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Iraq Signs $690M Barrier Contract With S.Korea's Daewoo

raq said on Tuesday it had signed a 511 million euro ($690 million) contract with South Korea’s Daewoo to build a sea barrier at its planned Grand Faw port in the south of the country. Under the contract, Daewoo will build the barrier, known as a “breakwater” within 30 months, Iraq’s Transport Ministry said in a statement on its website. It said Daewoo was one of four companies which had bid for the contract to build the barrier at Grand Faw, which is located in Basra, Iraq’s southern oil hub. Grand Faw is one of several projects which Iraqi authorities hope will create a transportation corridor between the Middle East and Europe that will bypass the Suez Canal. ($1 = 0.7404 euros) (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq Signs $690M Barrier Contract With S.Korea’s Daewoo

raq said on Tuesday it had signed a 511 million euro ($690 million) contract with South Korea’s Daewoo to build a sea barrier at its planned Grand Faw port in the south of the country. Under the contract, Daewoo will build the barrier, known as a “breakwater” within 30 months, Iraq’s Transport Ministry said in a statement on its website. It said Daewoo was one of four companies which had bid for the contract to build the barrier at Grand Faw, which is located in Basra, Iraq’s southern oil hub. Grand Faw is one of several projects which Iraqi authorities hope will create a transportation corridor between the Middle East and Europe that will bypass the Suez Canal. ($1 = 0.7404 euros) (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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Suicide bombers kill 14 in attacks on army bases near Baghdad

Suicide bombers killed 14 members of Iraq’s security services and wounded 37 in attacks on army bases north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police and medical sources said. Iraq is suffering from its worst surge in violence in at least five years with insurgents stepping up bombing campaigns against security forces and civilians. In the first set of attacks, two bombers detonated in quick succession at an intersection between the towns of Taji and Tarmiya, around 25 km (15 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, killing eight Iraqi soldiers and wounding 26. Later on Tuesday two more suicide bombers targeting another army base in a village outside Taji killed six police and wounded 11, police and medics said. Thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the start of the year and the attacks, some claimed by al Qaeda, have been fuelled by the civil war in neighbouring […]

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Egyptian Riot Police Attack Peaceful Protests in Cairo

The riot police brought a violent end to peaceful protests here on Tuesday, beating, sexually harassing and detaining some of Egypt’s most prominent human rights activists in a burst of repression that seemed likely to broaden opposition to the military-backed government. The crackdown was the highest-profile police action against non-Islamist protesters since July 3, when the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi , setting off months of bloody civil conflict between Mr. Morsi’s Islamist supporters and the state. While the deadly repression of Islamists in recent months has evoked little sympathy from the public or consternation among officials, the violence on Tuesday posed a bigger threat to the government, which has relied on support from non-Islamists. In scenes that spread on social media, activists who have played central roles in Egypt’s post-revolt struggles were manhandled and groped by officers, some in plain clothes, and shoved into police vans. […]

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Fuel crisis creating Gazan emergency, U.N. says

U.N. special envoy for Palestinian rights Richard Falk said Tuesday the lack of electricity for 1.7 million residents in Gaza Strip is sparking a catastrophe. “The fuel shortage and power cuts have undermined an already precarious infrastructure, severely disrupting the provision of basic services, including health, water and sanitation,” he said in a statement. “The onset of winter is certain to make things even worse.” Falk said the only power plant in Gaza Strip closed down three weeks ago because of a fuel shortage. Most Gazans have power for about six hours per day. This lack of electricity has crippled much of the region’s infrastructure. Falk said about 3,000 residents of the Gazan neighborhood of Az Zeitoun have been wading through raw sewage because a treatment plant there overflowed as a result of a power failure. Falk warned that other water treatment facilities […]

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Egypt: 24 activists detained for holding protest

Egypt’s state news agency says the prosecutor general has ordered a four-day detention for 24 activists detained while protesting a newly passed law criminalizing demonstrations without permits. MENA also says the prosecutor on Wednesday issued arrest warrants for two leading activists accused of inciting demonstrators. He also released more than 10 female protesters. Witnesses say the women were released in the desert in the middle of the night. On Tuesday, security forces used water cannons to break up the demonstration outside Cairo’s upper house of parliament, where protesters denounced a proposed constitutional amendment allowing military courts to try civilians. Many observers said police behavior was reminiscent of the days former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s longtime autocrat ousted in 2011.

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Delek Group says it may have found natural gas off Israel's coast

Israeli energy company Delek Group said Tuesday it found signs of a natural gas discovery in an exploration well off the country’s coast. Delek Group said there were “strong signs of natural gas” encountered while drilling an exploration well in the South West Tamar prospect. “It is clarified that appraisal drilling work has not yet taken place and signs of natural gas do not necessarily indicate an existence of a discovery,” the company cautioned in a statement. In a September assessment, Delek said it estimated the undiscovered resource potential in the South Tamar prospect to be around 684 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Delek discovered the broader Tamar prospect about 60 miles off the northern Israeli coast in 2009. The company said it, along with the region’s Leviathan gas field, are among the largest natural gas discoveries ever made in deep […]

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Delek Group says it may have found natural gas off Israel’s coast

Israeli energy company Delek Group said Tuesday it found signs of a natural gas discovery in an exploration well off the country’s coast. Delek Group said there were “strong signs of natural gas” encountered while drilling an exploration well in the South West Tamar prospect. “It is clarified that appraisal drilling work has not yet taken place and signs of natural gas do not necessarily indicate an existence of a discovery,” the company cautioned in a statement. In a September assessment, Delek said it estimated the undiscovered resource potential in the South Tamar prospect to be around 684 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Delek discovered the broader Tamar prospect about 60 miles off the northern Israeli coast in 2009. The company said it, along with the region’s Leviathan gas field, are among the largest natural gas discoveries ever made in deep […]

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Tullow Oil says 'Uganda's time has come.'

British energy explorer Tullow Oil said it was ready to take “decisive action” to exploit the resource potential in Uganda. “Uganda’s time has come [and the country] is fast becoming a prominent potential player in the world’s energy market,” Jimmy Mugerwa, general manager of Tullow Oil Uganda, said in a statement Monday. “Decisive action is now required in order to maintain that advantage.” Tullow published a country report on Uganda, tracking progress since Tullow entered the country in 2004. Tullow said it invested $2.8 million on oil exploration in Uganda where discoveries have uncovered more than 1 billion barrels of oil. In June, the High Court in London ruled in favor of Tullow in a tax case with rival Heritage Oil related to operations in Uganda. Heritage in 2009 agreed to sell its Ugandan holdings to Italian energy company Eni. Tullow had the right […]

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Tullow Oil says ‘Uganda’s time has come.’

British energy explorer Tullow Oil said it was ready to take “decisive action” to exploit the resource potential in Uganda. “Uganda’s time has come [and the country] is fast becoming a prominent potential player in the world’s energy market,” Jimmy Mugerwa, general manager of Tullow Oil Uganda, said in a statement Monday. “Decisive action is now required in order to maintain that advantage.” Tullow published a country report on Uganda, tracking progress since Tullow entered the country in 2004. Tullow said it invested $2.8 million on oil exploration in Uganda where discoveries have uncovered more than 1 billion barrels of oil. In June, the High Court in London ruled in favor of Tullow in a tax case with rival Heritage Oil related to operations in Uganda. Heritage in 2009 agreed to sell its Ugandan holdings to Italian energy company Eni. Tullow had the right […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple