of Culture and Engagement at Rubica, thinks that organizational culture may be a crucial factor thats hindering womens progress. All too often, diversity training, quotas and development programs for women dont lead to the step change organizations are looking for, she explains. Thats because the existing company culture, which is often unconscious, is putting the brakes on any moves towards greater gender balance. If we want to change our behavior, we first need to understand the beliefs and assumptions in our company culture that underpin that behavior. Then we can change our work practices so they support a different way of doing things. 5 Questions To Kick Start Culture Change To start bringing about meaningful change in gender balance, Caroline recommends asking these questions. You dont need to attach blame, but you do need to uncover these assumptions through debate, conversations and techniques like appreciative inquiry. Its vital for organizations to talk openly about potentially uncomfortable subjects related to gender, rather than simply mentioning the issue once a year in a report. Set up discussion programs, get single and mixed gender groups involved, and ask people to come up with solutions together. (People of all genders will appear somewhere on the spectrum, as defined by Hofstede.) Evaluate how you define good leadership and investigate whether you need to expand your criteria for leaders. There is certainly a place for womens leadership programs and training initiatives, but if there is nothing specifically for male leaders, youre giving the impression that men are fine while women need extra help. One alternative is to offer gender-based programs that highlight the value of both masculine and feminine traits, and support all leaders to develop strengths in the areas that will help the organization to be more successful. If we want a more inclusive and diverse workplace where all genders thrive and are valued, something has to change. And it looks like its organizational culture that needs to shift. | Women in the workforce have come a long way, but progress can be slow. Organizational culture may be a crucial factor thats hindering women's progress. It's vital for organizations to talk openly about potentially uncomfortable subjects related to gender, rather than simply mentioning the issue once a year in a report. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joyburnford/2019/01/29/is-organizational-culture-holding-women-back-in-the-workplace/ | 0.439583 |
Would a full-time homeless shelter in Franklin help address homelessness in Williamson County? | CLOSE Local nonprofit leaders say they are seeing an uptick in the number of people experiencing homelessness in Williamson County. Nashville Tennessean Kevin Riggs drives his truck around the city of Franklin, surveying abandoned cars, rundown homes, laundromats and parking lots for signs of people spending the night outside. He knows the neighborhoods where men and women experiencing homelessness are likely to be. "If I haven't seen them in a week, I'll go and try to check it out," Riggs, who pastors Franklin Community Church, said. "It sounds trite, but it's a calling." After doing this outreach for years, he's seen an uptick in the number of men and women sleeping outside or couch surfing. Buy Photo When temperatures dip and they have no other place to go, homeless couple William McLemore and Amy Webb sometimes sleep in this abandoned car near a Franklin church. (Photo: Shelley Mays / Tennessean) He knows many of them by name, including William McLemore and Amy Webb, a couple who have been sleeping outside for more than a year. The pair, both born and raised in Franklin, spend their days walking to get fast food with limited funds then attempting to sleep on a family member's porch. They have no blankets. Their few layers of clothing do little to fight off the cold, so they get up periodically throughout the night to walk around, sometimes getting a cup of coffee to warm up. "It makes me feel unconsidered," McLemore said. He makes $12 an hour as a landscaper, but winter weather has left him without work. "I'm a law abiding citizen with inaccessible help." Tears formed in his eyes as his exhale was visible on the chilly day outside. "Pastor Kevin has driven me and (Amy) a long way, but I can't wear out my welcome with him. Sometimes, I may have tears in my eyes to lean on him, and other times I have to keep my head up and move on. "But there's nowhere to go." Buy Photo Pastor Kevin Riggs, center, speaks with guests at a shelter in Franklin, Tenn., Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017. (Photo: Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean) Riggs does what he can to help them, but housing resources are limited in Franklin and Williamson County, which has no permanent homeless shelter. He used to send people to hotels, but in the wake of the area's tourism boom, the rooms are typically booked or expensive and it's not a permanent solution. "It is difficult for me because I don't know where to send them," Riggs said. Chris Whitney, founder of One Generation Away, has seen poverty and homelessness in the county firsthand through his organization's mobile food pantry. "Homelessness in Williamson County is the best kept secret internally," he said. "The misconception is that because we live in such a wealthy county, no one could be homeless. "Its on the increase, not decrease. People would be amazed at how many live in their cars." No emergency shelter available this winter This year, according to Riggs, there is no emergency shelter available in Franklin. He had been operating a bare-bones emergency shelter for men in a warehouse owned by One Generation Away, but the nonprofit moved, and Riggs lost the space. He's desperately searching for anywhere to house men and women when temperatures turn frigid. "It's been more stress because I don't have anywhere to put them," Riggs said. "There's one guy who used to be homeless who now has an apartment. I went to him and said, 'If this guy stays with you on cold nights, I'll help you with your rent.'" Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson said he believed the Red Cross office in Franklin had a few cots available for emergency shelter, but calls to the Red Cross were not returned. Some churches operate their own programs to help people experiencing homelessness, but there is no available list of cold weather shelters that serve Williamson County residents. For residents of Davidson County, a number of Franklin churches provide shelter on dangerously cold nights through Room in the Inn, a homeless services nonprofit in Nashville. Through the organization, nearly 200 churches in Nashville and surrounding counties provide shelter and a hot meal for those in need. Many of those partner churches are in Franklin, according to Room in the Inn Community Development Director Melanie Barnett. Lt. Charles Warner with the Franklin Police Department said he sometimes used those churches when seeking shelter for someone he found on the streets. However, those churches have not been made available to Riggs. "I think that's sometimes where Williamson gets it wrong is that they see the homeless population as a burden, whereas they're not looking at that most of these individuals are able-bodied and talented people. " Kristin Ertel, GraceWorks West Senior Manager Riggs has advocated for years to Franklin officials that the city needs to come up with a long-term plan for its homeless population, including a permanent shelter. "I've been pushing for it for years, but it's the 'not in my backyard' mentality, and the fear that if you build it, they will come," Riggs said. "It's hard to build the consensus that this is a need and that these people need to be taken care of because theyre our residents." Addressing homelessness in Franklin is not on the city's immediate capital project list, according to Mayor Ken Moore. Valencia Breckenridge, president of Graceworks Ministries, echoed Riggs' call for a permanent shelter. The Franklin-based organization provides food, clothing and financial assistance to Williamson County people in need. The nonprofit is frequently tasked with finding shelter for homeless men and women who come to their office with nowhere to turn. "I think the shelter is tremendously necessary. There are a lot of moms who are homeless with children," Breckenridge said. "We should not shun or deny that we have poor people or homeless people." Dr. Kay Boan, Franklin Special School District supervisor of federal programs, said it has been frustrating not having a place to send students who have nowhere to stay. "It would be nice to have some place for people to stay, even for a month, where we can get to talk them through, 'What are your next steps?'" Boan said. Inconsistent homeless data across county Getting an accurate count of Williamson County's homeless population is difficult, Riggs said, because so many of the homeless are hidden in hotels or doubled up with relatives and friends. Brentwood doesn't record its homeless data. Neither does Nolensville. Fairview officials did not respond to requests for homeless data. The county, required annually to report its homelessness numbers to a statewide study, has reported zero in recent years, according to Williamson County Mayor's Office Chief of Staff Diane Giddens. Data from the city of Franklin, Franklin Police Department and schools offer an idea of how many people are experiencing homelessness in the area: City of Franklin: In 2018, the city reported five unsheltered homeless and 22 homeless residing at Bridges, a domestic violence shelter for women. In 2018, the city reported five unsheltered homeless and 22 homeless residing at Bridges, a domestic violence shelter for women. Franklin Police Department: As of Jan. 4, 15 people were documented as being doubled up, living on the streets or living in their vehicle. As of Jan. 4, 15 people were documented as being doubled up, living on the streets or living in their vehicle. Franklin Special School District: 109 students have been recorded as homeless in the current school year. Boan said one family currently lives in their vehicle. 109 students have been recorded as homeless in the current school year. Boan said one family currently lives in their vehicle. Williamson County Schools: 133 students typically older students have been recorded as homeless in the current school year, and 39 of those are unaccompanied without a legal guardian. The definition of homeless that schools use under the federal McKinneyVento Act includes students who are doubled up with other families, living in hotels or a shelter, or unsheltered. Nonprofit leaders have counted higher numbers of homeless residents than local government officials. Graceworks, which is based in Franklin but serves the entire county, served 30 unsheltered people just in the last three months of 2018. From June 2017 to July 2018, the nonprofit served 220 individuals experiencing homelessness in some form. In Fairview, Graceworks West Senior Manager Kristin Ertel said the nonprofit arm assisted 143 individuals experiencing homelessness in the area. She estimates 100 people between the ages of 16 and 30 are homeless with no physical address. "Especially in that younger generation age, we are seeing families that have lived here for years that are now homeless," Ertel said. Ertel and Whitney both said they have seen families who moved to the county for its high quality schools face unexpected financial issues like job loss. The expensive housing market and limited affordable housing leave the families facing homelessness. Future of Williamson County: How Williamson County became an anomaly in Tennessee Churches could be key in addressing homeless need In 2018, One Generation Away served 1.5 million meals to men, women and children in need of food in Williamson County. That number doubled since 2017. Whitney said a permanent shelter in Williamson is "tremendously necessary" and that it will take more than city officials to tackle the issue. "To fix this problem we need the church, the business community, the government and nonprofits to come together and find a solution for this. We need the church first and foremost," Whitney said. "This is our backyard. Let's tend to it. Tending it doesn't mean moving something out." Riggs will continue to implore Franklin city officials to come up with a long-term plan for the city's homeless population and a short-term plan for this winter. However, he also points to churches for help. "Our mayor is a compassionate person, but his hands are tied. I think in some of the larger churches, if the pastors said, 'This needs to get done,' it would get done," Riggs said. "In these churches are almost every city representative. "We need the city to help because of zoning issues, but the church needs to do it." Leaders with Graceworks would like to see programs alongside whatever shelter the county provided. The multifaceted approach is key to transitioning people into long-term housing and employment, Ertel said. "I think that's sometimes where Williamson gets it wrong is that they see the homeless population as a burden, whereas they're not looking at that most of these individuals are able-bodied and talented people," she said. "If we look at them like they're just trouble or a burden, that's the result you're going to get. "Given a different circumstance, they could give back to our community." Reach Amelia Ferrell Knisely at aferrell@tennessean.com, 615-210-8286 or follow @ameliaknisely on Twitter. By the numbers Williamson County Schools: 133 students typically older students are recorded as homeless during the current year. Franklin Special School District: 109 students are recorded as homeless during the current school year. A district official said one family currently lives in their vehicle. Graceworks Ministries in Franklin: From June 2017 to July 2018, the nonprofit served 220 individuals experiencing homelessness. Graceworks West in Fairview: Last year, the nonprofit assisted 143 individuals experiencing homelessness in the area. Doing stories that make our community better takes times and resources. A Tennessean subscription gives you unlimited access to stories that make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you. You also get the ability to tap into news from the USA TODAY Network's 109 local sites. Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/williamson/2019/01/29/homeless-shelters-franklin-tn-williamson-county/2481880002/ | William McLemore and Amy Webb have been sleeping outside for more than a year. Williamson County has no permanent homeless shelter. Pastor Kevin Riggs has seen an uptick in the number of people experiencing homelessness. " Homelessness in Williamson County is the best kept secret internally," Chris Whitney says. | bart | 2 | https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/williamson/2019/01/29/homeless-shelters-franklin-tn-williamson-county/2481880002/ | 0.135038 |
Will American Airlines Group Continue to Surge Higher? | As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in American Airlines Group. As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in American Airlines Group Inc. AAL. The stock has moved higher by 5.7% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider AALs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as AAL has earned itself a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research | American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) has moved higher by 5.7% in the past month. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://news.yahoo.com/american-airlines-group-continue-surge-144302407.html | 0.182427 |
Will American Airlines Group Continue to Surge Higher? | As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in American Airlines Group. As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in American Airlines Group Inc. AAL. The stock has moved higher by 5.7% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider AALs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as AAL has earned itself a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research | As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in American Airlines Group Inc. The stock has moved higher by 5.7% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. | bart | 1 | https://news.yahoo.com/american-airlines-group-continue-surge-144302407.html | 0.170891 |
Will American Airlines Group Continue to Surge Higher? | As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in American Airlines Group. As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in American Airlines Group Inc. AAL. The stock has moved higher by 5.7% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider AALs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as AAL has earned itself a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research | American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) has moved higher by 5.7% in the past month. AAL has earned itself a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isn't the top for the in-focus company. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/american-airlines-group-continue-surge-144302407.html | 0.238364 |
What's in Store for Magellan Midstream (MMP) in Q4 Earnings? | Magellan Midstream Partners L.P. MMP is set to release fourth-quarter 2018 results before the opening bell on Jan 31. In the preceding three-month period, the Tulsa, OK-based partnership reported better-than-expected earnings on the back of stellar show from its refined products and crude oil units, along with reduced expenses. Further, Magellan Midstream has a solid record of beating earnings estimates. The partnership topped estimates in three out of the last four quarters, with average positive earnings surprise of 2.42%. Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. Price and EPS Surprise Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. Price and EPS Surprise | Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. Quote Investors are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that the partnership surpasses earnings estimates this time around as well. Lets see which way are the companys top and bottom-line estimates headed this time. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $718 million compared with $673 million recorded in the prior-year quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings of $1.16 per share also reflects a year-over-year increase of 11.5%. Notably, earnings estimates for the to-be-reported quarter have been revised upward by a penny in the past 30 days. Factors at Play Magellan Midstream owns an attractive portfolio of energy infrastructure assets that generate stable and recurring fee-and tariff-based revenues. The partnership, majorly a refined products pipeline player, is also involved in crude oil pipeline operations. The long-haul pipelines extending across Texas are likely to drive the partnerships cash flows and earnings. Driven by robust third-quarter results, Magellan Midstream anticipated fourth-quarter earnings at $1.24 per share, which is higher than the corresponding Zacks Consensus Estimate as well as the prior-year figure. Further, the partnership recently announced a cash distribution of 99.75 cents per unit ($3.99 per unit annualized), representing around 2% sequential increase and 8% year-over-year growth. This has generated optimism about its quarterly performance this season. As we know, rising production volumes of oil and gas in Texas are translating into higher transportation activities, thereby boosting the operations of many midstream companies. Moreover, throughput levels from Magellan Midstreams pipeline projects including Longhorn, Saddlehorn and Bridge Tex pipelines, among others, are expected to ramp up, which are likely to buoy the results in the to-be-reported quarter. Rising upstream activities in the Texas region have outrun transportation capacity, leading to the announcement of new pipeline projects by several midstream companies. Magellan Midstream is also making an aggressive effort to build new projects and bolster the crude oil midstream segment. While the move may be advantageous on a long-term perspective, it is likely to escalate the partnerships near-term spending levels, in turn hampering profits. As it is, Magellan Midstream has several ongoing projects that require large capital outlay. Further, the partnership is already facing pressure on its balance sheet, with 60% debt-to-capital ratio. Moreover, continued rise in project outlays and tough operating environment are likely to hurt the partnerships financials. Earnings Whispers Our proven model shows that Magellan Midstream is unlikely to beat estimates this earnings season. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is -4.04%. This is because the Most Accurate Estimate of $1.11 is pegged below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.16. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Zacks Rank: Magellan Midstream currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. While the companys Zacks Rank increases the predictive power of ESP, a negative ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. Note that we caution investors against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks to Consider Though an earnings beat looks uncertain for Magellan Midstream, here are a few firms from the energy space that you may want to consider on the basis of our model. These have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in the quarter to be reported. Philips 66 PSX has an Earnings ESP of +18.19% and holds a Zacks Rank #3. The firm is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb 8. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Williams Companies WMB has an Earnings ESP of +7.24% and a Zacks Rank #3. The firm is slated to release fourth-quarter earnings on Feb 13. CSI Compressco LP CCLP has an Earnings ESP of +4.17% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is expected to release third-quarter earnings on Feb 27. Wall Streets Next Amazon Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. Its a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research | Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. MMP is set to release fourth-quarter 2018 results before the opening bell on Jan 31. In the preceding three-month period, the partnership reported better-than-expected earnings. The partnership topped estimates in three out of the last four quarters, with average positive earnings surprise of 2.42%. | pegasus | 2 | https://news.yahoo.com/whats-store-magellan-midstream-mmp-144002943.html | 0.118194 |
Could China leave the US behind in AI 'arms race'? | Its an arms race for the post-modern age. China has been developing Artificial Intelligence weaponry at a much higher rate than the U.S. and experts say its something that neither Silicon Valley nor The Pentagon should be turning their backs on. Reports suggest that the tech and governmental sectors of China have been working together in a military-civil fusion and according to a recent Financial Times report, the partnership has become a nightmare for western governments like the United States, which has mostly taken the opposite approach. US UNABLE TO DEFEND AGAINST RUSSIAN AND CHINESE HYPERSONIC WEAPONS, REPORT WARNS China has fewer barriers to adopting AI in the military because there is not as large of a social stigma attached to their usage like there is in the United States, Matthew Bey, a Senior Global Analyst at intelligence firm Stratfor told Fox News. While we focus on AI the difference in this view is far beyond just AI but rather tech in general. Americans, on average, are far more skeptical about the benefits of technology." Bey also points out that China's rise over the last few decades has been synonymous with the adoption of new technologies, which its citizens have been quick to adopt. The cultural difference makes it far more likely for China to quickly adopt AI for any application, including military applications, he said. CHINA DEVELOPS APP TO MONITOR 'DEADBEAT DEBTORS' The Pentagon works with U.S. tech companies, although these efforts have sometimes proved controversial. Last year Google opted not to renew its contract with the Department of Defense for Project Maven, a controversial Pentagon Drone AI imaging program that sparked a backlash from many Google employees. Thousands of employees signed a petition opposing Google's involvement in Project Maven. Dozens also reportedly resigned in protest. CHINAS PLAN FOR TECH DOMINANCE IS ADVANCING, BUSINESS GROUPS SAY Bey adds that while the U.S. government, like its Chinese counterpart, relies heavily on its national tech sector, there is less of a stigma about controversial projects in China. China has fewer barriers to adopting AI in the military because there is not as large as a social stigma attached to their usage like there is in the United States, he said. While we focus on AI the difference in this view is far beyond just AI but rather tech in general. Americans, on average, are far more skeptical about the benefits of technology. [T]here are collaborative efforts in the works between the United States tech sector and the Pentagon even if some projects, like Project Maven, have seen backlash and ended. The primary reasons have been fears over using AI and robotics for military applications and the fact that many in Silicon Valley oppose such efforts. ACCESS TO BING IN CHINA RESTORED AFTER TEMPORARY DISRUPTION Skepticism is believed to run high in the offices and shared workspaces of Silicon Valley, where many see companies like Google, Apple, and others as global entities and not beholden to any particular government. Washington appears desperate to make a partnership with Big Tech work, as it is seen as vital to national security. According to a recent Washington Post column, The government is making efforts to win the trust of software engineers who may be wary of it with the AI Principles Project that was launched last October by the Pentagons Defense Innovation Board. Also in October, defense officials met with nearly a dozen AI experts at Harvard where they debated concerns about privacy and human accountability for AI actions. If were going to be the arsenal of democracy in the 21st century, we have to show that we have ideals and are ready to stand up for them, a Pentagon official involved in the program told Post columnist David Ignatius. It wasnt going to be enough to say, Hey, were the good guys, were Americans. We needed to be more introspective. MYSTERIOUS TWITTER BUG LINKED TO 'UNUSUAL ACTIVITY' FROM CHINA AND SAUDI ARABIA Another concern in Washington is Chinas ability to use AI technology developed in the West. The U.S. has also looked at ways to screen Chinese students and scientists who come stateside to study and do research. Above all, the U.S. does not want to find itself behind China and its development of AI for military use. The challenge here is that because much AI advancement is dual use, Washington risks undermining U.S. commercial competitiveness in the AI sector by trying to develop a strategy to limit China's military adoption of AI, Bey says. The best solution to the problem may be in fact arms control negotiations and/or trying to out-invest the other both of which have their own pitfalls as well. The Stratfor analyst adds that despite Chinas advancements, there may not be any need for concern. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP [W]e cannot totally isolate China's AI advances especially if they are more advanced than the United States from the rest of [our countrys] qualitative advantages, he says. China's military development in many of these areas remains behind the United States and AI alone will not make up the gap entirely. | China has been developing Artificial Intelligence weaponry at a much higher rate than the U.S. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.foxnews.com/tech/could-china-leave-the-us-behind-in-ai-arms-race | 0.30786 |
Could China leave the US behind in AI 'arms race'? | Its an arms race for the post-modern age. China has been developing Artificial Intelligence weaponry at a much higher rate than the U.S. and experts say its something that neither Silicon Valley nor The Pentagon should be turning their backs on. Reports suggest that the tech and governmental sectors of China have been working together in a military-civil fusion and according to a recent Financial Times report, the partnership has become a nightmare for western governments like the United States, which has mostly taken the opposite approach. US UNABLE TO DEFEND AGAINST RUSSIAN AND CHINESE HYPERSONIC WEAPONS, REPORT WARNS China has fewer barriers to adopting AI in the military because there is not as large of a social stigma attached to their usage like there is in the United States, Matthew Bey, a Senior Global Analyst at intelligence firm Stratfor told Fox News. While we focus on AI the difference in this view is far beyond just AI but rather tech in general. Americans, on average, are far more skeptical about the benefits of technology." Bey also points out that China's rise over the last few decades has been synonymous with the adoption of new technologies, which its citizens have been quick to adopt. The cultural difference makes it far more likely for China to quickly adopt AI for any application, including military applications, he said. CHINA DEVELOPS APP TO MONITOR 'DEADBEAT DEBTORS' The Pentagon works with U.S. tech companies, although these efforts have sometimes proved controversial. Last year Google opted not to renew its contract with the Department of Defense for Project Maven, a controversial Pentagon Drone AI imaging program that sparked a backlash from many Google employees. Thousands of employees signed a petition opposing Google's involvement in Project Maven. Dozens also reportedly resigned in protest. CHINAS PLAN FOR TECH DOMINANCE IS ADVANCING, BUSINESS GROUPS SAY Bey adds that while the U.S. government, like its Chinese counterpart, relies heavily on its national tech sector, there is less of a stigma about controversial projects in China. China has fewer barriers to adopting AI in the military because there is not as large as a social stigma attached to their usage like there is in the United States, he said. While we focus on AI the difference in this view is far beyond just AI but rather tech in general. Americans, on average, are far more skeptical about the benefits of technology. [T]here are collaborative efforts in the works between the United States tech sector and the Pentagon even if some projects, like Project Maven, have seen backlash and ended. The primary reasons have been fears over using AI and robotics for military applications and the fact that many in Silicon Valley oppose such efforts. ACCESS TO BING IN CHINA RESTORED AFTER TEMPORARY DISRUPTION Skepticism is believed to run high in the offices and shared workspaces of Silicon Valley, where many see companies like Google, Apple, and others as global entities and not beholden to any particular government. Washington appears desperate to make a partnership with Big Tech work, as it is seen as vital to national security. According to a recent Washington Post column, The government is making efforts to win the trust of software engineers who may be wary of it with the AI Principles Project that was launched last October by the Pentagons Defense Innovation Board. Also in October, defense officials met with nearly a dozen AI experts at Harvard where they debated concerns about privacy and human accountability for AI actions. If were going to be the arsenal of democracy in the 21st century, we have to show that we have ideals and are ready to stand up for them, a Pentagon official involved in the program told Post columnist David Ignatius. It wasnt going to be enough to say, Hey, were the good guys, were Americans. We needed to be more introspective. MYSTERIOUS TWITTER BUG LINKED TO 'UNUSUAL ACTIVITY' FROM CHINA AND SAUDI ARABIA Another concern in Washington is Chinas ability to use AI technology developed in the West. The U.S. has also looked at ways to screen Chinese students and scientists who come stateside to study and do research. Above all, the U.S. does not want to find itself behind China and its development of AI for military use. The challenge here is that because much AI advancement is dual use, Washington risks undermining U.S. commercial competitiveness in the AI sector by trying to develop a strategy to limit China's military adoption of AI, Bey says. The best solution to the problem may be in fact arms control negotiations and/or trying to out-invest the other both of which have their own pitfalls as well. The Stratfor analyst adds that despite Chinas advancements, there may not be any need for concern. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP [W]e cannot totally isolate China's AI advances especially if they are more advanced than the United States from the rest of [our countrys] qualitative advantages, he says. China's military development in many of these areas remains behind the United States and AI alone will not make up the gap entirely. | China has been developing Artificial Intelligence weaponry at a much higher rate than the U.S. Experts say China has fewer barriers to adopting AI in the military because there is not as large of a social stigma attached to their usage. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/tech/could-china-leave-the-us-behind-in-ai-arms-race | 0.36642 |
Could China leave the US behind in AI 'arms race'? | Its an arms race for the post-modern age. China has been developing Artificial Intelligence weaponry at a much higher rate than the U.S. and experts say its something that neither Silicon Valley nor The Pentagon should be turning their backs on. Reports suggest that the tech and governmental sectors of China have been working together in a military-civil fusion and according to a recent Financial Times report, the partnership has become a nightmare for western governments like the United States, which has mostly taken the opposite approach. US UNABLE TO DEFEND AGAINST RUSSIAN AND CHINESE HYPERSONIC WEAPONS, REPORT WARNS China has fewer barriers to adopting AI in the military because there is not as large of a social stigma attached to their usage like there is in the United States, Matthew Bey, a Senior Global Analyst at intelligence firm Stratfor told Fox News. While we focus on AI the difference in this view is far beyond just AI but rather tech in general. Americans, on average, are far more skeptical about the benefits of technology." Bey also points out that China's rise over the last few decades has been synonymous with the adoption of new technologies, which its citizens have been quick to adopt. The cultural difference makes it far more likely for China to quickly adopt AI for any application, including military applications, he said. CHINA DEVELOPS APP TO MONITOR 'DEADBEAT DEBTORS' The Pentagon works with U.S. tech companies, although these efforts have sometimes proved controversial. Last year Google opted not to renew its contract with the Department of Defense for Project Maven, a controversial Pentagon Drone AI imaging program that sparked a backlash from many Google employees. Thousands of employees signed a petition opposing Google's involvement in Project Maven. Dozens also reportedly resigned in protest. CHINAS PLAN FOR TECH DOMINANCE IS ADVANCING, BUSINESS GROUPS SAY Bey adds that while the U.S. government, like its Chinese counterpart, relies heavily on its national tech sector, there is less of a stigma about controversial projects in China. China has fewer barriers to adopting AI in the military because there is not as large as a social stigma attached to their usage like there is in the United States, he said. While we focus on AI the difference in this view is far beyond just AI but rather tech in general. Americans, on average, are far more skeptical about the benefits of technology. [T]here are collaborative efforts in the works between the United States tech sector and the Pentagon even if some projects, like Project Maven, have seen backlash and ended. The primary reasons have been fears over using AI and robotics for military applications and the fact that many in Silicon Valley oppose such efforts. ACCESS TO BING IN CHINA RESTORED AFTER TEMPORARY DISRUPTION Skepticism is believed to run high in the offices and shared workspaces of Silicon Valley, where many see companies like Google, Apple, and others as global entities and not beholden to any particular government. Washington appears desperate to make a partnership with Big Tech work, as it is seen as vital to national security. According to a recent Washington Post column, The government is making efforts to win the trust of software engineers who may be wary of it with the AI Principles Project that was launched last October by the Pentagons Defense Innovation Board. Also in October, defense officials met with nearly a dozen AI experts at Harvard where they debated concerns about privacy and human accountability for AI actions. If were going to be the arsenal of democracy in the 21st century, we have to show that we have ideals and are ready to stand up for them, a Pentagon official involved in the program told Post columnist David Ignatius. It wasnt going to be enough to say, Hey, were the good guys, were Americans. We needed to be more introspective. MYSTERIOUS TWITTER BUG LINKED TO 'UNUSUAL ACTIVITY' FROM CHINA AND SAUDI ARABIA Another concern in Washington is Chinas ability to use AI technology developed in the West. The U.S. has also looked at ways to screen Chinese students and scientists who come stateside to study and do research. Above all, the U.S. does not want to find itself behind China and its development of AI for military use. The challenge here is that because much AI advancement is dual use, Washington risks undermining U.S. commercial competitiveness in the AI sector by trying to develop a strategy to limit China's military adoption of AI, Bey says. The best solution to the problem may be in fact arms control negotiations and/or trying to out-invest the other both of which have their own pitfalls as well. The Stratfor analyst adds that despite Chinas advancements, there may not be any need for concern. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP [W]e cannot totally isolate China's AI advances especially if they are more advanced than the United States from the rest of [our countrys] qualitative advantages, he says. China's military development in many of these areas remains behind the United States and AI alone will not make up the gap entirely. | China has been developing Artificial Intelligence weaponry at a much higher rate than the U.S. Washington appears desperate to make a partnership with Big Tech work, as it is seen as vital to national security. The Pentagon works with U.S. tech companies, although these efforts have sometimes proved controversial. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.foxnews.com/tech/could-china-leave-the-us-behind-in-ai-arms-race | 0.406865 |
What is the polar vortex and is global warming to blame? | Forecasters say millions of people in the Midwest and Great Lakes will see record-shattering wind chills from 40 to 65 degrees below zero this week cold so extreme it could cause frostbite on exposed skin in five minutes or less. Some 100 million people will experience temperatures near or below zero. Here's what you need to know about the polar vortex behind the deep freeze. The frigid air will come from a brief visit by the polar vortex which is a real meteorological phenomenon, not just a sensational headline. It's a whirling mass of cold air circulating in the mid- to upper-levels of the atmosphere, present every winter. It usually stays closer to the poles but sometimes breaks apart, sending chunks of Arctic air southward into the U.S. during winter. NOAA This week's particularly cold outbreak may be explained by the relative lack of cold air so far this winter in the eastern U.S. Instead of the cold air bleeding south a little at a time, it's coming all at once. The polar vortex will result in some shockingly cold temperatures this week. The National Weather Service in Chicago forecasts it will be the coldest Arctic outbreak in 25 years and perhaps since records have been kept. Wednesday's high temperature in Chicago is forecast to be 12 below zero. Low temperatures from 5 to 15 below zero are likely in Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany and Burlington with wind chills as low as 40 below Thursday morning. The worst impacts will spread from the Upper Midwest Tuesday, through the Great Lakes Wednesday and into the Northeast by Thursday. If there's any saving grace to this current bitter blast, it's that the mass of cold air won't penetrate very far south, with the core staying over the northern third of the nation. Temperatures in central and South Florida will stay above 40 degrees. The cold blast won't last very long. The coldest air will be in retreat by Friday. By Sunday temperatures will back in the 50s in parts of the Ohio Valley feeling like 100 degrees warmer than this week's lowest wind chills. Try thinking warm thoughts... After the polar vortex passes, by Sunday, temperatures will be 75 degrees warmer in parts of the Ohio Valley and Midwest, feeling like 100 warmer!! A counterintuitive theory about the polar vortex is