1 Russia to build Iran nuclear reactors (BBC) Russia
has agreed to build up to eight nuclear reactors in Iran, 12 days before a
deadline for a deal to curb Iran's nuclear activity. The deal agreed by Russia
and Iran envisages the construction of two reactors, with scope for a further
six. World powers including Russia have been pressurising Iran to curb its
activity amid fears it wants to build a bomb.
Six world powers - the US, the UK, France, Germany,
Russia and China - are seeking to persuade Iran to reduce its uranium
enrichment to a level below that required to build a weapon. They have offered
to lift sanctions in exchange. It is thought that Iran would want help with its
civilian nuclear programme in return for submitting itself to more invasive
inspections.
Russian news reports quoted Iran's nuclear chief,
Ali Akbar Salehi, as saying that the agreement on building the new reactors was
"a turning point in the development of relations between our
countries". Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear power company, said the
construction would be monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), a global watchdog, and will meet safeguards against weapons
proliferation.
2 Jobs since recession: Only 1 in 40 are full-time
(Angela Monaghan in The Guardian) Only one in every 40 new jobs created since
the recession has been for a full-time employee, according to the Trades Union
Congress. The share of full-time employee jobs – excluding self-employment –
fell during the recession and has failed to recover since, falling from 64% in
2008 to 62% in 2014, the TUC said. That is equivalent to a shortfall of 669,000
full-time employees.
Unemployment never reached the levels feared at the
onset of the crisis, but the figures highlight that job creation between 2008
and 2014 has been dominated by rising self-employment and part-time work, not
full-time employee jobs. Employment increased by 1.08m between January to March
2008 and June to August 2014, but only 26,000 were full-time employee roles.
Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “While
more people are in work there are still far too few full-time employee jobs for
everyone who wants one. It means many working families are on substantially
lower incomes as they can only find reduced hours jobs or low-paid
self-employment.”
But a Treasury spokesman said: “This research is
misleading because it lumps the recession together with the recovery. In the
last two years of the previous government employment fell by 658,000 and the
number of full-time employees fell by 929,000. Since the coalition government
came into power employment has risen by almost 2 million, with three-quarters
of the increase coming from full-time workers.”
3 Tussle over oil price fall (Jonathan Eyal in
Straits Times) The current sharp drop in energy prices is more than just a
matter of market flutters. It is an indication of a bigger shift in the balance
of power between producers and consumers. Right now, the world is awash with
oil, and markets have responded in the only logical way, by marking the price
of this crucial commodity down, from a peak of $115 per barrel in June to
little more than $80 today.
Saudi Arabia, Opec's biggest producer, has rejected
appeals to cut the amount of oil it sells, and other Gulf producers have also
refused to cut their production. By keeping prices down, the Saudis hope to
squeeze US shale oil and gas operators and thereby prevent US production from
rising. Recent research has suggested that around 10 per cent of all US shale
oil won't be economic to extract at prices below $90 per barrel, and no less
than half of all the US oil would be uneconomical if prices drop below $80.
That's history stood on its head: previously, oil
producers used to increase their oil prices if they wanted to squeeze
concessions out of Washington; now, they have to lower prices to put pressure
on the White House.
The Saudi determination to drive prices lower is
also dictated by another key consideration: the emergence of Asia, and
particularly China, Japan and India, as the Middle East's biggest customers. Yet
again, Saudi Arabia leads the way: it slashed its so-called "official
selling price" for Asian oil customers, a move which was swiftly followed
by a handful of other Opec member states in the Gulf. The real fight now is not
so much about squeezing as much cash as possible out of existing exports but,
rather, about making sure that producers gain markets for the future.
Few doubt the significance of what is currently
unfolding. For it was weak oil prices which destroyed the Soviet Union in the
1980s and which fostered the conditions that led to the election of Hugo Chavez
as president of Venezuela in 1998; falling oil revenues could this time
destabilise not only America's and Saudi Arabia's enemies, but also some of the
West's allies.
One conclusion is, however, evident: this tussle for
energy prices is an expression of one of the most significant strategic
reorientations in years. Precisely a century after colonial Britain and France
created the Middle East we know today, Asia is replacing them and the US as the
region's biggest market and investor.
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