Associated PressKOH KONG, Cambodia (AP) – A Thai force dubbed the “Rambo Army” couldn’t stop the gangs, armed with battlefield weaponry, as they scoured the forests. Neither could a brave activist, gunned down when he came to investigate. Nor, apparently, can governments across Southeast Asia.The root of the conflicts and bloodshed? Rosewood.The richly hued, brownish hardwood is being illegally ripped from Southeast Asian forests, then smuggled by sea and air to be turned into Chinese furniture that can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of it also ends up in the finest American guitars, or as billiard cues. Comments Share Construction begins on Chandler hospital expansion project Despite the loss of law-enforcement muscle and widespread corruption, thousands of illegally felled trees have been seized in recent years and many of those accused of involvement in the trade have been arrested, including the son of a Cambodian general and 12 Thai police officers. Last month, Thai authorities nabbed eight Cambodian rosewood hunters in the Thai border province of Sisaket.It hasn’t been enough to protect rosewood in Thailand. By some official estimates, the number of rosewood trees there dropped from 300,000 in 2005 to as low as 80,000 last year.“The spectrum of illegal rosewood logging ranges from loggers, military and police officers to Thai forestry officials. This network runs the industry,” says Chavalit Lohkunsombat, who commanded the Rambo Army and remains head of the forest protection unit of Nakhon Sawan province.Once the smuggled rosewood snakes its way to furniture makers in China, often via Vietnam, the price escalates. A sofa and chair set of high quality “hongmu” or rosewood can sell for $320,000, according to the China Daily. A four-poster bed was seen by the EIA with a $1 million price tag.Some rosewood makes its way to the U.S. and Europe. A number of Chinese websites offer rosewood products to Western customers. The volume of rosewood consumed by China alone suggests that most was obtained illegally. China imported $600 million worth in 2011, according to official Chinese documents made available by James Hewitt, an expert on the illegal timber trade at the London think tank Chatham House. About half came from Southeast Asian countries.The documents also show that China’s appetite is soaring _ from just 66,000 cubic meters in 2005 to 500,000 cubic meters last year. Rosewood has long been prized in China, and the dramatic growth of its wealthy class is cited as the main reason for the surge in exploitation.The hunt for rosewood ignites violence between officials and smugglers, and sometimes among rival gangs.The EIA estimates that nearly 50 Cambodian loggers and smugglers have been killed in Thailand and others arrested over the past two years in clashes, with Thais also suffering casualties.In Koh Kong, one of the country’s leading environmental activists, Chut Wutty, was shot dead in April while investigating illegal rosewood logging by Timbergreen, a company with no known address that is believed to be a hook-up of gangs and officials.In Thailand `s northeast, authorities last year formed what they called a “Rambo Army” of 11-man units of armed forestry rangers to target the traffickers who cross the porous frontier from Cambodia, often in well-armed bands. The Rambo Army was disbanded after a three-month operation due to lack of funds. Chinese customs documents show Cambodia exported 36,000 cubic meters of logs to China from January 2007 to August 2012. The Cambodian government recently issued a blanket denial, but there’s a different story on the ground.In recent years, Chinese companies have begun building dams in Koh Kong, making inroads into one of the region’s largest tracts of wilderness, and Cambodian logging groups were awarded licenses to log out areas the dams will flood.According to foreign conservationists and the Cambodian human rights group LICADHO, which has investigators in Koh Kong, the work created an opportunity for “tree laundering.” They say logging companies falsified documents to make it appear their wood came from permitted areas when it was actually harvested up to 50 kilometers (30 miles) away.“There’s not a lot of valuable timber in dam reservoir areas because of where they are located and these are not huge areas. So they roam all over the mountains cutting luxury timber first,” says Marcus Hardtke, a German forestry expert who has worked extensively in Cambodia, including Koh Kong. “You can drive many trucks through that loophole.” Top Stories Former Arizona Rep. Don Shooter shows health improvement Tougher regulations on timber exports to the European Union will take effect in March. In the U.S., the Lacey Act of 2008 makes it illegal to import wood harvested and exported illegally under another country’s laws.But all this may prove too late for forests.“The rosewood is almost all gone from Koh Kong after just a few years,” says LICADHO’s In Kongchit. “It has been a total rape.”___Associated Press writers Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Thanyarat Doksone in Bangkok and AP researcher Flora Ji in Beijing contributed to this report.(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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5 people who need to visit the Ultrastar Multi-tainment Center 5 things to look for when selecting an ophthalmologist The felling, almost all of it illegal, has increased dramatically in recent years and driven the region’s rosewood to the brink of extinction.“This is not just an environmental issue. It drives corruption and criminal networks. There is a lot of violence and blood spilled before the rosewood ends up in someone’s living room,” says Faith Doherty of the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nongovernmental group based in London. “It’s one of the most expensive woods in the world. That’s why there is a war for it.”In Koh Kong, a jungle region of southwest Cambodia where most villagers earn less than $2 a day, finding a rosewood tree is better than winning the lottery. A cubic meter (1.3 cubic yards) of top-grade rosewood last year could be sold for up to $2,700 to middlemen who hover around forests and construction sites of dams and roads in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.Various species grow in Southeast Asia and countries including India, Brazil and Madagascar. Nearly all source nations have banned felling and export of unprocessed rosewood, allowing harvesting only in special cases such as clearing forests for dam construction. Bottoms up! Enjoy a cold one for International Beer Day Sponsored Stories U.S. authorities in 2009 and 2011 raided the Tennessee plants of the Gibson Guitar Corporation, seizing $500,000 worth of imported ebony and rosewood that was to be used in fingerboards. Gibson paid $350,000 in penalties in August to settle federal charges of illegally importing ebony, but rosewood was not part of the charges.Environmental groups suspect many such rosewood sales violate U.S. and European Union laws.