November 29th, 2011 by admin

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday new fires involving the lithium-ion batteries in General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt have prompted an investigation to assess the risk of fire in the electric car after a serious crash.

The safety administration said in a statement one Volt battery pack that was being closely monitored following a government crash test caught fire on Thursday.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

GM, which was informed of the investigation on Friday, said in a statement that the Volt “is safe and does not present undue risk as part of normal operation or immediately after a severe crash.”

The latest fires are in addition to a battery fire in a crash-tested Volt six months ago.

NHTSA learned of a possible fire risk involving damaged Volt batteries when a fire erupted in a Volt that was being stored in a parking lot of a test facility in Burlington, Wis. The fire was severe enough to cause several other vehicles parked nearby to catch fire as well.

“NHTSA continues to believe that electric vehicles have incredible potential to save consumers money at the pump, help protect the environment, create jobs and strengthen national security by reducing our dependence on oil,” the agency said.

Tags: Chevrolet Volt, create jobs, electric car, electric vehicles

November 27th, 2011 by admin

The move by India to open its supermarket sector to foreign investors brought relief to its capital-starved local chains.

It however failed to impress small-shop owners who dominate retail in the country, despite rules intended to safeguard small operators.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

The government approved its biggest reform in years by allowing global supermarket giants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Tesco to enter India with a 51 percent stake in the hope it would attract capital to build much-needed supply chains and improve efficiency to alleviate food-driven inflation.

“This is an extremely important step for domestic retailers as this will get in much-needed capital, apart from domain knowledge,” said Thomas Varghese, chief executive of Aditya Birla Retail.

“The set of transactions which will happen fast is foreign players who are in existing joint ventures with Indian firms, the increase or decrease in stake, will happen quickly,” Debashish Mukherjee, partner and vice-president at consultancy firm AT Kearney, said. “The second are a set of deals that are waiting to happen and have been just waiting for the announcement.”

Tags: Aditya Birla, inflation, supermarket

November 26th, 2011 by admin

On Friday, oil prices hovered above $96 a barrel in Asia as Europe’s debt crisis undermined confidence the continent will avoid recession next year.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 29 cents at $96.46 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

Brent crude for January delivery rose 73 cents at $107.77 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

Markets close early in the U.S. on Friday for Thanksgiving.

Investor concern that fiscal austerity measures to lower Europe’s debt levels will hurt global economic growth and oil demand has helped pull crude back from above $103 last week.

Credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Portugal’s long-term debt rating to BB+ from BBB-, following a similar move recently by Moody’s.

Markets in the U.S. were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tags: benchmark crude, Brent crude, debt crisis, oil prices, recession

November 23rd, 2011 by admin

Kingfisher Airlines, India’s No. 2 carrier, plans to cancel 31 flights daily till Nov 19, including four international flights to Bangkok.

This news was reported by the Mint newspaper and cited an unnamed airline official.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

The cash-strapped carrier, which has not reported a profit ever since it got listed and has undergone debt restructuring once, has decided to cancel 27 domestic flights, the paper said, without specifying a reason.

The cancellations include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad routes, the report said.

About a dozen of Kingfisher’s aircraft are already out of service because of maintenance and other issues, the report said.

Kingfisher Airlines had faced a disruption in flights after state-run oil marketer HPCL temporarily halted fuel supplies and cited non-payment of dues.

Tags: debt restructuring, domestic flights, international flights, Kingfisher Airlines

November 23rd, 2011 by admin

An early compensation has been demanded from the Finance ministry by Petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy for PSU oil retailers who are selling fuel below costs and whose borrowings till September have touched a staggering Rs 130,000 crore because of under-recoveries.

Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd were facing a crisis situation as per a senior oil ministry official.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

The three firms had a combined borrowing of Rs 96,727 crore in the last fiscal.

“If their financial health deteriorates on account of the price under-recoveries, their ability to discharge their assigned task of supplying the entire country with petroleum products will suffer,” Reddy said.

The oil ministry official said, “The oil PSUs will soon find it difficult to get loans from Indian banks, let alone foreign banks. The companies were borrowing heavily to meet even working capital requirements as their selling price could not meet even operating expenses,” he said.

IOC’s debt-equity ratio as on March 31 stood at 0.95:1, that of BPCL at 1.35:1 and of HPCL at 1.99:1. This is likely to widen this fiscal with rising borrowings and is expected to put pressure on future investments in oil and gas exploration and petrochemical projects.

“They have an unprecedented level of borrowings of Rs 129,989 crore to meet the working capital and dollar requirements to pay for crude import,” the official said.

Tags: financial health, oil retailers, petroleum products

November 8th, 2011 by admin

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Tags: cheap essays, custom papers, essay writing services, online writing services, pay for essays, writing services

November 2nd, 2011 by admin

On Wednesday, the leaders of France and Germany told Greece that it would not receive another cent in European aid until it decides whether it wants to stay in the euro zone.

Leaders of the two countries also made it clear that saving the euro was ultimately more important to them than rescuing Greece.

From news.yahoo.com:

After emergency talks with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “We would rather achieve a stabilization of the euro with Greece than without Greece, but this goal of stabilizing the euro is more important.”

Sarkozy hammered home the same message, telling a joint news conference with Merkel: “Our Greek friends must decide whether they want to continue the journey with us.”

Papandreou outraged European partners and caused panic on financial markets by announcing on Monday that Greece would hold a referendum on a second bailout plan negotiated with euro zone leaders last week.

“It’s not the moment to give you the exact wording, but the essence is that this is not a question only of a program, this is a question of whether we want to remain in the eurozone,” Papandreou said.

Tags: euro, euro zone, financial markets