Syria's shipping trade struggles as war risks bite

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - War and sanctions are taking an increasing toll on Syria's vital sea-borne trade, with fewer vessels calling at its cargo ports as ship-owners shy away from the risks associated with a conflict now in its third year.

The slowdown in deliveries of food and other essentials is piling pressure on the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is struggling to keep commercial supply lines open.

Syria has failed for some time to procure strategic commodities such as wheat, sugar and rice through international tenders due to the civil war and an associated financing crunch. Shipping volumes have been hit despite the country's ports being open and operational, sources familiar with matter say.

"Assad has support from his allies such as Russia and the regime continues to cling on. At the same time, the conflict is having an effect on supply lines which includes everything from commodities and goods," said Alan Fraser of security firm AKE.

"They are struggling on the shipping side, which is why they have tried to keep land corridors open."

Ship-tracking data from maritime analytics firm Windward shows that the number of ships - dry bulk, container and general cargo vessels - calling at the ports of Tartous and Latakia has fallen since the start of the year.

Port calls made by dry bulk vessels have fallen from a peak of 108 in March to just 20 in September. Similarly, 120 general cargo vessels made port visits in March, falling to 52 in September, the data shows.

"Although sanctions have had an impact on Syrian trade, the dangers to inland transport may also curtail trade into Syrian ports," a shipping industry source said.

"Ship tracking shows the major ports are receiving only four or five ships a day, nearly all of which are small local general cargo vessels."

Many of the vessels visiting Syrian ports are among the oldest in the global fleet, averaging 28 years old, the data shows, which sources say reflects the caution bigger lines have about sending more modern ships in.

The threat of Western attacks has faded as Assad has agreed to destroy his chemical arsenal, but "Syria is still not worth the hassle for many owners. You need to factor in potentially high-risk trade," a European ship owner said.

Earlier this year, Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services pulled out of operating the Tartous container port because of the war.

"As the conflict has intensified, so it has become less viable for freight transport operations," said Daniel Richards of business intelligence firm Business Monitor International.

"Not only have (Syria's) ports seen shipping companies shy away from them, but road haulage firms have looked for alternative routes for goods that otherwise would have been transited through the troubled state."

An official in Latakia said the port was ready to receive ships as normal although business was down.

"In terms of operational problems we don't have any. There are also no problems with our infrastructure and no damage so we are ready to operate one hundred percent as normal," the official said. "However, of course because of the situation the volumes of cargo are much less."

Port officials in Tartous did not respond to requests for comment and official data was not immediately available.

HIGH RISK ZONE

In late 2011, London's marine insurance market added Syria to a list of areas deemed high risk for merchant vessels, which has also led to higher shipping costs, trade sources say.

"The situation in Syria is such that underwriters really need to be notified if a vessel wishes to go there so they can make their own decision as to whether that risk is bearable at the current terms, or change the terms or conditions for the risks," said Neil Roberts of the Lloyd's Market Association, which represents insurance underwriting businesses in the Lloyd's market.

France's CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest container group and part of a consortium that manages the Latakia terminal, said it still called at both Latakia and Tartous.

Others though have scaled back activities, including the world's number one ship container firm Maersk Line, which offers a weekly feeder service via a sister company after cutting direct calls due to a lack of profitability.

Feeders transport containers which are loaded from bigger ships at other locations or at transshipment hubs such as Egypt or Lebanon.

"We are abiding strictly by the comprehensive sanctions imposed by the international community and this more than anything has reduced the flows into Syria," said Simon Brown, head of Maersk Line Egypt.

"We continue to accept bookings for any commodities not on the restricted list, for example humanitarian aid, food and medicine. It is our hope that the security situation continues to allow safe passage of vessels and cargo through to Syria."

