A truckload of corn is dumped into a chute at the Lincolnway Energy plant in the town of Nevada, Iowa, December 6, 2007.

WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:09pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Corn ethanol would get a larger share of the U.S. gasoline market under a government proposal on Thursday while ranchers, environmentalists and the oil industry aim to kill the renewable fuels mandate altogether.

The Obama administration proposed a 9 percent increase in the so-called renewable fuels standard from 2012, in line with a 2007 law. Half of the 1.35 billion-gallon increase would go to corn ethanol and half to "advanced" biofuels that produce half the greenhouse gases of first-generation ethanol.

Overall, biofuels would be allotted 16.5 billion gallons of the fuel market for cars and light trucks. The mandate reaches 36 billion gallons in 2022, with half of the mandate going to new-generation biofuels.

Last fall, the administration denied a request from several governors from livestock and oil-producing states for a partial or total waiver of the requirement to use ethanol. Corn prices soared during the drought as ethanol makers, livestock producers, and grain exporters competed for a smaller supply.

"We're girding for a fight," said Bob Dinneen of the ethanol trade group Renewable Fuels Association. He said a campaign against the biofuel mandate already was under way.

There will be a 45-day comment period on the latest proposal after which the Environmental Protection Agency will issue a final ruling.

EPA SAYS CELLULOSIC TARGET IS REASONABLE

As part of its proposal, the EPA put the mandate for advanced biofuels at 2.75 billion gallons, including 14 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels, made from grass, shrub and trees.

The cellulosic target "is a reasonable representation of expected production," EPA said was in line with an appellate court decision last week that ruled against an unrealistically high production target.

EPA set its biodiesel target for this year at 1.28 billion gallons in an earlier, separate action.

Traders said Brazilian ethanol, made from sugar cane, and domestic biodiesel would compete to fill the advanced biofuels mandate. Biodiesel counts as an advanced biofuel.

In addition, EPA proposed a new voluntary program to assure the validity of Renewable Identification Numbers, known as RINs. Fuel companies can use RINs, each representing a gallon of biofuel, to meet the renewable fuel mandate.

Fraudulent RINs have been a problem in the biodiesel industry. EPA said it worked with the biofuels industry in developing its RINs proposal.

ETHANOL PRODUCTION FALLS DURING TOUGH YEAR

U.S. ethanol production fell during the second half of 2012 in the face of high corn prices, the drought-shortened crop and weaker demand for gasoline, the Energy Department said on Thursday. And ethanol prices in 2012 were down 8 percent from 2011's average.

The slump continued into this year. Ethanol production in the week ending on January 25 was the lowest in two years and the four-week average pointed to ethanol production of 12.2 billion gallons this year, far below the mandate of 13.6 billion gallons.

"There's not a market. We're trying to build demand," said Dinneen of the RFA.

Three dozen ethanol plants, with 15 percent of industry capacity, were closed as of Tuesday. Analysts said comparatively low demand for gasoline meant limited demand for ethanol too.

Ethanol is a farm-state favorite, where it is embraced as a home-grown antidote for oil imports and a job-creating industry for rural America. About 40 percent of the corn crop is used in distilling ethanol.

Foes ranging from environmentalists to livestock producers and the oil industry want to end the mandate. They say it encourages soil erosion and pesticide runoff from farms and, by driving up the cost of livestock feed, affects beef, pork and chicken meat prices in grocery stores.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

View the original article here

LONDON | Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:48am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - London's theatres earned 530 million pounds ($830 million) in 2012, a marginal rise on 2011, and although the Olympic Games had a noticeable impact on the West End during the summer it was not the "bloodbath" one leading producer had predicted.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) showed 2012 gross ticket sales at 52 major theatres in the capital rose 0.27 percent on the year before while attendances, at 14 million, were up 0.56 percent.

The increases would have been greater had it not been for the London Games, SOLT officials said, with public attention surrounding the opening ceremony dampening demand and warnings of transport disruptions putting off theatre-goers.

