Crashing markets thinned the ranks of America's millionaires last year as global wealth shrank for the first time since 2008


Phil Rosen
Tue, August 15, 2023

Private yachts docked in front of a yacht club.Marielle Descalsota/Insider

Global wealth declined in 2022 for the first time since 2008, UBS and Credit Suisse economists said Tuesday.


Americans were hit hardest as stocks and bonds tumbled throughout the year, the banks said.


Roughly 1.7 million US adults lost their status as millionaires.

Global wealth declined last year for the first time since 2008, and Americans in particular took the biggest hit as stocks and bonds sold off and currencies fluctuated, according to a wealth report from UBS and Credit Suisse economists.

Notably, about 1.7 million US adults lost their status as millionaires in 2022. Plus, 17,260 fell out of the ultra-high net worth bracket of those worth $100 million or more.

The S&P 500 crashed by 19% in 2022, and it was one of the 10 worst years for the stock market in nine decades. The losses erased most of the meteoric gains seen in 2021, when the market grew by more than 26% and wealth surged.

"[F]inancial assets contributed most to wealth declines in 2022 while non-financial assets (mostly real estate) stayed resilient, despite rapidly rising interest rates," the economists wrote. "But the relative contributions of financial and non-financial assets may reverse in 2023 if house prices decline in response to higher interest rates."

According to the report, in total dollar terms, global wealth slipped 2.4% to about $454.4 trillion, and much of that was due to shifting currency values. Europeans felt the bite from weaker currencies, while Russia and Latin America benefitted from the shifts. Russia, amid its war in Ukraine, added 56,000 millionaire amid a strengthening of the ruble.

Meanwhile, Switzerland and Hong Kong boasted the highest level of wealth per adult.

On a country by country basis, the US saw the biggest losses in 2022, as the country shed $5.9 trillion, compared to its $19.5 trillion rise the prior year. Japan, China, Canada, and Australia also saw losses exceeding $1 trillion.

The banks project that global wealth will rise by 38% over the next five years to hit $629 trillion by 2027.

"Growth by middle-income countries will be the primary driver of global trends," the economists maintained. "We estimate wealth per adult to reach USD 110,270 in 2027 and the number of millionaires to reach 86 million while the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) is likely to rise to 372,000 individuals.

Many offices buildings are going to be 'obsolete' and losses are headed for banks and investors holding real estate debt, property exec says

Jennifer Sor
Tue, August 15, 2023 

Robert Libetti/ Business Insider

The highest tier of office buildings will continue to do well, property exec Scott Rechler said.

"And then there's Class B office or lower-grade Class A that effectively is going to become competitively obsolete."

That could lead to losses at the bank level and investor level, he warned.

A huge chunk of office buildings are going to be "obsolete," leaving real estate investors and banks left to weather the losses, according to Scott Rechler, the CEO of RXR Realty.

In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, he pointed out that not all offices are the same, saying that the highest tier of buildings, known as Class A, will continue to do well as more people return to in-person work.

"And then there's Class B office or lower-grade Class A that effectively is going to become competitively obsolete," Rechler added.

The US office vacancy rate just rose to an all-time-high of 13.1% at the end of the last quarter, according to National Association of Realtors data.

Lower-tier buildings could be repriced and turned into other forms of commercial real estate, such as such as apartment buildings, but Rechler noted that such conversions aren't easy and that only so many offices can be converted.

"If you really think about it, if you're trying to attract your workforce back to the office and you want to collaborate, you want to be in places that have energy, that have amenities, places where people can gather together … Class B, dark buildings, bad infrastructure, bad light, bad air, people don't want to be in those buildings," he told CNBC.

Banks are already scooping up distressed office space and other commercial real estate, with Goldman Sachs among the list of lenders who are raising billions to buy up properties, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Over time, more distressed inventory will hit the market, Rechler predicted, which could lead prices to drop.

"I think there are going to be losses at the bank level, there are going to be losses at the investor level," he warned.

But for regional banks, multifamily properties are actually a bigger commercial real estate risk than office buildings, because rents have been relatively flat recently while interest rates have spiked, Rechler said.

Experts have warned of a catastrophe coming for commercial real estate for months, as there's around $1.5 trillion worth of debt in the sector that will soon hit maturity. That could spell trouble for property owners who will need to refinance their loans, though banks are pulling back on lending and are unlikely to issue debt at low rates.

Those headwinds could culminate in a major commercial real estate crash, which could involve office prices plunging 35% over the next few decades, one research firm warned.

