By Gillian Wong, Associated Press Writer
SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices rose Tuesday on expectations of further declines in U.S. crude oil stocks, fueling concerns that supplies may be inadequate going into the Northern Hemisphere winter.
Market participants expect the U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday to report that oil inventories fell last week, in part because of a suspension of output at Mexico's state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, a major crude exporter to the United States.
Last week, crude futures jumped more than US$4 after figures showed a sharp, unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories for the second week in a row.
"The oil market is really supported by the tight inventories in the U.S. market and the general expectations for the inventory report this week are that the crude inventories will likely fall," said Victor Shum of Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
Analysts think some traders and investors will try to push oil prices to the psychologically important US$100 level this week. Crude prices are within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early 1980. Depending on the how the adjustment is calculated, US$38 a barrel then would be worth US$96 to US$103 or more today.
NVDL: Matt Simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert, and one time advisor to President Bush says the following:
If I was redoing Twilight in the Desert today, I'd sharpen the severity of the warning quite significantly.
Showing posts with label Associated Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Associated Press. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Friday, November 02, 2007
Hurricane Noel Toll Now at 115
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Hurricane Noel, the deadliest storm to hit the Atlantic this year, is not expected to gain strength in the next 24 hours as it tracks northward toward the U.S. but it may grow in size, forecasters said Friday.
By JESSICA ROBERTSON – 4 hours ago
Noel slammed the Caribbean earlier this week with heavy rains that caused flooding and mudslides, leaving 115 dead, officials said.
After drenching the Bahamas and Cuba on Thursday, the Category 1 hurricane continued along its path between the southeastern coast of the U.S. and the Bahamas.
Its sustained winds were at 80 mph early Friday and its center was about 470 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C., the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Noel is moving to the north-northeast at about 18 mph.
Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the center, said Friday that "we don't expect the center to cross the U.S. coast. The track would take the center of the system over Nova Scotia."
But Beven also noted that the storm "is going to increase rather significantly in size" and that its effects could be felt in the U.S. Forecasters say 2 to 4 inches of rain could fall in North Carolina's Outer Banks, while isolated areas of New England might see 6 inches.
On Thursday, muddy rain-swollen waters overflowed a dam in Cuba, washing into hundreds of homes, over highways and knocking out electricity and telephone service. Dozens of small communities were cut off.
Cuban soldiers went door-to-door in low-lying areas and evacuated about 24,000 people, according to state radio and television reports. At least 2,000 homes were damaged by flood waters, but there was no official word of deaths.
In Ciego de Avila province in central Cuba, flooding wiped out nearly 2,000 tons of corn, potato, banana, cucumber and tomato harvests, said Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, a vice president.
The storm brought a record 15 inches of rain to the Bahamas, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said. Flooding killed at least one man in the Bahamas and forced the evacuation of almost 400 people. Ingraham said the majority of the evacuees were from the northeast Bahamian island of Abaco.
Residents of Andros Island, one of the least-developed in the Bahamas, hunkered down as Noel's winds howled and rain pelted windowpanes.
"The walls were rattling, but we rode it out pretty well," said Angela Newton, who was waiting Thursday for the power to come back on.
Rescuers in Dominican Republic took off in helicopters and boats to reach isolated residents for the first time in three days. Hundreds of volunteers joined Dominican civil defense forces to help stranded residents, as rescue teams left at dawn Thursday — many in boats loaned by private owners.
More than three days of heavy rain caused an estimated $30 million in damages to the Dominican Republic's rice, plantain and cacao plantations, said Minister of Economy Juan Temistocles Montas. Government officials will request loans from the Inter-American Development Bank to help with the recovery.
Rescuers in Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, found a rising toll of death and damage: at least 73 dead in the Dominican Republic and 40 in Haiti, where the majority of bodies were found in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince. One person was killed in Jamaica.
Associated Press writers Ramon Almanzar in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Jonathan M. Katz in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.
On the Net:
U.S. National Hurricane Center
By JESSICA ROBERTSON – 4 hours ago
Noel slammed the Caribbean earlier this week with heavy rains that caused flooding and mudslides, leaving 115 dead, officials said.
After drenching the Bahamas and Cuba on Thursday, the Category 1 hurricane continued along its path between the southeastern coast of the U.S. and the Bahamas.
Its sustained winds were at 80 mph early Friday and its center was about 470 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C., the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Noel is moving to the north-northeast at about 18 mph.
Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the center, said Friday that "we don't expect the center to cross the U.S. coast. The track would take the center of the system over Nova Scotia."
But Beven also noted that the storm "is going to increase rather significantly in size" and that its effects could be felt in the U.S. Forecasters say 2 to 4 inches of rain could fall in North Carolina's Outer Banks, while isolated areas of New England might see 6 inches.
On Thursday, muddy rain-swollen waters overflowed a dam in Cuba, washing into hundreds of homes, over highways and knocking out electricity and telephone service. Dozens of small communities were cut off.
Cuban soldiers went door-to-door in low-lying areas and evacuated about 24,000 people, according to state radio and television reports. At least 2,000 homes were damaged by flood waters, but there was no official word of deaths.
In Ciego de Avila province in central Cuba, flooding wiped out nearly 2,000 tons of corn, potato, banana, cucumber and tomato harvests, said Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, a vice president.
The storm brought a record 15 inches of rain to the Bahamas, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said. Flooding killed at least one man in the Bahamas and forced the evacuation of almost 400 people. Ingraham said the majority of the evacuees were from the northeast Bahamian island of Abaco.
Residents of Andros Island, one of the least-developed in the Bahamas, hunkered down as Noel's winds howled and rain pelted windowpanes.
"The walls were rattling, but we rode it out pretty well," said Angela Newton, who was waiting Thursday for the power to come back on.
Rescuers in Dominican Republic took off in helicopters and boats to reach isolated residents for the first time in three days. Hundreds of volunteers joined Dominican civil defense forces to help stranded residents, as rescue teams left at dawn Thursday — many in boats loaned by private owners.
More than three days of heavy rain caused an estimated $30 million in damages to the Dominican Republic's rice, plantain and cacao plantations, said Minister of Economy Juan Temistocles Montas. Government officials will request loans from the Inter-American Development Bank to help with the recovery.
Rescuers in Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, found a rising toll of death and damage: at least 73 dead in the Dominican Republic and 40 in Haiti, where the majority of bodies were found in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince. One person was killed in Jamaica.
Associated Press writers Ramon Almanzar in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Jonathan M. Katz in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.
On the Net:
U.S. National Hurricane Center
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
LA fire started by boy with matches (AP)
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A boy playing with matches started a fire in north Los Angeles County that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week, authorities said Tuesday.
The boy, whose name and age were not released [because a lot of people would likely want to BLIKSEM him], said sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht.
"He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," said Hecht said in a statement.
The boy was released to his parents and the case will be be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said.
From Yahoo News
NVDL: Same thing happened on our farm in the early 90's. We had a small school building with dirt soccer pitch which the locals were allowed to use for free. At the time I was a student and was living on the farmhouse. That day I was having lunch at home. It was winter. Our farmworker called while we were having lunch saying: "Baas, die huis, hy brand."
Had I left the heater on?
On the way to the farm we saw a massive column of smoke billowing into the sky. From the smoke it looked like a volcanic eruption.
When we got there the accasias on both sides of the road were burning. At the river the flames swept into a giant fan as they flared over large reed stands. We watched the wind blow tall flame ribbons across the river, alighting the reeds on the other side. So much for that fire break.
It was a devastating fire, and pretty much everything was burnt to a crisp, except the house. It had a short, mowed lawn around it that was too short to catch fire, so the fire swept around it. In any event, it was started a few hundred metres from this farmhouse, by a few kids playing with matches on that very dry, windy, winter's day. Because the fire spread in a giant V from that spot.
The postscript to the story is that I lived in this ashtray for a few more weeks, got incredibly sick (from a throat infection), and then after a burglary (stealing my recentkly retired Air Force uniform and bicycle parts - there wasn't much else in a poor student's home), I cut my losses and moved back to the suburbs. A lot of Willow trees and other trees painstakingly planted over hundreds of weekends went up in smoke that day.
The boy, whose name and age were not released [because a lot of people would likely want to BLIKSEM him], said sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht.
"He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," said Hecht said in a statement.
The boy was released to his parents and the case will be be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said.
From Yahoo News
NVDL: Same thing happened on our farm in the early 90's. We had a small school building with dirt soccer pitch which the locals were allowed to use for free. At the time I was a student and was living on the farmhouse. That day I was having lunch at home. It was winter. Our farmworker called while we were having lunch saying: "Baas, die huis, hy brand."
Had I left the heater on?
On the way to the farm we saw a massive column of smoke billowing into the sky. From the smoke it looked like a volcanic eruption.
When we got there the accasias on both sides of the road were burning. At the river the flames swept into a giant fan as they flared over large reed stands. We watched the wind blow tall flame ribbons across the river, alighting the reeds on the other side. So much for that fire break.
It was a devastating fire, and pretty much everything was burnt to a crisp, except the house. It had a short, mowed lawn around it that was too short to catch fire, so the fire swept around it. In any event, it was started a few hundred metres from this farmhouse, by a few kids playing with matches on that very dry, windy, winter's day. Because the fire spread in a giant V from that spot.
The postscript to the story is that I lived in this ashtray for a few more weeks, got incredibly sick (from a throat infection), and then after a burglary (stealing my recentkly retired Air Force uniform and bicycle parts - there wasn't much else in a poor student's home), I cut my losses and moved back to the suburbs. A lot of Willow trees and other trees painstakingly planted over hundreds of weekends went up in smoke that day.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Al Gore Adds Emmy to Oscar-Winning Film
LOS ANGELES (AP) — So he wasn't elected president. Big deal. How many other presidential candidates have an Emmy and an Oscar to brag about?
Former Vice President Al Gore took home an Emmy on Sunday night for creative achievement in interactive television for Current TV, his youth-oriented television channel.
"We are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help them make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make," Gore said as he accepted the award.
Current TV reaches about 40 million homes in the United States.
Earlier this year, the best documentary Oscar went to "An Inconvenient Truth," which chronicles Al Gore's campaign to educate people on the dangers of global warming. Gore joined the producer in accepting the award.
Former Vice President Al Gore took home an Emmy on Sunday night for creative achievement in interactive television for Current TV, his youth-oriented television channel.
"We are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help them make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make," Gore said as he accepted the award.
Current TV reaches about 40 million homes in the United States.
Earlier this year, the best documentary Oscar went to "An Inconvenient Truth," which chronicles Al Gore's campaign to educate people on the dangers of global warming. Gore joined the producer in accepting the award.
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