S.Korea Himart plans to raise about $500 mln in IPO

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SEOUL, July 29 (Reuters) – Himart, South Korea’s biggest
electronics retailer, plans to raise about 600 billion won
($506.3 million) in a 2011 initial public offering, a Himart
official said.

Himart has chosen Daewoo Securities to manage the IPO, the
proceeds of which are likely to be used to pay off debts owed by
its parent firm Eugene Corp (023410.KQ), the official, who
declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue,
said.

Himart, founded in 1987, operates 281 stores in the country.
In its 2009 financial year the company had a a net loss of 37.2
billion won.

Eugene Corp has an 80 percent stake in Himart. Himart CEO Sun
Jong-koo has a 19 percent shareholding, a March regulatory filing
showed.

For a factbox on South Korea’s IPO market, click on
[ID:nTOE62U02Z]

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Factbox: States wrestle with immigration policy

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – A judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of a new Arizona immigration law coming into effect on Thursday.

Parts of the law put on hold would require police to determine the immigration status of a person they have stopped or detained — for example for a traffic offense — and make it mandatory to always carry immigration registration papers.

Arizona, which has a border with Mexico, is not the only state to address the issue of undocumented workers through its legislature. “State lawmakers are forced to have to pick up the pieces of a broken federal immigration policy,” said Virginia State Senator John Watkins in a statement.

Below are some key facts about immigration and the states.

* As of June 30, bills similar to Arizona’s law had been introduced in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Michigan.

* In the first half of the year, 44 state legislatures passed 191 laws and adopted 128 resolutions relating to immigrants and refugees, with governors vetoing five of the bills. This was a 21 percent increase in enacted laws and resolutions from the same time period in 2009.

* Most of the state legislation addresses employment, law enforcement and identification.

* In all of 2009 more than 1,500 bills were introduced in state legislatures related to immigration, compared to 300 in 2005.

* Immigrants made up more than 12 percent of the U.S. population in 2008 and the foreign-born share of Arizona’s population was 14.3 percent that year. In California, which is also on the border, foreign-born residents make up more than a quarter of the population. Latinos make up the biggest group.

* The Latino share of Arizona’s population was 30.1 percent in 2008. In neighboring Texas, Latinos made up 36.5 percent of the population and in California they made up 32.4 percent. In New Mexico, they represented nearly 45 percent of the population.

SOURCES: National Conference of State Legislatures, The Immigration Policy Center

(Compiled by Lisa Lambert in Washington, Editing by David Storey)

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Factbox: Judge’s ruling on key provisions of the Arizona law

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Following are the key parts of U.S. Judge Susan Bolton’s decision on Arizona’s tough new immigration law, prohibiting some provisions from taking effect while allowing other portions to enter into force.

The law goes into effect on Thursday.

PROVISIONS BLOCKED FROM TAKING EFFECT:

* Would have required that an officer try to determine the immigration status of a person who they have stopped, detained or arrested if they suspect the individual is in the country illegally; and would have required verification of the immigration status of an individual before the person is released from custody.

* Would have authorized the arrest of an individual where there is probable cause the person has committed a crime that would make them eligible for deportation.

* Would have created a criminal statute for failing to apply for or carry immigration registration papers.

* Would have created a criminal statute for an illegal immigrant to seek, apply or perform work.

PROVISIONS ALLOWED TO TAKE EFFECT:

* Makes it illegal for a person to stop their vehicle to pick up a day laborer and for such a worker to get into a motor vehicle if they are impeding traffic.

* Bars Arizona officials from limiting enforcement of federal immigration laws.

* Permits legal Arizona residents to sue any state official or agency for adopting a policy restricting the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

* Makes it a separate crime for a person to transport or harbor an illegal immigrant or to encourage or induce that individual to come to or to live in Arizona.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Factbox: BP’s next steps on killing Gulf leak

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – BP Plc was working to ready the first of two relief wells to bore into its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well about 13,000 feet under the seabed and permanently plug and seal the leak.

Along the way, the company aims to begin the kill process with a “static kill,” which involves pumping heavy drilling mud and cement in the well from the top.

The well remains capped, having shut in all oil flow since July 15.

Here is an explanation of BP’s next steps, according to retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the top official overseeing the spill response, and Kent Wells, BP’s senior vice president of exploration and production:

THE RELIEF WELLS

* On July 25 a rig that had been drilling the first of two relief wells was reconnecting its riser and drillpipe after shutting down operations to move out of the path of bad weather.

* Once reconnected, a plug that had been placed in the well to keep it stable will be removed, and the well will be cleaned.

* BP will then insert and cement in place the last piece of pipe, called casing, at the bottom of the relief well prior to boring into the Macondo well.

* After the casing is in place but before drilling resumes, BP aims to begin a static kill.

* The relief well has drilled 12,864 feet beneath the seabed and remains on target to intercept and kill the leak in August. The weather-related shutdown has likely pushed the finish date to the second half of August from the middle of the month.

* The finish date depends on how well the static kill works, how deep the relief well must bore into the stricken well, and how many times BP must pump in heavy drilling fluid and cement.

* The second relief well, a backup to the first, bored 10,961 feet beneath the seabed by July 12, when drilling was suspended to avoid disturbing the first relief well’s use of sensors to find its right intercept target.

THE STATIC KILL:

* The static kill resembles BP’s failed “top kill” in May, except that the well is capped and sealed.

* The top kill failed because heavy mud shot out the top of the leak along with crude and couldn’t smother the leak.

* As with the top kill, heavy mud will be pumped into the well from surface vessels through pipes and hoses connected to a failed blowout preventer at the seabed.

* Because oil no longer has an escape route, the mud is expected to push it back down to the reservoir.

* Cement can then be pumped into the well to plug and kill the leak at the bottom.

* The first relief well will then drill into the space between the well’s pipe and the strata, called the annulus. If oil is flowing there, more mud and cement will be pumped in through the relief well.

* Once that cement dries, the relief well will bore into the well pipe to ensure that the static kill plugged it. If not, more mud and cement will be pumped in at the bottom to finish the job.

* The static kill could accelerate the entire kill process if it works as intended.

WELL PRESSURE

* BP has monitored pressure in the well since it was sealed shut on July 15 for signs of leaks or problems.

* Pressure has slowly risen from 6,700 pounds per square inch on July 16 to 6,904 psi on July 25.

* Rising pressure indicates the pipe and cement in the well remain intact after the April 20 blowout. Lower or falling pressure would be a sign the well is damaged, allowing oil to leak out the sides and possibly breach the seafloor.

* Pressure above 7,500 psi would show the well is intact, while pressure that falls or fails to rise above 6,000 psi would indicate a problem. The slowly rising pressure could be a sign that the reservoir is largely depleted from the leak.

BACKUP OIL-CAPTURE VESSELS

* BP still aims to assemble a surface oil-capture system of four vessels that can siphon up to 80,000 barrels a day from the wellhead.

* That system will include a rig, the Helix Producer; a well-testing ship, the Toisa Pisces; and two Transocean Ltd. drillships, the Discoverer Enterprise and the Discoverer Clear Leader.

* Each would be connected to wellhead equipment via hoses and pipes that allow for a quick disconnect if a hurricane approaches.

* The system remains on tap as a backup if any problems arise with the static kill and the first relief well.

(Reporting by Kristen Hays in Houston; Editing by Paul Simao)

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Factbox: Gulf of Mexico oil, gas ops restart post-Bonnie

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

but 50 percent of daily crude oil production in U.S.-regulated areas of the

Gulf of Mexico was shut as of Sunday due to Tropical Depression Bonnie, the

U.S. government said.

Tropical Depression Bonnie, the season’s second named tropical storm,

dissipated into a disorganized low-pressure system in the eastern Gulf of

Mexico on Saturday.

Forecasters said the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season could be the worst

since 2005, when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma caused havoc in the Gulf

Coast, damaging oil rigs and refineries and forcing sharp cuts in production.

The hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30 and often affects the

Gulf of Mexico, home to about 30 percent of U.S. oil production, 11 percent of

natural gas production, and more than 43 percent of U.S. refinery capacity.

Oil and gas production shut as of Sunday was 746,338 barrels per day (bpd)

of crude production and 1.41 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) in gas output,

the U.S. government said.

ESTIMATED CAPACITY OFFLINE

————————————————————–

Oil output: 746,338 bpd (46.65%) Sunday vs 826,325 bpd (51.65%) Saturday

Gas output: 1,410 Mmcfd (22.03%) Sunday vs 1,506 Mmcfd (23.53%) Saturday

Refinery production: None affected.

————————————————————–

Source: U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement

__________________________________________________________________________

OFFSHORE PRODUCTION & PIPELINES IMPACT

————————————–

Company Asset Capacity Shut In Date Shut Date Restarted Link

——————————————————————————

OIL

——————————————————————————

Anadarko Neptune NA NA July 23 July 26

Apache NA NA 4,624 bpd July 23 NA

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FACTBOX-What does the African Union do?

July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 25 (Reuters) – An African Union (AU) summit in Uganda just two weeks after bombs planted by Somali rebels killed 76 people in its capital will for the next three days tackle the crisis in Somalia. [ID:nLDE66O07Q]

But what is the African Union and what can it do?

* The AU emerged from an earlier continental body called the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was set up in 1963 with a charter signed by 32 countries in Addis Ababa. The OAU was considered a bit of an “old dictators’ club” by many in Africa and was criticised for not acting against coup plotters.

* The AU replaced the OAU in 2002 with 51 members and said it would work for closer political integration among African countries. It has set about distancing itself from the OAU by often suspending coup leaders. It now has 53 member states.

* The AU was developed along the lines of the European Union and has 10 commissioners overseeing departments. They include political affairs, agriculture and peace and security. Its founding charter mandates it to work for “democracy, human rights and development”. It also promotes investment in the continent and sends peacekeepers to troublespots.

* Its first military intervention in a member state was the May 2003 deployment to Burundi of peacekeepers from South Africa, Ethiopia and Mozambique. When that mission ended, Burundi became a contributor to AU peacekeeping forces, saying it was grateful for the help.

* The AU also sent peacekeepers into Sudan’s Darfur region in 2004 and, at its height, that force was 7,000 strong. It was replaced by a U.N. force in 2007.

* The AU currently has some 6,300 Ugandan and Burundian troops in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, keeping that country’s besieged government in power.

* Analysts are divided on how effective the organisation is. It often has trouble mustering troops for its peacekeeping missions. It is also underfunded, with many of its desperately poor members never paying their annual dues.

* But analysts say it has grown teeth in recent years, suspending countries that have suffered coups, imposing sanctions, sending envoys to mediate between governments and rebels and genuinely promoting investment.

* The countries that kick in the most money often try to dominate affairs. This is demonstrated by the fact that the personal mission of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi — “The United States of Africa” — has been talked about at AU summits for years, despite many delegates thinking it a laughable prospect. (Editing by David Clarke)

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Templeton cuts stake in Singapore’s Parkway to 4.97 pct

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 19 (Reuters) – U.S. fund manager Templeton, one of Parkway Holdings’ (PARM.SI) largest institutional shareholders, has cut its stake in the Singapore healthcare firm following a series of sales earlier this month.

Malaysian state investor Khazanah and Indian healthcare giant Fortis (FOHE.BO), which each own around 25 percent of Parkway, are currently tussling for control of the Singapore firm.

Templeton now owns 4.97 percent of Parkway, down from 5.04 percent previously, after selling about 357,000 shares between July 8 and July 14, Parkway said in a disclosure to the Singapore Exchange.

For a factbox on Parkway, please click [ID:nSGE6600DM]

(Reporting by Kevin Lim)

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Factbox: Afghanistan: Who is fighting the insurgency?

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 18 – Afghan government, backed by thousands of international force are fighting a growing insurgency in Afghanistan since the Islamist movement was toppled by U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces in late 2001 in the wake of September 11 attacks on the United States.

Despite repeated peace overtures by President Hamid Karzai to Taliban and other insurgent groups, only the Hezb-i-Islami movement has shown interest, sending their delegates to meet Afghan officials in Kabul earlier this year. However, there was no breakthrough.

In a major international conference this week in Kabul, one of the main themes of Afghan government will be to boost its reintegration efforts to woo low-level fighters who make up the backbone of Taliban insurgency.

There are three main militant groups in the country that lead a bloody insurgency campaign against the Afghan government and around 150,000 foreign troops under NATO’s command.

There are now some 20,000 to 30,000 active fighters within their ranks, according to a government official.

TALIBAN

A Talib, singular form for Taliban means a religious student. The group rose to power in 1994 in southern city of Kandahar under the leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar who was then imam of a village mosque.

The puritan religious student mostly drawn from seminaries, run in the lawless tribal areas of neighboring Pakistan offered a simple but harsh form of Islamic Justice that appealed to many who were weary of brutal warlords who ignited a bloody civil when the Soviets departed from Afghanistan in 1989.

After years of factional fighting among the anti-Soviet groups over power, Mullah Omar’s young and fanatical fighters managed to capture Kabul in September 1996 where they imposed ultra strict Islamic sharia by banning music, TV and forbidding women to work and girls to school.

After being toppled in 2001, most of the leaders, including Mullah Omar, fled to Pakistan where they formed a council called “Quetta Shura,” a Pakistani city in the province of Balochistan.

The Taliban began to regroup in the south then relaunched their insurgency in 2005 with a wave of guerrilla attacks, suicide and roadside bombs that has grown steadily ever since.

Violence in the country has sharpened, threatening thousands of NATO and bulk of Afghan troops into a stalemate.

Karzai’s idea of peace negotiations to reach out to insurgents who denounce violence and accept Afghan constitution has the backing of international community, but the Taliban have repeatedly rejected the offer, saying foreign troops should leave the country before start of any peace talks.

HAQQANI NETWORK

Headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, the Haqqani network is allied with the Taliban and is believed to have close links to al Qaeda. It has been behind several high-profile attacks in Afghanistan including an assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai during a military parade in 2008, and last month attacked a major peace assembly.

Although the attacks caused no serious casualties, President Karzai sacked his interior and intelligence agency chiefs over security lapses.

Haqqani rose to prominence during the 1980s, receiving weapons and funds from the CIA and Saudi Arabia to fight the Soviet occupation and has also had long-standing links with Pakistan’s military Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Effective leadership of the group has now passed from Jalaluddin, who is in his 70s, to his more radical eldest son Sirajuddin, security analysts say.

Sirajuddin told Reuters last year that his group, mainly active in the eastern parts of Afghanistan and based in the North Waziristan of Pakistan, was under the overall command of Mullah Omar and admitted ties with al Qaeda.

HEZB-I-ISLAMI

Hezb-i-Islami or the Islamic Party was founded by veteran former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in mid 1970s was one of the main mujahideen groups fighting the Soviet invasion in the 1980s from its base in Pakistan. It received the lion’s share of U.S. and Saudi arms and money channeled through the Pakistani intelligence service.

After the Soviet withdrawal Hekmatyar fought and made fleeting alliances with most other mujahideen factions during the resulting civil war and is blamed for killing thousands in Kabul with indiscriminate rocket attacks on the capital.

By the rise of the Taliban in 1994, Hekmatyar was sidelined by Pakistan in favor of Mullah Omar and after losing to their forces when the Taliban took Kabul in 1996, Hekmatyar fled to Iran.

Many of his fighters joined the Taliban ranks. He served briefly as prime minister in 1996 before the Taliban took control.

After the September 11 attacks Hekmatyar declared himself against the U.S. invasion and took up the fight in alliance with the Taliban. Its fighters number in thousands are most active in the east of the country and in pockets in the north.

In March this year, a high-profile Hezb delegation met Karzai and a U.N. special envoy in Kabul. Although the talks appeared to be preliminary, the public acknowledgement of meeting was unprecedented and could signal a division within the insurgency.

An Afghan army general, Murad Ali Murad, told Reuters this month that members of Hezb was supplying intelligence on Taliban whereabouts to NATO and the Afghan government that led to the killing or arrest of several key commanders in the north.

(For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here) (Compiled by the Kabul Bureau; Editing by David Fox) (hamid.shalizi@thomsonreuters.com; +93 799 390 693

(If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)

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FACTBOX-Afghanistan: Who is fighting the insurgency?

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 18 – Afghan government, backed by thousands of international force are fighting a growing insurgency in Afghanistan since the Islamist movement was toppled by U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces in late 2001 in the wake of Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Despite repeated peace overtures by President Hamid Karzai to Taliban and other insurgent groups, only the Hezb-i-Islami movement has shown interest, sending their delegates to meet Afghan officials in Kabul earlier this year. However, there was no breakthrough.

In a major international conference this week in Kabul, one of the main themes of Afghan government will be to boost its reintegration efforts to woo low-level fighters who make up the backbone of Taliban insurgency.

There are three main militant groups in the country that lead a bloody insurgency campaign against the Afghan government and around 150,000 foreign troops under NATO’s command.

There are now some 20,000 to 30,000 active fighters within their ranks, according to a government official.

TALIBAN

A Talib, singular form for Taliban means a religious student. The group rose to power in 1994 in southern city of Kandahar under the leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar who was then imam of a village mosque.

The puritan religious student mostly drawn from seminaries, run in the lawless tribal areas of neighboring Pakistan offered a simple but harsh form of Islamic Justice that appealed to many who were weary of brutal warlords who ignited a bloody civil when the Soviets departed from Afghanistan in 1989.

After years of factional fighting among the anti-Soviet groups over power, Mullah Omar’s young and fanatical fighters managed to capture Kabul in September 1996 where they imposed ultra strict Islamic sharia by banning music, TV and forbidding women to work and girls to school.

After being toppled in 2001, most of the leaders, including Mullah Omar, fled to Pakistan where they formed a council called “Quetta Shura”, a Pakistani city in the province of Balochistan.

The Taliban began to regroup in the south then relaunched their insurgency in 2005 with a wave of guerrilla attacks, suicide and roadside bombs that has grown steadily ever since.

Violence in the country has sharpened, threatening thousands of NATO and bulk of Afghan troops into a stalemate.

Karzai’s idea of peace negotiations to reach out to insurgents who denounce violence and accept Afghan constitution has the backing of international community, but the Taliban have repeatedly rejected the offer, saying foreign troops should leave the country before start of any peace talks.

HAQQANI NETWORK

Headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, the Haqqani network is allied with the Taliban and is believed to have close links to al Qaeda. It has been behind several high-profile attacks in Afghanistan including an assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai during a military parade in 2008, and last month attacked a major peace assembly.

Although the attacks caused no serious casualties, President Karzai sacked his interior and intelligence agency chiefs over security lapses.

Haqqani rose to prominence during the 1980s, receiving weapons and funds from the CIA and Saudi Arabia to fight the Soviet occupation and has also had long-standing links with Pakistan’s military Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Effective leadership of the group has now passed from Jalaluddin, who is in his 70s, to his more radical eldest son Sirajuddin, security analysts say.

Sirajuddin told Reuters last year that his group, mainly active in the eastern parts of Afghanistan and based in the North Waziristan of Pakistan, was under the overall command of Mullah Omar and admitted ties with al Qaeda.

HEZB-I-ISLAMI

Hezb-i-Islami or the Islamic Party was founded by veteran former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in mid 1970s was one of the main mujahideen groups fighting the Soviet invasion in the 1980s from its base in Pakistan. It received the lion’s share of U.S. and Saudi arms and money channelled through the Pakistani intelligence service.

After the Soviet withdrawal Hekmatyar fought and made fleeting alliances with most other mujahideen factions during the resulting civil war and is blamed for killing thousands in Kabul with indiscriminate rocket attacks on the capital.

By the rise of the Taliban in 1994, Hekmatyar was sidelined by Pakistan in favour of Mullah Omar and after losing to their forces when the Taliban took Kabul in 1996, Hekmatyar fled to Iran.

Many of his fighters joined the Taliban ranks. He served briefly as prime minister in 1996 before the Taliban took control.

After the Sept. 11 attacks Hekmatyar declared himself against the U.S. invasion and took up the fight in alliance with the Taliban. Its fighters number in thousands are most active in the east of the country and in pockets in the north.

In March this year, a high-profile Hezb delegation met Karzai and a U.N. special envoy in Kabul. Although the talks appeared to be preliminary, the public acknowledgement of meeting was unprecedented and could signal a division within the insurgency.

