EU leaders approve 1.8-billion-euro migrant 'trust fund' for Africa

European Union leaders have agreed on a 1.8-billion-euro "trust fund" for Africa, aimed at tackling the main causes of mass-migration. Brussels hopes the amount can be doubled with contributions from member states.European heads of government attending a summit with their African counterparts on Thursday approved the fund, with Brussels calling on EU nations to pledge more. "For the Africa Trust Fund and our response to be credible, I want to see more member states contributing and matching the 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) the EU has put forward," European Commission President Juncker said as EU leaders signed the deal. The European Commission has been establishing the trust to tackle causes of migration such as poverty and armed conflict. It has urged member states to collectively match the figure. At the end of the summit on Thursday, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, warned that Europe's passport-free Shengen area could collapse "without effective control of our external borders." "We must hurry," he added, "but without panic."The money is, in part, aimed at persuading African leaders to take back more economic migrants, with many countries reluctant to lose out on money sent back from their citizens living in Africa.Mahamadou Issoufou, president of Niger, said the trust fund would be "far from enough." "What we want is not just official develpoment assistance in this form but reform of global governance," he added, calling for fairer world trade and more investment in Africa. Senegalese President Macky Sall has taken issue with EU demands that African countries take back failed asylum seekers and other migrants. "Europe is insisting too much on this aspect," Sall said, claiming it was "discriminatory" to expel Africans while keeping Syrian refugees. Sall also noted that most migrants to Europe do not come from his continent. The European Asylum Support Office says that - between January and September - the top five areas of origin for the more than 1 million asylum seekers registered in EU states were Syria, the Western Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. EU leaders were meeting separately on Thursday to discuss migration from Turkey, which has now surpassed North Africa as the main launch point for migrants and refugees coming to Europe. However, migration from the world's poorest continent is seen as a more long-term issue.

Exxon: Attacking The Media Over Climate Change Research

Beginning in the 1970s, Exxon conducted research that confirmed the occurrence of climate change, and that the burning of fossil fuels is a major contributor to it. But--at the direction of then-CEO Lee Raymond--the company kept the research quiet. Then it spent the better part of two decades funding groups that denied the science of climate change. That's the conclusion of a recent series of reports, which appear to have the company--now ExxonMobil--hot and bothered. ExxonMobil is attacking the media outlets that published these reports, which indicates it views the situation as a crisis in the making, argues Quartz. And that concern may not be unfounded. Politicians and social-action groups are calling for investigations into ExxonMobil's activities, arguing that they constitute deception over a potential public health risk.That would put ExxonMobil in the same position as tobacco companies, which in the 1950s and '60s conducted internal research that showed tobacco to be a health hazard and highly addictive. They suppressed this evidence, and funded public campaigns saying otherwise. The companies were eventually prosecuted for hiding the risks of smoking. The charges against ExxonMobil rest on a series of reports from the online newsletter Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times, based on a trove of publicly-accessible but little-known company documents.They include roughly a decade's worth of climate-change studies, published beginning in 1977. The studies consistently lined up with what has largely become the consensus of the mainstream scientific community--that the planet is heating up, and that the burning of fossil fuels is largely to blame. But beginning in the 1980s, the company embraced a policy of emphasizing the controversy of climate-change science, which ramped up in the 1990s with a campaign to discredit findings that indicated the occurrence of climate change.ExxonMobil's attitude has softened somewhat. In 2009, under current CEO Rex Tillerson, it endorsed the idea of a carbon tax. It denies that it deliberately hid evidence of climate change, and officials have called Inside Climate News an "activist" organization, and accused it of biased reporting. In response to the reports, 40 environmental and social-action groups drafted a letter demanding a Federal investigation into whether Exxon squelched evidence of climate change. Similar demands were also made by three Democratic presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman is already investigating the company, reportsBut the case may not be as clear cut as it was with the tobacco companies.That's because the work conducted by Exxon's in-house researchers has never been kept secret. And while the company has funded some dubious research, its own researchers' findings have generally lined up with those of other climatologists. But if a case can be made against ExxonMobil, it could open up a new legal front in the war over climate change.

