Security council permanent members back Iran's U.N. referral
London: The crisis over Iran's nuclear programme escalated further on Tuesday with the United States, Europe, Russia and China agreeing to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council. The move by these nations has come ahead of a critical meeting of the U.N. nuclear regulatory body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, later this week.

Iran immediately responded to the decision of the five permanent members of the UN, saying it meant an end to negotiations over the ongoing nuclear standoff.

The crisis moved up a notch earlier this month with Tehran's decision to remove UN seals from its nuclear facilities. The move effectively marked a resumption of the country's uranium enrichment activities. The United States and Europe have charged the Islamic republic of trying to develop nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies. The country has insisted that ts nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes only.

The five nations however agreed not to take any action against Iran until March, after the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency has issued a formal report. Foreign ministers of these countries stressed that the referral of Iran to the Security Council would not be the end of diplomacy. Speaking on behalf of the permanent members and Germany, the British foreign secretary Jack Straw said ministers had "confirmed their resolve to continue to work for a diplomatic solution to the Iran problem."

Iran however said that the involvement of the Security Council would put paid to any possibility of a return to voluntary suspension. "Reporting Iran's dossier to the U.N. Security Council will be unconstructive and the end of diplomacy," top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tuesday, according to state television.

Moscow has offered to enrich Iranian uranium on its soil, as a safeguard against the possibility of Iran diverting its nuclear programs for military purposes.
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Fed announces rate increase — Bernanke takes over
New York, USA: Long-term Treasury prices ended lower on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve put in place a widely expected rates increase and an accompanying policy statement made it clear that it may lift rates further this year.

Tuesday's meeting was the last with outgoing Fed chief Alan Greenspan in charge.

The policy statement said that further rate increases might be needed to combat inflation pressures. But analysts remarked on the omission of the word 'measured' from the latest communique saying that it may imply that future rate increases would not need to be consecutive.

Meanwhile Ben Bernanke received Senate approval on Tuesday and should be sworn in as the new Fed chief on Wednesday.
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Exxon's 2005 profit of US$36bn best ever in US history
Houston, Texas: Exxon Mobil Corp record profit of US$36bn, on sales of US$371bn, for 2005, not only make it the best year that the energy company has ever had, but also makes it the most profitable year on record for any company in U.S. history, according to Standard & Poors,

Expectedly Exxon Mobil's massive year-end earnings have thrilled many analysts and investors and outraged some consumer advocates. Even as Exxon Mobil's stock price popped US$1.82 per share on the news to close at US$63.11 on Monday, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTRC) issued a statement claiming Exxon Mobil unfairly profited from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The statement echoed the sentiments of many of those who have complained about gasoline prices. "No oil company should be allowed to reap world record profits from one of the nation's worst natural disasters," FTRC president Jamie Court said.

Exxon Mobil however had anticipated the complaints as it, along with several other energy companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips, were the target of a widely publicized hearing on Capitol Hill last year where elected officials had questioned their profits in the wake of the storms.

Exxon took out full-page advertisements in several major newspapers on Monday, including the Houston Chronicle, New York Times and Washington Post, in an effort to defend profits and anticipate consumer questions. The ad argues that, as a group, energy companies' profits are not out of line with other industries. Oil and natural gas companies earn, on average, 8.2 cents for every dollar of sales. A lot of other industries — from software to semiconductors and banking to biotechnology — make more money on every dollar sold.

For 2005, the company made 9.7 cents on the dollar. According to the American Petroleum Institute, Pepsi made 3.4 cents on every dollar, GE made 7.5 cents per dollar, while Big Mac-purveyor McDonald's made 11.6 cents on the dollar. Viagra-maker Pfizer, made 20.1 cents on every the dollar and Internet giant Yahoo made 45.5 cents on every dollar.

Exxon Mobil's 2005 profits are up 42 per cent over 2004, even as American drivers are paying about 25 per cent more than they were a year ago for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, according to the AAA price survey.

Exxon Mobil's US$371bn in sales last year make it, far and away, the biggest publicly traded company in the U.S. If Exxon Mobil were a country, it would rank among the world's top 30 economies, ahead of more than 200 nations, including Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Hong Kong.
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Google shares tumble as earnings miss expectations
San Francisco: High flying Google Inc.'s took a big hit at the markets after it declared its fourth quarter profits which fell below analyst expectation for the first time since its August 2004 initial public offering.

The news caused Google's stock price to plunge by more than 15 per cent.

The Mountain View, Calif-based company said Tuesday that it earned US$372.2mn, or US$1.22 per share, for the final three months of 2005. That represented an 82 percent increase from net income of US$204.1mn, or 71 cents per share, in the previous year. Factoring in the company's donation to launch its charitable foundation and stock compensation expenses, Google said it would have earned US$1.54 per share.

Google released its results after the stock market closed Tuesday and the shares plunged US$66.93, or 15.5 per cent, in after-hours trading. The downturn wiped out roughly US$20bn in shareholder wealth.

Google's two biggest rivals, Yahoo Inc.and Microsoft Inc took a hit as well with Yahoo's shares falling 83 cents, or 2.4 per cent, while Microsoft's retreated by 21 cents in after-hours trading.

Google's revenue for the period totalled US$1.92bn, an 86 per cent increase from US$1.03bn in the prior year. After subtracting commissions paid to Google's advertising partners, the company registered fourth-quarter revenue of US $1.29 billion, matching analyst expectations, according to Thomson Financial.

CEO Eric Schmidt told analysts during a Tuesday conference call that the fourth-quarter results topped the company's internal projections. Management has steadfastly refused to publicly project its earning potential, making it difficult for analysts to reach the calculations that investors depend on for appraising a company's value.

Google's quarterly profits had at least doubled in each of the last five quarters. The robust performance had helped establish Google as one of the nation's most valuable companies, with its stock trading as high as US$475.11 earlier this month.
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