The Prairie Star: Ethanol boom continues - by Alan Guebert

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Ethanol boom continues - by Alan Guebert

In his opening address to the 11th National Ethanol Conference Feb. 21, Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen declared loudly and proudly that “ethanol has arrived.” Dinneen ticked off fact after fact to bolster that belief with the biofuel faithful. In 2005, “95 ethanol refineries were in production, 14 began operation, 30 began construction, 10 were expanded and the industry produced a record 4 billion gallons of fuel,” the RFA chief noted. And, he continued, “In 2005, the U.S. ethanol industry contributed more than $32 billion to Gross Domestic Output, $5 billion to household income,” paid $3.6 billion in federal, state and local taxes, added $6 billion to net farm income, boosted corn prices by 35-cents per bushel, and supplied 153,000 jobs.

As such, Dinneen sang repeatedly, “My friends, ethanol has arrived.”

BaltimoreSun: Cruise lines cut prices in wake of problems

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Cruise lines cut prices in wake of problems

A spate of high-profile problems on the high seas, hurricane fears and weak demand for Caribbean sailings are leading cruise companies to offer discounts in an effort to lure leery consumers aboard. The problems are combining to make this the most challenging cruise season for the industry since 2003, when Iraq war fears and post-9/11 woes hurt bookings.The bulk of the issues are occurring in the Caribbean, the most popular cruise destination and where most first-time cruisers tend to sail. The busy port in Cozumel, Mexico, for example, continues to be under repair after being severely damaged by Hurricane Wilma last fall. Travel agents also say that memories of last year's brutal hurricane season are dissuading some would-be cruisers. And some travelers have been spooked by concerns about cruise safety.

Forbes: Italy's Prodi seen picking Padoa-Schioppa as economy minister

Forbes: Italy's Prodi seen picking Padoa-Schioppa as economy minister - report

MILAN (AFX) - Italy's centre-left leader Romano Prodi is expected to pick former European Central Bank board member Tommasso Padoa-Schioppa as economy minister, if Prodi succeeds in forming a government, said La Stampa Saturday in an unsourced report. Prodi has said he expects his government to take 1-2 months to form after last week's close election results, while prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has yet to concede defeat and is challenging some counts. La Stampa said Padoa-Schioppa is clear frontrunner to be economy minister because of his economic expertise, which would be favoured by international markets.

Guardian: More nuclear power will not avert energy crisis, say British MPs

Guardian : More nuclear power will not avert energy crisis, say British MPs

A new generation of nuclear power stations will be unable to avert a serious energy crisis within 10 years, a committee of MPs said yesterday. In a scathing analysis of how Britain intends to generate power in future and of the way decisions are being made today, the environment audit committee urged the government to start investing heavily in alternative power sources to meet increasing demand and global warming objectives.

The committee's report said the government had become "too focused" on nuclear, and now risked the lights going out by not investing heavily in energy efficiency and more wind and gas stations. It called for a significant growth in renewables as well as political leadership.

FrontPage magazine.com : Crisis in Europe - by Bruce Bawer

FrontPage magazine.com : Crisis in Europe- by Bruce Bawer

My learning curve was steep. When I look back, it's as if one day the whole business wasn't even on my radar screen, and the next day I understood that it was the most important issue of our time.

It happened in Amsterdam, a city I flipped for in 1997 and moved to a year later.But it wasn't till 1999, when I lived briefly in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, that I took in the fact that the city was divided into two radically different and almost entirely separate communities. One of them, composed mostly of ethnic Dutchmen, was secular, liberal, and (owing to a very low birthrate) dwindling steadily; the other, composed of immigrant Muslims, lived in tradition-bound, self-segregating enclaves whose autocratic leaders despised democracy and whose population (thanks to high birth and immigration rates) was climbing rapidly. This division, I soon realized, was replicated across Western Europe. Clearly, major social friction-and more-lay down the line.

ITAR-TASS: Russia - Energia designing Martian expedition spacecraft

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Russia - Energia designing Martian expedition spacecraft

Moscow: The Energia Aerospace Corporation is designing a Martian expedition spacecraft, which may be launched in 2020-2030, corporation head Nikolai Sevastyanov told a Tuesday press conference. “We are using technologies tested over the past decades, including electric engines of telecom satellites. Large solar batteries were tested onboard the Mir orbiting station. The new expedition spacecraft with extensive reserves of fuel – xenon – will be capable of delivering manned expeditions to Mars,” he said. New elements will also have to be designed, including a takeoff and landing module on the Martian surface, Sevastyanov said. The project will be implemented in three steps, he said.

