Crude futures rose on Thursday as traders ignored United States government data showing growing supplies, focusing instead on Nigeria and other geopolitical threats to global oil supples. Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 41 cents to ,38 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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During Wednesday’s local elections, several instances were reported when incorrect ward ballot papers were issued to voters, said the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in a statement on Wednesday evening. However, the IEC maintained that the voting process had proceeded fairly smoothly throughout the country.
Two men convicted of carrying out a deadly a bomb attack in Iran’s restive oil city of Ahvaz were executed in public early on Thursday, state media announced. The two men — Ali Affrawi and Mehdi Navasseri — were hanged at the scene of their crime, committed last October.
Nigerian officials stepped up efforts on Thursday to negotiate the release of two kidnapped Americans and a Briton after six of the hostages’ fellow oil workers were freed by militants. On Wednesday, separatist guerrillas allowed two thirds of their captives to go free after holding them for 13 days in the swamps of the Niger Delta.
Militants have released six foreign oil workers they deemed ”low value”, but held on to two Americans and one Briton and threatened crippling new attacks aimed at cutting off all oil production in Nigeria. American Macon Hawkins, who turned 69 on Wednesday, was the first to be released.
Kenyan police silenced the country’s second-biggest media group early on Thursday, closing its television station and burning its newspapers, after it reported that President Mwai Kibaki had held secret talks with a political opponent, witnesses said. Hooded officers carrying AK-47 rifles stormed the group’s headquarters.
Rain hammers down on a Johannesburg night as a woman pulls up outside a suburban house, steps from her car, the engine running, and rings the bell. A man breaks cover from bushes across the street. He slides into the vehicle and begins to reverse. The woman whirls around and screams.
RMB Holdings, which is the holding company for some of South Africa’s leading financial-services companies, including the FirstRand Group, lifted headline earnings by 16% to 121 cents or R1,44-billion for the six months ended December. This was compared with earnings of 104 cents per share in 2004.
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The Democratic Alliance was trailing the African National Congress in most wards as municipal election results were trickling in on Thursday morning. The African National Congress had captured 14 of the 20 counted Western Cape municipalities by 8am on Thursday.
Hospitals have been asked to cut back on surgery because of a severe blood shortage, the South African National Blood Service said on Thursday. ”South Africa is currently experiencing a severe blood shortage, particularly the ‘O’ blood type,” the service said. This blood can be used in an emergency for all other blood types.