The City of Surrey is moving closer to realizing the new organics biofuel facility with today’s issuance of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the project.

The facility will process residential and commercial kitchen and yard waste into a renewable fuel, which will be used to power our new waste trucks. The 80,000 metric tonne per year facility will be the largest of its kind in Canada and will help the City and Metro Vancouver achieve the regional 70 per cent waste diversion target by 2015.

“Surrey’s new organics biofuel facility will establish a new benchmark in Canada and provide environmental benefits to the entire region. It will help us reduce emissions, create viable new energy infrastructure, divert waste from the landfill, and become more sustainable in our operations,” says Mayor Dianne Watts. “As part of our new waste management system building an organics biofuel processing facility in Surrey is the next major step in our program.”

Surrey’s new Rethink Waste program was launched on October 1st, 2012, and includes curbside organics collection and an entire fleet of compressed natural gas waste collection trucks. The new program has already led to a 43 per cent reduction in garbage sent to the landfill. Once the biofuel facility is operating, Surrey will be home to the only fully-integrated organics waste management system in North America.

Software magnate Vivek Ranadive, who has become the first person of Indian descent to become the owner of a major U.S. basketball team, plans to build the Sacramento Kings into a global brand.

“It’s going to be exciting,” he told USA Today after securing an agreement to buy 65 per cent of the Kings from the Maloof family for a National Basketball Association (NBA) league-record valuation of $535 million.

“We’re going to build a global brand with the Kings. We’re going to give the fans the product that they deserve,” the minority owner of the Golden State Warriors said on achieving his longtime goal.
The development came just a day after NBA owners officially rejected a bid by the Maloofs, who have owned the team since 1998, to relocate the Kings from Sacramento, Calif., to Seattle, Wash.

“It’s a little bittersweet, obviously because I’m a huge Warriors fan and I have a lot of friends here,” Ranadive told USA Today Sports. “I’m very, very excited to start the new (challenge).”

Ranadive, who left India as a 17-year-old to attend MIT and later founded his $4 billion company in Silicon Valley, Tibco, has the sort of competitiveness and deep pockets that could lead one of the league’s most poorly run franchises back to respectability, USA Today said.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has made a concerted effort of late to grow the game in Ranadive’s native India, where “basketball is but a blip on their sporting radar,” the newspaper said.

“I’m going to do what I do in my business, which is surround myself with people that are way smarter than me,” Ranadive said. “But I am a huge fan. I’m going to be there at all the games, be there to support the team in every way.”

“It’s one step at a time,” Ranadive said. “I’m one of these guys who doesn’t like to get ahead of the game.

“We still have a lot of work to do. I’ve learned a lot, but there’s a lot more to learn. And it’s going to be a process. It’s not going to be an overnight miracle there, so it’s going to take some work,” he was quoted as saying.—IANS

TELUS has entered into an agreement with Mobilicity to acquire the company for $380 million. If the deal receives the required approvals, it would ensure continued service to Mobilicity’s 250,000 customers without the risk of disruption.

The agreement between TELUS and the company is subject to conditions including approval by the Competition Bureau, Industry Canada, and Mobilicity’s debtholders. TELUS and Mobilicity have informed the government and regulators and both companies are fully committed to working cooperatively to secure timely approvals for the transaction.

“A concern for our customers and employees led us to approach TELUS, which has a reputation for a strong customer focus, as evidenced by their industry leading client loyalty,” said Stewart Lyons, Mobilicity President. “I am confident TELUS will look after our employees and our customers, mitigating any disruption to their service, while offering the best outcome for all stakeholders.”

William Aziz, Mobilicity Chief Restructuring Officer, continued, “Mobilicity has been losing a significant amount of money every month. The financial strength of TELUS will allow the business to be continued in a way that will benefit customers and employees. An acquisition by TELUS is the best alternative for Mobilicity.”

The entire purchase price will be used to satisfy Mobilicity’s secured and unsecured debt.

One of BC’s former premiers says the Lower Mainland needs better transit service and the newly-elected government needs to make that happen.

Mike Harcourt feels there are three areas in particular that should be priorities.

“There are three lines in Surrey, the line out to UBC, and the gondola up to SFU,” Harcourt told News1130. “Get them all done. Give people a really good transit system.”

There has been much debate in Metro Vancouver over which is a bigger priority: The line out to UBC or expanding transit routes south of the Fraser River. The mayors of Vancouver and Surrey have each made cases for their own cities.

Buses to UBC are stuffed with students every day and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson wants to see a subway line to the university.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts says her city has waited patiently with no significant transit upgrades while major projects, such as the Evergreen Line and Canada Line, have been built in other communities. Her city’s transportation committee is eying light rail transit down 104th Avenue and Fraser Highway toward Langley as possible solutions. Council is also looking at possibilities to serve South Surrey.

Harcourt says both mayors should get their wish. “We have to finish the transit system. We got three quarters of it done; let’s finish the rest.”

Lufthansa is boosting its presence in BC by adding a new route to Germany.

The airline is now offering a daily flight between Munich and Vancouver, bringing 15,000 visitors to our province.

“We’re very excited that we have the aircraft available to fly this route,” says Hans De Haan with the airline.

He said this new route is the only international one they’re adding this year.

“There’s always been an under-serving of Vancouver. We’ve flied Vancouver-Frankfurt already for 30 years. There’s a lot more demand, and now we can also connect Vancouver with Munich, which is another one of our hubs, to connect to, basically, the world.”

He says the new route marks 30 years of Lufthansa service here, and complements its Frankfurt-Vancouver flights which began in 1983.

“It’s also very close to other parts of Europe that you can connect to very quickly. Of course, we have the famous Oktoberfest, which actually happens in September… that alone is worth a visit to Munich.”

De Haan adds Europeans love to visit BC. “You can’t beat the nature. A lot of these tourists are coming in, renting motorhomes, and they are exploring everything that is beautiful about BC.”

Lufthansa is flying an Airbus A330-300 here which offers 165 seats in Economy, 48 in Business and eight in First Class.

NEW DELHI-Pakistani links, role of D-Company and the involvement of the Mumbai underworld have surfaced in the investigations into spot-fixing in Indian Premier League (IPL) matches in which Indian fast bowler S Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates have been arrested, police said on Thursday, adding more arrests are expected.

Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila and 11 other bookies arrested for alleged spot fixing were sent to five-day police custody by a chief metropolitan magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma.

“We had information that Mumbai underworld is indulging in match-fixing or spot-fixing and have contacted a number of bookies and some players,” Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar said, giving details of the arrests of three players and 11 bookies in Mumbai late Wednesday night.

“There are overseas connections and there is evidence to prove that the underworld is involved. But, there is no concrete evidence of any (gang) members of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim (being involved) so far. But, it can’t be ruled out,” he said at a crowded press conference.

Asked who the individual is, he said: “We know the name but that could be the assumed name. That’s why we are not sharing with the press. The number he was using was of Dubai but you can use Dubai’s number sitting somewhere else.”

But, according to Mumbai police sources, the arrests were made on the basis of tracking phone calls, at least two dozen of which originated from Pakistan.

A couple of bookies of the total seven arrested from Mumbai are allegedly linked to Dawood, who is said to be in Pakistan, sources said.

Dawood is believed to be a veteran in cricket betting and match fixing.

The Delhi Police commissioner said the suspects were kept under watch since April and it was found that match fixers and bookies from Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and that some players participating in the IPL were conspiring in spot-fixing.

He said these bookies used to spot the “vulnerable” players who could be easily contacted. But only three players came into their net.

While Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals colleagues Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, as also the 11 bookies have been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy, Neeraj Kumar said there is a “distinct possibility” the cricketers will also be booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), which deals with combating organized crime and terrorism.

Detailing the modus operandi, he said, “Bookies also told them that they would have to give indications before start of an over about giving away runs. The indications included rotate your watch, put a towel in your trousers, take some time on looking around the field, take out a locket or chain from your shirt and lift vest/shirt.”

The first incident of spot-fixing, he said, was discovered in the May 5 match between Pune Warriors and Rajasthan Royals. This was followed by the May 9 match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals and the May 15 match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

Armed with the video clippings of the given-away runs, the police chief also read out transcripts of the conversations between the players and the bookies.

Noting they have 100 hours of audio clippings as evidence, he said that there was evidence that spot-fixing was happening in other teams as well.

The 14 arrested were sent to police custody till May 21.

Police had sought seven days police remand, contending they have collected total 55 mobile phones and laptops, and the data from laptops, all which is in code words, needs to be recovered.

They also sought custody for unearthing the entire conspiracy and to know the who are the other people or players involved in the fixing.

The fourteen accused, including Sreesanth, who came with his face covered, were produced at judge’s home around 6.30pm at Saket court complex.

They all were charged under Section 420 (cheating) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.—IANS