ITT awarded $22 million Indian contract
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 02:54
Lily Wang
ITT Corp., a White Plains-based maker of water treatment systems, said that it has been awarded a $22 million contract to provide water pumps for two major irrigation systems in India. The project, in the Andhra Pradesh region of India, will irrigate more than 250,000 acres of farmland. ITT will also supervise the installation of the systems. The expected delivery date is late 2010. “Andhra Pradesh is known as the ‘Rice Bowl of India’ and these projects enable us to make a vital contribution by bringing water where it is needed and growing Indian agricultural production,” said Sam Yamdagni, managing director of ITT India. For more than a decade, ITT has been a supplier of water and industrial pumps in India. The company also supplies shock absorbers for Indian Railways and components used in India’s space program, including the country’s first moon mission.
INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-Hyflux sees water industry consolidation
Monday, 02 March 2009 04:25
Lily
SINGAPORE, Feb 25 - Singapore water treatment firm Hyflux <HYFL.SI> said on Wednesday sales of industrial products were likely to be flat to negative this year, but it saw no cancellations in its S$1.15 billion orderbook for water plants. Hyflux, which reported net profit up 79 percent for 2008, said it expected the financial crisis to lead to consolidation in the sector but still saw positive long-term growth for its main business of water treatment and desalination plants. "This crisis might give rise to fewer companies, which can be by natural attrition -- survival of the fittest -- or mergers and acquisitions," said Chief Financial Officer Sam Ong in a Reuters interview, adding the firm had no plans for acquisitions. "We are not worried about order cancellations at all -- we see them holding steady because of the basic requirement of water in poor infrastructure countries," he said. Singapore's oil rig builders and shipbuilders such as Keppel Corp <KPLM.SI> and Cosco Corp <COSC.SI> have been hit by order cancellations in recent months, driving down their stock prices and leading to analyst concerns over their outlook. The majority of Hyflux's orderbook is for municipal water treatment plants in China and Algeria, where he said government spending was more reliable than in the private sector. "Being in these two countries for the next 15 years is enough," Ong said, added China's 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan was expected to boost the sector. "Our recurring revenue is going to be stacking up nicely in the future." The firm builds and operates the plants and also transfers assets to its listed water trust <HYWT.SI>. It is targeting desalination in North Africa where he said "national piggy banks" were full from oil revenues, though Ong declined to give specifics on possible contracts. Hyflux, which has a market cap of $563 million, competes with firms such as General Electric <GE.N>, France's Veolia <VIE.PA> and Japan's Mitsui <8031.T> for water treatment projects. The firm also sells membranes for treating liquids to industrial firms in sectors such as beverages, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals. These sales dropped 25 percent in 2008 and accounted for 14 percent of revenue. "There would be chances that they would be flat to negative from 2008 -- we want to be conservative -- the most likely scenario for industrial sales will be a flat year," Ong said. "This year is a challenging year for industrial sales... because of certain shocks, capital expenditures for improving plants are simply going to be postponed," he added. The firm's shares fell 4.3 percent on Wednesday, underperforming a flat benchmark Singapore index <.FTSTI>, and the stock is down around 12 percent so far this year.
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Water, air pollution in China still serious
Wednesday, 25 February 2009 02:11
Lily Wang
SHANGHAI, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Lakes, rivers and the air in many places in China are still polluted, some seriously, in spite of continuous efforts to control pollution, a Chinese environmental official said Tuesday. Zhang Lijun, deputy minister of environmental protection, said environmental protection departments across the country should press enterprises harder on pollution control. "The general situation of environmental pollution does not allow us to be optimistic," Zhang told a national meeting on pollution control in Shanghai. "The fundamental way to overcome this is to continue to press enterprises to reduce pollution emission through technology and management," he said. For monitoring particulate matter and sulfur dioxide as major air pollutants, the China Environmental Monitoring Center classifies air quality in urban areas into five levels, ranging from level I or excellent, level III or slightly polluted, to level V or hazardous. A national report on China's environment, issued by the ministry on November last year, said among some 320 cities of prefecture level and above, air quality of 39.5 percent of the cities averaged at level III or lower. China also classifies water quality in major rivers and lakes into six levels, ranging from level I, which is good enough to be used as the source of drinking water, to level VI which is too polluted to be used even for farm irrigation. The quality of the water sampled in almost one fourth of the monitoring stations set up along major rivers such as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River averaged at level VI, according to the document. Pollution in 28 major lakes, such as the Taihu Lake and the Dianchi Lake, remained serious, with the quality of almost 40 percent of the water was at level VI. Waters in urban regions were also facing serious pollution, with 90 percent of river water and half of underground water polluted. Zhang Lijun said China invested 51 billion yuan (7.46 billion U.S. dollars) by September last year into 2,712 water treatment projects, 881 of which are now operational. These projects, scattered along five rivers, two lakes, and in reservoir areas of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, aim to reduce the emission of chemical oxygen demand (COD), a measure for water pollution, into the water.
Kinue Tokudome: Waterboarding ...
Sunday, 01 February 2009 09:37
Lily
[Kinue Tokudome is Executive Director of the US-Japan Dialogue on POWs. This is a revised version of an article that she wrote for Gunshuku Mondai Shiryo (Materials on Problems of Disarmament).] "If you look at the history of the use of that technique used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes, we prosecuted our own soldiers in Vietnam, I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture." The above statement made by Eric Holder during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General marked a clean break from the policy of the Bush administration on “waterboarding,” the interrogation technique used by the CIA on at least three Al-Qaida suspects, and on the general issue of the use of torture in US interrogation. If the Japanese people were surprised to see their country grouped together with the Khmer Rouge, medieval torturers who brutally persecuted heretics, and US soldiers during the Vietnam War, some of whom were court-martialed, [3] they should not have been. In the past few years, waterboarding by the Japanese military has often been mentioned in the discussion on this topic in Congress, the media, and among those who had unforgettable memories of experiencing it and witnessing it. Senator Ted Kennedy, in opposing the confirmation of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General, made the following statement on the Senate floor on November 8, 2007. It is illegal under the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit “outrages upon personal dignity,'' including cruel, humiliating, and degrading treatment. It is illegal under the Torture Act, which prohibits acts “specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering.'' It is illegal under the Detainee Treatment Act, which prohibits “cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment,'' and it violates the Constitution. The Nation's top military lawyers and legal experts across the political spectrum have condemned waterboarding as illegal. After World War II, the United States prosecuted Japanese officers for using waterboarding. What more does this nominee need to enforce existing laws? Senator and presidential candidate John McCain mentioned waterboarding by the Japanese during his appearance in CBS’ “60 Minutes” on March 9, 2008. He answered when he was asked if “waterboarding” was torture: Sure. Yes. Without a doubt…We prosecuted Japanese war criminals after World War II. And one of the charges brought against them, for which they were convicted, was that they water-boarded Americans. Some powerful reports on waterboarding by the Japanese military appeared in major newspapers. Evan Wallach, a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, wrote an opinion piece, “Waterboarding Used to Be a Crime,” that was published in the Washington Post on November 4, 2007: After Japan surrendered, the United States organized and participated in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, generally called the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. Leading members of Japan's military and government elite were charged, among their many other crimes, with torturing Allied military personnel and civilians. The principal proof upon which their torture convictions were based was conduct that we would now call waterboarding. Judge Wallach quoted the testimony of a victim: They laid me out on a stretcher and strapped me on. The stretcher was then stood on end with my head almost touching the floor and my feet in the air. . . . They then began pouring water over my face and at times it was almost impossible for me to breathe without sucking in water. [6] Former British POW of the Japanese, Eric Lomax, who was waterboarded by the Japanese military police, the Kempeitai, during World War II, wrote about his ordeal for the Times of London on March 4, 2008. A lieutenant in the Royal Signals, Lomax was caught with his fellow POWs and interrogated about their secretly assembled radio. The whole operation was a long and agonising sequence of near-drowning, choking, vomiting and muscular struggling with the water flowing with ever-changing force. . . . How long the torture lasted, I do not know. It covered a period of some days, with periods of unconsciousness and semi-consciousness. Eventually I was dumped in my cell, which was so small it offered little scope for movement. At about this time two of my colleagues were beaten to death. Their bodies were dumped in a latrine where they may well remain to this day. [7] Gustavo Ingles was tortured mercilessly by the Japanese military when he was captured as a guerrilla in the Philippines. In 1992, he published a book entitled, “Memoirs of Pain”, where he described various types of waterboarding, including ones he was subjected to. [8] Illustrations of waterboarding he received and witnessed were included in his book. The experience of witnessing waterboarding also remains etched in the memories of those who saw it firsthand. Lester Tenney, a Bataan Death March survivor, wrote in his memoir, My Hitch in Hell, about witnessing his fellow American soldier waterboarded while he himself was being tortured. It happened after Tenney was recaptured by the Japanese soldiers following his escape from Camp O’Donnell and a brief stay with guerrillas. The Japanese wanted to extract information about the guerrillas from Tenney. For what seemed like an eternity, I just stood and waited for them to say something. At last the commander gave the interpreter instruction. A few minutes later, a guard came into the room, raised his rifle, flipped it around so that the stock of the gun was facing me, and with one swift movement hit me with the butt squarely in the face. With one fell swoop, I started to bleed from each and every part of my face. I knew that my nose was broken, that a few teeth were missing, and that it hurt like hell. Blood was gushing down my shirt to my pants. Everything was getting wet from the flowing blood. All the while the Japanese were having themselves a good laugh. I guess I was truly the butt of the joke. While I was trying to straighten up, one of the guards hit me across the back with a piece of bamboo filled with dirt or gravel, and once again I fell to my knees. I got up as fast as I was able and stood at attention in front of the guards. I was left standing there for about an hour, then three guards came in and dragged me out to the parade ground, which had been the playground of the school. Once outside, I saw they had another American spread-eagled on a large board. His head was about ten inches lower than his feet, and his arms and feet were outstretched and tied to the board. A Japanese soldier was holding the American’s nose closed while another soldier poured what