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.
View full post on Trade Agreements Stories
Hispanics criticize Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s illegal immigration law
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Leaders of the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic communities continued sharp criticisms Friday against a Supreme Court decision that upholds a tough state law against illegal immigration.
They say the ruling on Thursday will lead to discrimination against Hispanic people.
The Arizona law empowers local police to shut down any business that knowingly hires illegal immigrants.
The Supreme Court ruling is expected to encourage other states to enact similar laws to ensure employees are Americans.
The Obama administration opposed the Arizona law, saying the state was authorizing itself to set immigration policy that the Constitution reserves to the federal government.
The Supreme Court said Arizona was not setting a new immigration policy, merely enforcing the federal laws that already exist.
“Arizona hopes that its law will result in more effective enforcement of the prohibition on employing unauthorized aliens,” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote for the 5-3 majority.
As a result, “the Arizona regulation does not otherwise conflict with federal law,” he wrote.
Among the first Latin American leaders to criticize the Supreme Court’s decision was Wilbert Bendezu, president of Peru’s Parliament.
He said the Supreme Court’s decision set a “dangerous precedent” that will lead to other laws against immigrants.
Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Utah, Mississippi, Ohio and Florida all have either enacted or are considering laws against illegal immigration that closely follow the “Legal Arizona Workers Act.”
Bendezu said the Arizona law gives employers no other choice than to fire workers who lack U.S. government work permits.
He estimated that about 600,000 Peruvians live illegally in the United States.
Other criticism came from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), a civil rights organization for Hispanics.
“Today’s regrettable decision in Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting is a tortured product of judicial activism responding to perceived political views of the moment,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF’s president.
He hinted that the Supreme Court’s decision could lead to approval of Arizona’s S.B. 1070.
The state law authorizes local police to question and arrest anyone if the officers have “probable cause” evidence they are illegally in the United States. The law is awaiting an appeal to the Supreme Court before it can be enforced.
“Laws that encroach on exclusive federal immigration enforcement by mandating or permitting untrained local police officers to engage in racial profiling will find little refuge in today’s decision,” Saenz said. “Wise state and local lawmakers must continue to tread carefully in areas touching on immigration. As has been the case for well over 200 years, federal action remains the sole legitimate avenue to address immigration issues.”
Dissenters on the Supreme Court largely agreed that Arizona lawmakers overstepped their authority with the Legal Arizona Workers Act.
“Either directly or through the uncertainty that it creates, the Arizona statute will impose additional burdens upon lawful employers,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in dissent.
The other dissenters were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.
Breyer wrote that employers now are likely to “erect ever stronger safeguards against the hiring of unauthorized aliens, without counterbalancing protections against unlawful discrimination.”
The Arizona law also requires employers to check the immigration status of all job applicants using an online federal background check program called E-Verify.
The Supreme Court ruling said E-Verify was “entirely consistent” with federal law.
About 215,000 employers nationwide have enrolled voluntarily in the E-Verify program. South Carolina and Mississippi also require employers to do E-Verify background checks.
Some members of Congress have said recently they plan to introduce bills requiring E-Verify checks nationally.
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PRSI Can’t Force Arbitration With Transcor: Texas Court
A Texas state appeals court ruled Thursday that PRSI Trading Co. LP cannot force arbitration in its dispute with subsidiaries of Transcor Astra Group over $25.5 million in loans PRSI used to operate a Texas oil refinery.
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Halliburton shareholders seek class action lawsuit for stock price losses
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Monday in a case that could make it easier for corporations to get rid of lawsuits by shareholders angered when their stocks lose money.
The business community is intensely interested in the outcome, as evidenced by a large number of amicus, or friend-of-the-court, briefs filed in the case of Erica P. John Fund Inc. v. Halliburton Co.
It involves a lawsuit by shareholders of construction giant Halliburton. They accuse the company of securities fraud by misrepresenting its assets and liabilities in financial statements.
When the truth was disclosed later, Halliburton’s stock value dropped, making shareholders lose investment value.
Afterward, the shareholders got together to ask a federal court in the Northern District of Texas for class action status to sue Halliburton. Class action refers to a single lawsuit that represents the interests of many people.
They say Halliburton violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Securities Exchange Commission Rule 10-b5.
The shareholders reasoned it would be easier for them to prove they suffered damages in a joint lawsuit than as individuals.
The proof of damages has become the key issue in the lawsuit before the Supreme Court.
The Court must decide whether shareholders must prove misguided actions of the corporate directors caused their losses before they can sue in a class action.
Under current law, a jury decides at trial whether corporate bungling made shareholders lose money.
If the Supreme Court rules damages must be proved before shareholders get authorization for a class action, the number of lawsuits proceeding to trial is likely to plummet, according to securities lawyers.
Legal experts say fewer shareholders would try to sue if they know their chances of reaching trial are small.
Halliburton comes to the Supreme Court with a history of recent controversy.
Oil giant BP accuses Halliburton of shoddy work in construction of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last year, leaking millions of barrels of oil into the water.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney was the company’s president until 2000.
Suspicions followed him into the White House about whether he used his political influence to improperly steer defense contracts to the company. Halliburton has played a big support role for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Shareholders are alleging similar behind-the-scenes moves in the financial statements that led to their lawsuit.
They say the company’s directors downplayed their liability for asbestos claims. They also say the directors misrepresented Halliburton’s likelihood of collecting revenue from construction contracts and exaggerated the benefits from a merger with Dresser Industries.
Later audits revealed what the shareholders say were misrepresentations. Wall Street responded immediately with a sharp drop in the company’s stock value.
Halliburton argues in its Supreme Court briefs there is no benefit to leaving decisions on evidence for a class action lawsuit to a jury.
Instead, a judge should resolve any class action authorization issues before trial, thereby eliminating costly, drawn-out and often frivolous lawsuits, Halliburton says.
The company’s brief also argued shareholders should not be granted a class action lawsuit because the evidence was too weak they lost money from the company’s incorrect financial statements, thereby “sever[ing] the link between Halliburton’s alleged misrepresentations and that market price.”
So far, Halliburton has won at the lower court level.
The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that before the shareholders can sue for securities fraud, they must prove a stock price decline “resulted directly because of the correction to a prior misleading statement.”
The Erica P. John Fund has not proved Halliburton’s “misleading” statements made shareholders lose money, the court said.
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Mexico reconsiders strategy to oppose state illegal immigration laws
Atlanta, GA, United States (AHN) – The Mexican government is revising its policy of opposing U.S. state laws designed to crack down on illegal immigration. The Mexican ambassador to the United States met this week in Atlanta with Mexican consulate officials from states with some of the toughest laws and proposed legislation against illegal immigration.
“The objective was to review and strengthen the strategy displayed by the government of Mexico to defend the fundamental rights of our citizens against state and local initiatives that are contrary to their rights and interests,” a Mexican Embassy statement said.
The embassy has not yet announced how its policy will change but left little doubt it would reflect growing outrage in Mexico against state laws intended to exclude illegal immigrants.
The embassy said there were a “disturbing number of initiatives under discussion unduly stigmatizing and blaming migrants for social problems in America.”
President Barack Obama pledged again this month to reform immigration laws.
Nevertheless, three state legislatures have approved laws against illegal immigration in the past year and other state laws are pending.
One proposal in Congress would change the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. Current federal law grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States.
Arizona started the trend in state initiatives against illegal immigration by approving a law in April 2010, S.B. 1070, that authorized local police to stop and question anyone they suspected of being an illegal immigrant. If they could not prove American citizenship, the local police could arrest and deport them.
Until then, enforcement of immigration laws was authorized exclusively by federal agencies.
Houses of the Georgia and South Carolina legislatures approved similar laws in recent months. They are awaiting final approval and their governors’ signatures.
Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas and Utah are considering other proposals against illegal immigration.
State Rep. Matt Ramsey, a Republican who sponsored the Georgia legislation, said, “The federal government’s failure to secure our borders serves as an open invitation for illegal immigration. The employers who encourage and reward illegal immigration are certainly not blameless.”
The Georgia law would require employers to verify the citizenship of all job applicants through the E-Verify database and broaden authority of police to investigate the immigration status of anyone they stop.
Last summer, a federal judge suspended enforcement of most of the Arizona law.
In each case, the laws are meeting with anger in Mexico that culminated in the meeting this week in Atlanta.
The meeting included representatives from the Mexican consulates in Atlanta, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, Raleigh and other Mexican diplomats. It was led by Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States.
So far, the Mexican strategy for influencing U.S. immigration has been to seek out sympathizers among business, religious, academic and community leaders.
