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Bombings kill 12 people in Iraq

A series of bombings in and north of Baghdad on Saturday killed 12 people, including a soldier and his entire family, said Iraqi officials. Police officials said that in the deadliest attack two blasts in Muqdadiyah targeted the home of a soldier, killing him, his wife, his two daughters and two sons as they were sleeping. The entire house was destroyed in the attack. Muqdadiyah is about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad. A car bomb in a commercial street in Baghdad’s western district of Amariyah killed four people and wounded 12 others, said police. Also, in western Baghdad, a bomb blast near an out-door market in the Sadiyah neighborhood killed two shoppers and wounded six. Hospital officials confirmed the casualties for all attacks. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to reporters. Nobody immediately claimed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Exclusive: Patience runs thin as Syrian chemical handover stalls

Western governments are growing impatient with Syria’s failure to follow up promptly on a first small shipment of chemical weapons and fear Damascus will miss a deadline to hand over all toxins by mid-2014. Sources at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is jointly overseeing the destruction process with the United Nations, said the concerns have been raised during internal discussions, but have not yet been reported to the U.N. Security Council. Syria agreed to dismantle its entire chemical weapons program by June 30, under a deal proposed by Russia and agreed with the United States. It has until March 31 to relinquish around 500 tonnes of the worst substances, including more than 20 tonnes of mustard gas stored in liquid form. That deadline had already been expected to slip, but the concern now is that the entire destruction program will […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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After Bombings, Cairo Anxious 3 Years After Egyptian Uprising

After the first explosion in Cairo on Friday, supporters of Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi gathered outside Abdeen Palace. Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters CAIRO — The capital was empty and anxious Saturday morning on the third anniversary of the Egyptian uprising as the residents braced for rival demonstrations for and against the current military-backed government amid renewed fears of violence. Families stayed close to home and some public facilities closed, reeling in the aftermath of four bombings on Friday that killed six people and terrified the city. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a Sinai-based militant Islamist group that has raised the banner of armed insurgency against the new government, appeared to claim responsibility for the four bombings, including a powerful car bomb in front of a security headquarters and three smaller attacks on police. By 8 a.m. Saturday morning, another small bomb had exploded near a police training facility but officials said it […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Four more Egyptian embassy staff kidnapped in Libya: government

Four Egyptian embassy staff were kidnapped in Libya’s capital Tripoli on Saturday, a day after another Egyptian diplomat was seized there by gunmen, the Libyan government said. No group claimed responsibility for any of the abductions, but they came soon after a powerful Libyan militia reported its leader had been arrested in Cairo and threatened to retaliate. "Four more have been kidnapped. One of them is the cultural attache and the other three are staff," the Libyan Foreign Ministry spokesman said, without going into further details. Two years after Muammar Gaddafi’s fall, Libya is still in flux with the government struggling to control heavily-armed former rebels, militias and Islamist militants who fought in the uprising but often challenge Tripoli’s authority. One militia group, the Operations Room of Libya’s Revolutionaries, said on Friday its leader Shaban Hadia had been arrested in Egypt, where he had been travelling […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Mideast Turmoil Dominates Gathering of Business Elite

The turmoil of the Middle East descended on this Swiss Alpine town, where Iranian, Israeli and American leaders laid out often competing visions of the region’s future during a conference for the world’s business elite. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem were among leaders and diplomats who huddled in hotel rooms, strategizing ways to address the Mideast’s multiplying crises, American and Arab officials said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bristled at a speech by Mr. Rouhani, which was well received by many others. The Israeli leader said that nothing Mr. Rouhani said was backed up by actual changes in Iranian policy. The Israeli and Iranian leaders interspersed their diplomatic efforts with pitches to energy and high-tech executives for investments in their countries. Many top diplomats from Arab and Western countries traveled Thursday by helicopter or road to the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Suicide car bomber targets Cairo police HQ, kills at least four

A suicide car bomber blew himself up in the parking lot of a top security compound in central Cairo on Friday, killing at least four people in one of the most high-profile attacks on the state in months, security sources said. The early morning explosion damaged the Cairo Security Directorate, which includes police and state security, and sent smoke rising over the capital, raising concerns that an Islamist insurgency is gathering pace. Hours after the attack, a crude explosive device killed one policeman and wounded nine others in another Cairo neighborhood, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Security sources said a person driving past security vehicles threw a hand grenade in their direction. The dead from the first blast included three policemen, security sources said. State television quoted the Cairo governor as saying 50 people were wounded. Reuters witnesses heard gunfire immediately after the blast, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Uganda Agrees on Deal to Develop Oil Sector

The government of Uganda has reached a deal with foreign oil companies to develop its oil industry, the country’s energy and minerals minister said Friday, ending a nearly three-year impasse and opening the way for a $15 billion investment. The government has agreed the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding with U.K.’s Tullow Oil PLC, France’s Total SA and China’s Cnooc Ltd. for the commercialization of the oil sector. The plans consists of a 60,000 barrels-day refinery, a crude export pipeline to Kenya’s northern port of Lamu and a crude-fired electricity plant in Uganda’s oil region, Irene Muloni said in a statement obtained by The Wall Street Journal Friday. The development paves way for a multibillion-dollar investment to develop the country’s oil fields, which are believed to contain up to 3.5 billion barrels of crude. Uganda contains sub-Sahara Africa’s fourth-largest amount of oil reserves, behind South Sudan, Angola […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ecuador, China advance refinery plans

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and the Ecuadorean government have reached an agreement regarding cooperation in a plan to construct a long-delayed refinery on Ecuador’s Pacific Coast ( OGJ Online, Feb. 4, 2008 ). On Jan. 21, Ecuador’s Vice-President Jorge Glas and CNCP Chairman Zhou Jiping reached a joint-approval of the feasibility report for the Refineria del Pacifico (RDP), according to a release from Ecuador’s government. During a second meeting on Jan. 23, Glas further solidified the deal with representatives of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, who expressed an interest in handling financing for CNPC in the refinery project , Glas said. This latest arrangement, for which no official financial details have been disclosed, follows the signing of June 2013 of a framework agreement between Ecuador and CNCPC on integrated cooperation in developing RDP. While no firm timetable was available regarding final funding for RDP, once realized, the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Australian company Icon finds 'significant gas' in Queensland shale

Australian company Icon Energy Ltd. said Friday it encountered significant volumes of natural gas in a shale basin in the state of Queensland. Icon said it completed drilling its Redland-1 well in the region — an operation meant to evaluate the reserve potential in the Toolachee and Daralingie shale formations — and found "significant gas." The region, it said, could be a "world class" shale reserve area. The well is the sixth for the company in the region. It said additional hydraulic fracturing is planned for the area during the third quarter of 2014. Icon said it notified Australian authorities of the recent discovery. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization said the country has "substantial prospective shale reserves" and that commercialization will require major investments. Porn star Jenna Jameson uses online army and her body to track down former assistant 2-year-old in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Australian company Icon finds ‘significant gas’ in Queensland shale

Australian company Icon Energy Ltd. said Friday it encountered significant volumes of natural gas in a shale basin in the state of Queensland. Icon said it completed drilling its Redland-1 well in the region — an operation meant to evaluate the reserve potential in the Toolachee and Daralingie shale formations — and found "significant gas." The region, it said, could be a "world class" shale reserve area. The well is the sixth for the company in the region. It said additional hydraulic fracturing is planned for the area during the third quarter of 2014. Icon said it notified Australian authorities of the recent discovery. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization said the country has "substantial prospective shale reserves" and that commercialization will require major investments. Porn star Jenna Jameson uses online army and her body to track down former assistant 2-year-old in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple