Big questions over Chinese bid for Nexen

Published: September 26, 2012 6:23 AM

The Chinese state company CNOOC?s $15-billion bid for Nexen, a major Canadian oil and gas company, raises major issues about the future of Canada?s economy.

Whether or not the government approves the bid ? it is being reviewed under the Investment Canada Act ? there are many questions that should be asked about the deal, including:

Should the government allow our resources to be owned by whoever pays the highest price to shareholders of a Canadian company?

By extension, do we want stock markets to decide how best to protect Canadian interests?

The issues become especially important because the Harper government has put most of Canada?s economic eggs in the resource sector instead of manufactured exports.

Some commentators have maintained that the criteria for review ? whether it is deemed a ?net benefit? to Canada ? are too vague, but by using a broad test, the government does retains flexibility when seeking conditions for a takeover or blocking it outright.

Under this laissez-faire approach, favoured by the government, Canada should be wide open to foreign investment. We should not care about country-of-origin or about whether the buyer is state-owned or private. Let the bidding begin, all offers welcome. Maximize the benefits for shareholders.

But do we want to ensure that our resources are exploited according to Canadian priorities? And do we expect governments to play a role? If so, the government needs to ensure a minimum threshold of Canadian ownership in key sectors. With ownership comes control; with Canadian ownership comes a range of options to ensure Canadian interests are protected.

Chinese ownership, on the other hand, gives China an ability to frustrate policies in Canada. The issue could be jobs or value-added business. It could be environmental protection or aboriginal rights. It could be foreign affairs or national security. The point is, governments in Canada and by extension all of us will have less of a say.

Those who ask government to regulate foreign investment are often demeaned, including by the prime minister, as ?protectionist.? Yet governments of other major countries take a more active role in protecting nationally-owned firms. In contrast, the Harper government has thrown open the doors to foreign takeovers and foreign influence.

All sorts of foreign takeovers (including, we can assume, by Chinese companies) are no longer subject to the usual review process under the Investment Canada Act because the Harper government raised dramatically the threshold for review of proposed takeovers.

It ceded its powers to review bids for any Canadian company worth less than $1 billion.

As a result, many foreign takeovers of Canadian firms fly under the radar of the government and the public. The economic ramifications will emerge gradually and be very difficult to reverse.

Reviews under the Investment Canada Act are limited in other ways. For example, they apply only to takeovers of existing Canadian companies. Foreign investment in new businesses ? so-called greenfield investment, which Canadians support and prefer in opinion polls ? are not subject to review.

Second, the prime minister recently raised the stakes of Chinese ownership in Canada. By inking an investment deal with China last month, his government laid a footing for Chinese companies to sue Canada for any law or regulation that we introduce. The lawsuits would be decided, not by Canadian courts, but by international arbitrators who often operate in private and lack the independence of a judicial process. U.S. companies have sued Canada more than 30 times under a similar NAFTA process. The U.S. and Canadian governments at least took steps to make the arbitrations public.

The terms of the Canada-China investment deal are not public. But the government?s announcement that a deal was struck should heighten concerns about Chinese ownership in Canada?s resource sector.

The CNOOC bid poses a conundrum for the government. Its laissez-faire approach, and its allegiances to shareholders in the oilpatch, are pitted squarely against the risks of putting Canada?s economic future in foreign hands.

Undoubtedly, the takeover would enrich Nexen?s shareholders. But is it good for Canada?

Most importantly, are all of these foreign takeovers eroding our ability to ensure that Canada?s resources are exploited based on Canadian priorities? It is not protectionist to ask this question.

Gus Van Harten is a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He specializes in international investment law. This column was supplied by Troy Media (www.troymedia.com).

Source: http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/opinion/Big_questions_over_Chinese_bid_for_Nexen_171329861.html

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Decision on Anglican archbishop may be months away

LONDON (AP) ? The Church of England says that a decision to select the new archbishop of Canterbury ? the spiritual leader of the 80-million-strong global Anglican communion ? could still be months away.

Attention had focused on a private meeting held last week by the Crown Nominations Commission, a group which will choose a successor to Rowan Williams, who is retiring from his post at the end of December.

But the meeting ended Friday with no announcement, leading to speculation that senior clergymen were at an impasse.

The commission said in a statement Friday that an announcement was expected "during the autumn," a period which stretches until late December.

Church of England spokesman Arun Arora said Sunday that there was no set timetable for an announcement.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-30-EU-Britain-Anglicans/id-45ee5313a7b94074ae0bc2770f4a5841

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Italians Take Up The Torch To Ignite Their Own Tech Startup Scene

Last year, Italy?s official statistics bureau, ISTAT, produced a report on the state of the Internet in Italy. It found that in world terms, Italy was below average in terms of Internet usage. The European average is 73 percent usage by population, and Italians were hovering around the 63 percent mark. But official statistics can be cruel and out of date - and it's clear now to any observer on the ground that whatever is happening in the home market, Italian tech startups aren't just shooting for their own country but for yours, as well.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/6iwxtB18iMg/

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Romney Memorizes Zingers (Little green footballs)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/252003830?client_source=feed&format=rss

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'Ultimate Silent Security': Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 ...

Bitdefender has released its 2013 generation of products, Antivirus Plus, Internet Security and Total Security, announcing all-round improvements, as well as new features. Photo: Bitdefender Corp.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Bitdefender for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

As one of the editors at TheBlogIsMine, I spend much time during the day in the Internet. Even people, who don?t work at the computer, spend countless hours online each day whether it?s social media, photo sharing, Skype, catching up on the latest news or reading interesting blogs such as TheBlogIsMine.

As technology continues to expand, the number of ways that our computers can be harmed increase dramatically each year. However, ordinary users, to my mind, don?t need to worry about various e-threats such as computer viruses, spyware, malware, scams and?phishing attacks.

However, there is Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013, the #1 antivirus software with ?Editor?s Choice? awards from CNET and PC Mag magazines, offers award-winning protection against all kinds of viruses, spyware, trojans and identity theft without slowing down your computer. What makes it so special?

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 is the latest addition to the developer?s collection, and it has been built to keep up with the recently created or improved threats that wander on the internet. The program is a powerful, accurate and highly configurable antivirus tool that delivers everything you need to keep your PC malware-free.

The core antivirus engine is constantly scanning all your internet, email and instant messaging traffic, for instance, detecting and blocking known threats before they?re able to install.

Two additional proactive technologies are used to uncover brand new threats, while keeping false alarms to a minimum. And the results are so good that independent testing labs AV-Comparatives awarded the program their highest Advanced+ rating in the January-September 2012 Retrospective/Proactive test.

The installation process of Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 is rather simple and painless. It doesn?t cause any headache because there is nothing to configure during the installation process. Simply click on the Install button to get the Bitdefender installer running. You don?t even need to choose custom installation as the standard one will do all for you.

Moreover, for Antivirus Plus 2013 version, BitDefender takes privacy and security to new levels. BitDefender Antivirus Plus 2013 debuts with ?several new features, among them:

• BitDefender Safepay: A secure standalone Web browser that automatically opens when you visit banking and shopping sites. The browser is run in what is commonly called a sandbox mode, a separate virtual environment on your PC. Since the browser is isolated, it prevents many types of attacks that malware uses to capture your sensitive activity, such as keystroke logging, phishing, and network spoofing.
• USB Immunizer: Scans and cleans any malware found on USB drives and other removable media, from CDs to remote network drives. It?s designed to protect you from threats like the Flame virus, and should help keep you from accidentally carrying malware and infecting PCs when you connect your USB drive or other removable media.
• Device Anti-Theft: Included only in the BitDefender Total Security 2013, this tool will allow you to remotely lock, wipe, and locate your laptop?similar to those ?find my phone? apps you may have used on your smartphone or tablet.
• BitDefender Autopilot: Hate the disruptive pop-ups that traditionally come with the antivirus software territory? You?ll be able to enjoy your browsing without interruption with this feature. It runs in the background, pop-up-free.
• Social Network Protection: Facebook and Twitter have become an integral part of our lives, and with them, so too has come the fear of falling victim to scams, hackings, and other privacy violations. With Social Network Protection feature, all of the links you receive from friends across various social media sites will be filtered, and your privacy settings will be monitored.
• Parental Control Options:?This feature allows parents to block inappropriate content, restrict Web access between certain hours, and it helps them remotely monitor their children?s online activity ? even on Facebook!

