CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M
Cryptocurrency transfer led to money laundering conviction, but experts say a boom in underworld use unlikely

Libby Wilson05:00, Aug 01 2021

JACK TAYLOR/GETTY IMAGES
Rayon Mohi Williams – who was arrested as part of an investigation into a methamphetamine operation – had made a $5000 transfer to show an associate how cryptocurrency transactions work.

Police on a methamphetamine operation uncovered a $5000 cryptocurrency transfer that led to a money laundering conviction.

But a boom in underworld uses of encrypted currency is unlikely, according to academics with an interest in the area.

Cash is still simpler, and one academic warned any would-be criminal users that cryptocurrency isn’t as anonymous as initially touted.

A recent court decision shows police picked up a transfer made by Rayon Mohi Williams – one of 29 people arrested after a methamphetamine investigation spanning Auckland and Waikato.


READ MORE:
* Cryptocoins are proliferating wildly. What are they all for?
* Volatility in price of bitcoin raises tax questions
* Ex-Cryptopia staffer admits stealing almost $250,000 of cryptocurrency
* Cryptomining attack prompts password changes at Massey University


From January 2020, police began investigating a “highly organised and lucrative drug dealing business”.

Williams sent $5000 to an associate, as a cryptocurrency transaction demonstration for another person, according to a recent Court of Appeal decision.

That earned him a money laundering conviction – but his cryptocurrency wallet was not found, so the court couldn't know how much he’d bought or held.

Williams also faced another money laundering charge, for paying $26,750 cash for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in June 2020.

UNSPLASH
Authorities never found Williams’ wallet, so couldn’t say how much cryptocurrency he’d bought or held.

The court believed Williams laundered more, despite not having evidence of how much.

It noted he worked closely with the operation’s central figure, “in particular discussing and demonstrating the purchase and balance of cryptocurrency accounts”.

The judge was satisfied that Williams’ offending was “not insignificant”, basing that on “the sums Mr Williams had received and disbursed and from the steps that Mr Williams had taken to conceal his activities”.

CHRIS SKELTON/STUFF
Cryptocurrency is often more traceable than cash, University of Auckland associate professor of commercial law Alex Sims says.

Cryptocurrency would likely only be used in a very small percentage of laundering situations because cash was much simpler, University of Auckland’s Alex Sims told Stuff.

“You’ve got to find someone who’s willing to accept [the cryptocurrency] from you, and it’s hard to turn it back into NZ dollars,” the commercial law associate professor said.

“You would basically have to prove where you got it from”.

Encrypted currency is often more traceable than cash, if law enforcement agencies discover who is behind a public key, used for identification.

“If you are incredibly sophisticated there are ways around it, but that’s very hard.”

However, as cryptocurrency use becomes increasingly common in society, it follows that it’ll be used more for crime, she said.

University of Otago’s Dr John Williams warned any would-be criminal users: “it’s not as anonymous as you might think”.

Williams is a business school senior lecturer who himself owns cryptocurrency.

123RF
Cryptocurrency is “not as anonymous as you might think”, University of Otago business school senior lecturer Dr John Williams says.

And he wasn't surprised the law hadn't managed to track down Williams’ wallet.

“The authorities will have increasing cases to deal with but also will have increasingly capable tools to combat it as well, as the law enforcement agencies share the strategies and tactics they use to be anonymised.”

Still, the issue of ransomware attacks well overshadowed money laundering through cryptocurrency, he said.

Rayon Mohi Williams appealed the original sentence for his two money laundering charges, and the Court of Appeal changed it to 10 months of home detention, with special conditions.

Police were approached for comment on cryptocurrency and money laundering but did not respond before publication.

NEW ZEALAND THE SEVENTIES

The dawn raids explained: What drove the Government to target Pasifika people

Keith Lynch Aug 01 2021

Once a Panther is a Stuff podcast about the Polynesian Panther Party, a group of young New Zealand-born Pacific Islanders who stood up to institutionalised racism and helped change the course of history in Aotearoa.

In the 1970s, New Zealand governments (both Labour and National), migration officials and police targeted Pasifika overstayers. Homes were raided late at night and people were stopped in the street.

What happened has prompted a formal apology from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government, which will take place in Auckland today.

This is what led to the raids and how they came to an end.
The boom

In 1945, there were about 2000 Pasifika people living in New Zealand.

READ MORE:
* A Dawn Raids apology is worthless without an overstayer amnesty, says 'Tongan Robin Hood'

* Once a Panther: The revolutionary Polynesians who stopped the dawn raids

* Dawn raids on overstayers still happening, despite Government apology to Pasifika

After World War II, Aotearoa’s economy enjoyed an unprecedented boom, fuelled mostly by agricultural exports – the likes of meat, wool and dairy – primarily to Britain. Wool was particularly lucrative.