(Additional reporting by Maha El Dahan in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Veronica Brown and Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-shipping-trade-struggles-war-risks-bite-050619748.html

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Analysis: Canceled EU-U.S. talks complicate trade ambitions

By Robin Emmott and John O'Donnell

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Even before the cancelation of the latest round of EU-U.S. talks, negotiations to create the world's largest free-trade deal were getting into difficulty territory.

France won a concession to leave European movies and entertainment out of the pact, to shield them from Hollywood and Silicon Valley, raising concerns Washington may pursue opt-outs for its shipping industry on security grounds.

Then the first round of talks in July were overshadowed by reports the United States had bugged European Union offices under its surveillance program made public by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Now, just before negotiators were due to get down to the nitty gritty in the search for a deal by the end of next year, the U.S. government's partial shutdown has forced next week's talks in Brussels to be scrapped.

If that were not enough, a split is emerging between Europe and the United States on one of the most critical areas of the proposed pact: finance.

"This delay is not fatal, but if the U.S. shutdown drags on and you are taking things off the table like culture and financial services, it is not a good way to start," said Stuart Eizenstat, a former U.S. ambassador to the European Union.

"This postponement may complicate the timetable of completing the talks by the end of 2014," Eizenstat said.

EU and U.S. officials say the deal, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, could boost economic output by some $100 billion a year on each side of the Atlantic, creating a market of 800 million people.

After five years of crisis, both see a deal as a way to reinvigorate their economies that account for a third of world trade when China's might threatens their global standing.

SECOND ROUND

So it was with some frustration that U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman rang his EU counterpart Karel De Gucht on Friday to cancel the second round of talks because of the effects of the Congressional budget dispute.

De Gucht, who handles trade for the EU's 28 countries, said the postponement "in no way distracts us from our overall aim of achieving an ambitious trade and investment deal."

Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Dan Mullaney is expected in Brussels on Monday to find a date for a second round of talks. Much depends on the U.S. shutdown, while Congress must act by October 17 in to avoid a U.S. government debt default.

Agreeing a deal by the end of 2014 is the goal of both sides, because the European Commission's term ends in November next year and the United States holds mid-term elections.

Since tariffs between the EU and United States are already low, around 80 percent of the gains of any agreement will come from creating common rules for business.

The great, hoped-for benefit is that by agreeing shared regulatory standards, many costs and hurdles hindering transatlantic business will be removed, making the two economies even more dynamic and speeding the wheels of trade and industry.

However, an emerging dispute is over finance.

The EU wants financial regulation to be a central part of the deal, whereas Washington is resisting, worried about losing control over its financial industry.

Financial ties between Europe and the United States are already huge, accounting for 60 percent of world banking. EU investors own $2.7 trillion of U.S. stocks and bonds, while U.S. residents hold almost as much in Europe.

EMERGENCY AID

However, the United States and European countries regulate banks, insurers and traders in very different ways, particularly in the $630 trillion derivatives industry.

Never was the difference more evident than during the financial crisis, when Washington moved quickly in 2008 to tackle problems at its banks. Five years on, the European Union is still struggling to impose order on its financial system and has had to give emergency aid to five countries.

This is mirrored in regulation, where the two sides have also clashed over the control of derivatives, with Washington demanding that global trading involving U.S. firms be subject only to U.S. rules, regardless of where it happens.

Europe wants a pact that spells out which regulators are responsible for what activities. Some EU officials even talk about creating new EU-U.S. institutions to oversee finance.

The United States' Froman, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, has expressed Washington's reluctance.

"There has been an explosion of regulatory activity," Froman said in Brussels on September 30, making clear Europe and the United States could not merge their financial regulation. "That work should continue in parallel," he said.

U.S. officials fear a deal with Europe could water down their signature reform since the financial crisis, the 848-page Dodd-Frank Act, introduced in 2010 to discourage risk-taking.

In Europe there is a cacophony of approaches to regulation, despite Brussels' efforts to impose a federal-style system.

"In the United States, there are strong federal regulators," said Anthony Belchambers, head of the Futures and Options Association, which represents banks involved in derivatives in Europe. "Here in Europe, supervision and enforcement remain a matter for each of the member state's regulatory authorities. That is not going to change any time soon."

(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-canceled-eu-u-talks-complicate-trade-ambitions-092029827--sector.html

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Humbling View of Sharks Revealed in Stunning Photos

They lurk in nearly ever seascape across the globe, have been around since the dinosaurs, and range from 7 inches to 50 feet long. Yet for all their amazing ecology, sharks have had a rough run in the public eye.

"One thing that I have learned during my decade documenting sharks is that they resonate in a different way with each person," photojournalist Thomas P. Peschak writes.

To the shark fin dealer, they're a means of income; to a biologist, a well of information; and often in the popular imagination, they're a source of terror. Using intimate images captured during his career, Peschak presents a visual argument that sharks are worthy of respect and protection in his new book "Sharks and People" (University of Chicago Press, 2013).

Ten years ago, Peschak left a career as a marine biologist to become a photojournalist with a conviction that images could be more powerful than scientific data in driving conservation efforts. [Peschak's Photos: Seeing Sharks Up Close]

As a graduate student, Peschak studied the impacts of poaching on the South African abalone, but discovered that protection measures were hardly influenced by even the strongest proof that populations of the sea snails were being devastated.

"On the other hand," Peschak writes, "the response to the photographs I took during the course of my research, which showed poaching and seascapes devoid of life, was much more visceral and immediate."

Conservationists worry that sharks are threatened by overfishing. Many species are harvested for their meat, liver oil, cartilage and most of all their fins,?which are used in shark fin soup, a pricey delicacy in East Asia. According to some estimates, 38 million sharks were killed in the fin trade alone in the year 2000, Peschak notes, while from 2002 to 2012, an average of five humans each year died in a shark attack.

Shark attacks are statistically unlikely, but they have a disproportionate impact on the people and communities involved, Peschak writes. He should know; he witnessed a young diver brought to shore after a bite that resulted in an amputated leg. Peschak recalls that it changed his relationship with sharks forever.

With a camera in hand, it's best to approach the beady-eyed subjects with respect and humility, Peschak writes, but he's found sharks to be more curious than cruel. The real risks he faces are human-caused: political instability of the countries where he works, shoddy aircraft and contact with wildlife traffickers.

Follow Megan Gannon on?Twitter?and?Google+.?Follow us @livescience,?Facebook &?Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/humbling-view-sharks-revealed-stunning-photos-111927865.html

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Tim Cook Sends Letter to Employees Honoring 2nd Anniversary of Steve Jobs? Passing

By Todd Haselton | October 4, 2013

Stay Connected with Us! Follow TechnoBuffalo

Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a letter to Apple employees on Friday recognizing the second anniversary of the passing of Steve Jobs. The letter was first obtained and published by?9to5Mac. In it, Cook asks employees to reflect on what Steve Jobs offered the world and recognizes him as an ?amazing human being? who ?left the world in a better place.? Here?s a copy of the letter:

Team-

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Steve?s death. I hope everyone will reflect on what he meant to all of us and to the world. Steve was an amazing human being and left the world a better place.I think of him often and find enormous strength in memories of his friendship, vision and leadership.?He left behind a company that only he could have built and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We will continue to honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to the work he loved so much. There is no higher tribute to his memory.?I know that he would be proud of all of you.

Best,

Tim

Steve Jobs passed away on Oct. 5, 2011 after a long fight with pancreatic cancer.

Source: http://technobuffalo.com.feedsportal.com/c/35293/f/658062/s/3212f52a/sc/21/l/0L0Stechnobuffalo0N0C20A130C10A0C0A40Ctim0Ecook0Esends0Eletter0Eto0Eemployees0Ehonoring0E2nd0Eanniversary0Eof0Esteve0Ejobs0Epassing0C/story01.htm

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A paralyzed superpower: How the world sees the US government shutdown

For many outside the United States, the quirks of American democracy are usually something to scratch your head over: why are laws different from one state to another? How is it a presidential candidate can win the most votes but still lose an election? Doesn?t the filibuster completely pervert the concept of a majority vote?

But when the government overseeing the world?s largest economy and the world?s largest military ends up hanging a ?Closed-For-Business? sign, the head-scratching turns to head-shaking and fear of the longer term global consequences of a US government shutdown, never mind a US government default.
?
?A superpower has paralyzed itself,? proclaimed Germany's Der Spiegel Online.

"Americans sneeze and Brits catch the flu,? wrote David Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee in The Independent, a UK newspaper.

The Mexican newspaper, The News, marveled at the prospect of a government shutdown. US officials "are facing the unthinkable prospect of shutting down the government as they squabble over the inconsequential accomplishment of a 10-week funding extension,? the paper said in an editorial.

In commentary published Tuesday under the headline "Jefferson, Wake Up. They Have Become Fools!," the French newspaper Le Monde offered a history lesson on the origins of divided US government.

?This Republic was founded on a majority opinion of centrists from both major parties of the country?? the paper said. ?Over the years, this has stalled. American democracy works worse and worse.?

The leftist French newspaper, Lib?ration, ran a commentary by editor Nicolas Demorand that said the concept of the French government closing its doors was impossible to imagine. The idea that ??on a given date, at a specific time, overnight, the state may be partly ?disconnected? would appear to be unthinkable. Something from science fiction, or simple madness,? Mr. Demorand wrote.

The Irish Times newspaper tried draw a parallel between the US government deadlock and an upcoming referendum to abolish the upper house of parliament in Ireland.

?And the deadlocked battle between Congress and president reflects one of the dangers of a system in which rival centres of power, each claiming democratic legitimacy, can hold each other in check ? result , total inertia,? the paper said.

In Indonesia, Jakarta?s two English-language newspapers published articles about the shutdown, which drew commentary from readers such as one identified as?Mounte_Cristo, who wrote: "thought my government is bad, indeed US government is worse. but it's ok at least the civil servants can take on leave without permission from their bosses, relax and enjoy barbeque in the backyard for few weeks."

China's state-run Xinhua news agency warned tourists heading to the US that popular destinations, such as national parks and monuments in Washington, might be closed. The paper avoided any critical editorializing about the US situation.

In Russia, government newspaper Rossisskaya Gazeta?s headline on Monday read: ?The Elephants Are Robbing the US Government.? Meanwhile, in the newspaper Kommersant, readers of an article headlined ?The USA Has Been Left Without a Government? reacted sarcastically to the news of the shutdown:?

?For the ?Good? Empire, this sort of clown show is shameful. The debt ceiling of course will be raised, but the USA has unambiguously damaged its image yet again,? a reader named Esergn wrote. ?It?s better for Obama to work things out with Congress than trying to start a war in Syria.?

Australian radio personality and film critic Marc Fennell, meanwhile, offered this proposal for how Australians should react to the US government closure:

Quick! Let's steal Hawaii while the US is shutdown.? Marc Fennell (@marcfennell) October 1, 2013

Related stories

Read this story at csmonitor.com

Become a part of the Monitor community

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paralyzed-superpower-world-sees-us-government-shutdown-183600146.html

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China's urbanization means problems for the Church

When Bosco Wang took a job at a garment factory in Cixi city in 2000, he noticed that during Sunday Mass many parishioners recited the rosary instead of following the protocols of worship and listening to the homily.

He later discovered that the parishioners were migrant workers like himself, from numerous provinces, who could not understand the Ningbo dialect of the priest.

Wang himself had a similar experience during the 1990s when he worked in Guangdong province and opted to worship at a Protestant Church whose pastor spoke Mandarin, rather than at a local Catholic Church where the priest spoke Cantonese.

Migrant workers must adapt to a host of challenges when they relocate from their familiar homelands. Everything from food, climate, local customs and language reinforce their feelings of being an outsider ? even from one?s church.

?It was a bitter feeling to rejoin my Mother Church only on important feasts,? Wang said.

Language is just one of the many barriers facing the estimated 260 million migrant workers who relocate from rural provinces to seek employment in urban areas across China.

Mandarin is the official language, but there are more than 80 dialects spoken.

Growing urbanization of China?s once predominantly rural population has become a pressing issue for the country in its transformation to a modern and open economy, a shift initiated in the late 1970s.

In 2011, city populations overtook rural ones for the first time in the country?s history, with 51.3 percent of Chinese now residing in densely packed urban areas.

This shift has created a host of social problems, including safe housing, employment and residential permits, which government officials have been trying to resolve.

On August 30 this year, Premier Li Keqiang met with a team of specialists from the China?s Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering to evaluate an investigation conducted by more than 100 researchers over the course of a year.

According to a report by the official Xinhua New Agency, Li told the specialists that in light of increased urbanization, greater attention needed to be paid to increase respect for the law, to better coordinate the development of small cities and towns, and to enhance the quality of life.

But urbanization and mass migration also takes its toll on religious life, as priests struggle to provide adequate pastoral care to their parishioners.

In Bosco Wang?s case, a critical problem was one of language. He urged his parish priest to celebrate the evening Mass in Mandarin to accommodate the growing migrant community within the church.

It took several years, as well as the arrival of a new parish priest, who skillfully resolved resistance from elderly laypeople who preferred the liturgy to be said in the local dialect.

Today, there are 500 Catholic migrant workers in Cixi, an important manufacturing hub, with around 100 of them attending Sunday Mass regularly. They also have weekly gatherings, offer charity services and conduct pilgrimages and festival celebrations.

The migrants have gained access to a more textured spiritual life simply because of a change of language.

?This experience tells me that it is very important for priests to accept migrants and show concern for the challenges they face,? Bosco Wang said.

The church in Cixi embraced the migrant workers, but in many other parts of China, both urban and rural, the church communities have shown less willingness to change.

Moreover, urbanization has taken a toll on rural parishes. China has more than 31 million Christians, but most reside in cities.

In rural areas, most able-bodied men have left to find jobs in other provincial cities. Their absence puts a strain on their families, with children and the elderly requiring care.

The predominantly Catholic Erquanjin town in Hebei province used to have about 2,200 residents, but only about 100 Catholics remain.

In contrast, city church populations are thriving because they are ?receiving new faces every week? from the countryside, said Fr Joseph Wang of Yuci diocese in Shanxi province.

?Even the parish priest cannot be sure how many parishioners he has,? he added.

The Haidan Christian Church in Beijing had 850 regular attendees in 2003. The congregation swelled to 11,000 by 2011, with 90 percent of members born in the 1990s.

As city congregations grow, rural ones diminish. Even the villages in which they were based have begun to vanish.

According to Dr Huang Jianbo, professor of anthropology at Renmin University in Beijing, about 80 to 100 villages have ceased to exist each day in the last decade as more people move to cities.

Church workers say the Church in rural China struggles to provide for those left behind, while city congregations struggle with social rifts between privileged elites and poor rural migrants.

The less educated rural Christians have found themselves estranged ?in a new church setting and an unfamiliar expression of the same faith in terms of different ways of understanding, approach and experiencing God,? said Dr Huang.

Source: http://www.ucanews.com/news/-chinas-urbanization-means-problems-for-the-church/69380

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 announcement and owners thread

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Source: www.geekzone.co.nz --- Sunday, September 29, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 announcement and owners thread ...

Source: http://feeds.geekzone.co.nz/~r/GeekzoneForumsLatestPosts/~3/GcC3OBTenko/forums.asp

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