Robin van Persie: Title agony at Arsenal turned me grey

//The greys on his hair were more likely spending all his years at Arsenal in the medical room, ungrateful scum..



Robin van Persie: Title agony at Arsenal turned me grey

By Massimo Marioni Thursday 28 Mar 2013 8:55 am

Silver fox: Manchester United’s Robin van Persie has notable grey streaks in his hair (Picture: PA)

Robin van Persie says missing out on the Premier League title with Arsenal for so many years has turned him grey.

The 29-year-old, who is within touching distance of claiming his first league winners medal with Manchester United this season, has revealed the agony of never quite realising his ultimate ambition during his eight years with the Gunners.

‘That I’ll probably win my first championship is very nice. I’m really thrilled about it. Not winning titles has given me quite some pain and it has made me greyer,’ said the Dutchman, who has developed some notable white streaks in his hair over the past few seasons.Darker years: Robin Van Persie just two seasons ago with Arsenal (Picture: REXMAILPIX)

‘It still has to happen. We have to go to Sunderland and West Ham, and we have to play Chelsea [in Monday's FA Cup quarter-final replay] and if we win, we play back-to-back against City in the league and the FA Cup semi-final.

‘Then we have Stoke. These are not summer-night games. I watched United drop the lead last season but it’s getting awfully close now, and I’m really happy with that.’

Van Persie, who has scored 23 times this season to help Sir Alex Ferguson’s side close in on their 20th league title, added: ‘I think my move to United came at exactly the right time

‘It shouldn’t have been any earlier or any later. Arsenal was for eight years the place to be. But last summer was the perfect moment to sign for United.’
Arsenal FC, Manchester United FC, Robin Van Persie

Cities switch lights off for "Earth Hour"

What's the purpose of Earth Hour and does it help at all? Year after year, we have this little activity, nothing changes.

Cities switch lights off for "Earth Hour"
Posted: 23 March 2013 2247 hrs




SYDNEY - Iconic landmarks and skylines were plunged into darkness on Saturday as the "Earth Hour" switch-off of lights around the world got under way to raise awareness of climate change.

Sydney kicked off the event at 8.30 pm (0930 GMT), cutting off lights to cheers and applause from a small crowd who had gathered to see the skyline dim and Sydney Opera House turn a deep green to symbolise renewable energy.

Organisers expect hundreds of millions of people across more than 150 countries to turn off their lights for 60 minutes on Saturday night -- at 8:30 pm local time -- in a symbolic show of support for the planet.

"It's really exciting," said Jessica Bellamy, watching the event in Sydney.

"It's been a very inspiring night because it's all about hope and change."

Japan switched off soon after Australia, with the illumination on the landmark Tokyo Tower dimming down as visitors were given the chance to pedal bicycles to generate power to illuminate an egg-shaped artwork.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site in the country's west, also sat in darkness.

In the Chinese capital Beijing, lights were shut off at the former Olympic stadium, the "Bird's Nest", while in the commercial hub of Shanghai buildings along the famed riverfront Bund took part.

Some hotel guests in the city's financial district were asked to respect the event and turn off lights in their rooms for an hour.

Hong Kong's iconic skyline appeared to vanish into the night as the neon lights and advertising hoardings that usually brighten the sky were turned off, leaving the harbour in darkness.

In Singapore a crowd of almost 1,000 people watched from a floating platform as landmarks on the skyline dimmed, before a pulsating musical performance had people dancing in the dark ahead of a film screening.

Many more of the world's most iconic attractions, including the Empire State Building and Russia's Kremlin and France's Eiffel Tower are due take part later.

While more than 150 countries took part in last year's event, the movement has spread even further afield this year, with Palestine, Tunisia, Suriname and Rwanda among a host of newcomers pledging to take part.

Earth Hour originated in Sydney with a simple appeal to people and businesses to turn off their lights for an hour to raise awareness about carbon pollution.

"What started as an event in Sydney in 2007 with two million people has now become a tradition across the country and across the world," said Dermot O'Gorman, head of WWF-Australia.

"It's now an organic, people-powered movement... which is fantastic."

Other newcomers to be plunged into darkness include Copenhagen's Little Mermaid, the statue of David in Florence and Cape Town's Table Mountain.

"I think the power of Earth Hour is in its ability to connect people and connect them on an issue that they really care about which is the environment," said O'Gorman as the city stood in darkness.

"Earth Hour shows that there are millions of people around the world who also want to do something."

With restaurant diners eating by candlelight, Outback communities going dark and iconic buildings standing in shadows, O'Gorman believes Earth Hour has played a part in drawing attention to energy use.

"Earth Hour has always been about empowering people to realise that everybody has the power to change the world in which they live, and thousands of people switching to renewable energy is a perfect example," he said.

- AFP/ir

China may soon stop offering the world cheap solar panels

Brad Plumer what's your motive telling readers that the best reporter is Quartz's (a new startup not older than iphone 5) Todd Woody?

 //–The best reporter on the Suntech bankruptcy is Quartz’s Todd Woody.//

China may soon stop offering the world cheap solar panels


Posted by Brad Plumer on March 23, 2013 at 9:00 am



Over the past few years, China has utterly dominated the global solar industry. Firms like Suntech, Trina, and Yingli have received hefty government subsidies to sell photovoltaic panels at bargain-bin prices and capture 80 percent of the global solar-manufacturing market.


Not feeling quite so generous.

But now it looks like China is growing weary of providing cheap solar panels for the rest of the world.

This week, the main Chinese subsidiary of Suntech, the world’s largest solar manufacturer, was forced into bankruptcy court. The company had missed a $541 million payment to bondholders and owes roughly $1.4 billion to China’s state-owned banks. The manufacturer had been struggling in the face of an oversupplied solar-panel market andnew tariffs imposed by the United States. (There were also accusations of mismanagement.)

So what happens now? Suntech, which employs some 10,000 workers, will face some sort of restructuring. On the whole, the Chinese solar-manufacturing industry will likely have to shrink and consolidate so that some companies can still survive. An endless frenzy of overproduction and cut-rate prices isn’t sustainable.

In the near term, that means solar prices will likely go up. As Todd Woody of Quartzexplains, Chinese manufacturing has helped drive solar photovoltaic prices down 75 percent since 2007. “The Chinese solar expansion set off a boom in Europe and the US as installers took advantage of cheap solar panels to expand their business,” he writes. “The collapse of Suntech and other Chinese manufacturers could leave installers like SolarCity on the hook for hundreds of millions in warranties.”


But not everyone is convinced that rising prices will be a terrible thing. Here’s Kevin Bullis of MIT Technology Review: “That could be a good sign for the solar industry and for innovation. We need more companies to fail [in order] to reduce oversupply, stop prices from plummeting, and allow companies to start buying more equipment and implementing new technologies that are needed long-term for solar to compete with fossil fuels.”

The glut of cheap Chinese panels has helped bolster the rooftop solar market in recent years. But if solar power is ever going to become a huge, widespread technology, we’ll likely need to see newer, more efficient technologies and alternatives to conventional silicon panels. In some key ways, China’s onslaught was standing in the way of that.

Further reading:

–Solar is getting cheaper. How far can it go?

–A terrific, prescient story from last year by my colleague Steve Mufson about how China’s growing share of the solar market was coming at a steep price.

–Back in May, the United States imposed a 31 percent tariff on imports of silicon photovoltaic cells from Suntech and other manufacturers in response to allegations of dumping.

–The best reporter on the Suntech bankruptcy is Quartz’s Todd Woody.

Bloomberg: Los Angeles Halts Using Electricity From Coal Plants

Let's not stop here.

From Bloomberg, 20 Mar, 2013 8:00:00 AM

Los Angeles will become the biggest U.S. city to abandon coal-fueled electricity after the taxpayer- owned utility said it will support renewable sources, boost energy efficiency and build a new natural-gas fired plant.

To read the entire article, go to http://bloom.bg/16HAd2N
Sent from the Bloomberg iPad application. Download the free application at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bloomberg-for-ipad/id364304764?mt=8

Sent from my iPad

JP Morgan board strongly endorses Jamie Dimon

It doesn't take a kid to know that the Board of JPM are full of
groupthinkers looking at one direction.



(Reuters) - The board of directors of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) said
on Friday it "strongly endorses" keeping Jamie Dimon as both their
chairman and chief executive of the company.

The comment, contained in the opening pages of the company's proxy
filing ahead of its annual meeting on May 21, is a more vigorous
affirmation of the same view the panel took last year when it opposed
an unsuccessful shareholder proposal to split the roles.

The remark comes even after the board said in January that it had cut
Dimon's annual compensation in half for 2012 to $11.5 million after
the company lost $6.2 billion on derivatives in the so-called "London
Whale" trades.

The board said the "strength and independence" of its oversight had
been demonstrated by actions the company took after the trading
debacle.

The company has since overhauled its risk controls and replaced some
of its top executives.

The new proxy includes a fresh shareholder proposal calling for
different people to hold the posts of CEO and chairman. It is similar
to last year's proposal which received 40 percent of the vote.

That vote came five days after the company suddenly announced on May
10 that it had a loss of more than $2 billion on derivatives trades.
The size of the loss grew afterward and investors learned more details
from congressional hearings about how badly the company had handled
its investment portfolio.

Proponents of this year's proposal, who include managers of pension
funds for New York City employees and for the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees, have added the derivatives loss
as a reason to separate the roles.

The board, as it did last year, said it while it is glad to have Dimon
in both roles it has not ruled out separating the posts in the future.

This year's meeting, like last year's, is to be held in a JPMorgan
office park in Tampa, Florida.

JPMorgan shares have recovered all of the market value they lost after
the derivatives debacle. The stock traded up 0.9 percent on Friday to
$48.78 at the close of New York Stock Exchange trading. It was at
$40.74 on May 10 before the company admitted it was losing billions of
dollars on the trades.

Dimon's total compensation, as presented according to the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission format, was $18.7 million in 2012,
down from $23.1 million in 2011. Company and SEC pay counts can differ
with the timing of incentive compensation.

(Reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Andrew Hay)

MFA disappointed at US "pressure" tactics over investigations into Shane Todd's death

But US is free country and politicians have to listen to their voters not their brains right?

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry has said that the issue of applying "pressure" should not arise between countries which have a "long, open and cooperative relationship with each other, based on mutual respect".

It was responding to the latest move by two US Senators to block American funding to Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics (IME).

US Senators Max Baucus' and Jon Tester have introduced an amendment to block the funding, until the US Attorney General certifies that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has full access to all evidence and records relevant to the death of American Shane Todd.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said it's "deeply disappointed by the Senators' actions and statements".

It said the Senators had requested the FBI to be given "full access" to all the evidence in the investigation conducted by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) over the case, based on "the version of the facts provided by the family alone".

The ministry added the police here have so far refrained from publicising the information gathered because investigations are ongoing.

It reiterated that there will be a public Coroner's Inquiry where all the facts will be laid out to determine the cause of Mr Todd's death.

The ministry said Singapore has made every effort to be open and transparent in both its investigation and the over projects handled by the Institute of Microelectronics.

At a recent meeting between Foreign Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam, with Senator Baucus (in Washington DC on 12 March 2013), Mr Shanmugam had said that the Singapore police is prepared to share relevant evidence with the FBI "in accordance with the legal framework of both countries".

"The Minister reiterated this at a press conference after the meeting. The SPF has also publicly committed to take into account any information and evidence that the FBI may independently gather. The SPF will ensure that all information is comprehensively examined and scrutinized during its investigation, and have done so through foreign experts and in this case, the FBI. The SPF will continue to work with the FBI to engage the Todd family to get their co-operation and assistance for the on-going investigation," said the MFA spokesperson.

Mr Shanmugam also pointed out that IME was subject to rigorous internal audits.

The Institute of Microelectronics is also prepared to have a team from the US to conduct a process audit here.

The ministry said it will let the outcome of the investigation and Coroner's Inquiry speak for themselves.

31-year-old Shane Todd was found hanged in his Singapore apartment in what appeared to be suicide, last June.

His parents, however, believe he was murdered.

- CNA/ck

N. Korea says nukes are not a bargaining chip for aid

Of course, if North Korea has the funds to build nuclear bombs, and sell them, they have the funds to feed themselves. 

N. Korea says nukes are not a bargaining chip for aid
Posted: 17 March 2013 1649 hrs


Click to enlarge Photos 1 of 1

This file photo shows North Korean children standing next to a shipment of US wheat, at a UN World Food Programme distribution site in Pyongyang. (AFP/File - Frederic Brown)



SEOUL: North Korea said on Sunday it would never trade its nuclear weapons programme for aid and stressed its "unshakeable" stance to retain the deterrent, following a third atomic test last month.

The North's foreign ministry, in a statement carried by state TV, rejected suggestions that the impoverished state was using its weapons programme as a way of bullying neighbours into offering much-needed aid.

"The US is seriously mistaken if it thinks that the (North) had access to nukes as a bargaining chip to barter them for what it called economic reward," it said.

The comments came days after the US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said Washington was willing to hold "authentic negotiations" with the North if it changed its behaviour.

"To get the assistance it desperately needs and the respect it claims it wants, North Korea will have to change course," he said last week.

But the North on Sunday called its atomic weaponry a "treasured sword" to protect itself from what it called a hostile US policy.

The US "temptation" may work on other countries "but it sounds nonsensical" to the North, the foreign ministry statement said.

"The (North) would like to re-clarify its unshakeable principled stand on its nuclear deterrence for self-defence."

Last month's test, the most powerful to date, prompted the United Nations to further tighten sanctions imposed following previous nuclear tests and long-range rocket launches in 2006 and 2009.

The tougher sanctions, and an ongoing South Korean-US military exercise, sparked an angry response from Pyongyang, which said it was tearing up the armistice that ended the Korean War and ending non-aggression pacts with Seoul.

The country has suffered chronic food and fuel shortages for decades, with the situation exacerbated by floods, droughts, mismanagement and global sanctions.

International food aid, especially from South Korea and the US, has been drastically cut over the past several years amid tensions over the North's nuclear and missile programmes.

A six-nation aid-for-denuclearisation forum on the North, involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, the US and Russia, have been at a standstill since the last meeting in December 2008.

Almost 28 percent of the North's children aged under five are stunted from malnutrition, a 2012 UN national nutrition survey showed.

- AFP/xq

Suntech Seen Not Getting Bailout From Chinese Government

By Bloomberg News - Mar 14, 2013

China won’t rescue Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP) from its creditors because the former biggest solar-panel maker needs to retrench along with the rest of the industry, two advisers to government agencies said.

Officials in Beijing want to pare excess manufacturing capacity and consolidate the $25 billion global industry that’s led by China, said Li Junfeng, director of the climate-change strategic research division at the government’s National Development and Reform Commission.

“The government won’t intervene and shouldn’t,” Li said in an interview. Meng Xiangan, vice chairman of the China Renewable Energy Society, a liaison between the industry and the state, said Suntech should “not rely on government assistance.”

The comments from advisers with knowledge of the Chinese government’s thinking cast doubt on whether Suntech, the largest solar panel manufacturer in 2011, can avoid bankruptcy. The company March 11 said it obtained an agreement from more than 60 percent of bond holders to delay repayment for two months on $541 million of notes due tomorrow.

The national government wants to avoid a default, which would be the first for a bond issued by a company based in mainland China. Restructuring the solar industry is one of the first issues confronting Premier Li Keqiang as his administration takes over from Wen Jiabao this month.

Bankruptcy Risk

Suntech’s best course would be to “file for bankruptcy for some assets and let a state-owned power enter to protect certain interests,” Meng said. “The entire company won’t go bankrupt. Its brand will remain alive.”

Two calls to Suntech’s Wuxi headquarters in Jiangsu province and an e-mail to a company spokesman went unanswered after regular business hours. Walker Frost, a spokesman for the company in San Francisco, declined to comment.

The New York Times yesterday reported that Suntech is close to be taken over partially or entirely by Wuxi Guolian Development Group Co., a holding company part-owned by the municipal government. The newspaper cited solar-industry executives who it didn’t name and an unidentified person who answered the phone at Wuxi Guolian.

Suntech executives are negotiating with bondholders about how to restructure payments on the $541 million of notes that are convertible into shares as soon as tomorrow.

Local Support

The company is also in talks with the government of Wuxi about financial assistance, though it’s not clear how much support the local authority is prepared to give. Suntech got a $32 million loan from Wuxi in September. In November, LDK Solar Co. (LDK), China’s second-biggest supplier of wafers for solar cells in 2011, sold a 19.9 percent stake for about $21.8 million to Heng Rui Xin Energy Co., which is partly owned by the Xinyu government, where it has a factory.

“The question is what kind of bailout Wuxi officials can swing,” said Melanie Hart, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress inWashington. “If the bailout isn’t backed by a big state bank, it may be only partial. China Development Bank represents Beijing, not Wuxi, and Beijing is more concerned with developing the industry as a whole than it is with saving companies. We should not underestimate its ability to take a pass on a deal that it sees as a bad bet.”

Shares of Suntech fell 24 percent to 83 cents at the close in New York yesterday, the lowest since Nov. 26, giving the company a market value of $149.5 million.

Solar Boom

China in the past three years wrested leadership over solar manufacturing away from German and Japanese companies, extending cheaper loans and cutting prices more quickly. That led to production capacity more than doubling at each of its top five panel manufactures.

That expansion supported a surge in installations of photovoltaics to 30 gigawatts last year from 7.7 gigawatts in 2009, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The cost of solar cell prices has plunged 72 percent over the same period, including a 20 percent drop in 2012, widening losses at Chinese solar companies.

Suntech, LDK, Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL), Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (YGE), Hanwha SolarOne Co. (HSOL) and Jinko Solar Holding Co. were among 12 companies that obtained more than $43.2 billion in credit pledges from China Development Bank Corp., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Shares of Suntech have fallen 35 percent since March 4 after the board ousted founder Shi Zhengrong as chairman. The Chinese analysts said that government funding for the solar industry helped cause the problems.

Government Blamed

Suntech’s distress “was due to the governmental intervention,” Li of the NRDC, China’s top economic planning agency, said in a phone interview in Beijing late yesterday.

China reiterated it plans to promote consolidation among solar companies in December. Suntech was the world’s biggest panel maker in 2011 with shipments of 2.1 gigawatts and was tied with First Solar Inc. (FSLR) by factory capacity. It expects 2012 shipments to slip to 1.7 gigawatts to 1.8 gigawatts.

The solar panel glut is the result of “overheated investment motivated by local governments that were keen on economic growth in the past when we started developing the photovoltaic business,” Meng said. “Suntech should mainly depend on its own efforts to overcome the difficulties.”

Revenue Decline

Suntech’s market value slumped 72 percent in the past year after losses of $646 million in the four quarters through March 2012. The company hasn’t released any financial reports since, after announcing in July that it may have been the victim of fraud involving 560 million euros ($726 million) of German bonds that may have never existed.

Revenue dropped 18 percent to $387 million in the third quarter as shipments of photovoltaics dropped 10 percent, Suntech said on Dec. 7, when it published preliminary results. It said it expected a “slightly negative” gross margin, without giving more details.

Meng of the Renewable Energy Society said the glut is the result of excess support from authorities, who are seeking to create jobs.

“If companies can’t survive, even if they are saved, it’s useless,” Meng said. “Our policy is very clear to encourage mergers and acquisitions. Both state- and privately-owned entities can restructure or acquire each other. Restructuring or mergers and acquisitions are in line with what the central government requires.”

Bondholders

Suntech said 60 percent of bondholders have agreed to the forbearance. Some of the remaining 40 percent of bondholders said they weren’t contacted about a forbearance and want to be paid on schedule tomorrow. The company may not be able to delay the bond payments, saidAdam Cohen, the founder of Covenant Review, a research firm in New York.

The bondholders have an “absolute right” to be repaid the principal when the bonds mature, Cohen said in an interview March 12. “It doesn’t matter that a majority or 60 percent wants to wait 60 days.”

Shi, the former chairman, said March 5 that the company has no plan in place to pay the debt. Susan Wang, formerly the chief financial officer of the electronics manufacturing company Solectron Corp., replaced Shi last week.

Suntech had about $2 billion of debt as of the end of August, according to a bondholder presentation in November filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

To contact the reporters on this story: Feifei Shen in Beijing at fshen11@bloomberg.net; Ehren Goossens in New York ategoossens1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net