London's flamboyant Mayor Boris Johnson was singled out as a factor, after his recorded messages warning of travel congestion on public transport during the Games were quickly dropped when the concerns proved unfounded.

"I don't think most of the (SOLT) members were relishing the Games and the impact of the Olympics was viewed with trepidation," said SOLT president Mark Rubinstein.

"It's surprising, amazing, wonderful we are standing here today saying 2012 was another record-breaking year."

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, one of the most influential theatre impresarios in Britain, had predicted a box office "bloodbath" during the summer due to the Games.

Rubinstein said there was a sizeable drop in takings during the third quarter of the year due to the Olympics, but that overall the figures were better than many had predicted.

In outright terms, the revenue figure was a new record, while attendance was not far from its 2009 peak of 14.3 million.

REGIONAL CUTS A WORRY

Producers showed restraint, perhaps with an eye on economic gloom in Britain and much of Europe, with average ticket prices last year at 37.86 pounds compared with 37.97 pounds in 2011.

Musicals dominated the West End again, accounting for eight million attendances, a fall of three percent on 2011, while play attendances were up nine percent at 4.1 million.

Hits last year included the Royal Court's transfers of "Posh", "Jumpy" and "Constellations" and the success of the National Theatre's "War Horse" and "One Man, Two Guvnors".

While London showed resilience in the face of competition from the Olympics and a stagnant economy, there was greater concern for regional theatres, some of which face major spending cuts from central government and local authorities.

Newcastle City Council in northern England, for example, announced it planned to cut all funding to arts organizations in the city, and other regions including Derby and Darlington have been badly hit.

Rubinstein said cuts to arts spending in the regions could have a devastating impact on theatres which were "part of the ecosystem" of British stage and helped make the West End great.

"We need to support those theatres and make sure the politicians support those theatres," he said.

Advance ticket sales for 2013 suggested another strong year ahead, he added.

Julian Bird, SOLT's chief executive, also announced that commercial channel ITV would broadcast the Olivier Awards for West End theatre on April 28.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

A machine that makes bubble wrap padded envelopes is pictured at the Wrap-Tite manufacturing facility in Solon, Ohio July 13, 2012.

NEW YORK | Wed Jan 2, 2013 2:48pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturing ended 2012 on an upswing despite fears about the "fiscal cliff," data showed on Wednesday.

U.S. factories returned to growth in December after contracting the previous month, the Institute for Supply Management said.

Its index of national factory activity rose to 50.7 up from 49.5 in November, narrowly beating the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll. The ISM index had fallen to a 40-month low in November.

"What is interesting in this report is that you would think the negative headlines surrounding the fiscal cliff would have put pressure on manufacturing," said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

ISM's employment index rose to 52.7 from 48.4 in November, while its forward-looking new orders component kept at 50.3.

A separate measure of manufacturing also showed growth.

Financial data firm Markit's U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index picked up to 54.0 from 52.8 in November. This was its highest point since May on a final basis despite just missing its preliminary estimate of 54.2.

"With recent indications that growth is also picking up in other key economies around the world, notably in emerging markets such as China and Brazil, and that the euro zone's economic crisis is easing, U.S. companies should benefit as stronger demand lifts exports in early 2013," said Markit Chief Economist Chris Williamson.

A rise in new orders fueled the faster growth, as one in five companies reported an increase. The Markit index's new orders component rose to 54.7 from 53.6 in November, its quickest increase since April.

The growth in U.S. manufacturing came in the face of fears late last year over the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts, which would have kicked in at the start of 2013, risking a new U.S. recession.

Lawmakers struck a deal late on Tuesday, avoiding income tax hikes for most Americans and delaying the spending cuts for two months.

U.S. stock prices surged at the open on the congressional action, while yields on U.S. government debt rose.

