Venezuela postpones pull-out of 100 bolivar note after chaos

CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro suspended on Saturday the elimination of the country's largest denomination bill, which had sparked cash shortages and nationwide unrest, saying the measure would be postponed until early January.

The surprise pulling of the 100 bolivar note from circulation this week -- before new larger bills were available -- led to vast lines at banks, looting at scores of shops, anti-government protests and at least one death.

Maduro, speaking from the presidential palace, blamed a "sabotage" campaign by enemies abroad for the delayed arrival of three planes carrying the new 500, 2,000 and 20,000 bolivar notes.

"One plane, contracted and paid for by Venezuela, was told in flight to change direction and go to another country," he said, without specifying who had given the orders. "There's another which was not given flyover permission."

The 100 bolivar bills, officially out of use since Thursday and worth just 4 US cents at the black market currency rate, can now be used until January 2, Maduro said.

Many Venezuelans had found themselves without the means to pay for food, gasoline or Christmas preparations in a country already reeling from a profound economic crisis.

About 40 percent of Venezuelans do not have bank accounts, and so cannot use electronic transactions as an alternative to cash.

Adding to the chaos, Venezuela has the world's highest rate of inflation, meaning large bags of cash must be humped around to pay for basic items.

'Stupid and destructive'

In the southern mining town of El Callao, a 14-year-old boy was shot dead during looting on Friday, authorities confirmed. An opposition legislator reported three fatalities.

The Democratic Unity opposition coalition said the socialist leader should resign for incompetence and for inflicting yet more suffering on Venezuelans.

"We have a government utterly stupid and destructive in economic management, whose only goal is to keep power at whatever price," said opposition leader Julio Borges.

Maduro had justified the 100 bolivar note's elimination as a way of strangling mafia and smugglers on the frontier with Colombia. He has also closed border crossings with Colombia and Brazil until January 2.

Earlier on Saturday, about 400 people in western Tachira state jumped fences and defied security personnel to surge into Colombia in search of food and medicines, which are scarce in Venezuela, witnesses said.

In southern Bolivar state, people broke into dozens of shops and warehouses in various towns, witnesses and business leaders said. Authorities declared a curfew in Ciudad Bolivar and the state governor said 135 people had been arrested.

Security forces fired teargas in Venezuela's largest second city, Maracaibo, to stop looters, witnesses said. Some protesters burned 100 bolivar bills.

Addressing thousands of supporters at a rally in Caracas, Maduro blamed the opposition for stirring violence and said some members of the Justice First and Popular Will parties were arrested for colluding with mafias.

The 54-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, whose popularity has plunged during three years of recession, says domestic political foes supported by the United States are sabotaging the economy to undermine his government.

Critics say it is time for Maduro to go after 18 years of socialist policies have wrecked the economy. But authorities have stymied an opposition push for a referendum to remove him before the next presidential election due in late 2018.

source: interaksyon.com

Thai PM defends cyber controls as censorship concerns rise

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Thursday defended a decision to amend a cyber-crime law to increase the military government’s ability to remove online content as authorities seeks to tighten control on dissent.

A royal transition this month saw new King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascend the throne following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, on Oct. 13.

Thailand has some of the world’s toughest laws against royal insult, which has curtailed public discussion about the monarchy’s role following the death of King Bhumibol, who was seen as a unifying figure.

Since King Bhumibol’s death, authorities have cracked down on what they consider to be insults to the royal family and have shut down hundreds of websites.

The government is also sensitive about what it sees as criticism of the military’s role in politics, and opposition to its seizure of power in a 2014 coup.

Prayuth’s comments came a day before parliament will decide whether to pass amendments to a 2007 Computer Crime Act which critics say could result in more extensive online monitoring.

Amendments to the law, seen by Reuters on Friday, would allow state officials to obtain user and traffic data from service providers without court approval.

Any website that is seen as a threat to national security or “offends people’s good morals” can also be removed or suspended.

The current law says officials need court approval to remove content.

“This law is for when anyone posts something that is poisonous to society so that we know where it comes from,” Prayuth told reporters.

“Don’t think this is a rights violation. This isn’t what we call a rights violation … this is what we call a law to be used against those who violate the law,” he said.

Critics say parliament is likely to approve the amendments.

Since taking power, Prayuth’s military government has made increasing state control over cyberspace a priority.

In September, it launched a Ministry of Digital Economy and Society. One of its tasks is to block and delete what it considers to be inappropriate online.

Some 342,000 people have signed a petition calling for a reconsideration of the amendments, highlighting opposition to what critics, including civil society groups, say is a threat to internet freedom.

Arthit Suriyawongkul of the Thai Netizen Network said the amendments were problematic.

“It’s not the law itself that is a rights violation, but the authorities’ extensive power when monitoring and censoring online content, which could raise privacy concerns,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

IS claims deadly Cairo church bombing

CAIRO, Egypt -- The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a bomb attack on a Cairo church that killed 25 people, the first claim for one of the worst attacks on the Coptic Christian community in recent memory.

IS identified the suicide bomber who carried out Sunday's attack by the pseudonym Abu Abdallah al-Masri in a statement circulated on social media on Tuesday.

The bomber "got in between the crowd" and detonated his explosive belt, the jihadist group said in the statement.

The group said it would continue attacks against "every infidel and apostate in Egypt, and everywhere."

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi named the suicide bomber as Mahmoud Shafik Mohamed Mostafa, 22, during a funeral for the victims on Monday.

Egyptian authorities are battling an Islamist insurgency led by an Egyptian affiliate of IS.

While most of the insurgents' attacks have mainly targeted police and military in northern Sinai province, the jihadists have also targeted security forces and government officials in Cairo.

The attacks have worsened since the July 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The ouster was led by Sisi, who was defense minister at the time.

Following the deadly dispersal by security forces of two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo in August 2013, mobs attacked more than 40 churches nationwide, as well as dozens of schools, houses and businesses belonging to Copts.

They pointed to the appearance of Coptic Pope Tawadros II next to Sisi in July 2013, when the then army chief -- also surrounded by Muslim and opposition figures -- announced Morsi's removal on television.

Sisi said Mostafa, the suspected suicide bomber, had detonated his explosive belt at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, which is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope.

The interior ministry said late on Monday that Mostafa had been identified by DNA tests from body parts which matched that of his family.

It also said Mostafa was working with a group that received logistical and financial support from Muslim Brotherhood members residing in Qatar.

The Muslim Brotherhood has denied any involvement with the incident.

Worst attack against Copts

The authorities have arrested four alleged members of this group, the interior ministry said.

They are still searching for others, including the suspected ringleader Mohab Mostafa el-Sayed Qassem, also known as "The Doctor," the ministry said.

Qassem travelled to Qatar in 2015 where he met some Brotherhood leaders who had fled Egypt, it claimed.

There, they offered him financial and logistical support to carry out attacks in Egypt and upon his return, he travelled to North Sinai, where Islamist insurgents trained him in using weapons and making explosive devices.

When Qassem returned to his home in Cairo, the Brotherhood members residing in Qatar instructed him to start preparing and planning for attacks targeting Copts.

The attacks were "aiming to foment a large-scale sectarian crisis" without linking the group with these attacks, the interior ministry said.

The ministry statement claims a group named The Egyptian Revolutionary Council, an alleged arm of the Brotherhood, has issued a statement on December 5 "vowing to target the heads of the Orthodox Church because of its support for the state."

Some analysts had warned that Islamists affiliated with the Brotherhood, though not necessarily under their control, could turn to serious violence after the 2013 post-coup crackdown.

Copts have faced persecution and discrimination dating back to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Sunday's bombing was the worst attack against the Copts since a 2011 suicide bombing killed more than 20 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.

source: interaksyon.com

Emotion-filled ‘La La Land,’ ‘Moonlight’ lead Golden Globe nominations

LOS ANGELES | “La La Land,” an ambitious musical about two dreamers falling in love in Hollywood, and the intimate coming of age drama “Moonlight” led nominations for the Golden Globes on Monday, underscoring their frontrunner status in the long road to the Oscars.

“La La Land” scored seven nominations in all, including for Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in the comedy/musical acting categories, while writer-director Damien Chazelle received nods for best director and best screenplay.

“Making ‘La La Land’ was a dream come true and we’re thrilled that Damien Chazelle’s vision has been recognized,” producers Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt said in a statement.

“Moonlight,” the tale of an impoverished black boy in Miami struggling with his sexuality, scored six nods, including Barry Jenkins in the directing and screenplay categories and Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali in the best supporting acting races.

“La La Land” is up against “20th Century Women,” the story of a free-spirited mother; raunchy superhero action movie “Deadpool”; singing comedy “Florence Foster Jenkins”; and teen tale “Sing Street” for best comedy/musical film at the Golden Globes.

“Moonlight” will face war drama “Hacksaw Ridge,” Western crime story “Hell or High Water,” adoption tale “Lion” and “Manchester by the Sea,” which is about a working-class family dealing with tragedy, in the best drama film category.

“La La Land” and “Moonlight” are very different films. But Claudia Puig, film critic at National Public Radio’s FilmWeek and president of the Los Angeles Film Critics’ Association, said they had a key element in common.

“Both are very emotional movies. They move you, they’re poignant, they touch your emotions,” Puig told Reuters.

“One maybe has a much more intellectual, sociological component while the other is escapist, but both are also about love and finding your dreams,” she added.

“Manchester by the Sea” landed five nominations, including for actor Casey Affleck and screenplay and director nods for Kenneth Lonergan.

“It will actually be my first time attending the Golden Globes and I’ve been working for more than 20 years, so this moment isn’t lost on me,” Affleck said in a statement.

DIVERSITY FINDS SPOTLIGHT

After a furor that erupted earlier this year because all 20 acting Oscar nominees were white, the Golden Globes feature numerous actors of color, including Ruth Negga of “Loving,” Ali and Harris of “Moonlight,” and Dev Patel, who is of Indian descent, for “Lion.”

“It’s taken a long time to get to this point and for people who are producing content to really see the value of opening up a bit and being more inclusive,” Ali told Reuters.

Notable omissions from the best drama film field included “Jackie,” a character study of the widow of U.S. president John F. Kennedy in the week after his assassination. Lead Natalie Portman, however, received a best actress nomination.

Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” the tale of missionaries in 17th-century Japan, and “Fences,” a tense African-American family drama set in the 1950s, were also snubbed in the best drama race. “Fences” did bring nods for actors Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

More than 90 journalists in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association choose the Golden Globes. Winners will be announced on Jan. 8 at a televised ceremony hosted by Jimmy Fallon.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama orders 'full review' of 2016 election cyberattacks

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has ordered a review of all cyberattacks that took place during the 2016 election cycle, the White House said Friday as concerns over Russian interference mount.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Obama called for the review earlier this week, amid growing calls from Congress for more information on the extent of Russian interference in the campaign.

"We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections and this report will dig into this pattern of malicious cyberactivity timed to our elections, take stock of our defensive capabilities and capture lessons learned to make sure that we brief members of Congress and stakeholders as appropriate," said Schultz.

Obama wants the report completed before his term ends on January 20, Schultz said.

"We are going to make public as much as we can," he added. "This is a major priority for the president."

Trump denies Russian role 


The move comes after Democrats in Congress pressed the White House to reveal details, to Congress or to the public, of Russian hacking and disinformation in the election.

It also comes after President-elect Donald Trump rejected the intelligence community finding of official Russian involvement. 

Confidential emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, a top advisor to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, were steadily leaked out via WikiLeaks in the months before the election, damaging Clinton's White House effort.

On October 7, one month before the election, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence announced that "the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations."

"These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process," they said.

But in an interview published Wednesday with Time magazine for its "Person of the Year" award, Trump dismissed those findings. Asked whether the intelligence was politicized, Trump answered: "I think so."

"I don't believe they interfered," he said. "It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey."

Worried that Trump will sweep the issue under a rug after his inauguration, seven Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee called on November 29 for the White House to declassify what it knows about Russian interference.

The seven have already been briefed on the classified details, suggesting they believed there is more information that the public should know.

Then on Tuesday of this week, leading House Democrats called on Obama to give members of the entire Congress a classified briefing on Russian interference, from hacking to the spreading of fake news stories to mislead US voters.

Republicans in Congress have also promised hearings into Russian activities once the new administration comes in.

But some have suggested the Democrats are raising the issue out of bitterness over their sweeping electoral defeat.

Schultz denied politics was behind Obama's order.

"I want to be clear here that this is not an effort to challenge the result of the election," he said.

Russian interference in Germany

Obama's homeland security advisor Lisa Monaco said the cyber interference goes back to the 2008 presidential race, with both the Obama and John McCain campaigns hit by malicious computer intrusions.

"We have seen in 2008 and in this last election system malicious cyber activity. We maybe [have] crossed into a new threshold and it is incumbent upon us to take stock of that," said Monaco.

Russian hacking and election interference have also become a big issue in Germany.

On Thursday Germany's domestic intelligence agency BfV issued a stark warning over a rising Moscow-directed campaign of hacking and misinformation directed at "destabilizing" the country and influencing political discourse.

Last week WikiLeaks published stolen documents on intelligence activities that embarrassed Chancellor Angela Merkel just as she began campaigning for the elections slated for late 2017.

"In the political realm, we detect an increasingly aggressive cyber espionage, warned BfV chief Hans-Georg Maassen.

"The indications of attempts to influence the German parliamentary elections next year are intensifying."

source: interaksyon.com

ThyssenKrupp secrets stolen in ‘massive’ cyber attack

FRANKFURT — Technical trade secrets were stolen from the steel production and manufacturing plant design divisions of ThyssenKrupp AG in cyber attacks earlier this year, the German company said on Thursday.

ThyssenKrupp, one of the world’s largest steel makers, said it had been targeted by attackers located in southeast Asia engaged in what it said were “organized, highly professional hacker activities”.

In breaches discovered by the company’s internal security team in April and traced back to February, hackers stole project data from ThyssenKrupp’s plant engineering division and from other areas yet to be determined.

“ThyssenKrupp has become the target of a massive cyber attack,” the industrial conglomerate said in a statement.

Globally, cyber attacks on banks, retailers and other businesses have led to widespread consumer and financial data losses in recent years. ThyssenKrupp’s disclosure followed last week’s attack on Deutsche Telekom routers that caused outage for nearly 1 million customers.

While revelations of industrial espionage are far rarer, estimates put the costs to businesses in the billions of dollars. China was frequently blamed for such commercial hacking attacks until the United States and China agreed not to hack each other’s businesses (reut.rs/2gewbrH).

German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche reported the attacks hit sites in Europe, India, Argentina and the United States run by the Industrial Solutions division, which builds large production plants. The Hagen Hohenlimburg specialty steel mill in western Germany was also targeted, the report added.

The company declined to identify specific locations which were infected or speculate on likely suspects. It said it could not estimate the scale of the intellectual property losses.

Big-bang counter attack

ThyssenKrupp said it waited to publicize the attack while it identified, then cleansed infected systems in one concerted, global action before implementing new safeguards to monitor its computer systems. “It is important not to let the intruder know that he has been discovered,” a spokesman said.

A criminal complaint was filed with police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and an investigation is ongoing, it said. State and federal cyber security and data protection authorities were kept informed at each stage, as well as Thyssen’s board.

Secured systems operating steel blast furnaces and power plants in Duisburg, in Germany’s industrial heartland in the Ruhr Valley, were unaffected, the company said.

No breaches were found at its marine systems unit, which produces military submarines and warships.

A previous cyber attack caused physical damage to an unidentified German steel plant and prevented the mill’s blast furnace from shutting down properly.

The country’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) revealed two years ago that the attack caused “massive damage”, but gave no further technical details and the location of the plant has remained shrouded in mystery.

Subsequent media reports identified the target as a ThyssenKrupp facility, but the company has denied it was hit.

The industrial conglomerate, along with Airbus parent EADS, were the targets of major attacks by Chinese hackers in 2012, according to a Der Spiegel report.

The company, a big supplier of steel to Germany’s automotive sector and other manufacturers, is looking to form a joint venture of its European steel operations with India’s Tata Steel to combat over-capacity in the sector.

source: interaksyon.com

Alcatel launches three new smartphones

MANILA — Alcatel has launched three mid-range smartphones to the local market that the company hopes to market to working teenagers.

The Alcatel Shine Lite is the most premium of the lot, priced at P9,999, and packaged as a stylish and affordable smartphone. It comes with a 5-inch HD display in a metal frame within a glass enclosure. It has 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, 1.3 GHZ MediaTek quad-core processor, 13 megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera, 4G LTE, and a 2460mAh non-removable battery.

