Eastern Montana’s agricultural economy is somewhat dependent upon trade agreements in the world market. Kim Murray from Froid is the the chair of the Montana Pulse Crops Advisory Council. He just returned from a trade mission with Senator… Emilie Boyles March 09, 2011

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (AHN) – Former British Columbia Deputy Premier Christy Clark announced Wednesday she will run to become the leader of the Liberal Party in the province and subsequently BC premier.

Clark is the fifth BC politician to declare her candidacy to replace BC Liberal Party leader Gordon Campbell, who will retire early next year from politics. The Liberals will decide Campbell’s permanent replacement on Feb. 26.

Four other former Liberal cabinet members are interested to become Campbell’s replacement. They are George Abbott, Mike de Jong, Moira Stillwell and Kevin Falcon, whom political observers said has the edge at this point. The four recently quit their posts to concentrate on the February election.

Clark temporarily left mainstream politics to become a radio host. Following her announcement of her intention to seek the top post in the Liberal Party in BC, Clark filed for leave from hosting a CKNW radio talk show.

The Liberal election will focus on the harmonized sales tax. Campbell resigned in November as BC premier because of the unpopularity of the HST, which he imposed in July. Clark proposed a free vote on the HST, which will be the subject of a planned referendum in the province in September.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Economists agree that the Bank of Canada will likely keep interest rates at its present level until July 2011.

They believe that Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney will wait for developments in the U.S. economy and the eurozone.

The Canadian central bank is expected to release its decision on the key lending rate on Tuesday after the monetary board meeting.

The current key lending rate is still a low 1 percent. The governor kept it at that level due to uncertain economic conditions and a lower-than-expected third quarter growth rate due to weak trade and real estate investments.

The fixed-income markets predict 50-50 odds that the Bank of Canada will increase key lending rates in March and 100 percent chance in April.

According to the C.D. Howe Institute, the central bank should keep benchmark interest rates on Tuesday and on Jan. 18. It also forecast that by July next year the key lending rate should not exceed 1.5 percent.

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D.C., Washington, United States (AHN) – Over 21,000 transactions were made by the U.S. Federal Reserve when it stabilized the financial markets. Details of the transactions made in 2008 and 2009 were posted on the agency’s website upon order by Congress.

The details include names of companies that borrowed money and the amount.

Among the borrowers were:

1. Citigroup $2.2 trillion,
2. Merrill Lynch $2.1 trillion,
3. Morgan Stanley $2 trillion and
4. Bank of America $1.1 trillion.

The Fed also loaned to major American companies such as General Electric, AIG, Caterpillar, Verizon, Harley-Davidson and Toyota.

The loans also extended to subsidiaries of U.S. banks in East Asia, Europe and Canada and to large foreign banks such as Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank and UBS.

The bulk of the loans were made in the fall of 2008 when the Fed lowered lending benchmarks and extended help to different institutions that never sought assistance from the U.S. central bank before the crisis.

The Fed said most of the loans have been paid back, and none are overdue.

Last month the Fed announced the availability of $600 billion stimulus money. The announcement sparked complaints that the agency was stoking inflation and asset-price bubbles.

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Canadians improved their credit card and auto loan payment records for the third quarter of 2010. According to credit analysis company TransUnion, credit card delinquency rates in the country went down to 0.34 percent in Q3 from 0.38 percent for the same quarter last year.

Auto loan payment delinquencies also decreased to 0.11 percent from 0.15 percent.

TransUnion Vice President of Analytics Thomas Higgins said the improvement indicates that many Canadians are slowly moving out of the recession.

While delinquencies were down, the number of credit-active Canadians also decreased, by 0.15 percent to 24.8 million people. However, average debt grew by 4.3 percent to $25,163. The figure excludes mortgages.

By province, Quebec had the largest rise in overall debt at 6.6 percent, while Manitoba registered the lowest at 2.8 percent.

Higgins pointed out credit card debt goes up with the approach of the yearend holiday shopping season. He said in a statement, “It will be interesting to see if consumers continue to amass more debt during this holiday season and if delinquencies rise in the first quarter of 2011 when holiday bills are due. In any event, credit card delinquency for the quarter remained well within historical norms and is not a cause for significant concern at this time.”

