Stephen Marsh fully intends to get FDA clearance for his latest invention: a disposable medical device to treat sleep apnea.

But that’s expected to take many months. He needs cash now.

So his Massachusetts company, Airing, is raising money on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo by marketing the device as “a breakthrough technology,” even before developing a prototype. This summer, hundreds of customers have paid between $70 and $270 for a future supply of the device — which they won’t receive until July 2017. If it comes at all. No refunds. No guarantees.

Marsh is among a small but growing number of entrepreneurs rushing to peddle all manner of experimental medical devices on crowdfunding sites, a strategy more typically used to raise money for creative projects. Hawking “early-bird” discounts, these companies are quietly lining up hundreds of customers — and raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars — even though their products are still months or even years away from being reviewed by regulators at the Food and Drug Administration.

The practice often falls in a legal gray area and has caught federal regulators flat-footed. It has also alarmed consumer advocates.

When patients in a clinical trial reported their progress — and connected — on social media, investors took note, stock moved, and questions were raised.

“There are always risks and benefits to a product — that’s what the FDA usually assesses,” said Paul Brown, government relations manager for the National Center for Health Research, a think tank that advocates for patients. “If the FDA is not given a chance to even assess it, then all that risk falls onto the consumer or the patient.”

Entrepreneurs say crowdfunding allows them to raise the money and visibility they need to get potentially life-changing technologies to patients more quickly. Customers often respond enthusiastically: Airing, of Burlington, has raised more than $1 million from 10,000 donors and customers eager for a sleep apnea device designed without an unsightly mask or hose.

It’s a haul that “speaks to how badly people want to try these,” Marsh said.

An analysis by Stat found at least 16 crowdfunded campaigns have been launched over the past few years by entrepreneurs who essentially took advance orders for medical devices that they said they planned to get OK’d by the FDA — at some point in the future.

One campaign, for a sleek wristband designed to detect signs of an oncoming seizure, caught the eye of 36-year-old Heather Jenkins of Virginia. She lives in fear of having an epileptic seizure in an unsafe place, so she spent $199 to pre-order the device on Indiegogo.

“That would be awesome to have that extra warning,” Jenkins said.

The device, advertised as a “a gorgeous watch designed to save lives,” was supposed to arrive at her doorstep in July. But it’s been delayed twice. The developer, Empatica, which has offices in Cambridge, now projects it will ship in December. So far this summer, Jenkins has had two seizures — one at home, the other in the hospital — and worries about where she’ll be when the next one hits. Still, she remains excited about the device and has no plans to ask for a refund.

Other crowdfunding customers can be less forgiving.

Last year, the Seoul-based company Charmcare used Indiegogo to raise $50,000, some of which came from American buyers, on the promise it would ship the “first wearable blood pressure monitor” by June. Then the company went silent for several months. It resurfaced in May to apologize to its alarmed customers: “Thank you very much for not suing us with a greatest kind of patience I have ever witnessed.”

It did not announce a new shipment date.

Medical devices fall into several categories. The most complex, such as pacemakers, require rigorous FDA review. The least risky, such as bedpans, can essentially skip the regulatory process. Most devices promoted on crowdfunding sites fall in the middle. The FDA requires the makers to prove they’re as safe and effective as similar products already on the market before they can be advertised or sold as “medical devices” — with a few exceptions, such as research studies and trade shows.

Small companies like Empatica, which has offices in Cambridge, are marketing their medical devices to eager customers on crowdfunding sites long before the FDA has a chance to review the products for safety and efficacy.

Although the vast majority are ultimately cleared for sale, the process can take months, cost thousands of dollars, require design changes, and delay the revenue a company needs to stay afloat — not insignificant roadblocks for entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding helps them raise the capital they need to get through that process.

Regulators have taken no action to halt the practice.

William Maisel, acting director of the FDA’s Office of Device Evaluation, said through a spokesman that medical device companies must follow the agency’s marketing and advertising regulations, regardless of how they raise funds. The FDA didn’t respond to questions about the legality of specific crowdfunding practices.

Lawyers and agency observers say it’s unlikely the FDA will devote its limited resources to regulating the practice unless it appears patients are being harmed.

For their part, entrepreneurs are finding creative ways to stay within the law, often by carefully wording their ads or by labeling their customers as research subjects.

Empatica, which is developing the wristwatch device that Jenkins is awaiting, has opted to market it as a “medical quality device” for now, making limited claims about what it can do. Only after the company gets FDA permission — which could be months after the first customers receive it — will it start marketing the product as a “medical device” and making specific claims about the kind of seizures it can detect.

“We need to toe the line between saying what’s accurate and true . . . and getting this out there as quickly as possible,” said Rosalind Picard, an MIT professor and Empatica’s chief scientist “So you’ll see us use all this careful language.”

Some crowdfunding sites, such as Kickstarter, won’t let companies market products to treat or prevent a medical condition. That rule was developed partly out of concern that such product claims “could have harmful consequences,” Kickstarter spokesman David Gallagher said.

Indiegogo is more lax. The site screens for fraud and prohibits fund-raisers from raising money for illegal or harmful projects or rewarding donors with, say, alcohol. But just about every other kind of project and reward is on the table.

Indiegogo Inc. did not respond to questions about why the site allows medical device crowdfunding or whether it polices the practice. Instead, the company released a statement saying it promotes innovation that helps “people improve their lives.”

Indiegogo even sometimes solicits campaigns; the site contacted Airing and encouraged the company to use its platform to raise money for its sleep apnea technology.

That came as a welcome proposition to Airing executives, who were frustrated that traditional funding sources, including venture capital firms, seemed unwilling to take risks.

With crowdfunding, “you can go directly to the people who are in need and let them vote,” Airing chairman Phil Huyck said in a video posted on the company’s Indiegogo page.

Huyck also took the opportunity to make his pitch:

Patients, he said, “want to see this product. Their life and health and comfort depend on it.”

Summary: Small companies collect big money for experimental medical devices — months or years before they’re reviewed by federal regulators.


Nelson Ching | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Henry Paulson, former U.S. Treasury secretary

Still, China's annual growth rate is still an enviable 7 percent, according to the latest statistics, although Paulson thought it was "optimistic" to believe China could maintain that growth rate.

"There's no doubt growth is slowing down, that shouldn't surprise anyone. The Chinese have talked about the 'new normal' of 7 percent (growth) but they may be optimistic," Paulson told CNBC.

"I think investors should really be looking at what are the sources of that growth. Are they (China) taking the reform steps they need so they're much more reliant on the private sector and opening up markets to competition? Are they taking steps to rein in their over-investment in infrastructure," he said.

Paulson should know what he's talking about when it comes to China, having built close business relations with the country during his role as chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs from 1974 to 2006, in which he played a part in opening up the country to private enterprise and visited the country around 70 times, he said.

Those experiences have served as a foundation for Paulson's latest book entitled "Dealing with China. An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower" in which he discusses how Western business and political leaders can work with -- or compete with -- China.

"I step back and take a look (at China) on a longer term and China is facing some real structural issues with regard to its economy. They've been much too reliant not only on exports but on municipal investment and infrastructure which has led to a very rapid increase in municipal debt and that's not sustainable," he warned.

Read MoreThe risks behind China's growth gamble

"If the growth is coming the right way, then I think investors can be optimistic for the longer term, although there could be some bumps on the road. But if China continues to revert to overinvesting in infrastructure, then there's a much bigger risk that there will be real volatility and that this will spill over to the underlying economy."

Summary: Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson tells CNBC that exaggerating the country's economic strength was a mistake.


Hours earlier on sister network MSNBC, anchorwoman Chris Jansing seemed to be at a similar loss. "Can anything be done to stop the violence?" she asked.

But to an American audience, the thought of a Syrian or Iranian news anchor posing the same questions would be fit for a comedy skit.

After all, the Syrians and Iranians wield an obvious "influence" over the course of the conflict according to the NBC channels, which like CNN, Sky and many other Western new organisations reported relentlessly on claims that Hezbollahâs rocket imports were made possible through the help of its two "rogue" allies.

But where was the parallel analysis of multi-billion dollar weapons shipments bound for Israel from the United States?Â Most Western broadcasters reported religiously on the number of rockets fired at Israel each day of the month-long conflict, often comparing fresh figures with those of previous days and weeks, even peppering the audit with analysis and commentary.

"Democracy is helpless if the information provided by media conceals a pre-determined point of view."Clifford Dillmann, USMore comments...Absent however was almost any accounting of the daily tonnage of US-manufactured munitions dropped from an unknown fleet of US-manufactured jets levelling an untold number of Lebanese homes and villages.

"Democracy is helpless if the information provided by media conceals a pre-determined point of view."Clifford Dillmann, USMore comments...

On American television screens, the US role in this conflict was a relatively sanitised one, pictured as diplomatic rather than military; seen across negotiating tables and in visits to foreign capitals â a far less sinister role than that repeatedly attributed to the Iranians and Syrians over allegations of their financial and logistical support.

In fact, so penetrating was the alleged connection that some channels, such as Bloomberg Television, began referring to Hezbollah on second reference as merely "the Syrian- and Iranian-backed group".Â But why did Bloomberg not choose to identify Israel, the largest official recipient of US foreign military assistance for decades, as "the US-backed state"?

Whether the decision was deliberate or unconscious, the prevailing notion of non-military US involvement is just one of many underlying assumptions communicated by the US media about the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, assumptions that were continually reinforced in comments made by anchors and by hired analysts.

Viewed as part of an overall package, the assumptions appear to reflect US foreign policy, particularly the relationship with Israel, much more than the pursuit of journalistic objectivity.

Of course it would be unfair to generalise by suggesting that the Western media did a poor job of covering this war. On the ground in the midst of air strikes, ground fire and naval attacks, American and European journalists, particularly those reporting from south Lebanon, genuinely risked their lives to tell the story.

The efforts of many Western reporters operating out of towns such as Tyre at a time when the Israeli military vowed to fire on any vehicle that moved were no less valiant than those displayed by their colleagues from the Arab media. However, a clear difference emerged between battlefield reporting and the animated conversations that went on thousands of miles away in air-conditioned studios. At some points it even appeared as if the two were completely contradictory.

Beginning with the war in Iraq, American media outlets developed an obsession with hosting former military personnel as analysts, so much so that it now appears as if large American networks have become a sort of retirement programme for the US militaryâs top brass. An inherent problem with this formula is a tendency to reflect the views and strategic interests of the US government rather than offer critical analyses that shed light on the complex realities of the battlefield.

Take coverage of the Israeli commando raid on Baalbeck during the third week of the conflict on August 2. The Israeli military had reported that it kidnapped five Hezbollah members, but MSNBC's reporter on the scene quoted local villagers who said those apprehended were "just nobodies".

Hezbollah also claimed that ordinary civilians, not fighters, had been kidnapped. Meanwhile Israeli newspaper Haaertz quoted Lebanese sources as saying that more than a dozen civilians were killed in the attack.

Details may still have been sketchy on the ground in the Bekaa valley but in MSNBC's East Coast studio, the view from its military analyst, Rick Francona, was starkly clear.Â Francona, a former lieutenant-colonel in the US Air Force, swiftly praised the attack as an "excellent raid" and "well done" on Israelâs part. He then began to postulate confidently about the motives behind the operation, saying "Israel obviously had intelligence of high-profile targets" and naming Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, as a possibility.

But even Israelâs chief of staff, Dan Halutz, appeared to be playing down the operation, with an article in Haaretz quoting him as saying "the soldiers had not aimed to take any individuals in particular, but rather to demonstrate that the IDF [Israeli military] could reach any part of Lebanon".

Not only does Francona manage to analyse the situation solely from Israelâs point of view, but his optimism even appears to exceed that of the Israelis themselves.

Weeks later, on August 23, the Lebanese press would post pictures of the Baalbeck captives returning home, indicating that all five men had been returned to Lebanon through the International Committee of the Red Cross, which served as a liaison with the Israeli military.

The chief suspect had been Hassan Nasrallah; not the leader of Hezbollah but an elderly village farmer that shared the same first and last name. "They wanted to use us for propaganda about the arrest of Hassan Nasrallah," the former detainee told Lebanonâs Daily Star newspaper in a reference to the Hezbollah leader.

Among the other returned captives were relatives and friends of Nasrallah, the farmer that is.

Looking back at the initial coverage, one would wonder why MSNBC and countless others chose to report the claims of the Israeli military machine over those of witnesses on the scene.

The Baalbeck incident was by no means isolated. Time and again, the TV generals seemed so confident in Israel's stance that any talk of malicious activity was dismissed regardless of pending investigations.

Another case in point was Israelâs attack on a UN post, killing four observer troops, on July 26. Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, quickly condemned the strike as "apparently deliberate", noting "a co-ordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked UN post".

The Irish foreign ministry said one of its officers at the post had made at least six warning calls to the Israelis during their bombardment. Reports also emerged of email correspondence from a Canadian soldier giving warning that the Israelis had been striking near the UN position for "weeks upon weeks", according to the soldierâs wife who was quoted by Canadian TV as calling the Israeli attack "intentional".

Meanwhile UN officials quoted by Reuters said "the firing continued even as rescue operations were under way", while Annan called for a "full investigation" into the "disturbing incident".

But these multiple claims seemed to be of little consequence to the CNN military analysts back home. A retired US Air Force general employed by the station dismissed the controversy outright, saying the Israeli strike was simply "a screw-up, a major screw-up".

Assumptions over Israelâs intentions were not limited to analysts but also to senior journalists, such as Tim Marshall, Skyâs foreign editor, who confidently labelled the attack as "inadvertent" and "an accident waiting to happen" on the same evening as it had occurred. It was almost as if Marshall were pre-empting the Israeli governmentâs apology and denial of wrongdoing, which would not come until the next day.

Instead of adopting a cautious approach to a developing storyÂ - as any good journalist would - the authoritative voices from CNN and Sky seemed merely to reflect the views of Israel and its allies. Listening to a press statement from the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, it almost seemed as though the press outlets had become a conduit for official statements. "We take them at their word," Bolton said of the Israeli reaction. "There is no evidence to the contrary."

Less than a week after the killing of the UN observers, the headlines shifted to anotherÂ attack by Israel, this time in Qana where at least 28 civilians, including 16 children, were killed as a result of air attacks. Qana also happens to be the site of an attack by Israel in 1996 that killed more than 100 people - Israel denied responsibility at the time but subsequent UN investigations were inconclusive.

Israeli officials also denied responsibility for the more recent bloodbath, accusing Hezbollah of somehow staging the attack by firing from the area, using the civilians as human shields. Israel's UN ambassador, during a speech at the Security Council, even went so far as to entertain the possibility that HezbollahÂ "wanted and wished" for the mass killing.Â

American news outlets began to pick up the claim, despite the absence of ground reporting or any other kind of supporting evidence. As bodies were being carried out of the rubble, a CNN anchorwoman in Atlanta turned to an Arab media analyst and asked if Arab TV channels acknowledged Hezbollah's use of civilians as human shields. The analyst did not refute the claim but merely indicated that Hezbollah criticism was a taboo subject for regional news networks.Â

Later CNN military analysts would describe Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization" that breached Geneva Conventions by using human shields. Despite the lack of physical evidence in either direction, it seemed just as easy for the in-studio analysts to assume Israel's innocence as it was for them to assume guilt on the part of Hezbollah, even when the Israeli military did the actual shooting.

Israelâs third "accident" came on August 11 when six innocents were killed as its missiles struck a civilian convoy fleeing the bombardment in South Lebanon.

Three days later, when the smoke began to clear and a shaky ceasefire took hold, the Lebanese death toll had reached 1,100, the vast majority being civilians. On the Israeli side, the majority of deaths were military, 117 soldiers and 40 civilians, according to Reuters. (Hezbollah casualties were quoted as a separate figure with the group claiming no more than 80 and Israel claiming more than 500.)

The vast disparity between Lebanese civilian deaths and those of Israeli civilians remained formulaic throughout the war, but the TV generals seemed to tell a different story, constantly using the adjective "indiscriminate" to describe Hezbollahâs rocket attacks and "very accurate" in describing Israelâs tactics and weaponry.

In fact, on several occasions, Israeli officials interviewed by American broadcasters touted Israelâs policy of restraint and gave warning of the countryâs ability to pursue a "scorched earth policy" in Lebanon.

Interviewers often accepted such a response either by ending the interview at that point or moving on to different questions. One can hardly imagine an American interviewer remaining silent if an Arab official spoke of flattening the Jewish state in such genocidal terms.Â

Few phrases were repeated more often during this war than that of "Israelâs war against Hezbollah" and "Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets" mainly in South Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The examples of this usage on NBC, CNN, Sky and many, many other channels were simply ubiquitous throughout the month of war coverage â the two phrases used many times a day as an introduction to the whole package of reporting, all framed as a war solely on Hezbollah. However, on the ground, there could not have been a more unrealistic assessment of reality.

According to a report released by Oxfam on August 14, the destruction across Lebanon included "7,000 homes, 160 factories, markets, farms and other commercial buildings, 29 water and sewage-treatment plants, electrical plants, dams, ports and airports, 23 petrol stations, 145 bridges and overpasses; 600 kilometres of roads".

The figures do not include damage to television towers, which were attacked in at least four different places across the country, disrupting signals and causing millions of dollars in damage to the Lebanese broadcasting industry.

Where were the TV generals to explain the threat of media coverage to Israelâs war on Hezbollah? Lebanonâs entire transnational road system was incapacitated by Israeli missiles, but when anchors rationalised this by speaking of "Hezbollah supply lines", where were the military men to explain that weapons could easily be smuggled through back roads and mountain passages?

Was it clear that Hezbollah did not have its own discreet transportations routes to begin with?

And when the Lebanese international airport was struck repeatedly, where were the generals to explain that rockets had traditionally been carried into Lebanese territory on flat beds and not commercial airliners?

The battlefield analysts seemed so transfixed on analysing Israel's invasion tactics that they rarely looked at the conflict from the opposite end of the map. So much airtime was devoted to Israeli commanders and military spokesman claiming victory, but Hezbollah representatives seemed to have been boycotted by the American press much as they had been boycotted by the American government.Â

In reality, Hezbollah was claiming victories of its own, but at times it seemed as if the American media were too busy reflecting their governmentâs viewpoint to have noticed.

The TV generals dutifully relayed Israelâs daily claims of destroying rocket launchers and medium-range missiles by shading overhead maps with digital pens. But rarely did they discuss Hezbollah's attacks on scores of Israeli Merkava tanks in what was seen as valiant effort at resisting one of the world's most powerful military machines.Â

If the shading of military maps proved too complicated for the American public to comprehend, broadcasters and commentators often broke down their assumptions in more basic terms. When Israel, for example, decided to launch a land invasion to claim all Lebanese territory south of the Litani river, CNNâs Wolf Blitzer simply referred to the attack as "what some are calling a new Normandy," and "Israelâs D-Day"; a reference toÂ the Allied powers' invasion of Nazi territory in World War II.

When Blitzer began to discuss that dayâs events on the battlefield, he, like dozens of other American broadcasters, spoke of Hezbollah rockets landing in "Israeli neighbourhoods". Israel on the other hand, retaliated by bombing "Hezbollah strongholds".

But in reality, these strongholds were also neighbourhoods and support among their residents for Hezbollah could not have been any less than Israeli citizens' support for their own military. If Hezbollah areas cannot be considered neighbourhoods, then why not refer to Israeli neighbourhoods as "Israeli military strongholds"?

After all, a recent report in the Guardian newspaper in Britain by Jonathan Cook alleged that Israel also built military installations and mortar batteries near residential areas. In any case, the lack of balance is problematic: it conveys humanity on the one side and vague militarism on the other.

As another example, Blitzer conducted one of two CNN interviews with the grieving wife of an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hezbollah. But where were the parallel interviews with the families of Lebanese held by the Israelis? How could audiences really identify with the other side if all of its emotive, humanising details were repeatedly omitted?

In a show that aired on MSNBC during the first week of the conflict, Chris Matthews illustrated daily life in Haifa by comparing it with a city in California; "very modern", he explained. Cosmopolitan Beirut, on the other hand, where the nightlife rivals any capital in Western Europe, did not get a mention in the entire show.

Detail from Israel also entered the religious realm during a separate broadcast with Rita Cosby, an anchorwoman who qualified a report of rocket attacks on the city of Nazareth as an attack on the "home town of Jesus".Â

But where was the mention of Jesusâs wine-making miracle in the Lebanese town of Qana during the mass killings that took place there? And what of the many other biblical references across Lebanon, in Tyre and Sidon when the two cities were subjected to continuous Israeli shelling?

In the end, some broadcasters ditched the metaphors altogether. Tucker Carlson, an MSNBC talk-show host, actually criticised Israelâs tactics in fighting Hezbollah while interviewing an Israeli spokesperson. But he made no qualms with objectivity during his concluding statement. "I hope you succeed," he told the Israeli official. "And I hope you do it quickly."

Can one imagine an American broadcaster ever conveying such enthusiastic support to a Hezbollah official?

Habib Battah is a Lebanese writer The opinions expressed here are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position or have the endorsement of Aljazeera.

Summary: After four weeks of devastating Israeli air raids across <?xml:namespace prefix =


"Michel Platini has talked of European nations boycotting future World Cups if Blatter refuses to stand down. No options should be ruled out," Whittingdale, who is Britain's Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, wrote in the Sunday Times.

Member associations of UEFA will meet before the European Champions League final in Berlin on Saturday to discuss its next step. Before Blatter's re-election, Platini said they would be "open to all options".

But asked about a boycott, he said on Thursday: "I honestly don't wish that." In any case, achieving consensus at UEFA may be hard; French media reported that the president of the country's federation, Noel Le Grat, voted for Blatter.

Seven senior soccer officials were arrested in a dawn raid before the FIFA congress in Zurich, and U.S. authorities have said altogether nine officials and five sports media and promotions executives have been charged in cases involving more than $150 million in bribes over a period of 24 years.

Read MoreWill FIFA sponsors step down?

The indictment mentioned two payments cleared by Standard Chartered. "We are looking into those payments and will not be commenting further at this time," a spokesman for the London-based bank said.

Other banks named on the indictment, including Britain's Barclays, are making internal checks on their involvement and cooperating with the authorities, banking sources told Reuters.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Greg Dyke, the chairman of England's Football Association, have urged Blatter to quit. Prince William, who lobbied for Britain to host the 2018 tournament along with star player David Beckham, has also spoken of the need for FIFA to reform.

The government of Germany, the reigning world champions, also called for change. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that soccer brought people around the world together. "That should be the real legacy of FIFA. I have serious doubts, whether FIFA is up to this great task without a clear new start," he said.

Many soccer experts regard a European-led boycott as unrealistic proposition believing that if it went ahead it would be a disaster for a sport that has avoided the kind of splits which have weakened others. Boxing for instance is now governed by four world bodies.

Dyke said it would be "ridiculous" for England to boycott the next World Cup in 2018 in protest because it would not have an impact. "It's got to be done by enough nations to have an impact, if it's done," Dyke told BBC TV's Andrew Marr show, saying any kind of action needed to be with others.

Later he told BBC Radio that any boycott needed the support of "10 large countries" to have an impact, adding that the Dutch and Germans were also demanding change.

Summary: Britain said Europe should consider boycotting future World Cups if Sepp Blatter doesn't quit as head of FIFA over a corruption scandal.


In soaring almost 100 percent this year, Netflix shares have reached nearly $700. As of last week, Netflix was the third-most expensive stock in the S&P 500.

A share split can make the stock more appealing to retail investors and, crucially for Netflix, more affordable to employees participating in its stock option program. The move was anticipated this year after Netflix voting shareholders approved a share reauthorization, a preliminary step toward a split.

Read MoreNetflix stock hits record high; preps for a split

Netflix follows Apple as a wildly popular tech company to execute a 7-for-1 split. Since the move last June, Apple shares have rallied at least 30 percent.

—CNBC's Zack Guzman contributed to this report.

Summary: With the long-anticipated move, the soaring stock will start trading at its post-split price next month.


Markets traded in a muted range on Thursday as the back and forth between Greece and the country's creditors continued ahead of a June 30 deal deadline.

But with no deal so far, investors are left watching and waiting for volatility to present a buying opportunity in a relatively subdued U.S. market.

"I think people are believing the ECB has the power to step in and stop the problem or the contagion beyond Greek borders. I don't know how convinced I am of that; it seems like the market is," Wedbush Chief Investment Officer Steve Massocca told "CNBC's Power Lunch" on Thursday. "Little bit of whistling by the graveyard here."

Read MoreEurope closes mixed, with no signs of Greece progress

And while Massocca witnesses investors shifting focus away from talks dragging on in Greece to U.S. fundamentals and economic data, he said with overall valuations at "18 times forward, you can argue the markets anticipated that data sometime ago."

But even as some investors see the market approaching fair value, John Buckingham, CIO at AFAM Capital says portfolio managers are facing limited options. "Stocks look appealing especially when you think about alternatives and where else you might put your money," he said. "We don't see the marker being overvalued, especially given where we are on interest rates."

Read More With Greece as backdrop, new data get a close look

After selling some winners, Buckingham noted his firm is sitting on about three times the usual amount of cash. Wells Fargo Global Equity Strategist Scott Wren has observed the same phenomenon, saying "retail investors are under-invested in stocks. They are sitting on too much cash." And while he hopes for a market pullback, he said he wouldn't expect it to come from Greece.

"Indecision over Greece—the market seems to have digested that pretty well," he said. "What we've been trying to do is on any pullback—no matter what the magnitude is—we want our clients stepping in."

Summary: While markets digest news on Greece and the country's creditors, investors wonder if the market is at fair value.


"FedEx posted strong results and a higher operating margin in the second quarter, with continued growth in volumes and base yields in each of our transportation segments," Frederick W. Smith,chairman, president, and CEO said in a statement.

The company reaffirmed its 2015 earnings guidance of $8.50 to $9.00 a share, assuming continued moderate economic growth and a modest net benefit from fuel, the company said. Capital spending was forecast at $4.2 billion.

U.S. domestic package volume increased by 7 percent, including a 10 percent increase in U.S. overnight shipping. However revenue per package fell 2 percent due to decreased fuel surcharges and lower weight.

Read MoreBillionaires who made and lost the most in 2014

International package volume rose 5 percent, while international priority package volume increased 1 percent. Internationalrevenue per package was flat, with higher rates offset by unfavorable currency exchange and lower fuel surcharges.

The shipping company is gearing up to ship a record number of packages this holiday season. To avoid the logistical glitches that the company faced last year, additional trucks, workers and more than 600 planes have been added to the crew to ensure timely delivery.

FedEx shares have risen 21 per cent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed almost 7 per cent. The stock has increased 25 per cent in the last 12 months.

—CNBC's Hailey Lee and wires contributed to this report.

Summary: FedEx on Wednesday reported higher second-quarter earnings, but the numbers fell short of analysts' expectations.


10/26/2015 AT 05:10 PM EDT

The father of Adacia Chambers, the woman accused of killing four people and injuring 46

on Saturday, said that his daughter was in a mental institution two years ago.

In a press conference outside the Payne County courthouse on Monday, Floyd Chambers disclosed that Adacia, 25, has battled mental illness. "There could be some underlying issues there," he told reporters. "She has been very good about hiding her problems because she didn't want her family to worry about her."

On Saturday afternoon, Chambers' car careened into a crowd of onlookers, police said.

and 46 more were injured, many of them critically. Authorities said one victim is in a "fragile state," which could bring the deal toll to five.

Chambers was initially arrested for driving under the influence. During an initial hearing on Monday afternoon, prosecutors told the judge that they intend to charge her with four counts of second-degree murder. If the victim said to be currently in a "fragile state" dies, the state reserves the right to add a fifth charge, prosecutors said.

The judge ordered that Chambers be held on $1 million bail. Another hearing will be held on November 13.

Chambers' attorney, Tony Coleman, maintained that his client was not driving under the influence, and actually was battling mental illness. "In my opinion, Ms. Chambers suffers from a mental illness," Coleman told

Authorities have said that Chambers, who worked at Freddy's Frozen Custard, left work early on Saturday. She drove a half mile to the scene of the crash. An employee at the ice cream shop refused to comment to PEOPLE.

Floyd Chambers said that his daughter has his full support. "I'm just going to pour out my heart and soul to her and love her the best I can," he said, "because I know the little girl I raised."

Summary: "She has been very good about hiding her problems," Floyd Chambers said about his daughter, Adacia.


A village council in India that caused a global outrage over reports that it had ordered two sisters to be raped as punishment for their brother’s actions has denied it ever issued such an order.

Family members of the two women from a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh have also expressed uncertainty over the ruling, Reuters reports.

“It’s all hearsay, we don’t know if this actually happened,” the women’s father Dharam Pal Singh, a 55-year-old former soldier, told Reuters. “We heard it from other villagers.”

The women — 23-year-old Meenakshi Kumari and her 15-year-old sister — had allegedly been sentenced by the all-male, upper-caste khap panchayat (as unelected village councils in parts of India are known) to be paraded naked with blackened faces and then raped.

The punishment was detailed in a petition to the Supreme Court last month, filed on the sisters’ behalf by a lawyer. The petition said they were threatened by the council and fled to New Delhi after their brother, who belongs to the low-ranking Dalit caste, eloped with a married woman of a higher caste.

The lawyer, Rahul Tyagi, clarified to Reuters that he had not actually been to the village or spoken to any members of the supposed council that issued the rape sentence, but said he had “documentary evidence for 9 out of 10 things in the case.”

It has also since emerged that the supposedly all-male council is actually over 80% female and led by a woman.

The elder sister admitted that she didn’t know if the council had formally called for the rape but says she fled because it was the tendency of such village communities to persecute women.

“It is very tough life for women,” Kumari said, adding that she first heard of the sentence against her and her sister from their father. “These things can happen.”

Amnesty International, whose online petition to save the two women was signed by more than 250,000 people, said they would not rescind their petition despite the latest developments.

“We will continue to push for protection for the family,” Amnesty India women’s-rights campaigner Gopika Bashi said.

Several details on the case remain terribly murky, however, with more than 20 interviews conducted within the village by Reuters containing conflicting information.

“How many times do I have to tell you there was no meeting?” said Bala Devi, who has headed the council for the past five years. “We spend our time discussing mundane things like fixing the roads or water pumps.”

Summary: The reported ruling has been the subject of global outrage.


From left: Ellen DeGeneres, Harry Styles, a friend and Kendall Jenner

01/02/2016 AT 10:00 AM EST

spending quality time together over the holiday, the two were joined by a couple surprising quests on Friday.

Aboard a yacht in St. Barts, Ellen DeGeneres, 57, and wife Portia de Rossi, 42, joined Styles and Jenner for lunch and frolicking in the sun.

Kendall Jenner and Harry Styles

Jenner, 20, dressed in a white bikini, was all smiles with DeGeneres and de Rossi on the sundeck. The duo arrived by speed boat.

and boyfriend Corey Gamble visited the twosome on the yacht. Kris, 60, had

after taking a break from

to visit son Rob Kardashian in Los Angeles following a health scare.

On Tuesday, Kenner and Styles, 21, were spotted having lunch together followed by a cozy moment on the yacht, sparking rumors that the pair may have rekindled their former romance.

Summary: Rumors of Jenner and Styles continue as they spend quality time together on vacation


Dozens of computer displays have taken the place of the altar. The church of Santa Teresa in Milan was originally built in 1674, but closed for worship in the early 19th century. The city council purchased the building in 1974 and in 2003 it opened as a media library.

No one can tell how many there are. Neither the Catholic church nor the arts departments at various levels of government have seen fit to count them. But there are probably several thousand places of worship all over Italy which have been deconsecrated and sold. The permutations seem endless: here a bar or a country house, an artist's studio or a garage, there the head office of a bank, a library or function rooms. But sometimes a whiff of incense seems to linger, as if long after the last mass the spirit of the place still clings to the walls.

This may be yet another sign of the hard times on which the church has fallen and Italy's increasingly secular society. But that is not what prompted the Milanese photographer Andrea Di Martino to set up his camera at the entrance to a series of ex-churches. Much as for a passport photograph, he adopted exactly the same angle for each picture: the effect is striking yet poetic, "an encounter between an umbrella and a sewing machine".

"I started the Mass is Ended project four years ago," says Di Martino. "A bit by chance to start with, in Lombardy, then in other parts of Italy where I was working. After that my research became more systematic, indeed an obsession. I looked for deconsecrated churches all over the place, particularly on the websites of estate agents. I discovered yet more places through the grapevine. My objective now is to cover the whole of Italy, for use in a book to be published next year. Obviously people may put a political spin on my work, see it as an illustration of the church's decline, but what interests me is primarily the architecture." More recently, he travelled to China, photographing the area round Shanghai to which whole chunks of European landscape – an Eiffel tower, a London neighbourhood, an Amsterdam canal – have been imported.

The pictures of churches feel equally strange. Each one seems like a contradiction in terms: a black Audi parked in the nave, a bookcase at the foot of a column. What are they doing there? How about the plastic chairs, reminiscent of some provincial village hall? Who put them there? Who designed these installations? Actually, no one. They just happened by chance or necessity. The destiny of a place can change over time. Nothing lasts forever, even if churches supposedly prepare us for eternal life.

There is nothing new about Italian churches being deconsecrated. The Napoleonic campaigns, which foundered on resistance by the papal states, and then Italian unification led to the closure of many places of worship, respectively as an act of vengeance, and for lack of funds. After being turned into barracks or storehouses, they are now coming back on to the market. The price can be high, though, up to €1m ($1.25m) for the finest, well-maintained specimens.

• This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from Le Monde

Summary: Photographer Andrea Di Martino's project The Mass is Ended documents how old churches in Italy have found new uses


By Patrick Gomez and Naja Rayne

03/04/2016 AT 02:20 AM EST

is just like a fine wine!

judge tells PEOPLE that the longer she's in the industry, the better she gets.

"When you first start in this business, you think, 'This is going to run out' or 'It's going to finish at a certain time' or 'If I reach a certain age I won't be relevant,' " says the singer, who just resigned with her original record label, Epic.

"I have found that I just get better and better with more experience and more life. I have more to give to what I do and that's what I look forward to when creating this record."

Lopez's return to Epic means reuniting with longtime friend and mentor L.A. Reid – and putting those years of industry and life experience into new music.

"I've had so much success over the years but this is going to be a great starting point again," the mother of two adds. "It's all about finding the right sound for me and the right songs and the right lyrics for me right now."

Although she's still working to discover the right vibe for her upcoming music, she hopes the process won't be too long.

"Hopefully we'll have new music very soon," she says.

airs Thursdays (at 8 p.m.) on Fox.

Summary: Turns out J.Lo is just like a fine wine!


03/08/2016 AT 10:35 AM EST

is saying no to Photoshopping.

star, 29, says she's "done with allowing images that retouch and reconfigure my face and body to be released into the world,"

for Photoshopping an image of her for their cover, but

that the photo had been retouched before they used it.

Dunham penned an article for her newsletter, Lenny Letter, about the mix-up and why she's refusing to go

"Something snapped when I saw that Spanish cover," Dunham writes. "Maybe it was the feeling of barely recognizing myself and then being told it was 100 percent me but knowing it probably wasn't and studying the picture closely for clues. Maybe it was realizing that was an image I had at some point seen, approved, and most likely loved. Maybe it was the fact that I no longer understand what my own thighs look like. But I knew that I was done."

"Not done with getting my picture taken (once an insufferable ham, always an insufferable ham) but done with

that retouch and reconfigure my face and body to be released into the world. The gap between what I believe and what I allow to be done to my image has to close now. If that means no more fashion-magazine covers, so be it. I respect the people who create those magazines and the job they have to do. I thank them for letting me make a few appearances and for making me feel gorgeous along the way. But I bid farewell to an era when my body was fair game."

Dunham also explained that while the photo was originally taken by a photographer she loves for

in 2013, and they said they hadn't photoshopped the image, somewhere along the way her

and her chin lengthened to a point where she "wanted to tell people, loudly: 'That's not my body!' "

"So was the image Photoshopped somewhere between raw digital file and Spanish glory? I think so, but who knows and really, who cares. But seeing the photo got me thinking about the real issue, which is that I don't recognize my own f-----g body anymore. And that's a problem."

The writer and actress adds that perhaps her recent health scare – Dunham

– made her more protective over the body she's got –

"This body is the only one I have," Dunham says. "I love it for what it's given me. I hate it for what it's denied me. And now, without further ado, I want to be able to pick my own thigh out of a lineup."

Summary: The Girls star wants to put an end to the unrealistic standards those images set for women


FORTUNE — Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s longtime chief financial officer, kept an especially low profile during his tenure. He rarely spoke publicly beyond the company’s quarterly earnings calls, and happily left the spotlight to Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, and other high-profile members of the company’s senior executive team. Even Apple AAPL fanatics would have trouble recognizing him on the street.

That surely won’t be the case this week. On Tuesday, Apple announced Oppenheimer’s plans to retire. His departure will end one of the most remarkable runs by any chief financial officer, which by the job’s very nature is largely behind the scenes and difficult to isolate from the work of other senior executives. Oppenheimer, 51, played a huge role in Apple’s rise, and during the decade he served as the company’s chief financial officer, Apple blossomed into a huge global business with a $160 billion stockpile of cash.

“A tremendous performance,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Partners. “I think he deserves to be ranked up there with some of the best CFOs.”

Oppenheimer’s retirement comes at a pivotal moment for Apple, which is feeling the pressure from rivals like Google and Samsung. Growth in sales of Apple’s iconic devices — the iPhone and iPad — is slowing, and investors are clamoring for new blockbuster products to take up the slack.

MORE: Apple keeps 76% of its users. Samsung gets 34% of switchers

Of course, ultimate responsibility for day-to-day operations and innovation lies not with the chief financial officer but with chief executive Cook and others on his leadership team. Still, Oppenheimer had formidable sway during an 18-year career that spanned Apple’s near-bankruptcy and its eventual comeback as the world’s most valuable company.

His financial management kept up with and helped to fuel Apple’s astounding growth. During his tenure, annual revenue rose more than 20-fold to $171 billion from just $8 billion. He also engineered many of the complex maneuvers that helped Apple pay minimal taxes on its vast overseas business. Although intensely criticized for using the tax loopholes, he vigorously defended the strategy and, during testimony before a Congressional committee last year with Cook, succeeded in deflecting some of the hostility.

