Chart of PSI-20 – in.

Chart of PSI-20 – in. Just in case if someone read carefully all my previous observation about my and his participation in the EXPO98.
Leiria: Limpeza prossegue este domingo. Inserido em 19-12-2009 22:56. Os trabalhos de limpeza da área onde foi derramado ácido clorídrico, na sequência de um acidente rodoviário em Leiria, vão prolongar-se por domingo.Isso mesmo confirmou à Lusa o comandante dos Bombeiros Municipais de Leiria. Segundo o comandante Artur Figueiredo, uma empresa especializada está ainda a proceder à limpeza da área, prevendo-se que os trabalhos se prolonguem durante "pelo menos" a manhã de domingo. Um camião cisterna que transportava ácido clorídrico despistou-se hoje na estrada nacional 109, perto de Leiria, tendo derramado parte da carga. Os bombeiros municipais estimam que cerca de 10 mil litros do produto tóxico terão corrido para as valetas e para uma ribeira próxima, tendo sido feita uma vala de contenção para travar o derrame. As últimas análises feitas à ribeira não revelaram nenhum problema, com o PH da água a apresentar-se "dentro dos valores normais".
Este trânsito assinala geralmente um período de autocontrolo. E digo mais, a carro…

EBALO OF JORGE SAMPAIO.

EBALO OF JORGE SAMPAIO. Brazil's CSN buys the Cimpor for $5.6 billion. LISBON/SAO PAULO - Brazil's CSN (CSNA3.SA) (SID.N) offered on Friday to buy Portuguese cement producer Cimpor (CPR.LS) for 3.86 billion euros ($5.6 billion) as the steelmaker slowly diversifies from its core business outside its home base. The bid underscores efforts by CSN's Chief Executive Benjamin Steinbruch to grow in areas other than steel and mining. It also marks the company's biggest effort to date to expand overseas after the failed takeover of Corus Plc in 2007, taking advantage of depressed valuations of construction assets worldwide. If the acquisition goes as planned, Cia. Siderurgica Nacional, known as CSN, could turn itself into a global cement market player, analysts said. The former state company, sold to private investors in the 1990s, is Brazil's second largest maker of flat steel and has a sizable iron ore operation. "This is a purchase for the long term. That's the way they see it," said Pedro Galdi, who covers steel, mining and construction for Sao Paulo-based brokerage SLW Corretora. "Europe is doing badly now, but it probably won't within the next five or so years." Under terms of the unsolicited cash bid, Sao Paulo-based CSN offered to pay holders of Cimpor's 672 million shares 5.75 euros each, representing a premium of 5 percent over Thursday's closing price. The offer is about 10 percent bigger than the average share price of Cimpor's stock over the past 30 days. Cimpor shares soared 16 percent to 6.34 euros, suggesting CSN will have to sweeten its offer to win the company. CSN's stock posted its biggest decline since January 12, shedding as much as 6.6 percent to 55.17 reais. CSN's Managing Director Juarez Avelar told Reuters the company expects little difficulty in buying the stake. The company considers the price for Cimpor fair and would not enter into a bidding war for the stake, he said. "We are very confident. We think that getting to 50 percent will not be complicated," Avelar said. Brazilian companies are increasingly growing their international business as Brazil's real gains ground against the dollar, and the government stimulates creation of conglomerates able to compete globally in paper and pulp, steel, iron ore and food processing. Cimpor, which has net debt of 1.8 billion euros, is Portugal's biggest cement maker and operates in Brazil, China, Egypt, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey. Some of those countries are undergoing their worst housing downturns in decades. Analysts said Steinbruch's appetite for risky acquisitions as well as his record of long shareholder disputes with partners may make investors wary about the Cimpor plan. CSN said after the bid was unveiled that it would fund the Cimpor takeover through cash in hand and bank loans. Assuming Cimpor's debt, CSN might have to pay a total $8.1 billion, which JPMorgan Chase analysts said may be "a step that is just too large to be taken now." "The price might be too high for the goal and the goal isn't too clear for us," said Antonio Emilio Ruiz, a steel analyst for Banco do Brasil's securities unit. CSN canceled a conference call with analysts that had been scheduled for earlier on Friday to explain the rationale for the acquisition. The bid hinges on winning 50 percent plus one share in Cimpor, the company said. BRAZIL SPREADING ITS WINGS. Companies in Brazil are expanding as government plans to build roads, ports, railway and hydropower projects are bringing new businesses. Expectations for increased demand for building materials increased after Brazil was picked as host to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. CSN expanded into the cement industry in May, opening a plant with annual capacity to produce 2.3 million tons a year using slag, a byproduct of pig iron production. The move would help the company benefit from a recovery in the economy after a short-lived recession and expected boom in infrastructure spending in the coming years. Cimpor brings an additional 6.4 million tons a year of capacity in Brazil, which would catapult CSN into the position of the country's second largest cement producer behind Votorantim. Cimpor has a number of large shareholders, including Portuguese construction company Teixeira Duarte with a 23 percent stake, French cement maker Lafarge with 17 percent and state-owned Portuguese bank Caixa Geral de Depositos with 9.6 percent. "The fact that the shareholding structure is fragmented is what makes this takeover bid desirable. Recent news on shareholder instability makes the timing very appropriate," said Millennium analyst Joao Mateus.

Avaria devido às diferenças de temperature. Público.pt - ‎Há 1 hora. Cerca de duas mil pessoas passaram a noite presas no túnel do Canal da Mancha, depois de pelo menos quatro comboios da linha Eurostar, que une Londres, Bruxelas e Paris, se terem avariado devido ao mau tempo. ‎Ao que tudo indica o incidente ficou a dever-se à diferença de temperatura entre o exterior - o noroeste de França regista temperaturas abaixo de zero - e o ambiente mais quente do interior do túnel, indicou um porta-voz do Eurostar, Bram Smets. O Eurostar também já anunciou que lamenta muito o sucedido e sublinhou que irá indemnizar todos os afectados. Algumas pessoas foram removidas do túnel mas muitas outras permaneceram dentro das carruagens durante toda a noite. Inúmeros passageiros que ficaram presos no túnel indicaram à imprensa britânica que receberam muito pouca informação acerca do que se estava a passar, que o calor dentro das carruagens se tornou insuportável e que algumas pessoas passaram fome e sede. As pessoas afectadas por este incidente viajavam nos comboios que saíram de França ao final da tarde de ontem em direcção a Londres, numa viagem que normalmente demora duas horas e meia, mas só chegaram à capital britânica às 07h00 de hoje, cerca de 12 horas depois. Ao início da manhã o túnel continuava encerrado e centenas de pessoas esperam em França pela reabertura do serviço e outras tantas esperam o mesmo em Folkestone, à entrada do túnel no lado inglês. A empresa pediu às pessoas que tenham bilhetes para hoje que adiem a sua viagem, uma vez que o serviço talvez só seja retomado amanhã, estimando-se que só regresse à normalidade na segunda-feira. O sudeste da Grã-Bretanha e o noroeste de França têm sido palco, nas últimas 24 horas, de fortes nevões e a previsão meteorológica indica que essa continuará a ser tendência nos próximos dias. Notícia corrigida às 12h15.

COP15.

COP15. A livestock carrier, as the name suggests, is a large ship used in the live export of sheep, cattle and goats. Closed livestock carriers - in which more or less all of the animals’ pens are located within the holds and internal decks of the ship. This has the advantage of providing a more controlled environment in which the animals and their feeding and watering arrangements are sheltered from adverse weather. However, ventilation is almost entirely dependent on mechanical systems on 'closed' livestock carriers and construction rules require specific ventilation standards for the internal spaces. These usually stipulate the minimum number of air changes per hour. Regulations also require back-up systems and auxiliary power arrangements on those ships which are separate from the main engine room. This is to ensure that adequate ventilation, lighting, watering and feeding can be maintained, for the animals, in the event of fire or machinery failure in the main engine spaces.

