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On Tuesday, domestic offers were at around CNY15,000-15,500/tonne or $2,218-2,294/tonne on an import parity basis.
Around 200 tonnes of domestic cargoes changed hands at CNY14,000-14,500/tonne or $2,067-2,142/tonne on an import parity basis.
“We had to lower our offers because buyers think the previous offers were too high. Demand for downstream epoxy resins has also been subdued,” said a key Chinese producer in Mandarin.
Buyers concurred. Some buyers added that they have increased their contractual volumes this year as a way to hedge against ECH price volatility.
“Producers in China and outside China have been telling us since the start of the year that supply of ECH is tight and so from the start of this year, we have been relying on contractual volumes to meet our requirements,” said one buyer.
ECH is mainly used for the production of epoxy resins.
Another buyer highlighted that domestic epoxy resins prices have been hovering around CNY21,500-22,000/tonne in the last three weeks.
“Downstream epoxy resins prices cannot support rising ECH feedstock costs. We also have sufficient ECH inventories because demand for epoxy resins has been stable,” he said in Mandarin.
He added that he is trying to export epoxy resins as demand has not recovered to the highs seen ahead of the Lunar New Year festival in February.
Consequently, spot import discussions for ECH were thin. Offers were at around $2,150-2,200/tonne CFR (cost and freight) CMP (China Main Ports) while buying indication was capped at around $2,000/tonne CFR CMP.
“Supply of ECH outside China remains tight so $2,150/tonne CFR CMP is the minimum workable offer for us. We are not keen to lower our offers further,” said one northeast Asian producer.
Other producers observed that they would rather sell their ECH into other markets such as Europe and India where they can achieve better netback.
“There is no point for us to engage in discussions with China due to the persistent buy-sell gap,” said one northeast Asian trader.
Cate Blanchett says she loved playing the wicked stepmother in Cinderella because she had been "painfully good" growing up.
The Australian actor slid down the rainy blue carpet at the film's Australian premiere, telling reporters she relished in her role.
"I loved every second of it," she said.
"(Growing up) I was painfully good."
The 45-year-old said she would laugh off jokes about her age when friends knew she was starring in the live-action Disney classic.
"(A few) subtly tried to say, `aren't you a little old to be playing Cinderella?'" she told AAP on Sunday night.
"I said, `no darling. I'm playing the stepmother'."
Along with dipping into her darker side, the role allowed the actor to step into glamorous, albeit elaborate, costumes.
Heaping praise on costume designer Sandy Powell, Ms Blanchett said her green and gold outfits were bold and theatrical.
"It utterly works for the characters," she said.
"The visual life of the film is sumptuous."
However the heart of Cinderella is about kindness.
"In today's world if you're kind and patient with people they tend to take it as a sign of weakness," she said.
"Young children in particular see this and think, `You know what, I can be open-hearted and not be a doormat'."
* Cinderella will be released in Australian cinemas on March 26.
Hosting a bridal shower this season for a family member or friend? By planning refreshments that can be prepared well in advance, you won't miss watching the bride-to-be open her gifts.
Frozen Peach-Pecan Souffle blends peaches with butter pecan ice cream, then adds chopped pecans, whipped cream and a touch of kirsch before freezing. Garnish with swirls of whipped cream and pecan halves and serve with coffee or Champagne for a special conclusion to the party.
Peel and pit peaches. Beat 1 1/2 cups whipping cream until stiff. Blend peaches and ice cream in food processor or blender. Carefully fold in chopped pecans, kirsch and whipped cream.
Wrap 3-inch foil collar around top of 1 1/2-quart souffle dish. Secure with tape. Pour ice cream mixture into dish and freeze overnight.
Beat remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream until stiff. Remove foil from souffle. Garnish with whipped cream swirls and pecan halves. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Note: 1 (16-ounce) can peaches, drained, may be substituted for fresh peaches.
Byron York reports that President Obama will return his attention to unemployment in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday. I can’t wait. He seems to have wandered far from the subject over the last four years, but it’s probably for the best. His ideas for reducing unemployment — best represented in the trillion-dollar stimulus bill of 2009 — retard the kind of economic growth that fosters the creation of jobs by businesses in the private sector.
