The Justice Department and the SEC are investigating whether banks colluded to hold down a key interest rate before and during the financial crisis, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, is calculated based on banks’ self-reported borrowing costs. But from 2006 to 2008…
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Heathrow airport operator BAA working on plans to use geothermal energy to stop parked planes getting stuck in ice When temperatures plunged below zero last December and Heathrow ground to a halt, the festive travel plans of around one million passengers were left in tatters. Now the managers of Europe’s busiest airport have dreamed up a solution to prevent a repeat of the nightmare before Christmas: underfloor heating, but on a massive scale. British Airports Authority, which runs Heathrow, is exploring technology to capture the heat of the summer sun as it beats down on the airport’s asphalt and store it until winter to keep the planes moving. The idea, which combines the principles of Roman central heating with 21st-century renewable energy technology, is intended to stop planes becoming stuck in ice on their stands, which was the main cause of the problems last year. Heathrow could not operate at full capacity for five days after an hour-long snowstorm dumped nearly 13cm (5in) of snow followed by a sudden drop in temperature. There was anger that Heathrow was so easily crippled and Philip Hammond, the transport secretary, ordered an immediate review. It identified “a low state of preparedness” for snow that was forecast many days ahead and a lack of specialised equipment to clear it. Hammond said climate change could mean more regular repeats of the extreme temperatures that forced thousands of passengers to sleep in terminal buildings. “It is not the snow that caused problems last year, it was the ice,” Steve Morgan, BAA’s capital projects director, told Building magazine. “We are working on a concept to capture geothermal energy from the surface of the Tarmac … during the summer to then provide a heating capability so the stands don’t freeze in the winter. We would store the energy underground and use it to gently heat water that would run through pipes in freezing conditions to warm the stands, which are the slabs of concrete directly beneath the planes, to just above zero.” The cost of the project is yet to be estimated, but Morgan said it could be paid for by postponing a facelift for one of the terminals, such is the level of concern at Heathrow’s collapse in the winter. BAA is working with an unnamed private company on the plan, which would require digging sump holes up to 10m deep to fit technology to store energy and pump warmed water under the stands. Only the areas beneath the wheels and where crews need to inspect and load the planes would need to be warmed. Another option, which involves pumping water from deep underground, which is naturally above freezing even in cold conditions, up towards the frozen surface, is also being explored. Heathrow has 200 stands, but to limit costs the idea could be rolled out to just a few to at least keep some flights moving. Morgan said he believed the project was viable, adding that Heathrow would probably be the first airport to try it. Heathrow Flights BAA Travel & leisure Weather Air transport Robert Booth guardian.co.uk
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Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to prohibit American orders of three drugs used in lethal injections Britain is to ban the export to the US of three pharmaceutical drugs that are used to execute prisoners on death row, Vince Cable has said. An export ban for pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride – used in lethal injections – will be formalised in a few days, said the business secretary, who is urging a Europe-wide ban on sales of the drugs to the US. “We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and are clear that British drugs should not be used to carry out lethal injections,” he said. “Because of the importance and urgency of the situation this is an issue on which we felt we had to take the lead.” The move comes after a parliamentary inquiry heard that enough pharmaceutical drugs have been sold to the US by licensed British wholesalers since last summer to execute 100 death row inmates. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills last November imposed export controls on sodium thiopental, a rarely-used anaesthetic, after it emerged that a small-scale wholesaler working out of the back office of a west London driving school had sold the drug to Georgia’s and Arizona’s department of corrections. The anti-capital punishment charity Reprieve, which mounted a legal challenge to ban sodium thiopental, welcomed the new block on the three drugs. But the charity said US states imposing the death penalty via lethal injection are now turning to a Danish company, Lundbeck A/S, for supplies of pentobarbital. Denmark’s foreign minister said she will urge US states such as Texas and Ohio to stop using that drug. Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said: “Britain has now taken the lead in ending complicity in the US death penalty, which is very welcome. Since the US executing states are now turning to a Danish company, Lundbeck, to kill people, we must hope that the UK can persuade our EU partners to take a similar line.” Pentobarbital is a sedative with a range of medical uses, including the treatment of epileptic seizures and other conditions that require some form of sedation. It is often used for putting down animals. Since late last year, it has been used in the US for lethal injections after supplies of sodium thiopental became scarce. The Danish foreign minister, Lene Espersen, said she cannot take direct action against Lundbeck because the drug is produced by a plant in Kansas. Pentobarbital has been used to execute prisoners in Ohio and Oklahoma. Mississippi and Arizona are also considering switching to the drug for lethal injections. Lundbeck has written letters to US prison authorities