OPEC oil ministers may be considering cutting back on oil production in an attempt to hike crude prices which have fallen by nearly 30% since they almost touched $150 a barrel in July.

On Tuesday, representatives from the thirteen OPEC countries are scheduled to meet at their headquarters in Vienna. The meeting will be closely watched by all major economies of the world after Iran, the second largest oil producer of OPEC, expressed a hawkish stand on cutting down oil production from the 30.5 million barrels a day being pumped last month.

Even though cutting down on production would lead to higher crude prices, however OPEC ministers also realize that shooting prices would eventually lead to a decline in global demand for oil which has been forecast to fall by 30,000 barrels this year. Moreover, any move to cut back on oil production is certain to lead to barrage of protests from the international community led by the United States.

Last Friday, the price of light, sweet crude fell by $1.66 to settle at $106.23 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. This is a drop of around 30% since crude prices surged to a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11 this year.

Recovery work at oil and gas installations along the Gulf of Mexico slowed down on Sunday, as Hurricane Ike barreled through the Caribbeans and was expected to strike the US coast by midweek.

Work had begun in full swing at the oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico which had been left relatively unharmed by Hurricane Gustav last week. However news of Ike developing into a Category 4 Hurricane has once again caused some concern to the energy companies in the Gulf which like the Royal Dutch Shell have been maintaining minimum staffing at their installations.

The US Mineral Management Service announced on Sunday, that of the 121 rigs in the Gulf, around 12 have removed their staff while more than a quarter of the personnel working on the 717 manned platforms have been evacuated. The storm threat has led to a drop of 80% of the total oil production in the Gulf which means that it is down by 1.3 million barrels a day while natural gas production is down by 7.4 billion cubic feet or 70% of the total production.

On Sunday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration described Hurricane Ike as “extremely dangerous” with sustained wind speed of 135 miles per hour. The growing storm was also creating surges, as much as 18 feet above normal tidal levels, which were likely to hit the Southeastern coast of US in the next couple of days.

The US government has taken charge of the two beleaguered housing mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the $5 trillion in home loans they back.

On Sunday, federal officials announced the historic takeover under which the US Treasury will pump in almost $200 billion to support the two housing finance giants who together own almost half the mortgages in the entire country. According to the bail out plan, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will come into a “conservatorship”, to be overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

After months of deliberation, the US government finally decided to takeover of Fannie and Freddie in order to bolster the housing market which has been suffering from foreclosures and falling prices. The government would now run the two companies until they regain their economic health. The chief executives of both Fannie and Freddie are slated to leave while the FHFA will take control of the boards. As expected the takeover means that dividends on both common and preferred shares will be stopped in order to rack up $2 billion annually.

At a news conference, Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson said that leaving the two companies to fall apart would have led to further economic problems and job losses with many Americans being unable to get home loans, auto loans as well as consumer and business finance.

The proposed search advertising alliance between Yahoo and Google ran into opposition from the Association of National Advertisers which represents many of the biggest consumer advertisers in the United States.

In May, Google Inc and Yahoo Inc, reached a deal under which Yahoo would outsource a part of its advertising to Google. The deal enabled Yahoo to fight off a takeover bid from Microsoft as the board decided that staying independent and increasing search revenues with a Google tie up would yield more returns than an outright acquisition by Microsoft.

However the alliance between Yahoo and Google has not gone down well with the Association of National Advertisers which has decided to lodge a formal complaint with anti-trust authorities. The advertisers claim that the alliance between two of the biggest search advertising companies will discourage competition, heighten concentration of market power and potentially raise prices for search advertising.

Even though the alliance does not need a formal anti-trust clearance, both Yahoo and Google have decided to put off implementation of the deal for 100 days. This is being done in order to give the US Department of Justice time to consider it, so that later the alliance is not barred by anti-trust regulators on grounds of being ant-competitive.

