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Tag Archives: Fund
SoftBank's Vision Fund in talks to invest $1.5 billion in Chinese used car platform: sources
February 2, 2019 6:01 am|Comments (0)
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – The SoftBank-led Vision Fund is in talks to invest up to $ 1.5 billion in Chinese used car trading platform Guazi.com, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
That would mark the latest Chinese deal by the mammoth $ 100 billion investment fund as it looks to expand in the world's No.2 economy, and would come after it invested 460 million euros in German used car dealing platform Auto1.
The fund is likely to invest up to $ 1.5 billion in Guazi in a deal that would value the firm at $ 8.5 billion before the investment, according to one of the sources, who had direct knowledge of the situation.
The two sources, who were not authorized to speak to media, also said the Vision Fund had in the past few months held talks with Guazi's direct rival, Renrenche, which is backed by Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing.
Guazi, a consumer-to-consumer used car trading platform founded in 2014, is backed by Chinese internet giant Tencent and Sequoia Capital China. Its talks with Softbank were first reported by the Financial Times late on Friday.
The Vision Fund and Renrenche declined to comment. Guazi did not respond to a request for comment. Japan's Softbank was not immediately available for comment.
The Vision Fund, the world's largest private equity fund after raising more than $ 93 billion in 2017, has previously made investments in firms such as ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc and shared-office space firm WeWork.
China's used car market has continued to grow even as overall auto sales declined last year for the first time since the 1990s.
Used sales rose 11.5 percent in 2018 from the year before to 13.82 million vehicles. The total value of these transactions was 860.4 billion yuan ($ 127.61 billion), according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.
China's state planner has said the country would aim to loosen restrictions on the second-hand auto market, with "appropriate" subsidies provided to boost rural sales of some vehicles.
Reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong and Yilei Sun in Beijing, additional reporting by Junko Fujita in Tokyo; Editing by Joseph Radford
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: $1.5, Billion, Chinese, fund, invest, Platform, SoftBank&#039s, sources, Talks, Used, vision
UK's Sky to invest in Israeli VC fund and open Berlin office
September 2, 2018 12:00 am|Comments (0)
(Reuters) – Pay-TV group Sky plans to step up investments in tech start-ups in Europe and the Middle East by opening a new office in Germany and investing $ 4 million in an Israeli venture capital fund.
FILE PHOTO: The Sky News logo is seen on the outside of offices and studios in west London, Britain June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
Europe's biggest pay-TV group has built one of the most technically-advanced platforms in Europe, helped in part by investments and partnerships it has made with more than 20 companies in the United States, Britain and France.
One of its early investments was in Roku, a provider of devices that connect televisions to streaming services which listed last year.
Sky, with distribution platforms in Britain, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Austria, said it had been impressed with the tech talent in Berlin and Israel. It will scout for the most interesting companies from Berlin and invest $ 4 million in Israeli venture capital fund, Remagine Ventures.
The British company, formed in 1990, is currently at the center of a bidding battle between Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox and U.S. cable giant Comcast.
Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi and Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: Berlin, fund, invest, Israeli, office, open, UK&#039s
Soros Fund Management adds popular tech names, BlackRock in second-quarter
August 15, 2018 12:00 am|Comments (0)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Soros Fund Management LLC added Facebook Inc (FB.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), but trimmed stakes in Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) in the quarter through June, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros speaks during a discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York, September 27, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
The family office of billionaire George Soros also bought stakes in AT&T Inc (T.N), Chevron Corp (CVX.N) and T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) and divested stakes in eBay Inc (EBAY.O), Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), Snap Inc (SNAP.N) and Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O).
Soros Fund Management also dramatically boosted its shares in BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) – the world's largest asset management firm, overseeing $ 6 trillion – by nearly 60 percent to 12,983 total shares in the second quarter.
Other notable adjustments included paring stakes in Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), but raising its shares of Pandora Media Inc (P.N) and Salesforce.com Inc (CRM.N).
Soros Fund Management took share stakes in Facebook of 159,200 class A shares during the second quarter and 54,500 shares in Apple.
A number of prominent fund managers sharply cut their holdings in Apple only weeks before it became the first publicly-traded U.S. company to be worth more than $ 1 trillion.
Einhorn's Greenlight Capital slashed its stake by 77 percent, while Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management unloaded 95 percent. Advisory firm Diamond Hill Capital Management cut its stake by 27 percent.
Other big holders, including Sanders Capital and Adage Capital Partners, only trimmed small amounts in the second quarter.
Soros also rejigged his energy holdings, raising stakes in Devon Energy Corp (DVN.N) and Kinder Morgan Inc (KMI.N), while dissolving his stake in the VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF (OIH.P) and cutting exposure to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNQ.TO) and Williams Companies Inc (WMB.N).
Quarterly disclosures of hedge fund managers' stock holdings, in what are known as 13F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, are one of the few public ways of learning what the managers are selling and buying.
But relying on the filings to develop an investment strategy comes with some risk because the disclosures come 45 days after the end of each quarter and may not reflect current positions. Still, the filings offer a glimpse into what hedge fund managers saw as opportunities to make money on the long side.
The filings do not disclose short positions, or bets that a stock will fall in price. As a result, the public filings do not always present a complete picture of a management firm's equities holdings.
Reporting by Jennifer Ablan; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, editing by G Crosse
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: Adds, BlackRock, fund, Management, Names, Popular, secondquarter, Soros, Tech
Australia's IMF Bentham to fund complaint against Facebook over alleged privacy breach
July 10, 2018 6:43 am|Comments (0)
(Reuters) – Litigation funding provider IMF Bentham Ltd (IMF.AX) said on Tuesday it was funding a representative complaint against social networking website Facebook Inc (FB.O) over alleged breaches of the Australian Privacy Principles.
FILE PHOTO: A Facebook panel is seen during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in Cannes, France, June 20, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File Photo
The company said it would fund the complaint made to the Australian Information Commissioner against Facebook Australia, Facebook Inc and Facebook Ireland. The complaint is being handled by Sydney-based law firm Johnson Winter & Slattery.
The Australian Information Commissioner has also commenced a separate investigation into the matter, IMF Bentham said, adding a class action may follow depending on the Commissioner's findings.
Facebook has come under intense scrutiny after it admitted in March to making mistakes in letting 50 million users' data get into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
The company lost more than $ 50 billion in market value in the week after the allegations emerged that Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed data to build profiles on American voters and influence the 2016 presidential election.
Facebook had said in April that a little more than 311,000 Australian users may have had their information improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. (bit.ly/2Ejpktb)
Facebook's Australian arm was not immediately available for a comment.
Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: against, Alleged, Australia&#039s, Bentham, breach, complaint, Facebook, fund, Over, Privacy
GOF – The Popular Fund You Should Not Marry Into Your Portfolio
May 6, 2018 6:07 pm|Comments (0)
Please Note: This article was first published for Income Idea subscribers on Thursday along with additional analysis and implementation ideas. All data in this article is as of 5/2/2018.
I have generally been a fan of actively managed funds where the management team has the flexibility to invest in a variety of asset classes where they best see fit, in line with the investment policy statements laid out in the prospectus documents.
For those reasons, many of my client portfolios will typically include a "strategic income" fund of some sort for fixed income investors. This could be either an open end mutual fund, ETF or a unit investment trust ('UIT').
Such fund typically outperform over longer periods of time however you do run into the issue where generally speaking "strategic" = "junk bonds." This applies to both taxable and tax free fixed income.
Where these funds are great however is that during flat or uncertain fixed income markets, by investing in go anywhere fixed income funds you are giving up that investment decision to the portfolio manager whom you believe has a better read on the market and more importantly is able to find those opportunities which neither you or I have access to as individuals.
Perhaps the most well known of such funds is the PIMCO Dynamic Credit Income Fund (PCI) which I wrote about in "PCI – Not For Me." My issue with the fund was that as great as it is performance wise there is a very hefty price, the lack of transparency around certain aspects and the exceptionally high leverage and fees.
Another fund that fits this bill and sponsored by one of my favorite managers is the Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund (GOF). While I have looked at it a number of times for myself, I have never written about it or invested in it myself for the simple reason that I do not buy CEFs at a premium.
I did have a number of readers ask me about the fund and that is why we are taking a deep dive into the fund today, particularly as it may be just the recipe for the uncertain fixed income markets of tomorrow.
Fund Basics
Sponsor: Guggenheim
Managers: Guggenheim Partners Investment Management, LLC
AUM: $ 619 million in investment exposure, $ 511 million common assets
Historical Style: Diversified Fixed Income, predominantly below investment grade
Investment Objectives: The Fund seeks high total return through investment in US Government and agency issued fixed income debt and senior equity securities, corporate bonds, mortgage and asset backed securities and through utilizing an options strategy
Number of Holdings: 377
Current Yield: 10.44% based on market price, monthly distributions
Inception Date: 7/27/2007
Fees: 1.8%
Discount to NAV: 8.78% PREMIUM
Sources: CEF Connect, Guggenheim Website, and YCharts.
The Sales Pitch
For whatever reason the fund does a horrendous job on its website and in its marketing material to set the case for investing in the fund.
On one hand, they do not need to as the fund only raises capital at its IPO or during follow up offerings but still…. why not put up a few graphics or paragraphs outlining why investors should consider it?
Since the fund fails to do that job, I will attempt to.
As I stated in the introduction, I am a fan of go anywhere investments, especially when they can give you uncorrelated investment exposure.
A Closed End Fund structure further lets the fund use leverage and due to its structure, management does not need to have money allocated to cash for any redemptions which occur with open end mutual funds.
The CEF structure also lets you, in most cases, to purchase funds below their net asset value further generating alpha. (Although this has generally not applied to GOF.)
In the fund's semi-annual report the fund manager does point out that "thorough research and independent thought are rewarded with performance that has the potential to outperform benchmark indexes with both lower volatility and lower correlation of returns as compared to such benchmark indexes." Source: GOF Semi-Annual Report
The Alpha/Fund Strategy
Unlike in an exchange traded or an open end index fund which follow an underlying index with their generally transparent index methodologies, no such things exist in go-anywhere, actively managed funds.
As such, investors generally rely on the information provided in the prospectus for the fund's general investment guidelines.
As a true "strategic income" fund, the fund may invest without any limitations in fixed income securities rated below investment grade, aka junk bonds.
The fund may further invest up to 20% in non-US dollar denominated securities, including up to 10% in emerging markets.
What makes the fund relatively unique is that it may invest up to 50% in equities and up to 30% in fund of funds or pass through securities.
Source: GOF Website
One of my personal attraction points to Guggenheim is their strong position in asset backed securities, particularly aerospace.
Even though this is an actively managed go-anywhere fund, it is not overly concentrated. The top 10 holdings make up just 7.98% of the fund.
Source: Guggenheim Website
Looking at the fund more broadly, even though it can allocate up to 50% to equities, the fund is currently 80% allocated to fixed income with just a bit over 15% allocated to common stocks.
Breaking it down further shows us that more than half of the fund is allocated to floating rate bank loans and ABS, or asset backed securities. In general, these are below investment grade.
High yield bonds add another 14% while investment grade corporate bonds are just under 5% of the fund.
This obviously shows up in the credit quality. More than 90% of the fund is either rated at or below BBB or not rated. More than 70% is either below investment grade or unrated.
Unfortunately due to the nature of the fund and the fund's decision, Guggenheim does not publish some common statistics such as the average effective maturities and durations. From the transparency side this is a disservice to investors and I hope the sponsor changes it in the future.
The only reference to duration which I found was in the semi-annual report.
Source: GOF Semi-Annual Report
Guggeneheim does disclose that the fund had an average duration of about .7 years which is quite good. We do not however know whether that was leverage adjusted or not.
In either case, what this means is that for a 1% rise in interest rates, the fund's NAV should be expected to decline by just .7%. If we have to adjust for leverage it would be closer to 1%.
The opposite is also true if interest rates decline.
Looking at the risk data we can find a 5 year beta of .997. This implies that the fund has essentially been as volatile as the underlying markets.
Source: YCharts
The maximum draw-down which the fund experienced was 54.69%, likely during the closed end fund sell off in 2007/2008 when the leverage markets dried up and funds were forced to liquidate.
Looking at the risk adjusted metrics, the fund has achieved a 10 year Sharpe ration of .7935 and a Sortino ratio of .6941. While these are not mind blowing… for a closed end fund of this nature it is quite good.
Like most closed end funds, the Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund(GOF) uses leverage.
The fund uses two primary methods for obtaining leverage.
First, the fund uses reverse repurchase agreements whereby it pledges its investments through transactions creating leverage.
As of November 2017, the fund had $ 58 million in reverse repurchase agreements with its syndicate of banks on which it paid an average weighted interest rate of 1.85%. These costs would be higher today.
The second source of leverage is a traditional credit facility with a lender.
GOF has an $ 80 million credit facility on which it pays a borrowing rate of .85% over 3 month LIBOR. On this line as of the end of November the fund had just $ 2 million outstanding as it had paid down the majority of the credit facility.
What is important to note here is that most of the CEF leverage which we have looked at is typically a spread of .7% to 1.2% over 1 Month LIBOR. In the case of GOF it is 3 month LIBOR which is a higher rate.
While generally this was a small spread, the gap is now close to .5%! As such, the fund's current borrowing costs on this credit facility would be over 3%!
1-Month LIBOR based on US Dollar data by YCharts
Fortunately it seems that Guggenheim is employing some smart people to run the fund, namely Scott Minerd who has been quite critical of the markets. As such, the fund has been deleveraging as of late.
The fund is currently distributing a market price distribution yield of 10.44% and is trading at a PREMIUM of 8.78% to its NAV, or net asset value.
Source: CEF Connect
Over the previous year the fund has continued to trade at premiums although it did come very close to parity earlier this year.
Generally speaking, the Net Asset Value has failed to grow beyond its initial IPO even though there is a growth component. THIS IS QUITE CONSISTENT with the findings of the distribution analysis. A few good years bail out many bad years however there has not been meaningful growth.
Looking back over the fund's lifetime, we can see the fund has generally traded at a premium over the previous 7 years or so however did trade at a discount in 2015/2016 and during the financial crisis when it was trading at close to 30% discounts to NAV. This is once again consistent with "junk bonds."
Performance wise, year to date the fund has been sold off with most other CEFs. The fund is up a mere .21% on a total return basis accounting for the distribution. The price per share is down 3.27% while the NAV is down 3.04%.
Do note at the price vs NAV action early this year when the fund was thrown out and decreased 9%. This is a risk to buying a fund which is trading at a premium as any sustained sell off turns premiums into discounts, adding more misery to the underlying losses.
Over the previous year the fund did give investors a 10.28% total return. This came strictly from the distribution. The underlying price per share is down .6% while the net asset value fell 2.89%. Over distributed? AHA!
Over the last 3 years the story remains the same. The fund presented investors with a 36.17% total return while the price fell 2.9%. The underlying NAV declined 2.5%. A good 2016 bailed out the fund's track record during this time.
Over the previous 5 years we have precisely the same story. The total return was all about the distribution. The underlying price per share declined 9.28% while the NAV declined 8.99%.
Going back 10 years would have you purchase the fund near the lows of the financial crisis. AS such, the fund has achieved phenomenal results. The fund would have a 270.8% total return (if reinvested). The price per share increased 24.11% while the NAV grew just 8.5%.
Since inception the numbers are not as good. The total return declines to 233.8% with a 4.38% price per share gain and an essentially flat NAV.
The moral of the story, the fund did a PHOENOMINAL job coming out of the financial crisis but it was quite volatile and since 2011 or so, has not grown its NAV in the greatest bull market yet.
Should have? Want signs of over distribution? Plain vanilla (AGG) and (MUB) grew their NAVs during this time.
To put the fund into perspective, we will take a look at the fund against a number of competing products, both levered and unlevered.
As far as "go anywhere" type funds, there are a number of competing closed end funds such as the BlackRock Multi-Sector Income (BIT), the PIMCO Dynamic Credit Income (PCI), and the DoubleLine Income Solutions (DSL) funds. PCI is managed by the PIMCO team and the DoubleLine fund is a representation of the famed Jeffrey Gundlach's ideas.
I also wanted to take a look at how it does against a covered call fund such as the BlackRock Enhanced Global Dividend fund (BOE).
Lastly we can take a look at two unlevered open end funds, the Fidelity Strategic Income (FSTAX) and the PIMCO Total Return (PTTAX) funds.
Year to date on a total return basis we can see that generally speaking, GOF has lagged for most of the year and was actually the most impacted during the sell off in February. It has since rebounded and comes in the middle of the pack. For the year however (PCI) and (DSL) have been the best performers.
If we look over the last year we can see (GOF) has beat most of its peers coming in behind PCI. Interestingly (BIT) lead the way until the sell off this year. Also of note, even though also PIMCO managed, the open end Total Return Fund was the worst performer.
Over the last three years we have a similar story. PCI lead the way followed by GOF, DSL and BIT.
The equity focused BOE lags and is followed by the two open end funds which were quite stable. In either case, the Fidelity fund handily outperformed the PIMCO Total Return fund.
Looking back 5 years we essentially have PCI and GOF leading the way, followed by (BIT). The high performing DoubleLine fund however comes in at the bottom of the CEF pack simply due to its horrible performance in 2015.
Once again it shows the importance of risk management. It is not as import as to how much you make, and it is more important to focus on how much you DON'T LOSE!
This is ever so important for buy and hold investors.
To get a 10 year number we only have the (GOF) and (BOE) closed end funds along with our two open end funds. This is critical but we do not have any idea how (PCI), (BIT) and (DSL) would perform during a financial crisis.
As we can see, the two closed end funds were decimated during the crisis. While GOF recovered, BOE never did. In fact, the plain vanilla open end Fidelity income fund would provide better total returns than an equity CEF fund.
Overall, GOF has been a good fund especially if we consider that it has been generally less levered than its peers. More importantly from the risk management perspective the fund is leading the way in delevering while its peers are increasing their leverage to maintain the distribution level.
Guggenheim is an experienced manager and if you want to capitalize on and follow Scott Minerd, (GOF) is a way to do so. Here is a good article on Scott Minerd's recent thoughts.
From the pricing side, it is very tough for most closed end fund investors I know of to justify purchasing it today, or even keeping it if you already own it.
Over the previous year the fund traded at a premium to NAV of as low as .62% to as high as 11.33%.
As we can see, the current 8.78% premium to NAV is quite expensive over EVERY measured time period and the Z-Score solidifies that. The right time to buy it would have been earlier this year when it was trading at near parity.
Overall it is certainly a peculiar time for funds like GOF, PCI and DSL.
I think a great way of thinking about them is like dating a super model. Yes, they look really pretty and you have a great time dating and you get lots of envious looks. But are they the people you believe would end up being terrific soul mates to live together and raise a family?
GOF, PCI, DSL and other high yield junk bond funds have certainly become the "popular guy/gal" and people are paying premiums for them. At the same time, high quality funds and munis have been left at the alter.
Yes, they have performed exceptionally well in a terrific bull market for both fixed income and equities, but so did the housing market in the early 2000s.
The "crazy" part comes in where on one hand we see premium prices for those funds, yet the underlying fundamentals are either turning or completely falling apart such as the distribution coverage with GOF and others.
Of course, I once again have to remind, a distribution is not a dividend and you have to take an underlying look at how the fund is doing.
Bottom line, this is certainly a fund worth owning, but perhaps when the prices are quite a bit better and we have another opportunity to buy in ONCE the tornado comes through.
In the mean time, the BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Fund (BIT) will let you play in the same space at a far lower cost, a 10% discount versus an 8.78% premium and while I have not looked at it yet, the underlying distribution coverage can't be as bad as (GOF)?
For more information on the fund, please visit the fund's website at Guggenheim – GOF.
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Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: fund, Into, Marry, Popular, Portfolio, Should
Hong Kong fund says Toshiba chip unit worth more than $30 billion
April 6, 2018 6:01 am|Comments (0)
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Hong Kong-based activist investment fund opposed to Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) sale of its chip unit to a Bain Capital-led group said the deal should be renegotiated at a valuation of 3.3 trillion yen to 4.4 trillion yen ($ 30 billion-$ 41 billion).
FILE PHOTO – The logo of Toshiba Corp. is seen at the company's facility in Kawasaki, Japan February 13, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
Argyle Street Management said on Friday that the current deal, which values the unit at 2 trillion yen, was agreed upon when Toshiba was desperate for cash. Toshiba is no longer insolvent, and was free to terminate the deal without incurring any penalty because the sale had not closed by a March 31 deadline, it said.
Toshiba should aim to list the unit if the Bain group will not agree to a higher price, it added.
Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Writing by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: Billion, chip, fund, Hong, Kong, more, says, than, Toshiba, Unit, Worth
Japan state-backed fund INCJ to sell part of stake in Renesas: NHK
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese state-backed fund plans to sell part of its stake in Renesas Electronics Corp, giving the chipmaker more freedom to make acquisitions as it seeks to bolster its global competitiveness, public broadcaster NHK reported.
FILE PHOTO: Renesas Electronics Corp's logo is seen on its substrate at the company's conference in Tokyo, Japan, April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
The fund, Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ), will reduce its stake to around 33 percent from 45.6 percent, NHK said on Tuesday, without citing sources.
INCJ plans to sell the shares through the market, according to the NHK report.
Renesas shares dived 8 percent following the report.
Representatives for INCJ were not immediately available for comment.
INCJ rescued cash-strapped Renesas in 2013 with an investment of 150 billion yen ($ 1.4 billion), and had received 69 percent of the chipmaker, but whittled down its stake as the company regained its footing.
Last month, INCJ agreed to sell a 4.5 percent stake in Renesas to auto parts supplier Denso Corp.
Renesas last year bought U.S. chipmaker Intersil Corp for $ 3.2 billion and its chief executive said it was constantly reviewing its list of potential acquisition targets.
Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: fund, INCJ, Japan, Part, Renesas, Sell, stake, statebacked
Indonesia's Astra joins in fund raising for Go-Jek
February 12, 2018 6:00 am|Comments (0)
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian conglomerate Astra International said on Monday it will invest $ 150 million in Go-Jek, joining the likes of Alphabet Inc's Google in the ride-hailing start-up's latest fundraising round.
Astra Chief Executive Prijono Sugiarto said the group had wanted to invest in Go-Jek for some time but had been looking for the right timing.
"We see that Go-Jek is special, its development is significant," Sugiarto told a news conference.
The announcement comes weeks after sources told Reuters that Singapore state investor Temasek was also among those investing in Go-Jek as part of a $ 1.2 billion fundraising round.
The funding will help Go-Jek compete with deep-pocketed rivals as players rapidly expand their app-based services and digital payments in Southeast Asia.
Reporting by Cindy Silviana; Editing by Ed Davies and Gopakumar Warrier
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: Astra, fund, GoJek, Indonesia&#039s, joins, raising
Tech firm raises $118 million in virtual coin offer to fund blockchain phone
December 14, 2017 12:42 pm|Comments (0)
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Swiss-Israeli technology firm Sirin Labs said on Thursday it had raised $ 118 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) to support the development of an open source blockchain smartphone.
Moshe Hogeg, co-founder and president of British-Israeli start-up, Sirin Labs AG, manufacturers of Solarin, a mobile device with unprecedented levels of technology and security, speaks during an interview with Reuters at their offices in Tel Aviv, Israel May 16, 2016. REUTERS/Amir Cohen TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY – S1BETHKDEGAB
ICOs allow startups founded on cryptocurrency technologies such as blockchain to quickly raise capital by issuing virtual tokens to investors.
Such offerings have become more common in the past year, but Europe's top markets regulator warned last month they were "extremely risky and highly speculative investments."
Sirin, which has recruited soccer superstar Lionel Messi to be its brand ambassador, said it had raised the money from 5,600 people globally within the first 24 hours and would continue the offering for another 12 days.
"These are our potential clients. We think they will be the first to buy the phones," Moshe Hogeg, CEO and founder of Sirin, told reporters.
The ICO will help fund its secure blockchain phone, as well as a blockchain personal computer. The company said the phone, which should be on the market near the end of next year, benefits from enhanced security and the ability to carry out fee-less transactions.
Hogeg said his target had been to raise $ 75 million – the amount needed to develop the phone. The additional funds will enable the company to increase its production and invest more in sales and marketing.
Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Tova Cohen; Editing by Mark Potter
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: $118, blockchain, Coin, Firm, fund, million, Offer, Phone, Raises, Tech, virtual
Former FireEye CEO joins cyber venture fund Allegis
October 27, 2017 12:00 am|Comments (0)
(Reuters) – Technology executive Dave DeWalt has joined early-stage cyber-security venture capital firm Allegis Capital as a managing director, the fund said on Thursday, as it looks to invest more in companies closer to going public.
With the appointment DeWalt, a former CEO of FireEye Inc and McAfee before it was acquired by Intel Corp, is moving directly into the world of venture capital after years of running companies.
"His experience, and the networks that come with it, will be a tremendous asset to our firm and our portfolio companies as they grow from solution innovators to market leaders," Allegis founder Bob Ackerman said in a statement.
Allegis is looking to raise between $ 200 million and $ 400 million to invest in series C funding rounds, a source with knowledge of the plans said. Such rounds typically involve the last private cash injected into a company before it goes public.
San Francisco-based Allegis also said it would change its name to AllegisCyber and open an office in the Washington area to tap into the region's high density of cyber engineers and robust investment opportunities.
Allegis said that DeWalt had previously consulted on several investments, including a stake they took in Callsign, where DeWalt sits on the board.
DeWalt has this year joined the boards of a string of cyber security companies including ForgeRock, Optiv, Phantom and Claroty. He has sat on the board of Delta Air Lines Inc since late 2011.
Allegis' existing cyber security investments include Area 1, Bracket Computing, CyberGRX, E8 Security, Shape Security, Signifyd, Synack, tCell.io and vArmour.
Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Jim Finkle and Diane Craft
Posted in: Cloud Computing|Tags: Allegis, cyber, FireEye, Former, fund, joins, venture
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Cyber Saturday—YouTube Extremism, Bezos Phone Hacking, Spies at Mar-a-Lago
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Posted on September 1, 2019 September 22, 2021 by KatiaSae
No Prey
Editor's Note: The first place winner of our Eve Fiction Writing contest!
A short story by Signaleer Dagmar Maulerant
Dagmar Maulerant
Myles Flardou, the lone pilot's profile read. Age 27. Member of the Federal Navy for more than 3 years. Security status: -0.7
3 years! If they both weren't in the middle of nowhere, she would've pinned him for a distinguished space captain. If a capsuleer spent 3 years in the same corporation without moving on, it must've surely meant they were dedicated for life, right?
Most concerning of all however was his killboard. Dozens of green kills lined the pilot's recent activity for the last few months. And all of them were either Tech 1 or Covert Ops frigates fit for hacking and exploration. She could scarcely believe it, but there was no way around it; the killed pilots were all from different backgrounds and were blown up in different constellations, so the kills were most probably authentic. None of his victims had perished on grid with any celestial or standard human-made structure either, meaning they must've surely been attacked while hacking.
The kicker? He always used a Manticore-class Stealth Bomber.
A Stealth Bomber. Not an Astero or a Stratios or a T3C, but a Stealth Bomber.
She dragged her attention back to her probe scanner window with trepidation. The scanned coordinates of the only cosmic signature in that system stared back at her, taunting her with its cheerful green background and unblinking white words. Sig ID: AEI-443. Ruined Serpentis Monument Site. Distance: 5.45 AU.
This wasn't good.
If she had been flying an Astero, it would've been a lot easier. She would've still had some reservations, but in the end she probably would've just gone for it. Stealth Bombers were relatively easy to defeat with a tough droneboat such as that one. The hunter probably wouldn't have even attacked her; she hadn't seen any Astero kills in his killboard after all.
But noooo, she was stuck with a Heron.
At first she had tried to find him to make sure he wasn't just docked or lazing about. That solar system was small enough for her to scan down on its entirety no matter her position, yet he was nowhere to be found. There were no stations or capsuleer-built citadels anchored either, so the most logical explanation was that he was cloaked somewhere, unreachable to anyone but himself.
There was no denying it: Myles Flardou was waiting in that Monument for a victim to kill. Or at least making a very good impression of it.
In any normal situation, this would've been an obvious decision: jump out of that system and return to the wormhole she had come from. It's not like she wouldn't find any more sites to loot.
However, this wasn't a normal situation. Normally she wouldn't even be flying a Heron. Its powergrid and slot layout left, in her opinion, little room for any of the necessary adjustments she deemed necessary by any decent exploration frigate to fully brave the dangers of the night sky. Exploration frigates should be quick to align, but also contain a big enough tank to last an initial onslaught before darting out of sight. They should also be able to survive all of the most common hunter attacks and some of the less common ones as well. The Astero and Stratios were some of the most common spaceships hunters used to surprise explorers and kill them before they could escape. Force Recon Cruisers, while more rare, could still do the job, and Tech 3 Cruisers could also be used with the added possibility of a smartbomb attack. With all of these ships, your best choice at survival would be to warp away before their sensors could lock you.
Stealth Bombers though were a different story. No matter how nimble your frigate, escaping a Stealth Bomber was almost impossible, meaning that a confrontation was inevitable. Your options were to fight, run away, or use a jammer and hope against hope their lock could be broken. The ideal ship to use in those cases was an Astero, but a weak T1 or T2 frigate generally stood no chance against them.
That's why for once, she chose to use a Heron. Unlike its brethren, it could be both agile and a surprisingly good fighter. Getting out of scram range was difficult as it was already and she'd never been a fan of jammers, so combat would be her only option. While Stealth Bombers could be formidable with light missiles against frigates like hers, they also had a very weak tank. If she could last long enough against an onslaught, she could very well kill the hunter first. And that's exactly how her Heron was designed, with some help and testing from her own corpmates.
So maybe… maybe she could get the loot from the relic site and avoid being killed by the Manticore. He had no apparent allies to back him up, so maybe she could actually return the favor. It was the perfect opportunity to truly test her Heron and herself against an experienced adversary. And besides, a justice delivery for all the downed explorers seemed very fitting.
Once she made the choice, there was no stopping her.
First she deployed her Mobile Depot and waited a minute until the device had fully assembled. Then, she took remote control over it and used the mechanism to swap her ship's fitted modules with new ones. It took only a moment for the microwarpdrive and scanning enhancement modules to be replaced by all kinds of shield upgrades and the all-important relic analyzer. After that, she pulled the Mobile Depot back to her cargohold.
Her Heron moved. In a few seconds, it entered warp and immediately flew towards the Monument site at crazy speeds. Dashing across the solar system, it didn't take long for the grey vessel to near its destination. As the warp tunnel started to thin out, she bookmarked her coordinates and saved them to her personal folder under the name 'Perch'. Merely a second later, her spaceship came to a graceful stop.
Before her now lay the ruins of what once was a thriving site of respectful contemplation. The existence of Serpentis Monuments were a true dilemma; after all, it was a well-known fact to any that looked into the issue that Salvador Sarpati, the CEO of Serpentis, hated religion. His corporation's cosmopolitan character welcomed all sorts of people into its ranks, yet all its members seemed to share their leader's contempt for the practice. Why then had those Monuments been built in their name? No one truly knew. One of the more common and popular theories was that they were built only as a cover to carry out illicit transactions in a discreet environment, something which had certainly been carried out by the pirate faction before.
