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Brown pledges ‘Burns Night declaration’ for Scotland

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND – SEPTEMBER 08: A Yes campaign placard is placed in a window in the Grassmarket on September 8, 2014 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Better Together campaign has denied plans to set out a timetable for giving more powers to Scotland were a sign of panic. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Scots were promised “modern home rule within the United Kingdom” on a breakneck timetable on Monday if they rejected independence next week, as a new poll confirmed that support for separation was growing. Gordon Brown , former Labour prime minister, was given the task of trying to halt the independence bandwagon , promising a “Burns Night declaration” on new powers on tax and spending for the Scottish parliament by January. More On this story On this topic IN UK Politics & Policy The promise of new powers for Holyrood came as a TNS poll put the […]

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Poll shows Scottish independence vote too close to call as London offers more powers

EDINBURGH (Reuters) – The rival campaigns in Scotland’s fight over independence are running neck-and-neck nine days before the referendum, with a surge in support for those who wish to break away from the United Kingdom, a TNS poll showed on Tuesday. The number of people saying they would vote "No" to independence had dropped to 39 percent, down from 45 percent a month ago. "Yes" support was slightly behind at 38 percent but had gained ground from 32 percent a month ago. "This poll reveals a remarkable shift in voting intentions," said Tom Costley, head of TNS Scotland. "It is too close to call and both sides will now be energized to make the most of the last few days of the campaign and try and persuade the undecided voters of the merits of their respective campaigns." The poll follows one in a Sunday newspaper that put the pro-independence […]

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Norway Losing Out to Sweden in $6 Billion Wind-Power Boom

Divergent tax policies mean Norway risks missing out on most of a $6 billion wind-power boom while neighboring Sweden benefits. Norway, which aims to triple wind capacity by the end of the decade, has erected one turbine for every seven installed in Sweden since the countries signed a pact to share renewable production two years ago. Norway, western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer, has so far installed less than 10 percent of what it’s expected to complete by 2020 under the accord. The countries’ mismatched tax rules threaten to deny Norway investment in an industry where jobs will triple by 2030, according to the European Wind Energy Association in Brussels. While Statkraft AS, Norway’s state-owned power company, didn’t build any wind projects in its home country in the eight years through 2013, it spent as much as 7.5 billion kroner ($1.2 billion) on turbines in Sweden. “Changes must […]

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Brent Crude Falls Below $100 For First Time in 14 Months

Brent crude fell below $100 a barrel for the first time since June 2013, amid a slowdown for imports into China , the world’s second-biggest oil consumer. The global benchmark slipped as much as 0.8 percent in London to $99.99 a barrel in London. The last time it traded below $100 was June 24, 2013. China’s purchases declined 2.4 percent in August, compared with a 1.6 percent drop in July, data from Beijing-based customs administration show. Exports rose by 9.4 percent. West Texas Intermediate dropped to a four-day low. “Demand fears will take some time to dissipate,” Andrey Kryuchenkov , an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said by e-mail. “China’s slowing imports this morning did not help lift these concerns. The Atlantic basin supply glut is still in place.” Brent for October settlement traded 72 cents lower at $100.10 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange […]

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Big Oil Firms Drive Subsea Exploration

Ezra Holdings chief executive and managing director Lionel Lee Ezra Holdings When an energy company wants to produce oil or gas in a remote undersea location, companies like Singapore-headquartered Ezra Holdings provide the logistics and ships to support the operations, often in harsh climates and rough seas. Spending on deep-water exploration has been strong in the past few years on the back of high oil prices and strong demand. Revenues have ballooned at Ezra’s subsea business, where it competes with companies like Paris-listed Technip SA and Norway’s Subsea 7 SA . The subsea segment, which installs equipment like oil pipelines on the seabed, generated over 70% of Ezra’s US$1.3 billion in revenue last year. The subsea business was the brainchild of Ezra’s chief executive and managing director, Lionel Lee, 40 years old, whose father founded the company in 1992 as an offshore-services firm. The younger Mr. Lee joined Ezra […]