These industries needed workers, so the Government actively sought to attract people from a range of nearby Pacific countries. Most arrived from the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji.

At the time, those from the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau were automatically granted New Zealand citizenship which, of course, meant they could come and go as they pleased. (This changed in 2006).

Those from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji were not citizens. But they were still granted access to New Zealand through the likes of temporary short-term visas and other migration schemes.

According to this Te Ara piece: “Programmes brought young men over as agricultural and forestry workers, and young women as domestics.”

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF
Minister Aupito William Sio gets emotional during the press conference as he talked about his Dawn Raid experiences.

By 1976, there were almost 65,700 Pasifika people in the country, 2.1 per cent of the total population.

As New Zealand badly needed workers, it essentially turned a blind eye to Pasifika people coming into the country and staying on when a visa expired.
The bust

Life was pretty good in 1960s New Zealand. The country had a high standard of living. Nearly everyone had a job and there was almost no inflation.

Then came December 14, 1966, when the auction price for wool collapsed by 40 per cent overnight. It caused a 16 per cent drop off in our export revenue, according to this Radio New Zealand report.

On January 1, 1973, Britain joined the European Economic Community, which has since morphed into the European Union. This severely impacted a New Zealand economy reliant on exports. The terms of the game had changed.

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Worse was to come. The price of oil soared, rising from about US$3 a barrel to nearly US$20 in the early 1970s. The hikes were prompted by Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposing an embargo on oil production, retaliating against western nations for supporting Israel in the 1973 war. Higher oil prices made it more expensive to do business.

These economic shocks rocked New Zealand to its core.The good times were over. Jobs were harder to come by. And some media and politicians began to demonise certain groups of people.

The blame

A 1968 amendment to the Immigration Act helped lay the groundwork of what was to come. The law change allowed the deportation of those who had overstayed their work permits. It also required people to produce a work permit or passport to prove their immigration status, if asked.

If you didn’t have a passport you were in trouble. The problem was, as Joris de Bres, a former Race Relations Commissioner, wrote: “Often, their passports were held by travel agents as a bond against repayment of their borrowed fares.”

Dr Melani Anae, an associate professor of Pacific studies at the University of Auckland, explained what this meant in her book: The Platform: The Radical Legacy of the Polynesian Panthers. (This excerpt was published on E-Tangata.)

“Those who did not comply on the spot could be arrested, kept in a holding cell without a warrant, and in some cases deported…”

The law allowed officials to target Samoan and Tongan people who stayed on after their permit expired. Police also created task forces targeting overstayers and dealing with violence in inner-city Auckland.

Massey University’s Professor Paul Spoonley says the Labour government of the time was unusual and somewhat divided on the issue. On one hand, they made conciliatory remarks about the Pacific. On the other hand, they ordered a crackdown on overstayers.

In 1974, the year before New Zealand's next general election, the raids began.

SUPPLIED.

Telesia Topping tells her story during the Dawn Raids.

The raids

A young policeman, about 22 years old, came into my room . . . I asked him what he was doing in my bedroom. He did not answer. I was really frightened.

He went to the bathroom, inspected it, came back and pulled the covers off my bed . . . He pulled open the wardrobe, fiddled with the clothing, checked everything. The same policeman went into the adjoining room where my two nephews, aged 19 and 20 years, were asleep. The policeman shone the light into their eyes, saying “get up and get out”...

My nephews were very frightened. The police then started dragging them out to their van.

This was the account of Telesia Topping, a Tongan woman who had lived in New Zealand for 10 years. She told the story to the Auckland Star.

Police and immigration officials targeted Pasifika people in a bid to remove alleged overstayers. They went to homes and churches, and targeted factories and hotels. They used dogs. New Zealand citizens were, of course, also caught up in the raids.
The election

Spooked by protests and potentially realising the economic necessity of migrants, Labour acted. Immigration Minister Fraser Colman called a halt to the raids in 1974. Prime Minister Norman Kirk introduced an amnesty allowing migrants to register themselves and gain a two-month extension of their work visa. Kirk died later that year.

Labour’s shift was seized upon by the National Party, led by Robert Muldoon. He took the party leadership in July 1974 and immediately promised to cut migration. His rhetoric was populist and nationalistic.

The National Party ran an extremely controversial campaign ad, animated by Hanna-Barbera (which was behind Scooby Doo and The Flintstones) directed at migrants.

SUPPLIED
A still from National's controversial campaign cartoon before the 1975 election.

Muldoon won and the raids became more intense in 1975. Now people were being randomly stopped in the streets.

When asked about whether the police were targetting Pasifika people, the then Police Minister Allan McCready said they were not. He explained: “If you have a herd of Jerseys and two Friesians, the Friesians stand out.”

