Oil above $94 on US data, hope of EU rate cut

NEW YORK (AP) ? The price of oil rose above $94 per barrel Monday as positive U.S. economic data added to optimism for a rate cut in Europe.

Benchmark crude for June delivery gained $1.50 to finish at $94.50 a barrel in New York. Oil hadn't finished above $94 since April 10.

The U.S. government said Americans spent more in March as their incomes went up. And pending home sales hit their highest level in three years. Traders also think the European Central Bank will cut its benchmark interest rate from the current record low of 0.75 percent to 0.50 percent, in a further attempt to turn around the economy there.

A weaker dollar also helped boost oil prices by making crude priced in dollars cheaper for traders using other currencies. On Monday, the euro was up to $1.3100 from $1.3065 late Friday in New York.

Drivers are still shelling out fewer dollars at the gas pump compared with a year ago. The national average for a gallon of regular is $3.50, compared with $3.82 on this date last year.

Brent crude, which is used to price oil from the North Sea used by many U.S. refiners, rose 65 cents to end at $103.81 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline was up almost a cent to finish at $2.83 a gallon.

? Heating oil was flat at $2.90 a gallon.

? Natural gas added 17 cents to end at $4.39 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-above-94-us-data-hope-eu-rate-163039674.html

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Sina Weibo, China's Equivalent of Facebook and Twitter, Gets $586M Investment From Alibaba

Sina Weibo, the micro-blogging platform that took root among China’s white-collar class, may be worth more than $3 billion today after Alibaba agreed to pay $586 million to buy preferred and ordinary shares in the company. The deal creates a strategic alliance between Alibaba, which runs the eBay of China, and Sina Weibo, which is kind of like a Facebook-Twitter hybrid. Weibo grew to 46 million daily users and earned $50 million in advertising revenue last year, according to an SEC filing last week from parent company Sina. It was 12 percent of parent company Sina’s total advertising revenue. Like Twitter and Facebook, Sina Weibo has gotten a lot more aggressive about pushing in-stream or news feed advertising. Last week, they announced a new product called ?Window Recommendations? in partnership with Alibaba’s Taobao. In that integration, about 3 to 5 ads featuring Taobao goods get pushed into a Weibo stream. The two companies say the deal happened so that both companies could better connect Alibaba merchants to their Weibo users and followers and experiment with new ideas in social commerce. The partnership could bring $380 million in advertising and e-commerce revenues to Weibo over the next three years, Sina said. Alibaba also reserves the right to bump its ownership up to 30 percent. It’s interesting because no such equivalent partnership exists in Western markets. E-commerce companies like eBay and Amazon have basic Facebook integrations but no deep strategic investments. Alibaba is also making the deal as it’s expected to go for a very highly anticipated IPO. The company recently did a management re-shuffle, putting in Jonathan Lu Xaoxi as its new CEO, after founder Jack Ma stepped down.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/jH2tfM381vk/

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Libya to help ease Egypt crisis with $1.2 billion oil deal

By Jessica Donati and Ghaith Shennib

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya will soon start shipping oil to neighboring Egypt on soft credit terms, two senior Libyan officials said, as Cairo struggles to pay for energy imports and avoid fuel shortages.

The officials told Reuters that Tripoli would supply Cairo with $1.2 billion worth of crude at world prices but on interest free credit for a year, with the first cargo expected to arrive next month.

Egypt has slid into economic crisis since president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown two years ago. Most international companies have reduced oil product supplies to the country fearing non-payments, as the government tries to curb soaring energy subsidy costs which swallow up a fifth of its budget.

Libya plans to ship one to two cargoes a month for refining in Egypt under a deal that involves 12 million barrels of crude over 12 months, the oil industry officials said.

With foreign currency reserves running low, Egypt has not bought any crude on the open market since January. In rough terms the Libyan deal would be worth slightly more than half its 2012 imports, which the central bank put at $2 billion.

"Their situation is very bad, and if necessary they can take up to a year to pay (for each delivery)," said one of the Libyan officials.

Libyan authorities themselves face a daily struggle to keep services running and take control of a country awash with weapons looted from the arsenal of Muammar Gaddafi, who was toppled in 2011.

But the official said Libya could not shy away from helping an important trading partner. "If you are a good neighbor and something is wrong with your neighbor, you will not feel comfortable with yourself. It's human nature," he said.

Cairo has so far failed to agree a $4.8 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund and has sought help from energy producing countries in the region and beyond.

Tripoli has already deposited $2 billion at the Egyptian central bank and Qatar has announced $8 billion in loans, grants and other deposits since Islamist President Mohamed Mursi was elected last June.

WORLD PRICES

Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) declined immediate comments on the details of the deal, although one of the oil industry officials said it would supply Sirteca, the cheapest of all the country's grades. "Shipments will be sold at world prices," said the second Libyan official.

An official at the Egyptian oil ministry confirmed some of the deal's terms. "(It will be) one million barrels a month and deferred payment for 12 months without interest starting from the first half of May, God willing," the official told Reuters.

However, the official maintained that the two sides were still discussing the kind of crude oil to be supplied and how long the shipments would last. The Libyan officials said that if the first cargo was sent next month as planned, they would last until April 2014.

The Libyan deal should ease the problems of Egypt, which owes at least $5 billion to oil companies, half of it overdue.

Cairo aims to raise prices of subsidized energy gradually, bringing them close to world levels in four years, to reduce the burden on its huge budget deficit. In the short term, it wants to avoid arousing more social unrest by ensuring energy supplies during the approaching summer when energy consumption peaks.

Libya has already shown willingness to step back into its old role as North Africa's version of a Gulf petro-state by using cash to open doors.

Libya's new rulers authorized a payment of almost $200 million to Mauritania after it extradited Gaddafi's former spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi last year, although they later denied there was a quid pro quo.

Diplomats and analysts have also suggested Libya's growing support may help persuade Egypt to hand over Gaddafi's cousin Ahmed Gaddaf Alddam, who was arrested in Cairo in March.

Egypt sent two other ex-Gaddafi officials to Libya last month but barred the extradition of Gaddaf Alddam, who is claiming Egyptian citizenship. Libya is appealing the Egyptian court ruling.

(Additional reporting by Asma Alsharif in Cairo; editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/libya-help-ease-egypt-crisis-1-2-billion-130421776.html

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2 police shot outside Italian premier's office

AAA??Apr. 28, 2013?8:37 AM ET
2 police shot outside Italian premier's office
By FRANCES D'EMILIOBy FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press??

A wounded Carabinieri paramilitary police officer lies on the ground after being shot outside the Chigi Premier's office, in Rome, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Two paramilitary police officers were shot and wounded Sunday in a crowded square outside the Italian premier's office as the new leader Enrico Letta was sworn in about a kilometer (half-mile) away. It was unclear if there was any connection between the events. (AP Photo/Mauro Scrobogna, Lapresse) ITALY OUT

A wounded Carabinieri paramilitary police officer lies on the ground after being shot outside the Chigi Premier's office, in Rome, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Two paramilitary police officers were shot and wounded Sunday in a crowded square outside the Italian premier's office as the new leader Enrico Letta was sworn in about a kilometer (half-mile) away. It was unclear if there was any connection between the events. (AP Photo/Mauro Scrobogna, Lapresse) ITALY OUT

A wounded Carabinieri paramilitary police officer lies on the ground after being shot outside the Chigi Premier's office, in Rome, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Two paramilitary police officers were shot and wounded Sunday in a crowded square outside the Italian premier's office as the new leader Enrico Letta was sworn in about a kilometer (half-mile) away. It was unclear if there was any connection between the events. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A man believed to be the assailant lies on the ground detained by police after a shootout outside the Chigi Premier's office, in Rome, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Reports say two paramilitary police officers were shot and wounded outside the Italian premier's office as the new leader Enrico Letta was sworn in about a kilometer (half-mile) away. It was unclear if there was any connection between the events. (AP Photo/Mauro Scrobogna, Lapresse) ITALY OUT

A wounded Carabiniere paramilitary police officer is assisted after being shot at outside the Chigi Premier's office, in Rome, Sunday, April 28, 2013. The shootout took place as Italy's new premier, Enrico Letta, was been sworn into office with his Cabinet at the nearby Quirinale presidential palace. News reports said a paramilitary policeman was shot and wounded about a kilometer (half-mile) away in the square outside the premier's office. Sky TG24 TV said an assailant had been detained by police. It was unclear if there was any connection between the events. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A wounded Carabiniere paramilitary police officer is assisted after being shot at outside the Chigi Premier's office, in Rome, Sunday, April 28, 2013. The shootout took place as Italy's new premier, Enrico Letta, was been sworn into office with his Cabinet at the nearby Quirinale presidential palace. News reports said a paramilitary policeman was shot and wounded about a kilometer (half-mile) away in the square outside the premier's office. Sky TG24 TV said an assailant had been detained by police. It was unclear if there was any connection between the events. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME (AP) ? Italy's interior minister says the shooting that seriously wounded two policemen in a square outside the premier's office in Rome was a "tragic criminal gesture by an unemployed man."

