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“I believe Prince Andrew”: Fergie’s ex speaks in bombshell interview

<p dir="ltr">Sarah Ferguson’s former partner has made bombshell allegations about Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew and the late Queen, including claims that the convicted sex offender planned to blackmail the monarch.</p> <p dir="ltr">John Bryan, who was in a relationship with Ferguson for four years in the 1990s, made the claims in his first tell-all interview, per <em>The Sun</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">The US businessman said that Epstein earned some of his wealth by blackmailing others in powerful positions into giving him money in exchange for his silence over their illicit behaviours.</p> <p dir="ltr">“People always ask how Epstein made his money. He was supposed to be this tax wizard. But it was all a con,” Bryan told the <em>Mail on Sunday</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He blackmailed rich men and then made them pay to avoid scandal. He made hundreds of millions of dollars this way.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Bryan also claimed he was secretly drafted for crisis talks with Prince Andrew after the royal’s disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview, including that he was smuggled into the Royal Lodge to advise the royal in the wake of the Epstein scandal and amid claims he had sex with then-teenager Virginia Giuffre.</p> <p dir="ltr">He said the conversation involved probing Andrew about his relationship with Epstein and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Andrew’s television interview had been a catastrophe so they needed an honest strategic plan that everyone could buy into,” Bryan recalled.</p> <p dir="ltr">“[Fergie] invited me to come over. She was desperate. She told me that Andrew was in terrible shape.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He was distraught. They were distraught.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He claimed that he helped the family come up with a “long term strategy” called “House of Kroy”, a backwards spelling of York.</p> <p dir="ltr">During the interview, Bryan said Epstein’s “ultimate” aim was to blackmail the Queen using the allegations of child sexual abuse and other sexual activities made against Andrew.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Epstein tried to lure Andrew into his web, but I believe his ultimate mark was the Queen,” Bryan said, adding that Epstein’s plan to target the Queen supported his belief that the allegations against Andrew were unfounded.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I believe Andrew is innocent. If he genuinely was involved in ‘orgies’ as has been alleged, then Epstein would have used that to try and bribe the Queen into paying out millions to protect her family,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Andrew has never had any money. The Queen was the one with money.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I truly believe Epstein was going after her but Andrew never gave him the ammunition to do so.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The financial advisor recalled another meeting with the royals, including Andrew, Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank.</p> <p dir="ltr">Bryan claimed Princess Beatrice told Andrew, “you’ve hurt our family”, and that Andrew was “downcast” and yelling: “I don’t care anymore, I don’t care. I am being treated unfairly.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He added that the Duke was in a state he had never seen him in before after the interview.</p> <p dir="ltr">“In the four years I dated Sarah I never once heard him raise his voice or lose his temper,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It showed what strain he was under, how much he cared about the damage this was doing to the Royal Family.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Bryan added that he had only seen Andrew with women aged in their mid-20s while he was dating Fergie, and that he believed there was “no hint” of “anything untoward going on”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I truly believe if there was anything untoward going on I would have known about it, Sarah would have known about it,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“But there was never a hint of that. I remain and will always remain an outsider, so let me be the first outsider to say that I believe Prince Andrew – and I don’t say it lightly.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-373a09ae-7fff-0a73-c907-818fd09b7e40"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“This outsider has a lot of inside knowledge.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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Kevin Spacey found not guilty of battery

<p dir="ltr"><em>Content warning: This article mentions child sexual abuse (CSA).</em></p> <p dir="ltr">A New York jury has found that Kevin Spacey isn’t liable for battery in a sexual abuse lawsuit brought against him by actor Anthony Rapp.</p> <p dir="ltr">The civil suit related to allegations from 1986, where Spacey allegedly picked Rapp up and briefly laid on top of him in a bed after a party.</p> <p dir="ltr">After deliberating for about an hour, the jury concluded that Rapp didn’t prove that Spacey “touched a sexual or intimate part” of him and the judge dismissed the case.</p> <p dir="ltr">Rapp, who was 14 at the time of the alleged incident, first publicly accused Spacey of sexual abuse in 2017.</p> <p dir="ltr">He alleged that Spacey, then 26, invited Rapp over to his home in Manhattan, where Spacey picked Rapp up, laid him down on a bed, grabbed his buttocks and pressed his groin into his hip.</p> <p dir="ltr">Rapp sued Spacy for $US 40 million in damages, and his claim of assault was dismissed by the judge before the trial started.</p> <p dir="ltr">The actor’s claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress was also dismissed after Rapp’s attorneys rested his case, meaning the jury only had to decide whether Spacey is ‘liable’ to damages for the claim of battery.</p> <p dir="ltr">Under New York law, battery is defined as touching another person without their consent and in a way that a reasonable person would find offensive.</p> <p dir="ltr">Rapp’s attorney Richard Steigman suggested in his closing statement that Spacey twisted his testimony during the trial to suit his defence, noting that Spacey apologised to Rapp when he first made the allegations.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Don't listen to what I said in real time. I'm defending a lawsuit now. Listen to me now. I've got it straightened out," Steigman said, mocking Spacey’s testimony that he regrets giving the statement in 2017 and was coerced by publicists to do it.</p> <p dir="ltr">Steigman also said Spacey’s testimony was rehearsed in comparison to Rapp’s and dismissed claims that Rapp came forward to out Spacey as gay.</p> <p dir="ltr">"When you're rehearsed, and a world class actor and you're following the script and following the testimony of someone else, you can take that stand and be perfectly polished," Steigman said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"When you're merely coming to court coming forward and telling the truth of your experience, especially one like this that's a little bit complicated."</p> <p dir="ltr">"The point of the story is not that Kevin Spacey is gay. It's that he sexually abused him when he was 14. That's what he's sharing with people, he's sharing his experience - nothing more, nothing less. Where's the proof that he said to any media outlet, you know, Kevin Spacey is gay, you really should run with this?"</p> <p dir="ltr">Jennifer Keller, Spacey’s attorney, said in her closing statement that Rapp “hitched his wagon” to the #MeToo movement when he came forward.</p> <p dir="ltr">"This isn't a team sport where you're either on the Me Too side, or you're on the other side," Keller told the jury.</p> <p dir="ltr">"This is a very different place. Our system requires evidence, proof, objective support for accusations provided to an impartial jury. However polarised as society may be today, it really should not have a place here."</p> <p dir="ltr">She also suggested that Rapp’s allegations were false and details taken from a scene from Broadway show Precious Sons, which Rapp performed with Ed Harris in 1986 at the time of the alleged incident.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We're here because Mr. Rapp has falsely alleged abuse that never occurred at a party that was never held in a room that did not exist," she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Keller concluded her remarks by asking the jury not to compromise their judgement by finding Spacey liable but only awarding Rapp a single dollar in damages.</p> <p dir="ltr">"You're here to be judges of the facts. Did it happen? It didn't happen. One penny is too much for something that did not happen,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And for Mr. Spacey this is not about the money. For Mr. Spacey, this is about the truth that day and he was falsely accused.”</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-70f1c0e0-7fff-c076-c863-5ae18e13d7f1"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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"You don't do that to a hearse": Thieves blasted over despicable act

<p dir="ltr">A funeral home has been the subject of an unusual robbery after thieves stripped the wheels of a hearse - and its owner has a message to share with those responsible.</p> <p dir="ltr">Arriving at work on Sunday at Te Awahou Funeral Services in Foxton, New Zealand, owner Jayden Moore discovered that one of his hearses was missing its two rear wheels.</p> <p dir="ltr">"In between Saturday and Sunday, we had boy racers out past the funeral home doing skids – obviously we don't know if it was them, but putting two and two together we can imagine they've needed wheels for their car,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The hearse had been sitting out, ready to be used for a service that morning, with Mr Moore telling the <em><a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/thieves-steal-wheels-from-hearse-at-foxtons-te-awahou-funeral-home/52LRSJUVM4GLPSVRE7D5ABRBSM/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NZ Herald </a></em>that he had to run around to find an alternative.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We came into work to do a service for a family and we've had to run around and find a new [hearse] - we have two but they're set up for different reasons,” he told the outlet.</p> <p dir="ltr">In a message for the thieves, Mr Moore urged them to consider the implications of their actions.</p> <p dir="ltr">"You've not ripped me off, you've ripped these loved ones off," he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Moore told the <em>Herald</em> that his staff and the local community had been left fuming at the theft.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Everyone is a bit p***ed off, you don't do that to a hearse – these a***holes don't know or don't care that it's tapu (‘sacred’ and prohibited) to touch anything to do with funeral services – they've got some bad karma coming their way."</p> <p dir="ltr">He added that the community had been incredibly supportive and his business and “fully backed up” the funeral home.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The community has been right behind us especially our local – fully backing the whole 'what a***holes would do that' kind of mentality,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Moore isn’t aware of any cameras that could have captured the theft and has urged anyone in the community who saw anything or who has information to come forward.</p> <p dir="ltr">“If anyone has any information, please get in touch with us,” he said.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6e482ba4-7fff-e483-ddaf-557d6039b85b"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: NZ Herald</em></p>

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7th century gold coins found hidden in wall

<p dir="ltr">A collection of coins have been found concealed in a wall at a nature reserve in what has been described as an "extremely significant archaeological find".</p> <p dir="ltr">During an excavation at the Hermon Stream (Banias) in Israel, archaeologists found 44 gold coins dating back to the 7th century.</p> <p dir="ltr">Weighing in at about 170g, experts estimate that the hoard was hidden during the Muslim conquest in 635 CE.</p> <p dir="ltr">They say the discovery sheds light on this significant moment in history which saw the end of the Byzantine rule in the area.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We can imagine the owner concealing his fortune in the threat of war, hoping to return one day to retrieve his property," Yoav Lerer, the director of the excavation, told the <em><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63122180" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a></em>.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e2de019e-7fff-f560-1b33-b05e0737cf0b"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">"In retrospect, we know that he was less fortunate."</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/10/ancient-coins1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr">Numismatic (currency) expert Dr Gabriela Bijovsky of the Israel Antiquities Authority said some of the coins were minted by Emperor Phocas (602-610 CE), while the majority were of his successor, Emperor Heraclius, with the latest coins the latter minted dating back to 635 CE.</p> <p dir="ltr">Eli Escusido, the director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said it was a significant find and that the public could soon see the coins for themselves.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The coin hoard is an extremely significant archaeological find as it dates back to an important transitional period in the history of the city of Banias and the entire region of the Levant," he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The Israel Antiquities Authority, together with the National Parks Authority, will work together to exhibit the treasure to the public."</p> <p dir="ltr">Along with the coins, Israeli authorities said the excavation also uncovered remains of buildings and bronze coins, as well as water channels and pipes.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1fc84529-7fff-21de-638e-0c0babadf54e"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Israel Antiquities Authority (Facebook)</em></p>

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The FBI tracked Aretha Franklin for 40 years - here’s why

<p dir="ltr">Until 2007, Aretha Franklin was tracked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with her bumper 270-page file recently obtained by <em><a href="https://rollingstoneindia.com/aretha-franklin-was-tracked-by-the-fbi-for-40-years-heres-whats-in-her-file/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rolling Stone</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Queen of Soul, who passed away in 2018 aged 76, was subjected to false phone calls and surveillance, as well as having her inner circle infiltrated by FBI sources, according to the outlet.</p> <p dir="ltr">Franklin’s file, first requested via the Freedom of Information Act shortly after her death, is reportedly filled with phrases such as “Black extremists”, “pro-communist”, “hate America”, “radical”, “racial violence”, and “militant Black power”.</p> <p dir="ltr">It also contained plenty of suspicion about the singer, her work, and the other artists and activists she associated with, as the FBI tried and failed to connect the Respect singer to the Black Liberation Army and other “radical” movements.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to the documents, Franklin’s civil rights work and association with activists including Martin Luther King Jr and Angela Davies, became a focus for the FBI, with agents tracking her addresses, phone numbers and activities.</p> <p dir="ltr">The singer’s son, Kecalf, told the <em>Rolling Stone</em> he was unsure whether Franklin knew she was under surveillance but said it was a “waste of time” for the FBI to follow her “every move” for so many years after failing to connect her to radical movements of any kind.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I'm not really sure if my mother was aware that she was being targeted by the FBI and followed. I do know that she had absolutely nothing to hide though…” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"It does make me feel a certain way knowing the FBI had her targeted and wanted to know her every move.</p> <p dir="ltr">"But at the same time knowing my mother and the way she ran her business I know she had nothing to hide so they wouldn't have found anything and were wasting their time. As you see…they found nothing at all."</p> <p dir="ltr">The documents obtained by <em>Rolling Stone</em>, which include some newly-declassified files and others that are heavily redacted, include a 1968 report discussing funeral plans for Martin Luther King Jr which described it as a “racial situation”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin…of this group, some have supported militant Black power concept…[performance at MLK memorial by these prominent entertainers] would provide emotional spark which could ignite racial disturbance in this area,” it reads.</p> <p dir="ltr">The FBI also included files “just in case”, such as her 1971 contract with Atlantic Records to attempt to connect the <em>Blues Brothers</em> star’s business dealings to the Black Panther Party.</p> <p dir="ltr">Letters and reports of death threats were among the collection of documents as well, including one from a man threatening to kill her and her family and another extortion attempt against her.</p> <p dir="ltr">With some documents indicating that there are additional materials in the FBI’s possession that haven’t been released, <em>Rolling Stone</em> requested these records be made available.</p> <p dir="ltr">The FBI has yet to comment on the report.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b53d2a36-7fff-78ce-80b9-125e7216fcbd"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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“A pain in the a***”: Security expert reveals why woman posing as Prince Andrew’s fiancée got past security

<p dir="ltr">A woman claiming to be Prince Andrew’s fiancée was able to get past security because staff were too “terrified” to check with the royal according to a specialist detective.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Spanish woman claimed to be Irene Windsor and was due to have dinner with the Duke of York when she arrived at the security gate of the Royal Lodge in Winsdor last April, and was allowed in without her identification checked.</p> <p dir="ltr">Her cab fare was even paid for by security officers, with her cover eventually blown when she entered the building and a suspicious staff member alerted police - but not before she walked around the grounds for up to 40 minutes.</p> <p dir="ltr">Philip Grindell, the founder of VIP security firm Defuse and a former specialist detective with the Met Police, has now claimed that staff were reluctant to check the woman’s story with Prince Andrew because of his reputation.</p> <p dir="ltr">Grindell, who was responsible for planning and running security measures for high-profile events that included those with royals and the military, made the claims while speaking at the International Security Expo in London, describing the royal as an “unpleasant character”.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Prince Andrew is a pain in the a*** and if you have ever worked with him, is an unpleasant character and the security were terrified of asking him 'is anyone turning up?'” Grindell said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"And because they did not want to upset him, no one asked and they assumed he must have an appointment and let her in.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The security were terrified of asking him."</p> <p dir="ltr">Paul Page, a former Met Police royal protection officer, separately shared a similar account about working with the controversial royal.</p> <p dir="ltr">"When I heard this it became blatantly obvious that the security involved were in the same position with Prince Andrew as I was 20 years ago, in that they were too frightened to question unidentified female visitors as it would always end in him abusing us for stopping them,” he said at the expo.</p> <p dir="ltr">"This is a classic example of what we feared would happen one day."</p> <p dir="ltr">At the time, the woman was found with maps of the Royal Lodge and other royal residences, as well as a self-defence key ring with two sharp prongs.</p> <p dir="ltr">She was arrested on suspicion of burglary before being sectioned under the Mental Health Act and eventually released without charge.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-bfff73ff-7fff-7826-a75c-88d6a93cf36c"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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Charges against the Queen and 75 others dubbed a “work of legal fiction”

