Google acts against fake news on search engine

IT reporter(wp):

Google announced its first attempt to combat the circulation of “fake news” on its search engine with new tools allowing users to report misleading or offensive content, and a pledge to improve results generated by its algorithm.

The technology company said it would allow people to complain about misleading, inaccurate or hateful content in its autocomplete function, which pops up to suggest searches based on the first few characters typed.

It also said it would refine its search engine to “surface more authoritative pages and demote low-quality content” – and acknowledged for the first time that it had taken the measures to combat the threat of fake news.

Ben Gomes, vice-president of engineering, Google Search, said in a blogpost: “In a world where tens of thousands of pages are coming online every minute of every day, there are new ways that people try to game the system,. The most high-profile of these issues is the phenomenon of ‘fake news’, where content on the web has contributed to the spread of blatantly misleading, low quality, offensive, or downright false information.”

Green Investment Bank to be sold off in £2.3bn deal

Pic:Green Investment Bank work
Banking&Finance reporter(wp):

The government has agreed a £2.3bn sale of the Green Investment Bank to the Australian bank Macquarie, according to sources close to the process.

The privatisation of the bank was expected in January but signoff was delayed in the face of stiff political opposition and wrangling over the final price.

Theresa May’s decision to call a snap election and political concerns that the deadlock could become a campaign issue may have broken the stalemate.

An official announcement is expected to be made by Nick Hurd, the climate minister, on Thursday.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party have criticised the sale, questioning Macquarie’s track record and commitment to green energy. Former ministers including Lord Barker and Vince Cable also warned the taxpayer risks being shortchanged by the sale because some of its assets will be worth far more later.

But Hurd will argue that the sale achieves the government’s two objectives of maximising value for the taxpayer and maintaining the bank’s green mission.

Macquarie has put up £1.7bn to buy the bank, with a further £600m supplied in part by the UK-based Universities Superannuation Scheme, a pension scheme for university professors.

The road to completing the sale to the Australian bank was cleared when a judicial review brought by Sustainable Development Capital (SDCL) – a rival bidder for the bank – was refused by the high court earlier this month.

Under the deal reached, the bank will retain both its Edinburgh and London offices. It is expected the government will still hold £140m of the bank’s assets, which the institution will continue to manage until they can be sold for the best return to the public purse.

The Green Investment Bank has stakes – either directly or via funds managed by third parties – in 85 projects that vary from an energy efficient street lighting project in Barking and Dagenham and windfarm in Dumfries and Galloway, to a biomass plant at Port Talbot and an energy-from-waste plant in Belfast.

The bank also manages the world’s first offshore wind fund, which is comprised private capital from a sovereign wealth fund, European institutional investors and a number of UK pension funds. It was launched in 2012 with £1.5bn of taxpayer money under the coalition.

Environmental groups urged Macquarie to stay true to the bank’s original purpose.

Karen Ellis, chief adviser on economics and development at WWF-UK, said: “Macquarie must guarantee that the green mission of the bank is protected and maintained and that it will provide substantial new capital for green investments.

“Numerous market failures are constraining the availability of finance for green investment, so to ensure the Green Investment Bank continues to deliver on its mandate, it should invest in novel green projects, which are less likely to be funded privately; it needs to focus on crowding in additional finance by reducing the barriers to investment.”

Nestlé to axe 300 UK jobs and move Blue Riband production to Poland

Pic:Production of Nestlé’s Blue Riband is to move from the UK to Poland
Business reporter(wp):

Nestlé is cutting up to 300 jobs in the UK and switching production of the Blue Riband chocolate bar to Poland, a move that has angered unions. The Swiss confectioner said most of the jobs would be lost in Newcastle and York, during 2017-18, but that its sites in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and Girvan, Ayrshire, would also be affected.

The change will end 81 years of British production of the wafer snack, which was originally manufactured in Scotland but is now made in Nestlé’s Fawdon plant in Newcastle.

The company said: “These proposals are being made by Nestlé UK to ensure that these sites operate more efficiently and remain competitive in a rapidly changing external environment. Our factory in Kargowa, Poland, is a centre of excellence for this type of wafer-based product and is the logical place for us to propose Blue Riband production takes place [there] in the future.”

However, the GMB and Unite unions said the proposed cuts were savage and unacceptable, and urged the government to intervene.

“Nestlé are throwing people’s lives, and those of their families, into turmoil for the sake of increasing profit margins,” said the GMB general secretary, Tim Roache. “These factories should be exporting chocolate – not people’s jobs. The government needs to step in before it’s too late and reassure millions of workers across the country this is not just the tip of the Brexit iceberg.”

Nestlé said it expected most of thecuts to come from voluntary redundancies. The company has earmarked cuts of 143 jobs in York, 110 at Fawdon, 15 in Halifax, and seven in Girvan.

At Fawdon, which employs about 600 people, Nestlé produces a number of products as well as the Blue Riband bar, including Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles, Fruit Gums, Jelly Tots, Rolos, and Matchmakers. The company also makes KitKat, Polo and Milky Bar in York.

Julia Long, Unite’s national officer, said unions would fight the plans to shed jobs. “We will be campaigning to save as many jobs as possible and pressing Nestlé to think again about these plans which will see the loss of hundreds jobs and the production of an iconic biscuit shipped to Poland,” he said.

“Rather than turning its back on its UK workforce, Nestlé should be investing in its UK operations and keeping production here at plants in the UK. Over the coming days we will be scrutinising the company’s business rationale for these job losses, and explore alternatives to its cut-and-run approach.”

Nestlé, which employs more than 8,000 people in the UK, said it would begin a 45-day consultation on the proposals with unions and workers’ representatives as soon as possible.

The company added: “Nestlé UK appreciates that this is an uncertain time for employees and will work hard to ensure all are supported through this difficult period.”

Two women cut free from cars after six vehicle pile-up on A13

Pic:Two women were cut free after a six-car pile-up on the A13
Staff reporter(wp/es):

Two women were cut free from the mangled wrecks of their cars after a six vehicle pile-up on a busy A-road in east London.

Emergency services descended on the scene of the accident on the A13 Newham Way, which happened shortly after 1pm today.

Dramatic pictures show crumpled cars and at least one van and a lorry which were also involved.

Firefighters used heavy cutting gear to rescue the occupants of the vehicles.

Two women who were cut out out of their cars by the London Fire Brigade were injured, police said. 

No further details on their condition was immediately available.

Road closures are in place and police, paramedics and firefighters remain at the scene.

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said: "The A13 Newham Way eastbound between Prince Regent Lane and Beckton Flyover is closed. Please avoid the area if possible.

"The Brigade was called at 1.16pm. Fire crews Shadwell, Poplar, East Ham and Bethnal Green fire stations are at the scene."