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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Boeing Engineers Just Came Up With a New Supersonic Airliner [Airplanes]
Long lines, waits hit Heathrow travelers ahead of Olympics
At London's Heathrow Airport, the corporate slogan is "Making Every Journey Better". An experienced Border Agency immigration worker says waits of up to three hours have left staff facing public order problems. Channel 4 Europe's Andy Davies reports.
By Stephanie Gosk, NBC News
There is a very big problem at London's Heathrow Airport. Planes land but it sometimes takes hours of waiting in line before travelers are let in.?
On April 22, I arrived from New York City to complete chaos. It was a Sunday morning at around 6:30 a.m. and I was tired after a seven-hour flight.
A crush of humanity greeted me in the immigration hall. Lines didn't just wind around, they stretched back outside the waiting area down into unknown, never-before-seen corridors. Travelers wore looks of shock, horror and fury depending on how much time they had already logged waiting.?
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There were people who had traveled long distances, already exhausting their patience during the journey, and others who had traveled just a short distance ? Heathrow is?less than a three-hour flight from Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt and other major European cities. Most of the latter group would end up spending more time in line as they did on a plane.
Long immigration lines are often a part of international travel, but rarely, if ever, like this. In the last several months, the system at Heathrow, with alarming regularity, has come undone.?
The problem is so grave that London?s mayor, the outspoken Boris Johnson, on Sunday wrote a letter to Theresa May, the secretary of the Home Office, the UK?s equivalent to the Department of Homeland Security.
Oda / Getty Images
From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
He did not mince his words.??It is quite clear that because of problems at the UK Border, London and the UK?s reputation as a welcoming city in which to do business or travel are at stake," Johnson said, according to the copy of the letter given to NBC News.?
Hanging over the debate is the London 2012 Olympics. If Heathrow is having a hard time coping with run-of-the-mill travel numbers ? more than 69 million people moved through the airport in 2011 ? what will officials do when a large portion of the estimated millions of people expected to descend on the city try to cram themselves through ahead of the Games?
UK border patrol says British citizens as well those from the European Union have a target waiting time of 25 minutes and foreign nationals will wait 45 minutes. But over the last few months there have been numerous delays well over those targets.
Over the weekend the head of UK's Border Force, Brian Moore, responded to complaints and seemed to dismiss the severity of the problem.
Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
From Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square, the venerable old town oozes history and Dickens.
"Despite what you are hearing for the moment we are doing a really, really good job at achieving [target waiting times]. We don?t always get it right and occasionally there are disruptions to passengers for lots of reasons,? he said on British television.?
For example, Moore said unpredictable ?flight bunching? sometimes causes a deluge of passengers. At other times people ?aren?t presented to the right immigration desk.?
However, in Monday's?Daily Telegraph,?there were reports that the Home Office was actively trying to cover up the problem. ?Marc Owen, director of the UK Border Agency, contacted BAA, the company that operates Heathrow, and instructed them not to hand out leaflets directing complaints to the Border Agency, the Telegraph reported.
?The leaflet is not all right with us.? It is both inflammatory and likely to increase tensions in our arrival halls,? the newspaper quoted him as saying.?
BAA's press office declined to comment on the leaflets, but they did say this in a statement: ?Immigration is a matter for the home office. Immigration waiting times during peak periods at Heathrow recently have been unacceptable.??The press agent then offered to give me the Home Office?s number ? just in case I needed it.
In three months the world descends upon this city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Border Agency insists that staffing will be increased to handle the millions of people visiting the UK during that time.? Hopefully, it works.?
London?s image is on the line. It would be a real shame if it was tarnished before anyone even got through the door.
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Tuesday, May 1, 2012
UK: BP Reports Q1 Results>> LNG World News
BP today reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2012.
Underlying replacement cost profit, adjusted for non-operating items and fair value accounting effects, was $4.8 billion for the quarter, compared to $5.0 billion in the previous quarter. The quarter?s result was impacted adversely by a $541 million consolidation adjustment in respect of unrealised profits in inventory held within the downstream business.
The company also said that it is making good progress towards the operational milestones that it expects to meet in 2012 ? advancing the development of major new projects, continuing to gain promising new exploration access, and continuing its $38 billion divestment programme.
Group chief executive Bob Dudley said: ?We have made a good start against our strategic priorities for 2012. During the quarter we gained access to significant new deepwater and US shale exploration acreage, our ongoing divestment programme has reached $23 billion, and we have five deepwater rigs at work in the Gulf of Mexico. This operational progress will underpin the financial momentum we expect to come through as we move into 2013 and 2014.?
Operating cash flow for the quarter was $3.4 billion, compared to $2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2011. The net cash outflow relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was $1.2 billion for the quarter compared to $2.8 billion a year earlier. The quarter?s cash flow was adversely affected by an increase of around $3 billion in net working capital as inventory levels and prices increased. At the end of the quarter, gearing was 20.7 per cent and BP held just over $14 billion in cash. The company today announced a dividend of 8c per share for the first quarter of 2012.
Underlying replacement cost profit in the upstream improved compared to the previous quarter, due to the better environment, a higher contribution from gas marketing and trading and lower costs.
BP reported oil and gas production, excluding TNK-BP, in the first quarter of 2.45 million barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d). Reported production in the second quarter is expected to be lower, affected by the normal seasonal increase in turnaround activity. TNK-BP production was 1.02 million boe/d net to BP and in the quarter BP received a cash dividend from TNK-BP of $690 million.
Despite a challenging external environment, all three downstream businesses ? fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals ? delivered higher underlying replacement cost profits than in the previous quarter.
LNG World News Staff, May 1, 2012
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Monday, April 30, 2012
Marketplace For Customized Goods CustomMade Raises $4M From Google Ventures And Others
CustomMade , an online marketplace that connects shoppers with artisans to make customized goods, has raised $4 million in funding co-led by Google Ventures and Schooner Capital. Existing investors Launch Capital, Nextview Ventures, Andrew McCollum and First Round Capital all participated in the round. This brings CustomMade's total funding to $6 million. CustomMade allows customers who want to make custom products like jewelry and furniture post project proposals. The startup has built a community of makers that can browse through projects and assign themselves to ones they are suited to. Makers can sign up for and build profiles on the site, which allows customers to browse through their portfolios.lee corso lee corso thanksgiving appetizers greg jennings thanksgiving recipes thanksgiving recipes mashed potato recipe
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