U.S. wildlife managers erred when they declined to list as endangered a small population of grizzly bears in the remote reaches of Idaho and northwest Montana, a federal judge has ruled in what conservationists on Wednesday hailed as a huge victory. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014 determined the fewer than 50 grizzlies that roam the Cabinet Mountains and Yaak River drainage in the Northern Rockies were not in danger of extinction and did not warrant reclassifying as endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Montana conservation group Alliance for the Wild Rockies sued, arguing the so-called Cabinet-Yaak population of grizzlies would go extinct unless U.S. wildlife managers tightened restrictions on logging, mining and other activities in bear habitat, all safeguards that would come with endangered status. On Tuesday a federal judge in Missoula, Montana, sided with the conservation group in a ruling that found that the Fish and Wildlife Service had violated U.S. law in determining that the number of outsized, hump-shouldered bears in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem could reach a targeted recovery goal of 100 without added protections. In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen found that the agency had long recognized that population of grizzlies was warranted for listing as an endangered species because of human-caused mortality and other threats. The Fish and Wildlife Service in 2013 reported Cabinet-Yaak grizzlies were declining at an annual rate of about 0.8 percent per year and that the percentage of bears unlawfully or accidentally killed …
US Federal Spending, Debt Ceiling: What You Need to Know
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was willing to shut down the government to get funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, complicating two must-pass measures Congress will take up in September: a spending package and raising the debt ceiling. Here is what you need to know about both, and the potential for a shutdown of the U.S. government: What is a shutdown? Congress must pass annual spending bills around the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30 to fund much of the U.S. government. When disagreements prevent that, which is frequent, lawmakers often pass a temporary bill extending existing spending levels with no changes for days, weeks or months, while they work on a longer-lasting deal. When they cannot agree on either a new spending plan or a short-term extension, the government shuts down. That has happened many times since the 1970s, usually for a few days, and can rattle markets. Congress will return from its long summer recess September 5. At that time, it will have only about 12 working days to approve spending measures to keep the government open. What if Congress fails? If spending measures are not passed before October 1, portions of the government will begin to shut down and nonessential employees will go without pay until an agreement is reached. The government most recently shut down for about two weeks in October 2013 over funding for former President Barack Obama’s health care law. There were three shutdowns in the 1990s, the longest …
Lab-made ‘Mini Organs’ Helping Doctors Treat Cystic Fibrosis
Els van der Heijden, who has cystic fibrosis, was finding it ever harder to breathe as her lungs filled with thick, sticky mucus. Despite taking more than a dozen pills and inhalers a day, the 53-year-old had to stop working and scale back doing the thing she loved best, horseback riding. Doctors saw no sense in trying an expensive new drug because it hasn’t been proven to work in people with the rare type of cystic fibrosis that van der Heijden had. Instead, they scraped a few cells from van der Heijden and used them to grow a mini version of her large intestine in a petri dish. When van der Heijden’s “mini gut” responded to treatment, doctors knew it would help her too. “I really felt, physically, like a different person,” van der Heijden said after taking a drug — and getting back in the saddle. Someday for transplants? This experiment to help people with rare forms of cystic fibrosis in the Netherlands aims to grow mini intestines for every Dutch patient with the disease to figure out, in part, what treatment might work for them. It’s an early application of a technique now being worked on in labs all over the world, as researchers learn to grow organs outside of the body for treatment — and maybe someday for transplants. So far, doctors have grown mini guts — just the size of a pencil point — for 450 of the Netherlands’ roughly 1,500 cystic fibrosis patients. “The …
Israeli Archaeologists Find 1,500-year-old Mosaic
