Libya's embargo on Switzerland could end up shuttering its own major offshore and refining projects involving companies that have relocated to the Alpine state for tax reasons, analysts said on Thursday. It is likely that Libyan authorities did not realise their energy project partners such as Transocean Ltd, Noble Corp and Foster Wheeler were now based in Switzerland and would be caught up in the trade ban announced last month, said Samuel Csizuk of IHS Global Insight.
"There are high-profile and important projects on the line here. I don't think they realised that when they called the embargo," he said. "They probably thought that their interests were divested from Switzerland and that by calling an embargo their interests wouldn't suffer."
Transocean, which moved to Switzerland from the Cayman Islands and will list on the Swiss stock exchange this month , said late on Tuesday that Libya's trade ban could prevent Russia's Gazprom from deploying a Transocean rig to drill in Libyan waters.
Other Swiss newcomers including Noble, another offshore rig contractor that had also been based in the Caymans, and formerly Bermuda-domiciled Foster Wheeler are now trying to determine their exposure to the Libyan-Swiss dispute. Tripoli has not said how the Libyan energy projects would be affected.
Foster Wheeler, an engineering and contracting group, does not own assets in Libya but is looking into whether any of its design projects could be affected by the Swiss-Libyan tiff.
A spokesman for Exxon Mobil Corp, which is one year into a three-year contract with Noble for a rig off Libya's coast, said the oil giant does not comment on diplomatic or political issues as a matter of practice. But Noble said it had seen no concrete impact of the embargo so far. "Our rig continues normal operations at present," the company said.
Switzerland has worked hard to transform itself into an energy and commodities centre, offering very low tax rates to companies and trading houses relocating to the small country, which prides itself on discretion.
"I just think the people around Gaddafi himself didn't reflect on this trend of companies relocating to Switzerland," Ciszuk said, stressing the trade embargo was unlikely to serve as a disincentive to companies considering a Swiss address. "It just shows how problematic doing business in Libya is and how easy it is to get on the wrong side of the regime," he said. "It shows the political risk of doing business in Libya and not the risk of doing business in Switzerland."
That whole jihad thingy hasn't been working well for this generation. Not like the old days when the jihadis had more effective tactics than the crusaders.
24 STAR Kiefer Sutherland lived up to his hell-raising image in London... shirtless, drunk, fighting with bouncers and put in headlock by security.
The Emmy Award and Golden Globe award-winner, best known for his role as Jack Bauer in TV series 24, was described by onlookers as absolutely screamingly paralytic' and was put in a headlock by security as he lashed out during a drinking bender Thursday night.
Sutherland, 43, was seen outside The Covent Garden Hotel Bar Thursday at 10:40pm (local time) before meeting a friend. Two hours later he was seen with five empty wine glasses on his table and heard ordering more.
He was then driven to Stringfellows lapdancing club, where an insider said: "He went bananas, shouting nonsense and dancing like (U.K. soccer star) Peter Crouch before kicking off when asked to leave."
Bouncers hustled him from the premises after a reported bust-up, exposing his tattooed torso as they took him to his car with much struggle.
Later Sutherland was seen at 4am falling into the street outside his hotel, giggling and with his jacket unbuttoned.
The star, was in London to plug his new film Twelve.
He served 48 days' jail in 2007 after drink-driving offences and apologized last year after headbutting a male fashion designer.
The Conservatives are on course for a convincing election victory after a new poll for The Daily Telegraph showed the party is leading Labour by 12 points in crucial marginal constituencies.
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04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Kyrgyzstan will demand that its ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev faces trial either at home or abroad, the head of the interim government said after Bakiyev fled to neighboring Kazakhstan earlier on Thursday.
Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister and one time ally of Bakiyev, and other members of the interim government have accused Bakiyev of widespread corruption and nepotism.
"The interim government ... intends to carry out an objective investigation of crimes of which the former president is guilty, and present a demand for him to be tried in Kyrgyz or international courts," she said in a statement published by the official Kabar news agency.
Bayikev's sudden departure ended days of turmoil in the mountainous Central Asian republic, where the United States rents an air base that provides a crucial staging post for troops and supplies going to Afghanistan.
Otunbayeva said her administration held no direct negotiations with Bakiyev, who had been holed up in his home village since the April 7 uprising. She said foreign powers had helped to persuade Bakiyev to leave.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to recognize the authority of the interim government.
Without naming the mediators, Otunbayeva said they had urged Bakiyev to "cede his presidential ambitions for the sake of the Kyrgyz people ... and prevent a civil war that he was ready to unleash in order to defend himself and his relatives."
Human rights groups have backed Otunbayeva's allegations, accusing Bakiyev of silencing dissent and awarding lucrative contracts to friends and family.
A source in the interim government said Bakiyev had left Kyrgyzstan with his wife and children, but the fate of his other relatives, including his powerful brother Zhanysh, was unclear.
"None of the relatives or allies of Bakiyev that were with him until the end have been allowed out of the country, and those who committed crimes will be detained and put on trial," Otunbayeva said in the statement.
The interim government says all of the 84 people who were killed in Bishkek during the April 7 uprising were shot by Bakiyev's troops and snipers.
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"Sentence first, verdict afterwards!" cried the Queen ...
After an initial examination of the stern of the Navy corvette Cheonan on Thursday, the military tentatively concluded that the corvette had not been hit directly by a torpedo but broke in two due to a bubble jet created by an underwater explosion. The stern was raised 20 days after the corvette sank in the West Sea on March 26.
The military also speculates that a torpedo attack was a much more likely cause of the explosion than a mine.
"In an initial examination of the Cheonan's stern, South Korean and U.S. investigators found no traces showing that the hull had been hit directly by a torpedo," a senior source at the Defense Ministry said. "Instead, they found traces proving that a powerful explosion caused possibly by a torpedo had occurred underwater. The explosion created a bubble jet that eventually generated an enormous shock wave and caused the ship to break in two."
The investigators are carefully examining the stern, believing that the underwater explosion occurred not below midship but below the center-left. The metal plate on the stern's floor was bent upward and the stern was torn obliquely, about 6 m further on the portside from the aft of the ship than on the starboard. The portside deck was pushed up in an inverted-V shape, showing that a powerful explosion occurred below and sent a shockwave upward.
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04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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NET > as of yesterday afternoon, several News sources were still claiming [Nokor] UNDERWATER MINE, NOT SUB TORPEDO???
#7
I do not think Bubble jet means what you think that it means.
Bubble refers to the cavity in the water which the explosion creates and collapse.
Jet is not the propulsion. Jet refers to the water jet formed by the explosion and collapse of the cavity, creating high pressure directional concentrated hydrodynamic wall of water, aka "jet".
Posted by: No I am the other Beldar ||
04/16/2010 12:32 Comments ||
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#8
Wouldn't this traditionally be considered an act of war?
#11
Yep - A naturally occuring version of that is one of the theories explaining the sinking of the laker Edmund Fitzgerald - not a bubble, but simply large waves with a huge trough which exposed amidships, hence, nothing to support the hull and all that taconite.
The bodies of most of the sailors who went down with the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26 were returned to their devastated families on Thursday. Relatives called out their names as they wailed in grief.
The stern of the Cheonan was raised 1.4 km southwest of Baeknyeong Island. As of midnight, 36 bodies had been found, fourteen in the dormitory of the engine room.
"The stern was in good condition," a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. "It seems the partitions of the compartments protected the bodies of the sailors from getting lost." But the ship was filled with cables and other debris making search operations difficult until late into the night. Eight sailors are still missing.
The bodies were flown by helicopter to a Navy base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. Salvage operations began at 9 a.m. on Thursday and the top of the radar station of the stern began to emerge from the sea 11 minutes later. At around 9:30 a.m., the entire vessel emerged from the water.
Salvage workers plan to hoist the bow out of the ocean on April 24.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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many of their families + other civilians are repor demanding SEOUL take ACTION = REVENGE FOR THE DEAD, OR HEADS WILL ROLL COME NEXT SOKOR ELECTIONS???
(UPI) -- The last sardine packing plant in the United States is slated for closure this month, a spokeswoman for Bumble Bee Foods confirmed.
The plant in Gouldsboro, Maine, is scheduled to close Sunday, April 18, spokeswoman Melody Kimmel said.
The Gouldsboro plant, purchased from Stinson Seafood in 2004, has been in operation for more than 100 years, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported Wednesday.
Workers found out Wednesday the plant was closing. "It's devastating, for lack of a better term," said town selectman Dana Rice.
Kimmel said the federal quota on Atlantic herring, cut in half since 2004 to 91,000 metric tons, "keeps us from production levels that would ensure the plant's long-term viability."
"It's been a very difficult decision. We're caught between a rock and a hard place," Kimmel said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Where are anchovies processed?
I'd hate to lose those!
Posted by: chris ||
04/16/2010 13:33 Comments ||
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So they've had to scale back their fish-packing operations 'cause they were underwater, and now they're fin-ished and flopping. I wonder who the gill-ty party is?
Posted by: Mike ||
04/16/2010 14:49 Comments ||
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A record number of U.S. homes were lost to foreclosure in the first three months of this year, a sign banks are starting to wade through the backlog of troubled home loans at a faster pace, according to a new report.
RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of U.S. homes taken over by banks jumped 35 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. In addition, households facing foreclosure grew 16 percent in the same period and 7 percent from the last three months of 2009.
More homes were taken over by banks and scheduled for a foreclosure sale than in any quarter going back to at least January 2005, when RealtyTrac began reporting the data, the firm said. "We're right now on pace to see more than 1 million bank repossessions this year," said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac senior vice president.
Foreclosures began to ease last year as banks came under pressure from the Obama administration to modify home loans for troubled borrowers. In addition, some states enacted foreclosure moratoriums in hopes of giving homeowners behind in payments time to catch up. And in many cases, banks have had trouble coping with how to handle the glut of problem loans.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Mrs. Bobby has been a realtor in northern Virgina for four years now, and not particularly good years. But in our little part of the DC 'burbs, there is no inventory, and few sales that are not foreclosures or "short sales". Most of her clients are inbound military. But our peak period of foreclosures seems to have passed.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2010 12:24 Comments ||
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Hugo Boss and union leaders have met with a federal mediator without reaching an immediate agreement on the planned closure of a men's suit factory near Cleveland, which could cost 375 jobs.
The union wants to prevent the scheduled April 27 shutdown of the Brooklyn, Ohio, plant and avoid big pay cuts. The union says the plant is making money, but Hugo Boss says it's not globally competitive.
The union says it made an offer on Thursday designed to save jobs and enable the company to maintain global competitiveness. The company says the sides had a thorough discussion and an open exchange of ideas.
The sides expect to meet again April 21.
Gov. Ted Strickland attended a union rally on Wednesday, and actor Danny Glover made a return appearance to back the workers.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The union wants to prevent the scheduled April 27 shutdown of the Brooklyn, Ohio, plant and avoid big pay cuts. The union says the plant is making money..
Then you should have no problem lining up financing to buy the place and go in business yourself. Not happening? Why could that be? /rhet question.
#5
Ouch! Knock it off army guy, that third one really hurt.
Posted by: Danny Glover ||
04/16/2010 9:57 Comments ||
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well, maybe Ted and Danny can pool their mutual resources, buy the factory and employ these workers on their own dime...oh, that's right - libs only want the "real" producing class to invest their money...
or, since Hollywood so famously uses union workers on the sets of their productions maybe danny can hire all these workers for lethal weapon 7...(sarc/off)
#7
Historical tidbit: Hugo Boss made uniforms for the SS during the 12 year existence of the Thousand Year Reich...whatever bad you say about the Nazis they had good tailors...
SPRINGFIELD -- Silverlite Trailers, a company that makes high-end aluminum horse trailers, is closing its doors for good next month, the latest local manufacturer of recreational vehicles to fall victim to the economic downturn.
The recession has "affected everyone in the RV industry," Rick Harne, the company's vice president of sales and marketing, said Wednesday. "There's not enough sales to maintain a factory at this time."
Silverlite, which once employed 120 workers, is now down to about 10 employees, he said. The company really started to feel the pinch in 2008, and was unable to turn things around, he said.
The business is selling its remaining trailers, and will auction off tools, machines and materials and remaining inventory from the factory on May 15 and 16 at the plant at 1291 S. A St. in Springfield, he said.
The owners hope to raise around $750,000, Harne said.
Silverlite Trailers was founded in 1996 by Dave Hyland and Greg Meller. The company builds high-end, custom aluminum horse trailers, with prices ranging from $8,500 to $100,000. Some models feature living quarters for humans in the front. Silverlite is the last aluminum horse trailer builder in the West, Harne said.
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04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Silverlite is the last aluminum horse trailer builder in the West, Harne said.
/Lesprom Network/. Å&R Carton A/S plans to close its factory in Skjeberg, Norway. The factory produces folding cartons mainly for the food industry and has 60 employees, company said in a statement received by Lesprom Network.
"The European market for folding cartons is highly competitive. Unfortunately we can not manufacture cartons at a competitive cost level in our Norwegian factory which is why production there will be discontinued", says Per Lundeen, CEO of Å&R Carton Group.
The Skjeberg plant has been an unprofitable unit for many years and it has not been possible to make a turnaround. The closing of the site is scheduled to be completed during the 3Q 2010. Å&R Carton A/S will keep its Norwegian sales force and continue to service Norwegian customers.
