Daily Grind Of Still Water

Opec has not decided whether to hold an emergency meeting on 18 and 19 October at its headquarters in Vienna. “We have discussed the possibility of meeting and have not reached a consensus,” Mr Daukoru said. The next scheduled meeting is in December.Despite his comments, oil prices slipped back below $60 a barrel yesterday as traders cast doubt on the cartel’s commitment to follow through on its threat to cut production.The cost of Brent crude fell to $56 a barrel this week on fears of a sharp US economic slowdown and a build-up on oil inventories. Once we are clear on that and any potential impact on future workload, we will consult with the unions.”Amicus officials are due to meet senior Airbus directors next Friday and will be demanding to know more details about the new delay. A spokeswoman for Amicus, the union representing most aerospace workers, said the impact on jobs at Derby was likely to be “minimal” in the short term, but the financial health of a wide range of other companies was tied up with the future of the A380.. Opec, the oil producers’ cartel, will unveil plans to slash production on Monday if its members can come to a deal over the weekend, its president said yesterday. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries could hold a meeting as soon as 19 October to sanction a cut in output of a million barrels a day.
Edmund Daukoru, Opec’s president, said he was hopeful the 11-nation group would reach a consensus by Monday on supply cuts.Plans emerged this week to remove 1 million barrels per day, or about 3.4 per cent of total Opec supply, from the market as soon as possible.

Rolls-Royce said that while workers at Derby were involved in producing the Trent 900 for the A380, employees made other engines for Airbus and for other companies including Boeing.A spokesman said: “After the Airbus delay, we have to adjust our programme accordingly.We are waiting for more details about requirements from Airbus. The council is seeking clarification from Sudan’s UN ambassador.. Union leaders yesterday expressed deep concern about the impact on British jobs of fresh delays to the A380 super-jumbo programme. As the engineering giant Rolls-Royce suspended production of the A380 engine, employees’ representatives warned the decision could have a serious effect on employment at a range of key sites in the UK.
Rolls-Royce managers said it was too early to say if the decision would have any impact on the 11,000 jobs at its plant in Derby, but union officials said there was considerable anxiety elsewhere.Airbus owns a number of major sites in Britain – including at Bristol and Broughton near Chester – and there are hundreds of other firms supplying components for the project. The US delegation to the UN circulated a draft statement on Thursday night, saying that the council “deplores” the Sudan mission’s attempt “to intimidate potential troop-contributing countries volunteering forces for a peacekeeping mission in Darfur”.

It added: “This aggressive gesture by Sudan directed at fellow member states challenges the will of the Security Council,” which has authorised up to 22,500 troops and police to bolster the 7,000-strong African force in Darfur, and “is unacceptable behaviour by a member state of the United Nations”.But the US failed to have the statement adopted yesterday, as it needs to be agreed by all 15 members, and some nations – including Britain – felt that it was best to ignore the Sudanese letter, which was unsigned. He was referring to a decision taken by 150 states at a UN summit last year to invoke the “responsibility to protect” to prevent genocide.”In the meantime, the situation in Darfur is becoming more desperate by the day,” Mr Annan said, referring to the violence which has continued despite a peace agreement in May between a rebel group and Khartoum.The Americans are demanding a strong response to the Sudanese letter. He described the situation on the ground as being “again on the brink of catastrophe”.”There must be a clear, strong and uniform message from the Security Council and the international community about the consequences of rejecting international assistance for the suffering people of Darfur, and for failing to exercise the responsibility to protect,” he said. Darfur is at a “critical stage”, the UN secretary general has warned, after the Sudanese government served notice that any attempt to dispatch a UN force to the troubled region would be considered an invasion. The UN Security Council met in emergency session at US request after the Islamic government in Khartoum warned that any nation sending troops to the troubled western region would be taking part in a “hostile act”.

The warning was contained in a letter addressed to countries which may contribute troops to a UN force for Darfur.
“In the absence of Sudan’s consent to the deployment of UN troops, any volunteering to provide peacekeeping troops to Darfur will be considered as a hostile act, a prelude to an invasion of a member country of the UN,” it said.Sudan has repeatedly and forcefully expressed opposition to the transformation of the currently under-resourced African Union force into a fully-fledged UN mission to protect local villagers in the area devastated by Arab militias allied to the government.More than 200,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of the three-year conflict, and 2.5 million have been left homeless by the scorched earth campaign of ethnic cleansing.In his latest report, Mr Annan warned the Sudanese government against attempting a “military solution” to the conflict, and urged Khartoum to agree to a UN force.”Unless security improves, the world is facing the prospect of having to drastically curtail an acutely needed humanitarian operation,” Mr Annan said. Then we could hear the screams on the other side of the valley. Eight people were killed.”The landslide may have spared the lives of Shabir and his family but its force also washed away 17,000 rupees saved from his initial government compensation of 25,000 rupees.Today, Shabir and his family share a small tent, where we meet, sitting on pitifully thin blankets, among neatly piled cooking utensils, some clothes and bags of dried foodstuffs He fears for his family’s future. “The first earthquake destroyed our families, our lands, everything. This second one has destroyed our spirit and our hope.”To donate to Concern Worldwide which is working in the earthquake-affected areas, phone 0800 410 510. We really didn’t want to come here.”But the government was adamant, and the family was moved to a temporary home.

On 26 July 2006, as the memories of that terrible morning in October were beginning to fade, disaster struck again, and the earth shook for the second time. At 4.30am, as the family recited the Koran, a landslide thundered down the mountain, hit a lake created in the valley by the October earthquake, and released a massive deluge of water which wiped out the family’s new home, along with many others.Shabir says: “We could see the black water rolling towards us. After seven months, the Pakistani government told Shabir it wanted to move him and his family to Ghanool, 13km from Balakot.Shabir was greatly puzzled. He had been told that an international team led by Japanese scientists had condemned the area as a critically dangerous “red” zone. He says: “They said only 20 per cent of the earthquake’s energy had been released They fear there is more to come We felt safe in the camp of Muzaffarabad. Dusk falls and thunder peals from the glowing mountains surrounding the city.Abid Hussain points to the place where his leg was crushed by a fallen wall Today, a lemon tree has struggled to life though the rubble. Abid says his family have lived and owned property in Balakot for 300 years and he points out his compensation was a fraction of house’s cost of 1.5m rupees.