Free Republic

ALGIERS (AFP) - OPEC president Chakib Khelil warned Sunday that oil prices will continue to rise because of the falling dollar, in an interview in the Algeria-News. "The price of oil will rise again in the coming weeks. We have to follow the evolution of the dollar, because a one percent fall in the dollar means four dollars more on the price of oil," Khelil, who is Algeria's minister of energy and mines, told the independent daily. < > "I believe that 60 percent of the rise is due to the fall in the exchange rate of the dollar and...

TORONTO (Reuters) - The number of vehicles imported into Canada from the United States in 2008 is well on pace to break last year's record high, according to data compiled by the North American Automobile Trade Association. Canadians imported 151,169 vehicles as of June 30, more than double the amount for the same period a year earlier, and fast approaching the 189,738 vehicles imported throughout 2007.

The United Arab Emirates has written off debts of close to 4.5 billion euros owed by Iraq. It is the first country in the Gulf region to take such a step. In recent months, the United States has been urging Arab governments to support Iraq's recovery by joining Western nations in forgiving their share of Iraqi foreign debts. It is estimated that Iraq's total foreign debt comes to just over 50 billion euros.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has cancelled the entire debt owned to it by Iraq, which totals just under $7 billion including interest and arrears payments, a UAE diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday.

BERLIN (AFP) - International Energy Agency chief Nobuo Tanaka has predicted that world oil markets will remain tight until 2013, according to an interview with the German economic daily Handelsblatt. The market will initially relax from now until 2009/2010 due to a foreseeable increase in supply brought about by new production sites, said Tanaka who is the IAE's executive director.

The climate change debate is often portrayed as a stark choice between two extremes. Do we try to save the economy or do we try to save the environment? Many in established industries argue vociferously that you need to protect the former to save the latter, or that if we act to protect our environment then we might end up killing the economy. Ross Garnaut, in his much awaited draft report, seeks to turn that argument on its head: Australia has much to lose from even the mildest impacts of climate change. If we want to save our economy, then...

After two years of hunting the oilsands for acquisitions, India plans to pull the trigger on a multibillion-dollar deal this year, government officials told the World Petroleum Congress on Thursday. "Indeed, we are going to get more actively engaged in the Canadian tar sands in the next six months, we are looking at opportunities," said M. S. Srinivasan, India's Petroleum Secretary. He said India would prefer to acquire assets over producing companies on a magnitude of at least $2 billion to $2.5 billion. "Size does matter," he continued. "We would like to be going for an economically viable size; too...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's inflation rate, which has provoked intense criticism of the government, topped 26 percent in June, according to a central bank statement published in the press on Saturday.

A new state law is now in effect requiring all restaurants in Mississippi to clearly display the specific country of origin of the catfish they serve. While supermarkets have previously been required to display “Country of Origin Labeling” for catfish, restaurants have been under no such mandate until House Bill 728 went into effect Tuesday. According to a statement recently released by Roger Barlow, president of the Jackson-based Catfish Institute, “This is possibly the most significant piece of legislation the Mississippi Catfish Industry, or for that matter, the entire U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish industry has ever had. “Since Mississippi is the...

A senior Ministry of Agriculture official on Thursday dismissed foreign media reports about China hoarding overseas farmland, saying the country is fully capable of ensuring its own food security. "Such reports are groundless and not factual we have not hoarded any farmland overseas and have taken no steps to introduce any such policy," Li Zhengdong, director of the ministry's international cooperation department, told a press conference held by the Foreign Ministry on the agenda of President Hu Jintao's visit to the outreach session of the G8 summit in Japan next week. Li was responding to a report in the Financial Times on...

"We know that reunification with China is inevitable," a Taiwanese friend told me recently. "The economy in Taiwan is not so good and many of our jobs are being transferred to China," he explained. "Taiwan will have to cooperate with the mainland in order to maintain a healthy economy." My friend told me these things with little conviction in his voice. While the Chinese government has consistently claimed that most Taiwanese people are in favor of reunification with the mainland, my friend, like many others I have talked to around the world, has stated that the vast majority of Taiwanese...

SINGAPORE: Lifters also expected a cut in lighter Saudi grades after the gas oil crack came off recent peaks last month. But Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said this week the kingdom would not sell its crude at below market rates to rein in oil's record rally, but was willing to supply every barrel its customers needed. The Saudi official selling prices (OSPs), which came in lower than expected last month, are usually released around the fifth of the month before crude starts loading. They set the trend for Iranian, Kuwaiti and Iraqi prices, altogether impacting the price of...