<p dir="ltr">Social media posts celebrating the fact that the Queen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Pope Francis are among 75 individuals charged with “crimes against humanity” have been dubbed a work of fiction by experts.</p><p dir="ltr">According to <a href="https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/arrest-warrants-for-queen-and-pope-a-work-of-legal-fiction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AAP FactCheck,</a> the so-called “International Common Law Court of Justice” has no legal authority to issue arrest warrants and its judgements are meaningless, despite the claims made online.</p><p dir="ltr">Posts have emerged from <a href="http://archive.today/0ctCR" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a> and <a href="https://archive.ph/0gl6U" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Zealand</a> claiming the International Common Law Court of Justice has convicted the individuals to life imprisonment for their crimes.</p><p dir="ltr">“After a four-month trial convened under International Law, the judges of the International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ) issued their historic verdict and sentence today, along with Arrest and Expropriation Warrants against the defendants,” a Facebook post read.</p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-faa66c31-7fff-d754-e95e-2654000d62dc"></span></p><p dir="ltr">The post also contained a link to a <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/4L4VdCi0QEl9/?fbclid=IwAR2hyrAAxKeSaFaJDp7IOKprKJy2TKmft6oXg_n4VbfvqsXL5BAAUBhezv4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bitchute</a> video of a man who introduces himself as “Kevin Annett Eagle Strong Voice” and claims to be the chief advisor to the ICLCJ in Brussels.</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/kevin-annett1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Kevin Annett, the man seemingly behind the International Common Law Court of Justice, reads out the court’s ‘judgement’ against the Queen, world leaders, and the CEO of Pfizer. Image: Murder By Decree</em></p><p dir="ltr">The full video, available along with the judgement details on a website for Mr Annett’s book, <a href="http://murderbydecree.com/2022/01/14/breaking-news-from-the-international-common-law-court-of-justice-january-15-2022-gmt-big-pharma-government-church-leaders-face-arrest-as-court-convicts-them-of-genocide-prohibits-injections/?fbclid=IwAR211sRCsw1jEQDI0uVz7ymp0S1JF_rfvHrb0HS8tvb6zviBumkdDVUAnDQ#page-content" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Murder By Decree</a>, claims to be an “international press conference” going out as a “cause of hope to people labouring under the Covid Corporate Police State”.</p><p dir="ltr">Mr Annett, a former Canadian church minister who was <a href="https://pacificmountain.ca/kevin-annett/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removed for spreading conspiracy theories</a>, goes on to share a summary of the court’s “judgement” on its behalf.</p><p dir="ltr">Along with the Queen and the Pope, others who have been “charged” include Albert Boula, the CEO of Pfizer, and Emma Walmsley, the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.</p><p dir="ltr">As well as sentencing the 75 individuals to life imprisonment, the verdict also “seizes their assets and disestablishes their corporations, and lawfully prohibits the further manufacture, sale or use of their COVID vaccines”.</p><p dir="ltr">Documents on Mr Annett’s website also claim that the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a “Criminal Conspiracy to reduce humanity to slavery” and “master plan of global Eugenics”.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a215597d-7fff-0851-3c4f-6ce314287b17"></span></p><p dir="ltr">In addition, the court’s ‘judgement’ allegedly empowers “not only our Sheriffs and deputised police, but people everywhere to enforce the Court’s verdict by arresting the convicted felons, seizing their assets, and halting the sale and use” of the vaccines.</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/queen-guard.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Though the ICLCJ may allow it, arresting Queen Elizabeth II may not be the best of ideas. Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images</em></p><p dir="ltr">However, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported that the ICLCJ doesn’t exist as a legal authority in any jurisdiction, and that it isn’t listed on the United Nations’ list of courts and tribunals.</p><p dir="ltr">An investigation by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vatican-pope-idUSL1N2RT0XP" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a> also found that the court had no legal standing and appeared to have been invented by Mr Annett.</p><p dir="ltr">Professor Kevin Heller, an expert in international law and human rights at the Australian National University (ANU), described ICLCJ as a fabrication.</p><p dir="ltr">“It is a private initiative that has adopted a fancy name to make it seem like a real one,” Professor Heller shared with AAP FactCheck in an email.</p><p dir="ltr">“Basically a right-wing version of a People’s Tribunal (such as the Russell Tribunal during the Vietnam War). Because it’s not a real court, it has no authority to issue an arrest warrant for anyone.</p><p dir="ltr">“So any ‘conviction’ of the Queen or Pope or anyone is meaningless.”</p><p dir="ltr">Professor Heller, who is also a special advisor to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor for International Criminal Law Discourse, said that the only international court with the power to prosecute individuals was the International Criminal Court (ICC).</p><p dir="ltr">Emeritus professor Steven Freeland also told the publication that there was no such thing as the ICLCJ, and that the International Criminal Court can only prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-8ac681e6-7fff-25f5-b1de-d3a5aae0ec41"></span></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Murder By Decree</em></p>

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A computer can guess more than 100,000,000,000 passwords per second. Still think yours is secure?

<p>Passwords have been used for thousands of years as a means of identifying ourselves to others and in more recent times, to computers. It’s a simple concept – a shared piece of information, kept secret between individuals and used to “prove” identity.</p> <p>Passwords in an IT context <a href="https://www.wired.com/2012/01/computer-password/">emerged in the 1960s</a> with <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24356/mainframe">mainframe</a> computers – large centrally operated computers with remote “terminals” for user access. They’re now used for everything from the PIN we enter at an ATM, to logging in to our computers and various websites.</p> <p>But why do we need to “prove” our identity to the systems we access? And why are passwords so hard to get right?</p> <p><strong>What makes a good password?</strong></p> <p>Until relatively recently, a good password might have been a word or phrase of as little as six to eight characters. But we now have minimum length guidelines. This is because of “entropy”.</p> <p>When talking about passwords, entropy is the <a href="https://www.itdojo.com/a-somewhat-brief-explanation-of-password-entropy/">measure of predictability</a>. The maths behind this isn’t complex, but let’s examine it with an even simpler measure: the number of possible passwords, sometimes referred to as the “password space”.</p> <p>If a one-character password only contains one lowercase letter, there are only 26 possible passwords (“a” to “z”). By including uppercase letters, we increase our password space to 52 potential passwords.</p> <p>The password space continues to expand as the length is increased and other character types are added.</p> <p>However, the problem with depending on password complexity is that computers are highly efficient at repeating tasks – including guessing passwords.</p> <p>Last year, a <a href="https://www.cbronline.com/news/stolen-user-credentials">record was set</a> for a computer trying to generate every conceivable password. It achieved a rate faster than 100,000,000,000 guesses per second.</p> <p>By leveraging this computing power, cyber criminals can hack into systems by bombarding them with as many password combinations as possible, in a process called <a href="https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/brute-force-attack">brute force attacks</a>.</p> <p>And with cloud-based technology, guessing an eight-character password can be achieved in as little as 12 minutes and cost as little as US$25.</p> <p>Also, because passwords are almost always used to give access to sensitive data or important systems, this motivates cyber criminals to actively seek them out. It also drives a lucrative online market selling passwords, some of which come with email addresses and/or usernames.</p> <p><strong>How are passwords stored on websites?</strong></p> <p>Website passwords are usually stored in a protected manner using a mathematical algorithm called <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/06/hacker-lexicon-password-hashing/">hashing</a>. A hashed password is unrecognisable and can’t be turned back into the password (an irreversible process).</p> <p>When you try to login, the password you enter is hashed using the same process and compared to the version stored on the site. This process is repeated each time you login.</p> <p>For example, the password “Pa$$w0rd” is given the value “02726d40f378e716981c4321d60ba3a325ed6a4c” when calculated using the SHA1 hashing algorithm. Try it <a href="https://passwordsgenerator.net/sha1-hash-generator/">yourself</a>.</p> <p>When faced with a file full of hashed passwords, a brute force attack can be used, trying every combination of characters for a range of password lengths. This has become such common practice that there are websites that list common passwords alongside their (calculated) hashed value. You can simply search for the hash to reveal the corresponding password.</p> <p>The theft and selling of passwords lists is now so common, a <a href="https://haveibeenpwned.com/">dedicated website</a> — haveibeenpwned.com — is available to help users check if their accounts are “in the wild”. This has grown to include more than 10 billion account details.</p> <p>If your email address is listed on this site you should definitely change the detected password, as well as on any other sites for which you use the same credentials.</p> <p><strong>Is more complexity the solution?</strong></p> <p>You would think with so many password breaches occurring daily, we would have improved our password selection practices. Unfortunately, last year’s annual <a href="https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/91461-the-worst-passwords-of-2019">SplashData password survey</a> has shown little change over five years.</p> <p>As computing capabilities increase, the solution would appear to be increased complexity. But as humans, we are not skilled at (nor motivated to) remember highly complex passwords.</p> <p>We’ve also passed the point where we use only two or three systems needing a password. It’s now common to access numerous sites, with each requiring a password (often of varying length and complexity). A recent survey suggests there are, on average, <a href="https://www.newswire.com/news/new-research-most-people-have-70-80-passwords-21103705">70-80 passwords per person</a>.</p> <p>The good news is there are tools to address these issues. Most computers now support password storage in either the operating system or the web browser, usually with the option to share stored information across multiple devices.</p> <p>Examples include Apple’s <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3254183/how-to-use-icloud-keychain-the-guide.html">iCloud Keychain</a> and the ability to save passwords in Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox (although <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/447345/why-you-shouldnt-use-your-web-browsers-password-manager/">less reliable</a>).</p> <p><a href="https://tech.co/password-managers/what-is-a-password-manager">Password managers</a> such as KeePassXC can help users generate long, complex passwords and store them in a secure location for when they’re needed.</p> <p>While this location still needs to be protected (usually with a long “master password”), using a password manager lets you have a unique, complex password for every website you visit.</p> <p>This won’t prevent a password from being stolen from a vulnerable website. But if it is stolen, you won’t have to worry about changing the same password on all your other sites.</p> <p>There are of course vulnerabilities in these solutions too, but perhaps that’s a story for another day.</p> <p><em>Written by Paul Haskell-Dowland and Brianna O’Shea. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-computer-can-guess-more-than-100-000-000-000-passwords-per-second-still-think-yours-is-secure-144418">The Conversation.</a> </em></p>

Finance

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Personal trainer suing date for $236k after kiss

<p>A personal trainer is suing his date after he claims he contracted painful cold sores that developed after he kissed her. </p> <p>Martin Conway, 45, is asking for $236,000 in compensation for her “negligence”, along with 30 years of therapy. </p> <p>Mr Conway says his work became seriously impacted after catching the herpes simplex virus in 2019 from his date, Joanna Lovelace and claims she had “a moral and ethical and legal duty to warn me of the risks that I would be exposed to.”</p> <p>“I was kissed before I was informed of any cold sore,” he added. </p> <p>“It is fair, just and reasonable for the court to impose a duty of care upon the respondent, due to the risk that was negligently being taken with my health, which was reasonably foreseeable, which led to three weeks of severe acute symptoms, leading to emotional, physical and financial distress.”</p> <p>The compensation case is being heard in the Central London County Court.</p> <p>“It is fair, just and reasonable for the court to impose a duty of care upon the respondent, due to the risk that was negligently being taken with my health, which was reasonably foreseeable, which led to three weeks of severe acute symptoms, leading to emotional, physical and financial distress.”</p> <p>Conway claims he became sick with flu-like symptoms and found eating painful a few days after his date with Lovelace.</p> <p>Doctors diagnosed him with the herpes simplex virus and prescribed medication.</p> <p>He also says he had a panic attack and collapsed after seeing more ulcers appear.</p> <p>Conway alleges he was incredibly fearful of leaving his apartment, and stayed inside for weeks with the exception of doctor’s appointments. </p> <p>Lovelace’s lawyers described the claim as “frivolous and vexatious” and doomed to fail, and have denied any liability for their client. </p> <p>“The statement of case discloses no reasonable grounds for bringing the claim,” her lawyers told the court, calling the action an “abuse of the process of the court”.</p> <p>Conway is claiming $182,000 for fortnightly therapy sessions until the age of 79.</p> <p>He also wants salary protection insurance costs and payments to cover lost earnings while he was ill.</p> <p>The case is due in court later in 2020.</p>

Finance

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Coronavirus survivor hit with $1.1 million hospital bill

<p>A COVID-19 patient who was dubbed “the miracle child” after spending weeks in an induced coma has received a US$1.1 million (SG$1.53 million) bill for his hospital treatment.</p> <p>Michael Flor, 70, spent 62 days in an intensive care unit at Swedish Medical Centre in the city of Issaquah in Washington, United States, where he came so close to death from the coronavirus.</p> <p>But Flor said it was still “heart-stopping” to receive the hospital bill for $1,122,501.04.</p> <p>“I had to look at it a number of times… to see if I was seeing it right,” Flor told <em><a href="https://time.com/5853392/million-dollars-covid-19-treatment-seattle/">TIME</a></em>.</p> <p>The 181-page bill included almost 3,000 itemised charges, <em><a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/inspiring-story-of-seattle-mans-coronavirus-survival-comes-with-a-1-1-million-dollar-hospital-bill/">The Seattle Times</a> </em>reported. Flor was charged $9,736 for every day he spent in an isolation chamber and an additional $2,835 for each day he was put on a mechanical ventilator. A two-day period when his heart, kidneys and lungs were failing cost close to $100,000.</p> <p>Flor said he will likely foot little of his bill because he is insured by Medicare and Medicare Advantage through Kaiser Permanente. According to the <em>Times</em>, he may not have to pay anything due to the special policies applied to hospitals and insurance companies for COVID-19.</p> <p>However, Flor said he still felt guilt while going through the numbers.</p> <p>“I feel guilty about surviving,” he told the <em>Times</em>.</p> <p>“There’s a sense of ‘why me?’ Why did I deserve all this? Looking at the incredible cost of it all definitely adds to that survivor’s guilt.”</p> <p>Flor is now recovering in his West Seattle home.   </p>

Finance

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Australian lawyer allegedly sacked for refusing to lie

