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Legal Profession Blog: Judge Removed
Judge Removed

A Judge of the Shreveport City Court was ordered removed from office and prohibited from seeking judicial office for five years by the Louisiana Supreme Court. The proceedings against the judge were initiated by an anonymous complaint. The judge suffered from fibromyalgia, a chronic pain and fatigue disorder. She had used prescription medication for the condition for an extended period of time that caused her to be inattentive and confused while on the bench. Allegations of excessive absenteeism, using court personnel for personal matters and improper ex parte communications also were sustained. The judge had testified that she was now engaged in alternative therapies for her pain, including acupuncture, massage therapy and yoga. The court found compelling evidence that the judge was “impaired while performing judicial duties” and had demonstrated an “inability to handle her docket properly.”

Is Judge Jules making light of ecstasy? - Times Online
Is Judge Jules making light of ecstasy?
Radio Waves
Paul Donovan

A dark week. Two more digital stations, Planet Rock and theJazz, will fall silent on March 28, on top of Oneword and Core, which went off the air last month. Two Classic FM presenters, Lisa Duncombe and Mark Griffiths, are also being axed – to make way for Helen Mayhew and Margherita Taylor from theJazz, who will be bringing jazz with them and playing it for the first time on Classic’s daily schedule.

But if life is bleak and upsetting in commercial radio, the BBC could hardly be happier, comfortably insulated from the economic problems that plague its rivals. Radio 1 feels especially chirpy, having put on 400,000 listeners in the past year.

What the station needs to do now is consider the acceptability of its 12-hour dance-music marathon, which runs from 7pm on Friday to 7am on Saturday. It offers “piping-hot tunes”, “hot mixes” and “remixes”, the sort of hypnotic music that people listen to when they go clubbing.

Normally, it is launched by Pete Tong. Sixteen days ago, however, Tong was in Brazil, at the Rio carnival, so Judge Jules sat in for him. At 7.20pm, after one track, he told his young audience: “The last time I heard that, I was chewing my face off in a field in the early Nineties.”

For those unfamiliar with this phrase, “chewing my face off” is almost certain to be a reference to the taking of ecstasy, the drug indelibly associated with clubbing. This is because it is famous for producing involuntary teeth-clenching and frenzied jaw movements “One of the signs of ecstasy use is the possession of a baby’s dummy to relieve jaw pains,” the BBC’s website explains, pointing out that it is also linked to liver damage and acne. Some music fans may also recall the phrase on the opening track of the Darkness’s 2005 album, One Way Ticket to Hell, which includes the lyrics “ . . . chewing my face off and talking absolute rubbish”.

A long march in from the cold for China - Telegraph

A long march in from the cold for China

By George Walden
Last Updated: 12:26am GMT 17/02/2008
Page 1 of 3

Calls for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics are mounting, following Steven Spielberg’s withdrawal as artistic adviser. But the critics are wrong, writes George Walden - it would be foolish and dangerous to turn our backs on China now

Hearing Steven Spielberg and Mia Farrow pronounce on China and genocide in Darfur takes you back to the time of Mao Tse-tung - the difference being that in those days Hollywood stars and directors were running around wearing Mao badges while the Chairman was killing tens of millions of his countrymen. Along with the usual attribution of malign motives to her critics - Cold War thinking and the rest - China’s response to the threat of an Olympic boycott has been to insist that there has been a “misunderstanding” of her position and that the criticism is “unfair”.
# China mounts assault on dissidents before Games
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The tone is almost hurt, and in a way you can see why. From the Chinese perspective, this flare-up of criticism must be puzzling. For decades, the communist regime got away with mass murder and starvation in the eyes of modish opinion in the West. At the time, China was its own Darfur. Nor was unprincipled indulgence confined to Hollywood or the liberal Left. President Nixon spent hours in conversation with Mao on his breakthrough visit in 1972 without seeking to exert indelicate pressure on the ageing Chairman over human rights, and when the President’s grown-up daughter, Julie, met him in Beijing, three years later, she too sported a Mao badge.

Yet, now China has become a more open and prosperous country than it has been for 50 years, the fashion changes. Film folk and intellectuals start nit-picking (it will seem to China) about the detention and beating up of a few thousand journalists or dissidents, whom we hear about only because inefficiently censored lines of communication with the outside world have been opened. And to complete its puzzlement, suddenly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) - once the ideological inspiration for the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia - finds itself stigmatised for a bit of oil-seeking realpolitik in Sudan, in which all it has done is turn a blind eye to someone else’s massacres.

China refuses to release data on yellow sand : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)
China refuses to release data on yellow sand

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A plan for Japan, China, South Korea and Mongolia to observe and forecast airborne desert sand has been hampered as China has withdrawn from the scheme, citing weather information as state secrets.

The Environment Ministry’s Web site, which is to release forecasts on so-called yellow sand to the public, will start the service later this month as planned, but without the cooperation of the country where most of the sand originates.

According to ministry sources, with China reneging on its promise of cooperation by refusing to provide data, the system’s observation and forecast accuracy will be insufficient.

Between March and May every year, large quantities of yellow sand are sent airborne from the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts, with much of it catching westerly winds that carry it toward Japan, causing numerous problems in places the sand passes over.

In China and South Korea, many residents suffer from respiratory problems due to the sand. In Japan, mainly in Kyushu, laundry is often tinged yellow by the sand and the percentage of faulty products made by precision machinery factories has increased.

According to the Fukuoka Institute of Health and Environmental Sciences in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, when the sand was observed in the prefecture early last April, the concentration of dust in the air exceeded normal levels across the prefecture and the air took on a brownish tint.

The Meteorological Agency currently releases data on airborne yellow sand obtained from observations at 85 sites across the nation. But these observations are done visually, meaning airborne sand is only noted when it reaches the nation. These observations alone cannot accurately forecast the level of yellow sand approaching Japan.

The ministry began testing yellow sand forecasts on its Web site last spring.

Starting later this month, the ministry had planned to release more detailed sand forecasts based on data from one observation site in China, one in South Korea, three in Mongolia and 10 in Japan.

Gold futures slightly up, seen within range - livemint
Mumbai:Gold futures were up slightly up on Monday and were expected to stay within a tight range in the absence of triggers, specially from the US markets that were closed for a holiday.
“The next big trigger will be the US inflation data,” said Kunal Shah, analyst at Motilal Oswal Commodities Broker Pvt Ltd. The US inflation data is expected on Wednesday. Higher numbers may boost gold which is known as a good hedge against inflation. Monday is a holiday in the US, one of the biggest guides for gold, for Presidents’ Day.
Gold prices have moved nearly sideways in the last few sessions waiting for fresh cues after touching a historic high at $936.50 an ounce on 1 February. On Monday, spot gold was at $906.

Bloomberg.com: Germany
European Stock-Index Futures Rise; Daimler, Safran May Advance

By Adria Cimino

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — European stock-index futures gained following a late rebound in U.S. equities last week. Daimler AG, the world’s second-largest maker of luxury vehicles, may climb after Goldman, Sachs & Co. raised its share-price estimate.

Safran SA, Europe’s second-biggest aircraft-engine maker, will probably advance after Deutsche Bank AG upgraded the stock. ArcelorMittal may be active as Asia’s three largest steelmakers agreed to an increase in iron-ore prices.

Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, added 34, or 0.9 percent, to 3,765 at 7:38 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index may increase 25, according to Cantor Index, a betting firm.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 percent on Feb. 15. The gauge rebounded in the last 15 minutes of trading to extend its weekly advance as financial shares rallied on speculation Bear Stearns Cos. will get a takeover bid. The U.S. market is closed today for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

“Early direction will likely lead to gains following Friday’s late rally on Wall Street,” Matthew Buckland, a trader at CMC Markets in London, wrote in a note to clients.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 is down 13 percent this year on concern turmoil in the credit market and an economic slowdown in the U.S. will weigh on earnings growth. The index added 0.6 percent last week.

Daimler may increase. Goldman raised its share-price estimate by 4.8 percent to 65 euros, saying “the market discounts the company’s 5.9 percent EBIT margin in perpetuity.”

Safran might climb. Deutsche Bank raised its recommendation on the shares to “hold” from “sell” and lifted the price forecast 9.1 percent to 12 euros.

BNP Paribas, Tiberius develop commodity products | Industries | Financial Services & Real Estate | Reuters
BNP Paribas, Tiberius develop commodity products
Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:07am EST

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Dollar edges up in holiday-thinned trade
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LONDON, Feb 18 Reuters - French bank BNP Paribas BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research said on Monday it had agreed with investment firm Tiberius Group to develop actively managed commodity structured products.

“We aim to provide expert advice, from a leading player in the field, on choosing the winners for investors looking at liquid and transparent exposure,” Lionel Semonin, head of Commodity Investor Derivatives at BNP Paribas, said in a statement.

The products aim to generate high returns across all commodities by selecting those commodities or sub-sectors which are most likely to outperform, the statement said.

The objective of this approach was to improve investment performance in bullish, bearish and stable markets, it added.

Reporting by Anna Stablum; editing by Chris Johnson

Bloomberg.com: Canada
Canada’s Dollar Gains on Chance U.S. Won’t Slip Into Recession

By Haris Anwar

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Canada’s dollar rose the most in more than a week as investors bought currencies linked to commodity exports on optimism that the world’s largest economy will not slip into a recession.

The Canadian dollar strengthened versus 14 of the 16 most- active currencies after a U.S. report showed manufacturing unexpectedly grew in January. Canada sends about 80 percent of its exports to the U.S.

“The market is now focusing on this report,” said Maria Jones, a currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto. “There is a hope that the U.S. will potentially see a slowdown, not an outright recession.”

The currency, known as the loonie after the image of the bird on its one-dollar coin, rose 0.9 percent to 99.39 Canadian cents per U.S. dollar at 4:03 p.m. in Toronto, from C$1.0028 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0061.

Canada’s dollar rose versus its U.S. counterpart for a second straight week, rising 1.4 percent since Jan. 25.

The Institute for Supply Management’s U.S. manufacturing index rose to 50.7 last month, a five-month high, from a revised 48.4 in December, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said. Readings lower than 50 signal contraction.

A separate report from Canada showed factory prices advanced at the fastest pace in nine months during December.

The country’s industrial product price index climbed 1.1 percent, up from a 0.6 percent gain in November, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Prices were forecast to rise 0.7 percent, according to the median estimate of 16 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

`Global Growth’

“There is a less pessimistic outlook for global growth, and that’s helping equities and cyclical currencies such as the Canadian dollar,” said Matthew Strauss, a senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto, who predicts the currency will trade close to par in the first half of the year.

Canada’s Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index of stocks rose 1 percent today. The benchmark gained 3 percent since Jan. 25 and increased for a second straight week.

More powers for FMC through ordinance - Sify.com
More powers for FMC through ordinance
R. Pattabiraman

The Cabinet’s approval to issue an ordinance to make changes in the Forward Contracts Regulations Act, 1952, though belated is a welcome one. The amendments would empower the Commodity Regulator viz the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

Since 2003, national commodity exchanges have come into operations. The gains arrived at has to be utilised properly by removing legal and institutional constraints. Further, the Government decided to allow foreign direct investments (FDI) upto 26 per cent and foreign institutional investments (FII) upto 23 per cent in commodity exchanges. Autonomy for FMC and allowing FDI/ FII in commodity exchanges will boost commodities trade.

Our exchanges can easily become the price setters for most of the commodities. We have a great potential and production and consumption take place on a huge scale, i.e., roughly 60 per cent of the world’s total population live in Asia. The process of price discovery will happen if the reforms in the commodity sector are speeded up. The plans are to promulgate an ordinance and not in the Parliamentary session. Due to this the Government will introduce the Bill and get Parliament approval early.

There are plans to launch options trading in commodities. This will improve liquidity in the market and also ensure greater participation in commodities trading by farmers. But there is need for creation of awareness among the participants through education, seminars, media etc.

San Jose Mercury News - Reopening of Hwy. 101 lanes planned for today
Reopening of Hwy. 101 lanes planned for today
By Sandra Gonzales
Mercury News

Highway 101 in Redwood City was partially shut down for a second day Wednesday as Caltrans dealt with the aftermath of a tanker truck crash that spilled more than 2,000 gallons of gasoline onto the roadway, causing several lanes to disintegrate.

Although Caltrans repaved a stretch of three northbound lanes Tuesday night, there were concerns that using a pavement grinder on the remaining lanes could spark a fire or explosion because there was a higher concentration of gasoline on that portion of the road.

So Caltrans workers broke up the pavement, allowing the gasoline to dissipate with plans to repave it Wednesday night through early today so the roadway would be open for the morning commute at 5 a.m.

“This is such a unique situation because there was such a large amount of gasoline concentrated in that area,” said Caltrans spokeswoman Lauren Wonder. While the rubberized concrete asphalt adds to the longevity of the highway, it also makes it more prone to potential fires or explosions, Wonder said.