World important news by Jennette

PRESS DIGEST - CANADA - Oct 18

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:— Unable to walk a picket line as strikers, Air Canada flight attendants decided to protest outside the Calgary constituency office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday.Decked out in purple, their union’s colour, about 50 flight attendants turned up at a suburban strip mall to demonstrate against the federal government’s decision to prevent a strike at the country’s largest carrier.— There may be some relief for Quebec Liberals waiting in anticipation for an expected announcement on Tuesday by their leader Premier Jean Charest that he has finally bowed to public pressure and will hold an inquiry into corruption in the construction industry.Report on Business Section:— After a year of stumbles, Jim Balsillie is predicting a turnaround for Research In Motion Ltd . The BlackBerry maker’s co-chief executive officer, under siege from investors and customers after a series of public missteps, says the company will finally deliver an answer to its legions of critics on Tuesday as it opens up a crucial conference for software developers in San Francisco.— The U.S. Federal Reserve’s drive to push down interest rates is taking a dramatic toll on Sun Life Financial Inc , forcing one of Canada’s biggest life insurers to warn of its first quarterly loss in two years.Sun Life said it expects to post a C$621 million loss for the July-September period when it officially reports its financial results on Nov. 2.NATIONAL POST:— Canada will press ahead with billions of dollars in cuts to wipe out its budget deficit, despite an uncertain world economic outlook, and may even reduce spending more deeply than already promised, the federal minister in charge of the program said on Monday.— The New Democratic Party has returned money donated in memory of former leader Jack Layton, which was supposed to be redirected to a left-wing think-tank that has yet to open.Financial Post section:— Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tore a strip off European political leaders on Monday for dithering while their economy has faltered, putting the entire world in jeopardy of another recession.— Canada’s heavyweight energy sector is expected to deliver strong third-quarter results starting this week, but with stock prices dragged down by the eurozone crisis and the economic outlook uncertain, the coming months could see a return to cautious spending and more takeover activity.

UPDATE 1-FirstEnergy finds cracks at Ohio nuclear reactor

* Cracks not like Progress Florida Crystal River reactorBy Scott DiSavinoNEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - FirstEnergy has discovered small cracks in a concrete shield building at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio, which was shut for a reactor vessel head replacement, a spokesman for the Ohio-based energy company said Monday.”We don’t believe there will be a problem with the schedule to replace the vessel head. Engineers are conducting a thorough investigation of the cracks. We should have an answer later this week,” FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Schneider told Reuters.The cracks were minor and there was no chance of radiation leakage, FirstEnergy said. Also, fuel had been removed from the reactor as the company prepared to replace vessel head.Schneider was quick to point out that the cracks were different than the concrete problems with the containment dome at Progress Energy’s Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida, which shut in September 2009.At Crystal River, workers discovered a gap in the concrete containment dome while working to replace the steam generators. The plant is not expected to return until at least 2014.FirstEnergy discovered the cracks about a week ago and the NRC sent a concrete expert to join other NRC personnel that were already overseeing the vessel head replacement, said U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng.She said the NRC would review any findings FirstEnergy’s engineers come up with.The “microcracks” at 879-megawatt Davis-Besse were barely visible, said Schneider. They were discovered while workers were cutting away the concrete with pressurized water to access the vessel head.The shield building is a 250-foot (76.2 meters) tall structure and has two-and-a-half-foot thick concrete surrounding a steel containment structure. The steel containment surrounds the pressurized water reactor’s vessel and steam generators and is designed to keep radioactive materials within the reactor in case of an accident.Davis-Besse is in Oak Harbor about 120 miles (193 km) north of Columbus, the state capital, and can generate enough power for more than 800,000 Ohio homes.THIRD VESSEL HEADThis is Davis-Besse’s third reactor vessel head.Schneider said the discovery of the cracks has not impacted the work schedule but he could not say when the reactor was expected to return to service. He did note the outage was expected to last longer than a typical refueling outage.The reactor shut on Oct. 1. A typical refuel lasts about four weeks. Electricity traders guessed Davis-Besse would return after about six weeks in the middle of November.The company was moving forward with the head replacement work, Schneider said. It will next cut the steel reinforcement bars that support the concrete in the shield building before cutting through the inner steel containment structure.The concrete shield building and steel containment structure, which are separated by at least a few feet, do not have doors big enough for the reactor vessel head, which is nearly 17 feet in diameter and weighs more than 82 tons (74,389 kilograms), FirstEnergy said.It cost FirstEnergy about $600 million to replace the first vessel head ($300 million) and buy replacement power ($300 million) after workers in 2002 discovered borated water, which acts as the reactor coolant, leaked from a control rod drive mechanism and ate a six inch hole in the first vessel head. The plant did not return to service until 2004.In 2010 during a scheduled refueling outage, the company found small cracks in the control rod nozzles and decided to replace the second vessel head. Schneider said this head replacement project would cost about $115 million.