News reports also emerged that some police were angry at being used as political pawns. The Government’s position was simple. The raids were justified to catch illegal migrants.
The Polynesian Panthers

An activist group called the Polynesian Panthers was formed in 1971 to fight discrimination. They grew throughout the 1970s with members in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Sydney.

As Stuff’s Brad Flahive and Alex Liu reported, the Panthers responded to the raids by supporting their community but also by “raiding” government ministers outside their homes in the early hours of the morning.

The group has gone on to successfully campaign for a state apology, which will happen at a commemoration event in the Auckland Town Hall on August 1.

***To mark the party’s 50th anniversary, Stuff released its latest major podcast funded by NZ On Air. Once a Panther chronicles their stories. You can find it here.

SUPPLIED.
The Immigration Minister defended the raids

.
The wind-down

Ultimately the raids became untenable. In 1977, the Immigration Department changed up overstayers' processes.

The NZ History website provides an insight into the political motivations that ended the raids.

While some point to the work of the Polynesian Panthers and other advocacy groups, author Sharon Alice Liava'a believed the public condemnation of the raids did not in fact lead to them coming to the end.

“Rather, she claims that it was Muldoon’s own realisation that things had gone too far that led to the raids ending," reported NZ History.

There were also tangible economic changes. While the police went after Pasifika people, the economy wasn’t getting much better. And in 1977 people were leaving New Zealand – about 12,000 a year.

The public, business leaders and trade unionists were not necessarily happy with this.

“The Government came under pressure from employers, many of whom had stayed silent during the campaign, even though they had been directly benefiting from Pasifika labour,” Spoonley said.

KEITH LYNCH • EXPLAINER EDITOR
keith.lynch@stuff.co.nz
The data

This Canterbury University thesis cites a 1977 computer printout of expired visitors and work permits that showed that “of the 3641 persons who stayed beyond their allotted time in the preceding 12 months, 40 per cent of them were other than Pacific Islanders”.

According to the then Immigration Minister Frank Gill, the reasons Samoan, Tongan and Fijian people were targeted was because they “tell tales on each other” and were easy to detect as they worked.

Spoonley’s book Racism and Ethnicity outlines that the “discriminatory” behaviour continued after the raids.

Between August 1, 1985, and March 31, 1986, there were 313 prosecutions against illegal migrants.

“Although Pacific Island overstayers only constituted one-third of all overstayers, 86 per cent (270) of prosecutions involved Pacific Islanders. Overstayers from the US and UK comprised 31 per cent of all overstayers, but only 5 per cent of those prosecuted.”

Stuff contacted Immigration New Zealand to source numbers that would better illustrate the disproportionate targeting of Pasifika people. The data was not available.

In her formal statement announcing the raids, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “There is clear evidence the raids were discriminatory and have had a lasting negative impact.”

The first five episodes of Once a Panther can be found on Stuff or through podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or via an RSS feed.

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/08/new-zealands-pm-ardern-apologises-for.html

Pro-choice and anti-abortion campaigners hold separate protests in Belfast

People hold up placards and banners as they take part in a pro-choice rally in Belfast's Writer's Square. Pro-choice and anti-abortion campaigners have held separate protests in Belfast amid the deepening political row over the commissioning of services in Northern Ireland. Picture date: Saturday July 31, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story ULSTER Abortion. Photo credit should read: David Young/PA Wire


David Young
July 31 2021 

Pro-choice and anti-abortion campaigners have held separate protests in Belfast amid the deepening political row over the commissioning of services in Northern Ireland.

The small-scale demonstrations in the city centre came after DUP First Minister Paul Givan threatened to block the Government move to formally direct Stormont to fully roll out abortion services in the region.

Northern Ireland’s once strict abortion laws were liberalised in 2019 following legislation passed by Westminster at a time when devolution had collapsed.

The Government introduced regulations to give effect to those law changes the following year.

However, more than a year on, Stormont’s Department of Health has yet to centrally commission full services due to an impasse within the devolved administration.

Early medical abortions have been offered by individual health trusts on an ad hoc basis since last year but the limitations on service provision have seen many women continue to travel to England to access surgical abortions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The anti-abortion DUP has blocked consideration of central commissioning at the Stormont Executive.

This forced the Government to introduce new powers to allow Secretary of State Brandon Lewis to intervene on the devolved issue to formally direct Stormont to roll out the services.

While Sinn Fein has welcomed the Government intervention as a means to break the impasse, Mr Givan has sought legal advice on how to “resist” Mr Lewis’s orders.

Belfast city councillor Fiona Ferguson helped organise the pro-choice rally at Writer’s Square on Saturday afternoon.

“We’re here because of the Executive first of all dragging its feet for this long after decriminalisation,” the People Before Profit representative told the PA news agency.

“But now that we know they’ve been given a directive from Westminster, frankly and understandably a lot of activists in Belfast don’t trust the Executive to act.

“That’s been reinforced by Paul Givan coming out very swiftly to say he will try to block abortion services.”

Councillor Ferguson added: “I think that the DUP may well try to take this to court and, if they do, the (pro-choice) movement is prepared to mobilise to make it clear what the vast majority of people want here.

“Those who try to block abortion, they’re not just moving against women’s rights, it’s also against democracy, because the vast majority of people here have said time and again we need abortion services, we want abortion services and we won’t stand for no abortion services for much longer.”

Across Writer’s Square, a number of activists from Abolish Abortion NI held a counter-rally.

Mark Lambe from the Christian anti-abortion group said the DUP should be prepared to walk out of the powersharing administration if the Government forced through services.

He said Mr Lewis had taken “extreme” powers that were without precedent in devolution settlements across the UK.

“The powers that he has taken give him the ability to direct any department or any minister in the Executive, so in fact he can, without a single vote or without a mandate, appoint himself as a minister on the Executive,” said Mr Lambe.

“What we’re calling for is Robin Swann (Health Minister) to issue an immediate counter-direction to undo the directions that he (Mr Lewis) has given and we are also then calling on the First Minister (Mr Givan) to consider his position on the Executive if the Secretary of State seeks to implement any further abortion regime in Northern Ireland.”

At nearby Cornmarket in the city centre, the anti-abortion group Precious Life created a temporary artwork using pairs of baby shoes to form 1,556 – signifying the number of abortions carried out in Northern Ireland since the regulations were introduced last year.

LIBERTARIAN CAPITALI$M

Blockchain Is Democratising Art for Everyone

by Susana MendozaJuly 28, 2021

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The days of the starving artist myth may be over soon, as the figure of the blockchain savvy artist-entrepreneur seems to be emerging in recent months. A host of artists, including well-known singers and performers, are jumping on the blockchain bandwagon thanks to the increasingly popular Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

One of them is the singer and digital artist Grimes, who last March made over $6million in one day after she put up some digital artwork for auction on Nifty Gateway, an NFT marketplace. Another digital artist known as Beeple, sold $3.5million on the same platform.

But what is an NFT and why is it important for the art world? Non-Fungible means that it cannot be replaced, just like art. An NFT is a unit of data that certifies a digital asset to be unique and can be traced to help prevent fraud. That’s something appealing to artists, who are always concerned about fakes, copies, and plagiarism. But the main appeal is the end of the galleries as the sole gatekeepers of who gets to access the fame and money of the artists’ Olympus.

“Traditionally you’d take your art to a gallery and they would represent you and bring in clients,” Elissa Waverly, an artist selling her artwork in NFTs told The Fintech Times.  “There’s a lot of things happening in the world of art galleries that don’t make sense to me as an artist. They’re not built for the average person to go in and buy art. Artists are also told ‘don’t make a lot of art’, because it would drive down the price for their artwork. So the outcome is there’s less art for the art world and buyers,” she said.

But now, according to Waverly, we can jump over the middleman and buy a piece of the artwork itself thanks to NFTs, which act like assets. “You can codify what would be a traditional contract you sign with the gallery, but this way people represent themselves with this code, this smart contract,” Waverly said. For this artist, the first layer of the digital revolution that allowed creatives to ditch the middleman were places like Instagram and other platforms to showcase and sell artwork, like Etsy. Now, with NFTs buyers can have a stake in the artist’s work, which may increase in value over time and also allow creators to continue selling royalties of their art, in perpetuity.

There are already some popular platforms where artists can sell their art, including songs or poems, like opensea.io and rarible.com, but for most of them, you need to have a digital wallet and cryptocurrency to shop. You can even tokenise yourself on Bitclout and create your own crypto coin, which users can buy, determining its value. “Many artists and famous people are tokenising themselves so when you buy, you’re investing in them, hoping their value will increase,” Waverly said, adding she has her own coin in Bitclout too.

For Dr. John C. Edmunds, an economist who teaches at Babson College, the key is access to a much wider audience without the limits imposed by galleries. “Think of NFTs like you’d think for example, of a lithograph,” Edmunds told The Fintech Times. “You can make 200 copies and sign them, and the gallery pays you let’s say, $500, but sells each one of them for thousands. With NFTs you don’t need to have a limited number and it’s harder to get ripped off,” he said.

Edmunds, who’s written about NFTs and art in one of his books, thinks that it also attracts creators because it makes forgery much more difficult. “With NFTs I can create an image and send you a copy, but I can code it so that you can’t post it anywhere unless I give you a key,” he explained.

But new ways to sell work means new ways to market it and let audiences know about it. And though the gatekeepers may have fallen, this means the brunt of the marketing side is left to the artist, who may not have the savvy or time to bring their creations to the millions of eyeballs hungry for NFTs. The competition is tough, and it’s only getting tougher as NFTs popularity increases, despite the brutal fluctuations of cryptocurrencies.