A female passer-by was slightly injured in the shooting, which happened just as Premier Enrico Letta and his new government were being sworn in Sunday elsewhere in the city.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told reporters the alleged gunman ? Luigi Preiti, a 49-year-old Italian ? wanted to kill himself after the shooting but ran out of bullets. The minister says Preiti fired six shots.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-28-Italy-Politics/id-4b69c15d7fee425688da2bdc32a8004f

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Russia caught bomb suspect on wiretap

ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MOSB114 The mother of the two Boston bombing suspects, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, speaks at a news conference in Makhachkala, the southern Russian province of Dagestan, Thursday, April 25, 2013. The father of the two Boston bombing suspects said Thursday that he is leaving Russia for the United States in the next day or two, but their mother said she was still thinking it over. At right is her sister-in-law Maryam. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)

ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MOSB114 The mother of the two Boston bombing suspects, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, speaks at a news conference in Makhachkala, the southern Russian province of Dagestan, Thursday, April 25, 2013. The father of the two Boston bombing suspects said Thursday that he is leaving Russia for the United States in the next day or two, but their mother said she was still thinking it over. At right is her sister-in-law Maryam. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Russian authorities secretly recorded a telephone conversation in 2011 in which one of the Boston bombing suspects vaguely discussed jihad with his mother, officials said Saturday, days after the U.S. government finally received details about the call.

In another conversation, the mother of now-dead bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, officials said.

The conversations are significant because, had they been revealed earlier, they might have been enough evidence for the FBI to initiate a more thorough investigation of the Tsarnaev family.

As it was, Russian authorities told the FBI only that they had concerns that Tamerlan and his mother were religious extremists. With no additional information, the FBI conducted a limited inquiry and closed the case in June 2011.

Two years later, authorities say Tamerlan and his brother, Dzhohkar, detonated two homemade bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260. Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout and Dzhohkar is under arrest.

In the past week, Russian authorities turned over to the United States information it had on Tamerlan and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva. The Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens who emigrated from southern Russia to the Boston area over the past 11 years.

Even had the FBI received the information from the Russian wiretaps earlier, it's not clear that the government could have prevented the attack.

In early 2011, the Russian FSB internal security service intercepted a conversation between Tamerlan and his mother vaguely discussing jihad, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation with reporters.

The two discussed the possibility of Tamerlan going to Palestine, but he told his mother he didn't speak the language there, according to the officials, who reviewed the information Russia shared with the U.S.

In a second call, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva spoke with a man in the Caucasus region of Russia who was under FBI investigation. Jacqueline Maguire, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington Field Office, where that investigation was based, declined to comment.

There was no information in the conversation that suggested a plot inside the United States, officials said.

It was not immediately clear why Russian authorities didn't share more information at the time. It is not unusual for countries, including the U.S., to be cagey with foreign authorities about what intelligence is being collected.

Nobody was available to discuss the matter early Sunday at FSB offices in Moscow.

Jim Treacy, the FBI's legal attache in Moscow between 2007 and 2009, said the Russians long asked for U.S. assistance regarding Chechen activity in the United States that might be related to terrorism.

"On any given day, you can get some very good cooperation," Treacy said. "The next you might find yourself totally shut out."

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva has denied that she or her sons were involved in terrorism. She has said she believed her sons have been framed by U.S. authorities.

But Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle of the Tsarnaev brothers and Zubeidat's former brother-in-law, said Saturday he believes the mother had a "big-time influence" as her older son increasingly embraced his Muslim faith and decided to quit boxing and school.

After receiving the narrow tip from Russia in March 2011, the FBI opened a preliminary investigation into Tamerlan and his mother. But the scope was extremely limited under the FBI's internal procedures.

After a few months, they found no evidence Tamerlan or his mother were involved in terrorism.

The FBI asked Russia for more information. After hearing nothing, it closed the case in June 2011.

In the fall of 2011, the FSB contacted the CIA with the same information. Again the FBI asked Russia for more details and never heard back.

At that time, however, the CIA asked that Tamerlan's and his mother's name be entered into a massive U.S. terrorism database.