Alcatel also launched the Pixi 4 Power which retails for P6,999. The smartphone has a bigger 5.5-inch display and a 5,000mAh battery that can also act as a powerbank for other devices. It comes with a modest 1GB ram, 8 GB of storage, 1.3 ghz quadcore processor, 8-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera.

The most affordable of the bunch is the Pixi 4 that goes for P4,999. It almost has similar features with the Pixi 4 Power except it has a smaller 5-inch display and 2,000 mah battery.

source: interaksyon.com

Social media ads to hit $50 billion by 2019 — Zenith

The amount of money spent on advertising on social media is set to catch up with newspaper ad revenues by 2020, a leading forecaster said on Monday.

The rapid expansion of social media platforms on mobile devices, as well as faster internet connectivity and more sophisticated technology, has triggered a huge shift in the way many people get their news.

Advertising agency Zenith Optimedia, owned by France’s Publicis, predicts global advertising expenditure on social media will account for 20 percent of all internet advertising in 2019, hitting $50 billion (39 billion pounds) and coming in just one percent smaller than newspaper ads. It expects social media to overtake newspapers comfortably by 2020.

“Social media and online video are driving continued growth in global ad spend, despite political threats to the economy,” Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at Zenith, said.

The media industry has been convulsed by the rapid shift in advertising trends in recent years, with firms moving their ad budgets from traditional sources such as newspapers to websites found on computers and mobile phones.

Marketers are increasingly directing their spending to social media sites where ads blend into users’ newsfeeds on platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat proving more effective than interruptive banner formats.

Zenith’s report forecasts that global advertising expenditure will grow 4.4 percent in 2017, the same rate as in 2016, which it said would be a strong performance given that big events like the Olympic Games, Britain’s EU referendum and the U.S. presidential election boosted advertising this year.

Online video advertising is also rapidly growing and set to total $35.4 billion across the world by 2019, fractionally ahead of the amount spent on radio advertising but still far less than television.

Global spending on advertising has been stable since 2010 the report showed, although growth has declined in the Middle East and North Africa. It was expected to continue to grow strongly in China and much of Asia.

source: interaksyon.com

Up to 40 feared dead in California party fire

OAKLAND, California - Up to 40 people were feared dead in a huge fire that tore through a rave party held in a warehouse near San Francisco, authorities said, warning that the initial death toll of nine would likely rise once crews swept the stricken building.

Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said most of those who perished in the blaze that started about 11:30 pm (0730 GMT) Friday were thought to have died on the upper floor of the two-story warehouse known as Oakland Ghostship.

"It must have been a very fast-moving fire," she told reporters.

It was not immediately known what sparked the inferno at the electronic dance music party attended by an estimated 50 to 100 people.

By mid-day Saturday, fire crews had not yet been able to fully sweep the scene and officials braced for more casualties once rescuers entered the building.

"We are prepared for several dozen fatalities," Sergeant Ray Kelly, of the Alameda County Sheriff's department, told reporters. "We are prepared to deal with 30, 40 deceased people."

He said some of the missing were from overseas, making identification of the victims -- thought to be in their 20s and 30s -- more difficult.

The warehouse, which housed an artist collective, had numerous partitions that had been added and a makeshift stairwell built from pallets.

Some of the structural changes made it extremely difficult for people to escape, Reed said.

"There wasn't a real entry or exit path," she said.

"I don't know where the fire started, but I do know that the way the building was situated made it difficult for people to escape."

Firefighters were hampered in their efforts to put out the blaze by clutter.

"It was filled end to end with furniture, whatnot, collections," Reed said. "It was like a maze almost."

She added that it appeared no smoke detectors were activated in the building, which also had no sprinkler system.

The fire raced through the structure quickly and got out of control at one point, forcing firefighters to pull back.

Friends and family of partygoers went to social media to try and find news about their loved ones, with some posting information on the event's Facebook page.

"Please tell me you are safe," one woman wrote, adding a friend's name, while others posted prayers.

'Felt my skin peeling'

The rave party featured a little-known act called Golden Donna and several other performers. It was unclear if any of the DJs were among the dead.

"I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke," Bob Mule, a photographer who lives in the building, told Fox television affiliate KTVU. "I couldn't get the fire extinguisher to work."

Another artist told the station that the fire broke out in the back of the building where some 18 artists shared space.

