Maliki to Name Iraq Government Monday

Maliki to name Iraq government Monday
Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd, also will remain at his post but a final selection of a new Finance Minister had not yet been made, sources close to Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said. Shahristani, a Shi'ite, led the Oil ministry as it set Iraq on an ambitious path to boost its production capacity to 12 million barrels per day in the next six or seven years, rivaling global leader Saudi Arabia, from 2.5 million bpd now. Analysts say target of 6-7 million bpd is more realistic....

Iraq to unveil new government Monday
By Suadad al-Salhy Baghdad | Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:08am EST Baghdad (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will unveil his new cabinet on Monday, retaining the Oil minister who forged ambitious plans to turn the war-ravaged country into a top global Oil producer, senior officials said. Iraqis have been waiting for a new government since a parliamentary election in March failed to produce a clear winner and displayed the depth of Iraq's ethnic and sectarian divisions. Months of politica...

Maliki to name Iraq government Monday
Baghdad | Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:32am EST Baghdad (Reuters) - Hussain al-Shahristani will be reappointed Iraqi Oil minister when a new cabinet is unveiled on Monday, senior officials said, keeping in place the architect of plans to turn Iraq into a top global Oil producer. Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd, also will remain at his post but a final selection of a new Finance Minister had not yet been made, sources close to Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said. Shahristani, a Shi'ite, ...

Iraq to unveil new government Monday
By Suadad al-Salhy Baghdad | Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:08am EST Baghdad (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will unveil his new cabinet on Monday, retaining the Oil minister who forged ambitious plans to turn the war-ravaged country into a top global Oil producer, senior officials said. Iraqis have been waiting for a new government since a parliamentary election in March failed to produce a clear winner and displayed the depth of Iraq's ethnic and sectarian divisions. Months of politica...

Iraq to unveil new government Monday
Baghdad (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will unveil his new cabinet on Monday, retaining the Oil minister who forged ambitious plans to turn the war-ravaged country into a top global Oil producer, senior officials said. Iraqis have been waiting for a new government since a parliamentary election in March failed to produce a clear winner and displayed the depth of Iraq's ethnic and sectarian divisions. Months of political squabbling ensued. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, a ...

Iraq's Shahristani to stay oil minister: sources
By Suadad al-Salhy Baghdad | Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:51am EST Baghdad (Reuters) - Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, the architect of deals with Oil majors that could vault Iraq into the top ranks of global producers, will keep his job in Iraq's new government, senior officials said on Saturday. "The minister of Oil will stay in his place as the minister of oil," said Abdul-Hadi al-Hasani, an official with Maliki's Dawa party and former deputy leader of parliament's Oil and gas committee. ...

Iraqi PM To Name Cabinet Monday
(NewsCore) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki will present his cabinet Monday, potentially bringing an end to nine months of political impasse after inconclusive March Elections. The announcement came Saturday as parliament voted to overturn Controversial bans placed earlier this year on three members of a Sunni-backed political bloc for their alleged ties to ex-dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. "Mr. Maliki has officially asked to present his cabinet to parliament on Monday," an aide sa...

A barrier to new Iraq government falls with vote by parliament
Reporting from Baghdad — Iraq's parliament knocked away one of the last barriers to forming a new government Saturday when it struck down a ban on three Sunni Muslim politicians. The reinstatement of former lawmaker Saleh Mutlaq and two other politicians virtually guaranteed that their Secular Iraqiya bloc, popular with Iraq's Sunnis, will join Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government. Different Iraqi political groups and U.S. officials have pushed for a Coalition Government with a big ...

Iraqi lawmakers lift ban on Sunni politicians
Baghdad — Iraq’s parliament took a major step Saturday toward creating a unity government, lifting a ban on three Sunni Muslim politicians who were barred from running in national Elections last March after being accused of having ties to Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime. The vote brings Iraq closer to ending months of political turmoil following the March 7 election, which failed to produce a clear winner. It also paves the way for broader Sunni participation in the emerging go...

Iraqi lawmakers lift ban on Sunni politicians
BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament on Saturday lifted a ban on three Sunni Muslim politicians barred from running in national Elections last March after being accused of having ties to Saddam Hussein's ousted regime. The vote brings Iraq closer to a unity government and an end to months of political turmoil that began when the March 7 election failed to produce a clear winner. It paves the way for broader Sunni participation in the emerging government, headed by Shiite Incumbent Prime Minister No...

Russia 'faces 4.3 pct deficit': finance minister
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Saturday the country's Deficit will be 4.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, higher than the figure announced by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "An increase in revenue this year allows us to lower our estimate of budgetary Deficit to 4.3 percent from 4.6 percent," Russian news agencies quoted Kudrin as telling Putin during a meeting. On Thursday, during his annual marathon phone-in, Putin said the Deficit would be between 3.5 to 3.8 percen...

WikiLeaks: Chevron eyed oil deal involving Iran
(12-16) 09:13 PST Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Chevron Corp. expressed interest in developing Oil Reserves straddling the Iran-Iraq border, potentially putting the American energy giant at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against Tehran, according to comments made public in a leaked diplomatic cable. During a March 2009 meeting detailed in the document, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told a senior U.S. Embassy official he was in talks with Chevron about the cross-border Oil Field....

Chevron makes deep water investment in Gulf
Image via Wikipedia Houston Chronicle: Chevron Corp. on Thursday gave another multibillion-dollar vote of confidence to the future of Oil and gas activity in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. Despite lingering regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. offshore region created by the BP Oil Spill, the nation's second-largest Oil company after Exxon Mobil said it will spend $4 billion over the next several years to develop its Big Foot field, 225 miles south of New Orleans. The move comes less than two mon...

Obamas Path to Energy Independence?
Via correspondent Poe Leggette, the Western Energy Alliance’s analysis of Oil and gas leasing in the RockY Mountain states under the last three administrations: Bear in mind that the Federal Government is the primary owner of much of the land in several western states. Combine that with the fact that the March 2010 Lease Sale was the last one we’ll see in the Gulf of Mexico for the foreseeable future, and you can begin to see how hostile the Obama Administration is to domestic Oil ...

Nigeria militants claim attacks on oil facilities
By Joe Brock ABUJA | Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:43pm EST ABUJA (Reuters) - A Militant faction in Nigeria's Oil-producing Niger Delta said Saturday it was behind attacks on oil facilities operated by U.S. energy firm Chevron and Italian oil company Agip Friday. The Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF) said in an emailed statement that it had struck three flow stations in Delta state using remotely activated bombs. There was no immediate independent confirmation. "NDLF has carried out bombings of three...

Why, All of the Sudden, Is Freaking "Turkish" So Important?
Texas teachers examine Turkish education system.A delegation of school managers and teachers from Texas have come to Turkey to examine the Turkish education system as part of efforts to make Turkish an elective course at state-run schools in the United States. Three state-run schools in Texas, which is a pilot region, are already offering Turkish as an elective course to their Students.The Texas school managers and teachers came to Turkey as part of an initiative of the Raindrop Foundation.Rai...

Grim Xmas for Iraqi Christians as many flee north
IRBIL, Iraq - They saw their brethren murdered during Mass and then were bombed in their homes as they mourned. Al-Qaida vowed to hunt them down. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave. Since the Oct. 31 bloodbath in their Baghdad church, Iraqi Christians have been fleeing Sunni Muslim Extremists who view them as nonbelievers and agents of the West. At a time when Christians in various parts of the Muslim w...

Grim Xmas for Iraqi Christians as many flee north
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — They saw their brethren murdered during Mass and then were bombed in their homes as they mourned. Al-Qaida vowed to hunt them down. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave. Since the Oct. 31 bloodbath in their Baghdad church, Iraqi Christians have been fleeing Sunni Muslim Extremists who view them as nonbelievers and agents of the West. At a time when Christians in various parts of the Mus...

Christians In Iraq Flee North Before Christmas
IRBIL, Iraq — They saw their brethren murdered during Mass and then were bombed in their homes as they mourned. Al-Qaida vowed to hunt them down. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave. Since the Oct. 31 bloodbath in their Baghdad church, Iraqi Christians have been fleeing Sunni Muslim Extremists who view them as nonbelievers and agents of the West. At a time when Christians in various parts of the Muslim...

Iraq entices investors to bid for power profits
BAGHDAD - Iraq asked investors Saturday to compete to build four Power Plants and help the country meet burgeoning electricity demands, promising a healthy profit for the winners. At a meeting of about 30 local and international investors, acting Electricity Minister Hussain al-Shahristani assured the companies that governmental or legal obstacles would be removed for firms that won the right to build and operate the plants. "I can assure you that the government is interested in implementi...

Saudi Shi'ites mark Ashura festival in anxious mood
By Ulf Laessing QATIF, Saudi Arabia | Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:55am EST QATIF, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Like their Shi'ite brethren across the Middle East, Hussein and his Saudi friends marked the mourning day of Ashura on Thursday, their mood tinged with worry over their future in the strict Sunni Muslim kingdom. Hundreds of black-clad Shi'ites in the small Gulf town of Qatif, in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province, rose early to join once-forbidden processions to mark the slaying in 680 of ...

Kyrgyzstan lays foundation for parliamentary democracy
By Olga Dzyubenko Bishkek | Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:32pm EST Bishkek (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's parliament elected a speaker and approved a new government on Friday, laying the foundation for Central Asia's first parliamentary Democracy after months of upheaval and violence. The country's Central Asian neighbours, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have authoritarian presidential systems their leaders say are essential in a region marked by ethnic and clan rivalries as well as Isla...

Iran arrests 9 suspects in deadly mosque bombing
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian security forces have arrested nine suspects in connection with a double bombing near a Mosque in the country's southeast this week that killed 39 people, state television said Thursday. The armed Sunni Militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's bombing outside the Imam Hussein Mosque in the port city of Chahbahar near the Pakistan border. The group, which has carried out attacks on Military and civilians in southeastern I...

Bombs kill 2 Iraqis on way to religious ceremony
BAGHDAD - Bombs hidden in trash cans exploded near a group of pilgrims in a town north of Baghdad, killing two people Thursday as millions of Shiites headed to ceremonies to mark a day of mourning. Police said four blasts struck the procession in the town of Dujail, located some 50 (80 kilometers) miles north of Baghdad. Six people were also wounded in the attack, police and Hospital officials said. Two more bombs were discovered and disarmed before they exploded, said a local police offic...

CIA accused of role in Iran suicide bombing
Tehran - Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar charged on Friday the CIA was involved in the Suicide bombing in southeast Iran as the death toll rose to 36. "From the inspection of equipment obtained from the Terrorist elements of this crime, it has become clear that the CIA and other spy agencies were involved," he was quoted as saying on state television's website. Najjar did not give details. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile, accused the West of working to divid...