london trading
oil had begun with bang on monday soaring by more than two dollars as
cold weather boosted expectations of higher energy demand
reports that russia cut supplies to belarus also helped push prices higher
dealers said officials in belarus denied it had cut supplies
cold weather across the northern hemisphere propelled crude prices two dollars
higher said pvm analyst david hufton
help also came from russia oil dispute with belarus and universally positive
manufacturing data from china india korea the uk and us
on the weather front in the us heating oil demand is expected to be percent
higher than normal this week he added
there was news on monday of robust activity in the us manufacturing sector in
further sign that the us economy key engine for global growth is well on
its way to recovering from deep recession
the institute for supply management said its manufacturing index also known as
the purchasing managers index climbed to percent in december from
percent in november for fifth consecutive month of expansion
the figure was stronger than the consensus estimate of modest rise to
percent any number above percent indicates growth
separately survey showed on monday that manufacturing in china continued to
expand in december as new orders received by factories rose for the ninth month
in row on booming demand from home and abroad
signs of improving conditions in us and chinese manufacturing helped spur
buyers into the oil markets said odl markets analyst marius paun adding that
oil prices have now rallied by around percent since mid december
meanwhile on monday spokeswoman for oil refineries in belarus denied reports
that russia had cut oil supplies from january
both of belarus oil refineries are working normally and russian oil is
arriving on schedule spokeswoman for oil processor belneftekhim told afp
iceland president says he will not sign bank payout bill
reykjavik jan afp
iceland president said tuesday he would not sign controversial bill to
compensate the british and dutch governments over the failure of icesave bank
instead referring the issue to referendum
have decided according to article of the constitution to refer this new
act to the people president olafur ragnar grimsson said in speech televised
to the nation
britian insisted however that the compensation deal must go through with the
treasury urging iceland to meet its obligations
under the icelandic constitution if president refuses to sign bill voted by
parliament the issue is put to popular referendum
the icesave bill narrowly approved by the icelandic parliament on december
calls for the payout of billion euros billion dollars to the british
and dutch governments for having compensated more than british and dutch
savers who lost money in the collapse of the icelandic bank
icesave an online subsidiary of the landsbanki bank that had to be rescued in
october as the global credit crunch hit had attracted british and dutch
savers due to its high interest rates
the british and dutch governments compensated disgruntled savers and then turned
to reykjavik for the money to be returned
the payout has stirred up resentment among many ordinary icelanders hard hit by
their country financial meltdown in october
some people about quarter of the country electorate have signed
petition protesting against the bill and calling for the issue to be put to
referendum
public opinion polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of the nation is
of the same opinion the president said in his speech
poll taken in august suggested nearly percent of icelanders were against
the icesave deal the compensation amounting to about euros for each
citizen on the small island nation
the dispute has also delayed the disbursement of funds under of billion
dollar imf standby loan arranged in november following the collapse of
icelandic banks
the imf announced on december it had reached an agreement with iceland on the
release of third tranche of the loan
iran ahmadinejad hails new turkmenistan gas link
ashgabat jan afp
iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad on tuesday hailed the launch of gas
pipeline link to iran from its energy rich neighbor turkmenistan while on
visit to the central asian state
ahmadinejad and his turkmen counterpart gurbanguly berdymukhamedov are set to
inaugurate the new pipeline which will more than double gas trade between their
two states in ceremony wednesday
the trip is also the iranian president first abroad since crackdown on
opposition supporters in tehran left at least eight dead
the realisation of the gas pipeline plays big role in strengthening the
energy security of the countries of the region ahmadinejad told reporters
after talks with berdymukhamedov in the capital
the turkmenistan iran pipeline is not only an economic project but an event
uniting our countries with the aim of strengthening our partnership he said
the kilometre mile pipeline from turkmenistan southwest dovletabad
field will supply iran khangiran gas refinery initially with billion cubic
metres of gas per year according to the turkmen energy ministry
the turkmenistan iran gas pipeline that we are opening tomorrow is an important
moment for both states energy partnership as we continue to develop our ties in
the gas sphere berdymukhamedov in turn told reporters
the new dovletabad sarakhs khangiran gas pipeline will raise turkmenistan
total yearly gas supplies to iran to up to billion cubic metres including
through an existing pipeline link the energy ministry said
previously gas from the dovletabad field was used exclusively for export to
russia but turkmenistan hailed the new project as means of diversifying its
exports from its former soviet overlord
the new pipeline is the logical continuation of turkmenistan politics of
diversification of its gas pipeline network to expand and add to traditional
routes in order to access new promising markets the foreign ministry said in
statement
last month turkmenistan unveiled landmark kilometre mile
pipeline to supply turkmen gas to energy hungry china
the move came amid an eight month interruption in gas shipments to russia that
raised questions on moscow sway in the energy rich state with turkmenistan
seeking closer relations with china and iran
the central asian state and russia sealed new gas accord to resume supplies in
december
iraq records executions for terrorism offences in
baghdad jan afp
iraq executed people last year all of whom were convicted of terrorism
related offences the country supreme court said on tuesday
seventy seven death sentences were enforced in the head of the court
medhat al mahmud said in statement
according to the court the prisoners were found guilty in cases related to
terrorism and their punishment was applied as matter of priority
last month human rights group amnesty international said that at least
prisoners had been executed by iraq in and further remained on death
row
there was no immediate explanation of the discrepancy between the court
figures and those given by the london based watchdog
amnesty urged baghdad to stop the executions of all people condemned to death
adding that some are likely to have been sentenced after unfair trials
baghdad reintroduced the death penalty in after brief moratorium
immediately after the us led invasion of those sentenced to death are
usually hanged
according to amnesty at least people were sentenced to death in iraq and
executed in in at least were sentenced and executed
iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki is an ardent supporter of capital
punishment but president jalal talabani opposes its use
urgent britain expects iceland to meet icesave obligations
london jan afp
britain treasury said tuesday that it expected iceland to meet its
obligations to compensate the government over the failure of icesave bank
singapore first casino resort to open january
singapore jan afp
singapore resorts world sentosa said tuesday it will open phase one of the
city state first casino complex on january beginning operations at four
luxury hotels
festive hotel hard rock hotel singapore crockfords tower and hotel michael
will open their doors on january offering rooms and restaurants it
said in statement
resorts world sentosa said it is working with authorities to obtain approvals
for its universal studios singapore theme park and will announce the opening
date for the casino when its receives notice of its licence
the casino and theme park are expected to open in early it said
marine life park expected to be the biggest in the world maritime museum
spa and two more hotels will be launched after
the development located on singapore sentosa island is built by malaysian
gaming giant genting group at cost of billion us dollars
marina bay sands another casino resort being built by us gaming tycoon sheldon
adelson las vegas sands is scheduled to open in april following delays in the
construction
adelson said last month that the delays were caused by monsoon rains and
financial problems facing some subcontractors
singapore in gave the go ahead for legalised casino gambling allowing two
casinos to be built in the city state
the government hopes the casinos will boost the country tourism appeal and
draw more visitors to the small island republic which relies mainly on man made
attractions to entice tourists
olympics guns knives recycled into games sites
london jan afp
knives and guns seized from london thugs are being recycled into building
materials for the olympic games police said tuesday
london metropolitan police said it collected more than tonnes of scrap
metal from guns knives and old keys in the last financial year
the force said the recovered steel iron and other valuable metals were melted
down and used in construction with some of the materials going to the olympic
site in stratford east london
we re constantly looking for new ways to recycle and new markets for our
recyclable materials to conserve resources save energy and money said
spokeswoman sarah foster
the met annual environment report said the force recycled total of
tonnes of waste in including uniforms firing range bullets and horse
manure
alert
britain says expects iceland to meet icesave obligations
militants blow up pakistan school officials
khar pakistan jan afp
militants on tuesday blew up boys school in pakistan northwest tribal
region bordering afghanistan the latest in wave of attacks destroying
educational institutes officials said
room government high school in nawagi village of bajaur district was blown
up with explosives said local administration official ghulam saidullah
eighteen classrooms were completely destroyed in the bombing
islamist militants opposed to co education have destroyed hundreds of schools
mostly for girls in the northwest of the country in recent years as they wage
fierce insurgency to enforce sharia law
local tribal police and intelligence officials also confirmed the incident and
said no casualties were reported
pakistan tribal belt has become stronghold for hundreds of islamist
extremists who fled afghanistan after us led invasion toppled the hardline
taliban regime in late
security forces launched huge operation against the militants in bajaur in
august in february they claimed the area had been cleared but
unrest has rumbled on and military raids have continued
on tuesday the army said it killed two militants in ongoing operations in the
taliban bastion of south waziristan while three insurgents were killed in the
swat valley
under pressure from washington to do more to crush extremist sanctuaries along
the frontier pakistan poured tens of thousands of troops into south waziristan
last october in an attempt to oust taliban fighters
the offensive followed decisive operation in swat which largely cleared the
northwest district of taliban fighters after two year uprising
alpine skiing miller to make comeback at adelboden
paris jan afp
american bode miller will return to the world cup circuit at adelboden
switzerland on saturday after day break to rest up painful ankle
according to the us ski team
the world cup winner in and missed the testing bormio downhill at the
end of december and will also pass on the zagreb slalom on wednesday
miller twisted his ankle playing volley ball in val isere but managed to
compete in the val gardena super and the alta badia giant slalom in the days
immediately after before calling halt
petrovietnam reports fall in revenue
hanoi jan afp
vietnam oil and gas giant petrovietnam on tuesday said its revenues last year
amounted to percent of the country economic output down from percent
year earlier
the state owned company did not report annual profit figures but said revenue
totalled slightly more than trillion dong billion dollars
that compares with record trillion dong year earlier after global oil
prices reached record highs
petrovietnam the trading name of the vietnam national oil and gas group said
it contributed more than trillion dong or percent of state budget
revenue
export earnings reached billion dollars it said down from billion
dollars earned year earlier
the figure for amounted to percent of vietnam export value it said
the firm said it expects this year to recover roughly the same amount of oil and
the same amount of gas as it did in
vietnam boasts rich offshore oil reserves located in the south china sea where
petrovietnam together with russian and other foreign partners exploits several
major fields
the fast developing country imported all of the refined petroleum products
needed for domestic use until early last year when vietnam first refinery
opened in the country central region at dung quat
world oil prices soared percent in on signs of global economic recovery
on tuesday new york main futures contract traded above dollars barrel
us general in scathing rebuke of intelligence in afghanistan
washington jan afp
president barack obama top military spy chief in afghanistan has blasted us
intelligence gathering there as an ignorant flawed operation starved of
information which could help wage successful war against insurgents
in an extraordinarily blunt report major general michael flynn recommended
radical changes to an intelligence apparatus which still finds itself unable
to answer fundamental questions about the environment in which we operate and
the people we are trying to protect and persuade
and the problems he stressed in the document entitled fixing intel
blueprint for making intelligence relevant in afghanistan are less
environmental than attitudinal cultural and human
ignorant of local economics and landowners hazy about who the powerbrokers are
and how they might be influenced incurious about the correlations between
various development projects and the levels of cooperation among villagers and
disengaged from the people in the best position to find answers us
intelligence officers and analysts can do little but shrug in response to high
level decision makers seeking the knowledge analysis and information they need
to wage successful counterinsurgency the report said
the problem is that these analysts the core of them bright enthusiastic and
hungry are starved for information from the field so starved in fact that
many say their jobs feel more like fortune telling than serious detective work
the report co authored by flynn advisor marine captain matt pottinger and paul
batchelor of the defense intelligence agency was published monday on the
website of the center for new american security washington think tank
it was released day ahead of key meeting tuesday between obama and his top
national security advisors to explore why us intelligence authorities failed to
prevent an attempted christmas day bombing of us bound airliner by suspected
al qaeda militant
it also follows last week suicide bombing at cia base in eastern afghanistan
that killed eight people and raised questions about how reported al qaeda
triple agent duped western intelligence services
the severity of the report tone flynn described it as unconventional
is sure to raise eyebrows in washington and among its allies at time when the
us military is ramping up involvement in afghanistan to wage war against
persistent taliban led insurgency
it also comes as us intelligence in general comes under microscopic scrutiny in
the wake of the botched attack on us airliner
obama called for exhaustive reviews of intelligence and security operations
after nigerian man allegedly boarded an amsterdam detroit flight with
explosives and tried to blow up the plane
the man was grabbed by fellow passengers after the explosives failed to
detonate
japanese executives see slow economic recovery
tokyo jan afp
japan business leaders warned tuesday the economy was unlikely to recover
until the second half of this year as the nation faces being overtaken by china
as the world second largest economy
unfortunately the japanese economy has yet to be on course to sustainable
recovery fujio mitarai chairman of japan business federation told joint
news conference after new year party with the nation top executives
the first half will remain severe as deflation is likely to continue for now
said mitarai who is also chairman of canon
but we are going to see signs of recovery globally in the second half he
said hope the economy will recover slowly in the second half
tadashi okamura chairman of the japan chamber of commerce and industry also
predicted the economy will slowly recover in the second half
but masamutsu sakurai chairman of japan association of corporate executives
warned that it will take considerable time to get rid of deflation as it is
structural problem
okamura said japan should focus on building technology oriented economy
rather than aiming for all round economic might
we have had an identity of the world second largest economy but it is just
matter of time before we will soon be overtaken by china he said
we should aim at becoming the world number one in science and technology which
will solve problems of the st century
in late december china said the country economy grew by percent in
up from previously announced figure of nine percent moving closer to
overtaking japan as the world second largest economy
japan returned to growth in the second quarter of after severe year long
