Post Reply
3481-3500 of 4113
it a weird thingy, I believe with japan mishaps recently would benefit sembcorp marine sub arms ( mid size shipyard) for gas related vessels.
keppel corp only has one small shipyard, doing some ang mo kind of tug vessel work...
that two are considers the resilient kind ignore oil price. ezra is one of them and many more same like dyna mac in penny category, swiber? ??
i think singapore remisier / analyst prefer keppel corp more. They might have bot and keep for age :D
oil related break into 3 areas:
1) upstream : offshore...
2) down stream : oil refinery...
3) support : shipyard...
A big project at jurong island, it is about exxon mobile building a new plant opposite jurong shipyard. remind me of existing kepfels and exxonmobile at west part of singapore...
rotijai ( Date: 20-Mar-2011 15:23) Posted:
as far as i know there are only semb marine and keppel (oil related)..
wat other counters do we have in sti? dyna mac and stx?
krisluke ( Date: 20-Mar-2011 15:16) Posted:
i only good at oil related chips, the rest not good liao. i think this is a good year to buy property / bank counters which are fundamentally sound. sia / bdi is just some thingy that goes with season. last week is just about sheer luck, becos news in japan not so well spread like those from usa.
remember 9/11 attack, its the news that blow the story big and scary.. |
|
|
|
Macro announcements next week
Mon 21 Mar: US Existing Home Sales (Feb)
Wed 23 Mar: SG CPI (Feb), US New Home Sales (Feb)
Thu 24 Mar: US Durable Goods Order (Feb), US Initial Jobless Claims (Mar 19)
Fri 25 Mar: PRC MNI Business Condition Survey (Mar), US GDP (4Q), US Michigan Confidence (Mar)
as far as i know there are only semb marine and keppel (oil related)..
wat other counters do we have in sti? dyna mac and stx?
krisluke ( Date: 20-Mar-2011 15:16) Posted:
i only good at oil related chips, the rest not good liao. i think this is a good year to buy property / bank counters which are fundamentally sound. sia / bdi is just some thingy that goes with season. last week is just about sheer luck, becos news in japan not so well spread like those from usa.
remember 9/11 attack, its the news that blow the story big and scary...
rotijai ( Date: 20-Mar-2011 14:40) Posted:
| master krisluke, any particular bluechips tat u are looking at |
|
|
|
i only good at oil related chips, the rest not good liao. i think this is a good year to buy property / bank counters which are fundamentally sound. sia / bdi is just some thingy that goes with season. last week is just about sheer luck, becos news in japan not so well spread like those from usa.
remember 9/11 attack, its the news that blow the story big and scary...
rotijai ( Date: 20-Mar-2011 14:40) Posted:
master krisluke, any particular bluechips tat u are looking at ?
krisluke ( Date: 20-Mar-2011 14:15) Posted:
 rabbit bull run on monday  |
|
|
|
master krisluke, any particular bluechips tat u are looking at ?
krisluke ( Date: 20-Mar-2011 14:15) Posted:
| rabbit bull run on monday |
|
R u a journalist??????
\Great reporting, hahaha
rabbit bull run on monday
China remains focused on inflation -Vice Premier Li
BEIJING, March 20 (Reuters) - China will stay focused on stifling inflation even as global economic uncertainties multiply, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said on Sunday.
" We will make stabilising the overall level of prices the primary task of macro-economic adjustment," said Li, who is likely to succeed Wen Jiabao as premier two years from now.
Li's comments to a forum of officials and business executives were consistent with recent statements by leaders steering the world's second-biggest economy. But he underscored how China remains focused on dousing price pressures, even after the growth uncertainties stemming from Japan's quake-battered economy.
China's top leaders have repeatedly said their most important task this year is controlling inflation. So far, complaints about rising prices have amounted to little more than grumbles, but serious inflation has sparked social unrest in China in the past.
With a goal of keeping inflation to a 4 percent average this year, the government has raised interest rates three times and banks' reserve requirements six times since October, most recently on Friday. It has also used a series of direct controls to cap price rises.
Li gave no hint that Beijing considers the job done. He also said the government had to keep balancing growth needs against inflationary expectations.
" Although the global economy is slowly recovering, the basis for recovery is unsteady and conditions are unclear. Global liquidity has increased markedly and the prices of major commodities have risen sharply," he told the China Development Forum in Beijing.
