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.
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.
Diatec pulled off an unprecedented hat-trick in the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship with a four-set triumph over debutant KS Jastrzebski Wegiel of Poland on Friday...
THE Abu Samra Border Post Committee, under the Ministry of Interior (MoI), in cooperation with the Qatari Hajj Safety and Security Committee organised an awareness lecture for Hajj pilgrims from Qatar and...
PARIS THE eurozone debt crisis will dominate a summit of G20 finance chiefs and central bank heads in Paris, with a downgrade of Spain's credit rating highlighting the risk of a ...
DOHA RABITA BAKU gained a sweet revenge, the Azerbaijan team crushed VakifBank Telekom of Turkey in straight sets to win the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship for the first time at the Women's Indoor Hall, on Friday...
DOHA TWENTY students from Chicago's Math and Science Academy concluded a 10-day cultural exchange trip to Qatar on Thursday. The trip was organised by Qatar Foundation International (QFI). Twenty students of Al Wakra Independent Secondary School for Boys and Al Ieman Independent Secondary School for Girls had joined the students from the US during their stay in Qatar, which concluding with a function organised at the Students Centre in Qatar Foundation on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, the Senior Associate Dean for Journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar ...
DOHA UNDERSTANDING and celebrating diversity and cultural differences was the focus of 'Shades of Purple', a week-long series of events for students at Northwestern University in Qatar this week. 'Shades of Purple' prompted participants to learn more about the rich cultural life at NUQ and deepen their links with each other. The events included lectures, an art show, international comedy night, and – capping off the week – a gala dinner on Thursday. "Diversity is at the core of international understanding among people of different national, ethnic, racial and religious traditions," said Dr Everette E Dennis, dean and ...
DOHA STRESS is the most common health problem in the workplace these days, according to Dr Hind Rifai, consultant psychiatrist at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). Excessive level of stress can lead to what is commonly termed as burnout and known to be one of the major causes of absenteeism and loss of productivity within corporations. Stress-related health issues result in over 250 million lost working days in the US each year, accounting for half of all lost working days, and this trend is being experienced by many other developed nations. Physiologically, stress can be defined as any imbalance of homeostasis ...
THE Indian rupee on Friday recovered by 11 paise to settle at 49.01/02 against the US currency following smart rise in local stocks and weakness in dollar overseas. Fresh dollar selling by exporters amid increased capital inflows too helped the rupee to rebound, dealers said. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency commenced lower at 49.18/19 a dollar from previous close of 49.12/13 and immediately touched a low of 49.22 due to early hesitancy in equities. Continued dollar demand from importers too initially weighed on the Indian rupee value...
BEIJING CHINA Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) has put into operation a major crude oil pipeline in eastern China this week, raising its capability to pump imported oil to its inland refineries, a report on parent China Petrochemical Corp's website showed. The 390-kilometre pipeline, starting from Rizhao port in Shandong province to Yizheng in Jiangsu province, was designed to have transportation capacity of 720,000 barrels per day. It will allow the largest refiner in Asia to pump more oil from Yizheng to its Anqing refinery in Anhui province, Jiujiang in Jiangxi province, Jingmen and Wuhan in Hubei province and Changling in....
MADRID STANDARD & Poor's cut Spain's credit rating on Friday, sending the euro briefly lower and underlining the challenges facing Europe's major powers as they meet G20 counterparts over the euro-zone debt crisis. S&P, whose move mirrored that by fellow ratings agency Fitch last week, cited high unemployment, tightening credit and high private-sector debt among reasons for cutting the nation's long-term rating to AA- from AA. Spanish 10-year government bond yields rose slightly in response, although they remained more than 60 basis points lower than those of Italy and, at 5.24 percent, some distance from the 7 percent level widely regarded as unsustainable...
DOHA QATARI lad Waleed al Sharshani and Algerian Mohammad Amine Midoun kept up their ding-dong battle at the top of the Laser Radial in the Sail Trophy 2011 at the Doha Bay on Friday. Sharshani and Midoun launched the Day Three with seven points each but after two races today, the home team sailor edged ahead with the first and second places. But Midoun (11 points) finished the strongly and recovered all the lost points to wrest the No 1 position from Sharshani, who was third in the final race behind Kuwait's Ahmed Abdul Lateef. With only races left to decide the winner and both Sharshani (12 points) and...
AUCKLAND WALES go into its World Cup semi-final against France as favourites having hit a rich vein of form that mixes defensive nous with attacking flair. Led by 23-year-old captain Sam Warburton, Wales rebounded from an opening 17-16 pool loss to South Africa to rack up victories over Samoa, Namibia and Fiji before outplaying Ireland in last weekend's 22-10 quarter- final win. But they've been forced into making a change in a key position following that match with utility back James Hook starting in his favoured role of fly-half after Rhys Priestland, one of Wales's stars at this World Cup, was ruled out with a shoulder injury suffered against the Irish. ...
LIVERPOOL MANCHESTER United head to Liverpool at the weekend for a significant test of Sir Alex Ferguson's team's improved away form. United won a record 19th league title last season — moving ahead of Liverpool's tally of 18 — despite their worst away record since the start of the Premier League. They have improved that in the current campaign, with two wins and a draw from their three away games, with a 1-1 draw at Stoke the only points they have dropped so far. But they will have to improve their record against their old rivals if they are to retain their unbeaten record. ...
LATE singer Amy Winehouse's father has reportedly signed a new deal with publishers Harper Collins to pen a memoir about his daughter. The memoir written by Mitch Winehouse's will be titled — Amy, My Daughter — and all proceeds from the book will be donated to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, Dailystar.co.uk reports. The book will be released in 2012.
UGLY BETTY star America Ferrera is all set to make her stage debut in the long-running London's musical Chicago. The star will play lead character Roxie Hart in the West End production for a total of eight weeks, beginning next month, Dailystar.co uk reports. The show, which centres on a Mississippi girl who enters a beauty pageant, will be directed by Judith Ivey.
SCOTT EVANS AUTOWATCH PERHAPS the most important debate of the past few months surrounding a German automobile that isn't an Audi, BMW, or Mercedes-Benz has finally been settled. The new Beetle is no longer New, just new. It is now simply the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. With or without the capital N, the latest Beetle is a big deal for Volkswagen, so big that it got a simultaneous worldwide reveal in Berlin, Shanghai, and New York. So while the new Beetle is in fact new, it is still very much a Beetle. While the trademark round fenders are present and accounted for, the bubble roof that became a calling card of the ...
BEIJING CHINA’S top Communist Party members will meet on Saturday, 12 months before a generational change in leadership, to discuss media controls in the face of a growing challenge from the Internet....
TOKYO JAPANESE Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is set to ease a decades-old weapons export ban, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Friday, paving the way for the country’s small defence industry to participate in multinational projects...
