Euro governments paying secret ransoms to al Qaeda

Al Qaeda has secretly collected at least $125 million in kidnapping ransoms from European governments looking to buy back hostages from Africa and the Middle East, a report claimed Tuesday.

The hefty cash payments date back to 2008, including $66 million in the past year alone, according to the New York Times.

Europe starts stockpiling oil as Iran conflict looms

European governments are rushing to boost stockpiles of crude oil and fuel, anxious to comply with new EU rules and amid reports that Israel is preparing to launch an attack on Iran.

Belgium and the Netherlands have issued tenders to import a total of around 250,000 tonnes of diesel and gasoline for delivery in September and October, their agencies said.

France has also bought diesel and awarded a crude oil tender this week while Belgium is increasing its crude stocks.

“This is yet another unexpected source of support for oil demand… [It] shows how the geopolitical concerns about Iran and Syria are bullish for oil even in the absence of an actual supply disruption,” said Seth Kleinman, head of energy research at Citi.

Iran tensions

European governments appear to be preparing for further supply disruptions in the Middle East as tensions have mounted between Israel and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Israeli media have reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the Fall.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reacted on Friday, calling Israel a “cancerous tumour” with no place in a future Middle East, drawing an unusually strongly-worded condemnation by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Ashton is acting as chief negotiator for six powers – the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain – that are trying to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear programme through economic sanctions and diplomacy. They fear Iran’s nuclear programme aims at producing weapons, though Tehran says it serves peaceful purposes only.

EU oil stock directive

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An EU directive passed in 2009 and designed to mitigate the impact of a supply crisis requires EU members to hold reserves equal to 90 days of average daily net imports or 61 days of average daily consumption ahead of a December 31 deadline.

One third of the stocks must be held in products, according to the EU directive.

“We are in the process of building stocks to meet our strategic obligations under the new EU rules,” said Alain Demot, general manager of Belgium’s Apetra, adding that more tenders would be issued in coming months.

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NEXT STEPS:

• 31 Dec. 2012: Deadline for member states to communicate measures taken under the EU’s oil stock directive. Under the directive, oil stocks must correspond “at the very least, to 90 days of average daily net imports or 61 days of average daily inland consumption, whichever of the two quantities is greater.”

Full article: Europe starts stockpiling oil as Iran conflict looms (EurActiv)

‘Eurozone austerity measures to spark uncontrollable protests’

An economic commentator says the harsh austerity measures implemented in the Eurozone are likely to provoke massive protests in the bloc, which could be beyond the control of the ruling elite

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So as long as the governments in Europe continue to beat the drum of austerity measures, it will reflect in high unemployment because effectively what you see is that when there is austerity measures, the government is not spending money, the unemployment register increases, when people are unemployed they are unable to pay their taxes, they do not have enough money to buy products in the economy so it becomes a very circular situation and we the demonstrations in most of the European countries on the Labor Day, strikes in France, in Spain, in Italy, in UK and most of the other countries.

So the recession is really here to stay, I think, and all these measures which are being taken, the fiscal measures, the fiscal difficulties that are being faced by Eurozone countries will not go away by austerity measures.

This is not just [what] I as an individual economic commentator [am] talking about; most of the analysts, most of the fair-minded commentators are really talking about this particular issue, that the more we want to implement austerity, the more difficulties the Eurozone economies will face. There is no doubt at all in my mind about this.

Full article: ‘Eurozone austerity measures to spark uncontrollable protests’ (Press TV)