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US claims Russia supplied tanks to Ukraine separatists

The US claimed on Friday that Russia had supplied tanks and other heavy weapons to separatists in eastern Ukraine and warned of further “costs” to Russia if more weapons crossed the border . More On this story The state department said that in recent days three T-64 tanks, several rocket launchers and a number of other military vehicles had crossed the Russian border into eastern Ukraine . The statement was the most detailed in a series of accusations the US and other countries have made about Russian military assistance to armed groups in Ukraine and could be used as the basis to impose further sanctions on Moscow. “This is unacceptable,” said Marie Harf, spokeswoman for the US state department. “A failure by Russia to de-escalate the situation will lead to additional costs.” The US comments support an almost identical accusation made on Thursday by […]

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Energy Crunch: The writing’s on the wall

Coal power via eutrophication&hypoxia/flickr. Creative Commons. Three things you shouldn’t miss this week Chart: Mapping the US carbon cap. Necessary emission reductions for existing power plants broken down by state: Source: Source: SNL Article : Solar to match coal in China by 2016, threatening fossil dominance – Wuxi Suntech Power expects the cost of electricity from solar modules match to coal-powered stations in China as soon as 2016. Commentary: The Global Energy Market’s Moment of Truth – this is not a temporary market blip but a fundamental shift. Is the writing finally on the wall for fossil fuels? In the last fortnight we’ve seen new rules on coal emissions in the US, the prospect of a cap on coal consumption in China, and a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlighting the risks to fossil fuel investment. Though the focus of the IEA report was energy investment, what came […]

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Oil Futures Surge on Iraq Fears

Crude-oil futures surged in Asian trading hours Friday with both global oil benchmarks trading near their highest levels in nine months as investors focused on escalating violence in Iraq, an important oil producer. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $106.96 a barrel at 0519 GMT, up $0.43 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.26 to $113.28 a barrel. Nymex WTI crude for July delivery gained $2.13 a barrel overnight to touch its highest settlement since September and was well above the $107 mark for most of the Asian morning. Brent gained more than $3 overnight, its largest one-day gain in dollar terms since late-August. The situation in Iraq continued to deteriorate as Sunni fighters headed toward Baghdad . Iran has deployed Revolutionary Guards units to Iraq and the U.S. is also […]

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WTI Heads for Biggest Weekly Gain This Year Amid Iraq Conflict

West Texas Intermediate headed for the biggest weekly gain this year as violence escalated across northern and central Iraq , OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer. Futures rose for a third day in New York after advancing 2 percent yesterday, the most in two months. Militants linked to al-Qaeda extended control over Mosul, the nation’s second-largest city, and moved south toward Baghdad as Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said U.S. planes may bomb northern Iraq. The OPEC member produced 3.3 million barrels a day last month, data compiled by Bloomberg show. WTI for July delivery climbed as much as 0.4 percent to $106.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $106.95 at 8:56 a.m. Sydney time. The contract rose $2.13 to $106.53 yesterday, the highest close since Sept. 18. The volume of all futures traded was about 63 percent below the 100-day average. Prices […]

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Natural Gas Posts Largest One-Day Gain Since February

Natural-gas prices surged to the largest one-day percentage gain since February on Thursday, after U.S. stockpiles of the fuel increased at a slower rate than expected. Natural gas for July delivery rose 5.6%, or 25.4 cents, to $4.762 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, following three straight sessions of losses. The boost comes after the latest stockpile update by the U.S. Energy Information Administration failed to meet projections. The EIA said 107 billion cubic feet of natural gas were put into storage in the week ended June 6, slightly less than analysts’ expectations of 110 bcf. The weekly report has regularly jolted the market this spring. Traders use it to gauge how quickly stockpiles are recovering from high demand that drained them to 11-year lows this winter. This was the first addition in months that fell short […]

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Naimi’s Good Times Will Last as Lost Output Lifts Prices: Energy

Twelve of the world’s most powerful petroleum ministers gathered around a horseshoe of tables in Vienna this week to pass judgment on the oil market. One of them sounded happier than the rest. “This is the best time for the market,” Ali al-Naimi , Saudi Arabia’s minister, told journalists before the meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on June 11. A day later, U.S. and European crude prices, which have exceeded $100 a barrel for a record time, surged to multi-month highs, spurred by worsening conflict in Iraq, the group’s second-biggest producer. Libya, with 48 billion barrels of reserves, is pumping 10 percent of what it can because of unrest. Saudi Arabia is showing satisfaction with oil prices at a time when OPEC’s collective influence seems diminished. Years ago, its utterances mattered to the market […]

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Insurgents Broaden Attacks in Advance on Baghdad

BAGHDAD — Sunni insurgents pressing toward Baghdad were reported on Friday to have fanned out to the east, taking two towns near Iraq’s border with Iran, further splintering the country into hostile fiefs and raising the stakes in a perilous regional crisis. The capture of the towns of Saadiyah and Jalawla came a day after Kurdish forces further north seized on the accelerating rout of government troops to take over the oil city of Kirkuk, long contested by Iraqi Kurds and the country’s Arab leaders in Baghdad. The Kurds control a semiautonomous region and have long eyed independence. The Kurdish moves on Thursday presented Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki with a twin challenge by Kurds and Sunni militants to restore Iraq’s cohesion and his government’s authority in face of the worst security crisis since the American withdrawal in 2011 and the apparent disintegration of the American-armed Iraqi Army. Kurdish […]

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The Iraqi Army Was Crumbling Long Before Its Collapse, U.S. Officials Say

WASHINGTON — The stunning collapse of Iraq ’s army in a string of cities across the north reflects poor leadership, declining troop morale, broken equipment and a sharp decline in training since the last American advisers left the country in 2011, American military and intelligence officials said Thursday. Four of Iraq’s 14 army divisions virtually abandoned their posts, stripped off their uniforms and fled when confronted in cities such as Mosul and Tikrit by militant groups, principally fighters aligned with the radical Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, the officials said. The divisions that collapsed were said to be made up of Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish troops. Other units made up of mainly Shiite troops and stationed closer to Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, were believed to be more loyal to the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite, and would most likely put up greater […]

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Sunni militants capture 2 towns north of Baghdad

Al-Qaida-inspired militants who seized large swaths of Iraq’s Sunni heartland this week have pushed into an ethnically mixed province northeast of Baghdad, capturing two towns there, officials said Friday. The fresh gains by the fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant come as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government struggles to form a coherent response after the Sunni militants blitzed and captured the country’s second-largest city of Mosul as well as other, smaller communities and military and police bases – often after meeting little resistance from state security forces. The new reality is the biggest threat to Iraq’s stability since the U.S. withdrawal at the end of 2011, and it has pushed the nation closer to a precipice that could partition it into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish zones. Police officials said militants driving in machinegun-mounted pickups entered two towns in Diyala province late […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple