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| New Obama order aims to prepare communities for severe weather Friday, Nov 01, 2013 12:10 PM PDT  By Environment Correspondent Deborah Zabarenko WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In another move to address the impact of climate change, President Barack Obama ordered a bipartisan task force on Friday to help U.S. communities brace for longer heat waves, heavier downpours, more severe wildfires and worse droughts. Friday's executive order set up a panel of governors, mayors, county officials and tribal leaders to advise the White House on how the federal government can respond to communities hit by the effects of a changing climate. Federal agencies were also directed to modernize their programs in ways that will support investments that will help cities and towns gird against extreme weather. Friday's White House order builds on a Climate Action Plan unveiled in June, the centerpiece of which was new regulations to be applied to power plants, and comes three days after the anniversary of the landfall of Superstorm Sandy, which caused more than $60 billion in damage along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Full Story | Top |
| Dow and S&P 500 up, Nasdaq dips after factory data Friday, Nov 01, 2013 11:31 AM PDT  By Luke Swiderski NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock indexes were mixed in afternoon trading on Friday as investors took October's surprisingly strong manufacturing data as a potential sign the Federal Reserve could reduce its stimulus earlier than expected. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Friday its index of U.S. factory activity rose to 56.4 in October, its best reading since April 2011. Normally such news would send stocks up, but the Dow and the S&P 500 are not far from highs reached earlier this week, and investors are now thinking about how this affects the Fed's $85 billion in monthly bond purchases. "I'm actually surprised the market's held up," said Daniel Stecich, senior vice president and director of economic research at Athena Advisor Services. Full Story | Top |
| British water suppliers face scrutiny after government promises action on prices Friday, Nov 01, 2013 11:19 AM PDT  By William James and Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron will take action to help households struggling to meet rising water bills, his spokesman said on Friday in a signal that Britain's biggest water companies will face greater political scrutiny over pricing. "There'll be some progress next week on water bills," the spokesman told a press briefing. Thames Water, privately-owned by Australia's Macquarie and other investors including China Investment Corporation, and regulator Ofwat declined to comment on the spokesman's comments. Pennon, one of Britain's main water players, also declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
| Shared concern over Syria brings thaw between Turkey and Iran Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:40 AM PDT  By Humeyra Pamuk and Tulay Karadeniz ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey and Iran said on Friday they had common concerns about the increasingly sectarian nature of Syria's civil war, signaling a thaw in a key Middle Eastern relationship strained by stark differences over the conflict. Iran has been a firm ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the 32-month-old uprising against him, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics, supporting the opposition and giving refuge to rebel fighters. But the election in June of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who says he wants to thaw Iran's ties with the West, and shared concern over the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, have spurred hopes of a rapprochement. "Sitting here together with the Iranian foreign minister you can be sure we will be working together to fight these types of scenarios which aim to see a sectarian conflict," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a conference in Istanbul. Full Story | Top |
| Greenpeace says Russia to move 30 detained activists Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:38 AM PDT  Russia is preparing to move 30 Greenpeace activists who were arrested over a protest against Arctic drilling from the far-north city of Murmansk to St. Petersburg, the environmental group said on Friday. The detainees, including two journalists, have been charged with hooliganism for the September 18 protest in which the activists tried to scale Russia's first offshore Arctic oil rig, the Prirazlomnaya, owned by state energy company Gazprom. Russia's Investigative Committee, which is leading the case, could not be reached for comment and the reasons behind any such move were not immediately clear. Greenpeace International head Kumi Naidoo said it would be easier for relatives and consular officials to reach them in St. Petersburg, about 700 km (440 miles) from Moscow, rather than in remote Murmansk. Full Story | Top |
| Removal of Fukushima's spent fuel on target: U.S. Energy Secretary Friday, Nov 01, 2013 10:35 AM PDT  A "significant milestone" is at hand for cleanup of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, with spent nuclear fuel removal likely to start on schedule, the U.S. Energy Secretary said on Friday after a visit to the site. "It appears that spent nuclear fuel will begin to be removed from Unit 4 as scheduled in mid-November," Ernest Moniz said in a statement. "This will be significant milestone for Tepco and the Japanese government and in the process of decommissioning the site." Moniz, a nuclear physicist, is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station since a nuclear disaster in March 2011 that followed an earthquake and tsunami. The cleanup and decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, which had been operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, is expected to take decades. Full Story | Top |
| Chevron earnings hurt by refining; output below target Friday, Nov 01, 2013 09:40 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Refining weakness led to a surprise decline in Chevron Corp's quarterly profit, and oil and gas well output increased but remained below target, sending the company's shares down 2 percent. But a bounceback in fourth-quarter oil and gas output would lead to Chevron producing between 98 percent and 99 percent of its 2013 forecast of 2.65 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (bpd), a company spokesman told analysts on a conference call. Downstream difficulties were shared widely, with Chevron's larger rival Exxon Mobil Corp Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Chinese investors sour on Brazil, and projects melt away Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:39 AM PDT  By Brian Winter and Caroline Stauffer SAO PAULO (Reuters) - For Chinese investors, Brazil is no longer the promised land. As a result, Chinese investment is falling, and as much as two-thirds of the roughly $70 billion in projects announced since 2007 is either on hold or has been canceled, according to recent studies and interviews with Chinese and Brazilian officials. The unexpected decline, which investors and analysts say has little hope of reversing itself anytime soon, will deprive Brazil's struggling economy of what once seemed like a sure-fire source of growth for years to come. "The ardor for investment in Brazil is fading. Full Story | Top |
| Cost overruns pull SNC-Lavalin to quarterly loss Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:22 AM PDT  , one of the world's largest construction and engineering companies, reported a quarterly loss on Friday as cost overruns continued to hit results. The Montreal-based company, which is trying to recover from a far-reaching corruption scandal last year that toppled senior executives, had warned of the loss in mid-October, when it slashed its 2013 outlook for a second time. SNC, which announced a turnaround strategy in early May, stuck with its October financial forecasts on Friday. It expects net income of C$10 million to C$50 million for 2013, which was a hefty revision from its previous estimate of C$220 million to C$235 million. Full Story | Top |
| Siemens investors seek strategy hints from new boss Friday, Nov 01, 2013 08:19 AM PDT  new chief executive Joe Kaeser faces pressure from shareholders to give a flavor of how he plans to reinvent the industrial giant to catch up with more profitable rivals when he presents annual results next week. After profit warnings and a boardroom bust-up led to his predecessor Peter Loescher's ouster in July, Kaeser said he would put the builder of products ranging from gas turbines to high-speed trains and ultrasound machines back on an "even keel" [ID:nL6N0G133X] But Kaeser is likely to keep investors waiting until second-quarter results in May before he sets out a detailed strategy, a person familiar with Siemens' plans told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Colder weather, lower renewable drive spot prices higher Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:26 AM PDT PRAGUE (Reuters) - Central European spot power prices rose on Friday as cooler weather is expected to drive up demand and on forecasts for lower wind power output, traders said. On regional exchanges, Czech and Slovak electricity for Saturday rose more than 15 percent to 30.17 euros ($41.02) per megawatt-hour (MWh), while Hungarian day ahead jumped 23 percent to 32.30 euros. In the over-the-counter market, spot prices rose to 30 euros in the Czech Republic and to 47 euros in Hungary. Data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed forecasts for colder weather and higher consumption. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's Gezhouba to build dams in Argentina worth $4.7 billion Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:07 AM PDT China Gezhouba Group Co Ltd , known for building the country's Three Gorges Dam, said it would build two hydroelectric dams in Argentina worth $4.7 billion. The project, in which Gezhouba holds a 60 percent interest and Argentina's Electroingenieria SA the rest, will involve designing and building the dams in Patagonia and maintaining them for 15 years, Gezhouba said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Friday. The dams - named after former President Nestor Kirchner and a former regional Governor, Jorge Cepernic - are located along the Santa Cruz River and will have a combined generating capacity of 1,740 megawatts. They will take 66 months to complete, said Gezhouba, which has handled overseas projects in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of Asia. Full Story | Top |
| Russian PM plays down 'gas war' talk, warns Ukraine on EU Friday, Nov 01, 2013 07:04 AM PDT  By Stephen Adler and Timothy Heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he saw no reason for Moscow to cut gas supplies to Ukraine over an unpaid bill for now, playing down talk of an imminent "gas war" that might disrupt flows to Europe. In an interview with Reuters, he denied Russia's demands for payment had anything to do with opposition to Ukraine signing agreements with the European Union this month which would mark a historic shift away from former imperial master Moscow. But the 48-year-old ex-president said the "special relationship" between the two former Soviet republics would change if Ukraine moved closer to Europe and that Kiev should no longer come to Moscow seeking loans. Full Story | Top |
| Nigerian Fuel Marketer Conoil 9-mth pretax profit rises 77 pct Friday, Nov 01, 2013 05:32 AM PDT LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian fuel retailer Conoil said on Friday its nine months to September 30, pretax profit rose 77 percent to 3.08 billion naira, compared with 699.42 million naira the same period last year. Conoil revenue also rose to 121.80 billion naira in the same period from 114.77 billion naira, the company said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Eskom halts construction work to review safety Friday, Nov 01, 2013 05:18 AM PDT  South African power utility Eskom has halted work at all its construction sites to review safety after an accident which killed six workers, its chief executive said on Friday. Ingula, a pumped storage scheme that has a planned output of 1,332 megawatts, is one of a series of Eskom projects designed to boost the power supply in Africa's biggest economy. Eskom provides 95 percent of South Africa's power. "I have instructed that there be a work stoppage on all of Eskom's construction sites throughout the whole country that would allow everybody to reflect on safety standards on sites," Chief Executive Brian Dames told reporters. Full Story | Top |
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