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For a change, overnight activity in the Far East in both gold and silver showed some real signs of life.It was a very slow day in the gold world on Wednesday…and most of gold’s price movements, such as they were, were most likely currency related.  Gold closed at $1,693.40 spot…down $2.80 from Tuesday.  Volume, most of it of the high-frequency trading variety, was decent at around 113,000 contracts.Silver’s price pattern was similar…and the price briefly dipped below $32.00 spot before recovering as the dollar index headed south.  Silver closed at $32.70 spot…down 9 cents on the day.  Net volume was average…whatever that means these days…at around 33,000 contracts.All the ‘action’ yesterday was in the dollar index.  It opened at 81.34 at 6:00 p.m. in New York on Tuesday night…and by 9:30 a.m. in London the next day, it had hit its zenith at around 81.65.  From there it went into a decline that bottomed out at 81.14 shortly after 11:00 a.m. in New York.  It recovered a hair from that low…closing at 81.20…down a whole 14 basis points when all was said and done.Both the gold and silver charts show this currency move pretty clearly.The gold stocks started in the red, but finally got into positive territory…and then mostly stayed there for the rest of the trading day.  The HUI closed up 0.45%.The silver equities were mixed yesterday…and gave back a bit of their Monday and Tuesday gains, as Nick Laird’s Silver Sentiment Index closed down 0.45%.(Click on image to enlarge)For a change, the CME’s Daily Delivery Report was much more interesting.  They reported that 16 gold and 485 silver contracts were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Friday.  Jefferies was the short/issuer de jour, posting 476 contracts…and it should come as no surprise to anyone that the big long/stopper was JPMorgan…with 253 contracts in its client account and 186 contracts in its proprietary [in house] account.  The Issuers and Stoppers Report is definitely worth checking out…and the link is here.There were no reported changes in GLD yesterday…but after a big withdrawal from SLV on Tuesday, there was an even bigger addition on Wednesday, as an authorized participant[s] added 2,934,108 troy ounces.The U.S. Mint had another smallish sales report yesterday.  They sold 4,500 ounces of gold eagles…and another 125,000 silver eagles.It was another very busy day over at the Comex-approved depositories on Tuesday.  They reported receiving 602,812 troy ounces of silver…and shipped 1,558,280 troy ounces out the door.While on the subject of the Comex-approved depositories, I noticed something different about the CME’s web page when I clicked on it early yesterday evening…but I didn’t investigate any further.  It took an e-mail from Nick Laird very late last night that pointed out the difference.  There’s a new depository added to the list.  It’s called CNT Depository…and a Google search revealed this.I’ll be very interested in seeing how they fit into the grand scheme of things…and just how much metal they accumulate on behalf of their clientele.  According to Nick, they reported receiving 631,389 troy ounces on Tuesday…the first day they showed up as a depository.In the same e-mail, Nick sent along this chart entitled “Comex Depository Warehouse Silver Stocks” that goes back about 41 years…and here it is.(Click on  image to enlarge)I have the usual number of stories today…and I hope you have time to read the ones that interest you the most.It was a nothing sort of day in the precious metal markets yesterday…another day off the calendar as Ted Butler would say…so I’ll just move along to other things.Tomorrow we get the latest Commitment of Traders Report…and as you are already aware, I’m more than interested in what’s in it.For a change, overnight activity in the Far East in both gold and silver showed some real signs of life.  After rallying a bit in early morning trading, a more substantial rally began around 2:30 p.m. Hong Kong time…and is continuing into early London trading as well.  The rally in silver is even more impressive.However, the volume in gold is getting way up there…35,000 contracts.  And silver’s volume is already an eye-watering 12,300 contracts as I hit the ‘send’ button at 5:13 a.m. Eastern time.  The dollar index is comatose.These are not short covering rallies by any stretch of the imagination, but new long positions being established and, without doubt, it’s JPMorgan et al going short against all comers.  Unfortunately none of this data will be in tomorrow’s COT report.  We’ll have to wait until next Friday…and in the current environment, that’s a lifetime away.It remains to be seen whether these rallies continue in London…or get stepped on before New York opens, as the similar rallies that developed in both platinum and palladium earlier today, have already met that fate.Here are the current gold and silver charts as of 4:53 a.m. Eastern time. Avrupa Minerals Ltd. is a growth-oriented prospect generator focused on aggressive exploration for valuable mineral deposits in politically stable and prospective regions of Europe with a growing pipeline of prospects in Portugal, Kosovo and Germany.Company highlights:Alvalade Project JV with Antofagasta Minerals SA – Copper and Zinc on 1000 km2 project area in the Portuguese Pyrite Belt – 2012 exploration budget of US$ 2.5 million, all provided by Antofagasta, including 6000 meters of core drillingGold exploration in the Erzgebirge Mining District, Germany – 307 km2 exploration license in 1000+ year producing region of tin, tungsten, silver, base metals, and uranium – Increasingly favorable permitting and mining regulations, long mining culture, widespread known gold panning locationsCovas Tungsten JV with Blackheath Resources Inc. – 922,900 mt @ 0.78% WO3 (non NI 43-101 compliant) historic resource – Potential to increase the tungsten resource – New gold target on the projectStrong management including Paul Kuhn, CEO, previously involved with several discoveries around the world, and Mark T. Brown, Director, founder of Rare Element Resources Ltd.Low risk exploration strategyShare structure and cash on hand (12/31/2011):16.1 million shares outstanding; 23.7 million shares outstanding, fully diluted40% of shares held by insiders, family, friends, and long-term investorsApprox. C$ 500,000 cash on hand (consolidated Canada and Europe)Antofagasta has provided US$ 350,000 for all anticipated Alvalade JV expenses for Q1 2012.Please visit our website for more information. Sponsor Advertisement Considering the start to the Thursday trading session in both the Far East and London…it could be a wild one in New York today…and I’m looking forward to the 8:20 a.m. Eastern time Comex open with more than the usual amount of interest.Before hitting the ‘send’ button on today’s column, I want to bring this Casey Research offer to your attention ONE LAST TIME…as you’ve only got THREE DAYS LEFT TO ACT.  As you probably already know, the September 7th Casey Research/Sprott Inc. Summit: Navigating the Politicized Economy, will be held in Carlsbad, CA. If you’re not registered to attend, you may want to purchase the complete audio collection (available in a 20-CD set and/or MP3 downloads) to listen to at home.The faculty presenting includes David Walker, former US Comptroller General, Dr. Lacy Hunt, former Senior Economist, Dallas Fed; Executive VP, HIMCO,  Don Coxe, Global Strategy Advisor, BMO Financial Group, David Webb, hedge fund phenomenon, Origin Investments, AB, Dr. Thomas M. Barnett, former Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary of Defense, G. Edward Griffin, author, The Creature from Jekyll Island, Bob Hoye, Chief Financial Strategist, Institutional Advisors, Peter Schweizer, Hoover Institute, author of Throw Them All Out, Doug Casey, contrarian speculator, Eric Sprott, Chairman, Sprott Asset Management, and 18 other financial luminaries.These are top-drawer speakers…and the ladies at Casey Research in Stowe, Vermont are telling me if you order before the summit ends on September 9th, you’ll save $100.  To learn more about the 28 financial experts and what they are presenting, please click here…and it doesn’t cost a dime to look!See you on Friday…Saturday west of the International Date Line. read more

As you also already know, supply/demand fundamentals mean nothing It was a volatile trading session for gold yesterday, but it all happened within a very tight price range—and appeared to center around the $1,200 price mark.  The high tick came at exactly 9 a.m. Hong Kong time on their Tuesday morning—and the low tick came at the London afternoon gold fix—and the subsequent rally got hammered flat during the next two hours of trading.  Then, starting a minute or so after 12 o’clock noon in New York, the gold price rallied back towards the $1,200 spot price mark—and made it shortly after the COMEX trading session ended.  From there, the price traded basically flat into the close. The CME Group recorded the high and low ticks as $1,204.40 and $1,190.00 in the April contracts. Gold finished the Tuesday session in New York at $1,201.30 spot, down 50 cents from Monday’s close.  Net volume checked in around 105,000 contracts—about the same daily volume it has been for last five trading days or so. Not surprisingly, the gold stocks hit their high at the same time as the metal itself, which was shortly before 11 a.m. EST.  From there they chopped lower—and never got a sniff of positive territory after that, even though the gold price recovered to virtually unchanged.  The HUI closed down 0.56 percent—and as you can tell, there was a problem with the main data feed—and the chart is not “all there” so to speak.  Nick Laird’s HUI chart looked the same, or I would have posted that in lieu of. By the way, if you’re not up on your Grand Canyon statistics, I found this excellent Reader’s Digest version of the whole place linked here. The dollar index closed late on Monday afternoon in New York at 94.55—and continued on with the rally that it was currently in.  That rally developed even more momentum starting about 3 p.m. Hong Kong time, which was an hour before the London open.  The 94.86 high tick came at the 10:30 a.m. GMT London a.m. gold fix—and then the index chopped lower in a very wide range, closing at 94.47—which was down 8 basis points from Monday’s close. Here’s the 5-minute gold chart courtesy of Brad Robertson—and as you can tell, almost all yesterday’s volume occurred between the London afternoon gold fix—and 11:45 a.m. EST.  Before and after, there was there was virtually no volume worth mentioning.  Don’t forget to add two hours for EST—and the ‘click to enlarge’ feature really helps with this chart. Platinum’s chart was a mini version of both the gold and silver charts.  Platinum closed at $1,163 spot, up two bucks on the day. The silver chart looked very similar, with the high tick coming in morning trading in Hong Kong.  But the low tick of the day came a few moments after 12 o’clock noon in New York.  From there it chopped quietly higher and, like gold, closed almost unchanged. The high and lows were reported as $16.04 and $16.455 in the March contract. Silver closed yesterday at $16.31 spot, down a penny.  Net volume was only 16,000 contracts, but gross volume was, not surprisingly, very high as traders continue to roll out of the March contract and into future months. The silver equities spiked well into positive territory, but fell back to unchanged as the not-for-profit sellers took the price to its noon low tick.  From there they traded in a tight range either side of unchanged, closing down 0.06 percent. The CME Daily Delivery Report showed that 266 gold and 9 silver contracts were posted for delivery within the COMEX-approved depositories on Thursday.  The big short/issuer sitting in the bushes until the last day turned out to be none other than HSBC USA with 255 contracts.  JPMorgan stopped 261 contracts in its client account.  The nine contracts in silver were issued by Jefferies and stopped by Canada’s Scotiabank.  The link to yesterday’s Issuers and Stoppers Report is here. The CME’s Preliminary Report for the Tuesday trading session showed that February open interest was unchanged from Monday at 362 contracts minus, of course, the 266 contracts posted for delivery tomorrow.  The remaining gold contracts for February delivery will be posted in tomorrow’s column.  In silver, there are still 12 contracts outstanding, minus the 9 posted above.  The remaining 3 will be in tomorrow’s Preliminary report. There were no reported changes in GLD—and as of 9:46 p.m. EST yesterday evening, there were no changes in SLV, either. The U.S. Mint had another sales report.  They sold 1,500 troy ounces of gold eagles—500 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes—and another 253,500 silver eagles. There was very little gold activity over at the COMEX-approved depositories on Monday, as only 643.000 troy ounces were reported received—and 128.600 were shipped out.  That’s 20 kilobars and 4 kilobars respectively.  As always, it was a pretty big day in silver, as 886,249 troy ounces were shipped in, but only 20,180 were shipped out the door.  The link to the silver activity is here. Once again I have a very decent number of stories for you today—and I hope you find some in here that are of interest to you. Even though the headline number of the total commercial net short position [in silver in last Friday’s COT Report] has declined by nearly 14,000 contracts since January 27, the concentrated net short position of the eight largest shorts has hardly budged—and remains over 65,000 contracts. This is still a manipulative position on its face since it represents more than 325 million ounces and 40% of world annual production, an amount unequalled among all commodities. Reviewing the dismal earnings reports by those companies that mine silver, I have uncovered not a one holding any of the 325 million oz held short by the 8 crooked COMEX shorts. Excepting JPMorgan, I doubt any of the other seven big shorts own much real silver, even though the concentrated short position represents more than 30% of all the silver bullion in the world. This is simply preposterous and illegal. – Silver analyst Ted Butler: 21 February 2015 I’m not sure what, if anything should be read into yesterday’s gold price action because, once again, there wasn’t a lot of volume—and there was little net volume in silver, although roll-over activity was very high, of course. But, whatever action there was will be in Friday’s Commitment of Traders Report, as yesterday at the close of COMEX trading was the cut-off. Here are the 6-month charts for all four precious metals updated with Tuesday’s price/volume action. Freegold Ventures Limited is a North American gold exploration company with three gold projects in Alaska. Current projects include Golden Summit, Vinasale and Rob. Both Vinasale and Golden Summit host NI 43-101 Compliant Resource Calculations. An updated NI 43-101 resource was calculated on Golden Summit in October 2012 and using 0.3 g/t cutoff  the current resource is 73,580,000 tonnes grading 0.67 g/t Au for total of 1,576,000 contained ounces in the indicated category, and 223,300,000 tonnes grading 0.62 g/t Au for a total of 4,437,000 contained ounces in the inferred category. In addition to the Golden Summit Project the Vinasale also hosts a NI 43-101 resource calculation which was updated in March 2013. Indicated resources are 3.41 million tonnes averaging 1.48 g/t Au for 162,000 ounces, and Inferred resources are 53.25 million tonnes averaging 1.05 g/t Au for 1,799,000 ounces of gold utilizing a cutoff value of 0.5 grams/tonne (g/t) as a possible open pit cutoff. Please send us an email for more information, ir@freegoldventures.com These photos were taken on Day 2 at Grand Canyon—January 11.  It’s not raining or snowing—and cloud base has lifted by a couple of hundred feet and is more well defined.  You can’t see the North Rim, which is about 10 miles/16 kilometers away, because it’s about 1,000 feet/330 meters higher than than the South Rim, so it’s buried in cloud/fog.  These are just general canyon shots along the trail.   You’ll need to use the ‘click to enlarge’ feature to see the people in photo #2—and that gives you some idea of scale.  I cropped the last photo in order to enhance the sense of danger, which is all too real.  There’s nothing below her but air for many thousands of feet. Palladium, as usual, was trading in a world all its own, closing at $792 spot, up another 7 dollars from Monday’s close—and heading back to the $800 spot mark.  Will it be allowed to get there? And as I write this paragraph, the London open is about forty-five minutes away—and there certainly has been some rather interesting price activity in Far East trading on their Wednesday.  I’m guessing that the Chinese New Year holiday has come to an end—and that traders are back at their desks over there. Right out of the chute at 6 p.m. EST yesterday evening, all four precious metals powered higher, particularly silver, which I thought very unusual.  Depending on which metal you’re looking at, the fun ended by 9 or 10 a.m. Hong Kong time—but started again with somewhat less enthusiasm in early afternoon trading. Gold volume is very chunky at 25,000 contracts net, so this rally obviously ran into ferocious opposition by JPMorgan et al—but silver’s net volume is only 2,870 contracts.  Gross volume is north of 10,500 contracts, so roll-over activity is already way up there, as the large traders have to be out by the end of COMEX trading today—and the rest of the traders tomorrow. Thinking about that silver rally last night I’m wondering if it involved a decent amount of short covering, as the net volume is very light.  But there’s no way of knowing for sure, because all the price/volume activity occurred after the cut-off for the COT Report on Friday—and by the time the next report is available, this trading action will be buried. And as I send this off to Stowe, Vermont at 4:50 a.m. EST, I note that the tiny rallies in all four precious metals in early afternoon trading in the Far East, ended at 3 p.m. Hong Kong time, which was an hour before the London open.  And, with the exception of palladium, which is knocking on the $800 price door once again, the other three precious metals are heading quietly lower, but on such light volume, the price trend hardly matters. Net gold volume is up to a bit over 31,000 contracts, an increase of only 6,000 contracts from two and a half hours ago—and silver’s net volume is only 3,340 contracts, up only 500 contracts in the same time period.  There’s nothing going on—and nothing to see at the moment.  The dollar index is now down 32 basis points—and coming awfully close to the 94.00 level once more.  It will be interesting to see if “gentle hands” put in an appearance once again. That’s all I have for today which, once again, is more than enough—and I look forward to the rest of Wednesday’s trading activity with more than the usual amount of interest. See you tomorrow. read more

The only list that measures privately-held company performance across multiple dimensions—not just revenue. Transparency is key. Entrepreneur Staff Staff Writer. Covers leadership, media, technology and culture. United Airlines Barred 2 Teens From Flying Over Their Leggings. Here’s What You Can Learn. Image credit: Spencer Platt | Getty Images –shares Nina Zipkin March 27, 2017 3 min read 2019 Entrepreneur 360 List Next Article Social media lit up with confusion, derision and concern during the weekend over United Airlines barring two teenage girls from their Minneapolis-bound flight for wearing leggings.1) A @united gate agent isn’t letting girls in leggings get on flight from Denver to Minneapolis because spandex is not allowed?— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017The passengers this morning were United pass riders who were not in compliance with our dress code policy for company benefit travel.— United (@united) March 26, 2017Jonathan Guerin, spokesman for the airline, told The New York Times that the young passengers did not meet the dress code requirements for a program that allows airline employees and their families to fly for free.“It’s not that we want our standby travelers to come in wearing a suit and tie or that sort of thing,” Guerin told The Times. “We want people to be comfortable when they travel as long as it’s neat and in good taste for that environment.”The “pass travelers,” since they are designated as representatives of the company, are not allowed to wear things such as flip flops, torn jeans, midriff-baring shirts — basically any clothing that reveals undergarments — and the clothing item in question, spandex leggings.Related: JetBlue Defends Decision to Ask Passenger to Replace Booty Shorts Before Boarding Flight. Will the Incident Affect Its Brand?While it’s understandable that United Airlines wants employees to put their best foot forward and the dress code was intended to help safeguard its reputation, it appears that the takeaway for people watching the incident unfold was inconvenience and an outdated rule that seemed to unduly target women’s clothing choices.So what can other companies learn from United’s messaging faux pas?Denise Lee Yohn, the author of What Great Brands Do, told Entrepreneur that while consistency is admirable in a brand, in this case, the company would have done well to tell aggrieved customers that it was planning to review its rules around the dress code.“United Airlines has taken the high road by enforcing, and then sticking to, an established policy,” she says. “Companies establish rules like this to maintain their desired brand image — United shouldn’t be faulted for that. But this is the kind of fodder that fuels social media, and so it’s taken a hit. The company should have stated that it supports its employees for following procedure but it would be reexamining its policy.”Jim Joseph, worldwide president at Cohn & Wolfe, agreed, noting that clarity is the only way to mitigate against a social media blowup.“Social media moves quickly, so it’s imperative to respond to issues with quick, full and transparent communications, as early — and as often — as possible,” Joseph told Entrepreneur. “If initial tweets from the brand had better explained that these travelers were part of an employee benefit program that has a dress code, perhaps some of the backlash could have been avoided. If the dress code is revisited, then United should also let that be known publicly.” Social Media Add to Queue Apply Now » read more

AIanalyticsDigital TransformationExperianMarketing TechnologyNewsShri SanthanamSteve Wagner Previous ArticleLattice Engines Ranked a Leader in B2B Customer Data Platform Report by Independent Research FirmNext ArticleCardinal Path’s 2019 State of Marketing Technology Report Highlights Consolidation & Disruption Experian Appoints Shri Santhanam as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Global Analytics and AI PRNewswireJune 19, 2019, 10:00 pmJune 19, 2019 Santhanam will lead Experian in helping clients succeed using ML, AI and advanced analyticsExperian announced that Shri Santhanam will join the company as executive vice president and general manager of global analytics and AI. In this new position, Santhanam will help the already successful global decision analytics business advance forward by taking full advantage of the opportunities of big data analytics. Santhanam also will chair Experian’s global analytics council, working closely with the regions to shape and drive the overall analytics and AI agenda.Marketing Technology News: Study: Consumers Reject Brands That Advertise on ‘Fake News’ and Objectionable Content Online“Businesses of all sizes are challenged to access, interpret and act on data to create value and benefit consumers,” said Steve Wagner, global managing director of Decision Analytics for Experian. “Our clients are increasingly interested in leveraging the predictive power of machine learning, artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to improve the decisions they make. We are pleased to have Shri lead us further on this journey.”Most recently, Santhanam was a partner at the international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman. There he co-founded Oliver Wyman Labs, which helps clients use data, technology and advanced analytics to drive transformative business impact. Santhanam has worked with clients across various industries to build products and solutions using AI and advanced analytics.Marketing Technology News: Triton Digital Integrates Centro’s Basis Platform with the a2x Programmatic Marketplace“There are so many areas where businesses can use data and analytics in more meaningful ways, and I’m thrilled to work with the Experian team to help enterprises across the globe in driving better, faster and smarter decisions,” said Santhanam. “AI is poised to have a transformative impact on many industries and is rapidly changing the way we do business. This represents a significant opportunity for companies with the assets and mindset to go after it.”Experian recently worked with Forrester Consulting to survey senior executives and decision-makers about how they tackle the challenges and opportunities surrounding digital transformation. According to the report, 81 percent of executives believe traditional business models will disappear over the next five years due to digital transformation.Marketing Technology News: Mindtree to Showcase Contextual, Real-Time Solutions for Personalized Traveler Experiences at HITEC Minneapolis read more

Citation: Volkswagen to stash cars at Berlin’s problem airport (2018, June 27) retrieved 18 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-06-volkswagen-stash-cars-berlin-problem.html Combining Germany’s national embarrassments German prosecutors raid Audi boss over diesel cheating Car giant Volkswagen will stock cars awaiting strict new emissions tests at Berlin’s under-construction airport, combining the German national embarrassments of the carmaker’s “dieselgate” scandal and the much-delayed travel hub. “In this case, our normal logistics spaces aren’t enough,” a Volkswagen spokesman told AFP on Wednesday, saying the firm faces delays to emissions tests on between 200,000 and 250,000 cars.The firm will store vehicles at VW’s testing grounds near its Wolfsburg HQ as well as the Berlin airport and “is looking into other spaces,” he added.Like other carmakers, VW is scrambling to adapt to a new emissions testing regime known as the Worldwide harmonised Light vehicles Test Procedure or WLTP, forcing it to slow production in Wolfsburg as well as storing untested cars.WLTP is designed to more accurately reflect vehicles’ emissions performance under real driving conditions, making it longer and more complex than previous procedures.Volkswagen for years fooled regulators under previous testing regimes.It admitted in 2015 to building software known as a “defeat device” into 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide, reducing harmful emissions in the lab but allowing them to shoot up in on-road driving.Other carmakers like Daimler and BMW have since fallen under suspicion and this year were forced to recall thousands of vehicles for software updates.As a blow to Germany’s pride in its engineering prowess and reputation for honesty in business, the endless, convoluted “dieselgate” scandal has been matched in recent years only by the succession of disasters at Berlin’s new international airport.First slated to open in 2011, the opening of the hub named for former Chancellor Willy Brandt has been repeatedly pushed back over issues ranging from fire safety to structural integrity.Meanwhile, one former manager at the project was jailed in 2016 for accepting a bribe and prosecutors said last year they were probing another.Authorities now hope to open the doors—another of the many technical problems at the troubled airport—by October 2020. Explore further This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. © 2018 AFP read more

Intentionally or not, Microsoft has emerged as a kind of internet cop by devoting considerable resources to thwarting Russian hackers. Microsoft uncovers more Russian hacking ahead of midterms Companies including Microsoft, Google and Amazon are uniquely positioned to do this because their infrastructure and customers are affected. Turner said they “are defending their own hardware and their own software and to some extent defending their own customers.”Turner said he has not seen anyone in the industry as “out in front and open about” these issues as Microsoft.As industry leaders, Microsoft’s Windows operating systems had long been prime targets for viruses when in 2008 the company formed its Digital Crimes Unit, an international team of attorneys, investigators and data scientists. The unit became known earlier in this decade for taking down botnets, collections of compromised computers used as tools for financial crimes and denial-of-service attacks that overwhelm their targets with junk data.Richard Boscovich, a former federal prosecutor and a senior attorney in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, testified to the Senate in 2014 about how Microsoft used civil litigation as a tactic. Boscovich is also involved in the fight against Fancy Bear, which Microsoft calls Strontium, according to court filings.To attack botnets, Microsoft would take its fight to courts, suing on the basis of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and other laws and asking judges for permission to sever the networks’ command-and-control structures.”Once the court grants permission and Microsoft severs the connection between a cybercriminal and an infected computer, traffic generated by infected computers is either disabled or routed to domains controlled by Microsoft,” Boscovich said in 2014.He said the process of taking over the accounts, known as “sinkholing,” enabled Microsoft to collect valuable evidence and intelligence used to assist victims.In the latest action against Fancy Bear, a court order filed Monday allowed Microsoft to seize six new domains, which the company said were either registered or used at some point after April 20.Smith said this week the company is still investigating how the newly discovered domains might have been used.A security firm, Trend Micro, identified some of the same fake domains earlier this year. They mimicked U.S. Senate websites, while using standard Microsoft log-in graphics that made them appear legitimate, said Mark Nunnikhoven, Trend Micro’s vice president of cloud research.Microsoft has good reason to take them down, Nunnikhoven said, because they can hurt its brand reputation. But the efforts also fit into a broader tech industry mission to make the internet safer.”If consumers are not comfortable and don’t feel safe using digital products,” they will be less likely to use them, Nunnikhoven said. © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The company’s announcement Tuesday that it had identified and forced the removal of fake internet domains mimicking conservative U.S. political institutions triggered alarm on Capitol Hill and led Russian officials to accuse the company of participating in an anti-Russian “witch hunt.”Microsoft stands virtually alone among tech companies with an aggressive approach that uses U.S. courts to fight computer fraud and seize hacked websites back. In the process, it has acted more like a government detective than a global software giant.In the case this week, the company did not just accidentally stumble onto a couple of harmless spoof websites. It seized the latest beachhead in an ongoing struggle against Russian hackers who meddled in the 2016 presidential election and a broader, decade-long legal fight to protect Microsoft customers from cybercrime.”What we’re seeing in the last couple of months appears to be an uptick in activity,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, said in an interview this week. Microsoft says it caught these particular sites early and that there’s no evidence they were used in hacking.The Redmond, Washington, company sued the hacking group best known as Fancy Bear in August 2016, saying it was breaking into Microsoft accounts and computer networks and stealing highly sensitive information from customers. The group, Microsoft said, would send “spear-phishing” emails that linked to realistic-looking fake websites in hopes targeted victims—including political and military figures—would click and betray their credentials.The effort is not just a question of fighting computer fraud but of protecting trademarks and copyright, the company argues.One email introduced as court evidence in 2016 showed a photo of a mushroom cloud and a link to an article about how Russia-U.S. tensions could trigger World War III. Clicking on the link might expose a user’s computer to infection, hidden spyware or data theft.An indictment from U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller has tied Fancy Bear to Russia’s main intelligence agency, known as the GRU, and to the 2016 email hacking of both the Democratic National Committee and Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Explore further In this May 11, 2017, file photo Alex Kipman, a technical fellow at Microsoft, stands on stage after speaking at the Microsoft Build 2017 developers conference in Seattle. Microsoft stands virtually alone among tech companies with its aggressive approach that uses U.S. courts to fight computer fraud and seize hacked websites back from malicious perpetrators. But in the process, the company is taking on a role that might look more like the job of government than a corporation. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) In this Feb. 27, 2018, file photo Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith, left, leaves the Supreme Court in Washington. Microsoft stands virtually alone among tech companies with its aggressive approach that uses U.S. courts to fight computer fraud and seize hacked websites back from malicious perpetrators. “What we’re seeing in the last couple of months appears to be an uptick in activity,” said Smith.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) Some security experts were skeptical about the publicity surrounding Microsoft’s announcement, worried that it was an overblown reaction to routine surveillance of political organizations—potential cyberespionage honey pots— that never rose to the level of an actual hack.The company also used its discovery as an opportunity to announce its new free security service to protect U.S. candidates, campaigns and political organizations ahead of the midterm elections.But Maurice Turner, a senior technologist at the industry-backed Center for Democracy and Technology, said Microsoft is wholly justified in its approach to identifying and publicizing online dangers.”Microsoft is really setting the standards with how public and how detailed they are with reporting out their actions,” Turner said. Citation: Microsoft’s anti-hacking efforts make it an internet cop (2018, August 22) retrieved 18 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-08-microsoft-anti-hacking-efforts-internet-cop.html read more

Provided by Loughborough University Citation: Researchers solve scientific puzzle that could improve solar panel efficiency (2019, May 14) retrieved 17 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-05-scientific-puzzle-solar-panel-efficiency.html Most of the world’s solar power is currently produced by solar panels – also known as photovoltaic panels – that are made of silicon.Recently, new solar panels have been created that are made from a semiconducting material called cadmium telluride (CdTe).CdTe panels have been found to produce electricity at lower costs than silicon panels and there has been a dramatic gain in efficiency brought about by adding an element called selenium to the cadmium telluride.As a result, electricity from CdTe solar farms is being produced more cheaply than it is from fossil fuels giving economic as well as environmental benefits around the world.Until now, it was not well understood why selenium increases efficiency but thanks to Tom Fiducia, a Ph.D. Research Student in the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST), and an international team of researchers, the puzzle has been solved.Tom has worked with leading solar experts from CREST, Durham University, the University of Oxford and Colorado State University, in the United States, to explore the effect selenium has in solar panels and the group has had their findings published in Nature Energy – a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal which only shares the top energy research across the natural and social sciences.Their paper, titled ‘Understanding the role of selenium in defect passivation for highly efficient selenium-alloyed cadmium telluride solar cells’,has revealed that selenium works by overcoming the effect of harmful, atomic-scale defects in CdTe panels.This explains the increase of efficiency as electrons (subatomic particles that carry electricity), which are generated when sunlight hits the solar panel, are less likely to be trapped and lost at the defects. This increases the amount of power extracted. Tom, who is the lead author of the paper, says the team discovered this “unexpected” behaviour by measuring how much light is emitted from selenium-containing panels.As selenium is not evenly distributed across the panels, they compared the ‘luminescence’ emitted from areas where there was little-to-no selenium present and areas where the selenium was very concentrated.Tom explained: “While it seems counter intuitive, good solar cell material that is defect-free is very efficient at emitting light, and so luminesces strongly.”We mapped the luminescence emitted from a selenium-containing solar cell at a resolution of around 1/10,000thof a millimetre and compared it to a similarly high-resolution map of the selenium concentration taken on the exact same area of the cell.”It is strikingly obvious when you see the data that selenium-rich regions luminesce much more brightly than the pure cadmium telluride, and the effect is remarkably strong.”Tom hopes the findings will lead to improved solar panels and increased usage across the globe.He commented: “Now that the selenium-induced efficiency improvement is better understood, it may be possible to use this knowledge to increase the efficiency of cadmium telluride solar panels even further.”For instance, this could be by simply increasing the amount of selenium in the devices or altering its distributions within the cell.”If efficiency can be increased, this would further decrease electricity prices and have a direct positive impact on regions that adopt the technology.”Of appearing in Nature Energy, he said: “It’s nice to have some reassurance that your work is going along the right lines.”I hope that the results can be useful to other researchers and ultimately make a positive impact.”Professor Michael Walls, Professor of Photovoltaics and the academic overseeing Tom’s Ph.D. research, said: “Now we know how the selenium improves the solar cell efficiency, it should be possible to improve the power output still further.”It’s a great example of an international team working together contributing their expertise and facilities and developing a fundamental understanding of how devices really work.” This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Team optimizes formula for cadmium-tellurium solar cells More information: Thomas A. M. Fiducia et al. Understanding the role of selenium in defect passivation for highly efficient selenium-alloyed cadmium telluride solar cells, Nature Energy (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-019-0389-z Journal information: Nature Energy Explore further Caption: (Left) map of the selenium distribution in the solar cell material. The brighter turquoise/white regions are where there are higher concentrations of selenium. (Right) This is a corresponding map of the luminescence emitted from the material. It can clearly be seen that there is brighter luminescence where there is more selenium. Credit: Loughborough University A Loughborough University Ph.D. student has helped shed light on a solar panel puzzle that could lead to more efficient devices being developed. read more

Next NIA Bill passes in Lok Sabha, Amit Shah says Modi govt will never misuse lawThe NIA (Amendment) Bill, 2019, has passed in the Lok Sabha after a round of heated debate on Monday.advertisement India Today Web Desk New DelhiJuly 15, 2019UPDATED: July 15, 2019 17:17 IST The NIA Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday. (File photo: PTI)HIGHLIGHTSThe NIA (Amendment) Bill, 2019, was passed in Lok Sabha on MondayCongress opposed to the Bill saying it may be misused by the govt for political vendettaAmit Shah said Modi govt will never misuse the NIA lawLok Sabha passed the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on Monday after a heated debate between Home Minister Amit Shah and the Opposition.The Bill amends the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, 2008 that provides for a national-level agency to investigate and prosecute offences listed in the scheduled offences. Further, the Act allows for creation of Special Courts for the trial of scheduled offences.The Bill seeks to allow the NIA to investigate the following offences in addition to human trafficking, offences related to counterfeit currency or bank notes, manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, cyber-terrorism and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.Refuting Opposition claims over “misuse” of the NIA law, Amit Shah on Monday asserted that the Modi government will never misuse it on the basis of religion but ensure that terrorism is finished off irrespective of the religion of the accused.In an intervention during a discussion in Lok Sabha on the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Shah also targeted the Congress-led UPA government for repealing the anti-terror act POTA, saying it was not done because of its alleged misuse but to “save its vote bank”.While Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy sought support of all parties for the passage of the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Manish Tewari of the Congress accused the government of trying to turn India into a “police state”.Reddy told the House that the new law will allow the NIA to probe cases of terrorism targeting Indians and Indian assets abroad, and also empower the agency to investigate cases of arms and human trafficking besides those linked to cyber terrorism.He said terror attacks witnessed an uspurge after the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed resulting in the same UPA government being forced to constitute NIA after the Mumbai attacks.Shah sought all-party support for the Bill’s passage, saying a division in the House on the issue of strengthening the agency will send out a wrong message and boost the morale of terrorists.Parliament should speak in one voice in giving powers to the NIA to send out a message to terrorists and the world, he asserted.His response came as several opposition leaders criticised the bill and accused the government of using investigating agencies for “political vendetta”.Some MPs said the anti-terror law is misused at times to target members of a particular community.”Let me make it clear. The Modi government has no such intention. Its only goal is to finish off terrorism but we will also not look at the religion of the accused while taking action,” Shah said.Tewari opposed the bill, saying probe agencies are misused for “political vendetta” and “inspired media leaks” from them have turned the maxim of “innocent until proven guilty” on its head.He also claimed that the constitutional validity of the NIA Act, which led to the investigation agency’s formation, is still not settled as pleas challenging its validity are pending in different courts.(With PTI inputs)Also Read | Owaisi Saab, sunne ki aadat daaliye: Amit Shah-Owaisi spar in Lok Sabha over NIAAlso Watch | Political war breaks out over G Kishan Reddy’s Hyderabad terror hub remarkFor the latest World Cup news, live scores and fixtures for World Cup 2019, log on to indiatoday.in/sports. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for World Cup news, scores and updates.Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from Post your comment Do You Like This Story? Awesome! Now share the story Too bad. Tell us what you didn’t like in the comments Posted bySanchari Chatterjee read more