Investment Opportunities in Adelaide, South Australian Real Estate. Special Discount for Pakistanis
Ask for Subdivision & Development Tips for South Australian Properties
Thaqalain Mahdi
Tuesday, July 07, 2020
US Supreme Court deals blow to Keystone oil pipeline project
By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Jul 6, 2020 Updated 13 hrs ago
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court handed another setback to the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline from Canada on Monday by keeping in place a lower court ruling that blocked a key environmental permit for the project.
Canadian company TC Energy needs the permit to continue building the long-disputed pipeline across U.S. rivers and streams. Without it, the project that has been heavily promoted by President Donald Trump faces more delay just as work on it had finally begun this year following years of courtroom battles.
Monday's Supreme Court order also put on hold an earlier court ruling out of Montana as it pertains to other oil and gas pipelines across the nation.
That’s a sliver of good news for an industry that just suffered two other blows — Sunday's cancellation of the $8 billion Atlantic Coast gas pipeline in the Southeast and a Monday ruling that shut down the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota.
In the Keystone case, an April ruling from U.S. District Judge Brian Morris in Montana had threatened to delay not just Keystone but more than 70 pipeline projects across the U.S., and add as much as $2 billion in costs, according to industry representatives.
Morris agreed with environmentalists who contended a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction permit program was allowing companies to skirt responsibility for damage done to water bodies.
But the Trump administration and industry attorneys argued the permit, in place since the 1970s, was functioning properly when it was cancelled by Morris over concerns about endangered species being harmed during pipeline construction.
Monday's one-paragraph order did not provide any rationale for the high court's decision.
The corps suspended the program following Morris' April ruling. Agency officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
TC Energy spokesman Terry Cunha said the company is not giving up on Keystone, but it will have to delay large portions of the 1,200-mile (1,900-kilometer) oil sands pipeline. The company started construction last week on a 329-mile (530-kilometer) section of the line in Alberta. That work will continue while the company wages its court fight in the U.S., Cunha said.
An attorney for one of the environmental groups involved in the case called Monday's order a major victory in the fight against Keystone. But he acknowledged the plaintiffs had hoped to hamper oil and gas projects nationwide.
“Our focus was originally on Keystone, so we're very happy the court order ensures it can't move forward under this unlawful permit,” said Jared Margolis, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Pipeline industry representatives said the order means thousands of workers whose jobs were threatened can continue working. A coalition of 18 states had backed the Trump administration in the case.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the Supreme Court's action “ensures that one Montana district court judge doesn't possess the power to drive national policy on such a critical issue."
The order returns the case to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for further consideration.
Keystone was proposed in 2008 and would carry up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily to Nebraska, where it would be transferred to another TC Energy pipeline for shipment to refineries and export terminals on the Gulf of Mexico.
It was rejected twice under the Obama administration because of concerns that it could worsen climate change. Trump revived it and has been an outspoken proponent of the $8 billion project.
TC Energy’s surprise March 31 announcement that it intended to start construction amid a global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic came after the provincial government in Alberta invested $1.1 billion to jump-start the work.
The company finished building the first piece of Keystone XL across the U.S. border in late May and started work on labor camps in Montana and South Dakota.
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Government to pay back $721m as it scraps Robodebt for Centrelink welfare recipients
The Federal Government has announced it will refund $721 million worth of debts it clawed back through its controversial Robodebt scheme.
Key points:
Almost half a million debts will be waived or refunded by the Government
The computer-generated demands for payment will be refunded if they have already paid
The scheme began requiring additional proof last year
Services Australia said in a statement that 470,000 debts would be waived, with refunds to be rolled out from July.
"Refunds will also be made for any interest charges and/or recovery fees paid on related debts," Human Services Minister Stuart Robert said in a statement.
The decision comes after the Department of Human Services halted a key part of the scheme last year and said it would require additional proof before it used income averaging to identify over-payments.
The scheme saw hundreds of thousands of people issued with computer-generated debt notices.
Robodebt was the name given to an averaging process which saw data from the Australian Tax Office matched with income reported to Centrelink by welfare recipients.
But concerns were quickly raised that the process was faulty, sending out automated demands for payment from people who did not owe the Government any money.
Lawyers for people with the debts argued the system lacked human oversight, and said it reversed the burden of proof.
The decision comes after the Department of Human Services halted a key part of the scheme last year and said it would require additional proof before it used income averaging to identify over payments.
Australia’s Prosecutors Have Accused The Federal Government Of Inviting Crime Tourism
The prosecutors say a decision by the Department of Home Affairs would allow serious criminals to be deported rather than face Australia’s criminal justice system.
Hannah Ryan
by Hannah Ryan
BuzzFeed News Reporter, Australia
💬 Be one of the first to comment
Stefan Postles / Getty Images
Home affairs minister Peter Dutton.
Australia’s leading prosecutors have accused the Department of Home Affairs of making a decision that could let criminals escape punishment by leaving the country, in a letter sent to department secretary Mike Pezzullo.
The letter was signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in each of Australia’s states and territories, according to The Herald Sun.
Visa cancellations on character grounds under section 501 of the Migration Act have captured public attention, especially in light of the high numbers of New Zealanders being deported. Character-based visa cancellations usually follow a criminal conviction.
But there is an increasing trend where visas are cancelled before a trial takes place. That is possible under a different provision – section 116 – that allows the government to cancel a person’s visa when they are charged with a crime, before they are ever tried, convicted or sentenced.
The Migration Act lets the states and territories issue "criminal justice stay certificates", which is supposed to hit pause on any plans to deport someone who hasn’t finished their criminal justice process. But the DPPs said they had been told home affairs had decided that the certificate could be trumped by a separate section, section 198, compelling the government to deport “an unlawful non-citizen” who asks to be removed. That section says the deportation has to happen as soon as possible.
The department’s decision could have “far-reaching” consequences, the DPPs wrote. They cautioned that it meant “a non-citizen could circumvent the administration of justice – at any stage of that process – simply by requesting their removal” from Australia.
The DPPs suggested the decision could invite criminal tourism — people travelling to Australia “for the specific purpose of carrying out criminal offences, knowing that they would be effectively rendered immune from prosecution and the consequences of conviction by making a request for removal”.
It is not clear whether any criminal defendants have yet been deported before being convicted or sentenced. BuzzFeed News has approached each DPP for comment. At the time of publication, the DPPs in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria had declined to comment.
Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus criticised the government’s decision in an interview on ABC radio today, saying that “we’ve got to have trials taking place when people have committed offences here in Australia”.
“I think that the administration of our criminal justice system, making sure that people who’ve committed serious crimes in our country are ... charged and convicted and punished for their crimes, has got to take precedence over any idea [home affairs minister] Mr Dutton and his department may have.”
In the letter, the DPPs foreshadowed a potential legal challenge, writing that they “trust your department will change its view, to obviate the necessity of any challenge to that view.”
In an emailed statement, the Department of Home Affairs confirmed that Pezzullo had received the letter, but did not respond to questions about his response, or whether anyone had been deported ahead of a trial.
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Hijab House crash driver arrested for a second time, charged over incident that left 14 injured
Hijab shop crash driver denied bail
A 51-year-old man whose station wagon crashed into a hijab store in Sydney's western suburbs has been denied bail on Saturday. Photo: AAP
The man who crashed into a western Sydney hijab shop will remain behind bars after facing court on Saturday on a string of driving offences.
Sydney driver released after crash into hijab shop
Sabry Moustafa Nassar, 51, applied for bail when he appeared in Parramatta Bail Court but was successfully opposed by police prosecutors because of the risk to the community and fears of a repeat incident.
The court heard the crash was similar to an incident at Lakemba earlier in the year for which he has also been charged.
Magistrate Holly Kemp said there were elements of “predatory or deliberate behaviour” in that offence which occurred in January.
“The material before me concerns, in my view, two similar incidents over a short period of time and represents a serious example in this alleged offence,” Magistrate Kemp said.
She added no bail conditions would mitigate her fear for the community or concerns Mr Nassar could reoffend.
Nassar’s lawyer Mostafa Daoudie told the court his client was unconscious during the Greenacre incident and denied he deliberately drove into the store.
Nassar is facing a maximum possible jail term of two years and Mr Daoudie said that due to court delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, time in custody would be likely to outweigh any sentence.
Nassar was re-arrested on Friday and charged with a number of offences relating to Thursday’s crash which injured 14 people.
He has been charged with driving furiously in a motor vehicle causing bodily harm, reckless driving, negligent driving, proceeding through a red traffic light and failing to notify authorities of a change of residential address.
Mr Nassar has also been charged with driving recklessly and not giving his details to another driver in relation to a separate traffic incident at Lakemba on January 14.
Ten people were hospitalised and at least two people suffered broken bones when Mr Nassar’s Mitsubishi SUV crashed through the front door of Hijab House at Greenacre on Thursday afternoon.
CCTV footage seen by AAP shows the wagon initially stopped in the left lane 30 metres before the traffic lights at the intersection of Boronia and Waterloo Roads with other cars moving around it.