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Bell Canada offered customers Thursday a choice of a $67 rebate in check in 2011 or a $100 credit immediately applicable to the company’s wireless or TV services. The offer complies with an August decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications which ordered telecom firms to rebate $311 million to home phone customer who were overcharged.

The offer was made by Bell Senior Vice President for Residential Services Division Steve Bickley in a letter to customers, which he said was limited time offer.

The rebates range from $25 to $90 per customer. The CRTC allowed telecom firms to refund the amount through credits that are larger than cash reimbursement.

Bell said it made the twin offer right before the Christmas holiday season, which is the time that many subscribers decide if they will switch service provider or renew their phone deals.

Bell’s rivals, however, complained that the telecom firm’s offer was an anti-competitive marketing strategy.

Some Bell subscribers have complained that to qualify for the rebate they must be an active Bell home phone account in an urban area by Aug. 31, 2010 – the date the CRTC decision came out. Bell subscribers for years who shifted service providers prior to Aug. 31 do not qualify for partial rebate.

CRTC limited the rebate to current subscribers because tracking older subscribers would make paying the refund complex and costly.

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Bell Canada offered customers Thursday a choice of a $67 rebate in check in 2011 or a $100 credit immediately applicable to the company’s wireless or TV services. The offer complies with an August decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications which ordered telecom firms to rebate $311 million to home phone customer who were overcharged.

The offer was made by Bell Senior Vice President for Residential Services Division Steve Bickley in a letter to customers, which he said was limited time offer.

The rebates range from $25 to $90 per customer. The CRTC allowed telecom firms to refund the amount through credits that are larger than cash reimbursement.

Bell said it made the twin offer right before the Christmas holiday season, which is the time that many subscribers decide if they will switch service provider or renew their phone deals.

Bell’s rivals, however, complained that the telecom firm’s offer was an anti-competitive marketing strategy.

Some Bell subscribers have complained that to qualify for the rebate they must be an active Bell home phone account in an urban area by Aug. 31, 2010 – the date the CRTC decision came out. Bell subscribers for years who shifted service providers prior to Aug. 31 do not qualify for partial rebate.

CRTC limited the rebate to current subscribers because tracking older subscribers would make paying the refund complex and costly.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Ottawa rejected Tuesday a request by Edmonton to help finance the city’s bid to host the 2016 World Fair to celebrate Canada’s 150th founding day.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty explained Ottawa is going through a tough time with a record-high budget deficit, so the government could not afford to fund the project. Flaherty added it is not only Edmonton’s request that Ottawa had turned down, but also hinted the government would also say no to Quebec City’s request for assistance to build a hockey arena.

Flaherty added that the rejection is part of Ottawa’s policy not to commit to spending that would lead to larger deficits and higher taxes.

Aside from the huge budget deficit, Edmonton MP and cabinet minister Rona Ambrose pointed out the possible skyrocketing of security costs was a main reason why Ottawa said no.

The decision disheartened and angered Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel who lobbied hard for Ottawa’s financial support. Mandel said the decision appears that fiscal responsibility of Ottawa applies only to western Canada.

Edmonton sought a $706 million federal share for the expo, which is expected to cost $2.3 billion. Federal Heritage Minister James Moore said Ottawa is not prepared at this point to take such a huge financial risk in anticipation of federal share eventually ballooning to more than $1 billion.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Ottawa is planning to put in place massive spending cuts in a bid to give Canada’s economic recover a big push. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was scheduled to outline the new economic policies in a speech Monday in Oakville, Ontario.

Ahead of his speech, Flaherty hinted there would be bitter pills for Canadians since the new policies would likely not be popular among residents. He insisted the proposed cuts seek to protect Canada’s advancement.

Flaherty stressed the measures are Ottawa’s way of preventing fiscal trouble in Canada similar to what is happening in Ireland. Ottawa plans to return to a balanced budget by 2016 through major cuts in key areas and ending the two-year $48-billion stimulus plan according to timetable.

Over the weekend, Flaherty hosted a consultation with business leaders in Toronto on how Canada’s Economic Action Plan will continue to shape the country’s economic future for next year’s budget. He acknowledged after the consultation that Canadians are concerned with the economy, jobs and their household budgets.

Ottawa is also getting feedback on four key issues from the public through online consultations which started Nov. 19.

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Dead Sea, Jordan (TML) – Nuclear experts from around the world were climbing into craters and clamouring up landslides as they gathered in a desolate corner of Jordan beside the Dead Sea to test their ability to uncover evidence of an unauthorized test explosion.

Some 35 experts from 20 countries poured over the 1,000 square-kilometer (390-square-mile) area during the first two weeks of November, dressed in protective suits and hauling monitors and three-dimensional maps across the desert landscape in the simulation. Later they assembled in campsites to collect and analyze their data.

Jordan itself has no nuclear weapons, nor is it known to aspire to develop them. But, the kingdom does want to become a respected member of the global nuclear community as it embarks on plans to produce energy from atomic power. Fortunately for Jordan, the terrain near the Dead Sea looks like it just experienced a nuclear explosion.

“The sinkholes, landslides, depressions and craters near the Dead Sea provided a perfect venue to conduct the tests,” Matjaz Prah, of the Croatian State Office for Nuclear Safety and director of the 10-day exercise, told The Media Line.

Near Ghour Al-Haditha, a poor farming town, nearly 800 sinkholes big enough to swallow factories and homes punctuate the landscape, the result of Dead Sea’s declining sea level. The sporadic nature of the giant holes is very similar to aftermath of nuclear explosions, explained Prah. Indeed, the massive cavities make the landscape nestling the southern shores of the Dead Sea largely inaccessible to all but the small community of poor farmers who live there.

The exercise was sponsored by the Vienna-based Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), whose task is to develop mechanisms for monitoring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The Vienna-based organization includes 153 countries that ratified nuclear ban treaty, in addition to a further 35 states that have agreed to endorse the agreement.

Tibor Toth, the CTBTO’s executive secretary, said the goal of the experiments was to establish worldwide detection system that relies on reports from 337 facilities.

Nearly half of detection facilities are located in the Middle East, said Toth.

While the CTBT has yet to go into force, the five countries allowed to have nuclear weapons have all adopted unilateral moratoriums on nuclear testing. India and Pakistan followed suit after they conducted tests in 1998.

But the risks of unauthorized tests remain. North Korea tested devices in 2006 and 2009 while other countries, including three in the Middle East — Israel, Egypt and Iran — have signed but not ratified the treaty. Israel has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons, but it is believed by foreign experts to have an arsenal of 100 or more. Iran has been accused by the West of secretly developing nuclear technology for military purposes, a claim Tehran denies.

Meanwhile, to Jordan’s north, Syria is suspected of having undertaken a nuclear-development program that was cut short by a September 2007 air raid Damascus accuses Israel of staging. Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said November 9th that the nuclear watchdog has been pressing Syria to admit inspectors to at least two suspect sites.

In theory, Jordan could find itself in the middle of a nuclear confrontation between Israel and Iran. But, the exercise on the Dead Sea last week was purely scientific and technical, said Darweesh Jasem, assistant general manager of Jordan’s natural resources department. The exercise also boosted the ability of Jordanians to handle nuclear inspections, which officials see as a facet of the kingdom’s ambition to build its own nuclear reactors.

“We had been proposing holding such an exercise in Jordan since 2004. We are very excited about what we can learn from sharing this type of experience with established experts from the world,” he told The Media Line, noting that at least 13 Jordanian experts were among inspectors.

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The kingdom plans to build a nuclear facility near the port city of Aqaba to provide energy and potable water for the energy-poor, drought-stricken nation. The two 1,000-megawatt reactors it envisions developing over the next 15 years will cost billions of dollars, and even more, if it embarks on the second stage of expanding capacity to four reactors with the potential to produce over half of the kingdom’s electricity needs.

With limited financial resources, Jordan will have to raise capital abroad and convince the world nuclear community that it has the technical ability to undertake such an expensive and sophisticated project, officials in Amman say. Jordan has inked deals on nuclear cooperation with France, South Korea, China, Canada, Russia, Britain and Argentina and is preparing for similar deals with other countries.

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