Brown says world economy fragile
Mon 27 September, 2004 12:40BRIGHTON (Reuters) - Chancellor Gordon Brown says the world economy remains fragile and he will countenance no inflation-busting pay deals or irresponsible tax giveaways before next year's expected election.
He planned to take that message to meetings later this week in Washington of G7 finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund.
"Facing a global recovery that is uneven and still fragile, where oil prices have doubled and imbalances worsened, I will tell the G7 and IMF when I travel to Washington that we will take no risks with inflationary pay deals ... no short-termism, no easy options, no irresponsible pre-election promises," the Chancellor told the Labour Party's annual conference on Monday.
Brown said Britain faced profound competition from fast-growing powers like India and China.
"China and India's wages are just five percent of ours but I say to you: we will not compete by lowering our wages or lowering our standards but by raising our skills," Brown said.
The Chancellor said he admired the United States for its enterprise culture but not its record on social justice and added the reverse was true in Europe -- where greater social cohesion was not matched by economic dynamism.
Ahead of Britain's presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2005, Brown demanded economic fundamental reform that has been slow to materialise -- hinting that if it happened, British euroscepticism may be overcome.
"The test that the British people will apply to Europe is that it embraces reform, resists federal fiscal policies, rejects tax harmonisation and tackles, root and branch, the waste and excesses of the Common Agricultural Policy," he said.
X Prize Launch Set For Wednesday At Mojave; Canadians On Hold
AVweb -7 hours ago
Following its successful test flight in June, the American Mojave Aerospace team, led by Burt Rutan and backed by Paul Allen, plans to launch its first official flight in pursuit of the $10 million Ansari X Prize on Wednesday.
Record-breaking fourth hurricane hits Florida
New Scientist -51 minutes ago
Hurricane Jeanne ripped into the east coast of Florida early on Sunday morning, marking the first time four hurricanes have hit the state in a single year since record-keeping began in 1851.
Jeanne heaps rubble upon ruinSan Francisco Chronicle
Posted on Mon, Sep. 27, 2004
JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images More than 2.5 million homes and businesses were without power late Sunday after Jeanne pounded Florida. In Sebastian, Constance Kenney surveyed what was left of her father's bedroom after the home was blown apart by the hurricane.
The Associated Press Jeanne made landfall at Hutchinson Island, 35 miles north of West Palm Beach, with the storm surge sending sand into buildings.
‘JUST WHEN WE START TO TURN THE CORNER, THIS HAPPENS'
Floridians weather yet another lashing
HUTCHINSON ISLAND, Fla. — Jeanne, Florida's fourth hurricane in six weeks, piled on destruction in already ravaged areas Sunday, slicing across the state with howling wind that rocketed debris from earlier storms.
At least six persons died in the storm, which was a cruel rerun for many still trying to recover from earlier hurricanes. Jeanne came ashore in the same area hit three weeks ago by Hurricane Frances and was headed for the Panhandle, where 70,000 homes and businesses remained without power because of Hurricane Ivan 10 days earlier.
The storm peeled the roofs off buildings, toppled light poles, destroyed a deserted community center in Jensen Beach and flooded some bridges from the mainland to the Atlantic coast's barrier islands. Utilities estimated more than 2.5 million homes and businesses were without power late Sunday.
“The last three weeks have been horrific,” said Joe Stawara, owner of a Vero Beach mobile home park where about half the 232 trailers were damaged. “And just when we start to turn the corner, this happens.”
Until this weekend, no state had suffered a four-hurricane pounding in one season since Texas in 1886. And the hurricane season still has two months to go.
Rain blew sideways in wind that reached 120 mph when Hurricane Jeanne's eye hit land late Saturday night; by 7 p.m. CST Sunday it had weakened to a tropical storm with sustained wind near 55 mph.
At least a foot of water rushed through some streets in Vero Beach, where a mattress floated through one neighborhood.
President Bush declared a major disaster area in Florida. The hurricanes have prompted the largest relief effort in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's history, eclipsing responses for the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, Calif., and the 2001 terrorist attacks, director Michael Brown said.
