 | | Dollar is Here to Stay | | THE dollar is here to stay, at least as far as pricing in oil markets is concerned. Certain countries _ including Iran, France and Russia _ have periodically floated the idea of transforming the markets by settling crude oil transactions in currencies other than the dollar.
But each time the notion is raised, it has been quickly dismissed on technical and economic grounds. And that remains the case today, more than ever.
''It's a red herring,'' said Leo Drollas, chief economist at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London. "The idea should be put back in its box for a while, especially with all the turmoil surrounding the euro.'' Various reasons have been cited for the calls to shift away from the dollar, which remains the world's reserve unit.
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|  |  | | 'THINK DIFFERENT' WAS JOBS' CREDO | | WHEN Steve Jobs died on October 5, many commentators wondered whether Apple _ the company he cofounded and led through many years of profit and innovation _ could continue to thrive without him.
After struggling with cancer, Jobs stepped down from his post as Apple's CEO in August, yet his impact on the company remained profound. After all, Apple's innovations _ from the personal computer to the iPod to the iPhone _ changed the way the world communicates and plays. Following Jobs' death at the age of 56, many argued that Apple's future was now in doubt.
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Greek transporters go on strike over cuts
AP ATHENS BUSES, metro trains, trams and taxis were not running in the Greek capital on Friday, snarling traffic as public transport workers walked off the job for a second day in an unrelenting barrage of protests against government austerity measures.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos criticised the repeated strikes and protests, which have included the take-over of government buildings and risk slowing reforms the country needs to qualify for bailout loans.
“This is a challenge at the heart of democracy,” the minister said in Parliament, adding that “the image there has been in the last few weeks is one of lawlessness,” and that blackmail was different from fighting for people’s rights.
Venizelos said the government was prepared to assume the political cost of pushing through unpopular but necessary austerity measures.
Taxi drivers on Friday joined the second day of a 48- hour public transport strike, leaving private cars and motorcycles as the only form of transport in the Greek capital, while lawyers walked off the job until October 19 and customs officers for 10 days.
On Thursday, power company unionists occupied the electricity company’s billing facility in an effort to prevent the issuing of electricity bills which include a new property tax.
Mounds of garbage have piled up on the capital’s streets due to a blockade of landfill sites by municipal workers, with authorities turning to the courts to order the landfills opened.
A wave of strikes is expected next week, with seamen leaving ferries tied up at ports for two days from Monday and hospital doctors and teachers also walking off the job. The labour action is to culminate in a two-day nationwide general strike on October 19-20, the second day of which will coincide with a vote in Parliament on new budget cuts including labour reforms.
The air traffic controllers’ union called on its members to join the strike for both days, which would ground all domestic and international flights and leave country cut off from the rest of the world.
The union said significant delays being experienced by flights on Friday at Athens’ international airport was due to a technical problem with a radar that forced restrictions on air traffic for safety reasons, and not due to labour action.
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