Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday July 6 2007 - (813)

Friday July 6 2007 edition
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Oil Prices Jump, Brent Crude Almost $75 A Barrel, U.S. Crude Hits $71.73 2007-07-05 15:13:26 Oil surged almost $2 to nearly $75 a barrel on Thursday as fresh violence in Nigeria spurred supply concerns and strong demand. London crude rebounded after sliding following U.S. government data that showed a crude supplies rising and refiners ramping up gasoline output to meet summer holiday driving demand. London Brent crude gained $1.76 to $74.81 a barrel at 1732 GMT. U.S. crude rose 32 cents to $71.73 a barrel. In Nigeria, a rebel group responsible for a large number of the attacks on the country's oil industry ended a month-long truce, while an attack on a Shell oil rig in the delta served as a reminder of the supply risks there. Read The Full Story Pakistan Forces Move To End Standoff At Islamabad Mosque 2007-07-05 12:57:07 Pakistani security forces on Thursday launched an intense operation against militants holed up in an Islamabad mosque, seeking to end a months-long standoff that has turned deadly in recent days. As the sun set Thursday, a plume of thick black smoke could be seen rising above the mosque following a series of powerful explosions. Witnesses reported that the concrete wall surrounding the mosque had been at least partially destroyed, and commandos seemed to be moving into position for a possible raid. Throughout the day, the two sides engaged in periodic gun battles, with rifle shots crackling through a part of the city that has been turned into a virtual war zone. Stone-faced soldiers manning sandbagged guard posts stood watch at virtually every intersection within half a mile of the mosque. Helicopter gunships circled overhead, and armored personnel carriers with machine guns mounted on the backs rumbled through the deserted streets. Read The Full Story Al-Zawahri, Al-Qaeda's No. 2, In New 95 -Minute Video 2007-07-05 12:55:39 Al-Qaeda's deputy leader sought to bolster the terror network's main arm in Iraq in a new video released Thursday, calling on Muslims to rally behind it at a time when the group is on the defensive, faced with U.S. offensives and splits with other insurgent groups. Ayman al-Zawahri defended the Islamic State of Iraq - the insurgent umbrella group headed by al-Qaeda - against critics among Islamic militant groups, saying it was a vanguard for fighting off the U.S. military and eventually establishing a ''caliphate'' of Islamic rule across the region. Al-Zawahri, the top deputy of Osama bin Laden, called on Muslims to follow a two-pronged strategy: work at home to topple ''corrupt'' Arab regimes and join al-Qaeda's ''jihad,'' or holy war, in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia to fight and train ''to prepare for the next jihad.'' He urged Hamas not to compromise and bend under Arab and international pressure to end its rule in the Gaza Strip and make way for a unified Palestinian government that could pursue peace with Israel. Read The Full Story Baghdad Body Count Up In June 2007-07-05 12:55:10 Nearly five months into a security strategy that involves thousands of additional U.S. and Iraqi troops patrolling Baghdad, the number of unidentified bodies found on the streets of the capital was 41 percent higher in June than in January, according to unofficial Health Ministry statistics. During the month of June, 453 unidentified corpses, some bound, blindfolded, and bearing signs of torture, were found in Baghdad,according to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. In January, 321 corpses were discovered in the capital, a total that fell steadily until April but then rose sharply over the last two months, the statistics show. Read The Full Story Construction Woes Add To Security Fears At U.S. Embassy In Iraq 2007-07-05 01:05:39 U.S. diplomats in Iraq, increasingly fearful over their personal safety after recent mortar attacks inside the Green Zone, are pointing to new delays and mistakes in the U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad as signs that their vulnerability could grow in the months ahead. A toughly worded cable sent from the embassy to State Department headquarters on May 29 highlights a cascade of building and safety blunders in a new facility to house the security guards protecting the embassy. The guards' base, which remains unopened today, is just a small part of a vast $592 million project to build the largest U.S. embassy in the world. The main builder of the sprawling, 21-building embassy is First Kuwaiti General Trade and Contracting Co., a Middle Eastern firm that is already under Justice Department scrutiny over alleged labor abuses. First Kuwaiti also erected the guard base, prompting some State Department officials in Washington and Baghdad to worry that the problems exposed in the camp suggest trouble lurking ahead for the rest of the embassy complex. The first signs of trouble, according to the cable, emerged when the kitchen staff tried to cook the inaugural meal in the new guard base on May 15. Some appliances did not work. Workers began to get electric shocks. Then a burning smell enveloped the kitchen as the wiring began to melt. Read The Full Story Australian Government Admits Oil Is Factor In Iraq War 2007-07-05 01:04:49 The Australian government has admitted the need to secure oil supplies is a factor in Australia's continued military involvement in Iraq. Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said Thursday that oil was a factor in Australia's contribution to the unpopular war, as "energy security" and stability in the Middle East would be crucial to the nation's future. Speaking ahead of a key foreign policy speech by Prime Minister John Howard, Dr. Nelson said defense was about protecting the economy as well as physical security, and it was important to support the "prestige" of the U.S. and U.K. "The defense update we're releasing today sets out many priorities for Australia's defense and security, and resource security is one of them," he told ABC radio. Read The Full Story U.K. Lowers Terrorist Threat Level As Investigation Looks At Foreign Connections 2007-07-05 01:04:14 The U.K.'s terrorist threat level was downgraded Wednesday night as the investigation into the attempted London car bombings and the Glasgow airport attack switched from Britain to overseas. The decision to lower the level from the highest grade, "critical", to "severe" was announced by Jacqui Smith, Britain's home secretary, after a meeting of the cabinet's Cobra emergency committee. She said: "There is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is expected imminently. However, the reduction of the threat level does not mean the overall threat has gone away - there remains a serious and real threat against the United Kingdom and I would again ask that the public remain vigilant." Read The Full Story	Swarm Of 6 Tornadoes Destroy Homes - In New Zealand? 