asking them not to use pentobarbital for lethal injections, but with little effect. The pharmaceutical company, whose bestsellers include drugs for the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders, is under pressure from human rights groups to take stronger action, such as rewriting distribution contracts with clauses prohibiting sales of pentobarbital to US prisons. Lundbeck has rejected that idea, saying it would be impossible for distributors to track how every vial is used. The company said it sells about 50mn doses of pentobarbital a year, but has declined to give any breakdown of sales. Pancuronium bromide is a muscle relaxant and potassium chloride is used to stop the heart and is sometimes used in abortion procedures. In February, a parliamentary inquiry heard that a shortage of supplies in the US was forcing American states to search abroad for painkillers, paralysing agents and heart-stopping compounds administered in lethal injections. Pharmaceuticals industry United States Denmark Europe David Batty guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Say what you will about Donald Trump, but the man knows how to drum up publicity. Conveniently enough, this time he’s drumming up publicity both for his possible presidential run and his show, Celebrity Apprentice : A rep confirms to CNN that Trump will make an announcement—sort of—about his…
Continue reading …Cardinal Luis Aponte Martinez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a fan of Ricky Martin’s “artistic gifts,” but he sure wishes the singer would stop promoting homosexuality. In an interview with Primera Hora published last week and picked up yesterday by On Top magazine and Perez Hilton , Martinez added, “Please,…
Continue reading …Apparently Anderson Cooper is not a Jersey Shore fan. On the Tuesday night edition of Anderson Cooper 360 , the host slammed all the people paying Snooki to “show up and throw up,” including the MTV execs giving her a raise and, of course, Rutgers . In his opinion, Snooki is just…
Continue reading …Moammar Gadhafi’s frozen assets will be lining the pockets of his rebel enemies, under an agreement struck yesterday by NATO, Arab, and African officials at a closed door meeting in Qatar, the New York Times reports. The agreement comes even as divisions arose about how far to take their military…
Continue reading …When Czech President Vaclav Klaus got caught not-so-subtly purloining a fancy pen from Sebastian Pinera, it looks like it wasn’t an isolated incident. Klaus dismissed the thievery, saying, “All I have to say is, it is not a pen but just a stylus,” and added that he swipes pens all…
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An FA spokesman and the secretary of the Manchester City Supporters Club debate the merits of playing the FA Cup semi-final at the national stadium Matt Phillips, FA spokesman: The Football Association said eight years ago that Wembley is now the host for the semi‑finals and the final of the FA Cup so we won’t see a return to any other stadiums for the foreseeable future. Wembley has a capacity of nearly 90,000, which means many more fans have the opportunity to see their team in the semi-finals now than when the matches were played at grounds such as Anfield, Villa Park and Old Trafford. Semis have been played at Wembley since 1991 and some of the biggest crowds in the history of the FA Cup have come from those matches. Stoke City have already sold out their allocation so the demand for Wembley is clearly there. Wembley is set up to deal with large crowds and that’s what you’ll always get at semi-finals – it’s purpose built for major events, particularly major football events. This is a stadium that will host the Champions League final next month. We’re aware that some fans wonder why Saturday’s semi-final – a Manchester derby – is being played in London rather than Old Trafford or Anfield but when it comes to the FA Cup we’re beholden to the draw. We’ve got two teams from the north in the first semi-final but Saturday’s match could quite easily have been between two London clubs: in the past we’ve seen London sides and teams such as Portsmouth play at Wembley. At the start of the season everyone knows the semi-finals will be in London, so it’s not like it comes as a shock when fans need to make travel arrangements. The semi-finals and the final are both played at Wembley but that doesn’t take away the magic of a final at the stadium. Wembley is set out in a different way for each round so fans who come for the semi-final will have a different experience from those who come for the final. This weekend three of the clubs involved – Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers and Stoke – will play their first game at the new Wembley so it will be a fresh experience for them. At least one of those teams won’t be coming back for the final so playing the semis at Wembley gives more supporters and clubs the chance to experience the national stadium. London will host a number of big events this weekend with the FA Cup semi-finals, the marathon and Liverpool’s visit to Arsenal but it’s a city that can cope with large crowds. Bear in mind that next year the capital will take in the Olympics – if it’s set up to cope with the logistics of so many events and people in one place I’m sure it can handle this weekend’s schedule. Kevin Parker, general secretary, Manchester City Supporters Club: My family, friends and I are looking forward to going to Wembley for the semi-final because we haven’t played in a Cup final since 1981. But the reality is that we’d be looking forward to the semi-final whether it was being played at Wembley, the Millennium Stadium, the Emirates or at St James’s Park
Continue reading …The epidemic of snoozing air traffic controllers continues: Four more have been suspended for nodding off on the job, the FAA announced yesterday. One of those was a controller at Nevada’s Reno-Tahoe International Airport, who slept for 16 minutes early yesterday as an airborne ambulance carrying a patient landed with…
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