As a member of Apple’s senior executive team, Oppenheimer played a critical role in major decisions. He helped determine the price of new products, manage manufacturing costs, and forecast inventory. Oppenheimer also handled the sensitive job of setting quarterly earnings guidance for Wall Street. (During Apple’s years of rapid growth, that guidance ended up being so conservative that the company routinely beat it, making the exercise largely irrelevant.)

MORE: Two economists file pro-Apple brief in e-book antitrust case

“He was Tim Cook’s right-hand man — one of the key voices in setting strategy and executing on it,” said Nick Araco, chief executive of the CFO Alliance, a networking group of 5,000 finance executives. “This wasn’t just about the finance function but everything that touches the consumer experience and global market.”

In overseeing Apple’s gargantuan cash hoard, Oppenheimer found himself in uncharted territory. No other public company had ever had so much money sitting around. For years, he and his fellow executives clung to the cash, mostly as a rainy day fund. Ultimately, under pressure from investors, including the activist gadfly Carl Icahn, Apple executives loosened the purse strings and embarked on a plan to spend $100 billion on paying dividends and buying back shares, which helps to lift the stock price.

“They use cash very strategically, not in a flashy way in making big acquisitions, but to secure the supply chain for their product,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Jackdaw Research. “It’s hard to justify holding onto that huge amount of cash without using it to boost the stock price.”

Oppenheimer oversaw Apple’s internal computer systems and its far-flung office buildings and data centers, and he undoubtedly played an important role in the outsourcing of much of Apple’s manufacturing operations to Asia. (After all, chief financial officers love savings.) Most recently, he led the campaign started by the late co-founder Steve Jobs to build a new futuristic headquarters resembling a spaceship in Cupertino, Calif.

MORE: Apple moved up the iPhone price curve in December

Oppenheimer’s career at Apple started in 1996 as controller for the Americas, a period during which the company was in steep decline. He slowly made his way up through the ranks to become chief financial officer in 2004. Before Apple, he worked in finance at Automatic Data Processing, a payroll services firm, and as a consultant for Coopers & Lybrand. Oppenheimer majored in agricultural business at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and went on to get an MBA from Santa Clara University.

“I was always believing, and I still do, that I would someday get back to the agriculture side of the business world,” he told the Cal Poly student newspaper seven years ago.

Luca Maestri, Apple’s vice president of finance and controller, will take over as chief financial officer from Oppenheimer. Maestri, who joined Apple last year from Xerox, has extensive international experience following stints at General Motors and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Oppenheimer will formally retire in September to give himself the free time to finish the requirements for a pilot license and to become more involved with his alma mater, among other things. He also recently accepted a seat on the board of Goldman Sachs. Cook stressed that Oppenheimer’s retirement had been planned for some time and that the succession will be smooth. Analysts expect few major changes in how the company manages its finances or to its share buyback program.

“His guidance, leadership and expertise have been instrumental to Apple’s success, not only as our CFO. but also in many areas beyond finance, as he frequently took on additional activities to assist across the company,” Cook said in a statement on Tuesday announcing Oppenheimer’s retirement plans. “His contributions and integrity as our CFO create a new benchmark for public company CFOs.”

Summary: Peter Oppenheimer quietly presided over one of the most remarkable runs in the technology industry's history.


05/17/2016 AT 07:00 PM EDT

after meeting with Syrian children effected by the refugee crisis.

star, who is an artist ambassador for infant, child and maternal health at

, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a photo of a striking young Syrian girl. In her caption, she pleaded with her followers to show compassion towards refugees.

"Next time you hear someone, maybe even a loser named Donald Trump, say all Syrian refugees should be rejected and suspected, think of this face," she wrote. "These kids deserve our compassion and activism. Donald Trump wouldn't survive 5 minutes in her reality."

shared at the same time, Wilde posed with a group of women at the Za'atari refugee camp. "The lovely Syrian girls in the @savethechildren healing-through-arts program at the Za'atari refugee camp were kind enough to attempt to teach me how to sew," the actress wrote. "I left them with a new perspective on failure, as well as the human capacity to sweat. #Zaatari"

Save the Children is a non-governmental organization that provides aid and support to children in the U.S. and developing countries around the world. In 2014, the organization provided aid to more than 166 million kids.

"I felt very connected to the international mothering community throughout my own pregnancy and the birth of my son," Wilde said at

third annual unite4:humanity event in February. "And I realized I had won the lottery, so to speak, and how lucky we are to not be terrified of our child dying at birth or dying within the first three months of life."

, Wilde was introduced to the non-profit through her friend and organization board member

. "Every time I could take my son to the pediatrician it became clear to me that I was the luckiest person on earth," Wilde said at the event. "And I wanted to take that good fortune and continue to be active in that arena."

Summary: Olivia Wilde asked her Instagram followers to show compassion towards refugees on Tuesday


Director Ken Loach and producer Rebecca O'Brien

05/22/2016 AT 03:20 PM EDT

, it is sometimes easy to forget the annual gathering's main focus is celebrating the art of cinema.

The 69th annual 11-day festival, held in France, awarded its top honors on Sunday, coming to a close until next May.

, directed by Ken Loach, 79, was awarded the Palme d'Or, the festival's highest prize. The film follows the welfare battle of a 59-year-old Englishman who becomes ill shortly before meeting a struggling single mother. Loach has won the Palme once before, for 2006's Cillian Murphy-starring drama

Other big winners include 42-year-old Iran native Shahab Hosseini, who took Best Actor for his turn in thriller

, and the Shia LaBeouf-starring film

, which nabbed the Jury Prize.

was helmed by Academy Award-winning director George Miller (the man behind

, Vanessa Paradis and Donald Sutherland.

21 films were screened as part of the festival's Competition selection.

See the full winner's list, below.

, and Cristian Mungiu, Romania's

Andrea Arnold, the U.S. and U.K.'s

Summary: American Honey also won big at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival


William Frederick "Fred" Durst (born August 20, 1970) is an American musician and film director from Jacksonville, Florida. Durst grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina and played in a number of local bands in Florida while mowing lawns and working as a tattoo artist for financial support. Durst is best known as the vocalist of the multi-platinum rock band Limp Bizkit, formed in 1994, with whom he has released six studio albums. Since 2006, Durst has also become known for his work in independent films. He costarred in the film Population 436, and made his directorial debut in 2007 with the film The Education of Charlie Banks. Durst directed a second film, The Longshots in 2008. Fred Durst was born and grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina, where he took an interest in breakdancing, hip hop, punk rock and heavy metal. He began to rap, skate, beatbox and deejay. After dropping out of United States Navy bootcamp, Durst returned to Jacksonville, Florida, where he mowed lawns and worked as a tattoo artist for money, and began developing an idea for a band that combined elements of rock and hip hop. Durst played with three other bands, Split 26, Malachi Sage, which were unsuccessful, and 10

Summary: Fred Durst on TMZ, your go-to source for celebrity news, photos, & videos. Latest Story: Fred Durst -- Selling His Hollywood Hills Nook-ie (PHOTOS)


What's the ultimate destination for the retiree who wants to live abroad? According to the Annual Global Retirement Index of the publication InternationalLiving.com, the answer is Ecuador.

Every year, the InternationalLiving.com editors evaluate information gathered by experts, who explore countries that are the most popular with American and Canadian retirees. Among the factors they weigh are the climate, the cost of living and how friendly the people are. Ecuador scored high on all of them, and then some.

Dan Prescher, Special Projects Editor for InternationalLiving.com, offered his insights into why Ecuador, the country that he calls home, took top honors this year. While he said in an e-mail that the South American country offers amenities that anyone could enjoy, retirees receive discounts that make life there pleasant and affordable.

"Ecuador is inexpensive for everyone, but especially so for retirees," he said. "Seniors residing in Ecuador qualify for half-price entertainment and local transport, discounted airfares, and refunds of sales tax."

Read ahead to find out more about Ecuador, and see if it's the retirement destination for you.

By Daniel BukszpanPosted 18 January 2013

Summary: Countries that are most popular with retirees have great climates and low costs of living. One country like this is Ecuador. Read ahead to find out more and see if it’s the retirement destination for you.


The number of combatants fighting under the banner of the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) could be three times larger than intelligence officials previously believed, according to a new estimate from the Central Intelligence Agency.

The CIA estimates that ISIS, the Islamist terrorist group that has declared a caliphate in the large swath of Iraq and Syria which it now controls, “can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria, based on a new review of all-source intelligence reports from May to August, an increase from our previous assessment of at least 10,000 fighters,” a CIA spokesperson said. That estimate accounts only for individuals fighting with ISIS itself, not with any affiliated group.

The new estimate reflects a sharp uptick in recruitment over the summer “following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate,” the CIA spokesperson said.

The CIA believes more than 15,000 foreign fighters from 80 countries—at least 2,000 of whom are Westerners—have traveled to Syria to join ISIS ranks. A dozen or more could be Americans, the CIA believes.

A U.S. intelligence official cautioned that the CIA’s estimate is not a precise figure and reflects a broad approximation based on limited intelligence. “The gap between the low and high points indicates there is uncertainty about the exact number of fighters in (ISIS),” a US intelligence official said. “Given the changing dynamics of the battlefield, new recruits, and other factors, it is difficult to assess the precise number of individuals in a terrorist group that is evolving and practices good operational security.”

Summary: Foreign fighters, including Americans, appear to be pouring into Syria to support the terrorist group


Every publication runs Best Books of the Year lists. And sure, those are fun. But they tend to have a lot of the same titles as all the other lists. So this year, we asked a wide range of influential businesspeople for a book they read (it didn’t have to be one that was published this year) that changed their mind, forced them think differently about something. The responses rolled in. And then we posed the same question to our own staff members. Here are 12 of their selections. You might find something for your holiday reading list.

To see CEOs and other business luminaries make their picks, read: Books That Changed My Mind This Year: CEO Selections.

The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being in Charge Isn’t What It Used To Be, Moises Naim (2014)

Naim made me realize that there are fundamental forces at work in the world that are undermining the ability of individuals to force others to change their behavior, leading to a lot of dysfunction in the world, but also to a new kind of leadership that is, of necessity, based more on persuasion than compulsion. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are the last gasps of the old order.

The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed, Jessica Lahey (2015)

I’ve read a lot of parenting books. I mean, I like to read, and I am a parent. But I haven’t read one that felt as relevant as The Gift of Failure in a very long time. Lahey writes clearly and with much-needed humor, using anecdotes along with research to show us just how our tendency to try to “save” our kids by making life easier for them does exactly the opposite. The lesson: If you want to raise resilient, confident adults, don’t deliver forgotten homework for them. Don’t stay up all night with the glue gun. Don’t tell them they’re loading the dishwasher wrong. Just let them do it—their way.

Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, Francis Fukuyama (2011)

In an age when we fetishize democracy, Fukuyama puts forth a stirring argument that the strength of nations and economies rests on their ability to foster vigorous and independent bureaucracies. This book tells the story of the development of political order across the globe since the industrial revolution, and his analysis does not bode well for the future of America. He argues that the United States has devolved into a “vetocracy” where small, organized interest groups can prevent tough but important decisions from being made.

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, Dan Barber (2014)

I think anyone who rolls their eyes at the phrases farm-to-table, organic, eating local, sustainable food or organic should give this a shot. Barber isn’t proselytizing. He’s bringing the reader along on adventures to meet some of the brightest minds and best thinkers who have taken those concepts to extremes. He does so with a sense of humility and skepticism that I think makes those topics palatable. There’s something here for history buffs, supply chain wonks and anyone who likes to daydream about the future.

How Google Works, Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg (2014)

I’ve been involved in making hiring decisions for about a decade, and in my experience the process has always been very bureaucratic: The HR department gathers the resumes; the managers review them in a systematic way; the promising candidates are brought in for relatively grueling interviews with The Boss. So it was a liberating surprise to read Schmidt’s and Rosenberg’s chapters about the recruiting and hiring process at Google (now Alphabet) where Schmidt is executive chairman and Rosenberg is a senior advisor. Finding job candidates is essentially a crowdsourced task whose guiding ethos is the phrase, “Everyone knows someone great.” For current employees, producing a stream of hiring referrals is part of the job description—it’s factored into performance reviews. For the company, the process is a way to ensure that the cream of the crop of “smart creatives” keeps coming to the Googleplex, even as the company grows ever larger. There are dozens of reasons to turn to a book about Google for business insights, of course, but this is the revelation that made the biggest impression on me.

The New Spymasters: Inside the Modern World of Espionage from the Cold War to Global Terror, Stephen Grey (2015)

Gear up for a reality check, James Bond fans. Grey adroitly dismantles the romanticized mythos one might have about espionage in the United Kingdom. His detailed investigations impart an appreciation for the daily drudgery of intelligence gathering, as well as an understanding of the macro trends have shaped the spying “game” over decades.

Humans are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will, Geoff Colvin (2015)

This resolved my own internal debate about whether technology will make people obsolete as we approach the singularity. It won’t, thank goodness.

An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser (1925)

An American Tragedy isn’t exactly a comfortable fit on a list of business books: It’s a novel about a young man whose cowardice, moral weakness and naïve social ambitions (spoiler alert) lead him to plot the death of his pregnant girlfriend. (Compounding the scandal: He’s her manager at a shirt-collar factory.) But the novel’s antihero, Clyde Griffiths, has another flaw that’s common in the working world: He aspires to the trappings and rewards of success while being unwilling to work hard enough to earn them. Dreiser dramatizes — okay, melodramatizes — the dangers of what can happen when ambition isn’t coupled with character. And while that’s a familiar theme in literature, I’d never before given so much thought to the terrible ripple effects it can have in the workplace. (Not up for reading an 800-page novel to absorb this kind of lesson? Rent the 1951 movie “A Place In The Sun,” an adaptation of the book: It runs a tidy two hours.)

Whitey Bulger: American’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice, Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy (2013)

If you grew up in the Boston area, as I did, you knew the legend of Whitey Bulger since childhood. But the general image of him, and the caricature portrayed by Jack Nicholson in The Departed, is a shallow, simplistic one. In preparation to see the new movie Black Mass, I picked up not the book it is based on, but this one by two Boston Globe writers that covered Bulger’s trial day after day. The book paints a picture of Bulger that is more complex and realized than what you’ve probably heard. The gangster had surprising motivations for his mayhem, including for example, in his early years, racist outrage over the busing initiatives to desegregate Boston schools. The book changed my image of Bulger and managed to make an already infamous person even more fascinating.

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson (2014)

In Jon Ronson’s now-famous exploration of the culture of internet shaming, he skewers the notion that the small-d democratic nature of the Twitter takedown is good for society. His excellent stories detail how our thirst for the absolute contrition of people who publicly err on the internet is a little weird. And that this stuff is actually a big deal: respect from others is incredibly important for personal well-being, to a degree I hadn’t realized—for criminals, studies show, it’s all that matters. This is particularly important to remember in an era of trigger warnings, when society seems to be getting touchier than ever. Twitter is empowering yes, but technology can stifle criticism at the same time it can amplify it to terrifying proportions.

Preparation for the Next Life, Atticus Lish (2014)

There’s a reason this debut novel, by the son of famous editor Gordon Lish, was on everyone’s ‘best of the year’ list for 2014. But this story about a Chinese (and Muslim) immigrant and her boyfriend, a volatile American veteran of the Iraq War, doesn’t feel like a novel. It reads like a work of journalism—a crushing, unforgiving report on the brutal lack of options for both characters. She ends up working in a cheap Chinese restaurant in Queens (where she is underpaid and overworked) while he spends his days wandering the city, drinking, and getting into dangerous situations. The reason the book feels especially immediate and upsetting is because of the deep research Lish conducted, most of it from his own life experience. The author is a veteran of the Marine Corps, has lived in China, and has worked in everything from a fast-food restaurant to a styrofoam factory. His official bio notes that his favorite books are those written by journalists; this novel might as well have been a work of non-fiction. It reminded me of this New Yorker exposé on the lives of immigrant workers in Chinese restaurants in America, but on speed, with a ten-times-stronger magnifying glass. No matter what you already thought about how difficult life in America can be for immigrants and for our own veterans, you’ll know even more after reading this novel.

Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World, Bruce Schneier (2015)

You may have heard about the military-industrial complex. How about the surveillance-industrial complex? It’s no secret that Internet companies are profiting off their users’ data. But no one throws the synchronicity between big tech’s commercial interests and those of law enforcement into starker relief than Schneier.

Summary: 12 must-read books, new and old, including one by a Fortune writer.


A job search can get quite frustrating these days, with so many people competing for too few openings. To ease the burden, AOL Jobs tracked down the 10 top companies that are hiring this week. From sales jobs to finance positions, full-time to part-time, these employers have a plethora of openings they're looking to fill.

1. UnitedHealth Group: 3,042 openings UnitedHealth Group currently provides health insurance services to more than 75 million people worldwide and is the largest insurance company of its kind in the U.S. With the onset of states' participation in the Affordable Care Act, the Minnesota-based insurer "has remained especially vague on the number of systems in would participate in," says The Motley Fool, "placing the number somewhere between 10 and 25." Employee Review: "Good, steady work. Great learning opportunities. Very little favoritism, you get ahead based on your own work. Work at home opportunities help on commuting costs. Great work-life balance, ample vacation time."* Find a job now with UnitedHealth Group. 2. UPS: 2,868 openings Known by its large brown delivery trucks, United Parcel Service delivers over 15 million packages per day. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Ga., UPS competes with other carriers, such as FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service. The company employs approximately 350,000 in the United States, with another 67,000 around the world. Employee Review: "I love getting to meet new people all the time and seeing all the different things that we import as a country. I also love the challenges of solving the problems of supply chain and getting items to the good old U.S. of A.."* Find a job now at UPS. 3. The Vitamin Shoppe: 2,032 openings The Vitamin Shoppe is a New Jersey-based retailer of nutritional supplements. They also operate stores in Canada under the name "VitaPath". The company provides approximately 8,000 different skus of supplements through its retail stores and over 20,000 different skus of supplements through its online retail websites. Employee Review: "Good growth opportunities and stores opening all over the US all year 'round. Company based out of NJ, so more progressive policies on employment and benefits. Good vacation, health, and dental benefits. Above average pay from minimum wage. Good policies on customer service interaction as well. Focus on Customer service vs. pushing products."* Find a job now with The Vitamin Shoppe.

Chipotle is known for its use of organic meats throughout its more than 1,500 restaurants, which are located in 45 states. Since having been founded in 1993, the chain has since exploded and now counts some 37,000 employees. It is a pioneer in the "fast casual" dining movement. Employee Review: "The people I work with are awesome and the food is good. It pays my bills and makes me laugh. The schedule is super flexible but It's a lot of work. If you're looking for something easy and laid back, keep looking."* Find a job now at Chipotle.

5. Catholic Health Initiatives: 1,854 openings Catholic Health Initiatives is a national, faith-based nonprofit health system with headquarters in Englewood, Colorado. Formed in 1996 through the consolidation of four Catholic health systems, CHI operates in 19 states and comprises 105 hospitals, including four academic health centers and major teaching hospitals and 30 critical-access facilities.

Employee Review: "Great recruiting team and culture. Friendly environment for all employees and visitors. Efficient processes."* Find a job now with Catholic Health Initiatives 6. Hilton Worldwide: 1,787 openings Hilton Worldwide is an American global hospitality company. As of March 2014, Hilton brands encompass 4,112 hotels with over 680,117 rooms in 91 countries. Employee Review: "I love my job. I get to interact with great coworkers and guests, and it makes my job enjoyable. They do a good job of promoting within and fostering potential leadership in younger workers."* Find a job now with Hilton Worldwide.

7. Firestone Complete Auto: 1,736 openings

Firestone Complete Auto Care is a car maintenance chain that's part of one of the oldest American tire companies. There are more than 1,600 locations nationwide that, along with selling and servicing tires, also do repairs and other kinds of work on cars. Employee Review: "Higher-than-average compensation for retail, good camaraderie with co-workers. Nice working for large company that you know will be there tomorrow."* Find a job now with Firestone Complete Auto.

8. Bankers Life and Casualty: 1,682 openings Founded in 1879, Bankers is a life and health insurance company that services the retirement market. It is based in Chicago, Ill., and operates in 275 offices nationwide. The financial company is a subsidiary of CNO Financial Group. Employee Review: "For someone who wants a second career after the first big one, with more freedom, flexibility, etc., this is the place!"* Find a job now with Bankers Life and Casualty. 9. Brookdale Senior Living: 1,428 openings. Brookdale is the largest owner and operator of senior living communities throughout the United States, operating over 570 senior living communities and retirement communities in the US. They have 35,000 staff members and 55,000 residents. Employee Review: "There is a great sense of teamwork in there. The hours that we work are very flexible."* Find a job now at Brookdale Senior Living. 10. Enterprise Rent-A-Car: 1,380 openings Enterprise is the largest rental care company in North America and operates over 900,000 vehicles worldwide, earning it the 15th rank on Forbes' "America's Largest Private Companies" list. Employee Review: "Great experience and recognized as an excellent training program by outside companies. Can advance quickly if you hit your goals."* Find a job now at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. *All employee reviews sourced from Glassdoor, a free jobs and career community that offers the world an inside look at jobs and companies. Reviews may have been edited for clarity.

Note: All openings are on CareerBuilder, an AOL Jobs sponsor.

Summary: Getty, AOL Jobs (composite)    A job search can get quite frustrating these days, with so many people competing for too few openings. To ease the burden, AOL Jobs tracked down the 10 top companie


What’s left of the Stewart hotel sits on a steep hill overlooking sheep-flecked fields, tumbling hedgerows and distant snow-capped mountains in Appin, west Scotland. Even in its prime, the 37-bedroom hotel would have been an eyesore, but now it’s a wreck, the windows smashed, the roof collapsed by months of winter rain.

Just a few years ago, hundreds of tourists passed through this hotel each summer, drawn by the natural beauty of the West Highlands. According to scathing reviews on TripAdvisor and other travel websites, the view was the only good thing about the hotel. Archived posts say the rooms were filthy, the taps broken, the food inedible. Many reviewers complain about the staff, describing them as overwhelmed, unskilled and incompetent.

What the guests didn’t know was that what they had experienced was not poor service, but modern slavery. The men making their beds, sweeping their floors, cleaning their dishes and cooking their food were trafficked from their native Bangladesh and exploited for profit at the Stewart hotel, sometimes for years at a time.

Nobody knows more about this than Abul Kamal Azad, 31, who spent more than a year working at the Stewart hotel between 2009-2010. A well-dressed and softly spoken man, what happened to him there has changed him for ever. “There are two people: who I was before I came here and what has become of me since,” he says when we meet in a quiet restaurant in Fort William. “I barely know who I am any more.”

In 2009, Azad left his wife and baby son in Bangladesh and flew to London, expecting to start work as a chef in a busy restaurant in the capital. When he called his new employer from the airport, he was told the plan had changed. He was to take a coach to Glasgow, then another bus to a place called Ballachulish in Lochaber in west Scotland.

I felt completely alone. I thought, where are the other workers? The guests? I realised it was only me. I did everything

As the bus left Glasgow and headed north, Azad stared out of the window in awe at the blue lochs and green hills. He waited to see another city emerge from the wilderness, but found himself going deeper and deeper into the countryside.

“It was so beautiful but I thought, what is this place, where am I?” Azad says. “Before I left my home I was told I was going to work in a busy place, a city with tall buildings everywhere.”

Used to the clatter and commotion of Dhaka, he found the isolation disorienting. He was met by Shamsul Arefin, the man who had arranged for him to come to the UK, promising him a good job and a better life. Arefin drove him the last leg of the journey, and at last he found himself standing on the side of a hill in a remote corner of the Highlands, staring up at the dark windows of the hotel. He felt the first stirrings of fear.

“I felt completely alone,” Azad says. “I thought, where are the other workers? The guests? I realised it was only me. But I was here and I had to work.” Over the coming months, Azad would find himself chained to the Stewart hotel by debt, isolation and the growing control of his employer.

He had first met 47-year-old Arefin six months earlier, after responding to an ad in a Dhaka paper offering jobs as a chef in the UK. Azad, the eldest of six sons, was struggling to earn a living working as a cook in his family’s small restaurant in a suburb of Dhaka. He wanted more for his wife and young son; could this be a way out?

The advert led him to Arefin. A big man with a powerful voice, he exuded confidence and authority. His wife had important connections in Bangladeshi political circles and he owned a chain of businesses both there and in the UK, including the Stewart hotel. After their first meeting, he contacted Azad again and again, encouraging him to take a job. “He saw something, I don’t know, some vulnerability,” Azad says. “He was always calling me with promises,” he says softly, looking at his hands.

Arefin showed Azad a work contract for £18,000 a year as a tandoori chef, but told him he’d need to pay up front for his Tier 2 sponsorship visa, which would allow him to work for up to five years in the UK. At first he asked for £5,000. But as soon as Azad raised the money, he was told to find more. In the end, Azad borrowed £15,000 from moneylenders and raised another £5,000 selling his family land, his business and, finally, his wife’s jewellery.

Azad is embarrassed to talk about this. He knows it sounds foolish, naive, but back in Bangladesh, he says, you don’t get anything for free. Besides, Arefin told him that once he came to the UK, with the salary he would be making, he’d be able to pay off his debt in a year and still have two years left on his contract to earn more money than he would in a lifetime at home.

“He had a contract and a visa, everything was official,” Azad says. “I didn’t know it could be abused. I showed it to my father and said, ‘Give me a chance, I want to go. Here, you can see the contract. It is good pay, good working conditions, a proper salary.’ Is it my fault for believing this?

“All the time he [Arefin] gave me great hope. He said, ‘What’s your life like in Bangladesh? What is there for you? Think about your son.’ I fell into his big hope trap. And I couldn’t get out again.”

Arefin, who was travelling back and forth between the UK and Bangladesh, arranged Azad’s visa and travel documents. He was there when Azad arrived in Scotland, and told him he was the first worker to arrive: others would come.

But Azad spent months working as the sole employee in the Stewart hotel, cleaning, cooking, and gardening for up to 22 hours a day, seven days a week. After a few weeks, Azad asked for his wages and says Arefin grew angry, telling him he would be paid at the end of the month. The date came around, but his salary never appeared.

“I was the only worker for 37 bedrooms, I did everything. I woke every morning at 5am. Two coaches [of tourists] would arrive day after day.” Locals would be hired but then leave almost immediately. “Nobody would stay and work for this man, but I had no choice. I thought, if I go back to my country, how will I pay my debt? My family depends on me. Every month I need to send money home.”

We come from a poor and corrupt country, and I thought I was coming to seek a better life. Who does not want this?

After three months, other Bangladeshi men began to arrive at the hotel, as startled and bewildered as Azad had been. Like him, all had been recruited by Arefin and had paid between £15,000 and £30,000 for a visa to work in the UK.

“When I went to [Arefin’s] house in Dhaka, he was good to us, nice and polite. Now I know it is because he wanted our money,” says Kamal Uddin Ahmed, 37, who arrived at the Stewart hotel from Bangladesh in July 2009. “When I came to the UK he was different, he acted like the king and we were his slaves. The hotel was just one building and you couldn’t see any other houses. There was nothing else there. I found it terrifying.”

As time went on, Arefin’s behaviour worsened. Despite their contracts, Azad and his co-workers say they were never paid more than £100 a month – just enough for them to send something to their families and keep believing they would eventually get their wages. “Just little bits of money at a time,” Azad explains. “In my country, the debt is increasing, the interest. It’s a circle. I lost hope.”

The men were tied to Arefin, their named sponsor, by the terms of their visa. He took their passports and threatened to report them as illegal workers if they complained. Azad says, “He would show us copies of our visa on his computer and say, ‘Here is your name. I will cancel your sponsorship any time. This is my power.’ I realised this is his business. It’s like he purchased us, then used us as slaves.”

Sheik Nasir Ullah Bhuiyan, a 38-year-old from Chittagong, Bangladesh, was another man Arefin trafficked to work at the Stewart hotel. “We worked from 5 o’clock in the morning until after midnight every night,” he says. “We had to do everything, not only the kitchen, but housekeeping and cleaning, the toilets, outside, everything.

“When I confronted Arefin about the pay after months of work, he got very angry. He said, ‘I am paying all the staff like that, you’re not unique. If you don’t like it, go to hell.’ I’d never been out of Bangladesh. I was afraid I would have no place to live.”

The workers were too scared to talk to locals or guests about what was happening. “He told us, ‘You can’t talk to anybody. If you do, I will cancel your visa,’” Azad says. There was no mobile phone reception, no internet access and no transport. Arefin accompanied them whenever they went into town on hotel business. Some of the workers slept on the floor of empty rooms; others were forced to sleep in a decrepit caravan behind the hotel, with only slug-infested blankets for warmth. In the middle of winter, they were made to go outside in the freezing rain and snow to chop logs, wearing only the sandals they’d brought with them from Bangladesh.

“There was no hot water for us, no heating. In winter he allowed us to take a shower only once a week or once a month,” Azad says. “It was so cold. The 12 of us shared one bathroom. In Bangladesh I lived in very good conditions. I had never faced anything like that in my life.”

As the men grew more frantic, their exploitation became methodical and humiliating. Arefin physically abused and intimidated them, slapped their faces, threw burning oil at them in the kitchen and screamed that he would kill them. “One day he was pushing us, screaming and shouting, telling us to do this, do that,” Ahmed says. “We never argued with him but he treated us like that anyway. I told him, ‘I don’t want to work for you, I want my money back.’ He got so angry, I was afraid of what he would do.”

For many of the men, who came from educated, hard-working, middle-class families in Bangladesh, being forced to beg for their pay and live in squalor had a profound psychological effect. “It affected me physically but it was more my mental health,” Bhuiyan says. “I don’t want to remember that man’s face. I lost my confidence. I lost myself.”

Why didn’t they go to the police? Azad shakes his head. “We thought we’d be deported with our debts unpaid.” The moneylenders back in Bangladesh had started visiting the men’s families, demanding repayments. “You know, I didn’t know anything about the UK – where to go, what I should do, the rules, nothing.”

He sits in silence for a moment. “We come from a poor and corrupt country, and I thought I was coming to seek a better life,” he says angrily. “Who does not want this?” He had not entered the UK illegally; his one mistake was believing you had to pay for the chance of a better life. “If someone shows that you can have something for your future – some people might say it is greedy, but it is also very human.”

An estimated 21 million people are trapped in some form of slavery around the world, trafficked into factories, building sites, hotels, fields and private homes. An estimated 13,000 of these are in the UK. Around 40% of people identified as trafficking victims in this country in the last year have been victims of forced labour, which has overtaken sex trafficking as the most prolific form of modern slavery in the UK.

“Forced labour is so insidious because it can be invisible. At first sight, it can often look like ordinary work,” says Kevin Hyland, the UK’s first independent anti-slavery commissioner, pointing out that Azad and his co-workers’ experience is increasingly common. Arefin, he says, “saw that bringing people from the other side of the world and turning them into a source of free labour would make him more profit, regardless of the consequences to their lives”.

I had no idea stuff like this could happen in our community. Slavery, it’s a big word. And nobody did anything to help

Hundreds of tourists interacted with the men at the hotel, but few had any inkling what was going on. A tour operator who visited in 2012 tells us the hotel was staffed entirely by foreign workers who seemed like “zombies”. She was horrified to learn the truth. “As soon as we got to the hotel it was clear there was something wrong; it was falling to pieces. And it was so remote: there was literally nowhere to go once your bus had driven away. We knew the owner had a terrible reputation. The staff seemed just out of it. It was probably the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in.” Tour groups used the hotel because it was the only one in the area, and gave great access to walking routes.

Alyson Smith was one of the few local people who used the Stewart hotel’s bar in the evening, coming in with her husband to drink and play pool. Over time she struck up a friendship with Azad, Ahmed, Bhuiyan and one other worker (who doesn’t want to be identified). After a month or two they began to talk to her in whispers about what was happening to them.

“They were always nervous,” she says. “It slowly dawned on me that there was something seriously wrong, that they were asking for help.” Years on, she still feels a deep sense of shame that she didn’t see immediately what was happening.

What did she make of Shamsul Arefin? Could she understand how these men could have been convinced into handing tens of thousands of pounds over to him, on the promise of a job?

“Oh absolutely,” she says, shaking her head. “He was one of those people who could get you to do anything he wanted. He just oozed charm – he was so charismatic, but he could turn on a pin as well.”

He even convinced Smith and her husband to work for him over a busy weekend. “And then he didn’t pay us. It was only when I threatened to go to the police that he gave us what he owed us.”

When she realised what was going on, Smith tried to contact the police, local media, politicians and the procurator fiscal. She says nobody did anything to help. “I had no idea that stuff like this could happen in our community. Slavery, it’s a big word. It’s hard for people to accept that it was going on and nobody did anything to help.”

Related: About Modern-day slavery in focus

Yet Smith’s calls should have raised alarm bells instantly. It wasn’t the first time Arefin had been linked to immigration abuses. In 2007 he was fined £2,000 by Croydon crown court for illegally obtaining work permits for Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant employees. Even so, in 2009, he and his wife were granted a licence to run the Stewart hotel – against objections from the chief inspector of local police.

One day in August 2010, Azad and the other trafficked men saw that Arefin had left the hotel. Seizing this brief window of opportunity, they took the one bus to Fort William, walked into the local Citizens Advice bureau and asked for help. They returned to work and waited. A few weeks later the hotel was raided by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and Arefin’s sponsor licence was revoked.

Azad was initially flooded with relief. “After the raid I thought: God saved us. God sent someone. Something good is going to come of this.” The men thought UKBA officials would force Arefin to give them their unpaid wages and treat them as legitimate workers. Instead they were told that their visas had been cancelled and they had 60 days to find another sponsor or be deported back to Bangladesh.

In the weeks after the raid, the men tried to find other jobs, but nobody was willing to sponsor them. Their desperation left them vulnerable; they say that more than one restaurant owner offered them a job, but only if they paid £10,000 for sponsorship.

With Smith’s help, the four men finally made contact with Migrant Help, a migrant rights NGO. Case worker Jim Laird arranged for them to board a train to Glasgow and met them at the station. “When they arrived, they were in such a state,” he says. “These were clearly people who’d been labour trafficked. They’d been given no help at all. The authorities just treated them like illegal workers.”

Over the following months, then years, Laird maintained a close relationship with the men. He first helped them find a safe house and temporary jobs, then worked to get them formally recognised as victims of trafficking by the UKBA. When the Home Office said they were allowed to stay in the UK on short-term temporary work visas if they agreed to testify as witnesses in a criminal investigation into Arefin and the Stewart hotel, Laird agreed to support them through the process.

It took five years for a criminal case against Arefin to come to trial. During this time Azad and the other men lurched from one temporary job to another, washing dishes or stacking shelves while the interest on their loans mounted at home.

Meanwhile, though Arefin’s sponsorship licence had been revoked, he remained free to run his business at the Stewart hotel while the procurator fiscal’s office and the police decided whose job it was to investigate the case – a process that went on for two years.

By the time the case finally came to trial, all four men were destitute and suffering from severe stress disorders. They say their experience as witnesses in the trial further compounded their trauma; despite their trafficking status, they say they were given no advice or support. On multiple occasions the men travelled to the courthouse in Fort William only to be told that the trial date had changed. In open court, they were forced to give evidence, metres from their abuser.

“It was terrible having to face him and relive what happened to us,” Azad says. One of the other witnesses collapsed during questioning and had to be taken away in an ambulance. “And all the time [Arefin] was sitting laughing at us.”

In a written statement, the Lord Advocate’s office in Scotland denies that the men were unsupported during the trial: “This case commenced prior to the introduction of the Victim and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 which provided that victims of human trafficking would be entitled to special measures in court. The case was overseen and prosecuted by the Head of the Sheriff and Jury business for the North of Scotland, who is a specialist in human trafficking cases.”

In July 2015, Shamsul Arefin was found guilty of human trafficking under the Asylum and Immigration Act and imprisoned for three years. The case marked the first successful prosecution of trafficking for forced labour in Scotland’s history and was heralded by police and politicians across the UK as a positive step towards more successful prosecutions.

But for his former workers, Arefin’s conviction has offered no resolution or sanctuary. No longer witnesses in a criminal trial, they are fighting to be able to stay and work in the UK until they have tried to claim compensation, or worked to pay off the money for their visas. Ahmed has just had his application for permanent residency turned down by the Home Office; the other three are bracing themselves for similar decisions in the coming weeks. Ahmed has been told he will have to pay £140 to appeal. All are terrified that their lives, and those of their families, will be at risk if they are forced to return, unable to pay their debts.

“These cases have been badly handled from the start,” Laird says. “Two of the men first sought help in September 2010, yet the cases did not reach court for five years. UKBA issued licences to allow Arefin to employ foreign labour in spite of previous offences. The men were further let down by the courts with the lenient sentence given to him, and no compensation was even considered.”

In March this year, Arefin’s attempt to appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Scottish courts. In the appeal judgment, it emerged that he had been convicted of the sexual assault of two women migrant workers and had been handed a six-month sentence in 2013.

Meanwhile, Azad has remained in Fort William, living in a shared apartment. He has been lucky enough to find work as a chef and waiter in a restaurant, but two-thirds of his wages go towards the interest on his loans. If he is forced to return to Bangladesh, he is convinced it will be the end for him. He says he has had to move his young family three times, because of fears for their safety. His moneylenders there have even threatened to force him to sell one of his kidneys to repay his debts.

“The UK courts used us to testify, but we have received no compensation for the money we lost or even advice on how to go about trying to claim our unpaid wages,” Azad says. “We have never wanted or taken benefits from the government. All we want is the chance to work, to provide for our family and recover the debt we paid.”

That prospect is looking increasingly slim. Azad wonders what he would have made of his life if he’d never answered that advert. “When I talk to my family, I cannot tell them about my life here, because it would break them. Everything we had has been destroyed. The trafficker didn’t just take all our money. He took everything from me.”

Summary: Abul Azad left Bangladesh to take up a chef’s job in London – but found himself enslaved in a remote Scottish hotel.