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Democratic Party News

10 Mar 2024

Biden's Pier for Gaza Aid Might Not be Ready for 60 Days

File photo: A temporary floating pier built by U.S. armed forces in South Korea as part of an exercise in 2015 (Photo: Maricris McLane U.S. Army)

U.S. President Joe Biden's plan to build a floating U.S. military port to speed up aid to Gaza could take up to 60 days to become a reality and involve more than 1,000 American troops, the Pentagon said on Friday.The Pentagon offered the timeline a day after Biden announced the initiative in his State of the Union speech, as he seeks to cool anger in his Democratic Party over his staunch support for Israel's offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7.The United Nations has warned that widespread famine in the Gaza Strip is "almost inevitable" without urgent action.

19 Jul 2023

Canada's Pacific Dock Workers Ordered by Labor Watchdog to End Strike

© Volodymyr Kyrylyuk / Adobe Stock

The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), a federal watchdog, ruled on Wednesday that the Pacific coast dock workers' strike must end because their union did not provide the required 72-hour notice before the walkout."This strike is illegal," Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said on Twitter after the ruling.

13 Mar 2023

Thirty Migrants Missing in Shipwreck off Libya. Charity Blames Italy

© Carlo Toffolo/AdobeStock

Thirty people are missing and 17 were rescued in the central Mediterranean on Sunday after the boat in which they were travelling from Libya capsized in bad weather, Italy's coastguard said.The tragedy comes just weeks after a Feb. 26 shipwreck near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least 79 died. Alarm Phone, a charity that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, assumed the 30 people were dead and blamed Italy for not sending its coastguard despite being repeatedly alerted on Saturday that the boat was in trouble."Clearly…

26 Nov 2021

Hareide Named Norway's Director General of Navigation and Shipping

Knut Arild Hareide (Photo: Norwegian Maritime Authority)

Knut Arild Hareide has been appointed by the King in the Council of State as Director General of Navigation and Shipping for the Norwegian Maritime Authority for a period of six years. Hareide will take up the role on January 1, 2022."We are delighted to congratulate Knut Arild Hareide on his appointment and look forward to working with him in the years to come," says Acting Director General of Navigation and Shipping, Lars Alvestad.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries…

08 Nov 2021

Biden to Visit Port of Baltimore, Discuss Infrastructure Deal

© Alexey Lesik / Adobe Stock

U.S. President Joe Biden will visit the Port of Baltimore on Wednesday to discuss how the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the U.S. Congress helps the American people by upgrading ports and strengthening supply chains, the White House said on Sunday.Biden on Saturday called the bill a once-in-a-generation investment.

07 Apr 2021

EU Official Urges Turkey to Resolve issues with Greece, Cyprus over Offshore Gas Rights

European Council President Charles Michel called on Turkey to keep working to resolve disputes with Greece and Cyprus over gas rights in the Mediterranean as he visited Ankara on Tuesday to discuss trade and refugees with President Tayyip Erdogan.A row between Turkey and EU members Greece and Cyprus over offshore jurisdiction has strained ties, reaching a peak last summer when Turkish and Greek navy frigates escorted vessels exploring for hydrocarbons in disputed waters.The European Union backs Athens, while Ankara has accused the bloc of bias and of not honoring its pledges under a 2016 migrant deal.The visit by Michel and European…

08 Nov 2016

The US Election: Ramifications for Maritime

Clinton vs. Trump. Perhaps one of the most important presidential elections in U.S. history, the 2016 Election Day results with have impacts felt far and wide – and all throughout maritime industry. A proverb common to both Greek and Turkish cultures states that a wolf may change its fur, but does not change its nature (Ο λύκος την τρίχα αλλάζει, το χούι δεν τ`αλλάζει /Kurt tüyünü değiştirir, huyunu değiştirmez). In English, we might render this “a leopard cannot change its spots.” If we are to believe the proverb…

17 Apr 2016

Italians Go to polls for Drilling Referendum

Italy went to the polls on Sunday for a referendum on off-shore oil and gas drilling rights, a complex issue that the government hopes voters will shun. For the ballot to be valid, more than 50 percent of the Italian electorate must vote and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has urged people to stay away, saying that the referendum is unnecessary and might end up hurting the economy. It would be a blow to Renzi if substantial numbers did turn out, suggesting voters were ready to snub him just weeks before major local elections. But opinion polls have indicated that a quorum will not be reached. The referendum focuses on whether Italy should stop renewing offshore drilling licenses within 12 miles (20 km) of the coast.

28 Nov 2015

Canada to Aid Developing Nations Fight Climate Change

Canada will provide aid to developing countries to combat climate change, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Friday ahead of talks on global warming, which he has promised will show the country is serious about tackling the issue. Canada will give C$2.65 billion ($1.98 billion) over the next five years, the newly elected Trudeau announced during a trip to Malta, where he was meeting the heads of Commonwealth countries. The funding will help support the transition to low-carbon economies and will target the poorest and most vulnerable countries. The contribution is part of an agreement Canada made in 2009 to work with developed countries to provide $100 billion a year by 2020 from various sources.

15 Aug 2015

Alberta Panel to Review Climate-change Policy

The Canadian province of Alberta, the biggest source of U.S. oil imports, announced the members of its climate change policy review panel on Friday, part of its pledge to implement new rules on greenhouse gas reductions. Environment Minister Shannon Phillips said the panel would offer recommendations to the government by early November, ahead of a key United Nations climate change conference in Paris in December, but did not say when new GHG targets are likely to come into effect. The five members of the panel are University of Alberta energy economist Andrew Leach, former Suncor Energy executive Gord Lambert, Enbridge Inc executive Linda Coady, Pembina Institute board member Stephanie Cairns and Angela Adams, a Metis Fort McMurray school district trustee.

27 Apr 2015

Lagos Port Drags on Africa's Top Economy

Ruling party reforms improved Apapa port; shippers still face delays and corruption. The road leading to the Lagos port, which handles nearly everything that Africa's biggest economy imports, is one of the most congested in a megacity whose traffic jams are legendary. Wide enough to accommodate only two lanes on either side, along it move the goods that Africa's top crude producer uses its huge oil receipts to buy -- everything from designer wear to dried fish, champagne and shampoo. The Apapa port is also one of the biggest bottlenecks in an economy throttled by power cuts and institutional dysfunction. Reforms to this behemoth by President Goodluck Jonathan and previous administrations of his People's Democratic Party (PDP) brought huge improvements over the past decade…

04 Apr 2015

Canada Passed on U.S.-Mexico Climate Announcement

Canada declined a U.S. invitation last week to jointly announce climate policy cooperation with Mexico, with Ottawa saying it has not yet finalized its own domestic strategy, sources from both countries familiar with the discussions said on Thursday. On March 24, three days before the United States and Mexico announced they would partner on a high-level bilateral clean energy and climate policy task force, U.S. officials approached Canadian counterparts asking them to join the effort, three sources said. One source said that while Canadian officials said they were supportive of North American harmonization of climate policy they were not yet prepared to join the continental partners.

09 May 2014

Obama Announces Actions On Renewable Energy

President Barack Obama announced steps on Friday to increase the use of solar panels, boost energy efficiency in federal buildings and train more people to work in the renewable energy field. "It's the right thing to do for the planet," Obama said, standing in the outdoor lighting display section of a WalMart store that features roof-top solar panels and a charging station for electric vehicles, among other energy-saving retrofits. The president used the stop to show how major corporations have committed to increasing the generation of solar power at their facilities. Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Apple Inc , Yahoo Inc, Google Inc and Ikea were among the companies that have made such commitments.

22 Nov 2013

New L.A. Harbor Commissioners Hold First Meeting

Photo: The Port of Los Angeles

The newly assembled Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners held its first meeting, with four of the five-member panel newly appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Three of the commissioners are Harbor Area residents. The Harbor Commission is expected to elect its president and vice-president at the next Board meeting on December 12 th. “Spurring investment and creating job opportunities at our nation’s No. 1 Port is critical to Los Angeles and the entire country,” said Mayor Garcetti.

06 Dec 2005

Ninety North Korean Ships Granted Entry to Japan

Ninety North Korean vessels were granted certificates to enter Japanese ports in the eight months since a new law that bans entry of any ship without insurance took effect, according to a Daily Yomiuri report. The law on liability for oil pollution damage, which came into force on March 1, requires vessels of 100 tons or larger to be insured before docking in Japan. It had been viewed as a de facto economic sanction, as it was believed that most North Korean vessels would not fulfill the law's requirements and therefore would be unable to dock in Japan. But according to the report, some Liberal Democratic Party members recently said more North Korean vessels had insurance coverage than they had expected. Source: Daily Yomiuri

17 Jul 2001

U.S. Navy To Pay Cheney's Utility Bill?

The White House is asking the U.S. Navy to pay the six-figure utility bill for Vice President Dick Cheney's house, as Democrats accused Cheney, the administration's point man on energy policy, of "staggering insensitivity." The bill for electricity, gas and water for the 33-room official vice presidential residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory is projected at $136,000 for fiscal 2002 which ends in September, compared with a budget of $43,600, the White House said. The bills have far outstripped the budget since an electricity meter was installed in 1998, the White House said. This has driven Cheney to practice the energy conservation…

27 Aug 1999

Canadian Shipbuilding Effort Hits Stormy Sea

The future of a government program to revive western Canadian shipbuilding remains clouded after investigators released a damning report about cost overruns and bureaucratic bungling. The directors of the B.C. Ferries Corp. resigned after auditors alleged the cost of designing and building a new type of high-speed catamaran ferry had risen from the originally planned $137.9 million to approximately $288.9 million. The report was the latest bad news to buffet the Pacificat fast ferry project, which was launched in 1994 in hopes of developing and building a lightweight passenger ship in British Columbia that could be marketed internationally.