iraq-war

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Police in Indian-administered Kashmir have used water canons and batons to disperse hundreds of government employees upset over fuel price rises. Dozens of people were detained after protesters gathered outside the office of the state's chief minister in the centre of the summer capital, Srinagar. "Roll back price of petrol, diesel and cooking gas," the protesters shouted before they were dispersed. Similar protests have also taken place in the north-eastern state of Assam.

The state was brought to a standstill on Monday by opposition parties unhappy about the fuel price rises. They have accused the central government of "inept handling" of oil prices. Offices, banks, shops and schools were closed and traffic stayed off the road. "The government has no concern for the common people," the coalition of tribal groups from Assam's hill areas said in a statement. "This will force tribals into starvation."

The BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says that the protests in Indian-administered Kashmir were twofold - between ordinary people unhappy over the fuel price rises and transport operators who were demanding a rise in fares to offset the high cost of diesel and petrol. The transport operators are demanding a financial package for operators affected by a high court order which orders them to discard 25-year-old vehicles. Our correspondent say that the lack of transport resulted in schools and colleges being closed and only skeletal staff at work in government offices. The strike also affected the functioning of banks as well. Although shops are open, trade has been hit heavily, our correspondent says. Last week strikes were held in the states of West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala by demonstrators who said that a 10% rise in fuel prices would fuel inflation. The government says it had no choice because of surging global oil prices.

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Photos courtesy of Gulf Times and BBC News

Original Source: BBC News

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Oil prices surged to a record level of more than $139 a barrel last Friday, following analysts’ predictions that the price will soon hit $150 and could go as high as $200.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said he expected several European airlines to go out of business thanks to high oil prices.The industry would restructure into a handful of strong players, he said. O’Leary predicts that just three European “network” airlines - British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France/KLM - will survive, and one low-cost airline, Ryanair. Budget rival Easyjet would be bought by one of the big three, he said.

United Airlines, a unit of UAL symbol, said Wednesday it will close Ted, a low-fare airline within an airline, in 2009 and reconfigure its 56 A320 aircraft with first-class seats. Ted serves leisure destinations from Denver and other United hubs.

Continental Airlines said Thursday that it would cut 3,000 jobs and retire 67 Boeing aircraft, becoming the latest airline to announce capacity reductions in the face of high prices for jet fuel. This announcement came a day after United Airlines said it was discontinuing Ted, its low-fare airline, cutting 1,100 more jobs on top of previously announced cuts and retiring a total of 100 aircraft. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have announced similar steps. “The airline industry is in a crisis,” Continental’s chief executive Lawrence W. Kellner and president Jeffery A. Smisek said in a message to employees.

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Photos courtesy of Times Online, Mark Lennihan/Associated Press, and Justin Sullivan/Getty

Original Source: Times Online, TheStreets.com and NY Times

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Army soldiers committed suicide in 2007 at the highest rate on record, and the toll is climbing ever higher this year as long war deployments stretch on. At least 115 soldiers killed themselves last year, up from 102 the previous year, the Army said Thursday. "We see a lot of things that are going on in the war which do contribute — mainly the longtime and multiple deployments away from home, exposure to really terrifying and horrifying things, the easy availability of loaded weapons and a force that's very, very busy right now," said Col. Elspeth Ritchie psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general. Some common factors among those who took their own lives were trouble with relationships, work problems and legal and financial difficulties, officials said.

More U.S. troops also died overall in hostilities in 2007 than in any of the previous years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Violence increased in Afghanistan with a Taliban resurgence, and U.S. deaths increased in Iraq even as violence there declined in the second half of the year. Increasing the strain on the force last year was the extension of deployments to 15 months from 12 months, a practice ending this year. The 115 confirmed suicides among active-duty soldiers and National Guard and Reserve troops who had been activated amounted to a rate of 18.8 per 100,000 troops — the highest since the Army began keeping records in 1980. Two other deaths are suspected suicides but still under investigation. As of Monday, there had been 38 confirmed suicides in 2008 and 12 more deaths that are suspected suicides but still under investigation.

The rate of suicide continues to rise despite a host of efforts the Army has made to improve the mental health of a force under unprecedented stress from the longer-than-expected war in Iraq and the long and repeated tours of duty it has prompted. Suicides have been rising nearly each year of the five-year-old war in Iraq and the nearly seven years of war in Afghanistan. The 115 deaths last year and 102 in 2006 followed 85 in 2005 and 67 in 2004. The rate of 18.8 per 100,000 last year compared to a rate of 17.5 in 2006 and 9.8 in 2002 — the first full year after the start of the war in Afghanistan. President Bush's buildup of forces in Iraq last year — the number peaked at over 170,000 — led officials to increase tour lengths to 15 months. With a drawdown under way, officials are terminating the longer tours and returning to 12-month deployments.

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Original Source: Associated Press

Original Source: Bloomberg

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May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Currencies in Europe will benefit from record oil prices because of the region's energy efficiency, exports to oil-producing nations and vigilance against inflation, according to Barclays Capital. The euro, the British pound, the Swiss franc, the Swedish krona and the Norwegian krone should perform "relatively well" as oil prices rise, wrote David Woo, global head of foreign exchange strategy in London at the bank, the third-biggest currency trader. The U.S. dollar ranks bottom in terms of potential performance as energy prices climb, it said. "Europe is well positioned in the new paradigm, the U.S. is not," Woo wrote in a research note dated May 23.

The dollar slid as much as 8.9 percent to a record low against the euro this year as losses from the subprime mortgage collapse threatened to send the U.S. economy into a recession. At the same time, oil futures have soared to a record as a crude producers sought higher dollar prices to compensate for lower import revenues, according to Barclays Capital. This has created a "vicious circle'' where high energy prices increase the U.S. trade deficit and make other central banks reluctant to lower interest rates, leading to further dollar declines, Barclays Capital said. The euro bought $1.5757 at 5:23 p.m. in Tokyo, little changed from late in New York on May 23. It rose to $1.6019 on April 22, the highest since the common European currency's introduction in January 1999.

The U.S., Canadian, New Zealand and Australian score poorly in terms of their intensity of energy use because of their dispersed populations and focus on manufacturing or commodity industries, Barclays said. European economies are more densely populated, service-orientated and energy efficient, it said. Oil consumption accounts for less than 2 percent of nominal gross domestic product in Norway, Switzerland, the U.K. and Sweden in 2006, compared with more than 3.5 percent in the U.S. and Canada, the report showed. "The U.S. is the world's third-largest oil producer but because of the high energy intensity of its economy, its petroleum trade deficit is not much smaller than the eurozone, which produces no oil," Woo wrote. Japan and Switzerland may also suffer deteriorating trade balances as oil prices rise, the report said. Crude oil for July delivery rose by 96 cents to $133.15 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It reached $135.09 on May 22, the highest since trading began in 1983.

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Next month marks the tenth anniversary of the European Central Bank, guardian of the euro, which itself will turn ten thereafter.

Images courtesy of AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari and AFP

Original Source: Washington Post

Original Source: eFluxMedia

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“Fahrenheit 9/11” Was Not Hot Enough For Michael Moore

…this is why the Oscar-winning film-maker has begun work on a sequel of his 2004 political documentary, announcing he would release the new film next year, producers said Tuesday, according to Reuters. “Fahrenheit 9/11” won Cannes Film Festival's Palme D'Or in 2004, earning more than $100 million at the box-office and becoming the most commercially successful political documentary of all time.

Renowned for choosing controversial topics for his films and always asking unpleasant questions, Moore is now planning to depict, in his new documentary, America’s position in the world in the years that passed since the September 11 terrorist attacks. Moore said he started working on the film in the recent months.

"That movie was about a moment in time, a specific moment," said Nick Meyer, president of Paramount Vantage, according to the Associated Press."We don't view this movie as bashing anyone. I think it's going to take a look at where America is right now in relation to the world. It's not going to be about the issue of the war. It's about where we are and what our role is."

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Images courtesy of eFluxMedia and /FILM

Original Source: Los Angeles Times

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Quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage a public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in Minnesota at the beginning of September.

In the last three months, Paul's forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upward of a million total votes, have, as The Ticket has noted, been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates.

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Paul, for instance, favors a drastically reduced federal government, abolishing the Federal Reserve, ending the Iraq war immediately and withdrawing U.S. troops from abroad.

Paul’s supporters hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent speaking slot. Paul, who's running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term, still has some $5 million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle is not about a single election, but a long-term revolution for control of the Republican Party. Paul's supporters have driven his new book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto," to the top of several bestseller lists.

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Photos courtesy of AP and RonPaul.com

"Q: What is the difference between the Debt and the Deficit?

A: The National Debt is the total amount of money owed by the government; the federal budget deficit is the yearly amount by which spending exceeds revenue. Add up all the deficits (and subtract those few budget surpluses we've had) for the past 200+ years and you'll get the current National Debt.

Q: How has the National Debt grown over time?

A: The National Debt on January 1st 1791 was just $75 million dollars. Today, it rises by that amount every hour or so. "

Original Source