Monday, 8 September 2014

The European Union Times

Missing Russian journalist Andrey Stenin confirmed dead in Ukraine

Posted: 07 Sep 2014 02:10 PM PDT

Colleague lays flowers in memory of photo journalist Andrey Stenin killed in southeastern Ukraine, at the Rossiya Segodnya building.

Russian journalist Andrey Stenin, missing in eastern Ukraine for a month, has been confirmed dead, RIA Novosti, the news agency where he worked, reports. He was in a vehicle traveling in a convoy of escaping civilians when it came under heavy fire.
Stenin apparently died in a vehicle, on his way to an assignment, according to the agency’s director, Dmitriy Kisilev.
“The car had been shot up and burnt on a highway in the vicinity of Donetsk,” he said in a statement. “The autopsy results came back this morning. He was indeed in that car, the 33-year-old young man, a brilliant professional, someone who cared.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee has determined that the car had come under fire as a Ukrainian attack on the self-defense forces was taking place. The car had been travelling in a convoy, together with those escaping the conflict. It was guarded by six members of the self-defense forces.
The unit that carried out the attack was also using a tank, according to the investigators.
More than 10 cars containing peaceful civilians had been shot up. The contents of the vehicles, including the civilians’ belongings, had come into Ukrainian posession.

The following day Ukrainian commanders arrived at the scene. According to Vladimir Markin of the Investigative Committee and testimony gathered from bystanders, “they weren’t only inspecting the wreckages and identifying bodies, but were also loading the contents of the vehicles into their own and searching the remains,” he said.
“After the commanders had left the scene, it was fired on with Grad missiles,” he added.
“The investigation will not stop at determining the exact details of the shooting. It also aims to find those responsible and bring them to justice.”
Moscow has asked that Kiev carry out the same “impartial and thorough investigation.”
It was only on August 27 that Russian authorities had been given the remains of the five persons who were in the car with Stenin at the time of the attack. “Russian experts studied the remains, which contained those of Stenin as well,” Markin told journalists.
Kisilev also said that mediators on the Ukrainian side were earlier offering to negotiate Stenin’s release – possibly an exchange – in this way giving credence to the view that he may be alive.
Stenin, 33, a photojournalist contributing to several leading Russian and international news agencies including AP, Reuters, AFP, Rossiya Segodnya (RIA Novosti) and ITAR-TASS, had been covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine before all contact with him was lost on August 5.
In mid-August, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said that Stenin had been arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service for “aiding and glorifying terrorism.” He later backtracked on the statement.
Stenin’s disappearance prompted rallies in his support all over the world, as well as an online campaign #FreeAndrew.
Stenin was an experienced war photographer. The work he did in Ukraine included pictures of Ukrainian troops captured by self-defense forces, the horrific results of Ukrainian artillery shelling of militia-held cities and the crash site of the MH17 plane that was downed over the Donetsk region in July.

Ever since Stenin went missing, Moscow has been putting a great deal of pressure on Kiev, calling on the Ukrainian authorities to assist in finding and rescuing the journalist.
Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case over what was regarded as a possible kidnapping.
All major international human rights watchdogs – Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Federation of Journalists – have called for an urgent investigation into Stenin’s disappearance.
“Andrey’s funeral will take place on Friday at the Troyekurovskoe cemetary in Moscow. He will be buried next to journalists Igor Kornelyuk, Anton Voloshin and Anatoly Klyan, who, like Andrey, were killed in Ukraine,” the director added in his statement.
The Ukrainian interior ministry said it is ready to investigate the death of Stenin after Moscow’s demand for a probe. But it would be difficult as the area where the journalist was killed is not controlled by Ukrainian troops.
“Without access to the body, without knowing how he was killed, we won’t be able to conduct such an investigation,” Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the head of Ukraine’s interior ministry, told Ukrainian TV.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had hoped until the last minute that Stenin was alive and would return home to his relatives.
“We hoped that Andrey [Stenin] would return to his family and friends but bitter news dashed all these hopes. He performed his professional and human duty to the last. [He] did everything so that people, the whole world learnt the truth about the tragic events that are happening in Donetsk,” said Putin’s statement on the Kremlin website.
Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev also expressed his condolences.
“It’s a terrible sorrow when the life of a young, talented man who is full of energy is taken in war. A war in which his only shots were photos! He wanted to bring us photos documenting the atrocities and injustice,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

“Maybe it’s the highest manifestation of love for people to come under fire in order to show that there should be no wars,” he added.
The OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) has called on Kiev to investigate the circumstances of Stenin’s death, the body said in a statement.
I urge Kiev authorities to investigate all cases of killing of media workers, do it quickly and thoroughly, said a statement from Dunya Miyatovich, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, which observes media developments.
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UK protesters say ‘No’ to NHS privatization drive

Posted: 07 Sep 2014 01:53 PM PDT

Thousands of British protesters have marched into London’s iconic Trafalgar Square against the government’s program to privatize the UK’s National Health Service, the NHS.
The protest march for the NHS was organized by a coalition of activists, political parties and national trade unions. Hundreds of these protesters have been marching for a week from Jarrow, a town 300 miles north of the capital London.
They have vowed to continue demonstrating until the government gives up its plans to privatize the National Health Service.
Among the protesters was the internationally-renowned comedian and supporter of the NHS, Bill Bailey, who expressed worries about the negative impacts the reforms have already had on the service.
Among the speakers on the stage in Trafalgar Square was the Labour Party’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham who promised that his party would halt the assault on the NHS, if it won next year’s general elections.
Those who have been campaigning to stop the drive to privatization will be hoping that Labour keeps its promises.
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Soros Signals Argentina’s Shale is Biggest Place to Be

Posted: 07 Sep 2014 06:40 AM PDT

One of the world’s legendary investors is upping his bet on Argentina’s shale oil and gas industry in a show of confidence for shale production in South America’s largest unconventional prize and a big boost for both supermajors and smaller players making big waves in the heart of new discovery areas.
George Soros has doubled his stake in YPF SA, the state-owned oil company in Argentina, which sits atop some of the world’s largest shale oil and gas resources, and is about to get even larger following a new discovery over the last couple of weeks of a second key shale play.
Argentina holds an estimated 27 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and 802 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas, much of it located in the Vaca Muerta, an enormous shale formation in the Neuquen basin, the second-largest shale gas deposit and the fourth-largest shale oil deposit in the world. And on Aug. 14, YPF announced the discovery of oil in another shale formation, Agrio shale, in the same basin.Some estimates suggest that combined, the two plays’ reserves could be worth as much as $3 trillion.“I am very excited with this [Agrio] discovery that proves that Vaca Muerta and Chubut’s D-129 formation aren’t the only shale deposits we have to exploit in Argentina,” YPF CEO Miguel Galuccio told reporters, according to Bloomberg. “The tests are very promising but still, it is too soon to provide figures.”
In the meantime, Soros’ confidence helps override some negative incidents that had held back investment in Argentina’s shale, including the government’s 2012 expropriation of YPF, then owned by Spanish firm Repsol, and the government’s failure to make a July 30 bond payment, which has resulted in a standoff with a hedge fund over unpaid bills back to the last default in 2001.
The government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, however, has taken steps to repair Argentina’s relationship with international markets, and even tweaked tax laws in 2013 to give special benefits to big oil companies willing to invest more than $1 billion in the country.
The move was immediately followed by Chevron’s announcement that it would enter into a joint venture with YPF. To incentivize the global energy industry to further invest, additional steps are being taken, including discussions for a new hydrocarbon bill that could further standardize and incentivize the industry for both supermajors and mid-sized companies.
The newest discovery is certainly vindication for Soros’ gamble on Argentina. His company, Soros Fund Management LLC, took a strong position in YPF in the second quarter of this year, doubling its position. It now controls 3.5 percent of YPF’s American depositary receipts, worth $450.5 million.
Soros’ move suggests that his firm is not focusing on the short-term problems facing Argentina, but believes that the geological fundamentals are more important. By increasing his stake in YPF, he is betting that Argentina is sitting on some lucrative plays that could be bigger than the Eagleford or Bakken in the United States.
According to the Financial Times, “Some of the world’s largest hedge funds have been snapping up Argentine stocks, betting on an economic recovery in the country even though it defaulted on its debt for the second time in 13 years.”
And while the market has caught on to the ‘Soros Factor,’ it hasn’t yet caught on to the smaller companies that are positioned to benefit from the Vaca Muerta shale and the new Agrio find.
The Neuquen basin is also where YPF, in partnership with Chevron, is producing crude from the Vaca Muerta shale and is expecting to have nearly 300 wells drilled in the Loma Campana/Loma La Lata area.
It’s great news for Chevron, but it’s also great news for smaller players with big footprints on this scene who will benefit from all the supermajor drilling in the emerging Vaca Muerta and the new Agrio shale formations, as well as from the confidence boost provided by Soros.
There are only a few junior companies who have significant land holdings in Argentina’s Neuquen Basin, among them, Madalena Energy Inc. (MVN.V), which will benefit from Chevron’s plans to drill 300 wells just west of the junior’s Coiron Amargo block.
The point is that as the supermajors drill, the smaller companies reap the benefits, positioning themselves for big rewards with big players who are eyeing their large tracts of land in this promising basin.
“Given the size of the resource prize in both Vaca Muerta and Agrio, Argentina is home to one of the biggest unconventional plays in the world,” said Kevin Shaw, CEO of Madalena Energy, which controls around 1 million net acres in Argentina and plans to begin shale development in the Agrio formation later this year or in early 2015.
“Some of the largest oil companies around the globe are continuing to actively drill and appraise Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale and are now starting to do work in the Agrio shale,” Shaw said.
For oil and gas explorers both big and small, Argentina is back–with possibly more shale than the United States, and the industry is more active than ever.
Like Warren Buffet, when George Soros makes a big move, people notice. Their decisions, which sometimes run counter to conventional wisdom, are often seen in hindsight as signals of trends that few investors are noticing.
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At least 51% of Scots to vote Yes in independence referendum

Posted: 07 Sep 2014 04:44 AM PDT

Support for Scotland’s Yes campaign is on the rise as the country’s independence referendum draws nearer, a new opinion poll shows.
According to a poll conducted by YouGov for the Sunday Times, 51 percent of Scottish voters plan to vote yes, while 49 percent will vote no.
A similar YouGov poll published on September 2, showed 47 percent of the respondents said they’d vote in favor of independence, while 53 percent of the respondents planned to vote “No.”
This is the first time that Scotland’s pro-independence Yes campaign has gained on the Better Together campaign.
Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the “breakthrough poll” showed the Yes campaign “has the big momentum.”
“More and more people are beginning to realize that a Yes vote is Scotland’s one opportunity to make [its] enormous wealth work better for everybody who lives here,” she added.
Scotland will hold a national referendum on September 18 to determine the country’s future. The independence referendum could result in the nation’s breakaway from the United Kingdom after more than 300 years of political union.
The Westminster has repeatedly warned against Scotland’s independence, saying it will jeopardize the UK’s stability and damage its international standing.
Scottish authorities on the other hand argue that independence from the UK would free Scotland from London’s austerity policies and unnecessary military spending.
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Russia suspends all confectionery imports from Ukraine

Posted: 07 Sep 2014 04:26 AM PDT

Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has suspended all confectionery imports from Ukraine after discovering two Ukrainian companies broke consumer protection laws.
“In order to ensure the rights of consumers, starting September 5 Rospotrebnadzor is suspending the import of confectionery goods produced in Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the watchdog said in a statement on Friday.
The restriction came after two Ukrainian confectionery companies AVK and Konti failed to comply with labeling standards.
AVK and Konti form the bulk of confectionery imported by Russia from Ukraine.
At the end on July 2013 Russia halted imports from another Ukrainian confectionery company, Roshen, citing food safety concerns. The Roshen Confectionery Corporation is owned by Petro Poroshenko, who was elected president in May this year.
The importation bans by Rospotrebnadzor should not be considered political as the restrictions are based on the law, the deputy head of the Constitutional Committee of the State Duma Vadim Solovyov said.
“We were supplied with bad wine, with not high quality water; with bad food… these restrictions are imposed legally. We prohibit the import only of those goods that don’t meet the standards and agreements that we have,” said the deputy.
Previously Russia has also curbed imports of a range of other goods from Ukraine over quality issues, including dairy products, fruit juice, and beer.
Meanwhile Kiev intends to impose economic sanctions against Russia stopping the import of 94 commodity groups worth about $3 billion, Ukrainian media reported. Restrictions may cover food, cosmetics, medicine, alcohol, and caviar.
The measures are unlikely to have any real economic impact on Russia, as Ukraine only accounts for 4.5 percent of Russian exports.
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