<p>A <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/legislation/corporations-act/">corporate lawyer</a> has commenced proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court after he was terminated from his position as a senior legal adviser with Meriton Property Services for allegedly refusing to lie in an affidavit.</p> <p>Sydney lawyer Joseph Callahan is claiming $556,500 in compensation and costs after being terminated from his $350,000 a year position in February 2020.</p> <p>He claims that during a meeting on 3 February 2020, his employer, billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff, demanded that he falsely state in an affidavit that Sydney Council had taken three years to approve a development application.</p> <p>According to his statement of claim, the lawyer responded by stating, “I’m a solicitor and can’t include something in an affidavit which I know isn’t true”.</p> <p>He says his employer then said, “Listen my friend, you write it my way or you can fuck off”, and “Fuck you. I pay you to win cases do you understand?”.</p> <p>Mr Callahan says he then told his employer, “I understand I am here to win cases, but it did not take three years to get the building approved, so I can’t give evidence to the Court that it did”, to which Mr Triguboff responded, “Enough crap from you. Write it my way or you are no good to me”.</p> <p>The lawyers says he stood his ground, telling his employer “Harry I won’t do it. It’s a lie”.</p> <p>He says his employer emailed him on 13 February 2020 to advise that his position had been terminated.</p> <p>Meriton Property Services refutes the allegations, filing a defence which states:</p> <p>“All allegations that suggest otherwise are strongly denied. Meriton disputes the sequence and nature of the events set out in the court filing”.</p> <p>The case is listed for hearing on 17 June 2020.</p> <p><strong>The offence of swearing a false affidavit</strong></p> <p>Swearing a False Affidavit is a crime under <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/legislation/oaths-act/swearing-falsely-in-affidavits/">Section 29 of the Oaths Act 1900</a>.</p> <p>The offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.</p> <p><strong>For the offence to be established, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that:</strong></p> <ol> <li>The defendant swore or affirmed an affidavit,</li> <li>The affidavit was affirmed or sworn before a person authorised to do so,</li> <li>The affidavit was false in any respect, and</li> <li>The defendant knew the affidavit was false in that or those respects.</li> </ol> <p>In addition to this, <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/legislation/oaths-act/false-statement/">section 33 of the Oaths Act 1900</a> prescribes a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the offence of making a false statement in an affidavit.</p> <p><strong>To establish that offence, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant:</strong></p> <ol> <li>Swore or affirmed an affidavit,</li> <li>Made a false statement within that affidavit, and</li> <li>Knew the statement was false.</li> </ol> <p>Swearing to false information in an affidavit may also amount to perverting the course of justice, which is an offence under <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/legislation/crimes-act/perverting-course-of-justice/">section 319 of the Crimes Act 1900</a> carrying a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.</p> <p><strong>To establish that offence, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant:</strong></p> <ol> <li>Engaged in an act or made an omission, and</li> <li>Did so with the intention of perverting the course of justice.</li> </ol> <p>‘Perverting the course of justice’ is defined as ‘obstructing, preventing, perverting or defeating the course of justice or the administration of law’.</p> <p><strong>Defendants have been found guilty of the offence for the following conduct:</strong></p> <ol> <li>Falsely swearing or declaring that another person was responsible for an offence,</li> <li>Attempting to bribe a police or judicial officer to avoid being prosecuted or punished,</li> <li>Using a victim’s phone or email in an attempt to create a defence to a crime,</li> <li>Encouraging or bribing another person to plead guilty to an crime they did not commit, to provide a false alibi and to give false testimony in court.</li> </ol> <p>Where it is alleged that a false affidavit was used in connection with judicial proceedings – such as court proceedings – a person can be charged of perjury, which is an offence under <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/legislation/crimes-act/perjury/">Section 327 of the Crimes Act 1900</a> carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.</p> <p><strong>To establish the offence, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that:</strong></p> <ol> <li>The defendant made a false statement under oath or affirmation,</li> <li>The statement was in, or in connection with, judicial proceedings,</li> <li>The statement concerned a matter that was material to those proceedings, and</li> <li>The defendant knew the statement was false or did not believe it was true.</li> </ol> <p>The maximum penalty increases to 14 years in prison where the prosecution proves that the defendant intended to procure the conviction or acquittal of a person for a ‘serious indictable offence’, which is one that carries a maximum penalty of at least 5 years in prison.</p> <p><strong>Defences to the charges</strong></p> <p>In addition to prove each ‘element’ (or ingredient) the charges, the prosecution must disprove beyond reasonable doubt any legal defence which a defendant validly raise in court.</p> <p><a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/defences/">Legal defences</a> which apply to these offences include:</p> <ol> <li>Duress</li> <li>Necessity, and</li> <li>Self-defence</li> </ol> <p><strong>Professional obligations</strong></p> <p>In addition to obligations under the general law, a solicitor or barrister who falsely swears to information in a legal statement such as a statutory declaration or affidavit is liable to disciplinary action by the Law Society of New South Wales, including being <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/lawyers-struck-off-for-professional-misconduct/">‘struck off’ for professional misconduct</a>.</p> <p>Going to court for an offence against justice?</p> <p>If you have been charged with an offence against justice such as swearing a false affidavit, contempt of court, perverting the course of justice or perjury, call Sydney Criminal Lawyers anytime on (02) 9261 8881 to arrange a free first conference with an experienced criminal defence lawyer who will advise you of your options and the best way forward.</p> <p><em>Written by Ugur Nedim. Republished with permission of </em><a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/lawyer-allegedly-sacked-for-refusing-to-lie/"><em>Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</em></a></p>

Finance

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The one percent plan: Bold strategy to reverse economic downturn

<p><span>Egypt will deduct 1 per cent from resident’s salaries for 12 months, starting from July 1.</span><br /><br /><span>The new bold measure aims to offset the major economic repercussions seen due to COVID-19.</span><br /><br /><span>Both public and private sectors will be hit with the tax but it will only apply to those who have a net monthly salaries exceeding 2000 Egyptian pounds ($SG178.74).</span><br /><br /><span>A tax of 0.5 per cent will also be deducted from state pensions.</span><br /><br /><span>The brand new measure follows as Egypt tries to deal with the economic impact of the pandemic, which has brought tourism to a grinding halt, triggered major capital flight and threatened remittances from Egyptians working overseas.</span><br /><br /><span>Funds from the new salary tax will go towards supporting organisations and workers specifically impacted by the virus.</span><br /><br /><span>The cabinet also said in a statement, that direct support will be offered to some citizens.</span><br /><br /><span>Those affected economically by the outbreak may be exempted from the tax.</span><br /><br /><span>Egypt now has over 13,400 coronavirus cases, including more than 650 deaths.</span><br /><br /><span>On Tuesday, the country recorded its biggest rise in daily cases to date.</span></p>

Finance

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Global trust crisis as people no longer believe hard work will bring a better life

<p>Many people no longer believe that <span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/2020-edelman-trust-barometer-shows-growing-sense-of-inequality/11883788">hard work will lead to a better life</a></span>, a new survey found.</p> <p>In its <span><a href="https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2020-01/2020%20Edelman%20Trust%20Barometer%20Global%20Report_LIVE.pdf">20<sup>th</sup> annual Trust Barometer</a></span>, which polled more than 34,000 people in 28 countries, public relations firm Edelman found that despite strong economic performance, the majority of people in developed markets said they believe they and their families will not be better off in five years’ time.</p> <p>“We are living in a trust paradox,” said the agency’s CEO Richard Edelman.</p> <p>“Since we began measuring trust 20 years ago, economic growth has fostered rising trust. This continues in Asia and the Middle East but not in developed markets, where national income inequality is now the more important factor in institutional trust.</p> <p>“Fears are stifling hope, as long-held assumptions about hard work leading to upward mobility are now invalid.”</p> <p>Trust in government also continued to decline as people grappled with concerns over job insecurity and income inequality.</p> <p>More than four out of five (83 per cent) employees said they worry about losing their job due to a range of factors, including gig economy, looming recession, foreign competitors and automation.</p> <p>Government was viewed as the most unethical and least competent institution, with only 42 per cent of respondents saying they have confidence that government leaders will be able to address the challenges int their country.</p> <p>Media was also considered incompetent and unethical, with 57 per cent saying the media they consume contain untrustworthy information.</p> <p>Business ranked the highest in competence but was deemed unethical, with the majority of respondents agreeing that capitalism does more harm than good in the world today. No institution was seen as fair in the survey’s index of public perception.</p>

Finance

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4 money-saving resolutions you should make this year

<p>Could this be the year you get your finances in order? A savings plan doesn’t need to be overwhelming, try these seven tips that Patty Cathey, financial advisor at Smart Retirement Plan uses with her clients to keep them on track.</p> <p><strong>1. Track your spending</strong></p> <p>Some financial mishaps happen simply because we aren’t paying close enough attention to our spending habits. Once you have taken an inventory of your finances, watch your spending for unnecessary expenses. “Take out the magnifying glass and take notice of the details in your financial picture,” Cathey advises. “Comb through your credit card statements to see if there’s any unnecessary spending or charges. Are you paying for a gym membership or cable channels you don’t use? Is there a charge you didn’t make that could be fraud? Paying attention to the little things can make a big difference in your finances.”</p> <p><strong>2. Start small</strong></p> <p>When the New Year rolls around, the temptation is to make extreme financial resolutions all at once. But don’t get so caught up in your resolutions that you set yourself up for failure. Cathey advises her clients to make small changes to their spending, since they are more maintainable over time. “Taking a baby step in cutting your spending can start you on the path to even bigger savings,” Cathey encourages. “For example, instead of cutting out your morning coffee completely, cut out one cup per week in January. Same thing goes for bringing a lunch to work: try packing a lunch one day. You may find it’s easier than you realise.” By February you may be skipping two lattés and bringing your lunch twice a week.</p> <p><strong>3. Wait before you swipe</strong></p> <p>Make a new habit of waiting before you spend on an unplanned purchase. Did you spot a piece of house decor at Target during a nappy run? Take time to think about the purchase before you swipe your credit card. “Apply the 48-hour rule by giving yourself a mandatory waiting period before making a big purchase,” Cathey says. “Many times, you’ll forget about the item you so desperately wanted when you’re in the store. If you still want or think you need it after 48 hours, talk over the purchase with a spouse or loved one.”</p> <p><strong>4. Pay yourself first</strong></p> <p>Even if you mean well, life can get in the way of prioritising saving for emergencies or getting ready for your retirement. David Bach, author of The Automatic Millionaire, encourages individuals with big financial goals to start by making their savings automatic each time they get paid. “Adding a small amount to your savings is pain free and pays off in the long run” he says. Then, utilise online banking tools to efficiently distribute money into different accounts including: retirement, emergency and mortgage payments, credit card, and other recurring bills.</p> <p><em>Source: <a href="https://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/financial-resolutions/">RD.com</a></em></p> <p><em>Written by Mary Sauer. This article first appeared in </em><span><a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/money/7-money-saving-resolutions-you-should-make-this-new-yea"><em>Reader’s Digest</em></a><em>. </em></span></p>

Finance

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Must end soon! The catch with time-limited sales tactics

<p>You may be getting a lot of emails offering you attractive discounts for a short period only. You may see flash sales or special deals that exhort you to “buy now” to avoid missing out.</p> <p>These digital “time-limited” offers, as they are called, are actually an old sales tactic.</p> <p>Those in the game of selling cars, for example, have long used the trick of alluding to that other very interested buyer who’s likely to return and snap up the bargain that’s before you. Telephone salespeople routinely offer deals that must be accepted during the call. Want time to think about it? Too bad.</p> <p>Online time-limited sales work on the same basis, but with technology taking it to a whole new level. Now retailers can bombard you with offers that are highly customised and super-short – a deal, perhaps, for something you might have been searching online for, and now available at a discount only until midnight.</p> <p>But for these tactics to work, our research suggests, requires finding a Goldilocks zone between being too pushy and not all. Time needs to be limited to deter you from searching elsewhere for a better deal. But paradoxically you also need enough time to convince yourself that buying is the best decision.</p> <p><strong>Experimenting with time limits</strong></p> <p>To find out what makes time-limited offers effective, I and my colleagues Robert Sugden and Mengjie Wang from the University of East Anglia <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.09.008">ran experiments</a> to see what leads people to accept or reject such offers.</p> <p>What we found is that these offers leverage risk-aversion. That is, the more you dislike risk, the more likely it is you will take the bait and buy now.</p> <p>In our experiments, using university students, we asked participants to complete 30 “price search” tasks. These tasks involved giving participants a “budget” and asking them to buy a product from six different price offers, shown to them sequentially with a few seconds between each. Any unspent money they got to keep.</p> <p>In half of the tasks they could consider all six offers before making their choice. In the other half, one of the first three offers would be time-limited, lapsing after either four or 12 seconds, which they could only accept before the next offer appeared.</p> <p>We also varied, when participants accepted a time-limited offer, between showing them no more offers or showing all remaining offers immediately. This was to test if greater feedback (increasing the possibility of regret) reduced the probability of a time-limited offer being chosen.</p> <p>Participants then did 15 related risk-taking tasks based on their choices in the tasks with time-limited options. This helped us determine what was going on with their choices.</p> <p><strong>A time paradox</strong></p> <p>Overall our results point to choosing time-limited options being linked to risk aversion. People generally prefer to secure a certain cake now over the uncertain possibility of a better cake in the future. We really do believe the old proverb that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.</p> <p>But there was a catch – and a big one. Somewhat paradoxically, people also need to think things through to jump on the time-limited offer. Time-limited offers were accepted more when participants had 12 seconds to decide rather than four seconds.</p> <p>This indicates people need enough time to reflect on the task to decide they are better off going for the “safe” deal.</p> <p>As we <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268119302823?via%3Dihub#sec0008">warn in our paper</a>, one should be wary about extrapolating too directly from laboratory behaviour to real markets, but our results suggest time-limited offers do not rely on limits to the consumers’ ability to make a rational decision. When they work it is because they are mechanisms of search deterrence – restricting the consumers’ opportunities to compare available offers – amplified by risk aversion.</p> <p>So businesses may be shooting themselves in the foot when they create offers that are too short, too pushy. If you’re like most people, you need time to reflect on the risk of not buying. If the offer is too fast and furious, you’re likely to just be turned off.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124897/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/daniel-zizzo-125561">Daniel Zizzo</a>, Professor and Academic Dean of the School of Economics, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/must-end-soon-but-not-too-soon-the-catch-in-time-limited-sales-tactics-124897">original article</a>.</em></p>

Finance

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What you should tell your grandchildren about money issues

<p>Being a parent presents us with daily challenges, including decisions about what things to expose our children to. One of the questions I am constantly asked by parents is what should they teach their children about money, and at what age.</p> <p>Talking about money is no different to talking about how to keep healthy or how to keep safe when using the internet. If your child thinks money is something that “mum and dad get from a machine”, then they don’t know how hard their parents work to generate an income for the family and meet all of their expenses.</p> <p>Moving money from an abstract concept to something tangible that is earned and saved before it is spent is an important step for children to understand. Children are more intelligent than we often give them credit for. They are also more understanding and resilient – if there are tough financial situations to explain, what children appreciate most is honesty, consistency and facts.</p> <p>So, if you don’t have enough money to buy something your child has asked for, be honest and put the facts in front of them. Explain the difference between things the family <strong>needs</strong> and the things they <strong>want</strong>.</p> <p>Tell them that all the “need items” must be purchased first, and then you will see if there is enough money left in the budget to buy what they want. And if there isn’t, tell them how the item can be budgeted for – and how you can all work towards saving for it over time.</p> <p><strong>What is the right age to start having these discussions?</strong></p> <p>You should be open with your children about money as soon as they are able to understand. However, what your child needs to know at the age of four or five is very different to what they need to know at the age of 10, 15 or older.</p> <p><a href="http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Colleges/College%20of%20Business/School%20of%20Economics%20&amp;%20Finance/FinEd/documents/FinanceStudyWEBv2.pdf?7B7DE79F6F2FC1A47A247B28528D8E4C">Research by the Westpac Massey Fin-Ed Centre</a> shows that most young people get their financial information from their parents so it is important that parents provide a good foundation for future financial well-being from an early age.</p> <p>The initial conversation with a four to five-year-old does not have to be about money. Start with the concept of “delayed gratification”. It is a powerful way of teaching children there are benefits in waiting for things. They also need to know that not every demand they make is going to be fulfilled instantly. Every family has a limit to its available resources, even the very rich need to have plans for their money.</p> <p>For children aged 6-10, involve them in preparing a household budget and allocating money to different parts of your budget. Let them help you prepare a shopping/grocery list and then allocate to them an amount as per your agreed budget.</p> <p>Take them grocery shopping with you, hand them the list that they have prepared along with a calculator. Give them the responsibility of staying within the allocated budget and be strict with this. The incentive for the child could be that if they manage to get all the items on the list for less than the allocated amount, they get to decide how to spend the surplus.</p> <p>When you get home, this can become a conversation about money: the benefits of staying within the allocated amount and how to make tough decisions about what items are priority.</p> <p>For children aged 10 – 15, give them the responsibility of setting the household budget under your supervision. Discuss the different components of budgets: expenses that occur weekly/fortnightly/monthly/annually so they can see how important it is to have a better understanding of how and where the money is being spent.</p> <p>They may have a goal of buying something new for themselves – so help them to work out whether it is a need or a want and how they plan to pay for it. Discussions about short, medium and long-term goals can be useful.</p> <p>For those age 15 and over, start having discussions about their goals for their future – beyond high school. Encourage them to start saving for their future, whether that be higher education, travel, or buying a house.</p> <p>At this stage they also need to start learning about their rights as a consumer, signing agreements, the difference between debit cards and credit cards, and saving for things you want instead of borrowing.</p> <p><strong>They need to know they will sometimes go without</strong></p> <p>Children also need to be made aware that they will sometimes have to go without things they want. They need to understand that, as a parent, it is your moral, legal, social and ethical responsibility to look after their needs, but that you are not obliged to pay for all their wants. But explain that you are happy to work with them to help them save for the things they want.</p> <p>Another common question is, how much should you tell your children. Should you tell them how much you earn, how much debt you have and what, if any, savings you have in the bank?</p> <p>There are varied opinions on this. Some parents feel that they should be totally transparent with their children, while others feel that they don’t need to know that level of detail. Either way, children should have a general idea about the household’s income and expenditure.</p> <p>Children need to know from an early age that money is not an endless resource and there are times when you may not have enough money for the things they want to buy. It is a good idea to discuss options in such cases. You will be surprised at some of the creative solutions children come up with.</p> <p>The main thing is to involve children in money discussions; give them some responsibility and an opportunity to manage money from an early age so they understand its value.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39686/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/pushpa-wood-161760">Pushpa Wood</a>, Director, Westpac Massey Fin-Ed Centre, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/massey-university-806">Massey University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-should-we-tell-our-children-about-money-39686">original article</a>.</em></p>

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What rich people won’t tell you

<p>Most of the world's mega-rich weren't always rolling in it. Here's how to become a money magnet...</p> <p><strong>We’re cheapskates and proud of it</strong></p> <p>“I think about it this way: not spending money is the same as making money. So if I save $2000 by not flying first class, that’s the same as someone paying me $2000. Wouldn’t you sit in an uncomfortable chair for three hours for $2000?” says a successful US plastic surgeon</p> <p>“When you open up the paper and you see those coupons, it looks like dollar bills staring you in the face … It’s how I grew up. Why not?” agrees Hilary Swank to talk show host Kelly Ripa, on clipping coupons</p> <p>“People are always surprised that I don’t have a closetful of suits. I buy three suits every five or so years and own only ten in total. That’s all I need.” T. Boone Pickens, oil billionaire, explains in an interview with Kiplinger’s magazine in 2012</p> <p>“I go to the ATM only once a week and pay for everything with cash. That way, I’m forced to stay on a budget without counting pennies and saving receipts. I can spend only what is in my wallet. I turn it into a game where each week, I reduce my ATM withdrawal amount by $20 to determine how low I can really go,” recommends Alan Corey, author of A Million Bucks by 30</p> <p>“We have neighbours who are billionaires, but you would never know it. The really wealthy are usually not the ones who wear the most expensive clothes, have the latest handbags, or drive flashy cars. In Martha’s Vineyard, you see a lot of people who live in houses that sell for $10 million driving ten-year-old Toyotas,” says a successful US plastic surgeon</p> <p><strong>We’re just like you</strong></p> <p>“Many of the super-wealthy have huge homes with specific rooms dedicated to entertaining. Your home might not have a ballroom, but you can save yourself stress by creating an off-limits area when entertaining. Bonus: you can shove the ‘I don’t know what to do with this stuff’ pile into one of those rooms and shut the door,” a real estate broker from Million Dollar Listing New York on television explained.</p> <p>“Contrary to popular belief, the rich do pay taxes – a lot of taxes. And they don’t all have teams of high-priced lawyers and accountants to do the paperwork. Many of them do their own with [US tax software] TurboTax, just like the rest of the world,” recommends a partner at a prestigious law firm</p> <p>“Millionaires tend to pay about $16– including tip – for a haircut at a traditional barbershop.” Researchers from the University of Georgia Survey Research Institute discovered.</p> <p><strong>We loathe waste</strong></p> <p>“I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from not wasting things. I still collect all the tiny pieces of soap and put them together into one bar. I still squeeze the toothpaste tube dry. And I grow a lot of my own vegetables,” laughs August Turak, founder of two successful software companies and author of Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks</p> <p>“One time my granddaughter was filling out all this paperwork, and there were several paper clips. I told her to take them off so she could reuse them. She said, ‘Grandma, do you know how cheap paper clips are?’ I said, ‘Do you know how far a penny can stretch when you need it to?’” Pat Brennan, co-owner of Brennan Builders, a US building company specialising in custom homes at an average price of $500,000, remembers teaching her daughter.</p> <p><em>Written by Michelle Crouch. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/money/25-things-rich-people-wont-tell-you">Reader’s Digest</a>. </em></p>

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Inside Michelle and Barack Obama’s new $16 million mansion

