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Scottish independence: David Cameron launches impassioned plea to Scots

UK prime minister David Cameron ‘We desperately want you to stay; we do not want this family of nations to be ripped apart,’ said Mr Cameron David Cameron has made his most impassioned appeal to Scots to stay in the UK, urging them to choose a “brighter future for Scotland by voting No” rather than a “leap in the dark with a Yes vote”. With opinion polls showing the result of the September 18 referendum too close to call, the prime minister and Labour leader Ed Miliband have postponed their weekly clash at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday to join the No campaign in Scotland. More On this story On this topic IN UK Politics & Policy Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, will also campaign against independence. Writing in the Daily Mail , Mr Cameron said the “United Kingdom is a precious and special country . . . so let no one […]

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Why Does Scotland Want Independence? It’s Culture vs. Economics

If you had told someone in 2012 that in just two years the eurozone would remain bonded together but the United Kingdom might not, they would have thought you insane. But here we are. It’s been a good three centuries, but now Scotland may want out of the United Kingdom. The stakes are enormous for Scotland, and quite high for the rest of Britain. But the debate over Scottish independence also sheds important light on how debates over the nature of the state that are as old as Hobbes and Locke apply in a modern world of instant communication and cryptocurrency. The latest polling on the referendum, to be held Sept. 18, points to a narrow edge for Scots who wish to pull out of the state that they have been part of since 1707 and go it as a nation of their own. Previous polls, by contrast, had […]

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Is the World at ‘Peak Gold’?

This week, Chuck Jeannes told  The Wall Street Journal that either this year or next, miners will have reached “peak gold.” Peak gold means that the amount of gold being pulled out of the earth will begin to shrink every year, rather than increase, which has been the case since the 1970s. Jeannes is the chief executive of the world’s largest gold mining company, Goldcorp, so it’s probably safe to assume he knows a thing or two about mining the yellow metal. Let’s put this into context. Central banks continue to stockpile gold ( even Scotland is wondering how much of the United Kingdom’s gold it will get if it becomes an independent country). Nobody knows how much gold China is hoarding, but pretty much everyone assumes it’s a lot more than the official reports. Smart economists like Peter Schiff and Jim Rickards have been pointing out for a year now that gold buyers […]

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McKibben to Obama: Fracking May Be Worse Than Burning Coal

If you’re a politician, science is a bitch; it resists spin. And a new set of studies—about, of all things, a simple molecule known as CH4—show that President Obama’s climate change strategy is starting to unravel even as it’s being knit. To be specific: most of the administration’s theoretical gains in the fight against global warming have come from substituting natural gas for coal . But it looks now as if that doesn’t really help. In a very real sense it’s not entirely the president’s fault. When Obama took office in 2008 he decided to deal with health care before climate change, in essence tackling the biggest remaining problem of the 20th century before teeing up the biggest challenge of the 21st. His team told environmentalists that they wouldn’t be talking about global warming, focusing instead on “green jobs.” Obama did seize the opportunity offered by the auto industry […]

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WTI Crude Advances Before U.S. Fuel Stockpile Data; Brent Drops

West Texas Intermediate crude rose for the first time in four days before stockpile data that will signal the strength of fuel demand in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent declined in London. Futures advanced as much as 0.6 percent in New York . Crude inventories probably shrank by 1.5 million barrels last week to 358.1 million, according to a Bloomberg News survey before a report from the Energy Information Administration tomorrow. Libyan output climbed to 740,000 barrels a day, Mohamed Elharari, a spokesman for National Oil Corp., said yesterday. “We have the EIA numbers to look out for; they have been showing pretty good trends,” David Lennox , a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone today. “Barring any geopolitical events, the oil price might just meander along.” WTI for October delivery rose as much as 53 cents to $93.19 a barrel in […]

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Brent Declines Below $100 for First Time Since June 2013

Brent crude dropped to a 16-month low as falling Chinese imports bolstered concern that slower growth will worsen a global oil surplus. West Texas Intermediate slipped to the lowest level since January. The European benchmark fell 0.6 percent while WTI decreased 0.7 percent. Total Chinese imports slumped 2.4 percent in August, data from the Beijing-based customs administration show. Economic growth in China , the biggest oil consuming country after the U.S., will drop to 7.4 percent this year, the weakest pace since 1990, according to economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Brent has tumbled 13 percent since June 19 as economies from Europe to Asia show signs of slowing while oil output climbs. Oil markets in the U.S. and Europe face a glut amid constrained consumption and the recovery of supplies from Libya , the International Energy Agency , the Paris-based adviser to 29 nations, said last month. “Global oil […]

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Natural-Gas Rises on Mix of Technical Trading and Heating Demand Optimism

By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural-gas prices closed higher Monday for the first time in a week, likely from a mix of technical trading and optimism about the chances for early-season heating demand, analysts and brokers said. The front-month October contract settled up 8.3 cents, or 2.2%, at $3.876 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The move broke a four-session losing streak and brought natural gas back into the middle of a 29-cent range that gas has traded in for almost all of the last eight weeks. Cool forecasts are probably playing a major role, said Aaron Calder, senior market analyst at energy-consulting firm Gelber & Associates in Houston. Temperatures in the Rockies and the Upper Midwest could reach as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit below normal, and Mr. Calder said in a note that the prospects for a first frost have some traders looking […]

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OPEC unfazed by oil’s drop below $100: sources

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC members seemed unconcerned by a slide in oil prices below $100 a barrel on Monday, with two officials from the producer group saying winter demand in coming weeks should support the market. Brent crude fell below $100 a barrel for the first time in 14 months, buckling on concerns about slower economic growth. [O/R] Top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia favors oil at $100, which many others in the 12-member group also support. "The fall in prices is a temporary thing. They are still within the acceptable range. There is no real worry," said a delegate from one of OPEC’s Gulf members. "It is not a permanent drop. We are now approaching winter so the prices are expected to rise." The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries does not have a official price target. Prices still need to fall further to be outside an acceptable zone […]

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Iraqi Parliament Approves New Cabinet

BAGHDAD—Iraq’s Parliament approved a new cabinet of ministers on Monday, ending a monthslong drama to select a new leadership only days before U.S. President Barack Obama lays out his strategy to confront the Sunni Islamist insurrection consuming the country. The strength of the insurgency was on full display Monday morning, when militants from the Islamic State killed 20 people, mostly Sunni tribal fighters who opposed the group, when they detonated two car bombs in the town of Dhuluiya, about 50 miles north of Baghdad. The Iraqi parliament’s support for the new cabinet will allow Mr. Obama to tell leaders in Congress and the American public that his plan for expanded U.S. airstrikes in Iraq will be supported by an inclusive new government in Baghdad. Yet despite the appearance of a broad-based agreement, Monday’s vote followed days of last-minute wrangling that laid bare the profound ethnic and sectarian differences that […]

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Abdulmahdi becomes Oil Minister in tenuous new government

You are here: Home » Politics » National Politics » Abdulmahdi becomes Oil Minister in tenuous new government Abdulmahdi becomes Oil Minister in tenuous new government (From Right to Left) Iraqi deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak, Deputy Prime Minister Baha al-Araji, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Planning Minister Salman al-Jumaili and Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mehdi sit after being approved during a parliamentary session to vote on Iraq’s new cabinet on Sept. 8, 2014. [AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images] The new Iraqi government, approved by Parliament on Monday, has a nominally inclusive government led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, though it is already straining for support among the country’s Kurdish and Sunni minorities. Former Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdulmahdi became the new Oil Minister on Monday. Former Oil Minister and Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani now has the Higher Education portfolio. Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister for the past eight years, is… […]

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