text:
Category Archives: Cuba
The Republic of Cuba, is an island country in the Caribbean.
Cuba Oil Drilling Tests U.S. on Protecting Florida or Embargo
By Katarzyna Klimasinska
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — Four U.S. inspectors armed with safety glasses and notebooks will set out on a mission next month to protect Florida's beaches from a Cuban threat.
They'll rendezvous in Trinidad and Tobago with the Scarabeo 9, a rig headed to deep waters off Cuba to drill for oil about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south of Florida's Key West.
Repsol YPF SA is making the Scarabeo 9 available to the U.S. inspectors before the rig starts drilling closer to Florida than the BP Plc well that failed last year in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the biggest U.S. offshore oil spill. The exploration poses an environmental, political and diplomatic challenge to the U.S. more than 50 years after cutting off relations with Cuba's communist regime.
The Obama administration's dilemma is "what steps to take for environmental protection and how much to honor current Cuba policy," Dan Whittle, Cuba program director at the New York- based Environmental Defense Fund, said in an interview.
In the aftermath of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, the U.S. banned exports to Cuba in 1960, withdrew diplomatic recognition, backed the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and imposed a full trade embargo in 1962.
Now generations of animosity between the two nations limit cooperation on safety standards and cleanup precautions for the Cuba drilling planned by Madrid-based Repsol, which would be followed by state-owned companies from Malaysia to Venezuela. A conference on regional oil-spill response being held this week in Nassau, Bahamas, may provide a forum for discussions by U.S. and Cuban representatives.
Juan Jacomino, a spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section at the Swiss embassy in Washington, declined in an interview to comment on drilling off of the island nation.
Repsol can use the Scarabeo 9 without violating the U.S. trade embargo because it was built at shipyards in China and Singapore, and fewer than 10 percent of its components are American, according to its owner, Eni SpA.
The sanctions would block spare parts from the U.S. for the rig's blowout preventer, a safety device that failed in the BP spill. The restrictions also require Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. of Houston, which provides oil-spill containment equipment for Repsol in the Gulf of Mexico, to seek a waiver to do so in Cuban waters in case of an accident.
U.S. companies seeking to do business with Cuba must ask the Commerce Department, which considers most applications "subject to a policy of denial," the agency says on its website. The Treasury Department weighs requests to travel from the U.S. to Cuba.
Granting too few permits for spill prevention and response would keep contractors from offering the technology and services developed after the BP spill, Lee Hunt, president of the Houston-based International Association of Drilling Contractors, said in an interview.
Cuban Exiles
Approving too many licenses would undermine the embargo, enriching a regime listed by the U.S. State Department as a nation supporting terrorism along with Iran, Sudan and Syria, according to anti-Castro lawmakers such as Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
U.S. "assistance, guidance and technical advice" to Repsol, including the planned visit to Scarabeo 9, may violate the law by "helping to facilitate" the company's work and providing the Cuban government "with a financial windfall," Ros-Lehtinen said in a Nov. 1 letter to President Barack Obama.
Ros-Lehtinen, who immigrated from Cuba with her family at age 8, is a leader among Cuban exiles in South Florida who have opposed easing U.S. restrictions. Florida, which has been a swing state in presidential elections, also has been a bastion of opposition to oil drilling that opponents say could despoil the beaches that are a prime draw for tourists.
Florida Drilling Foes
Lawmakers such as Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, have fought to keep drilling out of U.S. waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico bordering Florida.
Nelson and Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, introduced a bill Nov. 9 that would require foreign companies drilling in Cuban waters to pay for damage to U.S. territory without liability limits. Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, joined as a cosponsor.
Oil from BP's spill tarred beaches 150 miles away in Florida's northwestern Panhandle.
Now Floridians are faced with drilling under the jurisdiction of Cubans, who "don't have the resources" to control a blowout, Jorge Pinon, an energy consultant and visiting research fellow at the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University in Miami, said in an interview.
"If the U.S. is not willing to help" in an emergency, "the resources are going to come from Canada, Norway and the U.K., and it will take a very long time," said Pinon, who led Amoco Corp. units in Mexico City and retired from BP in 2003, according to his biography.
Repsol's Contract
Repsol signed a contract with Cuba in 2000, according to the company's website, and confirmed the presence of oil with a Norwegian rig in 2004. Repsol will drill in about 5,000 feet (1.5 kilometers) to 6,000 feet of water, about the depth of BP's Macondo well, according to Pinon.
Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas, based in Kuala Lumpur; New Delhi-based Oil & Natural Gas Corp.; Hanoi-based Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, known as PetroVietnam; Caracas-based Petroleos de Venezuela SA; and Sonangol SA of Luanda, Angola, also hold Cuban blocks, Pinon said.
U.S. officials say they are doing all they can to ensure safe drilling off Cuba.
"We are quite focused, and have been for many, many months" on "doing anything within our power to protect U.S. shores and U.S. coastline," Tommy Beaudreau, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an industry regulator, said in a Nov. 29 interview at Bloomberg's Washington office.
Wild Well Control
The administration has issued some licenses to U.S. companies to respond to a spill in Cuban waters, Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department, said in an e-mail. He didn't say how many have been approved, and the Commerce and Treasury departments didn't respond to e-mailed requests for comment.
Wild Well Control Inc. of Houston is one permit recipient, according to Hunt of the drilling contractors' trade group. The company didn't respond to e-mails and phone calls seeking comment.
"Helix plans to build a new subsea containment cap to safeguard drilling operations in Cuba," Cameron Wallace, a spokesman for that company said in an e-mail about its request for U.S. licenses. "The cap and associated equipment will be staged at a U.S. port near to the drilling site to minimize response time."
Walking the Deck
In their visit to the Scarabeo 9, two inspectors from the U.S. Coast Guard and two from the Interior Department will walk the deck and check generators, the positioning system and firefighting equipment, Brian Khey, who will be on the team, said in an interview.
The Americans will watch a firefighting simulation and conduct an abandon-ship drill, according to Khey, the supervisor at the Coast Guard's Outer Continental Shelf National Center of Expertise in Morgan City, Louisiana,
While the visitors will discuss with Repsol any deficiencies they find, they won't have enforcement powers, Khey said. Nor will they be able to check the blowout preventer or the well casing and drilling fluid that will be used on site, according to the Interior Department.
Scarabeo 9 was built "according to the latest and most advanced international standards available at the time of her design and construction," Rome-based Eni said in an e-mailed statement. "Health, safety and environmental protection are always a top priority."
Eni Subsidiary
The vessel "is one of the very few units in the industry which is using a technology which is not an American one," Pietro Franco Tali, chief executive officer of Eni's oilfield- services subsidiary, Saipem SpA, said on an Oct. 27, 2010, conference call.
One U.S. component is the blowout preventer, made by Houston-based National Oilwell Varco Inc. The company hasn't applied for a license to do business with Cuba and doesn't plan to, Chief Financial Officer Clay Williams said in a phone interview.
That means rig operators will have to seek training and spare parts in Europe or Asia, according to Hunt, whose group represents 1,494 companies including Saipem.
"It's like buying a Mercedes and being told you have to go to a Ford dealer for parts," Hunt said in an interview.
The results of Cuba's drilling may affect U.S. energy policy. Success would put pressure on the U.S. to open its waters surrounding Florida for exploration, Pinon said.
A serious accident off of Cuba could throw the industry out of the Gulf of Mexico, according to Brian Petty, executive vice president for governmental affairs of the drilling contractors' group.
"A mess" in Cuban waters would lead critics of drilling to say, "Stop it, don't let it go on anywhere," Petty said.
–With assistance from Nicole Gaouette in Washington and Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi. Editors: Judy Pasternak, Larry Liebert
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net
U.S. Legislators Want Repsol to Leave Cuba (mb50.wordpress.com)
Chinese-built oil rig setting sail for Cuban waters (mb50.wordpress.com)
Drill, Bebé, Drill (mb50.wordpress.com)
Don't talk oil with Cuba, lawmaker warns (mb50.wordpress.com)
Chinese-made drilling rig to be in Cuba by year's end (mb50.wordpress.com)
Dutch Fairmount Escorts Scarabeo 9 Rig around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (mb50.wordpress.com)
Want to drill in Cuban waters? Perhaps forget doing business in the United States then… (gcaptain.com)
5 Billion Barrels of Undiscovered Oil: US delegates head to Cuba to discuss deepwater ambitions (gcaptain.com)
Posted in Cuba
Tags: Barack Obama, Cuba, Florida, gulf of mexico, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Repsol, Repsol YPF, Scarabeo 9
Iran Conducting Anti-U.S. Operations from Latin America – Atlas Shrugs
Obama is neither inept nor stupid; he is, in fact, dangerous. Obama's sanction of Iran and aiding and abetting in the putdown of the freedom revolution in Iran in 2009 ranks, IMAO, as his most monstrous failure, among countless others.
Congress Rebuffs Obama's Pro-jihad Pleas to Appease, Aid Nuclear Iran
Obama Rejected Numerous Proposals to Retrieve Lost U.S. Drone: Officials Confirm Authenticity of Iranian TV Images Showing Drone
Iran exhibits US drone undamaged. US and Israeli intelligence shocked
A small number of us in the blogosphere (those concerned with the global jihad) have been documenting the increasing ties between Iran and Venezuela, Brazil, and Cuba. Further, the infiltration of Hezb'allah in Latin America and particularly in Mexico is well known. Hezb'allah exploits the drug cartels' narco-transit routes in Mexico…..
Iran Conducting Anti-U.S. Operations from Latin America – Atlas Shrugs.
Congress Rebuffs Obama's Pro-jihad Pleas to Appease, Aid Nuclear Iran (gds44.wordpress.com)
Obama Rejected Numerous Proposals to Retrieve Lost U.S. Drone: Officials Confirm Authenticity of Iranian TV Images Showing Drone (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
Iran, Latin American Ties Grow (myfoxny.com)
Quotes of the Day: Iran – Atlas Shrugs (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
OBAMA'S DISASTROUS FOREIGN POLICY: MISSING LIBYA MISSILES TURN UP IN GAZA (via Atlas Shrugs) (loopyloo305.wordpress.com)
Pro-Jihad Obama Opposes Sanctions, Urges US Lawmakers to Go Soft on Iran – Atlas Shrugs (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
Posted in Brazil, Cuba, Iran, Mexico, Middle East, Terrorism, Venezuela
Tags: Area Studies, Brazil, Cuba, Iran, Latin America, Latin American Studies, Mexico, Middle East, Obama, Social Sciences, United States, Venezuela
Dutch Fairmount Escorts Scarabeo 9 Rig around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
Fairmount Marine, a Dutch marine contractor for ocean towage and heavy lift transportation, announces that its powerful tug Fairmount Glacier has successfully assisted the new build semi submergible drilling rig Scarbeo 9 sailing around Cape of Good Hope.
For this operation Fairmount was contracted by Saipem Energies directly after the successful installation of the Usan FPSO Unit offshore Nigeria.
Fairmount Glacier was contracted to sail towards a meeting point offshore South Africa where she met with Scarabeo 9 and escorted her safely around the Cape of Good Hope. Despite the bad weather encountered during the route, the convoy proceeded at an average speed of 4.5 to 5.0 knots.
The semi submersible drilling rig Scarabeo 9 has a length of 115 metres, is 80 metres wide and her depth – from keel to main deck – is 35 metres. After they had safely cleared the South African Coast, the Master of Scarabeo 9 thanked Fairmount Glacier for her continued support throughout the voyage. The Fairmount Glacier returned to Cape Town.
Fairmount Marine Brings Ocean Yorktown Rig in U.S. Gulf of Mexico (mb50.wordpress.com)
Singapore: Keppel Completes Scarabeo 9 for Saipem (mb50.wordpress.com)
Anti-Castro Cuban Americans Fret Over Drilling Rig (mb50.wordpress.com)
Posted in Africa, Cuba, Nigeria, Semi-submersible, South Africa
Comments Off on Dutch Fairmount Escorts Scarabeo 9 Rig around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
Tags: Africa, Cape, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town, Cuba, Drill Rigs, Escorts, Fairmount, Fairmount Marine, Good, Hope, Nigeria, Offshore, Rig, Saipem, Scarabeo 9, South, South Africa
Cuba remembers Ernest Hemingway with a Washington bar
By Kate Dailey
BBC News Magazine
Tucked inside the Swiss Embassy, the cocktail area celebrates the writer who made his home in CubaCuban and American politicians have celebrated together at the opening of Hemingway's, an invitation-only bar located in a Washington, DC embassy.
It started like a typical Washington DC function. Men and women in dark suits milled around a formal room in the Swiss Embassy, crystal chandeliers sparkling overhead. Waiters carried around glasses of red and white wine while guests made polite small-talk.
But after a series of speeches, guests were led to the back of the room, and into an entirely different experience.
They had entered Hemingway's, a bar celebrating the American writer who made his home in Cuba. There, the floors were covered in terracotta tile, while wooden fans whirred above. Bartenders poured cocktails under a brass replica of Hemingway's signature.
Aside from the fact that it serves liquor, Hemingway's isn't a bar in the traditional sense. Tucked inside the embassy, where the Cuban Interests Section resides, the bar has a strict invitation-only list.
It will be used for entertaining guests of the Interest Section, so tourists hoping to catch happy hour are out of luck.
The bar's brass sign replicates Hemingway's signature
It's illegal for the bar to conduct any commerce, but the embassy is free from the trade embargo that forbids importing products from the communist country. So drinks were on the house, made with Cuban rum that's normally impossible to find in the US.
Terry McAullife, the former head of the Democratic National Committee, ordered the first drink – Havana Club Rum, straight.
Mr McAullife, who travelled to Cuba last year as part of a trade mission, thinks that doing more business with Cuba could be a key to creating American jobs.
"It's a huge market, and every other country in the world is already there," he says. "And Cubans love American products."
From Versailles to Havana
But the opening of the bar wasn't simply about facilitating Cuban-American commerce.
Instead, the night was more about celebrating Ernest Hemingway, described as a "cultural bridge" by Jennifer Phillips, the grand-daughter of Hemingway's editor. Ms Phillips is co-founder of the Finca Vigia foundation, devoted to preserving Hemingway's Cuban home.
She spoke before the opening of the bar, reminding the audience that Hemingway is treasured by both nations.
The chief of the Cuban Interests Section told of a fishing contest between Castro and Hemingway
Neither the US nor Cuba have official embassies in the other's country; instead both have Interests Sections located in the Swiss embassies.
Neither group has a history of being particularly friendly towards the host nation, though Cuba-watchers hope that Hemingway's signals a positive change.
When the Interest Section in DC was due for a renovation, the Cuban diplomats decided to reclaim a bit of the space as their own.
"The room was like the palace of Versailles," says Juan Leon Lamigueiro, deputy chief of the diplomatic mission. "There was very little Cuban."
"So we decided to convert the warehouse annex into a bar dedicated to Hemingway."
While mojitos and Cuba Libras were being poured in the small back room that houses the bar, a 12-piece band played Latin music in the front of the hall.
A mural promoting Fidel Castro displayed prominently at the entrance of the embassy.
Sandra Levinson, resplendent in a sparkling black and blue blouse, spun and twirled with her partner. MS Levinson, executive director of the Center for Cuban Studies in New York City and director of the centre's Cuban Art Space, learned to dance during her many trips to Cuba, and had travelled down to Washington specifically to attend the opening.
As the crowd subsided, the hosts brought out cigars – the famous commodity that is forbidden in the US.
Reporters, bureaucrats, and Cuban emigrants happily puffed away – but more than one skittish politico declined to have their pictures taken enjoying Cuban contraband.
"You can write this," one conceded. "An anonymous Hill staffer said the mojitos were fantastic."
U.S. & Cuba work together to preserve Hemingway's Havana home (repeatingislands.com)
Hemingway's Bar: Propaganda Genius? (toinformistoinfluence.com)
Posted in Cuba, GEOPOLITICS
Comments Off on Cuba remembers Ernest Hemingway with a Washington bar
Tags: Cuba, Cuban Interests Section, DC embassy, Ernest Hemingway, Fidel Castro, Hemingway, New York City, Swiss Embassy, United States, Washington, Washington DC
Anti-Castro Cuban Americans Fret Over Drilling Rig
Scarabeo 9
by Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Nov 4, 2011 (IPS) – With a giant deep-water oil rig steaming slowly toward the Gulf of Mexico and the waters just off Cuba, the administration of President Barack Obama is being pushed and pulled by different interests over what, if anything, to do about it.
On the one hand, anti-Castro Cuban-American and other right-wing lawmakers here are expressing growing exasperation over what they see as Washington's failure to do whatever it can to prevent the new, 750-million-dollar Scarabeo 9 from fulfilling its mission to begin exploratory drilling off the island's northwest coast by early next year.
They appear increasingly worried that the rig, which will be operated initially by the Spanish oil company, Repsol-YPF, may find commercially exploitable quantities of oil under Cuba's waters and thus provide a "windfall" for Havana that will be used to help sustain the Communist government led by President Raul Castro.
On the other hand, some environmental and anti-embargo groups, including business associations that want to increase trade with Havana, are calling on Obama to engage the Cuban government more directly in the interests of both protecting the Gulf's ecology from a possible spill and ensuring that U.S. oil service companies will be able to help contain the damage should such an accident take place.
Less than 18 months after the Deepwater Horizon blow-out that sent nearly five million barrels of oil pouring into the Gulf over a three-month period, they argue that Washington should work closely with both the Cuban government and Repsol, as well as other third- country companies that will operate the rig, to both minimise the risk of a similar accident and contain its impact if there is one.
So far, the administration appears to be trying to steer a middle course, satisfying neither side.
The U.S. Geological Service estimates that there could be undiscovered reserves of up to six billion barrels of oil under Cuban waters only 100 kms from the Florida Keys, while others have suggested there could be as much as several times that amount.
And while it would take at least a couple of years before those reserves could be tapped commercially, they would provide a huge boost to the struggling Cuban economy, which currently depends on the largess of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for more than two-thirds of its daily crude oil requirements.
"We are extremely concerned over what seems to be a lack of a coordinated effort by the Administration to prevent a State Sponsor of Terrorism, just 90 miles form our shores, from engaging in risky deep sea oil drilling projects that will harm U.S. interests as well as extend another economic lifeline to the Cuban regime," complained four Cuban-American congressmen in a letter to Obama earlier this week.
They demanded, among other things, that the administration investigate whether any part of the Scarabeo has been made with U.S.- origin parts in violation of the 49-year-old U.S. trade embargo, and whether Obama's own Interior Department may itself be violating the law by providing Repsol with technical advice.
"The administration needs to provide answers and change course," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, one of the four lawmakers and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who in September also helped persuade 35 of her House colleagues to sign a letter to Repsol's chairman urging him to immediately halt the company's plans to drill.
The signatories included most lawmakers from Florida whose Gulf coast would almost certainly be affected by any spill originating in the drilling area.
Repsol has become the main target of Congressional opposition to the project primarily because it is the only publicly-traded company with substantial investments in the U.S. in a multinational consortium that includes the state oil companies of Malaysia, Brazil, Norway, Angola, and several other countries.
Repsol, which has issued repeated assurances that the rig's operation and equipment will meet U.S. standards, has agreed to permit a team from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to inspect the Scarabeo and its drilling equipment when it reaches Trinidad and Tobago later this month.
While that inspection won't be as comprehensive as Washington would like, BSEE director Michael Bromwich told a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Congressional Wednesday, "In our judgement, it's a lot better than nothing."
The administration is also using the multilateral International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to have its Coast Guard officers sit down with Cuban and other officials from the northern Caribbean next month to discuss measures for dealing with spills under the 1990 International Convention on Oil Pollution, Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC).
In fact, the 750-million-dollar Scarabeo is considered pretty much state of the art. It was designed by Norwegian engineers; its structure was built in China; and it was fitted with the latest deep- water drilling technology in Singapore.
But the fear of a major accident has prompted a number of environmental groups and independent experts to urge the administration to become significantly more engaged with both the Cuban government and all of the companies that will be operating the rig.
In particular, they want the administration to issue a general license for U.S. oil services companies to work in Cuba, which would permit them to respond quickly to any spill or related emergency resulting from drilling operations. Under the trade embargo, each company would have to apply for a special license to do so.
"We are very naïve to think that, in the case of Cuba, a handful of individual exports licenses could prevent and contain a deepwater oil exploratory well blow-out," Jorge Pinon, a former oil executive and consultant at Florida International University, told the Subcommittee.
"A general license to export and supply equipment, personnel and services to international oil companies operating in Cuba in the case of an emergency is urgently needed," he stressed, noting that more than 5,000 vessels, millions of metres of booms; and nearly eight million litres of dispersant were deployed to contain the Deepwater Horizon spill.
That message was echoed by Daniel Whittle, who directs the Cuba programme at the Environmental Defense Fund and who organized a delegation headed by President George H.W. Bush's environment chief, William Reilly, that visited Cuba earlier this year. Reilly was the co-chairman of the national commission that investigated the Deepwater disaster.
"First and foremost, the administration should take steps now to ensure that U.S.-based companies are pre-authorized to assist in preventing and containing major oil spills in Cuban waters," he testified.
"It's critical to get U.S. companies into the act because of their technology, know-how, and proximity," agreed Jake Colvin, vice president of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), a business lobby that represents major multi-national corporations here. "While the administration has the authority to license a rapid response by those companies in the event of an accident, it hasn't yet authorized it."
"The reason they're not issuing a general license is entirely political," according to Sarah Stephen, the director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas, which has lobbied against the embargo and last summer published a booklet on Cuba's drilling plans.
"The administration clearly understands the urgency here, but it's worried about the pressure from Congress, especially from the Floridians," she said.
*Jim Lobe's blog on U.S. foreign policy can be read at http://www.lobelog.com.
Washington raises a glass to Cuba (bbc.co.uk)
Posted in Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Gulf of Mexico, Oil & Gas - offshore
Tags: Barack Obama, Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, energy, gulf of mexico, Havana, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Offshore drilling, Oil & Gas - offshore, Oil and Gas, Repsol, Repsol YPF, Scarabeo 9
Iran Opens 500mln euro Credit Line for Cuba
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has allocated a credit line of 500 million euros (about 685 million US dollars) to Cuba.
Abel Salas, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Water Resources, announced the allocation Wednesday at a meeting with Iran's deputy energy minister in Tehran, Tehran Times reported on Thursday.
Salas expressed the hope that some parts of the credit line would be used for the reconstruction of Cuba's energy system.
Iran and Cuba signed a protocol for economic and trade cooperation in September during Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi's visit to Havana. The protocol stipulated that Iran would expand its credit to Cuba from 270 million to 680 million US dollars.
It also included accords on the two countries' collaboration in industry, energy, trade, health, finance, biotechnology and hydraulics.
Iran has been producing equipment for rail systems and synthetic media for the Cuban market under a 2009 agreement. The expansion of credit will also support the program.
Iran has in recent years expanded friendly ties with Latin America, specially in economic, trade and industrial fields.
Since taking office in 2005, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expanded Iran's cooperation with many Latin American states, including Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil and Cuba.
The strong and rapidly growing ties between Iran and Latin America have raised eyebrows in the US and its western allies since Tehran and Latin nations have forged an alliance against the imperialist and colonialist powers.
The Mottled Relationship: Iran and Latin America (mb50.wordpress.com)
UK military building plan for attack on Iran (americablog.com)
Is Israel planning to attack Iran? (americablog.com)
Brits Steel for Possible US Strike on Iran: Report (newser.com)
Posted in Cuba, Economic Sanctions, GEOPOLITICS, Iran
Comments Off on Iran Opens 500mln euro Credit Line for Cuba
Tags: Cuba, Iran, Latin America, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, President of Iran, Tehran, United States
US Oil-Spill Response Cos Seek Permission to Operate in Cuban Waters
by Tennille Tracy
Several U.S. companies are asking the Obama administration for permission to respond to potential oil spills in Cuban waters, a top offshore drilling regulator said Wednesday, hoping to overcome embargo restrictions that currently limit their ability to do so.
The companies' requests coincide with a growing concern among oil-industry experts who say the U.S. embargo on Cuba could cripple the ability of spill-containment companies to respond to potential spills that start in Cuban waters but then move to U.S. shores.
Speaking at a congressional hearing Wednesday, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich said several companies have asked the U.S. Commerce Department for licenses that would allow them to use subsea well containment systems and other types of equipment to respond to spills in Cuban waters.
Bromwich said he had "a high level of confidence" the Commerce Department would approve the licenses, in large part because it had already issued separate approvals for oil-spill containment systems and cleanup items. U.S. government agencies "are very much on alert, looking for the licenses [applications] as they come in and my understanding is that they're giving them very rapid attention and they're approving them as promptly as they can."
The administration's efforts are not without controversy. The chairman of the House Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R., Colo.), said Wednesday that he is concerned "this administration will weaken the U.S. embargo on Cuba."
Earlier in the week, the head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to do more to prevent Cuba's oil-drilling plans. "This scheme endangers U.S. security and environmental interests, and will enrich the Cuban regime," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), a Cuban-born American, said.
Many environmental and oil-industry experts have taken a different approach and have urged the administration to give broad flexibility to U.S. companies that are equipped to respond to spills.
They contend Cuba will pursue oil exploration, regardless of whether the U.S. disapproves, so the U.S. should simply prepare for possible accidents.
Cuba's offshore drilling plans get under way in coming months when Spanish company Repsol starts to conduct exploratory drilling off the country's northern coast. Repsol is transporting a Chinese-built rig to be used for the exploration work.
Repsol has voluntarily agreed to allow U.S. officials to inspect the rig before it enters Cuban waters. The company has also agreed to comply with U.S. drilling standards.
Would U.S. Export Laws Hinder Efforts To Mitigate Cuban Oil Spills? (mb50.wordpress.com)
US experts eye Cuba oil plans after BP spill (mb50.wordpress.com)
Helix seeks to provide capping stack in case of Cuba drill accident (mb50.wordpress.com)
Comments Off on US Oil-Spill Response Cos Seek Permission to Operate in Cuban Waters
Tags: Barack Obama, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Cuba, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Michael R. Bromwich, Obama administration, Repsol, United States Department of Commerce, United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Feds approve Murphy drilling project using Helix emergency equipment
Cameron Wallace, left, and Eric Poller, a subsea engineer for Helix Well Ops, look at a new oil spill-containment system developed by Houston's Helix Energy Solutions. (Michael Paulsen/Houston Chronicle)
by Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Federal regulators on Monday issued a permit to the first offshore drilling operation planning to rely on a Houston company's cap-and-flow containment system in case of a disaster.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement gave the permit to Murphy Exploration & Production Co., allowing the firm to drill a sidetrack well at its Thunder Hawk field about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans.
Other companies have successfully submitted oil spill response plans that would rely on the capping stack developed by Helix Well Containment Group or a separate system devised by the Marine Well Containment Co. But Murphy is the first firm to win regulators' sign off for an emergency response plan involving Helix's full flowback system.
The cap-and-flow system caps the well and contains any additional flowing oil in case it is out of control. The entire system involves a capping stack installed on the well head and a flowback system designed to direct the crude to vessels floating overhead.
Although some wells require only the containment system, the cap-and-flow equipment is geared toward operations with higher pressure. Regulators say the cap-and-flow program can help maintain the integrity of an underwater well in cases where the capping stack alone might not do the trick.
The Helix cap-and-flow system is capable of sending 55,000 barrels of oil and 95 million cubic feet of gas per day to the floating ships.
Separately, Helix is asking the Obama administration for a license to provide its containment equipment in case of a spill from offshore drilling in Cuban waters. The Spanish company Repsol is set to begin drilling a deep-water exploratory well north of the island nation — just 50 miles from south Florida — in December or January.
Helix spokesman Cameron Wallace said the ultimate scope of services that would be offered is still under consideration "and no firm commitments have yet been made."
The U.S. trade embargo against Cuba generally bars U.S. companies from exporting equipment and services to it, but American firms can get special approval from the Treasury Department.
"We believe that it is important to make proven solutions, similar to our Helix Fast Response System, available for any drilling project that could potentially impact the nation's coastlines," Wallace said. "Helix's goal is to make some of these spill containment technologies available while fully complying with federal trade regulations."
UK: Well Enhancer Helps in Testing of Well Cap Deployment (mb50.wordpress.com)
USA: HWCG Chooses Sonardyne Acoustics for New GoM Well Containment Response System (mb50.wordpress.com)
Helix: An Introduction to Well Intervention (gcaptain.com)
Re-inventing subsea intervention to keep economics above water (mb50.wordpress.com)
Posted in Cuba, Gulf of Mexico, Houston, Oil & Gas - offshore
Tags: BOEM, BOEMRE, BSEE, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Cuba, Helix, Helix Energy Solutions Group, Helix Well Containment Group, Houston, marine well containment company, Murphy Exploration, Murphy Exploration and Production, MWCC, New Orleans, Offshore drilling, Oil & Gas - offshore, Thunder Hawk, United States


text:
> Falling oil price and appreciating dollar: is it normal?
> Quelles sont les vraies monnaies refuges pendant les crises ?
Cécile Couharde
> Is the exchange rate – oil price nexus stable over time?
> Sortie de l'euro et compétitivité française
> La blockchain, nouvel intermédiaire de confiance ?
> Le point de vue de l'expert : « Attention à la faible inflation »
Addressing macroeconomic imbalances within the euro area: still a long road ahead
The shock caused by the 2007-08 financial collapse, followed by the European sovereign debt crisis, has raised new doubts about the ability of the single currency to work well in a region with huge economic and political diversity. It has also given a new dimension to this debate by highlighting the building-up of unsustainable macroeconomic imbalances within the European Monetary Union (EMU).
Par Virginie Coudert, Cécile Couharde, Carl Grekou, Valérie Mignon
Billet du 15 avril 2019
The architects of the euro area counted on the monetary union to facilitate balance-of-payments adjustments by encouraging imbalances mainly driven by productivity differentials and catching-up developments. In short, there were widespread expectations that the removal of exchange-rate risks and the increased financial integration would play an important role in the adjustment process.
Although the Eurozone, a monetary union based on a single currency, is supposed to be immune from unstainable disequilibria characteristic to fixed-exchange rate regimes, it is now well established that macroeconomic imbalances initially considered as "good imbalances" turned out to be "bad imbalances".
In a recent working paper, we illustrate these unresolved adjustment problems by examining between-country disparities in terms of equilibrium exchange rates among the Eurozone's founding members before and after the launch of the single currency.
Assessing imbalances' adjustments
Looking at the evolution of internal and external imbalances over time gives an idea about the existence of a rebalancing process among countries. However, this does not tell us the full story as this does not shed light on how adjustments take place. Indeed, suppose that improvements in debtor economies are accompanied by declining domestic demand and rising unemployment — as it has happened in the euro area — the adjustment process is not necessarily appropriate as the improvement in current positions occurs at the cost of increased internal disequilibria.
A more comprehensive analysis of imbalances' adjustments needs then to establish whether they are appropriate. Equilibrium exchange rate approaches allow for such assessments by giving a rough measure of real exchange rates that are consistent with the achievement of internal (reducing output gap and unemployment) and external (a more sustainable current account) balances. If a rebalancing process is observed among countries while real exchange rates still exhibit departures from their equilibrium values, hence the process may not be sustainable as it is likely to be achieved in an asymmetric way.
Adopting this approach, we explain how adjustment patterns have taken place among euro area countries before and after the launch of the single currency. We first calculate departures of real exchange rates from their equilibrium levels over time, in order to obtain an estimate of the evolution of currency realignments that would have been necessary to accompany an appropriate rebalancing process among EMU countries. We then implement a cluster analysis, which allows us to form groups of euro-members that correspond to different adequate adjustment patterns of exchange rates among Eurozone countries. Once the groups have been established, we validate them by identifying the common features shared by euro area countries belonging to the same group.
A partition of the EMU in three groups of countries
Our findings show that in the decades leading up to the euro, the euro area was partitioned into two groups of countries that exhibited each relatively homogenous adjustment patterns, while a third set of economies with lower initial GDP per capita, such as Portugal and Greece, displayed a diverging pattern.
Contrary to expectations, heterogeneity within the euro area failed to decrease. Monetary union did not succeed in reducing dissimilarities between these clusters of countries and even further increased the diverging pattern of Greece.
The two charts displayed in Figure 1 help to understand between-country disparities in terms of adjustment patterns and how they have evolved before and after the launch of the euro. As can be seen, the cluster analysis gives a partition of the euro area into three distinct sets of countries over the two periods, shown by the three colors: blue, orange and red. Differences among these clusters have increased from the first to the second period, as illustrated by larger color contrasts on the right-side map.
Figure 1 — The Euro area clusters
Note: Distinct clusters are color-coded on the basis of their distance to Greece in terms of exchange rate adjustment: blue for countries with higher distance to Greece, orange for those with lower distance. In each cluster, a deeper color represents countries with higher distance to Greece.
Identifying the drivers of rising between-countries disparities
Let us inspect more closely the heterogeneity of these adjustment patterns during each period, looking in particular at the main drivers of the formation of the three clusters of countries within the euro area. During the pre-EMU period, our results show that stronger financial position (measured by current account positions and debt-to-GDP ratios) and internal balances (measured by growth and unemployment rates) were the main drivers of heterogeneous adjustment patterns in the euro area. The bottom performers such as Portugal and Greece were characterized by structural weaknesses compared to the other founding members. In particular, both countries exhibited high inflation, high debt-to-GDP ratios, and strong current account deficits, hence implying high realignments of their nominal exchange rates in order to rebalance their internal and external positions. On the contrary, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands displayed low inflation rates and debt-to-GDP ratios, which resulted in lower current imbalances and/or current surpluses. The other countries (Austria, Finland, Italy and Spain), generally performed well on one factor but at the expense of the other.
During the EMU period, we find evidence of more marked differences in terms of adjustment patterns, highlighting that the bottom performers in the previous period were unable to start a convergence process. Instead, the situation of Greece and, to a lesser extent, of Portugal deteriorated, with the accumulation of large imbalances in the first decade of the EMU. Greece and Portugal hence further diverge, as reflected by their poor performances in terms of both internal and external balances (persistent current account deficits, high unemployment rates and zero-growth rates on average). Only Spain moved from its initial group to the set of top performers thanks to the improvement in its fiscal position, while being quite distant given the still remaining macroeconomic imbalances at play. In contrast, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands appear closer to each other thanks to their performances —especially Germany and the Netherlands.
The need for structural reforms to raise productivity
Overall, our findings suggest that the configuration of the Eurozone has become more fragmented since the launch of the single currency as dissimilarities across and within groups of countries have augmented. They also point to a truism: in a monetary union, appropriate adjustment requires structural reforms to raise productivity as the nominal parity can no longer be adjusted and compensated by higher financial integration. Without such reforms, the adjustment is essentially borne by debtor economies through declining relative prices. The adjustment following the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area could thus only be achieved by a painful correction through domestic deflation policies in debtor countries, threatening the long-term sustainability of the Eurozone. Since then, many steps have been taken in order to correct macroeconomic imbalances, and notably the macroeconomic imbalance procedure (MIP) that the European Commission introduced in 2011. However, to make the adjustment process more robust, policymakers should also focus on raising productivity growth in order to make output gaps and current account positions more consistent among euro area countries.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the authors and does not necessarily express the views of the institutions to which they belong.
Europe | Monnaie & Finance > >	Européennes
Retrouvez plus d'information sur le blog du CEPII.
© CEPII, Reproduction strictement interdite. Le blog du CEPII, ISSN: 2270-2571
Le CEPII (Centre d'Études Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales) est le principal centre français d'étude et de recherche en économie internationale. Contact :