<p>Michelle and Barack Obama have been known as regulars at Martha’s Vineyard, with annual visits to the Massachusetts island since their time in the White House. Now the couple are making things more permanent with the purchase of a mansion they rented over the summer.</p> <p>The US$11.75 million property (SG$16 million) was sold last week to a trust, <em><a href="https://people.com/home/barack-michelle-obama-buy-marthas-vineyard-mansion/">People</a></em> reported. James F Reynolds, Chicago investment banker and longtime friend of Barack Obama, is also named as a trustee on the deed.</p> <p>The Edgartown home spans 6,892 square feet (640 square metre) and features seven bedrooms and eight-and-a-half baths as well as a number of stone fireplaces, two guest wings, a sun deck, boathouse and a pool.</p> <p><em>Photo credit: LandVest</em></p>

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How to pick the right amount to spend on holiday gifts

<p>Gift giving is a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/us-christmas-retail-sales-to-surpass-1-trillion-this-year-emarketer.html">big deal</a> this time of year.</p> <p>To find the <a href="https://www.today.com/shop/gift-guide">“perfect” gift</a>, <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2010/11/americans-spend-42-hours-each-on-holiday-shopping-and-partying/index.htm">Americans will spend about 15 hours</a> shopping. Women will do about twice as much as men. And they’ll <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1112/average-cost-of-an-american-christmas.aspx">shell out about US$1 trillion</a> on gifts.</p> <p>While retailers <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/24/investing/stocks-week-ahead/index.html">relish the holiday shopping season</a> as a time when consumers open their purses or wallets, for many consumers – especially those <a href="https://www.retailwire.com/discussion/study-consumers-dont-enjoy-doing-their-holiday-shopping-online/">who do not like shopping</a> – these days are <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-011-0284-z">filled with dread</a>. They mark moments when shoppers clog malls, websites become <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/30/cyber-monday-why-retailers-cant-keep-their-sites-from-crashing.html">overloaded</a> and <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolineodonovan/amazon-next-day-delivery-deaths">delivery trucks block streets</a>. The entire process generates untold amounts of <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20047544">stress</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0148-2963(93)90049-U">anxiety</a>.</p> <p>One source of stress is just how much to spend on gifts. Spending too much can put you in financial distress. Spending too little may make you look cheap.</p> <p>How do you decide what’s the “right” amount to spend on gifts?</p> <p>As an <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/">economist</a>, I study holidays and gift giving because a large fraction of retail shopping is driven by seasonal events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Super Saturday – also and more appropriately known as <a href="https://www.wkyc.com/article/life/holidays/holiday-season/high-anxiety-theres-a-new-name-for-last-minute-shopping-panic-saturday/95-ab9d1714-01f8-4624-9075-e1d09a15628b">Panic Saturday</a> – which is the last Saturday before Christmas.</p> <p><strong>‘Dead weight loss’</strong></p> <p>Gift giving is stressful because nobody wants to buy what they think is a perfect gift only to discover it is a dud.</p> <p>The long lines of people <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/21/how-to-navigate-store-holiday-return-policies.html">returning items after the holidays</a> seem evidence enough for that.</p> <p>This has led some economists to argue there’s a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/upshot/an-economist-goes-christmas-shopping.html">“dead weight loss” to Christmas presents</a> that “destroys” <a href="https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/104699/original/christmas.pdf">as much as a third of their actual value</a>. A 2018 study estimated <a href="https://www.finder.com/unwanted-gifts">Americans spend $13 billion a year on unwanted gifts</a>.</p> <p>Other economists, however, have resisted this Scrooge-like view of gift giving and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2118293">point to evidence that a present can actually have more value</a> to the recipient than the price the giver paid. In other words, a gift, even when technically unwanted, could have more value simply because someone else bought it for you.</p> <p><strong>Setting a budget</strong></p> <p>So if you’re dead set on buying some gifts, how much should you budget for it?</p> <p>Since gifting is a social act, it makes sense to consider how much other people typically spend.</p> <p>There are a number of surveys run each year that ask people during the fall to estimate what they plan on spending for holiday gifts. The National Retail Federation’s <a href="https://nrf.com/insights/holiday-and-seasonal-trends/winter-holidays/winter-holidays-data-center">annual survey of holiday spending</a> estimates the typical American will spend $659 on gifts for family, friends and co-workers in 2019. On the high end, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/267914/americans-plan-spend-generously-christmas.aspx">Gallup</a> puts the average at $942, with more than a third of respondents expecting to spend over $1,000 on gifts.</p> <p>But these figures aren’t that helpful for an individual since $659 means something different to someone making $40,000 a year versus $200,000.</p> <p>That’s where the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cex/home.htm">Consumer Expenditure Survey</a> comes in. It’s a large survey run by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that tracks the spending habits of 12,000 to 15,000 families each year. The government uses the survey to determine the cost of living and inflation rates for the typical family.</p> <p>The survey follows gift giving very precisely. It <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables.htm#annual">has categories for common holiday presents</a> like electronics, books and clothes, as well as gifts that typically aren’t associated with the season such as housing and transportation.</p> <p>After removing these non-holiday gifts, the typical U.S. family spends about 1% of its annual take-home pay on gifts. So whatever you earn, you could multiply it by 1% to get a figure that is in the ballpark of what the average American spends – but won’t break the bank.</p> <p><strong>Making the holidays memorable</strong></p> <p>While calculating a gift budget is one way to take the stress out of how much to spend on gifts, my family has another: Only give gifts to children.</p> <p>Adults get wrapped boxes filled with paper. After the real gifts are opened and the young children are safely moved out of the way, we crumple up the paper and throw it at each other in our annual paper fight.</p> <p>That keeps the cost down while making the kids feel special. It also ensures the kids don’t feel left out when their friends talk about the gifts they received. Other families follow their own methods for <a href="https://www.laurengreutman.com/3-gift-christmas-rule/">controlling expenses</a>, such as <a href="http://www.secretsanta.com">secret Santa gifts</a> or by <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-support/201312/the-5-types-gift-givers">focusing attention more on togetherness</a> than on the stuff received.</p> <p>Whether you have a paper fight or follow another family tradition, my main message is that it doesn’t take very much money to make the winter holidays memorable.</p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jay-l-zagorsky-152952"><em>Jay L. Zagorsky</em></a><em>, Senior Lecturer, Questrom School of Business, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/boston-university-898">Boston University</a></em></span></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-pick-the-right-amount-to-spend-on-holiday-gifts-according-to-an-economist-127767">original article</a>.</em></p>

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Bill Cosby gives first prison interview: no “remorse”

<p>For the first time, disgraced star Bill Cosby has given an interview in prison. </p> <p>The 82-year-old continues to remain defiant about the sexual assault that landed him behind bars, and further insisted he’s not guilty and the jurors were “imposters.”</p> <p>Cosby said he will never admit to any wrongdoing, even if it means losing out on winning parole from SCI Phoenix, near Philadelphia, USA - where he is serving up to 10 years for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004. </p> <p>“When I come up for parole, they’re not going to hear me say that I have remorse,” Cosby said in a series of prison phone calls, as reported by<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://blackpressusa.com/nnpa-newswire-exclusive-bill-cosby-speaks-from-prison/" target="_blank">BlackPressUSA</a>.com.</em></p> <p>The disgraced comedian added he believes he will be serving his full sentence. </p> <p><em>The Cosby Show </em>star further said his trial was unjust as his jurors were going to convict him no matter what evidence was presented. </p> <p>“It’s all a set-up. That whole jury thing. They were impostors,” Cosby said, and noted that one juror was overheard saying before the trial, “he’s guilty, we can all go home now.”</p> <p>Cosby - who refers to his jail cell as his “penthouse” - told a reporter he now spends his time in lockup lecturing fellow inmates during Saturday sessions of a prison reform program. </p> <p>“I go into my penthouse and lay down and start to think about how I can relay a message and give it on Saturdays so that they would hear it and feel it,” Cosby said.</p>

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