text:
EU Member Cyprus' Energy v. Turkey's GunBoats point also at European Defence Future
*Strasbourg/Angelo Marcopolo/- Will the EU let Turkey's GunBoat Bullying against International Law Deprive it from the Only New and Growing Oil/Gas Findings in European Territory and/or Directly Linked to Europe and well beyond ?
Today's EU-27 Summit's Reply reads as a Crystal-clear "NO !" :
>>> Europe wants to Protect Both its Natural Resources contained at its Member States' areas, as well as the relevant EU and International Legality, according to the Conclusions just presented by EU President (former Prime Minister of Poland) Donald Tusk :
- The 27 EU Heads of State/Government slamed "Turkey's illegal Violations in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Aegean" Seas, which are "actions (that) Contradict Turkey's Commitment to Good Neighbourly Relations and their Normalisation with all (EU) Member States", as Tusk reminded, "Urgently Call(ing) on Turkey to Terminate those activities".
- "All the EU (27) Leaders ... Express(ed) Solidarity with Cyprus and Greece", as well as "Reiterate(d) our Support for the Sovereign Right of the Republic of Cyprus to Explore and Exploit its Natural Resources", President Tusk addded in particular.
- This (Cyprus' Oil/Gas Drilling inside its EEZ) is done "in accordance with EU and International Law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea", EU Confirmed anew.
=> In Consequence, President Tusk Warned Ankara about relevant "Conditions" on "Hold(ing or not) the (EU) Leaders' Meeting with Turkey in Varna (Bulgaria, current EU Chairman) on 26 March". - "We (EU) are Ready to cooperate with Turkey" on "Assess(ing) Whether the(se) Conditions are there", (or not yet), "at our (EU's) March (22-23) European Council", (i.e. 3-4 Days Before).
Given the Fact tha Turkey's latest, provocative "Navtex" which ProLonged the Military Blockade of Cyprus EEZ's relevant Area, will Expire on March 10, in consequence, it leaves enough Time in order to Judge, on March 22-23, whether the European Ship's Drilling for Italy's ENI and France's TOTAL Companies, (which was Brutally Obstructed by 5 Turkish GunBoats until now) might, eventually, Proceed at least then, EU Officials explained to the Press, inter alia.
This includes also the Heavy Damages provoked to a Greek Ship, Brutally hit by a Turkish one, at the Aegean Sea, meanwhile.
But, it does Not seem to be No Real Change in View, to Judge by several Reactions from Turkey's Officials, who reportedly vowed to "Persist", and from Ankara's Cronies (many illegally Imported as Settlers) at the Occupied Territories of Cyprus, Controlled by the Turkish Army since the Military Invasion of 1974, who reportedly Claimed that Cyprus' Government would Not be able to Exploit its Natural Resources withOut previously obtaining also Their "Authorisation" (sic !)...
I.e., Not Satisfied by having, Already, illegally Usurpated, and still Abusively Exploiting until Now, the Family Homes and other Private Properties of Hundreds of Thousands of Greek Cypriot Refugee/Displaced People (+20% of the Total Population of the Country), Fleeing the 1974 Military Invasion by Ankara's Army, and, since then, illegally Hindering the Return of the Lawfull Owners, and their Access to - or Control of - their Belongings and Ancestral Land, still until Nowadays, (Despite a well esbalishd ECHR's case-Law, which has Repeatedy Condemned Turkey for such Massive Violations of Human Rights), Today they Seek Even to Deprive their Victims Also from their Elementary Right to Try, at least, to Explore and Exploit the eventual Natural Resources of that Part of the Island that was Left to them !
=> Therefore, the Obvious Question, particularly in front of Ankara's Brutal Violence, is whether, and at what Level, EU will Really Press Turkey to Respect its Decisions and the International Law, in real Practice and Timely enough.
For this purpose, the 27 EU Heads of State/Government already pointed, Today, to an eventual Cancellation of the forthcoming EU - Turkey Summit, scheduled in Varna (Bulgaria) on March 26, by Warning that they would re-examine the existence or absence of certain "Conditions", during their Brussels' EU Summit, on March 22 - 23, as they Warned Turkey while Criticizing the recent Incidents in Cyprus' EEZ, (but also Other Turkish Military Provocations against Greece at the Aegean Sea), as we've already seen above.
+>>> But, In Fact, this Opposition, Nowadays, between "Cyprus' Energy versus Turkey's GunBoats", is a Timely Challenge for the Development of a real common European Defence policy asap., since it might be the Only Efficient Way to Ensure Turkey's Respect of such EU Decisions...
Indeed, this EU 27 Heads of State/Government Summit in Brussels, Topically Focused on several Issues linked to Europe's forseable Future, was called, also by the Latest Events, to Reply also to that crucial now Question, which concerns, in fact, not just EU's Economy, but also its recently unfolding Defence policy.
EU Commission's vice-President in charge of Energy, Maros Cefcovic, had spoken to "Eurofora" in Brussels on 2017 about Good Prospects to find, around EU Member Cyprus, "a 2nd Norway", (See : ...), in reference to the Nothern Sea Oil/Gas Fields, discovered since the Late 1990'ies, but notoriously Declining since about 2010 (See Infra), so that this New, Probable European "Eldorado", at the South-Eastern Mediterranean Sea, appeared as a Unique and Timely Chance to Boost EU's Economy with fresh Energy sources Nowadays.
And this, indeed, looks, Now, very Probable, if not already certain, since Cyprus' December 2011 initial Findings at "Aphrodite" Gas Field, made shortly after Neighbouring Israel's own Findings at "Leviathan" Gas Field, nearby, on December 2010, were Followed by Neighbouring Egypt's Findings at "Zhor"'s adjacent Oil/Gas Fields also adjacent to Cyprus' EEZ on 2015, to which was Recently Added the "Calypso" New Gas Field in Cypus at the Beginning of 2018.
With the Participation, mainly of USA's "NOBLE ENERGY" Company (Texas) and Israel's "DELEK",, as well as Europe's "ENI", "TOTAL" and "SHELL", (Italy, France and the Netherlands), due to be Soon Followed also by USA's "EXXON-Mobil", as well as of South Korea's "KOGAS" (etc), at another part of the Island, Soon, (see Infra).
Meanwhile, EU Commission had already started to Support these moves, particularly by Backing an ambitious UnderSea Pipeline ("East-MED"), due to Link the New Energy Findings, from Cyprus' EEZ Directly into EU's Industrial Center, via Greece and Italy. To this was Added also an undersea Electricity Cable Project ("Asia InterConnector" : Latest EU Decision taken on December 2017), able to include Electricity produced by Gas. As well as, in Parallel, possible NLG Ship Transports, also towards France's PACA Region, Spain, Croatia, etc., already equiped with NLG infrastructures. All these 3 possibilities of Energy Transport from EU Member Cyprus' surrounding area, are DIRECTLY Heading towards EU's Core, (withOut being obliged to previoulsy Criss-cross through any Foreign, Non European Country).
So that the Experienced, and recently Re-Elected brillantly, President of Cyprus, Nikos Anastassiades, (a ChristianDemocrat/EPP), had Timely Announced, from the Beginning of this New Year 2018, that it was due to be Marked particularly by imminent Developments in the area of Energy.
But, suddenly .. "Patatrak" : On February 2018 Turkey sends Five (5) WarShips to Block the Italian ENI's Drilling Ship SAIPEM's Access to its Destination : plot Number 3, located inside Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone, (the precise Delimitation of which has been already Agreed by Cyprus, officially, with all 3 Neighbouring Countries : Egypt, Israel and Lebanon, already between 2003 - 2010).
+ As Revealed afterwards also a Transcript published by a Turkish Newspaper, inter alia, a Crash between the Peaceful, Civilian Italian Drilling Ship and one of the 5 Turkish Military WarBoats which were Bullying around it, was Avoided only at the very Last Minute, when, (after the Turkish Warship insisted to Block the way of the Civilian Ship, heading right towards its scheduled course), it's the European Drilling Ship from Italy which was Obliged to make an U-Turn, in order to Avoid an otherwise Dramatic Collision, (UPDATED).
ENI Company's CEO protested, (in statements to the Press made at Neighbouring Egypt), that he was Surprized to see Turkey violently block an Area undeniably belonging to EU Member Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone, but, initially, it was Decided to Keep the Drilling Ship at a Safe Distance, and Start various Diplomatic Moves at the European and International level, while also Waiting for the Expiration Date of a provocative Turkey's "Navtex" message, which Claimed to Block that Area until February 22, (i.e. the Eve of EU-27's Brussels Summit).
++ However, Despite open Criticism, inter alia, also by the Presidents of EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker himself (former Long-Time Prime Minister of Luxembourg) and his Spokeswoman, as well as of EU Parliament, Antonio Tajani (former Foreign Minister of Italy), etc., Turkey not only did Not Stop its Brutal Obstruction inside Cyprus' EEZ at its Southern Sea-Coasts, but even Decided to Extend Further its GunBoat act of Piracy, (provocatively Anouncing also that several Days Earlier than expected), going as far as even up to the Middle of ...Next Month (March 2018), while it was generaly Known that ENI's Drilling Ship had already assumed, earlier, a subsequent job at Morocco, and would be Obliged to Cancel, at least for the time being, its task in Cyprus, after having been Obliged to vainly wait for too long, (in Addition to the Fact that Each Day of Imposed Delay provoked also a Damage of about +400.000 € daily).
+++ Moreover, Turkey, meanwhile, had already issued so many and various such Controversial "Navtex" messages, that it, reportedly, Threatened to Block, at any moment, (under Hollow Pretexts of "Military Training", etc) a lot of Areas practically ...Surrounding All the Island of Cyprus (sic !), and even Most of its EEZ (See relevant MAP's Photo) !
Ankara also Added a series of purely Political Pre-Conditions for almost All Cyprus' efforts to Develop its Oil/Gas Energy Sources, at any Moment, i.e. practically Excluding EU Member State Cyprus from its Sovereign Right to Freely Explore and Develop its Energy Resources located inside its own EEZ.
+ Even Despite the Fact that, on the Contrary, it's also USA's New President Don Trump's Administration which: - "Feels, very Strongly, that the Republic of Cyprus has the Right to Explore and Exploit its Resources in the EEZ", as his Ambassador, Cathleen Doherty, has just stressed, earlier this week at the Island.
=> Meanwhile, shortly After also an "Eurofora"s communication with Experienced UN Secretary General's Spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, in the Middle of these Events (See: ...), UNO has just Decided to send to Cyprus its new Deputy-Secretary General for "Peace-Keeping Operations", Jean-Pierre Lacroix, to visit the Island, (where UNO has also a special UNFICYP International Force at the Buffer Zone, between the areas controlled by the Turkey's Army and those still controlled by Cyprus' Republic), reportedly from the Beginning of Next Week, (i.e., practically, immediately after the current EU Summit in Brussels).
UNFICYP has Not yet been extended in Maritime areas, but, perhaps, something of that sort, might not be theoretically excluded in the Future totally, particularly when there are Brutal Threats to use Military Violence, as in this case (Comp. Supra, and See also Infra).
++++ >>> Nevertheless, after that Failure of purely Diplomatic Reactions in a 1st Stage, the European Drilling Ship from Italy made also a Last-Minute Attempt to reach the Area for its Scheduled Peaceful Work, inside EU Member Cyprus' EEZ, the very Morning of the Day of EU's Summit in Brussels, on February 23rd, (NDLR : PARTLY UPDATED) :
=> So, all EU's 27 Heads of State/Government had Now an Occasion to ...Watch Together from Brussels, almost "LIVE", a desperate Attempt, by a Peaceful European Civilian Ship, to Try, at last, to reach the Scheduled Area for his Energy-Exploration Work, inside an EU Member State's Exclusive Economic Zone, but be Forced to Quit, by use of Military Violence and repeated Threats from 5 Turkey's WarShips !
Indeed, that European Civilian Ship from Italy's ENI, after Heading Directly towards its Scheduled Area of Work, had to Face, right in Front of it, those "5 Turkey's GunBoats", which Blocked its course at least Twice, Finally Obliging it to Turn Back and go Away, after abusing of Military Violence, as a relevant Satellite-MAP, Tracing the Drilling Ships' Movements, clearly shows :
(Cypriot TV "SIGMA"'s ScreenShot on Italian Drilling Ship's Violent Obstruction by Turkish WarBoats)
- "You doN't have the Right, according to the Law of the Sea, and you have No Jurisdiction in this Area, in order to Hinder my way towards my Final Destination. Keep a Distance !", reportedly Warned the Captain of the European Civilian Drilling Ship.
- "If you Enter this area, we shall Take Measures Against you !", repeatedly Threatened the Armed Turkish Military GunBoats, as only "reply", revealing their Brutal Violent Behavior.
>>> EU Lisbon Treaty's Article 42,7 ?
It's in such Exceptional and Dangerous Circumstances, that the Government of EU Member State Cyprus, reportedly considered, Nowadays, the possibility to Trigger the exceptional Mechanism set up, for the 1st Time, by EU's Lisbon Treaty's Article 42, paragraph 7, (somewhat Inspired by the Earlier Example of France, which has already used that in order to help face f.ex. Armed Islamist Terrorist Mobs' Attacks against unarmed, Defenseless Civilian People, etc), in order to Face, Now, the Mob Attacks by Turkey's more Heavily Armed GunBoats and Warships against unarmed, Defenseless Civilian People and Boats, Peacefully seeking to do their Scheduled Work on Energy Exploration and Development for the General Interest of Europe :
- "If a Member State is the Victim of Armed Aggression on its Territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an Obligation of Aid and Assistance by all the means in their power", the current EU Treaty clearly says.
- This is done "in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter", which Recognizes "the inherent Right of .... Collective Self-Defence if an Armed Attack occurs against a Member of the UN".
+ But it also Points to "the Authority and Responsibility of the (UN) Security Council ...to take at any time such Action as it deems Necessary in order to Maintain or Restore International Peace and Security."
Something which, naturally, canNot be Ignored in this case, particularly in relation also with the forthcoming Visit to Cyprus by the new UN Deputy-Secretary General for "Peace-Keeping Operations", Jean-Pierre Lacroix, from Monday, (Comp. Supra).
++ Meanwhile, Next Week it's also the first 2 Ships of American "EXXON-Mobil" Company (where notoriously worked almost during all his Life the current USA State Secretary, Rex Tillerson), which are due to Arrive to Cyprus, in order to Prepare the Beginning of their own Drillings in Search of Oil/Gas at the Block No 10, (adjacent to Egypt's "Zhor" Huge Gas Field), at the Autumn 2018.
The matter was reportedly Discussed between USA's Ambassador and Cyprus' President, and it was also Decided that those 2 Energy-searching Ships would be Escorted, for Security reasons, also by the American (Military) Navy !
=> In this Context, the Natural Question which obviously Flows from all that, is whether the EU will send also a "European Navy" to Protect European Civilian Ships searching to Find and/or Develop New Oil/Gas Resources around EU Member State Cyprus, (i.e. basically inside EU's Territory).
+ Cyprus, which Hosts also 2 Important UK Military Bases, has Already Hosted the European/International Peace-Keeping Fleet for the TransBorder area Between Lebanon and Israel, under a UN Mandate (Negotiated by former French President Jacques Chirac) since 2006, as well as several Bilateral Agreements on Naval Forces' Logistical Help, and/or Cooperations, (f.ex., inter alia, also with Russia, France, etc).
Germany was Leading the Military Navy component of that UN-sponsored Interational Peace-Keeping Operation for Lebanon's Coasts, (while , Hosted in Cyprus' Naval Bases, where Chancellor Angie Merkel had Visited, later-on.
+ And it's mainly the Need to Protect important Energy Transports by Ships, (particularly of LNG), which has notoriously Motivated one among the First Cooperations among Willing EU Member Countries in the domain of Defence, when, since Back on 2008, EU set up its "Atalante" Naval Force for the Fight against Piracy, particularly around the Somalian Sea Coasts, in order to Safeguard Cargo Ships crossing the Suez Channel, right in front of the Strategic European Island of Cyprus...
+ In Addition, Recently, at least 2 Key European Ministers of Defence, from France and Italy, Exceptionally Visited Cyprus, during the Summer of 2017, (in parallel to a French Military Fregate's Arrival at the Island, then, and anOther one, Recently on 2018), just Before the New Oil-Gas Exploraton Drillings start, for ENI and TOTAL Energy Companies.
+ These Moves had, Significantly, Started soon After "Eurofora" had met with New French President Emmanuel Macron, at the sidelines of the "G-20" Summit in Hamburg (Germany) on July 2017, where he Agreed on the Importance and the Need to Protect the Exploration and Development of Oil/Gas Resources at EU Member Cyprus and its surroundings (i.e. Israel, Egypt, etc) for Direct Energy Transports towards Europe's Industrial core, (See : .....).
Macron had Already told us, (as Early as since he was a Minister of Economy, Back on 2015 in Strasbourg, just Before Travelling to Israel then), that he Believed that the Recent Findings of Growing Oil/Gas Resources in Cyprus, Egypt and Israel, added to their Plans for Joint Energy Transports directly to Europe's core (including by EU Commission-supported "East-MED" Pipeline project) represented "a Real Chance", (See: ...).
+ So that when Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades was Pictured by "Eurofora" a.o. smiling, Together with French President Macron and/or Greek Prime Minister Tsipras, etc., at the Center of a Group of 25 EU Member Countries which Decided recently to Launch Together a "Permanent European Structured Cooperation" (PESCO) on Defence policy, (where Cyprus participated for the 1st Time in History), during the Latest EU Summit in Brussels, on December 2017, (See "Eurofora"s Photos from the spot at : .... + ..., etc), that move wasn't, no more, really a Surprise, but, on the Contrary, totally Natural.
+ ToNight, on February 2018, the EU27 Summit in Brussels, announced the Willingness of EU Countries' Heads of State/Government to "Augment" EU's Budget in the foreseable Future, particularly on Europe's "External Borders' control", as well as "on Defence" policy.
+ Among the 17 concrete Defence Projects, already earmarked since the December 2017 EU Summit's PESCO Event in order to be Funded by the EU as a matter of Priority, (Comp. Supra), at least 3 concern, specifically, "Maritime" Areas, against only 1 conceived mainly in order to be used on Land, (and, even that, includes also an "Amphibious" Vehicle) : I.e. a Ratio of more than 3 to 1, between Sea and Land, in concrete terms...
+ And, by a Symbolic "Coincidence", Astonishingly, the 1st Victory in the History of European Armies (where Many European Countries had actively participated, as Italy, Spain, France, etc), was, precisely in a ...Naval Battle : That of Lepanto, on 1571, where United European Fleets succeeded, for the 1st Time, to Win against Ottoman Turk Warships, practically Liberating the Mediterranean Sea from previous Threats of Turkish Aggressions in the Future. The Next Victories of European Armies, (including, Later-on, also Polish, English, German and even Russian People), Followed, this time, on Solid Ground, during almost the Same Century : on 1683 and 1689, when they succeeded to Defend Vienna (Austria) and Liberate all BudaPest (Hungary) from Ottoman-Turk Military Invasion and Occupation, from which, Europe's Land was Definitively, almost Entirely Liberated, after a Series of such Victories, on 1919, with the Treaty of Sevres (France).
Even More : That 1st European Army's Victory in History, in Lepanto's Naval Battle of 1571, had been Motivated by the Will to Strongly React against a Massacre, committed by Ottoman Turks in ... Cyprus, where they had just Aggressed and Killed the ...Italian (from Venice) Defenders of Famagusta, (in Violation of a Previous Agreement to, at least, Spare their Lives) : I.e., (by another Astonishing Coincidence), Near the Area where, Today (on 2018), 5 Turkish Military GunBoats Brutaly Aggressed a Peaceful Italian Drilling Ship inside Cyprus' EEZ, (Comp. Supra)...
