Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/266981623?client_source=feed&format=rss
Friday, November 30, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
'Hot air' may spike climate talks
25 November 2012
Last updated at 09:20 ET
The right of some rich countries to keep using "hot air" carbon permits could hamper progress at UN climate talks starting on Monday in Qatar.
With the Kyoto Protocol running out at the end of the year, several countries want to carry over unused carbon allowances.
Campaigners say this "hot air" could render new carbon cuts meaningless.
And there are fears that old fault lines between rich and poor will prevent any significant developments.
More than 17,000 participants are expected in the Qatari capital Doha for the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
Courageous choice Continue reading the main story?Start Quote
End Quote Tracy Carty OxfamClearly for the second commitment to have integrity, there need to be limits on what's carried over and how much countries use that 'hot air' in their targets?
Some surprise has been expressed at the choice of venue. Qatar, rich in oil and particularly gas, has some of the highest per-capita carbon emissions in the world.
But Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), told BBC News that he praised the "courage" of Qatar in hosting the meeting.
"Some of these countries that we thought in the past were not serious about climate change, were not into renewable energy, are now signalling very strongly that they want to be part of the solution.
"The signals we are getting from the Qatari administration is that they now want to start doing things on climate change and this is maybe their first big step."
Hosting a conference is one thing. Making progress is another.
Continue reading the main storyFault lines
- Ambition: A growing sense among developing nations that richer countries are not aiming high enough in cutting carbon
- Money: Lack of clarity about where the money to help poorer nations to adapt will come from
- Disengagement: Major emitters including the United States, Canada, Russia and Japan say they will not take on new carbon targets under an extension of the Kyoto Protocol
This year's meeting comes just a month before the expiration of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the world's most significant global agreement on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide.
Last year in South Africa, negotiators agreed what is called the Durban Platform. The nub of this was a trade off - the richer countries would extend their carbon cutting beyond 2013 via an extension of the Kyoto Protocol. In return, the developing nations would negotiate a new deal by 2015 that would commit all countries, including emerging super-powers like India and China, to reduce emissions from 2020.
Key to that small forward step was a "coalition of the willing" - an unlikely alliance of the European Union, small island states and the least developed countries.
'Difficult issue'But in Doha, some of the fine details of an agreement have to be worked out. And these are proving very troublesome for that group in particular.
One of the concerns is over "hot air" - several EU countries were given huge allowances of carbon permits that they want to carry over into a new commitment period. But the scale of the surplus, some 13 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, could render future promises to cut carbon effectively meaningless.
"Many (delegates) are unhappy about the carry-over," said Dr Quamrul Chowdhury, a negotiator from Bangladesh who speaks for the developing countries group. "It could be a difficult issue."
Continue reading the main storyAdaptation
Action that helps cope with the effects of climate change - for example construction of barriers to protect against rising sea levels, or conversion to crops capable of surviving high temperatures and drought.
Tracy Carty, a climate change policy adviser from Oxfam agrees that the issue of surplus carbon permits could be very important in the negotiations.
"Clearly for the second commitment to have integrity, there need to be limits on what's carried over and how much countries use that 'hot air' in their targets," she told BBC News.
"Otherwise we aren't going to get the emissions reductions that we need."
Another critical element is money. During the COP15 talks in Copenhagen in 2009, richer countries agreed to provide $30bn in fast-start finance for the period up to 2012. They also established a Green Climate Fund to control up $100bn per year expected to be raised by 2020 to help poorer countries mitigate the effects of climate change.
Empty fundBut several countries including the UK, France and Germany have been accused of reclassifying money that was already committed as development aid. According to research carried out by Oxfam, only 33% of this climate finance can be considered as new.
And with no money in the climate fund after the end of this year, Oxfam believes it is the most critical issue at this meeting.
Tracy Carty argues the dispute could hamper the new alliances that have led to progress at previous meetings in Cancun and Durban.