Play Video
When it takes off, it rear-ends a white sedan, causing a series of minor collisions between other cars waiting at the traffic lights.
Smoke can be seen billowing into the air as the wagon’s wheels spin for at least 20 seconds behind the white sedan.
The sedan is eventually pushed around the corner and the SUV continues through the intersection and ploughs into the store.
Mr Nassar was conscious when arrested and was taken to hospital for testing under police guard.
After being interviewed at Bankstown Police Station, Mr Nassar was released without charge, before being re-arrested at a Greenacre home on Friday night.
-AAP
=============
The man allegedly behind the wheel of a car that sped into a shop in Sydney's west has been charged.
The 51-year-old was taken to hospital in handcuffs on Thursday after his Mitsubishi SUV crashed into a clothing store in Greenacre just after 3pm.
He was initially questioned and released before being arrested again on Friday.
All but one of the injured pedestrians have been discharged from hospital following the crash on Thursday night at Greenacre. (Nine News)
NSW Police said tonight he had been charged with driving furiously in a motor vehicle to do or cause bodily harm, driving recklessly or furiously or at speed or in a manner that is dangerous, negligent driving, proceeding through a red traffic light, and failing to notify an authority of a change of address.
He was also charged over an unrelated traffic incident in Lakemba on January 14 with driving recklessly or furiously or at speed or in a manner that is dangerous, and not giving particulars to another driver.
He has been refused bail and is set to face Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.
A crime scene was established after 12 people were injured in the Greenacre incident. (9News)
Fourteen people were injured in the crash, including 10 who were taken to hospital.
RELATED
Three men killed after car hits tree and catches fire in 'tragic and horrific' accident north-west of Brisbane
Hijab House crash: Teenage girl in hospital and driver released after car slammed into Sydney shop, injuring 14
Elderly man hospitalised after car crashes at McDonald's Clayton South in Melbourne
A 13-year-old girl remains in hospital in a stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.
The owner of Hijab House said he first heard about the incident on social media and immediately thought the worst.
"I thought initially that somebody was killed because of the scenes I saw online," Tarik Houcher told 9News.
"We had staff members behind that counter, we had two staff members as well as customers in front of it so to me it was a miracle people survived, let along escaped with no scratches."
Hijab House Greenacre split
Dozens of emergency crew rushed to the scene of the crash, on the corner of Juno Parade and Waterloo Road in Greenacre. (Supplied)
Mr Houcher said the shop had been targeted many times in the past, and he hoped this latest incident was simply an accident.
"Obviously with Hijab House we've been the victims of many racially motivated attacks in the past, we've dealt with this many time, being such a visible Islamic brand, so one can never really let go of any doubt," he said.
His sister, who works in the store, is one of those injured and recovering in hospital.
"I know that every time there's a loud sound my sister is reacting quite strongly to it and so we have to just make sure that she's looked after and that we get through this," Mr Houcher said.
Friday, May 01, 2020
Regulatory Filing Services
In addition to press release distribution services, we also offer solutions to help properly format your financial information for accurate filings, and help listed companies in the US, Canada and Europe meet disclosure requirements mandated by regulatory agencies in their respective regions, including:
EDGAR Filings (US)
SEDAR Filings (Canada)
XBRL
European Transparency (Europe)
COMPREHENSIVE EDGAR FILING SERVICES
EDGAR Direct
Using the 8-K or 6-K forms, this services automatically sends your filings to EDGAR. Our flat-rate pricing also makes this our most cost-effective solution.
EDGAR Complete
Using any SEC form type, including 10-Q, 10-K, 20-F, as well as special purpose (non-press release) 8-K and 6-K filings, this services automatically send your filings to EDGAR and include a conversion service.
Section 16
We’ll prepare the filing and send you a URL where you can view it online, and submit it to the SEC on your behalf. All you have to do is prepare and send us your standard Section 16 filing (form 3, 4 or 5).
SEDAR FILINGS
We can help you file your documents to the Canadian System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR).
XBRL CONVERSIONS
To satisfy SEC compliance, we can convert all of your necessary information to the XBRL format, which is the global standard for exchanging business information.
EUROPEAN TRANSPARENCY
Complete with multi-language support, we can help you implement all filing requirements to satisfy European Commission compliance. Our distribution services offer an extensive package for listed companies completed with customized distribution options for listed companies in the Nordic and Baltic regions.
With 500,000 end-users, our Market Data feed delivers your information to key media and data vendors, including Reuters and Bloomberg. Our feed is internet independent making it reliable with low latency, and accessible to key trading and media platforms.
This self-service solution is one-of-a-kind with support in local Nordic or Baltic languages.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
