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U.N. Moves to Lift Sanctions on Iran After Nuclear Deal

Photo The resolution passed by the Security Council on Monday lays out the steps required for the lifting of United Nations sanctions, but not the sanctions imposed separately by the United States and the European Union. Credit Seth Wenig/Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution that creates the basis for international economic sanctions against Iran to be lifted, a move that incited a furious reaction in Israel and potentially sets up an angry showdown in Congress. The 15-0 vote for approval of the resolution — 104 pages long including annexes and lists — was written in Vienna by diplomats who negotiated a landmark pact last week that limits Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for ending the sanctions. Iran has pledged to let in international monitors to inspect its facilities for the next 10 years and other measures that were devised […]

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Kerry says Iran vow to defy U.S. is ‘very disturbing’

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks to the media after a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir at the State Department in Washington July 16, 2015. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday vowing to defy American policies in the region despite a deal with world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program was "very disturbing". "I don’t know how to interpret it at this point in time, except to take it at face value, that that’s his policy," he said in the interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, parts of which the network quoted on Tuesday. "But I do know that often comments are made publicly and things can evolve that are different. If it is the policy, it’s very disturbing, it’s very troubling," he added. Ayatollah Khamenei told supporters on Saturday that U.S. policies in the region […]

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Iranian General Criticizes U.N. Resolution on Nuclear Deal

TEHRAN — The commander of Iran ’s Revolutionary Guards objected on Monday to the United Nations Security Council resolution that is part of the landmark nuclear agreement, asserting it crossed some “red lines” concerning Iranian defenses. The objection, by Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, was not expected to derail the nuclear agreement reached last week between Iran and world powers. But it appeared to open a new point of contention within Iran’s political hierarchy. General Jafari’s remarks amounted to the most authoritative criticism from the leader of an influential faction in Iran since diplomats announced the agreement in Vienna. “He and others just want to be registered as critics of this agreement so that in case things go wrong they can say, ‘We told you so,’ ” said Farshad Ghorbanpour, a political analyst close to the government. Others said General Jafari’s remarks appeared mainly intended to bolster the image […]

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Nuclear deal could herald major change within and beyond Iran

Iranians celebrate on the streets following a nuclear deal with major powers, in Tehran July 14, 2015. An unlikely group in the Middle East has found common ground in recent days: Saudi Arabia, Israel and hardliners within Iran have all made clear they consider the landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers a very bad idea. All of these players feel a direct threat to their power and influence as a result of last Tuesday’s agreement. For the first time in more than three decades, Iran, a country with a highly educated population of some 80 million and huge oil and gas reserves, is poised to rejoin the international community and the result could be profound change both inside and outside the country. "The geopolitical structure of the Middle East is changing,” said Saeed Leylaz, a prominent economist based in Tehran who worked as an advisor to former […]

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Is ISIL running out of oil?

Iraq though has had significant success in taking down ISIL’S smuggling operation [File: ISIL] It has been alleged that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has made millions in Iraq, smuggling oil from various sites that they control around the country. According to the US, the figures could run into millions of dollars a week. While it is true that ISIL had control of Iraq’s largest oil refinery, Beiji, until recently, it also controls a number of oil wells and continues to exploit them. When ISIL fighters arrived in June 2014, they found themselves in possession of rich oil wells in Nineveh province, south of Mosul. This allowed them to establish smuggling operations, following criminal routes long established and join them up with smuggling routes in Syria. A common route came into being. Husham al-Brifkani, the head of the energy committee of Nineveh’s provincial council, said: […]

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ISIS Leader Is Delegating His Powers in Case He Is Killed

WASHINGTON — The Islamic State’s reclusive leader has empowered his inner circle of deputies as well as regional commanders in Syria and Iraq with wide-ranging authority, a plan to ensure that if he or other top figures are killed, the organization will quickly adapt and continue fighting, American and Iraqi intelligence officials say. The officials say the leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , delegates authority to his cabinet, or shura council, which includes ministers of war, finance, religious affairs and others. The Islamic State’s leadership under Mr. Baghdadi has drawn mainly from two pools: veterans of Al Qaeda in Iraq who survived the insurgency against American forces with battle-tested militant skills, and former Baathist officers under Saddam Hussein with expertise in organization, intelligence and internal security. It is the merger of these two skill sets that has made the organization such a potent force, the officials say. But equally important […]

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Suspected Islamic State suicide bombing kills 27 in Turkish border town

A wounded man sits on a step following an explosion in Suruc, in the southeastern Sanliurfa province, Turkey, July 20, 2015. An explosion outside a cultural center in the Turkish town of Suruc near the border with Syria killed at least 27 people and wounded many more on Monday, in what senior officials said may have been a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants. Television footage showed bodies lying beneath trees outside the building in the mostly Kurdish town in southeastern Turkey, some 10 km (6 miles) from the Syrian town of Kobani, where Kurdish fighters have been battling Islamic State. "Our initial evidence shows that this was a suicide attack by Islamic State," one senior official in Ankara told Reuters. A second official also said Islamic State appeared to have been responsible and that the attack was a "retaliation for the Turkish government’s efforts to fight terrorism". NATO […]

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Saudi crude oil exports fall to lowest in five months in May

A fisherman pulls in his net as an oil tanker is seen at the port in the northwestern city of Duba April 20, 2013. Picture taken April 20. Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports fell to their lowest in five months in May despite near record production, as the OPEC kingpin turns itself into a major refined-fuels power and as domestic consumption rises. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude oil exporter, shipped 6.935 million barrels per day (bpd) on average in May, down from 7.737 million bpd in April and the lowest since December, official data showed on Sunday. As crude exports slide, the OPEC producer is offering customers millions of barrels of diesel from new refineries as it turns itself into a major supplier of refined oil products, potentially triggering a price war with Asian competitors as its exports feed into a glut. Saudi Arabia’s massive refineries are now […]

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Eni finds more natural gas in Egypt

Italian energy company Eni said it will get new gas moving in Egypt within two months. File Photo by project1photography/Shutterstock MILAN, Italy, July 20 (UPI) — Italian energy company Eni said Monday it made what it considers to be an important discovery of natural gas in the Egyptian Nile Delta. Eni said it made a discovery in the Nooros exploration prospect in the Abu Madi West license area, about 75 miles northeast of Alexandria. "Preliminary estimates of the discovery account for a potential of 530 billion cubic feet of gas in place with upside, plus associated condensates," the company said in a statement. Eni in January signed two new agreements in the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea following an auction held by the Egyptian government in 2013. In March, the company said it signed a framework agreement to develop Egyptian oil and gas reserves that calls for as […]

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Venezuela orders producers to divert food to state stores

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Private companies in Venezuela say the government has ordered them to distribute food staples to a network of state-run supermarkets amid chronic shortages of basic goods. The Food Industry Chamber said Monday that authorities ordered producers of milk, pasta, oil, rice, sugar and flour to supply between 30 percent and 100 percent of their products to the state stores. The chamber says there are 15 times as many private stores in the socialist South American country as state-run ones. Chamber President Pablo Baraybar says the order could cause major supply problems. Government officials could not be reached for comment. Rigid currency controls and a shortage of U.S. dollars make it difficult for Venezuelans to find imported goods. Companies say controls make it hard to turn a profit and justify production.

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China War on Pollution Benefits From Economic Slowdown

SHAHE, China—A “war against pollution” declared by China’s leaders is getting a boost from the slowing economy as the government forces bloated industries like steel, cement and glassmaking to slim down. The results of cuts in overcapacity are already visible in notoriously smoggy Beijing. Official air-pollution data released by China’s government and monitoring by the U.S. embassy show levels of fine-particulate matter damaging to human health—known as PM2.5—fell more than 15% in the capital in the first half of 2015, compared with a year earlier. The city’s 21 million residents have been greeted with unusual stretches of blue skies. While measures taken by Beijing are partly behind the change, just as important is what’s happening in the sprawling industrial areas that encircle it. The bleak industrial city of Shahe, 200 miles south of the capital, boomed for much of this century. These days, small glass producers there that haven’t […]

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Crude supertanker operators cash in on oil market rout

Newspaper + Premium online Premium online Full FT.com subscription Standard online Full news & archive Registration 3 articles per month Price Monthly Annual £76.00 £13.50 per week (52 weeks in total) £42.00 £7.35 per week (52 weeks in total) £30.00 £5.35 per week (52 weeks in total) Free FT Alphaville plus selected FT blogs FT Alphaville and more Unlimited access to Alphaville, the FT’s popular finance blog, plus many other FT blogs featuring comment and analysis from top columnists Gavyn Davies on macroeconomics, economic policy making & financial markets The Westminster blog covering the UK’s political scene Dispatches from FT experts in San Francisco, London & Taipei on Tech blog The World blog on international affairs yes yes yes yes Unlimited FT.com article access Unlimited FT.com article access Enjoy full access to FT.com’s award-winning news, comment and analysis. With over 500 journalists reporting from over 50 countries, read our […]

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China will soon surpass South Korea, Russia, and Japan in nuclear generating capacity

graph of nuclear generating capacity for top 6 countries, as explained in the article text Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Atomic Energy Agency, World Nuclear Association Nuclear power currently makes up slightly more than 2% of China’s total power generation. However, the Chinese government has a stated goal to provide at least 15% of overall energy consumption by 2020 (increasing to 20% by 2030) from non-fossil fuel sources, including nuclear, hydroelectricity and other renewable sources. To help achieve this target, China plans to increase nuclear capacity to 58 gigawatts (GW) and to have 30 GW of capacity under construction by 2020. China has rapidly expanded its nuclear capacity in the past several years, which likely will increase nuclear generation in the next few years. China’s net installed nuclear capacity is 23 GW, after the country added 10 reactors totaling more than 10 GW since the beginning of 2013. […]

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Wall Street Lenders Growing Impatient With U.S. Shale Revolution

Raising Cash Halcon Resources Corp. almost ran into trouble with its banks in June 2013. And again in March 2014. And in February 2015. Each time, the shale driller came close to violating debt limits set by its lenders, endangering a credit line that provided as much as $1.05 billion in much-needed cash. Each time, Halcon’s banks, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., loosened their restrictions, allowing Halcon to keep borrowing. That kind of patience may be coming to an end. Bank regulators have issued warnings on the risks involved in lending to U.S. drillers, threatening a cash crunch in an industry that’s more dependent than ever on other people’s money. Wall Street has been one of the biggest allies of the shale revolution, bankrolling thousands of wells from Texas to North Dakota. The question is how that will change with oil prices down […]

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Study shows more hospital stays in three fracking counties

A fracking operation is set up on this farm near Dimock in Susquehanna County. A new study shows that in Susquehanna, Bradford and Wayne counties, people who live near fracking wells were more likely to have hospital visits. (CAROLYN COLE / LOS ANGELES TIMES) Researchers comparing hospital visits in three rural Northeast Pennsylvania counties found a higher rate of hospital visits in counties with a heavy gas industry presence. Residents of heavily drilled Bradford and Susquehanna counties were admitted to hospitals at higher rates than in neighboring Wayne County where drilling is banned, University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University researchers stated in a paper published in the peer-reviewed PLOS One scientific journal last week. The researchers used hospital-reported inpatient data from 2007, when drilling began, to 2011, the latest year available, said Penn Medicine researcher Dr. Reynold Panettieri Jr., one of the study’s authors. Relying on 95,000 inpatient records, […]

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TransCanada boasts of benefits of North American pipelines

Pipeline company TransCanada says it’s shipped 1 billion barrels of oil through the existing Keystone network through North America. (courtesy TransCanada) CALGARY, Alberta, July 20 (UPI) — The shipment of the 1 billionth barrel of oil through the Keystone oil pipeline system shows commitment to U.S. energy security, TransCanada said. The Canadian pipeline company said the pipeline system has brought in close to $200 million in taxes and generated more than 14,000 construction jobs since it was commissioned in 2010. "These one billion barrels of oil have helped to fuel North American energy independence and the U.S. economic recovery, which has seen a dramatic rise in the number of oil and gas jobs as well as an increase in supply through a mix of Canadian imported and domestic production," TransCanada President and Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said in a statement. The Keystone pipeline system stretches from Alberta to […]

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Officials: Oil train didn’t speed before Montana derailment

AP Photo/Richard Peterson Train Derailment BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A train that derailed and spilled 35,000 gallons of oil in northeastern Montana was traveling within authorized speed limits, federal officials said Monday as they continued to probe the accident’s cause. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway train loaded with crude from North Dakota was traveling 44 miles per hour before Thursday’s wreck, U.S. Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Matthew Lehner said. Officials have said the maximum authorized speed in the area is 45 mph. Twenty-two cars on the BNSF train derailed near the small town of Culbertson. Lehner said the tank cars were a model known as the "1232,"which is built under a 2011 industry standard intended to be more crash-resistant than earlier designs. But several recent oil train crashes, including some that caught fire, also involved 1232s and federal officials are seeking to phase out the cars. The oil […]

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Oil Explorers Retreat From Shallow U.S. Gulf in Shift to Shale

Explorers Mostly Quit Shallow U.S. Gulf in Shift to Inland Shale Energy producers are abandoning the search for oil and natural gas close to shore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as drilling budgets shrink and exploration migrates to land-based shale fields. The number of permits for new wells in seas less than 500 feet (152 meters) deep plunged 74 percent to nine during the first six months of this year from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Shallow-water drilling has largely targeted gas in recent decades because most of the crude in fields close to shore had already been discovered and harvested. The glut of gas from shale fields in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania that crushed prices for the fuel made offshore gas production less attractive. “A lot of the players operating on the continental shelf are financially distressed or […]

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Halliburton secures $500 million to fund drilling in old wells

A Halliburton facility sits behind a barbed wire fence on the outskirts of Williston, North Dakota January 23, 2015. Halliburton Co ( HAL.N ) said it had tapped BlackRock Inc ( BLK.N ) for $500 million to help fund drilling in existing shale wells, the first such move by a major oilfield services provider at a time when oil producers are shying away from drilling new wells. The world’s No.2 oilfield services provider, which is buying No.3 Baker Hughes Inc ( BHI.N ) to cope with a fall in demand, also reported a better-than-expected profit, helped by cost cuts. Market leader Schlumberger NV ( SLB.N ) and Baker Hughes have touted refracking, the practice of fracking existing wells, as means for oil producers to save money. Drilling normally accounts for about 40 percent of the cost of a new well. "Though a relatively small market today, we see significant […]

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Oh frack, now there’s radiation in Pennsylvania’s water

Drilling a horizontal shale gas well in Appalachia In Fredericktown, Pennsylvania, water that feeds into a Pittsburgh treatment plant has been found to contain more than 60 times what is considered the safe level of radiation. The water Dufalla tested? It’s from Ten Mile Creek, which eventually feeds into a nearby water treatment plant. Not surprisingly, it’s not good to have 60 times the maximum allowed radium in drinking water, and it’s not something that’s easy to filter out. Drinking water is just one concern. There’s also the fish swimming in radium-tainted water to worry about. Oh, well, if the gas industry officials said it, it has to be true, right? This is nothing new, though. Tests proved even higher levels of radiation were present in Pennsylvania’s streams two years ago . Just last week, fracking in Pennsylvania was linked to higher rates of cancer, skin conditions, heart disease […]

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As Banks in Greece Reopen, New Sales Taxes Add to Confusion

Photo A National Bank employee opens the door of a branch in Athens on Monday morning. Greek banks had been closed for three weeks. Credit Milos Bicanski/Getty Images ATHENS — Greek banks opened their doors on Monday for the first time in three weeks. But with strict limits still in place on the flow of money, the battered economy was far from returning to normal. As Athens scrambles to meet creditors’ demands in exchange for continuing to negotiate a proposed bailout package worth up to 86 billion euros, or about $93 billion, Monday was shaping up as the beginning of what could be a long economic slog. Even though Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called over the weekend for a swift resumption of the bailout negotiations, the talks could take months. The Athens stock exchange, which stopped trading on June 29, remained closed on Monday, with no word of […]

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Greece submits bill needed to start rescue talks

A frayed Greek national flag flutters among antennas atop a building in central Athens, Greece July 20, 2015. The Greek government submitted legislation to parliament on Tuesday required by its international lenders to start talks on a multi-billion euro rescue package. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has until Wednesday night to get those measures adopted in the assembly. A first set of reforms triggered a rebellion in his party last week and passed only thanks to votes from pro-EU opposition parties. The second bill, though less divisive, will still be a test his weakened majority. It puts into Greek law new European Union rules on propping up failed banks, decreed after the 2008 financial crisis and aimed at shielding taxpayers from the risk of having to bail out troubled lenders. The so-called bank recovery and resolution directive (BRRD) imposes losses on shareholders and creditors of ailing lenders, in a process […]

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Russia ETF Retreats for Second Day as Oil Decline Dims Outlook

The biggest exchange-traded fund tracking Russian stocks fell for a second day in New York amid concern that a recovery in oil prices is faltering, weighing on growth in the world’s largest energy exporter and halting a rally in the country’s assets. The Market Vectors Russia ETF slid 1.7 percent to $17.73 on Monday. Energy companies, which make up about 40 percent of the fund, tumbled as Brent crude extended losses in the wake of a third weekly retreat. A Bloomberg index of the most-traded Russian stocks on U.S. exchanges declined for a fourth day in five. Oil’s rebound from a six-year low has lost momentum amid speculation a global glut will be prolonged as U.S. drillers return rigs to fields and Iran seeks to regain market share. While U.S. and European sanctions had already been squeezing Russia’s $2 trillion economy, the outlook worsened as oil, the country’s top […]

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Sea Ice Might Be More Resilient Than Thought

Arctic sea ice is so sensitive to changing temperatures that a single cool summer briefly reversed the decline in the ice cap around the North Pole, says a new study released Monday. Using new satellite data, researchers at University College London reported in Nature Geoscience on Monday that the total volume of sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere was well above average in the autumn of 2013, traditionally the end of the annual melt season, after an unusually cool summer when temperatures dropped to levels not seen since the 1990s. “We now know it can recover by a significant amount if the melting season is cut short,” said the study’s lead author Rachel Tilling, a researcher who studies satellite observations of the Arctic. “The sea ice might be a little more resilient than we thought.” A steady decline in the extent of Arctic sea ice since the late 1970s […]

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All that record-breaking rain in California still isn’t enough to dent the drought

West Coast weather was turned upside down this weekend when Southern California saw more rain in one day than it saw in all of January — one of the region’s wettest months on average. But even with the historic summer rainfall, California’s multi-year drought will likely endure past its next rainy season for much of the state. The anomalous summer rains came to California thanks to Hurricane Dolores, which surged to a powerful category 4 last week. Since then, the remnant storm has tracked north parallel to to the coast, pumping tropical moisture into the Southwest U.S. On Saturday, 1.03 inches of rain fell in San Diego, setting a new record for wettest day in July and pushing the month to the wettest July on record. An additional 0.66 inches fell Sunday, and as of Monday morning, the monthly rainfall total was an incredible 1.7 inches. The previous wettest […]

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Climate Scientist Warns Sea Levels Are Rising Faster Than We Thought

Half the world’s population lives within 60 km of the ocean. Limiting climate change to 2°C is not going to protect us from devastating sea level rise, a new report has found. According to the research, freshwater from land-based ice sheets melting into the oceans is inducing feedback that is accelerating the melting of ice shelves — a loop that indicates sea level rise will continue and could be devastating at much lower temperature changes than previously thought. The study, authored by well-known climate scientist James Hansen and 16 other researchers , will be published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics this week. The research explains that there is an “amplifying feedback” as polar ice melts, because as more freshwater enters the ocean, it traps warmer sea water, which melts more ice. The effect is not included in the current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) modeling but “extensive data […]

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El Nino intensifying, could rival strongest in recorded history

The present El Nino event, on the cusp of attaining “strong” intensity, has a chance to become the most powerful on record. The event — defined by the expanding, deepening pool of warmer-than-normal ocean water in the tropical Pacific — has steadily grown stronger since the spring. The presence of a strong El Nino almost ensures that 2015 will become the warmest on record for Earth and will have ripple effects on weather patterns all over the world. A strong El Nino event would likely lead to enhanced rainfall in California this fall and winter, a quieter than normal Atlantic hurricane season , a warmer than normal winter over large parts of the U.S., and a very active hurricane and typhoon season in the Pacific. [ A strong El Niño could flourish by fall: Five ways it could affect our weather ] Some of these El Nino-related effects have […]

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Oil edges lower as Saudi crude exports fall, U.S. cuts drill rigs

An oil well is seen near Denver, Colorado February 2, 2015. Oil prices edged lower on Monday as data showed Saudi Arabian exports fell to the lowest in five months despite record output, while a resurgence in U.S. drilling activity seen earlier this month seemed to fizzle out. Both international and U.S. crude futures posted their third consecutive weekly losses last week on expectations of increased exports from Iran following a deal to ease sanctions against the OPEC producer. Brent September crude was 12 cents lower at $56.98 a barrel by 0316 GMT. The benchmark had fallen nearly 3 percent last week and more than 10 percent for the month. U.S. crude futures, also known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was down 17 cents at $50.72 on Monday, after falling more than 3 percent last week and more than 14 percent in July. The August contract expires on Tuesday. […]

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Obama sends Iran deal to wary Congress, Israel urges rejection

President Barack Obama’s administration sent a nuclear agreement with Tehran to Congress on Sunday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged U.S. lawmakers to reject a deal he said would only feed an "Iranian terror machine". In a first concrete sign of European determination to quickly rebuild economic and political ties with Iran after a 12-year standoff, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel arrived in Tehran with an economic delegation. Other European powers were expected to follow. Obama has promised to exercise his veto if Congress rejects the deal, which curbs Iran’s nuclear program while allowing an easing of economic sanctions. Overriding it would require a two-thirds majority of both the House of Representatives and Senate, so the administration is working to win over enough of Obama’s fellow Democrats to offset strong Republican opposition. In an unusual move, Obama took three Democratic congressman golfing with him: Joe Courtney of Connecticut, […]

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No alternative for Iran nuclear deal, Kerry says

Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in a round of interviews that aired Sunday defended the deal they negotiated with Iran , saying that it leaves the Middle East safer and that there is no viable alternative. “The real fear of that region should be that you don’t have the deal,” Kerry said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” The agreement finalized last week in Vienna faces heavy criticism from Republicans in Congress, which could vote to reject it. On Sunday, the administration officially presented the agreement to lawmakers, who will have 60 days to review it. Kerry’s remarks were taped Friday, part of five interviews he and Moniz did in tandem for the Sunday talk shows. The interviews were part of an aggressive campaign by the Obama administration to defend the deal announced last week , in which Iran agreed […]

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U.N. Vote on Iran Nuclear Deal Irks Congress

WASHINGTON — During the closed-door talks in Vienna on limiting Iran ’s nuclear program , Secretary of State John Kerry argued that the United Nations Security Council should not vote on lifting sanctions on Iran until Congress had a chance to review the deal. But he ran into a wall of opposition from Iran, Russia and even the United States’ closest European allies, who argued successfully that Security Council action should come first, according to Western officials. On Sunday, as the Obama administration submitted the Iran nuclear agreement to Congress for what promises to be a raucous 60-day debate, Mr. Kerry and President Obama began grappling with the fallout of that decision, which has complicated their efforts to secure much needed support within their own party. At least two senior Democrats have joined the Republican leadership in complaining that the Security Council action, expected Monday morning, would pre-empt the […]

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Syria’s army says battles rebels near president’s homeland

Children run as they flee from a makeshift playground after hearing the sound of a Syrian fighter jet hovering over Idlib city, Syria July 18, 2015. Syria’s army said on Sunday it had stepped up air strikes and retaken villages in a new offensive on Islamist insurgents in areas close to President Bashar al Assad’s ancestral homeland in the coastal province of Latakia. Aerial bombardment had intensified over the past 48 hours in a bid to cut rebel supply lines in rugged territory close to Turkey’s border, an army source was quoted as saying on state media. Latakia province – home to Syria’s biggest port and a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect – has been a key battleground of the conflict, which is now in its fifth year. Sunni Muslim jihadists, including al Qaeda’s Syrian offshoot the Nusra Front, control many villages in the borderlands north of the government-held […]

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Saudis Cast Net for ISIS Sympathizers

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The security forces in Saudi Arabia have carried out a nationwide dragnet in recent months that resulted in the arrest of more than 400 people believed to be connected to the Islamic State jihadist group, the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Saturday. The people who were arrested were linked to recent attacks inside the kingdom; they planned attacks or monitored potential targets, or used social media to spread extremist ideology and entice new recruits, the Interior Ministry said. The high number of arrests highlights the profound fears inside the conservative, oil-rich kingdom that the jihadists who control territory in nearby Iraq and Syria will sow further trouble inside Saudi Arabia, as the militants’ leaders have vowed to do. While Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Islam shares some aspects with the one espoused by the Islamic State, the kingdom’s leaders have denounced the group for its wanton […]

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Israel signs deal for $1.1 billion thermo-solar power plant

Israel signed a deal to build a 4 billion shekel ($1.05 billion) thermo-solar power plant in the country’s south, aimed at boosting electricity production from renewable energy sources, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday. The 121 megawatt plant, which will also be able to store electricity, will be built by a consortium of Israel’s Shikun & Binui and Spain’s Abengoa in Ashalim in Israel’s southern Negev desert near another solar plant. The plant, to be built under a build, operate and transfer program, is expected to come online in the first half of 2018, the ministry said. Both plants – along with a planned photovoltaic power plant nearby – will provide 2 percent of total electricity production in Israel, which has a target of 10 percent coming from renewable sources by 2020. They will be financed by the European Investment Bank and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. The […]

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Noose tightens around thousands caught in Iraq’s Anbar offensive

As Iraqi forces prepare to try to recapture the city of Falluja, tens of thousands of civilians find themselves trapped between Islamic State militants ready to use them as human shields and a government suspicious of their loyalties. With the jihadists coercing them to stay, and a government blockade and shelling closing exit routes and cutting off supplies, there is "a vice, a noose around the neck of the population", Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, told Reuters. Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim-led government on Monday announced the start of operations to "liberate Anbar", the province west of Baghdad whose Sunni Muslim cities and towns along the Euphrates have since last year become strongholds of Islamic State. "Since military operations began, it has become impossible to leave," said one 42-year-old teacher. "They (Islamic State) have planted bombs at the entrance and exits to the city and on the main […]

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ISIS Lost Almost 10 Percent of Territory

The Islamic State group (ISIS) saw its territory in Iraq and Syria shrink almost 10 percent in the first six months of the year, as recent victories in Palmyra and Ramadi were outweighed by “significant” losses elsewhere, a report said. The area in which Islamic State is the dominant military force now spans about 82,940 square kilometers (32,000 square miles), the U.K.-based research center IHS said in a study published Friday. That’s about the size of Austria. The militants lost territory in north Syria near the Turkish border, and in Iraq around the city of Tikrit. The group’s reverses in Syria mostly came at the hands of Kurds and associated Sunni groups, starting with defeat at Kobani early in the year, report author Columb Strack said in an e-mailed reply to questions. The real breakthrough though “came with the capture of the Tal Abyad border crossing last month, which […]

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Exports of Oman crude in June outpaces production on surge in China demand

Oman exported more crude oil in June than it produced after trading giant ChinaOil picked up an unprecedented 49 cargoes during the Platts Dubai Market on Close assessment process in April. China, which has been the biggest buyer of Oman crude in recent years, accounted for 90% of the country’s overall crude exports in June, up more than 12% from May, according to data released by Oman’s oil and gas ministry over the weekend. Oman exported 912,015 b/d of crude oil in June — up 11.28% from May — even as its production was only 888,636 b/d, according to government data. In addition to exports, it also supplied 134,366 b/d of crude to domestic refineries, up from 92,534 b/d in May. While China’s share of Oman crude reached a record high, it wasn’t immediately clear where the additional export barrels came from. Traders said the extra crude could be […]

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China’s Economy Collapsing

Things are not looking for for China. It seems like Beijing has averted a crisis as far as their stock markets are concerned with some heavy-handed intervention. But their corporate debt has already reached $ 16.1 trillion and is still rising. Their corporate debt is currently at 160% of their GDP and that is twice as much as the US having deteriorated sharply in the last 5 years. This debt mountain is going to climb an additional 77% to $ 28.8 trillion in the next 5 years. The policy interventions in Beijing which affect corporate credit have been designed for addressing economic growth so far. But this year, it is set to reach a twenty five-year low. Interest rates have already been cut 4 times since November 2014, bank reserves have been reduced and limits have been removed from the amount of deposits which they can lend. Even though […]

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Cheap Oil Should Fuel Economy at Last

Pump jacks in North Dakota. Layoff announcements in the energy sector have fallen back lately. Lower oil prices have proven to be more of a bane than a boon for the U.S. economy. But that is about to change. When the price of crude started dropping sharply last fall, most economists reckoned it would be a good thing . Sure, U.S. oil production had boomed due to the shale revolution, but the country was (and is) still a net importer of petroleum products. So, the thinking went, the losses from lower investment and lost jobs in the shale basins would be more than offset by the extra money that got spent on American goods and services rather than foreign oil. Things haven’t actually worked out that way. Rather, the sharp decline in drilling activity has led to a drop in investment and a weakening in the jobs market that […]

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Has U.S. oil production started to turn down?

The plunge in oil prices last year led many to say that a decline in U.S. oil production wouldn’t be far behind. This was because almost all the growth in U.S. production in recent years had come from high-cost tight oil deposits which could not be profitable at these new lower oil prices. These wells were also known to have production declines that averaged 40 percent per year. Overall U.S. production, however, confounded the conventional logic and continued to rise– until early June when it stalled and then dropped slightly . Anyone who understood that U.S. drillers in shale plays had large inventories of drilled, but not yet completed wells, knew that production would probably rise for some time into 2015– even as the number of rigs operating plummeted . Shale drillers who are in debt–and most of the independents are heavily in debt–simply must get some revenue out […]

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For G.O.P., Pope Francis’s Visit to Congress Comes With Tensions

Photo Speaker John A. Boehner at a news conference this month. The pope’s visit will fulfill a long-held dream of Mr. Boehner, who has extended offers to popes for the last 20 years. Credit Zach Gibson/The New York Times WASHINGTON — In the Reading, Ohio, neighborhood where Speaker John A. Boehner grew up, nearly every house had two things on the wall: a crucifix and a photo of the pope. “You never ever expected to meet the pope,” said Jerry Vanden Eynden, a lifelong friend of Mr. Boehner’s. “In all of our minds, the pope was the closest thing to meeting God in person here on earth.” When Pope Francis comes to Capitol Hill in September, he will be the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of Congress, where more than 30 percent of the members are Catholic. The visit will fulfill a long-held dream of Mr. Boehner, […]

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California drought makes quest for water a consuming grind

PORTERVILLE, Calif. — Their two peach trees had turned brittle in the heat, their neighborhood pond had vanished into cracked dirt and now their stainless-steel faucet was spitting out hot air. “That’s it. We’re dry,” Miguel Gamboa said during the second week of July, and so he went off to look for water. He had a container in the bed of his truck from the dairy where he worked, a 275-gallon tank that had been used to treat milk with chemical preservatives. Now he rinsed it with bleach and drove out of the suburbs, passing rows of tract houses with yellowed front lawns. He went to see a friend who still had a little water left in his well, and the friend offered Gamboa his hose. They stood together and watched the tank begin to fill with water that looked hazy and light brown. “You really want this?” the […]

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Alberta pipeline breach causes massive spill

