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`We are happy to return to Newark because it is an important connection to the Polish community... says Rafał Milczarski, (LOT’s CEO) Soon LOT is going to announce more new destinations... “As new long-distance flights are launched, the number of short-distance flights, especially from the Central and Eastern Europe, is going to go up as well. The company estimates that in 2020 it will operate a total of approximately 70 aircraft, including 16 Dreamliners … We also expect the delivery of two new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The above are selected excerpts from the LOT`s CEO speech announcing the new Newark flight. He implies strongly that there will be additional long-distance launches. It is also clear that they are rapidly increasing their number of Dreamliners. Does this mean that YUL is still on their list for the near future?

It is among the cities most heavily indebted and at risk of defaulting on its loans, according to Nomura Holdings Inc By Enda Curran - Jun 10, 2015, 20:21:07 Under a plan approved by China's State Council yesterday, Wenzhou will develop more types of bonds and allow trading of unlisted equities, technology and cultural products, according to a statement on the government’s website. Wenzhou is among the Chinese cities most heavily indebted and at risk of defaulting on its loans, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. In a new analysis described as one of the first of its kind, Nomura has dug into China's lending trail to see which cities and provinces are creaking under debt. They examined credit risks covering 30 provincial authorities and 265 cities. The report comes as bad loans and defaults in China tick higher and local governments struggle to meet repayments after years of binge borrowing to build roads and bridges and keep the economy growing. Mizuho Securities Asia estimates China's regional liabilities have now reached 25 trillion yuan ($4 trillion), bigger than Germany’s economy. Here's what Nomura's research found: the highest default risk is concentrated in the coastal and western provinces. Central China fares better. The danger provinces include Qinghai, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Hainan, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guizhou, Gansu, Chongqing and Heilongjiang. "Assessing the geographic distribution of risks is becoming increasingly important, particularly as China’s bond market is on the verge of explosive growth," Nomura analysts led by Yang Zhao wrote in the report. Among the cities, about 60 so-called third and fourth-tier cities carry the highest risk. These include: Datong in Shanxi province, followed by Sanya in Hainan, Wulanchabu in Inner Mongolia, Ganzhou and Shangrao in Jiangxi, Lishui in Zhejiang, Wenzhou in Zhejiang and Bazhong in Sichuan. First-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai fared better in the analysis, helped by stronger economic fundamentals. Nomura used 13 indicators that cover four risk areas: property market, fiscal, financial and economic fundamentals. China isn't the only country with heavily indebted cities or state governments. In the U.S., Detroit and Stockton, California both emerged from bankruptcy in the past year. It's the pace of Chinese borrowing and a lack of transparency around how much debt there is that has investors worried. Nomura estimates that China's local government bond market may balloon from around 1.2 trillion yuan to 12 trillion yuan by 2020. A string of defaults would gum up the lending system, bring economic growth to a halt and runs the risk of social unrest. So the idea is to keep the credit flowing. http://bloom.bg/1cMoOph Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Vancouver Becomes First City to Pave Its Streets With Recycled Plastic Read more: Vancouver Becomes First City to Pave Their Streets With Recycled Plastic | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building by Kristine Lofgren, 11/25/12 http://inhabitat.com/vancouver-becomes-first-city-to-pave-their-streets-with-recycled-plastic/ The City of Vancouver has set the lofty goal of becoming the greenest city in the world by 2020 and, judging by their latest green innovation, they are thinking outside of the box to get there. To help up their green quotient, Vancouver has started paving its streets with recycled plastic. The city teamed up with GreenMantra of Toronto to melt together old plastic and asphalt to create a paving mixture that is much better for the environment than traditional asphalt. Traditional asphalt requires extremely high temperatures to allow it to flow easily, but by mixing in a recycled plastic binder, the asphalt flows at a much lower temperature, requiring up to 20-percent less fuel to produce. City engineer Peter Judd estimates that this could translate into a reduction of 300 tons of greenhouse gases per year. Using the plastic binder also reduces the amount of vapors released into the air when the asphalt is laid. The process costs about 1 to 3-percent more than traditional asphalt paving, but as the supply increases, costs are expected to drop. The environmentally friendly paving doesn’t look any different than traditional paving, and the city is currently testing the mixture before deploying it citywide.

Canadian smog costs $1 billion, 2,700 lives: CMA Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 The Canadian Medical Association estimates that by 2031, more than 4,900 Canadians, mostly seniors, will die prematurely each year from the effects of polluted air.Dean Bicknell/Canwest News ServiceThe Canadian Medical Association estimates that by 2031, more than 4,900 Canadians, mostly seniors, will die prematurely each year from the effects of polluted air. OTTAWA -- Smog this year will contribute to the premature deaths of 2,700 Canadians and put 11,000 in hospitals, costing the economy and health-care system $1 billion, Canada's doctors say. A report by the Canadian Medical Association calculates that deaths linked to air pollution will rise over the next two decades, claiming nearly twice as many lives each year and costing $1.3 billion annually in health care and lost productivity. The study estimates that by 2031, more than 4,900 Canadians, mostly seniors, will die prematurely each year from the effects of polluted air. Ontario and Quebec will bear the brunt, with smog-related deaths soaring among aging baby-boomers and the chronically ill. In Ontario, the number of premature deaths could double, to 2,200, from 1,200 per year, while hospital admissions over the same period could jump by as much as 70%. The annual health-care and economic costs could rise by as much as 30%, to $740 million, from $570 million. Quebec's mortality rate could rise by 70%, from 700 a year to 1,200, while hospital admissions could spike by 50% annually, costing the province 10% more, or up to $290 million a year. While smog can trigger lung problems, accounting for up to 40% of hospital visits, heart attack and stroke are the real problems, responsible for more than 60% of all air-pollution-related hospital admissions, the study found. Pollutants such as nitrous oxide damage the heart by harming blood vessels, leading to atherosclerosis, a disease that makes people susceptible to heart attack and stroke. Besides the direct costs to the economy and the health system, the study tries to put a price on the poor quality of life and loss of life caused by smog-related deaths. With those estimated costs included, this year's total bill -- in addition to the $1 billion estimate for economic and health-care costs - would amount to more than $10 billion. That figure would rise to $18 billion a year by 2031, with nearly $16 billion of that the price the doctors' association puts on lost lives. But Gordon McBean, a renowned climatologist at the University of Western Ontario, questioned the accuracy of such estimates. While he praised the report and called most of its data sound, he said the attempt to put a price tag on lost life is problematic. "Health-care costs you can do a reasonably good job quantifying, but quality of life and the actual value of life is a bit difficult," said Mr. McBean, co-author of a recently published Health Canada report on the impact of climate change on human health. As a Canadian representative to the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Mr. McBean said the world's top experts have tried unsuccessfully to come up with similar estimates for the human cost of climate change. "That became very controversial because the people who did it said, 'Well, a North American is worth so many thousand dollars and an African is worth a small fraction of that.' And people like me didn't think that was acceptable," he said. Given that climate change likely will lead to more smoggy days, the report does not exaggerate the level of anticipated deaths caused by air pollution, said Mr. McBean. "They're not overstating the problem. If anything, these are lowball estimates."

Montreal is 39th (GDP: USD$120B GDP). Expected to be 47th in 2050 (GDP: USD$180B) 2005: http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/richest-cities-2005.html 2020: http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/richest-cities-2020.html The world's richest cities by personal net earnings in 2008 (per capita) This survey performed by UBS puts New York at "100 level" and compares cities as having net earnings as how much higher or how much lower. Montreal fared reasonably well in the world at 21st position (Toronto 19th). http://www.citymayors.com/economics/richest_cities.html The world's richest cities by purchasing power in 2008 (per capita) This survey performed by UBS puts New York at "100 level" and compares cities as having purchasing power as how much higher or how much lower. Montreal fared really, and ranked 18th position in the world (Toronto 15th). http://www.citymayors.com/economics/usb-purchasing-power.html