"We regret having to close the plant, leaving 60 people without a job, but we need to secure our long-term competitive position. This does not mean that we will leave the Norwegian market, on the contrary we will increase our sales effort", says Olav Bøgwald, MD of Å&R Carton A/S.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Speaking as your Labor Advisor, I recommend going on strike for higher wages and better benefits. That will show those management sumbitches who is boss!
#1
FYI, 10000 of us in Denver in the middle of a work day at the State Capitol, and only one local channel news crew showed up - KMGH 7 (ABC). So even Fox didn't show up in Colorado (they apparently sent a still photog and a background reporter).
All in all, 14 across the state. Not too shabby for intrinsically unorganized people.
#3
In San Antonio, ours was in a city park starting at 6:00 - and it had been raining much of the day. We had a nice turn-out for all of that: I'd guess 300+ ... and three TV stations, and there was supposed to be a writer and photog from the Express News. A couple of us on the media team also did interviews beforehand on several radio stations promoting the event, and letting people know that rain wouldn't stop determined patriots! There were also Tea Parties all during the day in the towns around - Boerne, Floresville, Fredericksburg, etc.
Last fall, just after the big 9-12 demo in Washington, we set up meetings with with local media outlets to build relationships, and to demonstrate to them that we were perfectly serious and responsible citizens. The editors and program directors are very receptive now - we can count on positive local coverage pretty consistently.
#4
Then the Tea Party is in, at least, good company.
As I recall, soon after we took Baghdad there was a widespread protest in Iraq, by Iraqi's, and organized by Iraqi's, protesting terrorism. Numbers were from 200K - 2M spread across several cities.
The Lamestream media ignored that as well. Seems the LSM doesn't want to report actual widespread protests by ordinary people.
#6
Our Tea Party was reasonably well-attended - my guess is around 1000. One speaker was interviewed by local talk radio station. A couple of TV stations had cameras for the first few minutes - don't know if anything got aired. Speakers were enthusiastic - if unpolished - and well-received. I think seven - 4 male, 3 female, 4 white, 2 black, 1 Hispanic. Almost all white audience, but nobody yelled insults or threw eggs at our guest speakers. Unlike liberal/progressive speakers, all our speakers had a sense of humor.
#8
#5 And that is just the ones that got the day off too. Some of us couldn't make it because we were being productive.
I was there is spirit!
Posted by DarthVader 2010-04-16 10:18|| 2010-04-16 10:18|| Front Page ||Comments Top
Oh yeah, what makes the media and other establishment elites nervous is that for every person who could attend these rallys, there's probably 50 who couldn't, but are cheering on the movement from home or work.
Posted by: Jefferson ||
04/16/2010 12:30 Comments ||
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We started ours at 5:30 so it wouldn't be just retired, unemployed or vacationing people. And we got approving horn honks from many commuters passing by on their way home.
At one point, when there was a break in activities to re-do some speakers, someone in the crowd started singing patriotic songs (like God Bless America) and a very large chunk of the attendees joined in (fortunately for the ears, not including me.)
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said the defeated elements were playing politics over dead bodies in Hazara division.
Addressing a gathering at the residence of former chief minister and PML-N leader Pir Sabir Shah in Sirikot, Haripur district, he said the PML-N never deceived the residents of Hazara. Nawaz Sharif's surprise visit to Hazara was the first by a major politician after that of PML-Q head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. However, Nawaz Sharif didn't travel to Haripur city or Abbottabad that are simmering with protests against the renaming of NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa and for creation of Hazara province.
"If a separate province is the desire of the people of Hazara, the PML-N will support their stance," Nawaz Sharif said. However, he urged the people not to be trapped by the PML-Q leadership's propaganda and shun violence.
"We believe in unity and cohesion and people must reject those promoting the politics of separatism," he stressed. He lauded the people of Hazara who always supported him and the PML-N.
Nawaz Sharif said he had time and again cautioned the stakeholders not to make the renaming of NWFP conditional to the constitutional amendment package but his warnings were not heeded to.
"Confrontation and protests are no solution to issues," he said, adding the government must take steps to redress the grievances of the people of Hazara. He also urged the dwellers of Hazara to avoid certain disgruntled elements who were inciting people to violence to promote their vested interests.
On the occasion Fateha was offered for the persons who were killed in the recent protests in Abbottabad. Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Raja Zafarul Haq, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal, Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Sardar Mushtaq, Abid advocate and Barrister Javed Abbasi were also present on the occasion.
APP adds: The PML-N leader demanded accountability of the elements involved in Abbottabad's tragedy and urged the politicians to play their positive role in bringing the situation towards normalcy and calm.
Talking to mediamen after a party meeting here, he said the people of Hazara have given numerous sacrifices for the country and he was there to personally review the situation. He said those who had destroyed the peace of Abbottabad and Hazara, should be taken to task. He said there should be no politics on bodies and urged the PML-Q to avoid playing with the sentiments of the people. Politics on the bodies of those killed in Abbottabad would serve no purpose. Instead it would further deteriorate the law and order, he added.
The PML-N chief said he had already made it clear to the concerned quarters that linking Khyber-Pakthunkhwa with the 18th Amendment Bill would complicate the situation. He said in the larger interest of the country and democracy, the PML-N added 'Khyber' with the proposed name of "Pakthoonkhwa" for NWFP.
"Had we not offered sacrifice, the package prepared by the Constitutional Reforms Committee after long deliberations would not have been approved and our dream to get rid of the 17th Amendment passed in Musharraf's era would have been faded," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistan's North West Frontier Province was officially renamed as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday.
After getting the National Assembly's nod of approval earlier this week, the bill has now been passed by the Senate. Eighty senators voted in favour of the new name, while just 12 opposed it. An amendment which had been moved by the PML-Q against the province's renaming was rejected by the upper house.
Former NWFP interior minister Shahzada Gustasap said that the change in naming the province was already expected in the Senate. He thanked those who had voted against renaming the NWFP and said that the people of Hazara would continue to struggle for a separate province.
The session had started off on a turbulent note with PML-Q and PML-N senators staging a walk out over remarks that had been made by ANP Senator Haji Adeel in a talk show.
The Senator, Haji Adeel, had said that some PML leaders used to 'eat pork and drink whiskey' in the past but was quick to clarify that his statement was not directed at Quaid-e-Azam.
Mr Bokhari, who represents Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Senate, noted that the present bill had come when Pakistan had an elected president who did not interfere with the parliamentary committee or parliament while the previous major Eighth and Seventeenth amendments were made under duress to distort the Constitution as desired by then military rulers.
"The Eighteenth Amendment has thrown out that dirt and now you have a clean constitution ...," he said about the bill which also aimed to enhance provincial autonomy, repeal the 17th Amendment of 2003 that legitimised the decrees of then military president Pervez Musharraf, and provide for a parliamentary oversight of the appointment of judges of the superior courts.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Unlike antibiotics, which kill many different types of bacteria, antiviral drugs for the most part need to target individual, specific viruses. A drug that attacks a multitude of viruses -- an antibiotic for viruses, effectively -- would be a significant boon for medicine. And a group of researchers led by UCLA scientists just may have discovered exactly that.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe an early proof-of-concept study on a chemical they call LJ001. The chemical attacks the structure of viruses themselves, and may potentially cure a wide swath of disease ranging from influenza to AIDS to Ebola.
For all the complexity of the diseases they cause, viruses are very simple; just a bunch of DNA in a lipid sack. LJ001 attacks that lipid sack, as well as the lipid membrane of healthy cells. But whereas the healthy cells can easily repair the damage, the inert viruses simply fall apart.
Previous attempts at creating wide-spectrum anti-viral drugs have largely failed. Some are in use, but they are very expensive, and because they work by attacking RNA and DNA replication, they often carry significant side effects. By attacking the structure of the viruses, not the replication, LJ001 may end up as the first drug in a new age of medicine.
#2
Silver puzzled researchers for years because it was not toxic to viruses, but inhibits their reproduction inside other cells. A good effect, but not the same one.
Parallel to this, there was just another discovery of a drug that activated dormant viruses within cells--that may have turned those cells cancerous while dormant.
By going active, they become vulnerable to antiviral agents that might also identify the cancerous cells in the process, making them easier to fight as well.
In this case, however, viruses could be attacked in a way they could not repair, but cells with DNA could repair. Which seems to be similar to how Vitamin D has antiviral properties--by attacking the lipid coat.
Ironically, this drug may create a problem if it destroys too many of the wrong kind of viruses, bacteriophage type. They are very common viruses that naturally attack bacteria, and keep bacteria under control.
So say you have a serious viral disease. This may kill it, but open you up to a host of deadly bacterial diseases.
#4
Besoeker: Not really. But it could be an effective way for us to treat many viruses other than with our immune systems. Everything from hepatitis, ebola, HIV, various poxes, herpes, and a lot of other nasties have lipid envelopes.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Libya's embargo on Switzerland could end up shuttering its own major offshore and refining projects involving companies that have relocated to the Alpine state for tax reasons, analysts said on Thursday. It is likely that Libyan authorities did not realise their energy project partners such as Transocean Ltd, Noble Corp and Foster Wheeler were now based in Switzerland and would be caught up in the trade ban announced last month, said Samuel Csizuk of IHS Global Insight. 
