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Thursday, November 8, 2007

The sale of the BBC subsidiary BBC Resources Ltd., has hit a hurdle after it emerged that the BBC could be left with a loss of up to £15 million on the deal. The cost of transferring the pensions of BBC Resources staff from the BBC pension scheme to its new owners could be up to £50 million according to a Guardian Newspaper report.

Managers from the division will meet with union representatives from BECTU on Monday to discuss this and related sale issues. BECTU general secretary, Gerry Morrissey is quoted as saying: “If the BBC gets less than £50 million for BBC Resources then how can it fulfil [sic] its duty of care to licence fee payers?”

It is believed that the BBC had hoped that a surplus in its pension fund could be used to bridge the possible £50 million gap — but the trustees of the fund have said “no”. A BBC source said: “This is being discussed at the highest level”.

Since April 2004 members of the BBC pension scheme have seen their contributions into it increase regularly, the BBC — like many other employers — having reduced its contribution (to 4.5% of payroll) over a ten year period when the stock market was booming in the 1990s.

The Guardian is seen as a reliable source on BBC matters, having reported the proposed sale of BBC Television Centre back in January 2007, with the formal announcement finally being made by BBC Director General Mark Thompson on October 18, 2007.

The Resources business-to-business unit was formed in 1998 and operates television studios, post-production and outside broadcast facilities for it’s parent share-holding company, the BBC. It does not own any studios or premises, its assets being staff and equipment.

Advertised for sale on 16th August in the Financial Times, The Times and Broadcast and last year making profits of £5.2 million with a revenue of £126 million, the disposal — led by Ernst & Young — invited expressions of interest for the whole division or for each of its three operations separately. The BBC has yet to release the names of the short-listed companies.

BBC Resources was the first of the BBC’s commercial business-to-business divisions to be set up as a limited company and will be the last to be sold, the BBC having previously divested itself of BBC Technology and BBC Broadcast — BBC Worldwide, formerly BBC Enterprises, will remain in-house as it earns revenue from the archive, media and licensing of products — in the year to 31 March 2007 Worldwide had a turnover of £810.4 million, generating profits of £111 million.

The BBC wants to use any money raised to be put into international commercial expansion and content, most probably through Worldwide.

It had been intended to float Resources back in 2005, but this was postponed for two years following strike action and ACAS talks in June 2005 — the BBC giving an undertaking that there would be no preparations made to sell the company until January 2007, and no sale allowed before July of this year. The current time-scale would see its disposal by the end of the current financial year in March 2008.

Monday, April 11, 2005A group of 13 students from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, New Hampshire, USA, were detained by security officers as they photographed an ExxonMobil chemical plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The students were accompanied by two professors and an officer from the Louisiana Attorney General’s office. The officer, Willie Fontenot, was subsequently asked to resign from his position at the Attorney General’s office.

Mr. Fontenot has issued a response, provided to Wikinews reporter Pingswept by Steve Case, a professor present at the incident. Fontenot writes,

“Last week, I was asked by Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr. to either retire or run the risk of being fired. No specifics were given to me explaining this decision by the AG. I have always understood that, as an unclassified civil servant, I served at the pleasure of the AG and that I could be dismissed at any time and for no reason. Because of my age, health issues, and investment of twenty-seven years in the state system, I decided early retirement was the best option for me.”

The full text of Fontenot’s statement is reproduced here.

According to a press release from Antioch, the group was initially detained by two off-duty police officers who were under the employ of ExxonMobil but dressed in their police uniforms. The officers were shortly joined by two other security officers who were employed by ExxonMobil. When asked what reports the officers intended to file, “the off-duty sheriff’s department officer refused to answer, and instead responded aggressively that he was going to call in ‘homeland security’ people who would detain the group into the night,” said the press release. In the end, the group was detained for “more than an hour.”

One of the professors, Abigail Abrash Walton told the Keene Sentinel that one of the officers, “aggressively told us that he’d be calling in the Homeland Security people, whatever that meant, and to expect to be with them all night.”

The Keene Sentinel reports that the students were visiting the area because, “Exxon was said to be buying up houses and paying to relocate their owners for various reasons, including that people were allegedly getting sick because of pollution.” The other course instructor, Steve Chase, was quoted in the Sentinel as saying that, “Our objection was not that police officers or even corporate security guards would stop and ask us what we were doing. That seemed totally fair. But lies were told, threats were made and the idea was to intimidate.”

The Sentinel noted that an ExxonMobil spokesperson, Stephanie Cargile, stated that, “We believe our ExxonMobil Security personnel and the off-duty East Baton Rouge Sheriff police officers acted professionally and cordially to Mr. Fontenot and the Antioch students.” The venue in which the statement was made was not mentioned by the Sentinel; thus far, the report has not been corroborated by Wikinews.

Saturday, July 2, 2005

A city Circuit Court judge in Baltimore, Maryland, John M. Glynn, ordered state corrections officials on Friday to produce in 30 days a written report that will outline plans to reduce over crowding and slow processing times at the city’s Central Booking and Intake Center. The state-run facility is a centralized jail designed to process arrests made by all city police precincts and is the gateway into the criminal justice system of suspects taken into custody in the city of 640,000 people.

In the last 3 months, over 80 arrestees were released from the Central Booking facility without being formally charged. In April this year, a temporary restaining order was issued by Judge Glynn against the facility to enforce the release of those held more than 24 hours after their intake who did not receive a hearing by a court commissioner. The commissioner sets bail, if granted, and formalizes the charges filed by the arresting officer. The charges are then entered into the state’s computer system where the case is tracked. The hearing also marks the date for the suspect’s right to a speedy trial.

The Friday hearing was called after the city mayor’s office of Martin O’Malley filed a motion to join a lawsuit that was brought by public defenders on behalf of those criminally detained at the facility. In Maryland, a hearing with a court commissioner within 24 hours of being arrested is state law. Judge Glynn presided over that lawsuit which led to the temporary restraining order. The order is to remain in effect until November.

Aides to O’Malley are seeking help from his court to implement and then monitor procedural changes at Central Booking, and made sharp criticisms of state public safety officials. One mayor’s aide said, ”We continue to offer management solutions, and they are accepted. But you know what? I don’t have time to run [Central Booking], nor does the police department.”

Judge Glynn expressed concern during the hearing that a purely judicial remedy may not be the answer, and said, “If I find that it is a hopeless disaster… what can I do about that?” He peppered parties to the suit with questions and suggested there is the possibility that political action, not court intervention, may be needed to solve what city and police officials call inefficient management practices by the state.

Glynn also requested parties to the suit to report back on what happened to the 80+ arrestees who were released so far as a result of the restraining order. The suspect could be re-arrested if officers knew the circumstances of the release, but police say that would take time and money to work out. An arrestee released without seeing a court commissioner has as the only record of the offense the hand written charging document by the officer.

The Maryland attorney general’s office representing the corrections officers said at the hearing that city police are part of the problem by not filing charging documents at Central Booking when the arrestee is delivered and processing begins. The state must accept the prisoners, but cannot move forward without the necessary documents. They also say city police sometimes flood the facility, which can create temporary backlogs.

Central Booking was designed to process 60,000 suspects a year, but currently handles nearly 100,000. It was built to accommodate 900 people at any one time, but normally crowds in 1,200. Arrestees describe conditions in holding cells with no room to sit on the floor, and being crammed in with people who suffer with health problems or drug addicts who vomit from withdrawal.

Friday, April 1, 2005File:Map of USA highlighting Texas.png

Witnesses say a truck was idling near the scene of an explosion at a Texas refinery which killed 15 and injured over 100 others on March 23, according to U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Manager Bill Hoyle.

“Witnesses saw vapor in the area of the truck and observed the engine begin to rev up and race,” Hoyle’s statement said. “This behavior by a diesel engine indicates the presence of a flammable atmosphere entering the air intake. A driver reported trying to shut off the engine but was unable to do so.” Hoyle’s statement continued, “There are multiple possible sources of ignition in an operating refinery unit and we have made no determination about the ignition source at this time.”

The investigation has been delayed by BP and Occupational Safety & Health Administration officials, who are trying to preserve evidence at the site for their investigation. They are also concerned about further injuries from hazards left over from the explosion, such as falling debris and unstable structures. The Environment Protection Agency also detected benzene in the atmosphere over the plant, which was treated with a layer of foam.

BP has retained control of the plant since the March 23 accident. Police arrived quickly the day of the explosion, but left after the initial emergency was over.

“Our officers could respond over there, but they don’t have a clue,” Texas City police Sgt. Curtis Pope told the Houston Chronicle. “The fact is they have chemical and equipment hazards. We don’t know the chemicals.”

Friday, October 19, 2007

The 7th Taipei International Hardware & DIY Show, organized by Kaigo Taiwan (The representative of Koelnmesse in Taiwan) and Koelnmesse GmbH, started on October 18-20 at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 3. This show has 183 participants using 300 booths to exhibit accessories and tools on esoteric fabricating, home-living applications, and security.

With people in Taiwan valuing on the quality of home-living, the organizer set a pre-show pavilion of “2008 Taipei Home & Lifestyle Fair” and invited B&Q & HomeBox holding DIY workshops for visitors.

This exhibition is conjuncted with industry and applications, and pursuing with three main topics of “Quality, Innovation and Competitiveness”. International factories such as Hitachi, Rexon, Ryobi participated this show for the export opportunity in the hardware industry.

After the “Product Certificates and Testing” pavilion in TAITRONICS Autumn, Bureau of Standards, Metrology & Inspection, M.O.E.A., R.O.C. (Taiwan) and DIY in Europe magazine were invited for speeches focused on certifications on hardware & DIY products and environment issues in EU.

• Spoty Enterprise Co., Ltd.

• Double Dynasty Co., Ltd.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Police in the West Midlands in England today said nearly 200 kilograms worth of drugs with value possibly as great as £30 million (about US$49 million or €36 million) has been seized from a unit in the town of Brownhills. In what an officer described as “one of the largest [seizures] in the force’s 39 year history”, West Midlands Police reported recovering six big cellophane-wrapped cardboard boxes containing cannabis, cocaine, and MDMA (“ecstasy”) in a police raid operation on the Maybrook Industrial Estate in the town on Wednesday.

The seized boxes, which had been loaded onto five freight pallets, contained 120 one-kilogram bags of cannabis, 50 one-kilogram bags of MDMA, and five one-kilogram bricks of cocaine. In a press release, West Midlands Police described what happened after officers found the drugs as they were being unloaded in the operation. “When officers opened the boxes they discovered a deep layer of protective foam chips beneath which the drugs were carefully layered”, the force said. “All the drugs were wrapped in thick plastic bags taped closed with the cannabis vacuum packed to prevent its distinctive pungent aroma from drawing unwanted attention.” Police moved the drugs via forklift truck to a flatbed lorry to remove them.

Detective Sergeant Carl Russell of West Midlands Police’s Force CID said the seizure was the largest he had ever made in the 24 years he has been in West Midlands Police and one of the biggest seizures the force has made since its formation in 1974. “The impact this seizure will have on drug dealing in the region and the UK as a whole cannot be underestimated”, he said. “The drugs had almost certainly been packed to order ready for shipping within Britain but possibly even further afield. Our operation will have a national effect and we are working closely with a range of law enforcement agencies to identify those involved in this crime at whatever level.”

Expert testing on the drugs is ongoing. Estimates described as “conservative” suggest the value of the drugs amounts to £10 million (about US$16.4 million or €12 million), although they could be worth as much as £30 million, subject to purity tests, police said.

Police arrested three men at the unit on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug. The men, a 50-year-old from Brownhills, a 51-year-old from the Norton area of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, and one aged 53 from Brownhills, have been released on bail as police investigations to “hunt those responsible” continue. West Midlands Police told Wikinews no person has yet been charged in connection with the seizure. Supplying a controlled drug is an imprisonable offence in England, although length of jail sentences vary according to the class and quantity of drugs and the significance of offenders’ roles in committing the crime.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Phase two of Nottingham, England’s Express Transit system (NET) received a boost last Thursday, when it was announced that the Government had approved both of the proposed additional lines to extend the network further into the Nottinghamshire area. Construction of the two lines, which will take the system to Chilwell and Clifton, could begin before the end of the year.

The plans were originally turned down on cost grounds, but following successful negotiations between Nottingham City Council and the two companies bidding to construct the line enough savings have been found to allow the scheme to receive the green light. Around 20% is now believed to have been saved from the cost of the project, though no exact figures of either the original cost or savings made have been announced by the council, and according to a transport boss the project has had no changes made to it to accommodate these.

Under the private finance initiative (PFI) deal, which is how the funding for phase 2 will be secured, private firms bid to win the contract to build and run the tram network, before then later leasing it back to the council who pay for its use on an ongoing basis. The two consortia bidding to build and operate the network are Tramlink Nottingham and Arrow Connect, the preferred bidder of which will appointed in the near future.

However, despite the news of the approval for the lines by the Government, the final hurdle has not yet been jumped, and they could still never make it off the drawing board. The announcement only means that Nottingham City Council — who are the sole promoters of the scheme following the withdrawal of the Tory-led County Council — can continue the process and, if the final business case is given full approval, will then be able to award the concessionaire contract to the successful bidder.

The NET system was opened in March 2004, and the original line, Line One, runs for a distance of 14km between Hucknall and Nottingham City Centre, with a short spur also serving Phoenix Park — near to the M1 motorway. Once completed, Lines Two and Three, operating to Clifton via Wilford and Chilwell via the Queen’s Medical Centre and Beeston, will continue on from the current terminus at Station Street, over a new bridge across Nottingham railway station, and diverge to their separate termini shortly afterwards. The lines will add a further 17.4km to the network.

After making the announcement on Thursday, Transport Minister Norman Baker said: “Line One of the Nottingham tram has proved to be a great success in encouraging people on to public transport. These proposed extensions provide the opportunity to continue this success, and give people in the south of Nottingham quicker, more convenient access to the city centre, as well as helping to regenerate sections of the city.

“Following the spending review last year, we challenged Nottingham City Council to look again at the cost of the Nottingham light rail extension, to be funded through the private finance initiative, to ensure we get maximum value for every pound we spend.

“The Department has been working closely with the local authority involved to ensure this project is affordable. I am delighted that the Council has risen to the challenge and has identified savings from its original estimated costs.

“By finding savings, I can confirm that we are today allowing this project to move another step forward within our funding approval process.”

Nottingham City Council’s Chief Executive Jane Todd also commented: “This is a very positive development. We have worked hard with government to ensure that NET phase two is delivered as cost effectively as possible. A preferred bidder will now be appointed in the very near future who will work with the council to finalise contracts which will hopefully be signed later in the summer. NET Phase Two is crucial for the future of Nottingham’s economy and to attract new jobs to the City”.

If final approval is given for the lines, construction work will begin before the end of the year, with a view to the extended system opening in 2014.