The Mexican government also has supported litigation against the state laws, provided legal advice to Mexicans in the United States and disseminated public information about the negative effects of anti-immigrant laws.
Mexican diplomats describe the laws as racist.
“The most serious, if approved and entered into force, would violate inalienable human rights protected by international legal provisions enshrined in the U.S. Constitution,” said the Mexican Embassy statement this week.
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One missing after fire at Texas natural gas plant
Mont Belvieu, TX, United States (AHN) – One worker remains missing after a natural gas processing plant in eastern Texas exploded on Tuesday.
The massive blast happened at a storage facility in Mont Belvieu owned by Enterprise Products Partners, the nation’s largest provider of crude oil, natural gas and petrochemicals.
Flames continued burning at the complex 35 miles east of Houston until early evening. Enterprise said it allowed the fire to burn out and that the blaze posed no danger to the community.
There were no injuries reported.
Homes near the plant were not evacuated but Highway 146 was closed.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown. The main facilities in the complex such as delivery terminals on the Houston Ship Channel and natural gas liquids fractionators were not damaged.
Fractionation is the separation of mixed natural gas liquids into ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane and natural gasoline, which Enterprise delivers in more than 49,000 miles of pipeline. The company operates a total of 19 fractionation plants.
The Mont Belvieu complex contains 25 salt dome storage caverns and was purchased by Enterprise in 2002. The company began constructing new facilities in the complex last summer to accommodate growing production from the Eagle Ford Shale.
View full post on Economy, Business And Finance Stories
Pepin Heights Orchard apple cider recalled on toxin fear
St. Paul, Minnesota, United States (AHN) – The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and Pepin Heights Orchard are advising consumers to avoid drinking Pepin Heights Orchard brand apple cider after department laboratory tests found the product may be contaminated with a type of mold toxin called patulin.
Any consumers with this product on hand are asked to discard it.
The product was sold in half gallon and one gallon plastic jugs. The affected lot codes are:
USE BY JAN 27 11
USE BY JAN 30 11
USE BY JAN 31 11
USE BY FEB 01 11
USE BY FEB 05 11
USE BY FEB 06 11
This product was sold and distributed in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, and Florida.
Pepin Heights Orchard, of Lake City, MN, is cooperating fully with the MDA to find the source of the patulin.
The cider was tested as part of a routine surveillance sampling program by the MDA which confirmed that the apple cider contained patulin at levels higher than the limit established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Patulin is a mycotoxin (mold toxin) that may be found in fruits, vegetables and other foods.
Patulin is formed by certain kinds of fungus that sometimes grow on or in these products. No illnesses have been associated with this patulin contamination. While the short-term health effects of patulin are not clearly established, FDA has identified long-term exposure to the substance as a potential concern.
Consumers and retailers should discard any of the apple cider and direct any further questions to the Pepin Heights Response Center at (800) 652-3779, Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST).
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Ellen DeGeneres Speaks Out Against Gay Bullying In Tearful Video
Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – With four suicides related to gay bullying making national news this month, Ellen DeGeneres recorded a tearful video message urging that something must be done about the current crisis of bullying amongst teenagers which has lead to four deaths just this month.
In the video, DeGeneres express her devastation with the deaths of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University student who killed himself after being outed online after his roommates recorded him in a sexual act with another male, as well as 13-year-old Seth Walsh in Tehachapi, California, 13-year-old Asher Brown of Cypress, Texas and 15-year-old Billy Lucas in Greensberg, Indiana.
“This needs to be a wake-up call to everyone: teenage bullying and teasing is an epidemic in this country, and the death rate is climbing,” DeGeneres said. “One life lost in this senseless way is tragic. Four lives lost is a crisis.
“My heart is breaking for their families, their friends and for a society that continues to let this happen,” DeGeneres continued. “These kids needed us. We have an obligation to change this. There are messages everywhere that validate this kind of bullying and taunting and we have to make it stop. We can’t let intolerance and ignorance take another kid’s life.”
DeGeneres also lists ways to help stop bullying and also ways to seek out help for those who are being bullied. Among them are the Trevor Project, a 24-hour national help line for gay and questioning teens, the National Center for Bullying Prevention, Matthew’s Place run by the Matthew Shepherd Foundation, and Angels and Doves.
“Things will get easier, people’s minds will change, and you should be alive to see it,” DeGeneres said.
View full post on Lifestyle And Leisure Stories
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