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U.N. Atomic Agency Meeting With Iran Facilitates ‘Better Understanding’

ENLARGE International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano, right, welcomes Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters BRUSSELS—The United Nations’ Atomic agency said Tuesday a meeting with a senior Iranian official had led to a “better understanding” between the two sides but there was little sign of a breakthrough in efforts by the agency to gain greater insight into past nuclear work Tehran has carried out. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been in talks with Iran for years about Iran’s past work, which western officials believe was aimed at getting nuclear know-how. The IAEA’s Director-General Yukiya Amano met earlier this month in Munich with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss the issues. They agreed that there should be more frequent senior official discussions between Iran and the agency. In a follow-up to that meeting, Mr. Amano met […]

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Islamic State in Syria abducts at least 150 Christians

AMMAN (Reuters) – Islamic State militants have abducted at least 150 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria they had raided, Christian Syrian activists said on Tuesday. A Syrian Christian group representing several NGOs inside and outside the country said it had verified at least 150 people missing, including women and the elderly, who had been kidnapped by the militants. "We have verified at least 150 people who have been adducted from sources on the ground," Bassam Ishak, president of the Syriac National Council of Syria, whose family itself is from Hasaka, told Reuters from Amman. Earlier the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 90 were abducted when the militants carried out dawn raids on rural villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority west of Hasaka, a city mainly held by the Kurds. The United States condemned the attacks in Hasaka and called for the immediate and […]

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OPEC has no plan for special meeting before June: delegates

RIYADH (Reuters) – OPEC has no plans to hold an emergency meeting before its next scheduled gathering in June, two of the organization’s delegates said on Tuesday. Nigerian Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke told the Financial Times in comments published on Monday that she would call an emergency meeting if oil prices fell any further. "There are no concrete actions going on to organize any emergency meeting of OPEC countries," said one of the delegates, who declined to be identified. Nigeria, set to hold elections in less than six weeks, is current holder of the rotating presidency of OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). The president is responsible for liaising with OPEC members and its secretary-general on the need for an emergency meeting. "Given that the presidential elections in Nigeria have been pushed from Feb. 14 by six weeks, it is difficult not to discount the statement as […]

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OPEC rumors stir oil market pot

Rumors of an extraordinary meeting from OPEC stir crude oil market struggling to sustain an early-2015 rally. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian In an interview published Monday by the Financial Times, Nigerian Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said most members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are "very uncomfortable" with the market situation, adding an extraordinary meeting may take place if price volatility continues. Though Nigeria’s oil minister serves as the president of OPEC, it’s unlikely de facto leader Saudi Arabia will follow the lead. A November decision from Saudi Arabia to keep output steady despite the decline in crude oil prices added durability to the bear market for crude oil. When Saudi King Abdullah died in late January, successor King Salman bin Abdulaziz showed no indications he’d change the government’s standing on crude oil policies . Riyadh had defended its position by saying it needed to ensure it was holding its […]

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Nigeria Suffers ‘Substantial’ Revenue Loss as Oil Prices Fall

(Bloomberg) — Nigeria’s government revenue fell 15 percent in January as falling oil prices eroded the income of Africa’s biggest crude producer. Revenue fell to 416.1 billion naira ($2.1 billion) in January compared with 490 billion naira a month earlier, Accountant-General Jonah Otunla said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement. The volume of oil exports declined 33 percent in November and December, resulting in $159.88 million of lost revenue, Otunla said. Nigeria has “suffered a substantial loss in revenue as a result of the massive drop in crude oil price at the international oil market,” he said. The continent’s largest economy has been hit by the halving in Brent crude prices since the middle of last year as the West African nation prepares for presidential elections next month. Nigeria relies on export of the commodity for more than 90 percent of foreign exchange income and 70 percent of government revenue. […]

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Oil companies in Venezuela to use new favorable forex rate: PDVSA

CARACAS (Reuters) – About a dozen foreign energy companies in Venezuela have been authorized to exchange foreign currency at a new, more advantageous rate in bolivars in order to boost cash flow and speed up projects, a high-level PDVSA source said on Tuesday. The companies, participating in joint ventures in various fields around Venezuela, can now buy local currency at the Simadi rate, currently averaging 172 bolivars per dollar, compared to far more disadvantageous rates used in the past. "This will increase the bolivars they have for capital expenditure and operational expenditure. It is a huge incentive and drastically affects cash flow," the PDVSA source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told Reuters. "Partners who have been skeptical will now be encouraged to speed up," the source said. State-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA’s foreign partners have long cited as […]

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A Thirsty, Violent World

Credit Photograph by Mauricio Lima/The New York Times/Redux Angry protesters filled the streets of Karachi last week, clogging traffic lanes and public squares until police and paratroopers were forced to intervene. That’s not rare in Pakistan, which is often a site of political and religious violence. But last week’s protests had nothing to do with freedom of expression, drone wars, or Americans. They were about access to water. When Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the Minister of Defense, Power, and Water (yes, that is one ministry), warned that the country’s chronic water shortages could soon become uncontrollable, he was looking on the bright side. The meagre allotment of water available to each Pakistani is a third of what it was in 1950. As the country’s population rises, that amount is falling fast. Dozens of other countries face similar situations—not someday, or soon, but now. Rapid climate change, population growth, and a […]

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Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Tuesday swiftly delivered on his vow to veto a Republican bill approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, leaving the long-debated project in limbo for another indefinite period. The Senate received Obama’s veto message and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately countered by announcing the Republican-led chamber would attempt to overturn the veto by March 3. Obama rejected the bill hours after it was sent to the White House. Republicans passed the bill to increase pressure on Obama to approve the pipeline, a move the president said would bypass a State Department process that will determine whether the project is in the U.S. national interest. "Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the national interest," Obama wrote in his veto message. Republicans, […]

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Obama Vetoes Keystone XL Pipeline Bill

ENLARGE President Barack Obama vetoed the Keystone XL legislation on the grounds that it would have bypassed the State Department’s review process. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have approved the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that is a top priority for congressional Republicans and a touchstone issue for environmentalists and the nation’s booming energy industry. The bill would have authorized Canadian company TransCanada Corp. to construct the 1,179-mile pipeline, which has been under review by the Obama administration for more than six years. The bill, which declared the pipeline to have satisfied environmental laws, passed the GOP-controlled Congress earlier this year. White House officials said in early January that Mr. Obama would veto the legislation because it would have bypassed a continuing review process at the State Department, which has authority over cross-border pipelines like Keystone. Mr. Obama vetoed the legislation, not […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple