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Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu Clash on Possible Iran Nuclear Deal

President Barack Obama said the U.S. and other world powers have offered Tehran “an extraordinarily reasonable” nuclear deal after efforts during the past week to move the negotiations forward and shore up support among Arab and European allies. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an agreement would allow Iran to soon have “many, many nuclear bombs.” Mr. Obama said in a televised interview that there is an “urgency” to reaching a framework agreement this month, after nearly two years of negotiations where the deadline has been extended twice. The talks have faced a torrent of criticism from Mr. Netanyahu as well as Republicans in Congress who, joined by some Democrats, want a say in approving the deal and fear it will not go far enough to curtail Iran’s ability to seek a nuclear weapon. “We have made progress in narrowing the gaps, but those gaps still exist” with […]

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New Attacks on Libya’s Oil Assets Shake Nation’s Stability, Energy Markets

Fighters from Libya Dawn take a position outside Tripoli on Thursday. ENLARGE Photo: mahmud turkia/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Deadly attacks on Libyan oil installations in recent days have resulted in what could be long-lasting damage to the industry that affects oil markets and alters the battle for dominance in the country. Western and Libyan officials said they suspected the Libyan affiliate of Islamic State, the radical group that has taken over parts of Iraq and Syria, was responsible for assaults on Friday that left at least eight people dead and seven foreign workers missing. The attacks targeting oil fields and their employees point to a new pattern in Libya’s violence: Lacking the strength and expertise to capture and use oil installations, militant groups are destroying them to prevent rivals from profiting from the oil. Islamic State’s “engagement with Libya’s hydrocarbons sector is not about capturing fields,” said Geoff Porter, an […]

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Iraq Narrows Oil Discount to Asia by Most in 3 Years on Demand

(Bloomberg) — Iraq narrowed the discount for April crude deliveries to Asian buyers by the most since November 2011, joining other Middle East producers in raising official selling prices amid signs demand is improving. Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, will sell its Basrah Light crude at $2.80 a barrel below Middle East benchmark Oman and Dubai grades in April, the state-run Oil Marketing Co., known as SOMO, said Monday. That’s $1.30 less than the discount for March. Saudi Arabia last week increased the pricing terms for Arab Light sold to Asia, while Abu Dhabi and Qatar raised export prices. Saudi Arabia led a November decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain output and defend market share against rising U.S. output that sent crude prices almost 50 percent lower in 2014. The imbalance in the global crude market will even out in the second half of this year, […]

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Barclays’ Mahesh Sees Elections as ‘Huge Risk’ for Nigeria Oil

(Bloomberg) — Barclays Plc energy analyst Miswin Mahesh sees a “huge risk” of oil production in Nigeria being disrupted by political instability arising from elections scheduled for March 28. The vote is set to be the most closely contested since the end of military rule in 1999. President Goodluck Jonathan’s People’s Democratic Party and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress are the leading contenders — each won 42 percent support in a survey of 2,400 adults polled by Afrobarometer in December in 33 of the nation’s 36 states and the federal capital territory. “We are not sure how it will play out on the political front,” Mahesh, based in London, said in a March 6 interview in Cape Town. “Nigeria will do whatever it takes to maintain its production. The risks are still there. There is a genuine risk that we might see some disruptions.” Nigeria’s daily […]

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Activists say airstrike hits Islamic State-held oil refinery

BEIRUT (AP) — Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition have hit a Syrian oil refinery held by the Islamic State group, activists said Monday. The strikes targeted a refinery near the Turkish-Syrian border outside the town of Tel Abyad. Video from the Turkish Dogan News Agency showed the strikes Sunday night, which saw an enormous fireball engulf the refinery. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated the strikes killed about 30 people, including Islamic State militants and refinery workers. The Syrian activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently also reported the strikes, but offered no casualty figure. The Islamic State group, which controls a self-declared caliphate on captured territory covering about a third of Syria and Iraq, partially funds its conquests through the sale of black market oil. The U.S.-led coalition did not immediately acknowledge launching the strike.

