It looks like a piece of sculpture but it’s a humidifier that uses an energy efficient ultrasonic nebulizer to generate enough moisture for any room in your home. Auto-dimming LED lights indicate its operation and it powers down automatically when the water level depletes. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please […]
Oil market analysts are debating if oil will fall to $50. In North Dakota, prices are already there. Crude sold at the wellhead in the Bakken shale region in North Dakota fell to $49.69 a barrel on Nov. 28, according to the marketing arm of Plains All America (PAA) Pipeline LP. That’s down 47 percent from this year’s peak in June, and 29 percent less than the […]
Saudi Arabia will probably deepen discounts for crude supplies to Asia after leading OPEC to maintain the group’s output target amid a global battle for market share, according to a Bloomberg survey of traders. The world’s biggest oil exporter will announce January official selling prices to buyers in Asia this week, after lifting its Arab Light grade from the lowest level in almost six years a month […]
OPEC’s decision to cede no ground to rival producers underscored the price war in the crude market and the challenge to U.S. shale drillers. The 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its output target unchanged even after the steepest slump in oil prices since the global recession, prompting speculation it has abandoned its role as a swing producer. Yesterday’s decision in Vienna propelled futures to the […]
Iran may propose that OPEC cut its output target by as much as 1 million barrels a day to halt the slide in crude prices when the country’s oil minister consults with his Saudi counterpart before the group gathers this week. Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi will talk on the sidelines of the meeting in Vienna of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting […]
NEW DELHI: The T S R Subramanian committee, constituted about three months ago to review laws related to environment and forest protection, has recommended some big-ticket changes to the rules and legislation. These include a complete overhaul of certain laws, special fast-track dispensation for power, mining and linear projects, self-certification of compliance by industry and diluting the powers of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The committee’s […]
NEW DELHI: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Thursday approved an outlay of Rs 43,033 crore to fund an ambitious initiative to supply electricity through separate feeders for agricultural and rural domestic consumption, aimed at providing round-the-clock power to village households. In addition, the cabinet also approved spending Rs 32,612 crore on an integrated power development initiative, which involves strengthening sub-transmission and distribution systems, according […]
NEW DELHI: The government is working on big-ticket financial package for about 1,30,000-mw thermal and hydro power plants worth over Rs 6,00,000 crore that are hit by severe funds crunch while continuing to face cost and time overruns. Officials said the Department of Financial Services will shortly recommend a series of steps to the Reserve Bank of India. These include lenders providing additional debt to […]
Bad debts in China are well underestimated because authorities persist in propping up weak companies and bailing out local investors, according to DAC Management LLC. The Chicago-based asset management and advisory firm, which focuses on distressed credit and special situations in China, says the worst is yet to come, and that means lots of opportunities for the world’s biggest distressed debt traders. Nonperforming loans at Chinese banks […]
Egypt authorities said on Wednesday they have resolved a long-standing dispute over a land sale with Dubai-based conglomerate Al Futtaim Group, as the government seeks to clear a backlog of such disputes in order to win back badly-needed foreign investors. A cabinet statement said the company would pay a fee to cover a renegotiated land price at the Cairo Festival City development, but it did not give […]
By Ashok B Sharma If South Asia plans to consolidate and further integrate itself, it needs to learn much from the experiences of South-East Asian countries that are moving towards an ASEAN Economic Community hopefully by 2015. About 80 per cent of the spadework have been done for the process of integration, only 20 per cent of the efforts are needed. The ASEAN group was of course […]
NEW DELHI: Bids in the February 2015 spectrum auction are likely to skyrocket as the department of telecommunications (DoT) plans to auction just 800/900/1800 MHz spectrum bands, and not the vital 2100 MHz band spectrum that telcos were hoping for. Auctions for spectrum in the 2100 MHz band will take place only in May, and with no certainty about how much 2100 MHz spectrum would be available […]
KOLKATA: State-run NTPC, the country’s biggest power generator and thermal coal consumer, plans to acquire at least 26 per cent stake in coal mines abroad to secure longterm fuel supplies for all its power plants, a senior executive said. This is a shift from the company’s earlier stance of seeking only minority stakes in such mines to ensure fuel for plants that operate only on imported […]
NEW DELHI: With global energy firms refusing to participate in the ambitious TAPI gas pipeline, India may propose getting a Chinese company to lead a consortium that will build the USD 10 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. French giant Total SA had initially envisaged interest in leading a consortium of national oil companies of the four nations in the TAPI project, but backed off after […]
NEW DELHI: The Centre is likely to reallocate to state-run firms such — as NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation — as well as state government utilities their captive coal blocks that had been cancelled by the Supreme Court. This leaves only half of the mines for auction to the private sector in the first phase in December. The coal ministry has assured most of the central […]
By Ashok B Sharma The annual feature, G 20 Summit, has turned out to be a mere talk shop. No substantial effort has been done at the multilateral level to salvage the global economy. Whatever efforts are been made, are at national level for generating more demand to keep up the growth pace of their economy. But with the emergence of strong leadership in India, […]
By S Sethuraman As the Modi Government completes its first six months with a record of hesitant, incremental moves on the economic front, growth recovery has at last become visible and looks to gain momentum to hit the targeted 5.5 per cent or slightly above, in fiscal ’15. Business sentiment is being bolstered by falling inflation and output modestly growing by 2.8 per cent in the […]
By Barun Das Gupta KOLKATA: If one takes the trouble of rummaging through the archives relating to that part of India which is now called Arunachal Pradesh, one will stumble on a shocking document titled “Regulation 2 of 1880. The Assam Frontier Tracts Regulation, 1880.” It begins with the Preamble: “Whereas it is expedient to provide for the removal of certain frontier tracts in Assam inhabited or […]
NEW DELHI: HDFC Bank will not be able to raise much money by way of foreign investment even as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Friday regularised its current overseas investment structure. That is because the board turned down the bank’s plea to not treat the promoter stake as foreign investment. Besides, the bank will also have to deposit a penalty as it was in the […]
NEW DELHI: Less than a day after Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) announced a hike in consumer power tariff through power purchase adjustment charges (PPAC), it withdrew the order. This is the first time a tariff order has been withdrawn in Delhi since DERC was constituted in 2001. While the regulator said the order stands withdrawn till it receives complete information from various power generators on fuel […]
NEW DELHI: After cementing trade ties with China, energy-rich Russia is now looking to strengthen its relationship with India by reviving discussions on a hydrocarbon pipeline, in addition to inviting ONGC Videsh (OVL) to invest in oil and gas projects in the Russian Federation. India and Russia have decided to form a joint working group to study laying a ‘hydrocarbon’ pipeline connecting the nations. Preliminary discussions […]
NEW DELHI: Eyeing joint-production of military and civilian items with a foreign partner, India and Russia could clinch deals on co-production of mid-range civilian aircraft as well as military helicopters during President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Delhi on December 11-12. During Putin’s maiden visit to Delhi for the annual summit after Modi became the Prime Minister the two sides might agree on joint production of the […]
By S. Sethuraman Republicans, whose obstructionist role for six years, made life too tough for President Obama to push ahead with a liberal inclusive agenda and reshape the economic system, have now gained full control of the Congress, with a decisive majority in the powerful 100-member Senate while reinforcing their dominant strength in the 435-member House of Representatives. In effect, Mr Obama, who has still […]
NEW DELHI: Suresh Prabhu is set to play a key role in drafting policy on natural resources and infrastructure in the Narendra Modi government. The Shiv Sena member has been given an office in South Block, where the Prime Minister’s Office is located, and is expected to be given cabinet rank. Prabhu is also expected to look after the organisation that will succeed the Planning Commission […]
