Western Union shuts down telegram service after 155 years
Chicago: The Western Union quietly announced last week that it was exiting the telegram business. The birth and ascendancy of new technologies such as cheap long distance calling, e-mail and instant messaging, cell phones and other wireless devices had finally forced the company to discontinue a service that had been synonymous with its name for 155 years.

"Effective January 27, 2006," the company said in a note posted on its Web site, "Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage."

The death of an era also marks the beginning of a new one for Western Union, as last week its parent, First Data Corp. also announced plans to spin off Western Union, as a stand-alone, publicly listed company. The announcement formally recognizes that Western Union has become a financial services company, deriving nearly all its revenue from transferring money around the country and around the world.

Western Union was founded in Rochester, New York, in 1851, and at the peak of its telegram business in 1929, ihs army of uniformed messengers delivered 200 million telegrams worldwide - virtually 550,000 a day. In 2005, the figure had dwindled to just 20,000, about 55 a day, delivered through third-party couriers, at an average cost of US$10.

Company spokesmen confessed that the Internet had cut into its business. They also said that they were unaware as to who sent the final telegram and who received it.

As a company Western Union was the first on many fronts, helping build the first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861, introducing the first stock ticker in 1866 and also was one of the first eleven stocks tracked by the Dow Jones Average. It set many technological trends in the communications industry, introducing teletypewriters, telexes and fax machines.

In recent decades, the pace of technological innovation gradually pushed the company into the money transfer business, a lucrative growth industry serving millions of expatriates in a global economy.

Western Union spokesmen said that the termination of the telegram service had completed its transition from a communications services business to a financial services business.
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Oil at 3-week low as U.S. not to seek Iran sanctions for now
Vienna, Austria: Crude oil hit a three-week low after the U.S. said it wouldn't immediately seek United Nations sanctions against Iran. A statement by Greg Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the IAEA said, ``We are not now seeking sanctions or other punitive measures on Iran. We support the ongoing efforts of the IAEA with the weight of the Security Council's authority.''

The IAEA's board however said that it ``lacks confidence'' in Iranian intentions, and called on Iran to open military sites to UN inspectors and account for documents that it hadn't produced.

The statement eased concern that the world's fourth- biggest oil producer will retaliate with an export cut.

The U.S. and European Union accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear power program to conceal weapons-production plans. The situation as of now remains unresolved, still leaving the potential for further events to influence prices.

Crude oil for March delivery traded at US $64.63 a barrel, down 8 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 7:42 a.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, oil fell US $1.88, or 2.8 percent, to US $64.68, the lowest close since Jan. 13. It was the third straight decline and the biggest since Dec. 16. Oil is up 39 percent from a year ago. Prices had surged to a record US$70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30, the day after a hurricane made landfall on the Gulf of Mexico coast, slashing U.S. oil output.

The IAEA board adjourned yesterday after debating a resolution that would refer Iran to the Security Council. The resolution has enough votes to be passed, and a vote is likely today, IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday at a news conference.

Iran produced 3.9 million barrels of crude oil a day in December, almost five per cent of world output, according to Bloomberg News figures. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has 1.3 million barrels a day of spare production capacity. Other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, excluding Iraq, have about 400,000 barrels of additional capacity.
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General Motors awards US$15bn in IT outsourcing contracts
Detroit, USA: General Motors' announced new outsourcing contracts worth US$15bn over five years. While EDS remained the company's biggest IT supplier, it has lost out on more than US$500mn a year to other providers such as Hewlett-Packard, Capgemini, IBM, Compuware Covisint, and Wipro.

EDS's share of the business now will drop from US$1.96bn in annual revenue to between US$1.2bn and US$1.4bn a year.

Hewlett-Packard and Capgemini, meanwhile, gained a greater part of the GM business in the latest contract. HP says it won US$700mn over five years. IBM, Compuware Covisint, and Wipro are all existing suppliers for GM.

With the award of the new contracts, GM is asking all its suppliers to adhere to 44 standard process for various IT tasks, a move that GM says could broadly change the IT-services business. GM officials said that this would not only benefit GM, but also the suppliers and would likely impact the IT industry, too.

The new contracts have come at a risky time for GM, which is battling falling market share and is undergoing massive restructuring. Since it can't afford factory delays or design problems caused by glitches as one IT vendor hands off to another, risk mitigation was the top priority in the contract selection process. Cost was a lower priority in contract decisions.
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Shell's full year profits at record US$22.94bn
London, UK: Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced record full-year profits for 2005 of $22.94 billion (£12.93bn) - up 30 per cent in a year. It also said that the tax it pays in the UK had doubled.

The performance marks a remarkable turnaround by the company, where over the past two years senior executives were sacked after an overstatement of oil reserves. The fiasco also marked the end of the company's dual listing in Britain and the Netherlands.

In a move seen as attempting to deflect criticism of excessive profits, Shell revealed that UK taxation on the company's earnings last year jumped to US$1.2bn (£674m) from US$646mn in 2004.

Shell's full-year profit compared with US$17.59bn in 2004. The group revealed that in the final quarter of 2005 it made a profit of US$5.4bn against US$5.22bn in the year-earlier period.

The bulk of Shell's earnings came from its exploration and production business, where profits rose 45 per cent in 2005 to US$14.24bn.

Shell invested US$19bn in developing the business in 2005, well up on the US$15.6bn of capital expenditure in the previous 12 months.
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UK warns Gazprom over Centrica takeover
Moscow/London: The UK government warned on Thursday that Gazprom would face "robust scrutiny" if it tried to take over Centrica, the owner of British Gas and UK's biggest energy supplier, after an executive with the Russian gas giant said his group was considering a deal.

Centrica shares expectedly took a big jump, closing up by 11 per cent at 300p, giving Centrica a market value of £11bn.

Alexander Shkuta, deputy general manager of Gazexport, Gazprom's export arm, told an investor conference call that Gazprom was looking at Centrica. Shkuta was quoted by Interfax, the news agency, as saying "the possible acquisition of Centrica...is at the moment being analysed and examined. No decision has been taken."

Shkuta's comments followed on the heels of earlier comments by Alexander Medvedev, head of Gazexport, said Gazprom planned to provide up to 20 per cent of Britain's gas by 2015, and might consider taking over a British supply business.

Centrica said Gazprom had "made no approach".

The UK Department of Trade and Industry said it was aware of the speculation surrounding Gazprom and Centrica. It said: "Security of energy supply…is paramount. Any new owners would face robust scrutiny."

Gazprom already supplies a quarter of the European Union's gas, but It is known to be keen to sell more in lucrative western European markets, including Germany, France and the UK market.
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