Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 16/08/07 - 03/11/07

Iraqi bourse index falls by 0.856 % and stabilizes at 38.100 points

The index of the Iraqi Market for Securities declined by 0.856 % last Monday from the previous session and the index settled at the end of the meeting at the level of 38.100 points.

This was the third session of circulation held for the month of October; the number of shares traded were more than 517 million shares worth over 746 million dinars ($ 601 thousand) achieved through the implementation of 226 deal.

The shares of 13 banking firm were traded and the rates the shares of three companies declined: namely the Bank of the Gulf by 6.2 %, the Bank of Mosul by 4.1 t % and finally the Iraqi Credit Bank by 1. 3 %. Ten companies maintained the same rates of shares at the previous meeting and they were: the Commercial Bank, the Bank of Baghdad, the Middle East Bank, the Iraqi Investment Bank, the Bank of Basrah, the Iraqi Private Bank, the Bank of Sumar, the Commercial Bank, the Bank of Babylon, Al-Warkaa Bank and Finally Kurdistan Bank. The banking index closed at 37.130 points dropping 0.188 % from the previous meeting.

The shares of 14 industrial companies were circulated; the prices rates of shares of two of them increased and they were: Nineveh Company for Food Industries by 11.1%, and it was the highest rate at Monday's meeting, and Northern Company for Carbonated Drinks by 5%. While the prices shares of three companies decreased and they were: the Chemical Industries by 7.3 %, and it was the largest percentage of decline at Monday's meeting, the Electronic Industries dropped by 5.8% and finally Metal Industries and Motorcycles by 5.8 %. Nine companies maintained the same rates of prices of shares at the previous meeting and they were: Modern Sewing Company, Eastern Beer, Baghdad for Packaging Materials, Al-Hila Industrial, Light Industries, Al-Kindi for Veterinary Vaccines, Iraqi Business Engineering, Modern Dyes and finally Carton Industry. The industrial index closed at 11.770 points dropping 0.220 % from the previous meeting.

The final outcome of Monday's meeting was the circulation of shares of 32 companies out of 93 companies enlisted on the market; the prices rates of shares of three companies increased, the rates of seven companies fell and 22 companies maintained the same rates of the previous prices.

Iraqi bourse index falls by 0.856 % and stabilizes at 38.100 points | Iraq Updates

President Talabani to Visit a European Country

An informed source in PUK’s Politburo announced that President Jalal Talabani has finished the medical tests in Mayo Clinic Ho****al, U.S, after he has finished his official meetings in Washington and New York.

In a private statement to our website, the source said “the medical test results were positive and the President’s health is very well.”

The source also mentioned that President Talabani is going to visit one of the European countries in following to an official invitation in the next few days.

PUKmedia :: English - President Talabani to Visit a European Country

8 People Injured after a Terrorist Attack on the PUK Organizational Center in Mosul

Today, Thursday, a car bomb Exploded driven by a suicide terrorist near PUK Organizational Center in Mosul in the industrial zone of the city.

PUKmedia correspondent in Mosul said that the suicide terrorist bomber tried to enter the headquarters of PUK Organizational Center in Mosul, but guards of the center opened fire to him which led to the explosion of car bomb outside the center.

The explosion resulted in the injury of eight persons, including 4 guards of the center, our correspondent added.

PUKmedia :: English - 8 People Injured after a Terrorist Attack on the PUK Organizational Center in Mosul

Crude Oil Rises a Third Day on Middle East Shipment Concern

Crude oil rose for a third day on concern that Middle East oil shipments may be disrupted as Turkish forces threatened to attack rebels in northern Iraq.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered preparations for a possible military strike on bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Iraq, a move opposed by the U.S. Oil also gained yesterday before the release of the U.S. government's weekly inventory report.

`We haven't seen any real geopolitical disturbances in the past few months and the fact that there are verbal threats is enough to provide support to oil prices de****e expectations that U.S. crude oil inventories probably rose this week,'' said Steve Rowles, analyst at CFC Seymour Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Crude oil for November delivery rose as much as 34 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $81.64 barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $81.61 at 3:04 p.m. Singapore time.

Yesterday, the contract rose $1.04, or 1.3 percent, to $81.30. Prices are 41 percent higher than a year ago. Futures touched $83.90 on Sept. 20, the highest since the contract was introduced in 1983.

Turkish authorities said yesterday they arrested 20 militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, at Turkey's main border crossing with Iraq. Turkey has vowed a crackdown on rebels of the PKK, including a possible attack on the group's camps in northern Iraq.

`The Turkish government has okayed the use of force against the Kurdish rebels, adding to the general global underlying unease,'' said Jonathan Benjamin, senior analyst at New Wave Energy LLC in Aptos California. ``I would be surprised to see a real downward move before the stats come out and we see more on the fundamentals.''

Bloomberg.com: Commodities

Iraq's Kurdistan announces three-day holiday on Lesser Bairam

Arbil, Oct 11, (VOI) - The government of Iraq's Kurdistan region announced a three-day holiday on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr (the Lesser Bairam) marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, an official source in Arbil said on Thursday.

"The Kurdish government announced an official three-day vacation on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday throughout Kurdistan on the occasion of the Lesser Bairam," the Kurdish cabinet said in a statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Eid al-Fitr vacations, marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, are due on Friday or Sunday at the latest pending the sighting of the new crescent moon.

The Iraqi government also announced the same three days as an official vacation.

Aswat Aliraq

Higher demand for dollar, exchange rate stable

Baghdad, Oct 11, (VOI) - Demand for the dollar was higher in the Iraqi Central Bank’s auction on Thursday, reaching $71.275 million compared to $24.680 million on Wednesday.

In its daily statement, the bank said it had covered all bids, including $18.445 million in cash and $52.830 in foreign transfers, at an exchange rate of 1,232 dinars per dollar, the same for the third consecutive day.
None of the 15 banks that participated in Thursday's session offered to sell dollars.

In statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the significant increase in the demand for dollar is attributed to Eid al-Fitr (the Lesser Bairam) as the auction will be closed for several days.

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday

Aswat Aliraq

PLANS TO HALVE IRAQ TROOP NUMBERS 'FULLY AGREED'

Plans to halve the British military force in Iraq by next spring have been fully agreed with US commanders on the ground, American Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said today.

Following talks in London with his UK counterpart Des Browne, Mr Gates praised the British contribution in Iraq saying that it had been a ``stalwart ally'' throughout the campaign.

However, he refused to be drawn on the prospect of further British troop withdrawals later next year.

``I don't want to get into hypothetical questions about what happens next spring,'' he told reporters following the meeting at Lancaster House.

``We have some questions that we have to resolve ourselves next spring.''

Following Gordon Brown's recent announcement of the planned troop withdrawals senior officials said that there was ``no guarantee'' that there would be any British troops left in Iraq beyond the end of 2008.

The US currently relies on British forces to protect their supply routes linking northern Iraq to Kuwait.

Mr Gates stressed that the planned British withdrawal announced by Mr Brown had been ``closely co-ordinated'' with the US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus.

LexisNexis News - Latest News from over 4,000 sources, including newspapers, tv transcripts, wire services, magazines, journals.

Turkish PM to ask approval for Iraq incursion

Turkey's prime minister will ask parliament next week to authorise a military push into north Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels amid Turkish anger on Thursday at a U.S. vote branding Ottoman Turk killings of Armenians genocide.

Analysts say a large Turkish cross-border incursion remains unlikely, but Tayyip Erdogan's government will seek authorisation for it after a public holiday which ends on Sunday, senior ruling AK Party lawmaker Sadullah Ergin said.

Ergin said the resolution could go to parliament, where the AK Party has a big majority, after a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Washington fears an offensive could destabilise Iraq's most peaceful area and potentially the wider region, but Erdogan has been under mounting pressure to act after Wednesday's vote on the highly sensitive issue of the killings in 1915 of Armenians.

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a resolution branding the killings genocide -- a charge Turkey hotly denies. The resolution was proposed by a politician with many Armenian-Americans in his district.

The United States relies heavily on Turkish bases to supply its war effort in Iraq. Any Turkish offensive into neighbouring northern Iraq would seriously strain ties with Washington and possibly hurt Turkey's European Union accession bid.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned Turkey against a possible incursion.

"Any possibility of complicating even more the security situation in Iraq should not be welcome and therefore that's the message that we passed to our Turkish friends," he said.

Ankara says 3,000 rebels from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are based in northern Iraq from where they stage deadly attacks into Turkey. Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in recent weeks, sparking an outcry.

HARMS RELATIONS

The Turkish government cautioned that relations with its NATO ally would be harmed by the U.S. committee's decision. The non-binding resolution now goes to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Democratic leaders say there will be a vote by mid-November.

Ankara will lobby Congress to prevent the bill from being approved. Erdogan is due to travel to Washington in early November for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.

The Bush administration repeated its position that the bill would harm U.S. efforts in the region by straining ties with NATO-ally Turkey.
"This action is problematic for everything we're trying to do in the Middle East and would cause grave harm to our efforts," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

Potential unilateral moves could include blocking U.S. access to the key Incirlik air base, cancelling procurement contracts, downscaling bilateral visits and joint military exercises, diplomats say.

Small anti-U.S. protests broke out in Ankara.

The committee's decision is expected to weaken U.S. influence over Turkey, which has NATO's second-largest army, at a time when the government ponders whether to push for the military operation into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq.

"Unfortunately there is a linkage between the bill and a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq because the Turkish public will be much angered towards the United States and the government will feel so as well," Faruk Logoglu, an influential former Turkish ambassador to Washington, told Reuters.

"However I think the madness of the Armenian bill wouldn't be a green light for an incursion into northern Iraq. On the contrary the U.S. should, and may, do something against the PKK to please the Turkish state and its people," he said.

Turkey's army has frequently called on the government to give them a green light to pursue the PKK -- which is considered a terrorist group by Washington, Turkey and the EU -- into Iraq.

Big incursions by Turkey in 1995 and 1997, involving an estimated 35,000 and 50,000 troops respectively, failed to dislodge the rebels based in the Iraqi mountains.

Turkish PM to ask approval for Iraq incursion - Yahoo! News UK

Prosecute Iraq's 'rogue' security guards, says UN

The UN called Thursday for rogue security guards in Iraq to face prosecution as the Australian-run firm involved in the latest civilian shooting insisted its staff stuck by clear rules of engagement.

"We would like the US government and other governments that have contractors in Iraq... to apply rules of engagement on them and to prosecute them in their own countries," UN spokesman Said Arikat told a press conference in Baghdad.

The legal position of private contractors, especially protective security details often used by foreign diplomats, is a hot-button issue in Iraq after two high-profile shooting incidents in the capital within a month.

In the first on September 16, personnel from American firm Blackwater opened fire in a crowded Baghdad square while escorting a US State Department convoy, killing at least 10 people.

Blackwater maintains its men were legitimately responding to an ambush, but the Iraqi government has said it intends to punish the compamy after a report found that 17 innocent civilians were gunned down "deliberately".

Before the dust had time to settle the row deepened on Tuesday when a woman taxi driver mistakenly got too close to a security convoy in Karrada district and came under immediate gunfire by the guards.

The taxi driver and her female passenger died of shots to the head, while a second woman passenger and a child were also wounded.

The car was left riddled with bullets and witnesses described barrages of gunfire before the convoy of Dubai-based Unity Resources Group (URG), which says its staff feared a suicide attack, sped off.

Since the Blackwater incident, the Iraqi government has drafted a law that would regulate the activities of private security contractors, but the United Nations said the onus was on foreign governments to act.

"We call on governments (who have contractors in Iraq) to apply the rule of law. They don't want rogue elements running amok doing things, feeling they are above the law," said Arikat.

Another UN official went further saying that companies like Blackwater and whoever is contracting them are liable for prosecution under international human rights law.

"If security contractors are subject to international human rights law there are consequences that follow from breaches of that law.

"There must be investigations whether crimes against humanity or war crimes have been committed," said UN human rights officer Ivana Vaco.

Commenting on the incident, URG said in a fresh statement issued late Wednesday that its convoy used a series of signals after being "approached at speed by a white car."

"The vehicle did not heed these warnings and failed to halt. Fearing a suicide attack, only then did the team use their weapons in a final attempt to stop the vehicle."

It regretted the loss of lives and said its officials had been meeting with Iraqi authorities and were cooperating with their investigations."

URG employees told AFP Thursday that they always followed strict protocols but that the situation in Iraq was extremely difficult because the envinroment was so unstable.

Unlike other security operators, in particular Blackwater, "we work with Iraqis, who are generally drivers and machine-gun shooters," a Europe-based staffer said on condition of anonymity.

"In traffic, overtaking vehicles should stop on our arrival and allow us to pass. If they don't we can use several means to make them stop.

"Our vehicles are equipped with sirens and loudspeakers run by the Iraqi drivers, who clearly warn drivers not to get too close," he said.

They then throw plastic water bottles, flash strobe lights and fire flare guns, but if all else fails "we proceed to warning shots, first in the air, then in front or to the side of the vehicle, on the hood, and then at the driver as a last resort."

If the shooter is Iraqi he has to ask for formal permission to fire from the head of the convoy, if he is not it is left to the judgement of the individual, the URG source said.

Prosecute Iraq's 'rogue' security guards, says UN - Yahoo! News UK

Baghdad shooting victims sue Blackwater in U.S.

An injured survivor and relatives of three Iraqis killed in Baghdad on Sept. 16 when employees of private security company Blackwater USA opened fire on civilians sued the firm in U.S. court on Thursday.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, a legal advocacy group, said it filed the suit charging that Blackwater and its affiliates violated U.S. law in committing "extrajudicial killings and war crimes."

The killing of 17 Iraqis in the Baghdad incident created tensions between the Iraqi government and Washington and sparked calls for tighter controls on private contractors, who are immune from prosecution in Iraq.

The suit charges that Blackwater "created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company's financial interests at the expense of innocent human life."

The suit was filed in the names of Talib Mutlaq Deewan, injured in the incident, and the estates of Himoud Saed Atban, Usama Fadhil Abbass and Oday Ismail Ibraheem. It seeks unspecified compensatory damages for death, physical, mental and economic injuries, and punitive damages.

Those bringing the suit also want to compel the testimony of Blackwater founder and ex-Navy SEAL Erik Prince, who told Congress last week that his staff had acted appropriately in the incident and had returned fire at threatening targets.

"We look forward to forcing Blackwater and Mr. Prince to tell the world under oath why this attack happened," said Susan Burke, an attorney representing the suing Iraqis.

The Iraqi government has accused Blackwater of deliberately killing the 17. A government source has said Baghdad wants Blackwater to pay $8 million in compensation to each victim's family.

There are at least three investigations into the Sept. 16 Blackwater incident, which occurred while the contractor was conducting a convoy through Baghdad.

Blackwater has received U.S. government contracts worth more than $1 billion since 2001. It is under intense scrutiny for its security work in Iraq, where the firm has about 1,000 personnel to protect the U.S. mission and its diplomats from attack.

Attempts to reach Blackwater on Thursday for comment on the lawsuit were not immediately successful.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11355175.htm