#ras tanura refinery

[youthchronical]

Oil giant Saudi Aramco posts 15% drop in third-quarter profit but maintains dividend

Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal Ahmed Jadallah | Reuters Saudi state oil giant Aramco reported a 15.4% drop in net profit in the third-quarter on the back of “lower crude oil prices and weakening refining margins,” but maintained a 31.05 billion dividend. The company reported net income of $27.56 billion in the July-September period. The figure tops a company-provided…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“During World War II, most American craftsmen served in the armed forces or worked in defense-related plants, creating a shortage in other sectors. Meanwhile, the Allied victory in North Africa left hundreds of skilled Italians in the former Italian colony of Eritrea standing idle, having been interned by the British in 1941 as prisoners of war. Some were released to work for American firms such as Douglas Aircraft, but guarding the remaining Italians in Eritrea continued to drain Allied resources. In 1943, Aramco received permission to build the Ras Tanura Refinery but found it lacked skilled workers. At the suggestion of Colonel L. T. “Stormy” Weathers, those in charge of the operation turned to the Italian internees for a new source of carpenters, plumbers, masons and other skilled labor. In 1944, after securing the King’s assent to the presence of Italian workers on a temporary basis, Aramco began the process of bringing in more than 1,000 men. Ilo Battigelli, an Italian photographer hired to document Aramco’s refinery construction project, recalled, “We left Eritrea for Saudi Arabia not for adventure, but out of hunger. I wanted to eat more than once a day.” Conditions were hard in Saudi Arabia, but the assignment gave the Italians an opportunity to earn wages from their skills. Half of the men were repatriated to Italy in late 1945 after the completion of the refinery, but the remainder stayed. The need for Italian craftsmen waned over the following decades, although the growth of Saudi Arabia’s industrial sector led to a hiring surge in 1951. With the arrival after 1948 of Palestinian refugees, who served as an alternative pool of skilled workers, the number of Italians dwindled to 33 by 1961.” - Theodore J. Brockish et al., Energy to the World:  The Story of Saudi Aramco. Aramco Services Company, 2011.    ”By 1944, as the allies regained control of the sea, the United States shipped more materials to Saudi Arabia and also sent some Italian prisoners of war there to work as laborers. Joined by local Arabs, they built a refinery at Ras Tanura, a pipeline to Bahrain, and a U.S. air force base to protect them at Dhahran.” - Mark Weston, Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. p. 150. ”Workers’ struggles at the point of production also affected the formation of labor policy [in Saudi Arabia’s oil fields]. A strike in 1943 by Indian workers at the Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia compelled the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) into using Italian prisoners of war as slave labor.”

- Midnight Notes Collective, “To Saudi With Love: Working Class Composition in the Mideast” in Midnight Oil: Work, Energy, War, 1973-1992. Autonomedia, 1992. p. 25. Image (top): Italian prisoners of war, Oran, Algeria, 1943. Middle: Italian workers from the former Italian colony of Eritrea started to arrive in 1944 to help alleviate a labor shortage. Skilled craftsmen among the group built stone buildings that are still in use today, including the Dhahran dining hall, pictured in 1948, and the nearby U.S. Consulate.  Bottom: Ras Tanura Refinery, 1946.

[vietnamstar]

Goldman cuts oil forecast on 'lack of clarity' over G-7 Russia oil price cap, China Covid outbreaks

Goldman cuts oil forecast on ‘lack of clarity’ over G-7 Russia oil price cap, China Covid outbreaks

In this article GS GSBD Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Crude oil storage tanks at the Juaymah Tank Farm in Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia, in 2018. Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images Goldman Sachs lowered its oil price forecast by $10 to $100 per barrel for the fourth quarter of 2022, citing rising Covid concerns in China and lack…

[theliveusa]

India's Russian oil purchases since Ukraine invasion more than double 2021 total

India’s Russian oil purchases since Ukraine invasion more than double 2021 total

An oil tanker is being loaded at Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia on May 21, 2018. — Reuters India has bought at least 40mn bbls Russian oil since February 24. 2021 Russian oil imports were at 16mn bbls. India not explicitly condemned Moscow’s actions against Ukraine. NEW DELHI: India has bought more than twice as much crude oil from Russia in the two…

[divyabhashkar]