gaining ground among some in the climate science community: Regional cold air outbreaks may be getting an "assist" from global warming. While it may not seem to make sense at first glance, scientifically it's consistent with the extremes expected from climate change. Overall, Earth is warming due to climate change, but areas near the North Pole are warming more than 2 times faster than the rest of the globe. This "Arctic Amplification" is especially pronounced in winter. When warm air invades the Arctic Circle, it weakens the polar vortex, displacing cold air masses southward into Europe, Asia and the United States. You might think of it as a once tight-knit circulation unraveling, slinging pieces of cold air outward. Evidence for this was presented in a research paper published in the Journal of the American Meteorological Society. Essentially, it suggests climate change can contribute to a more extreme, wavy jet stream, hurling cold air masses farther south. It should be noted that this theory is relatively new and there is a lot of debate in the climate science community about the extent to which such a connection exists. CBS News reached out to two leading climate scientists for comment about whether or not a portion of the recent Arctic outbreaks can be traced to climate change. Here's what they had to say: Dr. Judah Cohen, a climate scientist at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), told us: I have argued that low sea ice and extensive snow cover [in autumn] as a result of Arctic amplification have resulted in more frequent weakenings or disruptions of the polar vortex in recent decades. When the polar vortex is weak or "perturbed," the flow of air is weaker and meanders north and south (rather than west to east). This allows a redistribution of air masses where cold air from the Arctic spills into the mid-latitudes and warm air from the subtropics is carried into the Arctic. Dr. Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said: These questions test the limits of both our available data (the apparent increase in frequency of these events is quite recent and so at best only just starting to emerge from the background noise) and the model simulations. As we showed in our recent Science article, current generation climate models don't resolve some of the key processes involved in the jet stream dynamics behind many types of weather extremes. Honest scientists can legitimately differ based on reasonable interpretations of the evidence to date. In summary, most scientists involved with this kind of research are intrigued by the theory. It is a very active area of research. Generally, they agree that more study and improved climate models are needed to zero in on the causes and effects. | Polar vortex is a whirling mass of cold air circulating in the mid- to upper-levels of the atmosphere. | bart | 0 | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polar-vortex-what-is-the-2019-polar-vortex-weather-event-and-is-global-warming-to-blame/ | 0.334152 |
What is the polar vortex and is global warming to blame? | Forecasters say millions of people in the Midwest and Great Lakes will see record-shattering wind chills from 40 to 65 degrees below zero this week cold so extreme it could cause frostbite on exposed skin in five minutes or less. Some 100 million people will experience temperatures near or below zero. Here's what you need to know about the polar vortex behind the deep freeze. The frigid air will come from a brief visit by the polar vortex which is a real meteorological phenomenon, not just a sensational headline. It's a whirling mass of cold air circulating in the mid- to upper-levels of the atmosphere, present every winter. It usually stays closer to the poles but sometimes breaks apart, sending chunks of Arctic air southward into the U.S. during winter. NOAA This week's particularly cold outbreak may be explained by the relative lack of cold air so far this winter in the eastern U.S. Instead of the cold air bleeding south a little at a time, it's coming all at once. The polar vortex will result in some shockingly cold temperatures this week. The National Weather Service in Chicago forecasts it will be the coldest Arctic outbreak in 25 years and perhaps since records have been kept. Wednesday's high temperature in Chicago is forecast to be 12 below zero. Low temperatures from 5 to 15 below zero are likely in Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany and Burlington with wind chills as low as 40 below Thursday morning. The worst impacts will spread from the Upper Midwest Tuesday, through the Great Lakes Wednesday and into the Northeast by Thursday. If there's any saving grace to this current bitter blast, it's that the mass of cold air won't penetrate very far south, with the core staying over the northern third of the nation. Temperatures in central and South Florida will stay above 40 degrees. The cold blast won't last very long. The coldest air will be in retreat by Friday. By Sunday temperatures will back in the 50s in parts of the Ohio Valley feeling like 100 degrees warmer than this week's lowest wind chills. Try thinking warm thoughts... After the polar vortex passes, by Sunday, temperatures will be 75 degrees warmer in parts of the Ohio Valley and Midwest, feeling like 100 warmer!! A counterintuitive theory about the polar vortex is gaining ground among some in the climate science community: Regional cold air outbreaks may be getting an "assist" from global warming. While it may not seem to make sense at first glance, scientifically it's consistent with the extremes expected from climate change. Overall, Earth is warming due to climate change, but areas near the North Pole are warming more than 2 times faster than the rest of the globe. This "Arctic Amplification" is especially pronounced in winter. When warm air invades the Arctic Circle, it weakens the polar vortex, displacing cold air masses southward into Europe, Asia and the United States. You might think of it as a once tight-knit circulation unraveling, slinging pieces of cold air outward. Evidence for this was presented in a research paper published in the Journal of the American Meteorological Society. Essentially, it suggests climate change can contribute to a more extreme, wavy jet stream, hurling cold air masses farther south. It should be noted that this theory is relatively new and there is a lot of debate in the climate science community about the extent to which such a connection exists. CBS News reached out to two leading climate scientists for comment about whether or not a portion of the recent Arctic outbreaks can be traced to climate change. Here's what they had to say: Dr. Judah Cohen, a climate scientist at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), told us: I have argued that low sea ice and extensive snow cover [in autumn] as a result of Arctic amplification have resulted in more frequent weakenings or disruptions of the polar vortex in recent decades. When the polar vortex is weak or "perturbed," the flow of air is weaker and meanders north and south (rather than west to east). This allows a redistribution of air masses where cold air from the Arctic spills into the mid-latitudes and warm air from the subtropics is carried into the Arctic. Dr. Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said: These questions test the limits of both our available data (the apparent increase in frequency of these events is quite recent and so at best only just starting to emerge from the background noise) and the model simulations. As we showed in our recent Science article, current generation climate models don't resolve some of the key processes involved in the jet stream dynamics behind many types of weather extremes. Honest scientists can legitimately differ based on reasonable interpretations of the evidence to date. In summary, most scientists involved with this kind of research are intrigued by the theory. It is a very active area of research. Generally, they agree that more study and improved climate models are needed to zero in on the causes and effects. | The polar vortex is a whirling mass of cold air circulating in the mid- to upper-levels of the atmosphere. It usually stays closer to the poles but sometimes breaks apart, sending chunks of Arctic air southward. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polar-vortex-what-is-the-2019-polar-vortex-weather-event-and-is-global-warming-to-blame/ | 0.392128 |
What is the polar vortex and is global warming to blame? | Forecasters say millions of people in the Midwest and Great Lakes will see record-shattering wind chills from 40 to 65 degrees below zero this week cold so extreme it could cause frostbite on exposed skin in five minutes or less. Some 100 million people will experience temperatures near or below zero. Here's what you need to know about the polar vortex behind the deep freeze. The frigid air will come from a brief visit by the polar vortex which is a real meteorological phenomenon, not just a sensational headline. It's a whirling mass of cold air circulating in the mid- to upper-levels of the atmosphere, present every winter. It usually stays closer to the poles but sometimes breaks apart, sending chunks of Arctic air southward into the U.S. during winter. NOAA This week's particularly cold outbreak may be explained by the relative lack of cold air so far this winter in the eastern U.S. Instead of the cold air bleeding south a little at a time, it's coming all at once. The polar vortex will result in some shockingly cold temperatures this week. The National Weather Service in Chicago forecasts it will be the coldest Arctic outbreak in 25 years and perhaps since records have been kept. Wednesday's high temperature in Chicago is forecast to be 12 below zero. Low temperatures from 5 to 15 below zero are likely in Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany and Burlington with wind chills as low as 40 below Thursday morning. The worst impacts will spread from the Upper Midwest Tuesday, through the Great Lakes Wednesday and into the Northeast by Thursday. If there's any saving grace to this current bitter blast, it's that the mass of cold air won't penetrate very far south, with the core staying over the northern third of the nation. Temperatures in central and South Florida will stay above 40 degrees. The cold blast won't last very long. The coldest air will be in retreat by Friday. By Sunday temperatures will back in the 50s in parts of the Ohio Valley feeling like 100 degrees warmer than this week's lowest wind chills. Try thinking warm thoughts... After the polar vortex passes, by Sunday, temperatures will be 75 degrees warmer in parts of the Ohio Valley and Midwest, feeling like 100 warmer!! A counterintuitive theory about the polar vortex is gaining ground among some in the climate science community: Regional cold air outbreaks may be getting an "assist" from global warming. While it may not seem to make sense at first glance, scientifically it's consistent with the extremes expected from climate change. Overall, Earth is warming due to climate change, but areas near the North Pole are warming more than 2 times faster than the rest of the globe. This "Arctic Amplification" is especially pronounced in winter. When warm air invades the Arctic Circle, it weakens the polar vortex, displacing cold air masses southward into Europe, Asia and the United States. You might think of it as a once tight-knit circulation unraveling, slinging pieces of cold air outward. Evidence for this was presented in a research paper published in the Journal of the American Meteorological Society. Essentially, it suggests climate change can contribute to a more extreme, wavy jet stream, hurling cold air masses farther south. It should be noted that this theory is relatively new and there is a lot of debate in the climate science community about the extent to which such a connection exists. CBS News reached out to two leading climate scientists for comment about whether or not a portion of the recent Arctic outbreaks can be traced to climate change. Here's what they had to say: Dr. Judah Cohen, a climate scientist at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), told us: I have argued that low sea ice and extensive snow cover [in autumn] as a result of Arctic amplification have resulted in more frequent weakenings or disruptions of the polar vortex in recent decades. When the polar vortex is weak or "perturbed," the flow of air is weaker and meanders north and south (rather than west to east). This allows a redistribution of air masses where cold air from the Arctic spills into the mid-latitudes and warm air from the subtropics is carried into the Arctic. Dr. Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said: These questions test the limits of both our available data (the apparent increase in frequency of these events is quite recent and so at best only just starting to emerge from the background noise) and the model simulations. As we showed in our recent Science article, current generation climate models don't resolve some of the key processes involved in the jet stream dynamics behind many types of weather extremes. Honest scientists can legitimately differ based on reasonable interpretations of the evidence to date. In summary, most scientists involved with this kind of research are intrigued by the theory. It is a very active area of research. Generally, they agree that more study and improved climate models are needed to zero in on the causes and effects. | The polar vortex is a whirling mass of cold air circulating in the mid- to upper-levels of the atmosphere. It usually stays closer to the poles but sometimes breaks apart, sending chunks of Arctic air southward into the U.S. The coldest air will be in retreat by Friday. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polar-vortex-what-is-the-2019-polar-vortex-weather-event-and-is-global-warming-to-blame/ | 0.346401 |
Does The World Need A New Buzzword 'Syndemic' To Describe 3 Big Crises? | Enlarge this image toggle caption Rick Elkins, Josh Sommers, Chris Minihane/Getty Images Rick Elkins, Josh Sommers, Chris Minihane/Getty Images The Lancet Commission on Obesity has announced that the world is suffering from a "syndemic" of obesity, undernutrition and climate change. The term was first coined in the 1990s to describe the way different diseases interact within the human body. It's popped up in medical journals for the last two decades, often used to describe the biological interactions in patients who have AIDS and are substance abusers. Now, a new report by the Lancet Commission is broadening the definition big time, using it make a connection between three of the biggest public health issues of the 21st century. "We just chanced on it I didn't know what a syndemic was," says William Dietz, a co-chair of the commission and director of George Washington University's Global Center for Prevention and Wellness. But upon diving into the literature, he found it to be "a very convenient, unifying concept." Looking at these trio of issues in isolation, he says, just isn't working. The report emphasizes that the issues are indeed linked. Climate change results in severe droughts, which can lead to a scarcity of food as well as higher prices for available fruits and vegetables. That pushes consumers toward processed foods, which are cheaper and can contribute to a lack of proper nutrition. And farming definitely has a carbon footprint. Dietz is concerned about the lack of progress in addressing each concern. "The climate change silo and the obesity silo haven't been effective," he says, noting that global temperatures are on the rise, and no country has been able to successfully reverse its obesity epidemic. Two billion people suffer from a deficiency of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients, according to the report. If the problems are linked as part of a "global syndemic," Dietz hopes it will "increase the likelihood" that groups dedicated to one of the three issues will begin to work together. But the man who came up with the term "syndemic" doesn't think the Lancet's use is in line with his intentions. In fact, he doesn't even think they're using the term "epidemic" correctly. "First of all, they refer to climate change itself as an epidemic, which is a kind of a loose use of terms," says Merrill Singer, a professor of anthropology at the University of Connecticut. The definition of syndemic relies on diseases interacting within the body, he says. Climate change, undernutrition and obesity, he says, don't tend to interact on that biological level. "It really isn't comparable to a syndemic if you adhere to a strict definition guideline," he says. Nonetheless, he appreciates the commission's decision to address the interconnected causes of obesity, climate change and undernutrition. "In a big picture way, I clearly support what they're doing." Others agree that, whatever you call it, the idea of linking the three problems has potential. Bruce Y. Lee, executive director of John Hopkins Global Obesity Prevention Center, says he is pleased to see the commission tackling obesity as part of a wider net of global dysfunction. "Too often, we think of these problems as separate," he says. In reality, he often finds that people who are obese are also deprived of crucial nutrients. "We're seeing a new phenomenon where populations and people are facing undernutrition as well as overnutrition," he says. "You're seeing a change in body shape" where people "have very skinny arms and limbs but central obesity." Much of this, Lee says, is due to the fact that junk food and sugary drinks are cheap and abundant. The food and beverage industries have spent $22.3 million on lobbying to keep it that way. California lawmakers recently promised a 12-year moratorium on soda taxes after the industry funneled $7 million dollars to try and stop them. "This is a systems problem," says Lee. With this report, he says, "these systems are starting to get called out." The report recommends a series of actions that the authors hope could act in concert to address the problems. Chief among them is a worldwide treaty to regulate Big Food like Big Tobacco, limiting the political influence of the food and beverage industry. It would be modeled on the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's first public health treaty. The report also suggests a tax on red meat, which is associated with an increased risk of obesity and greenhouse gas emissions. When asked during a press conference what the authors' dream timeline would be to enact the report's recommendations, commission members said it was too hard to tell. "Oh my goodness, that's a very difficult question," Deitz responded. The report, he says, is meant to act as a conversation starter. But it will be up to businesses and politicians to bring the recommendations to fruition. "We're under no illusion that this is going to be quick," says Dietz. "I just hope that it's quick enough." | The Lancet Commission on Obesity has announced that the world is suffering from a "syndemic" of obesity, undernutrition and climate change. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/01/28/689292566/does-the-world-need-a-new-buzzword-syndemic-to-describe-3-big-crises?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=science | 0.184494 |
Does The World Need A New Buzzword 'Syndemic' To Describe 3 Big Crises? | Enlarge this image toggle caption Rick Elkins, Josh Sommers, Chris Minihane/Getty Images Rick Elkins, Josh Sommers, Chris Minihane/Getty Images The Lancet Commission on Obesity has announced that the world is suffering from a "syndemic" of obesity, undernutrition and climate change. The term was first coined in the 1990s to describe the way different diseases interact within the human body. It's popped up in medical journals for the last two decades, often used to describe the biological interactions in patients who have AIDS and are substance abusers. Now, a new report by the Lancet Commission is broadening the definition big time, using it make a connection between three of the biggest public health issues of the 21st century. "We just chanced on it I didn't know what a syndemic was," says William Dietz, a co-chair of the commission and director of George Washington University's Global Center for Prevention and Wellness. But upon diving into the literature, he found it to be "a very convenient, unifying concept." Looking at these trio of issues in isolation, he says, just isn't working. The report emphasizes that the issues are indeed linked. Climate change results in severe droughts, which can lead to a scarcity of food as well as higher prices for available fruits and vegetables. That pushes consumers toward processed foods, which are cheaper and can contribute to a lack of proper nutrition. And farming definitely has a carbon footprint. Dietz is concerned about the lack of progress in addressing each concern. "The climate change silo and the obesity silo haven't been effective," he says, noting that global temperatures are on the rise, and no country has been able to successfully reverse its obesity epidemic. Two billion people suffer from a deficiency of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients, according to the report. If the problems are linked as part of a "global syndemic," Dietz hopes it will "increase the likelihood" that groups dedicated to one of the three issues will begin to work together. But the man who came up with the term "syndemic" doesn't think the Lancet's use is in line with his intentions. In fact, he doesn't even think they're using the term "epidemic" correctly. "First of all, they refer to climate change itself as an epidemic, which is a kind of a loose use of terms," says Merrill Singer, a professor of anthropology at the University of Connecticut. The definition of syndemic relies on diseases interacting within the body, he says. Climate change, undernutrition and obesity, he says, don't tend to interact on that biological level. "It really isn't comparable to a syndemic if you adhere to a strict definition guideline," he says. Nonetheless, he appreciates the commission's decision to address the interconnected causes of obesity, climate change and undernutrition. "In a big picture way, I clearly support what they're doing." Others agree that, whatever you call it, the idea of linking the three problems has potential. Bruce Y. Lee, executive director of John Hopkins Global Obesity Prevention Center, says he is pleased to see the commission tackling obesity as part of a wider net of global dysfunction. "Too often, we think of these problems as separate," he says. In reality, he often finds that people who are obese are also deprived of crucial nutrients. "We're seeing a new phenomenon where populations and people are facing undernutrition as well as overnutrition," he says. "You're seeing a change in body shape" where people "have very skinny arms and limbs but central obesity." Much of this, Lee says, is due to the fact that junk food and sugary drinks are cheap and abundant. The food and beverage industries have spent $22.3 million on lobbying to keep it that way. California lawmakers recently promised a 12-year moratorium on soda taxes after the industry funneled $7 million dollars to try and stop them. "This is a systems problem," says Lee. With this report, he says, "these systems are starting to get called out." The report recommends a series of actions that the authors hope could act in concert to address the problems. Chief among them is a worldwide treaty to regulate Big Food like Big Tobacco, limiting the political influence of the food and beverage industry. It would be modeled on the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's first public health treaty. The report also suggests a tax on red meat, which is associated with an increased risk of obesity and greenhouse gas emissions. When asked during a press conference what the authors' dream timeline would be to enact the report's recommendations, commission members said it was too hard to tell. "Oh my goodness, that's a very difficult question," Deitz responded. The report, he says, is meant to act as a conversation starter. But it will be up to businesses and politicians to bring the recommendations to fruition. "We're under no illusion that this is going to be quick," says Dietz. "I just hope that it's quick enough." | The Lancet Commission on Obesity has announced that the world is suffering from a "syndemic" of obesity, undernutrition and climate change. The term was first coined in the 1990s to describe the way different diseases interact within the human body. | bart | 1 | https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/01/28/689292566/does-the-world-need-a-new-buzzword-syndemic-to-describe-3-big-crises?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=science | 0.21691 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.