Obama, Harper stay apart on pipeline issue, ink other agreements
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The visiting Canadian leader and the American president on Wednesday remained noncommittal on a controversial oil pipeline linking the two countries but signed a border deal.
Addressing a joint press conference at the White House, with Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President Barack Obama said, “With respect to the politics, look, this is a big project with big consequences.”
Asking for a assessment for environmental impact, Obama said, “We’ve seen Democrats and Republicans express concerns about it. And it is my job as president of the United States to make sure that a process is followed that examines all the options.”
Harper, on the other hand refused to be drawn into any controversy saying, “You can appreciate that I would not comment on the domestic politics of this issue or any other issue here in the United States.”
Harper added that Obama had an “open mind” on the project, but wanted a full assessment carried out. “He’s indicated to me, as he’s indicated to you today, that he is following a proper (process) to eventually take that decision here in the United States, and that he has an open mind in regards to what the final decision may or may not be,” Canadian leader said about the 1,600-mile pipeline that would run from Canada to the Texas coast.
“My position, the position of the government of Canada on this issue, is very well known,” said Harper, hinting at his backing for the Keystone XL plan, which is projected to create jobs in the U.S. and in Canada and to enable oil from the Canadian province of Alberta to reach the world market.
The two leaders announced signing of a trade deal and perimeter security agreement, which would allow easier access to ports and increase harmonization of security checks and procedures at land borders.
“Together, they represent the most significant steps forward in Canada-U.S. cooperation since the North American Free Trade Agreement,” Harper said.
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EU set to rewrite passenger flight compensation regulations
Brussels, Belgium (AHN) – The European Union is set to rewrite Regulation 261, which has been heavily criticized by the aviation industry and blamed for their losses running to billions of dollars, European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas said Monday.
Airlines–which also have to deal with rising aviation fuel prices–are facing a $3.3 billion bill because of the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in 2010. The bulk of the bill is passenger compensation and hotel accommodation mandated by Regulation 261. The natural catastrophe caused the cancelation of over 100,000 flights and displacement of millions of air travelers.
Aside from the volcanic eruption, the air carriers also had to compensate passengers who were stranded because of airline or ground crew strikes and the snow that froze many European and North American gateways for days toward the end of 2010.
The EU mandated passenger compensation because of the aviation industry’s practice of overbooking flights, which caused some passengers to be bumped off. While Kallas acknowledged that the regulation has provided protection to travelers from overbooking, he said the financial burden for flight cancelations caused by natural or man-made calamities could be shared more widely.
Last month, budget carrier Ryanair imposed a $3 (GBP 2) levy on passengers to cover the cost that the airline incurred in compensating passengers whose flights were canceled because of the natural calamities and strikes.
Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said the $155 million (GBP 110 million) to be raised by the new passenger levy is expected to be sufficient to cover any compensation cost that Ryanair is expected to pay in the next 12 months for last year’s catastrophes that battered the aviation industry.
O’Leary said other air carriers would likely follow Ryanair’s example unless the EU amends Regulation 261. He stressed the air carrier is not punishing travelers by collecting the levy since the airline charges the lowest fares and is very punctual.
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Israeli innovations for feeding the (Rich) world
Tel Aviv, Israel (TML) – The wave of demonstrations rippling across the Middle East has been partly driven by escalating food prices.
Millions live on the edge of poverty and just seeing what happened in Egypt and Tunisia shows how those on the brink can get motivate in a hurry to demand change. In Cairo they shouted, “Bread, Liberty and Dignity.”
It’s not that the world is producing less food; the irony is that technology has boosted yields. But eating habits have shifted and that’s stoking global instability. As living standards rise in the developing world, people want more meat and quality food, which takes more land and energy resources per calorie to produce.
“We are before a catastrophe; wars over water and food,” says Haim Aloush chief executive officer, Agro-Mashov. “The world population has grown over the past 70 years from two billion to seven billion people. More than 60% of the world is modifying their diets to eat food made from livestock and that requires five times as much farm land and water than food from crops.”
The latest international survey on food prices says 44 million people have been forced to the brink of poverty due to soaring food prices. Earlier in March, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that a food crisis was eminent as prices have risen to their highest levels in 20 years.
The FAO’s director-general, Jacques Diouf, said countries in North Africa and the Middle East have made large grain purchases to head off unrest, which has toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and threatened Yemen and Libya. He added that South Korea and Mexico, too, had started major stockpiles of grain and corn.
Ironically, as the world grows hungrier, people in the world’s wealthiest countries are growing fatter and their demands for higher-protein foods is driving farmers to devote resources to cater to them at the expense of social and political instability in poorer countries and irreparable environmental damage.
Israel has emerged as a pioneer in agricultural technology. Experts have been working to increase agriculture output with less or brackish water. At a recent agriculture conference and exhibition in Tel Aviv called the Agro-Mashov, thousands of farmers and researchers from around the world came to see what Israel had to offer.
The self-proclaimed “World Cup of Agriculture” had glitzy Israeli stalls pushing everything from high tech fruit sorters, genetically modified fruit flies and sophisticated milking sensors. It is easy to see that innovation is driven not so much by the desire to feed the hungry, but to reach the growing lucrative markets.
“Every farmer that grows products and wants to export it to the European or North American market has to bring a perfect product to the market,” says Menashe Tamir, general manger of Eshet Eilon Industries. Tamir’s company produces sensitive fruit sorters that pack crates of nearly identical unbruised fruit for top price markets.
“The food that goes through this machine is either going to the European market or the American market or high class market in the developing countries. There is a big niche in the Chinese market. There are many rich people over there. In every country in the world there are rich people,” Tamir says.
Israel is the world leader in per cow milk yield. Semen from prize Israeli bulls is sought after across the globe. The Afimilk dairy farm management consultants have helped set up dairy farms in countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and China.
“In the world today there is a growing number of middle class and their demand for protein out of livestock is increasing. That is why there is a lot of demand for meat products and milk products,” says Baruch Fine, who is responsible for overseas development for Afimilk. “Also, because of the reduction of fish in the world there is a big focus on milk products.”
Ronnie Friedman, head of The Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture, warns that just keeping up with food supplies is damaging the earth in unparalleled ways.
“Our goals are to increase productivity and protect the environment. With modern agriculture, we cannot continue to exploit the environment as we once did,” Friedman says. “Food production is not keeping up with global growth. In the next 20 to 30 years there won’t be enough food because there is a limited amount of arable land.”
According to Friedman, in the 1950s there were 2.5 billion people on earth and one hectare of arable land for every 1.7 people. Today one hectare needs to feed 4.2 people and by the middle of the century when world population will reach and estimated 10 billion one hectare will need to support seven people.
“This is a dramatic increase,” Friedman says.
Rising oil prices also have an indirect affect on food due to increased transportation costs and agriculture inputs like fertilizers. Ironically, the quest for oil alternatives such as biofuels have diverted 120 million tons of cereals away from human consumption and developed countries had even paid $13 billion in annual subsidies to encourage this, according to the UN’s Diouf.
In the United States, corn stocks have dipped to a 15-year low as more is being diverted to make ethanol, according to the UN’s WFO.
Bob Calala, president of the Ohio Aquaculture Association, who was visiting the Agro-Mashov conference, says the oceans were being overfished and fish farming was suffering due to a lack of grains and other feeds used in aquaculture.
“There is really not enough feed,” says “[The world] is using the grains once used for fish food and turning them into biofuels and other areas that are not feeding the people.”
He says he hopes the global food crisis would spare American shores.
“We’re kind of a land of plenty and people have really not experienced the lack of basics as they have in other places in the world. We want to head that off before it gets to that point. And we hope that we can use some of the Israeli technology to do that,” Calala says.
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Nissan, Sony resume production in Japan
Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – Nissan and Sony are starting operations at plants in Japan this week as companies in the disaster-stricken Asian nation slowly resume production.
Five of six Nissan factories began producing components on Monday despite continued supply chain issues. Workers at the plants in the southern prefectures of Kanagawa and Tochigi are scheduled to start assembling vehicles on Thursday.
Nissan, which reported damage to 1,300 U.S.-bound cars at one of its plants following the quake, said vehicle production would continue until supplies run out.
The company’s sixth factory, the engine plant in Iwaki in Fukushima prefecture, is still under repair and employees are on standby status. Aftershocks are still affecting the area and prolonging restoration work, according to Nissan.
The automaker’s American operations has been unaffected so far and will follow regular schedules this week. It does not expect a sales shortage in the short-term, with a rearward day’s supply of 47 cars and 49 vehicles for the Infiniti division.
In addition, there are more than 1,500 Nissan LEAF vehicles either on their way from Japan or already at U.S. ports.
Meanwhile, Sony, Japan’s largest electronics exporter, said Sunday it would resume production at a factory in northern Tochigi prefecture.
The company shut down 10 plants following the Mar. 11 quake that struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, which caused a 10-meter high tsunami and led to a partial meltdown at a nuclear facility north of Tokyo.
Sony Ericsson, a joint venture of the company with Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson, has said it anticipates supply chain disruptions. It is seeking alternative suppliers and searching for possible relocation sites for manufacturing key components.
Operations at other manufacturers remain halted. Honda over the weekend extended the suspension in its production of cars at its Sayama plant, and motorcycles at its Kumamoto factory until Wednesday.
The Tokyo-based Honda said its resumption on Thursday would depend on “the status of the recovery of parts supply as well as Japanese society as a whole.”
Fuji Heavy Industries has likewise halted production at all its Subaru plants, citing its supply chain and issues in the power supply.
Toyota has stopped production at all its plants in Japan but last week assured customers and dealerships in the United States that the impact of the quake and nuclear crisis on North American operations is “limited.”
There are growing fears of shortage of the Japanese car maker’s Prius, the world’s most popular hybrid. Toyota had said battery production plans in Japan “are to be determined” and that every effort is being made to “minimize any long-term impact on Prius availability.”
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Caterpillar latest manufacturer to warn of production delays after Japan quake
Peoria, IL, United States (AHN) – Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, said on Friday production could be delayed by the situation in in Japan, becoming the latest company after Fuji Heavy Industries, General Motors and Toyota to be affected by the crisis.
The Illinois-based Caterpillar said its plants in Japan were not damaged by the Mar. 11 quake that struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, whichcaused a 10-meter high tsunami and led to a partial meltdown at a nuclear facility north of Tokyo.
“To date, the disruption to the supply chain in Japan has not stopped production at other Caterpillar facilities around the world; although moving forward, it is possible those facilities may be sporadically impacted,” the company said.
Caterpillar is looking for alternative sources of parts for its machineries, should Japan-based suppliers fail to support provide components to plants outside Japan.
The statement was the second from a U.S.-based company, and the latest from several manufacturers, regarding supply chain issues as a result of the crisis in the Asian nation.
General Motors, the world’s second largest carmaker, said on Thursday it is suspending production at its facility in Shreveport, LA, starting next week due to a shortage of parts from Japan. The plant employs more than 900 workers who build Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon trucks.
Toyota has stopped production at all its plants in Japan but this week assured customers and dealerships in the United States that the impact of the quake and nuclear crisis on North American operations is “limited.”
However, there are growing fears of shortage of the Japanes car maker’s Prius, the world’s most popular hybrid. Toyota had said battery production plans in Japan “are to be determined” and that every effort is being made to “minimize any long-term impact on Prius availability.”
Fuji Heavy Industries has likewise halted production at all its Subaru plants, citing its supply chain and issues in the power supply.
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Dane Cook To Release Greatest Hits Double Disc “I Did My Best”
Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – As if November wasn’t already too crowded with greatest hits releases, including ones from Pink, Jay-Z, and Nelly Furtado, among others, here comes the best of Dane Cook.
Yes, the illustrious comedian, who’s also starred in films in “Good Luck Chuck” and “Waiting…,” is assembling his best, most popular material off his five hit comedy albums, including “Harmful if Swallowed” and “Isolated Incident.”
The result is Cook’s “I Did My Best – Greatest Hits,” a double CD set featuring over 2 hours of Cook’s best jokes, including fan favorites like “The BK Lounge,” “A Condom?,” “Let’s Do This, I’m a Cashew,” “The Athiest,” and more.
Along with the audio having been remastered and newly cut together, “I Did My Best” will also include ten minutes of never-before-heard unreleased material.
Dane Cook’s “I Did My Best – Greatest Hits” CD, from Comedy Central Records, hits retail stores and digital outlets on November 22nd.
Cook is currently on his “Dane Cook Live!” North American tour. The tour sees Cook hit cities across the U.S. and Canada, wrapping up on Saturday, December 4th in Reno, NV.
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