Ecuador's president urges Brad Pitt to scrap Amazon oil spill movie

The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has asked Brad Pitt to abandon plans for a new film chronicling US oil giants’ victory in the face of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit for polluting the Amazon.

In an unprecedented move, the country’s socialist leader launched a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #braddotherightthing aimed at convincing the Oscar-winning producer and actor to walk away from the proposed movie.

Pitt’s film is expected to be partly based on the book Law of the Jungle, by US journalist Paul Barrett, which details how American oil firm Texaco (now owned by Chevron) overcame an Ecuadorian court order that it should pay $9bn (£5.7bn) in damages for pollution of forest areas populated by indigenous peoples between 1964 and 1992. Chevron obtained a ruling in March 2014 from New York judge Lewis A Kaplan which blocked US courts from being used to collect the damages. Kaplan accused lawyers for the indigenous peoples of obtaining the earlier court judgment “by corrupt means”, arguing they submitted false evidence and arranged to write the multibillion-dollar judgment themselves by promising $500,000 to a local justice.

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Source: theguardian.com

Not how they roll: Pentagon asks media to scrap old footage of ISIS columns

ISIS may be on the move, but not the way you see on television, claims the Pentagon.

Footage of the menacing, black-clad terrorist army rolling across the desert in long convoys predates U.S.-led air strikes that have forced the jihadists to travel more discreetly, say senior State Department and Pentagon officials. They have asked television networks to stop using stock footage that makes the terror army seem more mobile - and more formidable - than they say it actually is.

“One Toyota speeding down the road by itself at night with its headlights off,” would be a more accurate image, said Pentagon spokesman Col. Steven Warren.

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Source: Fox news

Wall Street Drops After Swiss Move; Banks Tumble

US stocks fell, erasing small gains at the open on Thursday, as investors grappled with a move by the Swiss National Bank to scrap its three-year euro cap on the franc.

Trading was likely to remain volatile through the session, on the heels of choppy premarket action that saw futures fluctuate between gains and losses, after the SNB said it would discontinue the cap it introduced on September 6, 2011 to fight recession and deflation threats.

Swiss stocks traded in the US moved higher, including UBS, up 2.4 per cent at $16.87, Credit Suisse, up 3.2 per cent at $23.55 and Novartis, up 1.9 per cent to $98.64, as a strengthening Swiss franc made US-dollar denominated stocks cheaper.

"The Swiss move was obviously the big move, people are trying to get their arms around what it means for the US stock market," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"It will take some of the morning to sort out the impact of the Swiss move across the board."

Financials, off 0.6 per cent, were the worst performing S&P sector. Bank of America lost 3.7 per cent to $15.45 after the second-largest US bank by assets reported a 14 per cent slump in quarterly profit. Citigroup shares fell 2.9 per cent to $47.64 after its quarterly results.

Dow component Intel Corp is scheduled to report after the market closes.

Expectations for US fourth-quarter earnings have fallen sharply in recent months, with growth now estimated at just 3.6 per cent compared with an October 1 estimate for 11.2 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 64.12 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 17,362.97.

The S&P 500 lost 8.26 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 2,003.01.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 28.73 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 4,610.59.

The benchmark S&P has fallen for four straight sessions and nine of the past 11 days. The index is down more about 4 per cent from its last record high December 29. The CBOE Volatility index is on track for a fifth day of gains.

US producer prices posted their biggest drop in more than three years in December, while weekly initial jobless claims rose, but still indicated an improving job market. Separately, New York Federal Reserve said its Empire State general business conditions index rose in January.

Best Buy shares tumbled 15.1 per cent to $33.88 as the worst performing S&P 500 component after the electronics retailer posted holiday sales results and said it expects same-store sales growth to be flat to negative in the first two quarters of its fiscal year.

US-listed shares of Blackberry dropped 15.8 per cent to $10.61 after South Korea's Samsung Electronics said it had no plan to buy the smartphone maker, denying a Reuters report on a takeover approach.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,389 to 1,361, for a 1.02-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,498 issues fell and 691 advanced for a 2.17-to-1 ratio.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 18 new 52-week highs and 8 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 17 new highs and 22 new lows.

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Source : http://profit.ndtv.com/ news

From gunpowder factory to ship scrap business, an area’s changing fortunes

Darukhana is an area of Mazgaon, popularly known for its ship-breaking and ironworks industries. Packed with dingy tin godowns, narrow lanes and factories, it may not catch the eye of every passerby but the area conceals a remarkable history.

Darukhana, literally meaning ‘gunpowder factory’, was named for the gunpowder industry in the area. Previously located in Kamathipura, the growing population in the area forced the factory to move to Mazgaon in 1790. The factory also lent its name to Gunpowder Road, a quiet road leading to what is now the main area of Darukhana.

Back in the 19th century, the Darukhana area was purely industrial, while its surrounding areas of Mazgaon and Byculla were home to erstwhile Bombay’s elite.

The area was the site of Bombay’s first ever scam in the 1860s, the Mazgaon-Sewri Reclamation Scam, wherein three men, often referred to as ‘The Gunpowder Trio’, projected a scheme for improving and developing the gunpowder works area at Mazgaon and reclaiming a ‘bunder’ close to it. They were duped by a famous Bombay businessman, Premchand Roychand, into entering and investing in vast speculation, which ultimately led them to financial ruin. Roychand also lost his fortune in this scam.

Over the last 20 years, however, the area has changed dramatically. Rafique Baghdadi, a history buff who grew up near Darukhana, told Newsline, “With the coming of the railways, the landscape completely changed. When we used to go there as kids, it was completely deserted, with only a few factories. Now, there is a lot of encroachment and the landscape has changed tremendously.”
Most of the area’s bungalows have been torn down, and the few that remain are in a dilapidated condition.

Walking down the Gunpowder Road, one enters the heart of Darukhana, a bustling maze of shops, shacks and godowns. Since the creation of the Mazgaon dockyard in the 18th century, the area has been dominated by the shipping industry, with a large number of the people involved in ironworks and dealing in parts of ships that are broken at the harbour. The winding lanes are packed with such shacks, where men are busy breaking down huge rods of iron, melting metal and storing piles of thick ropes, all remnants of old ships.

“We receive our iron from the ships that are broken here as well as other places. Nowhere else in Bombay is there so much space to work. We melt the iron and sell it it to other dealers. Most of the iron-workers live in Darukhana,” said a local ironsmith.

Many scrap dealers come to Darukhana to a variety of parts which would otherwise go to waste.

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Source: http://indianexpress.com

ISRI CONVENTION 2015: China’s scrap industry evolving rapidly

China has taken the reins as the largest metals producing nation in the world and is unlikely to relinquish that title anytime soon. However, there are aspects of the nation’s economy and trade policies that are causing uncertainties for scrap recyclers who export materials to the nation.

China’s economy was the focus of a session at the 2015 Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) Annual Convention [], held in April in Vancouver, Canada. Presenters at the session portrayed an economy in transition, one that remains a manufacturing powerhouse but that also is exporting some of its manufacturing work to nearby nations.

Freelance journalist Adam Minter, who formerly lived in Shanghai but now resides in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said labor costs are rising in China and some manufacturing work is being shifted to the nearby ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region.

Minter said the ten ASEAN nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) have a “pretty impressive GDP and potential” and that when combined they will comprise “the fifth largest GDP in the world by 2018.”

Several ASEAN nations border China, which has helped make them beneficiaries of the recent rise in Chinese labor costs, according to Minter. Rising labor costs are keeping imported copper scrap demand suppressed in China, said Minter, because a common business model relied on intensive hand sorting and numerous laborers.

With both market forces and government minimum wage requirements lifting wages in China, many of these operators are finding “cheaper labor just to the south” in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, said Minter. 

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Source : recyclingtoday.com news

Recycling firm found guilty of breach of contract

A $1.5 million judgment has been made in favor of Texas-based Oncor Electric Delivery LLC in a breach of contract suit against waste and recycling management service provider GLM DFW Inc. (GLM) after a legal battle that lasted nearly two years.

On March 31, 2015, the 116th District Court of Dallas County, Texas, ruled in favor of Oncor, ordering Dallas-based GLM to pay the full contract amount of $876,000, along with 5 percent annual interest from when the lawsuit was filed. Additionally, Dallas County District Judge Tonya Parker ordered GLM to pay $528,000 in attorney fees and an additional $20,000 sanction due to “groundless and bad faith counterclaims.”

“This was a hard fought battle against egregious tactics and claims lodged by GLM, which unnecessarily taxed Oncor’s resources and prolonged the case,” says James Walker of law firm Cole Schotz P.C., which represented Oncor. “I’m grateful for the diligent work of the court and elated that Oncor was awarded all damages and attorneys’ fees and costs that it had sought.”

On Nov. 8, 2012, Oncor filed suit against GLM after discovering what it believed was evidence that GLM had consistently overcharged Oncor over a roughly four-year period. Ultimately, the amount identified as being owed Oncor as a result of the audit was slightly more than $875,000.

Oncor and GLM reached an accommodation to reimburse Oncor for this identified sum, but Cole Schotz P.C. says Oncor had to file suit “when GLM refused to abide by its payment obligation.”

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Source : recyclingtoday.com news

Harsco signs multiyear deal with Jindal Stainless

Harsco Corp., Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, which provides material processing and environmental services to the global steel and metals industries, has started a multiyear contract to provide onsite material processing services to Jindal Stainless Ltd., (JSL) India’s largest stainless steel producer.

The deal marks Harsco’s fifth major steel mill services site in India and its first serving India’s stainless sector. Harsco’s services include specialized process technologies for recovering metal from stainless steel slag co-products at JSL’s Jajpur, Odisha, India, facility, where Harsco has consistently generated metal recovery rates greater than 99 percent at similar operations throughout the world.

“From 1 million metric tons per year of stainless steel production, we used to lose 5-6 thousand metric tons of metal embedded in slag,” says S. K. Agrawal, JSL’s unit head. “With this new setup, Harsco will handle all slag, treat it to recover metal and generate a metal-free slag.”

The metal content recovered by Harsco will be immediately available for reuse in the production of new steel, while Harsco will develop a number of commercial products from the residual slag material. The slag material, which ranges from agricultural fertilizers to construction materials, is expected to offer a number of commercial applications that will provide Harsco’s customers with a near-zero waste stream alternative to landfilling the material.

“The JSL Jajpur site is one of our first start-ups since our Project Orion improvement program and as such will benefit from our heightened Harsco Way operating focus,” says Rick Lundgren, Harsco Metals & Minerals division president. “This is a major opportunity to demonstrate our higher-performing value proposition within one of the world’s leading steel markets.” 

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Source : recyclingtoday.com news