An Afghan army general, Murad Ali Murad, told Reuters this month that members of Hezb was supplying intelligence on Taliban whereabouts to NATO and the Afghan government that led to the killing or arrest of several key commanders in the north. (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here) (Compiled by the Kabul Bureau; Editing by David Fox) (hamid.shalizi@thomsonreuters.com; +93 799 390 693 (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)

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Factbox: Uruguay striker Diego Forlan

July 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Factbox on Uruguay striker Diego Forlan, who won the best player of the World Cup award on Sunday:

Born: May 19, 1979 in Montevideo (Uruguay)

EARLY DAYS AND PERSONAL LIFE

* Ditched a budding tennis career for football as a teenager, and made his mark with Argentina’s Independiente before sealing a 7.5 million-pound move to Manchester United in January 2002.

* Came in as a long-term replacement for Andy Cole but took eight months to score his first goal, when he netted in a 5-2 Champions League victory over Maccabi Haifa.

* Was restricted mainly to substitute appearances as Manchester United won the Premier League in 2003 and FA Cup in 2004.

* A good swimmer and water skier, Forlan took up English and computing lessons and began political science studies at university while in Buenos Aires.

BREAKTHROUGH

* Secured a transfer to Villarreal in August 2004 on a four-year contract.

* In his first La Liga season, top scored with 25 goals to help Villarreal finish third for their first Champions League campaign. Was joint top European scorer with Thierry Henry to win the Golden Shoe award.

* Scored 29 league goals over next two seasons and in 2007 joined Atletico Madrid for up to 23 million euros as a replacement for Fernando Torres, who moved to Liverpool.

* Won his second European Golden Shoe award in the 2008/09 season with 32 league goals, scoring 12 in the last eight games of the season to overhaul Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o.

* Scored 18 league goals for Atletico Madrid last season and was on sparkling form in the Europa League to help Atletico to their first European title in 48 years.

* Scored both Atletico’s goals in the 2-1 defeat of Premier League side Fulham in the final in Hamburg.

WORLD CUP 2010

* Scored five goals to help unfancied Uruguay reach the semi-finals for the first time in 40 years, the only South American team in the last four.

* Wins 23.4 percent of the vote in the “Golden Ball” poll organized by world soccer body FIFA and voted for by journalists.

(Compiled by Iain Rogers, editing by Patrick Johnston)

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Mexico state elections stage battle for presidency

July 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MEXICO CITY, July 4 (Reuters) – Mexico’s ruling and main opposition parties wrested ground from each other in elections for governors in a dozen states on Sunday, setting the stage for a tough battle for the presidency in 2012.

Initial results showed President Felipe Calderon’s National Action Party, known as PAN, with surprise gubernatorial wins in three states controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which had been pegged to sweep the vote.

The PRI beat out rival parties and held onto governorships in the remaining nine states, building a base to launch a likely presidential bid by the party’s rising star, State of Mexico Governor Enrique Pena Nieto.

“This election proves the PRI is the leading political force in the country,” the party’s president, Beatriz Paredes, told a news conference.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Factbox on Mexico’s drug war [ID:nN28272853]

Snap analysis on Monday’s killing [ID:nN28222286]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Mexico’s divided left joined forces with Calderon’s conservatives in awkward alliances to win in PRI strongholds Oaxaca, Puebla and Sinaloa. The PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years as a semi-dictatorship, has been in the opposition for a decade after losing to the PAN in 2000.

Elections also were held for mayors and local deputies in nearly half of Mexico’s 31 states on Sunday.

Analysts say local issues determining state votes may not translate to a national win for either party in 2012 but the PRI hopes to capitalize on Calderon’s sinking popularity as the economy sputters and drug violence spins out of control.

Staining Calderon’s legacy, more than 26,000 people have been killed during his time in office, mostly traffickers and police but also civilian bystanders.

“I voted for the PRI because Calderon got us into this war where innocent people are paying the price,” said Jorge Lopez, 46, an unemployed builder in a shantytown full of drug dens and brothels in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Tit-for-tat murders to control smuggling routes have turned Ciudad Juarez into one of the world’s most violent cities.

Campaigning was blighted by drug gang intimidation as suspected cartel hitmen murdered two candidates.

It was some of the most blatant evidence of traffickers interfering in politics since Calderon came to power in late 2006 and launched a army-lead drug crackdown that has ended up fueling more violence as cartels splinter and feud over turf.

INVESTORS SPOOKED

Investors sold off Mexico’s peso at the start of the week after Rodolfo Torre, the PRI front-runner for governor in the border state of Tamaulipas, and four aides were killed in an ambush by drug hitmen, Mexico’s highest-profile political murder in 16 years. [ID:nN28512369]

Egidio Torre replaced his dead brother as candidate and won after casting his own vote under heavy guard.

A mayoral candidate in Tamaulipas, where the Gulf cartel is battling a gang of former enforcers called the Zetas, was also murdered in a likely drug hit aimed at swaying the vote.

Election day was not free of drug violence. In several states there were reports of irregularities and vote-buying. Long lines formed at polling stations in Tamaulipas after some 40 percent of election volunteers quit fearing attacks.

In Chihuahua state there were at least 19 drug murders on Sunday, including the brother of a PAN mayoral candidate in the isolated town of Batopilas, police said. Four bodies were hung from bridges in Chihuahua’s capital.

Along the U.S-Mexico border cartels rule over semi-lawless swaths of territory employing networks of lookouts, from taxi drivers to taco-stand owners. Journalists there increasingly face threats and business owners pay regular extortion fees.

In many areas, the situation is deteriorating despite more than a $1 billion in anti-drug aid from the United States.

As well as being angry at Calderon, some voters blamed local PRI politicians for not doing more to stop the violence.

“The insecurity we are living in here is because of bad PRI governments. I can’t say anything more because it might cost me my life,” said a 55-year-old businessman in Reynosa, a major manufacturing city in Tamaulipas across from McAllen, Texas.

Mexico grapples with endemic corruption within state-level politics and a number of candidates have been accused by rivals of being on drug cartel payrolls.

Mexican media have reported that the sitting PRI governor of Tamaulipas has a bodyguard wanted by the United States on drug charges, while the left-wing mayor of the resort of Cancun is in jail awaiting trial on charges of laundering drug money.

The PRI’s Hector Murguia was elected mayor of Ciudad Juarez, early results showed, despite accusations from rivals and rights groups that he works for the feared Juarez cartel. This week a severed head was dumped outside his house. (Additional reporting by Julian Cardona in Ciudad Juarez and Robin Emmott in Monterrey; Editing by Catherine Bremer and Bill Trott)

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FACTBOX-Petronas: Malaysia’s golden goose

July 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (Reuters) – Petronas [PETR.UL] paid
out less to the Malaysian government due to lower profits
arising from sluggish production and falling prices.

The state oil company is crucial to Malaysia’s economy as
it provides almost half of the country’s budget revenue through
dividends and taxes at time when the government is struggling
to rein in a budget deficit. Here are some key facts on the
firm that some analysts have called “Malaysia’s golden goose”:

KEY FACTS

* Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company Petroliam
Nasional Berhad (Petronas) was started up in 1974 as controls
and owns the Southeast Asian country’s oil and gas resources.

* Petronas ranked number 14 among Asia’s top 50 companies,
and 80th globally in Fortune magazine’s Global 500 listings in
2009. It is the only Malaysian company in the rankings.

* It’s company headquarters are in Tower One of the
88-Petronas Twin Towers that was the world’s tallest towers
when completed in more than a decade ago.

* Some credit analysts dub Malaysia as “subsidary of
Petronas” as the oil company’s debt is rated more highly than
the sovereign state. Standard & Poor rates Petronas at
“AA-minus” above its “A-minus” rating for Malaysia.

* In the year to March 2010, Petronas pumped in 57.6
billion ringgit to the Malaysian government in the form of
taxes, dividends and petroleum proceeds.

The payments fell by more than a fifth from a year ago and
was in tandem with weaker production and falling crude oil
prices. For a related table [ID:nSGE66005Q]

KEY BUSINESS

* Overseas expansion in the 1990s turned the national
champion into a multinational. More than 33,400 employees work
in 105 wholly owned and 22 partially owned subsidaries, and 54
associate companies.

* The firm’s total domestic oil and gas production for FY
2010 stood at 1.11 million barrels equivalent per day (bpd),
which represents 68.2 percent of average total national output.

* In the year, the firm’s international oil and gas output
rose 1.7 percent to 640,000 bpd thanks to higher natural gas
production. Africa dominated Petronas’ global output with a
contribution of 57.7 percent.

BOOSTING THE MALAYSIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

* Petronas Dagangan (PETR.KL), Petronas Gas (PGAS.KL), MISC
(MISC.KL) are among the subisdaries already listed on the Kuala
Lumpur Stock Exchange .KLSE.

* Petronas has said it will float petrochemicals operations
in a $2 billion IPO as well as well as its heavy engineering
subsidiary on the domestic bourse to increase liquidity and
lure more investors into Malaysia. [ID:nSGE64H05P]
[ID:nSGE65708D]

HOW DOES PETRONAS FARE AGAINST OIL MAJORS, STATE OIL FIRMS?

Return on Revenue Return on
Assets

(for FY2010 in percentage)

Petronas 31.1 16.4

Average oil majors 21.7 13.4

Average national oil firms 12.1 12.7

(Petronas documents, ThomsonReuters)

(Reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Editing by Saeed Azhar)

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FACTBOX-China labour strikes developments, June 29

July 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 29 (Reuters) – Discontent among China’s estimated 150 million strong pool of migrant workers, who have helped power the country’s growth, threatens to undermine the government’s legitimacy and erode the nation’s competitiveness as a low-cost factory hub. [ID:nSGE65103V])

Stocks

Following are recent developments — 0600 GMT on Tuesday (* new or updated items):

* Industrial conglomerate Ingersoll-Rand Plc (IR.N) said a three-day work stoppage involving workers at a Zhongshan factory in southern China had ended. The plant, which makes commercial air conditioning systems for Trane — an air-conditoning systems maker that Ingersoll-Rand acquired in 2008 — returned to production as of Saturday (June 26) the firm said.

- Striking workers at a Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co Ltd factory said they had reached agreement with management on June 25 after Denso promised a pay rise of 800-900 yuan per month. [ID:nTOE65O067]

Workers had returned to full production earlier on expectations they would reach an agreement.

The factory, owned by Japan’s Denso Corp (6902.T), supplies fuel injection equipment and other parts to Toyota, Honda and other car makers. It stopped shipping to customers on June 21.

Pay for most workers is 1,100-1,300 yuan ($162-$191) a month. A technicians’ basic salary was around 3,000 yuan before the pay rise, according to one Denso worker.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on June 25 it planned to resume production at its 360,000 units-a-year joint venture car plant in Guangzhou on Monday, expecting supply to flow again from the Denso factory. The GAC Toyota Motor factory had been suspended since June 22.

- A 1-day strike at NHK-UNI Spring (Guangzhou) Co Ltd ended late on June 23. The plant, 60 percent-owned by Japan’s NHK Spring (5991.T) and 40 percent by a Taiwanese firm, makes suspension springs and stabilisers for nearby assembly plants of Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T), Toyota and Nissan Motor Co (7201.T).

Honda said production at south China car plants, suspended due to the strike, restarted on June 24. Media had reported a Nissan factory in Guangzhou halted production briefly on Wednesday because of the walkout. [ID:nTST000228]

- Toyota’s Tianjin factory, held jointly with Chinese carmaker FAW (000800.SZ), resumed output on June 21 after the strike-hit Toyota-affiliated parts maker TOYODA GOSEI CO (7282.T) said it reached an agreement with workers. Toyoda Gosei said workers agreed to extra allowances for working in the summer heat and for a perfect attendance record, on top of an original 20 percent wage increase.

- Honda affiliate NIHON PLAST (7291.T) said on June 21 it settled a labour dispute with workers at its Zhongshan plant, which produces plastic parts including steering wheels. The plant resumed production late on June 18 after a strike the previous day. [ID:nTOE65K01Y]

- Denmark’s Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) said a strike at a brewery it part-owned in the southwestern city of Chongqing ended when workers returned to work on Friday (June 18).

- Honda saw an unusually long 3-week stoppage at its wholly owned parts factory in Foshan when 1,900 workers downed tools demanding better pay. After violent clashes and a management move to hike pay by 24 percent, most returned to work on June 4.

- Some 1,500 workers at Honda parts supplier Honda Lock, walked off the job on June 9, demanding a 700 yuan rise in basic wages and the establishment of an independent trade union among other conditions.

Workers rejected an intial offer, but agreed to return to work on June 15 in anticipation of an improved deal. In the end, however, management refused to grant more than a 280 yuan rise in wages and benefits, which was grudgingly accepted by most.

(Compiled by Alison Leung and James Pomfret in Hong Kong, Valerie Lee in SINGAPORE and Chang-Ran Kim in TOKYO, editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

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Factbox: U.S. lawmakers finalize new rules for swaps

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The proposals are part of a sweeping package of reforms in the wake of the financial crisis, which regulators say was exacerbated by OTC derivatives.

The bill will return to the full House and Senate for approval, and lawmakers hope to have it to President Barack Obama for his signature into law by July 4.

The reforms will fundamentally alter the unpoliced market, dominated by banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America.

Exchanges stand to gain traffic, such as CME Group Inc and IntercontinentalExchange Inc.

Also affected will be hedge funds, insurance companies and other speculators who seek profits in the swaps market — as well as a wide range of manufacturers, commodity producers, small banks and other businesses that rely on swaps to hedge price and other risks.

Here are the key elements of the swaps reforms:

BANK SWAPS DESK SPIN-OFF

* Objective: prevent taxpayer funds from bailing out swaps entities.

* Requires banks to spin off swaps dealing desks for handling agricultural, energy and metals swaps, equity swaps, and uncleared credit default swaps into separately capitalized holding companies.

* Allows banks to trade the largest classes of OTC derivatives in-house — foreign exchange and interest rate swaps — as well as gold and silver swaps, and derivatives designed to hedge their own risk.

CLEARING OF SWAPS

* Objective: reduce systemic risks from bad trades by sending “standardized” swaps through clearinghouses, which would require margins and guarantee payment.

* Regulators can require particular swaps or types of swaps to be cleared.

* “End-users” allowed exemptions from clearing to prevent hedgers from being saddled with new costs, as long as they explain to regulators how they are meeting their financial obligations.

* Financing arms of manufacturers do not have to clear swaps used to help sell the parent company’s products.

* Clearinghouses can accept non-cash collateral for swaps.

MANDATORY TRADING

* Objective: increase transparency, lower costs.

* Cleared swaps to be traded on exchanges or electronic platforms.

HIGHER MARGINS FOR UNCLEARED SWAPS

* Objective: Reduce risk by ensuring traders put up adequate margin and capital as defined by regulators.

REPORTING OF SWAPS

* Objective: increase transparency and make it easier for regulators to police trades.

* All swaps to be reported to trade repositories or regulators.

REGULATION OF CLEARINGHOUSES

* Objective: give regulators oversight of clearinghouses.

* Clearinghouse boards to include market participants.

* Clearinghouses not forced to accept credit risk from other clearinghouses.

* Clearinghouses can receive federal funds in emergencies if Federal Reserve governors and the Treasury secretary agree.

REGULATION OF DEALERS AND MAJOR SWAP PARTICIPANTS

* Objective: ensure major market players do not become systemically risky.

* Registration required with regulators, which would set capital and margin standards, and other requirements.

* Firms engaged in a “de minimis” amount of swap dealing with or on behalf of customers will be exempt from new rules.

POSITION LIMITS

* Objective: give regulators the ability to limit swaps positions held by a trader or class of traders.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott and Roberta Rampton)

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Factbox: Congress late-night decisions on swaps reforms

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here are some of the key agreements for swaps rules agreed to by a conference panel of Senate and House of Representatives members:

* Banks can trade foreign exchange and interest rate swaps in house, as well as gold and silver swaps, and derivatives deigned to hedge their own risk.

* Banks need to spin off desks to affiliates to handle agricultural, energy and metals swaps, equity swaps, and uncleared credit default swaps.

* Non-financial companies “using swaps to hedge or mitigate commercial risk” are exempt from clearing the trades, as long as they explain to regulators how they are meeting financial obligations.

* The financing arms of manufacturers like Ford Motor Co, Deere & Co, Caterpillar Inc and Boeing and other “end users” do not have to clear swaps when they assist in selling the parent company’s products.

* Clearinghouses will not be forced to accept credit risk from other clearinghouses — interpreted as a win for the CME Group, the world’s biggest operator of futures exchanges.

* Federal Reserve governors and the Treasury secretary would need to agree before a clearinghouse could access the Fed’s emergency funds.

* Firms engaged in a “de minimis” amount of swap dealing with or on behalf of customers will be exempt from new rules for swaps dealers.

* Capital and margin requirements for uncleared swaps done by non-bank swap dealers and major players will be set at “appropriate” levels, softening earlier language that said levels would be as strict or stricter than those set for banks.

* Traders can use non-cash collateral to meet margin requirements.

* Regulators “shall” set limits on speculative positions “as appropriate” but have authority to exempt traders or types of swaps from the limits.

* Movie futures will be banned.

* There will be no ownership restrictions set for major swaps players, banks and financial companies involved in clearinghouses, exchanges, or swap execution facilities.

* Regulators will have at least a year after the time of passage to implement the legislation.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Charles Abbott, editing by Jackie Frank)

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FACTBOX-Guinea’s major mining operations

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Guinea, the world’s biggest exporter of aluminium ore bauxite and a potentially huge source of iron ore, is holding a presidential election on Sunday intended to end a political crisis that has persisted since a 2008 military coup.

Stocks | Global Markets

Resources firms have committed billions of dollars of fresh investment in the West African country this year. Several presidential candidates have indicated they could put existing contracts under review if elected.

Here are details of some of the country’s major mining operations and planned developments.

*********************BAUXITE***************************

BACKGROUND:

Guinea boasts about a third of all known reserves of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminium. CBG, or Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, owned by Alcoa (AA.N), Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) and the Guinean government, is the world’s biggest bauxite exporter. It shipped a 13.7 million tonnes in 2008.

PRODUCTION:

Guinea’s total bauxite production in 2009 was 14.77 million tonnes, down from 19.78 million in 2008, partly because of the effects of political turmoil. Output recovered in the first quarter of 2010 to nearly 4 million tonnes from 3.35 million in the same period a year ago, the government said. [ID:nLDE64K1VP]

Bauxite production capacity is estimated as follows:

- Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee/Boke Mine 15 mln

- Alumina Company of Guinea/Fria-Kimbo Mine (RUSAL) 2.8 mln

- Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia 3.8 mln

ALUMINA REFINERIES:

RUSAL’s (0486.HK) Friguia plant, Guinea’s largest single employer, refines bauxite to alumina, with a total production of about 530,000 tonnes.

Alcoa and Rio Tinto are considering adding an alumina refinery to their Guinea bauxite joint venture.

Toronto-listed Global Alumina (GLAu.TO) is building a new 3.3 million tonnes per year alumina refinery but has delayed start-up by two years to 2011 and raised its cost forecast by 35 percent to $4.3 billion.

Total Guinean production of alumina was down 15.8 percent in 2009 to 500,400 tonnes and continued to lag during the first quarter of 2010.

**********************IRON ORE**************************

BACKGROUND:

Guinea is believed to have some of the world’s richest undeveloped iron ore deposits. A flurry of deals have been announced in recent months despite ongoing political uncertainty.

DEALS:

In March, Rio Tinto and Chinese metals group Chinalco signed a $2.9 billion agreement to jointly develop the Simandou iron ore project. Under the terms of the deal, Rio puts its 95 percent stake in Simandou into the joint venture, and Chinalco pays $1.35 billion for 47 percent in that venture.

Rio says Simandou is the largest undeveloped iron ore mine in the world, containing 2.25 billion tonnes of the mineral. The project is forecast to cost $6 billion.

On June 23, Rio issued a statement insisting it has “firm rights” to all of its Simandou deposit after the government said it wanted to exercise an option to acquire 20 percent of the part under Rio’s control. The government last week gave Rio 60 days to produce a feasibility schedule for the project or face a possible further review of the deposits’ future.

In April, Vale (VALE.N)(VALE5.SA) spent $2.5 billion on a majority stake in a division of BSG Resources in Guinea in order to develop the Simandou-Zogota project. Output will begin in 2012 with 10 million tonnes of iron ore and reach 50 million tonnes by 2015, Vale said.

London-listed explorer Bellzone BMZ.L announced a joint-venture deal with Guinea in June, paving the way for a feasibility study into the construction of the 280-km railway line from the Kalia iron ore concession to the port of Matakan. The study should be completed within 30 months, according to the terms of the deal. China International Fund will help fund the project, Guinea’s government said.

************************GOLD****************************

BACKGROUND:

Guinea’s gold production surged during the first quarter of 2010 to 229,991 ounces from 73,210 ounces in the same quarter a year ago. It remains a relatively small producer compared with regional leaders Ghana and Mali, which produce closer to 2 million ounces each per year.

PRODUCTION:

Anglogold Ashanti (ANGJ.J) operates Guinea’s biggest gold mine at Siguiri in the northeast, where it produced 332,000 ounces of gold in 2008. Guinea holds a 15 percent stake.

Crew Gold (CRU.TO) operates the LEFA Corridor Gold Project, which produced 189,520 ounces in 2008.

West Africa-focused gold miner Semafo, which is listed in Toronto, operates the Kiniero mine in eastern Guinea. It produced 51,700 ounces in 2008.

Artisanal gold mining is also common in Guinea.

**********************DIAMONDS***************************

Guinea’s diamond reserves are estimated at more than 25 million carats, not including as yet unmapped kimberlite fields. Production during the first quarter of 2010 was 72,870 carats, up slightly from 70,920 carats in the same period in 2009.

**********************NICKEL****************************

Australian-listed company Lindian Resources (LIN.AX) is exploring for nickel at the Dinguiraye project, about 400 km northeast of Conakry. ******************************************************** Sources: Reuters news, company websites & Reuters Metal Production Database, available to 3000Xtra users here (Reporting by Daniel Magnowski, Richard Valdmanis, Saliou Samb and David Cutler; editing by Matthew Jones) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/)

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Factbox: Guinea holds landmark vote

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Following are some key details about Guinea:

* ECONOMY: Guinea is the world’s top exporter of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum and relies on minerals for over 70 percent of exports.

– Guinea boasts around a third of all known reserves of bauxite. CBG (Alcoa and Rio Tinto’s Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee), the world’s biggest bauxite exporter, shipped a record 13.7 million tonnes in 241 shiploads during 2008.

– Guinea saw two huge iron ore deals this year: a $2.5 billion deal between the world’s top iron ore miner Vale and BSG Resources, and a $2.9 billion deal between global No. 2 iron ore miner Rio Tinto and Chinese metals group Chinalco.

– Guinea also has gold, diamonds, uranium and other minerals. Guinea’s diamond reserves are estimated at over 25 million carats, not including as yet unmapped kimberlite fields.

– Guinea’s economic progress remains mostly driven by growth in mining, construction, and public works and services. While mining firms already working in Guinea continued doing so, the government said the political situation was at least partially responsible for a downturn in mineral exports in 2009.

– Guinea was recently named by watchdog Transparency International in its 2009 Corruption Perceptions index as ranking 168, jointly with Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Burundi and Haiti out of 180 countries listed.

* COUNTRY DETAILS:

POPULATION: 10.1 million.

ETHNICITY: There are 16 ethnic groups in Guinea, the most numerous being the Peul, Malinke, and Sussu.

RELIGION: About 65 percent Muslim. Traditional African religions 33 percent. There is also a small Christian minority.

LANGUAGE: The official language is French but Malinke and Sussu are also widely spoken.

GEOGRAPHY: Area is 245,720 sq km (94,870 sq mile). The former French colony lies on West Africa’s Atlantic coast. It shares borders with Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Mali.

Sources: Reuters/Global Insight/CIA/IMF/Alertnet

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/ )

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;)

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FACTBOX-Guinea, rich in minerals, holds landmark vote

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Guinea is holding a presidential election on Sunday which could emerge as the first truly free vote in the West African country’s troubled history since 1958 independence from France.

Stocks | Global Markets

For news on the election, click on: [ID:nLDE65Q03F]

Following are some key details about Guinea:

* ECONOMY: Guinea is the world’s top exporter of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminium and relies on minerals for over 70 percent of exports.

– Guinea boasts around a third of all known reserves of bauxite. CBG (Alcoa and Rio Tinto’s Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee), the world’s biggest bauxite exporter, shipped a record 13.7 million tonnes in 241 shiploads during 2008.

– Guinea saw two huge iron ore deals this year: a $2.5 billion deal between the world’s top iron ore miner Vale (VALE5.SA) and BSG Resources, and a $2.9 billion deal between global No. 2 iron ore miner Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) and Chinese metals group Chinalco.

– Guinea also has gold, diamonds, uranium and other minerals. Guinea’s diamond reserves are estimated at over 25 million carats, not including as yet unmapped kimberlite fields.

– Guinea’s economic progress remains mostly driven by growth in mining, construction, and public works and services. While mining firms already working in Guinea continued doing so, the government said the political situation was at least partially responsible for a downturn in mineral exports in 2009.

– Guinea was recently named by watchdog Transparency International in its 2009 Corruption Perceptions index as ranking 168, jointly with Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Burundi and Haiti out of 180 countries listed.

For a factbox on major mining operations in Guinea, click on: [ID:nLDE64A1TR]

* COUNTRY DETAILS:

POPULATION: 10.1 million.

ETHNICITY: There are 16 ethnic groups in Guinea, the most numerous being the Peul, Malinke, and Sussu. RELIGION: About 65 percent Muslim. Traditional African religions 33 percent. There is also a small Christian minority.

LANGUAGE: The official language is French but Malinke and Sussu are also widely spoken.

GEOGRAPHY: Area is 245,720 sq km (94,870 sq mile). The former French colony lies on West Africa’s Atlantic coast. It shares borders with Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Mali.

Sources: Reuters/Global Insight/CIA/IMF/Alertnet

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/ ) (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;)

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Factbox: BP’S increased capacity to handle oil, next steps

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – BP Plc said it will have up to 80,000 barrels (3.4 million gallons/12.7 million liters) a day of oil-processing capacity for crude collected from the leak in the Gulf of Mexico by mid-July.

U.S. | Green Business | Barack Obama | Gulf Oil Spill

That amount is higher than BP originally proposed to the U.S. Coast Guard on June 9, and more capacity will be added faster under a revised plan submitted on June 13 at the agency’s request.

Here are details of BP’s efforts, as explained by the company:

CURRENT SYSTEM:

* A containment cap is on the remnant of a pipe jutting from the top of a lower marine riser package, or LMRP, which sits atop a failed blowout preventer at the wellhead.

* Oil and gas continue to gush from under the cap and through its open vents at the top as BP pumps nitrogen and methanol into the cap.

* Captured oil and gas travel through a pipe, called a riser, that is connected from the top of the cap to Transocean Ltd’s Discoverer Enterprise drillship at the ocean’s surface, one mile above.

* BP had ramped up collection from 6,000 barrels a day on June 4, the first full day of operation, to more than 16,000 barrels a day on June 17.

* BP shut down the system for nearly five hours on June 15 when a fire was discovered at the top of a derrick on the Enterprise. BP said a lightning strike caused the fire, which was quickly extinguished and hurt no one. A faulty sensor caused another 30-minute shutdown. The shutdowns reduced the day’s oil collection to 10,440 barrels.

* The Enterprise can process up to 18,000 barrels a day. It can store up to 147,000 barrels, but oil must be separated from natural gas and water through processing first. Natural gas is being flared off.

* A shuttle tanker began taking oil from the drillship to transport ashore on June 9. The tanker can hold up to 140,000 barrels and transport it to shore, unload it and return to the drillship in four days.

ADDITIONAL OIL COLLECTION CAPACITY

* At 1 a.m. CDT (0600 GMT) on June 16, BP started up a second containment system at the seafloor.

* The system is using seabed equipment installed last month to conduct the failed “top kill” operation to boost the containment cap system.

* The top kill involved pumping heavy drilling fluid into the blowout preventer to try to smother the leak. Mud was pumped from a ship to a service rig and down to a manifold, which routed the fluid to two hoses connected to the blowout preventer.

* BP is reversing direction to pull up to 10,000 barrels a day of oil from the blowout preventer through one of the hoses and manifold to a service rig, Helix Energy Solutions’Q4000, at the surface.

* The system burned off 9,270 barrels of oil on June 17, having ramped up to almost its full oil-handling ability. The oil must be burned off because the rig has no storage capacity to keep oil onboard.

MORE CAPACITY COMING

* The Enterprise and Q4000 will operate as originally planned.

* By the end of June, BP will add up to another 25,000 barrels a day of capacity to the 28,000 provided by the Enterprise and the Q4000. The company originally had planned to reach up to 50,000 barrels (2.1 million gallons/7.9 million liters) day of capacity by mid-July.

* BP will connect the blowout preventer hose not used by the Q4000 to either the Toisa Pisces, a well-testing ship revamped to process oil and gas, or the Helix Producer, a rig with processing capability that the Q4000 lacks.

* Both the Toisa Pisces and the Helix Producer have up to 25,000 barrels a day of capacity.

* Collected oil would travel through the blowout preventer to a floating pipe, called a riser.

* The riser will stretch to about 300 feet below the water’s surface.

* A hose will connect the riser to the vessel.

* The floating-pipe setup allows the vessel to quickly disconnect from the pipe and move out of the way if a hurricane approaches.

* Until mid-July, the Enterprise and Q4000 would remain hooked to less hurricane-ready systems that cannot be disconnected quickly.

MORE HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS

* By the end of June, BP will switch out the current containment cap with a new one that is larger and has a stronger seal. If it works as planned, the cap will cover the entire top of the LMRP, not just the pipe remnant, and oil should not leak.

* Oil will leak unchecked during the cap switch because nothing will cover the opening.

* The switch is part of readying the entire system to be hurricane-ready.

* By mid-July, whichever of the Toisa Pisces and Helix Producer that were not installed in June will be connected to the second blowout preventer hose via a floating pipe.

* Both the Toisa Pisces and the Helix Producer will be accompanied by oil tankers that will carry collected oil to shore to be processed.

* The Discoverer Enterprise and a second drillship, Transocean’s Discoverer Clear Leader, will each be connected to the new containment cap via a drill pipe system.

* The Q4000 will depart from the area.

* The Toisa Pisces, Helix Producer, Enterprise and Clear Leader will have a combined capacity of up to 80,000 barrels a day.

* The two drillships will siphon oil if needed. Otherwise, they will be on site to begin operating if the Toisa Pisces or Helix Producer have operational problems.

* All four vessels will be able to disconnect quickly in the event of a storm.

* If they disconnect, the oil leak will flow unchecked until they return and reconnect.

* The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1.

OTHER BACKUPS

* BP will bring 3,800 feet of extra hoses in case those at the seabed fail.

* A floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is being mobilized from South America to expand capacity by another 25,000 barrels a day if needed and fill in for the Toisa Pisces or Helix Producer if needed.

THE RELIEF WELLS

* Drilling continues on two relief wells intended to intercept the oil and cap the leaking well beneath the seabed. The first was begun on May 2 and the second on May 16. Both are expected to be finished in August.

* The oil containment operations are stopgaps to minimize or corral the leak until the relief wells are drilled.

(Reporting by Kristen Hays in Houston)

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Factbox: Colombia’s leading candidates Mockus and Santos

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Polls show former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos poised to win the run-off vote against Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus and continue with Uribe’s security and free-market platform.

JUAN MANUEL SANTOS

The wealthy son of one of Colombia’s most powerful families, Santos, 58, is the consummate political insider, a U.S.- and British-trained economist whose great-uncle, Eduardo Santos, also served as president. His cousin is the current vice president.

Santos is a staunch ally of Uribe and promises to keep up military pressure on leftist FARC guerrillas. He benefited from Uribe’s popularity to win by a wide margin in a first-round vote that many pollsters had expected Mockus to lead on the back of corruption and spy scandals that tarnished the government.

Santos was editor of the country’s top newspaper before moving into politics. He has held several posts in recent governments, including finance minister.

As defense minister under Uribe, Santos oversaw the military campaign that largely drove the leftist FARC rebels into remote hill and jungle regions — major victories included the dramatic rescue of French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt along with three U.S. defense contractors held hostage by the guerrillas.

He was also in charge of a bombing raid in Ecuadorean territory that killed the FARC’s No. 2 commander — a huge blow to the rebels but also damaging to Colombia’s relations with neighboring Ecuador and Venezuela.

Lacking the natural charisma of his predecessor, Santos paid the political price for scandals under Uribe that include numerous extrajudicial killings of innocent citizens by the army.

But he revamped his campaign and won a May 30 first round easily, thanks in part to large numbers of people voting in newly safe rural areas where Uribe is most popular.

ANTANAS MOCKUS

The son of Lithuanian artists, Mockus, 58, was married in a circus tent and is as famous for his outlandish behavior as he is for helping Bogota shed its reputation as a violent, chaotic capital.

He sports a beard that recalls Abraham Lincoln, quotes philosophers Immanuel Kant and Soren Kierkegaard in meandering speeches and has a penchant for dressing in a spandex costume as “Super Citizen” during his two terms as Bogota mayor.

Such antics are tame compared with his years as the rector of Colombia’s National University, when he once urinated from a balcony and bared his backside to a rowdy crowd in the university’s auditorium.

Despite the quirks, the French-trained mathematician and philosopher won the respect of many Colombians by helping bring order to Bogota, known in the early 1990s for car bombings by drugs gangs, kidnappings and drive-by murders.

By the end of his second term in 2003, homicide rates had dropped, a modern public transport system had eased congestion and the city was fiscally sound.

Mockus surged in popularity during the first-round campaign and many voters say he presents an alternative to the Uribe administration, popular for gains against leftist rebels but rocked by a string of human rights and corruption scandals.

He is popular among young Colombians and has effectively used Internet services such as Twitter and Facebook to spread his message. Mockus is the candidate of Colombia’s recently founded Green Party, but his campaign has focused on clean politics rather than environmental issues.

Earlier this year, Mockus announced he had Parkinson’s disease, but that his illness was at an early stage and would not affect his work. His ratings continued to rise after the news. But he has also suffered from what even he calls his “own goals” giving confusing answers on key questions such as relations with Venezuela and frankly calling for tax raises.

(Reporting by Bogota newsroom, Editing by Sandra Maler)

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