Staying protected online is very important to us here, at TheBlogIsMine, as we don?t want that our credit card information or other important data will be stolen. We also don?t want to experience a virus that could harm the files on our PCs because there are a lot of important files saved on our computers.

So, put it all together and there?s a lot of power here for your money: if you need the #1 antivirus software with top-notch protection against both online and offline threats then Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 will be an excellent choice for you.

Need even more security?! No problem! Bitdefender Total Security 2013 is right for, however, with a slightly higher price tag than ?Antivirus Plus 2013. For more information, you can visit the official page of Bitdefender Total Security 2013. For trial purpose, you can put Total Security 2013 a test drive for 30 days.

The last but not the least: BitDefender is giving away a Dell Inspiron laptop pre-loaded with its Total Security 2013 software. Find out how to enter the giveaway contest here.

Source: http://www.theblogismine.com/2012/09/28/ultimate-silent-security-bitdefender-antivirus-plus-2013/

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Affirmative action, rights cases await U.S. Supreme Court

(Reuters) - Affirmative action for minorities, human rights abuses and the constitutional authority for dogs to sniff out crime will top the U.S. Supreme Court's agenda when it returns to the bench on Monday. An even bigger issue, same-sex marriage, lurks on the horizon.

The new term marks the full court's first return to the public eye since June when Chief Justice John Roberts surprised many by joining four more liberal justices in a 5-4 decision that upheld nearly all of President Barack Obama's healthcare law.

The court will start with one of its most anticipated cases, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, and address for the second time the extent to which American judges are empowered to hear lawsuits over human rights atrocities abroad.

On October 10, it will hear perhaps the biggest case on the docket so far, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, and weigh whether using race in undergraduate admissions to increase diversity is still acceptable under the U.S. Constitution.

"When you look at Kiobel and Fisher, and the possibility the court will visit the issues of gay marriage and voting rights, it's already shaping up to be a momentous term," said Ted Shaw, a professor at Columbia Law School and former director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Some justices said over the summer break that the court would, as it normally does, move past the divisions that end a term, including this year over a tough Arizona immigration law.

Dissenting justices in that and the healthcare cases read parts of their opinions from the bench, signaling profound disagreement with the majorities.

The court often finds common ground, and last term it ruled unanimously nearly as often as not. But many closely watched cases still produce 5-4 ideological splits. The five more conservative justices were appointed by Republican presidents, and the four more liberal justices by Democratic presidents.

While Justice Anthony Kennedy is at the ideological center, Roberts' vote to uphold most of the Affordable Care Act was a forceful reminder of his capacity to put his own cast on the law. At age 57, he could do so for another quarter century.

"John Roberts enormously strengthened his administrative hand and legal influence in ruling as he did," said Douglas Kmiec, a constitutional law professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. "Now both sides probably believe they need to work for his support, and that's an enviable position for the chief justice."

The court already has accepted close to 40 cases for the new term, filling roughly half of its usual docket.

RACE AS A FACTOR

In Kiobel, the court will again review the Alien Tort Statute, a long-obscure 1789 law that lawyers have used in the last three decades to challenge corporations' alleged aiding or acquiescing in foreign governments' abuse of their own people.

After hearing arguments in February, the court decided to hold a new hearing to address whether judges could hear such claims brought against anyone, not just corporations.

The case has drawn dozens of briefs from other interested parties. The Obama administration has argued that the law could be used, case-by-case, for claims of abuse that might interfere with U.S. foreign relations or respect for human rights.

In the affirmative action case, Texas' flagship university has for several years filled about three-quarters of its undergraduate class by granting automatic admission to students in the top 10 percent of their high-school classes.

While this "race-neutral" approach has boosted the number of black and Hispanic students because of the homogeneity of many high schools, Texas uses race as one factor to fill the rest of each class, with a goal of improving the educational experience.

This has been challenged, and changes in the Supreme Court's makeup may imperil the 2003 decision, Grutter v. Bollinger, that let universities take race into account to improve diversity.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who in that case endorsed race-based admissions at the University of Michigan law school, retired in 2006 and was replaced by the more conservative Justice Samuel Alito.

In addition, Justice Elena Kagan, who was U.S. solicitor general before joining the court in 2010, has recused herself. This could make it hard for Texas to win more than four votes. A decision voiding the program would likely apply, under a different law, to private universities.