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
require 'sensu-plugin/check/cli'
require 'aws-sdk'
require 'net/http'
require 'json'
require 'sensu-plugins-sensu/filter'

class EC2Filter < Sensu::Plugin::Check::CLI
  include Filter
  option :aws_access_key,
         short: '-a AWS_ACCESS_KEY',
         long: '--aws-access-key AWS_ACCESS_KEY',
         description: "AWS Access Key. Either set ENV['AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'] or provide it as an option"

  option :aws_secret_access_key,
         short: '-k AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY',
         long: '--aws-secret-access-key AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY',
         description: "AWS Secret Access Key. Either set ENV['AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'] or provide it as an option"

  option :aws_region,
         short: '-r AWS_REGION',
         long: '--aws-region REGION',
         description: 'AWS Region (such as us-east-1).',
         default: 'us-east-1'

  option :sense_host,
         short: '-h SENSU_HOST',
         long: '--host SENSU_HOST',
         description: 'Sensu host to query',
         default: 'sensu'

  option :sensu_port,
         short: '-p SENSU_PORT',
         long: '--port SENSU_PORT',
         description: 'Sensu API port',
         proc: proc(&:to_i),
         default: 4567

  option :warn,
         short: '-w WARN',
         description: 'Warn if instance has been up longer (Minutes)',
         proc: proc(&:to_i)

  option :critical,
         short: '-c CRITICAL',
         description: 'Critical if instance has been up longer (Minutes)',
         proc: proc(&:to_i)

  option :min,
         short: '-m MIN_TIME',
         description: 'Minimum Time an instance must be running (Minutes)',
         proc: proc(&:to_i),
         default: 5

  option :filter,
         short: '-f FILTER',
         description: 'Filter to use to find ec2 instances',
         default: '{}'

  option :exclude_tags,
         short: '-e {<tag-key>:[VAL1, VAL2]} {<tag-key>:[VAL1, VAL2] }',
         long: '--exclude_tags {<tag-key>:[VAL1, VAL2] } {<tag-key>:[VAL1, VAL2] }',
         description: 'Tag Values to exclude by. Values treated as regex. Any matching value will result in exclusion.',
         default: '{}'

  def aws_config
    hash = {}
    hash.update access_key_id: config[:access_key_id], secret_access_key: config[:secret_access_key] if config[:access_key_id] && config[:secret_access_key]
    hash.update region: config[:aws_region]
    hash
  end

  def run
      #Converting the string into a hash.
      filter_list = config[:exclude_tags].split(/}\s?{/).map{|x| x.gsub(/[{}]/,'')}.map {|y| h1,h2 = y.split(':'); { h1 => h2}}.reduce(:merge)
      filter_list.delete(nil)
      filter_list.each { |x,y| filter_list[x] = y.strip.gsub(/[\[\]]/,'')}
      client = Aws::EC2::Client.new aws_config

      parsed_filter = parse(config[:filter])

      unless parsed_filter.empty?
        filter = {filters: Filter.parse(config[:filter])}
      else
        filter ={}
      end

      data = client.describe_instances(filter)

      currentTime = Time.now.utc
      aws_instances = Set.new
      data.reservations.each do |r|
        r.instances.each do |i|
          aws_instances << {
            id:i[:instance_id],
            up_time: (currentTime - i[:launch_time])/60,
            tags: i.tags
          }
        end
      end

      sensu_clients = client_check

      missing = Set.new

      aws_instances.delete_if { |instance| instance[:tags].any? { |key|
        filter_list.keys.include?(key.key) && filter_list[key.key].split(',').any? { |v|
          key.value.match(/#{v.strip}/)
          }
        }
      }

      aws_instances.each do |i|
        if sensu_clients.include?(i[:id]) == false
          if i[:up_time] > config[:min]
            missing << i
            output "Missing instance #{i[:id]}. Uptime: #{i[:up_time]} Minutes"
          end
        end
      end

      warn_flag = false;
      crit_flag = false;

      missing.each do |m|
        if(config[:critical].nil? == false) &&( m[:up_time] > config[:critical])
          crit_flag = true;
        elsif (config[:warn].nil? == false) && ( m[:up_time] > config[:warn])
          warn_flag = true;
        end
      end

      if crit_flag
        critical
      elsif warn_flag
        warning
      end
      ok
  end

  def client_check
    uri = URI("http://#{config[:sense_host]}:#{config[:sensu_port]}/clients")
    response = JSON.parse(Net::HTTP.get(uri))

    clients = Set.new
    response.each do |client|
      clients << client['name']
    end

    clients
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, who as head of state is not involved in government affairs except foreign policy, tweeted on Saturday that he has a "major timing problem" since the vote results clash with a USA-Finland women's ice hockey World Championship final match.
Finland's Social Democratic Party retained a narrow lead to emerge as the top parliamentary election vote-getter on Sunday.
Right behind came the populist Finns Party with 17.5 per cent, while the conservative National Coalition party took the third spot with 17 per cent of votes.
Finns can expect a broad, ineffective coalition government for the next four years as the Social Democrats, who narrowly won weekend elections, focus on keeping the surging anti-immigration populists out, analysts said.
Outgoing Prime Minister Juha Sipila said his Centre Party was the election's "biggest loser", blaming the "difficult economic decisions" his administration made in an attempt to rebalance the economy after a long slump.
Underscoring a growing confidence among the far-right in Europe, anti-immigration parties, including the Finns, have announced plans to join forces after the May 26 European Union election in a move that could give them a major say in how the continent is run.
Voters in Finland are casting ballots in a parliamentary election Sunday after climate change dominated the campaign, even overshadowing topics like reforming the nation's generous welfare model.
The other parties obtaining seats in the new 200-seat Eduskunta - Finland's parliament - are the Swedish People's Party with 4.5 per cent of the votes and 9 seats and the Christian Democrats with 3.9 per cent of the votes and 5 seats.
Djokovic makes Nadal favourite in Monte Carlo as Wawrinka wins opener
Speaking ahead of the tournament, Djokovic said he was expecting the conditions to be slow in Monte Carlo. There are a lot of guys who are tough on clay, especially Rafa and Novak (Dkjokovic).
She's the scientist who helped create black hole pictures
The moniker comes from an 18th-century chant describing the creation of the Hawaiian universe. Yet, nobody knows how they formed or got so heavy. "We're seeing the unseeable".
Demands for apology continue 100 years after Amritsar massacre
Asquith also added that the Queen had spoken of the incident as a distressing example of Britain's past history with India. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre is one of the darkest chapters in the history of India's freedom struggle.
Antti Rinne, said Sunday night the Social Democrats held a small lead after most ballots cast in advance were counted: "It's a thrilling situation".
One predicted the high advance turnout and tight poll margins would make this "the liveliest election of the 2000s".
"It's very hard to see that the other parties would say no to the Social Democrats, because then we would be in a situation with Halla-aho trying to form a government and I just don't see that happening", Korpinen said.
The opposition Social Democratic Party, which has traditionally attracted working-class voters, topped a recent poll with 19% voter support.
The Finns' stance on environmental policies, which includes an opposition to a proposed tax on meat consumption, appeals to rural voters in particular who fear soaring fuel costs and resent any efforts to change what they see as the traditional Finnish way of life. Most political parties support government actions to curb global warming.
The Blue Reform, the splinter group formed by the moderate wing of the Finns Party in November 2017, collapsed into political oblivion after failing to win a seat in the Parliament.
Reform has been controversial in Finland and plans to cut costs and boost efficiency have stalled for years, leaving older voters anxious about the future.
Notre Dame fire: Paris laments as Emmanuel Macron commits to rebuilding cathedral
As the spire fell, the sky lit orange, acrid smoke rose in plumes and flames shot out the roof behind the nave. An investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire which may be linked to renovation work.
'Ilhan Omar is impacting conversation of politics in US'
Many critics said her use of "some people did something" minimized the impact of the terror attacks. Sanders claim that Omar was just being "critical of a right-wing government in Israel" is a lie.
Facebook Messenger Dark Mode now available to all
And, thanks to a new report published today, iOS 13 is looking to be a massive update for both the iPhone and the iPad. The report said that this can be done via a three-finger tap gesture on the keyboard area to trigger the function.
Apple, Google asked to take down TikTok app
The Indian high court's interim order also included a request to the central government of India to advocate a ban nationwide. TikTok even removed 6 million videos from its service last week to address the problem of inappropriate content on the app.
Duke Basketball: Zion Williamson officially declares for the NBA Draft
Williamson is highly thought of in NBA Draft circles, seen as one of the best prospects the process has seen in the last 25 years. His teammates, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish , both declared for the NBA Draft earlier this month.
Bettor Won More Than $1 Million Thanks To Tiger Woods' Masters Win
In a follow-up tweet, she congratulated Woods on his tremendous Masters victory, calling him the greatest player in golf history. This title marks Woods' first major victory in over a decade and only his second PGA Tour victory in the last five years.
Microsoft is also working on AirPods competitor, code-named 'Morrison'
The earbuds are said to come with Cortana integration and may include noise cancellation feature as well. Microsoft's foray into headphones may not be a one-off, according to a new report.
Kate Middleton has family problems due to Prince William's possible infidelity
In related news, the Duchess of Sussex is now on her maternity leave and she will return to her royal duties in October. At the time being, Catherine will don tiaras like the Cartier Halo Scroll she wore when she got married in 2011.
Happy Easter - there is a warm sunny weekend ahead
Most of the country will be dry and sunny with above-normal temperatures in the south and west, but cooler along North Sea coasts. Sunday won't be quite as nice, but still nicer than it has been recently, with temperatures reaching 17 degrees.
An important Game 3 between the Vegas Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks would take place in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. San Jose LW Michael Haley left in the second period after injuring his left ankle on a blocked shot and did not return.
Israeli team assesses what went wrong with lunar landing
Beresheet project engineers worked to understand what had gone wrong in the final, fatal seconds before the spacecraft crashed. The audience outside had been through a turbulent journey themselves as they watched the first part of the landing go to plan.
Republican Bill Weld announces primary campaign against Donald Trump
He endorsed Democrat Barack Obama over Republican nominee John McCain in 2008, though he later said that had been a mistake. Weld has not won a political race since being re-elected governor by a landslide in his heavily Democratic state in 1994.
McKenzie is set to miss the Rugby World Cup
Now, it looks as if the All Blacks selectors will have to change their plans. The Rugby World will be held from September 20 to November 2.
EU's Tusk says not to give up on 'dream' of Brexit U-turn
A top European Union figure has said he fears Britain will waste its latest Brexit reprieve and "run down the clock" once again. Cross-party talks between the government and the Labour Party are set to resume this week to find a way through the impasse.
Russell Crowe Transforms Into Roger Ailes In 'Loudest Voice' Teaser
Sherman also helped write the very first episode with the screenwriter, Tom McCarthy . Several other women came forward at a later date, including on the 18th of May, 2017.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Quitting Facebook
I think it has effects on everybody: "Increased isolation, depression, anxiety, addiction, escapism", she added. The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) on Monday strongly criticized Ocasio-Cortez for her comments.
Amazon will launch a free music service, but there's a catch
According to an exclusive report from Billboard , Amazon is due to launch a new free tier to its current music streaming service. Amazon has said "tens of millions" of paid customers listen to Prime Music and its standalone Amazon Music Unlimited service.
Patriots sign Demaryius Thomas
New OnePlus 7 renders showcase a surprisingly familiar Android flagship phone
When Nick Jonas ran out of beer at his wedding
SpaceX Falcon Heavy core rocket lost after toppling into the ocean
Mobile's John Legere denies Justice Department pushback on Sprint merger
Mary Tyler Moore Show actress dies aged 70 — Georgia Engel
Sanders releases long-awaited tax returns, showing millionaire status
Florida man killed by enormous pet bird
Major economies take dim view of Facebook Libra


Sunday marks the beginning of what is called "Passion Week" or "Holy Week." This is the final week leading up to Easter. In it, we walk with Jesus through the final week of his life. It helps us experience both death and resurrection in deeper ways. We hope you will join us each day this week as we head toward resurrection.
We would like the story to end here.
The crowd finally recognizing his majesty.
Spreading palm leaves and robes and shouting to the world their honor of this king.
But this is not the last Sunday in the story.
We have two Sundays. One with public approval and recognition. The other with a success going beyond the mere praise of people. If we stop here, the victory is not as complete. If we stop here, we have a successful Messiah. But when you compare that to a Risen Messiah, it pales in comparison.
What kind of King do you want? A King who everyone likes? Or a King who can conquer death? If we stop here, it looks like everything may turn out ok. If we stop here, we sell ourselves short.
But even if we sell ourselves short, if we stop here we avoid a lot of pain. The journey from this Sunday to the next is the most painful in all of human history. All other stories of tragedy and loss reflect this story. What lies ahead is painful goodbyes, extreme disappointment, public rejection, grotesque betrayal, inhumane torture, and a brutal death.
If we stop here, no one needs to suffer, and our hero need not die.
So we are forced to ask the question, Is it worth it?
I was listening to Rob Bell's talk at Mars Hill this week, and he said something that reframed some things for me. He was talking about suffering and pain and criticism. He called these things a refining process. When we suffer, hurt, are betrayed, rejected, critiqued, and ignored we are going through a refining process which makes us count the cost.
I always assumed counting the cost was something you did up front.
Before you make a decision, before you decide to change a lifestyle, you need to ask yourself – am I willing to do this? What is this going to cost me?
And those are good things to think through.
But can you ever really know what lies ahead on the journey?
When I committed to my wife at our wedding, I was saying I would stay faithful no matter what. But is there any way I could have know how life would turn out? Is there any way I could know the ups and downs, the difficulty as well as the joy?
Absolutely not. The real test comes when times get tough. And not just in marriage. This is how life works.
When times get tough, when we suffer, when we are disappointed, betrayed, rejected, wounded, confused and tired we count the cost in new ways.
We often hit a point of crisis. If I gave up this thing I am pursuing, if I just did things the way they have always been done, if I would just keep my head down, if I took the easier path, life would be so much better. I could avoid a lot of pain and hurt and difficulty.
Am I willing to suffer for whatever it is I am pursuing? Am I willing to be misunderstood? Am I willing to give things up? Am I willing to not get my way? Am I willing to do things I deem as "below me?" Am I willing to take a few hits along the way?
We count the cost. Because we suffer for the things that are worth it.
Passion week reminds us that Jesus counted the cost. He decided there were some things worth choosing suffering over popular opinion. He chose the option of being rejected (in some of the most painful ways) over success, power, popularity, and status.
Because it was worth it.
To put a finer point on it, YOU were worth it.
This week asks us to count the cost. What are you willing to suffering for? What are the things you are willing to give up success and status for?
Because chances are, these are the things that really matter. These are the things we need to pursue.
And when we do, we may just discover, these are the things that lead us to Resurrection.
This entry was posted in Lent and tagged Counting Costs, Difficulty, Lent, Palm Sunday, Suffering, Triumphal Entry. Bookmark the permalink.


Pete The Plumber designs and installs heating systems which are tailored to your specific needs.
From a basic condensing combination boiler system with 6 or 7 radiators to a more complex system involving stored hot water to conventional heating and hot water systems including sealed (pressurised) heating and mains fed hot water circuits.
Whatever your needs we can design and install a heating system to meet your requirements.


Field trips, one to one, or small groups for anyone prepared to pay a nominal fee for my time and genius! If you are within a sensible distance of Galleywood, (Chelmsford) interested in photography and want to learn more, and share with others what you have learnt, please contact me. Beginners to advanced and even at genius level, getting out and about with a camera, any camera... Even a phone and we could ALL learn something new.
OK about me, and what the hell do I know?
I've been taking photographs since November 14th 1973. (Yes I know, I should get out more.) The thing is I got my first camera the day before and the next day we all had a day off from school because some Princess got married. It's how I remember the date.
So that's how I began and in the 45 years since, I do hope I've got better?
Should that not be convincing enough I have a BA in Media Production and an MA in Photography.


We are based in Leeds city centre across 3 campuses, the campus information and where to find us can be found below.
For information about parking at our campuses, please visit our parking page.
If you would like to get in touch please complete the enquiry form.
If you would like more information about the College or the courses we run please complete this form.
Please fill in as many fields as possible to help us quickly and efficiently process your enquiry. * denotes a required field.
Would you like to order a free prospectus?
We would love to keep you updated on events and courses that we are running, you can opt-in to this type of communication below.


text:
Skiplink Navigation
Jump to contact page
Search on swissinfo en
Search function
Function Example Search result
Search for exact term "money-laundering", "Roger Federer" Results include exact spellings of "money-laundering" and "Roger Federer"
Search for all terms Roger Federer Results include "Roger" and "Federer"
Either-or search money-laundering Results include "money" or "laundering"
Search for one term and not the other money -laundering Results include "money" but NOT "laundering"
Search for word stem sun* Results include words with the same base like "sun", "suns", "sunshine", "sunny"
Search with placeholder for letter wom*n Results include all possible words: "woman", "women"
2 There are 2 comments on this article.
Reuse article
See in other languages: 5 See in other languages: 5 Languages: 5
Arabic (ar)"فرض رسوم على الراغبين في القدوم إلى سويسرا يعزّز الاندماج"
German (de)Ein "unrealistischer" und "unmoralischer" Vorschlag
Italian (it)Pagare per chiedere asilo? Una proposta "irrealizzabile" e "immorale"
Portuguese (pt)Economistas suíços sugerem cobrar uma taxa aos migrantes
Chinese (zh)双赢措施:瑞士专家建议向难民收费
Refugee fee Swiss economists suggest charging migrants a fee
This content was published on February 20, 2017 3:47 PM Feb 20, 2017 - 15:47
Many foreigners are fleeing the US for Canada, sometimes straight into the arms of Canadian police at the border.
Rather than blocking their entry, nations should charge migrants a fee for being taken in, suggest two Swiss economists in a joint opinion piece in Sunday's NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. Political reactions have been overwhelmingly negative.
In addition to financing the host nation's infrastructure, the fee would help cover integration measures to help new residents. Economists Margit Osterloh and Bruno S Frey admit that the idea of charging refugees a fee might seem disturbing at first.
"But refugees already spend a lot of money in the hopes of reaching us," they say, pointing out that the money – CHF9,000 ($8,978) on average for a risky if not dangerous trip – often ends up supporting criminal organisations. On top of that, a fake passport costs CHF2,000-4,000,
So Osterloh and Frey recommend that migrants willing to adhere to the host country's rules receive safe entry and work permits with immediate effect in exchange for a fee. Those granted asylum would get their money back, and those who ultimately decide to return home would also be able to get some cash back.
Calling it a win-win situation, Osterloh and Frey say that such a system would encourage migrants to work hard to integrate and improve their prospects in the host nations. And the economists note that it should also be a boon to the homelands.
"It's especially important to us that the homelands benefit. Migrants send a lot of money home – double that of the world's official development aid. And it's twice as effective because it's not lost via bureaucracy and corruption, but instead goes straight to the needy," write the economists, both of whom have several decades of experience, including teaching at Swiss universities.
MIGRANT FEE Charging migrants for being allowed in
Should migrants be charged a fee for being accepted in Switzerland? (SRF/swissinfo.ch)
Arabic (ar)فرض رسوم على اللاجئين مقابل قدومهم إلى سويسرا
German (de)Wirtschaftsexperten mischen sich in Migrationsdebatte ein
Italian (it)Una tassa per entrare in Svizzera
Chinese (zh)想进瑞士,请交钱
Not everyone, however, is so keen on the idea. "We should instead be asking Western countries or multinationals for a financial contribution, since for centuries they've been starting wars and starving populations by imposing a capitalist system. Who's responsible for the chaos in Libya or Syria? Certainly not refugees," Cédric Wermuth from the leftwing Social Democratic Party told swissinfo.ch.
For him, "asking people fleeing a war to pay for protection is unacceptable and immoral", as well as contrary to the spirit of the Geneva Conventions, of which Switzerland is the depositary.
Wermuth outlines another solution: the creation of humanitarian corridors to allow refugees to seek asylum safely and for free, and the strengthening of settlement programmes, inside and outside the EU's borders.
The rightwing Swiss People's Party, which has made immigration one of its key campaign issues, is also against the idea.
"It's an absolutely unfeasible proposal," says People's Party parliamentarian Heinz Brand. "What's the point in a Europe without borders? Switzerland is a small country and must already cope with uncontrolled immigration. We can't afford to let everyone in indiscriminately."
Brand, a specialist on immigration issues, also points out that this solution would neither reduce costs nor facilitate integration.
"Most migrants do not have a professional profile that meets the needs of the economy. It would therefore be extremely difficult to incorporate them into the world of work. Politically, this proposal is a non-starter."
What do you think? Let us know.
swissinfo.ch/sm
Asylum in Switzerland
Like swissinfo.ch? Meh? Let us know.
Your questions become our stories: time to vote
Form for signing up for free newsletter.
Sign up for our free newsletters and get the top stories delivered to your inbox.
Top stories (weekly)
Latest news (daily)
Business (weekly)
Politics (weekly)
Society (weekly)
Fintech (biweekly)
Letter from the Alps (biweekly)
Multinationals (biweekly)
Click here to see more newsletters
There are 2 comments on this article.
All rights reserved. The content of the website by swissinfo.ch is copyrighted. It is intended for private use only. Any other use of the website content beyond the use stipulated above, particularly the distribution, modification, transmission, storage and copying requires prior written consent of swissinfo.ch. Should you be interested in any such use of the website content, please contact us via contact@swissinfo.ch.
As regards the use for private purposes, it is only permitted to use a hyperlink to specific content, and to place it on your own website or a website of third parties. The swissinfo.ch website content may only be embedded in an ad-free environment without any modifications. Specifically applying to all software, folders, data and their content provided for download by the swissinfo.ch website, a basic, non-exclusive and non-transferable license is granted that is restricted to the one-time downloading and saving of said data on private devices. All other rights remain the property of swissinfo.ch. In particular, any sale or commercial use of these data is prohibited.
Swiss economists suggest charging migrants a fee Feb 20, 2017 - 15:47 Rather than blocking their entry, nations should charge migrants a fee for being taken in, suggest two Swiss economists in a joint opinion piece in Sunday's NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. Political reactions have been overwhelmingly negative. In addition to financing the host nation's infrastructure, the fee would help cover integration measures to help new residents. Economists Margit Osterloh and Bruno S Frey admit that the idea of charging refugees a fee might seem disturbing at first. "But refugees already spend a lot of money in the hopes of reaching us," they say, pointing out that the money – CHF9,000 ($8,978) on average for a risky if not dangerous trip – often ends up supporting criminal organisations. On top of that, a fake passport costs CHF2,000-4,000, So Osterloh and Frey recommend that migrants willing to adhere to the host country's rules receive safe entry and work permits with immediate effect in exchange for a fee. Those granted asylum would get their money back, and those who ultimately decide to return home would also be able to get some cash back. Calling it a win-win situation, Osterloh and Frey say that such a system would encourage migrants to work hard to integrate and improve their prospects in the host nations. And the economists note that it should also be a boon to the homelands. "It's especially important to us that the homelands benefit. Migrants send a lot of money home – double that of the world's official development aid. And it's twice as effective because it's not lost via bureaucracy and corruption, but instead goes straight to the needy," write the economists, both of whom have several decades of experience, including teaching at Swiss universities. Not everyone, however, is so keen on the idea. "We should instead be asking Western countries or multinationals for a financial contribution, since for centuries they've been starting wars and starving populations by imposing a capitalist system. Who's responsible for the chaos in Libya or Syria? Certainly not refugees," Cédric Wermuth from the leftwing Social Democratic Party told swissinfo.ch. For him, "asking people fleeing a war to pay for protection is unacceptable and immoral", as well as contrary to the spirit of the Geneva Conventions, of which Switzerland is the depositary. Wermuth outlines another solution: the creation of humanitarian corridors to allow refugees to seek asylum safely and for free, and the strengthening of settlement programmes, inside and outside the EU's borders. The rightwing Swiss People's Party, which has made immigration one of its key campaign issues, is also against the idea. "It's an absolutely unfeasible proposal," says People's Party parliamentarian Heinz Brand. "What's the point in a Europe without borders? Switzerland is a small country and must already cope with uncontrolled immigration. We can't afford to let everyone in indiscriminately." Brand, a specialist on immigration issues, also points out that this solution would neither reduce costs nor facilitate integration. "Most migrants do not have a professional profile that meets the needs of the economy. It would therefore be extremely difficult to incorporate them into the world of work. Politically, this proposal is a non-starter." What do you think? Let us know.
Asylum centres Accommodations closed due to fewer requests
Officials say they no longer need several cantonal centres for housing asylum seekers. The reason: fewer asylum requests after the 2015 high.
Refugees UN criticises tightened Swiss policy on Eritreans
One of the United Nations' top human rights experts says Switzerland had no good reason to crack down on Eritreans.
People trafficking Yet more arrests in Ticino residence permit scandal
Two more people have been arrested as part of an investigation into an alleged illegal residence permit scam linked to canton Ticino's migration ...
By swissinfo.ch/sb
Russian (ru)Тичино разбирается с торговлей видами на жительство
Chinese (zh)"滥发居留许可丑闻"持续发酵
Migration Series (Part 1) Defining the 25% foreign population in Switzerland
For the first time, Switzerland has 2 million foreigners living in its midst. But just who exactly are they? These graphics offer an explanation.
By Duc-Quang Nguyen
Arabic (ar)من هم هؤلاء الأجانب الذين يمثلون 25% من سكان سويسرا؟
German (de)Wer sind die 2 Millionen Ausländerinnen und Ausländer in der Schweiz?
Spanish (es)Dos millones de extranjeros en Suiza, ¿quiénes son?
French (fr)Qui sont ces 25% d'étrangers en Suisse?
Italian (it)Due milioni di stranieri in Svizzera, ma chi sono?
Japanese (ja)スイス人口の25%を占める外国人 その内訳は?
Portuguese (pt)Quem são os 25% de estrangeiros da Suíça?
Russian (ru)Два миллиона иностранцев в Швейцарии: кто эти люди?
Chinese (zh)瑞士25%的外国人来自何方?
25 There are 25 comments on this article.
Annual report SWI swissinfo.ch
Play SWI
Business Units SRG
Switch displayed language
Switzerland: How To
The Swiss community around the globe


Today I will tell you how to make a backup server on debian 6 is a hot topic for each system administrator (without this no where)!
Opportunities out there a little bit, but you can improve.
[filename.iso]–last parameter specifies the name of the ISO image file is placed in the directory/home/remastersys.
First, we create a file that will be our mighty script. Simple but very good.


text:
DeLorean tries to predict your next move, could reduce lag in online gaming
By Nick Mediati
JoshBerglund19/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) (Creative Commons BY or BY-SA)
Ask any gamer about how they feel about lag in online gaming, and they'll probably want to throw something in lieu of an answer. It might not be possible to eliminate lag entirely, but Microsoft researchers are toying with a way to mitigate it by trying to guess your next move.
The experimental technology, called DeLorean, is what Microsoft calls a "speculative execution system,"and it uses a mix of predictive technologies along with time-shifting and bandwidth compression to "[produce] speculative rendered frames of future possible outcomes" ahead of time to reduce apparent lag resulting from network latency.
The idea here is basically to try to anticipate your next actions in a game and to reduce overhead in order to mask the lag.
The idea here is basically to try to anticipate your next actions in a game and to reduce overhead in order to mask the lag. According to Microsoft researchers, eliminating network latency lag is not practical, and that even with a fast wired residential Internet connection, you can experience over 100 milliseconds of lag—enough of a delay to frustrate just about any gamer.
Even in this experimental stage, DeLorean can mitigate up to 250 milliseconds of lag caused by network latency when playing cloud-based games, according to researchers.
To test the system, Microsoft researchers created modified versions of the games Doom 3 and Fable 3, and found that "players overwhelmingly prefer DeLorean" over standard, lag-ridden cloud-based gaming, and that "DeLorean successfully mimics playing across a low-latency network."
DeLorean is still an experimental technology, so you likely won't see it integrated into commercially games any time soon. In the meantime, you can read the research paper if you are so inclined.
Nick is a freelance contributor and a former editor for TechHive and PCWorld. He likes puns and the color yellow.


text:
Godwin Summary
Harold Godwin's third child and eldest son William Joseph worked in his father's company throughout, as an engineer and director, though unlike others, he lived for some time away from Quenington in Cheltenham. He made a number of long-distant sea-voyages, at least one of them, to the United States, reported locally as relating to the Godwin business interests.
He was born in Quenington in 1912 and attended the village school. He presumably remained in the village for he duly registered as a voter when he became of age in 1933. But only for one year. Later that year he was in Cheltenham to marry Gladys Smith (no further details known) and may have remained there for a while. He and Gladys were back in the village in 1937 and in 1939 they were living in one of the Godwin houses at Woodside, near the Godwin factory. William's occupation in 1939 was manufacturing engineer and director, presumably at the Godwin factory. He and Gladys divorced in the early 1940s and she died in Cheltenham in 1942.
After the war he made a visit to South Africa and intended to make another later the same year. The outward voyage on the first occasion was not identified but in March 1948 he arrived in Southampton from Cape Town with a certain Yolande Godwin. They gave an address in Swindon, Wiltshire, as their expected place of residence. Yolande seems to have been travelling as William's wife, but they were only married later, at the end of the year, see next paragraph.
They booked another voyage to South Africa, this time to East London, to leave on 23rd December 1948. However, they did not make the trip; their names were crossed through on the passener manifest. Instead, they were in Cheltenham that day, being married, by licence, at the town's Register Office. Here William is shown as a company director, divorced, aged 36, Yolande aged 33, a spinster and daughter of Robert John Harris, retired master butcher. She was curiously described as "Yolande Godwin otherwise Harris", perhaps reflecting the fact that, at least for a previous voyage and perhaps elsewhere, she was already known as Yolande Godwin (see above). She was born in 1916, her father a butcher trading on his own account in Shrivenham, Berkshire.
Perhaps an interesting fact relating to the planned voyage to South Africa, is that in the column of the documentation headed Place of Intended Residence (one year or more) the location was shown as South Africa.
The documentation relating to the booking for the voyage to South Africa shows an address in Pittville, Cheltenham, but on their wedding day they were both living at an address in Leckhampton in the same town. This would remain here until they moved back to Quenington in 1953.
In 1950 they sailed to New York, arriving on 5 November and giving as their address 677 5th Avenue in the city. No immediate return trip has been identified. However, a sailing from New York was made in early February the following year, with no outward trip identified. They may thus have been in the USA for three months. Perhaps this was the business trip, reported from other sources, that William made in connection with the Godwin business. William identified himself in the manifests as a director, Yolande as a housewife. William was presumably working for Godwin's albeit he lived, by the standards of the time, some way (27 miles along country roads) from Quenington.
By 1953 William had moved back to Quenington where he made his home at a house called The Mallards off Springfield Road, where other members of the family were living. A resident of the period remembers the house being built for him. That year he and Yolande crossed the Atlantic again to New York, this time via Quebec, absent for just over a month. His continuing association with the family firm comes from the local telephone directory, where he is listed in the 1950s and 1960s as an out-of-hours contact. In the 1950s he and Yolande made a number of probable holiday voyages, a couple to Madeira, one to Apapa in Nigeria, and it is from the passenger lists relating to such voyages that we derive much of what we know about him.
One perhaps interesting point is that from 1948, the first post-war information, to 1956 he gave his occupation as Director or Co[mpany] Director, but from 1957 as Engineer. On the one trip where we know that he and his father travelled together, his father is described as a director, he an engineer.
William died in a nursing home in Oxford in 1965 at the age of 52. His body was returned to Quenington, where it lies in the cemetery next to that of his first wife. His second wife Yolande did not remain in the village. By 1969 she was at an address in Henley, Berkshire, where she lived until her marriage there in 1978 to Denis A Senior, also of Henley. The two continued to live in Henley.
As might be expected William died a rich man, his assets of �1,470 being the equivalent of over � today (2013). Probate was granted to a bank and a solicitor's.
date source place age or
birthdate occupation detail
source codes: cert=certificate; er=electoral registers; gro=central record of births,marriages,deaths; prob=probate; sch=school records; ship=passenger lists; tel=telephone directories; Can=Canadian source;
1912 gro,ship,39 (Quenington) born 2 May, birth registered Cirencester 1st quarter
1916 sch Quenington 2/5/1912 2 May, enrolled at village school, address Quenington, father contractor
1924 sch Quenington 1 August, left village school
1933 er Quenington registered as non-householder voter
1933 gro Cheltenham marriage to Gladys M Smith registered 3rd quarter
1936 er Quenington to at least 1937, registered as householder voter with wife Gladys
1939 er Quenington manufacturing engineer, director at Woodside, probably house number 1, with wife Gladys;born 2nd May 1912
cert divorce from wife Gladys. Information from second marriage certificate, see 1948 below
1942 gro Cheltenham death of wife Gladys registered first quarter, age 44
1948 ship Southampton 35 director 19 March, arr from Cape Town on ss Capetown Castle with Yolande, proposed UK address 72 Victoria St, Swindon
1948 ship London 36 director 23 December, booked to sail as Mr W J and Mrs Y Godwin on Landovery Castle to East London, South Africa, but names deleted from list of those who sailed. Address at time of booking Strathdown, Pittville Circus Road, Cheltenham. Country of intended future residence (for one year or more) South Africa
1948 cert,gro Cheltenham 36 company
director 23 December, marriage in town registry office to Yolande Harris, see footnote 1
tr> 1950-
1952 tel Cheltenham address 62 Leckhampton Rd, Cheltenham, tel Chelt 4921
1950 ship Liverpool 38 director 23 October, en route New York on ss Parthia with wife Yolande, address 62 Leckhampton Rd, Cheltenham
1951 ship Liverpool director 5 February, arr from New York on ss Franconia, with Yolande, address 62 Leckhampton Rd, Cheltenham
1953 ship Southampton 42 director 11 December, arr from Las Palmas on ss Carnarvon Castle, with Yolande, address 62 Leckhampton Rd, Cheltenham
1954 ship Liverpool 41 co director 21 May, en route Montreal on ss Empress Australia, with Yolande, address The Mallards, Quenington
?1954 Can Canada presumably related: undated reports from Canadian emigration of a William J Godwin and a Yolande Godwin, presumably at the same time, and who had travelled from England to Quebec, crossing into The United Staes
1954 ship Southampton 42 co director 26 June, arr from New York on Queen Elizabeth, with Yollande, address The Mallards, Quenington
1968 tel Quenington out-of hours contact for H R Godwin Ltd on Coln St Aldwyns 271
1956 ship Southampton co director 27 May, due to sail on round trip on ss Colombie. On passenger list but names struck out. See 22 June below for probable reschedule. address The Mallards, Quenington
1956 ship Plymouth 2/5/12 co director 22 June, arr Plymouth on a cruise from Southampton, with Yolande, address The Mallards, Quenington
1957 ship Liverpool 2/5/12 engineer 3 June, arr Liverpool from Apapa, on ss Accra, with Yolande. address The Mallards, Quenington
1957 ship Southampton 2/5/12 engineer 18 December, dep for Madeira on ss Venus, with Yolande and father Harold, address The Mallards, Quenington
1958 ship Southampton 2/5/12 engineer 10 January, arr from Madeira on ss Venus, with Yolande. Address The Mallards, Quenington
1959 ship Southampton 2/5/12 engineer 31 December, arr from Funchal on ss Arkadia, with Yolande, address The Mallards, Quenington
1965 gro,prob Oxford 12 April died at Acland Nursing home, Oxford (see footnote 2). Death registered 2nd quarter
(1965) cem Quenington 52 buried in the village cemetery
1. Marriage details 1948. At Cheltenham Register Office by licence, age 36, company director, divorced husband of Gladys Marjorie Godwin, formerly Smith, spinster; father Harold Joynes Godwin, company director; to Yolande Godwin otherwise Harris, 33, spinster, father Robert John Harris, master butcher (retired); address of both 62 Leckhampton Rd, Cheltenham; witnesses J V Halliday and G B Bayley
2. Probate details (Gloucester 21 May). William Joseph Godwin of Mallards Quenington near Cirencester died 12 April 1965 at Acland Nursing Home, Banbury Rd, Oxford. Probate to Lloyds Bank Ltd and Ormand Arthur Logic solicitor. Effects �1470.
additionally for widow Yolande:
1977 tel Henley,Berks Mrs Y Godwin living at 8 Barons Mead, tel 4939
1978 gro,tel Henley, Berks marriage of Yolande Godwin registered 3rd quarter to Denis A Senior of 47 Thames House, Phyllis Ct Dr, tel 4995