The CIA declined to comment Saturday.

Authorities have said they've seen no connection between the brothers and a foreign terrorist group. Dzhohkar told FBI interrogators that he and his brother were angry over wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the deaths of Muslim civilians there.

Family members have said Tamerlan was religiously apathetic until 2008 or 2009, when he met a conservative Muslim convert known only to the family as Misha. Misha, they said, steered Tamerlan toward a stricter version of Islam.

Two U.S. officials say investigators believe they have identified Misha. While it was not clear whether the FBI had spoken to him, the officials said they have not found a connection between Misha and the Boston attack or terrorism in general.

___

Associated Press writer Adam Goldman in Washington and Michael Kunzelman in Boston contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-28-Boston%20Marathon-Russia/id-ce5c3ddf55d643ec8a3b0007c1494f00

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EPA: Alaska mine project could hurt salmon streams

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- Build-out of a large-scale mine near the headwaters of a world-class salmon fishery in Alaska could wipe out as many as 90 miles of streams and alter flows in other waterways, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a revised assessment released Friday.

The report said mining activity would claim at least 24 miles of streams in the Bristol Bay region, based on the scenarios evaluated, with the loss of wetlands ranging from 1,200 to 4,800 acres.

The EPA focused on the Pebble deposit and took into account information related to the proposed Pebble Mine but also noted the potential for multiple mines in the region, given the resource base, which would lead to further elimination or blocking of streams and wetland losses.

EPA initiated the review process in response to concerns raised by tribes and others about the impact large-scale mining could have on Bristol Bay fisheries.

Pebble Limited Partnership, the group behind the proposed Pebble Mine, has called the mine deposit one of the largest of its kind in the world, with the potential of producing 80.6 billion pounds of copper, 107.4 million ounces of gold and 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum over decades.

EPA regional administrator Dennis McLerran said the revised report generally affirms conclusions reached in the initial report last year while including more details on transportation corridors, possible culvert failures and other factors.

It noted, for example, that culvert blockages or other failures would inhibit fish passage. It said production of fish could be lost or diminished if blockages occurred during adult salmon immigration or juvenile salmon emigration and were not cleared for several days.

Extended blockages aren't likely during mine operations, but there could be a greater impact once mine operations end, the report states.

The report also noted that salmon could be affected by in-stream copper levels because leaching could occur during routine mine operations.

Tailing storage facilities and dams to hold mine waste are likely to be in place for hundreds to thousands of years because there is no plan for removal when mining operations end, according to the report. A tailings dam failure could wipe out or degrade rivers and streams for decades, though the risk of that is considered fairly low, the report states.

Conservationists said it was clear the mine would harm salmon and destroy streams, even if nothing ever goes wrong.

"Pebble is far bigger and more threatening to renewable resource jobs than any other mine proposal in Alaska and it's planned for the worst location possible," Tim Bristol, director of Trout Unlimited's Alaska program, said in a news release.

The new report updates an assessment EPA released last year and is meant to address concerns that were raised about things like missing data and incomplete information.

For example, rather than using a hypothetical mine scenario, EPA said it drew from plans developed for Northern Dynasty Minerals, which has a stake in the Pebble Mine; data collected by Pebble Limited Partnership; and its own experts to come up with three different mine scenarios.

EPA said the scenarios realistically represent the type of development expected to happen in the Bristol Bay region. McLerran said it also accounts for modern mining techniques. He said the focus has been on getting the science right so informed decisions can be made in the future.

Critics of the EPA review ? including the state of Alaska and the Pebble Partnership ? fear it could lead to the agency vetoing mining activity in the region.

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said he opposes a pre-emptive veto of the Pebble Mine or other projects and added "an open, public process that answers Alaskans' questions and puts better science on the table is a good thing."

The revised assessment will undergo a new round of peer review and public comment before EPA releases a final report that could affect permitting decisions for the proposed mine.

___

Follow Becky Bohrer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/beckybohrerap .

___

Online:

EPA's Bristol Bay assessment: http://www2.epa.gov/bristolbay

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/epa-alaska-mine-project-could-180650677.html

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The Bird That Struts Its Stuff

The Greater sage-grouse is a large bird that makes its living in sagebrush habitats across the western U.S. and Canada. Every year at this time, male sage-grouse perform a striking dance routine each morning at dawn. Jason Robinson, upland game coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, breaks down the dance and describes challenges the birds face in Utah.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=179224941&ft=1&f=1007

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