Western consumer brands, headquartered in US and Europe, are keen to grab a share of the Russian consumer market which is expanding at an unprecedented rate. This, despite international turmoil after Russian forces attacked Georgia and provoked an outcry of protest from NATO countries.

A big portion of the Russian consumer market is driven by the emerging middle class whose incomes have steadily risen in the past few years. An estimate by Lehman Brothers reveals that while in 2002 Russians earned around $160 per month, now they earn $540 a month. Moreover the same period saw a drop in percentage of those who earned less than $100 a month which fell from 40% to just 4%.

The growing consumer market in Russia has prompted many Western beverage and confectionary companies like Mars, SABMiller, Pernod Ricard, Nestle, and Diageo to expand their sales in the country. However, corruption and bureaucratic hassles are some of the major hurdles foreign companies face in Russia. Added to these are worries of a tightening labor market and a shrinking population.

Political matters also add to uncertainty in business environment. However Western consumer companies in Russia claim that they are on safer ground than foreign energy companies who are perceived as bigger threat to Russia’s control over its natural resources. Russian authorities have not interfered in any of the foreign acquisitions of local consumer good companies that have taken place in the last one and half years.

If you are look for a great site that provides you with all the details you require for laser related medical solutions then your search ends here. azmedtec.com has it all. Their services range from aesthetics dermatology, hair removal laser and vascular laser medicine, plastic ophthalmology to dental laser medicine. The website is organised in categories in a very professional manner.

Their whole list of services they provide along with detailed explanations of the procedures they use is well told in their site. Take for instance the case of Surgical laser High quality before-after comparison pictures are on display on the website. They also have an entire section dedicated to videos showing their procedures.

They are not just limited to services but they have an entire product line up on their website, with detailed specifications. The site also has, on display, a collection of accessories specified for their products. They also have some post-laser medication gels in the accessory section, which in particular useful for patients who have had laser procedure on their skin. The site has all the possible information regarding their products and services along with import contact numbers and a contact form on the website through which you can get your message or question directly to one of their representatives.

Looks count and looking good is in. Lasers have been there for a while. What’s different here is aesthetic laser. Technology that helps you look good and feel good.

Global village as we call the world now sounds great. So effectively you could be sitting in London, New York or Dublin and transacting with the world. Sounds cool doesn’t it? Ever wondered what makes it possible. The answer is simple. Great broadband connectivity. Mobility is the way to go and all the reasons why mobile broadband is so popular these days. Just plugin without any messy wires and you are connected with the world.

From the shell account in the early 90’s with speeds as low as 32 kbps to the now blistering speeds of 8mb and more broadband rules. Ever wondered what is this technology? Well simply speaking those blistering speeds you enjoy are either through the telephone network of copper wires also called a DSL or ADSL broadband, cable or fibre optic, sometimes located even under the sea, and the mobile broadband is powered by 3G technology developed by a company called Qualcomm. Infact 3G has almost become a standard in itself for mobile broadband connectivity and we covered this in ample detail previously. I guess by now you want to know what your speed is, right? So you can do a speed test right here.

As a consumer of interest to you which is the best broadband connection available and which mobile broadband connection you should choose. Well Broadband Expert does research, conducts test and compares broadband and mobile broadband packages to help consumers find the best broadband packages for their need. In other words they help you decide which connection you should choose and which one is best suited to your needs.

As a consumer of interest to you would be broadband reviews. So let’s say you cant decide between AOL, BT and O2 and want an expert’s opinion which one is best. This site gives you that and much more. Now that’s just one side of the picture. What about consumer reviews and what do the current consumers think of these? You get that too over here. Are the reviews honest? Well consider this one from their site on Orange “I have to say that I am hugely disappointed with just about every
aspect of this product.” That’s proof that you get not just an honest opinion but great advice there too.

For you the most important aspect maybe value proposition in terms of which broadband gives you most value for money. Well you get that too on their site. Overall a great site with very good reviews and tools.