recession but renewed deflation and weak domestic demand are major concerns for
policymakers
us senators voice regret in iraq over blackwater ruling
baghdad jan afp
four us senators voiced regret on tuesday over us court decision to drop
charges against american private security guards accused of killing iraqi
civilians in an unprovoked attack in
john mccain the republican presidential candidate in added on one day
visit to iraq that he hoped the ruling over the five blackwater guards which
has sparked fury here would be appealed by the us government
we deeply regret that this decision was made but it is in accordance with rule
of law mccain told reporters at the us embassy sitting alongside fellow
senators joseph lieberman john barrasso and john thune
we hope and believe that the ruling will be appealed our sympathy goes out to
the families of those who were killed and injured in this very unfortunate and
unnecessary incident
mccain senator from arizona added that he hoped the ruling would not do any
significant damage to relations between our two countries
the guards who had been part of convoy of armoured vehicles had been charged
with killing unarmed iraqi civilians and wounding others during the attack
at busy baghdad roundabout using guns and grenades
iraq says people were killed
us federal judge ricardo urbina dismissed the charges against the five saying
prosecutors violated their rights by using incriminating statements they had
made under immunity during us state department probe
the case was among the most sensational that sought to hold blackwater employees
accountable for what was seen as culture of lawlessness and lack of
accountability in the company iraq operations
blackwater which has since renamed itself xe pulled out of iraq in may after
the us state department refused to renew its contracts
euro inflation accelerates but experts reassure
brussels jan afp
inflation shot up across continental europe in december but analysts insisted
on tuesday that lagging effects of oil price rises are not about to destabilise
consumers and central banks
after six months of falling prices for everything from energy to housing and
food and stalled wages for those who have not joined the millions of new
unemployed since the financial crisis month eurozone inflation rose for
second month official european union data showed
prices in the eurozone countries climbed by percent according to flash
estimate from the eurostat data agency
that was loosening from the percent revised reading for november which
marked the first time that prices on month basis had risen since april
but analysts forecast only moderate upward movement over the coming year saying
that the rise mainly reflected energy costs which have risen again after
collapse in the price of oil and gas during the financial crisis
the spike and the prospect of further increases in early is unlikely to
worry the european central bank given that it is very much an energy price base
effects story and underlying inflationary pressures currently remain depressed
said howard archer of ihs global insight
bnp paribas economist clemente de lucia said that the price of oil rose by more
than euros dollars in the year to december and that energy price
inflation accounted for about percent of headline inflation
even though confidence indicators have increased over recent months firms selling price expectations did not report similar trend he added
depressed recovery expectations an unemployment picture that will only get
worse before it gets better again and ongoing market jitters over debt
blackspots led by greece and structurally troubled economies such as ireland all
add up to subdued expectations at best for the coming year
key inflation trends for are continuation of the deceleration in core
prices further increase in energy pressures and an only moderate recovery in
food inflation said marco valli of unicredit research
all in all we expect the inflation rate to fluctuate in relatively narrow
band this year from percent to percent
revised brussels estimates for eurozone growth foresee percent for and
percent in
romanian central bank announces rate cut to percent
bucharest jan afp
the romanian central bank said on tuesday that it had cut its key interest rate
by half percentage point to percent
the bank said that it would continue to monitor carefully the internal and
international economic situation to ensure price stability in the medium term
and financial stability
last year the key rate fell from percent at the beginning of the year to
percent on december
the economy here after nearly years of growth fell into deep recession in
at the end of december the international monetary fund said that it expected
the economy to have contracted by percent in instead of by percent
as it had estimated previously
the imf estimates that the economy will switch into growth of percent this
year
clock ticking for karzai to show progress experts
kabul jan afp
the clock is ticking for afghan president hamid karzai to stitch together
cabinet before major conference on his country future as western allies
demand swift action on graft experts said tuesday
karzai has issued decree banning lawmakers from taking their winter holiday so
he could push through replacements for the cabinet nominees they rejected on
saturday
analysts and diplomats said the move stems from realisation that he has just
six months before the us mid term election season to commit to
establishing clean government in return for military and financial support
think karzai will run out of time if he doesn quickly start using the time
he has haroun mir director of afghanistan centre for research and policy
studies told afp
the first milestone is an international conference scheduled in london on
january to discuss security and development in afghanistan
while the conference is british initiative announced unilaterally and
according to western diplomat in kabul without consulting the afghan
government karzai needs to present credible plan of action
that means having government in place and mps have said they expect to be
