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In Britain, Nuclear Reactors to Be Shut Down in Fault Investigation

LONDON — EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of the French state-controlled utility, said on Monday that it was shutting down three nuclear reactors and that a reactor with a fault that has been shut down since June would remain so. The facilities, which are being investigated as a precaution, generate nearly a quarter of nuclear capacity in Britain. The British Office for Nuclear Regulation said that there had been no release of radioactive material and no injuries. Industry experts did not anticipate much effect on electricity supplies or prices in the short term. EDF said that over the next few days it would idle a second reactor at the facility where the fault was found last year, Heysham 1, in northwest England. The company said it would also shut down two other reactors of similar design at Hartlepool in northeast England to investigate whether they had the same flaws. […]

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Oil Rangebound as Markets Assess Tensions in Iraq, Ukraine

Crude-oil futures traded in a narrow price range in Asia Monday as markets weighed the impact of ongoing tensions in Iraq and Ukraine. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $97.95 a barrel at 0453 GMT, up $0.30 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.13 to $105.15 a barrel. Oil futures had ended mixed last week, with Nymex crude losing 23 cents and Brent crude gaining 18 cents for the week ended August 8. The U.S. continued airstrikes in Northern Iraq over the weekend and relocated some of its personnel from the American consulate in the city of Erbil to safer areas. Last week, OPEC said in its monthly report that the cartel’s oil production rose to its highest in five months in July on the back of higher […]

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Brent Crude to Extend Decline on U.S. Action in Iraq, Mills Says

Brent crude , a global benchmark, is set to extend its decline after the U.S. pledged to press ahead with airstrikes against militants in Iraq to protect supplies and help stabilize OPEC’s second-largest producer. U.S. jets and drone aircraft hit Islamic State fighters in multiple attacks yesterday to prevent the massacre of ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq and protect American personnel. President Barack Obama called on Iraqi political leaders to form a more inclusive government to pursue a long-term fight against the militant group formerly known as ISIS, which has seized oil fields near the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. “Brent should fall because the U.S. has made it clear that it’s going to support the Kurds and the Baghdad government against ISIS and they will not be allowed to continue advancing,” Robin Mills, the head of consulting at Manaar Energy Consulting & Project Management, said by phone […]

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Brent Trades Near 9-Month Low After U.S. Iraq Strike

Brent crude traded near its lowest level in nine months amid speculation that U.S. air strikes in Iraq diminished the threat to oil supplies posed by insurgents. West Texas Intermediate was little changed. Futures lost as much as 0.3 percent in London. U.S. jets and drone aircraft hit Islamic State fighters in multiple attacks intended to protect American personnel and prevent a massacre of ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki deployed troops and tanks on the streets of Baghdad as he resists U.S. President Barack Obama ’s push for a more inclusive government. The U.S. action “eased fears of oil supply disruptions as hopes increased that this would prevent the Islamic State militants from gaining more land,” Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management Ltd. in Middelfart, Denmark , said in a report. Brent for September settlement slipped 21 cents, or 0.2 […]

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Hedge Funds Snub Natural Gas Rally as Supply Gains Loom

Hedge funds are betting that the rally in U.S. natural-gas prices won’t last. Money managers cut the combined net-long position across four benchmark contracts by 21 percent in the week ended Aug. 5, after 15 weeks of above-average stockpile increases. Bullish wagers retreated to an 18-month low even as futures traded in New York gained 2.3 percent in the report week, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its price forecast last week as shale-gas production in the eastern U.S. surged to an all-time high. Power demand in June and July fell to five-year seasonal lows amid unusually cool weather from Texas to Boston , Edison Electric Institute data show. Gas futures have dropped 12 percent since the start of summer. “If you are a money manager and you see above-average storage injections week after week and a decline in price, selling is rational,” […]

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APNewsBreak: US sending arms to Kurds in Iraq

The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, senior U.S. officials said Monday. Previously, the U.S. had insisted on only selling arms to the Iraqi government in Baghdad, but the Kurdish peshmerga fighters had been losing ground to Islamic State militants in recent weeks. The officials wouldn’t say which U.S. agency is providing the arms or what weapons are being sent, but one official said it isn’t the Pentagon. The CIA has historically done similar quiet arming operations. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation publicly. The move to directly aid the Kurds underscores the level of U.S. concern about the Islamic State militants’ gains in the north, and reflects the persistent administration view that the Iraqis must take the necessary steps […]

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Iraq's highest court paves way for Maliki to serve third term

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s highest court ruled on Monday that Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s bloc is the biggest in parliament, meaning he could retain his position, state television reported. The president, according to the constitution, must now ask Maliki to form a new government in Iraq, which is facing a major challenge from Islamic State Sunni insurgents and widepread sectarian bloodshed. Maliki, serving in a caretaker capacity since an inconclusive election in April, has defied calls from Sunnis, Kurds, some fellow Shi’ites and regional power broker Iran to step aside to make room for a less polarizing figure. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Louise Ireland )

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Iraq’s highest court paves way for Maliki to serve third term

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s highest court ruled on Monday that Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s bloc is the biggest in parliament, meaning he could retain his position, state television reported. The president, according to the constitution, must now ask Maliki to form a new government in Iraq, which is facing a major challenge from Islamic State Sunni insurgents and widepread sectarian bloodshed. Maliki, serving in a caretaker capacity since an inconclusive election in April, has defied calls from Sunnis, Kurds, some fellow Shi’ites and regional power broker Iran to step aside to make room for a less polarizing figure. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Louise Ireland )

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Iraq's al-Maliki steps up struggle to keep his job

Iraq’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is taking his struggle to keep his job to the courts after announcing he will file a legal complaint on Monday against the country’s newly elected president. The deadlock over a new government has plunged Iraq into a political crisis at a time it is fighting a land grab by militants from the Islamic State in the country’s north and west. Al-Maliki has resisted calls for his resignation and the political infighting could hamper efforts to stem advances by the Sunni militants. Senior U.S. officials said Monday that the Obama administration, which launched airdrops and airstrikes last week to support Kurdish and Iraqi forces battling the militants, has begun directly providing weapons to the Kurdish peshmerga forces who have started to make gains against the al-Qaida breakaway group. In a televised speech after midnight Sunday, al-Maliki declared he will file […]

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Iraq’s al-Maliki steps up struggle to keep his job

Iraq’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is taking his struggle to keep his job to the courts after announcing he will file a legal complaint on Monday against the country’s newly elected president. The deadlock over a new government has plunged Iraq into a political crisis at a time it is fighting a land grab by militants from the Islamic State in the country’s north and west. Al-Maliki has resisted calls for his resignation and the political infighting could hamper efforts to stem advances by the Sunni militants. Senior U.S. officials said Monday that the Obama administration, which launched airdrops and airstrikes last week to support Kurdish and Iraqi forces battling the militants, has begun directly providing weapons to the Kurdish peshmerga forces who have started to make gains against the al-Qaida breakaway group. In a televised speech after midnight Sunday, al-Maliki declared he will file […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple