The owner of Britain's second largest oil refinery has warned that more sites will follow the Coryton plant into administration, as the head of the Unite trade union added to criticism of the government's refusal to bail out the Essex facility.
Volker Schultz, the chief executive of Indian-owned Essar Oil UK, which owns the Stanlow refinery in Merseyside, warned of more closures because too many sites are focused on producing petrol instead of higher margin diesel and jet fuel. Coryton is cutting 180 staff – out of a total of 850 on the site – as its administrators start to wind down the refinery, which converts crude oil into sophisticated fuel products such as gasoline.
"I think there will be some more closures. We will have strong refineries that will still be able to make ends meet but the weakest will slowly exit and the difficult financial market will accelerate that, as we have seen with [Coryton owner] Petroplus," said Schultz.
Milford Haven in Wales is also the subject of speculation that it will close, as Schultz predicted a wave of shutdowns in western Europe and the eastern seaboard of the US. Stanlow, which has lost money over the past eight months, is undergoing a multimillion-pound investment drive to ensure that it makes money at all times of the financial year, no matter the state of the jet fuel or diesel market.
Referring to Stanlow's recent loss-making performance, Schultz said: "We want to get to the position over the next three years where that will not be the case, no matter what." Stanlow produces 220,000 barrels of refined product per day.
Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Unite trade union, which represents hundreds of Coryton staff, said the government had left Coryton in dire straits by declining to pump state aid into the south Essex site – which needs a multimillion pound overhaul as well as a buyer. Speaking at Unite's policy conference in Brighton, Len McCluskey said: "Despite all the rhetoric about supporting British industry we have hit a brick wall."
He added: "We have a refinery under threat of closure in Coryton and that's a symptom of a wider problem in the [oil] sector, the fact that the free market has been allowed to operate without any restriction."
At the weekend the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, criticised the government for refusing to offer state aid to Coryton in order to tide over the plant while administrators seek a buyer. Describing the decision as "completely wrong", he said: "I think they are showing an absolute abdication of their responsibility to the workers at Coryton." The Department of Energy and Climate Change indicated this month that Coryton has no long-term prospects, saying that state aid "would not be a long-term solution either for the taxpayer or the industry".
Schultz spoke as Essar Energy, controlled by the Indian-owned Essar conglomerate, announced a pre-tax loss of $1.1bn for the 15 months to 31 March following the loss of a tax case in India's supreme court relating to the payment of sales tax on a power plant in Gujarat. Essar Energy, which is listed in London, was the biggest faller on the FTSE 250, slipping 8%.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Kris Humphries Divorce Deposition: NBA Player Grilled By Kim Kardashian's Lawyers Today - Huffington Post
It's going to be a long day for Kris Humphries.
The 26-year-old NBA player is currently in the middle of hours of questioning from his soon-to-be ex-wife Kim Kardashian's legal team, reports TMZ.
The reality TV queen has enlisted the services of hotshot divorce attorney Laura Wasser, who has represented tons of A-list stars, such as Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Stevie Wonder and Kiefer Sutherland, in their high-profile splits. According to the website, Wasser and her associates have flown to Humphries' home turf in Minnesota for the hours of questions.
"The deposition is expected to go all day, and Kim's lawyer, Laura Wasser, had to trek from Los Angeles to the midwest for the deposition, and it could last for at least two days," an insider source revealed to RadarOnline, adding that Kardashian isn't at the deposition, as she chose not to be there.
"Kim's deposition will be taking place in the next ten days in Los Angeles, and Kris' lawyer, Lee Hutton, will go to California for it," explained the source.
The depositions for the Kardashian-Humphries divorce have finally begun, nearly eight months after Kim filed for divorce, ending their 72-day marriage, but the divorce proceedings are expected to get very ugly, very quickly.
Last week, it was reported that Kardashian's legal team had subpoenaed Myla Sinanaj --Kris Humphries' most recent girlfriend, of five months -- who allegedly has text messages and emails from the NBA player that could prove damaging to his fraud claims against Kim. It was also reported that Kris' lawyers were planning to fight fire with fire, and will issue subpoenas for Kim's current beau Kanye West, and ex-boyfriend Reggie Bush.
Now, new reports say Humphries' lawyers plan on dragging even Kanye West's ex-girlfriend Amber Rose into this mess, because she previously alleged that West and Kardashian got together years ago and cheated on their partners with each other.
According to RadarOnline, Humphries' lawyers are very interested in a January 2012 interview with Star magazine, in which Rose claimed that Kim was one of the main reasons why she and West were no longer together.
"She's a homewrecker," Rose told the magazine, adding that reality star was also in a committed relationship with NFL running back Reggie Bush at the time. "[Kanye and Kim] were both cheating. They were both cheating on me and Reggie with each other."
Though Rose apologized for calling Kardashian a homewrecker, a source told RadarOnline that Kris' legal team "will absolutely be issuing a subpoena for Amber Rose to be deposed because she has very relevant information and could contradict Kim's timeline about when she and Kanye West became romantically involved."
Related on HuffPost:
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
Scouts Canada didn't report abuse in at least 65 cases - CBC
A review of how Scouts Canada handled allegations of sexual abuse by its group leaders has found that dozens of cases reported to the organization were not passed on to the police.
Despite past assurances by Scouts Canada that it had informed police about "every record of abuse" within its ranks, the audit has found at least 65 instances where that did not happen.
Thirteen of those cases occurred after 1992, when the organization's policies changed to make it mandatory to report abuse. In a further 64 files, it was unclear whether information was shared with police, according to an independent review that the Scouts released Monday.