Myanmar Eyes Surge In Rice Exports After India Curbs Supply

Khine Lin Kyaw
Tue, August 15, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Myanmar expects rice exports to surge in coming months as curbs on Indian sales and a spike in Thai and Vietnamese prices force buyers to hunt for other origins.

The tightening in global supply should help revive the Southeast Asian nation’s rice shipments, which slumped 56% in the first four months of the fiscal year, and bring it closer to its annual goal of earning $1 billion from exports of the grain, Ye Min Aung, president of the Myanmar Rice Federation, said in an interview last week.

Myanmar exported about 320,000 tons from April to July, earning just $138 million, according to data from the federation, after the government decided to prioritize selling higher-grade rice. But prospects improved last month when India, the world’s top exporter, banned a substantial portion of its overseas sales to keep a lid on domestic prices ahead of a general election due early next year. That’s pushed up prices in some of Myanmar’s regional competitors.

“We hope to take advantage, even though we’ll maintain our focus on exporting only higher-quality varieties,” Ye Min Aung said.

Myanmar is another nation troubled by food insecurity, a situation worsened by political instability since a military coup in 2021, and its export policy is designed to conserve domestic supplies. While sales of better-quality grain can reap as much as $700 a ton compared to $300 or $400 a ton for lower grades, according to Ye Min Aung, it also limits customers to relatively wealthy countries.

Myanmar earned over $800 million from rice sales in each of the two previous fiscal years, according to the federation, and its biggest buyers include China, the Philippines and Belgium. The US Department of Agriculture ranked it as the world’s sixth-biggest exporter last year.

China Is Hiding More and More Data From the Rest of the World

MORE IMPORTANTLY FROM THEIR OWN PEOPLE

Bloomberg News
Tue, August 15, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- China’s abrupt decision to pause releasing data on its soaring youth jobless rate this week was the latest sign the Asian giant is increasingly restricting sensitive information — especially when it’s unflattering to the nation’s faltering economy.

The unemployment rate of people aged 16-24 fell into that prickly category, after hitting a record of 21.3% in June. One fifth of young people being out of work is a troubling statistic for a ruling Communist Party obsessed with maintaining social stability.

As China’s economy battles a slew of threats to its economic expansion target for 2023, a wider range of data is being deemed unsuitable for public consumption. President Xi Jinping’s ideological battle with the US has also motivated Beijing to ringfence data it believes could advantage the Biden administration.

While much of China’s vanishing data disappears quietly, the decision to hold back the jobless rate was announced at a press briefing. The National Bureau of Statistics has a history of halting releases that are uncomplimentary for the economy, but they don’t usually make the decision public.

Here’s a look at some of the datasets that have been restricted recently:

Youth Unemployment

The government last month indicated that July’s figure would probably increase, setting another record. Then suddenly on Tuesday, officials said they would pause publishing the data, citing the need to iron out the method for how it is assessed.

Calculating the actual employment rate is complex and it’s plausible the government decided the changing nature of the economy and labor patterns means their current model isn’t accurately reflecting reality. However, the timing of the move raises questions, given how the number was set to hit another record. The authorities indicated they may resume publishing the data in the coming months.

Land Sales

Numbers showing the amount of land developers bought and the price they paid have been missing from the monthly release. The data series goes back to 1998. The move came as the amount of land sold for development slumped more than 50% last year.

That decline indicated the housing crisis was worse than the government has said. Local government revenue from land sales last year only fell 23%, according to official figures.

Currency Reserves

Another curious data point is the amount of money the government holds in official foreign exchange assets, which has held remarkably steady since 2017. That’s despite China running an increasingly large trade surplus over that period, which should have led to an increase in reserves.

Brad Setser, the former US trade and Treasury official, suggests that half of the actual reserves are “hidden.” Many of the nation’s reserves don’t show up in the official books of the People’s Bank of China because they’re stashed in “shadow reserves,” appearing among the assets of entities such as state commercial lenders and policy banks, he said.

Despite the growing trade and current account surplus, the currency has also been stable, indicating that some of that money is likely being used to intervene in currency markets.

Bond Transactions

Even some data from the private sector has become unavailable. In March, the bond market was plunged into chaos after fixed-income brokers stopped supplying aggregated bond quotes to data vendors long relied on by traders. Transactions plunged by 30% to 60% from one day to the next after the two-day halt, which some media said was due to regulators trying to address data security concerns.

In May 2022, the main bond trading platform for foreign investors quietly stopped providing data on their transactions after record outflows in the nation’s $20 trillion debt market.

Some corporate registration data are also no longer available to overseas clients. Meanwhile, Beijing has been investigating consultants and researchers who help global investors understand China.

Covid Deaths

Cremations in one of China’s most-populous provinces surged by 72.7% year-on-year in the first quarter, Chinese financial media outlet Caixin reported in July, citing official data released by Zhejiang province.

That gave a rare insight into the scale of mortality after the government’s sudden relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in December. And then the data vanished. The official statement was later removed from the internet, and Caixin deleted its report on that release.

It is unknown how many people actually died from Covid during the exit wave that began late last year as the country abandoned its attempt at stopping all infection. The government reported that there were nearly 60,000 Covid-related deaths in the first five weeks of that outbreak.

Academic Information

Since April 1, overseas access to parts of the popular academic database China National Knowledge Infrastructure has halted. That means foreign academics can no longer access Chinese dissertations, patents, statistics and conference proceedings, the University of California, Berkeley said in an online notice.

Others reported that access to statistical yearbooks and Chinese census data would also be affected. The change in access was to comply with a 2022 law on cross-border data transfer, according to a statement from the Chinese data provider.

Politicians’ Biographies

It isn’t just economic data that’s harder to come by. Official biographies of senior politicians and officials have shrunk, with the new format only giving basic personal information in a few sentences instead of the detailed resumes that were common before.

There’s also been at least three months when the Communist Party didn’t publish a readout from its top decision-making body since Xi took a third term last October. The Politburo normally meets every month and releases a statement with some details of what was discussed. That didn’t happen last November, January or May.

China’s foreign minister was also abruptly removed from his role without explanation in July, after disappearing from public view for a month, adding to the information vacuum in elite Chinese politics.

Social media users were cynical about the government’s latest swipe at information freedom on Tuesday. One popular post suggested the authorities had simply run out of options.

“You thought you couldn’t get anything out of the toolbox except the megaphone,” the post read. “Then after some digging, you found a blindfold.”

Bloomberg Businessweek

China Markets Approach Grim Milestones as Selloff Spirals

Bloomberg News
Tue, August 15, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- A selloff in Chinese assets deepened on Wednesday, with key equity gauges on track to erasing gains seen since last month’s Politburo meeting and the yuan hovering near a 16-year low.

The MSCI China Index dropped as much as 1.3% amid mounting concerns over economic growth. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index also fell, set to close below where it was before policy vows at the July political gathering triggered a rally. The Hang Seng Index slid more than 1%, inching closer to a technical bear market.

Pressure is building across China’s financial markets given a slew of disappointing economic data, renewed concerns about the property sector and an unfolding crisis in the nation’s shadow banking system. All of this is creating deflationary pressure that threatens to undermine corporate profit. Investors are calling for more aggressive easing by Beijing as the incremental policies have so far failed to revive confidence.

“China’s current recession-like conditions, characterized by deflationary pressures, have significant implications for both its domestic economy and its global interaction,” said Manish Bhargava, a fund manager at Straits Investment Holdings in Singapore. “Investors might become wary of allocating funds to China due to concerns about the economic downturn and reduced potential returns.”

Market reaction to a spate of stimulus steps has been muted, underscoring the extent of investor pessimism. The weakness in the nation’s assets persisted even as the People’s Bank of China cut a benchmark interest rate on Tuesday in a surprise move to shore up sentiment. A report that policymakers are considering cutting the stamp duty on stock trades also failed to move the needle.

The price actions today were “another classic day” for China stocks despite the supportive measures, said Willer Chen, senior analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia Ltd. “People are losing patience. With just piecemeal policies, they are getting more and more concerned about the economy.”

The PBOC on Wednesday moved again to boost fragile sentiment with a stronger-than-expected reference rate for the yuan and the largest injection of short-term cash to the financial system since February. The measures came as the onshore unit fell toward its weakest in 16 years against the dollar.

The central bank is tasked with keeping the currency stable while aiming to boost the economy — two ambitions that can often be in conflict. A weak yuan may dampen the appeal of China assets to overseas investors, while local firms may be reluctant to convert foreign currencies into yuan given the wide yield differential with markets like the US.

Dimming Outlook

The outlook for China’s economic growth is dimming, with investment banks around the world cutting their 2023 forecasts. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s team lowered its full-year projection to 4.8%. As recently as early May, the bank had been predicting a 6.4% expansion, among the highest calls.

