Oil
nears $70 a barrel
Singapore: Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday to close
to $70 a barrel in London on concerns over Nigerian crude
production. Output from Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest
oil exporter, is down by 25 pc after a campaign of militant
attacks against oil installations.
London
Brent crude was up 25 cents at $69.96 a barrel by 0255
GMT, having fallen 98 cents on Monday after Nigerian unions
suspended a two-day strike that had threatened to halt
oil flows.
U.S.
crude traded 54 cents down at $64.66 a barrel, but did
not record any settlement on Monday due to a holiday.
Any
further disruption to production of Nigeria's gasoline-rich
crude would increase worries over fuel supplies as the
peak season demand has begun in the United States over
the three-day Memorial Day holiday.
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'Rich
countries should pay global warming bill': Oxfam
London: Barely 10 days before a crucial Group of Eight
(G8) summit in Germany which is expected to discuss climate
change as the core issue, aid agency Oxfam has said coping
with the damages of global warming will cost $50 billion
a year, and the rich nations who caused most of the pollution
must pay most of the bill.
Oxfam
said the United States must foot 44 percent of the annual
$50 billion bill. The US however, is rejecting attempts
by German G8 presidency Germany to set stiff targets and
timetables for cutting carbon gas emissions and raising
energy efficiency.
Oxfam
researcher Kate Raworth said G8 countries faced two obligations
as they prepare for this year's summit in Germany
to stop harming by cutting their emissions to keep global
warming below two degrees Celsius and to start helping
poor countries to cope. Developing countries cannot and
should not be expected to foot the bill for the impact
of rich countries' emissions she added.
Scientists
say average temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and
4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to carbon emissions
from burning fossil fuels for power and transport, causing
floods and famine and putting millions of lives at risk.
The
United States is the world's biggest producer of carbon
emissions. However, China is expected to overtake it within
a year as it builds a coal-fired power station every four
days to feed demand.
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