Also on the docket are two "dog sniff" cases from Florida that test the boundary of Fourth Amendment protection against illegal searches, and which the court will take up on October 31.

One, Florida v. Jardines, concerns whether a homeowner's privacy was violated when a trained narcotics dog named Franky was allowed to walk near a home, and appeared to correctly detect a marijuana odor from inside. Another, Florida v. Harris, concerns an "alert" given by another dog named Aldo while being led around a truck that contained methamphetamine ingredients.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

All of these cases could well be dwarfed in public attention should the Supreme Court review any or all of a half-dozen cases concerning same-sex marriages.

Several address the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which requires the government to deny benefits such as Social Security payments to gay and lesbian couples. even if they live in states that allow same-sex marriage.

A federal appeals court in Boston said that requirement should not stand. Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general who last term argued against the healthcare law, represents defenders of DOMA while his opponent in the healthcare case, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, wants DOMA to be invalidated.

Also awaiting review is a lower-court decision striking down California's ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce this fall whether it will accept any of these cases. Decisions would likely come by the end of June, before the court's usual summer recess.

Meanwhile, the court may also weigh the constitutionality of a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that requires states with histories of discrimination to get U.S. Department of Justice permission before changing election procedures.

"We're seeing an increase in voting suppression," said Scot Powe, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and former clerk for Justice William O. Douglas. "If they take a Voting Rights Act case, the betting money is that they will invalidate the preclearance provision. That's a big deal."

(Additional reporting by Terry Baynes; Editing by Howard Goller and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/affirmative-action-rights-cases-await-u-supreme-court-051215244--finance.html

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The Budget Deficits and Municipal Bankruptcies | Finance Buzz ...

The financial markets today no longer look safe for investing in municipal bonds. With the present U.S. economy assailed with a growth in municipal bankruptcies, the problems that continue to plague America are forever on the rise.

Budget deficits should be controlled by the local governments. In addition, further spats with creditors have to be avoided and so there is need for the deficit cuts by the municipalities. When the local government takes the regular steps in order to survive, the municipal bond investors and their invested amount of the tune of $3.7-trillion will be very much affected. The municipal bond defaulters are the cities in California; viz. Vallejo, Mammoth Lakes, Stockton, and San Bernardino. Compton is the next most likely town to follow suit; the reason being that all theses towns are facing the problem of big budget deficits.

During days of healthy financial markets, there is substantial consumer spending. Like for example if one considers Bell, which is a city outside of Los Angles; it is said that in the year 2010, it paid an amount of $800,000 a year to the city managers. (Source: Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2012). Municipalities land in trouble because of cases like this.

On account of being burdened with enormous budget deficits, cities filed for bankruptcy. The chief resources of revenue of the municipal governments are the property taxes, but when such sources are blocked, cities need to search for different means to make revenue for the payment of dues or just show their helplessness in being able to pay the municipal bond investors. Though the plan looks clever enough, i.e. defaulting on the municipal bonds and starting again, it simply does not work. Examples of cities that have already defaulted as mentioned above are Stockton, California and Jefferson County in Alabama.

Stockton, California has pensions to the tune of $26.0 million each year, which it must pay; as a result of which its municipal bond insurers may be badly hit by an amount above $100 million. (Source: The Examiner, September 17, 2012). In 2011, Jefferson County; not being successful in planning its finances to control the budget deficit, had filed for chapter-nine bankruptcy (which gives protection from creditors to municipalities comprising cities, counties, townships and school districts that are financially in doldrums by working towards a plan between them to resolve the outstanding debt). The municipal bond insurers now remain restless that they may stand to lose an amount near about $709 million.

As per reports from Bloomberg, September 10, 2012, Wenatchee, Washington, Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Moberly, Missouri have also defaulted on their municipal bonds payments as they did not have the requisite available cash.

Thus it can be clearly seen that there will be bound to be an increase in the number of municipal bankruptcies, which will in turn, hit the municipal bond investor to a large extent. It would be advisable for bond investors to exercise caution while purchasing bonds and not get hooked by endorsements of exemption from taxes.

For more news, visit http://www.profitconfidential.com/

Source: http://www.financebuz.com/2012/09/the-budget-deficits-and-municipal.html

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