CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
United Airlines has agreed to pay $49 million to resolve DOJ allegations of mail delivery data fraud

KEVIN SHALVEY, BUSINESS INSIDER FEB 27, 2021, 

Jeff Chiu/AP Photo

A United Airlines airplane takes off over another United plane on the runway at San Francisco International Airport.

United Airlines agreed to pay $US49 ($63) million to resolve criminal and civil claims, the DOJ said.

The airline was accused of falsifying international delivery data from 2012 and 2015. 

United received millions of dollars in payments based on the data, according to DOJ officials.


United Airlines has agreed to pay about $US49 ($63) million in penalties to resolve criminal charges and civil claims for supplying the US Postal Service with fraudulent data about international mail delivery, according to the Justice Department.

DOJ officials said United employees submitted false international delivery scan data between 2012 and 2015, making it appear that United and its partner airlines were delivering the mail in a timely way.

“Instead of performing this duty with transparency, United defrauded the US Postal Service by providing falsified parcel delivery information over a period of years and accepting millions of dollars of payments to which the company was not entitled,” Nicholas L. McQuaid, acting assistant attorney general, said in a statement.

United entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ criminal division, agreeing to pay about $US17 ($22) million in criminal penalties and returned payments, the DOJ said on Friday. The Chicago-based airline also settled a claim under the False Claims Act with the DOJ civil division, for which it will pay about $US32 ($41) million.

As part of an international mail-delivery contract, United was expected to give the US Postal Service barcode scans of mail receptacles when they received the receptacles in the US and then again when they dropped them off overseas.


The USPS payments to United were based on the airline’s delivery times. But United’s Cargo Division falsified delivery scan info, gave that data to the USPS, and collected payments based on the falsified data, according to the DOJ.

“Through this data automation scheme, United secured millions of dollars in payments from the USPS to which United was not entitled” under the contracts, the DOJ said in a statement on Friday.

The mail shipped overseas by commercial airlines, like United, included parcels sent to US foreign posts and soldiers at foreign operating bases, said Steven Stuller, director of the USPS Office of Inspector General, in a statement.

According to DOJ officials, some employees at United concealed the problems related to scanning and moving mail, because they knew they’d be penalized if the fraud was discovered.

“The attempts to hide the automation practices included efforts to revise the falsified delivery times to make the automated scans appear less suspicious to USPS,” said the DOJ in its statement.

Insider has reached out to United for comment.

Led by CEO Ian Watson, Cellcard is building on its rollout of Cambodia's first 5G use case by tapping into the country's youth-driven mobile market


FEB 24, 2021

Ian Watson, CEO of Cellcard



Led by CEO Ian Watson, Cellcard is one of Cambodia’s largest and most innovative telco firms

Cellcard is tapping into the youth market — and gamers in particular — to help drive mobile penetration

This year the company launched its dedicated esports division, hosting competitions and live-streaming events

In a short time, Cellcard has already increased its proportion of the youth segment among its customer base by more than 50%

Because of his work, Business Insider named Watson to our annual list of the 10 leaders transforming consumer tech in Asia.


Despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19, 2020 was a historic year for Cambodian telco Cellcard. Led by CEO Ian Watson, Cellcard rolled out Cambodia’s first 5G use case – a telemedicine service introduced across four key health facilities in the capital of Phnom Penh to help cope with the pandemic.

This was a significant milestone for both Cellcard and Cambodia, a country with one of the least developed digital infrastructures in the Southeast Asia region. When Watson joined the company in 2012, Cambodia was still very much playing catch up to some of its more developed neighbours. However, by 2018, and with an investment of over US$300 million, Cellcard had established a 4G LTE network that covered 90% of the country. 5G will be the next stage of this evolution.

Technological development aside, 2020 has also represented a transformation in Cellcard’s business strategy, with more emphasis being placed on the large Cambodian youth market to help drive digital adoption, with a particular focus on growing and supporting the country’s young gamer community.

Cambodian demographics favour the youth market

The attraction of the youth segment in Cambodia is clear. Out of a population of roughly 17 million, it is estimated that close to 50% are under the age of 25. As these young people start to come online and access the internet, mobile is the dominant platform. Cambodia now has roughly 21 million mobile connections, with over 14 million enjoying 3G or 4G broadband access.

Cellcard has launched various youth-focused initiatives over the past 12 months. In May, it brought together a number of its musical ambassadors for a Cellcard 4U Virtual Concert to entertain Cambodian families at home during COVID-19. More than 1.7 million viewers watched the concert live on the night on the local MYTV channel, with an additional 5 million online video views of the concert highlights.

In July, the company announced its support to local education infrastructure by establishing an e-learning platform for continued education in a joint collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and Ministry of Posts (MPTC). The app allowed students across Cambodia to continue their studies online, with Cellcard providing free data access between select hours.

But it is one youth demographic sub group in particular where Cellcard has been concentrating its marketing and customer engagement activities this year, and that is gamers. Over the past three years, Cellcard has been investing in promoting and facilitating a mobile gaming culture, and these efforts were ramped up significantly in 2020 with the formal launch of an esports division

“In a market where 48% of the population are under the age of 25, operators and brands have to be youth focused,” says Watson. “There is enormous growth potential for Cellcard in the youth segment. Previously it has been known as the operator for the older business and professional segment, but this is changing as we evolve our digital offerings to be youth centric, especially our move to lead esports in Cambodia.”
Using gaming and esports to drive smartphone penetration

Cellcard’s gaming legacy began just three years ago, with the launch in 2017 of Super Data Race, a Pokémon-style mobile game. Several other popular mobile games followed, but what really transformed Cellcard’s youth appeal has been how it has tapped into the emergence of a hugely popular esports community.

Cambodia has seen a rapid rise in demand for gaming and esports among its youth, not only domestically but also internationally as gamers connect with their peers in the wider region through regional competitions and livestreamed matches. Cellcard was Cambodia’s first telco to stage an esports tournaments back in 2018 and since then has been nurturing the gaming community across the country.

Earlier this year Cellcard launched PlayGame, Cambodia’s first gamer platform, supported by PlayGame Unlimited, a data plan created exclusively for gamers. PlayGame, which partners with leading global game developers such as Tencent, Netease and Moonton, gives customers access to a full range of gaming experiences including online esports tournaments that offer cash prizes and in-game incentives. This year, Cellcard has held almost 200 esport and arcade tournaments and live-stream events, garnering 75.9 million impressions on the PlayGame platform.

The company is also working closely with gaming influencers, with 20 dedicated gamer influencers on its roster. Leveraging these relationships, the company this year developed its own esports-focused TV Show called PlayGame TV. The show is dedicated to celebrating and sharing the gamer lifestyle in Cambodia and features its influencer talent pool as hosts. The first season of eight episode aired simultaneously on local free-to-air TV and Facebook and reached over 9 million viewers.

“We have some of Cambodia’s best performing social media channels including one million-plus fans on TikTok,” says Watson. “Our engagement rates are high as we are very active with social influencers and content creators which is driving more youth customers to Cellcard.”

Youth engagement is already delivering results

The investment in youth and in particular the promotion of esports and gaming is already having a positive result on Cellcard’s business. The company says that gaming is helping it drive smartphone penetration and data usage, particularly in provincial areas. Cellcard has increased the mobile data traffic over its network by 32% this year, while the proportion of young consumers on its customer base has grown from 26% to 40%

Cellcard says it is confident it is on the right track and will continue to lead the esports agenda and grow the gamer and Esports community in the country. The company says it will continue to add more billing and payment choices to give gamers more convenient transaction options.

At the same time Cellcard is continuing to expand its 4G LTE network — as well as beginning to open its 5G network — which it says will further improve speeds and counter latency and jittering issues for gamers. Ultimately, Cellcard argues that increased digital access will benefit not just gamers or young people, but Cambodia as a whole.