China-subsidiary company apologizes, says cleanup underway for one of North America’s largest-ever oil spills on land Nexen Energy apologized Friday for an oil sands pipeline leak in the Canadian province of Alberta that is one of North America’s largest-ever oil-related spills on land, and said its cleanup crews were working around the clock. The pipeline leaked 31,500 barrels of emulsion — a mixture of bitumen, water and sand, the equivalent of 5 million liters of tar sands oil, or 1.3 million gallons. Nexen, a subsidiary of China’s CNOOC Ltd., said it is still trying to find the root cause of the leak in the new pipeline, which was installed last year. The company has found a visible breach about the size of a hand. The incident is another blow for the environmental record of the oil sands industry, already under fire from activists for its carbon-intensive production process. Ron […]

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Route of Migrants Into Europe Shifts Toward Balkans

Photo At play in Budapest. While crossings by water to Italy have been the main route to Europe for migrants from Africa and the Mideast, Hungary is quickly becoming a common destination. Credit Mauricio Lima for The New York Times BUDAPEST — The surge of migrants into Europe from war-ravaged and impoverished parts of the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa has shifted in recent months. Migrants are now pushing by land across the western Balkans, in numbers roughly equal to those entering the Continent through Italy. Much of Europe is reeling from the flow of people seeking safety, jobs and a better life — but who have strained resources, heightened ethnic and religious tensions, and rewired politics in individual nations and throughout the Continent. The new pathway is also causing a sharp rise in anti-immigrant sentiment in the Balkans and neighboring central Europes, bolstering nationalist parties and inspiring protests […]

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Greek banks reopen as Tsipras eyes return to normal

A National Bank official opens the door of a bank branch while people wait to enter in Athens, Greece July 20, 2015. Greeks queued outside banks on Monday as they reopened three weeks after closing to stop the system collapsing, the first cautious sign of a return to normal after a deal to start talks on a new package of bailout reforms. However limits on withdrawals will remain and payments and wire transfers abroad will still not be possible – a situation which German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday was "not a normal life" and warranted swift negotiations on a new bailout, expected to be worth up to 86 billion euros. The stock market will also remain closed until further notice. Increases in value added tax agreed under the bailout terms have also taken effect with VAT on food and public transport jumping to 23 percent from 13 […]

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Russian scientists squeezed by sanctions, Kremlin policies

Associated Press AP Photo/Alexander Lukin Latest News Daughter of slain Russian opposition leader moves to Germany Russian bloggers gauging attitudes toward gays find violence Russia lashes out at leaks of MH17 draft report Putin’s spokesman, Olympic ice dancing champ to tie the knot Russian bomber crashes in the Far East, kills 2 var mytd = document.getElementById(‘mytd’); var mydiv = document.getElementById(‘spnrefmoneymarkets’); if (mytd != null) {mytd.innerHTML = spnrefmoneymarkets.innerHTML; mydiv.innerHTML = ”}; King pigeon pose ahead? Putin tells Indian PM: I’ll try yoga var mytd = document.getElementById(‘mytd’); var mydiv = document.getElementById(‘spnrefmoneymarkets’); if (mytd != null) {mytd.innerHTML = spnrefmoneymarkets.innerHTML; mydiv.innerHTML = ”}; NOVOSIBIRSK, Russia (AP) — Artur Bilsky’s Institute of Thermophysics recently sought to buy equipment from a Japanese company that was a routine purchase a few years ago. The request was turned down "categorically," said Bilsky, a researcher at the institute. Hundreds of other Russian scientists are reporting similar experiences of […]

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Russian Town Near Ukraine, Once Quiet, Now Buzzes With Military Activity

Photo Russian military vehicles in a field about six miles from the Ukranian border in August 2014. Credit Pavel Golovkin/Associated Press GOLOVINKA, Russia — The southern Russian steppe in summertime typically offers a soul-lifting panorama of wheat fields and sunflowers, swaying in the breezes, and vast empty spaces. It is Russia ’s big sky country, rural and calm. Normally, that is. One morning this spring, the serenity in this village deep in the Russian countryside near the Ukrainian border was broken by a loud, rumbling explosion intense enough to send out window-shattering shock waves. Soon, residents said, Russian soldiers appeared running through the wheat fields, some in their underwear, waving their arms wildly and yelling, “Save yourselves however you can!” The panicked soldiers were not under attack, as it turns out, but were fleeing a fire in a well-stocked ammunition depot at a nearby Russian military base, recalled a […]

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Energy Lower With Oil Prices on Oversupply Fears — Energy Roundup

Shares of oil-and-gas companies fell alongside oil futures as oversupply fears persisted. Light, sweet crude for August delivery traded two cents lower at $50.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, near three-month lows. ConocoPhillips said it would shift capital-expenditure priorities, boosting its dividend at the expense of spending on deepwater drilling, to reflect lower oil prices. By Rob Curran, [email protected]

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