"On the broad elements of 2015, we aren't going to see any 'big-bang' moments in Doha like we saw in Durban. But on finance it is a crossroads - this is a period where we are coming to the end of a tranche of money and we don't know what's on the table for next year," she said.
Some, though, remain hopeful that Doha can see a "big-bang" moment, pointing to the fact that the new leadership in China and the re-elected President Obama are both making optimistic noises about climate.
"President Obama indicated that he would make some progress on global warming," said Dr Chowdhury, "and the new leadership of China might go for a deal - that is my personal point of view but we want to see that progress."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20443227#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
snowsuit couperin: Travel And Leisure: Alaska Cruise Or Land Tour ...
Besides its reputation for being ?cold?, what else do you know about our 49th State? Alaska has an abundance of things to do and see, whether you are a first time vacationer or a returning travelerThere is no other place like Alaska for traveling and exploringAlaska is 586,000 square miles. With an area that big, think about the possibilities.
Here are just a few of the attractions that are available and are sure to whet your appetite for adventure. Wildlife viewing, helicopter tours, and train rides are very popular. You can also relax on a bus tour into Denali State Park, watch a totem pole being carved, or try your luck at catching one of Alaska?s world famous King Salmon.
It would take (2) lifetimes to experience everything Alaska has to offer. With its vast wilderness, Alaska provides opportunities for viewing wildlife either up close or from far away, in its natural habitat. For example, Alaska holds the distinction of having the largest Eagle population in the world. Whether you are a nature lover or not, just seeeing these magnificent birds soar throught the air is enough to take your breath away. With a wilderness area that is 2 1/2 times the size of the state of Texas, you can be guaranteed excellent photo opportunities.
It?s hard to believe that Alaska has the largest temperate rain forest in the United States. Take the time to walk in it and discover this incredible gift. Indescribable adventures await you whereever your journey takes you in Alaska. Every ?ice-blue? glacier and historic waterfront town calls for you to jump in to explore and discover its uniqueness and beauty. Give yourself the freedom to answer this ?call of the wild?. In every city from Anchorage to Fairbanks and beyond, there?s plenty to do and see.
One of the ways to see this beautiful state is to cruise the Inner Passage. Taking one of the cruise ships is a simple way to get your feet wet and explore the state. You have the security of knowing that your basic needs like food, transportation, and your lodging is handled while you have the freedom of choosing any number of activities.
Depending on the town you stop in, you can choose to go whale watching, or take a helicopter trip and walk on a glacier. You can ride the White Pass Railroad or pan for gold. You can even take a Jeep tour on a logging trail and top it off with a salmon bake. Also, every town appears to have their own special and historical events happening on a regular basis and you definitely want to catch these, as well. There are also many fascinating museums and remember to save time to see the stunning Aurora Borealis, especially if you go in the fall.
Alaska seems to have it all. From world famous Parks & Preserves to Volcanos. From Historical & Annual Events and everything in between. With such variety, it?s surprising that anyone would look anywhere but north when vacation time comes. Alaska is a great American Vacation destination that you will want to experience for yourself at least once in your lifetime.
The French R?sistance has had a great influence on literature, particularly in FranceA famous example is the poem "Strophes pour se souvenir", which was written by the communist academic Louis Aragon in 1955 to commemorate the heroism of the Manouchian Group, whose 23 members were shot by the NazisThe R?sistance is also portrayed in Jean Renoir's wartime This Land is Mine (1943), which was produced in the USAIn the immediate post-war years, French cinema produced a number of films that portrayed a France broadly present in the R?sistance.[188][189] The 1946 La Bataille du rail depicted the courageous efforts of French railway workers to sabotage German reinforcement trains,[190] and in the same year Le P?re tranquille told the story of a quiet insurance agent secretly involved in the bombing of a factory.[190] Collaborators were hatefully presented as a rare minority, as played by Pierre Brewer in J?richo (1946) or Serge Reggiani in Les Portes de la nuit (1946), and movements such as the Milice were rarely evokedIn the 1950s, a less heroic interpretation of the R?sistance to the occupation gradually began to emerge.[190] In Claude Autant-Lara's La Travers?e de Paris (1956), the portrayal of the city's black market and general mediocrity revealed the reality of war-profiteering during the occupation.[191] In the same year, Robert Bresson presented A Man Escaped, in which an imprisoned R?sistance activist works with a reformed collaborator inmate to escape.[192] A ...
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The Holland America Line is a British-American owned cruise lineIt was founded in 1873 as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company (Dutch: Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij), a sh..Holland America Line - Wiki Article - wikiplays.org Original @ http All Information Derived from Wikipedia using Creative Commons License: en.wikipedia.org Author: Jan van Beers jr(1852 -- 1927) Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship., This work is in the Public Domain., This work is in the public domain in the United StatesAuthor: Welkinridge Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship., This work is in the Public Domain., This work is in the public domain in the United States.
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goo.gl We would like to thank all our fans and The Father for propelling this video to almost 4 million views in only 18 months, making this video the most heavily viewed Independently Produced Religious Music Video in the world! We would also like to publicly thank the following folks who have worked with us to make this a reality: Technical Support: Bradley Myer Photography: Sherry LAldrich CD package Layout and Design: Sherry LAldrich CD Graphics: Sherry LAldrich and Marie Brandt Marketing and Promotions: Marie Brandt Photographers Assistant: Charles Aldrich Secretary and Treasurer: Marie Brandt CPA and Financial Counsel: Tracy Corta at "Jordan & Company" All the great folks at Disc Makers, particularly, Chad Fondren: Product Specialist Gaye Feightner: Product Specialist--Graphics Christina Tapia: Project Manager-Foundry Angela Seltzer: Product Specialist Additional Printing Supervisor: Kathy Eby at Lithos Printing Website Development and Maintenance: Poop Dog Website Graphics Design: Marie Brandt "Rule of Man" Music Video Graphics Design: Marie Brandt US Retail Storefronts: Rich Graves at Budget Tapes and Records, Pocatello Idaho Susan Leak at Renagades Music and Bonanza Music Store Posters and Promotional Graphics Design: Marie Brandt and Sherry LAldrich Contract Law and Legal Counsel: William Faler at "Faler Law" Director of Marketing & Publicity: Marie Brandt at BrandtMorainPR Additional Publicity: Susan Leak, Karen Plant, Kjelene Bertrand, Patricia Mostyn ...
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Vote for TYT every day at www.podcastawards.com (through 11/30/09) & www.mashable.com (through 12/13/09) For more details visit www.TheYoungTurks.com and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com
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Same topics: Travel And Leisure
Source: http://howhubs.com/alaska-cruise-or-land-tour-for-a-vacation-that-war-how-hubs
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Source: http://maiseyxxmarisa8.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/travel-and-leisure-alaska-cruise-or-land-tour-for-a-vacation-that.html
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Source: http://snowsuit-couperin.blogspot.com/2012/11/travel-and-leisure-alaska-cruise-or.html
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Friday, November 23, 2012
To guarantee conformance - Atv Classifieds
Free Classifieds Automotive & Bike ATV
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Source: http://www.adjingo.com/atv/free-ads-128714.html
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Logic3's Ferrari-branded headphones and speakers make their stateside debut, no license required to rock
Ferrari isn't a stranger to licensing its brand for use on gadgets. As of this week, the automaker's added some new offerings in the US on the audio-front with the help of Logic3. Way back at CES we got our eyes on the duo's full lineup of co-branded headphones and speakers, and now folks in the US can officially get their hands on two such offerings (Tim Stevens-approved racing gloves not required). Its $400 Cavallino T350 headphones come in black or tan, featuring 40mm drivers, active noise cancellation, an in-line remote / mic for your smartphone and a tangle-proof cord. As you'd expect, they're crafted from premium metal and leather for an extra luxurious feel on the ears. Those looking to fill a room with sound should take note of the $500 Scuderia FS1. It's a 2.1 speaker system complete with Bluetooth and the ever-aging 30-pin connector for older iOS devices. Sure, it's been a slow start to market, but here's to hoping the performance matches the prices -- hey, it still beats an actual payment on one of Ferrari's actual whips. Full press released after the break.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Portable Audio/Video, Wearables
Source: Logic 3
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/kQr8ZVGIEzc/
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Thursday, November 22, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Married Sperrys: Family Baby Shower
Sunday, my Aunt and my cousin threw me a wonderful baby shower.? I was so excited to see everyone and to eat some yummy cake.? My family is so excited for me to have a baby.? I think most of them can?t believe I am all grown up enough to be having baby?s of my own, and sometimes I can?t believe it either.? I am the youngest on my Mom?s side, so next we will have 2nd cousin?s going through all this, but probably not for several years.???
The shower was a duck theme after my maiden name and ducks are very baby neutral.? I loved it.? My cousin and her mom did some adorable decoration and the cake (did I mention we had cake) was so cute.? The cake was a bathtub with ducks and bubbles.? Too cute!? We got tons of much needed items.? I will let the pictures do the talking.
Yummy Food with Sausage Balls!!
Source: http://marriedsperrys.blogspot.com/2012/11/family-baby-shower.html
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Wednesday, November 7, 2012
How Quickly Do Facebook Posts Lose Effectiveness? | IMGrind.com
There has been a lot of discussion surrounding email delivery timing and how that can affect open rates and the ultimate performance of a campaign. Something many social media marketers don?t consider is the reach achieved by one of their Facebook posts and how long it is effective.
According to a recent study conducted by Socialbakers and shared by MarketingCharts, One-third of audience reach of a brand post occurred in just the first 10 minutes after publication, with a dramatic drop-off occurring after the first 10 minutes. The post will get half of its reach in the first 30 minutes after being published then drop off dramatically over the next several hours.
As a marketer, it?s important to consider when your audience is available to receive your message and remember that they are being bombarded with messages constantly on multiple devices. With this information, marketers might want to consider messaging more often on more platforms. The typical argument is that people will get annoyed at so many messages being sent, however, if quality helpful information is being sent, this should not be an issue. Further, an argument could be made that if the information is good, the marketer is actually doing his or her audience a disservice by not messaging often enough to help them.
Source: http://www.imgrind.com/how-quickly-do-facebook-posts-lose-effectiveness/
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Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Investors seeking clarity on energy
Tridos Bank, CCLA, WHEB Asset Management and others have written to the Government to say that while the subsidies that renewable energy groups get are ?clear and transparent?, fossil fuels get indirect subsidies. According to the International Energy Agency, global subsidies to fossil fuels were six times higher than renewable energy in 2010.
City investors want the National Audit Office to work out precisely what subsidies fossil fuel groups get. They say that without knowing precisely the Government cannot develop a clear energy framework and people cannot invest in renewable energy projects.
Their letter says: ?To make clear decisions, we need a clear picture. We don?t have a full picture about the economic relationship between the State and the energy sector.?
The call comes ahead of the Government?s Energy Bill, due in mid-November, which is intended to set the framework for investment in lower carbon forms of energy, such as wind, and tidal energy, in order to reduce the UK?s reliance on gas and coal. However some fear the move to low carbon energy generation will be costly for consumers, with billions of pounds likely to be added to household bills in a type of green tax to pay for subsidies.
| British consumers and businesses will be subsidising French nationalised industries by bankrolling EDF. In addition, most of the jobs created will go to foreign nationals |
| Director of environmental consultancy E3G Tom Burke |
Last month business leaders urged Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne to commit to a low carbon energy policy or risk damaging Britain?s economic recovery. EDF Energy, Sky, Boots, Asda, Aviva, Cisco, British American Tobacco, Microsoft and other corporate giants wrote to the Government to say that lack of clarity over policy is damaging the economy as companies cannot invest with any certainty in low carbon energy infrastructure.
Nuclear power is also seen as green because it has no carbon emissions. Industry estimates suggest that subsidies for new nuclear power could add up to ?70 to annual household energy bills.
France?s EDF Energy is planning to build new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset, but experts are sceptical of the benefits.
Tom Burke, director of environmental consultancy E3G, said: ?British consumers and businesses will be subsidising French nationalised industries by bankrolling EDF. In addition, most of the jobs created will go to foreign nationals.?
Source: http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/356123/Investors-seeking-clarity-on-energy/
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Heavy rains kill 22 in southern India
Heavy rains kill 22 in southern India
Sapa-AP | 2012-11-05 08:19:56.0
File photo.
Image by: UTPAL BARUAH / REUTERS
A government official in a southern Indian state says heavy rains triggered by a tropical storm have killed at least 22 people in the past four days.
T. Radha, a state relief commissioner, says the deaths were caused by drowning and house collapses in villages in East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh state where the storm dumped 31 centimeters (12 inches) of rain over the weekend, the worst in the past 40 years.
The storm weakened after making a landfall in neighboring Tamil Nadu state last Wednesday, but caused heavy rains in the region. Eight people died during the storm in Tamil Nadu.
Nearly 95,000 people have moved to state-run camps in three districts of Andhra Pradesh state, Radha told The Associated Press on Monday.
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Monday, November 5, 2012
Top-of-the-Week Links: Japanese tourists killed in Hebei snowstorm, a graphic novel Kickstarter about English teachers in China, and trimming Politburo seats?
Putting uniformed men to work in Beijing, via NetEase
Momo Monday is today, 7:30 pm at Fubar. Or? links.
Prepare for a lot more of this kind of stuff in the next few days. ?To outside observers, the move may appear to be little more than bureaucratic reshuffling: trim two seats from the nine-member body that governs?China?by consensus at the pinnacle of the Communist Party. //?But the proposal by Chinese leaders to downsize the body, the Politburo Standing Committee, offers one of the clearest windows available into the priorities of the party and the mechanics of power-sharing and factional struggles as the leadership transition nears its climax at a weeklong congress scheduled to open Nov. 8.? [NY Times]
CCTV America. ??China has a place in the world economy, so it?s only befitting that China has a place in the global media platform,? a senior CCTV executive told them, according to Makori. ?The reason you people are before us is because we want to be recognized as a legitimate, objective journalistic force,? he continued. ?The idea is for this to be not a Chinese mouthpiece, not a Chinese propaganda tool, but a global channel produced with a Chinese flair.?? [Foreign Policy]
A change in the way you?re notified that you?ve been naughty with your search.??Instead of blaming laws for their inability to serve the user what it wants, Sina Weibo has decided to?unilaterally?shift to a more non-transparent error message stating that no results are found for sensitive keywords.? [Blocked on Weibo]
Corollary: Which of Wen Jiabao?s relatives can you search on Weibo? [Blocked on Weibo]
Still ahead of the censors. ?As?Beijing enters extreme lock-down?prior to the 18th National Party Congress (????or ?shi ba da? in Chinese), social media users have invented a new coded reference ? ?Sparta? ? to talk about this otherwise censored topic on Sina Weibo, China?s Twitter.?A search for Sparta (???) yielded more than 3.2 million results on Sina Weibo.? [Tea Leaf Nation via The Atlantic]
A story that starts, ?The other day I saw a balloon seller in Changsha, Hunan province.? ??That balloon had led to several moments which may not have happened otherwise. I wasn?t out to make any grand discoveries, although you never know what can happen. Just meeting a few more people was enough to make it a good investment.? [Brian Glucroft, Isidor's Fugue]
Chinese political joke: ?Recently the imperial capital?s weather suddenly changed. In the evening, a security old man said: ?look! suddenly the sky has changed!? A old lady replied in haze, ?don?t say sky changed, say the temperature has fallen?. The old man pondered and replied: ?We can?t even say the temperature fallen.?? [Global Voices, if you need an explanation]
A message to expat wives with foreign husbands, take it or leave it. ?The local girls will take your husband from you like an iPhone 5 left behind on a table in McDonalds. How can he resist the honey-coloured skin, high heels and miniskirts just waiting to pounce on their new, handsome foreign boss? Here?s the answer for that one: He won?t.? [the_villain, Sinolicious]
Composer wins award. ?Tan Dun received the 11th ?Shistakovich?s music awards? on Saturday. He is the first artist from China to have won the award.? [Xinhua]
Street ball in Beijing interlude:
Finally?
Two Japanese tourists killed in Hebei snowstorms. [Xinhua]
Kickstarter worth checking out: Owen Tucker?s graphic novel about teaching English in China. [Kickstarter, via Two Americans in China]
Mao Zedong portrait created by 9,000 hand-painted plastic figurines. [Daily Mail]
Interview with Mike Sui. [the Beijinger]
Finally, finally?
Pictures of a disappearing Shanghai, by Howard French, Rendezvous:
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Asian shares ease on caution before U.S. elections
TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Monday, tracking a sell-off in global shares late last week, as investors continued to shed risk ahead of the closely fought U.S. presidential election and looked past a strong U.S. jobs data to fragile economic growth worldwide.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> fell 0.3 percent after climbing to its highest since October 23 on Friday.
Australian shares <.axjo> were down 0.4 percent and South Korean shares <.ks11> opened down 0.7 percent.
"There is an absence of upward momentum, but economic data such as U.S. jobs were better than forecast last week, so the main index is expected to remain boxed in range before the U.S. elections," Cho Sung-joon, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities, said of Seoul shares.
Japan's Nikkei average <.n225> opened down 0.6 percent after closing at a one-week high on Friday. <.t/>
The political uncertainty in the world's largest economy made investors wary of holdings risk assets, and their safe-haven bids buoyed the U.S. dollar to two-month highs against a basket of major currencies <.dxy> on Monday.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney were neck-and-neck in opinion polls in the final 48 hours before Tuesday's vote.
Obama's re-election is perceived as negative for equities, while markets see Romney as stock-friendly, analysts have said.
After the U.S. election, Congress must deal with a "fiscal cliff" - up to $600 billion in expiring tax cuts and spending reductions that are set to kick in next year - which threatens to hurt the U.S. economy.
"Investors hate uncertainty, so there will be a sigh of relief when the election is over. Provided there is a clear election result and no change in the divided Congress, then traders and investors will see it as 'business as usual'," said Craig James, chief economist at CommSec.
Other key events this week include the Chinese congress starting November8 that will usher in a generational leadership change and policy decisions by the Reserve Bank of Australia and the European Central Bank.
The dollar was also bolstered by a report showing U.S. employers added 171,000 people to their payrolls last month, far above forecasts, and 84,000 more jobs were created in August and September than previously estimated.
Demand for U.S. factory goods also rose in September by the most in over a year, but a gauge of business investment plans showed lacklustre momentum.
The dollar steadied at 80.50 yen, near a more-than-six-month high of 80.68 yen scaled on Friday.
Bullion was undermined by the strong dollar. Spot gold ticked up 0.3 percent to $1,680.54 an ounce on Monday after a 2 percent plunge to a two-month low of $1,673.94 on Friday.
"For now, the liquidation in gold is likely to leave investors licking gaping wounds rather than focus on the benefits of a gently growing economy especially as it is currently set back in the shadows of the fiscal cliff," Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co said in a note to clients.
Hedge funds and other big speculators shed U.S. commodities by $8 billion last week, the biggest weekly drop in nearly six month, with gold seeing the largest outflow of net long money for a second week running.
U.S. crude futures eased 0.1 percent to $84.82 a barrel and Brent was down 0.2 percent to $105.48.
The euro edged up 0.1 percent to $1.2823. It hit a one-month low of $1.2816 early in Asia on Monday, undermined by not only the U.S. data but also Friday's survey showing euro zone October manufacturing shrank for the 15th straight month as output and new orders fell.
Finance chiefs of leading economies gathering in Mexico urged the United States on Sunday to avert a series of spending cuts and tax hikes that could hurt global output, though some countries saw Europe's debt crisis as the No. 1 danger.
China offered some comforting news on Saturday, with an official survey showing the country's services sector rebounded in October from a two-year low in September on stronger activity in the construction and retail sectors.
(Additional reporting by Joyce Lee in Seoul and Ian Chua in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-ease-caution-u-elections-002505085--finance.html
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News: Alstom successfully commissions Rail Control systems for Mexico City
Alstom has successfully completed the turnkey design, installation and commissioning of the complete electrification and rail control systems for Mexico City?s new metro line 12. These systems include the CBTC1 automatic train control, signaling, centralized control, passenger information, telecommunications, power distribution and catenary.? The new line was inaugurated on Tuesday October 30th in the presence of the President of the Mexican Republic Felipe Calder?n, the Mayor of Mexico City Marcelo Ebrard and the Senior Vice President of Alstom Transport Latin America Henri Bussery.
Metro Line 12 is 25 km-long and serves 20 stations. Expected to carry up to 450,000 passengers per day, this line becomes one of the most important ones of the country. To optimize the line?s efficiency in total safety, Alstom has installed its state-of-the-art radio-based URBALIS? CBTC. URBALIS enables automatic train operation and allows trains to run at shorter intervals in complete safety. This is the first CBTC system to be commissioned in Mexico and the twenty-fifth Urbalis equipped metro line to be put in service worldwide since its launch in 2003 with the trend-starting driverless Singapore North-East Line.
?The line 12 metro project was a successful collaboration between the government of Mexico City, Alstom, in charge of full electrification and rail control, and our Mexican partners ICA and CICSA for the civil engineering works? said Cintia Angulo, President and CEO of Alstom in Mexico. ?This collaboration benefits the ever-growing number of city commuters who opt for using in their day-to-day lives safer, more reliable and environmentally friendly means of transport?.
Metro Line 12?s project - recognized as one of the major infrastructure project in the country?s transport for years - was executed by Alstom and its Mexican partners ICA and Carso since 2008.? Alstom, which has a strong historical presence in Mexico, was involved in building the city?s first underground rail network in 1967.
Today, with the completion of Line 12, Alstom confirms its contribution and commitment to the efficiency and security of urban transport systems in Mexico City.
Among the sites involved in the project are: Saint-Ouen and Villeurbanne in France, Rochester in USA, Montr?al in Canada, Bologna in Italy, Bangalore in India and S?o Paulo in Brazil.
1 CBTC : Communications-Based Train Control.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breakingtravelnews/~3/rOch9uG61pc/
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Saturday, November 3, 2012
Iraqi tourist sector hurt by Iran's currency pain
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) ? The plunge in Iran's currency is proving bad for business in neighboring Iraq.
Yousif Jassim Mohammed would know. The Iraqi merchant's gift shop sits on prime real estate opposite the gold-domed Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims and a huge draw for the busloads of Iranian pilgrims that form the bedrock of Iraq's tourist trade.
Not long ago, the 60-year-old father of three could count on selling $1,000 worth of silver jewelry, prayer beads and trinkets a day. Now far fewer Iranians are passing by, and those who do come are holding tight to their cash. Mohammed says he's lucky to make a tenth of what he used to.
"Unlike before, they're now bargaining down to their last breath," Mohammed said of his remaining Iranian customers. "The sanctions have hit their economy very badly, and that is being reflected back on us."
The Iranian rial has plummeted in value against the dollar over the past year, with the slide accelerating over the past month. The drop is blamed on Western-led sanctions targeting Iran's suspect nuclear program but also on government mismanagement by Tehran.
The steep decline is painful for ordinary Iranians, who now have to pay far more for imported goods. But it is also damaging Iraq's fragile tourism industry, pinching small-time entrepreneurs and forcing businesses to lay off workers.
Fewer Iranians are able to afford visits to Shiite holy sites here and elsewhere in Iraq because each dollar or Iraqi dinar now costs roughly three times what it did as recently as last year. That has pushed the price of organized tours up sharply and made Iraqi merchants far less willing to accept rials as payment.
"It's more expensive now because of the (currency) problems we are facing," said Nakhi Morteza, 56, a pilgrim from Tehran who was helping lead a tour group outside Baghdad's Kazimiyah shrine this week.
Even some Iraqi money changers are refusing to accept Iranian banknotes, saying they have little use for a currency that is so volatile.
Tehran's state-run pilgrimage company owes Iraqis about $75 million in unpaid bills that have piled up since last year, according to Mahmoud Abdul-Jabbar al-Zubaidi, the head of the tourist department at Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
That has prompted some of Iraq's biggest travel agencies and several hotels to stop accepting Iranian pilgrims altogether until the payment dispute gets resolved.
Iman Rasool Nima, who runs the Janat al-Firdous hotel outside the Kazimiyah shrine, said she stopped taking in Iranian pilgrims two months ago after tour groups racked up $50,000 in unpaid bills.
She is now focusing on attracting Shiite pilgrims from Arab countries such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia instead. Iranian pilgrims account for about 95 percent of Iraq's tourist trade.
"The Iranians make up the bulk of our business. ... So of course our business is down," she said.
The head of one large Iraqi travel agency in Najaf said he is owed $5 million by the Iranians and won't be accepting any more pilgrims from the Islamic Republic for now.
The businessman, who declined to be named because he is still in negotiations about the unpaid bills, expects to lay off 35 of his 75 employees by the end of this month because of the lost Iranian customers.
Like others in the industry, he is insisting on being paid in dollars rather than rials.
"It is like committing suicide for any merchant in Iraq to deal in a fluctuating currency like rials today," he said.
Officials at Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, which arranges trips to religious sites abroad, refused to comment.
But Iranian media quoted several officials earlier this month as saying that the cost of travelling to Iraq has doubled. The acknowledgement came days after Iran's currency lost nearly 50 percent of its value in early October.
About 3,500 to 4,000 Iranian pilgrims had been traveling to Iraq daily before the rial's collapse, according to officials in both countries.
Iraq's tourism ministry has not recorded a drop in pilgrims so far, al-Zubaidi said. But business owners and local officials in pilgrimage centers tell a different story.
Saeeb Abuqneem, who owns the al-Farqadain hotel in Najaf and heads the city's hotel association, estimates that the number of Iranians visiting Iraq has dropped to about 2,500 per day.
He says he's able to fill only about 10 percent of his rooms these days and he has begun laying off employees. Several of the remaining uniformed staffers sat around the lobby looking bored during a recent visit.
"It's really bad. The private sector needs some kind of support from the government. But here in Iraq, we are paralyzed," he said.
Hotel owners and restaurants in nearby Karbala, where two revered Shiite saints are buried, have similar concerns, officials there say.
Like elsewhere in Iraq, some business owners are effectively boycotting Iranian tour groups until the payment issue is resolved. Some establishments will likely have to shut down if the crisis continues, said Mohammed al-Hir, who heads Karbala's hotel and restaurant association.
"The situation has hurt Karbala's economy," said Tareq al-Khegani, a member of the provincial council in Karbala. "The unemployment rate has risen. ... Most of the hotels and restaurants are empty."
In Najaf's old market, the mood is heavy.
Hussein al-Hamiri, a 31-year old owner of a textile and souvenir shop, said he now sells mostly to Iraqis and the small number of pilgrims who visit from other countries. He estimates business is down nearly 90 percent since the rial plunged.
"The market today is stagnant," he said.
Nearby, one of the few Iranian pilgrims in the market started examining a necklace in his hands. When the merchant mentioned the price, the Iranian raised his eyebrows in surprise, dropped the piece immediately and quickly walked away.
___
Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran contributed reporting.
___
Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck and Sinan Salaheddin at http://twitter.com/sinansm
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-tourist-sector-hurt-irans-currency-pain-063711927.html
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