“We have entered the digital age, and telecommunication companies such as Cellcard are playing a key role in driving transformation of the people, of companies and of the nation,” says Watson. “Digital empowerment will transform people’s lives for the better by advancing education, health, agriculture and manufacturing, and deliver to all Cambodians, access to the world.”

Dems Will Seek Other Ways to Achieve Minimum Wage Boost, Will Still Support Relief Bill, Prof Says

 

Dems Will Seek Other Ways to Achieve Minimum Wage Boost, Will Still Support Relief Bill, Prof Says

© REUTERS / LUCY NICHOLSON

OPINION

15:00 GMT 27.02.2021

The proposal to raise the minimum wage in the US to $15 an hour, put forth by US President Joe Biden, has not been included in the country's coronavirus relief bill, as was initially promised by the Democratic Party. House Democrats passed a bill including it, but it will be left on the cutting room floor when it gets to the Senate.

Timothy Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa, argues that despite the minimum wage provision not being included in the coronavirus bill that will hit the Senate floor, Democrats will not want to jeopardise other provisions they support by voting the bill down.

Sputnik: How can the ditching of the minimum wage provision from the COVID relief package affect the unity of the Democratic Party, given that progressives were very supportive of it?

Timothy Hagle: This is an interesting question. On the one hand, not having the $15/hr provision might guarantee a few moderate Democrats in the Senate would be more likely to support the resulting stimulus bill. On the other hand, more progressive Senators might balk at not including that provision. The concern of progressives is that it's unlikey the $15/hr provision would pass on its own. That means it would need to be included in some other bill that would make it hard for other Senators to vote against it.

© REUTERS / JONATHAN ERNST

WH Press Sec Says Biden Disappointed in Senate Parliamentarian Ruling on Minimum Wage

Even so, given the current even split in the Senate, Republicans could filibuster any regular bill. The opportunity that currently presents itself is that under reconciliation only a majority is needed to pass this bill rather than the usual 60 votes to end debate under filibuster rules. Unfortunately for the Democrats, there are certain rules about what can be part of a bill under reconciliation, the so-called Byrd Rule. The requirement is that the provision involves taxing and spending. The parliamentarian ruled that the $15/hr provision doesn't qualify, so can't be included.

Not surprisingly, several progressives, in particular some members of the US House, have criticised the parliamentarian and complained about the ruling. Senator Sanders has said that the provision must be included in the stimulus bill and has urged his Senate leadership (i.e., Schumer) to find a way to include it.  

One way might be to get rid of the filibuster rule. This is something Democrats have talked about, but at least one Democrat (Manchin of West Virginia) has said he'd not support such a move.

On the whole I don't think that not including the provision would hurt party unity that much, but it could certainly lead to some vocal reactions and the Biden administration would need to do some damage control by promising to find another way to get to that goal.

Sputnik: How can disagreements within the party ranks affect the passage of Biden's COVID Relief Bill?

Timothy Hagle: Assuming that the $15/hr provision doesn't make it into the bill in some way, it doesn't seem likely that Democrats would vote against it. There are lots of other things in the bill that they support and they wouldn't want to jeopardise getting them. What they can do is object strongly to not having the $15/hr provisions and possibly extract promises from either Senate leadership or the Biden administration to find other ways to achieve that goal.

Sputnik: Does the disposal of the minimum wage provision indicate that the Biden administration can deviate from its campaign pledges in the future?

Timothy Hagle: The Biden administration would likely argue that it isn't deviating from its pledge, just that it needs to find a different way to achieve it. More generally, it's not unusual for presidential candidates to make promises on which they can't deliver. In the case of Biden, although Democrats control both houses of Congress, the margins are so small that it will make major or controversial changes difficult. It also means that it's easy to blame Republicans for blocking some of his policy objectives. Biden has used Executive Orders to achieve some policy objectives but there are limits to that approach. At times he will need to get Congress to act. If they don't, then he can use that as a political issue for the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Opinion: Home working can boost the local economy

Seán O'Donnell

With Covid 19 causing a dramatic shift in lifestyle and working practice, it has also been a reason to look at our own lives and where they are headed.

There has been an upsurge in online learning, both formally and informally, and an abundance of budding self entrepreneurs have emerged. Turning a hobby into a viable income source has become a necessity for many people, particularly those working in sectors that have been hardest hit by the pandemic and its effects.

Crisis Management often calls for radical responses and not just from organizations and governments. This pandemic has taught us that we all have a duty and responsibility to take care of each other and ourselves. This has been brought home for many through a reduction in household income, more time on our hands, and questioning our immediate futures.

That additional time has been put to great use despite the uncertainty and confusion this past twelve months has brought. Established traders have ventured into new markets or have added new services and products to their existing portfolios.

Local groups have come together to provide training and support to people looking to upskill. Individuals have turned their hobbies into an income stream.
Focus on the regions, not just the cities

These endeavors must not be wasted. National economic recovery and development plans need to focus on the regions, not just the capital and principal cities.

If basic infrastructures, including transport and communications, are further developed, then home working can become less stressful and more cost and time effective. As a result, employers will be able to allow more remote working, be it full or part-time, and attract and access a skill set that might not have been possible before this pandemic took hold.

SMEs are the lifeblood of every community – large employers don’t have an exclusive claim on that. Within the SME sector lies a whole host of people who have their fingers on their local communities’ pulse and their target audience.

Many of these established and budding entrepreneurs will not feature in “Dragons’ Den” or be eligible for government, EU, and other schemes. Still, depending on the location, other support measures may well be available.

However, as we look towards a post-pandemic economy, more support programmes and initiatives will be needed at every level.

An increase in home working will have an impact on the housing sector too. Property prices will rise as people look to move from the cities to the outer suburbs if not further afield, and if demand begins to outstrip supply, this will be of benefit to house builders.

This, in turn, will free up much-needed city accommodation already in short supply in many cities. If local populations increase, this will positively impact schools, the local infrastructure, and the economy, thus giving a buoyancy to towns and villages that thought it had gone forever.

This will only work to maximum effect if governments ensure appropriate tax breaks, employment protection, and investment in the local infrastructure.

For business owners, a happy workforce is a productive workforce, and if supply chains can be adapted, then everyone is happy, including the customer, who at the end of the day is paying for i

CANADA IS IN FOURTH PLACE

Americans perform over 1,000 skeptical online searches on 5G daily


Oliver Scott

5G technology is one of the pinnacle new technologies that is set to revolutionize everyday life. Driven by its core benefit of super-fast low latency internet, 5G has the strong potential to unlock the full capabilities of other advanced technologies like augmented reality and the Internet of things (IoT). Despite these positive credentials, many are still cynical about 5G.

Interested in technology trends, Prolifics Testing utilized online analytics tool Ahrefs to discover which countries in the world are most skeptical about 5G based on their online searches about 5G.

Prolifics Testing classified and grouped consistently recurring Google searches by individuals on 5G such as ‘is 5G dangerous?’, ‘is 5G safe?’, ‘is 5G harmful?’, ‘does 5G pose health risks?’ and ‘does 5G cause/spread coronavirus (Covid-19)?’ as skeptical online searches about 5G.

The company found that that the United States is in the number one spot as Americans are the most hesitant about the emerging technology, with an astonishing 374,700 skeptical online searches regarding 5G each month – the equivalent of 1,027 skeptical online searches per day.

The United Kingdom ranks second, where there are 93,400 online searches a month by Brits doubting and questioning various aspects of 5G.

Australia is in third place, as there is an average of 32,970 dubious online queries about 5G per month by worried Australians.

Canada (22,680) and Poland (20,510) are among the other countries in the world where there are more than 20,000 tentative online searches about 5G every month, respectively ranking fourth and fifth.

Interestingly in Africa, there are 13,780 online searches a month by South Africans (eighth place) and 6,850 online searches a month by Nigerians (thirteenth place) concerning the possible negative implications of 5G technology.

At the other end in 20th place is Denmark, where there is an average of 1,410 skeptical online searches by Danes relating to 5G each month.

155 countries from across six continents were individually assessed for skeptical online searches about 5G research. The online search volume data used for each respective country in the research represents average monthly online searches.

According to the researchers, when analyzing the data, each of the most common skeptical online searches regarding 5G were assessed in English and each country’s respective primary language (where applicable) to increase the reliability of results.

CAPITALI$M IN $PACE 

'JPMorgan confirms completion of blockchain-based payments test in space

LIKE SENDING A PENNY TO PAYPAL

Samuel Town

Banking giant JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) has confirmed the completion of a blockchain payment test between satellites orbiting the earth. The extraordinary experiment was a partnership with Danish firm GomSpace, executives at the bank told Reuters.

The study explores how the Internet of Things (IoT) technology can be incorporated into payment processing. Banking facilities like JPMorgan are seeking to leverage the technology that is mainly linked to consumer electronics.

According to Umar Farooq, JPMorgan blockchain business Onyx CEO, the test shows that blockchain technology can power transactions between everyday objects. He adds that the study points to the possibility of establishing a marketplace where satellites can provide each other data in exchange for payments.

Farooq explains the motivation to conduct the test in space. He states that:

“The idea was to explore IoT payments in a fully decentralized way. Nowhere is more decentralized and detached from the earth than space. Secondly, we are nerdy, and it was a much more fun way to test IoT.”

In the real world, IoT payments can potentially be power devices like smart fridges that can order and pay for consumer commodities like milk on digital retail platforms. 

JPMorgan’s aggressive blockchain approach

The experiment highlights JPMorgan’s aggressive approach towards exploring the capabilities of blockchain in the banking sector.

Besides establishing Onyx, JPMorgan created its own distributed ledger called Quorum but sold it to blockchain firm Consensys. Furthermore, the bank has its digital coin called JPM Coin.

Despite boasting a catalog of blockchain products, JPMorgan is still conducting further research before mass commercialization.

“If you think about blockchain, we are either somewhere in the trough of disillusionment or just beyond that on the hype curve. That’s why at JPMorgan, we’ve been relatively quiet about it until we were ready to scale it and commercialize it,” said Farooq.

The bank maintains that its interest in blockchain is to relieve the traditional money transfer systems’ pain points. Most importantly, JPMorgan’s blockchain activities are acting as a catalyst towards making cryptocurrencies mainstream.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Boeing to pay $6.6 million in penalties to FAA


Oliver Scott

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has assessed $5.4 million in deferred civil penalties against The Boeing Company for failing to meet its performance obligations under a 2015 settlement agreement, according to an official statement released on February 25.

The Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer also agreed to pay $1.21 million to settle two pending FAA enforcement cases.

Under the 2015 agreement, Boeing (NYSE: BA) pledged to change its internal processes to improve and prioritize regulatory compliance. The agreement required the company to meet specific performance targets and authorized the FAA to assess deferred penalties if it failed to do so.
Insufficient compliance with FAA regulations

The FAA assessed $5.4 million in deferred penalties under the terms of the 2015 agreement because Boeing missed some of its improvement targets, and because some company managers did not sufficiently prioritize compliance with FAA regulations.

The 2015 agreement prevents Boeing from appealing the FAA’s penalty assessment, and the five-year term of this agreement has ended. Boeing previously paid $12 million in civil penalties as an initial condition of the 2015 agreement. The terms of this new settlement were reached at the end of December 2020.


“Boeing failed to meet all of its obligations under the settlement agreement, and the FAA is holding Boeing accountable by imposing additional penalties,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said. “I have reiterated to Boeing’s leadership time and again that the company must prioritize safety and regulatory compliance, and that the FAA will always put safety first in all its decisions.”

Boeing also will pay $1.21 million to settle two enforcement cases. One case alleged the company implemented an improper structure of its FAA-approved Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program and exerted undue pressure or interfered with ODA unit members.

The other case alleged it failed to follow its quality-control processes and subjected ODA members to undue pressure or interference in relation to an aircraft airworthiness inspection.

The FAA will be vigilant in its oversight of Boeing’s engineering and production activities and is actively implementing the certification reform and oversight provisions of the 2020 Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act.

This legislation will allow FAA to assess even greater civil penalties against manufacturers that exert undue pressure on ODA unit members.

BOZO 

Bolsonaro criticizes the use of facemasks against Covid-19 in Brazil

Brasilia, Feb 26 (Prensa Latina) President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday once again discouraged the use of protective facemasks against Covid-19 in Brazil, citing a German survey questioned for its lack of seriousness and scientific rigor.

Without measuring consequences, Bolsonaro named a 'German university study,' in reality a mere online survey that had a disproportionate participation of pandemic skeptics.

'The side effects of the facemasks are starting to appear here,' the president assured during a live broadcast on social networks.

Bolsonaro argued that 'a German university says facemasks are harmful to children and takes into account several factors: irritability, headaches, difficulty concentrating, decreased perception of happiness, refusal to go to school or kindergarten, discouragement, impaired learning ability, dizziness and fatigue.'

According to the G1 news website, which quotes a German news agency, 'no German university has produced any study that draws such conclusion.'

The site ensures that Bolsonaro alluded to the results of an online survey conducted by five researchers from the University of Witten/Herdecke, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

rly/omr/jf/ocs

Prensa Latina, Cuba's website with most traffic on Internet

Madrid, Feb 27 (Prensa Latina) Prensa Latina News Agency's portal web is today the site with the highest Internet traffic from Cuba, even ahead of Facebook, the 'Digital 2021' study carried out by two major communication companies reveals.

The research placed this international news media in third place among the platforms with more navigation from the island , only surpassed by two global domains, Google (first) and YouTube (second). Facebook is in fourth place, according to the list prepared by the firms We Are Social and Hootsuite on Internet consumption patterns in the world.

According to the source, the agency is the Cuban press media with the highest traffic for several months now ahead of the rest of the website in the Caribbean nation.

Prensa Latina has 40 correspondents in 39 countries and its world news service offers around 400 daily news items in six languages.

It also provides photos, news videos, radio reports, multimedia services and a series of 8 periodical journals on political, economic, cultural, sports and science and technology issues.

Besides, it has cooperation agreements with around one hundred news agencies, newspapers and communication organizations around the world.

According to the specialized report, another Cuban media outlet ranked among the top 10 is CubaDebate (sixth), after the site of Cuba's telecommunications company (Etecsa), which came in fifth place.

The report highlights the eighth position reached by the Gob.cu domain, which groups governmental institutions and the advance achieved by sites dedicated to e-commerce.

The authors of the study indicated that their report shows that information technology became an even more essential part of people's lives during the past year, with social networks, e-commerce and video games showing the highest growth.

 

Italy announces new archaeological find in Pompeii

Rome, Feb 27 (Prensa Latina) The direction of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced on Saturday the discovery of a ceremonial carriage in one of the areas of the city buried by the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano almost 2,000 years ago.

A press release from the Ministry of Cultural Assets and Activities (MIBAC) indicated the vehicle was recovered, almost intact, in the suburban village of Civita Giuliana, beyond the ancient city wall, in the context of activities begun in 2017 to tackle clandestine excavations.

The large four-wheeled ceremonial chariot emerged with its iron elements, beautiful bronze and tin decorations, remains of mineralized wood and traces of the organic elements, in the portico in front of the stable where the remains of three horses were found in 2018, the communiqué referred.

Meanwhile, MIBAC head Dario Franceschini highlighted the 'great scientific value' of the discovery, while acknowledging the work of the Archaeological Park, the Procurator's Office of Torre Annunziata and officers of the Cultural Heritage Protection core to prevent the illegal trafficking of 'such extraordinary findings.'

With 20 hectares still to be excavated, he pointed out, Pompeii continues to surprise with its discoveries and will continue to do so for many years to come, but it shows, above all, that it can be enhanced to attract tourists from all over the world, but also researched and studied.

The ancient Roman city was buried by the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano in the year 79 AC along with the neighboring Herculaneum, Stabiae and Oplontis, whose remains began to emerge from 1738 with successive excavations.

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