" Domestically, there is a confluence of imported inflation and structural price rises," he said.
On March 14, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also laid some of the blame for his country's price pressures at the door of other major economies.
Oil costs were soaring after the tumult across the Middle East, and rich countries pursuing loose monetary policies were also culprits, Wen said, in a thinly veiled swipe at the United States.
(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing and Chris Buckley Editing by Richard Borsuk)
Japan makes progress in nuke crisis
Earthquake and tsunami survivors walk through a flooded street searching for their belongings in the destroyed residential area of Kesennuma
By Taiga Uranaka and Yoko Nishikawa
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan made some progress on Sunday in its race to avert disaster at a nuclear power plant leaking radiation after an earthquake and tsunami that are estimated to have killed more than 15,000 people in one prefecture alone.
Three hundred engineers have been battling inside the danger zone to salvage the six-reactor Fukushima plant in the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago.
" I think the situation is improving step by step," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama told a news conference.
Police said they believed more than 15,000 people had been killed by the double disaster in Miyagi prefecture, one of four that took the brunt of the tsunami damage. In total, more than 20,000 are dead or missing, police said.
The unprecedented crisis will cost the world's third largest economy as much as $200 billion (123 billion pounds) and require Japan's biggest reconstruction push since post-World War Two.
It has also set back nuclear power plans the world over.
Encouragingly for Japanese transfixed on work at the Fukushima complex, the most critical reactor -- No. 3, which contains highly toxic plutonium -- stabilised after fire trucks doused it for hours with hundreds of tonnes of water.
" We believe the water is having a cooling effect," an official of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said.
Work also advanced on bringing power back to water pumps used to cool overheating nuclear fuel, and temperatures at spent fuel pools in reactors No. 5 and 6 were returning to normal.
Technicians attached a power cable to Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6 reactors, hoping to restore electricity later in the day prior to an attempt to switch the pumps on.
They aim to reach No. 4 on Monday or Tuesday.
DRASTIC MEASURES
If successful, that could be a turning point in a crisis rated as bad as America's 1979 Three Mile Island accident.
If not, drastic measures may be required such as burying the plant in sand and concrete, as happened at Chernobyl in 1986, though experts warn that could take many months and the fuel had to be cooled first.
On the negative side, evidence has begun emerging of radiation leaks from the plant, including into food and water.
Though public fear of radiation runs deep, and anxiety has spread as far as the Pacific-facing side of the United States, Japanese officials say levels so far are not alarming.
Traces exceeding national safety standards were, though, found in milk from a farm about 30 km (18 miles) from the plant and spinach grown in neighbouring Ibaraki prefecture.
The government ordered additional tests and depending on the results may ban sales and shipments of food products from areas in the vicinity of the plant.
The first discovery of contaminated food since the March 11 disaster is likely to heighten scrutiny of Japanese food exports, especially in Asia, their biggest market.
Tiny levels of radioactive iodine have also been found in tap water in Tokyo, one of the world's largest cities about 240 km (150 miles) to south. Many tourists and expatriates have already left and residents are generally staying indoors.
Harmless levels of iodine and cesium were also found in northern Ibaraki and in dust and particles in the greater Tokyo area, the government said on Sunday, the 16th anniversary of deadly sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway.
The fresh reports did not appear to have much effect on people in the metropolis, one of the world's biggest cities with a population of about 13 million.
" I think we need to monitor it, but I am not going to stop eating vegetables today," said Andy Ross, an American buying vegetables at a store in Tokyo.
But Physicians for Social Responsibility, a U.S. non-profit advocacy group, called for a halt to new nuclear reactors in the United States.
" There is no safe level of radiation exposure," said Jeff Patterson, a former president of the group.
PUBLIC APOLOGY
Facing criticism of its early handling of the situation, TEPCO's president issued a public apology for " causing such great concern and nuisance."
Even after restoring power, the company faces a tricky task reactivating the cooling pumps, with parts of the system probably damaged from the quake or subsequent explosions.
" The workers need to go through the plant, figure out what survived and what didn't, what can be readily repaired and get the cooling systems back up and running to deal with the cores and the spentfuel pools," said David Lochbaum, of U.S. nuclear watchdog the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recognised Japan's progress during a trip to reassure residents of eastern regions there was no immediate danger from the nuclear accident.
" Our Japanese colleagues are gradually, not right away and with mistakes ... getting the situation under control," he said in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. " The work is being done properly, in the right way -- 24 hours a day."
Putin proposed freeing up energy for Japan by increasing Russian gas supplies to Europe so more liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes could go to the Asian nation.
U.N. watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also offered encouragement to Tokyo. Its chief, Yukiya Amano, who is Japanese, hailed the " strengthening" of work at the site.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who has kept a low profile during the crisis except for shouting at TEPCO, sounded out the opposition about forming a government of national unity to deal with the crisis.
But the largest opposition party rejected that.
MOVING EARTH
Showing the incredible power of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the largest to hit tremor-prone Japan since accurate records began in the early 1900s, Oshika peninsula in Miyagi prefecture shifted a whole 5.3 metres (17 ft) east and its land sank 1.2 metres (4 ft).
The quake and ensuing 10-metre high tsunami devastated Japan's north east coastal region, wiping towns off the map and making more than 360,000 people homeless in a test for the Asian nation's reputation for resilience and social cohesion.
Food, water, medicine and fuel are short in some parts, and low temperatures during Japan's winter are not helping.
The traumatic hunt for bodies and missing people continues.
" This morning my next door neighbour came crying to me that she still can't find her husband. All I could tell her was, 'We'll do our best, so just hold on a little longer,'" said fire brigade officer Takao Sato in the disaster zone.
About 257,000 households in the north still have no electricity and at least one million lack running water.
Japan's crisis spooked markets, prompted a rare intervention by the G7 group of rich nations to stabilise the yen on Friday, and fuelled concerns that world economy may suffer because of disrupted supplies to auto and technology industries.
Automaker General Motors Co said it was suspending all nonessential spending and global travel, plus freezing production at a plant in Spain and cancelling two shifts in Germany while it assessed the impact of the Japan crisis.
(Additional reporting by Chikako Mogi in Tokyo, and Yoko Kubota and Chang-ran Kim in Rikuzentakata, Gleb Bryanski in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia, Eileen O'Grady in Houston, Fredrik Dahl and Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Suzanne Cosgrove in Chicago, Writing by Nick Macfie Editing by Alex Richardson)
Western warplanes, missiles hit Libyan targets
View through night-vision lenses of Tomahawk cruise missiles being fired in the Mediterranean Sea
By Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Western forces hit targets along the Libyan coast on Saturday, using strikes from air and sea to force Muammar Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians.
Libyan state television said 48 people had been killed and 150 wounded in the allied air strikes. It also said there had been a fresh wave of strikes on Tripoli early on Sunday.
There was no way to independently verify the claims.
French planes fired the first shots in what is the biggest international military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles in the region of the rebels' eastern stronghold, Benghazi.
Hours later, U.S. and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles against air defences around the capital Tripoli and the western city of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces, U.S. military officials said.
They said U.S. forces and planes were working with Britain, France, Canada and Italy in operation " Odyssey Dawn."
Gaddafi called it " colonial, crusader" aggression.
" It is now necessary to open the stores and arm all the masses with all types of weapons to defend the independence, unity and honour of Libya," he said in an audio message broadcast on state television hours after the strikes began.
China and Russia, which abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote last week endorsing intervention, expressed regret at the military action. China's Foreign Ministry said it hoped the conflict would not lead to a greater loss of civilian life.
Explosions and heavy anti-aircraft fire rattled Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday. The shooting was followed by defiant shouts of " Allahu Akbar" that echoed around the city centre.
Libyan state television showed footage from an unidentified hospital of what it called victims of the " colonial enemy." Ten bodies were wrapped up in white and blue bed sheets, and several people were wounded, one of them badly, the television said.
Tripoli residents said they had heard an explosion near the eastern Tajoura district, while in Misrata they said strikes had targeted an airbase used by Gaddafi's forces.
A Reuters witness in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi reported loud explosions and anti-aircraft fire, but it was unclear which side was shooting.
The intervention, after weeks of diplomatic wrangling, was welcomed in Benghazi with a mix of apprehension and relief.
" We think this will end Gaddafi's rule. Libyans will never forget France's stand with them. If it weren't for them, then Benghazi would have been overrun tonight," said Iyad Ali, 37.