In any case, the fact remained that all the Monuments seemed rather empty, including this one. It consisted of an enormous thoroughly-crafted statue of a saint holding a staff up in the empty vacuum of space. Surrounded by it was a big circle of several chunks of debris, supposedly to mark the end and the beginning of the monument at approximately 60 kilometres across. She had no doubt that during its active days the items floating in space were much more clean and appealing to the eye. Now however, the area was but a shadow of its former glory. Asteroid dust covered all of her surroundings and random trash littered the area, forever bound to its meandering.
The sight was nothing new to her. What once provoked solemnity now evoked a sense of urgency. It was never a good idea to stay around for long, even more so now that there might be a cloaked vessel watching her every move. It was in moments like these when she felt the most exposed that she missed her cloaking device.
She gathered what she could find. There were five containers 20 kilometres from her position. Back when the site was still visited by pilots, the people in charge of taking care of those places were the only ones who had access to them. The only way she could do the same without damaging them was to hack them open.
The Heron moved once again to her will. It made a sharp 180 degree turn and entered warp. This time it only skipped a couple thousand kilometres before halting to a stop in the previously saved coordinates. The containers were still visible in her Overview, allowing her to sort through them at a safe distance with the added benefit of being able to warp to each of them directly. Like usual, she chose the container with the most difficult hack and willed her mechanical body to warp towards it. The vessel did so effortlessly, landing at less than 2000 meters from the rectangular object.
A cloud of dust blocked her vision, and she swerved the camera drone away, inwardly cringing at the sight of her Heron floating in the middle of the sticky particles. Roaming through these ancient sites was bound to get her ship dirty, resulting in a lot of calls to a station's cleaning service after her trips. She never understood why some capsuleers never cleaned theirs; to her, a spaceship was as much of a body as her human form. She'd hate to go about with grime and dirt clinging visibly to her hair or skin, and that corresponded to her ship form as well. Minmatar hulls were the only exception; their rusty exterior was a mere design choice, if she had to guess.
Targeting systems were activated. In a few seconds, the container's signature radius was locked by her frigate and ready to be hacked. She continued as survival procedures dictated. Planet where she could escape to in case of an emergency? Check. Stationary spaceship? Check. Close enough distance to the container to pull in the contents of its interior once she's hacked it open? Check.
She angled the camera drone so that her emergency exit was clearly visible to her. It was hacking time. She activated her analyzer module and inserted a virus into the container's locking mechanism.
A new window opened and covered most of her vision. She could now travel through the system's software in search of the system's core. If she managed to find it and erase it, the container would immediately open up. But first, she minimized the window and kept a close eye on her surroundings. This was coincidentally the best time for a hunter to leap out of the shadows of its cloaking device and attack an explorer, when the latter's attention was diverted to hacking.
Heart pumping rapidly, she waited a couple of seconds.
Nothing happened. Cautiously, she brought the hacking window back to her vision and proceeded with the hack.
Despite the added difficulty of hacking in a Tech 1 frigate, it didn't take her long to find the core. In the blink of an eye, the container's defenses evaporated and the lock swung open. She quickly pulled in all the salvage she could find and warped back to her perch. So nothing had happened… He was either not there, not interested in attacking her, or waiting to kill her on another hack. The best hunter was a patient hunter. He was maybe hoping to instill a false sense of security within her to catch her off-guard later on, or maybe he also wanted the salvage and was waiting for her to hack more cans so he could loot her wreck. Either way, she wasn't stopping now.
Two hacked containers and still no sign of the Stealth Bomber. While she was hacking the fourth one however, another capsuleer popped up in the solar system's local list. She immediately warped away from the Monument altogether to a safe spot in the middle of an empty pocket of space, fearing an ambush. A few seconds later, an Ares-class interceptor popped up in her directional scanner and remained there until the capsuleer's name disappeared from the local list. Just a traveling vessel apparently. She let her mind relax slightly. Paranoia was a virtue in this game of uncertainties. After a minute, she warped back to the Monument and continued with the hack.
Finally, a single container was left. Last chance for her to escape with whatever salvage she possessed. Sometimes she liked to leave the last can unopened to evade hunters who waited until the last hack to attack her. Thinking about their frustration was very amusing if she was completely honest with herself.
This time, she wouldn't do that. She'd give him one more chance to kill her. The Heron warped to the fifth container, and after running through the preliminary survival measures, inserted the virus.
He appeared just when the hacking window was starting to materialize.
Her Overview flashed with the new appearance, the highlighted asset that represented a capsuleer spaceship. Coldness paralyzed her thoughts.
She had tempted fate too much. The trap was sprung and she was about to get killed, just like she had predicted. She was about to get killed.
Time slowed down. Adrenaline cleared her mind and sharpened her focus. A switch went off within her.
She was about to get killed. But she was going to fight back.
First she aligned to her escape planet, knowing that trying to enter warp would be pointless. Her suspicions were confirmed once she closed the hacking window and saw the Manticore-class Stealth Bomber bumping her frigate off-course. When they collided, both spaceships were propelled to opposite directions.
It was soon followed by yellow brackets that surrounded the hunter, meaning her Heron's signature radius was being locked down. Don't waste any more time! She reciprocated, readying her lasers, and deployed a swarm of Tech 2 Acolyte-class combat drones.
Just as her commands were being executed, she received the first blow. A fifth of her shield evaporated, and a red icon flashed above her capacitor in her user interface, warning her she was being scrammed. With her navigation computer disrupted beyond her control, she was now completely ensnared by the hunter, who circled her Heron speedily in a tight orbit.
Her drones quickly shot out of her drone bay, buzzing around her spaceship. She immediately realized her mistake. Shit! I forgot to set them to aggressive mode! Only two seconds remained before the Manticore was locked down, but she didn't want delays; she wanted her drones to attack now.
Hastily, she changed their settings. Afterwards, it took only a moment for her drones to notice her attacker and move swiftly towards him. They landed their first shot just as her sensors were finally able to lock him down. An analysis of the vessel's integrity appeared on the top left corner of her vision in the form of three white bars, each depicting the spaceship's structure, armor and shield. A small chunk of the upper bar however, representing the hull's shield, was a deep red instead, courtesy of her drones.
Her lasers also responded to the new target and fired upon it. However, a message displayed by her inner sensors revealed they had missed the moving Manticore completely. Frustration tightened within her. He was moving too quickly for her lasers to keep up with him!
She didn't have time to worry about that though, because the Manticore had once again unleashed its missiles and decimated another fifth of her shield. Her main tank was almost halfway gone and she wasn't even close to defeating him. Keeping herself alive was her priority.
So she activated her shield booster for the first time. It immediately regenerated part of her shield, but also sucked a lot of her capacitor. If she kept the module running, she'd run out of power in less than 20 seconds. As such, the next module she used was a capacitor booster, which injected enough energy to her power source to keep the module running for longer. Thank Bob I remembered to keep it loaded.
She let the situation play out for a moment. Her shield regenerated a considerable amount before another attack depleted it to half its capacity. She kept a close eye on her cap booster, which started to reload automatically after using its single power cell. 10 seconds until it could inject more energy to her capacitor and her shield booster had the ability to keep running for longer.
The shield booster just kept on sucking energy. Her focus swerved anxiously between her capacitor and cap booster.
Another onslaught lowered her shields again, which was partly repaired by the shield booster. Her cap was about to run out.
Her cap booster was loaded just in time. She activated it once again, and her power source was filled to the brim once again. Relief softened her mind momentarily. Her tank wouldn't last forever, but it'd do for now.
She had 20 seconds to divert her attention to something else. Looking back at the Manticore's intel, she found out that only a third of its shield was depleted. Why were her drones taking such a long time to finish it? He had probably fitted a shield extender to his vessel. Coupled with his incessant orbiting, it made for an unexpectedly tough frigate to blow up.
Would she be able to last long enough to kill him before he killed her? It wasn't easy to tell. Concentrating beyond the roar in her mind was a task within itself, but she tried her best. Was there anything else she could do to speed up the process?
There was a way to deal with her lasers's lack of tracking, but she had to do it quickly or she'd miss her cue to refill her capacitor once again. She opened a radial menu from her target's intel and searched through the navigation options. It was easy to find what she was looking for: the 'Keep at Range' command. Swallowing her impatience, she mindlessly set it to 20 kilometres and put it into effect.
She felt the Heron twisting within itself, breaking out of alignment and making an effort to burn away from her attacker. She knew it'd be impossible; the Manticore was faster than her. But the purpose wasn't to get away from it, but to allow her hull's alignment to follow that of the hunter's and help her lasers keep up with him.
The result was immediate: her next shot hit the Stealth Bomber successfully. It didn't cause as much damage as her drones according to her sensor's analysis, but it would at least add 30 more dps to her overall damage application.
She couldn't afford to get distracted however. Focusing back on her capacitor, she found out her cap booster was in the middle of reloading and her power source was about to run out. This time it was empty enough to deactivate her shield booster, and she noted that her shield was still at 50% capacity, which did little to comfort her. Tick tock tick tock.
After a few seconds of infinity, the cap booster was once again reloaded. She used its power cell once again, and reactivated her shield booster immediately after. Her shield soon started gaining back the strength lost from the hunter's next blow.
She stepped back to review the situation. This time her relief was deeper; her shield was holding once again and the Manticore now had less than a third of its shield.
It was only then that she truly started to smell victory. If things continued the way they were, his demise would come a lot earlier than hers. The less strength the Manticore's shield had, the stronger her frantic wish for success became, and the stronger her heart squeezed in her chest.
That was, until a new capsuleer appeared on the system's local list.
Her hopes were cut short. No no no no no. What if they were coming to aid her adversary!? What would she do then!?
She had absolutely no idea. She couldn't run. She couldn't hide. She was sure she'd die immediately if another capsuleer joined their fight.
But she couldn't let it get to her. Not yet, no matter how bad the situation seemed. Not until their combined damage was breaching her structure and she was left dangling in space like a broken wing. She could only watch her directional scanner like a hawk and pray to Bob that the newcomer wasn't a friend of the Manticore.
A moment passed where nothing happened. Her drones and lasers continued to eat at the hunter's shield and her own was being barely kept by her spaceship's full core power.
Then a new vessel appeared on d-scan. A Malediction-class interceptor. She watched with rapt attention as the spaceship remained for one second, then two, then three, then four…
Until it disappeared. Both from d-scan and the system's local list.