presented with new list of nominees by the end of this week
of the names karzai put forward last month for cabinet portfolios only seven
won approval in secret ballot of of the lawmakers
the rejections effectively leave afghanistan without fully functioning
government dragging out political vacuum that has prevailed since an august
presidential election
any further delays in establishing government could also harm karzai
reputation at home where afghans are jaded by corruption and inaction after
eight years of dependency on international aid analysts said
to show that he is turning the situation around he has until june when the
us mid term election season begins and questions start being asked about
engagement in afghanistan said another western diplomat
without that international support will fall off he said speaking on
condition of anonymity
the british will focus on the security dimension rather than development and
the us will start to bypass him focus on key parts of the country cleaning up
the insurgency and then scarper the diplomat warned
by ordering parliament to deal with the cabinet issue immediately karzai has
at least bought himself another six weeks mir said
you ve got the london conference where karzai will meet with donors who want to
help his government and with no government there would be no point in going
he said
it also allows him to remove one problem from his long list mir said
karzai could then focus on parliamentary elections scheduled for may which the
international community including the united nations has said it will not
bankroll without evidence of serious reform
un spokesman in afghanistan aleem siddique told reporters that no request had
yet come from the afghan government to provide funds for the polls
we will judge any request for financial contributions according to the
commitment demonstrated in reforming the key electoral institutions in this
country so we can see cleaner fairer parliamentary poll he said
the international community was appalled and embarrassed by the levels of fraud
uncovered after the august poll in which more than quarter of the votes were
found to be fake most of them in karzai favour
soon after graft watchdog transparency international rated afghanistan the
second most corrupt country in the world after somalia and public opinion in
the west soured dramatically against continued engagement in the country
with taliban insurgency threatening his government and set to boost to
the number of us and nato troops karzai cannot afford to extend the political
crisis that has stymied progress for almost six months mir said
there is already speculation about whether the parliamentary elections should
take place on time or not that will obviously lead to new political crisis
should they not go ahead on time and karzai cannot and would not be able to
deal with two crises at once the cabinet and the elections he said
italian minister defends use of body scanners
rome jan afp
italian foreign minister franco frattini defended tuesday the use of full body
scanners to boost airport security against complaints that they invade privacy
saying the need for safety was paramount
some airports are bringing in the scanners which can see through clothing
after nigerian was able to smuggle explosive chemicals onto us plane on
christmas day but was stopped from detonating them by fellow passengers
it is the most reliable instrument frattini said in an interview on radio
the scanners could even detect if terrorist has swallowed capsule full of
explosives and could become human bomb which would escape metal detector
he said
even if the scanners meant sacrifice for passengers privacy the right to
security is essential for all other freedoms the minister said
privacy is an inviolable right but if person does not have the confidence to
take plane because she fears that she could be sitting next to man carrying
explosives that is negation of liberty frattini said
the minister said airport security may have been tightened since the
attacks with hijacked airliners but we cannot define as collective psychosis
the legitimate worries of millions and millions of citizens of the world
frattini said boosted security measures had already kept attacks in check
leading to the arrest of several terror suspects between and
but attackers were seeking more and more sophisticated means to skirt the
controls he said
nestle reopens zimbabwe factory spokesman
johannesburg jan afp
food giant nestle has resumed operations in zimbabwe after it shut down its
factory over dispute on buying milk from president robert mugabe family
farm the company said tuesday
it has been reopened with the assurances from the ministry of trade and
industry that there wouldn be any issues that constrained business operations
in the country nestle south africa spokesman ravi pillay told afp
work officially resumed on december said pillay
nestle shut down its harare factory last month two days after staff were forced
to take milk from non contracted suppliers after the company in october said
it would no longer buy milk from farm owned by mugabe family
the company cited operational and worker safety concerns after zimbabwean
government officials and police made an unannounced visit to the harare plant
last month in which two nestle zimbabwe managers were questioned by police
the company stopped buying milk in october from the farm owned by mugabe
family who seized it from white farmers under his controversial land reforms
which has been touted in state media as success
the land reforms began in but were marred by widespread political violence
devastating the economy as farm yields plunged and leaving zimbabwe dependent on
international food aid
taiwan consumer prices fall for th consecutive month
taipei jan afp
taiwan said tuesday consumer prices fell for an eleventh consecutive month in
december on cheaper food electronics and clothing prices
the december consumer price index fell percent from year earlier
compared with seasonally adjusted percent in november the directorate
general of budget accounting and statistics said
