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moo.fx - size does matter on 2009-11-14
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Creating Applications with Mozilla on 2009-11-14
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Gearing up for the end of cheap food on 2009-11-14
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SINGAPORE, Nov 14 — The days of inexpensive food are coming to an end. Because of rising populations, incomes and urbanisation, food demand is expected to grow, and the composition of that demand will change towards higher value and more resource-intensive items, such as meat products. Meanwhile, supply will be constrained by a shortage of land, decelerating yield growth, competition from biofuels, water scarcity and climate change.
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at the trend in food prices over the past decade. Prices are up almost 80 per cent since their lows in mid-2002
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The United Nations estimates global population is likely to grow by around 35 per cent from the current 6.8 billion by 2050. That means that a 70 per cent increase in food production from 2005-07 levels would be required.
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By 2050, more than 70 per cent of the world’s population is expected to live in towns and cities, boosting consumption of meat, fruits, vegetables and processed food products.
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Land is likely to be one of the biggest constraints in the expansion of output.
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The agriculture sector is highly water intensive, but water is an extremely limited resource in many places. Pollution, aquifer depletion and climate change add to the problem.
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Weather patterns are already changing, with more rainfall predicted in the northern and southern latitudes and less in the sub-tropics, heightening the risk of droughts and floods.
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In recent years, biofuels have become a significant element of demand for agricultural commodities such as corn, sugar and palm oil. There are two implications.
First, the expansion of biofuels, unless they are developed using non-food feedstock, will lead to greater competition for arable land, thus increasing costs and prices for food production. Second, agricultural prices, particularly for biofuel feedstock, will likely become more correlated with energy prices and reflect the same levels of volatility.
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Asia’s huge populations and its rapid economic growth rates make the region by far the most influential in determining global food demand.
Asia is also the world’s biggest supplier of food. But there are limited possibilities for dramatic increases in supply, given that land is scarce in Asia.
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FT.com / UK - Ministers pick 10 nuclear sites on 2009-11-11
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Ten sites in England and Wales have been chosen by ministers as suitable for new nuclear power plants, paving the way for the most ambitious reactor construction programme in Europe.
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Only five of the sites have so far been identified by generators with specific nuclear new-build plans. Between them the companies plan to build up to 12 new plants on those sites by the end of the 2020s. The remaining five sites will create an opportunity for further expansion.
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a leading generator dropped out of the race to build a demonstration plant.
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The other policy statements set out by Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, covered areas such as wind farms and gas storage, again with the intention of facilitating planning approvals.
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If the 10-12 new reactors now planned are built, nuclear power is likely to be supplying about 30 per cent of Britain’s electricity by the end of the 2020s.
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Mr Miliband ruled out the idea of a special subsidy for nuclear but left open the possibility of an incentive available to all forms of low-carbon electricity including renewables and clean coal.
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The two companies still in the race are ScottishPower, owned by
Iberdrola of Spain, and
Eon, the German-owned group that hopes to fit carbon capture to part of its controversial proposed new coal-fired plant at Kingsnorth, Kent.
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PetroChina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on 2009-11-11
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Although PetroChina is the most profitable company in Asia, this success may be the result of corporate management, but can also be attributed to the near
duopoly on the wholesale and retail business of oil products it shares with
Sinopec in China.
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At the beginning of May 2007, the company announced it had made China's largest oil find in a decade off the country's northeast coast, in an oilfield named Jidong Nanpu in
Bohai Bay.
[8]
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PetroChina's Duzishan refinery became fully operational on September 24th 2009. The refinery is China's largest refinery with annual capacity of 10 million tons of oil and 1 million tons of ethylene. The refinery is an integral part of China's ambitions to import oil from Kazakhstan
[16].
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environmental-related news about PetroChina has been often negative.
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Petrochina had a huge chemical spill in November, 2005. One of its chemical plants exploded in Jilin, China. The blast poured 100 tons of benzene, which is a carcinogen and highly toxic, into the Songhua River. There was a slick of chemicals that spanned 80 km.
[18] Harbin, which is another city along the Songhua River, had to cut the water supply from almost 4 million people, for 5 days. More than 60 people have been injured,five have died,and one person is missing due to this incident.
[19] The spill prompted China’s environmental agency to fine the company one million yuan (approximately $125,000, £64,000) for its pollution, which is the maximum fine that can be handed out in China for breaking an environmental law.
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Another major controversial issue is PetroChina’s development in gas reserves in Tarim Basins, Xinjiang. It is now constructing a pipeline across Tibet to Gansu province in China, eventually lead to Shanghai. It is argued that such a project might pose a threat to the environment, as the construction of the pipeline might affect the wildlife in the regions where it runs through.
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Chavez's China Strategy - Forbes.com on 2009-11-11
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Second, Venezuela's crude is too heavy and too sulfurous for China's refineries once it gets there. U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are specifically configured to handle Venezuelan heavy crude varieties. For now, China has to blend Venezuela's oil with lighter crudes or sell it unrefined.
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The U.S. isn't the only country worried about
energy independence. Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez does too.
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Now he's hoping China can become the alternative market Venezuela needs to reduce dependence on the U.S. market.
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Half of Venezuela's oil exports now go to America, which also buys petroleum products refined in the Caribbean from Venezuelan oil.
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China buys 4% of Venezuela's crude, but that's rising. At 330,000 barrels of oil a day, PDVSA is shipping twice as much as a year ago. Chávez wants to get that to 1 million barrels a day by 2012.
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Two problems: First, the logistics of shipping the oil, which is on the Atlantic side of
South America, to the Liaoyang refinery in northern China, are challenging. The Panama Canal is a bottleneck, and shipping around Cape Horn is expensive. There has been talk of building a pipeline to neighboring Colombia's Pacific coast, but that is unlikely anytime soon, given the state of relations between the two countries.
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Second, Venezuela's crude is too heavy and too sulfurous for China's refineries once it gets there. U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are specifically configured to handle Venezuelan heavy crude varieties. For now, China has to blend Venezuela's oil with lighter crudes or sell it unrefined.
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PetroChina
(nyse:
PTR -
news
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people
) just upgraded the Liaoyang refinery to that end.
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China and Venezuela also agreed to buil a refinery in Venezuela's Orinoco Basin and launch a joint oil-development project there, potentially one of the world's largest oil fields.
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Ten Tips for Becoming a Better WordPress Developer | Web Design Ledger on 2009-11-10
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16 WordPress Sites to Help You Build a Better Blog on 2009-11-10
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Getting Started With Content Management Systems - Smashing Magazine on 2009-11-10
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House health care bill has nowhere to go in Senate - Yahoo! News on 2009-11-09
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The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.
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If a government plan is part of the deal, "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters.
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In Senate, the stumbling block is the idea of the government competing with private insurers. Liberals may have to swallow hard and accept a deal without a public plan in order to keep the legislation alive. As in the House, the compromise appears to be to the right of the political spectrum.
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Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who voted for a version of the Senate bill in committee, has given the Democrats a possible way out. She's proposing to allow a government plan as a last resort, if after a few years premiums keep escalating and local health insurance markets remain in the grip of a few big companies. This is the "trigger" option.
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Lieberman said he opposes the public plan because it could become a huge and costly entitlement program. "I believe the debt can break America and send us into a recession that's worse than the one we're fighting our way out of today," he said.
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Reid has pledged to Obama that he will get the bill done by the end of the year and remains committed to doing that, according to a Senate leadership aide.
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To keep down costs, the government subsidies and consumer protections don't take effect until 2013. During the three-year transition, both bills would provide $5 billion in federal dollars to help get coverage for people with medical problems who are turned down by private insurers.
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