A 1,500-year-old mosaic floor with a Greek inscription has been uncovered during works to install communications cables in Jerusalem’s Old City — a rare discovery of an ancient relic and an historic document in one. The inscription cites sixth-century Roman emperor Justinian as well as Constantine, who served as abbot of a church founded by Justinian in Jerusalem. Archaeologists think it will help them understand Justinian’s building projects in the city. The full inscription reads: “The most pious Roman emperor Flavius Justinian and the most God-loving priest and abbot, Constantine, erected the building in which [this mosaic] sat during the 14th indiction.” Indiction is an ancient method of counting years that was used for taxation purposes. Archaeologists said the inscription suggests the mosaic dated to A.D. 550-551. Justinian was one of the most important rulers of the Byzantine era. In A.D. 543, he established the Nea Church in Jerusalem, one of the biggest Christian churches in the eastern Roman Empire and the largest in Jerusalem at the time. “The fact that the inscription survived is an archaeological miracle,” David Gellman, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement. He added that every archaeologist dreams of finding an inscription in excavations, “especially one so well-preserved and almost entirely intact.” Researchers think the building of which the mosaic was once part, located beside the Old City’s Damascus Gate, was used as a hostel for pilgrims. The mosaic, which was unveiled to the media Wednesday, was …
Egypt Pins Export Hopes on New Leather Production City
Just beyond the outskirts of Cairo on a desert road to the Suez Canal, a sprawling industrial zone is coming to life as Egypt’s leather industry leaves behind its ancient tanning quarters for modern workshops of Robiki Leather City. The new complex is part of a major expansion drive of a sector Egypt considers as one of its most competitive. The trade ministry has set an official target for leather exports to reach over $1 billion a year in 2020, from about $200 million a year currently. By mid-2018, Robiki should house the entire supply chain, from animal slaughtering to finished leather production, allowing global manufacturers to source materials and export final goods in a single location, said Mohamed El Gohary, chairman of a state firm marketing the site. “The value added of our exports will increase five times when we reach the stage where we’re exporting final products like shoes and bags,” Gohary said. Foreign investors can begin purchasing space in Robiki in 2018, and the zone has received strong interest from Italian companies, Gohary said. Egyptian exports were given a boost when Egypt floated its pound currency last year as part of an International Monetary Fund loan program. With projects like Robiki, Egypt hopes to pull back capital that fled after its 2011 political uprising. In the fiscal year ending in June, it netted $8.7 billion in foreign direct investment and is targeting above $10 billion this year. Around 220 tanneries are being relocated to Robiki, said Mohamed …
Samsung Seeks to Bury Fiery Past with Galaxy Note 8 Launch
Samsung Electronics set out to wipe the slate clean in New York on Wednesday with a new Galaxy Note 8 phablet, hoping features such as dual rear cameras and its biggest-ever screen will extinguish memories of its fire-prone predecessor. The world’s largest smartphone maker by market share has put safety at the center of a phone-cum-tablet that is likely to compete for pre-holiday season sales with a widely expected 10th anniversary iPhone from U.S. rival Apple Inc. The unveiling comes five months after the release of the Galaxy S8 smartphone. Analysts said brisk sales of that device indicate recovery in Samsung’s standing, after battery fires prompted the October withdrawal of the Galaxy Note 7 just two months into sales at an opportunity cost of $5.48 billion. The fires briefly lost Samsung its No. 1 rank, showed data from researcher Counterpoint. It has since regained ground, with Strategy Analytics putting its April-June share at 22 percent — more than Apple and China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd combined. Cumulative sales of the S8 and S8+, released in the period, were 15 percent over those of the S7, Samsung said in July. Samsung’s Note series usually sport bigger screens than the S series and come equipped with a removable stylus. The trademark curved screen of the latest incarnation measures 6.3 inches corner to corner, a mere 0.1 inch bigger than the S8+. The South Korean firm has been a principle driver of growth in handsets with 6 inch-plus screens, a category which Strategy …
China, Russia Object to New US Sanctions Linked to North Korea
Chinese and Russian officials have expressed objections to sanctions the United States imposed Tuesday against several companies for allegedly supporting North Korea’s nuclear program. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news briefing the sanctions are not helping U.S.-China cooperation on efforts to rein in North Korean nuclear activity. She said the United States should “immediately correct its mistake,” and reiterated China’s calls for restraint and dialogue to resolve the situation with North Korea. At the United Nations, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia echoed one of his government’s ministers who said it is “another unfriendly move by the United States.” “We strongly condemn unilateral sanctions, not only those aimed at us, but at anybody,” Nebenzia. He said if Washington wanted to sanction third parties, it should do so through existing channels, namely the U.N. sanctions committee for North Korea. There it could put forward names of individuals or companies it believes is violating sanctions and seek to have them added to the sanctions list. “We first of all condemn that move and secondly, we do not think it is legal,” Nebenzia added. “And thirdly, we do not think it facilitates the stabilization and improvement in Russia-U.S. relations.” The U.S. Treasury Department announced the sanctions Tuesday, saying they were a complement to a U.N. Security Council resolution passed earlier this month that applied new sanctions against North Korea and condemned the country’s ballistic missile tests. China and Russia were among the countries that unanimously approved the August 5th resolution. …
Кубів доручив з’ясувати, чому в Україні подорожчав скраплений газ
Перший віце-прем’єр, міністр економічного розвитку Степан Кубів дав доручення дослідити причини подорожчання скрапленого газу в Україні. Про це чиновник написав у Facebook. За його інформацією, доручення про це отримали профільне міністерство, Державна регуляторна служба, Антимонопольний комітет, Державна фіскальна служба та Державна служба статистики. Раніше Міністерство економічного розвитку заявило, що в Україні подорожчав скраплений газ. «Українські виробники скрапленого газу – Укргазвидобування, Укрнафта, Укртатнафта і приватні компанії – покривають не більше ніж 20% потреб ринку. Решту Україна імпортує з Росії, Білорусі, Казахстану та інших країн. Обмеження з боку Росії призвели до зменшення імпорту скрапленого газу в Україну і, на жаль, його дефіциту. Це вплинуло на ціну. Таке пояснення дають експерти», – мовиться у повідомленні на Facebook-сторінці міністерства. У свою чергу, воно обіцяє повідомити про результати власного дослідження причин подорожчання цього виду палива, як тільки ті будуть готові. Наприкінці 2016 року в імпортерів скрапленого газу почалися проблеми. Спочатку Енергетична митниця Державної фіскальної служби зупинила оформлення декількох партій пального, а потім Мінекономрозвитку видало наказ, згідно з яким, проти компаній-імпортерів нафтопродуктів введені спеціальні санкції: заборона зовнішньоекономічної діяльності. Причиною зупинки стало кримінальне провадження від 16 листопада 2016 року за статтею 285-5 («фінансування тероризму»), яке відкрило СБУ. Водночас, наприкінці лютого 2017 Степан Кубів підписав накази про скасування санкцій щодо імпортерів скрапленого газу. …
Фонд держмайна оголосив початок відбору оцінювачів Одеського припортового заводу
Фонд державного майна України оголосив конкурс з відбору оцінювачів для визначення вартості держваного пакета акцій публічного акціонерного товариства «Одеський припортовий завод». Повідомлення про це розміщено на сайті відомства. За даними фонду, оцінці підлягає пакет акцій, що становить близько 99,6% статутного капіталу товариства. Конкурс планують провести 8 вересня, а документація приймається до 4 вересня цього року. Публічне акціонерне товариство «Одеський припортовий завод» – це гігантський український виробничий комплекс, що працює з 1978 року. Він розташований за 30 кілометрів від Одеси і займає площу 250 гектарів. Основна продукція – карбамід та аміак – мінеральні добрива, які використовують аграрії. Понад 20 років держава намагається його продати, проте приватизація щоразу зривається. …
Trans-Alaska Pipeline Celebrates 40 Years
Oil is the main revenue source in Alaska. This year, the trans-Alaska pipeline celebrated 40 years of service. From Alaska, VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya looks at the history of North America’s largest oil field. …
With Tax Talk Heating Up, Republicans Modify Plan for Businesses
Congressional Republicans, seeking to address the complaints of small businesses, are floating changes to their controversial proposal to eliminate business tax deductions for debt interest payments, business lobbyists said Tuesday. A top U.S. Republican on tax policy acknowledged that modifications are in the works but did not provide details. The debt interest proposal, long seen by Republican policymakers as necessary to help drive economic growth, is backed by large companies with ready access to equity financing that they could substitute for debt if eliminating the interest deduction made issuing debt too costly. Debt-dependent small-business owners, farmers and ranchers don’t have that luxury. As Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration slog ahead with a push to overhaul the U.S. tax code, a key task is figuring out how to resolve conflicting groups’ priorities, with business debt interest a clear example. The tax code has not been overhauled since 1986, partly because reconciling these conflicts can be so difficult. “We’ve asked businesses large and small to look at that, test-drive it and give us back their feedback,” House of Representatives tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in remarks at an event in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday, without offering specifics about the modified proposal. His staff at the committee had no comment. Businesses lobbyists said the panel’s lawmakers have quietly agreed to focus on exemptions for small businesses, including farmers and ranchers, and an exemption for land. Interest deduction Lawmakers have also discussed a possible partial elimination of the interest deduction, with …
Florida Lab Sets New Magnet Strength Record
Engineers at a lab in Florida have been working quietly for 2½ years on building one of the most powerful magnets in the world. And on Monday, they succeeded. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory — whose main location is housed at Florida State University — met its goal and reclaimed its status as home to the world’s strongest resistive magnet. They called it “Project 11,” a nod to the comedy film “This is Spinal Tap,” about a fictional heavy metal band whose guitarist boasts an amplifier whose volume goes up to 11, not just 10. Lab officials said they tested a 41.4-tesla magnet, which is roughly 20 times the strength of a magnet used in medical imaging machines and vastly stronger than the ones that get stuck to the door of a household refrigerator. The Earth’s magnetic field, by comparison, is one-twenty thousandth (.00005) of a tesla. A tesla is a measure of magnetic field strength. The new magnet, which cost $3.5 million to build, beat the old mark for resistive magnets, which was held by a 38.5-tesla magnet in China. The National MagLab had previously held the record for 19 years. Greg Boebinger, the lab’s director, said the loss of the record prompted officials to tell engineers, “Go ahead and make the thing bigger, go ahead and use more power, just go full volume to 11 and see what you can do.” Continuous operation Resistive magnets are a type of electromagnet used for research. They differ from pulsed …
Chieftain: Indigenous People Seize Some Facilities on Peru Oil Field
Indigenous people living on Peru’s largest oil field concession have seized some facilities operated by Frontera Energy demanding that the government apply an indigenous rights law before signing a new contract with the Canadian company, a tribal chieftain said on Tuesday. The so-called prior consultation law, passed in 2011, requires the government to seek input from indigenous people before approving any development plans that might affect them. Tribal chiefs in Frontera’s Block 192 said the government has refused to carry out the consultation process even though it is negotiating a new contract with Frontera, whose 2-year contract is due to expire this month. “If the government says it’ll carry out prior consultation, we’ll automatically end the protest,” Wilmer Chavez, chief of the community of Los Jardines, said in a telephone interview. Chavez said that protesters from the indigenous community had taken control of oil drums and other facilities to curb output in Block 192. Government offices tasked with oil drilling and indigenous rights did not respond to requests for comment. Frontera, which produced some 7,500 barrels a day from Block 192 in July, said in a statement that it values community consent and that only the government could legally carry out prior consultation. “Since our arrival to the area of Block 192, Frontera Energy has been working to gain the community’s trust and act as a mediator to ease potential tensions between the government, the industry and the community,” the company said in the statement. Amazonian tribes in Block 192 …
Arctic Researchers to Study Wind Effects on Marine Life
A federal research vessel will launch on a cruise this week to study how Beaufort Sea wind affects plant and animal life in a changing Arctic Ocean. The Sikuliaq, owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will depart Friday from Nome for the trip through the Bering Strait to waters on and off the continental shelf in the Beaufort. Climate warming in recent decades has resulted in far less summer seasonal ice in the Beaufort, which stretches from the northeast coast of Alaska across Canada. East winds that formerly blew over sea ice now blow over open water, said Steve Okkonen, a physical oceanographer at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Wind drives water at the surface of the shallow continental shelf, at depths of about 300 feet (91 meters), north to water off the shelf, which drops to depths of more than 10,000 feet (3,050 meters). The result is a phenomenon called “upwelling.” Deep, cold water rises toward the surface carrying large concentrations of plankton, which scientists hypothesize will attract fish, especially Arctic cod. Large numbers of cod in turn attract beluga whale and seabirds that prey on cod. Aerial surveys have shown belugas congregating on the shelf break, said Carin Ashjian, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who will serve as chief scientist on the cruise. “What we hope to do, and what we’re planning to do, is to basically document and describe how the physical forcing of the wind …
Jordan Opens First Job Center in Syrian Refugee Camp