A Martian expedition spacecraft will be designed and tested in a flight to the Moon. The spacecraft will be put into a circumlunar orbit and then returned to a circumterrestrial orbit. Then the manned spacecraft will fly to Mars. It is not planned for the crew to land on the planet at first, but rovers will go down and test the crew’s future return from Mars to the spacecraft. Eventually, the crew will land on Mars, an Energia source said. Soyuz FG AND proton rockets will deliver spacecraft elements to orbit before 2010, and modernized Soyuz 2 and new Angara rockets will be used later on. Soyuz manned spaceships and Progress freighters will be servicing the project until 2015, and Klippers will be used afterwards.

The first expedition to Mars will be made in 2020-2030.

News-Medical.net: Sticky proteins for neuro-chip chat

News-Medical.net: Sticky proteins for neuro-chip chat

EU-funded researchers have taken the firsts steps towards future technologies combining silicon circuits and the nervous systems of mammals. Applications could include advanced drug screening and, perhaps one day, implants to help combat neurological disorders. "Pharmaceutical companies could use the chip to test the effect of drugs on neurons, to quickly discover promising avenues of research," says Professor Stefano Vassanelli, a molecular biologist with the University of Padua in Italy, and one of the partners in the Information Society Technologies (IST) NACHIP project. Ending in December last year, the three-year project's core achievement combined semiconductor technology and biology in developing a working interface between the living tissue of individual animal neurons and the inorganic compounds of silicon chips, reports IST Results. With the help of German microchip company Infineon, NACHIP placed 16 384 transistors and hundreds of capacitors on a chip just 1mm2. The group had to find appropriate materials and refine the chip to make the neuronal connection possible. They used special proteins found in the brain which act as a biological glue, a semiconductor and a signal recorder between the neurons and chip.

The project, funded to the tune of Euro 900 000 by the EU's frontier science (Future and Emerging Technologies) initiative, tested the device by stimulating the neurons and recording which ones fired using standard neuroscience techniques, while tracking the signals coming from the chip.

Euractive: Is France shutting the door to Lisbon-oriented labour market reforms?

Euractive: Is France shutting the door to Lisbon-oriented labour market reforms?

After the French government's humiliating defeat on the "CPE" (contrat première embauche), the international press pessimist reactions contrast sharply with the victory parade of protesters and opponents to the legislation.
Positions: According to Time magazine, the past ten weeks of revolt have nothing to do with the glorious French revolutionary tradition. The so-called fight "against precariousness" is "a very long way from liberty, equality and fraternity," since it just represents "a demand for an arbitrary powerful state in whose bosom you can settle for life" by young middle-class people afraid of taking risks. In an interview for Le Monde, former Commissioner Chris Patten finds this lack of "adventure spirit" among the French young generation "rather depressing," and regrets the absence of "European vision" within both the French population and the political elite who is accountable for it.

For most European newspapers quoted in Courrier International, the failure of Chirac and De Villepin reveals three major handicaps of the French model:
• Ill-adapted institutional system (La Libre Belgique): the legislative power can easily be neglected by the executive, itself reluctant to social dialogue and dependent on party discipline. This produces "a blocked state, which progresses only by convulsions, and in which decision-makers are completely disconnected from the public opinion."
• Lack of coherent, hence credible political leadership, since a disunited government tried to implement a liberal, "Thatcherite" solution to growing youth unemployment while also "trying to shut out foreign companies from takeovers in France"(The Guardian).
• Lack of clear, two-ways communication strategy about the reform plans (Svenska Dagbladet): if it is "high time [for politicians] to listen to what the French people are saying,"according to Jean-Marc Ayrault, leader of the Socialist opposition (Spiegel online), the government "should [also] have explained more clearly what was ne

TIME Asia Magazine: World Economy - Wealth on the Wing -- by Marc Faber

TIME Asia Magazine: World Economy - Wealth on the Wing - by March Faber

A huge shift of wealth and power to Asia is taking place, leading to an unprecedented situation in economic history. In the past, it was always the rich countries that financed economic development in emerging economies. European capital built canals and railroads in the 19th century U.S. economy; in the 20th century, European and American money bankrolled development in Latin America, Australia and Asia. But today, it's the poor countries—notably China—that are financing American consumption by purchasing U.S. government bonds. No wonder that with their vast liquidity, stock markets in many developing countries have vastly outperformed the U.S. market. Since lows reached in October 2002, America's S&P 500 index has risen 50%, while indexes in India and Jakarta are up by more than 300%.

