CURRENT EVENTS WEEK ENDING NOV 16 2014 BY GAYATHRI GANESH.

CURRENT EVENTS

WEEK ENDING NOV 16 2014

BY GAYATHRI GANESH

The International Energy Agency announced that prices of what commodity will continue to fall well into 2015?

Oil

The IEA, a consultancy to 29 countries, said weak demand and the US shale gas boom meant crude's recent fall below $80 a barrel was not over.

On Friday, Brent crude, one of the major price benchmarks, traded at $78.13 a barrel, near a four-year low.

"It is increasingly clear that we have begun a new chapter in the history of the oil markets," the IEA said.

The organization, set up after the "oil shock" of the early 1970s to advise major oil importing countries, said that pressure was building on the OPEC oil producers' group to restrict supply to bolster prices.

However, there have been reports that Saudi Arabia, OPEC's key member, is not yet willing to turn off the taps. OPEC members are due to meet on 27 November to discuss the supply and demand issues.

Oil is a the most precious usable and important source of energy in the world. Oil production means the sum of crude oil barrels extracted on daily basis through the drilling process. Most nations have Considerably effected by the innovations and developments in the oil market. Its need and consumption is increasing day by day. its demand is increasing at highest rate in all over the world. In different nations it is produced through a process which may differ and sometimes same. different constituents are extracted from crude oil , such as petroleum, gasoline etc.

In accordance to an estimate held by IEA in 2011 , 63% of the world’s total oil output is obtained by the top ten largest producers. These countries are Russia, Saudi Arabia, US, Iran, China, Canada, Iraq, UAE, Mexico and Kuwait.

The 2014 G20 Leader’s Summit was held on Nov 15-16 in which city, the third most populous in Australia?

Brisbane

Security has been stepped up across Brisbane's streets as world leaders settle in ahead of this weekend's G20 summit.

It follows a day of protests that saw hundreds of activists take part in demonstrations, the biggest focusing on the high rates of Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Brisbane's airspace saw plenty of activity as delegations including Russia, South Korea, India, Mexico, Japan, Spain and Argentina landed throughout the day on Friday.

President Barack Obama arrived on Saturday morning.

The principal meeting venue will be the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, and as many as 4,000 delegates and 3,000 media representatives are expected to attend.

The Leaders' Summit is the most important event in the G20 year. The summit provides a valuable opportunity for leaders to discuss a wide range of global economic issues and to use their collective power to improve people’s lives. The summit is informed by the policy discussions held throughout the year. At the end of the summit, leaders release a communiqué which outlines the G20 policy discussions and commitments.

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia.

Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of 2.24 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centered on Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3 million.

The Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, approximately 15 kms (9 miles) from its mouth at Moreton Bay.

The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the floodplain of the Brisbane River valley between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range.

A showdown between Western leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely at the G20 summit in Australia starting on Saturday, following fresh reports of Russian troops pouring into eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has accused Russia of sending soldiers and weapons to help separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine launch a new offensive in a conflict that has killed more than 4,000 people.

British Prime Minister David Cameron blasted Russia's actions as unacceptable on Friday, warning that they could draw greater sanctions from the United States and the European Union.

Which European country has proof that a small foreign submarine was operating illegally in its waters last month?

Sweden

More than 200 troops, stealth ships and helicopters scoured Baltic waters off the capital Stockholm in October after reports of foreign "underwater activity", but without finding or bringing to the surface any submarine.

"The military can confirm that a small U-boat breached Sweden's territorial waters. We can exclude all alternative explanations," the head of Sweden's armed forces, General Sverker Goransson, told a news conference.

He said Sweden had not been able to identify which country was behind the intrusion.

The submarine's presence was picked up by military sensors, Goransson said. Supporting evidence, he said, included a picture showing a bubble pattern typical of a diving submarine and a sonar image of tracks on the sea floor.

The submarine hunt reflected tensions in a region where governments are increasingly worried about Russian assertiveness because of Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis.

Sweden has already said it will increase spending on its military, including up to 70 new fighter jets and new submarines, as it looks to reverse decades of underspending on its armed forces.

The Nordic country has also drawn closer to NATO in the past few years although the current government has ruled out seeking membership of the U.S.-led alliance.

Aerial view of the Old Town, Skeppsbron, Stockholm City Hall, Hötorget buildings, Ericsson Globe and Stockholm Palace.

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in Scandinavia, with 905,184 people living in the municipality, approximately 1.4 million in the urban area, and a total population close to 2.2 million in the metropolitan area.

The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic sea. The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in 1252 by Birger Jarl.

Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic center of Sweden. The region alone accounts for over a third of the country's GDP, and is among the top 10 regions in Europe by GDP per capita.

Thousands are protesting in which European country ahead of the Presidential run-off elections on Nov 16?

Romania

Thousands of Romanians joined anti-government protests in a number of cities on Friday to demand fair elections, two days ahead of a presidential run-off vote that has been overshadowed by complaints of poor organization of the ballot overseas.

Protests first broke out on Nov. 8 when thousands gathered in city squares in support of compatriots living abroad who were turned away as they tried to vote in the first round, prompting Romania's foreign minister, Titus Corlatean, to resign on Monday.

Long queues and bureaucratic hurdles made the voting process lengthy at Romanian embassies across the European Union and elsewhere in the first round. Many were unable to cast their ballots before voting ended.

The government has taken measures to ensure the Nov. 16 vote runs smoothly, increasing the number of voting booths and staff abroad. But it has not increased the number of polling stations, as Romanian diaspora groups had demanded.

Up to four million Romanians are believed to live abroad, mostly in western Europe. Although only a small number of them bother to vote in elections, they can influence the outcome, as in 2009 when President Traian Basescu won a second term by a margin of just 70,000 votes, mostly cast abroad.

Romania is a unitary semi-presidential republic located in southeastern-central Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula and on the western shore of the Black Sea.

It borders Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Bulgaria. It covers 238,391 square kms (92,043 sq mi) and has a temperate-continental climate.

With its 20.1 million inhabitants, it is the seventh most populous member of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth largest city in the European Union.

APEC 2014 Summit concludes in which major Asian capital city?

Beijing

Asia-Pacific leaders meeting in China have agreed to move towards a new free trade zone strongly backed by Beijing.

The Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) is seen by some as a rival to a US trade pact, which excludes China.

The Apec summit near Beijing agreed to launch a study into the FTAAP.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who earlier urged Asia-Pacific nations to accelerate economic ties, described the endorsement of the pact as a "historic" decision.

The US is currently negotiating a separate Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is considered part of Washington's "pivot" towards Asia - ensuring continued US influence in the region in response to growing Chinese power.

The TPP involves 12 countries, but not China or Russia.

Mr Obama has rejected suggestions by Chinese commentators that the TPP is a way of countering Chinese influence.

In an interview with China's Xinhua state news agency, he said the US was in no way trying to contain China.

Mr Obama said the move would "benefit everyone," speaking during a high-level summit of Asian business leaders in Beijing, known as APEC.

Visas between the two countries were previously valid for only one year.

China-US relations have been rocky amid increased US presence in the Pacific and concerns over cyber espionage.

But on Monday, Mr Obama told the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) chief executive summit that the US welcomed the rise of a "prosperous, peaceful and stable China".

"We want China to do well," Mr Obama said.

"We compete for business, but we also seek to co-operate on a broad range of shared challenges and shared opportunities."