FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2012 | WWW.PGCITIZEN.CA
World 19
 WORLD IN BRIEF
 World has six billion cell subscribers: UN
 GENEVA (AP) — The world now has nearly as many cellphone subscriptions as inhabitants.
 The UN telecom agency says there were about 6 billion subscriptions by the end of 2011 - roughly one for 86 of every 100 people.
 In a report Thursday, the International Telecommunication Union said China alone accounted for one billion subscriptions, and India is expected to hit the one-billion mark this year.
 The Geneva-based agency says 2.3 billion people - or about one in three of the world's seven billion inhabitants - were Internet users by the end of 2011, but there's a strong disparity between rich and developing countries.
 ITU says 70 per cent of people who use the Internet live in wealthier, industrialized countries, compared with 24 per cent who live in poorer, developing nations.
 Man dies from injuries after Sept. shooting
 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man shot two weeks ago in Minnesota state's deadliest workplace killing spree has died of his injuries, his family announced Thursday.
 Eric Rivers died at Hennepin County Medical Center on Wednesday night, his family said in a statement. The production manager became the sixth victim to die from the Sept. 27 shootings at Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, not including gunman Andrew Engeldinger, 36, who committed suicide.
 "We are grateful for the incredible courage displayed by the men and women who responded to the emergency and the wonderful medical team at Hennepin County Medical Center, who cared for Eric," the family said in a statement.
 "At this time, the family asks for privacy as we deal with this personal tragedy. We thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers."
 Rivers, 42, had been in critical condition since the attack. Two other people were wounded but survived.
 Man jailed over gift-wrapped fake bomb
 LONDON (AP) — A London man who mailed a gift-wrapped fake bomb to Turkey in a bid to disrupt his sister's wedding was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison. London's Metropolitan Police said a jury at Blackfriars Crown Court convicted 28-year-old Hasan Aydemir of sending the hoax bomb. Prosecutors said he sent a parcel through a London branch of UPS in March 2011, telling staff it contained a teddy bear and a watch as wedding gifts for his sister.
 He attached a note instructing "leave the package on the table of the bride and groom," and prosecutors said he later phoned the reception hall in the Istanbul district of Gungoren, to make sure the instructions would be carried out.
 A customs officer at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul found the package contained a device made from a clock, wires and putty. Bomb-disposal experts were called and declared the item a hoax.
 U.S. corn harvest projection lowered as drought's impact becomes clearer amid harvest
  David PITT The Associated Press
    DES MOINES, Iowa — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday slightly lowered its projection for the nation’s corn crop for a fourth straight month, reflecting worse-than-expected news about the actual impact of this year’s withering drought from the farmers busy harvesting their fields.
    The USDA estimates that farmers will harvest 10.71 billion bushels of corn this year, which would be the smallest amount since 2006. Last month’s estimate was 10.73 billion bushels.
    Crop estimates change as fields are harvested and farmers get a better sense of how the weather affected yields. The U.S. has been experiencing one of its worst droughts in decades, and conditions have been particularly harsh in many of the key Midwest and Plains farming states.
    Farmers have harvested 69 per cent of the nation’s corn already this year, which is well ahead of the 28 per cent that would be harvested by this time in a typical year.
    The average yield is about 122 bushels per acre, which is down from last month’s estimate of 122.8 bushels. That is the lowest average yield since 1995 and is significantly below last year’s yield of nearly 153 bushels per acre. Although the
 A mountain of corn is piled up at the Frontier Coop grain elevator in Fremont, Neb., on Wednesday.
 drought dried up the soil in many parts of the U.S., the corn harvest was surprisingly good in some areas, said Darin Newsom, senior analyst for Telvent DTN, a commodity trading and information provider.
   In Iowa, for example, the nation’s leading corn producer, production will be about 19 per cent lower than last year at about 1.92 billion bushels. Neighboring Nebraska will see production down about 15 per cent from last year at 1.3 billion bushels. Illinois was hard hit with production falling 37 per cent to 1.22 billion bushels from last year
 and Indiana’s slid 28 per cent.
   Minnesota corn farmers lucked out this year, getting at least some rain that helped avert the dire conditions further south. They saw a 15 per cent increase in corn production to 1.39 billion bushels and an 8 per cent yield increase to 168 bushels per acre from last year’s 156 bushels.
   Nationally, farmers planted more corn this year than in any other since 1937, so despite the widespread drought, the U.S. is expected to produce its eighth largest corn crop on record.
   Farmers planted about 97 million acres in corn, which is far more than just a decade ago when fewer than 80 million acres were planted. They are expected to harvest about 88 million acres this year.
   Corn supply is now estimated at 11.77 billion bushels, which is down from last month’s estimate of 11.98 billion bushels.
   The report is expected to boost prices for the next few days as the market reacts to the lower production and tighter supply estimates, but analysts expect a calming of the market now that the harvest is in its final stages and the drought impact is clear.
   Corn for December delivery was trading at around $7.71 a bushel. It had hit a record high of $8.49 a bushel in August, but it has since settled down.
   The USDA estimated the season average price for corn now at between $7.10 and $8.50 per bushel, about 10 cents lower on both ends of the range from its September estimate.
   Still, prices at that level could have in impact on grocery bills, mostly meat and eggs since corn is used as a staple in chicken, cattle and pig feed.
   Global supplies of corn remain tight and the major users - livestock farmers, the ethanol industry and other countries importing it - will be forced to negotiate their level of use, a sort of market rationing that takes place in years of low supply.
 No nuclear restart until tighter safety standards met: Japan
 Mari YAMAGUCHI The Associated Press
   TOKYO — The head of Japan’s new nuclear regulatory agency said Thursday that reactors will not be allowed to restart until they pass seismic inspections and meet new safety standards to be instituted next year.
   Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, said that under the agency’s new safety requirements, emergency procedures for accidents and terrorist attacks will become compulsory for nuclear plant operators. This follows criticism that
                             collusion between the plant operators and authorities had left the tsunami-stricken Fuku-shima Dai-ichi nuclear plant unprepared for last year’s crisis. Before the accident, operators were allowed to decide for themselves whether to follow safety guidelines recommended by regulators.
                               Tanaka has been critical of the government’s decision to restart two reactors in the western town of Ohi in July to avoid a power crunch during the high-demand summer months, calling the move political. The reactors are the only ones to go back online since Japan shut down all of its reactors for safety checks following the Fukushima disaster.
   “Right now we don’t have the legal basis to make any judgment over reactors,” Tanaka said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. “We don’t have the legal power to stop the Ohi reactors.”
   Tanaka said that his agency would draft the new requirements by March and that they would become law by July.
   Nuclear power provided about a third of Japan’s electricity before the March 11, 2011, accident at the Fukushima plant, and Japan had been planning to increase that to 50 per cent.
 TANAKA
                    
BC HYDRO CIVIL COf  
-PRINCE GEORGE      
 BC Hydro is undertaking the construction of two underground concrete duct banks in Prince George. One ductbank will be 225 meters in length and will be constructed along 5th Avenue and Dominion St. The other ductbank will be 450 meters in length and will be constructed along Carney and 1st Avenue. These underground ductbanks are required to modernize BC Hydro’s infrastructure. The ductbanks will be buried within the municipal roadbeds.
 All roads listed above, including sidewalks and curbs, will be impacted to facilitate the installation.
 Construction is scheduled to start Monday October 1st, 2012 and will run from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday inclusive. Work is estimated to be complete in approximately three weeks on or about October 20th, 2012.
 Traffic management and rerouting during the proposed three week construction window will be required to balance the safety practices of BC Hydro’s contractor with the continuation of daily activities for the public.
 Roads, sidewalk and curbs will be restored.
 Construction is scheduled to start Monday October 1st, 2012. For further s information, please contact Bob Gammer at 250 561 4858.
   BG hydro SB
   FOR GENERATIONS