Jordan has opened its first job center inside a refugee camp, unlocking work opportunities across the country for thousands living in the world’s largest Syrian refugee camp, the U.N. labor agency said Tuesday. So far, more than 800 refugees in the Zaatari camp in Jordan, which borders Syria and is home to nearly 80,000 people, have registered for work permits at the job center, the International Labor Organization said. “Refugee workers now have a clear address to resort to when searching for jobs and applying for work permits, where they can receive all necessary information and benefit from expert support,” Maha Kattaa, ILO response coordinator in Jordan, said in a statement. The Jordanian government says the country is home to 1.4 million Syrians, of whom more than 660,000 are registered with the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. Allowing refugees to work in host countries relieves pressure on social services, boosts the local economy and gives refugees the financial security to re-establish their lives, said UNHCR, which manages work permits and the flows in and out of the Zaatari camp. “I am confident that having an increased number of Syrians entering the labor market will positively impact the local economy and bring stability to refugee families,” said Stefano Severe, a UNHCR spokesman in Jordan. Earlier this month, Jordan became the first Arab country to issue Syrian refugees with a new type of work permit that opens up the growing construction sector. The center, launched by the Jordanian government, will run job fairs …
Argentina Labor Unions Protest Job Losses, Macri Policies
Argentina’s main labor unions took to the streets of the capital on Tuesday demanding more jobs and protesting center-right President Mauricio Macri’s economic policies. Tens of thousands of workers gathered in the historic Plaza de Mayo criticizing Macri, who is trying to lower labor costs to attract investment and jump-start an economy that emerged from recession in the second half of last year. “If some retrograde [in the government] thinks that lowering wages, precarious living conditions and destroying trade unions is going to line up investments … we say that is very wrong,” said Juan Carlos Schmid, a leader of Argentina’s largest umbrella union, the CGT. Standing on a podium at the protest, he said the CGT would meet in late September to discuss a potential strike. Macri told Reuters in an interview this month his government was negotiating labor agreements sector by sector rather than trying to pass a comprehensive labor reform like the one approved in neighboring Brazil. Unions fear more drastic changes could be coming after mid-term legislative elections in October, however, especially after a primary vote on Aug. 13 pointed to strong support for Macri’s coalition. Macri is trying to open Argentina’s long protected economy and focus on competitive industries like oil and agriculture, but has seen some manufacturing jobs lost in the meantime. The most recent employment data showed the jobless rate rose to 9.2 percent in the first quarter of the year from 7.6 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. …
Vanishing Kelp: Warm Ocean Takes Toll on Undersea Forests
When diving in the Gulf of Maine a few years back, Jennifer Dijkstra expected to be swimming through a flowing kelp forest that had long served as a nursery and food for juvenile fish and lobster. But Dijkstra, a University of New Hampshire marine biologist, saw only a patchy seafloor before her. The sugar kelp had declined dramatically and been replaced by invasive, shrub-like seaweed that looked like a giant shag rug. “I remember going to some dive sites and honestly being shocked at how few kelp blades we saw,” she said. Warming oceans probable culprit The Gulf of Maine, stretching from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, is the latest in a growing list of global hotspots losing their kelp, including hundreds of miles in the Mediterranean Sea, off southern Japan and Australia, and parts of the California coast. Among the world’s most diverse marine ecosystems, kelp forests are found on all continental coastlines except for Antarctica and provide critical food and shelter to myriad fish and other creatures. Kelp also is critical to coastal economies, providing billions of dollars in tourism and fishing. The likely culprit, according to several scientific studies, is warming oceans from climate change, coupled with the arrival of invasive species. In Maine, the invaders are other seaweeds. In Australia, the Mediterranean and Japan, tropical fish are feasting on the kelp. Most kelp are replaced by small, tightly packed, bushy seaweeds that collect sediment and prevent kelp from growing back, said the University of Western …
White House Halts Study of Mountaintop Coal Mining’s Health Effects