Justin Trudeau to push middle-class message in debut on world stage

Justin Trudeau will push for investment over austerity to help the middle class as he makes his debut on the world stage as Canada's prime minister. Trudeau leaves Friday to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit in Antalya, Turkey, his first foreign trip in a busy series of international summits. He and other world leaders will tackle a range of issues ranging from youth unemployment to migration and refugees.During a news conference Thursday, the prime minister said the need for "inclusive growth" will be at the centre of his discussions with colleagues from around the world. "I'll be talking about the fact that in order to create more global growth, particularly in support of the middle class around the globe, we need to be investing in our countries' future. We need to be investing in the kinds of opportunities that are going to allow us to grow and continue to flourish as nations," Trudeau said. Trudeau will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other world leaders, including those of China, Mexico and Italy on the margins of the summit, before traveling to Manila for the Asia-Pacific Economic Partnership (APEC). There, he's expected to press for leader-level commitments to tackle economic challenges and will hold a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama. And before he sets off for the next round of international meetings, Trudeau will sit down with the premiers on Nov. 23, one week before the United Nations climate change summit in Paris. This will be the first time in six years that a prime minister has sat down provincial and territorial premiers. Trudeau's office said the invites have been extended to all first ministers, but the list of attendees has yet not been confirmed. Meeting 'bodes well for the future,' Selinger says Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger, a New Democrat, sees the meeting as a good sign for federal-provincial relations. Selinger said Canada should strive to use climate change as the impetus to create green jobs and infrastructure to stir a sluggish economy. "Obviously, none of these things are easily done, but we see the upside as being opportunities for innovation, doing things in new ways," he said Trudeau said he and the premiers will receive a briefing from top climate scientists before sitting down for a working dinner "to exactly discuss the kind of strong and cohesive message we will be delivering as Canadians." The last first ministers' meeting was held in early 2009. At the time, then prime minister Stephen Harper gathered with premiers to discuss the economy after the 2008 global financial crisis. From that time on, Harper met with premiers one on one. Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley suspects there will be a "fair amount of consensus" on the climate change agenda. "I'm looking forward to being able to have a more co-operative and collaborative relationship between the prime minister and all of the premiers again because I think all Canadians benefit from having these first ministers conference.

Saudi Arabia launches climate change PR drive

Riyadh claims 16% of global crude oil reserves, second only to Venezuela, and is home to the planet’s fifth largest natural gas reserves. The Gulf Kingdom has long been accused of underhand efforts to slow or block global climate talks, but appears keen to show journalists it’s on board with plans for a new UN pact. A website launched for COP21 offers pictures of solar panels, a foreword from the country’s oil minister dated 2014 and a cheery ‘meet the team’ section. One email from an account owned by state oil producer Saudi Aramco offers media a sense of “six things you need to know” about the Paris summit, known as COP21. “The event is of significance to a wide range of audiences and seen as highly important,” it says, adding later “the consequences of climate change could be significant and lasting.” Committed player Another mailshot sent on Thursday quotes Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser assuring the world that the government is “committed to playing its part”. The kingdom’s strategy at the talks, he adds, will be to “maintain our position as the world’s largest, most reliable oil and gas producer”. Liz Gallagher, head of climate diplomacy at the E3G think tank told Climate Home the Saudi awakening ahead of Paris is not unusual. “Saudi Arabia has a tendency to increase their PR exposure ahead of COPs – over the past year they’ve made some positive and negative contributions to the climate talks,” she said. “This recent example demonstrates they understand that the Paris moment and agreement will profoundly alter their economy.” Saudi Arabia’s wall of shame – December 2009: Negotiator Mohammad Al-Sabban is accused of undermining scientific evidence base for a UN deal in Copenhagen – April 2013: Saudi Arabia calls for climate change to be omitted from the UN’s 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. – April 2015: Negotiations to cut the use of HFCs, Saudi Arabia refuses to begin discussions: ‘We will never agree in one year, five years, or 100 years’ says Taha Zatari, head of delegation. – May 2015: Ali Al-Naimi, the country’s oil minister, says idea of ending reliance on fossil fuels needs to be put ‘in the back of our heads for a while’ – In June 2015 country takes lead blocking reference to a UN report about the need to stabilise temperatures to below 1.5C Earlier this week Saudi Arabia submitted its contribution to a UN climate deal, proposing “mitigation co-benefits” of up to 130 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030 The plan, known in UN jargon as an INDC, was an historic step from the country, but was heavily criticised for being too vague and lacking any clear carbon emission reduction figures. Riyadh says it will generate 23.9 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2020 and 54GW by 2032 through its Renewable Energy Programme (REP), launched in 2012. But sceptics point to the country’s lack of climate change related laws and absolute economy-wide targets as further evidence its green energy drive is more spin than reality. Plans for 40,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power by 2032 have been pushed back to 2040, and so far only 25MW of solar has been installed in the sun-drenched state, less than Germany. In a sign of Saudi Arabia’s significance, the UN and France have invested heavily in diplomatic efforts to assuage its concerns over a deal. A recent Saudi-French communique stressed the need for a long-term transition for all countries towards low GHG emitting development and the importance of avoiding warming above 2C. And in an interview with the New Yorker UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said she understood why the country saw proposals for ‘decarbonisation’ in a Paris deal as a threat. “The Saudis are sitting on a vast reserve of very cheap oil,” she said. “Can you blame them for trying to protect that resource and that income for as long as they can? I don’t blame them. It’s very understandable.”

