A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, May 7, 2007.

A 30 meter section of a gas pipeline in Luka (near Kiev) in Ukraine has been destroyed by an explosion. Although supplies to Europe via this pipeline have stopped, Ukrainian Energy Minister Georgi E. Boyko said that supplies to Europe would not be affected.

“There are no changes in volumes of gas being transported,” Yuri Korolchuk said. “Volumes due to pass through the damaged section are being redirected through the Soyuz pipeline.”

Normal flows are reported in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

Sources

• “Blast damages pipeline in Ukraine” — Russia Today, May 8, 2007
• Natalya Zinets, Reuters. “Blast hits Ukraine gas pipeline” — The Scotsman, May 7, 2007

Copper prices are rising. Between record copper imports from China, and a mining strike in Peru, the prices have climbed to over $8100 (United States dollars) a tonne, for a gain of $575 dollars over the last week. However the upward trend is not new, it has been climbing for quite some time. In April 2003, the price of copper was under $2000 a tonne.

The metal market has been tending up due to growth in the Chinese industrial production. This trickles down to the local level, where the buying price at scrap yards is ever climbing, making scrap metal collection a more profitable endeavour for individual people using pick up trucks or other such vehicles to collect and cash in the scrap metal at metal buying yards. It can be collected via agreements with businesses, from the garbage, or, sometimes, by theft.

Copper prices fell today on the NYMEX commodity exchange from US$3.7545 per pound to US$3.7125 based on the July futures contract.

Sources

• “Copper up but crude oil down” — Financial Express, May 6, 2007
• Millie Munshi. “Metals Bubble Poised to Burst on Increasing Supplies” — Bloomberg L.P., May 7, 2007
• “Commodity Futures” — Bloomberg L.P., accessed May 7, 2007

One man was killed and another injured by an exploding backpack in the parking lot of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The explosion happened at 4 a.m. PDT when the victim tried to remove a the object left on top of his car.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are on the scene. Aerial images did not show any apparent damage.

“We believe the victim was the intended target of this,” Bill Cassell said, spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “This is being treated as a homicide in which the weapon used to cause death is a non-traditional weapon.”

Both of the victims worked at the Luxor.

Sources

• Associated Press. “1 dead, 1 hurt in Las Vegas parking lot blast” — MSNBC, May 7, 2007
• “Explosion kills man in Vegas outside Luxor hotel” — Reuters, May 7, 2007

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Government Accountability Office on June 18 called for a re-run of the bidding for the U.S. Air Force $40 billion tanker contract, citing major flaws in the procurement process. This imperils the Northrop Grumman and EADS North America plan to assemble the planes in Mobile, Alabama.

When the Air Force selected Los Angeles based Northrop Grumman on February 29 to build the aircraft, Boeing challenged the award in a formal protest before the GAO, claiming the evaluation was skewed towards Northrop.

The GAO upheld Boeing’s protest, though not all of their individual claims were upheld.

“Our review of the record led us to conclude that the Air Force had made a number ofsignificant errors that could have affected the outcome of what was a closecompetition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman,” said Michael R. Golden, the GAO’s managing associate general counsel for procurement law.

The GAO issued a non-binding recommendation that the Air Force re-open the competition, allow the competitors to submit revised bids, and completely re-evaluate the new bids. This process could take a year or more to complete.

The Air Force has 60 days to respond to the GAO.

Northrop said that they needed time to consider the ruling, but their spokesman, Randy Belote, said “we continue to believe that Northrop Grumman offered the most modern and capable tanker for our men and women in uniform.”

Boeing supporters on Capital Hill urged the Air Force to scrap the contract and start a new competition as soon as possible.

“I believe the Air Force should set aside the agreement it improperly reached with EADS/Northrop Grumman and we should proceed expeditiously to build the best aircraft – the Boeing KC-767” said U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash, in whose state the Boeing aircraft would be built.

Alabama politicians were disappointed and surprised by the GAO’s ruling. Northop and EADS were to assemble their tankers in Alabama at a new assembly plant at Mobile’s Brookley Industrial Complex.

“I don’t believe this ruling signals the end of Alabama’s hopes for building tankers for the Air Force,” said U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile. “Like everyone else, I look forward to hearing from the GAO and meeting with the Air Force on how we move forward. For the sake of our airmen and women, we must find a way to do so quickly.”

The 69 page GAO decision was not made public, due to sensitive information about the aircraft, but a 3 page press release stated the main points of the ruling:

• The Air Force did not correctly apply its own criteria when assessing the aircraft.
• They miscalculated the costs associated with the Boeing tanker, and incorrectly concluded that Northrop’s would be cheaper.
• They wrongly gave Northrop’s tanker extra credit for exceeding key performance objectives.
• They did not back up their claim that the Northrop tanker could refuel all current Air Force fixed-wing aircraft.
• They told Boeing that its aircraft met a key performance objective, before deciding this was only partially true.
• The Air Force “unreasonably” favored Northrop after the company refused to help set up maintenance depots within two years of the first airplane delivery.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005In a report from the Department of Homeland Security released on Friday, March 25, they allege the US Transportation Security Administration “made inaccurate statements” about its management of personal data belonging to passengers. The report claims, “TSA did not ensure that privacy protections were in place” as it handled data transfers to private contractors for use in the development of a computerized passenger screening application, called CAPPS II. While the report criticizes TSA for its inaccurate statements, it notes the “misstatements were apparently not meant to mischaracterize known facts,” but were instead “premised on an incomplete understanding” of the truth.

According to the report, the data at issue described passengers flying on the following airlines: America West Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, and JetBlue Airways. In most of the problematic transfers, the privacy violation occurred by allowing third parties to access passenger data that was not anonymized. In one case, passenger information was made public on the internet through a presentation prepared by Torch Concepts. According to the report, “Torch Concepts’ subsequent efforts to remove the presentation from the internet have failed.”

In an AP report, Yahoo! News notes that TSA announced the launch of its “Secure Flight” system, saying, “Congress has said the agency can’t proceed with Secure Flight unless the Government Accountability Office reports that the technology ensures privacy and that the data are protected.” The report from the GAO was to be released Monday, March 27, 2005.

Thursday, November 9, 2006

The Indian Railways (IR) has tied up with the Canadian transport solutions major Bombardier Transportation to produce electronic freight locomotives in the country for the proposed Rupee (Rs) 22,000-crore (one crore is 10 million) dedicated freight corridors on the eastern and western routes.

Bombardier produces regional aircraft and business jets to rail transportation equipment.

Bombardier Transportation officials have met Railways’ officials for exploring the option of setting up a greenfield electronic freight locomotive manufacturing facility and an assembling unit in India.

Analysts feels that IR will need at least 500-600 electronic freight locomotives, besides the same number of diesel locomotives for dedicated freight corridors in the first phase. “Conservative estimates for a normal locomotive are between Rs 13 crore and Rs 15 crore. The investment required for manufacturing electronic freight locomotives is around Rs 10,000 crore,” the analysts said.

It is also been learned that IR would also pick up a stake in this project.

Bombardier President, Transportation, Andre Navarri confirmed talks with IR, “We are keen to take part in the dedicated freight corridor project, but the nature of the agreement with the Indian government is yet to be finalized.”

IR will come up with a detailed plan and tenders for the proposed corridor by mid-November.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

That Singapore and Brunei are today marking 40 years of currency interchangeability with a special banknote might come as a shock to some.

And it’s not the part about the special banknote, it’s that the two small southeast Asian countries have had interchangeable currencies for 40 years.

Singaporean Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong admits that not a lot of Singaporeans know about it, and that currency from Brunei is routinely refused by Singaporean retailers.File:Brunei 2006 circulating coins.jpg

“They are not used to seeing Bruneian currency,” Goh said at a press conference yesterday in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei. He added that he sees the need to educate Singaporean retailers “again and again” on the matter.

Maybe, said Goh, if more money from the tiny, oil-rich sultanate on Borneo was spent in the island republic of Singapore, there would be change.

“If Bruneians spend a lot of money in Singapore, and you have millions of Brunei dollars floating around, there’ll be no problem. So the retailers see the currency, they are not familiar with it,” Goh said.

“So from time to time, we have to tell the retailers that there is an interchangeable agreement with Brunei and the currency must be accepted,” Goh continued.

The 40th anniversary banknote will be an important tool in educating Singaporeans about current interchangeability, Goh said.

“It is a way to tell Singaporeans and also Bruneians that we have these interchangeable currencies… If the currency is not accepted just tell the retailer and explain to them that there is no problem, that they are acceptable to banks,” Goh said.

However, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Brunei Currency and Monetary Board will issue the notes into general circulation, it will be a limited issue.

“I think it will become a collectors’ item,” Goh said. “Because it’s the first time we are doing this in 40 years, I think collectors would not circulate them. But it is meant for circulation and can be used like any currency note,” he said.

The front of commemorative note has scenes from both Brunei and Singapore, while the reverse bears Singapore’s coat of arms and the face of Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei. Goh said he thought the design is “very attractive.”

The two countries have maintained currency interchangeability since 1967, when the Singapore dollar and the Brunei dollar replaced the Malaya and British Borneo dollar as legal tender in those countries.

Goh was in Brunei to attend yesterday’s royal banquet, put on by the Sultan of Brunei, on the occasion of the sultan’s daughter’s wedding.

Princess Majeedah Nuurul Bulqiah, 31, 11th daughter of the sultan, and Khairul Khalil, 32, exchanged their vows last Thursday, and were presented to the public on Sunday in a lavish, two-week ceremony steeped in Brunei royal and Muslim tradition.

Friday, July 30, 2021

On Monday, Filipina weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in women’s weightlifting in the 55 kg category during her fourth Olympic games. She lifted a combined weight 224 kg (494 lb), tying the previous new Olympic record. In the snatch she lifted 97 kg (214 lb) and in the clean and jerk 127 kg (280 lb), totaling the 224 kg.

After the match, she said in an interview, “I am 30 years old and I thought it would be like going down, my performance, but I was shocked I was able to do it”. A statement from the Philippines’ presidential spokesman Harry Roque celebrated Diaz’s win, saying, “Congratulations, Hidilyn. The entire Filipino nation is proud of you”.

The previous record-setter Liao Qiuyun of China took the silver medal with a total weight of 223 kg (492 lb), and Zulfiya Chinshanlo of Kazakhstan took the bronze with 213 kg (470 lb).

Diaz won the silver medal during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she competed in the 53 kg category. She won a gold medal in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Diaz trained in Malaysia, where she was stuck due to COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed by the Philippines. While there, she trained in a self-built gym, using water bottles.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A new shopping center in Washington, United States called Lakewood Crossing is planning on building and opening new stores. It was opened on September 21, 2006 with the opening of the Marysville, Washington Costco. The mall has still been in the planning stages since 2005. The developer is Powell Development from Kirkland, Washington and the mall is located in North Lakewood, Washington.

There are more than 17 stores and more are being built. A Marshalls, Boston’s Gourmet Pizza, Mongolian Grill, Discount Tire, and others are yet to open. The Washington State Department of Transportation say this could cause more traffic problems. The intersection of Washington State Route 531 and 27th Avenue (only way in and out) is “crowded and tight”. Twin Lakes is now inaccessible because of the traffic.

Plans to redo the traffic are coming soon. They plan to open a loop ramp on the interchange of Washington State Route 531 and Interstate 5 in 2009. Twin Lakes Avenue NE will be extended and a freeway ramp will be added soon, along with a bridge across Interstate 5.