Now here’s a clue to reading Obama. Whenever he mentions a “journey” that we are on, slow down for a close inspection. Check your pockets. Batten down the hatches. He’s coming after us to go somewhere we don’t want to go in order to reach a destination we would really be better off avoiding.
I know I waited a little long in line to vote on election day. I felt good doing so, but I know it’s not my cause that Obama is championing. What was Obama talking about? I thought he must be setting us up for expedited and enhanced amplification of the Democratic vote through Internet voting or some such scheme, and I wasn’t too far off.
Several liberal Democrats have already introduced a bill styled the Voter Empowerment Act of 2013.
The effort is a cynical partisan undertaking, according to election lawyer Hans von Spakovsky. In December, some “three dozen of the most powerful liberal advocacy groups, including union organizations,” held a strategy session, he says, citing a report from the liberal magazine Mother Jones. They agreed to “oppose all voter integrity efforts, things like voter ID,” to push for federal legislation requiring states to permit voter registration on Election Day, and to institute “automatic” voter registration.
The Voter Empowerment Act would also mandate automatic registration of individuals on motor-vehicle, tax and university rolls, many of whom are aliens or have multiple addresses in different states: “You’re basically going to be registering lots of people who are ineligible and leading to many duplicate registrations.” The groups pushing such efforts—among them the Brennan Center for Justice [linked for the text of the draft of the law above], the ACLU and the NAACP—include “the same organizations that have been filing lawsuits over the past few years trying to prevent states from verifying the accuracy and eligibility of people on their voter-registration databases,” Mr. von Spakovsky says.
It’s a perfect adjunct to the immigration reform that Obama will undoubtedly also be touting on Tuesday night. Can anyone here put the pieces together?
Teenagers who spend long hours browsing through social media and using their smartphones are significantly less happy and more likely to become depressed than previous generations of young people, a UN study has found.
Research carried out among teenagers born after 1995 in the US has found that happiness among American teenagers has declined significantly since 2012 while the time young people spend on screen activities has steadily increased.
The Sad State of Happiness in the United States and the Role of Digital Media report, released this week as part of the UN World Happiness study, argues that young people who spend more time with friends and family, exercising and sleeping are happier than peers who spend hours every day using the internet and smartphones.
It warns that those born after 1995 as part of the iGen generation are “markedly lower in psychological well-being” than millennials (born between 1980-1994) were at the same age.
Author of the report Dr Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, notes that while happiness levels among young people increased between 1991 and 2011, both adults and adolescents said they were significantly less happy in 2016-17 compared to how they felt in the early 2000s.
Dr Twenge draws a strong correlation between these feelings of unhappiness and the rapid increase in the number of people using smartphones in recent years.
This rise in digital media use has resulted in teenagers spending less time with their peers socialising and going to parties, notes Dr Twenge, adding that the way adolescents spend time together has “fundamentally shifted”. She writes that depression, suicidal thoughts and self-harm have increased sharply among teens since 2010, particularly among young women and girls in the US and teens in the UK.
In 2017, the average 17/18 year old spent more than six hours a day using the internet, on social media and texting. By 2018, 95 per cent of US teenagers had access to a smartphone while 45 per cent said they were “almost constantly” online. Girls who spend five or more hours a day on social media were found to be three times more likely to be depressed than non-social media users while heavy internet users were twice as likely to be unhappy.
Young people who spend more time sleeping, interacting face-to-face with friends and attending religious service - activities which were more common among previous generations - tend to be happier than peers glued to their phones, the report underlines.
Many young social media users become depressed when comparing their lives to the glamorous “highlight reels” of other users while cyberbullying is another growing problem within the digital world, writes Dr Twenge.
“In short, adolescents who spend more time on electronic devices are less happy, and adolescents who spend more time on most other activities are happier,” she writes, adding that digital media use displaces time that could otherwise be spent on “more beneficial activities”.
It’s not yet as clear whether the rise in internet and phone use among adults is also resulting in less time spent interacting face-to-face with friends and family and proper sleep time. However, given that adults now spend just as much time using digital media as teenagers it’s likely that the decline in adult happiness is also linked to online media, concludes the report.
Frank Shea built a championship contending basketball program at Dom Savio and accomplished the same at Masconomet Regional, qualifying for the State Tournament 13 times while winning 206 games during what should ultimately be a Hall of Fame coaching career.
Shea was also a very good and fundamentally sound basketball player himself, a 6-foot-4-inch forward who starred at Savio before continuing his career at Salem State University. Throughout his playing and coaching career, he was known for his competitiveness and his ability to motivate his teammates and players to excellence.
Shea, 47, will carry that success as a coach and player in to his new position as the athletic director for the Revere High School and middle school sports programs. Shea, a teacher at Rumney Marsh Academy, was named as the new AD May 14, succeeding Shaun Hart, who is leaving to become the AD in Burlington.
Shea has coached varsity basketball at Masconomet (Boxford) for the past seven years. This season he recorded his 200th career coaching victory. He previously coached at his alma mater, leading Savio to the state championship game at the TD Garden where the Spartans fell to Cathedral by three points.
Shea arrives at the helm during an exciting time in the program’s history with the opening of a brand new Harry Della Russo Stadium and the tremendous success of the Revere High girls basketball and softball programs. Both teams have won Northeastern Conference championships while the softball team advanced to the Division 1 state semifinals in 2014.
Shea is personally familiar with the girls teams’ recent run of victories, having followed the exploits of his niece, Caitlin Caramello, a standout athlete and now a college hoop player at Suffolk.
Eddie Sullivan Jr., a talented football and lacrosse player at the high school, was Mr. Shea’s student in physical education classes at Rumney Marsh.
Fitbit Charge HR review: the best fitness tracker yet?
A simple but super-light hooded jacket that's ideal for keeping out the chill when the temperature plummets. When, or rather if, the sun makes an appearance, the Squamish can be packed into its own pocket and stowed till later.
A classic bomber from the king of UK cool, this features a two-way silver RiRi zip fastening, two internal pockets and contrasting sleeves with a lustrous finish. As you'd expect from Mr Smith, the jacket also features some rather fancy printed lining. Swish.
Lightweight doesn't have to mean wafer-thin and freezing cold. Finisterre's wind- and water-resistant, packable puffa can be scrunched into a ball-sized bag, yet its 60g of synthetic PrimaLoft insulation keeps you super-snug, even on the approach to winter.
Not only is this jacket painfully cool to look at, with its cropped length and check finish, its full lining will keep you warm enough to fend off rival long-haulers when you're next queuing outside a greasy spoon on the M6.
Beat the worst the autumn months can dish out, and look as if you just stepped offyour dad's 60-foot schooner, with Penfield's stylish boating number – it offers rain resistance thanks to a waxy finish, but is light enough to stop you from overheating.
Newgistics Inc., an Austin company that provides shipping services for retailers and other customers, said Wednesday that it had withdrawn its filing for an initial public stock offering. The company's filing in March indicated it would seek to raise about $86 million in a stock offering.
The company said it withdrew its filing because of the ongoing stock market volatility and economic uncertainty.
The company, which reported a profit of $21.4 million on revenue of $174.6 million in 2010, said that 2011 will be the best year in its history. It is expanding its office space in Austin to accommodate projected growth in 2012 and beyond.
Asure Software Inc. of Austin has acquired Legiant, an Austin-based provider of cloud computing software for workplace time and attendance management, for $4 million.
Asure said the acquisition enhances its existing workforce management software.
The combined companies employ about 40 people in Austin.
The acquisition comes after Asure's October purchase of ADI Time, another cloud-based time and attendance management software company. ADI Time is based in Warwick, R.I.
Asure develops a suite of workplace-related software applications.
Austin's Girlstart program has received a $100,000 grant from Google.org.
The organization, which encourages girls to consider education and careers in the science, technology, engineering and math sectors, intends to use the cash to expand its offerings in Austin and two soon-to-be-announced cities.
Girlstart estimates the grant will allow it to reach an additional 500 girls over the next two years through its after-school program. It also plans to offer summer camp scholarships.
By year's end, Google says it will have given $100 million to charitable organizations such as Girlstart.
Get more details on Girlstart at girlstart.org.
The operators of the Cedar Park Center are looking to sell naming rights for the multi-purpose arena.
Opened in 2009, the Cedar Park Center is jointly owned by the City of Cedar Park and the Hicks family, which owns the Texas Stars hockey team, the arena's anchor tenant. The arena is also home to the Austin Toros, an NBA Development League team.
The Hicks family operates the arena, and its contract with the city gives it authority to sell naming rights for the facility.
Shamrock Sports & Entertainment, a sponsorship marketing and sales agency, has been hired to lead the search for a naming rights partner.
"We are confident we have the most unique platform in Central Texas for a naming rights partner to showcase their brand and products," said Rick McLaughlin, general manager of the Cedar Park Center and president of the Texas Stars.
Southern Shores Realty offers active and retired military service men and women a discount on their vacation rental homes in the Outer Banks. Military discounts vary by home. Proper military identification required to receive discount. Offer valid on full week reservations only. Cannot be combined with any other offer. To finalize your reservation and apply your OBX military discount, call their vacation rental specialists at 1 (800)-334-1000, or email them. Click here to see the rentals and get more information.
None of the about 5 000 inhabitants of Mafi Dove, a village in southern Ghana, was born there. The village is considered to be holy land and consequently has a myriad of customs and traditions that have been upheld throughout its existence. One of these is the belief that childbirth in the village is an offence to the gods.
The Ghanaian village of Mafi Dove is not that unlike other Ghanaian villages in its reverence and practice of old customs and traditions passed down over generations. However, the village is unique in the three major rules that it continues to enforce to this day.
According to Oddity Central, rearing animals in Mafi Dove is forbidden. Although animals can be brought in for slaughter, residents may not raise them in their homesteads or anywhere in the village. Secondly, there is no burial ground and deceased villagers are buried in the cemeteries of other communities.
Lastly, but most impactful for the women of the community, is the belief that childbirth in the village is taboo. Oddity Central reports that women approaching their due date are transported to neighbouring villages or towns and forced to remain there until their babies' umbilical cords fall off. Only then can they return home.
"When our forefathers came to the land, a voice from heaven said: 'If you want to stay on this land, it is holy ground and there are rules. The rules of the land are that no one should give birth here, no one should rear animals and no one should be buried here,'" said an interviewee in a BBC video on Mafi Dove.
Unfortunately, it is not unusual for expectant mothers to be sent away a month or more before their due date. For those who stay on, there have been instances of them being hastily transported when they are already in debilitating pain and babies being in distress because of birth complications due to being moved.
On a more positive note, women who do end up breaking the tradition are not punished or shunned for it. Although this is frowned upon and intensely discouraged, the belief is that mothers who break the rule risk giving birth to babies with abnormalities. In these exceptional cases, ritual cleansings are performed by the village elders to purify the village and appease the gods.
Villagers are convinced that their customs are important to ensure the prosperity of the community.
"Wherever there is evil, there is no development," the elders of Mafi Dove told Oddity Central. "Because of these taboos, there has never been any bloodshed, crime and so on. You are allowed to bring animals and slaughter them in the land, women are free to menstruate, but to give birth, no way. We are very proud to be bound by those taboos."
In recent years, calls from women in the village have necessitated a concession. The elders have approved the building of a maternity clinic on the village outskirts, so that women can deliver babies closer to home.
ORMSTOWN, QUE.—Propped up by a shovel that acts as his cane, Vladimir Katriuk putters about his wooded lot in rural Quebec, caring for his bees and appearing to have few worries other than this season’s honey yield.
But a prominent Jewish human-rights organization insists there’s much more to the cordial 91-year-old beekeeper — whom they allege is of the world’s most-wanted Nazi war criminals.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center recently ranked Katriuk No. 4 on its Top 10 list of suspected former Nazis, after a new study alleged he was a key participant in a village massacre during World War II.
An academic article alleged that, in 1943, a man with his name lay in wait outside a barn that had been set ablaze, operating a stationary machine gun and firing on civilians as they tried to escape. The same article said the man took a watch, bracelet and gun from the body of a woman found nearby.
Katriuk spoke with The Canadian Press this week at his small farm in Ormstown, just under an hour’s drive from Montreal.

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