Feb32017
Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan will be visiting Boston and Houston, USA from 3-7 March 2017 along with a delegation comprising CEOs of Public Sector Oil and Gas companies.
Feb32017
Updated: Text changed
You can download each plan by clicking the the right button then > select save link as.
These documents were the first outputs of marine planning in the north east, north west, south east and south west marine plan areas (iteration 1). They followed on from the Call for Issues with Supporting Evidence (July 2016).
They provided an example of a more digital and interactive approach to marine planning, and help explain how the issues are being taken forward for these marine plan areas.
The first outputs of the marine planning process for the north east, north west, south east and south west marine plan areas were presented at Iteration 1 which ran between 3 February 2017 and 31 March 2017. Some of the content of this engagement has now been removed from these pages and the Marine Information System.
Feb32017
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Photo taken on Aug. 1, 2016 shows Apps of Didi and Uber on a cellphone of a citizen in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province. [Photo/Xinhua]. |
According to United Daily News in Taiwan, after three and a half years of operation in Taiwan, Uber received 11 penalties with fines totaling US$7.42 million and was required to close business by the transportation administration in Taiwan yesterday. Uber announced to close its business in Taiwan on Feb. 20. Meanwhile, the Uber TAXI service, which is scheduled to be online in February, was also closed. However, UberEATS service, which was online at the end of last year, will continue its service.
Uber said it will restart communication with Taiwan administration. The transportation administration of Taiwan asked Uber to operate its business legally. Hochen Tan, the head of the transportation administration, said that both sides should seize the opportunity to communicate and avoid a dead end.
In July 2013, by establishing a company named Taiwan Yu Bo Shu Wei service Co., Ltd, Uber entered Taiwan. The new company is registered as an information service business. Its service area includes Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Keelung, Taichung and Kaohsiung.
However, Uber’s business is related with motor transport service without business registration certification and professional driver licensing. Over the past three years, Taiwan administration issued 513 penalties with a total fine of US$3.11 million to Uber and its drivers. Uber paid US$2.2 million.
With the implementation of an updated law, the fine amount has been increased greatly by the Taiwan administration. Since the implementation of the new rule Jan. 6, any company who breaks the new rule will be fined US$32.3 thousand, and the fine amount will be raised to US$161.2 thousand for the second violation. Anyone who breaks the rule six times in total or three times in half a year will be fined with US$806 thousand and required to close its business.
By Jan. 20, 48 Uber cars had been banned and a total amount of US$35.47 million in fines had been issued by the transportation administration of Taiwan.
Feb32017
Today the EU Heads of state and government will meet in Malta. Their background text will be the pessimistic and alarmist letter from Mr Tusk that we talked about on Wednesday.
The meeting will mainly be concerned with strengthening the EU’s external borders, with special emphasis on the problems of Libya. There are in the EU’s view too many migrants coming across the sea from Libya. The EU wishes to work with the Libyan authorities – to the extent that there are authorities in charge there – to reduce the flows. The EU may also wish to beef up its naval force, though so far this has been used to offer safe transit to the EU for those who have taken to the seas in dangerous and overloaded boats and got into trouble. The EU will wish to take stronger action against people smugglers, though that too will require co-operation with governments on the African continent.
All this illustrates the cruel dilemma of Mr Tusk’s letter. He does not wish the EU to give concessions to people he calls populists or to political parties that challenge the elite view of the EU. Yet he feels the need to hold a summit largely devoted to the populist issue of trying to reduce the flow of migrants and to strengthen the EU’s external borders. He is ambiguous about the elite themselves, saying they genuflect too far towards populists, yet saying they are losing faith in the democracy which is driving the populist movements. I guess Mrs Merkel felt the need to change her permissive immigration policy owing to the pressure of public opinion. Does Mr Tusk think this was the wrong thing to do?
Important though Mr Tusk is within the EU, he is but the servant of the Council which is made up of the Heads of state and government. If they say they wish to shift policy in the so called populist direction, he has to allow them an agenda to do so. It will be fascinating to see what emerges from their consideration yet again of migration and borders.
I do hope they take up the UK’s request to lift the uncertainty they have created for British citizens living in other EU countries. If they just agree they are all welcome to stay, the UK can confirm the same for all EU citizens legally settled in the UK. It is the right and decent thing to do, so why won’t they do it? I am sure Mrs May will ask them again. I thought civilised values were part of their idea of the EU, but they are not showing them on this matter.
The later afternoon session will be for the EU 27 only. They plan to discuss how to celebrate the 6oth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which they think the UK could not help them with. It will be fascinating to see what celebration they want to hold, and what they think are their main achievements to trumpet.
Feb32017
3 February 2017 – As new data shows that wheat in Africa, Asia and Europe is increasingly threatened by fresh groups of wheat rust, the United Nations agricultural agency is highlighting the need for early detection and rapid action to keep the fungus under control.
Two studies produced by scientists in collaboration with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) show the emergence of two new groups – or races – of both yellow rust and stem rust last year in various regions of the world.
“These new, aggressive rust races have emerged at the same time that we’re working with international partners to help countries combat the existing ones, so we have to be swift and thorough in the way we approach this,” said FAO Plant Pathologist Fazil Dusunceli.
Wheat rusts spread rapidly over long distances by wind. If not detected and treated on time, they can turn a healthy looking crop, only weeks away from harvest, into a tangle of yellow leaves, black stems and shriveled grains.
“It’s more important than ever that specialists from international institutions and wheat producing countries work together to stop these diseases in their tracks,” Mr. Dusunceli said.
That would involve work such as continuous surveillance, sharing data and building emergency response plans to protect their farmers and those in neighbouring countries.
Wheat is a source of food and livelihoods for over 1 billion people in developing countries, according to FAO.
Some of the most vulnerable regions are also the highest producers of wheat. Northern and Eastern Africa, the Near East, and West, Central and South Asia alone account for some 37 per cent of global wheat production.
The most recently identified race of stem rust pathogen – called TTTTF – hit the Italian island of Sicily in 2016, causing the largest stem rust outbreak in Europe in decades.
In addition, farmers in the mainland Italy, Morocco and some Scandinavian countries are battling a yet-to-be-named race of yellow rust, while Ethiopia and Uzbekistan fights outbreaks of yellow rust AF2012.
“Preliminary assessments are worrisome, but it is still unclear what the full impact of these new races will be on different wheat varieties in the affected regions,” said Mr. Dusunceli. “That’s what research institutions across these regions will need to further investigate in the coming months.”
The FAO-supported reports have been highlighted in the journal Nature following their publication by Aarhus University and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).