Relief poured out of her in a single, all-encompassing wave. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe it. If she were in control of her human body, she would've covered her face with her hands and laughed out loud. Or maybe sobbed.
With newfound vigor, she snapped her attention back to the situation at hand. Her cap booster was being reloaded, and the Manticore's shield… was pure red.
She drowned her elation with effort. What if he had something else up his sleeve? What if he pulled out a trick that changed the tide of battle? What if she missed one crucial detail that ended up being her demise?
Her attention was divided between her cap booster, her shield, and the hunter's remaining defense. To her triumph, his armor was getting destroyed a lot more quickly than his shield. By the time she was injecting more power to her capacitor and reactivating her shield booster, his armor was already gone.
Only his structure remained. It was being dealt with just as quickly as his armor. She forgot about everything else and stared at the last white bar as it got redder and redder, not daring to look away even for a second, gleefully awaiting her moment of victory.
Just a little bit more and she'd get a clean hit on the Manticore, obliterating it to smithereens. Just a little bit more and she'd win.
Suddenly, the circle depicting the hunter's intel blinked out of existence. Her confusion was immediate, completely replacing her excitement. What had happened? Why had she lost her lock on him?
The answer became obvious as the Stealth Bomber's highlighted row grew a shade greyer in her Overview. She barely noticed its distance to her had increased exponentially before the asset disappeared just as quietly as its intel.
He had warped away.
Her gut twisted with indignation. He warped away!
She was so caught up in the moment that she hadn't noticed him breaking his orbit and aligning. It made perfect sense that he'd want to escape after seeing he was about to lose.
Of course he'd warp away.
Disappointment filled her to the core. She was so close to killing him! Being so used to fleeing hunters instead of attacking them, she'd hoped to take a kill of her own for once, but unfortunately that wouldn't be the case. This was why capsuleers were so insistent on tackling their victims before moving in for the kill.
She sighed to herself. For now, she couldn't dwell on her emotions. It wasn't a good idea to stay around now that the fight was over.
Dejectedly, she surveyed the battleground: her shield booster was still running, using up her capacitor, and her drones were meandering about. She commanded them to return to her drone bay and deactivated the shield booster, which run for one more cycle before stopping entirely. As her drones zoomed back to their respective chamber, she looked around the user interface in search of something she might've missed.
There was only one more excuse she could think of to stay put, which was to hack the last can. However, a mix of tiredness and paranoia plagued her at the thought of doing that. Her sour mood only grew as the adrenaline left her body and a wave of pure exhaustion washed over her. It was one of the reasons why she didn't engage in capsuleer combat very often; as much as she prepared for it, she knew that deep down, she was no fighter. The heart-pounding rush was nice once in a while, but it couldn't bring her the satisfaction she craved.
A small part of herself mocked her for being scared, but a bigger one told that part of her mind to shut up. She was in no mood for fighting herself over the issue.
Considering her business done, she aligned her Heron back to a safe spot and entered warp. While traversing through the warp tunnel however, a message box appeared suddenly in the middle of her vision. Myles Flardou is requesting a voice conversation with you. Will you accept?
He wanted to talk to her? Not through text but voice comms? But why? To yell at her?
She gave it some thought before shrugging to herself. She'd been hoping to have a word with him before departing anyways. Whether that involved a friendly conversation or a yelling match, she'd soon find out. Worst case scenario, she'd just leave the channel.
She accepted the request as her ship came out of warp, and a communication link was established. A second was all she needed to wait.
"Hi there!" A male voice greeted her. It wasn't exactly what his voice would sound like if they were talking in person; the quality and overall cadence of his speech was too perfect, too pristine as a consequence of how their ships's inner software interpreted the sender's temporal lobe, the part of the brain in charge of speech, and projected it to the receiver's cerebrum, the part in charge of hearing. But it could easily transmit tone and volume, and judging by his greeting, he appeared to be rather cheerful.
It was enough to set her more at ease. "Good evening," she answered politely.
Only capsuleers could greet each other like that after a death match, she thought with amusement.
He chuckled merrily. "Dude! What the hell was that? What kind of fit are you using?"
She let her shackles fall slightly. As much as she had wanted to kill him, she was touched by his reaction, honored even. Here was a seasoned hunter, complimenting her performance. "A fit that happens to specialize in killing Stealth Bombers?"
"Yeah, no kidding. Mind if I check it out?"
She considered his request. "Depends. Are you going to spread it through some secret hunter forum?"
"Heh, I'm just plain curious. The most I'll probably do is save it and show it to my friends; I'm sure they'd love to know how a Heron managed to fend me off." He explained. He had a very likeable voice. "And even if I were to do that, it'd only teach us hunters to be scared of every explorer we meet. I know I am."
Or how to make fits that counter my own, she thought privately. I know that's what I'd do. A chuckle escaped her nevertheless. He was being super friendly and she loved it. "If you say so, then yeah, I'll give you my fit."
"Awesome. I can give you mine to make it fair."
"Oh thanks! I'd like that." She proceeded to open her fitting window and drag the current arrangement into their channel.
"But you can't post it in any secret explorer forum either!" He joked.
She laughed as the link to her fit was shared with him. "Fair enough."
"And even if you did that," he continued, "most people would probably tell you Stealth Bombers are only good with torpedoes. They don't tend to believe me when I say they can make excellent frigate hunters."
She immediately found herself agreeing with him. And not just agreeing, but opening herself to him. His assertion rang too familiar with her own struggles to make other capsuleers see the potential of her own exploration fits, her Heron's included. Who said a T1 frigate couldn't fight back? It was just a matter of knowing which modules to use, how to use them, and keeping your limitations in mind.
"I can definitely relate," she started. "The same thing happens with my Heron. I know it's not an orthodox fit in that it doesn't even have a prop mod, but it should be able to survive, like, 75% of all hunter attacks. It should be able to warp away from any normal cloaky before it can be locked, survive a smartbomb attack from a T3C, and fight back against a Stealth Bomber. Dictors would be its weakness, but it'd only work if they were already cloaked next to a can; otherwise I'd just warp away after seeing them approach on d-scan. It'd also be a problem if I was bumped while hacking or two hunters worked together to kill me, but it's rare for that to happen, at least depending on where exactly I'm exploring. So I'd say it's a solid fit."
After a beat, he said, "Wow, you really thought this through, huh?"
She smiled to herself. "It's the best I can do, at least with the Heron."
"Well, my friends thought I'd be easily killed by any frigate with a Manticore. That would be true in any other case, but exploration frigates don't tend to be prepared for combat. And with its zero recalibration delay, I can catch and kill almost any exploration frigate no matter how agile they are. And even if they did send drones after me, I can generally last long enough to kill them first with a shield extender, so it's almost like the perfect hunter." He huffed. "Well, emphasis on almost. Maybe it wouldn't be if more explorers knew how to defend themselves, but the fact still stands that I managed to blow up tons of frigates with it."
His own fit was included in their chat. She saw an opportunity to satisfy her curiosity as she opened the link and his fit replaced hers in the fitting window. Just like he had mentioned, his fit had a medium-sized shield extender, two scrams – one of which was a faction design -, and T2 light missiles. An exploration frigate hunter through and through. "I've actually been wondering about that. I saw all your kills on your killboard and thought you had sworn revenge on every living explorer or something like that."
His laughter was contagious. "Nah, I have nothing against explorers. You see, I had a bet with a friend of mine in which we tried to kill as many explorers as we could in a spaceship of our choosing. Naturally, I chose the Manticore and she chose the Astero, which I totally think is overrated by the way. We gave each other a month and the loser had to give the winner a 100 million isk."
She whistled appreciatively. "That's interesting. But for the record, while I agree the Astero is overrated, it's also an amazing ship."
"Yeah, sure," he waved off, "but I'm just tired of seeing it so much."
"Heh, true."
"Anyway, I ended up winning, but she wanted a rematch, this time using a Stealth Bomber herself. And I agreed for some reason. So uh, here I am. Withering away in a remote area of space for another 100 million isk." He pretended to sigh in defeat. "Sometimes I find myself regretting my life choices. But at least I managed to convince her that Stealth Bombers are worth something."
"So you've been staying in Outer Ring for nearly two months by yourself?" She asked, both in disbelief and concern.
"Yeah, pretty much. I chat with my friends constantly and the locals know me by now, so I'm not entirely alone." Then, he added more seriously, "But it does get difficult sometimes. It's an interesting challenge surviving in nullsec with a single ship, but it gets tedious after a while." He suddenly groaned, as if he had remembered something. "And the waiting! Oh my god the waiting. I feel like I now grow ten years older every hour I have to spend perched on a relic site. It's torture."
She laughed, and was suddenly very glad about failing to destroy his ship. Getting another fitted Manticore from highsec and returning to such a faraway region as Outer Ring was no easy business, especially without a wormhole to assist you. The route was filled with gatecamps and more hunters than one could count. "I can imagine," she acknowledged with sympathy. "The fact that you survived this long without dying is more impressive than the killing if you ask me."
"Heh, my friend did die a couple of times," he mused. "Maybe that's what gave me the time to beat her despite being in Outer Ring. Stain has more explorers, but it's also a lot more dangerous."
She huffed in response. "That's exactly why I don't visit Stain anymore, especially without my license."
"So you're Alpha? Not only did I get beat by a Heron, but also by an Alpha? I don't know whether to congratulate you or feel humiliated."
"Why not both?" She joked.
The two laughed out loud. It's been a long time since she'd had such a refreshing conversation. Both her and Myles seemed somewhat like-minded: not afraid to go against the trend to achieve better results and unwilling to back down from a challenge, coupled with a good disposition. Despite the differences of their roles, they found a lot of common ground in other areas.
She had pretty much forgotten her previous sulkiness; all that remained was a deep contentment.
"In that case," he stated as their laughter died down, "congratulations for defeating me."
"Why, thank you."
"Although I have to admit, I'm glad you didn't destroy my ship. Going back to highsec to fetch another would suck, especially since I'm so close to reaching the deadline of my bet."
"Well, now I'm glad I didn't kill you too."
"Meaning you weren't at some point?" He inquired with suspicion.
She closed her fitting window and maneuvered her camera drone in a nervous gesture. "Um, maybe?"
He only chuckled some more. "I understand. I would've been bummed too. Which reminds me: you said you knew about my killboard. Does that mean you hacked the cans despite knowing I was there?"
"So you knew I could've attacked you."
"But you still did it anyway."
There was a pause. After a moment, he spoke. "You little devil."
More laughter spilled out of her, undeterred and carefree. "Says who?"
"Heh, you got me there." He paused before saying, "I wasn't actually sure what to make of you, you know? I saw your killboard and profile and guessed you were probably experienced at what you do, but I also saw your guns, which really confused me because those who fit them to T1 frigates are generally newbies thinking they can fight back. Plus, you had never lost a Heron, so I had no other leads on your fit. So in the end I just went for it, thinking 'I can probably do this'. Famous last words."