Sentiment was hit further on Wednesday as the latest data showed home prices falling again in July. The property sector’s turmoil has been at the center of China’s economic troubles given its importance to growth and implications across household wealth and the financial system.

“Negative China sentiment has been reverberating through markets and PBOC’s rate cut has again suggested that calls for a massive stimulus may be misplaced,” said Charu Chanana, market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets.

--With assistance from Abhishek Vishnoi.

Hackers could now steal passwords over Zoom by listening to keystrokes using AI — and they'll be right 93% of the time, study says


Kai Xiang Teo
Tue, August 15, 2023 

Hackers could now steal passwords over Zoom by listening to keystrokes using AI — and they'll be right 93% of the time, study says.Getty Images

AI can steal passwords from keystroke sounds recorded over Zoom with up to 93% accuracy, per a new study.


The accuracy rate ratcheted up to 95% when keystrokes were recorded using an iPhone 13 mini.


"Passwords containing full words may be at greater risk of attack," per the study.

An AI tool could decipher text — including passwords — from keystroke sounds recorded over Zoom and be right over nine times out of ten, a group of researchers said in a paper published on August 3.

An AI model developed by the researchers showed a 93% accuracy rate in deciphering keystrokes from a recording of a Macbook's keystrokes made over video conferencing software Zoom, according to a group of researchers affiliated with Durham University, the University of Surrey, and the Royal Holloway University of London.

Moreover, the accuracy rate rose to 95% when keystrokes were recorded using an iPhone 13 mini.

"Acoustic side-channel attacks" are a growing threat to keyboards, the researchers said. Side-channel attacks are used by hackers to exploit information — like how much power your computer is using or the keystroke sounds it makes — rather than directly attacking the system's code.

For their experiment, the team used a 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro, highlighting its consistent keyboard design with other recent MacBook models.

Their AI tool was based on "deep learning" — a subset of machine learning that trains computers to analyze data similarly to how the human brain functions.

The study also highlighted potential countermeasures. "Passwords containing full words may be at greater risk of attack," per the study's authors. Touch typing and adding background noise also seemed to lower the accuracy rate of the AI tool.

The authors said that while these types of attacks are under-studied, they have a long history. "Acoustic emanations" were even mentioned as a vulnerability in a 1982 partially declassified NSA document, the authors wrote.

The study adds to recent concerns over how AI tools could be used to compromise security and privacy.

AI tools can make online scams harder to detect because AI makes it easier to personalize scams for each target, Insider reported last Tuesday.

Two specialists raised the alarm in 2019 over how the advancement of AI and 5G technology would heighten vulnerabilities in internet-connected devices, amplifying cybersecurity threats.

The study's authors did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.

Woodside, unions remain at odds over wages at Australia's largest LNG facility

Reuters
Tue, August 15, 2023 

Australia's Woodside Energy Group's exhibition booth is seen at the World Gas Conference 2022 in Daegu, South Korea

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Woodside Energy said "positive progress" was being made on wage disputes at Australia's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility even as a union alliance said key differences remained ahead of further talks next Wednesday.

Woodside's North West Shelf, along with Chevron's Australian LNG operations of Gorgon and Wheatstone, supply about 10% of the global LNG market.

About 99% of workers at offshore platforms that supply gas to the Woodside facility have voted to authorise the union to take industrial action, with any strike potentially disrupting shipments and sending prices for the super-chilled fuel higher.

After the vote, the union can decide whether to go ahead with any action, which must take place within 30 days.

"Positive progress is being made and the parties have reached an in-principle agreement on a number of issues that are key to the workforce," a Woodside spokesperson said in an emailed statement, following a round of negotiations on Tuesday.

"We continue to engage actively and constructively in the bargaining process."

The Offshore Alliance, which combines the Maritime Union of Australia and Australian Workers' Union, however, said differences on key issues remained.

"Woodside are well off the pace on key bargaining issues including job security and remuneration," the union said in a message posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

Further talks between the unions and Woodside are scheduled for next Wednesday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. They declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

China and Japan are the top two buyers of Australian LNG, followed by South Korea and Taiwan.

Last week, Australia's labour regulator cleared the way for possible action by Chevron workers if they vote in favour of it. The Offshore Alliance said in a social media post on Tuesday that members at the Chevron sites would begin voting "over the next week".

Chevron did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Possible industrial action could range from stopping work for 30 minutes to an all-out strike, and the unions have the final say on whether to carry out any action, even if members vote in favour of it, according to the regulator.

Employers must also be given seven days' notice ahead of any industrial action.

(Reporting by Renju Jose and Lewis Jackson in Sydney, and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Miral Fahmy)

FORDISM (2.0) IS GLOBALIZATION

VinFast: Vietnam EV maker valued at more than Ford or GM


Mariko Oi - Business reporter
Tue, August 15, 2023 

The Vinfast VF6 all-electric vehicle is on display at the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show.

Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) maker VinFast's stock market valuation has soared above Ford and General Motors (GM) on its first day of trading.

Shares in the firm, which has yet to make a profit, closed above $37 (£29) each in their New York's debut.

That gave VinFast a stock market valuation of $85bn, much higher than Ford's $48bn and GM's $46bn.

It comes as motor industry giants and newer manufacturers fight for a slice of the booming EV market.

The listing added around $39bn to the wealth of VinFast's chairman and founder Pham Nhat Vuong, who was already Vietnam's richest man.

Regulatory filings show he controls 99% of the firm's outstanding shares, mostly through Vietnam's largest conglomerate, Vingroup JSC.

That limits the number of shares available for other investors to trade, which can lead to large price swings.

Trading in VinFast was relatively thin on Tuesday, with around $185m worth of its shares changing hands.

"Investors are continuing to believe that the future is in electric and that a low-cost East Asian country will emerge as a competitor in the US," said Bill Russo, Founder and CEO of Shanghai-based Automobility.

"The markets believe that given geopolitics that Vietnam, not China, will be that country."

Instead of a conventional share sale, VinFast went public using a shell company, or special purpose acquisition company (Spac).

Spacs are often used by start-ups to speed up the often slow and expensive process of taking a private company public. In simple terms, it means merging a company that is not on a stock exchange with one that is.

Several EV makers - including Lordstown Motors and Faraday Future - have gone public using Spacs in the last three years.

However, both firms have lost more than 90% of their stock market value since their mergers.

Mr Russo said VinFast could be different because "they are primarily backed by Vingroup, which gives them access to funding from a business that has a proven track record of growth".

"Most EV start-ups fail because they do not have profitable core and external funding eventually runs out as they burn capital far faster than they generate cash," he said.

But VinFast also faces tough competition as major players fight for market domination.

Market leaders - including Elon Musk's Tesla and BYD, which is backed by veteran investor Warren Buffett - have been cutting prices to boost sales.

In the first half of the year VinFast delivered 11,300 EVs, according to a company presentation. By comparison, Tesla delivered more than 889,000 vehicles in the same period.

"Tesla will continue to be the clear leader in EVs but there will be many winners," said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.

"VinFast has built a strong foundation for EV success."

Tycoon’s Fortune Soars $39 Billion on Eyebrow-Raising SPAC

Anders Melin
Tue, August 15, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Its electric cars have been dogged by poor reviews and it’s on pace to make fewer sales this year than General Motors Co. does in a week.

Yet that hasn’t stopped VinFast Auto Ltd. from becoming the latest beneficiary of speculative fervor around newly minted SPAC deals — many of which end up tumbling over the long-term.

The Vietnamese automaker’s shares surged 255% Tuesday when it debuted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, pushing the company’s market capitalization above that of industry giants GM and Mercedes-Benz Group AG. It added $39 billion to the net worth of chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, whose fortune now stands at $44.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

At the current market capitalization, VinFast is about six times bigger than Chinese EV maker XPeng Inc., which went public in the US in 2020.

VinFast is the latest example of a thinly traded company soaring on its debut after completing a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company. Many have experienced eye-popping rallies that ended a few trading sessions after the merger closed, as traders look to make a quick profit on companies with limited shares — meaning the jump in Vuong’s wealth may be short-lived.

De-SPACs — the term for firms that go public via a SPAC merger — that have made their debut this year have seen a median slump of about 45%, with 18 of them wiping out more than 70% of their value, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Regulatory filings show Vuong, Vietnam’s richest man, directly and indirectly controls 99% of the company’s outstanding shares, mostly through his conglomerate, Vingroup JSC. That large stake limits the shares available for other investors to trade, meaning the stock is prone to large swings. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index hasn’t previously counted Vuong’s stake in the carmaker, which he founded in 2017.

“The stock will be very volatile until more shares are available for trading,” said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at University of Florida.