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PepsiCo lineup to look healthier in 10 years: CEO

PepsiCo, known for its flagship cola and Frito-Lay snacks, has stepped up its focus on healthier products, including its Tropicana orange juice and Quaker oatmeal, to take advantage of the fast-growing market for healthy foods.Last month, PepsiCo completed its acquisition of Russian juice and dairy company Wimm-Bill-Dann, making it that country’s No. 1 food and beverage company.PepsiCo is also reportedly close to setting up a joint venture with a German dairy company to launch a yogurt brand in the United States.PepsiCo’s stated goal is to more than double sales from healthier products to $30 billion by 2020.

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Our need to be in the midst of danger

Below is the keynote speech Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger delivered today to the International News Safety Institute Death came screaming out of the sky on July 12, 2007. Two Apache helicopter gunships operating more than 500 metres away from a group of men fired their 30 mm cannon and that was it. Vast distances; destructive weaponry; nervous young soldiers intent on protecting themselves and their colleagues. Death came screaming out of the sky. And who was killed? “Hostile forces?”  “Insurgents?” “Anti-Iraqi elements?” At those distances, who really knew? But we know. We know that two of those killed were not insurgents and were not hostile to anything. Two of those killed were just doing their jobs: Reuters journalists Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. They were not carrying guns but cameras. They were not carrying Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers but long lenses. They were not preparing to kill but to record. They were not trying to create a story but to tell the story. They had no intention of dying for the story, but die they did. My organisation has a long and proud history of covering conflicts. And unfortunately my organisation has a long and sad history of its distinguished journalists being killed in those conflicts. The first one died of typhoid fever. The next one died from shell shrapnel. In Reuters headquarters in London, New York and in our key offices around the world, two large books of remembrance hold pride of place, commemorating those brave journalists who have died while covering stories during our more than a century and a half of history. The first page commemorates a man who died in 1885. Francis John Lamplow Roberts, first in that long, distinguished and sad line, was just 25 when he succumbed to disease covering the British campaign in the Sudan. The first died in 1885, and the second, Ernest Richard ‘Dick’ Sheepshanks, died along with a colleague from the AP in Spain in 1937 when a Republican shell exploded next to their car as they were covering the Nationalist side of the civil war. So the first died 15 years before the end of the 19th century. The second died nearly four decades into the 20th. Here we are in the 21st century, and as I flip through the final sad pages of the books, pages that we add to with depressing regularity, I  see that in the first decade of this century, Reuters has already lost 12 employees. That is a rate of more than one a year, tragedy striking down without regard for age or experience or nationality. Usually journalists die well out of sight of the public or of their editors. This year, however, the organization Wikileaks released the video from the lead Apache helicopter that stalked and killed in Iraq three years ago, video that Reuters had sought unsuccessfully with Freedom of Information Act requests. That video shocked and angered many both inside and outside journalism. That video also showed how dangerous trying to get the story really is. It is clear from the video and audio transcript of the battlefield chatter that neither the men authorising the airstrike nor the men pulling the trigger considered the possibility that their targets could include journalists. There’s no question that better training for the military is important. There’s no question that the military and journalists need to communicate more. There’s no question in my mind, too, that journalists should have the right to be where the action is. But having that right and always using it may be two different things. I am asking you today whether we, the journalistic community, need to reassess our need to be in the midst of danger. As journalists we have an instinctual compulsion to be where the action is. Photographers and cameramen, in particular, need to get the shot to record reality for history. That’s a dictum that is fundamental to our craft. But is it fit for purpose? Is it fit for today? In an age when a gunship in the air can fire from up to 4 kilometres away, must the journalist be on the ground? In an age when a deadly drone can be piloted from half a world away, can the journalist justify the risks of being right in the midst of things? Of course there are no black and white answers. Sometimes, of course, the benefits to transparency and understanding are such that we indeed must be right there. And always covering violence in the same long-distance way as it can be prosecuted today would simply be abrogating the responsibilities of our craft. But let’s be honest. Sometimes those benefits are not there and the reasons for being in harm’s way are less noble: competitive pressure, personal ambition, adrenaline’s urging. As professionals, we must be much more ruthless in prioritising the exposure of our staff to danger. At Reuters we have already learned lessons; there are certainly many more to be learned. That day when Namir and Saeed were killed, they were walking with men, some of whom were armed. There was a time, and not too long ago mind you, when the tools of the trade that would have indicated that a journalist was doing his or her job afforded that individual some protection. As Namir and Saeed were identifiable as journalists carrying professional-grade camera equipment, they may have felt they were taking no additional risk standing next to that group of men, some of whom had weapons, since it is not uncommon for Iraqis to own weapons. Yet it is clear from the video that the mere fact that there were armed men present meant that to the US military everyone travelling in that group could be and would be considered hostile and could be considered a legitimate target. Some in the military have subsequently argued, as well, that since insurgents often memorialise their acts with pictures or video, soldiers have no way to presume that the presence of journalistic equipment in and of itself denotes the presence of a journalist. Whatever our personal feelings about whether these orders or views are reasonable, we have no choice but to react to them. Since this tragedy, we have made it Reuters policy to prohibit our journalists from standing next to non-uniformed individuals carrying weapons. Is that policy enough? I fear not. I come back again to the question of when must we be on the scene, and when can we give a story a pass. When does the image capture the essence of the situation, and when is it just one more fleeting mark on the wire? If we as editors take our responsibilities seriously, I believe we should be opting to pass on stories more often. But even posing this option raises the spectre that in so doing we’ll be trading the safety of the professional for the danger to the amateur. With the great democratisation of technology, there have never been so many people in every country on earth who have both the ambition and now the means to publish their views, thoughts and images without the structure of a large institution around them. This has many wonderful implications for journalism. It has many frightening implications for safety. Where international news organisations have embraced safety training, equipment and an ethos of caution, individuals are unlikely to have either the means or the experience to realise what they’re missing. And if professionals opt not to cover certain events, I fear that vacuum may be too tempting for amateurs to avoid as well. As a profession we have made great strides in safety awareness in recent years. First we gave training and equipment to staff. Then we extended the care to the stringers who work for us. Then organisations like INSI began needed outreach to local news organisations who suffered grievously when their own regions became centres of violence and tension. Now is the time for us to accept the newly broadened definition of our craft and ensure that we give opportunities for training and safety consciousness raising to the legions of self-declared journalists who, emboldened by their blog’s popularity or their scores of Twitter followers, might rush in to the very danger spots we should be avoiding. The very traps of competitive pressure, personal ambition, adrenaline’s urging that can ensnare the professional journalist are even more alluring to the self-declared one, looking to garner page views or fame. We in the profession have an obligation to ensure that all who seek to practice journalism do it safely and know how to balance the risks and the rewards. As a profession we have a great chance to make sure that all practitioners start making the right decisions. And we have a great responsibility to make sure that all involved really wrestle with whether every exposure to danger, every decision to “be there” is truly important and worth it. I don’t know – I can’t know – which different decisions would have kept Hiro Muramoto, Reuters video journalist, from being killed in Bangkok in April this year. I don’t know – I can’t know – which different decisions would have kept Fadel Shana, Reuters cameraman, from being killed in Gaza in 2008. I don’t know – I can’t know – how I could have prevented any of these deaths or those of Namir and Saeed or any of the others that occurred even before I became editor-in-chief. But I do know that we as a profession must think about doing things differently. We have to say “no” more often. We have to be prepared to miss the image more often. We have to be ready to lose the shot to avoid being shot. We must be ready to lose some stories to avoid losing yet more lives.

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Bangkok braces but safe so far from floods

Despite heavy rain in parts of Bangkok late on Saturday, areas inside the defensive system of dikes and canals have so far been spared the flooding that has devastated a third of the country, killing at least 297 people and causing about $3 billion in damage.The north, northeast and center of Thailand have been worst hit and Bangkok — much of it only two meters (6.5 ft) above sea level — is at risk as water overflows from reservoirs in the north, swelling the Chao Phraya river that winds through the densely populated and low-lying city.The river was reported to be at a record high level of 2.15 meters (seven feet) at one point on Saturday but the embankment wall running along it in inner Bangkok is at least 2.5 meters high and has been raised along vulnerable stretches.Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has sought to reassure residents they should be safe but people have still stocked up on bottled water, instant noodles, rice and canned goods, emptying shelves in some major markets.Many have parked their cars in elevated garages and piled sandbags in front of shop-houses and homes.Water from the north approached Bangkok over the weekend, coinciding with high estuary tides that hamper the flow of water into the sea.”We will protect strategic areas and the heart of the economy such as industrial zones, the central part of all provinces and the Thai capital as well as Suvarnabhumi Airport, industrial estates and evacuation centres,” Yingluck said on Saturday, referring to Bangkok’s main international airport.On Sunday, the focus was on Nava Nakorn industrial estate in Pathum Thani province north of Bangkok, which is standing in the way of one flow of water toward the capital.Thai media reported that some 600 soldiers and workers from the estate, Thailand’s oldest with more than 200 factories, were working round the clock to strengthen its walls and divert water.Nation TV reported that water was just 10 cm (four4 inches) below the top of the estate’s 4.5 meters high wall.Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Sawan provinces north of Bangkok have been devastated. Floods have swallowed up homes and swamped three huge industrial parks, including the Bang Pa-In estate on Saturday in Ayutthaya.Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co Ltd has shut its Ayutthaya plant, which accounts for 4.7 percent of its global output, and says it will stay closed until October 21.

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S.Africa mulling own metals exchange

JOHANNESBURG Oct 14 (Reuters) - South Africa is looking at establishing its own metals exchange as part of a wider government plan to extract more value from the country’s huge mineral wealth, much of which is exported as ore rather than being refined and processed locally.In a speech this week, Mines minister Susan Shabangu stressed the importance of domestic metals exchanges in “extracting maximum socio-economic benefits” from mineral deposits.Ministry spokesman Bheki Khumalo said on Friday the department had started to look into the possibility of setting up an exchange, although stressed that it was still very early days.”Ideally that is what South Africa would like to have,” Khumalo said. “But the details have not been worked out.”South Africa is the world number one platinum producer and a top gold and coal exporter, but in 2008 only 11 percent in volume terms of the material extracted from the ground was processed locally.The government has been pressing for more downstream processing to boost national revenues and create desperately needed jobs, but concerns about rigid labour markets and intermittent power supply have dampened investment.

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China’s Ai Weiwei tops annual ArtReview power list

Contemporary art magazine ArtReview published its 10th annual “Power 100” list on Thursday, coinciding with the opening of the Frieze Art Fair in London which attracts many of the world’s top galleries and collectors.Ai, famous for his “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium in Beijing and a recent installation at London’s Tate Modern gallery comprising millions of replica porcelain sunflower seeds, was 13th in the ranking last year.Unchanged in second place was London’s Serpentine Gallery co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist, joined by his colleague Julia Peyton-Jones this time around.They are followed by New York’s Museum of Modern Art director Glenn D. Lowry, and, in fourth down from first last year, U.S. gallery owner Larry Gagosian.Mark Rappolt, editor of ArtReview, said the choice of Ai by a panel of experts was not a political one.”Of course it’s something about political activism that runs through the list this year,” he told Reuters.”But I think it’s more about expanding the concept of art that’s not really solely contained in the privileged space of museums and galleries. It’s about how it engages with the world.”It’s expanding the possibilities of what you can do with art and as an artist how you can use your voice.”Ai, who spent nearly three months in detention, was released in late June after being taken from Beijing airport and held in two secret locations.His family says he was targeted by authorities for his criticism of censorship and Communist Party controls, and Ai has remained largely silent since his detention because, under the conditions of his release, he is not allowed to be interviewed by journalists or use the Internet.Ai is only the second artist to have topped the ArtReview standings after Britain’s Damien Hirst in 2005 and 2008. Hirst continued to slip further down the “who’s who” list in 2011, moving to 64th from 53rd last year.Organizers highlighted the emergence of artist-filmmakers like Briton Steve McQueen (59) and Iranian Shirin Neshat (86) and agencies like Artangel (55), seen as key to funding art projects at a time of major spending cuts.German artist Gerhard Richter was in 11th position up from 55th last year while Frieze founders Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover rose to 24th from 41st.Following are ArtReview’s top 10 most powerful individuals in the world of art:1. Ai Weiwei/China/artist2. Hans Ulrich Obrist/Switzerland; Julia Peyton-Jones - gallery directors3. Glenn D. Lowry/United States/museum director4. Larry Gagosian/United States/gallerist5. Anton Vidokle/Russian-born; Julieta Aranda/Mexico; Brian Kuan Wood/United States - partners in art network group e-flux6. Nicholas Serota/Britain/museum director7. Cindy Sherman/United States/photographer8. Iwan Wirth/Switzerland/gallerist9. David Zwirner/Germany/gallerist10. Beatrix Ruf/Germany/curator.

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Italian stocks - Factors to watch on Oct 12

BANKSFitch downgraded Intesa Sanpaolo to ‘A’ from ‘AA-‘, UBI Banca to ‘A-’ from ‘A’, Monte dei Paschi di Siena to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-’ following its downgrade of Italy’s sovereign ratings last week. It put UniCredit and Banco Popolare on rating watch negative.Europe’s banks will have to achieve a significantly stronger capital posiiton under a quick-fire regulatory health check and may need to raise some 100 billion euros, banking and regulatory sources said on Tuesday.ITALY’S GOVERNMENTItalian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will ask for a confidence vote on his government after it lost a key parliamentary vote, his aides said on Tuesday.EURO ZONE DEBT CRISISSlovakia’s parliament brought down the government on Tuesday by rejecting a plan to expand the euro zone’s rescue fund, but the outgoing government said it hoped to pass the measure by the end of the week with opposition support.ATLANTIAThe motorway operator said traffic on its Italian network fell 0.9 percent compared to the same period a year earlier.Car and van traffic was down 1.0 percent, while heavier lorries’ traffic was down 0.7 percent, it said in a statement.GENERALIPolice have raided the French offices of the Italian insurer and arrested one employee suspected of being part of an alleged fraud ring, according to a company official.* The insurer’s executive committee meets on Wednesday to update internal targets to 2014, Il Sole 24 Ore said without citing sources.PININFARINAThe company is closing down its auto production activities and will concentrate on its design and engineering operations, it said in a statement late on Tuesday.* ENIThe giant Kashagan field in Kazakhstan will start producing its first oil at the end of 2012, la Repubblica said citing the head of the Agip Kco consortium which is constructing the field’s infrastructure.* EDISONItaly’s government cleared on Tuesday an accord among Edison’s shareholders that will hand control of the power producer to France’s EDF , Il Sole 24 Ore reported, mentioning a phone call between Industry Minister Paolo Romani and EDF’s CEO Henri Proglio.* IRENThe chief executive of F2i told Il Sole 24 Ore the Italian infrastructure investment fund would look to buy other optic fibre networks, after the acquisition of Milan’s Metroweb, mentioning the northern Italian utility’s assets.* INTESA SANPAOLOThe bank has increased by 400 million euros to 2.7 billion euros the cap on overall financing grantable to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest holding company, Il Messaggero reported.Fininvest has used so far only 1.5 billion euros, it said. * UNICREDITJPMorgan has cut its price target on the stock to 1.05 euros from 1.4 euros.Among factors driving UniCredit’s share price higher in recent sessions is market talk about possible foreign investors, Il Sole 24 Ore reported, mentioning Singapore’s wealth fund.* BANCO POPOLAREA shareholder meeting on Nov. 26 will be asked to drop a dual-board governance system, the banks said on Tuesday.AZIMUTThe asset manager said net inflows totalled 29 million euros in September and total assets under management stood at 13.3 billion euros.For Italian market data and news, click on codes in brackets:20 biggest gainers (in percentage)…………20 biggest losers (in percentage)………….FTSE IT allshare indexFTSE Mib index……..FTSE Allstars index…FTSE Mid Cap index….Block trades……….Stories on Italy…… IT-LENFor pan-European market data and news, click on codes in brackets: European Equities speed guide………………. FTSEurofirst 300 index………………………… DJ STOXX index……………………………….. Top 10 STOXX sectors……………………… Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors…………………. Top 10 Eurofirst 300 sectors………………. Top 25 European pct gainers………………….. Top 25 European pct losers…………………… Main stock markets: Dow Jones…………… Wall Street report ….. Nikkei 225…………. Tokyo report………… FTSE 100…………… London report……….. Xetra DAX…………. Frankfurt market stories CAC-40…………….. Paris market stories… World Indices……………………………….<0#.INDEX> Reuters survey of world bourse outlook……… Western European IPO diary…………………….. European Asset Allocation…………………… Reuters News at a Glance: Equities…………… Main currency report:………………………….

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UK retail conditions toughest for decades - Tesco

Tesco announced last month a 500 million pound ($784 million) investment in cutting prices of staple products like milk and carrots in the bid to reverse market share losses.Last week, the supermarket group said the investment would contribute towards a flat profit performance in Britain in the second half of its financial year, following a 4.5 percent increase in the first half.”That’s very unusual for Tesco, but we concluded it’s the right time to make a very significant investment,” Clarke told a conference organised by grocery industry group IGD.”We’re facing one of the toughest trading conditions this country has seen for decades,” he said.Britons are reining in spending as disposable incomes are squeezed by rising prices, muted wage growth and government austerity measures.Despite his concerns about the economic outlook, Clarke said his biggest worry for Tesco as a whole — which runs over 5,000 stores in 14 countries — was skill shortages.”We’ve never known a time when there are so many opportunities for a company like Tesco. The businesses that respond fastest, and have the people to do it, will be ones that will come out of this economic situation stronger,” he said.

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A belated disclosure

On August 22, Reuters.com published a video entitled “Twitter through the eye of an artist,” a profile of the New York-based artist Michelle Vaughn. Vaughn is married to Reuters blogger Felix Salmon; although Salmon played no role in producing the video, that relationship should have been disclosed in the video. Reuters apologizes for the omission.

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