Some Indian refiners cut Saudi oil in May, lowering the Russian barrel

Some Indian refiners cut Saudi oil in May, lowering the Russian barrel

At least two Indian refiners plan to buy less-than-normal Saudi oil in May, after the empire raised its official selling price (OSP) for Asia at a record high. By Reuters Published: 10-Apr-22 12:08 PM IST 0 Views See photos Oil tanker being loaded at Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery At least two Indian refiners plan to buy less Saudi oil than usual in May, after the empire raised its…

[newshubnaija]

Yemen's Houthis claim attack on Aramco facility after reports of a huge fire in Saudi city of Jeddah

Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on Aramco facility after reports of a huge fire in Saudi city of Jeddah

The Iran-backed Houthis claimed they were behind the strike with a military spokesperson adding that they had also used drones to hit the Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries, according to Reuters.

[hummingzone]

Saudi Arabia, world's biggest oil exporter, to unveil green goals By Reuters

Saudi Arabia, world’s biggest oil exporter, to unveil green goals By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: General view of Aramco tanks and oil pipe at Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. Picture taken May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo By Yousef Saba RIYADH (Reuters) – Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s biggest polluters, will detail its plans to address climate change at an environment event on…

[kehnure]

Oil prices ease off highs as U.S. factory data weighs on market By Reuters

Oil prices ease off highs as U.S. factory data weighs on market By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: General view of Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices pulled back after touching multi-year highs on Monday, trading mixed as U.S. industrial output for September fell, tempering early enthusiasm about demand. Production at U.S. factories fell by…

[thepakbetcontent]

Ras Tanura is one of the most important industrial cities in the Eastern Province. It has the largest oil-exporting terminal in the Kingdom and a major oil refinery.Ras Tanura is considered the oldest refineries in Saudi Arabia.

The name Ras Tanura applies both to a gated Saudi Aramco employee compound (also referred to as "Najmah") and to an industrial area further out on the peninsula that serves as a major oil port and oil operations center for Saudi Aramco.

The city gained popularity for its well maintained cornice on its white-sand beach.

[trendingph]

Oil prices slip as pandemic takes toll on India's fuel sales General view of Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo SINGAPORE - Oil prices fell on Monday as a catastrophic second wave of a coronavirus epidemic in India c... https://trendingph.net/oil-prices-slip-as-pandemic-takes-toll-on-indias-fuel-sales/?feed_id=213536&_unique_id=608f9bbad6a54 #fuel #indias #oil #pandemic #philippinenews #philippinesnews #prices #sales #slip #takes #toll #trendingph

[expatimes]

Blinken to UN’s Yemen envoy: No military solution to the conflict

Blinken to UN’s Yemen envoy: No military solution to the conflict

The US secretary of state has told the UN special envoy for Yemen that Washington plans to “reinvigorate diplomatic efforts” to end the war in Yemen, reiterating the Biden administration’s stance that there is no military solution to the conflict.

“He highlighted that the US supports a unified, stable Yemen free from foreign influence and that there is no military solution to the conflict,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Sunday.

Tens of thousands of civilians have died and millions are facing hunger since Saudi Arabia led a coalition that intervened militarily months after Houthi rebels overthrew Yemen’s internationally recognised government in late 2014 and captured large parts of territories in the country’s north, including the capital Sanaa.

Rights groups have criticised Saudi Arabia for its six-year bombing campaign that has created what the UN termed the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in the Middle East’s poorest nation. They also highlighted how US support to the Saudis helped aggravate the crisis.

US President Joe Biden ended US support for the Saudi-led offensive, in a break with the policies of his predecessor Donald Trump, who turned a blind eye to Riyadh’s human rights abuses in Yemen.

Since taking over in January, Biden has appointed Timothy Lenderking as US envoy for Yemen as his administration boosted diplomatic efforts to end a war that brought catastrophe for the Yemenis.

The UN estimates that 80 percent of Yemen’s 24 million people are in need of aid.

Houthis welcome Blinken’s comments

In the introductory call with UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths on Sunday, Blinken expressed US concern regarding the conflict, particularly the humanitarian toll on the Yemeni people, the state department said.

“The Secretary underscored that the United States’ efforts under Special Envoy Lenderking intend to reinvigorate diplomatic efforts, alongside the UN and others, to end the war in Yemen.”

Houthi official Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said on Monday that Blinken’s comments about supporting a Yemen free from foreign influence are “positive”.

He said the US should back up its intentions by ending its involvement in military operations carried out by the Saudi-led coalition against his group.

The Houthis, who have been battling the Saudi-led coalition since it intervened in Yemen, recently stepped up cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Houthis said on Monday it had fired armed drones at an airport and airbase in southern Saudi Arabia. Riyadh said it had intercepted an explosive drone.

This appears to be the first news of Houthi drones being fired into Saudi Arabia in almost a week.

Attack on Saudi soil

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said three drones had been fired at military targets at Abha airport and the King Khalid airbase in the southern town of Khamis Mushait. He said the targets had been struck.

There was no immediate Saudi confirmation that those locations had been hit, but the coalition said it had early on Monday intercepted a Houthi drone fired towards Khamis Mushait.

On March 7, the coalition said a barrage of drones and missiles had been intercepted en route to their targets, which included an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, the site of a refinery and the world’s biggest offshore oil-loading facility as well as a residential compound in Dhahran used by state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

The UN and the US have urged the Houthis, who are also pressing an offensive against government-held Marib city in Yemen, to turn to negotiations rather than military escalation.

Lenderking said last week a “sound plan” for a nationwide ceasefire in Yemen had been put to the Houthi leadership.

Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=19207&feed_id=38500

[tachtutor]

Iran’s Quds Force commander admits Iran supporting Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia : worldnews

Iran’s Quds Force commander admits Iran supporting Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia : worldnews

This admission comes a week after the Houthis launched an unprecedented offensive against airports, oil facilities, and civilian locations. All suicide drones and ballistic missiles were intercepted except for one which hit the Ras Tanura oil refinery causing minimal structural damage. It marks a development, under Biden, in Iran’s extraterritorial military operations in Arab countries. This…

[soclaimon]

Saudi Arabia Vows to Protect Oil Facilities After Drone Strike #SootinClaimon.Com

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation. https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30403554 Saudi Arabia Vows to Protect Oil Facilities After Drone Strike InternationalMar 11. 2021A flame burns off waste gas at Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and terminal in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, on Oct. 1, 2018. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Simon Dawson. By Syndication…

[opedguy]

Iran-backed Houthis Continue Proxy War Against Saudi Arabia

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), March 8, 2021.--Continuing drone and missile strikes at Saudi oil facilities, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels showed that the proxy war to topple the Saudi monarchy has no let up.  President Joe Biden has tried to reconcile with Iran, rejoining the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] AKA the  “Iranian Nuke Deal.”  Biden’s effort to rejoin the JCPOA is more related to his administration total dismantling of the Trump presidency, finding any excuse, through executive orders or legislation, to undo four years of work under 74-year-old President Donald Trump. Trump irked the P5+1, including the U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany, canceling the JCPOA May 8, 2021 because of Iran’s proxy wars with Saudi Arabia and Israel.  Houthi’s March 6 attack on the Ras Tanura oil storage yard demonstrates that Iran’s 81-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khaemenei hasn’t stopped his proxy war.

So when Biden talks of entering into a new Nuke Deal with Iran, there’s even more urgency now to stop Iran’s proxy war against the Kingdom.  Biden’s let his foreign policy preference known with his open criticism of Saudi Arabia’s 35-year-old de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russia’s 68-year-old President Vladimir Putin.  Attacking the Aramco Abaiq-Khurais oil refinery Sept. 14, 2019, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels knocked out some 25% of the world’s refined oil products, causing petroleum and pump prices to rise.  Crude oil prices hit $64.72 today, reflecting the global uncertainty with the latest Houthi attack on the Kingdom.  Getting back into any negotiation with Tehran, Biden must make any new Nuke Deal contingent on Iran agreeing to end its proxy war with Riyadh.  Biden’s been outraged with Bin Salman over his murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Shooting missiles and hitting Saudi’s oil facilities with predator drones shows the extent of the Iran’s involvement in the proxy war.  Attacks on Saudi oil facilities spiked worldwide oil prices, causing pump prices to rise in the U.S. and Europe.  “Such acts of sabotage do not only target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also the security and stability of energy supplies to the world, and therefore, the global economy,” said an unnamed military spokesman.  Bin Salman sees the role Iran plays in hitting the Kingdom’s cities and airports, or, more recently, Aramco oil facilities.  Any effort of Biden to enter into a new Nuke Deal with Iran has to be based on its continued proxy war with Saudi Arabia.  Hitting Saudi’s oil infrastructure, Khamenei hopes to get Bin Salman back to the bargaining table when it comes to cutting Tehran a better Nuke Deal, allowing Iran to breach nuclear enrichment limits.

Confirming the March 6 attack on Ras Tanura  oil storage unit, Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea said  Houthis fired 14 drones and eight ballistic in a “wide operation in the heard of Saudi Arabia,” making no excuses for the ongoing proxy war fueled by Khamenei to make Bin Salman give up his six-year war in Yemen when Iranian-backed Houthis seized the Yemen capital Sanaa Sept. 16., 2014.  Saudi Arabia started its campaign against the Houthis March 25, 2015, prompting Iran to escalate predator drone and ballistic missile shipment with which to attack the Kingdom.  When Houthi’s scored on big hit on Aramco’s main oil refinery Sept.14, 2019, it completely vindicated Trump’s get-tough foreign policy with Iran.  Instead of backing an old U.S. ally in Saudi Arabia, Biden looks poised to give into Iran’s latest demands for more sanctions relief before returning to the JCPOA.

Escalating strikes on Saudi Arabia, Khamenei hopes to win concessions from the U.S. on ending sanctions imposed by Trump.  In his quest to slap Trump politically, Biden has turned U.S. foreign policy on its head sanctioning Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation.  Biden’s 58-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken is repeating the same the same mistakes, maybe worse, than former President Barack Obama that drove U.S.-Russian relations to 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis lows.  Blinken wants to act tough but has already damaged U.S. national security, antagonizing Bin Salman and Putin.  With the situation in Ukraine deteriorating, what are Biden and Blinken going to do now to save Ukraine’s Donbass region if Putin moves in?  No one in NATO believes that the U.S. would do anything differently today than Biden and Obama did when Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2014.

Unbridled Iranian-backed Houthi attacks on the Kingdom continue unabated because Biden has signaled to Tehran that he wants back into the JCPOA at all costs. ��Trump did the right thing breaking off with Iran because of its ongoing proxy wars with Saudi Arabia and Israel.  Iran supplies Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon all the missiles and drone needed to attack Israel.  Yemen, like Somalia, suffers from the worst famine in the horn of Africa, no concern of Iran-backed Houthis seeking only proxy war with the Kingdom.  With Biden and Blinken picking fights with Bin Salman and Putin, the U.S. is in a very vulnerable position in the Mideast, Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa.  Instead of focusing on trivial pursuits like the late Jamal Khashoggi or jailed Russian dissident Alexi Navalny, Biden and Blinken should do what’s best for U.S. national security, not the liberal press.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

[orbemnews]