The man, who was not identified, said he had tried to help a fellow artist who had broken his ankle flee the inferno, but was hampered by the smoke and flames as well as clutter.

"I hope he is ok," he told the station, his voice breaking down.

Video footage posted by the fire department overnight showed orange flames shooting into the sky from the roof and flaring out of the large windows.

Fire officials said drones equipped with thermal imaging capabilities would be flown at the scene to detect "hot spots" that might still be burning inside the building.

The fire was described as the deadliest tragedy in Oakland since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in northern California that left 63 people dead.

The deadliest nightclub fire in the United States in recent decades was in 2003, when pyrotechnic effects by the rock band Great White set off an inferno at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, killing about 100 people.

source: interaksyon.com

Saudis take 'big hit' as OPEC seals first joint oil cut with Russia since 2001

VIENNA -- OPEC agreed on Wednesday its first oil output cuts since 2008 after Saudi Arabia accepted "a big hit" on its production and dropped its demand on arch-rival Iran to slash output.

Non-OPEC Russia will also join output reductions for the first time in 15 years to help the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries prop up oil prices.

Brent crude jumped over 9 percent to more than $50 a barrel as Riyadh reached a compromise with Iran and after fast-growing producer Iraq also agreed to curtail its booming output.

"OPEC has proved to the sceptics that it is not dead. The move will speed up market rebalancing and erosion of the global oil glut," said OPEC watcher Amrita Sen from consultancy Energy Aspects.

Iran and Russia are effectively fighting two proxy wars against Saudi Arabia, in Yemen and Syria, and many sceptics had said the countries would struggle to find a compromise amid frosty political relations.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said ahead of the meeting that the kingdom was prepared to accept "a big hit" on production to get a deal done.

"I think it is a good day for the oil markets, it is a good day for the industry and ... it should be a good day for the global economy. I think it will be a boost to global economic growth," he told reporters after the decision.

OPEC produces a third of global oil, or around 33.6 million barrels per day, and under the Wednesday deal it would reduce output by around 1.2 million bpd from January 2017.

Saudi Arabia will take the lion's share of cuts by reducing output by almost 0.5 million bpd to 10.06 million bpd. Its Gulf OPEC allies -- the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar -- would cut by a total 0.3 million bpd.

Iraq, which had insisted on higher output quotas to fund its fight against Islamic State militants, unexpectedly agreed to reduce production -- by 0.2 million bpd.

Iran was allowed to boost production slightly from its October level -- a major victory for Tehran, which has long argued it needs to regain market share lost under Western sanctions.

Clashes between Saudi Arabia and Iran dominated many previous OPEC meetings.

"If you get this deal done, it would be huge. You remove a lot of oil from the market and you get the Russian participation," said veteran OPEC watcher and founder of Pira consultancy Gary Ross.

He said oil could rise to $55 per barrel.

Will OPEC comply?

Falih had long insisted OPEC would do an output-limiting deal only if non-OPEC producers contributed.

OPEC president Qatar said non-OPEC producers had agreed to reduce output by a further 0.6 million bpd, of which Russia would contribute some 0.3 million.

Russia, which had long resisted cutting output, pushed its production to new record highs in recent months.

"Russia will gradually cut output in the first half of 2017 by up to 300,000 barrels per day, on a tight schedule as technical capabilities allow,” Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told a briefing in Moscow.

Novak, who spoke an hour after OPEC announced its deal, did not say from which output levels Russia would cut.

A combined output reduction of 1.8 million bpd by OPEC and non-OPEC represents almost 2 percent of global output and would help the market clear a stocks overhang, which had sent prices crashing from levels as high as $115 a barrel seen in mid-2014.

Non-OPEC Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have said they might also cut.

OPEC suspended Indonesia's membership on Wednesday since the country, a net importer, could not cut output, Qatar said.

The move will not affect OPEC's overall reduction as Indonesia's share of cuts will be redistributed among other members.

Bob McNally, president of Washington-based consultancy Rapidan group, said on Twitter that compliance with cuts would be key: "In deals with Russia, OPEC is like (the late US) President (Ronald) Reagan used to say: 'Trust but verify'."

OPEC will hold talks with non-OPEC producers on December 9. The organization will also have its next meeting on May 25 to monitor the deal and could extend it for six months, Qatar said.

source: interaksyon.com