All those cases have now been reported to authorities, Scouts Canada assured.
Overall, Scouts Canada had auditing firm KPMG examine 486 records from 1947 to 2011 where adult scouting leaders were suspended or terminated on allegations of sexual misconduct against children and youth. The final tally found that in 328 cases, "authorities appear to have been aware of the situation before it came to the attention of Scouts."
Of the remaining 158 files, there is only evidence in 29 that the Scouts contacted authorities at the time.
CBC investigation prompted audit
Scouts Canada ordered the forensic review of its suspension and termination records following CBC's Fifth Estate investigation into how the organization dealt with past cases of sexual abuse.
Scouts Canada's chief commissioner, Steve Kent, said the review "found no systemic intent to cover up or hide incidents of abuse," though it did uncover cases where the youth organization did not handle incidents "with the rigour we would expect."
"Bad things happened in the past in many organizations. Scouts Canada, unfortunately, is no exception," Kent said. "We invested considerable time and money to ensure that no stone was left unturned."
Steve Kent, chief commissioner of Scouts Canada, says the organization did not handle incidents of abuse with 'the rigour we would expect.' (CBC )In response, lawyer Rob Talach of London, Ont., who has represented victims of childhood abuse, said the KPMG report was "simply a documentary review" and it would be "bold" to draw conclusions about whether there was a coverup.
"Motives, intent, the reasons behind doing things are often not extracted until you get to interview the players involved. Reviewing the documents and the information they contained isn’t a solid enough foundation to exonerate yourself as an institution," Talach said.
"I think the more shocking number is, if you look at the cases when the police didn’t come to the Scouts first, their rate of reporting when they were the first to learn is only about 18 per cent. That tells that there was a systemic or cultural or institutional-wide resistance to report."
Kent acknowledged that the rate of cases that went unreported to authorities is "not a number that I'm particularly happy with."
"Any instances where things were not reported to authorities in a timely fashion — any instances are unacceptable," he said Monday.
But he added that the lapses didn't stem from malice.
"We found examples of individuals being unsure of how to report abuse, or whether it was necessary to report. In some cases, an offence was thought to be inappropriate for a Scouts leader, but not necessarily criminal in nature, and therefore did not require reporting to authorities," Kent said.
"In other cases, particularly in earlier decades, a victim’s parents would not agree to report to the authorities."
The KPMG review also found that in 14 instances, someone who was kicked out of the Scouts for sexual misconduct was allowed to continue to partake in the organization's activities. Three of those cases occurred after the rules changed in 1992. KPMG blamed some of those errors on a failure to inscribe the expelled volunteers' names on a central list that Scouts maintained.
New policies
In conjunction with the forensic review, Scouts Canada unveiled an updated framework for child and youth protection on Monday. Elements include new policies on bullying, abuse reporting and screening of volunteers. The organization said one of the steps it will take is to flag anyone who doesn't complete its volunteer screening in its central database so that they can't partake in any scouting activities.
In 2011, The Fifth Estate, in a co-investigation with the Los Angeles Times, looked at Scouts Canada's controversial system for recording the names of pedophiles who had infiltrated its ranks and had been removed from the organization. It was known as the "confidential list." The investigation followed a public legal battle involving the Boy Scouts of America, which paid out millions in legal settlements.
CBC first reported in October 2011 that Scouts Canada signed out-of-court confidentiality agreements with more than a dozen child sex-abuse victims in recent years.
Two months later, Scouts Canada issued a blanket apology to former scouts who were sexually abused by leaders. It also said at the time that it had 350 confidential files that it turned over, not to police, but to KPMG for its forensic review. The organization subsequently found 136 more dossiers that it handed to KPMG.
However, the apology maintained "that every record of abuse has been handled properly and shared with police."
In February, Scouts Canada's Kent acknowledged that his organization did not report all allegations of sexual abuse to police in past decades, contrary to its previous denials.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, an Oregon court approved the release of so-called perversion files compiled by the Boy Scouts of America on suspected child molesters within the organization over two decades, giving the public its first chance to review the files on 1,200 people.
The files, gathered from 1965 to 1985, came to light when they were used as evidence in a landmark Oregon ruling in 2010 that the Boy Scouts of America had failed to protect a plaintiff who had been molested by an assistant scoutmaster in the early 1980s. The U.S. scouting organization was ordered to pay the man $18.5 million US.
If you have information on the KPMG report or any other part of this story, please contact investigations@cbc.ca
Source: www.cbc.ca
Kent Spitfires spring a leak as Royals cash in - Kent News
Kent Spitfires
Monday, June 25, 2012
9:29 AM
Blow to Kent’s t20 hopes - but big match tomorrow can put them back on track
Kent Spitfires got fans used to defeat ahead of England crashing out of Euro 2012 last night, when they slumped to a six-wicket defeat at home to the Hampshire Royals.
The Friends Life t20 win was the first of the campaign for the Royals, and sees the Spitfires slump to third after five games.
It came just two days after the Spitfires recorded a three-run win at the Ageas Bowl on Friday.
Kent had started by posting 130 in their 20 overs, with Darren Stevens whacking 60 off just 44 balls, but no-one weighed in alongside him, always leaving Kent with a mountain to climb.
And when Glenn Maxwell hit 66 from just 32 balls, the writing was on the wall.
Hampshire got home with nearly two overs to spare.
The Spitfires will be looking to bounce back with a win in what it expected to be a sell-out crowd at the St Lawrence tomorrow night for a floodlit t20 match against Middlesex.
Source: www.kentnews.co.uk
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