Of course, some Silicon Valley companies have also jumped on the NFT cryptowagon, though most of them are investing on metaverses. In these metaverses, users and companies can invest in virtual real state and experiences and Silicon Valley heavyweights like Gemini Frontier Fund (funded by the Winklevoss twins), Galaxy Interactive and others, are backing many NFT-based virtual ventures. One of the most famous ones is Sandbox, where gamers, artists and performers can gather to create or contribute to virtual worlds. The expectation with Sandbox is that users will be able to buy and sell their virtual properties and goods using blockchain.

Author

• Susana Mendoza

  Susana Mendoza is a tech journalist based in Silicon Valley, with a background in broadcast and coding. She reports on startups, finance, science and politics for various international media outlets. She is also a conversation designer (aka robot whisperer).

 MIND READING AT WORK

EDF: How Can Employee-Centric AI Support Financial Firms To Meet Their Future Expectations?

by Francis BignellJuly 31, 2021

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Most financial organisations are by now aware of the financial benefits of deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve process efficiency and reduce fraud; but are they aware of the benefits it can have on their employees and governance practices too?

Artificial Intelligence (AI), often cited as the foundation of the 4th Industrial Revolution, has transformed, at pace, entire systems of management, productivity, governance, and consumer engagement within the financial sector.

The regulator is committed to improving the culture of firms in the sector and, with the launch of the Conduct Rules fast on the heels of SM&CR, it is clear the regulator expects higher standards from both employees and management. 

Firms should look to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist them in improving their focus on employee-centric competence and governance provisions. After all, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been “hoovering” up all the top maths graduates as they themselves step away from a traditional face-to-face approach and instead embrace a data-driven, policing and enforcement strategy explains Adrian Harvey, CEO of Elephants Don’t Forget. 

“Employee engagement and continual evidential assessment that staff on the frontline are understanding key regulatory and consumer themes for the future is absolutely paramount for financial firms.Harvey stated:

Whilst some publications have expressed that the themes in the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) latest Business Plan 2021/22 can be viewed as extensions of the previous year. The activities that the regulator is looking to implement in the future remain inherently linked to meeting the objectives of embedding purposeful culture and providing evidence of positive consumer outcomes.

There is also more of a direct relationship to evidential employee competence and governance application too. How will firms ensure that they meet consumer priorities and demonstrate that they are helping their customers make informed choices? How will firms improve customer service levels? Employee competency has a primary role to play in meeting these objectives.

The rhetoric of the Business Plan – especially the new Consumer Duty – reiterates that firms need to put their customers’ interests at the centre of their business models.

Firms now need to look at how they make these regulatory priorities a reality and bring them to life within their organisations through their training provisions.

When you look at ‘vulnerability’ as an escalating issue due to covid-19 for example, it has tested the foundations of culture and governance practices across the sector. It has also directly impacted frontline advisors, as their respective firms rely on their ability to recognise and act on their own knowledge to navigate the myriad of policies and primary key drivers of vulnerability to ensure positive outcomes.

‘Purposeful cultures’ was championed as a way for firms to demonstrate to the regulator how they are helping to respond to the challenging circumstances faced by their customers.

Increased support and training provisions, accountability, encouraging long-term behavioural change, and maintaining a wider appreciation of new consumer frailties in a covid-19 world are likely to be the key indicators of how positive cultural change will be assessed by the FCA.

Increasing positive consumer outcomes is a primary focus then, and firms will also need to learn from their previous mistakes during the pandemic – especially if they are going to meet the requirement of ensuring robust operational resilience in the new normal too.”

Artificial Intelligence provider, Elephants Don’t Forget, who commissioned a three-year study to assess the baseline competency of employees within the financial sector, analysed the responses to over 72 million competency assessment interactions between 2017-19. The study found that the average level of tenured employee competency within many firms stood at just 52%, pre-pandemic.

The provider also conducted several polls throughout the pandemic, directly questioning firms on their covid-19 response practices. The findings indicated that some financial organisations did not make any updates to their competence and governance practices until as late on as February 2021.

Further analysis of the responses also suggested that there could be a potentially concerning misalignment issue between some Risk and Compliance professionals and Senior Management bodies regarding the efficacy of assessing and evidencing competency within some firms.

Harvey explained:

“As we entered the first lockdown on the 23rd of March 2020, 47% of senior management individuals polled stated that they had not implemented or provided any new Training and Competence (T&C) provisions to upskill their employees and protect against work from home (WFH) governance risks.

Then, in our February 2021 poll, 40% of respondents stated that they were still yet to make any updates. 66% of Compliance and Risk professionals also asserted they were not entirely confident that their Senior Managers could demonstrate a consistent approach and application to T&C, with attaining, maintaining, and evidencing employee competence being recorded as the primary issues.

Finally, in our latest poll – conducted in April 2021 – 64% of Senior Managers stated they would be confident in evidencing employee competency to the regulator if required.

The disparity in the responses between the Risk and Compliance and Senior Managers polled at this juncture was surprising, calling into question what Senior Management individuals deem to be appropriate and satisfactory evidence of employee competency, as over half of the Risk and Compliance professionals polled the previous month had stated that evidencing this successfully was still a major issue for their firms.”

Harvey stresses that evidence-based AI solutions should be advocated to resolve any subjective opinions regarding employee competence and compliance.

“The common obstacles shared by most financial firms to embed a purposeful culture – one that is underpinned by competence and compliance – are being solved, at pace, by technology advances in the Fintech space; chiefly through employee-focused AI.

Where there was once an inability to attribute improved business performance to competency and compliance, AI is providing financial firms with the Management Information (MI) they need to produce a forward-facing risk radar that highlights – and automatically repairs – critical employee knowledge gaps, replicate star performer behaviours, and improve critical customer service metrics.

It is cost-effectively revolutionising the way employees engage and retain critical subject matter like compliance – which can often be codified as boring – by providing tailored assessments at an individualised level, based upon the unique requirements of every employee.”

Harvey contends that firms which continue to rely exclusively on traditional training methods, often characterised by annual refresher training, e-learning and ‘classroom-style’ presentations, cannot evidence objective, real-time competency and compliance of their employees, as these models often only demonstrate competency levels at a single point in time.

He also asserts that these modalities of training can indirectly fuel negative improvement of culture within firms, as they can propagate training resentment and inadequate knowledge retention, as employees are subjected to alienating, ‘one-size-fits-all’ training approaches that fosters disenfranchisement with critical subject matter.

Instead, Harvey urges that more financial firms should understand the behavioural science behind employee learning and assess the benefits that space learning, repetition, and individual regular micro-assessments can bring to their organisations through AI.

Harvey concluded:

“The most effective cultural change initiatives in 2021 will not be tick-box exercises, but long-term, continual change programs that are supported by regular assessment and committed Senior Managers.

Employee-centric AI – like our very own Clever Nelly – is habitually considered by the leading financial organisations we support to play an integral role in helping their firms to meet and evidence their purposeful culture objectives. These organisations recognise that employee competence and capability is inherently linked to positive culture change, and it plays a primary role in their culture framework.

Financial firms that fail to champion individual employee competency as one of the primary culture influencers within their 2021 culture framework will find it extremely difficult to meet increasing regulatory expectations. Employees must possess the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver their firms’ – and the regulator’s – ambitions for the future.”

Author

• Francis Bignell

  Francis is a junior journalist with a BA in Classical Civilization, he has a specialist interest in North and South America.

Canada border guards vote to go on strike just days before reopening the border with U.S.


By Karen Graham
Published July 28, 2021

Vancouver, Canada - United States, Customs and Border Protection CBP) and Vancouver, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) work together for border crossing efficiency. United States and Canada Customs work together in the Vancouver International Airport

 NEXUS office processing passengers. (CBP Photographer: Donna Burton). Source - U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Public Domain

In a move that is sure to cause disruptions and hurt businesses, Canadian border guards and customs officials voted on Tuesday to go on strike on August 6, just days before the U.S.-Canada border was set to reopen to fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

CTV News Canada is reporting the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and its Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) announced Tuesday nearly 9,000 Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSC) employees “may strike August 6,” just three days before the proposed reopening of the border.

PSAC-CIU represents 5,500 border services officers, 2,000 headquarters staff, and other workers at Canada Post facilities and in inland enforcement jobs.

It seems negotiations between the unions and the employer, CBSC, have been going on for three years, finally reaching an impasse in December 2020, according to Reuters. This means the union members have been without a contract since June 2018.

The CBSC has deemed most border guards as being “essential” workers, meaning they will still be manning the borders, however, CBC Canada is reporting that the unions said strike action could slow down commercial traffic at the border and ports of entry.

RCMP and CBSA officers in Vancouver, British Columbia. Source –
https://www.flickr.com/people/2010observers/ – 2010 Legal Observers. BB SA 3.0

The strike will also hit international mail and parcel deliveries from Canada Post and other major shipping companies, and disrupt the collection of duties and taxes on goods entering Canada.

Chris Aylward, the national president of PSAC, told reporters Tuesday, “We’ve been in negotiations for over three years, but the employer has flat out refused to address critical workplace issues impacting our members,” Aylward said.


Between the PSAC and CIU, the grievances range from employees often being under threat of “heavy-handed discipline and abuse” by those in managerial positions, to issues involving protections against excessive discipline and harassment, whistle-blowing protections, and remote work provisions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it has been a tough year for border guards – having fewer crossings to process while being tasked with carrying out more stringent checks on travelers.

“We will be working very closely with the CBSA union to make sure that we are negotiating, getting to the bargaining table, trying to figure out a path forward,” Trudeau said.

Ancient Peruvian Sun calendar declared UN heritage site


By AFP
Published July 27, 2021

The solar observatory of Chankillo in Peru, July 22, 2021. —

 Photo: © AFP Carlos MANDUJANO

A 2,300-year-old solar observatory in Peru, a structure of 13 stone towers built atop a hill and used as a calendar, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site on Tuesday.

The Chankillo observatory, built by an ancient civilization about two millennia before the ascent of another well-known Sun cult — the Inca empire — allowed for remarkably accurate astronomical observations, according to recent studies.

The walled, hilltop ruins some 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Lima had long puzzled scientists.

Then in 2007, a study in the journal Science proposed the sequence of towers erected between 200 and 300 BC “marked the summer and winter solstices” and that Chankillo “was in part a solar observatory.”

Peruvian archaeologist Ivan Ghezzi, who co-authored that study with British colleague Clive Ruggles, told AFP the towers, erected “with great precision,” were placed to mark different positions of the Sun “and therefore mark exact dates.”

Their purpose was to time with astonishing accuracy the months, solstices and equinoxes — the planting and harvesting seasons and religious holidays.

The structure works like a giant clock, marking the passage of time over the span of a year.

“Chankillo is a masterpiece of ancient Peruvians. A masterpiece of architecture, a masterpiece of technology and astronomy. It is the cradle of astronomy in America,” Ghezzi told AFP on a visit to the site.

It was also likely a place of Sun worship.

Sites to the east and west of the towers feature the remains of objects used for ritual sacrifices.

The observatory and its ceremonial appendages were protected by fortress walls made of stone, mud and tree trunks.

The complex spans some 5,000 hectares, but only about one percent has been studied, said Ghezzi.

Last year, the coronavirus epidemic paralyzed archaeological excavations in Peru, as elsewhere, and abandoned many sites containing priceless pre-Columbian objects to the mercy of looters, who sell to the black market.

Chankillo was among the sites invaded; not by thieves but by nearby farmers who have long looked to expand their land and who capitalized on the lack of control to plant crops within the borders of the site.

Peru has 12 other sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list, including the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.

Chankillo was added to the list at the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee, held online and chaired from Fuzhou in China.

It added four more sites in Latin America, including a tropical garden “living work of art” developed by landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx in Brazil, a modernistic church complex by engineer Eladio Dieste in Uruguay, the Chinchorro mummies of Chile and Mexico’s Tlaxcala cathedral.

Bangladeshis rush back to work as factories reopen despite virus surge


By AFP
Published July 31, 2021

People disembark from a ferry to return to work as the Bangladesh government relaxed the lockdown for all export oriented factories
- Copyright AFP Munir Uz zaman

Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers rushed back to major cities Saturday, besieging train and bus stations, after the government said export factories could reopen despite a deadly coronavirus wave.

With the economy badly hit by the pandemic, the government excluded the factories that supply top brands in Europe and North America from a nationwide lockdown order.

Authorities had ordered factories, offices, transport and shops to close from July 23 to August 5 as daily coronavirus infections and deaths hit record levels.

Officially, Bangladesh has reported 1.2 million cases and more than 20,000 deaths. Experts say the real figures are at least four times higher.

The government said however that the country’s 4,500 garment factories, which employ more than four million people, can reopen from Sunday, sparking a rush back to industrial cities.

The influential garment factory owners had warned of “catastrophic” consequences if orders for foreign brands were not completed on time.

Hundreds of thousands who had gone back to their villages to celebrate the Eid al Adha Muslim festival and sit out the lockdown, headed to Dhaka in any available transport — some just walking in the monsoon rain.

At the Shimulia ferry station, 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Dhaka, tens of thousands of workers waited hours for boats to take them to the capital.

Garment factory worker Mohammad Masum, 25, said he left his village before dawn, walked more than 30 kilometres (20 miles) and took rickshaws to get to the ferry port.

“Police stopped us at many checkpoints and the ferry was packed,” he said.

“It was a mad rush to get home when the lockdown was imposed and now we are in trouble again getting back to work,” Jubayer Ahmad, another worker, told AFP.

Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter after China and the industry has become the foundation of the economy for the country of 169 million people.

Mohammad Hatem, vice president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said up to $3 billion worth of export orders were at risk if factories had stayed closed.

“The brands would have diverted their orders to other countries,” Hatem told AFP.

Malaysians stage anti-govt protest despite Covid curbs


ByAFP
Published July 31, 2021


Anger is growing at the Malaysian government's handling of the virus -

Copyright AFP Arif KARTONO

Hundreds of black-clad Malaysians staged an anti-government protest Saturday in defiance of a ban on public gatherings under coronavirus curbs, piling pressure on the embattled prime minister to resign.

The protesters, wearing masks and keeping a distance from one another, waved banners reading “failed government” as well as black flags.

It was the first sizeable demonstration in Malaysia for some time, as many had been reluctant to take to the streets due to virus curbs and for fear of getting infected.

But anger is growing at the government’s handling of the virus outbreak — which is escalating despite a lockdown — and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s attempts to keep his crisis-riven administration in power.

“We fight because while the people are suffering, this government is busy playing politics,” Karmun Loh, taking part in the protest in downtown Kuala Lumpur, told AFP.

“This government is… crippling the economy and also destroying our country’s democracy.”

Muhyiddin “is a terrible prime minister”, added demonstrator Shaq Koyok.

“He needs to step down.”

There was a heavy police presence and officers blocked attempts by protesters to enter a central square before the rally peacefully dispersed.

Organisers said about 1,000 demonstrators took part but police put the number at around 400.

Police told local media that the protesters will be called in for questioning as they had violated the ban on gatherings.

Muhyiddin took power at the head of a scandal-plagued coalition last year without an election following the demise of a reformist administration.

But his government is on the verge of collapse after allies withdrew support.

He came under renewed pressure to step down this week after parliament convened following a months-long suspension as part of a virus state of emergency.

His government was accused of dodging a vote that would have tested its shaky majority — drawing a rare rebuke from the country’s revered king.

Sunday is the final day of the six-month state of emergency but the nationwide lockdown will remain in place. Malaysia has reported almost 1.1 million virus cases and more than 8,800 deaths.

In Tunis cafes, cynicism saps opposition to president's power grab


ByAFP
PublishedJuly 31, 2021

Under a blazing Tunis sun, cafe owner Radhi al-Chawich is chatting amicably with customers when he lets slip he supports the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the main opponent of a power grab by President Kais Saied.

All five turn on him immediately, telling him that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about and that Ennahdha are all “hypocrites” and “liars”.

It is a widespread sentiment in the alleyways of Tunis’s Old City after 10 years in which Ennahdha has maintained its position as Tunisia’s largest party but has failed to win a parliamentary majority, forcing it to make sometimes unpalatable compromises.

Most people interviewed by AFP blame the party for Tunisia’s multiple crises, not the president it accuses of mounting a “coup”.

Last Sunday, Saied sacked prime minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended parliament for 30 days. On Wednesday, he ordered a graft crackdown targeting 460 businessmen for alleged embezzlement alongside an investigation into alleged illegal funding of political parties, including Ennahdha.


For supporters like Chawich, the cynicism about the party’s motives is a throwback to the dictatorship of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, ousted 10 years ago in the Arab Spring uprisings.

The 61-year-old said the party deserved more respect for its share of the vote in successive elections since his ouster.

“We are back to the time of the dictatorship. It is a recognised party which ran for election… Let its mandate end and then we’ll see in the elections. It is the ballot box that must decide.”

Chawich said he would continue to support Ennahdha until investigators proves the party had done something wrong.


“If it turns out that they stole, and they are convicted, then I will not vote for them anymore.”

– ‘Chaos’ fears –

Chawich said he fears for the country’s future now that the standoff between the president and the party has come to a head. “I don’t want it to slide into chaos.”

It is a fear also voiced by the international community, which does not want to see the birthplace of the Arab Spring revert to authoritarianism or slip into violence.

But for now calm reigns on the streets of Tunis. After mobilising a few hundred supporters for a sit-in outside the shuttered parliament building on Monday, Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi has adopted a more cautious approach.

He has appealed for a “national dialogue” and for early parliamentary and presidential elections to resolve the months-long standoff between Saied and the legislature.

For political scientist Selim Kharrat, it is a pragmatic response that acknowledges the party’s limitations.

The “failure of Ennahdha to mobilise its base” for larger protests on Monday had tipped the balance of power in the president’s favour, he said.


“Ennahdha has always been ready to compromise because the party is obsessed with its own survival, haunted by the possibility of a new ban like that imposed under the Ben Ali dictatorship.

For many ordinary Tunisians, it is those compromises that have shattered their trust in Ennahdha.

“I voted for their false promises,” said Ismael Mezir, 42. “They made a lot of promises, and in fact they were lies.”

Clothing store owner Taoufic Ben Hmida says he still supports Ennahdha but understands the disillusion among some voters.

“I like Ennahdha,” the 47-year-old told AFP.

“From the point of view of their programme, of what they imagine and plan, they are right. Ennahdha could have done great things in Tunisia. But the problem is that they have not been able to face the obstacles that have occurred.”

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/in-tunis-cafes-cynicism-saps-opposition-to-presidents-power-grab/article#ixzz72DLvrvWW