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Negotiators Put Final Touches on Iran Accord

Iran and a group of six world powers completed a deal on Sunday that will temporarily freeze much of Tehran’s nuclear program starting next Monday, Jan. 20, in exchange for limited relief from Western economic sanctions. The main elements of the deal, which is to last for six months, were announced in November . But its implementation was delayed as negotiators worked out technical details. The agreement faced opposition from Iranian hard-liners and Israeli leaders , as well as heavy criticism from some American lawmakers, who have threatened to approve further sanctions despite President Obama’s promise of a veto. It comes as Tehran has sought to expand its influence in the Middle East by providing weapons and sometimes members of its own paramilitary Quds Force, in what Western nations view as destabilizing activities in countries including Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, according to interviews with intelligence, military, diplomatic […]

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Senior Libyan Official Assassinated, First Since Qaddafi Era

A Libyan deputy cabinet minister was killed by gunmen on Saturday evening in the first assassination of a senior government figure in the country since the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi more than two years ago. The deputy minister of industry, Hassan al-Droui, was hit by a spray of bullets in the former Qaddafi stronghold of Surt, which he had represented in the wartime transitional council and then in the elected Parliament. Assassinations of military and police officers, usually presumed to be the work of Islamist extremists, have been accelerating in the eastern cities of Benghazi and Darnah . But the government had usually been able to negotiate its way out of threats to central institutions or top officials, as it did with the kidnapping of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan from a Tripoli hotel a few months ago. Previous attempts to assassinate senior officials had all […]

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Iraq threatens legal action over Kurdish oil sales

Iraq’s Oil Ministry threatened legal action against entities that receive oil from the northern Kurdish region, singling out a deal made with Turkey. The Turkish seaport of Ceyhan is set to receive the first oil from the Kurdish region of Iraq this month and the ministry said Sunday the move "is an avowed violation of the Iraqi constitution." The Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government in Iraq are at odds over who controls what aspects of the country’s oil sector, The central government took aim at its Turkish counterparts in particular, saying the oil sale would violate the spirit of regional agreements not to export crude oil from Iraq without the government’s consent, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.. The Kurdish government said last week it was inviting "reputable and financially capable companies" to register for crude oil sales. The first parcel […]

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Clashes Between Militants and Army Spread in Iraq

Sunni gunmen on Sunday took up position in the city of Falluja, Iraq, which residents have fled. Mohammed Jalil/European Pressphoto Agency BAGHDAD — A confrontation between Iraqi insurgents and government forces in the western city of Falluja edged closer to the capital on Sunday, after clashes between militants and the army left at least 14 people dead in the Abu Ghraib district in Baghdad Province, according to security officials. Separately, in Ramadi, another battleground in the western Anbar Province, militants captured and executed four members of an elite military unit, an official said. And in Baghdad, two car bombs exploded near bus stations, killing at least 14 civilians. The violence posed a further challenge to Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose government has struggled for a response after Sunni insurgents, including fighters linked to Al Qaeda, captured Falluja and parts of Ramadi almost two weeks ago. On Sunday, […]

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Iraq's Maliki Threatens to Cut Funds If Kurds Pipe Oil to Turkey

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened on Sunday to cut Kurdistan’s share of the federal budget if the autonomous region exports oil to Turkey via a new pipeline without central government consent. The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow to Turkey and exports were expected to start at the end of this month and then rise in February and March. "This is a constitutional violation which we will never allow, not for the (Kurdistan) region nor for the Turkish government," Maliki told Reuters in an interview. He reiterated Baghdad’s insistence that only the central government has the authority to manage Iraq’s energy resources. "Turkey must not interfere in an issue that harms Iraqi sovereignty," Maliki said. The central government and the Kurds differ over how to interpret the constitution and share revenue from the world’s fourth-largest […]

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Iraq’s Maliki Threatens to Cut Funds If Kurds Pipe Oil to Turkey

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened on Sunday to cut Kurdistan’s share of the federal budget if the autonomous region exports oil to Turkey via a new pipeline without central government consent. The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow to Turkey and exports were expected to start at the end of this month and then rise in February and March. "This is a constitutional violation which we will never allow, not for the (Kurdistan) region nor for the Turkish government," Maliki told Reuters in an interview. He reiterated Baghdad’s insistence that only the central government has the authority to manage Iraq’s energy resources. "Turkey must not interfere in an issue that harms Iraqi sovereignty," Maliki said. The central government and the Kurds differ over how to interpret the constitution and share revenue from the world’s fourth-largest […]

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Libyan oil production rises to 600,000-650,000 b/d: minister

Libyan oil production has risen to 600,000-650,000 b/d from 546,108 b/d in early January, the Minister of Oil and Gas Abdulbari Arousi said on Monday. This follows the resumption of production from the major Sharara field in the west of the country. Arousi, on the sidelines of the Petrotech-2014 conference in the outskirts of New Delhi, said he could not give specific timing as to when production would return to 1.6 million b/d due to the closure of oil ports in the country. He however, did add that the port closures could end by the end of this month. He said that the port closures have so far amounted to a revenue loss of $9 billion due to the inability to export. State-owned National Oil Corp. had previously issued a statement which said: "Total production of crude oil on Tuesday, January 7, amounted […]

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Syria Rebels Turn Against Most Radical Group Tied to Al Qaeda

As a government warplane soared over the northern Syrian city of Raqqa recently, a fighter from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the country’s most radical group linked to Al Qaeda, watched from behind an antiaircraft gun mounted on a pickup truck. Fighters and activists from rival insurgent factions urged him to fire. He did not. The others were incredulous, recalled one, who supports the Nusra Front, a rival group that has Al Qaeda’s official stamp of approval as its representative in the fight against President Bashar al-Assad. But the man on the truck replied, “We are here to establish the Islamic state, not to fight Assad.” Such disputes helped set off the infighting that has swept insurgent-held northern Syria for the past week, leaving more than 500 dead, as a broad array of factions have turned against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, […]

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Sudanese Rebels Loot Oil Installations in Unity State – Reports

Oil workers based in South Sudan’s Unity state have confirmed the looting of oil installation facilities, including computers, alleging rebels from Sudan’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) fighting alongside government troops in the area were responsible. In a telephone interview with Sudan Tribune on Saturday, one of the oil workers said rebels stormed the offices of oil facilities, taking important items, including food supplies meant for those guarding equipment at the sites. "When the fighting broke out on Friday, we saw many Sudanese rebels carrying heavy ammunitions to attack the areas. They manage to take control of Bentiu town from rebels with [a] few soldiers from [the] government side", said a source that spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. After falling to South Sudanese rebels aligned with former vice-president Riek Machar, government troops on Friday regained control of Unity state capital, Bentiu. JEM have […]

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U.K. to Pay Up To $3M a Well to Councils Allowing Shale Gas

Prime Minister David Cameron will give millions of pounds to local authorities that allow shale gas developments to go ahead, part of a drive to create more jobs and encourage investment in the U.K. Councils will be allowed to keep 100 percent of the business rates they collect from shale gas sites, double the current 50 percent figure, in a move that may be worth 1.7 million pounds ($2.8 million) per site in central government funding per year, according to figures released by Cameron’s office. Business rates are taxes to help pay for local services, charged on most non-domestic properties. “That’s going to be quite a significant boost for that local council’s coffers,” Business Minister Michael Fallon told the BBC . “We want local councils and local people to benefit from this exploration. We expect 20-40 wells to be drilled in exploration over the next couple of years.” Research […]

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