2016 Predictions: Key Trends Will Transform Mobile Engagement

2016 will be the most consequential year for companies on the path to customer obsession, and that includes adapting to empowered customers who expect to get anything they want immediately, in context on their mobile devices. Today that represents nearly 50% of consumers in the U.S. alone. The consumers pick up their mobile devices 150 to 200 times a day. In aggregate, that adds up to nearly 30 billion mobile moments each day. These mobile moments are the next battleground where companies will win, serve and retain their customers. Tragically, few companies will make the leap. Those that do will reap the rewards. What role does mobile play in customer obsession, and how can businesses leapfrog their competition to deliver superior customer experiences? Here are three ways Forrester predicts mobile will change the ways business leaders operate in 2016. 1. Mobile will act as a catalyst to transform businesses in the Age of the Customer. Mobile is the tail that wags the dog that is digital business transformation. Mobile is changing the way businesses have to operate and serve customers. It is the central force in the Age of the Customer. In 2016, the gap between customer-obsessed leaders who will embrace mobile as a means to create new value and laggards who consider mobile to be a stand-alone channel will widen. Today just 14% of companies surveyed use mobile to try to transform their customers' experiences. Most companies will fail to create the business case for the tens if not hundreds of millions in spend they need to transform how they engage with consumers. Simple use cases from Apple Pay to Starbucks order-head to mobile boarding passes for airline flights may seem like simple apps, but the execution no doubt cost tens of millions and took years if not longer. Those companies that do embrace mobile as a means to transform customer experiences will accelerate the business benefits they reap in the form of new revenue, cost savings and consumer loyalty derived from higher satisfaction and delight. 2. Ownership of mobile moments will continue to consolidate. Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon in the US and Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi and Alibaba in China are aggressively building, buying and amassing the audience and data or information about consumers they need to dominate consumer mindshare on mobile devices. This trend will continue in 2016. Retailers, banks and travel apps collectively garner less than 10-15% of mobile moments as measured in minutes. Consumers will download and use branded apps where they shop and bank, but consumers do not have unlimited bandwidth to hop in and out of lots of individual apps to get stuff done. Already today in the US, consumers spend 84% of their time each month in five or fewer apps. Third parties like Google and Facebook will extract content and services from third party apps and use context to reassemble them into streamlined task flows and curated content that offers unprecedented convenience to consumers. Consumer brands must look to partner with mobile leaders to serve their customers in addition to supporting their own apps.3. Need for mobile automation will fuel massive technology investments. Thirty billion mobile moments each day in the US demands a technology that can help businesses automate how they engage with consumers. In exchange for sharing vast amounts of information with companies via accounts, purchases and mobile apps, consumers expect companies to use that context to deliver relevant services and content. Unlike the web however that offers all things to all people, mobile serves individuals with just want they want in their moment of need. Where the web is static, mobile is dynamic and depends on context. Companies lack the talent and tools today to ingest information, develop insights, make decisions about how to serve customers and take action in real time. They will depend on technology and experts who understand mobile well to do so. Vendors who help companies automate and master serving their customers in their mobile moments will elevate their valuations and attractiveness to larger enterprise solutions targeting CMOs. In 2016, marketing tech vendors will find themselves at an arms race to provide not just automation, but machine learning to derive insights from big data and campaign optimization. They will focus on improving data management capabilities and predictive algorithms. In the end, a majority of firms will struggle to cope with growing mobile expectations from customers and will simply think of mobile as channel to optimize their conversion rates. However, CMOs and CIOs at companies that do incorporate mobile into their overall strategy will cooperate to execute cross channel integration of mobile across the customer life-cycle and to prioritize the integration of mobile with backend systems. This will allow them to evolve their culture, organizations and process to leapfrog competition.

Brands Are Using Facebook Status Updates As The New Focus Group

A truck manufacturer recently discovered it had an untapped market: women in the Midwest who loved to drive and own trucks. The source of that data wasn’t a focus group but rather Facebook topic data, a PII-free way to deliver what people are talking about on Facebook to the brands that care about it. An early and enthusiastic adopter of Facebook topic data has been the WPP Data Alliance, an agency group created in 2011 to bring in different data sources from places like SAP, Factual, Twitter and Facebook and to facilitate their use. Two years ago WPP Data Alliance became one of the pilot partners of DataSift. The company collects and standardizes social media data from sources like YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, WordPress, forums and message boards (and Twitter, but you have to go through Gnip first). When DataSift became the first outside vendor to receive access to Facebook data via Facebook topic data in March, WPP Data Alliance started using that too, helping clients like that truck company make decisions by collecting and analyzing data on behalf of clients. Anas Ghazi, the director of global partnerships for the WPP Data Alliance, sees a place for data at all of WPP’s agencies, whether they focus on creative, media, PR or strategy. The insight about the car manufacturer’s audience came from its PR agency, he said. “There’s the data used to evaluate the reach and efficacy of a campaign, like CTRs and brand lift,” Ghazi said. “Then there are the data signals that are broader and more difficult to capture. They can shape the direction or timing of a campaign, or give brands an idea of a new target audience.” DataSift CEO Tim Barker said the point is to bring data to more of the decisions CMOs have to make. The company does this in part by making the process easier and cheaper than traditional data-collection methods like focus groups. “What you learn from the audience in Facebook can be applied to any part of the marketing life cycle,” Barker said Often, that Facebook data informs the timing of campaigns, as well as the placement and targeting of ad creative. Facebook data helped an ad agency with a CPG client understand when people were actually eating their potato chips. “Because CPGs aren’t selling direct to consumers, they don’t have loads of said about who is eating the product and where it’s being consumed,” Barker said. “They did focus groups and surveys, but behavior is really hard to do in traditional focus group research.” The chips were being advertised around a sporting event, so the agency wanted to figure out how people were consuming chips around that event. It collected 180,000 interactions and discovered its most engaged segment on social wasn’t 18- to 24-year-old men as it had previously thought, but 35- to 64-year-old women, who talked about the snacks on Facebook six hours before the game. Using that information, the ad agency completely re-thought what its ad creative should look like and the target audience for those ads, Barker explained. It also shifted its budget earlier in the day before the game. DataSift’s analysis has its limits. For the chips brand, it can’t measure what impact those changes made – except in a broader, aggregated manner. Facebook topic data isn’t about quantifying the impact of seeing an ad or attributing back to a sale. For that, brands can run ad campaigns on Facebook and use its conversion attribution tools. Or they can combine their other digital media buys with standalone measurement tools. The point here is insights. As DataSift works to increase the use of Facebook data, WPP Data Alliance has slightly different goals. Ghazi’s big task this year is to look beyond established markets like North America and Europe and move to collecting and using data in emerging markets like Africa, India and Asia. “We need to have the same kind of data equity in the emerging markets,” Ghazi said.

Apple Music for Android: Things you should know

You cannot use the app to play music files on your phone Unfortunately, Apple Music for Android doesn't work as a media player to listen to music files stored on your phone. This is important because a lot of Android owners have been using their phones as an MP3 player for years, storing music files on it. Google Play Music lets you do this, so that if you transfer music files from your computer, you can play them along with streaming music. The My Music tab in Apple Music only includes tracks you've purchased from iTunes. It's not better than what's already out there Arriving years after its fellow music streaming apps, Apple Music has a lot to compete with this late to the game. Google's own music streaming service Google Play Music keeps getting better and is well-liked by many Android fans. Spotify has dominated streaming music for years and Rdio, Rhapsody and Pandora are popular choices too. Plus, Google just announced a new service, YouTube Red, which lets you listen to music through YouTube using a soon-to-be-released YouTube Music app. Getting on Android gives Apple Music the best fighting chance to uproot its adversaries, but given its lackluster launch on iOS, I'm skeptical that it will gain many more customers on Android. Especially because Apple Music doesn't offer much more than Spotify, Google Play Music or others do. It does have two significant advantages however. First, Apple Music has exclusive music you can't find elsewhere, like Taylor Swift's discography (which she famously pulled from Spotify) and Dr. Dre's latest album. Second, if you've spent years and years purchasing music from iTunes, and have been longing for a simply way to play those tracks on your Android, Apple Music gives you the simplest solution. Sure, you'll need to spend $10 per month for that luxury, but it's worth it if you have a substantial library. Apple Music didn't wow me when it first debuted and it's still unremarkable as a music streaming service. The live radio is a unique catch and streaming the long-ago purchased tracks from iTunes is great, but the app's cluttered design still holds it back. For a deeper dive into the good and bad of Apple Music, read our full review, and check out why I switched back to Spotify after testing it. Would you make the switch? Let me know in the comments below.