I later found out was salt water from a tea kettle into the prisoner’s mouth. In a minute or two, the American started coughing and throwing up water. The Japanese were simulating a drowning situation while the victim was on land. Every few seconds an officer would lean over and ask the prisoner a question. If he did not receive an immediate answer he would order that more water be forced into the prisoner’s mouth. I could not believe my eyes. Torture of this nature was something I had read about in history books. It was used during the medieval times, certainly not in the twentieth century. My God, I wondered, what is in store for me? [9] Walter Riley was 12 years old when he witnessed waterboarding. He saw it through a hole in the fence surrounding Santo Thomas University in Manila that was converted into a civilian internees’ camp by the Japanese military during World War II. More than 4,000 civilians from the United States and other Western countries, including many children, endured more than three years of internment under harsh conditions. Walter recently wrote to this author: One day late in 1944, some of us kids were crawling through the weeds in the field between the gym and the front gate. The weeds were so tall we were able to crawl right up to the fence without being seen. I looked through a hole in the fence and saw a young Filipino man tied in a chair with a water hose in his mouth. I got to see the "water cure" up close. Somehow, I was able to keep from making any noise and quickly crawled away from the fence. I can still see the water coming out of the Filipino's mouth when the soldier hit him in the stomach. Some things are hard to forget. On his second day in office, President Obama kept his campaign promise to undo many of the previous administration’s contentious policies on war on terror. He ordered that the prison at Guantanamo Bay be closed within a year and that detainees be treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventiosn. The United States, he pledged, would prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism “in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals." While heated discussion of waterboarding was taking place in the US and around the world, Japan remained largely silent. The mainstream media reported on the debate in the United States, but did not report that their country’s history of waterboarding was often mentioned outside of Japan in this discussion. But didn’t the world expect Japan to contribute to the discussion by providing insight based on reflection on the nation’s past behavior? It is not easy for any nation to revisit its dark history. But the Japanese people should note that waterboarding by the Japanese was not the only example mentioned in this discussion. Americans recalled and criticized examples of waterboarding by US troops in the Philippines-American War of 1898-1902 and by US soldiers during the Vietnam War. The point of such discussions is not to condemn past behavior for its own sake, but to learn from the past so as to find appropriate ways for nations to protect their people from contemporary threats while hewing to their highest principles. [10] Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, under vigorous questioning in the Diet, recently admitted that 300 Allied POWs (101 British prisoners, 197 Australians and two Dutch) had worked at his family coalmine during World War II. [11] Japanese Foreign Minister Nakasone Hirofumi also made this statement in the Diet about the Geneva Convention which prohibits torture: I believe it is very meaningful to join such major agreements of international humanitarian law from the standpoint of both promoting the development of international humanitarian law as well as gaining greater trust in Japan in the international community.[12] There were nearly 130 POW camps throughout Japan during World War II with some 30,000 Allied POWs who did forced labor under appalling conditions in mines, docks, and factories owned by companies such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi. More than 3,000 POWs died on Japanese soil. The Prime Minister has not yet acknowledged that the POWs at Aso Mining were forced to work, much less that they were abused. But testimonies of former POWs who worked at Aso Mining paint a grim picture of the conditions under which they were placed. [13] The waterboarding that Senator Kennedy mentioned during the debate on the Senate floor took place at Fukuoka POW camp # 3, not too far from Fukuoka POW camp #26 where POWs worked for Aso Mining. POWs held in Japan were forced laborers and they were subjected to abuse and even torture such as waterboarding. There were also tens of thousands of forced laborers from the Korean Peninsula and China who were often subjected to even harsher treatment than Allied POWs. Only after the Japanese government acknowledges these historical facts, and both government and corporations take steps to apologize and solve the issues of compensation, will the statement by Foreign Minister Nakasone on the Geneva Convention become convincing. It is also essential for the Japanese business community to make a clean break from its World War II history of using forced laborers. [14] Their German counterpart has already set an example. The international community expects no less from Japan. [15] Although their memories of waterboarding are painful, some individuals are making efforts to make sense out of their experience and to come to terms with it. Former POW Eric Lomax forgave Nagase Takashi, who was the interpreter while he was waterboarded. He also met with Komai Osamu, the son of the Japanese officer who ordered the torture of Lomax and who was executed after the war as a war criminal. When Komai traveled to England and apologized for his father’s action, Lomax thanked him for traveling far to meet him and said, “It is extremely rare for a victim of war like myself to be able to receive this kind of guest. I am very happy that you came.” Lester Tenney visited Japan in spring 2008 and shared his POW experience with many young people there. He also asked the Japanese government and companies to acknowledge their abuse of POWs during World War II, apologize for it, and offer a reconciliation project such as inviting former POWs and their families to Japan. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the last revision of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. It is also the United Nation’s Year of International Reconciliation. It is hoped that it will be a year for Japan to find a moral voice. Japan can do so by facing the past squarely, achieving reconciliation with former victims, and winning the trust of the International community.
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