If VinFast can hold onto its gains, it will be in a somewhat unique position given the dismal performance of other electric automakers taken public via SPACs, including Lordstown Motors Corp., Nikola Corp. and Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc., all of which lost more than 90% of their market value since their mergers.

VinFast, though, has been weighed down by operational problems. In May, it recalled all the electric sport utility vehicles shipped to the US over a software malfunction and there have been some negative reviews. The company also cut some of its US workforce, sales have been modest and its net losses are widening.

“There have been some negative reviews,” VinFast Chief Executive Officer Le Thi Thu Thuy told Bloomberg Television Tuesday. “We take them very close to our heart, we reflect on the feedback from those reviews and we make our vehicles better.”

In the six years it has been operating, VinFast has taken in $9.3 billion of financing to cover its operating and capital expenditures, much of it coming from Vuong’s other businesses.

Still, the company, which began building a factory in North Carolina last month, forecasts sales will reach 45,000 to 50,000 this year and Vuong predicts it will break even by the end of 2024.

VinFast had been planning a normal initial public offering, but scrapped that and opted for a SPAC listing after investor appetite for money-losing startups waned over the past year. Instead, it agreed to merge with blank-check company Black Spade Acquisition Co., founded by casino mogul Lawrence Ho.

Vuong, who studied geo-economic engineering in Russia, made his fortune in the 1990s in Ukraine with a business making instant noodles. The Hanoi-born businessman sold it to Nestle SA in 2010, nine years after he had returned to Vietnam.

By that time, he’d already established publicly-traded Vingroup JSC, focused on real estate, resorts, schools, shopping malls and more. The firm booked revenue of $4.4 billion last year, and remains a major shareholder in VinFast.

--With assistance from Bailey Lipschultz, Filipe Pacheco and Nguyen Kieu Giang.

(Updates with stock comparison in paragraph four and comment in paragraph eight.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

A WFH employee in Australia is hitting out at her ex-employer after it tracked how much she was typing — and then fired her

Huileng Tan
Tue, August 15, 2023 

Hands typing on a laptop keyboard.Getty Images

An employee in Australia was fired for not typing enough when she worked from home.


Her manager said she should be hitting over 500 keystrokes per hour. She was typing 80 keystrokes per hour between December 1-16.


Her unfair dismissal application was thrown out, but she still claims she was targeted.

A woman in Australia is blasting her ex-employee for firing her for not typing enough when she was working from home — even though her unfair dismissal claim was thrown out.

Suzie Cheikho was fired by Insurance Australia Group, or IAG, on February 20 after the company found "very low keystroke activity" on her laptop between October and December 2022, per a July 21 filing by Australia's Fair Work Commission.

Cheikho had been working for the company for 18 years and was a consultant for outbound communications disclosure when her employment was terminated.

Cheikho put in an unfair dismissal application to the Australian Fair Work Commission on March 13. The commission dismissed her application, saying she was dismissed "for a valid reason of misconduct," according to the filing.

But she has continued hitting back at IAG's claims against her, reiterating to Australia's Sunrise TV program last week she was targeted.

In the filing, IAG alleged there was "very low keystroke activity" on Cheikho's laptop over the period, "which indicated that she was not presenting for work and performing work as required."

The insurance company presented precise details saying Cheikho logged 48.6 keystrokes per hour in October, 34.56 keystrokes per hour in November, and 80 keystrokes per hour in December.

It also said she had zero keystroke activity for 117 hours in October, 143 hours in November, and 60 hours in December.

"As her role required data input and correspondence with various stakeholders, her keystrokes per hour would be upwards of 500 keystrokes per hour," her direct manager said, according to the filing. She was placed on a performance improvement plan in December 2022.

Cheikho argued IAG had a "premeditated plan to remove her from the business and that she was targeted for her mental health issues," according to the filing.

She also said she used other devices to work and that there were "extended periods where she was just reading and checking the wording of documents and did not have to do anything else."

The case in Australia highlights the use of employee surveillance technology as more employees work remotely following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the US, a mid-March survey commissioned by ResumeBuilder.com found that 96% of business leaders with a primarily remote or hybrid workforce used some form of employee monitoring software to ensure that their staff remained productive — a big jump from just 10% before the outbreak.

Just 5% of those employers who monitored their employees said their staff was unaware they were being surveilled.

Companies are also using the data they obtain from monitoring their staff — about three-quarters of 1,000 survey respondents told ResumeBuilder.com their companies fired employees over the data they collected.