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Iraqi Leader Sounds Call for More Help, Including From Iran

WASHINGTON—Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Sunday appeared to signal that his country needs more U.S. help in its war against the Islamic State extremist group, warning regional forces might not be able to withstand the offensive. “If they are not stopped on time, I can assure you no army in the region can stand in their…way,” Mr. al-Abadi said in an interview on ABC News “This Week.” “We have to stop them for our own sake, and I think the world has to stop them for their own sake,” he said. Mr. Abadi is scheduled to meet this week with the U.S.’s top military officer, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The prime minister highlighted the growing role of longtime U.S. adversary Iran in Iraq’s efforts to retake the strategic city of Tikrit and other areas that have been captured by Islamic State. “They’re helping […]

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The Islamic State appears to fray from within

this undated file image posted on June 30, 2014, by the Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group, a Syrian opposition group, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in Raqqa. (Uncredited/AP) BEIRUT — The Islamic State ­appears to be starting to fray from within, as dissent, defections and setbacks on the battlefield sap the group’s strength and erode its aura of invincibility among those living under its despotic rule. Reports of rising tensions between foreign and local fighters, aggressive and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to recruit local citizens for the front lines, and a growing incidence of guerrilla attacks against Islamic State targets suggest the militants are struggling to sustain their carefully cultivated image as a fearsome fighting force drawing Muslims together under the umbrella of a utopian Islamic state. The anecdotal reports, drawn from activists and residents of areas under Islamic State control, don’t offer any indication […]

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Outcry and fears grow as Pakistan builds new nuclear reactors

Outcry and fears grow as Pakistan builds new nuclear reactors thumbnail The Karachi Nuclear PowerComplex is on an earthquake-prone seafront less than 20 miles from downtown Karachi. (Max Becherer/Polaris Images for The Washington Post) KARACHI, Pakistan — World leaders have fretted for years that terrorists may try to steal one of Pakistan’s nuclear bombs and detonate it in a foreign country. But some Karachi residents say the real nuclear nightmare is unfolding here in Pakistan’s largest and most volatile city. On the edge of Karachi, on an earthquake-prone seafront vulnerable to tsunamis and not far from where al-Qaeda militants nearly hijacked a Pakistan navy vessel last fall, China is constructing two large nuclear reactors for energy-starved Pakistan. The new reactors, utilizing a cutting-edge design not yet in use anywhere in the world, will each provide 1,100 megawatts to Pakistan’s national energy grid. They are being built next to a much […]

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Nigerian economy affects due to fuel shortages

LONDON: Nigeria is suffering from a gasoline shortage as falling oil prices have affected the country’s ability to import and distribute refined fuels. Coming just weeks before elections scheduled for March 28, the shortage could have a big impact on the campaign trail. In Abuja, the lines of cars waiting for gas are growing longer. Acute fuel shortages are gripping towns and cities across the country. Workers reliant on their cars are losing money fast – like taxi driver Bartholomew Ode Akpa. “I work at the airport as a car hire and now I’m supposed to be at the airport and there is no fuel for me to go and look for something to do,” he said. Nigeria is one of the world’s top producers of crude oil, and exports around 2 million barrels per day. But it doesn’t have the refinery capacity to meet fuel demand, so it […]

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South America’s UNASUR pledges to help Venezuela address shortages in basic foods, other goods

CARACAS, Venezuela — An association of South American countries on Friday urged the region to help Venezuela keep basic goods on the shelves. The 12-nation UNASUR group called on every country in Latin America to do what they can to ensure Venezuelans have access to staples after a delegation met with President Nicolas Maduro. Secretary General Ernesto Samper said UNASUR would create a special commission to strengthen distribution chains. Pantry and cleaning basics like dish soap, detergent, milk and cooking oil, chronically in short supply in recent years, have become been even harder to find in the socialist-governed country since the year started. The meeting between South American foreign ministers and Venezuelan officials in Caracas had been expected to address the more abstract problems of rising tension between the administration and the opposition. Maduro recently accused opposition leaders of conspiring with the U.S. to bomb the presidential palace, while […]

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