FT.com: Italian elections 2006 - Berlusconi allies ready to accept election defeat - by Tony Barber

FT.com Italian elections 2006 - Berlusconi allies ready to accept election defeat - by Tony Barber

Political allies of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s premier, are backing away from contesting last week’s narrow election victory for the centre-left, in the belief that a government led by Romano Prodi will soon collapse.Mr Prodi is impatient to take office as he wants to make a thorough assessment of Italy’s public finances and act quickly to cut the rising budget deficit and public debt. The centre-left has a comfortable majority in parliament’s lower house but only a 158-156 seat majority in the Senate, the upper house, where every vote is likely to be close-run.

Turkey Could Delineate New European Union

Angus Reid Consultants

"Angus Reid Global Scan : Politics In Depth
Turkey Could Delineate New European Union
April 16, 2006

The continental alliance faces a choice: acknowledge its broad diversity and expand, or define itself by historical differences.

(Angus Reid Global Scan) Natasha Moore – In 1959, Turkey first made its application to join what was then the European Economic Community (EEC). For 47 years, negotiations have been stalled, ceased and re-established as Turkey’s internal affairs and foreign policy hampered its compatibility with the European Union (EU).

The launch of membership talks between Turkey and the EU in October 2005 signified an important milestone for Turkey in terms of its political and economic achievements but also marked the first step in a lengthy process that will challenge lawmakers, reshape the nation’s political and social climate, and place its foreign policy relationships at the forefront."

The Globalist: France's Economy and the Protest Culture - by Stephan Richter

The Globalist:France's Economy and the Protest Culture by Stephan Richter - by Stephan Richter

The riots in France over proposed labor law reforms showed a deep unease throughout the country. On PBS's NewsHour, The Globalist's Stephan Richter discussed the significance of these continued protests — and why France's leaders can ill afford to keep wavering on economic reforms.

Revolutionary traditions, 1789, 1848, 1968. It's part of the French identity that you sometimes need to be on the barricades, as we see today. It's also, unfortunately, a feeling that the French have a sense of that they're a little bit better than the rest of us, never mind the Americans.

ZAMAN DAILY NEWSPAPER: EU - Erdogan to Meet Merkel in May

ZAMAN DAILY NEWSPAPER: EU-Erdogan to Meet Merkel in May

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to travel to Germany in May to meet Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel. Erdogan will meet Merkel on the sidelines of the Turkish-German Trade and Industry Chamber congress to be held in Berlin.

The two prime ministers are expected to address the members of the Trade and Industry Chambers following a one-hour meeting.

TheSofiaEcho: Bulgaria and Romania on their way to EU accession - by Polina Slavcheva

Bulgaria and Romania on their way to EU accession - by Polina Slavcheva

About eight years ago, when strung together with Romania on the path to European Union accession, Bulgaria was not just unhappy, but disgruntled, and demanded a change in policy: Romania would slow down reform and endanger Bulgaria’s 2007 EU entry, or so it seemed.

Until this year. The European Commission’s (EC) April 3 preliminary report scolded Bulgaria and gave Romania a pat on the back, and justifiably so. Romanian authorities managed to chase down a deputy prime minister, George Copos; an ex-prime minister, Adrian Nastase; and a former economy minister in an impressive corruption hunt-down for which Bulgarian authorities are still studying. What’s more, they opened the archives of the Securitate (Romania’s communist-era secret police), which Bulgaria has not done with its state security in 16 years. And, as some Bulgarian media reported, the neighbour to the north was quicker to sign a contract for joint NATO bases, even though Bulgaria was the traditional leader in the NATO race.

FT.com - EU aims to boost transport on inland waterways - by Chris Smyth

FT.com / World / Europe - EU aims to boost transport on inland waterways - by Chris Smyth

The Ascenseur de Strépy in southern Belgium lifts barges 70 metres above the Belgian countryside to connect them to the Rhine. The €650m ($787m) tower is a symbol of the underutilised potential of Europe’s inland waterways.

“This kind of project shows that the will is there to improve infrastructure,” says hydraulics supervisor Vincent Despiegeleer. “It creates benefits for the whole economy.”

The European Commission agrees. It has approved an action plan to ease congestion and delays across the European transport system by encouraging a switch to the often-neglected waterborne freight sector, not least for environmental reasons.

TCS Daily - The Struggle for 'Open Europe'

TCS Daily - The Struggle for 'Open Europe'

The French, it seems, have finally found a cause for which they are willing to go to war. Unfortunately, in this fight, victory equals defeat.

I'm not referring to the pathetic display of pseudo-revolutionary nostalgia staged for the last several weeks in France by thousands of student demonstrators, fellow-traveling union-activists and assorted troublemakers. They have succeeded -- with this week's decision by French leaders to scrap an exceedingly minor labor market reform package -- in not only subverting the democratic process (the legislation had been passed by the parliament) but also hamstringing yet again the sluggish French economy.

They were fighting for an illusion: the idea that a job -- any job, even the first one you get out of college -- should be guaranteed for life.

The Economic Times: Wheel power in Europe

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Wheel power in Europe

n the past few years a class of young designers and welders emerged in countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark to address the inner-city transport needs of families and companies. Their designs are taking congested cities by storm.

Riding the streets of Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Stockholm are thousands of radically new push-bikes, ranging from tricycles for day-care centres which carry eight children and low-seater bicycles with passenger-carrying trunks in front, to robust transport bikes with large containers for delivery boys. Folding bikes and retro army bikes can be spotted everywhere.

The Local - Integration Sweden's biggest failing - survey

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Integration Sweden's biggest failing - survey

Integration, healthcare, law and order and employment: these are the areas of Swedish society which are in the worst shape, according to voters' personal experience. That's the result of a survey by Sifo, carried out on behalf of Göteborgs-Posten. The polling company asked 1,000 people in Västra Götaland 'which of the following are not working well for you and your family?'. 39% of respondents picked out integration as being the 'most failing' of the eleven alternatives. 37% pointed to healthcare, while law and order and employment were ticked by 35%. Then came leisure opportunities for the young, and care for the elderly, with 27% and 26% respectively, reported GP.

At the other end of the list, indicating a degree of relative satisfaction, was housing and child care. Only 4% and 6% respectively said they had a problem with these areas.

TimesOnLine: Prodi plan to leave Britain out in EU cold - by John Follain

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Prodi plan to leave Britain out in EU cold - by John Follain

ITALY’S election victor, Romano Prodi, has unveiled a plan to speed up the integration of a core group of European Union countries that threatens to leave Britain on the sidelines. In his first newspaper interview since he narrowly defeated Silvio Berlusconi last week, Prodi told The Sunday Times he would accelerate measures to bind the main continental members into a tighter alliance and breathe new life into a European constitution.He promised that despite the close result, he would stick to his 289-page manifesto and give Italy stable government for a full five-year term. He added in English with a smile: “There is no alternative.” As befits a former head of the European commission who prides himself on having overseen Italy’s adoption of the euro, Prodi said his priority was to forge an alliance of what he called “the countries most determined to push for a common European policy”.

“We need a strong relationship not just with France and Germany but also with the so-called group of six, countries like Belgium and Luxembourg — but not the Netherlands,” Prodi said.

Telegraph: France puts smoking ban on the back burner - by Kim Willsher

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France puts smoking ban on the back burner - by Kim Willsher

The tobacco-loving French will be allowed to carry on puffing their Gitanes and Gauloise in smoky bars and bistros after the government caved in on plans to ban smoking in public places. Ministers, who had already abandoned a controversial youth employment contract after street protests and violence, were accused of "cowardice" by anti-smoking campaigners. Existing laws require cafés and restaurants to establish clearly separated smoking and non-smoking areas. Fed up with these rules being widely ignored, opponents had pinned their hopes on an outright ban.

However, on Wednesday, soon after the government's climbdown on the labour law reform, Mr Bertrand performed a U-turn. Instead of outlawing smoking, he announced a "vast consultation" on the issue, to be conducted over the next few months.

President Jacques Chirac's Right-of-centre government had promised to push a decree to this effect through parliament.