Biafra Activist - Biafra Or Dead. No Going Back

Skybet fined £1m by gambling regulator for not protecting vulnerable customers

UncategorisedLeave a comment

Over 730 self-excluded users were able to open and use duplicate accounts to gamble
Skybet has been fined £1m by the gambling regulator for failing to protect its most vulnerable customers.
The Gambling Commission said on Wednesday that it had issued the penalty in response to the sports betting company allowing customers who had self-excluded to open accounts.
Self-exclusion is a tool offered to those who feel they are having trouble controlling their gambling habits, and request that the operator refuse their service.
Read more FOBTs cost taxpayers £210m per year, research finds The commission said that its investigation had shown that 736 self-excluded customers were able to open and use duplicate accounts to gamble, and that around 50,000 self-excluded customers received marketing material by email, mobile text or a push notification within a mobile app.
In addition, 36,748 self-excluded customers did not have their account balance funds returned to them on account closure,..

Uber agrees to pay $10m settlement in gender and race discrimination lawsuit

UncategorisedLeave a comment

The ride-hailing company compensates 285 women and 135 men of colour for financial and emotional harm
Uber has agreed to pay $10m (£7.1m) to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by two women engineers who accused the ride-services company of gender and race discrimination.
The settlement, disclosed in a filing in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, says Uber also agreed to reforms to its system for compensation, reviews and promotions.
According to the filing, the settlement compensates for financial and emotional harm to about 285 women and 135 men of colour.
Read more Uber will halt autonomous vehicle testing in California The settlement arises out of two actions filed in October, one in the San Francisco Superior Court and another in the California district court.
On 24 October, Roxana del Toro Lopez and Ana Medina, who described themselves as Latina software engineers, filed an action in the Superior Court, followed by another three days later in..

It’s the No. 1 Power Source, but Natural Gas Faces Headwinds

BUSINESSLeave a comment

Supported by Energy & Environment It’s the No. 1 Power Source, but Natural Gas Faces Headwinds As environmental concerns drive power companies away from using coal, natural gas has emerged as the nation’s No. 1 power source. Plentiful and relatively inexpensive as a result of the nation’s fracking boom, it has been portrayed as a bridge to an era in which alternative energy would take primacy.
But technology and economics have carved a different, shorter pathway that has bypassed the broad need for some fossil-fuel plants. And that has put proponents of natural gas on the defensive.
Some utility companies have scrapped plans for new natural-gas plants in favor of wind and solar sources that have become cheaper and easier to install. Existing gas plants are being shut because their economics are no longer attractive. And regulators are increasingly challenging the plans of companies determined to move forward with new natural-gas plants.
“It’s a very different world that we’re arri..

Morgan Stanley Knew of a Star’s Alleged Abuse. He Still Works There.

BUSINESSLeave a comment

Morgan Stanley Knew of a Star’s Alleged Abuse. He Still Works There. A top Morgan Stanley broker was repeatedly accused of violence against ex-wives and girlfriends. Bank managers were told. But he kept his job.
Over 15 years, four women in Lake Oswego, Ore., a wealthy Portland suburb, sought police protection against the same man, court filings show.
“He threatened to burn down my house with me in it,” one woman wrote in her application for a restraining order. “I don’t know what he’s going to do next,” a second wrote. “He choked me so hard it left a mark on my throat,” wrote another. “He is scaring my children and me,” a fourth woman said.
Yet the man, Douglas E. Greenberg, remains one of Morgan Stanley’s top financial advisers — and a celebrated member of the wealth management industry.
For years, Morgan Stanley executives knew about his alleged conduct, according to seven former Morgan Stanley employees.
Continue reading the main story Morgan Stanley received a federal subpoena r..

Brexit: Business as usual for firms during transition period, says Bank of England

ECONOMYLeave a comment

Regulators are aiming to avoid risks to financial stability during the transition period
The Bank of England said on Wednesday that firms in the UK operating under EU passporting rights should continue to run their businesses in the same way during the transition period after 29 March next year.
The Bank issued an update after the EU and the UK agreed there should be an implementation or transition period, and said companies “may plan on the assumption that UK authorisation or recognition will only be needed by the end of the implementation period”.
Read more Business community welcomes progress on Brexit transition deal Meanwhile, the City watchdog said the transition period will give the UK and the EU the opportunity to find a way to reduce risks to financial stability.
“Now is the time for a much deeper regulatory engagement, and in doing so we can give practical substance to the transition or implementation period,” said Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Financial Cond..

Twitter and LinkedIn ban cryptocurrency adverts – leaving regulators behind

ECONOMYLeave a comment

Regulators are yet to frame advertising rules on cryptocurrencies, leaving companies to decide their own policies
A growing number of internet companies are banning cryptocurrency advertising, fearing reputational damage if their users are duped or left penniless, even as regulators struggle to get to grips with the fast-emerging industry.
Twitter on Tuesday began blocking crypto ads, becoming the latest internet giant to take action after moves by Google and Facebook earlier this year.
Once restricted to small online chatrooms for early bitcoin backers, cryptocurrencies have since exploded in popularity and the industry has grown rapidly.
Read more Government task force launched to guard against bitcoin dangers Huge billboards promoting the latest coin hang over Tokyo’s streets, ads touting crypto-trading dot the London Underground, and social media platforms are full of startups looking to raise capital through “initial coin offerings” (ICOs), as the selling of new virtual tok..

US economic growth slows to 2.9% in fourth quarter

ECONOMYLeave a comment

Consumer spending in the US saw the biggest gain in three years
US economic growth slowed less than previously estimated in the fourth quarter as the biggest gain in consumer spending in three years partially offset the drag from a jump in imports.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.9 per cent annual rate in the final three months of 2017, instead of the previously reported 2.5 per cent, the Commerce Department said in its third GDP estimate for the period on Wednesday. That was a slight moderation from the third quarter’s brisk 3.2 per cent pace.
The upward revision to the fourth-quarter growth estimate also reflected less inventory reduction than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had expected that fourth-quarter GDP growth would be revised up to a 2.7 per cent rate.
Read more Northern Ireland’s economy to fall behind the rest of the UK next year There are signs that economic activity slowed further in the first quarter, with retail sales falling in February..

A Find at Gap: Steady Hours Can Help Workers, and Profits

ECONOMYLeave a comment

A Find at Gap: Steady Hours Can Help Workers, and Profits Photo Credit Ryan Peltier In recent years, studies have shown that erratic work schedules can take a major toll on the well-being of service workers.
But many employers in the retail, restaurant and hospitality industries continue to behave as though stable scheduling is an unaffordable luxury.
“I don’t count on the hours in my schedule,” said Sam Stephenson, an employee at a Gap store in Huntersville, N.C. “I don’t count on the money I’m supposed to be getting.”
Now a study involving Ms. Stephenson’s colleagues at more than two dozen Gap retail stores in the Chicago and San Francisco areas, undertaken by a team of researchers with the company’s cooperation, aims to rebut the presumption that stable schedules are too costly. The study shows that more predictable and consistent hours aren’t just compatible with profitability, they can significantly improve a store’s bottom line.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story The..

A Chat Room of Their Own

UncategorisedLeave a comment

A Chat Room of Their Own Photo Nina Collins, a former literary agent who founded a Facebook group two years ago for women over 40, What Would Virginia Woolf Do. Credit Amy Lombard for The New York Times In the fall of 2015, Nina Lorez Collins, a former literary agent, writer and mother of four young adults, including a pair of twins, was experiencing a fairly typical middle-aged malaise. She had a complicated second marriage, and her body was betraying her — textbook perimenopausal stuff, awaking most nights at 3 a.m., heart pounding, soaked in sweat. When she Googled “perimenopause,” it amused her to read that one of the symptoms was “impending sense of doom,” and she noted her discovery in an uncomplicated (until recently) manner: a Facebook post.
Friends wrote back, half-seriously, suggesting she start a group for their cohort, but what to call it? Black Cohosh (for the herbal remedy)? How about What Would Virginia Woolf Do? one friend joked darkly, because of course what Woolf did,..