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered a halt to research on the potential health hazards of people who live near mountaintop coal mining operations. The U.S. Interior Department ordered the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to end a study of surface coal mining sites in the Appalachian Mountains, pending a review of projects that cost more than $100,000. Last year the Interior Department, under then President Barack Obama, commissioned research into possible health risks among those who live near current or former mining sites in Appalachia. The agency allocated $1 million in 2015 for a two-year study at the request of officials from West Virginia, located in the heart of Appalachia. But the Interior Department ordered an immediate halt to the research, defending it as necessary to ensure the responsible expenditure of taxpayer money. Trump proposed a $1.6 billion cut to Interior’s budget in 2018, including 4,000 jobs. The decision, which took effect Monday, comes as the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers collaborate to eliminate policies they believe restrict the mining and use of coal. Trump promised during his presidential campaign to create jobs by reviving the coal industry, and signed an executive order in March that lifted a ban on leases for mining coal on federal land. Environmentalists maintain the removal of coal from mountaintops releases pollutants into water and air, causing numerous health problems such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and birth defects. Indiana University health science professor Michael Hendryx told House lawmakers in 2015 that …
Павел Станчак офіційно очолив «Укртрансгаз» – заява
НАК «Нафтогаз України» затвердив призначення Павела Юзефа Станчака на посаду президента «Укртрансгазу». Про це 22 серпня повідомили на сайті компанії «Укртрансгаз». За оприлюдненою інформацією, контракт зі Станчаком уклали терміном на один рік. Очікується, що до фактичного виконання обов`язків президента «Укртрансгазу» Павел Станчак перейде відразу після завершення формальних процедур щодо оформлення всіх необхідних документів, а до того дня повноваження президента продовжуватиме здійснювати перший віце-президент компанії Мирослав Химко, мовиться у повідомленні. За даними «Нафтогазу», у Польщі Павел Станчак працював у галузі транспортування й розподілення газу вже понад 25 років. Напередодні призначення в «Укртрансгаз» він працював технічним директором – членом правління PGNiG Technologie S.A.. Відповідає за проектування й будівництво нових газопроводів. Українські експерти до цього призначення поставились неоднозначно. Зокрема, директор енергетичних програм Центру світової економіки і міжнародних відносин НАН України Валентин Землянський зазначив у коментарі Радіо Свобода, що поки новопризначений очільник «Укртрансгазу», польський фахівець Павел Станчак розбиратиметься в тонкощах української газотранспортної системи, НАК «Нафтогаз» зможе й надалі безперешкодно контролювати фінансові потоки. Водночас керівник програм «Діксі Груп» Роман Ніцович припускає, що призначення польського фахівця має сенс з точки зору проведення реформ у газотранспортному секторі і має політичне підґрунтя. Публічне акціонерне товариство «Укртрансгаз» створене розпорядженням Кабінету міністрів у 2012-му році як дочірня компанія НАК «Нафтогаз України» та правонаступниця ДК «Укртрансгаз». Серед завдань компанії – транспортування природного газу до українських споживачів, транзит через територію України, обслуговування магістральних газопроводів та газосховищ. …
ДФС під час обшуків на спиртзаводах вилучила продукції на 360 мільйонів гривень – Білан
Співробітники Державної фіскальної служби під час обшуків на спиртзаводах 21 серпня вилучили майже півтори тисячі тонн продукції загальною вартістю 360 мільйонів гривень, повідомив у Facebook перший заступник голови відомства Сергій Білан. За його словами, згадані заводи працюють у Вінницькій, Сумській, Тернопільській та Харківській областях. «В ході документування роботи підпільних цехів з виготовлення лікеро-горілчаних виробів або фальсифікованого алкоголю, нами часто фіксуються факти отримання ними необлікованого спирту, виготовленого на потужностях спиртових заводів, який в подальшому використовується правопорушниками в якості сировини для незаконного виготовлення горілки. Саме тому для нас важливо відстежити весь шлях поставок або незаконного виробництва спирту», – пояснює Білан. Загалом у рамках цієї спецоперації з незаконного обігу вже вилучено спиртовмісних рідин на суму понад 540 мільйонів гривень, зазначив чиновник. «В рамках першого етапу масштабної спецоперації було проведено обшуки на 41 спиртзаводі. Тоді в цілому на 15 заводах було вилучено близько 980 тонн спиртовмісної рідини вартістю близько 180 мільйонів гривень. Після цього, відстежуючи ланцюг поставок в результаті заходів, проведених на заводах – виробниках алкоголю в 15 областях, було вилучено 23310 літрів горілки на суму понад 3 мільйони гривень, розлитої у пляшки, які були або взагалі без марок акцизного податку, або обклеєні марками, на яких були вказані неактуальні ставки акцизного податку та перебували на підприємствах без будь-яких документів», – написав він. Прем’єр-міністр Володимир Гройсман 31 травня виступив із заявою про підтримку якнайшвидшої приватизації державного підприємства «Укрспирт». Раніше про це говорили вже неодноразово, проте приватизацію досі не провели. Колишній міністр аграрної політики і продовольства України Тарас Кутовий припускав, що за «Укрспирт» можна отримати від 200 …
Trump Rebuffs Coal Industry; CEO Claims Promise Broken
The Trump administration has rejected a coal industry push to win a rarely used emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants, a decision contrary to what one coal executive said the president personally promised him. The Energy Department says it considered issuing the order sought by companies seeking relief for plants it says are overburdened by environmental regulations and market stresses. But the department ultimately ruled it was unnecessary, and the White House agreed, a spokeswoman said. The decision is a rare example of friction between the beleaguered coal industry and the president who has vowed to save it. It also highlights a pattern emerging as the administration crafts policy: The president’s bold declarations — both public and private — are not always carried through to implementation. President Donald Trump committed to the measure in private conversations with executives from Murray Energy Corp. and FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. after public events in July and early August, according to letters to the White House from Murray Energy and its chief executive, Robert Murray. In the letters, obtained by The Associated Press, Murray said failing to act would cause thousands of coal miners to be laid off and put the pensions of thousands more in jeopardy. One of Murray’s letters said Trump agreed and told Energy Secretary Rick Perry, “I want this done” in Murray’s presence. The White House declined to comment on Murray’s assertion. A spokesman for Murray Energy, Gary Broadbent, also declined to comment on the letters. Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes …
Ford, Chinese Partner Look at Possible Electric Car Venture
Ford Motor Co. and a Chinese automaker said Tuesday they are looking into setting up a joint venture to develop and manufacture electric cars in China. Ford’s potential venture with Anhui Zotye Automobile Co. adds to the global auto industry’s rising activity in electric vehicles for China, which passed the United States last year as the biggest market for them. Chinese planners who see electrics as a promising industry and a way to clean up smog-choked cities are pushing automakers to speed up development. Ford previously said it plans to offer electric versions of 70 percent of its models in China by 2025. Privately owned Zotye Auto, headquartered in the eastern city of Huangshan, produces its own electric vehicles and said sales in the first seven months of this year rose 56 percent over the same period of 2016 to 16,000. “This presents us with an exciting opportunity to leverage each other’s strengths,” Zotye chairman Jin Zheyong said in a joint statement. Sales of pure-electric and gasoline-electric hybrids in China rose 50 percent last year over 2015 to 336,000 vehicles, or 40 percent of global demand. U.S. sales totaled 159,620. Beijing has supported sales with subsidies and a planned quota system that would require automakers to produce electric cars or buy credits from companies that do. Ford said it expects China’s market for all-electrics and hybrids to grow to annual sales of 6 million by 2025. Volvo Cars announced plans this …
Japan Mulls Release of Fukushima Tritium-Contaminated Water Into Ocean
Authorities in Japan are trying to decide what to do with the hundreds of thousands of metric tons of contaminated water being stored at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which went into meltdown following a 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It is estimated the huge water storage tanks surrounding the site contain more than 750,000 tons of water contaminated with tritium, considered one of the less harmful radioactive isotopes. Watch: Japan Considers Release of Fukushima Tritium-Contaminated Water Into Pacific Local media reported last month that plant owner TEPCO planned to release the water into the Pacific Ocean, prompting an outcry from environmental groups and local fishermen. The general manager of TEPCO’s nuclear division, Takahiro Kimoto, says the company has yet to make a decision. “One option is to release the tritium-contaminated water into the ocean. However, there are other options such as vaporizing it, but we have not decided yet which option to take to dispose of the water. Since there may be an influence on the environment, and because there have been harmful rumors about what effects it may have on people and the environment, we are still consulting with various stakeholders before finally deciding on the solution,” Kimoto told VOA in an interview. Tritium releases TEPCO points out all nuclear power plants around the world release tritium into the environment. Tritium is considered one of the less dangerous radioactive isotopes, said leading marine radiochemist Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. He has been monitoring …
Japan Considers Release of Fukushima Tritium-Contaminated Water into Pacific
Authorities in Japan are trying to decide what to do with the hundreds of thousands of metric tons of contaminated water being stored at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which went into meltdown following a 2011 earthquake and tsunami. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Tokyo, plant operator TEPCO says it is safe to release the water into the Pacific Ocean, but scientists want a closer analysis of the water’s radioactivity levels. …