Ship: Danny FII; Deadweight: 14823 tones; Construction: 1976; Flag: Panama; Owner: Rachid Fares Enterprises Proprietary Ltd. Australia.; Operator: Agencia Shanday, Montevideo; IMO: 7359462;
Hopes fade for 41 sailors still missing after capsizing of Danny FII ship. December 18, 2009. The British captain of a freighter that capsized off the Lebanese coast went down with his ship, rescue workers said today as they searched for survivors. The Panamanian-flagged Danny FII sank in stormy weather about 11 miles off the port of Tripoli in north Lebanon. At least 38 sailors were plucked from the Mediterranean by a combined rescue force of Lebanese naval vessels, a British helicopter from Cyprus and three ships belonging to the United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon. But hopes were fading of finding any other survivors due to the stormy seas and cold weather. The bodies of at least three sailors were washed ashore in north Lebanon and another four were recovered from the sea and treated in a Lebanese hospital. The British captain has not been named. “We are still looking for 41 missing people,” said Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL. UNIFIL’s maritime component, comprising three vessels from the German and Italian navies, is charged with preventing smuggling of weapons by sea to Lebanon’s militant Shia Hezbollah. UNIFIL said the ship was sailing from the Syrian port of Tartous after delivering 43,000 sheep from Uruguay. The crew members were from Britain, Australia, Russia, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Uruguay.

Maniqure madam?

Maniqure madam? Was puzzled with Put in enquiries about which logo had a Winter Olympics. How this question happen, and from where this come from – I don’t know. Of course, firstly I was seeing the catch. Secondly, I had in my hole the temperature completely affordable to do the all modalities (the 12 degrees Celsius in a living room thermometer). Seems, that the Putin – is not really put – in at all, but the Prince William embodiment who are skiing through my mind. And I’m sure that this is exactly this, because was dreaming (with lot of hitting) to walk late hours in the Chelsea area, and see the group of alt agama cars stopping behind me, with a lot of young jerks and girls. I begin feel the animal fright, than – I woke up. Evidently enough, that this “crystal clear voice” comes (see the Globespan) from Board of Trustees… Where can be finding the simples of truths; that I’m always too much stupid in the ‘conclusions’ of the pending businesses. Such as the ExxonMobil acquisition of the XTO Energy. This is not finishing yet but, is in the same portfolio. Don’t ask 1% thick! If you do that, you will be killed! Ask the 8% - and you will be normal like the trillion people around you! (I.e. Globespan). But this is today. Yesterday I’m humbly (if this do help with “orelhas mocas”), was asking somebody why should I be the captain of optimism and to rule the boatload of patience. Look by yourself. It’s just when I was thinking that the things were going to move along on an even Keel, I find that it will take a little extra energy (with 12 degrees in my living room), to keep the keel even! Who is brainless to think that road-show of old whore wasn’t dedicated to protect, defend, guard, save from harm the Prince William skiing in French Alps? (read yesterday in Yahoo). And who don’t see your (with put-in)attention to the one a “very special” girl? Some celebrities are not so nice to know. They may be famous. We may all have seen them on the screen. But if you were to spend any time with some of these characters, you might soon lose all sense of awe. Meanwhile, there are other people who hardly have any name or fame. Humble souls. Quiet folk. Yet they are so special, so talented, so kind, so witty or so pleasant to be with that we should consider ourselves blessed just to know that we share a world with them.

Mum, ARBEIT MACH FREI, dar’ing, ARBEIT MACH FREI…
QUEEN GOES GREEN...BUT IN FIRST-CLASS, NATURALLY. FEW seemed to notice the elderly lady boarding the 10.45am train from King’s Cross yesterday.But the first-class passenger travelling to Norfolk, who did seem vaguely familiar, was the Queen, setting off on her Christmas break. Accompanied by a single detective, she was heading for Sandringham on the scheduled service, which arrived bang on time. Her Majesty, 83, who paid £44.40 for her off-peak single ticket, was happy to publicise her 100-mile journey, inviting a photographer to record the event. It was perhaps with an eye to emphasising her frugality while she tries to negotiate a rise in her annual £7.9million Civil List payment from the Treasury, or to stress her green credentials to Prince Charles, who provoked controversy this week by travelling to the Copenhagen climate change conference in a gas-guzzling executive jet. Officials ensured nobody else sat in the Queen’s 12-seat compartment, although they insisted it would have been opened up to passengers if the other first-class compartment had been crowded. Passenger Gemma Birrell, 16, said: “I didn’t recognise her straight away and thought it might be a B-list celebrity.” Prince Philip travelled to Sandringham on Wednesday.

Conheça a história da CSN
A empresa que os EUA ajudou a criar para "comprar" o apoio do Brasil na II Guerra Mundial. A maior siderurgia da América Latina foi criada pelos Estados Unidos para "comprar" o apoio do Brasil na II Guerra Mundial. Conheça aqui a história da empresa brasileira que esta manhã lançou uma OPA sobre a Cimpor. A maior siderurgia da América Latina foi criada pelos Estados Unidos para "comprar" o apoio do Brasil na II Guerra Mundial. Conheça aqui a história da empresa brasileira que esta manhã lançou uma OPA sobre a Cimpor. Era Getúlio Vargas na altura presidente do Brasil, com manifesta simpatia pelo regime nazi alemão, mas fortemente pressionado para abrir caminho à democracia no seu País. Uma das estórias da História que sobreviveu até hoje conta que o ditador resolveu entrar na segunda Guerra Mundial, mas deixou para um segundo momento a escolha do lado que o Brasil iria apoiar. E o que terá feito pender o País para o campo aliado foi a promessa norte-americana de que iria financiar a emergência de um sector estratégico - então mas até hoje - e injectar capital para fazer nascer a Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), a primeira no Brasil, que é hoje líder na América Latina. Criada em 9 de Abril de 1941, após um acordo diplomático - o Acordo de Washington - entre os dois países, a CSN nasceu destinada a fornecer aço para os aliados durante a Segunda Guerra. Só regressada da paz, a empresa poderia voltar-se para projectos no Brasil. Nascida sob o signo do nacionalismo de Getúlio (embora tivesse começado a funcionar em 1946, era Gaspar Dutra Presidente), a CSN foi desde sempre um emblema do controlo estatal dos meios de produção. E o reduto de resistência a qualquer processo de privatização. Em Novembro de 1988, já com uma possível privatização no horizonte, os trabalhadores decretaram uma greve geral que ultrapassou 15 dias e que resultou na morte de três operários num conflito que envolveu o próprio Exército e meios ainda hoje descritos como "brutais". O movimento foi lançado pelo sindicato dos metalúrgicos da Região Sul Fluminense, filiado à Central Única dos Trabalhadores, "braço sindical" do Partido dos Trabalhadores de Lula da Silva, hoje Presidente do Brasil. A fábrica estava instalada na cidade de Volta Redonda, na região do Vale do Paraíba, no sul do estado do Rio de Janeiro, onde tudo e todos viviam em torno da CSN. Em memória dos operários então mortos, Oscar Niemeyer projectou no ano seguinte um pequeno monumento de homenagem. No dia seguinte, a obra do renomado arquitecto foi destruída. Niemeyer, que completou nesta semana 102 anos, mandou juntar os pedaços, e ainda hoje o momento reconstruído mantém-se no centro de Volta Redonda. A CSN manteve-se uma empresa estatal até 1993, quando foi privatizada no Programa Nacional de Desestatização levado a cabo pelo governo federal, durante os mandatos de Fernando Collor e Itamar Franco. Hoje, possui diversas empresas em todo o país, e várias fora de fronteiras. Inclusive em Portugal, onde controla a Lusosider, na Aldeia de Paio Pires, em Setúbal. Em 2006, a CSN apresentou uma proposta de compra da siderúrgica anglo-holandesa Corus, que a elevaria à 5ª maior siderurgia do mundo. A operação acabou por abortar, tendo sido arrebatada pelos indianos da Tata. Está agora de volta às compras.

Crystal clear voice.

Crystal clear voice. The two things by now, which are lightly bothering me. The first is my error to be sure that the ExxonMobile acquisition of XTO Energy is a finishing chapter and go a head. Seems, that right now is a long way yet to be true. Another fixation is the how the US Security and Exchange Commission want do the “illegal” or “commercially impracticable” the hydraulic fracturing. I f this method are used by thousands countries since the early 50’s of last century? Secondly it’s my “special” Christmas, it’s my “shopping spree”, well, the my “Account Department” and his connection to the “earning related” matter. Because, if this kind of situation happen for a second time in one Financial Year – come to be something like a “sad normality”… The everyone remember the pandemonium created by the German owned travel firm Thomas Cook. Myriad people last August where taking ‘sun-bath’ in the benches of dozen terminals around the world. Was thinking now, maybe the others are too distracted (especially this time of year) to stroll down this memory lane? For me it’s no fare. Why should I be squeaky wheel speaking in loud, crystal clear voice to someone? To injecting the confidence, being the captain of optimism, and to rule the boatload of patience? Not be worthwhile to join the forces in some kind of team effort? I know that the “Wheel of Fortune”, as a matter of fact, any wheel never was or will be too favorable to me. But, at least the intellectual proximity, what I expect, will be last to die.

Thousands stranded as Globespan Group travel company collapses. Thousands of British holidaymakers today faced a battle to return home for Christmas after waking up in hotels around the world to discover that their flights had been cancelled. Flyglobespan, Scotland’s largest airline, has gone bust, leaving about 5,000 travellers stranded abroad and 800 staff out of a job. More than 100,000 people have booked Christmas breaks with the company, which went into administration last night. Tens of thousands will receive no compensation for the loss. They just don’t know what’s happening.” The majority of the airline’s flights operated from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen and served Mediterranean resorts, but some flew further, with destinations including Florida and Egypt. The airline also flew from Cardiff, Belfast and Manchester. About 117,000 people who had booked flights will not now get them. Of those, 27,000 who had booked package holidays should get their money back but another 90,000, who had booked flights only, risk losing what they have paid. Those who paid online using debit cards are most likely to lose their money. Only credit card payments or those who booked using an ATOL-bonded travel agent are likely — eventually — to receive a refund. Earlier this week the Edinburgh-based company had denied suggestions that it was on the brink of collapse, claiming that it was on the verge of securing a major funding package from Halcyon Investments, a Jersey-based corporate financing firm. However, it is believed that yesterday the deal, said to be linked to funds that the airline was owed by a credit card processing firm, failed to secure regulatory approval. The airline has been hit by high fuel costs and has struggled to keep passenger numbers up during the recession. It looked to have turned a corner when it announced a profit of £1.2 million for 2008-09 after recording a £19 million loss the previous year. However, continuing difficulties meant that earlier this year it withdrew flights from Durham Tees Valley, citing a worsening economic climate. Ryanair and easyJet budget airlines stepped in with offers last night to fly the airline’s passengers on routes that overlapped with their own. Ryanair said it that would charge £89 one-way fares and easyJet said that it would fly stranded holidaymakers home for £60. Bruce Cartwright, a PricewaterhouseCoopers accountant appointed to administer the airline, said that all flight operations would cease. The Civil Aviation Authority will be responsible for getting home about 1,100 of the stranded passengers who booked flights as part of a Flyglobespan package holiday. Mr Cartwright said that those who had booked flights via the website or by phone would not be protected by the ATOL scheme. He also confirmed that, apart from a small number of employees who would be kept on to wind down the company, the workforce would be made redundant. Paul Clark, the Transport Minister, said: “I urge all affected passengers to identify themselves as former Flyglobespan customers to alternative carriers in order to ensure they benefit from special repatriation fares.“My principal concern is to ensure that those who are currently abroad are able to get home for Christmas.”