So that, all these Converging Facts, clearly indicate that the Strategic Island of Cyprus, (the Only one to be Located at the CrossRoads of 3 Continents), has, throughout History, at least an exceptional Symbolic Value and practical Stimulus, for an Efficient Development of European Unity and Defence Policy.
=> A Fortiori Nowadays, when Europe's Natural Resources in much needed Energy are notoriously Declining at their Older Location in the Northern Sea, but, on the Conntrary ...Growing Fast in the South-Eastern Mediterranean Sea, around EU Member Cyprus, together with Israel, Egypt, etc, (See Infra)
EU's OLD NORTH SEA RESOURCS DECLINING
North Sea Oil+Gas production had been Booming at the Late 1990ies, but Fell Down already on 2014+, (with some Exceptions only in Norwegian Gas) : F.ex., on Late 1990 UK and Norway represented about 9% of World Oil output, But on 2014 only 3%.
Thus, on 2015, the British Government was Obliged to concede Exceptionaly Big Tax Cuts in the Hope to convince some Companies to use Oil/Gas-Fields remaining idle since 2008, amidst a growing number of Lost Jobs there.
However, on 2016, "Decommissioning of offshore platforms and the accompanying Bills were looming on a Scale Not seen Before, anywhere in the World",
Already since f.ex. 2016, about 50 North Sea Oil/GasFields were reportedly ready to Stop Production, and UK alone expected that 140 more might be Shut down during the Next 5 Years, (2017-2022).
Major Oil/Gas Companies have already Started to Sell their assets in the North Sea, as, f.ex. BP and Shell on 2017, etc.
Royal Dutch Shell surfaced Recently its Interest to use its Liquefaction off shore facilities between Egypt (which might receive also Energy from Israel), and Cyprus (evetually Starting by its "Aphrodite" block 1st Findings by USA's "Noble Energy", Israel's Delek, and Netherlands' Shell), also for Shipping NLG Directly towards EU's Center.
Contrary to the Declining North Sea Oil/Gas Fields Timeline (Comp. Supra), the Findings in Cyprus and its Neighbouring Countries : Israel and Egypt, are clearly much more Recent : Between 2010 - 2018.
- "Leviathan" GasField in Israel was announced on December 2010, (after what, the Israelu Prime Minister, Netanyahu, immediately visited Cyprus on 2011), "Aphrodite" Gas Field was announced on December 2011 in Cyprus, Followed now by that of "Kalypso" at the Beginning of 2018, while, meanwhile, that of Egypt's "Zhor" was Discovered on 2015.
- Earlier this Week (2/2018), "Bloomberg" reported that, according to the American Geological Research Institute, the Off Shore, UnderSea Energy Resources around Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt, could ByPass the 340 Trillions of Cubic Feet in Natural Gas, i.e. much More than All USA's equivalent deposits.
Nowadays, those Countries are examining various Scenarios for Exports, "Bloomberg" noted on February 20, 2018.
In Fact, Turkey's suddenly Brutal and Violent, illegal Aggression on a European Drilling Ship from Italy inside Cyprus' EEZ, (which had Not been Contested, not even by Ankara before, as ENI's CEO observed, astonished), seems, indeed, much more Motivated by a desperate, against the current, Attempt by Ankara's regime to Undermine the Recent Collective Plans for several Ways to Establish DIRECT Energy Transports to Europe's core, from the area around EU Member Cyprus, (which have been Discussed and Endorsed by most Heads of State/Government of the concerned Countries, including between Cyprus, Israel and Greece, as well as Egypt, etc, certain even by EU Commission itself).
That's why Turkey didn't start to openly abuse of illegal Violence but only when European Italian and French Companies ENI and TOTAL recently Discovered also a New Oil/Gas Field in "Kalypso" area of Cyprus' EEZ, officially announced Earlier this Month, on February 2018, and were Going to Search for even More :
- Simply Because of the Fact that the Economic Sustainability of a DIRECT Energy Transport Link to Europe's core (f.ex. a partly UnderSea Pipeline, and/or a Cable Connexion transmitting Electricity produced from Gas, LNG Liquefaction infrastructures for Modern Ship Transport, et), reportedly Needed a Significant Amount of Energy Findings inside Cyprus' EEZ, to be Confirmed asap.
=> Therefore, by abusing of illegal Violence in an Attempt to Delay, if not even Obstruct, More Energy Findings in Cyprus' EEZ now, Turkey, most probably, seeks to Undermine and/or Popstpone the Profitability of such Direct European Energy Transport Plans from the New, and recently Growing Natural Resources of the Souhth-East Mediterranean area, in an Attempt to Impose, instead, a Zig-Zag Pipeline through the intermediary of a 3rd Foreign, Non-European Country's Turkish Anatolia Plateau in Asia Minor, with Notorious Risks of exceptionaly Dangerous Earthquakes, various Brutal Conflicts, Turkey's Financial Claims and/or its usual Political Blackmails, etc...
F.ex., British Medias had already pointed out, since 2014, that for a Profitable NLG Plan Cyprus Needed to Find more than 6 TCF (Trillions of Cubic Feet) in Gas. It was Not sure that the 1st Finding, that of "Aphrodite", might really have Enough Gas for that.
Therefore, it's Only After ENI/TOTAL, recently Discovered also a 2nd Gas Field, "Calypso", announced only at the Beginning of 2018, while ENI's Drilling Ship, immediately Headed towards Drilling, in Addition, to anOther, 3rd Promising Area, (there where, Suddenly, Turkey's GunBoat Piracy rushed to illegaly Obstruct that), that the Required Threshhold of Gas Volume for Building a Profitable NLG PLant would have, most Probably, been largely Reached.
=> Such Facts clearly Show, also, that Ankara's Hollow Pretext for Brutally Blocking NOW the European Search of more Energy in Cyprus on February 2018, (i.e. a controversial Claim that the Cyprus' Government should, previously, ask for a kind of ...Authorisation also from the Occupied Territories of the Island, illegaly Controlled by Turkey's Military, since the 1974 Invasion), is Totaly Hypocritical !
Indeed, not only such a Strange and UnJust (Comp. Supra), if not even Scandalous, Pre-Condition does Not Exist Legally, while, in Addition, Cyprus' President Anastasiades has Already Tabled a Legislative Bill in the Parliament, for the Creation of a Fund due to Manage all eventual Revenues from Energy in the Future, in a way Similar to "Norway's Modem", which would be Beneficial to All Cypriots, (Greek and Turkish, etc), but, Moreover : - It's Obvious, that, IF Ankara Really Wished to Block Energy Searches for the Sake of what it calls "Turkish Cypriot Community", (in Fact including, Nowadays, also Many illegal Turkish Settlers Massively Imported from Anatolia Plateau, as well as an illegal Occupation Regime notoriously set up and Sustained -Both Economically and Militarilly, as well as Politically - by Turkey's Invasion Army and its Cronies), then, it would have Already Blocked those Energy Searched, a Long Time Ago in the Past, or would have done so at Any Other Time in the Future, instead of Waiting Only Until the Above-Mentioned "Profitability" Threshhold was Reached for Independent Energy Transports from Cyprus' Area Directly to Europe's core, and, Precisely and Only then, Suddenly start to Brutally Block, with illegal GunBoats' Violence, immediately, (Neither Before, Nor After)... These supplementary Facts clearly show that what is Realy at Stake, appears to be something quite Cynical.
Thus, if purely Diplomatic Means Fail again vis a vis Turkey's brutal GunBoats' Bullying, (Comp. Supra), then, History will have anew taught, Both in the Past, (See, f.ex., "Lepanto"-related events, Supra, etc), and Nowadays, (i.e. on February - March 2018, until the Next EU Summit), that the most Efficient (if not even Unique Possible) way to Both Guarantee Peace and Security, as well as Economic Development in Europe, is to Strongly Protect EU's External Borders against Violent Aggressions, by a Dissuasive European Defence and/or International (f.ex. UNO's UNFICYP : Comp. Supra) Peace-Keeping operation, Able to Guarantee that the Promising and Fast-Growing Natural Energy Resources in EU Member Cyprus, Together with its Willing Neighbouring Countries of Israel and/or Egypt, (with which Nicosia is notoriously in Close Cooperation on that matter), will be Freely and Safely Explored and/or Developed further, withOut any Violent Hindrance of those Countries' repeatedly Expressed Will to Help Organize DIRECT Energy Transports towards Europe's core, and Elsewhere in the World, (f.ex. USA, eventually China, etc).
Facts clearly show, until Now, that any Abuse of "Piracy"s Brutal methods, as Turkey just did twice, in blatant Violation of EU and International Law, should be Strongly Dissuaded, if necessary, also with sufficient and convincing Deterrant Force, Able to Convince the Turkish regime to Drop illegal Violence and follow a Peaceful way to debate issues and seek solutions.
EU Countries have managed, Already since 2008, to set up a Pioneer and Efficient Joint Defence Operation (nick-named "Atalanta") in order to Succesfully Fight against "Piracy" around Somalian Coasts, as far as between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
The move was made, mainly, in order to Saveguard Ship Transports, particularly of Oil/Gas, through the Strategic Suez Channel, which crosses Egypt and Faces Cyprus. And Recent EU Statistics reveal that they Really Curbed and almost Suppressed Pirate Attacks, sufficiently well.
=> Since EU did so against Somalian Coasts' "Pirates" illegaly Attacking Energy Transport Ships so Far Away from Europe, why it shouldn't, then, Nowadays, do something Equivalent, also vis a vis Turkey's GunBoats' illegal and Violent Bullying and Threats around EU Member State Cyprus, which notoriously Cooperates closely with its Neighbouring Countries Israel, Egypt, etc, at a South-Eastern Mediterranean area where New Oil/Gas Findings are recently Booming Fast (Comp. Supra), Together with various Plans for Direct Energy Transports to Europe's core ?
