Wednesday, 24 October 2007

UNMIT – MEDIA MONITORING

"UNMIT assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the articles or for the accuracy of their translations. The selection of the articles and their content do not indicate support or endorsement by UNMIT express or implied whatsoever. UNMIT shall not be responsible for any consequence resulting from the publication of, or from the reliance on, such articles and translations."

National Media Reports

Nuno Anaia’s testimony: PNTL disarmament had accord with Taur Matan Ruak UNPol officer, Nuno Pasqual Anaia testified in the Dili District Court on Tuesday (23/10) that there was an accord between the Commander of the F-FDTL, Taur Matan Ruak, and UN Commander Reis and David Mann to disarm the PNTL officers.

“I know that Commander Reis made an accord Commander Taur Matan Ruak at the F-FDTL Headquarters to disarm the PNTL before walking to Obrigado Barracks. The information was provided through radio by Reis,” testified Anaia.

However, Commander Taur Matan Ruak told the Court on Tuesday (16/10) that he never made any accord with the UN Commander to disarm the PNTL.

“The UN representative explained to me that PNTL would surrender and wanted to evacuate to Obrigado Barracks. I replied that we didn’t need any more shootings or to attack F-FDTL headquarters. We ommanded the F-FDTL to stop shooting, and it stopped,” said Taur Matan Ruak. (STL and DN)

National Parliament recommends investigating Longuinhos The National Parliament has recommended that the General Prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro be investigated in relation to an alleged political conversation with the former national parliament member Leandro Isaac.

MPs from CNRT, Fretilin and the Democratic Party (PD) agreed that the conversation impacts upon Longuinhos’ judicial indepdence.

“We need to pay attention to this case as Mr Longuinhos may or may not have had the conversation so we need to investigate,” said Cecilio Caminha from the CNRT.

“We feel sad that this issue is now before the National Parliament. We ask the Court to investigate the case thoroughly,” said Arsenio Bano from Fretilin.

However Aderito Hugo a CNRT parliamentarian said that there is not strong enough evidence to investigate Mr Longuinhos. (TP)

European Union promises support fund to Timor-Leste The Vice Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres attended the Pacific Islands Conference on Monday (15/10) in Tonga and said that the European Union is promising to support a development fund for Timor-Leste.

“The meeting’s objective was to discuss the tenth development fund of the European Union that will offer funding to Pacific Islands, including Timor-leste,” said Mr. Guterres.

According to Mr. Guterres, Timor-Leste will sign the accord with the European Union in November. (TP)

Ramos-Horta promising to reduce poverty The President José Ramos-Horta has promised that through his program, named “Fight Against Poverty” poverty will be reduced in the country in the coming five or ten years.

“Fight against poverty, as a struggle for peace, has become a national campaign,” explained Ramos-Horta on his visit to the various sub-districts in Manatuto. (TP)

Duet Salsinha-Alfredo will never solve the petitioners’ case On Tuesday (23/10) Major Tara, an officer of the F-FDTL said that as long as Salsinha is still together with Alfredo Reinado, the problem of the Petitioners will not be resolved.

“According to my point of view, Mr. Salsinha together with Alfredo Reinado will prolong the time needed to solve the case of 600 or more Petitioners,” said Major Tara.

Major Tara also said that when President José Ramos-Horta was sworn in he stated that the problem of Salsinha, the Petitioners and Alfredo Reinado is different.

He said that while Alfredo’s case should be solved through justice, that of the Petititioners should be solved through dialogue. (STL)

National parliament protesting: ISF destroyed protected zone of environment The International Security Forces (ISF) from New Zealand are being accused of destroying the sands at Cristo Rei IN Dili, a protected zone for recreation.

“Last week, at the protected zone, THE ISF loaded the sand into their cars.

They are in this country to assist us and follow the law,” said Francisco an MP in the national parliament on Tuesday (23/10) while showing the photos of ISF taking the sand. (STL)

International Media Reports

Far East: The newest global Oil hub 2007-10-23 07:56:50 Commodity online By S R Nunnally

Forget the Middle East. Forget West Africa. The newest oil hub with be in the Far East, with companies plopping down claims and interests in places like the Timor Sea or Bengal Bay.

Don’t get me wrong; the Middle East and West Africa still have great reserves. But everybody is already there working on known oil reserves, and discoveries are already priced in to stocks.

In the Far East, it’s a different story. But first, let me tell you why the Far East is the best place to look for up-and-coming oil stocks.

When OPEC made its announcement of a 500,000 bpd production increase set to hit markets in November, analysts were a bit surprised. But certain OPEC members were more than a bit annoyed.

You see, some OPEC nations are having some trouble meeting quotas, and several are producing at top capacity already.

What that means is that only a couple OPEC countries have the ability to actually produce more oil.

Countries like Angola, Venezuela and Iraq have zero capacity for production increases. Any further production increases will fall on the backs of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the UAE.

OPEC also just upped its world demand forecast to 87.09 million bpd in 2008. The oil cartel expects demand for OPEC oil to climb to 30.82 million bpd and OPEC production to rise to 31.5 million bpd.

That’s a cushion of only 720,000 bpd of capacity. That’s not very encouraging. In fact, it’s downright scary when you think about some of the repercussions of a global oil shortage.

But the stakes are getting even higher this year…

Demand for OPEC oil in the fourth quarter of 2007 (now until the end of the year) is expected to be 31.43 million bpd. OPEC production for the same period is only going to be 30.61 million bpd!

That shortage could have some lasting effects that range beyond the $90 oil we’re facing in the markets today, but there just could be an investment opportunity hidden in all this.

Non-OPEC producing countries are going to have to make up the difference -- and fast. Where will this extra fuel come from? The Far East.

Look where the growth is: Russia and the Far East. The difference between the two? Asian countries are welcoming foreign stakeholders while Russia’s trying to go it alone.

Indonesia is the only Asian member of OPEC, and it has zero spare capacity right now. It’s pumping out 883,000 barrels of oil a day. As far as things go in OPEC, that’s second-to-last place. But that doesn’t mean the country is totally tapped. It’s got more than 4.3 billion barrels of reserves.

And other areas in Asia are going to provide a big bump in oil supplies as well. Places like Vietnam, India and Papua New Guinea.

In this month’s League of Wealth report, I’ll be naming one company that’s already making strides in these areas.

S R Nunnally is Editor, Commodities & Resources Report Taipan Financial News

NATIONAL NEWS SOURCES: Timor Post (TP) Radio Timor-Leste (RTL) Suara Timor Lorosae (STL) Diario Tempo (DT) Diario Nacional (DN) Semanario Televisaun Timor-Leste (TVTL)

UNMIT MEDIA MONITORING www.unmit.org