IAG and Cheikho did not immediately respond to requests from Insider for comment.

Germany's Cabinet is set to approve a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis possession and sale

Wed, August 16, 2023 



BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Cabinet is set to approve a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis, setting the scene for the European Union's most populous member to decriminalize possession of limited amounts and allow members of “cannabis clubs” to buy the substance for recreational purposes.

The government's approval, expected on Wednesday, is billed as the first step in a two-part plan and will still need approval by parliament. But it's a stride forward for a prominent reform project of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's socially liberal coalition, though significantly short of the government's original ambitions.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is to give details of the finalized legislation on Wednesday. His most recent public proposal foresees legalizing possession of up to 25 grams (nearly 1 ounce) of cannabis for recreational purposes and allowing individuals to grow up to three plants on their own.

German residents who are 18 and older would be allowed to join nonprofit “cannabis clubs” with a maximum 500 members each. The clubs would be allowed to grow cannabis for members’ personal consumption.

Individuals would be allowed to buy up to 25 grams per day, or up to 50 grams per month — a figure limited to 30 grams for under-21s. Membership in multiple clubs would not be allowed. The clubs’ costs would be covered by membership fees, which would be staggered according to how much cannabis members use.

Officials hope their plan will help push back the black market, protect consumers against contaminated products and reduce drug-related crime.

“We are not creating a problem,” Lauterbach said earlier this year. “We are trying to solve a problem.”

The center-right opposition disagrees, arguing that the government is pressing ahead with legalizing a risky drug despite European legal obstacles and expert opinion. An organization representing German judges says the plan is likely to increase rather than decrease the burden on the judicial system and could even increase demand for black-market cannabis.

Some advocates of legalization aren't happy either.

“What we're getting from the health minister is overregulation, a continued stigmatization of cannabis users and a much too tight regulatory corset, which simply makes it impossible for many, many (cannabis clubs) to work,” said Oliver Waack-Jürgensen, who heads the Berlin-based High Ground “cannabis social club” founded last year. He is also on the board of a national association representing such clubs.

The government has said it plans to follow the new legislation by mapping out a second step — five-year tests of regulated commercial supply chains in select regions, which would then be scientifically evaluated.

That's far short of its original plan last year, which foresaw allowing the sale of cannabis to adults across the country at licensed outlets. It was scaled back following talks with the EU's executive commission.

Lauterbach has said Germany doesn’t want to emulate the model of the neighboring Netherlands, which combines decriminalization with little market regulation. He has said Germany hopes to set an example for Europe.

Dutch authorities tolerate the sale and consumption of small amounts of the substance at so-called coffeeshops but producing and selling large amounts of it, necessary to keep the coffeeshops supplied, remains illegal. Amsterdam, long a magnet for tourists wanting to smoke weed, has been cracking down on coffeeshops.

The Dutch government, meanwhile, has launched an experiment it says aims to “determine whether and how controlled cannabis can be legally supplied to coffeeshops and what the effects of this would be.”

Approaches elsewhere in Europe vary. In Switzerland, authorities last year cleared the way for a pilot project allowing a few hundred people in Basel to buy cannabis from pharmacies for recreational purposes. The Czech government has been working on a plan similar to Germany's to allow sales and recreational use of cannabis, which isn't finalized.

Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, has proposed legalizing weed but has has been turned down by parliament. France has no plans to liberalize its strict cannabis rules.

___

Associated Press writers Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin; Mike Corder in The Hague; Karel Janicek in Prague; Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

Geir Moulson, The Associated Press

Afghan women escape for a chance at education

THE MIGRANTS THE UK & EUROPE DO NOT WANT

Gem O'Reilly - BBC News
Tue, August 15, 2023 

AUW organised for 148 Afghan women to go on the last US hanger out of Kabul

In her university room in Bangladesh, Nina, 19, holds her boxing gloves up to her face, staring into the mirror.

She is learning to protect herself. She says there is no other way. Nina is one of hundreds of Afghan women who have taken up the offer of an education abroad, despite knowing they may never be able to return home.

Nearly 12 months ago, walking through Kabul airport, she says she felt far less strong. She remembers her hands shaking. She knew it was dangerous to flee Afghanistan.

When airport officials questioned her, she lied: "The Taliban don't allow women to travel alone so I said my mother was sick in Pakistan."

She was relieved when they were convinced, but a harder challenge was yet to come.

As Nina stepped onto the plane she stepped away from her home and family. "On the day when I left I was crying that I might never see my mother's face again, it was so hard for me," she says.

"It broke my younger sister's heart. When I think about them, it hurts."
'We want to get 1,000 women out'

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan two years ago - in August 2021 - life has drastically changed for women in the country.

They lost their right to be educated past the age of 12, their right to wear what they want or travel alone for more than 72km.

Nina is among those who was offered a way out - an education through programmes organised by the Asian University for Women (AUW).

Nina hopes her fight club can give women the strength to have confidence in themselves

As soon as the Taliban came to power, the AUW began receiving calls for help from their female students. Its founder, Kamal Ahmad, says he knew he had to get them out.

As western forces left the country they managed to evacuate a group of 148 women from Kabul as AUW students spread the word. Seven coaches made the dangerous journey to the city's airport a total of three times.

The women were in the departures area when a suicide bomb ripped through the crowd outside one of the airport's gates on 26 August, killing more than 150 people.

Key moments in the crushing of Afghan women's rights


Should world leaders start talking to the Taliban?

"After an extremely traumatic journey to the airport, they boarded a flight with the US military and successfully landed in Saudi Arabia," Mr Ahmad said. "All 148 women are now in universities across the United States. I just feel relieved that it wasn't a bad outcome."

Since then AUW has offered scholarships and organised the evacuation of hundreds more women out of Afghanistan - 450 so far. These students have been sent to AUW's own university in Bangladesh, or partner colleges such as Brown University in the US, and Oxford and Manchester in the UK.

AUW hopes to help more women - the goal is 1,000 - to continue their education by offering scholarships and a safe exit from Afghanistan.
'I left my husband in Iran'

Safia, a journalist in her 20s, is another beneficiary of the scheme. She was heading to work the night the Taliban took over. The television studio where she worked was soon shut down and, with it, her career.

She says it was difficult to even leave her home for several weeks, amid the new restrictions placed on women.

"One day I decided to wear red and the Taliban tried to kidnap me, [putting me] in a box because I wasn't wearing all black. It was terrifying."

Safia's capturers told her to go inside the post office to hand in her ID, passport and mobile phone, but instead, she fled.

Safia wants to use her journalism to be a voice for other women.

"I believed with all my heart that they would shoot me from behind," she said. "Despite the fact that I knew death is better than a Taliban capture in our culture, I screamed that I wouldn't go inside the post office, and with all my strength, ran" she added.

She says she ran past moving cars, nearly colliding with a few, but kept running until she reached a shop. She says by the time her husband found her, she could not speak.

The Taliban never came looking for her, she says, but it was a small reprieve: she no longer had a job and she mostly stayed home, afraid to step out.

Several months later she was offered a scholarship to study at AUW. She hopes that by continuing her studies she can help her family but she has no idea when she will reunite with any of them, including her husband.

She says he helped her to leave Afghanistan by lying to airport officials about where they were going. She says they were questioned hard, and had to show a marriage certificate just to enter the airport.

The Taliban's broken promises

"They kept checking for proof that we were husband and wife. They eventually let us through but it was tough. Then I had to travel through Iran, Dubai and then ended up in Chittagong. I had to leave my husband in Iran, it was so hard."

Safia, who is currently enrolled in a pre-undergraduate programme, say she never wanted to leave. She believes Afghanistan needs journalists to speak up for ordinary people.

"I personally wanted to be a voice for the women who had lost their rights but my family wanted me to leave for my own safety."

'The day I left my family forever'

Nina's parents also encouraged her to go to Bangladesh. But she says she worried about leaving them behind and the risk to them. She also found it difficult to adapt to a whole new culture and language.

But by her second semester she had created a boxing club. Now she has 50 female students in her class.

She believes self-defence and strength for women is important: "I've always wanted to be able to protect myself and I want to teach others to do the same."

She says for seven years, she worked hard at school and regularly boxed at the gym.

"But then in August 2021 I couldn't go to the gym, I couldn't continue my education, I couldn't even go outside."

Girls past the age of 12 can no longer attend school in Afghanistan

She says the Taliban took Afghanistan 20 years into the past: "I cried. The situation is horrible."

Now she wants to empower other women at the university to find strength and confidence. Like Nina and Safia all of them have left their lives behind and are trying to step into their future - but, for now, they have had to give up those they love.

"I wish for the women of Afghanistan to be free because I know they are trying so hard. I hope one day they can all continue their dreams," Nina says.

Each of these women say they have something in common. They will never forget the women they've left behind.