Jobless Claims to Show the Pandemic’s Toll on the Economy: Live Updates Here’s what you need to know: The Avalon Cafe and Biscuit Bar in Detroit closed because of the pandemic. Conditions should improve in the coming months, economists say.Credit…Elaine Cromie for The New York Times The economy’s ability to heal from the damage inflicted by the pandemic will be tested Thursday morning when the Labor Department reports the latest data on initial jobless claims. With caseloads dropping and restrictions on business activity being eased in many places, filings for unemployment benefits have come down, too. In late February, the government reported that initial claims had sunk to their lowest level since November on a seasonally adjusted basis. But the pace of reopenings has been uneven. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said Tuesday that the state was lifting all restrictions on business and eliminating its mask requirement, moves that drew criticism from President Biden. Elsewhere, officials have been more cautious — in Chicago, parks and playgrounds reopened, while in Massachusetts, capacity restrictions on restaurants have been lifted. “The labor market is continuing to gradually improve,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco. “Job growth will accelerate, perhaps as soon as the second quarter, with decent gains in leisure and hospitality and travel.” Even so, the number of new filers, at more than 700,000 per week last month, remains extremely high by historical standards, a sign of the continuing devastation a year after the pandemic struck. Another reading will come Friday, when the Labor Department reports on hiring and unemployment in February. Economists expect the survey to show a gain of 200,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 6.3 percent. In January, the job market hit a soft spot, with employers adding just 49,000 positions. That offered little hope to the nearly 10 million Americans out of work. But conditions should improve in the coming months, economists say, with vaccination efforts gaining speed and another relief package nearing passage on Capitol Hill. Mr. Anderson expects annualized growth of 7.2 percent in the second quarter (1.75 percent on a quarterly basis), paced by consumer spending and the aid infusion from Washington. “The amount of sheer spending by the government is moving the needle,” Mr. Anderson said. By summer, spending should return to pre-pandemic levels, he said, but it could take another two years for the labor market to recover fully. Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair. The central bank has played down inflation concerns.Credit…Al Drago for The New York Times Global stocks dropped on Thursday, extending losses from the previous day when U.S. bond yields jumped higher again. The S&P 500 index is set to open more than half a percentage point lower when trading begins. It fell 1.3 percent on Wednesday, led by tech stocks. The Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 1.1 percent on Thursday, with some of the biggest loses in semiconductor companies. The Nikkei 225 in Japan and Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed more than 2 percent lower. The 10-year U.S. yield was 1.47 percent on Thursday. On Wednesday, the yield jumped 9 basis points, or 0.09 percentage point, to 1.48 percent. Rising yields have rattled tech stocks especially hard because they have been some of the biggest gainers over the past year and partly supported by central bank’s easy money policies. The market volatility has actually been caused by good economic news: an economic rebound, which investors worry will cause inflation. Few economists see a significant risk of runaway inflation, but investors say that the mere possibility of painful 1970s-style price growth might drive the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to tamp down a heated economy. And that would be bad for bonds, The New York Times’s Matt Phillips wrote. Despite policymakers mostly brushing off the worries, more investors think the Fed might have to intervene. To address these worries, the Fed could buy the long-dated bonds where yields are rising or put in place a policy of yield curve control, The Times’s Jeanna Smialek wrote. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, is set to speak Thursday at a Wall Street Journal event, where he may be asked to address the recent bond activity. Elsewhere in markets: The latest report on state unemployment claims will be released by the Labor Department on Thursday. As businesses have reopened, the numbers have fallen in recent weeks, but at more than 700,000 per week, they remain extremely high by historical standards. Most commodity prices fell. Futures on West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, dropped 0.5 percent to about $61 a barrel. Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and terminal in Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials volunteered to cut oil production by one million barrels a day at the last OPEC meeting.Credit…Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, are expected to meet by videoconference on Thursday to consider a potential but by no means certain production increase of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day. Analysts say the combined group, called OPEC Plus, could increase the supply of oil without undermining its price on global markets. After collapsing last spring, oil prices have risen to pre-pandemic levels in recent weeks, with Brent crude reaching nearly $67 a barrel in late February. Vaccination programs against the coronavirus are gathering pace, potentially leading to increased economic activity and greater demand for oil this year. In addition, production growth from shale producers in the United States is expected to be restrained this year. Petroleum heavyweights that are curtailing production, like Russia and the United Arab Emirates, would like to put some of that oil back on the market. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s de facto leader, continues to urge caution while apparently seeking even higher prices. After January’s OPEC meeting, Saudi Arabia voluntarily agreed to cut its own production by one million barrels a day, to about 8.1 million barrels a day. That cut is scheduled to expire in April, and it remains uncertain what the Saudis will do. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi oil minister, clearly enjoys surprising the market and upending what he thinks are traders’ expectations. On Wednesday, a preparatory technical committee meeting did not produce a formal recommendation, analysts say. “Once again, it seems that Russia and U.A.E. are pressing for a collective OPEC Plus increase, while Saudi Arabia and Algeria are seeking to keep output unchanged for the time being,” wrote Helima Croft, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, an investment bank, in a note to clients. In January, OPEC Plus reached an unusual compromise that allowed modest increases to Russia and Kazakhstan that were offset by the substantial cuts that Saudi Arabia volunteered after the meeting. The outcome of the meeting on Thursday may depend once again on how much production the Saudis are willing to sacrifice to gain higher prices. Disney will close 30 percent of its stores in North America this year.Credit…Joshua Lott for The New York Times After 33 years as a shopping mall mainstay, Mickey Mouse is mostly calling it a day. The Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday that it would dramatically downsize its chain of Disney Stores, which have struggled amid the pandemic and a broader consumer shift to online shopping. At least 60 locations in North America — 30 percent of the Disney Store footprint in the region — will close this year. The company described the closures as the “beginning” of its downsizing effort. A significant number of overseas stores are also expected to close. According to its 2020 annual report, Disney has about 60 stores in Europe. The Disney Store chain was founded in 1987 and once numbered more than 1,000 locations worldwide. For a time in the early 1990s, during a boom for shopping malls, Disney even experimented with an adjacent spinoff chain of Mickey’s Kitchen restaurants, where items included Dumbo burgers, Pinocchio pizzas and fries shaped like Donald Duck. Disney redesigned many Disney Store locations in 2017 in an attempt to boost business, incorporating live video feeds from its theme parks and shifting the merchandise mix away from toys and toward fashion-conscious young adults. Results were mixed. In 2019, as shopping malls continued to struggle, Disney expanded its merchandising presence at Target stores, a move that analysts viewed as the beginning of the end for the stand-alone Disney Store business. ShopDisney, the company’s online store, will expand over the next year and become more integrated with Disney’s theme park apps and social media platforms, according to Stephanie Young, president of Disney Consumer Products, Games and Publishing. The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, has said the central bank would not cut support for the economy anytime soon. Credit…Pool photo by Susan Walsh The market conniptions of recent days are a direct result of several developments that point to the brightening prospects of economic recovery. Vaccinations are rising, retail sales and industrial production have been surprisingly solid and, perhaps most important, the Biden administration is expected to push its $1.9 trillion stimulus plan through Congress in the coming days. One clear consequence is expected to be strong growth. Wall Street economists now expect output to rise by nearly 5 percent in 2021. Such robust growth — it would be the best year for the economy since 1984 — would seem like a good thing for stocks. But growth brings with it the possibility of rising inflation, which in turn could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates — and that’s what investors are reacting to, with different consequences for the stock and bond markets, Matt Phillips reports for The New York Times. Few economists see a significant risk of runaway inflation, but investors say that the mere possibility of painful price growth might drive the Fed to raise interest rates to tamp down the economy. That would be bad for bond owners. If the Fed raised rates, rates around the bond market would climb. Then the price of bonds that investors hold would have to fall until they produced yields that were comparable to the new, higher rates in the market. In expectation of that, investors are demanding a higher return now in the form of a higher yield on their bonds. Higher rates can be a problem for the stock market’s performance. One reason is that high interest rates make owning bonds more attractive, coaxing at least some dollars out of the stock market. Higher rates can also make borrowing more expensive for companies, especially smaller ones that have potential but lack a track record of profitability. Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, testifying in October. Before the ban on political ads, he had said he wanted to maintain a hands-off approach toward speech on Facebook.Credit…Pool photo by Michael Reynolds Facebook said on Wednesday that it planned to lift its ban on political advertising across its network, resuming a form of digital promotion that has been criticized for spreading misinformation and falsehoods and inflaming voters. The social network said it would allow advertisers to buy new ads about “social issues, elections or politics” beginning on Thursday, according to a copy of an email sent to political advertisers and viewed by The New York Times. Darren W. Woods, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, in an interview before an annual presentation to investors promised that Exxon would try to set a goal for not emitting more greenhouse gases than it removed from the atmosphere, though he said it was still difficult to say when that might happen. Under pressure from activist investors, Exxon said this week that it was adding two new directors with no previous ties to fossil fuels to its board. The company recently said it would create a new business that captured carbon dioxide from industrial plants and buried it deep in the ground. It also recently invested in Global Thermostat, a company that aims to suck carbon dioxide out of the air. Source link Orbem News #claims #Economy #Jobless #Live #Pandemics #Show #toll #Updates

[tanyushenka]

Photographs: 1. “Dhahran, Saudi Arabia”, 1940s 2. “Turk architecture in Al-Qatif”, 1940s  3.  “King Ibn Al Jaud Visit Rastanura”, 1940s 4. “Before Night - Arabia”, 1940s  Photographer:  Ilo Battigelli (1922-2009) was an Italian master photographer whose photos of the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia created a unique record of Old Saudi Arabia. Little was known of this area at the time, and his photos, depicting social and economic life during an important phase in the development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Battigelli arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1944, after being recruited with other Italians by Saudi Arabian King Abdul Aziz to work for the Ras Tanura Refinery project. Living in camps with his fellow Italians, they could not leave camp without special permission. After offering to photograph the children of Emir Turki ibn Al Utaishan, he and the Emir become close friends, and as a result, he was allowed to travel all around the Eastern Province. He took photos of the area until 1954 when he left the country. Battigelli is remembered as one of the first few to document places and events in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.