News of the president’s alleged plans comes from four US government sources who anonymously spoke to Reuters about the impending shift of duty. The president plans to make a speech at the National Defense University on Thursday, but it is unknown whether or not he intends to bring up plans regarding CIA’s counterterrorism drone program.According to the officials, the president has already made up his mind about allowing the armed forces to conduct future drone operations, but he has not yet publicized these plans. By giving the Pentagon greater responsibility in stages, the president hopes that the military will eventually control drone operations in Pakistan.The shift would allow the CIA to return to its traditional spying operations and intelligence analysis, rather than using its resource to engage in paramilitary activities.But for now, the CIA will continue to control drone operations in Pakistan, where the US military is not engaged and where locals remain angry about the 355 drone strikes that have occurred on their land, according to the New America Foundation.The Pentagon will, however, take over the drone program in Yemen, where the US military is already working in cooperation with local forces to combat terrorism, two of the four sources told Reuters.The Obama administration has allegedly been discussing the shift of responsibility for months. Officials say that the move would lead to greater transparency and congressional oversight of the drone program, which has been heavily scrutinized in the past.To date, the New America Foundation estimates that there have been 355 drone strikes in Pakistan and 66 in Yemen. Sen. Lindsey Graham in February estimated that 4,700 people have been killed in America’s drone war, many of which were innocent civilians. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism in February estimated that the number killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia is between 3,072 and 4,756.The administration claims that CIA drone strikes are only authorized against confirmed terrorist threats, but many believe there is more to the covert operations than they will ever know.“The United States has gone far beyond what the US public – and perhaps even Congress – understands the government has been doing and claiming they have a legal right to so,” Notre Dame Law School professor told McClatchy, claiming that CIA drone operations in Pakistan violate international law.If the Pentagon takes over drone operations, congressional lawmakers would have more of an input on the use of these unmanned aerial vehicles.Last month, three senior US officials told the Daily Beast that the move would “toughen the criteria for drone strikes, strengthen the program’s accountability, and increase transparency.”Jeh Jonson, a former top lawyer for the Pentagon, said in a speech at Fordham University that “the parameters of congressionally authorized armed conflict are transparent to the public, from the words of the congressional authorization itself, and the executive branch’s interpretation of that authorization… lethal force outside the parameters of congressionally authorized armed conflict by the military looks to the public to lack any boundaries, and lends itself to the suspicion that it is an expedient substitute for criminal justice.”It is unclear when the president will announce his alleged plans to shift the drone program, but after last week’s scandals regarding government overreach – including the IRS targeting of conservative organizations and the DOJ investigating Associated Press journalists – Obama may be feeling the pressure to provide greater transparency. … Read More
E.On Russia to transfer 100% of 2012’s net profit into dividends
The company has recommended a dividend of 0.29 roubles per share for 2012, worth 18.3 billion roubles ($583 million), General Director Maxim Shirokov said on Friday.E.On Russia also plans to pay its shareholders 40-60 percent of its earnings under IFRS international accounting standards over the medium-term.According to Kommersant daily, German E.On needs money to compensate for the losses the company suffered after the German authorities pledged to turn their back on nuclear energy in favor of green energy. E.On is terminating the operation of the nuclear power plant it owns.The growing share of renewable energy sources and weak demand from industry have significantly reduced the profitability of the German company’s gas division.E.ON Russia’s payment of dividends will become the first time when foreign investors will get dividends from assets purchased during the split of RAO UES of Russia. Several Russian energy producers can boast dividends exceeding 1 billion roubles ($32 million). Others include RusHydro and Mosenergo. The Russian subsidiary of the German company has increased its energy production by 2.78 percent in 2012, according to the Finam business news agency. The increase is mainly due to the expansion of the Surgutskaya GRES-2 power plant – the largest power station in Russia. Two new 400MW units were commissioned to meet the energy requirements of the city of Surgut and Western Siberia, and have increased the existing capacity of the power station by 800MW, to 5,600MW. Investment in the expansion project is estimated at €2.8 billion.E.ON is the largest buyer of Russian gas and also the largest foreign investor in Russia. The expansion programme is part of the company’s investment programme aimed at increasing the clean energy production to 2,400MW.Total power generating capacity of E.ON Russia exceeds one billion watts. The company includes five hydroelectric power plants (Surgutskaya GRES-2, Berezovskaya GRES, Shaturskaya GRES, Smolenskaya GRES and Yajvinskaya GRES) and «Heat networks of Berezovskaya GRES», delivering energy to consumers in the region surrounding the plant. … Read More
Rosneft eyes Alrosa’s $1bn gas assets to strengthen position in the market
Alrosa is expected to sell its gas assets by the end of 2013, according to the company’s head Fyodor Andreyev”We are now at the stage of signing documents to sell the Urengoy gas assets, which are valued at more than $1 billion,” Andreyev said. He did not reveal a buyer, adding that there were several suitors. Kommersant daily, however, claims Rosneft will become another party to the deal, referring to the unnamed sources.Kommersant’s source said the agreement with Rosneft was reached last year, when the contract to buy one of the two Alrosa gas assets – Geotransgaz – was signed. However, due to Rosneft’s planned acquisition of other major assets and the ensuing increase in its debt burden, the deal was put off for a year.Among the current gas assets of Alrosa are Geotransgaz and Urengoy Gas Company (UGC). It consolidated 100% of both companies in the spring of 2012, after buying out 90% of their shares from VTB Capital for $1.04 billion and 10% in each company from Metropol for $100 million. Alrosa issued $1.26 billion in euro commercial paper in March 2012 to finance the deal.Rosneft’s gas strategy is that by 2020 the company will double its market share domestically to 20% from the current 10%. Among the oil major’s gas assets are Itera and Rospan, that came under Rosneft control after the TNK-BP acquisition.Rosneft is now pursuing an aggressive policy to strengthen its stance, Valery Nesterov, an analyst from Sberbank Investment Reserch, told Komersant. The company wants to rival the current market leader Gazprom, and is counting on Novatek support in liberalizing exports of liquefied natural gas.In March Rosneft officially became the world’s largest oil trading company after it closed the deal to acquire TNK –BP, a former Russian-British oil consortium. It paid $44 billion in cash out of the total cost of the deal estimated at about $55 billion. … Read More
Breaking: Justice Department Admits to Spying on Over 100 Individual Associated Press Journalists Over Two Month Period
In what could become one of the biggest scandals of the Obama Administration, the Justice Department has admitted to unconstitutional wide ranging spying on over 100 individual Associated Press reporters. … Read More
The Resident: Beemageddon could spell disaster for US
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America’s Roads Have Been Turned Into A Revenue Generating Surveillance Grid
What do speed traps, parking tickets, toll roads, speed cameras and red light cameras all have in common? They are all major revenue sources for state and local governments. … Read More
Nintendo catering to smartphone apps to bolster Wii U sales
Nintendo is reportedly working to modify their Wii U gaming console to work with third party smartphone apps. The struggling video game giant is said to be banking on the idea that this will help drive console sales according to anonymous sources as reported by The Japan Times. … Read More
