Canadian Companies Already Operating in Libya are Allowed to Continue February 28 2011
source : Paul Vieira, John Greenwood and Eric Lam
Financial Post - Monday, Feb. 28, 2011
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Gaddafi+money+Canadian+banks/4360007/story.html
OTTAWA and TORONTO — Canadian banks said Monday they will “fully” abide by federal government orders that prohibit financial transactions between domestic institutions and Libya’s Gaddafi regime.
Ottawa implemented additional measures sanctions against Libya, on top of what the United Nations proposed, because it became aware of dealings between Canadian banks and Libya’s leadership, headed by Muammar Gaddafi.
“We are aware of specific financial dealings of the Libyan regime in financial institutions in Canada, and the actions of our government have blocked those,” Mr. Baird told reporters on Parliament Hill as he discussed sanctions announced Sunday night by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Mr. Harper said Sunday the government would impose a complete asset freeze on Libya, halting all business between the embattled country and Canada.
The sanctions, beyond those implemented by the United Nations Security Council, immediately prohibit all financial transactions with the Libyan government and its agencies, including the Libyan Central Bank.
The Canadian Bankers Association said in a short statement via email that its members would abide by the regulations, which compel financial institutions, among other things, to disclose assets that might belong to members of the Gaddafi regime to the RCMP and Canada’s spy agency, CSIS.
Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest bank, said it is “fully complying” with the federal government’s measures. A spokesman added the bank was unable to discuss any client transactions affected by these sanctions.
Mr. Baird declined to say how much money was involved or which banks held cash belonging to Gaddafi or members of his regime.
“But there were specific instances that were brought to our attention,” he added. “We are committed to work with our international allies and go even further, by making sure that money won’t support the regime or the appalling violence against the Libyan people.”
However, Mr. Baird said Canadian companies already operating in Libya on a commercial basis, such as infrastructure companies SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and Pure Technologies Ltd., would be allowed to continue doing so. However, they would be restricted in conducting financial transactions with the state government and Libya’s central bank.
“Obviously we don’t want to see commercial operations [giving] money to the regime,” he said.
“We hope the hard line taken by the international community, and the harder line taken by our government, against the regime will bring about change quickly and the negative impacts of these sanctions will be limited.”
Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin said Monday it is waiting for more legal details before deciding on its activities in Libya. Nevertheless, it had had already suspended work on its projects there, joining a growing list of Canadian companies affected by the uprising.
“Work is currently suspended but the projects remain staffed by volunteers,” Leslie Quinton, SNC-Lavalin’s vice-president of global corporate communications said in an e-mail. “Most of the evacuations for employees who wish to leave have taken place or will be completed in the next 48 hours, if all goes well.”
With SNC-Lavalin set to release its fourth-quarter earnings later this week, the company was not conducting interviews and refused to give any other details on its finances or operations, Ms. Quinton said.
SNC-Lavlin, while a major player in Libya, isn’t alone among Canadian companies.
Calgary-based Pure Technologies — which produces monitoring equipment for pipelines and bridges and is involved with a massive water supply project — said Monday it has also evacuated all personnel except for a local branch manager who will stay in Benghazi.
The company’s 2011 budget had forecasted about 30% of its revenues would come from projects in Libya, totalling about $17.7-million.
“Although the recent events in Libya are likely to affect our business in the short term, we have, for the past few years, been actively implementing a business strategy that will diversify our revenues and make us less dependent on any one customer,” Jamie Paulson, chairman with Pure Technologies, said in a release.
Pure Technologies, listed on the TSX Venture exchange, was down 4.6% to $5.20 a share at midday.
Bombardier Inc. had orders for eight regional jets from Libyan Airlines, and managed to deliver the final aircraft in that order on Jan. 31, said Haley Dunne, a Bombardier spokeswoman.
The Montreal-based manufacturer also had a field service agent in the country to help its customers, but flew their agent out of the country last week, she added.
Meanwhile, Suncor Energy Inc. has a project in Libya that produces about 50,000 barrels a day. The company expects to eventually produce as many as 100,000 barrels of oil a day there, and the project has cost Suncor US$3.5-billion in redevelopment costs and US$460-million in exploration.
Suncor shut down operations last week and evacuated its workers to Malta.
Investing in Water: How to Profit From the World’s Most Precious Commodity February 09 2011
Written By Larry D. Spears From Money Morning
2010 was the year of the commodity. Gold prices soared, copper hit record highs, oil again marched towards $100 a barrel, and many agricultural products doubled in value.
Yet hardly a word was spoken about the world’s most precious commodity – water.
Indeed, few people in the developed world think of water as a commodity. After all, they can usually get all they want out of the tap in their kitchen or bathroom. And even fewer think about water’s price – unless, of course, they’re buying a bottle at their local convenience store, where it typically cost twice as much as gasoline.
But for the rest of the world – and even some areas in the United States and other developed nations – water represents a significant problem because of supply shortages, poor quality, or inadequate distribution and disposal systems. And, thanks to a mushrooming global population, the water problem is rapidly approaching crisis proportions.
[ Read Full Article ]
Source : ETF Daily News
English Premier League Predictions 2010-2011 February 07 2011
English Premier League football predictions
As of Feb 7, 2011
| GP | GL | PTS | W | D | FINAL | LOW | HIGH | LOW POS | HIGH POS | AVG | |
| MU | 25 | 13 | 54 | 23 | 4 | 81 | 79 | 83 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| AR | 25 | 13 | 50 | 23 | 3 | 76 | 74 | 77 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| MC | 26 | 12 | 49 | 19 | 3 | 71 | 70 | 73 | 4 | 3 | 3.5 |
| CH | 25 | 13 | 44 | 23 | 2 | 69 | 67 | 70 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| TO | 25 | 13 | 44 | 19 | 4 | 67 | 65 | 68 | 5 | 4 | 4.5 |
| LP | 26 | 12 | 38 | 19 | 3 | 59 | 58 | 60 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| SUN | 26 | 12 | 37 | 12 | 4 | 53 | 52 | 55 | 8 | 7 | 7.5 |
| STO | 25 | 13 | 33 | 15 | 3 | 51 | 50 | 52 | 9 | 7 | 8 |
| NU | 25 | 13 | 31 | 15 | 3 | 49 | 48 | 50 | 12 | 8 | 10 |
| BOL | 26 | 12 | 33 | 11 | 4 | 48 | 47 | 49 | 13 | 9 | 11 |
| EV | 25 | 13 | 30 | 13 | 5 | 48 | 47 | 49 | 13 | 9 | 11 |
| AV | 26 | 12 | 29 | 14 | 3 | 46 | 45 | 47 | 17 | 10 | 13.5 |
| FU | 26 | 12 | 30 | 12 | 4 | 46 | 45 | 47 | 17 | 10 | 13.5 |
| BC | 24 | 14 | 27 | 12 | 6 | 45 | 44 | 46 | 17 | 12 | 14.5 |
| BR | 26 | 12 | 31 | 12 | 1 | 45 | 44 | 46 | 17 | 12 | 14.5 |
| BP | 25 | 13 | 28 | 14 | 2 | 44 | 43 | 45 | 17 | 12 | 14.5 |
| WBA | 25 | 13 | 26 | 15 | 3 | 44 | 43 | 45 | 17 | 12 | 14.5 |
| WW | 25 | 13 | 24 | 13 | 2 | 40 | 39 | 41 | 19 | 18 | 18.5 |
| WA | 26 | 12 | 26 | 8 | 4 | 38 | 38 | 39 | 20 | 18 | 19 |
| WH | 26 | 12 | 24 | 10 | 4 | 37 | 37 | 38 | 20 | 19 | 19.5 |
Rockville Uses Condition Assessment to Manage Its Underground Pipes February 04 2011
In late July 2010, Pure Technologies was contracted to provide a robotic inspection of the 24-in. transmission
line. Approximately 52,000 ft were inspected in three phases between mid-August and late-October, using closed-circuit television (CCTV), electromagnetic and acoustic inspection technologies. Assessing the condition of a PCCP transmission main is best performed using a combination of non-destructive testing technologies, internal visual inspection, engineering science and experiential judgment.
By using state-of-the-art inspection technology and engineering analysis, DPW was able to manage a small percentage of damaged pipe sections rather than incurring the substantial capital costs of a pipeline replacement. This asset management approach provided DPW with the condition assessment data necessary and the confidence to continue operating and managing this critical pipeline asset for years to come.
Full Article : http://www.trenchlessonline.com/index/webapp-stories-action?id=1633
Source : Trenchless Technology
Pure Technologies is “Cleantech Stock of the Week” February 03 2011
Ubika Research has released a profile report on Pure Technologies Ltd (TSX VENTURE: PUR) (CVE: PUR) under its series called “Cleantech Stock of the Week” that identifies interesting clean technology companies. Pure Technologies Ltd. (Pure) provides monitoring and surveillance of physical infrastructure utilizing patented technologies. Pure has developed technologies primarily focused on the water and wastewater industry, bridges, buildings and parking structures, and oil and gas pipelines.To read the full report and find out “what is interesting” about Pure Technologies Ltd (TSXV: PUR) (CVE: PUR), please visit: http://www.smallcappower.com/pure-technologies-ltd.aspx
Some of our past “Cleantech Stock of the Week” reports include Azure Dynamics (TSX: AZD) (TSE: AZD), a developer and manufacturer of electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) systems & components and SunOpta, Inc (NASDAQ: STKL) (TSX: SOY), a vertically integrated company that primarily operates in the natural and organic food sector of the food industry in North America.
Pure Technologies (TSX VENTURE: PUR) is a member of The Ubika Cleantech 30, an Index of promising small cap cleantech companies. The Ubika Cleantech 30 Index was up 35% in 2010. To view the companies and reports on The Ubika Cleantech 30 Index, please visit: http://www.smallcappower.com/ubika-cleantech-30.aspx
Source: http://www.baystreet.ca/users/newswire/viewarticle.aspx?id=391447
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