2007-07-05 13:14:16 A seven-day state of emergency has been declared in Taranaki, New Zealand, after a swarm of tornadoes cut a 140 kilometer (75-mile) swathe of damage across the region. From Motunui in the north to Normanby in the south, trees were uprooted, roofs flung from houses and powerlines torn from poles as at least six tornadoes struck. Between 40 and 50 houses in Oakura suffered up to 80 per cent damage. Thursday's mayhem followed a single destructive twister that swept through central New Plymouth on Wednesday, tearing a roof off the Placemakers store, damaging six business premises, and uprooting fences and blowing in giant plate glass windows at the racecourse. Read The Full Story Weather Service Issues Heat Warning For Western U.S. While Plains States Face More Rain 2007-07-05 12:56:47 The west wilted under near-record high temperatures Thursday, while saturated parts of Texas and Oklahoma braced for renewed flooding, with additional rain in the forecast. The National Weather Service issued an excessive-heat warning for the area west of the Rocky Mountains. Temperatures are expected to peak at 113 to 116 degrees in Las Vegas today and Friday, and are expected to reach 115 to 122 along the Colorado River valley, including the areas around Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. The warning continues through 9 p.m. Pacific time on Friday. An excessive-heat warning is issued when temperatures are forecast to rise high enough to endanger many people’s health unless they take precautions. Authorities urged people, especially tourists who are not acclimated to desert heat, to confine their outdoor activities to the early morning or late evening hours, to drink plenty of water and to stay in air conditioned rooms as much as possible during the afternoon. The temperature in Needles, California, hit 120 degrees on Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 118 established in 1985. Read The Full Story Senate Panel Faults Bush's Missile Defense Plans 2007-07-05 12:55:22 Democrats in Congress are building a legislative roadblock to the Bush administration's plan to place elements of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Senate is expected to join the House next week in reducing funds in the fiscal 2008 Defense Authorization Bill for construction of 10 interceptor missile sites in Poland and for deployment of an X-band radar in the Czech Republic. The House, in passing its version of the legislation last month, cut $40 million from the bill, which would have funded preparation of the Polish sites next year. The move prevents the White House from proceeding unless President Bush vetoes the measure. The Senate Armed Services Committee, justifying its decision to delay funding for the European antimissile sites, emphasized not only foreign policy concerns but also technical issues surrounding the interceptor missiles. Read The Full Story Russia Parliament Votes To Allow Private Armies For Energy Giants 2007-07-05 12:53:19 Russia's Duma (parliament) voted Wednesday to allow the country's two biggest energy monopolies, Gazprom and the state oil pipeline company Transneft, to employ and arm private security units. Under the deal, Russia's interior ministry will supply Gazprom with guns from its armory. Supporters of the plan say that Russia's oil and gas installations - which are key to the country's boom and burgeoning economic revival - have to be protected from terrorist attack at all cost. "A couple of terrorist acts and an ensuing ecological catastrophe would be enough to immediately declare Russia an unreliable partner and supplier of energy reserves," said Alexander Gurov, one of 341 members who backed the new law in the country's 450-seat Duma. However, Gennady Gudkov of the Fair Russia party, said the law paved the way for the creation of corporate armies and described it as "a Pandora's box". Read The Full Story Pakistani Troops Bombard Students Holed Up In Mosque 2007-07-05 01:05:17 Pakistani troops fired shells and tear gas on a radical mosque in central Islamabad early Thursday morning, hours after the pro-Taliban chief cleric was caught trying to escape wearing a burka. A barrage of explosions rocked the city just before dawn as the two-day siege of Lal Masjid, or the Red Mosque, moved towards a climax. Soldiers on loudspeakers called on heavily armed militant students holed up inside to lay down their weapons or "face the consequences". Article continues Trucks carrying troops rushed through the deserted streets and terrified residents of the upmarket neighborhood were warned to stay inside. Several thousand people, including hundreds of radicalized women, are believed to be inside Lal Masjid, which has been subjected to an ever tightening government siege since Tuesday, when 16 people were killed and 150 wounded in a five-hour gun battle. Read The Full Story Biofuel Demand To Push Up Food Prices 2007-07-05 01:04:33 Food prices will rise in the next 10 years as nearly twice as much sugar cane, maize and oilseed rape is grown to fuel cars, and people in rapidly developing countries adopt meat-based diets, says the United Nations in its annual assessment of farming trends. The move to "agrofuels", which are expected to marginally lower climate change emissions and reduce U.S. and European oil dependency, is being led by the U.S., Brazil, Europe and China. Last year more than a third of the total U.S. maize (corn) crop went to ethanol for fuel, a 48% increase on 2005. Brazil and China grew the crops on nearly 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of land. This area could double in 10 years, says the U.N. report on trends up to 2016. The switch to growing fuel crops will take land out of food production and increase the price of commodities such as sugar, maize and palm oils, says the report, which was jointly prepared by the World Food Organization and theOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). While higher food prices are profitable for the mainly large-scale farmers who grow them, they threaten the economies of food-importing countries as well as the urban poor, says the report. The higher food prices will also mean extra costs for livestock farmers who must buy feed. Read The Full Story
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