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Carnival ride collapse injures 18
Published: May 17, 2008 at 8:44 AM
ANGELS CAMP, Calif., May 17 (UPI) -- An investigation was underway Saturday into a California carnival ride collapse that injured 18 people, three seriously. -
Schwarzenegger backs same-sex ruling
Published: May 17, 2008 at 8:30 AM
SAN FRANCISCO, May 17 (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board he backs a court ruling upholding the right of gay couples to marry. -
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Published: May 17, 2008 at 8:10 AM
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Carnival ride collapse injures 18
Published: May 17, 2008 at 8:44 AM
ANGELS CAMP, Calif., May 17 (UPI) -- An investigation was underway Saturday into a California carnival ride collapse that injured 18 people, three seriously. -
Schwarzenegger backs same-sex ruling
Published: May 17, 2008 at 8:30 AM
SAN FRANCISCO, May 17 (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board he backs a court ruling upholding the right of gay couples to marry. -
UPI NewsTrack TopNews
Published: May 17, 2008 at 8:10 AM
News from United Press International, around the world around the clock ... -
Razor wire added to U.S. border fence
Published: May 17, 2008 at 8:06 AM
SAN DIEGO, May 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Border Patrol said it has become necessary to top a five-mile section of border fence with Mexico with triple-strand razor wire to battle smugglers. -
No epidemics after China earthquake
Published: May 17, 2008 at 7:44 AM
BEIJING, May 17 (UPI) -- Despite the large-scale devastation from last week's China earthquake, disease epidemics have so far been prevented, government officials said Saturday. -
Kidnapped Pakistani envoy released
Published: May 17, 2008 at 7:33 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 17 (UPI) -- Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizudin, was freed Saturday three months after he was kidnapped in Pakistan's lawless tribal region.
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Basra violence threatens Iraq's oil
Published: April 17, 2007 at 2:38 PM
BASRA, Iraq, April 17 (UPI) -- Political and sectarian fighting in Iraq's oil capital, Basra, intensifies, threatening most of Iraq's oil production and all its oil exports.
Basra is majority Shiite and, as the central city of the vast majority of Iraq's oil reserves and the largest port where nearly all its oil exports are sent from, equally as important to Iraq as Baghdad. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves, and production is struggling at around 2 million barrels per day. Oil sales make up 93 percent of Iraq's budget.
The local government is controlled by the Fadhila Party. Its biggest competitor is the alliance led by Moqtada Sadr. The two sides launched bitter and violent battles against each other over the past weeks.
On Monday a large demonstration was held in Basra demanding Muhammad Masbah al Waili, the Fadhila Party governor of Basra province, resign. Sadr and his Mahdi Army deny involvement in the rally and subsequent campaign for Waili to step down.
Regardless, it "marks a new escalation in intra-Shiite tensions, which will expose government institutions and energy infrastructures in the southern provinces to serious security risks," Rochdi Younsi, analyst for Middle East and Africa for the business risk firm Eurasia Group, wrote in a new report.
Sadr says Waili and the Fadhila Party in Basra are corrupt, including involvement in oil smuggling that has cost the Iraqi government billions of dollars in oil revenues and worsened the fuel shortage in the country. Local tribal leaders also back that accusation, Younsi wrote. Fadhila accuses Sadr of planning a violent regional coup, including taking control of the Southern Oil Company.
"Local oil infrastructures could be exposed to a higher security risk as the Shiite community in the south becomes more fragmented," Younsi wrote.
Basra is majority Shiite and, as the central city of the vast majority of Iraq's oil reserves and the largest port where nearly all its oil exports are sent from, equally as important to Iraq as Baghdad. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves, and production is struggling at around 2 million barrels per day. Oil sales make up 93 percent of Iraq's budget.
The local government is controlled by the Fadhila Party. Its biggest competitor is the alliance led by Moqtada Sadr. The two sides launched bitter and violent battles against each other over the past weeks.
On Monday a large demonstration was held in Basra demanding Muhammad Masbah al Waili, the Fadhila Party governor of Basra province, resign. Sadr and his Mahdi Army deny involvement in the rally and subsequent campaign for Waili to step down.
Regardless, it "marks a new escalation in intra-Shiite tensions, which will expose government institutions and energy infrastructures in the southern provinces to serious security risks," Rochdi Younsi, analyst for Middle East and Africa for the business risk firm Eurasia Group, wrote in a new report.
Sadr says Waili and the Fadhila Party in Basra are corrupt, including involvement in oil smuggling that has cost the Iraqi government billions of dollars in oil revenues and worsened the fuel shortage in the country. Local tribal leaders also back that accusation, Younsi wrote. Fadhila accuses Sadr of planning a violent regional coup, including taking control of the Southern Oil Company.
"Local oil infrastructures could be exposed to a higher security risk as the Shiite community in the south becomes more fragmented," Younsi wrote.
© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
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