"Now that Congress has come to an agreement. ... We expect that new orders and overall activity in the sector will accelerate. However, we also expect that growth in the first quarter will be slow due to continued uncertainty over spending cuts and the debt ceiling," said Thomas Simons, vice president and money market economist at New York brokerage Jeffries, in a note.

Despite Tuesday's deal, Congress still must debate how to handle the automatic spending cuts and resolve differences over the federal debt ceiling which could result in a new round of political wrangling.

The deal is in line with what many financial firms on Wall Street and around the world have been expecting, suggesting forecasts for economic growth of around 1.9 percent for 2013 would likely hold.

Even as manufacturing grew, uncertainty remained for smaller businesses.

Borrowing by small U.S. businesses rose marginally in November, as the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index - which measures the overall volume of financing to small U.S. companies -- rose to 108.3 from a downwardly revised 107 in October, PayNet said.

"Small businesses were waiting to see what is happening with Washington. ... They were waiting for more consumer activity to emerge, really watching the front door for new sales to emerge and it doesn't look like any major new influx of sales came in - they have really been on hold," PayNet founder Bill Phelan said.

(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; Additional reporting by Steven C. Johnson, Chris Reese, Julie Haviv, Jason Lange; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

View the original article here

WASHINGTON | Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:02pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Sunday confirmed the head of the Federal Housing Administration in her position despite mounting losses the mortgage funding agency that some fear could eventually lead to a taxpayer bailout.

In a 69-24 vote, the Senate confirmed Carol Galante as an assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Galante, a former affordable housing developer in San Francisco, had been running the FHA in an acting capacity since July 2011.

The FHA, a key source of mortgage funding for first-time home buyers and those with modest incomes, backs $1.1 trillion in U.S. home mortgages. Last month it reported a projected shortfall of $16.3 billion due to souring loans that it insured during the housing market downturn during the past several years.

An independent audit suggested that the FHA would require taxpayer funding for the first time in its 78 years, though that won't be decided until February when the Obama administration releases its next budget proposal.

In response to the shortfall, the agency raised the premiums it charges on guaranteed loans by one-tenth of a percentage point, adding, on average, about $13 to a borrower's monthly mortgage payment.

Senator Tim Johnson, the Democrat who heads the Senate Banking Committee, said Galante was "highly qualified" and attributed the FHA's problems to legacy loans that were still threatening the agency's finances.

"It is important that the FHA have a confirmed management team in place to continue oversight of these legacy loans," Johnson said prior to the vote.

Following the collapse of the private subprime mortgage market during the 2007-2009 financial crisis, FHA-backed loans took over as the sole financing source for nearly all of the lower end of the U.S. housing market, which has continued to struggle.

The deteriorated finances had caused some Senate Republicans not to support Galante, who prior to her current position ran multifamily housing programs for HUD.

She joined the agency in 2009 after serving as president of Bridge Housing Corp, the largest non-profit developer of affordable housing in California.

But Republican Senator Bob Corker, who had been one of her biggest critics, publicly dropped his opposition to her confirmation after she sent him a letter pledging to take certain steps to improve the agency's finances, including tightening lending standards for buyers with lower credit scores and limiting the amount of money that could be borrowed in the FHA's reverse-mortgage program.

(Additional reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; Editing by Eric Walsh)

View the original article here

Author Salman Rushdie gestures during an interview with Reuters in central London, September 28, 2012.

MUMBAI | Tue Oct 9, 2012 9:55am EDT

MUMBAI (Reuters) - A film based on Salman Rushdie's novel "Midnight's Children" is set to be screened in India, its distributor said, a month after the movie's director said she feared "insecure politicians" could prevent it from being shown.

The film, which chronicles the story of an Indian family living through the tumultuous events from India's recent past including the partition in 1947 and 1970s state of emergency, features a voiceover by Rushdie.

The British author, who won the coveted Booker Prize for Midnight's Children in 1981, was forced to cancel a visit to a literature festival in his native India earlier this year after assassination threats were made against him.

Rushdie's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses", which many Muslims deemed blasphemous, is banned in India, and his depiction of sensitive issues like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's role during the Emergency in Midnight's Children had thrown the film's screening into doubt.

Director Deepa Mehta chose to film the movie in Sri Lanka instead of India, after her previous production in the country was hit by protests from right-wing Hindu groups.

But PVR Pictures, the distribution company that has acquired the film in India, does not expect any problems.

"We are not (expecting any trouble). We don't think the film is controversial," Kamal Gianchandani, PVR's president, told Reuters, adding that the film was expected to be released in India in December.

He declined to say whether Rushdie, who has promoted the movie at festivals such as Toronto and Telluride, would be in India to launch it there.

"If the censor board has a perspective, it will be respected," Gianchandani added. "Whatever is the law of the land will be followed in (its) entirety."

Last month, Mehta said she feared "insecure politicians" might derail the film's release plans in India.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Henry Foy and Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

U.S. President Barack Obama greets members of the audience after delivering remarks at an election campaign fundraiser in Stamford, Connecticut, August 6, 2012.

WASHINGTON | Wed Aug 8, 2012 8:15pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the future but voters do not seem to be holding it against Democratic President Barack Obama, who slightly expanded his lead over Republican rival Mitt Romney this month, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll says.

Three months before the November 6 presidential election, nearly two-thirds of Americans think the country is moving in the wrong direction. Only 31 percent say it is moving in the right direction - the lowest number since December 2011.

But Obama's lead over Romney among registered voters was 49 percent to 42 percent, up slightly from the 6-point advantage the president held a month earlier over the former Massachusetts governor.

The results of the monthly poll - in which a majority of voters agreed that the economy is the most important problem facing the United States - suggest that the Obama campaign's efforts to paint Romney as being out of touch with the concerns of middle-class Americans could be preventing the Republican from gaining momentum in the race.

"The overall 'right track, wrong track' is worse than last month - the news hasn't been great lately," said Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson. "But Obama seems to be, to some extent, inoculated against some of the worst of that."

The telephone poll of 1,168 adults, including 1,014 registered voters, was taken from August 2 to August 6. During that period, the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers hired the most workers in five months but that the nation's jobless rate had risen to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent.

Even so, in a reversal from July, registered voters thought Obama was stronger than Romney in dealing with jobs and the economy, and with tax issues.

The poll indicated that 46 percent of registered voters thought Obama was stronger on jobs and the economy, compared with 44 percent for Romney. And on tax matters, 49 percent saw Obama as stronger, compared with 38 percent for Romney.

In an advertising blitz that has been focused on a dozen politically divided states, Obama and his Democratic allies have been hammering Romney's record as a private equity executive at Bain Capital, accusing him of plundering companies and shipping jobs overseas.

'KITCHEN SINK' STRATEGY

The Obama team's ads also have questioned why Romney - who has an estimated fortune of up to $250 million - will not release more than two years of tax returns, and have suggested that Romney has paid far lower tax rates than most Americans.

"The Democrats' current strategy of just pummeling Romney on Bain and on the economy has been kind of a kitchen sink thing," Jackson said. "Even if it's not necessarily hurt Romney, it's given him no opportunity to build a lead."

Obama's new lead on the issue of jobs and the economy is particularly significant, Jackson said.

"That is the key issue in this race," he said. "For Romney to be able to make a convincing argument and to win the election, he's going to have to have a fairly significant lead over Obama on that measure."

Jackson said Romney - who has based his campaign on the notion that he would be better than Obama at dealing with the economy - likely needs to have at least a 5- to 8-point lead over Obama on the jobs and economy issue to win the election.

"There's certainly no case at the moment that Romney's building some sort of momentum toward victory here," Jackson said.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted over landline and cell phones, has a margin of error of 3 percent for all adults and 3.4 percent for registered voters.

(For the full poll, please click on the following link: here)

(Editing by David Lindsey and Vicki Allen)

View the original article here