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The recent paradox of freezing EU Talks with front-runner Croatia, while continuing controversial EU - Turkey talks, despite Zagreb's acceptance of Refugees' Human Rights to return, that Ankara refuses fex. in Cyprus, while both have "Good Neighborhood" problems vis a vis Slovenia, or Greece, Cyprus and Armenia respectively, can it be justified by the non-fullfilment of EU criteria, as Slovenia says, or, is it "Double Standards" ?
The question became unavoidable after statements by Presidents of Slovenia and Croatia, Tuerk and Mesic, respectively, to "EuroFora", exclusively or among Strasbourg's journalists this week at the CoE, on the sidelines of its 2009 Summer University for Political Schools, which topically brought them together as successive key-note speakers.
Comming only a few Months before EU checks Turkey's compliance to its commitments on Cyprus, etc., scheduled for December 2009, this obviously has a special importance for the coherence of EU Enlargement's principles.
Suspension of EU Negotiations is a normal consequence in case of a Candidate Country's failure to fullfil EU Conditions, such as "Good Neighborhood relations", stressed at first Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk, current CoE's chair.
But, regarding EU's Criteria, there shouldn't be any "Double Standards", reacted Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, commenting the fact that Turkey's controversial EU negotiations continue, while they were recently "freezed" in the case of Croatia, an "unquestionably European Country", which oficially accepts to respect Refugees Human Rights, contrary to Ankara's notorious refusals or reluctance.
Questioned earlier what "consequences on EU's Enlargement policy" can have the "Ban on EU Membership Negotiations", imposed to Croatia, Tuerk replied that "this question comes down to the fulfillement of (EU) Criteria for membership. One has to look at each Candidate Country ., from the point of view whether it fullfils the Criteria that EU has set. One of them are Good Neighborhood Relations, I'd like to remind. And also, there are other factors, such as Justice, Home affairs, Rule of Law, and others".
- "Now, ..Candidate Countries are at Different Levels of fulfillement of Criteria", he observed.
- " Croatia is obviously the closest to that. I'm rather optimistic : I think that in the coming Months we'll have an opportunity to look at all these issues constructively and hopefully we'll be able to make progress". "My main concern, at this point, is the situation in Bosnia : We haven't seen enough progres domesticaly. We haven't seen enough during ..political parties within their country.We need a New Energy, a new energetic move towards the Candidature for EU membership. "Other (Western Balkan) Countries (Serbia, Montenegro, FYROM, Albania) have been making soaring Progress, and I think that they should be ready, in a few Years, for the Candidate status".
- "As far as the Western Balkans are concerned, .. nobody should be left outside" the EU, Slovenian's President concluded, ommitting to mention Turkey's controversial EU bid.
- "This process may be seen as Slow, but.. Slovenia has also has also been exposed to various "Booms of Slowness" in our accession period. But now we can say that the process was relatively quick, because changes which occur after becoming EU member, are quite large, and they require proper Preparations before the (EU) membership becomes a new factor, an impacting line for a new (EU) member country".
EU "Solidarity" ?
Slovenian statements made some participants from certain 3rd Countries as FYROM, etc. claim that "the Principle of EU Solidarity" would "produce a.. rising European Union Nationalism (sic !), against Non-EU Countries", as they said, asking unhappy foreign countries to form a "bloc" to exert pressure on the EU...
But Croatian President Stjepan Mesic dismissed that, supporting "EU Integration", "after the Economy also in Political" issues, as "the achievement" of our times. In EU there is "diversity, but it's United", he stressed, "EU has to be United so that it can become a central factor of Peace" also at the surrounding areas, he replied.
Speaking later exclusively to "EuroFora", the experienced twice President of Croatia, former President of the International "Non-Aligned" movement, denounced "Double Standards" in the way EU treats recently Croatia compared to Turkey :
- "I think that there shouldn't be Double Standards", stressed the Croatian President, in reply to a Question comparing the freeze of EU - Croatia talks, with the continuation of EU - Turkey talks, despite the fact that Croatia is an "unquestionably European country", while Turkey's EU bid is notoriously controversial.
Mesic was reacting to the observation that, even if he confirmed his "respect of Refugees' Human Rights to return, etc. (See infra), nevertheless, EU talks are suspended with Croatia.. While for oher, controversial candidates, who refuse to respect Refugees' Rights to return, etc., as fex. Turkey does in occupied Cyprus and elsewhere, EU negotiations continue".
- "I believe that Croatia's accession will confirm that all European Countries who fulfill all of the Conditions and achieve European Standards, have to join the EU. There shouldn't be any Double Standards", went on to add in reply President Mesic.
In this relation, Croatia's President found "of paramount importance", CoE's "mechanisms enforcing ECHR's judgements"
- "On Refugees and Displaced persons, the process will be completed only after the last person demanding to return will be allowed to do so !", President Mesic Croatia stressed earlier, setting a general standard of obvious importance also for otherr candidates, as f.ex. Turkey, often accused to exclude or heavily restrict Greek Cypriot Displaced persons' return to their Family Homes and ancestral land, provoke difficulties to Turkish-Kurd IDPs return to their home regions at the South-East, etc.
Some "2.000 People are still reported Missing" in former Yugoslavia, for some Years, (as in Cyprus, modern Europe's oldest case, for 3 Decades. Nagorno-Karabach, Tcecnya in Russia, etc, more recently), and Investigations "will only be completed after establishing the fate of the last one of them", he added.
Speaking earlier on "War Crimes", President Mesic stressed that "Leaders are responsible for (the) Wars (of the Past), not the People", and called against Impunity : "Individuals have to be held Responsible for Crimes. International Penal Tribunals have to persecute those individuals", perpetrators of War Crimes, he underlined.
Such statements naturally made Mesic rather popular at ECHR, whose President, French EuroJudge, Professor Jean-Paul Costa, looked particularly smiling when he welcomed him later on Wednesday afternoon, after Slovenian President Daniko Tuerk earlier this week.
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Posts Tagged 'masturbation'
Yes, ma'm
Jim Carey's latest movie, Yes Man is about a man who stops saying no and starts saying yes to everything in life.
I haven't seen the movie, but I liked the 'Yes' idea so much I decided to apply it to sex.
However, unlike the movie version, where Carey accepts an elderly woman's offer for oral sex just because he's committed to the vow of Yes, that doesn't mean I'm going to start accepting intercourse offers from strange men on the street.
What I'm saying is yes to masturbation—for me and everyone else.
On the website, Christian Nymphos one advice columnist by the name of Cinnamon Sticks, lays out her view on the question of whether masturbation is a sin or not,
God has been clear about lust. In His Kingdom, lust and adultery are no different from one another. So to get aroused from pornography and then masturbate with lust in one's heart would be sin. This would displease the Lord not because touching yourself sexually is sin, but because 1) the person being lusted after is one of His kids and it disrespects them, 2) the person being lusted after belongs to their spouse (either now or in the future) and it disrespects their relationship with one another and 3) what a person focuses on when they orgasm becomes a tie in their soul to that thing which damages the sexual relationships they might have that God established and blessed as right. (source)
Cinnamon's explanation is like reading the Face Book Terms of Service: you can do this, but you can't do that. Touching yourself sexually is okay, but not if you're thinking about someone other than your partner, and not if you do it so much that you become obsessed about it and miss Sunday mass, and not if you…
Confused yet? I know I was. And yet, I should confess my own attitude towards masturbation, up until recently, wasn't much more straightforward. Sure, I knew that boys and men masturbated, but years ago, whe I discovered a bottle of baby oil next to the computer screen, a whole host of negative feelings around masturbation surfaced.
"Were you whacking off at the computer?" I accused my then-boyfriends, hands clenched against my hip. All I needed was an apron and rolling pin to complete my 'irate housewife' impersonation,
"Maybe," he said, with a look of guilt on his face.
"To porn?" I said.
"Maybe," he said.
"That's disgusting," I said—just in case he didn't already feel bad enough.
I never saw the baby oil next to the computer again
Years later, I've finally realized that I was mean and a bully that day. Part of me of just felt guilty that he needed to masturbate because I thought it meant our sex life wasn't good enough, and part of me was reacting to deeply engrained views of masturbation as being wrong (see previous post).
I apologize. Sorry, Mark, for acting as though there was something disgusting or perverted about self-pleasure, self-loving, and sexual expression, and I'm sorry for every time you felt the need to hide your masturbation from me afterwards.
The great thing is, that now that I can finally see that it's okay if my partner's masturbate, with or without me, what Betty Dodson calls 'self-loving' I've finally allowed myself to accept it as a practice in my own life.
Like last night, when I announced to my fiancé that I was going to masturbate in the bedroom. It felt good to say that aloud.
"Cool," he said, with a shrug. It's true, it was that easy. No mockery, no raised eyebrow, no dry heaving, just 'cool'. I smiled as I shut the door.
But saying 'yes' to masturbation isn't just about embracing, rather than judging the act of masturbation on general terms, for me it's also about saying yes on a very intimate level.
Describing her own struggle to sexual fulfillment, Betty Dodson writes:
Until my mid-thirties … guilt, fear, anger and self-pity, deprived me of erotic thoughts. These classical body/mind blocks impeded the flow of my sex energy…I always held back because, basically I was embarrassed about sex. All my fear and embarrassment gradually disappeared after I made a decision to embrace sexuality" (source, p. 98).
Don't hold back. Don't say no. Don't judge. Just love and celebrate the erotic sensations in your body.
With that sage advice in my head as I lay on the bed last night, vibrator in hand, I decided to stop thinking about whether I was going to have an orgasm, and how would I know if it really was one, and to simply assume that every shiver of sexual pleasure radiating from my clitoris was an orgasm. No judgment.
My hips rocked, my breathing was deep, and my mouth whispered words of encouragement as I nuzzled the vibrator up to my genitals. My body said yes to orgasms.
When I finally emerged from the bedroom, my fiancé, of course, asked me the question,
"So did you orgasm?" I thought about it for a second. I might not have experienced an volcanic eruption of pleasure, but I did more fully experience the pleasure of my body–and I think if I focus on those sensations instead of always looking towards the peak I may just wind up getting there.
Why don't girls masturbate?
There is a woman that I see in the lobby of my workplace every morning, waiting for the elevator. She wears special stretchy pants and carries a cane in her right hand to help support her weight.
She is fat.
I don't know anything about this woman, other than that she works somewhere in the same building as me, and yet I can't help but make instant judgments about her.
She should take the stairs. She should cut refined sugars out of her diet. She should take aqua fit classes. She should do something about her body because it's unhealthy and gross and totally out of control.
There is nothing as unifying to the female gender (at least in Western societies) as our obsession with weight.
Even the most micro-thin women I know complain about their figures every once in a while. And then, at the other end of the spectrum, there are the thousands of women like me, who have spent years being literally obsessed with food and exercise.
We women spend a lot of time and energy focused on controlling our bodies–and I wonder why I've never experiment with masturbation till now?
According to sex educators Solot and Miller, the most frequently asked question that women pose to them in discussions around the use of vibrators as self-pleasuring tools, is "Can I get addicted?"(source, 174).
I almost laughed the first time I read that, imagining a business woman with blond highlights and a power suit huddled next to a dumpster in a downtown alley with a vibrator between her legs.
It's not crack cocaine, for god's sake, it's just a vibrator—what are those women so afraid of?
How about you, Jaquie, what are you afraid of?
The grin dropped off my face pretty fast when I realized that I'm no different than the rest of the vibrator-phobes: for the past three years my boyfriend has been suggesting that I get a vibrator, and for the past three years I've been resisting doing so. I always told myself that it was because I was interested in the electronic stimulation, I wanted to do things naturally, but now I think it was fear that was stopping me.
When I was in grade ten, a friend, Michelle, and I spotted a man sitting on the hood of a blue Honda in our school parking lot. One hand was hidden beneath a blanket and his body was vibrating.
"Oh my god! He's jacking off!" said Michelle—we instantly broke out screams and ran for the gym entrance door. Later on that afternoon, hanging out next Michelle's locker, we curled up our lips in disgust and named him the 'car perv'.
That was my first impression of masturbation. And as Head and Shoulder's likes to remind us, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Though female masturbation has since my adolescent days finally made its way into popular culture, through shows like Sex and the City, back then, the practice was framed as something that only boys and dirty old men did, and as a result there has always been a part of me afraid that if I started masturbating I would lose control over my body and turn into the 'Car Perv'. I resisted urges to explore and touch myself when I was in my teen-years and so I suppose it's not surprising that at the age of thirty I've never orgasmed.
Though I eventually get past my eating disorder, I still today find myself analyzing and judging how I look and how other women look, and I still feel a tinge of embarrassment telling my boyfriend that I 'tried out' the vibrator while he was out.
I wonder, if I might have a different, more compassionate and confident view of the female body if, back during those early years, I focused on enjoying and exploring my body instead of trying to control it.
A fat body is, after all, just one expression of the female form, just as whacking off on top of a car is just one expression of sexuality.
taking myself for a test drive
Masturbation is a way for all of us to learn about sexual response. It's an opportunity to explore our bodies and minds for all those sexual secrets we've been taught to hide, even from ourselves.
–Betty Dodson, Sex for One: the joy of self loving
So far as machines go, my vibrator looks as basic as they come (no pun intended). I don't need to load any programs, or plug in any cords, and there's only one button: the on/off switch.
Naturally, I figured that learning to operate it would be easy—right?
My clitoris, which continued to twitch like a post-marathon quadriceps, for about an hour after my orientation' session, however would probably disagree.
Masturbating to orgasm, no matter how user-friendly your tools look, is not easy.
According to Betty Dodson, author of Sex for One: the joy of self-loving, "Sexual skills are like any other skills; they're not magically inherited, they have to be learned" (source, 4).
From my past few weeks of reading up on female orgasm, and doing some preliminary 'field work' in the area, I had learned enough to know that if I wanted to explore the full potential of my first vibrator, I'd need to take it slowly (a month ago, on the other hand, I probably would have shoved the thing into my privates, felt no pleasure and confirmed my belief that I am incapable of orgasm).
I found a comfortable spot to lie down on my bed and started to gently rub myself in the places that I know (see previous post) feel good. When the familiar throbbing sensations began pulsing from my pleasure zone, I flipped the switch and well, then I shoved it in.
When I was 12 years old, I tried to learn the clarinet. Though an aesthetically beautiful instrument, with its long polished trunk and gentle curves, the sounds my clarinet made during those early practice session sounded like a combination of a circus elephant stampeding the crowd and a classroom full of primary students dragging their fingers against the chalkboard.
The sensations that rippled through my body next reminded me a lot of those shrill clarinet honks, mixed with a wonderful undercurrent velvety bliss.
It was pleasure and pain at the same time—and something I'd never known my body could do.
However, despite those similarities, there is, I quickly discovered, a big difference between learning to play the clarinet and learning to play my vibrator: consistency. With the clarinet, the sounds I made were consistently loud (and bad). With the vibrator, I never knew what was coming next.
Sometimes the volume blasted to full and I'd feel like I never wanted to do anything but lie in my bed with my little battery-operated friend, and then all of a sudden it would mute out entirely and I'd find myself checking the time on the digital clock on my bedside table to see how much time had passed. At this point, I'd usually remember that I was supposed to be focusing on the 'moment', feel a wave of frustration, get angry because nothing was happening and then crank up the little round dial at the bottom of the handle to send another blast across my genitals.
It was a cycle that looked and felt nothing like the gentle, measured touch that sex therapists claim is the 'secret' to nurturing sexual climax in women. Bascially, my masturbation session lacked anything resembling 'control'.
So, I didn't orgasm, nor did I master the vibrator, or master my clitoris.
But then, I didn't learn to play a decent 'c' note the first time I picked up a clarinet either.
So, as they say, practice makes perfect–now all I need is some rechargeable batteries.

subset: commoncrawl


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Pinelands Biomass Facility
EDF Renewable Energy
Client: EDF Renewable Energy
Location: Harleyville, SC
Scope: The Pinelands Biomass Facility is a 25MW (nominal) biomass plant burning wood waste and is located in Harleyville, South Carolina. Summit was the General Contractor for this project and was responsible for all permitting, site work, SWPPP, civil/concrete (including a mass pour for the turbine), structural steel erection, above and below ground piping, electrical and instrument installation, buildings (control room), fire water system, and mechanical equipment installation including Cooling Tower, Water Treatment facility, SNCR, precipitator, boiler feed water pumps, and a GE steam turbine and generator. Summit was also responsible for coordination of procurement, and startup and commissioning support through COD.
- GE Steam Turbine
- Graham Surface Condenser
- FS&E Boiler
- Process Barron Fuel Handling System
- Tank Connection 340,000 Gallon Tank
- Goulds Vertical & Horizontal Pumps
- Auxilary Transformers
Duration: 17 months


text:
Pearl Jam, 'Lightning Bolt'
There comes a point in a band's career — say, 22 years after its mega-selling debut — when the metric by which a new album's success or failure is measured isn't the quality of the material, exactly, so much as the degree to which that band can stave off its own exhaustion. On album number 10, Pearl Jam has plenty of spark left, opening with the determined "Getaway" and the punkish fire of "Mind Your Manners" before the smart change of pace of the anthemic "Sirens." A few songs recall the dense eclecticism of "Vitalogy," while others echo the Who's solidity of purpose; with its stringy guitar lines, back-and-forth tension-driving riff, and a terrific, song-catapulting solo, "Swallowed Whole" (a modern gloss on "Pure and Easy") touches a lot of wires together and crackles. "Lightning Bolt" occasionally stumbles, as on the maudlin overreach of "Future Days" and the "Hey, Soul Sister"/"Goodbye Stranger" hybrid "Sleeping by Myself." But Pearl Jam's not just still alive, it's kicking. (Out Tuesday)
ESSENTIAL "Swallowed Whole"
Pearl Jam plays the DCU Center in Worcester on Oct. 15 and 16.


text:
While Ashley's busy being bewitched by a slightly scary lapdancing type, Cheryl's been inadvertently casting some love spells of her own – at yesterday's Capital Summertime Ball, she had three men (OK, two men and a little boy) apparently fight-fight-fight-fighting for her love… or at least a cheeky snog.
Not only was dancer Derek shaking his thang in close proximity to Cheryl at the Wembley do after spending the week fuelling various rumours about the nature of their relationship, but Will I Am also hopped on a private jet from Paris to surprise her.
Not bad going… although people a little more pre-pubescent than us will be more impressed/furious to hear that Justin Bieber was also doing his best to create some nonsense gossip, by suggesting he has his eye on her too.
"Just did an interview where they asked me if there was anyone I wanted to work with from the show's line up… I said Cheryl Cole of course," he tweeted, all by himself, without any major typos (and they say education standards are in decline). "I mean I heard Cheryl just became single. I mean aw c'mon! Haha. Whatsup Cheryl? ;)"
He added backstage at the event that "she's hot". Wow Justin Beaver hitting on Chez… I think you need to shut your little gob, you're not a player.


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Stay in the heart of Limoux, stay AT the "Residences"
Situated at the foothills of the Pyrenees, an hour from the Mediterranean beaches, and equally to the nearest fabulous ski resorts, surrounded by the vineyards of the Blanquette de Limoux, The ancient town is the perfect base for discovering the region.
The river Aude runs through the heart of this delightful medieval town, with its many restaurants, cafes and shops. The lively Friday market weaves through the narrow streets as well as the splendid square "Place du la Republic" The scene of the famous "Carnaval" a spectacle not to be missed, starting in February until Easter every weekend! After that, the long summer of nightly entertainment has to be seen to be believed! From huge funfairs to traditional bands and singers, there is something for everyone.


text:
Sept 20 (Reuters) - American Airlines Group Inc said on Thursday it would raise the fee for a first checked bag by $5 to $30 and the second bag to $40.
The increase in the baggage fee will be effective for tickets bought beginning Sept. 21 for travel in the United States and other North America and Caribbean destinations, the airline said bit.ly/2PO42Ke.
Other U.S. airlines, including Delta Airlines Inc and United Continental Holdings Inc, also announced a price hike recently.
The moves come at a time when Congress is considering whether to require the U.S. Transportation Department to assess if airline baggage and ticket change fees are "reasonable and proportional." (Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)


text:
The protection of our environment and the health and safety of our customers, our people and the community in which we live and operate is an integral part of O'Toole Transport's mission to become Ireland's leading transport company.
O'Toole Transport is committed to maintaining healthy and safe working conditions in all areas of our business. We seek to continuously improve our practices in light of advances in technology and new understandings in environmental science, health & safety.
It is our policy to operate our business so that we comply with or exceed applicable environmental, health and safety rules and regulations. The health and safety of our customers, our employees and the communities in which we operate is paramount in all we do.
The company's Safety Policy is distributed and communicated to all concerned, including permanent, temporary and part-time employees, sub-contractors and delivery agents.


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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:29 pm
Post subject: Landscapers....standard deposit?
Sorry if this isn't the correct forum but I am not sure where else to post it.
I have just given the go ahead for some landscape work to be done on my garden. The cost will be around 5,000 euro. Would anyone know what a reasonable deposit on this might be, if any? The landscapers said deposits are the norm but the amount he is looking for upfront is concerning me.
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Percentage-wise, how much is he looking for?
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verge wrote:
Percentage-wise, how much is he looking for?
Just over 25%.
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:36 am
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It is common enough for a landscaper to ask for a deposit up front to cover the cost of materials. And lets face it as much as the house owner is afraid of being let down by the landscaper, the landscaper is afraid of being let down by the house owner.
It happens that disreputable landscapers will run off with the deposit but it is also possible that a householder will try and weasel out of payment at the end of the job, and hold out wearing the landscaper down until he eventually gives up hope of ever getting paid.
So for projects over 3000 euro, stage payments agreed by both parties to the value of the works completed or as materials delivered to site, is the best course of action. By signed contract, even better.
So a percentage of the money as soon as materials are delivered on site, Another percentage when the work reaches an agreed stage and the remainder paid on completion.
Over 25% seems a bit steep initially, 20% may be a better compromise, but it depends on has he already supplied you with a design, how well you know the landscaper, is he local, how you found out about him, satisfied local customers etc. If you were looking to go and see him tomorrow, could you find him and visit him with little problem. Could you answer all these questions now for instance?
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LoJack Italia Looks To Transform Auto Fleet Management And Insurance In Europe
Trials on new telematics fleet management solutions underway in car rental and insurance markets
Dec 05, 2017, 04:00 ET
ESTORIL, Portugal and IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LoJack Italia, a wholly owned subsidiary of CalAmp (Nasdaq: CAMP) and a leader in stolen vehicle recovery and innovative automotive services, announced today its LoJack Connect™ telematics solutions are now available to short- and long-term car rental agencies and insurance providers in Europe. The Software as Service (SaaS) fleet management solutions open up new opportunities to increase operational efficiencies, generate new revenue and mitigate fraud.
According to Berg Insight, the annual growth rate of fleet management in Europe is predicted at 16.4%, with an anticipated doubling of overall penetration by 2021. According to Deloitte's European Motor Insurance Study, the market share for digitally-enabled motor insurance issued could reach 17 percent by 2020, representing a market in excess of 15 billion Euros. LoJack Connect is designed to meet this demand and transform auto fleet management with its modular, customized services that address the specific business operational needs of the car rental and insurance markets.
LoJack Connect web-enabled services leverage the CalAmp Telematics Cloud and device portfolio to allow car rental companies to track mileage for preventative maintenance and utilize geofencing techniques for faster check out. Automated vehicle location features enable real-time pricing and optimized fleet distribution management. LoJack Connect featuring CrashBoxx™ instant crash alerts, predictive physical damage and accident reconstruction proactively informs fleet managers, prevents fraud and accelerates emergency response and vehicle repair.
"With insurance mandates for European drivers and rising auto fraud, fleet managers are searching for new ways to reduce costs, streamline operations and enhance the customer experience," said Maurizio Iperti, general manager for LoJack Italia. "By combining vehicle diagnostics and location information with data analytics, our customized fleet management solutions enable car rental and insurance agencies to differentiate their services and enhance their competitive position. We are excited at the initial results from our LoJack Connect service trials with several industry leaders in the rental car, long-term rental and insurance industries, and we look forward to announcing the results in the coming months."
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text:
My kids grew up on the "Where's Waldo" books and video games. You know the game. Waldo's this goofy-looking skinny guy, funny clothes in a kind of a peppermint cap and you have to find Waldo in this mass of people and things in a picture. You have to find him there. If you don't know what he looks like, you will never find him. If you have a sort of passing idea of what he looks like, you may find him but it's not likely. But if you know exactly what he looks like and you have studied him carefully enough, if you look long enough, you will find him. So we're going to use the "Where's Waldo" principle on the Scriptures, since we know exactly what Jesus Christ looks like, we are able to find Him. That's our plan for Valley Christian for 2017. Together as a community we are going to search the Scriptures everyday to find Christ and report to each other where we find him.
That's what Jesus 365 is all about.
Personal. Communal. Worshipful. Educational.
For more information, go to Jesus365.net. Here you will find resources to get you started and stay encouraged through the year.
To get daily devotions (M-F) and to stay up to date on new videos and resources, follow us on any of these social media platforms:
Facebook: @jesus365vcc
Instagram: @jesus365vcc
Twitter: @jesus365vcc
And make sure to download the Read Scripture App on your mobile device: ReadScripture.org
Or download the PDF version right here: Jesus365_ReadingPlan


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I discovered that in the presence of SelfTestingCode, most bugs that static types would have were found just as easily by the tests.
Last night I was playing with rails trying to understand some of the features. Old habits kicked in. I did not write some tests and got bitten once again. Lost almost an hour on a few stupid typos. As Martin Fowler explains, tests are more important in a dynamic typed language as the compiler won't catch some errors for you. Fortunately, rails supports testing right out of the box.
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text:
O Lord Jesus Christ,
"The Jesus Prayer"
O Lord Jesus Christ,
"The Jesus Prayer"
t. Herman of Alaska, a monk of the ancient Valaam and Sarov monasteries in northern Russia, belonged to the 18th-century spirit of sanctity revived by the spiritual genius of St. Paisius Velichkovsky.
As a younger contemporary in contact with many of St. Paisius' disciples, St. Herman was permeated so deeply with the "Paisian spirit" that he might be rightly considered one of the most outstanding bearers of this vital legacy. As a part of the original holy Orthodox mission, he carried this legacy to the American continent in 1794.
With hope St. Herman crossed the vastness of Siberia and the stormy Pacific ocean to endure the afflictions from benighted kinsmen determined to keep the region of Alaska a plunged in the darkness of slavery. He alone perserved in Apostolic work, having not simply theoretical knowledge of God and religion, but having been trained in the inner workings of the heart. He brought the Philokalia to America from Abbot Nazarius' editorship and founded the first monastic and hermitic dwelling in the New World-calling it New Valaam, and New Jerusalem.
The Holy Orthodox Faith which St. Herman and the other missionary zealots from holy Russia brought to the American continent is one that cannot simply be taken for granted. It must be lived and kept ever fresh, and the only way to do this is to draw continually from the living sources of holy Orthodoxy.
Even in our frightful times, when the foundations of any kind of decent life are collapsing, a chosen few are finding their way back to the holy Orthodoxy which, in the dim mists of history, our All-Gracious God will help us, and preserve us,when we love our God, and behold His TRUTH, and at the same time confess that TRUTH!
Let me now humbly present to you who love Christ our true God, selections from the "Little Russian Philokalia", Volume III: St. Herman. Keep in mind those who are seeking their path towards salvation this factor: Philokalia means "love of the good." It was the name given to celebrated 18th-century collection of Greek Patristic texts on the Christian spiritual life, teaching the path to true sobriety and the fullness of union with God.
Treasury Of Saint Herman's Spirituality
A first compilation of St. Herman's teachings on spiritual life drawn from his letters and conversations.
A true Christian is made by faith and love toward Christ. Our sins do not in the least hinder our Christianity, according to the word of the Saviour Himself. He deigned to say: not the rigteous have I come to call, but sinners to salvation; there is more joy in heaven over one who repents then over ninety righteous ones. Likewise concerning the sinful woman who touched His feet, He deigned to say to the the Pharisee Simon: to one who has love, a great debt is forgiven, but from one who has no love, even a small debt will be demanded. From these judgements a Christian should bring himself to hope and joy, and not in the least accept an inflicted despair. Here one needs the shield of faith.
Sin, to one who loves God, is nothing other than an arrow from the enemy in battle. The true Christian is a warrior fighting his way through the regiments of the unseen enemy to his heavenly homeland. According to the word of the Apostles, our homeland is in heaven; and about the warrior he says: "our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of wickedness under heaven" (Ephesians 6:12).
The vain desires of this world separate us from our homeland; love of them and habit clothe our soul as if in a hideous garment. We, traveling on the journey of this life and calling on God to help us, ought to be divesting ourselves of this hideous garment and clothing ourselves in new desires, in a new love of the age to come, and thereby to receive knowledge of how near or how far we are from our heavenly homeland. But it is not possible to do this quickly; rahter one must follow the example of sick people, who, wishing the desired (health), do not leave off seeking means to cure themselves. (From a letter of June 20, 1820)
The above text was from: "Little Russian Philokalia", St. Herman of Alaska Monastery Press, Platina California., 1989., pp.47-48. Highly recommended for futher spiritual reading. Available from St. Herman of Alaska Monastery Press, Platina, California 96076
Pray unto God,
for us!


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Final Day!
Tomorrow it starts! I can't believe it!
Well I thought I would be out here resting, but in fact I have been running around like a lunatic taking care of all the last minute details -- bike check, registration, extra parts, race wheel configuration, laundry, blah blah. I need to rest today for sure, but we have a big pre-race meeting this morning, then a crew team meeting, then I pick up my final crew member LW Walman at 1:40 at the airport, then we need to pack the van. Somewhere in there I have a race strategy call with my coach and we will head down to cook some race food and have some down time with my crew captain Chris Uettwiller and his girlfriend Erin and her parents, who have rented a groovy bungalow just down the beach.
On Tuesday I drove the course; and so glad I did, even though it took me almost 7 hours by car! Really helps to visualize the whole thing and there are quite a few tricky turns I don't want to miss. The most striking thing was how wet it was on the other side of the Island, which makes me very nervous. I can deal with the heat, but I really don't want to crash on some technical descent on wet pavement. That said, its definitely a beast of a course, but the climbs don't seem as bad as I feared. Not nearly as challenging as the climbs I have trained on, which is an awesome confidence boost. But if its windy, all bets are off. The steepest climb is the first 5 miles of the first day ride -- straight up a relentless grade right out of the water. After this its mostly rollers with a couple very gradual low grade but very long ascent (which is likely to be very windy) to finish Day I at almost 5000 feet at Volcanoes Nat'l Park.
The beginning of Day II is a long and very fast descent from Volcanoes -- the pavement will likely be wet and so this has me a bit spooked. Then a lot of flats and rollers until the ascent from Waimea to Hawi, which could prove beasty. Its 170 miles, so its going to be very hard no matter what.
And if Day III is hot, its going to be like running through a humid Sahara.
Can't wait.
Yesterday I went for my last very easy run, then just took care of details. Down at the pier I finally met Josef Ajram from Barcelona, who I have been chatting with alot on Facebook. He did the race last year and is super cool guy -- quite a character (and has quite a fan base back in Spain!). Fully tattted and topping it off with a hoop piercing on the INSIDE of his mouth under his upper lip. And he is sporting a new custom titanium bike with his name etched into the frame. Pretty damn cool. He should move to LA. Anyway, that's him in the picture with me at BikeWorks.
Then went to registration, which was quite intense. Alot of forms and so many little details to attend to. I walked away with a huge orange Gatorade cooler filled with stickers (for the van), race numbers, water bottles, wrist bands, etc. Looking around, I noticed no shortage of very intimidating looking athletes -- these guys look like gazelles. Like they were genetically bred for this stuff. Lean fighting machines, with legs bursting with striated slow twitch fibers. Including Peter Kotland, who owns the course record for the run -- 5:33 for the double marathon! That is truly incredible, bearing in mind its after 2 days of brutality. Not to mention bikes that look like they came out of some sort of Manhattan Project. I was humbled.
Last night I picked up my dad at the airport. So cool that he would fly all the way from DC to be in my crew. Will be interesting to see what he makes of all this. Its certainly a world apart. And its his first time to Hawaii, so as much as I don't want it to be hot for the race, I also want nice weather for him.
What else? (1) People here love Spam. The even serve it at McDonald's; and (2) the ATM machine ate my card last night (as if I don't have enough financial adversity at the moment) -- did I say surrender to the Island? Well this takes it to a new level.
Otherwise, getting very excited. Woke up at 5 am today and couldn't sleep. What am I thinking about? What am I doing here?...How am I going to pack everything into the van?...I don't want to crash.....I don't want to make a wrong turn. I hope my butt doesn't hurt too much on the bike....I'm getting out of shape...I haven't trained enough.....I'm not eating right...I forgot to buy potatoes and the stores are closed.....I can't believe the ATM ate my card....You name it.
Time to go downstairs to meet my dad for breakfast...Check in later.


text:
- Research Article
- Open Access
Solvability Criteria for Some Set-Valued Inequality Systems
- Yingfan Liu1Email author
© Yingfan Liu. 2010
- Received: 23 May 2010
- Accepted: 9 July 2010
- Published: 28 July 2010
Arising from studying some multivalued von Neumann model, three set-valued inequality systems are introduced, and two solvability questions are considered. By constructing some auxiliary functions and studying their minimax and saddle-point properties, solvability criteria composed of necessary and sufficient conditions regarding these inequality systems are obtained.
- Auxiliary Function
- Convex Compact
- Duality Pairing
- Point Property
- Dimensional Euclidean Space
1. Introduction
Arising from considering some multivalued von Neumann model, this paper aims to study three set-valued inequality systems and try to find their solvability criteria. Before starting with this subject, we need to review some necessary backgrounds as follows.
We denote by the -dimensional Euclidean space, its dual, and the duality pairing on ; moreover, we denote that and int is its interior. We also define (or ) in by (or by int ).
and obtained several necessary and sufficient conditions for its solvability, where and is a class of set-valued maps from to . Along the way, three further set-valued inequality systems that we will study in the sequel can be stated as follows.
- (1)
For (1.2) and (1.3), it is possible that only (1.2) has solution for some . Indeed, if is compact and is continuous, compact valued with , then is compact and there is with for . Hence solves (1.2) but does not solve (1.3).
- (2)
It seems that the solvability criteria (namely, necessary and sufficient results concerning existence) to (1.4) can be obtained immediately by [8] with the replacement . However, this type of result is trivial because it depends only on the property of but not on the respective information of and . This opinion is also applicable to (1.3) and (1.5).
- (3)
Clearly, (1.3) (or (1.5)) is more fine and more useful than (1.2) (or (1.4)). However, the method used for in [8] (or the possible idea for (1.4)) to obtain solvability criteria fails to be applied to find the similar characteristic results for (1.3) (or (1.5)) because there are some examples (see Examples 3.5 and 4.4) to show that, without any additional restrictions, no necessary and sufficient conditions concerning existence for them can be obtained. This is also a main cause that the author did not consider and in [8].
So some new methods should be introduced if we want to search out the solvability criteria to (1.3)–(1.5). In the sections below, we are devoted to study (1.3)–(1.5) by considering two questions under two assumptions as follows:
Question 1.
Whether there exist any criteria that solves (1.3) in some proper way?
Question 2.
Like Question 1, whether there exist any solvability criteria to (1.4) or (1.5) that depend on the respective information of and ?
is a fixed point and is a convex compact subset.
Consider the following: and are upper semicontinuous and convex set-valued maps with nonempty convex compact values.
By constructing some functions and studying their minimax properties, some progress concerning both questions has been made. The paper is arranged as follows. We review some concepts and known results in Section 2 and prove three Theorems composed of necessary and sufficient conditions regarding the solvability of (1.3)–(1.5) in Sections 3 and 4. Then we present the conclusion in Section 5.
2. Terminology
Let , , and ( ). Let , , and be functions and a set-valued map. We need some concepts concerning , and and such as convex or concave and upper or lower semicontinuous (in short, u.s.c. or l.s.c.) and continuous (i.e., both u.s.c. and l.s.c.), whose definitions can be found in [9–11], therefore, the details are omitted here. We also need some further concepts to , , and as follows.
Definition 2.1.
(1) is said to be closed if its graph defined by graph is closed in . Moreover, is said to be upper semicontinuous (in short, u.s.c.) if, for each and each neighborhood of , there exists a neighborhood of such that .
- (2)
Assume that ( ), and define , ( ). Then is said to be upper hemicontinuous (in short, u.h.c.) if is u.s.c. on for any .
(3) is said to be convex if is convex and for any and .
(a)If , then one claims that the minimax equality of holds. Denoting by the value of the preceding equality, one also says that the minimax value of exists. If such that , then one calls a saddle point of . Denote by the set of all saddle points of (i.e., ), and define , the restriction of to if is nonempty.
(b)Replacing by and by , with the similar method one can also define (the minimax value of ), (the saddle-point set of ), and (the restriction of to ).
- (5)
If is a convex set and a subset of , one claims that is an extremal subset of if and for some entails . is an extremal point of if is an extremal subset of , and the set of all extremal points of is denoted by ext .
- (1)
Since and , we can see that is u.h.c. if and only if is l.s.c. on for any .
- (2)
We also need three known results as follows.
- (1)
(see [9]) If is u.s.c., then is u.h.c.
- (2)
(see [9]) If is u.s.c. with closed values, then is closed.
- (3)
(see [9]) If (the closure of ) is compact and is closed, then is u.s.c.
- (4)
If is compact and is u.s.c. with compact values, then is compact in .
- (5)
If is convex (or compact) and are convex (or u.s.c. with compact values), then are also convex (or u.s.c.) for all .
- (b)
Now we assume that is compact.
In case is u.s.c. with compact values and , then by (2), (4), is closed and the range of is compact. If , then for any ; hence, is u.s.c. If , supposing that graph with , then graph such that as , which implies that . Hence, is closed and also u.s.c. because of (3).
In case are u.s.c. with compact values, if graph with , then and there exist , such that for all By (4), and are compact, so we can suppose and as . By (2), both are closed, this implies that , and thus is closed. Hence by (3), is u.s.c. because and is compact.
Lemma 2.4 (see [8, Theorems and ]).
Let be convex compact with , , and . Assume that is convex and u.s.c. with nonempty convex compact values, and define on by for . Then
(1) exists and is a convex compact subset of ,
(2) solves (1.2) for .
In particular, both (1) and (2) are also true if .
- (1)
(see [10, 11]) If is convex or l.s.c. (resp., concave or u.s.c.) on for and (resp., ) is finite for , then (resp., ) is also convex or l.s.c. (resp., concave or u.s.c.) on .
- (2)
(see [11]) If is l.s.c. (or u.s.c.) and is compact, then defined by (or defined by ) is also l.s.c. (or u.s.c.).
- (3)
(see [9–11], Minimax Theorem) Let , be convex compact, and let be defined on . If, for each is convex and l.s.c. and, for each is concave and u.s.c., then and there exists such that .
3. Solvability Theorem to (1.3)
Remark 3.1.
By both Assumptions in Section 1, Definition 2.1, and Lemmas 2.4 and 2.5, we can see that
(1) for all ,
(2) and exist, and and are nonempty,
(3) solves (1.2) if and only if if and only if with .
Hence, and are nonempty. Moreover, we have the following.
Theorem 3.2.
For (1.3), the following three statements are equivalent to each other:
(1) ,
(2)for all , for all , , ,
(3) , , , .
Remark 3.3.
Clearly, each of (2) and (3) implies that solves (1.3) because and . So we conclude from Theorem 3.2 that solves (1.3) in the way of (2) or in the way of (3) if and only if .
Proof of Theorem 3.2.
We only need to prove (1) (2) and (3) (1).
By taking , it follows that . Hence, . On the other hand, it is easy to verify that is a nonempty extremal subset of . The Crain-Milmann Theorem (see [12]) shows that ext is nonempty with ext ext . So there exists such that ext . This implies by (3.3) that , and therefore (2) follows.
where . Hence, and the theorem follows.
Remark 3.4.
From the Theorem, we know that implies that solves (1.3). However, without any additional restricting conditions, the inverse may not be true.
Example 3.5.
This implies that (or ) may not be the necessary (or the sufficient) condition that solves (1.3).
4. Solvability Theorems to (1.4) and (1.5)
By both Assumptions, we know that and are finite with and for and , so the functions and defined by (4.1) are well defined.
In view of Definition 2.1, we denote by (or ) the minimax value of (or ) if it exists, (or ) the saddle point set if it is nonempty, and (or ) the restriction of to (or to ). Then we have the solvability result to (1.4) and (1.5) as follows.
Theorem 4.1.
(i) exists if and only if .
(1) solves (1.4) if and only if exists with if and only if with for .
(2)In particular, if exists with , then for each , there exists such that
Theorem 4.2.
For (1.5), the following three statements are equivalent to each other:
(1) ,
(2) , , and for all , for all , , ,
(3) , , and , , ,
That is, solves (1.5) in the way of (2) or in the way of (3) if and only if .
Remark 4.3.
It is also needed to point out that is not the necessary condition of making (1.5) solvable without any other restricting conditions.
Example 4.4.
This implies that, for each , solves (1.5) but .
The proof of both Theorems 4.1 and 4.2 can be divided into eight lemmas.
denote by the minimax value of if it exists, and denote by the saddle point set if it is nonempty. Then we have the following.
- (1)
For each , exists and is nonempty. Moreover, solves (4.3) if and only if if and only if for .
- (2)
The function is continuous and strictly decreasing on with .
- (1)
By both Assumptions and Lemmas 2.3(4) and 2.3(5), is convex and u.s.c. with nonempty convex compact values for each . Since for , applying Lemma 2.4 to and substituting for , we know that (1) is true.
- (2)
We prove (2) in three steps as follows.
So we conclude from (4.5), (4.8), and Statement (1) that is continuous on .
which implies that , and hence is strict decreasing on .
This implies that . Therefore, . This completes the proof.
Lemma 4.6.
(1) and are l.s.c. on .
(2) ) and are u.s.c. on .
(3) exists if and only if is nonempty.
- (1)
Since, for each and , the function is continuous on , from Lemma 2.5(1), we can see that and are l.s.c., hence (1) is true.
- (2)
- (3)
Assume that exists. By (1) and (2), there exist and such that
By Remark 2.2(2), . Hence is nonempty. The inverse is obvious. This completes the proof.
- (1)
If solves(1.4), then exists with .
(2)If exists with , then and for .
- (1)
then . It is needed to show that .
- (2)
follows immediately from Lemma 4.6(3) and Remark 2.2(2). The third lemma follows.
Lemma 4.8.
If with for , then solves (1.4). Moreover, for each , there exists such that
Applying Lemma 4.5(1) to , we then conclude that solves (4.3). So there exist , , and such that . Hence solves (1.4) because , , and .
By taking , we get , and therefore satisfies because . This completes the proof.
Proof of Theorem 4.1.
By Lemmas 4.6(3), 4.7, and 4.8, we know that Theorem 4.1 is true.
We denote by the minimax values of if it exists, the saddle point set if it is nonempty, and its restriction to .
Lemma 4.9.
Let and be fixed. Then one has the following.
(1)For each exists and is nonempty.
(2) solves (4.25) if and only if if and only if implies that
(3) is continuous and strict decreasing on with
Then is a single-valued continuous map with the convex condition defined by Definition 2.1(3) because for all and .
Hence by (1), is continuous on .
Let , , and be defined as in the proof of Lemma 4.5(2).
If , also by (4.26), we can see that for . It follows that and thus is strict decreasing on .
If , then for . This implies that with .) Hence the fifth lemma follows.
Lemma 4.10.
- (2)
If solves (4.25) for and , then exists with , is nonempty with for , and for .
(1)By (4.29) and with the same method as in proving Lemma 4.6(3), we can show that (1) is true. (Indeed, we only need to prove the necessary part. If exists, then by (4.29), there exists such that . Hence is nonempty.)
(2)If solves (4.25) for and , then from Lemma 4.9 we know that exists with , and there is a unique such that . In particular, is the biggest number that makes (4.25) solvable for and .
Then . We need to show that .
Since solves (4.25) for and , there exist and such that . It follows that for any , hence On the other hand, by the definition of , we have for any . By (4.29)(a) and (4.1)(b), there exists such that which implies by (4.26) that for any . Hence from Lemma 4.9, solves (4.25), and . Therefore, exist with .) So we conclude from (1) and Remark 2.2 that (2) is true. This completes the proof.
Lemma 4.11.
If , then Theorem 4.2(2) is true.
By using the same method as in proving (1) (2) of Theorem 3.2, we conclude that and there exists such that . Hence Theorem 4.2(2) is true.
Lemma 4.12.
If Theorem 4.2(3) holds,then .
If Theorem 4.2(3) holds, then solves both (1.4) and (1.5), and by Lemma 4.7(1), exists with .
Hence, .
Proof of Theorem 4.2.
Since (2) (3) of is clear, Theorem 4.2 follows immediately from Lemmas 4.11 and 4.12.
5. Conclusion
Based on the generalized and multivalued input-output inequality models, in this paper we have considered three types of set-valued inequality systems (namely, (1.3)–(1.5)) and two corresponding solvability questions. By constructing some auxiliary functions and studying their minimax and saddle point properties with the nonlinear analysis approaches, three solvability theorems (i.e., Theorems 3.2, 4.1, and 4.2) composed of necessary and sufficient conditions regarding these inequality systems have been obtained.
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2017 Teng Tools Swedish FIM Speedway Grand Prix
Round 7 - G&B Arena
|Sat 12th August 2017
|Track Length:
|Track Record Time:
|Track Record:
|Andreas Jonsson
|Linus Sundstrom
|Kim Nilsson
|Joel Kling
|Artur Kusmierz
2016 Winner
Greg Hancock
More Information
Friday 11 August
15.00-19.00 Ticket Sales Open
16:00 Official Draw
16:30 Public Gates Open
17.00 Practice (free entry)
17.00-02.00 Party Area (free entry)
22.00-02.00 DJ (free entry)
Saturday 12 August
13.00 Ticket Sales Open until First Heat
14:00 Party Area Open
17:00 Public Gates Open
17:00 Hospitality Opens
17:10 SGP Autograph Session
18:48 Opening Ceremony
19:00 First Heat of the 2017 Teng Tools Swedish FIM Speedway Grand Prix
22.00-02.00 DJ (free entry)
22.15-23.00 Live Music from Always Something
Address & Contact Details
Malilla Motorbana 1
570 82 Malilla
Venue Facilities
Fully equipped press areas, press conference area, food and beverage outlets.
Previous Results
Results of previous five GP's in Malilla (all Scandinavian GP's):
(1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th).
- 2016: Greg Hancock, Jason Doyle, Piotr Pawlicki, Chris Holder
- 2015: Nicki Pedersen, Tai Woffinden, Antonio Lindback, Matej Zagar
- 2014: Tai Woffinden, Greg Hancock, Chris Holder, Jaroslaw Hampel
- 2012: Tomasz Gollob, Chris Holder, Antonio Lindback, Nicki Pedersen
- 2011: Jaroslaw Hampel, Andreas Jonsson, Kenneth Bjerre, Emil Sayfutdinov
- 2010: Rune Holta, Jason Crump, Tomasz Gollob, Fredrik Lindgren
From airport
Vaxjo 90km, Kalmar 10km, Gothenburg 270km
By car
From Gothenburg 290km, Stockholm 330km, Malmo 320km, Karlskrona 220km
From Karlskrona: Road E22 to Alem about 110km. Then road 34 to Malilla about 70km
From Stockholm: Road E4 to Linkoping about 200km. Then road 34 to Malilla about 130km
From Malmo: Road E22 (23) against Vaxjo. From Vaxjo to Aseda about 50km, then road 138 to Malilla about 40km.
From Gothenburg: Road 40 to Jonkoping about 150km. Then road 31 to Vetlanda about 80km, then road 127 to Malilla, 50km.
By train:
Hultsfred 10km, train goes between Hultsfred and Stockholm. Train from Hultsfred also goes to Nassjo where it is possible to go to Gothenburg and Malmo.
By bus
Bus schedule - Saturday 13th August
From Hultsfred
16:30 Kloster
16:45 campground
17:00 Palace
17:15 Coop Malilla
Back 23:00 and 01:30
from Virserum
16:45 New Square
Back 23:00