Warmth bloomed within her. His openness and good sportsmanship about the whole deal was almost overwhelming. "Heh, yeah, it's the first time I use this ship. I actually didn't like Herons all that much until a corpmate gave me the idea of using one to fight Stealth Bombers. So now I don't hate them all that much."
"Well, now I do." He jested without bite.
Her gut twisted with wry humor. "I'm sure you can get over it."
"Nope, I've been traumatized for life." She could almost feel his grin.
"So now every time you see a Heron you'll curl into a ball and bawl your eyes out?"
"Yep, pretty much. And then I'll only be able to roll through life."
Her amusement couldn't be contained any longer. She giggled and said, "Tough spot buddy."
"I appreciate your concern."
They both giggled until falling into a comfortable silence, the first since they'd begun speaking. Her attention wandered as she thought about her next question, or maybe a new topic of discussion. She felt her Heron swaying gently to the lulls of its own engine, the barely audible and artificially-created hum of the starship's hardware and d-scan, the ubiquitous sensation of floating in the depths of an infinitely vast sea of stars, nebulas and darkness. She sometimes forgot how overwhelmingly beautiful space was, and how peaceful.
"So how long until your bet is finished?" She asked as the moment passed. "You said it was almost over right?
"3 days." He replied. "After that I'll finally be free, and I won't accept any more rematches."
"And who's winning for now?"
"My friend; she's just one kill ahead of me. It's too bad I've been catching less frigates recently, probably due to my killboard. That's also why I took the risk to attack you. But there's still time to catch up with her!"
"Of course! Do you dock somewhere to rest or just stay in space?"
"The latter. My Manticore is a Cross-Capsule model, so I can activate my cloaking device manually without my pod and stay in an unaligned safe spot for the night while I sleep. I also have enough food here to last for a couple months, so this ship has pretty much become a temporary home for me."
"Wow." For a hunter, he was sounding a lot like an explorer. "You really thought this through, huh?" She echoed his earlier words.
"Yup. I can't afford to risk docking in a station camped by a capsuleer gang."
That was true. Faction stations were coveted by any nullsec group, and tended to be their center of operations. It was risky to dock in them without the local gang's consent.
Suddenly, Myles swore. "Oh shit."
"What is it?" She asked in concern.
"My ship is almost wrecked. I need to repair my armor and structure. Which means I have to dock somewhere with a repair service." He groaned with resignation. "I should've brought a Mobile Depot with hull and armor reps. I just assumed that if I were caught by anyone I'd be a goner anyway."
"Oh." Dread accumulated in her gut as she processed his words. His shield was his main tank, which would regenerate by itself, but without a local repair module, his armor and structure would remain damaged. While neither of them would hold if he was under serious attack, he could still count on them as cushions if he were able to escape at the last minute.
An idea occurred to her. "Do you want me to scout for you?" She suggested. "I can make sure the route to the station is clear."
As she had expected, he immediately refused. "No, I can't ask you to do that. You'd die as soon as you set foot in a gatecamp, while I at least have a cloaking device. I'll see what I can do about this."
She pressed the issue however. The thought of leaving him in his current state was almost painful. "I don't really mind. I can easily replace this Heron if I die anyways."
"Still, there's no need for you to do this." He insisted.
"But I want to." She argued back. "Besides, it'd be a real shame if you died right now for whatever reason."
It was almost unsettling how quickly her convictions had changed. She'd wanted him dead so badly at first, and now she was willing to put her own life on the line to help him live, all because he was being so unreservedly kind. She rarely connected with anyone this way, let alone a hunter who was supposed to prey on her, but it didn't matter in the end. Myles was not a cold-blooded assassin any more than she was his victim. Now, they were more than that; a little companionship was all it took to achieve that. Kindness has such underestimated power, she thought.
Myles stayed silent for a few seconds, then said, "Are you sure?"
"Ok then." He yielded. His tone afterwards was grateful. "Thanks a lot for the offer. If I win this bet, I'll split the reward in half with you."
"There's no need to do that. You don't owe me anything."
"But I want to."
Affectionate exasperation curled within her heart. "Fair enough. Let me just refit and we'll be on our way." She deployed her Mobile Depot and waited for it to assemble.
The closest system with a relatively safe station according to Myles was 9 jumps away. If the intel provided by the killboard and her virtual map was correct, no kills had occurred anywhere in the route for at least an hour, which were the best odds they could strive for anyway. It took them around fifteen minutes to get to their destination unscathed; after finally docking, he offered to scout ahead while she made her way back to her wormhole. A small part of her was still hesitant to trust him, but the truth was that she didn't want to part ways with him just yet; she was really enjoying his company. Plus, the idea of refusing his help after she had done the same for him made her feel like a hypocrite. So she took a leap of faith and accepted, waiting another fifteen minutes until he was done repairing his spaceship to let him have the lead.
They talked a lot about themselves and their backgrounds as they traveled through Outer Ring; apparently he lived with a lowsec group in Aridia and spent his time managing planet colonies, clearing Blood Raider camps and flying in gangs, although he wasn't dedicated enough to join any capsuleer corporation. In turn, she told him about her tendency to travel through wormhole space and nullsec and her frequent gatherings with her corpmates to destroy Sleepers, tour around New Eden, and clear pirate strongholds. It was very easy to jump from one topic to the other, and before she knew it, they were already back at the system with her exit wormhole.
Something like disappointment filled her at the realization. The idea of ceasing communications and never seeing this funny, smart and easy-going person again was unexpectedly upsetting. "What are you going to do now?" She asked as she warped to a safe spot.
A yawn escaped the male capsuleer. "I'll probably call it a day. I'm so freaking tired."
The warp tunnel thinned out, and her Heron landed in an empty pocket of space. "Just a few more days and you'll be free."
"God, yes. I can't wait to get back."
A silence enveloped them for the first time since they left the relic site. But unlike before, it wasn't a comfortable one. She felt she had so many things to say, but couldn't find the words or the courage to express them. A gaping hollowness started craving itself deeper and deeper within her as the seconds ticked by, festered by her own insecurities and her heavy heart.
He broke the silence just when she was about to thank him for his services and bid him farewell. "So hey," he started, "I have another idea on how to spend my reward. Other than sharing it with you I mean."
"We still don't know for sure whether you'll win or not." She reminded him.
"Yeah, but uh, you know, it's something that can happen anyway." Was it just her or did he sound… nervous?
A small, hopeful cloud started to condense at the back of her mind. "Such as?"
"Like… buying you a drink? I still owe you for scouting for me."
The cloud grew as thick and heavy as a fog. She could see nothing beyond it but her own combination of relief, excitement, and underlying panic. Was it ok to accept? She barely knew this person after all.
She could see it as bright as day: meeting at a somewhat crowded bar, appreciating each other's physical forms, sipping from their drinks, enjoying a conversation as meaningful as the one they'd just had. They might knock it off extremely well and indulge themselves in more suggestive banter, or maybe find a potential ally in their intellectual and emotional respect for each other. Whatever the outcome, she was still not fully ready to embrace the implications of such a meeting, as much as she didn't want their relationship to end. What she needed was time, and probably someone to talk to. Take a step back, gather as much intel as she could, and decide on an educated verdict later on. She was in uncharted territory, and as a fully-fledged explorer, she would decide to retreat for now.
But still, this was more than enough. It amply refilled the hollowness in her soul, and made her feel better than she's felt in a long time. This was what truly brought her satisfaction. "I'll think about it." She answered softly. "I'll let you know what my decision is before your deadline. Is that ok?"
"That's great! Take as much time as you need. You know how to contact me."
"I do. And thanks for scouting for me as well."
"Don't mention it. Talk to you later?"
"Yeah. And good luck with your bet."
"Thanks! Have a safe flight."
Their conversation ended along with their communication link. The silence that followed felt empty after listening to the sound of their voices for over an hour. Funny, how it all started with a fight that lasted less than two minutes.
The Heron slowly aligned to the wormhole and entered warp. Within a moment, she had landed and was journeying across the space-time anomaly, entering a system far far away from any known space.
She had a lot to think about.
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Guillermo Fariñas' Organization Withdraws from MUAD / 14ymedio
The Cuban regime opponent Guillermo Farinas. (Laura Maria Parra de la Cruz)
14ymedio, Havana, 1 July 2016 — In the same week, the Democratic Action Roundtable (MUAD) has lost two of its most representative organizations. On Tuesday, the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) withdrew from the organization of opponents, and Thursday the United Anti-totalitarian Front (FANTU), led by Guillermo Fariñas, made public its departure.
In a note circulated by email within the island, the FANTU National Council said that MAUD "is permeated by a majority of organizations and personalities that are not representative of the entire non-violent opposition." Something that, according to the group, distances them from those who daily confront "in the streets, the Castro's totalitarian regime."
The statement, signed by eight activists among whom is Fariñas, winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, said that FANTU's members believe that the opponents who belong to the United Roundtable reject the carrying out of "actions in the public rights-of-ways" and "reject the methodology" of the organizations that hold them.
Unlike UNPACU's more diplomatic declaration of withdrawal from MUAD, the FANTU note offers very harsh criticisms of the entities that make up MUAD. In their opinion, they are "very popular in the media, but with few members in their ranks," at times only one person, "and act only towards the exterior of Cuba."
Manuel Cuesta Morua, one of the main drivers of the MUAD initiative, told 14ymedio that MUAD is preparing "a well-thought out" response to these criticisms.
For its part, FANTU has reproached MUAD for using "methods to buy and get commitment as well as votes from opponents, which consist of facilitating travel abroad"; a way that seeks to "defend the postures and opinions of certain personalities within this rebellious entity."
The document notes that "the struggle must be carried out within Cuba and not be [going] constantly from airport to airport [since] the real scenario for the democratization our country is within the island itself."
Cuesta Morua recognizes that the withdrawal of these organizations "is a blow" for the MUAD project, because both groups "have worked hard and are very prestigious within Cuba." However, he dismissed the seriousness of the rupture, which he described a "a growth crisis" that "will not end" the umbrella organization.
Cuesta Morua, who is the leader of the Progressive Arc, said that there is still "a lack of maturity in the coexistence between the same proposal from different viewpoints, distinct concrete strategies of change, of how to push democratic change." He notes that "the doors remain open from FANTU and UNPACU," if in the future they want to return" to the organization.
Fariñas is setting his sights on the Second National Cuban Meeting, an event that will take place in San Juan, Puerto Rico, between this August 12th to 14th. That is "another attempt at unity in which we are involved," the opponent emphasized to this newspaper.
Author 14ymedioPosted on July 3, 2016 July 3, 2016 Categories 14ymedio, Guillermo Farinas, Manuel Cuesta Morua, UNPACU - Patriotic Union of Cuba
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Жан I дьо Бери Великолепни (; * 30 ноември 1340, Венсен, † 15 март 1416, Нелски замък, Париж, Кралство Франция) е херцог на Бери и на Оверн от 1360 г., граф на Монпансие от 1401 г., граф на Поату от 1369 г.

Наместник е на френските крале Шарл V Мъдри и Шарл VI Безумни в Лангедок, както и прославен меценат. Надживява всички свои синове. Графство Оверн се дава като зестра за неговата дъщеря, а впоследствие преминава към един от Бурбоните.

Произход – трети син на френския крал
Жан е син на крал Жан II Добрия и на съпругата му Бона Люксембургска.

Жан е трети син в семейството, ражда се на 30 ноември 1340 г. в деня на Свети Андрей и е кръстен, както и неговият по-голям брат Шарл, в църквата "Сен Пиер дьо Монтре". Поема го от купела граф Жан д'Арманяк, в чест на когото (а също и в чест на свети Йоан Кръстител) новороденият получава своето име. През целия си живот херцог Жан дьо Бери се отнася с особена почит към двамата "свои" светии – в Прекрасния часослов дори се е съхранило негово изображение в молитвена поза между Св. Андрей и Св. Йоан. Така той неизменно оказва почит към мощите на Св. Андрей, когато е в градове, където те се пазят – в Бурж, Брюге и др.

Биография

В английски плен
По мирният договор в Бретини, сключен на 8 май 1360 г., Графство Поатие преминава към Едуард III. Жан Добрият предоставя като компенсация на своя третороде син Бери и Оверн. От юли 1360 г. Жан носи титлата на херцог на Бери. По това време той е изпратен в Англия придружен от няколко заложници, гарантиращи внасянето на откупа за освобождаване на Жан II Добрия. Срокът на плена той изтърпява в Лондон. В това време свободата на херцоът е ограничена само от ангажимента да се връща по залез слънце зад стените на града.

Жан се занимава с урегулирането на въпросите, касаещи мирния договор, сключен в Бретини. През май 1361 г., с разрешение на английския крал (с условие да се върне обратно), той прави пътуване до Франция. Той спазва своето обещание, за разлика от брат си Луи I Анжуйски, който при подобни обстоятелства остава на континента.

Херцогът на Бери, единствен от кралското семейство, съпровожда тялото на своя баща, дошъл в Лондон за обсъждане условията на мира и починал на 8 април 1364 г. Тъй като е още пленник, той изпраща тялото на Жан II Добрия само до Дувър.

От края на 1364 до началото 1365 г.  Жан дьо Бери отново пътува във Франция и отново се връща в Лондон.

През управлението на Шарл V Мъдри
През февруари 1366 г. Херцогът на Бери пристига в Париж, оттам преминава в Бери и Оверн, и Шарл V го назначава за наместник на тези две херцогства. Когато военните действия между Франция и Англия се възобновяват, Жан дьо Бери командва военен отряд, обезпечаващ отбраната на земите между Сена и Лоара. Графство Поатие е отвоювано от англичаните от Бертран дьо Геклен и през август 1372 г. херцогът тържествено влиза в неговата столица.

През 1374 г. Жан дьо Бери обсажда замъка Лузинян и го превзема въпреки упоритото съпротивление на гарнизона под командването на Ейвън от Уелс.

Неизвестно по какви причини но около 1374 г. отношенията на херцог Жан с брат му Шарл V се влошават. На Жан е заповядано да върне владенията Сен Тонж и Ангомоа на краля. Шарл V охотно привлича към управлението Луи I Валоа-Анжуйски и Филип Бургундски, като не се обръща повече към Херцога на Бери и въпреки големите подаръци, които поднася херцогът на брат си, кралската немилост продължава до смъртта на Шарл V. През това време Херцогът на Бери със семейството си живее в Бери и Поату.

Смърт
По време на битката при Аженкур през 1415 г. той се намира във френските войски, но не участва в самото сражение. Заради болест се връща в Париж по воден път, предавайки командването на войските на Бернар д'Арманяк. На 15 юни 1416 г. умира в Нелския замък в Париж. Изпълнението на неговото завещание е спряно от краля поради искане на кредиторите: Жан дьо Бери оставя след себе си огромни дългове.

Галерия

Меценат
Херцог Жан дьо Бери е известен като страстен колекционер и меценат. Пристрастието към книгите той вероятно наследява от баща си Жан II Добрия.

Към момента на смъртта на херцога неговата библиотека наброява триста тома. По оценка на специалисти събраните от него книги, макар и да отстъпват по брой на библиотеката на Шарл V Мъдри (около 1000 тома), в художествено отношение като колекция нямат равни на себе си.

Останали са неговите часослови: Пребогатият часослов, Прекрасният часослов, Торино-Миланският часослов, Прекрасният часослов на Богородица), Големият часослов и Малкият часослов.

Брак и потомство

Херцогът на Бери се жени два пъти:

∞ 1. 1360 за Жана д'Арманяк (* 1348, † 30 януари 1388, Поатие), дъщеря на Жан I, граф на Арманяк, и на графинята на Шароле Беатрис дьо Клермон, от която има четири сина и три дъщери:
 Бона (* януари или февруари 1367, замък на Меюн сюр Йевър, † 30 декември 1435, замък Карла), виконтеса на Карла и на Мюра; ∞ 1. 1377 за Амадей VII, граф на Савоя; 2. 1394 за братовчед си Бернар VII, граф на Арманяк
 Жана (док. 1373 – 1375), починала млада
 Шарл (* януари 1371, † пролет 1383), граф на Монпансие, сгоден 1373 за Мария дьо Сюли (* 1365, † ок. 1409/1410), принцеса на Боазбел, господарка на Сюли и на Краон, графиня на Дрю
 Беатриса († април 1974 като бебе)
 Мария I (* 1375, † юни 1434, Лион), графиня на Монпансие и херцогиня на Оверн; ∞ 1. 1386 за Луи дьо Шатийон († 1391), граф на Дюноа; 2. 1392 за Филип д'Артоа (* 1358,  † 1397), граф на Йо 3. 1401 за Жан I, херцог на Бурбон и на Оверн
 Жан II (* кр. на декември 1375 или януари 1376, † 1397), граф на Монпансие (1386 – 1397)
 Луи (* 1364, † 1383)
∞ 2. 1389 за Жана II (* 1378, † сл. 1424), графиня на Оверн (1404-1423) и на Булон (1404-1423), от която няма деца.

Литература
 Казель Р., Ратхофер И. Роскошный часослов герцога Беррийского. — М.: Белый город, 2002. – С. 195 – 209, 241. – 248 с. – (Сокровища мировой культуры). – 2000 экз. — ISBN 5-7793-0495-5
 de Champeax A., Gauchery P. Les travaux d'art executes pour Jean de France, duc de Berry. 1894.
 Lehoux F. Jean de France, duc de Berry – Sa vie – Son Action politique (1340 – 1416). 1966.

Валоа

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ETDEWEB / / Environmental monitoring survey of oil and gas fields in Region II in 2009. Summary report
Environmental monitoring survey of oil and gas fields in Region II in 2009. Summary report
View Technical Report
The oil companies Statoil ASA, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, Total E&P Norge AS, Talisman Energy Norge AS and Marathon Petroleum Norge AS commissioned Section of Applied Environmental Research at UNI RESEARCH AS to undertake the monitoring survey of Region II in 2009. Similar monitoring surveys in Region II have been carried out in 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2006. The survey in 2009 included in total 18 fields: Rev, Varg, Sigyn, Sleipner Vest, Sleipner OEst, Sleipner Alfa Nord, Glitne, Grane, Balder, Ringhorne, Jotun, Vale, Skirne, Byggve, Heimdal, Volve, Vilje og Alvheim. Sampling was conducted from the vessel MV Libas between May 18 and May 27. Samples were collected from in totally 137 sampling sites, of which 15 were regional sampling sites. Samples for chemical analysis were collected at all sites, whereas samples for benthos analysis were collected at 12 fields. As in previous surveys, Region II is divided into natural sub-regions. One sub-region is shallow (77-96 m) sub-region, a central sub-region (107-130 m) and a northern subregion (115-119 m). The sediments of the shallow sub-region had relatively lower content of TOM and pelite and higher content of fine sand than the central and northern sub-regions. Calculated areas of contamination are shown for the sub-regions in Table 1.1. The fields Sigyn, Sleipner Alfa Nord, Glitne, Grane, Balder, Ringhorne, Jotun, Skirne, Byggve, Vilje og Alvheim showed no contamination of THC. At the other fields there were minor changes from 2006. The concentrations of barium increased in the central sub-region from 2006 to 2009, also at fields where no drilling had been undertaken during the last years. The same laboratory and methods are used during the three last regional investigations. The changes in barium concentrations may be due to high variability of barium concentrations in the sediments. This is supported by relatively large variations in average barium concentrations at the regional sampling sites in the central sub-region between the monitoring surveys. No contamination of other metals were observed at the fields Rev, Glitne, Grane, Balder, Jotun, Skirne and Byggve and at the other fields the concentrations were lower or stayed at the same levels as in 2006. In some cases, the sampling sites did not reach clean sediments and as a result the estimation of contaminated areas became uncertain. The composition of the benthic fauna was examined at Rev, Varg, Sigyn, Sleipner OEst, Glitne, Grane, Balder, Ringhorne, Jotun, Volve, Vilje og Alvheim. The high numbers of individuals that were observed at several regional and field specific stations in 2006, decreased in 2009 as a result of natural oscillations in the fauna. Diversity was generally high and no disturbance was observed at any of the examined fields in 2009. An extra sampling site was examined at Ringhorne in 2009, in connection to previous oil leakage from the sea-bottom. The THC-level was high at this sampling site as in 2006 and the bottom fauna was poor in 2009. However, the conditions at this site did not affect the areas that were covered by the grid of monitoring sites. (Author) More>>
NEI-NO-1707
02 PETROLEUM; 03 NATURAL GAS; WATER POLLUTION; OFFSHORE SITES; SEAS; MONITORING; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS; OIL FIELDS; RESOURCE EXPLOITATION; NORTH SEA
Klima- og forurensningsdirektoratet, Oslo (Norway)
TRN: NO1105015
Commercial reproduction prohibited; OSTI as DE01005103
18 p. pages
None. Environmental monitoring survey of oil and gas fields in Region II in 2009. Summary report. Norway: N. p., 2010. Web.
None. Environmental monitoring survey of oil and gas fields in Region II in 2009. Summary report. Norway.
None. 2010. "Environmental monitoring survey of oil and gas fields in Region II in 2009. Summary report." Norway.
@misc{etde_1005103,
title = {Environmental monitoring survey of oil and gas fields in Region II in 2009. Summary report}
author = {None}
abstractNote = {The oil companies Statoil ASA, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, Total E&P Norge AS, Talisman Energy Norge AS and Marathon Petroleum Norge AS commissioned Section of Applied Environmental Research at UNI RESEARCH AS to undertake the monitoring survey of Region II in 2009. Similar monitoring surveys in Region II have been carried out in 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2006. The survey in 2009 included in total 18 fields: Rev, Varg, Sigyn, Sleipner Vest, Sleipner OEst, Sleipner Alfa Nord, Glitne, Grane, Balder, Ringhorne, Jotun, Vale, Skirne, Byggve, Heimdal, Volve, Vilje og Alvheim. Sampling was conducted from the vessel MV Libas between May 18 and May 27. Samples were collected from in totally 137 sampling sites, of which 15 were regional sampling sites. Samples for chemical analysis were collected at all sites, whereas samples for benthos analysis were collected at 12 fields. As in previous surveys, Region II is divided into natural sub-regions. One sub-region is shallow (77-96 m) sub-region, a central sub-region (107-130 m) and a northern subregion (115-119 m). The sediments of the shallow sub-region had relatively lower content of TOM and pelite and higher content of fine sand than the central and northern sub-regions. Calculated areas of contamination are shown for the sub-regions in Table 1.1. The fields Sigyn, Sleipner Alfa Nord, Glitne, Grane, Balder, Ringhorne, Jotun, Skirne, Byggve, Vilje og Alvheim showed no contamination of THC. At the other fields there were minor changes from 2006. The concentrations of barium increased in the central sub-region from 2006 to 2009, also at fields where no drilling had been undertaken during the last years. The same laboratory and methods are used during the three last regional investigations. The changes in barium concentrations may be due to high variability of barium concentrations in the sediments. This is supported by relatively large variations in average barium concentrations at the regional sampling sites in the central sub-region between the monitoring surveys. No contamination of other metals were observed at the fields Rev, Glitne, Grane, Balder, Jotun, Skirne and Byggve and at the other fields the concentrations were lower or stayed at the same levels as in 2006. In some cases, the sampling sites did not reach clean sediments and as a result the estimation of contaminated areas became uncertain. The composition of the benthic fauna was examined at Rev, Varg, Sigyn, Sleipner OEst, Glitne, Grane, Balder, Ringhorne, Jotun, Volve, Vilje og Alvheim. The high numbers of individuals that were observed at several regional and field specific stations in 2006, decreased in 2009 as a result of natural oscillations in the fauna. Diversity was generally high and no disturbance was observed at any of the examined fields in 2009. An extra sampling site was examined at Ringhorne in 2009, in connection to previous oil leakage from the sea-bottom. The THC-level was high at this sampling site as in 2006 and the bottom fauna was poor in 2009. However, the conditions at this site did not affect the areas that were covered by the grid of monitoring sites. (Author)}
place = {Norway}
month = {Mar}