Yesterday, Barack Obama’s camp released a statement trying to slam John McCain’s current trip to South America. It read: “Senator McCain’s trip to Mexico and Colombia just underscores his insistence on continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies that have left nearly 2.5 million more workers unemployed, including unfair trade deals that have been written by lobbyists.” Well, the crusty old warhorse may be gaining on Mr. International in the global community, after all. Contrary to what Obama wants you to believe, McCain got a healthy burst of support from Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe yesterday. Uribe, who’s made admirable progress on...

Iran open to US office, wants direct US flights 02 Jul 2008 21:23:44 GMT Source: Reuters By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, July 2 (Reuters) - Iran said on Wednesday it was ready to consider a U.S. diplomatic presence in Tehran and called for direct flights between the two countries, nearly three decades after Washington severed ties with Iran. Speaking to reporters during a visit to the United Nations, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also accused Washington of putting unfair restrictions on Iranian media representatives who want to work in the United States. "Last year the Islamic Republic of Iran proposed...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated on Wednesday that his administration believed in a strong dollar, and said the currency would reflect the relative strength of the economy. "We're strong dollar people in this administration, and have always been for a strong dollar, and believe that the relative strengths of our economy will reflect that," Bush told reporters at a news conference ahead of his trip to Japan for a meeting of the Group of Eight rich nations. Inflation is expected to be high on the G8 agenda next week. Some countries have blamed the weak dollar...

Dutch Refuse To Consider Super Hornet Jul 2, 2008 By Joris Janssen Lok The Netherlands defense ministry refuses to include Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in an evaluation of potential candidates for its next-generation fighter requirement. Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor also will not be considered, despite a direct request from the country's Parliament to include both U.S. fighters in an evaluation of potential alternatives to the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The Dutch appeared to be firmly committed to the F-35A ever since they joined the JSF System Development & Demonstration program as a Level 2 partner in 2002....

China's premier urges US to stabilise dollar AFP - Tuesday, July 1 BEIJING (AFP) - - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has again called on the United States to stabilise the dollar, warning the greenback's decline was posing threats to the global economy. "China is taking measures to safeguard its stable economic development," Wen said during a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday, according to a statement posted on the foreign ministry's website. "(We) hope the US will overcome its subprime crisis soon and stabilise the exchange rate of the US dollar, which is significant to...

The oil price has doubled in the past year because the US Federal Reserve panicked over risks to the over-leveraged financial system and flooded markets with excess liquidity. The world is willing to pay arbitrarily high prices to hedge against inflation, but the cost of inflation hedges drags down the world economy. Last week's spike in commodity prices and swoon in global stock markets points the way to a deep and prolonged fall in economic activity. Breaking out of the death spiral still is possible. With mixed emotions, I propose a simple solution. In fact, a crash would not be...

Gold futures close at two-and-a-half-month high Dollar weakness, strength in oil feed gold's risk aversion traits By Polya Lesova & Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch Last update: 4:23 p.m. EDT July 1, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures climbed Tuesday to close at their highest level since mid-April, as weakness in the dollar and rising crude-oil prices burnished the precious metal's investment appeal. Carrying forward with its recent rally, gold for August delivery rose $16.20 to finish the session at $944.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It climbed as high as $948.50 earlier in the session. Gold's...

Boeing Co., the second-largest U.S. defence contractor, will pay a $3-million fine for exceeding the value limits of imported parts used to build military aircraft. Boeing's own audit found it had imported more than what was allowed under manufacturing licenses, spokesman Tim Neale said today. The license agreements cover the C-17 transport plane, the Apache attack and Chinook transport helicopters and F/A-18 fighter plane

Caterpillar continues to make major capital investments in China BEIJING, People's Republic of China (PRC), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) announced today plans to build world-class small-sized (less than 20 tons) hydraulic excavators in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China. This facility fits into Caterpillar's China and emerging markets, strategy, and it will be a key element of the company's worldwide excavator manufacturing footprint. The announcement follows the signing of an investment agreement between Caterpillar and Jiangning Science Park Administrative Committee (JSPAC). The proposed facility will be located in the Jiangning Science Park district (JSP) and wholly owned and operated by Caterpillar. This...

(RTTNews) - Presidential hopeful John McCain is heading to Latin America this week to discuss a free trade, a touchy subject for many workers in the United States whose jobs have been shipped to countries with cheaper labor costs. He has said he wants to thank Latin American countries for their efforts in fighting drug trafficking, part of the reason he supports the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. "I want to go to Colombia as it is a vital ally in our struggle against the scourge of drugs, a great amount of cocaine that comes into the United States of America,...

China's Export Machine Threatened by Rising Costs Orders Drop, Shops Idle in Sweater City; Losing Wal-Mart By JAMES T. AREDDY June 30, 2008; Page A1 HONGHE, China -- As a sign over its main boulevard proclaims, Honghe is "China's Famous Town for Sweaters." But the economy of sweater town is unraveling, providing an early sign that China's manufacturing sector may be entering middle age. WSJ's James Areddy details the decline of a sweater-making town in China that's suffering due to falling demand from a key market: the U.S. (June 30) Over the past two decades, this city about 90 minutes'...

US wants Poles to visit, spend lots of money By ZUZIA DANIELSKI, Associated Press Writer WARSAW, Poland - Time to shop until you drop across the Atlantic, the U.S. embassy says. In an unusual appeal, the United States is enticing Poles to visit and spend money this summer in hopes of propping up its faltering economy. The campaign comes as the Polish currency hit a historic high - reaching 2.1194 zloty to the dollar on Monday. "When you visit the States, bring an extra suitcase so you can return to Poland with a suitcase full of new items," U.S. Ambassador...

TUCUMAN, Argentina (AFP) - The 10 leaders of the Mercosur trade bloc meeting here Monday and Tuesday are expected to condemn the EU's new immigration rules, discuss plans for regional integration and address the global food crisis. Ecuador President Rafael Correa, after arriving here Sunday, complained about the European Union's so-called "returns directive" that criminalizes illegal immigration, allowing up to 18 months' detention prior to deportation and banishment from the EU for several years. Correa called the measure a "shameful directive" and told reporters he would be among the first Mercosur leaders to sign a statement to condemn it. Bolivian...

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Central bankers issued a stern warning on Sunday against the dangers of surging inflation, saying rising energy costs risk damaging growth in rich and poor countries alike. Policymakers attending talks at the annual meeting of the Bank for International Settlements said they were on high alert to the dangers posed by rising inflation and slowing growth, but there was no one-size-fits-all solution. "We see very difficult times for the world economy moving ahead," said Martin Redrado, Argentina's central bank governor. "In particular in the financial sector we are going to be witnessing the second wave of...

It is a steel and concrete corridor that will run right through the Old Pueblo, connecting Mexico City to Edmonton, Alberta. Its purpose is to facilitate trade among the three countries and minimize traffic and congestion for residents. Or is it evidence of a move afoot to intertwine the three North American countries and blur the lines of sovereignty? That's a matter of opinion.

Saudis press United States to put an end to rate cuts American Account Irwin Stelzer SO the Federal Reserve Board’s monetary policy committee (technically, the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC) has decided to leave interest rates as they are - which is far less important than how it arrived at that decision. What follows is a combination of hard fact and my own surmise, mixed together so as to shield the usual highly placed, reliable source. There is something called “the Fed family”. It’s not as shady as a mafia family, but far more powerful. Members include chairman Ben...

Considering the many jubilant boasts by "flat world" devotees in recent years, you might have been tempted to regard economic globalization as a juggernaut, powered by inexorable forces of technology and history. Big mistake. There's no preordained direction for the world economy--only an undetermined future that will take the shape of whatever ideas and policies we choose to uphold. The lack of an intellectual defense of capitalism has left free markets vulnerable. "The power of the state is reasserting itself," said Daniel Yergin, co-author of The Commanding Heights and a free-market optimist , in The Wall Street Journal recently. In...

Izhak David Nakar served in the Israel Air Force and developed the intelligence system for the Israeli Defense Force. Ido Schechter is a captain in the Israeli Air Force. They are both behind PDRM’s computerisation program. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Malaysia Today The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) is in the process of computerising its operations so that it is better-equipped to solve and reduce serious crimes such as Bloggers slandering the Deputy Prime Minister’s wife and whatnot. The computerisation program entails various phases as the two-page chart below shows. Three companies have been short-listed to undertake this work -- Master...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican White House hopeful John McCain is heading to Colombia and Mexico next week for talks with their presidents on trade and narcotics, aides said Thursday. Burnishing his foreign policy credentials against Democrat Barack Obama, McCain will be in the Colombian city of Cartagena on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a brief campaign statement. The Arizona senator will meet Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to discuss a bilateral free-trade pact that Democrats have held up in Congress, campaign aides said. They will also talk about US support for the Uribe government's fight against "narcoterrorism," McCain spokeswoman Hessy Fernandez...

The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve By Gabor Steingart in Washington Humiliation for Mr. Dollar: Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Bank, faces a general investigation by the International Monetary Fund. Just one more example of the Fed losing its power. The United States Federal Reserve Bank, or Fed, seems as much a part of America as Coca-Cola or Pizza Hut. But at least one difference has become apparent in recent days. While the pizza chain and soft-drink maker are likely to expand their scope of influence in the age of globalization, the US...

US central bank accused of unleashing an inflation shock that will rock financial markets Barclays Capital has advised clients to batten down the hatches for a worldwide financial storm, warning that the US Federal Reserve has allowed the inflation genie out of the bottle and let its credibility fall "below zero". "We're in a nasty environment," said the bank's chief equity strategist. "There is an inflation shock underway. This is going to be very negative for financial assets. We are going into tortoise mood and are retreating into our shell. Investors will do well to preserve their wealth." Barclays said...

You buy organic because it's better for you and the environment because the produce is grown without pesticides or other potentially-harmful chemicals. But what if those organic vegetables came from China? Would you serve them to your family? It turns out you may already have. I found packages of frozen organic veggies from China at many local grocery stores, including PCC Natural Markets and Whole Foods. Whole Foods, the country's leader in organics, sells a variety of frozen organic produce from China - peas, spinach, asparagus - under its "365 House" brand. People who buy organic expect something special, but...

Record oil prices have failed to temper the enthusiasm of Chinese auto buyers. In 2006, 6.2 million cars were sold in China, enough for the Middle Kingdom to surpass Japan for #2 in total vehicle sales (the United States still sells twice as many). In the first five months of 2008, Chinese auto sales show no signs of decelerating, up 17.4% from the same period last year. The rise in Chinese auto sales has been so dramatic that projections by China’s government for auto sales in 2020 were already exceeded by 2005. Millions of tons of copper, nickel, aluminum have...

As the cost of shipping continues to soar along with fuel prices, homegrown manufacturing jobs are making a comeback after decades of decline. While it once cost $3,000 to ship a container from a city like Shanghai to New York, it now costs $8,000, prompting some businesses to look closer to home for manufacturing needs. Some large companies like Crown Battery are cutting expenses by moving jobs from Mexico to Ohio. And hair care company Farouk Systems plans to shift all of its production from China to Houston this summer  bringing with it 1,000 jobs.

Fear Factor Accompanies Generic Drugs Made In China By ROBERT COHENWASHINGTON — First, it was inexpensive toys, apparel, footwear and electronics that flooded the U.S. market from China. The next Chinese export to reach American consumers will be lower-cost generic versions of brand-name medicines. Although it will take at least several years before Chinese-made generics are available here in significant numbers, the prospect already is raising safety concerns, given China's history of substandard drugs at home, the recent scandal involving contaminated ingredients in the blood thinner heparin, and other safety problems, from tainted pet food to toothpaste. "We should be...

GENEVA (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's pointed criticism of the Doha free trade round were contradictory and did poor-country farmers a disservice, trade experts said on Monday. Sarkozy, a staunch defender of European Union farm subsidies that would be cut under a new World Trade Organisation (WTO) accord, called the deal being negotiated in Geneva "really counterproductive" in light of the world's food security crisis. "One child dies every 30 seconds because they are hungry, and we should go and negotiate within the WTO framework a 20 percent cut in European agricultural production?," he asked in remarks directed at...

The next president can change our trade and labor policies to rebuild the American middle class.An anxiety bordering on panic is unnerving America’s economic elites as political support for "free trade" dwindles, along with declining earnings. While mainstream economists have long contended that trade had minimal effects on wages, prestigious defectors such as Alan Blinder and Paul Samuelson have lately concluded otherwise. It turns out that the popular concerns are rooted in reality. The elite response has been divided. One the one hand, most of the regime’s defenders continue to treat trade mainly as a problem of voter ignorance and...

OTTAWA -- Sen. John McCain traveled to Canada on Friday to offer a vigorous defense of the North American Free Trade Agreement, as his campaign sought to portray rival Sen. Barack Obama as inconsistent on free trade. "For all the successes of NAFTA, we have to defend it without equivocation in political debate because it is critical to the future of so many Canadian and American workers and businesses," McCain told a crowd of several hundred at the Economic Club of Canada. "Demanding unilateral changes and threatening to abrogate an agreement that has increased trade and prosperity is nothing more...

Christina Lampe-Onnerud has a long-lasting, fast-charging battery for notebook computers that she believes will revolutionize the industry. Her company, Boston-Power, would like to make the batteries in the U.S., which she says is feasible despite high American wages. But Lampe-Onnerud has had trouble finding anyone in the U.S. even to make a prototype, let alone manufacture the battery in bulk. China, by contrast, is home to more than 200 battery manufacturers. On visits to the mainland, Lampe-Onnerud toured dozens of factories with ample staff and laboratories, and none wanted the millions of dollars up front that one contract manufacturer in...

The number of candlelight protesters at Seoul Plaza has conspicuously decreased, from a peak of tens of thousands down to several hundred, and it is not due to the start of the rainy season. Those young students, housewives and office workers who had gathered there to vent their anxiety over U.S. beef imports left when the protest became politicized by others who had different agenda. After the massive demonstrations on June 10, the candlelight vigils changed shape. Men and women from all kinds of radical civic groups and labor unions also lit up candles and shouted all sorts of slogans,...

American presidential hopeful Barack Obama appears to have moderated his opposition to NAFTA just ahead of Republican rival John McCain's extraordinary visit to Canada to praise the trade pact. Mr. Obama, who said in March he would renegotiate the North American free-trade agreement if he's elected, said he might have gone too far. “Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified,” the Democratic nominee told Fortune magazine in an interview. Were his attacks on NAFTA a product of that brand of campaign posturing? “Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don't exempt myself,” he answered.Mr.Obama said he believes...

Obama and NAFTA-More Lies of Just Flip-Flops ? You might remember that during the ramp-up to the Ohio Primary Senator Obama said that he would renegotiate the NAFTA treaty. The controversy that caused surrounded his lack of foresight into the effects of the renegotiation (like higher oil prices), and the side conversation one of his advisers had with the Canadian Government ( "don't worry guys this is just for show") See Canada Has Documentation That Obama Lied About NAFTA So what has the "good" Senator been doing about NAFTA since Ohio? Well that kind of depends whether you think he...

With its controlled energy-pricing system under the strain of oil at $130-plus a barrel, China's government said it will increase retail prices for gasoline, diesel and electricity. The moves will pass on some of the gains in global energy prices to Chinese consumers, as many international industry and government officials had urged China to do, at a time when inflation is a rising concern. Those higher rates will in turn push up costs for businesses, potentially pushing up prices for the goods China supplies to the world. But the changes fall short of the wholesale revamping of price controls that...

First the cars and trucks, then the factories, trains and earth movers. Now, the ships at sea: Air Resources Board is entering new waters. The ARB is going after ocean-going vessels, especially those container ships that ply the coast of California and belch soot from huge engines that burn pollutant-rich form of diesel oil called bunker fuel. State enforcers say the new regulation—it’s all but certain to be approved next month—will be the first in the world to crack down on soot over the ocean. It’s part of a larger plan approved in 2000 to cut diesel pollution and, as...

US regulators have announced plans to impose limits on oil trades overseas. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said the London-based electronic exchange would have to comply with US rules. The move comes as oil prices notch up record highs, amid fears that speculators are distorting the market. As a result, fuel costs have shot up hitting the global economy. Airlines have been hit badly, with near record losses expected for 2008 in the US. US airlines were forecast to report $10bn (£5bn) of losses this financial year as sky-high fuel costs erode profits, according to the industry group Air...

China raised retail gasoline and diesel prices on Thursday by up to 18 percent, a move that threatens to stoke domestic angst over decade-high inflation less than two months before Beijing hosts Olympics games. The increase in regulated fuel prices, China's first hike in eight months and its sharpest ever one-off rise, sent oil prices down by as much as $3 a barrel as dealers bet it might help curb soaring demand. However, U.S.-listed shares in top refiner Sinopec (NYSE:SNP - News) surged over 8 percent as the increase will aid their profits. The rise shows China following its neighbors...

Republican John McCain is a most militantly pro-free trade presidential candidate. That fact, alone, should guarantee his defeat in Ohio and other industrial states where his strategists entertain hopes of surfing a "Reagan Democrat" crossover of working-class Democratic voters to the GOP column this fall. All that is required is that Barack Obama campaign as a critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement and other deals that have battered workers, farmers, communities and the environment in the U.S. and abroad. Unfortunately, Democrat Barack Obama, who smart signals on trade issues when he was competing with Hillary Clinton for his...

Investors have sudden change of heart on China and India, reports The world's fund managers are pulling their money out of China and India at a record pace on mounting fears of inflation and are now more pessimistic about global equities than at any time in the past decade. The latest survey of investors by Merrill Lynch shows that Europe has become the most unpopular region, while Britain is still trapped in the doldrums. But the big surprise is the sudden change in view on the emerging powers of Asia, as overheating and spiralling oil costs spoil the boom. "World...