" We salute France, Britain, the United States and the Arab countries for standing with Libya. But we think Gaddafi will take out his anger on civilians. So the West has to hit him hard," said civil servant Khalid al-Ghurfaly, 38.
GADDAFI SEEN LOSING GRIP ON LIBYA
The air strikes, launched from a flotilla of some 25 coalition ships, including three U.S. submarines, in the Mediterranean, followed a meeting in Paris of Western and Arab leaders backing the intervention.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said participants had agreed to use " all necessary means, especially military" to enforce the Security Council resolution calling for an end to attacks on civilians.
" Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen," British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. " We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue."
Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing Western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite a U.S. insistence -- repeated on Saturday -- that it has no plans to send ground troops into Libya.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested that outside powers hoped their intervention would be enough to turn the tide against Gaddafi and allow Libyans to force him out.
" It is our belief that if Mr. Gaddafi loses the capacity to enforce his will through vastly superior armed forces, he simply will not be able to sustain his grip on the country."
But analysts have questioned what Western powers will do if the Libyan leader digs in, especially since they do not believe they would be satisfied with a de facto partition which left rebels in the east and Gaddafi running a rump state in the west.
One participant at the Paris meeting said Clinton and others had stressed Libya should not be split in two. And on Friday, Obama specifically called on Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well from the east.
" It's going to be far less straightforward if Gaddafi starts to move troops into the cities which is what he has been trying to do for the past 24 hours," said Marko Papic at the STRATFOR global intelligence group.
" Once he does that it becomes a little bit more of an urban combat environment and at that point it's going to be difficult to use air power from 15,000 feet to neutralise that."
The Libyan government has blamed rebels, who it says belong to al Qaeda, for breaking a cease-fire it announced on Friday.
In Tripoli, several thousand people gathered at the Bab al-Aziziyah palace, Gaddafi's compound bombed by U.S. warplanes in 1986, to show their support.
" There are 5,000 tribesmen that are preparing to come here to fight with our leader. They better not try to attack our country," said farmer Mahmoud el-Mansouri.
" We will open up Libya's deserts and allow Africans to flood to Europe to blow themselves up as suicide bombers."
U.S. SAYS NOT LEADING INTERVENTION
France and Britain have taken a lead role in pushing for international intervention in Libya and the United States -- after embarking on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- has been at pains to stress it is supporting, not leading, the operation.
In announcing the missile strikes, which came eight years to the day after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Obama said the effort was intended to protect the Libyan people.
" Today I authorised the armed forces of the United States to begin a limited action in Libya in support of an international effort to protect Libyan civilians," Obama told reporters in Brasilia, where he had begun a five-day tour of Latin America.
He said U.S. troops were acting in support of allies, who would lead the enforcement of a no-fly zone to stop Gaddafi's attacks on rebels. " As I said yesterday, we will not, I repeat, we will not deploy any U.S. troops on the ground," Obama said.
But despite Washington's determination to stress its limited role, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the U.S. military's Joint Staff, said the strikes were only a first phase.
Earlier on Saturday, hundreds of cars full of refugees fled Benghazi towards the Egyptian border after the city came under a bombardment overnight. One family of 13 women from a grandmother to small children, rested at a roadside hotel.
" I'm here because when the bombing started last night my children were vomiting from fear," said one of them, a doctor. " All I want to do is get my family to a safe place and then get back to Benghazi to help. My husband is still there."
Those who remained set up make-shift barricades on main streets, each manned by half a dozen rebels.
In the besieged western city of Misrata, residents said government forces shelled the rebel town again early on Saturday, while water supplies had been cut off for a third day.
(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas and Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Tom Perry in Cairo, Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy in Tripoli, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris, Missy Ryan in Washington, Writing by Michael Roddy Editing by Ron Popeski)
Factbox - Japan disaster in figures
TOKYO (Reuters) - The following is a list of the likely impact of and response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that rocked the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, and subsequent crisis at nuclear power plants.
DEATH TOLL
* The death toll is difficult to forecast.
A total of 8,133 people were confirmed dead by police, quoted by Kyodo news agency, as of Sunday. Police in Miyagi prefecture, the worst-hit area, said the number of dead there would exceed 15,000. Heavy losses were also suffered in Iwate and Fukushima prefectures.
Another 12,272 people are still missing, National Police Agency of Japan says. The total surpasses 6,434 who died after the Kobe earthquake in 1995.
NUMBER OF PEOPLE EVACUATED
* A total of 362,877 people have been evacuated and are staying at shelters as of 3 a.m. British time on Sunday, National Police Agency of Japan says.
The government expanded the evacuation area around a quake-stricken nuclear plant in northeastern Japan to a 20-km (12 miles) radius from 10 km on March 12. Since then, around 177,500 residents have evacuated from the zone.
The government has also told people within 30 km of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, some 240 km north of Tokyo, to stay indoors.
HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY
* A total of 249,879 households in the north were without electricity as of Sunday morning, Tohuku Electric Power Co. says.
HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT WATER
* At least 1.04 million households in 11 prefectures were without running water as of Saturday, the Health Ministry says on Saturday.
NUMBER OF BUILDINGS DAMAGED
* At least 117,274 buildings have been damaged, with at least 14,407 completely destroyed, National Police Agency of Japan says on Saturday.
IMPACT ON ECONOMY
- Citigroup expects 5-10 trillion yen in damage to housing and infrastructure, while Barclays Capital estimates economic losses of 15 trillion yen (114 billion pounds) or 3 percent of Japan's GDP.
UBS expects Japan's economy to grow 1.4 percent this year, compared with its previous forecast of 1.5 percent expansion. But it upgraded its growth forecast for 2012 to 2.5 percent, up from the previous estimate of 2.1 percent.
Goldman Sachs expects total economic losses likely to hit 16 trillion yen, while it expects real GDP to decline by 0.5-2 percent in the second quarter.
NUMBER OF COUNTRIES OFFERING AID
- According to the Japanese foreign ministry, 128 countries and 33 international organisations have offered assistance as of Saturday.
($1=81.66 yen)
(Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
LIBYA: Qaddafi Says He's Giving Guns To Everyone US, UK, And French Attacks Have " Severely Disabled" Libya's Air Defenses
THE LATEST: Qaddafi is now opening up his country's arms caches and arming the public. He has threatened to attack targets in the Mediterranean.
The U.S. and UK have both fired Tomahawk missiles at targets near Tripoli. Chief targets are Libyan air defenses, according to Reuters.
French jets have destroyed four tanks south west of Benghazi, according to Reuters. There are also reports that strikes have damaged or destroyed a Qaddafi controlled air base.
20 French warplanes are flying around Benghazi, according to Sky News. There are no U.S. planes flying over Libya yet, according to a Pentagon spokesmen.
This operation has been named Odyssey Dawn. NBC correspondent Richard Engel has pointed out that today's operation begins 8-years to the day after the start of the war in Iraq.
18:55 ET: A U.S. official has told Reuters that Libya's air defense systems are " severely disabled."
18:46 ET: Air strikes have hit a Qaddafi controlled air base, according to Reuters (via The Guardian).
18:45 ET: We now have a bit more on the participation of the UAE and Qatar in the operations. The UAE will have 24 aircraft in the operation, and Qatar will have as many as 6, according to the BBC. Turkey has also said it will do what it has to do to implement the no-fly zone.
The participation of Arab states in the operations is certain to support the view that this is a broad coalition.
18:30 ET: The first details of the diplomatic wrangling behind the operation are emerging. The New York Times reports that other coalition members have been upset by the French stepping forward and acting first.
From The New York Times:
The initial French air sorties, which were not coordinated with other countries, angered some of the countries gathered at the summit meeting, according to a senior NATO-country diplomat. Information about the movement of Qaddafi troops toward Benghazi had been clear on Friday, but France blocked any NATO agreement on air strikes until the Paris meeting, the diplomat said, suggesting that overflights could have begun Friday night before Mr. Qaddafi’s troops reached the city.
18:15 ET: The French are denying reports that one of their fighter jets has been shot down (via Al Jazeera).
17:45 ET: Qaddafi says, via phone to Libyan TV, that weapons depots will be opened to the general Libyan population to defend the country against the " crusade." According to Al Jazeera, Qaddafi may already be arming his population to attack rebels.
Qaddafi has also threatened to attack both military and civilian targets in the Mediterranean, according to Sky.
17:40 ET: Rebels are fighting with government forces in Benghazi, according to Al Jazeera. Rebel forces are in communication with governments involved in the air strikes.
There is some concern that the rebel forces in Libya are not pro-democracy, but rather, are more closely associated with Al Qaeda groups, according to a new report from The Huffington Post.
17:30 ET: Qaddafi is likely to speak to the Libyan people shortly, according to Al Jazeera.
17:27 ET: A French plane has been shot down in Libya, according to Libyan TV (via AFP and Al Jazeera). No confirmation of this yet.
17:10 ET: Libya's government spokesman described today's attacks as " barbaric." He claims the rebels are part of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and that his country was following the cease-fire agreement.
16:30 ET: Both the U.S. and UK have fired Tomahawk missiles on Libya. There are no U.S. planes flying over Libya as of yet. Over 110 Tomahawk missiles have been fired on Libya thus far, according to a Pentagon spokesman.
A Pentagon spokesmen says the U.S. is assisting in creating the conditions for a no-fly zone, meaning one is not yet in place. The goal here appears to be the destruction of Qaddafi's air defense facilities.
The Pentagon news conference is now complete.
12:45 ET: The first shot was fired, as a French jet jet targeted and destroyed a Libyan vehicle, the defence ministry tells Reuters.
Hillary Clinton repeated coalition demands at a speech in Paris: The violence must stop. Troops must stop advancing toward Benghazi and pull out of all contested cities.
CLINTON SPEAKS:
" Since the President spoke there has been some talk from Tripoli of a cease fire, but the reality on the ground tells a very different story."
Clinton says French jets are already enforcing the no-fly zone. American jets seem likely to join: " America has unique abilities and we will bring them to bear to support our allies." She reaffirms Obama's promise not to deploy ground troops.
Now a quick note about Bahrain. Clinton makes clear this is conflict against Iran: " Iran's activities in the Gulf... undermines peace and stability."
Clinton defends Bahrain's right to call GCC allies in to support stability. She points to welfare packages offered in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Gulf as signs of progress. " We have a decades long friendship with Bahrain that we expect to continue decades into the future."
Will America jets will be used? Clinton repeats that " America has unique capabilities."
Is it too late to engage diplomatically? Clinton says there has been no real effort on the part of the Qaddafi forces to abide by a cease-fire, thus no possibility exists yet.
Is the goal to protect civilians or to remove Qaddafi from power? Clinton adamantly says it is to protect civilians.
Could Qaddafi remain in power? " Those are all questions that standing here are difficult to answer"
" Thank you all. Have a great night in Paris those of you who get to stay."
EARLIER: Sarkozy has confirmed that its jets are flying over Libya, and that his country's fighter jets have begun to enforce the no-fly zone.
Obama gave a brief talk in Brazil, in which he reaffirmed his commitment to protecting the Libyan people and said the coalition would act with urgency.
France is flying Mirage and Rafale fighters. Also there are six Danish F-16 fighter jets at the US air base in Sicily, and American F-18s and Canadian CF-18 Hornets already in the region, according to Reuters. Italy will offer bases, but provide jets only if needed.
The air battle near Benghazi started early as the rebels shot down a Qaddafi warplane and Qaddafi's forces shot down one of the rebels few jets.
EARLIER: What, you really thought that yesterday's announcement of a " ceasefire" from Qaddafi would mean peace in Libya?
Since then there has been no evidence of a halt to violence, and fighting continued in Benghazi today.
The US has accused Qaddafi of violating the UN's terms, and strikes are set to begin.
World leaders are meeting in Paris today, according to Reuters, and word is that strikes could begin immediately afterwords.
French, British, and Canadian jets are said to be in the first wave of strikes.
For more background on yesterday's action, see here
The Coast Guard Is Investigating A Possible Brand New, Big Oil Spill In The Gulf
On top of everything else, some potentially troublesome environmental news out of the Gulf of Mexico again.
The Times Picayune is reporting that the Coast Guard is investigating reports of a brand new deepwater oil spill.
Multiple callers have reported that they have seen a huge sheen of oil not far from a deepwater rig. According to Judson Parker at Examiner.com, the potentially leaky rig is the Matterhorn SeaStar owned by W& T offshore.
Details remain scarce. It is interesting that as oil rallied late in the day on Friday, shares of W& T Offshore tanked hard into the close. (via @nictrades and @stocksage1)
Western warplanes, missiles hit Libyan targets Reuters) - Western forces hit targets along theLibyan coast on Saturday, using strikes from air and sea to force Muammar Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians.West pounds Libya, Kadhafi vows retaliation
The US, Britain and France pounded Libya with air strikes and Tomahawk missiles on Saturday, sparking a furious response from Moamer Kadhafi who said the Mediterranean had now become a " battlefield."
United States and British forces fired at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libya's air defence sites, a top US military officer said, two days after a UN Security Council resolution with Arab backing authorised military action.
Libyan state media said that Western warplanes bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing casualties while an army spokesman said strikes also hit fuel tanks feeding the rebel-held city of Misrata, east of Tripoli.
Libyan state television said a French warplane was shot down in the Njela district of Tripoli, but the French military swiftly denied the report.
Kadhafi, in a brief audio message broadcast on state television, fiercely denounced the attacks as a " barbaric, unjustified Crusaders' aggression."
He vowed retaliatory strikes on military and civilian targets in the Mediterranean, which he said had been turned into a " real battlefield."
" Now the arms depots have been opened and all the Libyan people are being armed," to fight against Western forces, the veteran leader warned.
US President Barack Obama, on a visit to Brazil, said he had given the green light for the operation, which is codenamed " Odyssey Dawn."
" Today, I authorised the armed forces of the United States to begin a limited military action in Libya," Obama said in Brasilia.
The first missile struck at 1900 GMT following air strikes carried out earlier by French warplanes, Admiral William Gortney, director of the US joint staff, said in Washington.
" It's a first phase of a multi-phase operation" to enforce the UN resolution and prevent the Libyan regime from using force " against its own people," he said.
One British submarine joined with other US ships and submarines in the missile attacks, he said.
The first strikes took place near Libya's coast, notably around Tripoli and Misrata, " because that's where the integrated missile defence systems are."
US and allied countries are not yet enforcing a no-fly zone with aircraft patrolling the skies, he said, but " we're setting the conditions to be able to reach that state."
The targets included surface-to-air missile sites but it was too early to say how effective the Tomahawk strikes were, he said.
" Because it is night over there, it will be some time before we have a complete picture of the success of these strikes," the admiral said.
The US operation followed initial missions by French warplanes, which carried out four air strikes Saturday, destroying several armoured vehicles from Kadhafi's forces.
State television said hundreds of people had gathered at Bab al-Aziziyah, Kadhafi's Tripoli headquarters, and at the capital's international airport, ahead of the widely anticipated air strikes.
" Crowds are forming around the targets identified by France," the television reported, showing pictures of flag-waving people gathering to serve as human shields.
Last week, a highly placed French source referred to Bab al-Aziziyah, a military air base in Sirte, east of the capital, and another in Sebha in the south as likely targets of a strike.
A French official told AFP that air strikes by Britain, France and the US Libyan territory are being coordinated at a US headquarters in Germany.
Russia's foreign ministry expressed regret over the attacks under a Security Council Resolution 1973 which was " adopted in haste," while the African Union, which opposed military action, aims to send a delegation to Tripoli on Sunday.
But British Prime Minister David Cameron said he held Kadhafi responsible for the situation in his country and that " the time for action" by the international community had come.
" Colonel Kadhafi has made this happen. He has lied to the international community, he has promised a ceasefire, he has broken that ceasefire. He continues to brutalise his own people," Cameron told British television.
France said the air strikes would continue through the night.
In the rebel camp, celebratory gunfire and honking of car horns broke out in Al-Marj, 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Benghazi, to welcome the start of military operations against Kadhafi, correspondents said.
Thousands earlier Saturday fled Benghazi as Kadhafi loyalists pounded the eastern city, the rebels' stronghold, with shells and tank fire after two early morning air strikes.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was troubled by a telephone call from Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi on Friday night.
" He told me that the Libyan government was fully abiding by the Security Council resolution and there will be an immediate ceasefire," said the secretary general.
" But at the same time and overnight they were attacking Benghazi. It is very troubling whatever they say must be verified."
Since Friday, the Libyan government has insisted it was observing a self-declared ceasefire, shortly after the Security Council voted to authorise the use of force against Kadhafi's troops to spare civilians.
The regime said its armed forces were under attack west of Benghazi, including by rebel aircraft, and had responded in self-defence.
But the rebels, who have been trying to overthrow the Libyan leader for more than a month, said government troops had continued to bombard cities, violating the ceasefire continuously.
In another Middle East hotspot, medics in Yemen on Saturday raised to 52 the death toll from a sniper attack on protesters in Sanaa the previous day, as thousands rallied despite a state of emergency.
The slaughter in Sanaa on Friday was the bloodiest day in weeks of unrest that have shaken the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key US ally in its war against Al-Qaeda.
And security forces in Syria fired tear gas on Saturday at mourners burying two men killed in a protest in the southern city of Daraa the previous day, wounding several, rights activists said.
The official SANA news agency said a committee was being formed to investigate the " regrettable" events in Daraa.
In Bahrain, beleaguered King Hamad pledged to bring in reforms as Shiite-led pro-democracy protesters against the Sunni monarchy said they would not give up despite being cleared by police from Pearl Square in central Manama.
War or no War - Libya main oil supply has already stopped since 2 weeks ago and Saudi has increase its output to meet the shortfall. - Furthermore easing the oil prices is Japan Earthquake destroyed refinery, roads, cars therefore short term wise oil demand will drop in japan.
Like I say yesterday Libya news is old news and has been factored in.
1) BBs are happy that the westerners finally took action on Libya and not dragging it anymore. (Because the west want Gadhafi Out - so cease fire will never work)
2) Japan 300 seems gaining ground on its nuclear containment.
The worst is over :) Start collecting some blue chip --- BOSAYOR
I think this officer got some mental problem one, can mindef do a check on him
, i mean counselling.
SAF officer flamed for remarks on Japan
The S'pore army officer has since issued an apology on his Facebook page (Yahoo! Photo).
An army officer in Singapore, who posted controversial remarks on the developments in Japan, has apologised for being insensitive to the grief of victims after netizens slammed him for his comments.
Calling himself Shahril Beckham on social networking site Facebook, the former OCS instructor had posted as his status, " There is a reason why God chose Japan..."
A friend of his replied to his comment saying, " Extreme dislike. This comment is in bad taste. Are they not human?"
To which the officer responded with a slew of vulgarities, calling him an " idiot" . With support from others, he then went on to viciously attack the friend for " preaching" to him.
After receiving negative feedback for his insensitivity, the army officer eventually publicly apologised for his comments on his Facebook profile.
" To those who may be affected (with) my comments on " why god chose japan" , I sincerely apologise. I admit (that) my following comments thereafter has been rather insensitive and unethical causing grief to others (sic). I've acted on impulse and once again, I am truly sorry," he wrote.
As Japan struggles to recover from the tragedy, netizens have taken up arms against those making similar comments online.
// what a F#*K talkin big thingy, worst still, SAF officer. btw, how he knew the reason god choose japan? ?? too many Friday HALA prayer thingy and mediate with lustful mind? The most 1 -3straps in front, want real warfare experience to improve ill thingy, PUI !!!! this ARMY OFFICER!!! Only a OFFICER TALK like A BIG F#*Ky LIAO. MInd his THINKY & ASK HIS GOD WHEN SINGAPORE crisis. beigin, I mean real warfare in front line for backup, will he thinky think about HIS GOD...
I am quite Bearish of the up coming GE, a few thingy to note during my recent back to home stay:
1) price, any thingy goes up and alway fail to get down, gst, school fee etc
2) sme, a nosense business encourage by government. although create jobs but the expectation was like " act cool style" .
3) big name, not good either, follow " little potato" sme footsteps, more willingly to employ foreign talents than local, eg singtel, keppelcorp and PSA, comfort taxi etc
4) education, oversea degree seems more valuable than local ones. It cheaper to study oversea than in singapore.
I alway like to short local SME counters that plans to list in SGX. WHY? becos they're the crap of a businessman in suit and tie (a wolf in sheep skin). It true, if you analyse the scoop wider.
General Election (GE) coming soon, hmm an important indictaor to note...
krisluke ( Date: 19-Mar-2011 21:01) Posted:
| although, " temasick" invest counters keep signing big contracts, heartlanders are still grudging. A simple and mindy thingy to be awared and monitor. I mean born and growth in singapore, completing the pre plan journey policy... |
|