“I would be very interested to see how American and European outlets prove that the products they are selling come from legally felled wood,” says Doherty of EIA, which has been investigating the rosewood trade for several years. “In countries with widespread corruption and fraud, you need an independent monitor on the ground and that is not happening. When I look at products in American stores, I have my doubts.”China is making tentative efforts to import rosewood and other species from legal sources, having established several bodies to regulate the trade. But one Chinese official familiar with the timber trade acknowledged that while the Beijing government was in principle against illegally imported wood, “this has yet to be reinforced by laws.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Mary Coyle ice cream to reopen in central Phoenix LICADHO and foreign conservationists say trees are felled by the company itself or villagers, who in some cases pull a single rosewood tree by ox cart for three or four weeks so they can sell it to middlemen. Military police trucks ferry the timber to warehouses in remote areas of Koh Kong. Then it’s shipped down the Tatay River by barges to seagoing vessels headed for Vietnam, or by road to the capital, Phnom Penh, and on to the Vietnamese border.When the rosewood trade surged in late 2009, trucks were running night and day piled with logs in Koh Kong. Now, with the rapid depletion, villagers are going for roots, branches and old cuttings, selling rosewood by the kilogram rather than cubic meter, conservationists say.EIA says that to curb the trade, Southeast Asian nations must push for rosewood to be included in CITES, the international treaty protecting trade in endangered flora and fauna. Rosewood species from Madagascar and Brazil are already listed.Listing rosewood would force China to seize imports not accompanied by official CITES documents from country of origin. But given corrupt, vested interests, this is not easy. Regional cooperation is also essential.“Punishment in Thailand is very light,” says Chavalit, the Thai forestry official. “Most loggers get suspended sentences if they confess. What we need is harsher punishment and serious law enforcement. Thai authorities need to be serious about illegal logging suppression.”
The Hertz Corporation (NYSE:HTZ), the world’s largest general use car rental brand, was voted the Best Overall Car Rental Company in Zagat’s 2012/13 Car Rental Survey. The Zagat Car Rental Survey was conducted among a national sample of Zagat.com registered users from January 22 to February 12, 2012. In addition to best overall, Hertz, one of 10 U.S. based car rental companies included in the survey, earned top honors in 14 additional categories (see list below), more than any other car rental company included in the survey. “It is an honor to achieve top marks in 15 categories, including Best Overall Car Rental Company, in Zagat’s car rental survey,” commented Mark P. Frissora, Hertz Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Zagat is synonymous with top quality, and being recognized as the ‘best’ in a variety of categories by their savvy surveyors, including service and reliability, is a proud accomplishment, and a testament to our intense focus on providing superior customer service and value with our innovative, high-tech, high-touch rental products and services.” In addition to being voted the Best Overall Car Rental Company, Hertz was voted #1 in the following categories:#1 Top Rated Most Popular#1 Top Rated – Vehicles#1 Top Rated – Reliability #1 Top Rated – ServiceBest for Business TravelBest for Leisure TravelBest Counter StaffBest (Self-Service) KioskBest Loyalty ProgramBest Green OptionsBest Airport RentalsBest Car Return ExperienceBest Shuttle ServiceBest WebsiteStarted in 1979, Zagat Survey is the world’s leading provider of consumer survey-based information. With ratings and reviews based on a worldwide network of surveyors, Zagat has become the world’s most trusted source to help consumers make informed decisions about restaurants, nightspots, hotels, attractions and other leisure activities. Zagat surveyors are frequent, knowledgeable consumers in each of the categories they rate. Operating one of the youngest and most diverse fleets in the industry, Hertz is committed to offering its customers the utmost in speed and ease with technological innovations with personalized service. As highlighted in the brand’s new campaign “Traveling at the Speed of Hertz,” new and unique customer enhancements now available to customers include: Source = Hertz Carfirmation: Hertz’s new mobile email/SMS text service – Mobile Gold Alerts — that confirm a Gold customer’s reservation and advises them of their car location. Choose Control: Hertz Gold Choice gives the customer the power to keep the car they reserved or simply choose another, something no other car rental brand offers. Zap Technology: Hertz’s Gold enrollment and e-Return is the fastest way to get customers in their cars and when they return, back on their way home. Hertz will email the customer’s receipt in a flash. Acceler-Rental: Hertz’s ExpressRent Interactive Kiosks let customers rent a car without a reservation and without a line. Auto Bliss: Hertz Rent2Buy® is the fast, simple way to buy a quality used vehicle from Hertz. It is a virtual showroom where Hertz has simplified the used car buying experience. By eliminating the middleman and protecting customers from the haggle process, Hertz transfers the savings to customers and offers high-quality, well-equipped used cars at great prices. 
October 11, 2013 456 Views in Origination, Secondary Market, Servicing “”Wells Fargo””:https://www.wellsfargo.com/ and “”JPMorgan Chase””:http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Home/home.htm both released their earnings summaries for the third quarter on Friday, revealing the full toll that legal expenses have taken on the latter’s profits.[IMAGE]For the 10th straight quarter, Wells Fargo reported a new record for net income, posting a profit of $5.6 billion, a 13 percent increase over the same period last year. For the first nine months of the year, the bank–the nation’s biggest name in home lending–pulled in $16.3 billion compared to $13.8 billion last year.Wells Fargo chairman and CEO John Stumpf cited the improving housing market as one of the biggest factors in the bank’s rising profits, though mortgage business was down. Third-quarter originations totaled $80 billion, down from $112 billion in Q2 2013, while net mortgage servicing rights results were $26 million compared with $68 million the prior quarter.The company benefited from a decline in the amount set aside for repurchase losses–$28 million compared to $65 million in Q2. Wells Fargo reached an $869 million agreement with “”Freddie Mac””:https://themreport.com/articles/wells-fargo-suntrust-announce-settlements-with-freddie-mac-2013-10-02 in late September to settle repurchase claims on loans sold before and at the start of the housing crash; those funds were already covered by the bank’s accrued repurchase reserves and did not affect third-quarter profits.Wells Fargo CFO Tim Sloan described the company’s third-quarter results as “”solid.””””As expected, mortgage banking revenue was lower in the quarter as the recent increases in interest rates reduced refinance volume, but this impact was partially offset by improved credit and lower expenses,”” Sloan said. JPMorgan’s earnings, on the other hand, sank under the weight of a $9.2 billion (pretax) legal expense, which included reserves for litigation and regulatory proceedings. For the quarter, the bank reported a net loss of $380 million. A year ago, Q3 profits totaled $5.7 billion.Taking one-time costs out, JPMorgan says third-quarter net income would have been $5.8 billion.””While we had strong underlying performance across the businesses, unfortunately, the quarter was marred by large legal expense,”” said chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. “”While we expect our litigation costs should abate and normalize over time, they may continue to be volatile over the next several quarters.”” Dimon added that JPMorgan’s board “”continues to seek a fair and reasonable settlement with the government on mortgage-related issues–and one that recognizes the extraordinary circumstances of the Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual transactions,”” which he stressed were undertaken at the government’s urging.Mortgage banking net income was $705 million–an increase of 13 percent over the previous year–reflecting a lower provision for credit losses offset by lower net revenue. Originations totaled $40.5 billion, a drop of 14 percent year-over-year and 17 percent quarter-over-quarter. Application volumes were $40.4 billion, down 45 percent from the prior year and 38 percent from the prior quarter. Wells Fargo Reports Record Profits, JPMorgan Drowns in Legal Expenses
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Since 1956, Swiss watchmaker Corum has been distributing creative, high-quality watches from its La Chaux de Fonds building in Switzerland. This September, however, the luxury brand is set to open its own first-ever boutique on the beautiful banks of Lake Léman in Geneva.The boutique is set in a historical building in the heart of Kleberg Square within the prestigious “Les Bergues” district, an area known as the cradle of the Swiss watchmaking industry. The boutique’s building was chosen specifically for its preserved charm, combining old stone with Macassar wood. This wood in particular is meant to mimic the brand’s refined aesthetic codes of simplicity and elegance.Corum’s most famous timepieces, Admiral’s Cup, Corum Bridges, Romvlvs and Artisans, will all be on display in the boutique’s three large windows, welcoming customers from all over the world. The exciting grand opening of this world first will also include a ribbon cutting ceremony and celebration.Visit www.corum.ch for more information.
AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to TwitterTwitterShare to FacebookFacebookShare to RedditRedditShare to 電子郵件Email by The Associated Press Posted Jan 22, 2019 10:03 pm PDT NEW YORK — Alec Baldwin is due in court in New York City for a hearing on charges that he slugged a man during a dispute over a parking spot in last fall.The 60-year-old actor is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday morning. He’s charged with misdemeanour attempted assault and harassment, a violation.Baldwin has denied punching anyone in the Nov. 2 clash . The former “30 Rock” star’s lawyer says he’ll be vindicated by “incontrovertible video evidence .”Police say the two started arguing and pushing each other after the man parked in a spot that Baldwin said a family member was holding for him.Baldwin, who portrays President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” has gotten into several public confrontations over the years. Some have led to legal trouble.The Associated Press
Alec Baldwin due in court on charges he punched over parking
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