Exxon can exit XTO deal if drilling technique restricted. Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:34am GMT. (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said it can pull out of its $30 billion acquisition of XTO Energy (XTO.N: Quote, Profile,Research) if U.S. lawmakers pass legislation on a controversial drilling technique used to tap oil and gas fields. Exxon would be able to walk away from the deal if U.S. lawmakers make hydraulic fracturing "illegal" or "commercially impracticable," according to the merger agreement filed by Exxon with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," injects a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into rock formations at high pressure to force out oil and natural gas. The practice is used to stimulate production in old wells, but is now also used to tap oil and gas trapped in shale beds across North America. On Monday, Exxon said it plans to buy XTO Energy Inc in an all-stock deal. The combined companies will have 8 million acres of shale gas and other types of unconventional resources, the largest in the industry. The oil and gas industry says hydraulic fracturing is well regulated and safe, a position that Exxon says it supports. Critics say the drilling chemicals have polluted aquifers in Pennsylvania and Colorado and can cause cancer and other serious illnesses.

Gokhran to buy Alrosa output for $71 p/ct . Russia's state stockpile agency Gokhran released details of next year's state funding for rough diamond purchases from Alrosa. According Gokhran, the 2010 budget allocates the rouble equivalent of $1 billion for purchase of about 14 million carats. This is the first disclosure of the dollar and carat totals, allowing the first-ever calculation that Gokhran is paying, or plans to pay Alrosa, an average of just over $71 per carat.

This is a day to listen and think, before answering too quickly.

This is a day to listen and think, before answering too quickly. After writing “Forward motion” – feel drained. I begin to realize how I’m tired and stressed. Of course it’s was connected with adjudication by the ENI the Zubair’s giant oil field. Who was one of many other companies who right to the point understood “My consensus”. Like the one of brokers from City said, (sito): “The drafting look like it’s been done on the back of a fag packet… We’ve all had to pay accountants to clarify what the hell is going on. And, in some cases, even they don’t have a clue!...” (I.e. the HMPC’s regulatory regime in the Tax Return for the “Brotherhood of City”). Maybe it’s right place to remember that I insist to don’t give you the wrong message. Because, the next note, without any comments was called “ExxonMobil agrees $41 bn XTO Energy takeover”. Right after I finishing the dispatch through my blogs the “A bright red beach ball floating in the Ocean”. When, I resolve to stop a little… To read books, walk, and think less. Feel sure that nigh will bring me that “reimbursement”. (I.e. hitting in my head and taking away my sleep.) And, like always, wasn’t perspicacious at all. In dead, was hard bitten, without knowing whom, and than I receive the big present – russian blue – colored truck the ZIL – 130 (The curb weight 4,300 kg/9,500 lb). Even that moment I knew that this “present” have everything to do with the c… Jorge Sampaio. (To see truck in your dream, suggests that you are overworked. You are taking on too many tasks and are weighed down by all the responsibilities.) I wrote c… Jorge Sampaio, because I don’t want to give in to anyone who try (and he is one of them) to push me to take responsibilities’ that don’t belong to me. For any changes occurred, first I send (or sending) a message (or messages) to any one who want mess with me. Well knowing (how you keep be козло-вонючие козлы) that I will not deviate one finger for SOMEONE ELSE’S GAIN. Because, in my, the good old days, villains wore black hats and tied women to railway lines. Heroes wore white hats and come along at the last moment to set them free, just before the train come. Now, the world gets more complicated. Women refused to be victims and villains refused to be quite so easily categorized. Some even took to wearing white hats (or тапочки) just to confuse matters. Why I’m trying to do my best. (Today, the double of the Governor of the BoE – Mervin King “tirou a cartola”…) And get along (see the articles) with people that previously annoyed and even disturbed me. In russian its sounds the “outstanding degenerate”, the distinction which always was attripulated by me to the Gaidar. Who, with his team greediness lost all cost of South Mediterranean. (i.e. Barbaric countries), between the other thinks like this wideness. (The burned eight sailors – agree with me). Bad luck, this is one of those days where I should listen and think, before answering too quickly. Even well knowing why the yesterday the MNE-shniki wants to speak (when I wash my dishes) about the Iran. Not with sranaia churka Alekperov, not with the sranaia chuckcha Miller, not with srany’ kozel Deripaska, even not with the “Timur and his team” – but with me. Wasn’t strange this night at all when the someone hit in my head and than three russians, openly was laughing at me… How I react? Simple, firstly I wrote this, (considering the realm of my own thoughts), than was watching how Willy are offering me (the ‘Dutch treat’ of course) in City bonuses environment. Now, it’s fun to play around with my ideas, and see what develops.

Yegor Gaidar, Russia's economic reformer, dies at 53. Gaidar abolished state control of prices and engineered Russia's transition to market economy. Yegor Gaidar, the controversial architect of Russia's painful transition to a post-Soviet market economy, died today. He was 53. A liberal economist, Gaidar served as Russia's first finance minister under the late president Boris Yeltsin. In January 1992 he abolished state control of prices, wiping out the rouble savings of millions of ordinary Russians overnight. His reforms were described as shock therapy. They paved the way for the dubious state privatisations of the 1990s and the rise of the oligarchs. But they also saw food and other goods surge into Russia after years of Soviet hardship. Today colleagues and friends paid tribute to Gaidar. They said that his reforms led to Russia's decade of unprecedented economic growth between 1999 and 2008. A former prime minister, Gaidar went on to head the influential Institute for Economies in Transition. "Yegor was a fearless, strong and honest person, and a genuine patriot," the opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who worked with Gaidar at the democratic Party of Right Forces, said. Gaidar was a deputy in Russia's federal duma for the party between 1999 and 2003. "Gaidar knew that a lot of people hated him," Nemtsov said. "But people should know that after the collapse of the Soviet Union there were only two possibilities: disintegration, civil war and rivers of blood, or difficult and painful reforms." Gaidar's colleague and friend Anatoly Chubais, the chief of Russia's 1990s privatisation programme, added in his blog today: "He was a great person. Few people in the history of Russia or the world can compare with him in terms of force of intellect, or his clarity of understanding of the past, present and future." Gaidar died of a blood clot at his home in the Moscow region. Friends say he had been in poor health since he was mysteriously poisoned at a conference in Ireland in 2006, collapsing soon after eating breakfast. His sudden unexplained symptoms led to comparisons with the polonium assassination in November 2006 of the renegade FSB operative Alexander Litvenenko – though no link between the two cases was proved. Critics accused Gaidar of intellectual conceit, and said that his zealousness for market reforms was reminiscent of the fanaticism displayed by his grandfather, the Soviet writer Arkady Gaidar, for Bolshevism. Defenders point out that Gaider's market-oriented supporters now run the Kremlin. Gaidar was born in Moscow on March 19 1956. He graduated in economics from Moscow State University in 1978. After leaving politics, Gaidar remained influential behind the scenes, offering informal advice to Vladimir Putin on a range of economic issues.

Kremlin sacking linked to Sergei Magnitsky case. December 16, 2009. The President of Russia has sacked a senior Kremlin official accused by a Russian lawyer — who later died in prison — of taking part in a conspiracy to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from the Russian Treasury. Dmitri Medvedev signed a decree yesterday dismissing Major-General Anatoli Mikhalkin, head of the tax crimes department in the Moscow branch of the Interior Ministry. His dismissal is believed to be linked to the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who acted for Hermitage Capital, the London-based fund manager that has been fighting a lengthy battle for the recovery of subsidiary companies that it claims were stolen by a criminal gang. Hermitage and its founder, Bill Browder, accuse Kremlin officials of conspiring with a criminal gang to use the Hermitage subsidiaries to claim fraudulent tax rebates worth $230 million (£140 million). According to Hermitage, Mr Magnitsky was arrested in November 2008 after giving testimony in which he accused the Interior Ministry and Artem Kuznetsov, a subordinate of General Mikhalkin, of involvement in the theft of funds from the state budget. Mr Magnitsky died last month after spending a year behind bars without trial and being denied medical treatment for pancreatitis. The removal of General Mikhalkin follows the sacking last week of 20 employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service, including the head of Moscow’s prisons and of the jail in which Mr Magnitsky died. Mr Browder, who led a series of campaigns for better corporate governance in Russian companies, including Gazprom, called yesterday for the prosecution of those who were involved in Mr Magnitsky’s illegal detention and death. He said President Medvedev had taken an important step in pursuing those responsible for imprisoning Mr Magnitsky and the theft of state funds. “The loss of someone’s job can never be compared to the loss of an innocent man’s life,” Mr Browder added.

ExxonMobil agrees $41bn XTO Energy takeover.

ExxonMobil agrees $41bn XTO Energy takeover. December 14 2009 16:36. ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest publicly listed oil company, announced on Monday a $41bn acquisition of XTO Energy that gives it a strong position in the huge onshore US natural gas play and sets out a strategic focus for a cleaner-energy future. Following the completion of the deal, Exxon said it will establish a new organisation to manage global development and production of unconventional resources, enabling the rapid development and deployment of technologies and operating practices to increase production. Unconventional resources include gas contained in shale rock, tightly compressed sands, and coal bed methane. To capitalise on the XTO’s expertise in this area, Exxon will base the organisation in XTO’s Fort Worth, Texas, offices, where it intends to keep the company’s team in place. “What they are signalling with this acquisition is that they understand the importance of gas in their future,’’ said Amy Myers Jaffe, energy expert at the James A Baker Institute for Public Policy. “It’s definitely the fuel of the future.’’ Gas has adequate scale and infrastructure to replace oil in some cases and is about 30 per cent less carbon intensive than oil and about 50 per cent carbon intensive than coal. The fuel is gaining support from lawmakers at a time when the world is looking at ways to reduce carbon emissions. The acquisition could be a bigger win than many realise, Ms Jaffe said, if Exxon’s pilot project to remove carbon emissions from gas works. While Exxon has been building a global liquified natural gas portfolio in recent years, it had nothing of significance in US onshore, unconventional gas. This meant it had so far missed out on the boom, brought on by expertise and technology perfected by the small independents to extract gas from shale rock. These small companies, including XTO, have, in the past three years, grown estimates of US supplies from 30 years, at current usage rates, to 100 years supply, mostly by figuring out how to economically extract gas from shale rock. BP and BG Group of the UK; StatoilHydro, the Norwegian energy company; and Eni, the Italian oil company, have all bought into the US gas industry in the past year to not only produce but take what they learn about extracting gas from shale rock abroad. PFC Energy, a consultancy, estimates advancements made by the independents in developing natural gas from shale could, if taken abroad, more than quadruple gas resources, increasing supplies of this alternative option to greenhouse-intensive oil, coal and oil sands fuels. Yet Robin West, chairman of PFC Energy, noted the onshore unconventional gas industry has been dominated by smaller players than the majors, who specialise in the short-term nature of the play, which requires constant reinvestment and drilling to maintain production. This is at odds with the traditional Exxon strategy of large, long-term, highly efficient assets. “The success of this investment will depend on whether Exxon can keep the XTO culture in its team,’’ he said. ”It’s a different business.’’ The all-stock transaction with XTO provides for Exxon issuing 0.7098 shares for each share of XTO, representing a 25 per cent premium to XTO shareholders. The transaction value includes $10bn of existing XTO debt and is based on the closing share prices of Exxon and XTO on December 11. JP Morgan Securities acted as financial advisors to Exxon and Barclays Capital and Jefferies & Company are acting as financial advisors to XTO.