text:
Mercedes-Benz Trucks delivers 4% growth in declining market
15/08/2018 in Truck News
Mercedes-Benz Trucks has increased registrations by 4% in the first half of 2018.
The company has registered 3,623 trucks to date, gaining a market share of 20.22% in Q2.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the total market for new HGVs above 6.0-tonnes was 10,670 in Q2 2018, a fall of 9% year-on-year. So far this year, some 20,455 new trucks have been registered – 7.8% fewer than in the first six months of 2017.
Mike Belk, managing director of Mercedes-Benz Trucks, said: "By putting 3,623 new Mercedes-Benz trucks on the road in the first six months of the year, we continue to buck the downward trend. In pure volume terms, we're 4% up on our performance over the same period last year, against a market that shrank by 7.8%.
"It's also a record high for our market share – both for Q2 and for H1. Clearly operators are trusting our brand, and being rewarded with low total costs, increased safety and maximised uptime. Obviously, it's only half-time, but all our colleagues and our Dealer network are working hard to build on this momentum and ensure that we finish the year as strongly as we have started it."
Author: Fleet News Fleet News
fleetnews.co.uk
Most popular articles in Truck News
1 LGV truck driver apprenticeship programme launched by BCA
2 HGV driving test centres with shortest lead times revealed
3 Video: HGV driver using mobile phone jailed for causing fatal A1 crash


A professional young couple with two children ( 3y & 9 mth) residing in Johannesburg require the employment of a long term Nanny, Housekeeper to ensure the well being of their two children and housekeeping of their home.
The candidates extensive experience in working in a luxury private residence, with full housekeeping & child caring responsibilities with cooking ability will be utilised to its full potential within this excellent opportunity. Qualified and energetic candidates can expect a competitive package accommodation.


Home to the Alexander Thomson Society, Walmer Crescent is found near the Cessnock Underground Station. The curved terrace block is one of the architect's plainest designs, and has lost something of its appeal as the gardens designed in front have been removed.
Salisbury Crescent is an unusual convex tenement block that was designed by Thomson, but built posthumously by his partner, Robert Turnbull, four years after the designer's death in 1875. Although somewhat plain, its imposing curved bulk makes it an interesting study.
Moray Place holds a special appeal to Thomson fans, as he and his family were the first tenants at No.1 when the first row of eleven terraced homes were completed in 1861. It is also sadly where Thomson spent his last days, before passing away in 1875.
The Knowe is a beautiful Italianate Romanesque style villa, originally designed for hat and cap maker John Blair in 1850, completed in 1852. The surrounding wall and coachman's house remains largely intact, although the abundant gardens have been built over.
This elongated, three storey tenement building was originally called Titwood Place, the street is now known as 18-76 Nithsdale Road. However, former hints at its past name remain, such as the Titwood Bar located in the centre of the block.
One of Thomson's more unusual and innovative designs, Maria Villa is in fact a double villa, and is often known as simply 'The Double Villa.' One of the two houses has been turned 180° to give the impression of one house from either front or back.
The ornately curved Millbrae Crescent consists of two-storey terraced houses, the curve following the bend in the River Cart, which lies behind them. It is believed to have been designed by Thomson but constructed posthumously by his architectural partner Robert Turnbull.
One of Thomson's finest residential villas, Holmwood House is also the most inviting, as it is open to the public. It was built for its original owner, paper manufacturer James Couper, in 1857-1858, near his Millholm paper mill. There is a near identical version in Australia.
Thought to be Thomson's first attempt at designing a church, the Caledonia Road Free Church was mostly destroyed by a fire in 1965. Now Grade A-listed building, the church has lay derelict and abandoned for half a century on an odd traffic island between at Cathcart Road.
The Southern Necropolis lies around the corner from the Caledonia Road Free Church. It is the final resting place of the architect who shaped the landscape for Glasgow's future designers. His grave is marked by a tombstone of black marble.


text:
Time for the Anti-Haters to Rise Up 6 December 2016
Here's is the horrific reality of hate crimes in the United States. The FBI reported that hate crimes against Muslims rose in 2015 to their highest levels since the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. In 2015, there were 257 incidents of anti-Muslim bias compared to 154 incidents in 2014, an increase of 67%. The total is second only to the surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the months after the Twin Tower attacks when 481 incidents against Muslims were reported in four months.
Sadly, in actual numbers, the 257 incidents of anti-Muslim bias were less than 5% of all the 5,850 reported hate crimes, and 22 percent of the 1402 anti-religious hate crimes; so there are lots of different hate crime scapegoats out there. Indeed: 59.2 percent of all victims were targeted because of their race or ethnicity; 19.7 percent were victimized because of their religion; and 17.7 percent were targeted because of their sexual orientation.
There are lots of hate filled individuals in America; and they have lots of different groups that they hate. Of the 1,402 victims of anti-religious hate crimes: 52.1 percent were against members of the Jewish faith, 21.9 percent against Muslims, 4.3 percent against Catholics, 3.6 percent against Eastern Orthodox, and 3.4 percent against Protestants.
Collectively more than 11 percent of victims of anti-religious hate crimes are Christians. But since Christians are over 90 percent of the American population anti-religious hate crimes against Christians are proportionally rare. Likewise, the American Jewish population is about triple the size of the American Muslim population, so the Muslim proportion of victims is somewhat higher than the Jewish proportion. The same is true for the higher proportion of Catholic compared to Protestant victims.
Overall, the number of reported hate crimes increased from 5,479 in 2014 to 5,850 last year, and the number of victims to 7173 (both persons and property). That means religious-based hate crimes increased by 23%. It is likely, sadly, that hate crime incidents for 2016 will rise by at least 2-3,000. There are also those crimes that go unreported, undocumented, where victims are too afraid or too disheartened to turn the police or law enforcement to record the crime.
So is it a hopeless scenario? Are we destined to become more divided, more hateful, and a society pitted against each other?
Maybe not. The Anti-Defamation League, which combats anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination, saw a 50-fold increase in online donations on the day after the election of Donald Trump.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties and outreach group, gained more than 500 volunteers in the two days after the election.
NARAL Pro-Choice America, which fights for abortion access, reported on Wednesday that it had signed up 290 times as many volunteers since the election as in an average week.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which supports women's reproductive rights, received donations from nearly 200,000 people in the week after the election, about 40 times more than in a typical week, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
And The American Civil Liberties Union, which defends the civil rights of individual, said on Monday that it had received more than $7 million from about 120,000 donations over the five days after the election. During the same period after the 2012 election, the group collected less than $28,000 from 354 donations.
Times of crisis are also times of opportunity. The crisis of a President Trump spurred the Islamic Society of North America and the American Jewish Committee to join hands to establish the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council. Similar actions are occurring across North America.
Thank God the anti-haters are now getting aroused.
This article is from Issue 14 of On Religion. Intelligent thinking about religion and society is needed now more than ever, help us and subscribe for £19 a year.
About Rabbi Allen Maller
Rabbi Maller has published more than 150 articles in more than two dozen journals, magazines and websites as varied as Jewish Social Studies, US Catholic, Islamicity, Khutbabank and The Journal of Dharma. He is the author of two books of children's stories, a book on Kabbalah, and the editor of the Tikun series of High Holiday Prayer Books. Rabbi Maller also taught in the theology department of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
all, Opinion, Politics , anti-racism, hate, prejudice, trump


"Two days to get set, sound and light in before the first rehearsal, for which everything must be completely ready. Everything needs to be amplified for clarity, but in such a way that no-one notices."
Summer is here and inevitably the moment a get in starts, the English weather kicks in.
Our experienced team combine in-depth knowledge with the best sound equipment across a wide range of venues, artists and locations. Our collective skill and experience is second-to-none and we take pride in offering the same high quality service and personal attention on each and every project, whatever its size.
Our standard operating procedures (which include detailed proposals, CAD drawings, visualisations, site visit management, delivery schedules and feedback reporting) can be flexed to suit each project and each client.
We believe in a precise yet creative approach to your sound requirements.
Thanks guys for everything over the past week and in the run up to the project, particularly your patience with the difficult working circumstances. A superb job as always.
Thank you for your part in helping to ensure a really good day. Our members, and all of us, really do appreciate the efforts of all involved in making for an enjoyable and smoothly run event, particularly as this was Fiona's last. I know you went above and beyond this time – you are very kind. Our AGMs are really special to us, not just because our members enjoy them, but because it means we have the opportunity to work with such friendly and talented people like you.
"The event last year was been described in my world, by people who really knew about such things, as the best outdoor sound for orchestra they had ever heard. This year was better."


If you are interested in baking, donating or volunteering for our upcoming Bake Sale – please reach out to Margie Tekamp at 757-408-3169 (her number was accidentally listed incorrectly in our newsletter) or Karen Devenio at 757-681-6506. THANK YOU.
Memorial Bake and Craft Sale 2017!
On Monday, October 24 more than 80 golfers enjoyed a beautiful day at Honey Bee Golf Club at the 3rd Annual Woody McGees Charity Golf Tournament to benefit Cancer Care Foundation of Tidewater. The tournament was held this year in loving memory of owner Don Stull who lost his battle with cancer in November 2015.