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Iran-Iraq Gas Pipeline Complete

"Iran’s gas will be fed into Al-Mansoureh power plant once the pre-startup tests on the pipeline (built to transport natural gas to Iraq) are complete," an informed Iraqi source, who asked to remain unnamed, told FNA on Saturday. He said the supply of Iranian gas supplies should have already started, and explained that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist operations have caused the delay. "We will be able to receive Iran’s gas more safely due to the efforts of the (Iraqi) armed forces to get rid of the ISIL," he added. Iran has agreed to export 25 million cubic meters (mcm) per day of gas to Iraq. The 270-kilometer pipeline stretches from the village of Charmaleh, located in Iran’s Western province of Kermanshah, into the town of Naft Shahr on the border with Iraq. The pipeline, which is estimated to earn Iran USD 3.7 billion […]

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Qatar’s Support of Extremists Alienates Allies Near and Far

CAIRO — Standing at the front of a conference hall in Doha, the visiting sheikh told his audience of wealthy Qataris that to help the battered residents of Syria, they should not bother with donations to humanitarian programs or the Western-backed Free Syrian Army. “Give your money to the ones who will spend it on jihad, not aid,” implored the sheikh, Hajaj al-Ajmi, recently identified by the United States government as a fund-raiser for Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. Qatar is a tiny, petroleum-rich Persian Gulf monarchy where the United States has its largest military base in the Middle East. But for years it has tacitly consented to open fund-raising by Sheikh Ajmi and others like him. After his pitch, which he recorded in 2012 and which still circulates on the Internet, a sportscaster from the government-owned network, Al Jazeera, lauded him. “Sheikh Ajmi knows best” about helping Syrians, the […]

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Genel Energy Returns Workers to Kurdistan on Improved Security

Genel Energy Plc (GENL) , the largest oil producer in Iraqi Kurdistan, is returning workers to the region’s fields after security improved. “The decision to resume full operations has been made following a close monitoring of the situation,” the London-based company said today in a statement. Genel, which removed inessential personnel from non-producing assets in August, said output wasn’t affected and it had been pumping about 234,000 barrels of oil a day from its fields. The U.S. expanded its air strikes against Islamic State militants, while President Barack Obama plans to rally Sunni Arab states to help him defeat the insurgents. Kurdistan explorers including Oryx Petroleum Corp. and ShaMaran Petroleum Corp. have also resumed operations in the region To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at [email protected] Tony Barrett

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Destroying ISIS May Take Years, U.S. Officials Say

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is preparing to carry out a campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria that may take three years to complete, requiring a sustained effort that could last until after President Obama has left office, according to senior administration officials. The first phase, an air campaign with nearly 145 airstrikes in the past month, is already underway to protect ethnic and religious minorities and American diplomatic, intelligence and military personnel, and their facilities, as well as to begin rolling back ISIS gains in northern and western Iraq . The next phase, which would begin sometime after Iraq forms a more inclusive government, scheduled this week, is expected to involve an intensified effort to train, advise or equip the Iraqi military, Kurdish fighters and possibly members of Sunni tribes. The final, toughest and most politically controversial phase of the operation — destroying the terrorist […]

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Israel Steals Gaza’s Offshore Natural Gas

While Gazans suffer from daily power shutdowns, Israel is signing an important deal to sell gas to Jordan, gas which, researchers say, was stolen from Palestinians. In addition to confiscating Palestine’s energy resources, Israel has destroyed Gaza’s only power station in its latest military offensive. Photo: “Gaza electricity; ‘enemy of the (Jewish) state’” wrote the Middle East Online during the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead. While Gazans suffer from daily power shutdowns, Israel is signing an important deal to sell gas to Jordan, gas which, researchers say, was stolen from Palestinians. In addition to confiscating Palestine’s energy resources, Israel has destroyed Gaza’s only power station in its latest military offensive. On July 29, 2014, RT reported: Over a million people in Gaza could be without electricity after Israeli tank shells hit the fuel depot of the enclave’s only power station, causing it to shut down. Its director, Mohammed al-Sharif, said, […]

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