“You're going to have some areas that have been hit once, twice and sometimes maybe three times,” Brown said. “That's very frustrating, I know, for those who live in those communities.”
Frances was larger, while Charley and Ivan were more powerful. But Jeanne was bad enough, once again sending the Sunshine State into a state of emergency.
Gov. Jeb Bush sought to reassure weary Floridians. “This will become a memory,” he said. “This does come to an end, and when it does we can probably use the term ‘normal' again.”
Seawater submerged the bottom floor of condominiums on Hutchinson Island, where Josh Lumberson rode out the storm. The parking lot was under 5 feet of sand and water, and sand rose to the kitchen cabinets inside first-floor condos. The ocean, once 75 yards away, lapped at the foundation.
“It sounded like the whole building was coming down,” Lumberson said. “You could hear every metal screw coming out of the walls.”
As the wind subsided, the clang of metal siding could still be heard on the barrier island.
Jeanne made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of up to 120 mph just before midnight Saturday at Hutchinson Island, 35 miles north of West Palm Beach. Frances struck in almost the same spot.
Once inland, Jeanne's 400-mile diameter system trudged across the state, passing northeast of Tampa. It then headed toward the Panhandle, which was still recovering from Ivan.
Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, described the similar paths of Jeanne and Frances as perhaps unprecedented.
The toll from the latest storm extended as far north as Daytona Beach, where the famous beach was ravaged by erosion, and south to Miami, where one person was electrocuted after touching a downed power line.
Two persons died when the sport utility vehicle they were driving plunged into a lake beside the Sawgrass Expressway south of Boca Raton. In Clay County southwest of Jacksonville, a 15-year-old boy died after being pinned by a falling tree Sunday.
In Brevard County, a man was found dead in a ditch in Palm Bay in what police called an apparent drowning.
Jeanne's predecessors killed at least 70 persons in Florida.
More than 3,000 National Guard troops were deployed to aid relief efforts.
State officials said 59,000 people, many with homes already damaged by Frances, rode out Jeanne in shelters.
Tropical Storm Jeanne was forecast to weaken into a tropical depression sometime today.
Florida Gets Hit By The 4th Hurricane In Six Weeks-Why?
Well is there a connection to the Bible? Well this is what I read as I was pondering the question on the internet:
Rev. 7:1
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.The four angels are holding back the "four winds" that they should not blow, i.e. they are stopping their action. What does that mean? Well, every time the "four winds" are spoken of they are always connected with the final events, the consummation of this earth age. You can read of them in Ezek. 37 and in Daniel 7 as well.
So Rev. 7:1 is simple. John saw that there is a holding pattern concerning the final events of this earth age which are about to befall us. And I am sure there must be a very good reason why, and I am sure we will find out because Christ has foretold all things, remember?
[2] And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Who is this angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God? It is the angel of the 7th Seal, containing the 7 Trumps, saying "Hold it right there!"
[3] Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Aha! I knew it. There's the answer. There is a VERY IMPORTANT job that must be done before the four winds are released upon the earth and the final trumpets blow. The "servants" of the living God must have the "seal" of the living God placed "in their foreheads".
Hey, look! When those four winds are released and the hurtin' comes upon the earth, look who is protected; only those with the Seal of God in their foreheads, those who understand the Word of God.
If you DO NOT have the Seal of God in your forehead, then you will have the Seal of Satan in your forehead, the mark of the beast, i.e. Satan's word, which is garbage, deception, and will lead you to the spiritual crematorium because you are "marked" for hurtin'!
It is really very simple. You either belong to Christ, the Son of God, and have His Word, His seal in your mind, or you belong to Antichrist, the son of perdition, and have his word, his seal (mark) in your mind.
So we know what the Seal of God is (His truth), and who it is that is to be sealed (His servants), but who is to do the sealing?
If you have eyes to see and ears to hear you may be chuckling over such complete and utter nonsense. But...you must admit that the world is in a sorry state and getting worse. Abrahams offspring Ishmael VS Israel at Armageddon? Hmmm looks interesting.
http://www.kingschapel.org/rev/Rev20.htm
Oil price hits record on Nigeria worries
Mon 27 September, 2004 12:11By Richard Mably
LONDON (Reuters) - London crude prices have hit record highs as Nigeria emerges as the new focus of worries about supply security on world oil markets.
London Brent on the International Petroleum Exchange, the benchmark for European crude imports, set a record of $46 a barrel on Monday, up 67 cents.
U.S. light crude gained 49 cents to $49.37 a barrel, a whisker away from August's all-time peak of $49.40.
The potential for a supply disruption from Nigeria, OPEC's number five producer, has added to long-running concerns about supply security from Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
"All these factors create apprehension in the market and reinforce the view that we're on a knife's edge in terms of supply and demand," said Daniel Hynes, industry analyst at ANZ Bank in Melbourne.
"The uncertainties heighten the risk premium applied to this market. Another move to test the $49.40 could well happen this week."
Global supplies are straining to meet the fastest growth in oil demand in 24 years. World crude output is close to its limits with only top exporter Saudi Arabia holding any significant spare capacity.
In Nigeria, rebels seeking political reforms in the impoverished oil-producing Niger delta scored a success with the closure by Royal Dutch/Shell of a small 30,000 barrels a day.
Shell has evacuated some staff as a security precaution as government troops battle militia, threatening deliveries from the country that pumps 2.5 million barrels daily.
The rebels said at the weekend they would bid to extend their uprising across the West African producer's entire southern delta oil region.
Rebel leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari threatened to target the facilities and personnel of Italian firm Agip, a unit of ENI, which he accused of lending helicopters to the Nigerian military. Agip denied the allegation.
Uncertainty over supplies from YUKOS, Russia's top exporter, also is supporting prices. YUKOS last week trimmed deliveries to China.
In Saudi Arabia, clashes between security forces and suspected al Qaeda followers served as a reminder of the threat to stability in the world's biggest producer.
In Iraq, insurgents fired mortar bombs at the oil ministry building on Saturday, causing minor damage but no injuries.
But Iraqi oil exports, temporarily at least, are as high as they have been since last year's U.S.-led invasion.
Iraqi pipelines have been the target of frequent sabotage attacks. But on Monday deliveries resumed at about 450,000 bpd through the main northern line to Turkey after engineers completed repairs from a bomb attack Sept 2. Southern exports were near full capacity at two million bpd.
Extra crude from OPEC, now pumping at a 25-year high, has failed to make any impact. The group produced 30.5 million bpd in September, the highest since 1979, tanker-tracking consultancy Petrologistics said.
OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the cartel was supplying enough crude and was not to blame for high prices.
"This is because of Hurricane Ivan and some problems in other places," said Purnomo of high prices. "This is not a supply and demand problem. OPEC supply is enough," he told reporters in Jakarta.
Internet Vote A Success September 27, 2004
According to Swiss authorities, history was made Sunday when 2723 people in four communities in canton Geneva, Switzerland, voted online in a national federal referendum.
About 22,000 voters in the suburbs of Anieres, Cologny, Carouge and Meyrin, were given the option to cast their vote using the internet. The national referendum included issues on naturalization laws, maternity benefits and the closure of post offices.
Swiss authorities said the process went smoothly. "The electronic voting system, that the canton of Geneva developed in collaboration with the federal Chancellery, functioned perfectly," said a statement issued by the authorities of the Swiss Confederation.
In the four communities with the online voting option, 21.8 percent voted online, 72.5 percent chose to post their vote using the postal service and only 5.7 percent went to a polling station to cast their ballot.
Swiss authorities plan to expand the use of internet voting later this year during municipal elections, as well as national referendums.
'Stoner City' downer
Quebec region pot-growing leader
By CP
PIERREVILLE, Que. -- The taint of an exploding pot trade is growing faster than the corn fields in this small farming community, leaving frustrated locals with an ominous new town nickname. "Bienvenue a Stoner City," said Jean-Francois Cote, a farmer who recently found 220 marijuana plants grown secretly by drug gangs in his field.
"That's how sad it has become. This is how we're starting to think of ourselves. That is the worst part."
Cote's black humour, welcoming a visitor with this rough translation of his Pierreville hometown's name, tries to make light of the dark side of this pretty farming region along the St. Lawrence River.
Along the fertile valley about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City, pot growers have infiltrated farmers' fields and recruited high school students to harvest the crop.
The region has quickly become a drug-growing leader in Canada.
400,000 PLANTS
Statistics show police seized more marijuana plants in Quebec in 2003 than they found in British Columbia, a province much better known for growing pot.
Pierreville has become the epicentre of Quebec's marijuana cultivation. Provincial police officers at the local detachment have run out of pins for their maps to mark the scores of pot fields they have found hidden in the tall corn.
The weed is so plentiful, a visitor with a few directions from a local resident needs only an hour to find marijuana plants scattered among the corn.
A few kilometres farther down the secluded road, police officers pull up plants and haul them out with all-terrain vehicles. The cops' harvest started a month ago and will continue through the end of October. Provincial police are on pace to pluck out about 400,000 plants in rural Quebec this year.
"This is what we do, five days a week," said Lieut. Donat Massicotte as he loads the plants into a rented cube van.
A local high school principal says a handful of students are skipping school and ditching legitimate work to harvest pot. They eventually show up to school with fancy new clothes, sports cars and big wads of cash.
"Many of them are not at all subtle," said Claude Bernier, a principal in nearby Nicolet.
Bernier worries that some of his students are learning the allure of easy money. Many harvesters earn $25 an hour and can often pocket a big stash of pot. It's much easier and more rewarding than the usual part-time work available to teenagers.
"It's a bad lesson that all the kids are learning, even the ones who don't go out there, that there are easy ways to make money with no constraints and no responsibilities," Bernier said.
Like hundreds of farmers in central Quebec, Cote has found himself questioned by police and the subject of gossip by his neighbours, even though he reported his find to police.
'WRETCHED STENCH'
His friends in the trendy Plateau district of Montreal asked him if he can hook them up with weed.
"The wretched stench of this is starting to stick to all of us," said Cote, a 29-year-old father of three who says he's never touched pot.
Farmers who go to the police, like Cote did, are often intimidated and offered bribes to keep quiet.
"When a burly guy with tattoos shows up at your door and threatens to throw a match in your barn and then leaves a few hundred dollars in the mailbox, it's pretty tempting to keep quiet," Cote said.
Mysterious barn fires have broken out and shots have been fired at buildings and equipment. Farmers have found booby traps, including hidden pits, explosives and animal traps in their fields. Police have arrested armed guards staking out crops.
"The greatest joy for any farmer is to go out in the field and see how the crop is doing," Cote said. "We're starting to be afraid to go out there."
COLD MOUNTAIN- A MUST SEE
Release Date: December 25th, 2003 (wide release of 2,500+ theaters)
Release Date Notes: (12/4/03) This movie was originally aiming for a release in 2001, and it was then pushed to the fall of 2002, and then finally, to Christmas Day of 2003. (12/22/03) The Christmas Day release was originally expected to be a relatively modest wide opening of 1,000 to 1,500 theaters, but Miramax has decided to go very wide right away rather than allowing the film to expand out over January as they often do with their Oscar-friendly December movies.
Video Release Date: June 29th, 2004
Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, #7 Film of the Year (2003 National Board of Review); Best Supporting Actress (Zellweger) (2003 Broadcast Film Critics Association); Best Supporting Actress (Zellweger) (2004 Golden Globes); Best Supporting Actress (Zellweger), Best Score (2004 British Academy Awards); Best Supporting Actress (Zellweger) (2004 Screen Actors Guild); Best Supporting Actress (Zellweger) (76th Annual Academy Awards)
Nominations: Best Picture-Drama, Best Actress-Drama (Kidman), Best Actor-Drama (Law), Best Supporting Actress (Zellweger), Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Original Score, Best Song (Sting) (2003 Golden Globes) (most nominated film of the year); Best Actor (Law), Best Supporting Actress (Zellweger), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Song (twice) (76th Annual Academy Awards); Best Adapted Screenplay (2003 Writers Guild of America)
MPAA Rating: R (for violence and sexuality)
Distributor: Miramax Films
Distributor Note: (10/29/02) MGM had been attached to codistribute this film with Miramax (taking the international rights while Miramax did the U.S.), but they've dropped out, leaving Miramax with this big-budget ($80 million) project all their own. It's quite possible Miramax will find another partner... maybe Paramount or Universal. (9/28/03) This is just an update to say that Miramax is definitely not getting another partner on this one.
Production Company: Mirage Enterprises
Cast: Jude Law (Inman), Nicole Kidman (Ada), Renee Zellweger (Ruby Thewes), Jen Apgar (Dolly), Eileen Atkins (Maddy), Kathy Baker, Lucas Black (Oakley), Emily Deschanel, James Gammon, Brendan Gleeson (Stobrod), Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Hunnam, Jena Malone, Taryn Manning (Shyla), Mark Jeffrey Miller (Sheffield), Robin Mullins (Mrs. Castlereagh), Natalie Portman (Sarah), Giovanni Ribisi, Ethan Suplee, Donald Sutherland, Melora Walters (Lila), Ray Winstone, Jack White (Georgie)
Cast Notes: (4/4/00) The Hollywood Reporter ran a story in June, 1999 about the casting of the lead for this film, saying that many of Hollywood's A-List stars are in the running, including Tom Cruise, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt. Other rumored possibilities are Edward Norton and Matthew McConaughey. (8/29/01) Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger are in very early negotiations. Zellweger, in particular, is very sketchy, pending scheduling negotiations with her starring role in Chicago. (1/27/02) Michael Fleming of Variety reports that Cruise, who never did sign on, has dropped out completely from this project. (3/21/02) From Variety comes the news that the three lead roles are being negotiated with Law, Kidman, and... Zellweger.
Director: Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr. Ripley, The English Patient, Truly Madly Deeply, Mr. Wonderful)
Music Note: (6/15/03) No doubt wanting to make sure they have a nominee in the Best Song category at the Oscars, Miramax has hired Elvis Costello and Sting to each write and perform a song for the soundtrack.
Screenwriter: Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr. Ripley, The English Patient, Truly Madly Deeply, Mr. Wonderful)
Based Upon: The novel of the same title by Charles Frazier.
Premise: As the Civil War reaches its final days, Inman (Law), a wounded soldier, gets up out of what his doctors thought was his death bed, and begins the long, hard walk to his home in his North Carolina on Cold Mountain. Waiting there for him is Ada (Kidman), the sweetheart he left behind to go to war, trying to hold onto the farm of her deceased missionary father. Inman's long journey takes him through the crumbling confederacy, as he meets people of all walks of life who want to both aid and hinder his mission... (Zellweger plays Ruby, a scrappy drifter who helps Ada; Atkins plays a hermit who saves Inman from the battlefield; Walters plays the wife of Giovanni's character, who tries to seduce Inman)
Filming: Production started on July 15th, 2002 (previously scheduled to start in February, 2002) in Romania, with other locations to include North Carolina and elsewhere in the American South. (10/18/01) An anonymous source from the set of Gods and Generals wrote in to say that some filming may be done in Staunton, VA where that film also did some location work.
Genre: Based on a Book, Drama, Historical, Romance, War
Article about the Filming: Los Angeles Times
Script Review: TNMC.org (warning: this review is filled with spoilers; if you don't want to know what happens to whom... don't read past the 4th paragraph)
Unofficial Actress Fan Site: TeamNicole.com
Watch the Trailer: Yahoo! Movies
Official Site: Miramax.com
Message Board: Share your thoughts on our "Cold Mountain" Message Board
