| | |
| Health experts warn of water contamination from California drought Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:49 PM PST  By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California's drought has put 10 communities at acute risk of running out of drinking water in 60 days, and worsened numerous other health and safety problems, public health officials in the most populous U.S. state said on Tuesday. "The drought has exacerbated existing conditions," said Mark Starr, deputy director of the California Department of Public Health. The contamination warning comes days after President Barack Obama announced nearly $200 million in aid for the parched state, including $60 million for food banks to help people thrown out of work in agriculture-related industries as farmers leave fields unplanted and ranchers sell cattle early because the animals have no grass for grazing. The California Farm Bureau estimates the overall impact of idled farmland will run to roughly $5 billion, from in direct costs of lost production and indirect effects through the region's economy. Full Story | Top |
| Northeast rock salt supply at critical low as more snow falls Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 05:21 PM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - Successive winter storms led to critical shortages of rock salt in the U.S. Northeast on Tuesday including Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, while New Jersey scrambled to secure a huge shipment stuck at a port in Maine. The scarcity hit as the East Coast was slammed by a third winter storm system in a single week, leaving many states over-budget for snow removal and running low on supplies like rock salt, which is used to help melt ice and snow on roads and public areas. A 40,000-ton shipment of rock salt was stuck on a foreign ship in Searsport, Maine, days after New Jersey was denied a waiver of federal shipping rules that would have allowed it to travel to a Newark port. Instead, efforts to get the salt to New Jersey remained stymied by the 1920 Maritime Act, also known as the Jones Act, enacted to protect the U.S. shipping industry from foreign competition. Full Story | Top |
| Deadline looms as Panama Canal, consortium seek end to cost dispute Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:51 PM PST  By Lomi Kriel and Sonya Dowsett PANAMA CITY/MADRID (Reuters) - The Panama Canal and a Spanish-led construction consortium expanding the major global waterway discussed options on Tuesday to keep the multibillion-dollar project afloat amid a dispute over costs, but any deal seemed unlikely ahead of a looming deadline. "The Panama Canal Authority reports that despite efforts to agree with (consortium) Grupos Unidos por el Canal to resume work on the new locks project, positions between the parties remain apart," the canal authority said in a statement. Canal administrator Jorge Quijano last Wednesday set a target of no more than a week to reach a deal to jump-start the project, a deadline that will lapse in the coming hours. Quijano had previously warned that the canal could terminate the contract with the consortium and push ahead with a third party if a deal proves elusive. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to announce $6.5 billion loan deal for Southern Co nuclear plant Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:36 PM PST By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will announce that it has finalized $6.5 billion in loan aid to build the country's first new nuclear reactors in more than 30 years, sources said on Tuesday. The announcement, expected on Wednesday, follows four years of wrangling between the government and energy company Southern Co over the terms of the loan agreement, which was initially offered in February 2010 to support the construction of two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia. The conditional agreement totaling $8.3 billion provided loan aid to Southern's Georgia Power unit as well as project co-owners Oglethorpe Power and Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG). Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian opposition's Klitschko says talks with president break down Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:34 PM PST Ukraine's opposition leader Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday that he has quit talks with President Viktor Yanukovich without reaching any agreement on how to end the violence in Kiev, local media said. "Unfortunately, I bring nothing good from the talks," Ukrainska Pravda website quoted Klitschko as saying. He said that he left the talks after the president demanded that the central square in Kiev occupied by anti-government protesters be unconditionally cleared. It was not clear from the report whether talks between the president and the two remaining opposition leaders were continuing. Full Story | Top |
| Iran, powers hold 'substantive' nuclear talks; U.S., Iranians meet Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:11 PM PST  By Parisa Hafezi and Louis Charbonneau VIENNA (Reuters) - Six world powers and Iran began "substantive" talks on Tuesday in pursuit of a final settlement on Tehran's contested nuclear program in the coming months despite caveats from both sides that a breakthrough deal may prove impossible. Senior U.S. and Iranian officials met separately for 80 minutes on the sidelines of the negotiations in Vienna. Details were not given, but such bilateral talks were inconceivable before the 2013 election of Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, as president of Iran. "The conversation was productive and focused mainly on how the comprehensive talks will proceed from here," a senior U.S. State Department official said on condition of anonymity after Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman's meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's protesters seize government buildings in western cities Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:06 PM PST Ukraine's anti-government protesters seized government buildings in a few cities in the western part of the country, local media and the police said on Wednesday. Police said in a statement that protesters had seized regional administration headquarters in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv. The website of Ukrainska Pravda said that protesters torched the main police station in Ternopil and were trying to seize the headquarters of regional administration. Opposition lawmaker Oleksander Aronets said that protesters had also seized the local prosecutor's office. Full Story | Top |
| British Columbia unveils LNG tax, sees budget surpluses Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:01 PM PST By Julie Gordon and Jennifer Kwan VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuters) - British Columbia on Tuesday provided long-awaited details on a new income tax for its nascent liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, as Canada's westernmost province released its second consecutive balanced budget. The coastal province is eyeing a two-tier tax that would apply to income from the liquefaction of natural gas, the process of cooling gas into a liquid to be transported by ship, at facilities in British Columbia. Full Story | Top |
| Protesters' headquarters in Kiev square on fire: local television Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 03:15 PM PST The building used by anti-government protesters in Kiev's Independence Square as their headquarters was on fire, local television showed. Full Story | Top |
| British Columbia projects budget surplus for next three years Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 02:56 PM PST By Julie Gordon and Jennifer Kwan VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuters) - British Columbia's government on Tuesday projected a budget surplus for the next three fiscal years and gave details on a new tax regime for its nascent liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. The Western Canadian province is expected to have a budget surplus of C$184 million ($167.94 million) in 2014-15, C$206 million in 2015-16 and C$451 million in 2016-17, the Liberal government said in its first budget since it was re-elected in May with a majority. Finance Minister Michael de Jong said the province will keep the books balanced by controlling spending, working with the private sector on jobs and encouraging economic growth, with a focus on resource development. Before budget day, de Jong had warned there would be few goodies, though the province did introduce legislation for a previously announced new early childhood tax benefit and revealed a break for first-time home buyers related to a property transfer tax. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan militias threaten parliament, deploy forces in Tripoli Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 02:37 PM PST  By Ghaith Shennib and Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Two heavily armed Libyan militias demanded on Tuesday the country's parliament hand over power immediately in what the head of the assembly dismissed as an attempted coup that would be contested by the army if necessary. Tuesday's deadline of five hours from the statement issued by the al-Sawaiq and al-Qaqa militia brigades passed without incident but they said they had troops on standby to force the hand of the General National Congress (GNC). "We will act soon and hand over power to the supreme court and form committees to oversee elections," al-Qaqa top commander Othman Mlekta told Reuters. "We will work with the people and we're in contact with people in the south and east." There was no sign of unrest on Tuesday evening in Tripoli but dozens of vehicles armed with anti-aircraft guns from the Qaqa militia were parked at a roundabout near the GNC building. Full Story | Top |
| CP Railway weighing options for C$2 billion in surplus real estate Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 02:26 PM PST Canadian Pacific Railway Co , the country's second-biggest rail operator, is considering what to do with C$2 billion ($1.83 billion) in surplus real estate, its chief executive said on Tuesday as he defended plans to impose a surcharge on oil tankers he considers unsafe. Hunter Harrison said at a Calgary event that he has begun talking to the railway's board of directors about options for the assets. "We're not real estate people," Harrison told the business audience. We are however, as we speak, having a dialogue with the board about putting a model in place on what is the best way to optimize, monetize those assets." Harrison, the railway turnaround expert appointed as chief executive of CP Railway in 2012 following a bitter proxy battle led by activist investor William Ackman, said he expects the sale process to last as long a three years once the board identifies a method for the dispositions. Full Story | Top |
| Obama orders higher fuel standards for larger U.S. trucks Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 01:26 PM PST  By Eric Beech UPPER MARLBORO, Maryland (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday directed federal agencies to develop higher fuel standards for medium-sized and heavy trucks, another step in his efforts to slash oil consumption and carbon emissions blamed for global warming. Obama made the announcement in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, about 20 miles from Washington, at a distribution center for Safeway grocery stores, next to a trucking rig that had been redesigned to increase fuel economy. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine opposition leader arrives at president's office for talks Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 01:14 PM PST KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian opposition leader Vitali Klitschko has arrived at President Viktor Yanukovich's office for talks, Klitschko's spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Klitschko went to meet Yanukovich after riot police advanced onto a central Kiev square occupied by anti-government protesters. At least 14 people have died in the clashes. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Marcin Goettig; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Full Story | Top |
| Kiev death toll rises to 14, police say six officers shot dead Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 01:01 PM PST KIEV (Reuters) - Six Ukrainian policemen were shot dead in clashes with anti-government protesters on Tuesday, police said, raising the overall reported death toll to 14. (Reporting by Marcin Goettig; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment