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Greece Says Bailout Terms Reached

Greece and international creditors have reached an agreement on the terms needed to provide the country with a third bailout worth up to €86 billion ($94.76 billion), although some details remain unresolved, a Greek government official said Tuesday. After talks that ran for more than 18 hours, government spokesman Theodoros Mihopoulos said in a tweet that “negotiations have been completed. There are some details left.” It wasn’t immediately clear what the outstanding details concerned or whether creditors, eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, agree that the deal is complete. Other eurozone countries must ratify any agreement between Greece and the international institutions overseeing its bailout program. The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A German finance ministry spokesman said he couldn’t yet confirm an overall deal. Earlier Tuesday, German Deputy Finance Minister Jens Spahn said negotiations were continuing in […]

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Brent, U.S. crude fall on oversupply, poor China data

An offshore oil platform is seen at the Bouri Oil Field off the coast of Libya August 3, 2015. Crude oil futures fell on Monday, touching fresh multi-month lows after disappointing data from China over the weekend showed exports tumbled in the world’s second-largest economy. Exports fell 8.3 percent in July, the biggest decline in four months, as weaker global demand for Chinese goods and a strong yuan policy hurt manufacturers. Producer prices in July were at the lowest point since late 2009, during the aftermath of the global financial crisis, and have been sliding continuously for more than three years. China’s economy is officially forecast to grow at 7 percent this year, strong by global standards, but some economists believe it is growing at a much slower pace. "The trade data over the weekend would probably have the market a little uneasy," said Mark Pervan, senior commodities strategist […]

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Oil Prices Fall on Glut Worries

LONDON—Oil prices kicked off the week in the red and traded near multi-month lows on Monday, in response to widening concerns over excess supply and weak demand. Over the weekend, China released disappointing economic data , clouding the demand outlook for the world’s second-biggest oil consumer. Meanwhile, the number of oil drilling rigs in the U.S. rose last week, underscoring concerns that the supply glut is unlikely to abate soon. “The prospect that crude oil prices will retest the lows hit earlier in the year has caught the market off guard,” said David Hufton at brokerage PVM. “Sadly there is no relief in sight and the technical knives are out, with the years lows well within range.” Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.3% to $48.50 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading down 0.3% at […]

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Oil Futures Signal Weak Prices Could Last Years

The oil market is signaling that prices could stay lower for longer, delivering a fresh blow to hard-hit energy exploration-and-production companies. Benchmark U.S. oil futures for September delivery are nearing the six-year low hit in March. But contracts for delivery in later years have taken an even bigger hit, with prices for 2016 and 2017 already trading below their March lows. That indicates that investors, traders and oil companies see the global glut of crude oil persisting beyond this year. Companies making long-term investment decisions rely on the prices of futures contracts one or more years in advance. Producers trade futures and options contracts for coming years to lock in prices for the oil they plan to sell in those years. A number of U.S. shale-oil producers say they can profitably increase production if prices rise above $65 a barrel. On Friday, front-month oil prices fell 79 cents, or […]

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The Game of Chicken Behind Low Oil Prices

Oil prices are now near a six-year low, moving down earlier today to about $44 a barrel. Friday’s decline came on the back of an upbeat jobs report , which strengthened the dollar, lowering oil prices . The fall has been precipitous: Only a year ago, crude oil was more than $100 a barrel. Two major indicators of oil prices show that they’ve been plunging. (FRED) The slide has prompted fears the market may be oversupplied with oil. In some sense, the story is the same as when oil prices first started falling last summer: one of increased supply, paired with a slow recovery (America) and a slowdown (China) in oil-guzzling economies. But there’s another story: Amid the glut and falling prices, Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s top oil producers, reported in June its highest level of crude oil output on record. OPEC, the cartel of oil-producing countries, […]

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In Iran, Voices Rise Against Nuclear Deal

A tussle to sway public perceptions of Iran’s nuclear deal is taking shape in the Islamic Republic, pitting liberal and conservative media against each other and mirroring the fierce debate unfolding in the U.S. In the days following the signing of the deal last month in Vienna—in which Iranian negotiators agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions—Iran’s conservative media shied away from directly criticizing the accord. Instead, conservative media focused on how the pact didn’t end the enmity between Iran and the U.S. But criticism has since become bolder. An ultraconservative weekly, 9 Dey, published scathing criticism of President Hassan Rouhani’s nuclear diplomacy, arguing it had overstepped the limits that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had placed on concessions. Hamid Rasai, the publication’s managing editor and a member of parliament, denounced the Iranian media for “drooling over expressing devotion to the criminal U.S. […]

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Q&A: PKK spokesperson Zagros Hiwa

PKK spokesperson Zagros Hiwa stands in a cemetery of hundreds of PKK fighters in the Qandil mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan on Nov. 6, 2014. (DANIEL W. SMITH/Iraq Oil Report) The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) does not intend to make further attacks on the pipeline carrying oil from Iraq to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.That was the message delivered by Zagros Hiwa, spokesperson for the PKK, who spoke to Iraq Oil Report in a series of phone and email interviews over the past week."I can assure everyone that HPG is not hostile against anything related to interests of our people in southern Kurdistan [Iraqi Kurdistan], and such attacks will not repeat," Hiwa said.Th… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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U.S. Consulate in Istanbul Targeted in Terror Attacks in Turkey

ISTANBUL—Turkish police and the U.S. consulate in Istanbul have been hit in a string of deadly attacks starting early Monday, as the two North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies deepen their cooperation against Islamic State and Turkey intensifies its fight against Kurdish militants. A police station in the city’s Sultanbeyli neighborhood was struck by a suicide car-bombing at about 1 a.m. local time, injuring three policemen and seven civilians, the Istanbul Police Department said in a statement. Less than six hours later, two assailants and one police officer were killed at a gunfight that erupted when the station drew fire. The U.S. consulate in the city’s Sariyer neighborhood was attacked in shortly after the assaults on the police, with two people opening fire and prompting a clash between the attackers and police. There were no injuries or deaths, and one of the assailants has been caught, according to Turkey’s state-run […]

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Kurdish Role in Fighting ISIS in Syria Is Crucial to U.S., but Is Alarming Turkey

Continue reading the main story Slide Show Slide Show|8 Photos U.S. Air Power and Kurdish Fighters Team Up to Inflict Losses on ISIS U.S. Air Power and Kurdish Fighters Team Up to Inflict Losses on ISIS CreditMauricio Lima for The New York Times HASAKA, Syria — Green drapes were drawn against the sun, cloaking the room where members of a Syrian Kurdish militia huddled around walkie-talkies, assiduously taking down GPS coordinates. Talal Raman, a 36-year-old Kurdish fighter, worked on a Samsung tablet, annotating a Google Earth map marked with the positions of the deserted apartment buildings and crumbling villas from where his colleagues were battling Islamic State fighters south of this northern Syrian town. He pinpointed in yellow the positions where his men were hunkered behind a wall, and highlighted in red the coordinates of a building next to a mosque where Islamic State fighters had taken cover. “Our […]

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Presidency crisis engulfs Kurdistan

KRG President Massud Barzani in traditional Kurdish clothes welcomes U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter in Erbil on July 24, 2015. (CAROLYN KASTER/Pool/Getty Images) The Kurdistan region is just nine days away from its most severe political crisis since the end of a civil war in the mid-1990s, as rival political parties remain at loggerheads over Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massud Barzani’s tenure and the power of his position.Supporters say the region needs Barzani to remain in charge to face both a fiscal and security crisis. Opponents see an opportunity to challenge the dominance of Barzani and his party.The rules for such poli… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple